Zachariah's New Shirt

Zachariah has a new shirt and he has been DYING to share it with you all, but I have made him wait for a few weeks before showing it off. Partially because I am a mean mommy and partially because I like to keep secrets.

Ok, fine. Its only because I like to keep secrets. But the time has come and Zachariah just couldn't wait another moment to model his new shirt. So without further adieu, here is the new addition to our two year olds wardrobe...

You like? :)

Well, the shirt doesn't lie! I am about 7 weeks pregnant and my due date is February 12, 2011. Come early next year, ZACHARIAH IS GOING TO BE A BIG BROTHER!

And you know what?

We couldn't possibly be more excited about it! :)

False Alarm

Nope.

Hate to break it to ya, but this is not an actual blog post.

Sorry for the misunderstanding, but I just wanted to check in and ask you all not to hate me for going a flipping WEEK without updating. I promise I will have a real blog post for you tomorrow... ok?

No hard feelings? :)

Post Nap Ergo Propter Nap

I know, I know. I have been slacking again. But hey, at least I have an excuse this time! I have been plagued with a sickness. Some kind of stomach bug has attacked me and I have been out of commission for quite a few days. But have no fear, I have just what the doctor ordered: A dose of Zachariah cuteness for this lovely Monday afternoon! :)

The other day I was editing some pictures at the kitchen table when Zachariah woke up from his nap. He was still VERY groggy and just walked up to me, climbed in my lap and then flopped himself up on the kitchen table. I typically do not allow Zachariah to take up residency on our table, but he was really working the cute factor that afternoon. So I just smirked and went on with my editing.

After a few moments he started waking up (for real this time) and getting very giggly. It may have had something to do with a particular Queen song that Pandora decided to play for us, but I am not positive. :)

Appropriate shirt, no?

And then he ate my apple while we rocked out to Pandora. :)

If you cant tell, post nap bonding is my favorite. He is in such a fun, loving and happy mood during that time and I love to take advantage of it whenever possible!!!

Hope everyone has a happy Monday!

Flower Power!

A few months ago we planted some Black Eyed Susan's. The started out as pretty small plants (a bit smaller than what you see in the above picture. that was taken a few weeks into the growing process.) and I didn't have much hope for seeing a pretty yellow flower this season. I read online that some black eyed susan's can take a year or more to start blooming!

Let the record show that I am NOT a patient person, and that lack of patience flows right into my gardening. When I plant something I want to be able to see it grow the second I bury it in dirt. Obviously that is ridiculous, so I talk myself through the months of watering useless plants. Eventually I started to see them growing taller and then one day I saw something besides a leaf! How exciting!!

At this point Zachariah started getting excited about watering the plants too. He was excited to see that a flower was on its way!

So, imagine my excitement when two days ago I walk outside and find THIS...

Be still my heart. I see a flower!!!! I did a little happy dance right then and there. Is it not the most pretty shade of yellow you ever did see??

*sigh*

I love it.

Some of the plants are a little behind, but right now we have two pretty flowers staring at me, and I am so pumped about it!

Stay tuned for more updates on my Susan's! :)

The Pigeon

Happy Monday morning everyone! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. If you ask me, weekend need to be at LEAST three days so we can really enjoy them. But alas, I had no choice in deciding how long weekends lasted, so we are stuck with only two days. Bummer.

This week I should have a post about the dangers of artificial sweeteners (sweet n low and splenda to name a few), and you are NOT going to want to miss that. Mainly because most people are very uninformed when it comes to the side effects and damage the artificial sweeteners can cause. And by people I mean me too. As I learn I am going to post... so stay tuned!

In the meantime I wanted to talk to show you one of Zachariah's new favorite books! It just so happens to be a library book (Zachariah LOVES the library) and it has stolen his heart. You may have heard of it. Its called...

That's right folks. Don't let the pigeon drive the bus.

Basically, you have this driver who has to step away from his bus for a few minutes. He asks you to watch out for things, but his main instruction is for the reader to NOT let the pigeon drive the bus. Simple enough, right?

Wrong.

