15 months

Wowzers can't believe we have a 15 month old living in our house. To say that the past 15 months have flown bye would be an understatement. It's absolutely incredible to witness firsthand all the discoveries that are made from finding their feet to showing you where their head is and communicating with you via grunts and pointing. Love it!!

At 15mos check up the scale was tipped to 25lbs 11oz and measured 31.5in long with a head circumference of 18.5in. Falling in the 50th percentile for weight and 75th for height. One of these days I'll get all fancy with a growth chart or something (don't hold your breath though).

It's that time again for some bragging milestones:

• walking: getting more confident everyday, athough walking should come with some caution as the money maker has taken a few hits. 
• Shoes: speaking of walking Dude you hate having shoes and socks are those little feet of yours.  Which this is TOTAL payback to me and my dislike towards footwear. As soon as I get shoes on those feet you have them kicked OFF.  This is exactly what I did to my parents. SORRY:/
• Eating: you are awful and this is total payback for my toddlering eating habits and this is where I apologize deeply to my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles for being uber picky while I was in your care. SORRY!!!
• Napping: still napping great we do naps based on your mood.  You nap when you need too and some of your cues to us are: super clingy, clumsy, and impossible to make happy. If you take 2 naps a day then they are usually between an hr and 45min to 2hrs, or 1 nap that is usually about 3hrs.
• Sleeping: you are doing much better in this department as long as I remember to give you gas drops cause baby's got gas and that seems to wake you.  I really can't complain about your sleeping habits as my aunt reminded me that I didn't sleep thru the night till I was 18mos old so you are doing much better.
• Teeth: we have 7 with 1 more on its way as well as a molar that we brush everyday 2x a day.  You let mommy do it for awhile before you feel the need to take over and do it yourself. You're not super great at it but hey you are at least getting the hang of it. And who doesn't like fruit flavored toothpaste?
• Smarts: you can tell us what a cow, dog,  and dinosaur say.  You know what noise a car/truck makes.  You are able to show us where your head, eyes, belly and feet are. You like playing peek a boo.
• Behavior/Personality: You put on quite the dramatic show of emotions when things don't go your way. You throw your head back, your legs go all noodlely, and you of course voice how you feel about the situation. Aside from the dramatic performance that you put on at least 2x a day you are one funny happy little boy if I do say so myself.

Jada and Ian flashback

 



 


fishing

In the past week I have fished out a football, mitten, bath toys, and 2 flashlights from our toilet.  Pretty much anything Ian can get his hands on he prefers to toss it in the ceramic bowl.  He hasn't figured out how to flush it yet so that is good.  Now you are probably thinking keep the door shut and that won't happen and I will tell you we do keep the door shut.  These are all things that have happened while he's been in the bathroom with us.  I know for the football, mitten and bath toys (all of which happened under my supervision) they occurred as I was doing my hair so whether I had flipped my head over to get the maximum amount volume in my beaufont or to pray to the hair goddess that my beaufont looks good that day. I don't know, what I do know though is that out of the corner of my eye I see the lid go down and smirk go across my child's face as he waits for my reaction and in a not so serious voice at all I say "really Buddy, really?" which causes laughter to pour out of his mouth (I have yet to nail down the "mom voice').  He is doing no harm to anyone or anything, there is always clean water in our toilet and he is just a boy trying to figure things out and learn his limits (should probably get to work on the mom voice).   Now, with that said I do beleive we will be looking into a toilet lock, which will reduce the chances of Ian tossing anything in but also test my bladder and my ability to be smarter than the child safety lock.

Catch up

Thought it was time to do a catch up random post of the happenings around the Z's household.

1. Marcus: fire academy is coming along we are coming to the end very soon. Right now he is working on trying to fit studying, station time, ER time, ambulance time, work and family time into the month of April.  We may need to re-introduce ourselves by the end of April.

