Sorry, Sorry, Sorry!

First things first... this is not a post with beach pictures. I KNOW they are overdue, and I SWEAR I will get at least some of them up this week, but I have just had one heck of a time catching up with things around here!

For those of you that want to know, I am feeling MUCH better these days. Yes, the last few months have resembled hell on earth for me, but the "all day sickness" seems to be tapering off. I haven't thrown up in a week! When you compare that to throwing up every day, several times a day... its enough to make a person downright giddy! And because of that I am feeling more "normal". I am able to cook dinner again, play with my son, run a few errands. Its great. Now, I still have to pace myself. I find that when I try to do to much in one day (run multiple errands in a two hour time period for example) I get very lightheaded and sick feeling, therefore making me stay on the couch the rest of the day. So I just have to take it slow-ish. I am so, so, so thankful that I am getting back to normal!

You may be thinking, "Well since you are feeling better and getting back into a normal-ish routine why cant you blog on a more regular basis?"

Well, good readers, that is a good question. And I have a good answer.

My son is the devil.

Haha. Just kidding. But over the past week he has definitely hit a certain stage that reminds me a little bit of the devil. I may choose to go into more detail later, but lets just say that he has developed quite the attitude lately and he is not afraid to show it.

So between me growing a baby and the new toddler phase that has taken over this house, when I get a moment to blog I just plop on the couch and stay there as long as I possibly can. I feel like a major bum, but its the only way for me to do anything remotely close to re-energizing myself. And re-energizing myself keeps me from stabbing myself in the eye with a fork, so as you can see it is pretty important.

Anyway! Thats about it for today. I swear, I WILL post pictures soon.

Don't hate me.

:)

Z-isms

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to stop by and tell you that we are back. We have actually been back for four days now, but I just haven't graced the blog with my presence until now.

My bad.

Anyway! I have pictures and cute stories to share, but for now you will just have to settle with a few funny things Zachariah has been saying here recently (aka: I am trying to stall until I can get my rear in gear and go through my pictures).

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Here is a conversation we have EVERY time we eat Taco Bell:

Z: Is that poop?

Dad: No, its beef

Z: Beef? I dont like beef. Its yuk.

I walked into the playroom where Z & D are playing...

Z: Moooom. Go in da kitchen and make us some food!

Me: Are you kidding me?

Z: No. Pwease!

Z: I need to change my diaper!

Me: You will have to wait just a bit. Mommy needs to throw up.

Z: But I have POOP!

Me: Well I have VOMIT!

The other day Zachariah informed me that "mushrooms yook yike marshmallows in the grass!"

After hearing some ruckus in Zachariah's bedroom during what was supposed to be nap time, I go in there and ask, "Why aren't you taking a nap?" He responds with "I JUST readin my Bible!". Sure enough, he had his toddler Bible in the bed with him. :)

Me: Zachariah, you need to get dressed so we can leave! Z: Where we going? We going Mimi and Poppie's? Me: Nope. Z: RiverQuarium? Me: Nope. Z: Chick fil a? Me: Nope. We are going to Toys R Us! Z: *GASP* Toys R Us?!?! Maybe they have some toys? Me: Yeah baby, I think they might have some toys.

And last but not least, my favorite...

Due to some recent outbursts of Zachariah's, I was explaining to him how we need to be gentle and sweet to mommy's tummy. He said, "Like this?" And rubbed my belly very gently. I praised him for being so sweet and he got a very proud look on his face. He asked me why I had a baby in my tummy and I told him that God gave me the baby in my tummy. Then he lifted up my shirt a little so he could see my stomach, put his eyeball on my belly button and said, "I need to see it." I explained to him that we would not be able to see the baby for a while because it has to stay in my tummy and grow big and strong. He sat there with a thoughtful look on his face then leaned in close to my stomach and yelled, "BOO!" After giving him a questioning look he said, "I trying to scare it."

Ok! Now that I have successfully documented my sons cute little conversations I am going to go play with him. Stay tuned for beach vacation pictures! :)

Vacation Time!

We are going to the beach, baby!!!!

Each year we take a family vacation to the beach with Daniel's family and we always have lots and lots of fun. Everyone enjoys the heck out of themselves so much that we pretty much start counting down the days till the next beach vacation the day we get home!

Zachariah has been especially excited this year. He is old enough to anticipate fun things, and this is no exception. Every day for the past week he has been inviting me to go to the beach with him. It is so funny! This week we have had a nice countdown going and announce throughout the house "TWO DAYS UNTIL THE BEACH!" (that was yesterday's in case you were wondering)

Anyway! I just wanted to drop in to tell you that we are going to be on vacation and you should be super jealous. :) If you are having blog post withdrawals, feel free to click here to see last years beach pictures and click here to look at pictures from the year before last!

