Is it nap time yet?

What a decade it has been.

2010-01-03T12:43:00.000-05:00

Wow 2010 is here, how the heck did that happen? It seems like just yesterday it was 2000 and I was graduating from high school. So many things have happened in the last 10 years. Some were good, some were bad, but most of them made a major impact on my life as I know it.
It’s hard for me to believe that when this decade began I was still a high school student. I was working and trying to take care of my mom and still pay the bills. I was engaged to Jason my high school boyfriend and planning a wedding. In the beginning of 2001 my mom had gotten sick enough that I could no longer care for her and ended up in a nursing home in Muskegon and Jason and I moved to Whitehall to be closer to her. By the end of 2001 Jason and I had broke off our engagement and my mom was almost well enough to move back in with me.
By March of 2002 mom was out of the nursing home and we were living in an apartment together. In November of 2002 Keith sent me an instant message on a dating website we were both members of and we had our first date 3 days later. 2003 found me engaged to be married, again, and planning our wedding. In September of 2004 Keith and I got married and went to Florida for our honeymoon, It was also the first time I had ever been on an airplane.
In 2005 Keith and I tried to settle into married life and Keith was adjusting to having my mom live with us. As the year progressed my moms heath got worse and we were wondering how much longer she would be with us. On July 28th 2005 my mom passed away. That was by far the hardest day of my life. In January of 2006 after trying for 15 months we found out I was pregnant with our first child and in September Zachary was born.
2007 began with us thinking about moving back to Muskegon to be closer to our families and by July we had finished our move and were settling in. We celebrated Zach’s first birthday and his second Christmas. 2008 was a mostly uneventful year with the exception of the pregnancy that unfortunately ended at 7 weeks.
2009 started off uneventful but quickly got interesting when we found out that I was pregnant again in May. We got the shock of our lives just a couple weeks later when at our first ultrasound we found out we were having twins. In September we found out that we were having 2 baby girls and in December a false labor scare had us thinking that our girls would be 2009 babies after all.
This past decade has been so eventful I can’t help but wonder what will the next one bring. Some things I know will happen, My girls will be born and my son will start school. Some things I can only hope for, my marriage to stay strong and our families to stay healthy. Then there are the bad things I know will probably happen and can only try to prepare for, like my dad passing away. All I can hope for is for all the good to outweigh the bad and all I can do is live every moment to the fullest.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T13:25:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday.

32 week ultrasound and OB appt.

2009-12-04T21:44:00.003-05:00

I had my 32 week ultrasound today to check on the babies growth and although we don't have the official report yet everything looks good so far. Both girls are over 4 lbs now and I can tell that they are getting bigger simply because I'm getting more uncomfortable by the day. Today when they measured me at my OB appt I was measuring at 44 cm which is the equivalent to being 44 weeks pregnant with a single baby or in other words I’m huge. My blood pressure is still perfect which amazes me since by this point in my pregnancy with Zach it was already high. The girls heart rates were perfect at 154 for baby A and 146 for baby B. My next appt is in a week and a half and from that point on I will be going in every week. I can't believe how close I am getting now.
Oh yeah I almost forgot I found out today that my regular OB will be back in time for my next appt. I'm so happy about that.

32 week Belly shots

2009-12-02T16:30:00.002-05:00

Just a quick fly by post to drop off my 32 week belly shots.

Belly Shot - 28 weeks

2009-11-03T22:47:00.004-05:00

Here is my latest belly shot. I don't think that I look that much bigger than I was 4 weeks ago, but I sure feel bigger.

Here are two that show just how bad my stretch marks are already.

28 Weeks

2009-11-03T20:15:00.001-05:00

I have been counting down the days until I made it to this milestone of my pregnancy. So what is it exactly that makes 28 weeks so special you ask? Simply put the babies if born now would have a good chance of survival. Just how good depends on what statistics you are looking at as well as how good the hospital is and how much fight the babies have in them but from what I can find the survival rate at 28 weeks is 80% or a little higher. Now that doesn’t mean I’m ready to have them yet because I’m not but considering how often twins come early I feel better knowing that their chances get better by the day.
Today I had my 28 week ultrasound to check the babies growth. Both girls are still looking great and seem to be right on target for growth. I still can’t make it through the whole ultrasound without feeling like I’m going to pass out. I guess that is what happens when you have nearly 5 lbs of babies squishing your veins and arteries.

Baby Shower

2009-10-26T17:47:00.005-04:00

Yesterday was my baby shower. Everything went smoothly and I had a great time. My MIL did an awesome job on the food and the games were fun. One person ended up winning 3 different prizes.

