Happy Halloween!

I guess I'm like the people who get their Christmas Tree on Christmas Eve. But guess who has the perkiest pumpkin on the block... oh yeah, that's me! Today I went to Walmart to pick up a few things, and Zeker's got to parade around in his cute little outfit. The socks even have little candy corns on them. When we got home, he took a nap, and I carved my masterpiece! Josiah was very helpful, but opted not to carve his own. Especially since I used his in the nasty pumpkin soup.

4 month checkup:

He's 14 lbs 13 oz, and 25.75 inches long. 45th percentile for weight, and 76th for height. I could tell he was not chunking up, but trust me, I'm eating the calories!!! WHY WON'T HE TAKE THEM! He did grow a couple of inches and the nurse didn't seem too concerned, but he was 77th in weight 2 months ago, so I'm going to try and squeeze his feeds together so I can get an extra one in. It's hard though because he's already eating every 3 hours. Whatever. He's still cute.

We're all getting more active!

I am so proud of myself, I have to brag. So I started this couch to 5k program a couple of months ago, and when I started, I couldn't run for 3 minutes. Today I jogged (slowly but surely) 27 minutes. And I went just over 2 miles. I know that's a snail's pace, but I just want to be able to do it. I tried going faster for my monday run, and I crapped out after 19 minutes. I'm starting to really enjoy going out instead of dreading it. Zeke really enjoys being in the stroller and Reggie LOVES IT! As soon as I'm done giving Ezekiel his morning feed, Reggie is sitting at my feet waiting to go. I practically trip over him as I get ready. It's really sad on the mornings that I don't go. Ha Ha, burn!

And Josiah is doing really well too. I'm pretty sure if he really wanted to he could have done a 5k the first day of training, but he still goes out most mornings at 4am before work, and now he's running a 4 mile loop. Yeah, my boo is sexy! I better lose this baby weight before some denny's waitress snags him! (His crew eats at denny's weekly because it's the only thing open at 3am when they work overnights.)

Last night I had a couple of friends over to decorate Halloween cookies. (Yes, I have a friend now!) They turned out much yummier than the soup. Anyway, Caden, their little boy, was wondering about Zeke's sleeping situation, so I let them help me put him to bed. In all of this excitement, little Zekers must have wanted to stay up and play. After they left I went in and found him like this!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Don't worry, I checked to make sure he could breathe.

Looks delicious!

If only looks were everything. I have come to the conclusion, that pumpkin should be left for pies. It smelled great, but there just wasn't the flavor that I was hoping for. So then I added brown sugar and cinnamon, and then it just tasted like a watery pie. Whatever. Good thing the bread was delicious, and we had some manicotti left over from last week. Now that was good. I stuffed it with turkey sausage and ricotta and topped it with marinara and mozzerella. Cheese on cheese.

The pumpkin patch

I like to be festive, I wish I was more festive, and now i'm actually trying to BE festive. I know my son is only 4 months old, but he was dying to go show off his cute halloween outfit at the pumpkin patch. That's not silly, right?

Well, Josiah doesn't really believe in festivities, so instead of asking if I could decorate the house, I just told him I was going to decorate, and asked what my budget was. 10 bucks. Nice. So, I went to Ross, and got these little pumpkins that are glittery, and put them in a bowl that I already had on display. I used the other 2 bucks for halloween colored candies and put them in a dish. P.S. Zeke's outfit doesn't count.

So when it was time to go to the pumpkin patch, Jo gave me a really hard time about exhausting my budget already, so I told him that pumpkins were actually groceries, and therefore would be coming out of the grocery budget! (I'm so smart!) I asked Jacqui what to make with pumpkin, expecting to hear pie, and she delivered. She suggested a soup that she had heard of here: http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/Recipes.html

It's a pumpkin soup that's cooked and served in the pumpkin shell. I'm SO EXCITED TO MAKE IT!!! I bought two pumpkins, one for carving, and one for cooking. This should be fun! Hopefully Josiah won't work tomorrow, and we can cook it up!

Pretty much a beautiful day. Fleece pants probably weren't necessary, but they matched

See, he's having a good time! They both are actually.