Now, I am off to pack.

Wish me luck.

:)

Say It Aint So

In a little less than a month my son will be turning three.

THREE!

He is obviously moving out of the toddler stage and into the "boyhood" stage real quick like. And that makes me sad. But I have a few more weeks until I have to deal with this age change issue, so I am going to just ignore it now, ok?

I took this picture the other day. He had just woken up from his nap. He has adorable bed head, his paci in his mouth and his blue blanket under his nose, (along with gung-gung, this is something he does not sleep without). Ever since he was a baby (not infant, baby. like, 6 months old or something) he HAS to put his blanket or gung-gung under his nose in order to fall asleep. He also does this when he is tired/wishing he was going to sleep. I have no idea why, but it is just something he does. And I LOVE it. It is one of the cutest things ever.

Anyway. I am very glad I took this picture. This is something I want to always remember. It is part of who he was as a baby and part of who he is as a toddler, and no matter how old he gets I want to be able to look back and remember this exact face. This groggy, yet obviously happy face of my baby. I just can't get enough.

My Beautiful Child

First things first. Thanks for those who let me know their opinion on the crib situation in the post below! Whether it was by comment on my blog, email or facebook, I really appreciate the feedback! I am personally leaning towards crib number two... but we will see how it goes! I will keep you posted! :)

Ok. Now, for the blog post...

Since I have been puking for the past 2.5 months I have not taken very many pictures. In fact, I have not so much as thought about picking up my camera! I enjoy taking pictures and so I have been kinda missing the whole taking-pictures-for-fun-thing that I had going on. And once I can get my act together I hope to trot on over to my friend Shelley's house and take some pictures of her ADORABLE baby girl. :)

Anyway. All that to say that the other day I was laying on the couch, per my usual, when I looked over to see Zachariah playing at the window. He was being SO incredibly cute and so I decided to heave myself off the comfy piece of furniture and grab my camera. It took me a while to remember where I keep the thing, but once I found it I got all up in Zachariah's play space so I could show you some pictures of his adorableness.

You can thank me later. :)

See his cute little dinosaur? That dinosaur lives in the blinds (no joke. that is his home now.) and Zachariah loves to periodically come over and make him "ride the elevator" or "walk up some steps".

I love seeing his imagination at work. I could seriously watch him play for hours. It is the cutest and most entertaining thing to hear him come up with voices for his toys and to see what "trials" he will have them conquer. Today this dino is just getting a lot of exercise going from one level to another. :)

And I am now getting roared at. That was Z's not so subtle way of telling me I was cramping his style with my camera. :)

I just love this kid. His hair rocks my socks, his eyes melt me and I could just kiss that face all day long. God has truly blessed me, and I am so incredibly thankful. I cant imagine life without this awesome kid. :)

Cribs

So, I have been crib shopping.

Yes, I know that might seem a little silly considering this is our second kid and we still have Zachariah's crib... but here is the thing. We bought Z's crib and changing table for REALLY cheap from a former co-workers sister. She had used it for two kids already and it wasn't in "like new" condition. Which was fine. We aren't snobs and we don't need things to be bran spankin new. But after Z put some wear and tear on it, it is just not that safe to use for another kid. The pull down rail is very wobbly, which is a bit dangerous. (I just learned that cribs with the rails that can go up and down have actually been recalled. They don't make them like that anymore due to safety issues.) The changing table that came with the crib was pretty much a few pieces of particle board with nails in it. Again, after Z put some wear and tear on it, just not the best idea to use it any longer. Anyway, all that to say, we have decided to purchase a new crib and changing table for baby number two. Hence, my crib shopping!

And let me tell you, this is just the kind of shopping therapy that I have been needing. Since I have been so sick I don't really get out of the house much, so that cuts down on my impulse/nonsense buying. (Our budget has been a very happy camper) I cant buy bedding or clothing yet because we wont know the gender of our sweet baby for another two months. So this crib shopping is seriously so much fun for me right now!

So, Daniel and I have pretty much narrowed down our favorite cribs to two different ones. Obviously we have PLENTY of time before baby number two gets here, but we are just trying to plan a few things out in advance. Mainly to appease me and my boredom/need to shop. :)

Here is crib number one:

Crib number one generally runs for about 400-500 bucks, but walmart sells it for $250. How great is that? This crib has PHENOMENAL reviews and it is exactly what I had in mind when I set out on this online crib shopping journey of mine.