There were a ton of gifts and I have to say these girls are already very loved and very spoiled. My dad's spare room is now full of gift bags until I can find a place to put everything. Our place is kind of small.

Here are the pictures. Please ignore the goofy expressions on my face in some of them.

24 week Ultrasound.

2009-10-07T11:23:00.002-04:00

We had another ultra sound yesterday. Both babies are still doing well and both still look like girls. :) Having another tech confirm the sexes makes me feel so much better about buying pink. I'm so excited to have girls in the house but a little unsure at the same time. I can't help but wonder how much different they will be from Zach. Anyway here are a few pictures from yesterday.

24 Weeks and a quick catch up.

2009-10-05T22:32:00.003-04:00

So I’ve fallen behind again. I think my problem is that I always think I have to post a long well thought out blog post instead of just posting what is on my mind and not worrying about if it makes perfect sense. So I’m going to try to do better in the future but for now here is a quick catch up.
I’m still pregnant with twins Only now we know that they are both girls. Of course there is no way to be 100% certain until they are born but the ultrasound tech said she is 90% sure that they are both girls. We have another U/S tomorrow (October 6th) and we hope they can take another look just to reconfirm it.
I’m now 24 weeks pregnant and at the most have only 14 weeks to go. Getting to 24 weeks is a big deal to me this time around. When I was pregnant with Zach I would read the weekly updates online and in the pregnancy books and when I read that 24 weeks was widely considered the date of viability it really didn't seem like a big deal to me. I never considered the possibility of going into labor that early I just assumed that Zach would be born a full term, healthy baby. He was by the way. Then I got pregnant again and soon found out it was twins and all of a sudden all those milestones that I ignored with Zach suddenly made sense. Even with my pregnancy with Zach I stressed until I reached the second trimester since I had miscarried before, but with this pregnancy my stress level has been at an all time high. I worried until I reached the second trimester that I might miscarry again. Then I started to worry that something might happen to one of the babies and I wouldn’t know it. Now that I can feel each baby move my stress level had dropped considerably. I feel better now that I have reached 24 weeks and now I’m looking forward to the next major milestone, 28 weeks. At that point the babies chances of survival greatly improve. I really hope that I make it all the way to my C-section at 38 weeks but I know that the reality is with twins my chances of having these babies early are pretty good.
I’ll leave you for now with a picture of my growing belly.

Zach's parties

2009-09-17T12:15:00.000-04:00

A lot has happened since I posted last. Zach had both of his birthday parties and got spoiled beyond belief.
The first party was on Sept. 6th at my in-laws house for Keith’s side of the family and the second was this past Sunday at my dad’s house for my side of the family. The first party went great. My MIL made dinner and ordered the cake so all we had to do was show up, no room for error. Now the second party on the other hand was one mishap after another. My family does potluck dinners for most of our get together and Zach’s party was no exception. Because it was my son’s birthday I was bringing two different dishes and the cake. What I didn’t expect was to wake up that morning with a back ache from hell. We had a busy weekend and I did way too much walking around so I should have expected it but it sure made getting ready for the party difficult. I made taco salad, fruit salad, and my mom’s famous red cake. Everything was going smoothly until after I made the frosting and frosted the cake. I tasted the frosting from what was left in the bowl and could tell that something wasn’t right. I had no time to fix it before we left for my dad’s house so I grabbed the ingredients for the frosting and tossed them in a bag, as I was doing that I realized the mistake I had made with the first batch of frosting. I had forgot the vanilla. It really is amazing what a difference 1 tsp of vanilla makes to a recipe. Anyway we got to my dad’s and I started making the new batch of frosting when my sister and her mom got there. She was unpacking their bags of food and when she grabbed the plate of onion wraps it spilled all over the floor. I helped her clean up the mess and then we scraped the old frosting off the cake and re-frosted it with the new batch. That should have been the end of the issues for the day but when my other sister showed up with her kids they were sick. Kaylee was coughing and Tyler had a runny nose and kept sneezing. About a half hour after they got there she told us that they had gone to urgent care and were told that it was a viral infection and to be prepared for her whole family to get it. I guess she wanted to make sure that every member of our family got sick. I tried to stay away from them but yesterday I woke up sick and Zach is sick too so I guess we didn’t stay far enough away.
The week between the parties was busy too. I had my Ultrasound on Tuesday and on Friday we took Zach to the Detroit zoo. I don’t have time to write about those two right now but I’ll try to get to it in the next few days.

