Slightly Disturbed

I'm sure most of you moms are familiar with Arthur on PBS, right?

Well Zach got Arthur's birthday last time we were at the library. We began reading the book last night and there are 2 different references to playing spin the bottle. One of the girls even buys him a special "spin the bottle" game for his birthday. Does this seem odd to any of you?

Milestones

Kaitlyn - She signed more for the first time and has been consistantly doing it for a week! She took 1 step last week and was up to six today. My baby is walking. Exciting and sad.

Zach - Hiked his first trail all by himself.

Me - Continued to lose weight and excercise the entire time I was on vacation for 10 days! I was shocked at how much willpower I had. I was extremely lucky that my sister-in-law had a mega fancy treadmill with a TV and a fan in it. I swam laps in the ocean while we were in the Keys. I'm so glad that I'm sticking with it. I actually feel like I'm finally back in the habit of exercising and it feels SO good!!!

A couple more pics

Catch up

We had a great time on our vacation to West Virgina/Charlotte. The plane ride started off well but ending bad. Zach was fast asleep on my lap when we started our descent. He woke up screaming because he couldn't get his ears to pop. I tried to get him to do everything but he was scared so he just was freaking out. He actually wet his pants he was so upset. It was so weird.

Once we got our rental car our drive to West Virgina was very nice. The kids slept most of the way thankfully. We had a great time at the reunion. It was pretty interesting. It is the longest consecutive running family reunion in the whole country. They had a picture of the family tree up and tons of old pictures and a letter from Pres. Bush and Laura congratulating them on the family's 100 year reunion. I finally figured out how Joe's Dad was related. I guess the reunion is for the descednants of his dad's great great great grandfather. Needless to say when you start going back that far most of the people at the reunion were 3rd and 4th and possibly 5th cousins so nobody really knows anyone else. It was pretty neat though. I'm sure it would be fun to start something like that and actually keep it going.

On our way to Charlotte we stopped at the New River Gorge. It was beautiful. Zach was so proud of himself for "hiking" the whole way himself. I was so proud of myself for carrying Kailtyn the whole way up the stairs and not collapsing :-)

We stayed with Joe's sister, Tina, and husband, Troy, for a few days. Zach had a blast playing with their golden retriever, Elvis and swimming in their gigantic clubhouse pool. I'm so mad that I didn't get pics of him going down the waterslide.

We met Angelle and Leah and Erin at the Discovery Museum and once again the kids had a blast. We also spent the next night with them. Zach and Leah got to have a sleepover but neither of the kids wanted to go to sleep so we had to separate them until Zach fell asleep. They woke up together though :-)

We got home Thursday and Joe and I left Friday morning for my firm outing without the children.

Almost a big step

I went to my parents house for dinner tonight. My sister was planning on spending the night there so she asked Zach if he wanted to spend the night too. Zach was extremely excited. He told me, "Bye Mom, leave now."

I packed up Kaitlyn and headed out the door (after installing the car seat in Melissa's car - which of course took forever. Why does it take so freaking long to put those things in?? Is it just me?) Ok, sorry back to the story. I was Crushed and excited that my baby was growing up. I couldn't believe the flood of emotions that this seemingly small thing brought out in me. I started to drive away and Zach came running out of the house. He wanted one more hug. I gave him a hug and closed the door. Then my father stopped me again. This time Zach wanted to hug Kailtyn and oh one more hug for me. I start to drive away again and Zach breaks into hysterics.

Zach is sound asleep in his bed here with me. Maybe he can stay a baby for just a little longer? I'm not sure I'm ready for "get out mom" quite yet!

Ouch

I'm very excited because every muscle in my body is sore. I'm doing a biggest loser contest with my hive friends and I've been working out everyday. Yesterday I went for a walk in my neighborhood and did a Billy Blanks Bootcamp DVD. I didn't realize how completely out of shape I was.

So I'm actually excited that I'm so sore because that means it worked! Hopefully I'll keep up the hardwork and win some cash for my new skinnier wardrobe.