And here is crib number two:

This crib is NOTHING like what I had imagined wanting or buying, but I really like it! It is simple yet very unique. It is a little shorter than a "regular" crib, and I find that very appealing since crib rails no longer slide down. This crib is about a hundred dollars cheaper than crib number one, which I think is a VERY reasonable price for such a cute looking crib. The only negative is that it is a fairly new crib on the market, so it has ZERO reviews. I make every online decisions based on reviews, so it throws me off my game when I don't have reviews to help me out.

Anyway, those are the two cribs we are debating between. I would LOVE your opinion on which one you like better/think we should get! Both are a cherry wood and would look great with pink OR blue bedding, so its kinda a win-win if you ask me!

Once we find out the gender I will be back with bedding options. Haha! :)

Have a great Monday!

3 Little Things

Good evening everyone! Because my son is watching Blues Clues, I happen to have a few minutes of peace and quiet. Well, not technically peace and quiet. Zachariah is constantly giving me the play by play on what Steve and Blue are doing, and I am hearing the "Mail Time!" song... but its about as quiet as its going to get right now! :) So since I have these few moments, I have decided to grace the blog world with my presence.

You are welcome.

Today I thought I would start something new over here on That's What She Said. Over the past couple years Daniel and I have made an effort to eat healthier. Most of the stuff we have done seems like pretty common sense stuff, but before we started making a conscious effort to be a little healthier, they weren't really common sense to us at all! So, just in case you all are interested, once a week I am going to post three to five simple things you can do to extend your life expectancy!

Haha. That was a little joke there. Doing one of the random three things I post wont make you life 10 years longer or anything, but it WILL make you just a little healthier. And heck, if it DOES make you live longer, let me know. I will write a book.

Oh, and just as a disclaimer, I am not a nutritionist. I am not an expert in anything health related. I am a research freak and I am just sharing a few things that our family has found helpful in being a little more healthy!

1) Drink 100% juice. When purchasing juices, stay away from anything that is made from less than 100% juice. Those juices have unnecessary sugar and not enough nutrients. I just don't understand the point of buying a juice that is only 30% juice and the rest water, sugar and "natural flavoring". Why not just buy the real thing? It is better for you and it taste a lot better too! So next time you are at the grocery store try to stay away from the "fake" juices and look for the ones that advertise 100% juice! (I know that Great Value, the walmart brand, carries quite a few 100% juices and they are VERY tasty.)

* Honestly, it is best if you don't drink juices at all and get your daily servings of fruit from actual fruits, but we have not cut out juices in our diet, so I am not about to preach to you about avoiding juice. I did think I should mention the fact that eating an apple is actually better for you than drinking a glass of juice. :)

2) Cut out the junk food. You know what I am talking about. The Pringles, Doritos, Fritos, Chex Mix... all of the pre-packaged snack foods. As wonderful as they taste (mostly due to all the MSG), there is just no good that can come from keeping those items in your pantry. When we decided to stop buying the junk snack food we honestly thought it was going to be ridiculously difficult. But you know what? After a week or two we didn't even miss those things! Instead of bringing out a bag of chips to munch on, try a handful of blueberries, or a cup yogurt, some peanuts, or string cheese. They are healthier AND tastier. Chips (and other bagged snack foods) will fill you up and then leave you hungry again in a short amount of time (again, its the MSG), but the more natural foods will leave you more satisfied. Try it! I swear, if my husband can go from eating Doritos several times a day to eating yogurt and rice cakes (and loving it), you can too!

3) Eat fresh fruit. Canned fruit is probably the worst type of fruit you could eat. Well, chocolate covered fruit is probably a little less healthy than canned, but not by much. The syrup is very sugary and the fruit contains less vitamins and minerals. And quite frankly, it just doesn't taste as good as fresh fruit. Don't believe me? My husband swore up and down that he did NOT like peaches, until I gave him a fresh peach. And then he thought he died and went to heaven! Pretty much all he had eaten was canned peaches and he had no clue how wonderful the real things were! So when at all possible, go for the fresh stuff. But if you aren't always able to do fresh, frozen is the next best thing. (Zachariah eats frozen mango chunks for lunch almost daily!) It doesn't take long to thaw and the fruit still keeps most of its nutrients!

Ok folks! That about does it for today. Again, these are very simple things to do, and I feel a bit silly even posting about them, but if one person realizes that there is a difference between 100% juice and the juice they are purchasing, then I consider it a successful post! :)

Happy healthy eating (or drinking)!

Advice Needed

I want to paint.

But I don't want to paint just anything, I want to give one of the rooms in the house a spruce. I know that if I wait a few months I will be able to find out the sex of the baby and then we will be painting the nursery... but I don't want to wait for that.