Zach's birthday.

2009-09-06T12:58:00.001-04:00

It's so hard for me to believe that my baby boy is three years old today. I had a hard time sleeping last night. I just kept replaying the events of the day he was born over and over in my head. I can still remember walking the halls for hours trying to bring my contractions closer together and help him move down. Also the 7 hours of Pitocin fuled contractions with no pain meds and the relief I felt when the epidural was in place. The disappointment of being told at 11am after 14hours of labor that I was still at 4cm, exactly where I was when I checked into the hospital, and the inital fear when they said that maybe we should consider a C-section. Most of all I remember the tears that poured down my cheeks when I heard him cry for the first time and the wonder I felt when they held him up so I could see him. He was he was pink and wiggling, he was screaming at the top of his lungs, he was perfect, and he was mine. I had held 100's of babies before I had Zach but what no one had told me was that the first time you hold your own child in your arms it will be different. Most of the rest of my hospital stay is a blur but those few hours are etched into my brain and I hope they stay there forever. I can't help but wonder, will I feel the same way when the twins are born? Will the memories of the day they are born stick with me the same? And will I feel the same feeling of wonder when I hold them for the first time? I hope I will.
Happy Birthday Zach, Mommy loves you.

Birthday's and babies

2009-09-04T12:21:00.000-04:00

Another year older. Funny how 28 doesn’t feel any different than 27. Birthdays are different since I had Zach anyway. I guess when your child’s birthday is just days away from your own you get so caught up in their party and presents that yours just takes a back seat. Zach will be three on Sunday and we are having a party for both of us at my in-laws. I was whining a bit earlier this week about having to make my own cake since Keith would never make one or even think to order one, but my mother-in-law came to the rescue. She called yesterday and asked if it would be ok if she ordered a cake for the party on Sunday. Of course it was ok with me, one less thing for me to have to do this weekend.
Keith did surprise me by asking his sister to baby-sit Zach so he could take me out to dinner. We’re going to the Olive Garden, My favorite, and we never take Zach there with us. That is our place to go alone and besides my son is not well behaved enough to eat there yet. I’m excited but I wonder how much of my dinner I will be able to eat since the babies seem to be squishing my stomach already.
On the topic of the babies, both are still doing good. We have another ultrasound on Tuesday and are hoping that they cooperate so we can find out what they are, boys or girls. I’m getting bigger and I finally had to put away my last pair of pre-pregnancy shorts and move full time into maternity clothes. I guess that isn’t so bad though since I’m almost 20 weeks now. I have officially passed the half way point of my pregnancy now. I was informed by my Dr. last time I went in that I will not be allowed to go past 38 weeks due to a repeat c-section. I’m feeling more movement but still nothing consistent and Keith even thought he felt one of the babies kick the other day but wasn’t 100% sure.
Wow that sure was a jumbled post.

Baby Pool

2009-08-26T17:40:00.002-04:00

If anyone wants to make a guess.

14 weeks pregnant.

2009-07-26T22:49:00.000-04:00

Other than my quick post to announce my pregnancy I haven't had much to say about it. I'm currently 14 weeks along and even though I'm having twins I don't feel much different than I did when I was pregnant with my son. The biggest difference has been how tired I am all the time and that I still have nausea even now that I'm out of the first trimester.

I still don't look any different, but that is probably because I was heavy before I got pregnant so my belly fat is hiding any growth that is going on. Surprisingly I have actually lost weight since I get pregnant. I was down 9 lbs at my last doctors appt. Of course that was almost a month ago so we shall see what the scale says on Tuesday at my next appt. I know that everyone gains at their own pace but the lack of weight gain has me a little worried that something is wrong. However the doctor didn't seem worried last time so I guess it must be ok.

There is one other big difference between this pregnancy and my first one. I know many people will say that I'm crazy but I'm already feeling at least one of the babies move. Late at night when I'm laying in bed I get this weird sensation in my lower abdomen. It's hard to explain what it feels like. It's not kicks or thumps or even the flutters that all the books say that you should feel early on. The best way I can decribe it is a strong pressure in one spot and then a feeling of the baby sliding around. Last night was the strongest that I have felt it yet and it went on for over 20 minutes. I just lay there the whole time with a goofy grin on my face. I don't like most aspects of pregnancy but feeling the baby move is my favorite part. I will be glad when Keith can feel too, but for now it's nice to have my own little "secret".