Especially when it comes to a two year old being in charge of keeping the pigeon from driving the bus. As soon as the pigeon asks if he can drive the bus Zachariah excitedly says, "Ok! Yes!". Good thing I am there to help out. He is just not cut out for this tough love type of thing.

The pigeon keeps asking. Trying to convince you that he will "be careful", at which point Zachariah says, "Ok! You can drive the bus!" He SO does not get the point of this.

Sigh.

Luckily I am there to keep the pigeon in line. And he pouts. Its pitiful, but you have to stand your ground!

Such a dramatic pigeon.

And just when you think he is going to give up, this happens...

Mr. Pigeon here has an attitude issue, and I think that should be addressed at some point.

Anyway, the book is pretty cute and it actually made me chuckle a few times. Zachariah sure enough loves it, and all the other pigeon books! So, besides the attitude issue that the pigeon has (yes, we are actually having a small issue with Zachariah about that. He has been mimicking that very attitude and it is being nipped in the bud.) we give this book a thumbs up! :)

Oh, and just for the record, I misspelled my sons name every single time I typed it out during this post. Sad? Yes. I am having an off day, okay! Sheesh. Get off my back!

Ok. I am going to go return that pigeon book right this instant. This is ridiculous.

:)

Pregnant Shelley!

Hello everyone! Sorry I have been a little slack on the blog updates this week. I really have no excuse. I have had pictures of Z complete with stories that show how fast he is growing up, but I just haven't had the motivation to post them.

But have no fear, Shelley is here!

In case you werent reading my blog six months ago, I took some pictures for Shelley and her husband Matt back in December. (Click here to see the session) You may notice that Shelley looks a bit different in those pictures and that is because she is just a few short weeks (or days!) away from having a precious baby girl! I have never photographed a pregnant woman before, so I was really excited/a tiny bit nervous when Shelley agreed to let me try my hand at maternity pictures for her! It was a great learning experience and I had fun (as usual) hanging out with my sweet friend.

Here are a few pictures from our time together earlier this week! Hope you enjoy them, guys! :)

I think this one is my favorite. :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I will try and get myself motivated for being a better blogger next week!

Motherhood

Yesterday, during his "nap", Zachariah hurt his toe. I don't exactly know how he hurt it, but from what I can piece together he kicked his bookshelf while attempting to kick a book. Why he was trying to kick a book when he was supposed to be in his bed asleep, I will never know. Regardless of the reason, he kicked something and I am pretty sure the toe is jammed. Or broken. But it hasn't turned black and blue so I think it is just jammed. It is definitely swollen and it is obviously bothering him to walk on it though.

After dinner I turned on the tv and put him on the couch. I spent the next half hour trying to prop his foot on some pillows, giving him medicine to help the pain, icing his toe (which did NOT go over well), re-propping his foot on the pillows, attempting to tape his toe but realizing that is not a battle worth winning at that moment and putting a band-aid on his foot because, lets face it, band-aids make everything better. Oh, and re-propping his foot again.

My poor kid was hurt and I couldn't completely fix it. He was emotional and tired of me messing with him and his foot and I was getting emotional because I didn't know what to do to help him. I was drained. I sat down on the couch and started to pout. I was this close to giving myself a pity party too. Wanna know what stopped me? Zachariah all of a sudden stopped watching tv and said to me (in the most sincere voice I have ever heard), "Thank you for making me all better."

I almost balled my eyes out right then and there. I know I wasn't able to take away any of the pain, but he was thanking me anyway. I didn't miraculously heal him. I didn't actually "make him all better", but I made him feel better. And that just made me so happy.

Words cannot explain how it feels to be appreciated by your toddler. My husband is very good about showing his appreciation for the things that I do. He is constantly praising me or thanking me. But to hear a two year old thank me for doing my regular scheduled motherly duties? Man. That is just something else right there.

Ok. I know I am babbling now, and for that I apologize. I have read one to many tear jerker blogs posts today, so I am a bit on the sentimental/emotional side. Everything should be back to normal tomorrow. But let me just close by saying that I love my sweet little boy. He seriously makes my world go round. :)

Housework

In July of 2009 I did a child labor post, and back in March of this year I did a part two. Guess what? Its time for part three!