Next week is going to be a huge challenge for me because we are flying to West Virginia for the Stewart family 100 Year Reunion. We will be gone until Thursday and then we fly back to Fort Lauderdale for Thursday night and then leave Friday for our firm outing to Key West. It is going to be a true test of my willpower to be in the Key's and stay on plan and find time to exercise on vacation. Wish me luck!

Thanks to my in-laws Joe and I are taking our first trip without the kids. We will be going childless to the Key's.

Firsts

Kailtyn's first tooth finally poked through on Sunday. I haven't been able to get a picture yet but hopefully I will soon.

She also waved goodbye for the first time without me asking yesterday. Joe picked her up from my arms and I said goodbye. She looked at me and gave me a huge smile and waved goodbye. It was so adorable.

I don't think she is doing any signs yet. She will move her hands when she is eating sometimes but I don't think it is the sign for more. I'll keep watching. Zach, on the other hand, loves signing. He likes to "practice" doing signs with Kaitlyn.

Irony

So I've been discussing things lately with Joe. I told him that I don't think accounting suits my personality. I told him I think I would enjoy teaching. Then today I took this personality test and this is what I got. I'm not sure if it is fate or just a coincidence but I thought it was very ironic.

Idealist Portrait of the Teacher (ENFJ)
Even more than the other Idealists, Teachers have a natural talent for leading students or trainees toward learning, or as Idealists like to think of it, they are capable of calling forth each learner's potentials. Teachers (around two percent of the population) are able - effortlessly, it seems, and almost endlessly-to dream up fascinating learning activities for their students to engage in. In some Teachers, this ability to fire the imagination can amount to a kind of genius which other types find hard to emulate. But perhaps their greatest strength lies in their belief in their students. Teachers look for the best in their students, and communicate clearly that each one has untold potential, and this confidence can inspire their students to grow and develop more than they ever thought possible.


In whatever field they choose, Teachers consider people their highest priority, and they instinctively communicate personal concern and a willingness to become involved. Warmly outgoing, and perhaps the most expressive of all the types, Teachers are remarkably good with language, especially when communicating in speech, face to face. And they do not hesitate to speak out and let their feelings be known. Bubbling with enthusiasm, Teachers will voice their passions with dramatic flourish, and can, with practice, become charismatic public speakers. This verbal ability gives Teachers a good deal of influence in groups, and they are often asked to take a leadership role.

Teachers like things settled and organized, and will schedule their work hours and social engagements well ahead of time-and they are absolutely trustworthy in honoring these commitments. Valuing as they do interpersonal cooperation and harmonious relations, Teachers are extraordinarily tolerant of others, are easy to get along with, and are usually popular wherever they are.

Teachers are highly sensitive to others, which is to say their intuition tends to be well developed. Certainly their insight into themselves and others is unparalleled. Without a doubt, they know what is going on inside themselves, and they can read other people with uncanny accuracy. Teachers also identify with others quite easily, and will actually find themselves picking up the characteristics, emotions, and beliefs of those around them. Because they slip almost unconsciously into other people's skin in this way, Teachers feel closely connected with those around them, and thus show a sincere interest in the joys and problems of their employees, colleagues, students, clients, and loved ones.

Mikhail Gorbachev, Oprah Winfrey, Pope John Paul II, Ralph Nader, John Wooden, and Margaret Mead are examples of Teacher Idealists.

He loves to cook...she loves to climb

Zach is going to make some woman very happy one day. He absolutely loves to cook. The other night I had Barefoot Contessa (my favorite show) on and I was getting ready to go make dinner so I asked Zach if he wanted me to turn on Sesame Street while I made dinner. He told me to wait until the show was over. I love it. He'd rather watch a cooking show than Sesame Street.

PS- ignore the messy kitchen :-)

Kaitlyn is doing an amazing job at keeping up with her brother. Yesterday we went to Chick-fil-a. They have a toddler area at the indoor play area with some mirrors and other things for the little ones to play with. Kaitlyn looked in the mirror for about 2 seconds and then she was done with that. She wanted to chase her brother. She climbed into the tube slide thing and crawled/climbed about half way up. Then she turned around and climbed down all by herself. She got to the end of the slide and put her hands down and then slowly kept moving her hands forward until she could bring one leg down at at time. It was unbelievable. I'm going to go back with my camera this week but I'm sure it won't happen again.