That being said, I think I want to paint our hallway! Our hallway is extremely bland and... well, so many other boring words. I am actually ashamed we haven't painted it yet. I mean, we have been living here for four years now and I think a paint job is LONG overdue.

So here is where your help comes in. I need help figuring out a color to paint the hallway. For your convenience, I have included a picture of the bland and yucky looking space.

My gut reaction is to go with a neutral color. An earthy tone. Something safe. But here is the problem. The hallway leads into the living room, which is a brown earthy color. The hallway also leads into mine and Daniels bedroom, which is painted in two different brown colors. And guess what? The hallway leads into the kitchen, which is ALSO painted with two shades of brown and a lovely shade of white.

Yeah. We went a little crazy with the browns. We realize this now.

So here is my question...

Would painting the hallway an earth color just be too much? Should I go with a red or something different to set it apart from the rest of the house, or will I be safer to stay with the same color scheme we have going on?

Oh, and then there is the problem of this nasty wallpaper covering the bottom half of the hallway. What do to with that? Paint over it or re wallpaper with something a little more trendy?

Obviously I need your help people. So PLEASE leave your feedback! I am desperate!!!

Pregnancy Update

Hello! Its been almost a week since my last post, so I figured I should pop on over here and update you all on what is going on. And to tell you the truth, this is going to be a pretty short post considering nothing much has changed! And this wont so much be a post as much as it will be me rambling. Just thought I should give you all a fair warning!

Ok, so pregnancy news... I am about a week and a half away from being out of my first trimester. Can we say, hurray? I cannot wait to reach that point. Not like the sickness will magically go away like it does for most people, but it means I am that much closer to holding my baby and being DONE with pregnancy. For those that say pregnancy is the most enjoyable thing, I want to slap them. For those that say the second pregnancy flies by, I want to slap them too. Now, I wont actually slap anyone, but these two things could not be farther from the truth for me!!! I guess its kinda hard for a pregnancy to "fly by" when I am constantly being reminded (by spit and puke) that I am pregnant.

Speaking of being pregnant, I am so incredibly emotional and exhausted all the time. I cry at the drop of a hat least once a day, and it is usually because of something silly. Yesterday it was because Jackson asked Suki to marry him on an old Gilmore Girls episode. I have seen this episode at least a dozen times, and never once have I done anything more than smile at that particular part. Needless to say, I felt dumb. And I remember being extremely tired when I was pregnant with Zachariah, but it has been hitting me hard this go around. Thankfully Daniel has the flexibility with his job where he can stay home for a couple hours in the morning and he takes care of Z and lets me sleep in! How wonderful is that? I am telling you, I am spoiled rotten. I mean, Daniel is usually a BIG help to me and Z on a daily basis anyway, but he is really outdoing himself during the pregnancy issues. He wins about 438 awards for being so fabulous! Having the luxury to puke in the morning without a toddler climbing on my back or sitting in my lap is just... heaven.

Speaking of puke, as of this week I have gotten my puking issue under somewhat control! I am throwing up no more than two times a day, but mostly its just once in the morning! I am stoked about that. Now, I don't feel 100% fine and dandy all day and I still hang over the toilet a bit and hack up mucous like its going out of style, but its so nice to know that I have the puking on a schedule. It allows me to get out of the house every now and then! Can you believe that I went 5 weeks without going out and about? I went to family's houses... that's it. Monday was the first time I went out into public, with my toddler, in 5 weeks. Now, I felt like I was going to pass out the whole time, but I did it! I went to Target and bought my baby some big boy underwear.

Speaking of big boy underwear, he is not actually wearing it yet. But I had high hopes of starting potty training this week, so we bought it just in case. So far I have been lazy and not been diligent about it. Anyone surprised? Didn't think so. But I swear, I am starting soon! I told myself that I wanted to start potty training when he turned two. That came and went and now I have set the goal at potty training him before his third birthday. Well, sadly, his third birthday is coming up in TWO MONTHS. Don't get me started or I will cry. I will just say that I don't have much longer before I meet this deadline! So I promise, I WILL start it sometime soon (as in, before he graduates high school) and I WILL be keeping you updated on the craziness.

Speaking of craziness... haha. Just kidding!

Well, I guess I did have a decent amount of stuff to say. So much for this post being short, huh? Ah well. I don't think I have anything else to ramble on about, so I will just go ahead and say goodbye.

Goodbye! :)

Laundry Fun

I have had these pictures ready to post for a week or two now, but I just haven't been able to come up with any words to go along with the post. So, in fear of never posting this, I am just going to post the dang pictures and get over the fact that its going to be a lame post. Is that ok with everyone?

