4mos

Ian, buddy you are growing and changing like crazy. At your 4mos check up you weighed in at 15lbs 9oz which puts you in the 75th percentile and you were 26in long which puts in the 95th percentile with a head circumference of 16.5in. Here's what you've been up the past month.



-you have toys, yes you have discovered that you have toys that you can grab, hold and shake.


-when we lay you down for either a nap or bedtime we always put a crocheted blanket over your feet and you like to kick your feet up which moves the blanket up so you grab it and drape it over yourselve, we always pull it back down though.


-you survived you're 2nd road trip over all it was much smoother than your 1st trip although sleeping through the night does make a huge difference and we only stayed for 1 night instead of 2.

-your swing has been replaced by the exersaucer. Right now you have no idea how much fun can be had on this thing. Later I'm sure I will be searching for a screwdriver to remove the batteries so the thing can't make any noise but for now you randomly hit buttons and sounds come out.


-on 4/18 you slept for 10hrs, might have helped that I took you on a 6 mile run with me that day. Since then you constantly sleep for 9hrs.

-speaking of sleeping you migrate in your sleep ending down and over from where you were laid the night before. I take full responsibility for this trait your PaPa Jim and Grammie always had one heck of time finding me in my bed come morning.

You turned yourself 180 degrees:


-you currently show no interest in rolling over and Dr C said that is normal for boys and we have to keep reminding ourselves that you were 3.5wks early so it may take you time to grow interest in this activity.

-you are such a good boy you very rarely cry except for when we have to use the nose sucker outer thingy (you hate it and how is it that such a little nose can produce such big boogers) or if we are a few mins. late getting your bottle around.

-a typical day with you goes as follows: wake @6, eat, play, sleep, wake @10, eat, play, sleep, wake @2 eat, play, sleep only for a little bit then you eat @6 and stay up till your bath @7 then you play some more, we lay you down around 8 whether your wide awake or dozing off and then you eat again usually in your sleep around 10.

-you've been eating 8oz every 4hrs so the dr said we can start cereal with you.

Yeah, you weren't so much a fan but we are practicing everyday on the concept of using a spoon. You'll get the hang of it soon.

You are simply amazing we are so lucky to be your parents!

Love you Buddy
Momma

a little much??

I tuned into the season premiere of the Hills last night. Now, I very rarely tuned in last season since LC had left and Kristin joined the cast. I don't feel I missed all that much considering at the beginning they showed the previous happenings of the Hills and I had watched the episodes they were highlighting. I liked how at the beginning they were showing Spiedi but they wouldn't show Heidi's face until she landed in CO. and can we say a but much?? She had 10 procedures done in 1 day and now she legally cannot have anymore done.
Let's count them down:
10)ears pinned back (doesn't she where her hair down everyday therefore they are covered and really who pays that much attention to ears unless they are dumbo size?)
9)brow lift (she can no longer show any emotion what so ever and did you hear her mom ask "are they going to be like that forever or will the come down some?)
8)fat injected into cheeks-her justification "it's my fat"
7)lipo-inner/outer thighs, waist and hips
6)boob job revision-she wanted bigger but her rib cage is too small and they wouldn't fit (is she nuts!?!?!)
5)chin reduction
4)botox (she is 20 something)
3)butt implants (due some squats)
2)neck lipo (never knew they could do such a thing)
1)nose job revision

Here is a before and after photo


Her reasoning to her mother who thought she looked awful by the way was that she was insecure with herself and the pressure of living in Hollywood is what drove her to these 10 procedures. Her mother's response "maybe LA isn't the place for you then". I'd have to say I agree whole-heartedly with her mom. I know that some plastic surgeons have you meet with a psychologist before the nipping and tucking will happen to make sure you have the procedures done for the right reasons. So where was the psychologist in this situation? I don't feel her 2 reasonings for 10 procedures is enough to convince me.