She is such a crazy lady. I've had to put all of Zach's chairs in other rooms because she wants to crawl on top of them and then stand up. I definitely don't have a timid little girl on my hands.

Hot Dog

This video is from a couple of weeks ago, but I think it is hilarious. Zach absolutely loves the HotDog song and this is what we do every Saturday when it comes on.

Well maybe not that cool

My cool dude

Ok just a few more

4th of July

We had a great trip to Fort Myers beach for the 4th of July. The kids had a blast. Kaitlyn absolutely loved the water and the sand. I'm sure she injested her fair share of both. She would get herself covered from head to toe in sand and not mind a bit.

Zach of course, had a blast. He actually liked the pool better because he wanted to dive and get the rings over and over and over and over again. I'm super excited with how well he is swimming though.

I posted a million pics on our gallery but here are a few of my favs...well more than a few but I love them all! http://www.kodakgallery.com/stewartgallery

ps-password is my maiden name

On the Move

It has been forever since I posted last, shame on me. Kaitlyn just had her 9 month checkup on Monday. She is 18 lbs 9oz and 28 inches long. She is the 50% for both height and weight.

She is the most curious child I have ever seen. She doesn't want to sit still for a second. She is constantly crawling and climbing and pulling up on everything. She forgets that she doesn't know how to walk yet either. She will hold on to the table, chair, or whatever else she has just pulled up on and turn around and let go and just stand there for a few seconds with this puzzled look like why am I not moving. I'm pretty sure that she will be walking in a few weeks.

She doesn't have any teeth yet but that doesn't stop her from being a chow hound. Baby food...nope not for this kid. She loves whatever anyone else is eating. I've tried tricking her into eating baby food by sitting down and eating it myself first but nope, she is way to smart for that. She loves sweet potatoes, bananas and these crazy little Brazilian teething biscuits that Rosealia gives her.

She has the best temperament. She is happy almost all of the time. I cannot get enough of this crazy little scrunched face smile that she does. It is too cute. She does have a little bit of stranger anxiety though. She usually likes to smile at new people but she doesn't want them to hold her until she has been around them for awhile. If I'm not around though she is much better.

She also LOVES her brother. She never turns her eyes away from him. He usually loves her too and is glad to share his toys with her but sometimes he has enough. She is definitely going to be a tough little girl. She handles Zach pretty well.

Zach is getting so big now too. I can't believe he is closer to 4 now. He is constantly talking and asking questions all of the time. I love it. He really has an athletic streak too. He is good at hitting his T-ball, golf, swimming and dribbling a soccer ball. Thank goodness he takes after his Daddy!!! He usually is too busy to be bothered with his fine motor skills like coloring or drawing though. Last week was the first time he colored in the lines. He usually just takes the crayon and colors all over the page as fast as he can, but last week he actually took the time to color in the small details and stay in the lines. Amazing.

Overall everyone is doing wonderful. I'm a happy mommy!

Cat and Mouse

You know that Tom and Jerry (or insert favorite dueling cartoon characters here) where Tom nails a million boards over the door so Jerry can't get out only to turn around and see Jerry standing behind him. Well...that was Zach and I tonight. I was almost at the point where I was going to nail him into his room tonight but I knew he'd just be standing behind me.

How is it that 3 year olds know how to be so creative to get what they want. I wonder if this skill improves with age.


Putting Zach to bed:

Take 1 - Bath, teethbrushing, 2 stories, 2 songs, prayers & goodnight hugs and kisses (I know our bedtime routine is long but I enjoy it too)
Zach: Mommy I have to go pee pee.
Me: Ok go quick and come back (don't forget to wash your hands)

Take 2 - Back from the potty, I'm about to leave
Zach - Mom, I forgot to flush (likely story)
Me - That's OK, I'll do it.
Zach - No mommy, I have to clean up after myself (oh you little punk, using my words against me)
Me - Fine hurry.

Take 3
Me - Good night Zach
Zach - Mommy I need wa wa (his only baby word, I correct him but it is cute)
Me - Ok Zach here is your water. Good night.