2. House projects: in between all that Marcus has on his plate we also want to do a few things around the house.  We are quickly approaching being homeowners for 5yrs.  And 5yrs ago we said we would be out of this by now but then life happened and we are still here. Our short list includes: re-do cabinets (Marcus started this project yesterday and thanks to a small kitchen with not a lot of cabinets he is halfway done), siding house and garage, lay patio bricks in dirt area to create well a patio area, finish finishing off the basement with a ceiling and then maybe use said basement.

3. Me: Last year at this time I was training for a 1/2 marathon and I have to say I'm jealous of those who are training right now for the same race.  We are out of town reconnecting as a family during the race this year.  I would still like to train for something so I got a new pair of running shoes. Aren't they so cute?


Asics Gel Nimbus 10

 So anyways with new running shoes I intend to hit the pavement on a more regular basis.  But with not having anything to train for and the weather being gross on a more consistent basis then pretty it's been way easier to stay inside and do workout videos.

5. Ian, in a couple days you will get an ALL Ian update.  But real quick, sleeping habits are improving if we don't look at the past 2 nights.  He is battling a drippy nose, hacking cough and loss of appetite (he has 15mos check-up tomorrow). He is if at all possible getting cuter and cuter everyday.  Our latest battle has been eating (having a loss of appetite does not help).  I really thought that the transition from baby food to big people food would have been a smooth one but I've been proven wrong. As much as it frustrates me I am so very thankful to have been blessed with Ian and I can't imagine our lives without him.

There you have it a quick random update from the Z household we are over and out till the next go around.

cleaning fool

Ian is love with the swiffer actually anything that you clean with.  He cries when I put the vacuum away and throws an absolute fit when I take the swiffer from him.

A friend gave me a great idea as her son too loves the swiffer and that is to shorten the handle so it's more managable for him.  I also figured I would take advantage of his love to swiffer and added a wet swiffer pad to it.  Well that folks made it a bit more challenging for him to move it around.  So we will just stick with a short handle and me on my hands and knees cleaning the floor.

Enjoying the outdoors

The temps are warming up in our neck of the woods and Ian seems to love being outside.  He is getting more and more confident being on his feet everyday.  He will however very rarely turn down the opportunity to be carried.

DST

Also known as daylight savings time. A time that the majority of the population in the great state of Indiana DISLIKE! I am one of them, I didn't like it before children and I dislike it even more now. As it is my child did not go to bed until around 9:30 and now this morning I'm going to have to go in and wake him and cause confusion to his little body. I will have to drive to work in darkness as just last week it was daylight on my drive in.  I will lose track of time and just like last night we will be eating dinner at 8 but really it's only 7 so that's ok right?

Now, I'm going to try to look for the good in all this time changing nonsense. Which is hard to do for a morning person. Holy cow I just called myself a morning person and I'm sure my parents just had a great chuckle too.  Hey, remember swim team days when you would be constantly calling my name telling me to get up??  Yeah, I don't miss jumping into a cold pool at 5:15 either or smelling like someone who bathed in cholorine although technically I spent more time in the pool than I did in the shower 2x a day for approx 2hrs each practice for about 3 months.  Yeah 2 showers a day in a locker can't cut through that smell at all.

And back on track...I might actually be able to start and finish my morning workout without any interruptions as Ian's lil body is all confused. The possibility of running as a family in the evening is more likely to happen. The time change means spring is coming, the trees are budding, and I see little green sprouts coming up from the flower things we planted last year at some point.  I should add I really know nothing or care to know anything about plant care inside or outside.  I want it to look nice without anything required of me.  I'm looking forward to warmer runs with Ian that can happen earlier in the day.  I currently have no races on the calendar as they aren't fitting into our schedules or budgets.  I may though train for a half just for the heck of it and run one on my own. Anyone wanna join me, we can even make it a stroller friendly run, and make our own t-shirts?!?!  I know all very enticing  reasons to join me!

Well I should probably end the rambling that this post has turned into right here and get back to the proposal on the Bachelor!

