Man in the mirror

I’m lookin’ at the man in the mirror……..

Silly, smart, beautiful, exasperating

Those are all words to describe my Emily. I love her with all my heart. She can send me to the brink of tears of happiness and the brink of insanity all within the same day. She is your typical 3 1/2 year old I suppose. Full of questions and wonder. Full of sass and spunk. She’s testing her boundaries and learning at the same time. She loves all things pink and frilly. One of her heroes is Fancy Nancy. And she talks. And talks. And talks. The things she comes up with! She’ll make you laugh, shake your head and think.

Not a week goes by when I am not asked how old she is. Yes, she is very tall for her age. She does not look like she is only 3 1/2. Her vocabulary is amazing for her age. In my opinion anyway. Not that I am biased. Just tonight the checker at Target asked me how old she was. She told me that she had an amazing vocabulary and used the words in the correct context. Nothing like hearing your child is bright from a complete stranger!

She is a budding artist who loves to color and draw. If I were to save every drawing that she made, I would have a medium size plastic tub full. She has quite an imagination as well. Emily is beautiful and full of spunk and spark. She exudes an aura everywhere she goes.

And yet there are some days that the sass that I love just about sends me over the edge. The “No’s” and “Why’s” are enough to make a grown woman cry. The best invention I have found recently has been the Timeout pad. Look it up. It works.

I love my Emily with all my heart. With all her silliness and sass. I’ll take her just the way she is. Every day.She is so full of life and love. She loves everyone and everything. And I LOVE that about her!

Big helper!

What more is there for me to do???

Photos by Emily

Emily grabbed the camera and took some photos. Not too bad. I wonder if we have a budding photographer on our hands….

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Crash and burn

Bad mommy…. Mommy didn’t do a good job teaching Emily how to use the brakes on her big girl bike before we set out on our walk. I honestly didn’t think about it. It’s those things that come naturally to us that I sometimes forget that are learned. I also learned that there is a reason I won’t be homeschooling Emily. I don’t have the patience for it!

I tried to do a crash course on brake usage when she first decided that she was done. There was no way I was going to push the bike and the stroller back home that early in the game. Obviously, I didn’t do a good job because she went careening down the street that was at a very, very slight decline. Imagine this: Her screaming, me trying to catch up with her while pushing the stroller, and my screaming “Push back!! Push back!! Squeeze the handle!!”. No such luck. I couldn’t catch up with her as she flew across the street and face planted on the sidewalk. She smacked her nose, busted her lip and scraped up her palm. Hit everywhere there was no helmet and no pads. Go figure. Needless to say, I pushed the stroller and the bike all the way home. Poor kid is traumatized. Before we head out next time, we will be spending a lot of time going up and down the sidewalk in front of our house.

Biggest Loser Update- Results Week #2

We just had weigh in number 2. I am happy to say that I have seen a loss both weeks. Not as big of a loss as I would have liked this week. I wasn’t very good over the weekend and let a lot of stuff slide. I didn’t gain anything from the weekend’s transgressions but I didn’t lose any more either.

I did make it to the gym for the first time since breaking my foot. I was wondering how Zachary would do since he has never really been with strangers, except the sitter once. He did great. Granted, my workout was only about 35 minutes but still. (I was watching the clock for nap time and the radar for storms.) It’s hard to get to the gym when he naps all the time! I will just have to kick it in gear and work out at home. Thank goodness for weights and the Wii.

As of right now, I am in a very, very close second place. I have lost 5.3 pounds since the start of the challenge. Not a huge amount but nothing to scoff at either. Now if I could get the exercise thing in place as well. The eating has been much better but is always a work in progress.

Show me the money!!!!

Headphones required

Zachary has been on a yelling tear lately. He will make you aware of his displeasure via his loud voice. Man, that boy has a set of lungs on him!
Emily got smart the other day. She remembered that she has a pair of headphones. We jokingly call them the NASCAR pit crew headphones. They are basically the same thing. Don’t want to hear the loud fireworks? Put ’em on. Too loud at the ballpark? They’ll work. Block out baby beorher’s yells? Sho ’nuff.
Smart girl. Smart girl.

Month 6

6 months. 36 weeks. 193 days. 4632 hours. 277920 seconds. The amount of time Zachary has been in our lives. Such a short time in the grand scheme of things. These past six months have FLOWN by! It’s hard to believe that we celebrated his half birthday on Monday. I delivered dinners to a couple of new moms last week and got to see their newborns. It seems like ages ago that Zachary was that small. Funny how that happens.

Stats:
17 lbs 5 oz (47%)
27 3/4 in (89%) (Although I think he’s longer. He wouldn’t stretch his legs out fully. Stinker.)
HC: 44cm (58%)

He’s really put on some weight since starting solid foods and that is definitely a good thing! He’s still long and skinny though. Speaking of solid foods, during month 6 we started Zachary on vegetables and a fruit or two. He started off with green beans, peas, squash, carrots and prunes. The green beans are the funniest thing to see him take the first bite of. You know how make a face and shudder? He does it with his whole body. Makes me laugh every time!

Month 6 was full of fun. We celebrated papa’s birthday, cousin Tim’s birthday, Father’s Day, 4th of July and had a Prince/Princess picnic with some friends. We finally had some decent weather so we could spend some time hanging in the backyard and at the park. Zachary took his first ride on the swings and loved it! We also made it to the pool for the first time this summer. The jury is still out on that one though.

Zachary is such a smiley boy. His laugh is contagious. You should hear him laugh when I tickle him and sing the beans song to him. He LOVES his feet and toes. He is always trying to play with his feet or get them in his mouth. Whether you are changing his diaper or trying to feed him, you are dealing with feet.

The boy is definitely mobile. He’s been rolling over since he was 3 months old but he is now EVERYWHERE! It was a sad day when I realized that it was time to pack up the play mat and put away the swing. You can put him in the floor of his room, walk away and come back to find him playing with the a/c vent, hanging out under his bed or banging on the diaper champ.

Zachary is a very active, very happy little guy. He is always smiling when I go to get him in the morning as well. He will wake up and play for the longest time. Now if we could just teach big sister that we would be set!

Half a year gone already…..Wow. That was fast!

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Cheap entertainment

Target had many of their summer toys 50% off last week. I picked up a bowling game for Emily for only $3.50. I figured if she didn’t like it it wouldn’t be a big deal.
No worries as to whether she liked it or not. She loved it! We played with it for quite some time yesterday morning. Pooh Bear and Frenchy even got in in the action.
Money well spent, in my opinion!

Pool time!

Finally made it to the pool this summer! Sad that it took us this long! It was Zachary’s first time ever and he wasn’t too sure about it. In his defense, the water was kind of cold. Every time I tried putting him in the water he held his legs up. He started yelling “Dadadada”!!!!! After a few tries he gave up and relented. I think the jury is still out for him as to whether pools are fun or not.
Emily, on the hand, is a little fish. She has loved the pool ever since being introduced when she was 8 months old. She would spend all day at the pool if I let her. She had so much fun with her friends Chase and Slade. I didn’t get a picture of it, but the cutest sight was seeing Emily and Chase run up the steps holding hands. Best friends for sure.
It was a great visit and we actually lasted 2 hours. Not bad for the first visit if you ask me!