Thursday, December 27, 2012

Lazy

Confession time....today is one lazy day. We are working through our Christmas hang overs. Between the family trip to Mexico and all the Christmas get togethers we have not stopped running, baking, making, you name it, since thanksgiving. So today, my first day back at this whole stay at home by myself with crazy, we are lazy. We stayed in pjs for most of the day & cuddled & watched cartoons & done the bare minimum. I even watched a show that wasn't a PBS cartoon....when Zach was awake....oh the insanity. For now I'm swearing off pinterest and all the fitness quotes (they can kiss my large christmas cookie enhanced behind) projects & recipes. I promise to try again next week....new recipes, home made snacks, educational activities and all. Until then I'm going to sit here with my tea and watch Zach crawl back and forth in his hamster tunnel.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Merry Christmas!

This year was way more fun with Zach. He opened presents, sort of, and really liked to sit and climb on all of the boxes. We are so fortunate to have so much family to celebrate with and look forward to one more Christmas celebration this weekend. Most special was Christmas morning with our little family. It was nice to have a quiet morning just the 3 of us. We got him a hamster tunnel...not technically but it looks an awful lot like a larger version of a small pet habitat. We are just missing the spinning wheel which seems like a good idea for all this toddler energy. I mean why not? We were debating getting him a dog bed....I mean nap pad. Only the best for our little beast.



Thursday, December 20, 2012

Dear toddler

Dearest toddler of mine,

You are fun. We play cars & have snacks & you talk to me and give me kisses. This stage is fun....most of the time....

It's not fun when you go limp noodle on me and yell, usually only when we're in public. Or when you look me right in the eye after I've told you something (usually no touching the dogs water or no throwing food) and go 'no mama' and do it anyway.

I realize these are normal and the battles and sass will get bigger from here, but maybe we can focus on the hugs & kisses instead of defying my every request.

In totally unrelated news I think I'm going to start buying wine by the box.


Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Mom of the year moment of the day

Zach generally has a very well balanced and documented diet. We are a wee bit crazy about it since he has stomach issues. Today's afternoon snack was half of a mini whole wheat bagel, which he dipped in ketchup, and potato chips. Picture of health right here.



Monday, December 17, 2012

Hola Amigos!

We survived our trip to Mexico for my brothers wedding!  A few things made this trip not only survivable, but fun for the whole fam...

1. Zach is a great traveler.  We were shocked.  I traveled with Zach and my mom last summer and he did awful...just awful...on the plane and acclimating to the new surroundings.  I was dreading travel and having minor anxiety attacks all week, but low and behold, Zach decided he would like to see somewhere besides Northwest Ohio because if it went poorly we were never taking him anywhere outside of the state again...ever.  He slept on his flights, cried maybe a few seconds on each flight and was taking his normal 2 naps a day and going down easy at night by the second day.

2. My entire family was there.  There were more people to entertain and distract Zach when he got crabby.  There was even a few hours during nap time one day where my mom stayed with him (she napped while he napped, perfect) and me and Matt got to go to the swim up bar and hang out together.

3. We realized before hand this was not going to be overly relaxing.  We have a toddler, nothing is overly relaxing.  It was fun, but we knew our days of vacations where we relax by the pool, read, get a tan and have drinks were long gone.  We needed to nap during those nap times just like Zach to recharge.

4. Matt aka husband/daddy of the year.  This trip was for my brothers wedding, which I was in, including a rehearsal so Matt had the majority of parenting duties for the better part of 2 days.  I took over one of the days and set him wild (he may have shown the family blonde hair Matt, his wild alter ego) so each of us had a little time to cut loose.  Matt is such a wonderful partner and dad he made this trip almost stress free.

5. Zach now likes sand.  On the Florida trip mentioned earlier, he hated the sand and the beach.  He cried and would life his toes so they didn't touch the sand.  He now likes to run like the wind in the sand and I think we ended up bringing home about a pound of it in his hair and clothes.  He does not like the waves.  The water washing up to the beach freaked him right out and was met with a chorus of no, no, no mama.

6. They had a kids play area.  We could have technically left him there for the people of the resort to watch, but that seemed sketchy at best, but it was a pretty awesome play area that was air conditioned and made specifically for 1-3 year olds.  That helped a ton since they had cars, videos and pretty much all the toys he has here.

I'll have to make a list of travel must haves for our next trip.  Nothing warms the heart like seeing your little guy playing in the sand and experiencing new things.




Matt napping and Zach watching Thomas the Train


Proof he wasn't good the entire time...I wanted to use this for our Christmas cards, but Matt said no, even though this is usually what we look like


This is the one I actually used on our cards, so if you don't get one in the mail you just received one via internet....you're welcome


Happy baby in the sand


Please note that we are far away from the water, just the way Z likes it


Playing in the sand with Daddy....which means Matt was building sand castles so Zach could crush them...the kid is destructive and hates order, I should be worried



Sunday, December 9, 2012

Another one?! Not a baby, don't get excited

Another post about how I am an idiot....don't worry, not another one about poop, but we do go to Mexico next week so I make no poop story promises for the future. And after posting this I realized the title another one may be misleading, no more babies here for now, we're still looking for the instructions on the one we have.

It started with me thinking I knew what tired was pre child, then assuming I'd still be fun like I was pre Zach, or wanting Zach to crawl so bad....you name it....idiot Jessica.

This weeks idiot moment was me resisting the change from two naps down to one. Zach was showing signs and being a rockstar night sleeper, but still I resisted. Finally he just flat out refused the second nap and we had to make the switch since he was a terror at night. Day 1 was one 3 hour nap and he slept over 12 hours at night....holy hell. Do you have any idea what you can get done in 3 hours?! I didn't either. Day 2 we got an almost 3 hour nap. I was stupid. We actually had time to go to the store this morning without running through or breakdowns since he naps only once and later. Christmas came early at our household in the form of naps.



Thursday, December 6, 2012

Desperate housewife

Nothing says desperate housewife like being the only woman sitting at the bar, having a beer, downloading Thomas the Train books.

So Matt & I take turns with a weekly night off. Every Wednesday one of us has the night off of home/child duties to do whatever we want...meet friends, run errands, etc. We started this for a number of different reasons, mainly because I was slowly becoming a crazy hermit and struggled with mom guilt leaving to do something just for me....and Matt needed time away from my crazy (he'd never say this but it's true, I needed time away from my crazy so I know he did too).

Last night was my night, which I spent at BW3 at the bar downloading kids books and apps on my nook for an upcoming plane ride. I should have probably stuck with Starbucks, because do you know who drinks alone in a bar on a Wednesday? Creepers...and desperate (ahem loser) housewives. In my defense we do not have wi fi & yesterday coffee just wasn't going to cut it. Night off well spent...

Monday, December 3, 2012

Sappy

Yup, it's time for a sappy 'where has time gone' post. Time truly flies with a little one...it did before, but with a little guy growing right before your eyes it seems to speed up the process. I may not always appreciate it, somedays i down right do not appreciate it and day dream of being in an office with adults and eating an entire meal without cutting anything into little pieces, but I've been so lucky to get to be a stay at home mom to see all the changes. I'm not as organized as I thought I'd be, we don't do crafts & learning times like pinterest says I should, and I should definitely vacuum more, but we play a lot of cars and get a lot of giggles. I can't promise I'll cherish each minute, some minutes I'll still day dream about being with adults and want to tear my hair out, but I do not regret a single day spent at home.

What prompted this sappyness when usually this is a place full of sarcasm & poop stories? Zach & I took a walk this weekend...we took the same walk I took almost everyday I was pregnant with him. It was way slower with Zach than it was 9 months pregnant.