Mary Poppins

Before Mary Poppins bag: diaper bag, purse, work bag, pump, lunch bag and Ian

After Mary Poppins bag containing all the above minus pump and Ian (of course)

I got the above MP bag from Target last year for all of $20 it has definatley gotten it's use and I'm now in search of a new MP bag as I hand this one has caught my eye NineWest Push Lock Shopper on sale now for 39.99 (in case anyone was looking to get me something just because I'm so great)

Teach by example

This was my reasoning for the production of the below masterpieces:

airplane and giraffe

Based on those masterpieces I'm pretty much ready for an ice carving contest!

Free Stuff

Yes please, check out Crowdtap I was reading over at Beach Bum and Baby about how she got FREE jeans from Old Navy. Seriously I will take free jeans from Old Navy.  Obvisously they always have new deals like that but if FREE jeans are a possible one then yes I will sign-up.  A precentage of your earnings will go to the charity of your choice but then again all you have to do is take advantage if you choose of the offering they have.  So use the this link and sign-up.  It goes through your facebook page. 

This is right up my alley with my coupon clipping in which I may or may not be obssesd with but in the last 3 wks I have saved $40 with the help of coupons, gift cards earned by using coupons and in-store specials, and I also have a FREE organic roasted chicken coming my way from Target.  I love FREE things, I love more FREE things that I can actually use.

So go sign up!!

sleep over

This past weekend was the only weekend Marcus didn't have fire academy or the bank. And my dad was on his four day with no plans to go out of town. So we took advantage of this rare occasion and Ian made a reservation to stay Saturday night with his Grammie and Papa Jim. Marcus are I were able to have our 1st ever day and night date.

Ian's Weekend:
I dropped Ian off Saturday morning at my parents where they had a big day planned for him. We went over bedtime routine, any bumps, bruises, scraps that occurred prior to arrival so they wouldn't be concerned that he acquired those while in their care. And I swear he only stayed about 24hrs yet I packed 3 bags for him. A food bag, clothing bag and a bag we were returning so I decided to use it to carry his blanket and monitor in.

They had lunch at house before their big adventurous day that included:, tool show, diaper shower for baby Jackson, dinner with Brian (a former ND student fire station live-in) and his girlfriend, bath and bed. Napping was also in the above mix. I think the above events assisted in Ian sleeping from 8:50p to 9:10a so I say SUCCESS and we will have to do that again.

Date day and night: after Ian dropped off, I came home and Marcus had showered we got the GPS ready to go and we were off to Ikea in Chicago and dinner.  It was Marcus' 1st trip the store that someone could easily spend an entire day in.  We made a few purchases and then headed across the street to the mall where we would indulge in the Cheesecake Factory and then we drove home where we got to sleep ALL night long.  And aside from the dogs doing the potty dance in the AM we got to sleep in.

We agreed that we will have a to make a point to try to do sleepovers for Ian at least once a month.  It's good for him and us and his grandparents love lil overnight guests.

Drive thrus

I really wish more than just fast food places had drive thrus. Not because I'm lazy but when all your errand involves is about 2min of your time and it takes twice as long to get your car seated passenger in and out of the car it becomes very easy to put off such errands until your 30 day return policy is on day 30 and it's a half hour before the store closes. In my 14 months of toting Ian around in my errand running I would like the following places to consider drive thrus.

• Post office, this is a biggie for me juggling packages and a child in quite the task.
• UPS Store, the only packages I drop off there are already labeled it's a matter of tossing the package in the door and leaving.
• Pet store, all I need is one large bag of dog food so how about I drive up place my order and you send your stock boy out and load said dog food in my car.
• Meijer and Sam's Club Pharmacy,  really all I need from your store is my one lonely prescription and because I don't do really at shopping at your stores I have transferred my prescription elsewhere. However if you had drive thru I would consider transferring it back.

This is the just my short list of places, I would basically like to pick and choose places I would like to have drive thrus at.  But the post office is one that would benefit a lot of people.

he's got this