Oh, and this is my "made in china" find of the week. I went to Ross, again, and found this AWESOME outfit. Josiah will be SO PROUD! Isn't it hideous! I know we're supposed to be boycotting China, but how can I when I get gems like this. I remember this plaid from grade school. Pretty sure EVERY boy had this shirt. And the undershirt is thermal material and I love that it's a onesie, and not just a t-shirt. The pants are corduroy, and the penny loafers were only 3 dollars. They smell like made in china. They don't go, just another lucky find.

My baby is 4 MONTHS OLD!

That seems CRAZY!!! Whenever I jog, I tell myself when I am 1/4 of the way done, and then 1/2, and then 3/4, and then that last 1/4 doesn't seem so tough. Well, we're 1/3 done with the first year, and that just seems wrong. The weeks just stand still when you're pregnant, and then once you have the little guy, the months just fly by! I guess he is getting cuter, and more responsive, so that's fun. Here's some fun ones!

Here we taught him how to wave. JKLOL!

Isn't he sweet in his onesie!?

When I'm busy in the kitchen, he likes to hang out. I put toys in his tray, but he knocked them all down.

This picture didn't turn out too good, but it's my sweet husband sleeping. He ALWAYS falls asleep with the TV on. Before we had dvr in the room, it was the couch. Pretty much every night. And mind you, it's 8:30 pm. I guess that's what happens when you get up for work at 4:30 am.

If I build it, they will come...

At least that's what Jacqui says. So in the last week, I've had 3 people from church ask me to do their hair. I always say yes, but then I put it off, because I have nowhere to put the mess. Well, I made somewhere to put the mess. Our formal living room, which is just off of our front door faces the street, but since there's not any parking on the street, nobody uses our front door. So the formal living room turned into our "office". The only thing official about it is our computer, but it's where our little digital piano was and a hutch full of fabric and sewing what-nots, and then my sewing machine. Oh, and this old big ugly oak bookcase that took up too much room. So Jacqui told me to get a really tall bookcase because they take up less room, and I did. So, I moved my piano to the dining room wall, where there actually was extra room, because our table is so small, and then I put the old bookcase out in the garage for shoes, and bought a really tall skinny one at Ikea, and put it in a formerly useless tiny corner, and then dedicated another corner to my sewing hutch, and table, and then biggest corner is now my SALON! So it's a work in progress. Our house came with extra linoleum from the bathroom, so we had a 10' sq piece, that I laid out, and then I hung a mirror, and I picked up a salon chair that I found on craig's list. And I had a sofa table that was in the garage. Josiah stripped all of the finish off of it, and we were just going to get rid of it, but I painted it white, and it's my station top. I can put magazines and towels in the drawers, and I have my rolly cart for my actual hair stuff. I'm really excited. Plus I'm hoping that if I have regular people coming over, it will inspire me to keep my kitchen sink EMPTY and all of the clutter put away. That is what destroys my house. Junk mail on the coffee table seems to reproduce.

Finally on tape!

So he rolled from front to back quite regularly about a month ago, and then he stopped. And now he's started again, and I FINALLY got it on tape. Sorry it's a bit long, but you get to see Reggie too.

Oh, and THANKS AT&T!

So we have the AT&T bundle with home phone, cable and internet. We have the digital video recorder, but it only works on the front TV. NOT ANYMORE!!! Now our main box records up to 4 shows at once, and then I can watch them in my room, whilst Josiah watches 9 hours of College football on Saturdays. Yay!

What's that smell?

So today has been HELL!!! Well, it didn't start out that way. I went for my morning run, decided to pick up the house a bit, and started laundry. The house has gotten progressively worse, I've gotten exactly one load of laundry done (and not even folded or put away) and Zeke is in the worst mood ever. He basically wants me to sit over him and make googley faces/noises. Toys don't work because they frustrate him. So he's been CRYING all afternoon. At least there is some humor in this life. He's been tooting quite a bit today, so I'm thinking his tummy hurts, and I've changed him very frequently cuz he's a smelly baby today. So I'm holding him and putting him down for a nap, which he won't take, and I'm like dude, you smell. So I smell him all over to try and get rid of that rotten milk smell. I checked his hands because they have been stinky lately. He sucks on them all the time, and then spit-up gets in his tiny fists and just marinates. BABIES ARE GROSS. Well, who's gross now?

Advance misbehaving

So I'm sure everyone thinks their child is amazing, but he's top of his class in being naughty!!!
We had to go to the mall to pick up his pictures today, and when we got there he had wriggled out of his carseat. I can barely get the stupid thing clipped it's so tight, but he found a way to get his arm completely out.

