New Blog

I started a new blog. It's mostly for myself, but you can check it out and follow if you want. I hope to post every day, just to "verbalize" the progress and process of improving our lives.

Zack's First Day of Kindergarten!

Friday was Zack's first (stagger-start) day of kindergarten. (For the first week of school, the kindergarteners stagger in and the teachers complete assessments on them. We meet his teacher on Monday, and his official first day is Tuesday. So technically, he'll have two first days of school.) He woke up ready to go, got dressed and ate breakfast. When we were completely ready to go early, he kept telling us that we should go so we wouldn't be late. Mark and I were both sort of emotional, but nobody cried! We were very proud of Zack as he walked off with his classmates in line in the big school. Even though he looked a little less sure of himself when they were lining up in the library, he didn't even look back at us.

After I picked him up that afternoon, he realized he had left his lunchbox in the gym (carpool waiting area). So we walked back through the school, and he told me, "Mommy, I had a great time at school!" He also told us that he wanted to play with two kids, but they wouldn't share. He decided to walk away and find someplace else to play. We told him that was a very good choice! We were thinking, 'Thank goodness you didn't scream and yell and try to take the thing out of their hands,' which is what he would do if it were his brother.

He even woke up this morning, excited about going back to school. I hope this excitement stays and I hope he has a great kindergarten year!

Oh yeah, Xander and I made cookies while Zack was at school. Xander has already learned how much fun it is to lick the spoon!

Not Me Monday

I did not get all pouty and proud and happy but kind of sad when Zack started school on Friday. He looked so grown up with his bookbag and lunchbox, walking down the hall in a line, at a real school. I am not getting those same feelings right now as I'm typing this and thinking about him in the big school. (Oh yeah, I'm actually typing this on Friday in anticipation of Monday) I'm also not feeling a Zack withdrawal, especially since I can't even call and check on him. I'm not excited for 3:45 to get here so I can go see him and find out all about his day. Nope, not me!

I did not take advantage of having only one child in the house and make cookies with him. And I did not lick my fingers multiple times while mixing and icing those cookies. Nope, not me!

I did not break my no yelling streak (yes, I admit that) last week when the boys were in their room for TWO AND A HALF HOURS without sleeping. I did not have to go in there multiple times because they were playing and playing and talking and laughing and climbing on furniture. Nope, not me!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

In a nut..er..seashell...

It was not my children who repeatedly ran cars on glass tables, banged on glass tables, played with light switches, flushed the toilet, turned the tv on and off, ran through and hid behind the vertical blinds, wandered away from our shady spot on the beach, ran away from us in the aquarium, dumped sand on his brother, got sand all over me, knocked down sand castles that weren't finished, screamed at his brother, whined about being in the car, were loud and obnoxious at restaurants, ran around the pool, hit or bit his brother or fought sleep like they were fighting a war.

It was, however, my first child who ate like a champ, jumped in the pool over and over again (when he wouldn't put his face in the water three months ago), sort of learned how to boogie board, enjoyed tumbling in the waves, ate a strawberry ice cream cone with no drips on his clothing, read books with his brother, held my hand walking on the beach because he wanted to, was curious about sea turtle nests, was too scared to sit in front of the alligator exhibit and didn't want to leave the beach.

And it was, however, my second child who drank from a glass tumbler without spilling (much), liked to "jump like mermaid do" in waves, tried to pop the bubbles of the sea foam, fell asleep on Daddy's shoulder walking back from fireworks on the beach, learned that the object of mini golf is to put the ball in the hole, got more interested in peeing in the potty (but never actually did), patiently hung out in the stroller as we walked to the boardwalk and talked the whole way, hung on my back as I swam or jumped around in the pool, loved seeing all the sea creatures at the aquarium and touching some, wanted to go to "ocean 'gain?", was full of curiosity and questions and was ready to come home.

And us, well, we tortured our children and each other with cold spray sunscreen 3-4 times a day and didn't get burnt except at mini golf, learned how difficult it was to de-sand two adults and two children when returning from the beach, watched the boys discover sand, waves, seashells, mole crabs and coquina, tried to be good and cook dinner (but still had two dinners and a lunch out), unpacked everything as soon as we got there, snuggled with our boys watching the fireworks on the beach, had quite a mini golf fiasco in which we grumbled and fussed but now laugh about, tried our best to take care of Cathy's condo, treated the boys to ice cream twice, enjoyed seeing old friends, had the best day of boogie boarding ever (Mark, not me), enjoyed sitting sometimes and just doing nothing, got competitive playing Dots, slept horribly with the spotlight from the pool shining into our room and are glad to be home.