1 way or the other

2009-07-24T10:25:00.005-04:00

Mornings in our house always start one of two ways lately and it all depends on what shift Keith works that day. Most days He has to be to work at either 8am or 9am so he is gone before Zach wakes up. On those days when Zach gets up he runs to the window and looks out to where Keith parks his car. When he sees that it isn't there he cries and runs to the door yelling "Daddy All gone, please daddy come back". Let me tell you it's enough to break my heart into little pieces. After about 10 minutes of me telling him daddy had to go to work and will be home later, he calms down and gets on with his day.

Now on the 1-2 days a week that Keith has to work the late shift and doesn't go in until 11am mornings are a whole different story. First of all I get to sleep in until 10am when Keith has to leave the house. Keith gets Zach out of bed and gets him his morning cup and they watch cartoons until just before 10am when Keith or Zach comes in to wake me up. When it's time for Keith to leave Zach likes to walk him to the door and give him high fives, hugs, and kisses. Then he watches him get in his car from one window and runs to the other one to watch him drive down the street. There are no tears on these mornings just the simple words from a little boy who understands far more than I give him credit for sometimes, "Daddy go work and make money"

One thing that is clear to me from both reactions, my little boy sure does love his daddy. I wouldn't have it any other way.

An announcement.

2009-07-10T12:07:00.007-04:00

They say a picture is worth a 1000 words, But this picture only needs one.

Ok did that shock you? No. Then how about this one.

Yes you are seeing that correctly. I'm having twins.

They are due Jan. 24th but we know that they will come early.

I've had 6 weeks to adjust to the news and I think I'm still getting use to the thought of having two at once.

In the pool

2009-07-10T11:50:00.009-04:00

Not much to say today. There are a few things in my head but nothing that I can share right now. So I thought I would put up some pictures I took at my sister's house a couple weeks ago. It was hot and all the kids piled into the pool to cool off.

Here are just a few more random pictures I took recently.

Zach decided he needed to be in the cat carrier with Bella

Zach got his first Black eye while staying at papa's house. He fell and hit his eye on the chair.

While I was packing for our move Zach fell asleep in our bed.

Sitting on daddy's lap eating strawberries.

Potty Training

2009-07-07T17:27:00.001-04:00

A week ago today we started potty training Zach. We had tried many times in the past 9 months but each time is was obvious that he wasn't ready. This time though I was determined. He is going to be 3 in just a couple months and I felt like it was past time to get rid of the diapers.
So last Wednesday, Keith's birthday, we pulled out the underwear and the potty and got started. We started out putting him on the potty every 15 minutes but several times as soon as he got off he would pee in his underwear. About 2 in the afternoon we caught him starting to go and rushed him onto the potty. After that things got better. He stayed dry the rest of the evening and only had a couple accidents the next day. But in the last few days we have gone backwards. He has had several accidents and if you ask him if he needs to use the potty he screams NO even when he needs to go. If we sit him on the potty he throws a fit and cries the whole time.
It's so frustrating since I know that he knows when he is going and he just keeps fighting it.

Yes I'm still here.

2009-06-24T10:20:00.002-04:00

Wow it has been forever since I posted in here. Right after my last picture post life got busy and I started missing days with my pictures. I do have some cute pictures to post but I don't have time to upload them right now so they will have to wait.
So you may be wondering why life got so busy. Well the company that owned our trailer park sold it and the new owners started changing things including the charges for lot rent and water, which were way too high for us, so we started thinking about moving. I happened to find another park in town that had much lower lot rent and that would pay most of the moving costs to move our trailer. The process of getting our place approved for their park and then finding a place to stay while they were moving it took a while but on June 2nd the trailer was moved out of our old park. We were only suppose to be out for 10 days while they got it set back up but things took longer than expected and we finally got approval to move in on June 18th. Everything was hooked up except for the internet, which was connected today, and the A/C, which wont be hooked up until monday. I may die from heat stroke before then though, it has been over 90 degrees in here for the past two days and it looks like it will be just as hot in here today. Even without the A/C I'm glad to be home. We stayed at my dad's place while they were moving the trailer and that was interesting. 3 adults and 1 toddler and 1 very nervous cat in a two bedroom trailer = no fun at all.
Anyway I'm not sure that I will go back to taking a picture every day but I'll try to post more often and when I have pictures I will post them.

365 - Day 42 & 43

2009-05-09T00:35:00.002-04:00

Day 42

5/7/09

Look at that smile. He's getting so big.

Day 43

5/8/09

Zach was being such a good boy today that I let him have his favorite treat.