Did anyone else tune in??

lost

Ian had his 4mos check-up yesterday all is well. Dr C asked how much and often Ian was eating I told him 8oz every 4hrs and we're sleeping through the night. His response was WOW-WEE, add some cereal to that boy's diet and reduce milk intake to a total of 32oz a day.
Last night Ian tried cereal and a spoon for the 1st time...the tears won and I added some cereal to his bottle which is exactly what Dr C told me not to do but I couldn't take the tears and screaming any longer. Dr C told me to just spoon feed so Ian gets use to a spoon and the whole eating concept. After our failed attempt last night today I added a little cereal to each bottle and reduced the amount of milk in his bottles. I also made up a little bowl of cereal to eat at each feeding as well to practice the whole spoon cereal concept. My mother in-law gets the honors of this adventure today. I felt bad when I dropped him off because when she asked what time does he eat next I had no clue. I don't know if the cereal is going to extend his appetite or what. Anyone else been through this?? It wouldn't be a big deal to me if I was home with him, but that's not till tomorrow. And with next week him starting at outside care aside from family I hope this weekend I can get a grasp of what his new schedule will be.

catch up

Catch Up, randomness style

-this will be Ian's last week of staying with strictly family before he heads back to outside childcare. After some searching and recommendations we are going with a lady named Michele she was state licensed for 18yrs has been in the kiddo care business for over 20yrs. A few years ago she gave up her license so she could spend mroe time with the kids and downsize. Ian will be hanging out there 2 days a week.

-Summer is approaching and we have some exciting stuff to look forward. Aunt CiCi will be coming up the 1st weekend in June to run the 1/2 marathon with me, go to her 10yr class reunion, introduce Ian to a big bathtub (aka a pool), head up to our parents summer place, and my birthday. Wow that makes it sound like she'll be here for 2wks but really just 5 days, 5 jam packed days. We intend to make some weekend trips up to my parents place as well. And in August we'll be boarding a plane and heading to San Diego!!

-I have discovered my problem with work so now I'm trying to fix it.

-Ian has his 4mos check-up on Tuesday any guesses as to what his weight will be? 3wks ago he weighed in at 14lbs 11oz. He had more than doubled his weight.

- will are saying goodbye to this:

we sat down today and made our plan of attack so we don't receive anymore bills for that, should be gone in 7mos!!

-training for the 1/2 marathon is coming along very nicely, already my 5k time has improved. Altough I have no time goal for the 1/2 I just want to finish.

-the past couple weeks Ian and I have been able to meet up with some other mommas and their babies for a walk.

chancing it

This morning was one of those mornings I pumped, checked on Ian and jumped in the shower and mid-shampooing I hear it the cry of I'm awake, hungry, get me outta hear now my diaper is huge and I'm in need of a new one right now cry. I quickly go through my showering routine skip on shaving the legs, grab a towel run to his rescue try to grab a few moments with the use of the paci while I put lotion on and get some clothes on. There are some mornings I can shower, get myself around, eat breakfast pack my bags up for the day and have to wake him and while there are others that I don't even get to sleep till 5 and he's up and there are others that I'm caught mid-shower. Those mid-shower days are surprisingly the days that I have my best hair days, not sure how that works but I'll take a good hair day.

trouble spot

It's been 16wks since Ian has exited my body and entered the world. My body is back to what it was before Ian which means my mid-section is still not my favorite. All I want is tight defined abs. I can feel the muscles under the fat I just gotta get rid of the fat so I can see those muscles. So I run at least 3x a week I do strength training 6x a week and I do Jillian Michael's workout DVD (which I can do without watching the DVD I've done it so many times)at least 4x a week. Obliviously I don't have an issue of no time to exercise or not motivated to exercise my issue is all sweat is not giving me all the results I want or going after. Cookies no longer make it into the shopping cart the only time dessert is enjoyed is when we are with others at family gatherings or cookouts. So where am I going wrong? Am I not meant to have defined tight abs? I have curves my bust measurement is the same as my hip measurement and my waist measurement is 10in smaller than my bust and hip measurement so I'm well proportioned. I just want the fat to be gone, I'm not asking too much am I?

lightening speed

Last week my new running shoes arrived


I went for my first wearing them on Saturday and I was super excited to test them out. I took a look the clock when I left the house for a 5 mile run and I was running I was thinking to myself "wow, I feel like I'm running so much faster because of these shoes". 5 miles later I return home look at the clock and reality set in nope not super fast at all but still at my snail pace.

Entertaining

For Easter Marcus and I got Ian the whole Baby Einstein collection. The other day I thought we'd pop one and see what Ian thinks about. I went the with animal one I sat him in his bumbo and pushed play:



He watched the beginning introduction and then they started introducing the domestic animals. Marcus arrived home shortly after and said hi to buddy and put buddy's hood up not sure why but he did. And we started talking about his day at work and my day with buddy when we look over and see this:



He made it through the introduction and 1st 2 animals. We'll try again later.