Ok. Good.

This is Zachariah's new laundry basket. Its pretty much the most adorable laundry basket I have ever seen and Zachariah LOVES it. I mean, absolutely loves it.

Along with being flat out adorable, it has this fabulous handle that you can use to swing over your shoulder and carry the lion down to the laundry room. Fabulous? Yes, yes it is.

The mouth of the lion opens up so you can throw clothes in there. Zachariah LOVES this.

Every time he has dirty clothes he runs over, opens the mouth, throws the clothes in, closes it and says (in a very deep and raspy voice), "Mmmm. Yummy shirt!" (Or shorts, or pants. Insert appropriate clothing item.) So yeah. He talks for the lion. How cute is that?

Anyway. I just wanted to share about the cute laundry basket. We found it at Target for $10 and we are VERY pleased with it. They had a couple other laundry baskets similar to this. I think one was sports related and one was a butterfly or something. But this one is by far the cutest. And it fit his safari themed room so wonderfully, so purchasing "Mr. Lion" was a no brainer for us.

And yes, Zachariah named his laundry basket. :)

Like Mother, Like Son

In case you missed it yesterday on facebook or twitter, here is a picture for your Thursday morning enjoyment...

Is this not the funniest thing in the world? I was hanging over the toilet and when I turned around Zachariah was doing this little number. Cracked.me.up. He did have a few sound effects to go with it, and he did spit in his toilet. I started getting onto him for spitting, but then I figured that sounded a bit hypocritical. Ha!

Anyway, just wanted to share this priceless cell phone picture with my blogger friends! Hope everyone has a great day!

Pregnancy Woes

Ok... I really am hoping to post more than once a week, but, as my last post explains, I am pregnant. And for those of you who have not realized this yet, I feel you should know that pregnancy is a form of torture for me. Seriously. I am not one of those pregnant women who have a bit of nausea for 3 weeks and then joyfully enjoy the rest of their pregnancy. I am cursed.

You see, while some pregnant women only suffer from nausea, I suffer from vomiting. And while some pregnant women suffer from vomiting, I suffer from extreme vomiting. (I have actually busted blood vessels in my face a time or two.) When I was pregnant with Zachariah I threw up 6-8 times a day until I started taking Zofran. Even with the meds I still threw up 3-4 times a day. Not fun when you are a preschool teacher! This go around I am not yet on meds and only puking 2-3 times a day. So its not quite a bad as last time, but still just as inconvenient due to the fact that I need to raise a toddler. Oh, did I mention my vomiting lasted the whole 9 months when I was pregnant with Zachariah? Yeah. Well, it did.

Now that we have covered the vomiting, lets move on to the spitting, shall we?

Yes. I said spitting.

Believe it or not, excess saliva is a common pregnancy symptom. Most women have an increase in saliva, but its not a very noticeable one. And the women that do notice it can usually just swallow the excess saliva. Not the case with me. I have SO much saliva that I have to spit it out. I have to spit so much that I am forced to carry around a cup with me to spit into.

Yes. I have a spit cup.

And yes, I have been asked if I am chewing tobacco.

Doctors and nurses brush me off and tell me that the spitting will probably go away around the first trimester and then I promptly give a respectful eye roll. My vomiting does not stop in the first trimester and neither does my saliva increase. In fact, when I was pregnant with Z I did not stop spitting until four weeks AFTER I had him. And every month when my menstrual cycle rolls around I would always notice an increase in saliva. Never to the extent of needing a spit cup, but I would have to spit in the sink a few times a day during the week of my period. (Sorry if that is TMI. Going through pregnancy and child birth makes me numb to the whole TMI factor. lol)

And now that we have covered the saliva issue, lets move on to the mucous. I guess mucous and saliva could go into the same category though couldn't they? Ah well. On with the mucous!

Ok, so along with the puking and saliva issue I have developed a mucous problem. Tons and tons of mucous will literally back up in my throat and I will have to spend an hour or so gagging it up. I literally have to stick my finger down my throat to get it up. And sticking my finger down my throat triggers the gag reflex which makes me puke again. Oh the joy. Anyway, the mucous problem is getting a tiny bit better thanks to Zyrtec. It thinks out the mucous a bit and makes it easier to gag up, which means less puking.

And I would be completely fine if I never type the word "mucous" again. That was just too much. My apologies.

All of that to say that I go through one heck of a time during my pregnancy and that is why I may be slack on my blogging. I am starting to cope better with my symptoms though, so hopefully you will see a couple more blog posts here and there. Just know I haven't given up, it just takes me a little bit to drag myself to the computer!

Signing off,

Your sick-o pregnant blogger

:)

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...