A frozen coke from speedway. (bad mommy)

365 - Day 37-41

2009-05-09T00:15:00.004-04:00

Day 37

5/2/09

Zach loves to hide in piles of blankets.

Day 38

5/3/09

Sassy has found a new place to relax.

Day 39

5/4/09

Dusty and Bella sunning themselves in the window.

Day 40

5/5/09

Zach got a hold of my old camera and started taking pictures.

Like mother like son.

Day 41

5/6/09

Nothing can get his attention when he's watching Mickey Mouse.

365 - Day 32-36

2009-05-04T01:44:00.002-04:00

Day 32

4/27/09

Zach learning to brush his own teeth.

Day 33

4/28/09

I was busy with computer problems so to keep Zach busy I dug out my old game system.

He loved playing super Mario 64.

Day 34

4/29/09

I was trying to teach him to kick the ball where he wanted it to go.

Day 35
4/30/09

Even the cat is a Red wings fan.
Day 36
5/1/09
After our long bike ride Zach didn't want me to take his helmet off.

365 - Day 27-31

2009-05-04T01:26:00.003-04:00

Day 27

4/22/09
Godzilla Kitty destroys train yard.

Day 28

4/23/09

Look at that face. Isn't he cute?

Day 29

4/24/09

Can I have my bunny now mommy?

Day 30

4/25/09

After I finished putting Zach's clothes away he found a new use for the basket.

Day 31

4/26/09

Nothing distracts him when he's watching Aristocats. It's his new favorite movie.

A long bike ride

2009-05-03T00:37:00.004-04:00

I must be out of my ever lovin mind. I use to love to ride my bike but mine was stolen about 6 yrs ago and I haven’t rode since. Well Zach is obsessed with bikes right now and I want to get back in shape so a couple weeks ago I bought a new bike and a child carrier to put on the back of it for Zach. The day I bought it we rode down our road and back and ever since then it has either rained or I have been babysitting so we haven’t had a chance to ride again. So yesterday afternoon I packed Zach up and we went off on a ride. The plan was to ride to the ice cream place about 2 ½ miles away but when we got there it was closed so I headed to the ice cream shop by my dads house, and that is where I made my mistake. My dad’s house is 7 ½ miles from my house. So after I had ice cream (Zach fell asleep on the way there and wouldn’t wake up) I rode the short distance that was left to my dad’s place and visited with him for a while. Then I had to turn around and ride all the way home. All total I rode over 15 miles and boy am I feeling it now. My legs hurt so bad last night that I could barely sleep and today they aren’t much better. On top of that, the little bitty seat that came with the bike is way too small for my big butt and after sitting on it all that way my butt hurts pretty bad. I so need to get one of those huge granny bike seats for my bike before I ride again. Which may be a while the way my legs feel right now.

Potty Time

2009-04-23T23:06:00.005-04:00

Sunday evening we tried to get Zach to use the potty. I was getting him ready for bed and realized that even though I hadn’t changed him in hours and he had been drinking milk, water, and juice like crazy all evening, his diaper was completely dry. So I asked him if he needed to go potty and he said I need potty now. I rushed him to the potty and he happily sat down with a book. He must have sat on there for 15-20 minutes and finally I gave up and put him in a diaper and finished getting him ready for bed. By the time I finished getting him ready for bed he had filled his diaper and needed to be changed. I’m so frustrated. It’s obvious that he can control when he goes, He just refuses to use the potty. At least he likes to sit on the potty.

365 - Day 21-26

2009-04-21T23:36:00.005-04:00

Day 21

4/16/09

All tuckered out after a busy day.

He fell asleep before I could even take his shoes off.

Day 22

4/17/09

Joe Cool in the car.

Day 23

4/18/09
Look mommy they put feets on my hand.

Day 24
4/19/09
Trying to use the potty.

It's not going so great.

Day 25
4/20/09
Dusty decided that my bread basket makes a perfect bed.

Day 26
4/21/09

Zach with his new Thomas the train set.

All about us.