Take 4
Zach comes out to the livingroom.
Zach - Mommy I need to go big poopy
Me - Ok
Zach - After sitting on potty...I don't have to go anymore. (Big freakin' shock!)
Me - Ok go back to bed (another tuck in and other kiss)


Take 5
Zach comes out to the livingroom again.
Zach - Mommy I need chapped lips (chap stick)
Me - (mild frustration in voice)Fine, Zach but this is it.
Tuck in and kiss

Take 6
Zach comes out again
Zach - Mommy I got a boo boo can you please kiss it and make it all better.
Me - How did you get a boo boo laying in bed?
Zach - ummm....I don't know.
Back to bed Zach

Take 7
Zach comes out again
Zach -Mommy, with a huge adorable grin, Mommy I want to sleep in your bed.
Me - Melting and putting on my best mommy face to combat the cutest little boy ever, No Zach you need to go back to your bed.
Zach - Mommy stay 2 minutes.
Me - Ok Zach, 2 minutes.
Zach - Mommy you are pretty (oh he is good, isn't he)
Mommy you are my best friend (and manipulative, but still so darn cute)
Mommy you are a cucumber (umm...ok????)
Mommy someone sneezed on me.
Me -Zach, stop talking. Good night.

It has been a 1/2 an hour now and I think we might finally have a sleeping child. Phewww!!!

Taking a stand...can you be jailed for this?

Well we are still having trouble with the picky eating. Zach has pretty much not ate dinner for the past two nights.

Tuesday night he told me he didn't want fish or pasta(his favorite) he wanted candy. I had bought a bag of Hershey kisses for his teacher for teacher appreciation week and a few wouldn't fit in the container I bought so I left them on the counter. I told him he could have a candy after he ate. No, mommy I'm full. I told him if he was too full for pasta he was too full for candy. He asked several more times and he didn't end up eating that night with the exception of about 2 pieces of pasta.

Fast forward to last night. I made chicken and a salad...once again, I'm full mommy. I did get him to eat a few pieces of chicken....mmmm. Hopefully this will end before he starves to death.

On a happier and much more adorable not. I've read that if you let kids help you in the kitchen they are much more likely to eat the food (Note: this doesn't work), however it makes for a lot of fun. I have a bamboo cutting board that came with a small cutting board. Whenever I cut veggies at night, Zach gets out his cutting board and his "sharp" (what he calls a plastic knife from IKEA) and cuts beside me.

While I was in the middle of making dinner, Kaitlyn had a mess so I went in to change her. While I was changing Kaitlyn, Zach took out all of my pots and set them on the kitchen floor and then took out the pasta and poured it into all of the pots and put all of the lids back on. When I got back into the kitchen he told me that he had made me pasta for dinner. He then wanted me to taste it. In my efforts to teach him that tasting is good, I had to eat several pieces of raw pasta that he "cooked" for me. YUCK!!! Pretty cute though, huh...I love that kid!

Mother's Day

I had a fantastic Mother's Day. Mother's Day actually started on Friday with a tea at Zach's school. They invited all of the mother's for a brunch. The kids sang a few songs and then gave us presents. He made me a vase with flowers, a hat to wear for brunch and a jewelery box with his picture. Zach was a little shy during the songs but he came home and sang them to me. The kids were all so cute and every mommy came. It was such a great day.

He also kept randomly saying Happy Mother's Day to me over the weekend. I melted each time!

I got to sleep in on Sunday. Joe got up with both of the kids and they made me breakfast. Zach absolutley loves to cook. He cracked the eggs and helped to put the ingredients in the pancakes and then he stired them up real good (his words).

After breakfast, we went to my mom's and had a very nice dinner of beef tenderloin and creamed spinach with mashed potatoes (my mom's favorite). Aunt La La (Melissa)bought some more age appropriate toys for Zach to play with including water baloons and a foam rocket shooter. Zach of course, loved them and played with the water balloons for hours. I'll post pics later.

I hope everyone had as nice of a day as I did.

Zachies

In the past few hours I have belly laughed about 10 times. Zach is cracking me up tonight...here are a few examples.

