Spring Break '08

We got back Sunday from our trip to Buchanan, Michigan. We went up there for a family reunion and my grandmothers 75th birthday. The long and short of it all, is that we had a BLAST. I got to see family that I haven’t seen in years, and Daniel got to meet them all for the first time. Zachariah did exceptionally well, considering this was all very new for him. He was in his car seat for 4 hours on the way to Atlanta, flew on a plane, spent a few nights away from his crib, and he got to see snow! All of which were firsts for him. He didn’t mind flying, and he absolutely positively loved the snow.

Daniel blogged a little about our trip, so go there for a little more info. I don’t feel like recapping our trip detail by detail, I just want to show you the pictures. So I apologize for lack of substance. :)

Pictures of our pretty snow

CutenessMe an my baby

We love snow!

Playing a little air hockey. Daniel beat me, but I had a baby on my hip.

So that was predictable.

Daniel also beat me in ping pong... with a baby on his hip.
I wish that wasn't predictable.

Getting ready to go out in the cold

Goober

Z feeling a little left out during our blowing outing

We had so much fun with these hats!
(Thanks Tammi!)

My adorable little family

Think Outside the BUN

Mr. Cheesy Beefy Melt, I will stop the world and be with you.

These are a few of my favorite things...

Zzzzzzzzzzzz

I feel like a zombie.
Z woke up every couple of hours last night.
I am pretty sure the culprit is teething.
Will blog more when I can sit here without falling asleep.

Photographer, I am not

But I could be if I had this camera. I could start my own business and make millions of dollars. Ok, maybe not, but I could take some good-quality ammature pictures of my kiddo.

So in closing, I REALLY want this camera. If anyone out there has a spare $350, feel free to invest it in my million dollar business. Heck, it could be your good deed of the day.
Or month.
Or year.

Stubborn

I have come to realize that I have one heck of a stubborn child. It was bound to happen. He really had no chance at all, seeing as how both of his parents are pretty darn stubborn. All that to say that I took him out for a "photo shoot" a week or so ago and this is what I got.

He pretty much avoided ALL eye contact with me (aka: the camera)

He would look over my should at "the birds chirping"... still not acknowledging my presence.

Pretending to be interested in the dead grass...

And once he finally lifts his head up towards me, this is what I get.

hhhhhhh. Stubborn, stubborn child.

I was so frustrated with this that I asked Tammi to come take some pictures of him. She is bound to be able to get him to do something! And even though he was being a stubborn child, yet again, she managed to get some uber cute pictures!

So click the link to see results of the photo shoot!

My how time flies

Its so hard to believe that Zachariah was born 6 months ago, today.

It seems like just the other day that we brought him home from the hospital, but at the same time, I cant remember what life was like without him.

Here are a few pictures to show you how much he has grown over the last 6 months!

1 day old

1 month old 2 months old
3 months old

4 months old

5 months old

6 months old

And to commemorate his 6 month birthday, he started sitting up all by himself today!!!

Product Endorsement

I am a pretty paranoid person. The thing I am most paranoid about, as a mother ,is SIDS. Ever since we moved Zachariah to his crib (10 weeks old), I have to go check on him 524 times a night to make sure he is still breathing. And then I make Daniel go check on him another 213 times before we go to bed. Every sound that comes from his nursery wakes me up and gets me thinking that something is wrong. Even though I know that his humidifier just made a gurgling sound, I go check on him… again.

Recently I came across the Angelcare Movement and Sound Monitor in my babytalk magazine. At first I thought it was too good to be true. But then I did a little research, and before I knew it, they were mine! Here is the skinny: There is a sensor pad that you put under the mattress of the crib. Then you hook it up to the cute, cloud shaped monitor (aka: nursery unit). It detects all of your baby’s movement, which of course includes breathing. If 20 seconds go by without movement, it will sound an alarm in the cute, cloud shaped parents unit and in the nursery unit. (Just in case you don’t have your unit on, you can still hear the alarm)

Last night was the first time that we used it, and it was wonderful. I only got up to go make sure he was all warm and snuggled under his blanky. I didn’t have to get up 524 times to go check and make sure he was ok. And even if I did feel like checking on him, I don’t have to go over to the crib and hold my hand in front of his face, or over his chest to make sure he is breathing. Conveniently located on the nursery unit, there is a light that flashes every time he moves. So I can stand at the door and see the light flashing and know everything is fine and dandy.

The one concern Daniel and I had about this was that Zachariah would move off the sensor pad and we would get a ton of false alarms. But I tested it by moving him ALL OVER THE CRIB. At times he wasn’t even near the sensor pad and it picked up his breathing. So that was very reassuring.

Anyway. This is great. I wish I had it for the first 6 months of his life. I would have slept a whole heck of a lot better. If you want to read more about it, you can click here for the official website. Or you can click here to read reviews of what some parents think about it. Walmart and Target sell it, but I have only found it online.

Happy shopping everyone!

Weirdo

As most of you know, naptime has been pure mayhem lately. Much to my relief, it has slowly been getting better. I know you all want to ask the question, “What has helped Zachariah go to sleep faster and sleep longer?” None other than the burp-cloth-over-the-eyes trick!


No really. He has to covers his eyes every single time he is going to sleep. If he doesn’t have something to pull over his head (ie: burp cloth, blanket, etc…), he will try to burry his head, like an Ostrich, into his crib. Or into whoever is holding him when he gets tired. Today he woke up after a 45 min. nap screaming, so I went in there and covered his eyes with his burp cloth. He slept for another 45 min.

What a weirdo.

A Change Will Do You Good

Daniel and I have been making small changes here and there over the past few months so that we can “go green” like all of the cool kids. We have done things like replace our current light bulbs with more energy efficient light bulbs (they will actually last a lot longer too), we unplug appliances when they are not being used (and that has saved us a nice chunk on our electricity bill), we have been recycling cans and bottles, and we (and by we I mean Daniel) have been trying to turn the lights off in the rooms that are not being used.
They aren’t big changes, but at least they are changes.

One thing that we have wanted to do for a long time now is to stop using those preposterous grocery bags. To make a long story short, I hate them. So we tossed around the idea of using reusable cloth bags, instead of the plastic bags. But we just haven’t done it for one reason or another. Mainly, I didn’t really want to go spend a lot of money on cloth bags when we get free bags at the store.

And then we saw them. At the front of the store, on the isle across from the bathrooms.
Reusable grocery bags.
At Wal-Mart.
For one dollar.

Since they were only $1, I really didn’t have an excuse not to get them. So we bought 10. And I love them. They can be used for about a year, and then they disintegrate, or rot, or dissolve, or something like that.

Anyway, we bought the reusable bags, and they are fabulous. It only took 8 bags to fit all of our groceries in (compared to our 20+ plastic bags), and it only took 2 trips to unload them into the house! And another added bonus: Its great for the planet that we call Earth.

Want to start making a few changes?
Start with reusable grocery bags.

It only takes a little to make a big difference.

Nakedness

Here is my chubby little man! Check out those arm rolls and chubby cheeks!

I love it.

Insight

This post is for all of you mommy's out there.

How the heck do I get my son to take longer naps? They only last for about 30 min. during the day. Its RIDICULOUS. So if you have any tips that worked for getting your baby to nap longer, puh-lease let me know.

And just in case you were wondering, this is the time for you people to actually comment. I know, I know. Its rough. But get off the blog lines and let me know what has worked or not worked for you. I am desperate here.