2009-04-18T02:17:00.003-04:00

1. What are your middle names?
Mine is Renee and his is Alan
2. How long have you been together?
6 years and 5 months
3. How long did you know each other before you started dating?
Lets see since we “met” online we didn’t actually know each other at all before we started dating.
4. Who asked whom out?
He asked me out. He found my profile on the site and sent me an IM. We talked online for several hours and at the end of the conversation he asked if I’d like to go out for dinner sometime.
5. How old are each of you?
I’m 27 and he is 37. He is 10yrs 2 months and 3 days older than me.
6. Whose siblings do you see the most?
Mine but that’s only because I baby-sit for my nephew and my sister drops him off. Otherwise it would be his sister, I normally see her once a week and it’s not uncommon for us to talk on the phone 4-5 times in a week.
7. Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
Probably work issues. Him not understanding how hard I work even though I stay home with our son and baby-sit to earn a little extra cash. Me not being as understanding as I could be about how hard he works and how tired he is when he gets home.
8. Did you go to the same school?
No. I went to Grand Haven high school and didn’t go to college. (I was too busy caring for my disabled mother. He went to Fruitport High school and MCC for some college.
9. Are you from the same home town?
Nope. I bounced around from town to town but never the same ones he lived in.
10. Who is smarter?
Book smart - He is by far. I think I have more practical knowledge. Don’t ask him to fix the faucet in the bathroom or one of our cars, but throw any math, science or logic question at him and he probably has the answer. I on the other hand can fix the faucet, toilet holes in the wall, and minor stuff on the cars including changing the oil.
11. Who is the most sensitive?
Me by far. I cry at the drop of a hat and Keith probably thought I was going to flood the house when I was pregnant.
12. Where do you eat out most as a couple?
We rarely eat out anymore due to budget cuts, but when we go out as a couple for a special occasion we like Olive garden.
13. Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Florida, for our honeymoon.
14. Who has the craziest exes?
Him. I have a few weird ones but he has one that is crazy.
15. Who has the worst temper?
That’s a toss up. I have quite a temper and a short fuse. Keith on the other hand doesn’t get mad as quickly but when he does watch out. He has the temper to go with his fiery red hair.
16. Who does the cooking?
I do unless it’s steaks or burgers on the grill. He makes the best burgers I’ve ever had.
17. Who is the neat-freak?
Neither one of us is a neat-freak which is why our house is never perfectly clean.
18. Who is more stubborn?
Another toss up we’re both pretty stubborn.
19. Who hogs the bed?
Neither. He likes to cuddle though and I need to be able to move around in my sleep.
20. Who wakes up earlier?
He does always. I hate getting up early. I’ve been a night owl since I was a teenager.
21. Where was your first date?
It was suppose to be at Brann’s steakhouse and grill on Friday, November 13th, But he didn’t have a cell phone and we never managed to connect with each other. I ended up meeting him the next day and we went back to his place to watch a movie. I guess our first real date was the following week. We went to Russ’ for dinner and then went walking down by lake Michigan.
22. Who is more jealous?
I am without a doubt.
23. How long did it take to get serious?
About a week. I told my Mom after our second date that I wanted to marry him.
24. Who eats more?
He does. For a skinny guy he can sure pack it in.
25. Who does the laundry?
I do now but when we first got married he did all our laundry for the first year and a half.
26. Who's better with the computer?
Me. Without a doubt.
27. Who drives when you are together?
It’s usually 50-50. But since I got my new van I have been driving everywhere we go.

365 - Day 17-20

2009-04-16T01:53:00.003-04:00

Day 17

4/12/09

Candy for breakfast. Only on Easter morning.

Day 18

4/13/09

Zach was starting to look like the shaggy dog so today he got a hair cut.
Day 19
4/14/09
Playing with play dough for the first time.

Day 20
4/15/09
Goofing around with daddy before bed.

Easter dinner and an egg hunt.

2009-04-14T01:18:00.005-04:00

Sunday was pretty great. I put Zach’s basket in the living room and then put a trail of plastic eggs leading up to it. Zach was so funny he came out of his room and ran right past the trail of eggs to the basket. Then when we pointed out the eggs to him he got really excited and when he opened one of them up and realized that there was candy inside the look on his face was priceless. I wish I would have been able to capture that on camera. In his basket was plush bunny, a game for his v-smile, a new set of crayons, some play dough, and a little candy.
Later in the afternoon we headed over to my in-laws house for Easter dinner. We went over early so that I could help my sister in law, Christina, with dinner. My mother in law hasn’t been feeling so great so we kind of banned her from the kitchen and took over making dinner. She helped as much as she could but we tried to make things as easy on her as possible and do as much as we could without bothering her, sometimes hard to do when your cooking in a kitchen that you don‘t know where to find things in.
Dinner turned out really well. My father in law put the turkey in before we got there and we had mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, homemade applesauce, rolls, jello salad, and more stuff I can’t remember right now. The kids got spoiled per usual. They each got a small basket from Aunt Melodie, Keith’s aunt, with some candy and a few small toys. Then they each got a basket from Grandma and Papa, my in-laws, with a coloring book for the little kids and a coloring poster for Ashley, some candy and each child got a toy. Zach got a set of Lincoln logs and he loves them he plays with them all the time, Aiden got a star wars light saber, and I’m not sure what the girls got.
After dinner was over and we cleaned up the kitchen Christina and I went out to hide the eggs for the kids egg hunt. I think it took us longer to hide them than it took them to find them. I tried to get some pictures but it was hard with them running all over the place. So the pictures aren’t the best quality, But they seemed to have tons of fun. In fact Christina and I have decided to make it a annual event.
My sister had to work Sunday night so I had to pick Tyler up after we left my in-laws, Zach was so thrilled to have his buddy back and Tyler had fun playing with the empty Easter eggs at the house. Overall we had a pretty good weekend.