1. To Joe out of the blue: Daddy I listened so good at the store today. Mommy was so proud of me.

2. Again out of the blue: I want to go on a trip and ride horses. That is so cool. (He's never been on a horse before)

3. We were watching TV and a Zyrtec commercial came on and he screams...Look it's a Z for Zachary.

4. I took both of the kids to Sams today and put them both in the front of the shopping cart (a first for Kaitlyn). Zach kept patting Kaitlyn on the back and asking if she was OK. They were getting a lot of attention because they looked adorable but then to top it off Zach was saying, "look what a big girl my sister is" Seriously how cute is that! I tried to get a picture but my camera was all dead not just mostly dead and with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do, go through his clothes and look for loose change. I'm sorry for the weird reference I just watched that movie. I LOVE that movie!

Cooking

I've been cooking a lot lately since tax season is over. I couldn't decide what to make when we went up to Melbourne a couple of weeks ago so I bought a ton of stuff...then I ran out of time and only made brownies. I still had a bunch of ingredients left over though so I've put them to good use.

I made carrot cake last weekend for my parents and they loved it. It was moist and delicious. I've become addicted to a few blogs lately and I've decided The Pioneer Woman is nothing but BAD BAD news! How can recipes that are so bad for you look so good. I need to stay off of her website if I ever want to fit into my clothes!!

I also had a cooking-fest last weekend to make meals for the month. Last year I went to No Fuss Meals a few times to stock up on meals. They were delicious, but I learned a few good techniques for freezing and I started doing it myself.

I made a big pot of spaghetti sauce and turned it into lasagna, baked ziti and freezer bags of sauce. I like jarred sauce just fine but I LOVE my mom's spaghetti sauce recipe and it is so easy to make and freeze. I also figured out the perfect way to cook for our family...loaf pans. Whenever I make casseroles (baked ziti, lasagna, chicken and rice...whatever) I just split the recipe into loaf pans. They are deep too so they are perfect for lasagna. I make one that night and put one or two (depending on how much the recipes makes) in the freezer for later in the month.

It is the perfect amount of food for the three of us plus leftovers. I used to always make these things in 9x13 pans and we would end up either eating it for a week and wanting to gag if we ate it one more time or throwing it away.

I also took the mini-loaf pans and made an individual lasagna and baked ziti for my "microwave-only" cooking sister. I warned her of the dangers of metal in the microwave first though...I never know about her :-)

My only concern with this is the "anti-green" mentality of the disposable aluminum pans. I rinse them, crumple them and recycle them so I'm not a horrible anti-greenite but still. Does anyone have any other suggestions for going from freezer to oven?

Caution: Rant coming
If you are thinking wow...that is a lot of pasta, you are right. I have a houseful of annoyingly picky eaters. Neither Joe nor Zach like anything. Joe is a lost cause but I'm determined to win Zach over. Kaitlyn hasn't started eating anything that doesn't come out of a jar yet so we'll see how that goes. I mean seriously they don't eat vegetables, potatoes (except fries) or rice. What kind of people don't like mashed potatoes? They are like little piles of heaven. What the heck am I supposed to make????

They both do like meat though (except fish). So I make a lot of pasta and chicken and pasta and meat and pasta blah, blah, blah. On a semi-healthy note I use wholewheat pasta 95% of the time. The one good thing about pasta is it is totally easy to sneak veggies into it. I puree and finely chop all kind of veggies into the pasta sauces. My boys defintely get their fair share of lycopene from all of the tomato sauce.

I don't cater to them always. I try making things I know is on the no-no list but it is really hard to spend time cooking food that no one but you eats. Zach and Joe will both go to bed hungry rather than eating something not on their small list of "things I like to eat". I'm not about to start making different meals for everyone. I LOVE vegetables. I was a vegetarian for six years for goodness sakes. How did I go from Tofu Chili to these two!!!

I put veggies on Zach's plate every night though. Does that count? Can this have some sort of osmotic effect?

On a positive note, Joe may be picky but he is very nice about it. He could care a less if I actually cook dinner. He is perfectly content with cereal for dinner. I think dinner has to have a vegetable so that doesn't work for me but it is nice to know he doesn't expect me to limit my cooking to his likes.