Mrs Green Thumb?

This weekend I went out to survey our landscaping or lack there of, take dead stuff off the plants and remove the dead plants.

When we bought our house almost 4yrs ago the city had a program that if you sent in a pic of the front of your home and a plan of what you would do if the city gave you $$ to make your yard "beautiful" they would either approve or deny the grant money to you. The list of eligible items was quite large ranging from flowers to weed killer (I just finished using the last bottle of weed killer this weekend). Well we apparently made our plan money worthy and for some reason they approved us (2yrs in a row) to have some $$ we purchased 8 plants, grass seed and weed killer. Once you are approved and make your purchases and "improvements" you send a after picture in. Well I hope they don't ask for a 4yrs later picture (I cannot find any of the pics as of right now) as only 2 of the 8 plants are still alive (I got a little over excited with the weed killer well just leave it at that) what does grace our flower beds are from my parents house (we did some splitting and transplanting of some hostas) and some peonies (which did not come from my parents but was rather an undercover transplanting job involving dark time a hooded sweatshirt, bucket and one of those little shovel things.)

I do want our landscaping to look nice hello curb appeal is necessary to sell a house (no, we are no where near ready to sell the house I can only wish) it's just going to require a lot of motivation, work, time and money. And the day those 4 things all line up will be a miracle. Until then we will work with what we have I mean the hostas have been there for about 3yrs and I've yet to kill them so that's a good sign I feel. I may be calling on a friend who works for a local event planning company as a florist and has and eye for this kind of stuff. It's simple, I need easy to care plants(meaning they require nothing of me).

There are certain things Marcus simply won't let me do, do to previous experiences gone wrong.
Example: there was a tree behind our house and it needed to be trimmed Marcus felt this was a task I could handle and so I was super excited to be handed a rather large pair of scissors things and trimmed the tree in only the areas I could reach meaning I left it looking very top heavy and uneven. So I forgot to step back and take a look at my work as I trimmed minor detail. Well, not so minor when Marcus then had to dig the tree up and toss it do to it's awful appearance.
Example #2 we had a row of about 4 lilac bushes and b/c of a tree in our yard they were not growing evenly and after the tree was removed by the power line trimming guys (they did such a horrible job of trimming the tree around the lines that they had to remove it at their expense before it fell on our garage) I felt it was time to give the lilac bushes a trim well fast forward to today we only have 1 small lilac bush remaining (it's still recovering from the trim that I did).

Who wants to hire me to trim some bushes?? This could be why I was always my dad's assistant (I picked up the trimmings) when it came to trimming the bushes or the fact that he used a chain saw thingy and there are very few power tools that I get along when turned on. Ask me to bring you a power tool no problem ask me to use it and that's where things get a little iffy.

Retiring

I have found that every time I do the laundry I'm putting less into the drawers and more into boxes as Ian is outgoing things left and right. Some outfits he has only worn once while others I can't wash fast enough and put back on him I like them so much. Needless to say I do have my favorites from each collection and it makes me sad when he out grows them but then I get excited to see what's in the next collection. I do have to say I'm a big fan of his zip-up fleece hoodies I don't think a week goes by when he doesn't wear one at least 2 or 3x a week, especially this spring. I will be super sad when we have to retire those. Until then I will happily wash, hang those items in his closet, and dress him until the sleeves are up to his elbows.

Ian's stuff

I have never shown Ian's bedding. My Aunt J made it for him and according to her this is the 1st and last time she'll ever make a bumper. We are so lucky to have had this bedding made for us. I can't thank my aunt enough for the time, money and mileage (1 of the fabrics had to be picked up at a fabric store in Michigan City) that went into the project.

This is Aunt J with her grandson Nichalos and her brother my dad (PaPa Jim) with Ian:


Here's the crib with the bedskirt, bumpers and quilt:


The lovely quilt that we use every night:


close up of the bumper:


dresser/changing area:

which ones

It's time for new ballet flats my current goes with everything shoes are getting worn out.

Current flats:


Option 1:



Option 2:


I basically wear the current flats anyday that I'm not working in the spring, summer and fall. Both options are the same price and both options are at Target.