Here are a few pictures.

The rest are in a slide show on the right side of the page.

Zach checking out his new crayons.

What's better than candy for breakfast?

Ashley with her new Fuzzy poster.

Angel with her new coloring book.

Aiden playing with his Light saber.

Zach playing with his Lincoln logs.

VFW Egg Hunt - Saturday

2009-04-14T01:00:00.004-04:00

Saturday was the Easter egg hunt at the VFW and I use the term hunt loosely they just had the candy laying on the ground. Christina and George and their three kids were going to it and they asked if we wanted to bring Zach. We got there early because we didn’t want to miss out on it but it actually started late. The kids seemed to have fun but oh my goodness it was like a stampede when they let the kids go at the candy. The first group was 0-4 yr olds and Zach got shoved to the ground right away by an older kid, but he did get a couple pieces of candy at least. They were doing each hunt for each age group in the same spot so in between each group we had to wait for them to get all the stuff put out for the next group of kids. There were tons more kids than they expected and it was kind of disorganized but I have to say that the guy that set it up seems to really love doing it for the kids. Not the best hunt I’ve ever seen but if the kids have fun that’s all that matters, Right.
Here are a few pictures from the hunt. Keith took a couple while the kids were grabbing candy but there were just too many kids to get any good shots. Most of them I took after the kids were finished.

Zach watching the older kids hunt for candy.

Aiden making faces.

The kids checking out their loot.

Zach showing daddy his candy.

Aiden being shy with his daddy.

Zach with the Easter bunny.

Hugging the Bunny.

365 - Day 14-16

2009-04-11T21:40:00.003-04:00

Day 14

4/9/09

Zach says "look mommy I get on aww by me self".

Day 15

4/10/09
Playing on his slide.

Day 16

4/11/09

After the Easter egg hunt with my Sister-in-law's kids.

From the left. Aiden, Angel, Ashley, and Zach

365 - Day 10-13

2009-04-09T00:43:00.004-04:00

Day 10

4/5/09

This is what I see each Morning when I go to get Zach up. Our doors don't go all the way to the floor so Zach lays on the floor and yells "mom, mom come get me" under the door.

Day 11

4/6/09

Zach loves music so much that I put a few of his favorite songs on my old MP3 player and let him listen to it once and a while.

Day 12

4/7/09

Zach was laying down on the couch at nap time and called out to me,

" will you hod my hand tiw I faww seep, Mommy."

(Will you hold my hand until I fall asleep)

Day 13

4/8/09

I spent Zach's nap time filling Eggs for the hunt on Sunday.

This too shall pass, I hope.

2009-04-06T17:14:00.000-04:00

Zach has decided that naps are no longer something that he needs and it’s killing me. Ever since he was an infant I have looked forward to his nap time. When he was really young and not sleeping through the night I used his nap time to take a short nap myself. As he got older and started sleeping through the night I used that time to cook or clean up the house or even to catch an uninterrupted hour of reading or watching TV. So the first time Zach skipped his nap I mourned the loss of my quiet time and hoped that it wouldn’t become a habit. Now after a week in which he has napped a grand total of one time, for less than an hour, I’m finding that there is a bigger problem than loosing my quiet time. Zach without his daily nap is a total terror. After 6pm he starts getting cranky and whiny, he wont listen to anyone and all he does is yells no, no, no, to anything that we say. He doesn’t want to eat his dinner, fights me the whole time that I brush his teeth, and then he is so overly tired that he fights going to bed.
I just don’t know what to do with him anymore. I’ve tried everything to get him to nap and nothing works but obviously he still needs the extra sleep each day. I’m at the end of my rope and I can only hope that this is just a phase and that he will start napping again soon before I go completely insane.

