Pretty smart…

I saw a wonderful idea on Pinterest last week. Poor Zachary is on his third antibiotic since New Year’s Eve for an antibiotic. I am glad I saw the picture because it has really made keeping track of medicine easier.

Xoxox

I was trying to think of cute gifts Emily could give her teachers for Valentine’s Day. I honestly can’t remember the website where I found the idea.
We made salt dough x’s and o’s, plus some hearts thrown in for good measure. Emily had a great time rolling out the dough and pressing out the shapes. After baking them, she spent a good hour painting them the next day.
The end result was super cute and the bonus is that it was a project that kept her busy for some time.

Creepy

Creepy McDonalds toys. Madame Alexander dolls. This one is called the “Mad Hatter”. It’s eyes open and close.

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!

Buried in a book…

Every summer the library has a wonderful reading program. Emily always looks forward to it, as she loves to read. The program goes a little like this for the children who have to be read to: Have 20 books read to you and you receive a coupon for Sonic. Have 20 more books read to you and you get two free tickets to a local baseball game (not talking big leagues here), another coupon to Sonic, a coupon for a free Kid’s meal at Bob Evans and a cool bag to tote books, stuffed animals, you name it around. If you write a few lines about your favorite book you get to pick out a free book. You are also entered in to prize drawings for completing 40 books.

The program started on June 7 and ends on August 31. Emily completed it before the end of June. That’s what happens when you check out 20 books at a time. I only counted each book as one, even though we read them a multitude of times. And I only counted the books from the library, not the dozens that we read from her personal library. Have I mentioned this child loves to read??

They also have a second part to the program. After the child has 40 books read to them, they can continue on. After 40 more books have been read, they are entered into the drawing again and receive a book plate or something. I am a little fuzzy on this as we have not completed this part yet. Over halfway there though!

Our library district  is awesome! They have so many programs for people of all ages. We are truly lucky to live in a community that places such an emphasis on reading and learning. I highly recommend that you spend some time in the library and partake in some of the wonderful offerings that they have.

Handprint fireworks

Another “No Time For Flashcards” activity. Easy to do and didn’t take long to gather the materials. Great craft for when you have a limited amount of time.

Busy boy!

St Patrick’s Day

We celebrated by wearing our green and eating our corned beef! Emily and I also made green potatoes. (Mashed potatoes mixed with spinach) Surprisingly, Emily LOVED the corned beef. She is really starting to branch out. I am so proud!

My two McCutie’s!

2 months

It’s hard to believe that it has been two short months since Zachary has entered our lives. He has grown and changed so much in the past 8 weeks. He is such a joy in our lives and I can hardly remember what our lives were like without him.

In the past month he has attended his first birthday party (Daddy’s), experienced his first restaurant (Red Robin), taken his first walk, been to the park and hit some stores. He even went with his big sister to get her hair cut.  A man on the move.

His stats:

10 lbs 10 oz (28%)
23 inches (58%)
Head 39.3 cm (37%)

He took his two month doctor visit in stride. Except for the part when I left him with the nurses so I could take Emily to the bathroom. He ended up with two shots and an oral vaccine. Poor little guy was so mad at me after he got his shots. In my eyes, he looked at me like I had let him down. He got lots of snuggles and love after the mean nurses left.

He’s growing, just not so fast. We are dealing with issues of reflux, which we originally thought was colic. Little man is so young to be on medicine already but he is taking Zantac to help with the reflux as well as some mylanta. We have had to start putting rice cereal in his bottle to help thicken the formula so it stays down. I read somewhere that reflux usually peaks around 4 months so hopefully he’ll turn the corner soon. After every feeding he has to remain in an upright position for at least a half hour. Not a big deal except the late feedings. Then we all get a little tired. I read somewhere that reflux usually peaks around 4 months so hopefully he’ll turn the corner soon.

Despite the reflux, Zachary is a happy little guy. You can tell the medication is helping just by looking at him. He is more social and active. He smiles all the time. He loves playing on his playmat and will “talk” to the animals and to us. Zachary is starting to love baths more and more. He is getting a little better at tummy time when he is able to have it. He will push himself up for a bit before he gets mad and starts to scream. Right now he can’t have tummy time within two hours after feedings so it’s hard to get it in all the time because he wants to sleep by that point. He is a strong little guy with a spunky personality already.

2 months down and loving every minute of it!

Website suggestions…

I have been on the look out for more websites for crafts and learning for Emily. I need to update the links on the side but I thought I would share these and see if anyone has any other suggestions of sites that they like.

• Free Kids Crafts
• Crayola– great ideas for crafts, printables, etc.
• Preschool Activity Box– “materials to develop their preschool children’s ability and skills through various fun learning activities.”
• Funschool– Preschoolers can learn their ABC’s, study math, and begin reading using the games on Funschool.
• Nick Jr– of course.
• DLTK’s growing together– This site is really cool. It has crafts, printables, ABCs, numbers, etc.

I am sure I will run across some more but these are a few that I have found over the past few days. Take a look- you might see something you  like!