So I hope this will work! Here's the link for my picture and video slideshow. I really wish I could have added captions. The two videos at the end were taken on Saturday morning, just after high tide, with Hurricane Bill hundreds of miles off the coast. The waves and rip current were too much for me, but man, the surfers sure did love it!

This was my contribution to MckMama's Not My Child! Monday blog carnival. You can head over to her site to see what her children and other people's children have not been doing!

Look Ma!!

Twinkle Star

A Few Pictures

My Montage 8/14/09

Well, it kind of worked. Just click on the link to see a few random pictures from the past week. The last one is Zack jumping off the diving board all by himself--he just had to find his inner superhero. Enjoy!

A Little QT (AKA Shoot Like There's no Tomorrow)

I recently read a MckMama post about photography entitled "Shoot like There's No Tomorrow." She mentioned that she once too 100 pictures of her daughter sitting in the grass and only kept 6 of them. So I tried that on Saturday morning, when Daddy was having some quality time working on a puzzle with Xander and Zack was trying his hand at a 63 piece puzzle by himself. Although I didn't really weed the pictures down nor edit them, like MckMama would, I picked some random ones to share.

Oh and then there were s'mores...

Xander didn't really like it altogether...he just wanted the cracker

Okay, I didn't pick the best picture for this one, but as I was in half-asleep, Daddy had this conversation with Xander:

Daddy: Xander are you still sleepy?

Xander: Zes.

Daddy: Do you want to sleep some more?

Xander: Zes.

Daddy: Do you want to snuggle with Mommy?

Xander: Zes.

Swimming Lessons, Part Deux

This week, swimming lessons were much better than last time, except for the part where I had to chase Xander to keep him from jumping in every day. We did stay after lessons one day to have some play time with Nisseem and his mom. Zack actually started his third round yesterday, and I'm amazed at his progress! At the beginning of the summer, he would not put his face in the water or go under and he relied on a floatie while in the pool. Now he can even dive down to get dive toys! And he does it without holding his nose, which I can't even do! He also can jump off the side, then come back up swimming. He still likes to use a noodle in Gramma's pool because he can't touch and can't tread water yet, but he's come leaps and bounds...er...kicks and strokes from where he was.

Last of swimming lessons for the week--he didn't want to jump off the diving board, just off the side.

Look, Joel can walk on water! Okay, not really, he just jumping in holding Zack.

Swimming Buddies: Nisseem, Zack and Sydney

Favorite Baby Things

Head on over to Sugar and Spice to see more baby things, and post your own! You just might find something you can't live without!

Sleep sacks...perfect for those middle of the night changings when you are still half-asleep and can't even seem to figure out which way the diaper goes, you don't have to fumble with 5 million snaps to put the baby back to bed. Of course, the boys might wonder why Mommy is putting them in a dress.

We had the Blue Jean Teddy womb sounds teddy bear. Zack had his in his bed for almost two years, but it worked wonders for getting both boys to sleep. Mine also played music, but we never used that.

The Diaper Depot--Keep wipes, diapers, diaper rash cream, hand sanitizer, pacifier--everything you need is handy when you only have one hand (and the other is holding onto your wiggly baby).

Burp cloths--For Zack, it was because he was such a spitter. We went through several of these a day! For Xander, it was about the only thing soft enough to dry me off after feeding Xander or pumping. Definitely couldn't live without!

The Boppy--I had it right next to the bed so I could feed Xander sitting in bed. Both boys took naps on it, and it also made a good hat for Grandad and Daddy.

Baby Wash--The boys don't have sensitive skin or anything, so I use the Target brand. But I still use it, and neither of the boys are babies any more. I just love the smell of it!!

Say AHHH!

The day after Xander's birthday, Zack had his first visit to the dentist. He had been with me a couple of times before, so he had seen what goes on. I, personally, don't like going to the dentist, simply because I have bad teeth and they usually have to do more painful things to me. When it was his turn, Zack walked slowly back to the room, and he didn't want to get up in the chair. He also didn't want to cry, I could see it on his face. After I readjusted the chair so I could sit right next to him, he was okay. Each time she did something new, he got a little nervous, and he really didn't want to do the x-rays, but in the end, he was quite a trooper-er-super kid! Oh and the best part--no cavities!! Yeah!! But I think he would say the best part was getting a goody bag and a toy from the treasure tower.