The other day I was folding some laundry on my bed and Zachariah decided to start rearranging the clutter on my dresser. Instead of having to explain to him for the three hundredth time that he cannot wear my deodorant, I decided to put him to work.

As you can see the dresser was quite dusty. And as you can see, he cleans with a smile on his face. Which is a lot more than I can say for the woman of the house.

Ahem.

I could get used to this!

Now if only he could operate the vacuum...

Honkey The Donkey

Funny story:

A while back the kids were coloring pictures of a donkey in Sunday School. Zachariah, being the bright kid that he is, let everyone know that he thought he was coloring a dragon. His friend Emma (who is the closest kid at church to his age) said, "No Zachariah. That's not a dragon, its a HONKEY!".

Fast forward to a month or so ago:

When Zachariah broke his arm, Emma came over and brought Zachariah something to make him feel better. She, with the help of her mom and siblings, brought a YUMMY cookie and a Webkinz toy! Can anyone guess what animal the Webkinz was? It was a donkey! We appropriately named it Honkey the Donkey. (And yes, Zachariah really does call it Honkey.) I love that it is "their thing". I didn't know two year olds could have "things" or inside jokes, but they do. And its absolutely hilarious.

Fast forward to earlier this week:

Here is Zachariah's book shelf. The bottom half of the bookshelf (the half that is visible) holds all of his stuffed animals and books. The books are in the green bins. The bins keep me from having to worry about the books being displayed in a nice, organized fashion. Its fabulous.

But that is beside the point!

You may or may not have noticed Honkey the Donkey and a randomly placed book on the top shelf. Usually Honkey is one of two animals that Zachariah takes to bed with him, but on this day he choose not to have any animals share his bed. (I guess he was feeling a bit claustrophobic.) Z had been reading books at the beginning of nap time, and before he fell asleep he propped a book up next to Honkey so he could read it.

Is that not hilariously cute? I am sure its just one of those "you had to be there" sort of things, but it just cracked me up!

Anyway, Zachariah REALLY loves his Honkey. And I just thought I should share the cuteness with everyone. :)

FYI

I know quite a few of you will stop reading this post because it is *gasp* health related, but for those who may be interested, I am dedicating this post to giving some info about MSG. The fact of the matter is most people have NO idea how much MSG they are consuming. So I figured I would share a few things I have learned over the past few months!

I guess the most important thing to do is to define MSG (aka: Monosodium glutamate & sodium glutamate). It is sodium salt of the naturally occurring non-essential amino acidglutamic acid. It is used as a food additive and is commonly marketed as a flavor enhancer.

And I guess the second most important thing to do is share with you some facts I have come across. So here goes!

- MSG has been hidden in food ingredient list hydrolyzed vegetable protein, autolyzed yeast extract,soy protein isolate, and many other names

- It was once predominantly made from wheat gluten, but is now mostly made from bacterial fermentation.

- Like the sodium salts of other amino acids, MSG is a stable colorless solid that is degraded by strong oxidizing agents.

- MSG is used commercially as a flavour enhancer. Although once associated with foods in Chinese restaurants, MSG is now used by most fast food chains (Burger King, Wendy's, McDonalds, Taco Bell, KFC, Chili's, TGIF, Applebees, Zaxby's, Denny's. The list can go on and on and on) and in many other foods, particularly processed foods. (For example: soups, chips, BBQ sauces, seasonings, salad dressings... just to name a few.)

- A report from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, on behalf of the FDA, concluded that MSG was safe for most people when "eaten at customary levels". However, it also said that, based on anecdotal reports, some people may have an MSG intolerance which causes "MSG symptom complex" and/or a worsening of asthmatic symptoms.

- MSG is added because the food being prepared for sale to the public is of low quality due to cheap ingredients or due to too long shelf life. (If the food is of low quality I probably don't want my son eating it anyway.)

- The FDA has set no limit on how much of it can be added to foods.