What do you think?

theory

I have a theory that when I gave birth to Ian I also gave birth to a portion of my memory. Now, I can still remember the 400+ members names at Curves that come in everyday between the 2 facilities and I can tell you what shoes they wear, what their hubby's do, what kind of car they drive, and what their hobbies are but ask me to remember to do something and if I don't put it in my phone right then you can forget about. This week I've had 2 incidents that support this:

1. Sunday night we got home from Indy around 8 with a very hungry baby, got the important things out of the car, started a bottle and changed Ian. Feeding then began, Marcus un-packed his bags and took a shower but before he got in the shower he said the pack n'play is still in the back of your car and the hatch is opened. He said if you don't get to it let me know and I will go out and get it. I said ok as I gazingly looked at Ian as he sucked down the bottle. Then boom I went into get ready for the next day mood of thawing milk and making bottles, empty my suitcase, start Ian's laundry which I think I used our laundry detergent instead of his (he is still alive no weird rash or anything). I then got myself around for bed. Fast forward to 5a, let the dogs out and see that the hatch on my car is still open and the pack n play is still in there along with the stroller. Run out to get it and shut the hatch to have nice puddle of water (it rained the night before) land on the left side of my body (a few words naughty words fly out of my mouth). Put pack n' play in basement and start my day. We learned we live in a safe neighborhood and that the hatch when up will keep water out of the back of my car.

2. Last night I was making bottles and needed more milk so I went down to the basement to the deep freeze which only contains milk and I bring up 2 grocery bags worth of milk meaning 2 days worth of pumping. Thaw out the contents from 1 bag and place the other bag on the kitchen table. Fast forward to this AM and I let the dogs out again at 5a and put my hand on the kitchen table and it enters nice puddle of liquid. I left the bag of milk I brought up out all night long it was suppose to go in the freezer and apparently 1 of the bags has a leak and I found a good 5min worth of pumping sitting on my kitchen floor.

Lovely, luckily I've been able to laugh about these incidents that back my theory. I'm sure there are more incidents but if they haven't happened the past 72hrs you can forget about me remembering them.

here they are

My handsome guys




Dressing like a big boy:



Ian with his Easter basket G-Ma & G-Pa Z:


I'm sure there is more but this is all you're going get. If you want to see more they will be on facebook later this week. I still don't feel 100% and now it seems Ian and Marcus are getting whatever it is I have.

apologies

My apologies to such an boring Easter post I will get more pics up tonight. The Easter bunny was very generous to Mr Ian. From us he received some clothes since it has actually been spring like in the midwest Ian's wardrobe was lacking enough clothing for the temps we've been having in his 0-3mos collection. He also got the whole Baby Einstein DVD collection. From PaPa Jim and Grammie he got his 1st Easter bib, some Disney onesies and a book. From his Grandma and Grandpa Z he got a little duck basket with a freaky toy (we all came to that conclusion) it made some strange noises and it rode in the back in the car on the way home. And from Aunt CiCi he got a bathtube tempature ducky to go to the lake, some books, and a disney onesie.

The Easter bunny gave me a full blown sinus infection delivery started on Wednesday and went full blown Saturday night. By Sunday night when we got back home my eyes were even draining discharge as if I had a clogged tear duct gross I know. I peeled my eyes opened and called the doctor when the office opened this AM. One bad thing about breastfeeding is I still have to watch what meds I take, oh well he's worth it. The sinus infection explains why my runs were so hard this past week. Not gonna let it stop me though.

More later with pics I promise

More 1st

On Friday Ian went on his 1st Jeep ride, he got the whole experience with the top off and all. Next up will be his 1st ride in the dune buggy.

1st Jeep ride:


Here's the buggy, Ian's PaPa Jim (my dad) built this with the help of some other people and this is before it got a small makeover:


Here's a pic of me in the buggy definitely not my 1st time but still:


Today Ian got to celebrate his 1st Easter, on Saturday we headed down to the Indy area (Brownsburg to be exact) and stayed the night with Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Grant. It was a surprisingly pretty relaxing weekend. I'm not a huge fan of weekend getaways due to all the stuff you come home with and too (laundry, making bottles, unpacking, etc) in order to get ready for the next week.

Onto pictures from Easter







Can see the excitement:


There are more but we are experiencing technological issues.

we have a voice

Here's a video of Ian the other day.