2009-04-05T16:41:00.002-04:00

We spent yesterday at the GRCM (Grand Rapids Children’s Museum). I had never taken Zach there and he had tons of energy to burn off so we packed up and went. When we first got there Zach spent more time on the stairs than anything. He just kept going up and down and up and down. But after about 15 minutes he started to relax a little and went to explore the other areas of the building. It was so much fun watching him run around and play with the other kids. He built towers with magnetized nuts and bolts, made huge bubbles in tubs of soapy water, built with Lego’s, put balls in shaped mazes on the walls, worked on puzzles, and so much more. We spent three hours there and Zach still hadn’t had enough. He threw a fit when it was time to leave but calmed down once we started walking to the car. Afterwards we stopped and had dinner in G.R. and then picked up Tyler, Laurie had to work last night. All in all it was a great day and we had tons of fun. It’s definitely something we will do again.

Here are a few of the pictures I took yesterday.

Some more of the pictures are in a slideshow on the top right side of the page.

365 - Day 8 & 9

2009-04-05T15:00:00.006-04:00

Day 8

4/3/09

Watching Backyardigans at his own little table.

Day 9

4/4/09
Looking through the ball rack at the Grand Rapids Childrens Museum.

365 - Day 4-7

2009-04-02T16:15:00.009-04:00

Day 4
3/30/09

Zach wanted to help me bake cookies so I let him chop the pecans.

Day 5

3/31/09

Somehow Zach got himself stuck in the bucket he keeps his blocks in.

I'm such a bad mommy 'cause I stopped to take a picture instead of getting him right out.

Day 6
4/1/09

The kittens Fighting over the top shelf of their cat tree.

Right after I took this picture the one in the back knocked the other one off.

Day 7
4/2/09

If Tyler has something Zach wants it and that includes the highchair.

365 - Day 2 & 3

2009-03-29T22:37:00.007-04:00

Zach decided that it was much more fun to play in the toybox.

Day 2

3/28/09

My favorite picture from Kaylee's party. You've got to love the expression on her face.

Day 3
3/29/09

Kaylee's Birthday and Snow!

2009-03-29T22:15:00.003-04:00

Today we had a birthday party for my niece Kaylee, she turns 9 tomorrow. It was fun but I’m sick of getting the when are you going to give Zach a little brother or sister question. Kaylee got tons of gifts as usual and there was lots of food and 4 cakes, yes she is spoiled, There were only about 14 people there so we didn’t need them all. Zach had fun playing with Tyler and all his toys and Keith got a chance to visit with my brother and dad. My sister was suppose to pay me for babysitting today but she forgot to go to the bank so I have to wait until tomorrow.
Not much going on this week, it should be pretty quiet around here.
Oh yeah it snowed last night! I’m so sick of snow. Not much of it stuck on the ground and it should melt by Tuesday but still it’s March for goodness sake.

Something Fishy

2009-03-28T02:28:00.000-04:00

When I was younger I had several friends that were catholic and I was always glad I wasn’t for one reason. I don’t like fish! I’ll eat it on occasion but I’m not crazy about it. I like other kinds of seafood like lobster, crab, shrimp, and clams but I can only eat fish if it’s breaded and fried. So years later I get married and lo and behold the man I married is… You guessed it Catholic.

That was almost five years ago and you would think that after five years I would have figured out how to stay true to the rules of his religion and still enjoy our meals, but I haven’t. When we were dating/engaged it wasn’t really an issue since we didn’t live in the same house at the time and the first year we were married we solved the problem by eating out on Fridays from ash Wednesday until Good Friday. The second year of our marriage I was pregnant during lent and under strict doctors orders to avoid all fish due to already high mercury levels in my blood. Since then it has been a combination of eating fish, eating vegetarian meals and making two separate meals and I’m sick of it. I can not wait until lent is over this year. Only 2 more Fridays to go.

365 - Day 1

2009-03-27T22:51:00.002-04:00

I have a few photographer friends that have done 365 days of pictures and have been trying to get me to do one. I'm going to give it a try and we'll see if I can keep up with it.

Here is todays picture. Zach and I braved the cold and went to the little playground in our park.

Day 1

3/27/2009

Getting Started

2009-03-26T14:13:00.000-04:00

Is it nap time yet? That is the theme of my days lately. It seems like I'm always counting down the minutes until nap time. Some days it's Zach's nap some days it's Tyler's and other days it's both. On a bad day it might even be mine.
The topics I write about will vary depending on my mood and what's going on in my life at the time. Feel free to read along and comment if you'd like.