- It is an addictive substance, and because of that it is often referred to as "nicotine for food". You wonder why you cant just eat a few Doritos? Why you consume half the bag in less time than it takes you to say, "Man, these are good!" Its because they are covered in MSG. And MSG is addicting.

- MSG stimulates the pancreas to release insulin into the blood stream even when there are not any carbohydrates in the dish for the insulin to act on. Your blood sugar ends up dropping because of this flood of insulin, and then you end up hungry again an hour or so later. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Maybe when you eat Chinese food? Yeah. They use MSG in EVERYTHING they cook or even think about cooking.

Some results of MSG consumption:

Obesity

Alzheimer's disease

Migraine headaches

Insomnia

Cancer

Fibromyalgia

ADHD

- Food scientist Harold McGee states that "toxicologists have concluded that MSG is a harmless ingredient for most people, even in large amounts." Even if it is safe to eat in mass amounts, why on earth would I? Why would I intentionally feed my child something that has absolutely no nutritional value? Why would I feed my two year old something that would cause him to get addicted to junk food and possibly lead to obesity? Lets face it, if MSG is an ingredient, it can pretty much be classified as junk food. You don't see apples or carrots being fertilized with MSG do you? I know I am over-exaggerating a little bit, but I think you see my point.

Anyway, these are just a few things I thought everyone should know about MSG. We have tried to drastically reduce our MSG consumption in the Titus household. I don't know that we could ever COMPLETELY cut it out (I mean, there are times where I just NEED to eat some fast food), but we try our best to limit it. Buying real food as opposed to processed food is a good way to make sure MSG is not present. Eating at restaurants that do not use MSG is a good start too. But good luck, because as of a couple years ago there were only four restaurants in this town that do NOT use MSG in their food. (Chick Fil A, Sonic, Arby's and Hong Kong Cafe, if you wanna know.)

Go to your kitchen and start reading the ingredient list on things in your fridge and pantry. You might be shocked at how many things contain MSG. And if you want to reduce the amount of MSG your family consumes, start by reading nutrition labels at the grocery store. Paying attention to the ingredient list can make a world of difference.

Alright. Thats all the rambling I will do for now. If I stick around much longer I fear I will go off on my tangents about how dangerous artificial sweeteners and non organic milk happen to be!

Happy Wednesday everyone! Hope I didn't bore you to death. :)

Sprinkler Fun on Memorial Day!

Happy Day After Memorial Day!!!!

Ok, so I have about a bajillion things I am supposed to be doing right now, but I wanted to drop in and say a quick hello and show you some cute pictures. :) We had a great Memorial Day weekend complete with spending time with family, friends and sprinklers! I only brought my camera out during the sprinkler portion of our weekend, so that is all you have to look at today. Luckily my kid is cute enough that you don't NEED anything else in the blog post! :)

Ok, I am sorry to interrupt the cuteness, especially since we JUST got started, but does anyone remember the show Freakazoid that played on cartoon network back in the day? (Click the link. It is the intro song to the show.) I KNOW my Dad and my siblings will remember it, but does anyone outside of my crazy-go-nuts-family remember this show? Regardless, the picture above reminds me so much of the crazy looking run that Freakazoid does. And for those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, or just in case you need a refresher, watch this six second video.

Doesn't Zachariah look like he is doing that exact thing??

Oh man. I about died laughing when I looked at these pictures! Even if he was just trying to block the water from hitting his face, my son is doing the Freakazoid run! It serious cracks. me. up.

Ok. I'm over it now. Back to the cuteness.

And seriously. You don't get ANY cuter than this. Gah. He melts me. I just want to go wake him up from his nap and kiss his cute little face right now!

But I treasure my nap times, so I wont go do that.

Daddy played too! :)

Ahhh! There it is again! Bahahaha!

Sorry.

Anyway, I don't think its hard to tell that Zachariah loves playing in the sprinkler. And once it stops raining down here I am sure we will be setting up our little pool for him to play in too!

But for now the sprinkler does just fine for this little Freakazoid. I mean... boy.

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend!! :)