He's also learned how to make elmo sing on his exersaucer.

On a lighter, no, fatter note: MCDONALDS MONOPOLY IS BACK. Oh nO!!! I'm a mild gamblaholic. When Josiah and I started going to church, he gave up the sauce, and I gave up all gambling, lottery tickets, slots... everything. So when we get coupon scratch-it's in the mail for furniture stores, he always lets me scratch them. I swear I'm a child. Well, McDonald's monopoly is the next best thing. And now that I'm in training mode, and I've actually lost 5 lbs, I can't eat that crap!!! Maybe i'll just buy diet coke's every day to get my pieces. Well, one hashbrown won't hurt. Maybe I'll jog there. That would justify it, right?

Update!

I shouldn't complain because Zeke slept til 7am which just happened to be when Josiah got home from work. (He got called in 3pm Sun.) So then I fed him (Ezekiel) and we all went back to sleep til 10:30 AM!!!

Then I went for my morning jog. I'm training for a 5k that we're planning on doing Thanksgiving morning. So I'm doing a routine that I found here: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml . It's called the "Couch to 5K running plan. That fits. So this week I'm on week 4. It goes from jogging 9 total minutes to 16! And I just want to report that I did it! Seriously, I'm such a pansy, but I'm glad I have a goal, otherwise I would find reasons to put off running. My next goal is to do a sprint Triathalon. Wish me luck! And Lindsey, if you read this, you are cordially invited to spend the night at my house the night before thanksgiving and do the 5k with us! You get a shirt.

It's NOT playtime!!!

So I guess I'm not too good at this schedule thing. We usually have some sort of routine that follows the E.A.S.Y. plan. Eat, Activity, Sleep, Your time! So I feed him, let him play til he fusses, and then it's usually nap time. Well, lately, I've been letting him play, and then once he's over that, I'll find an activity to keep him up and happy for a bit longer. Like, say a bath, or books, or just playing with him. I try to keep him up for at least two hours, so then he'll sleep an hour, and then he'll end up eating every three hours, and sleeping through the night. HOPEFULLY.

Well, today was like up for 1.5 hours, and then sleeping for 45 min. and eating every two and a half hours. I tried keeping him up as long as possible, but he was just fussy all day. Plus he would fall right to sleep. So I thought maybe if I try keeping him awake right before bedtime as long as possible. We were playing in his room, and I had to go pee, so I laid him down, and he fell right to sleep at 7:30. I thought, wow, he's really pooped today. By 8pm he was back up, and now it's almost 11, and he just went back down. I'M HOPING HE STAYS DOWN!!

So here he is just as happy as can be. Oh, and Reggie's starting to pay more attention to Zeke. He likes to hang out with him by his exersaucer. I think he's waiting for a playmate!

Sweet baby!

So Sunday was Zeke's blessing day. Josiah did such a wonderful job. He was so nervous that he kept saying "I'm gonna throw up, I'm gonna throw up." Every dad has to go through the first public blessing. He's gonna be a pro one day! It was cool because we sat by a couple who is in charge of nursery, (we're their assistants) and they're really nice and he's a convert too. And they don't have kids yet, so we're them like a year later. I hope it's encouraging for them. I feel "seriously, so blessed!" (JKLOL.)

P.S. I am such a heffer. I am still training for my 5k though, so I won't be huge forever.



Anyhoo, when I was pregnant I went to AZ to visit my friends and bought this whole sailboat ensemble for my baby. AND NOW IT FITS!!! It's 3-6 months, and he just turned 3 mos, but he's fitting into most of his 3-6 month stuff. He looked SO precious!

NO, it's not cold here, I just couldn't wait!!!

The socks are the cutest part: WHALES! We did go buy me a new cell phone that night, and I'm sure it was below 80, so he needed to stay warm somehow!!!



Lately I've been trying to wean Ezekiel from the swaddle. It's the only way he knows how to sleep. I just get lazy during the day, so I'm trying to lay him down with just a blanket. Today I laid him down and he started crying. So I shut the door, and went to get his clothes out of the dryer and seriously within 30 seconds he had stopped crying. I peeked in, because I knew he was exhausted. (he was awake for a full 90 min! LAZY BABY) This is what I found.

That's an elephant tail in his hand. I think it was an accident, but how precious is that! He spit out his pacifier, and he's sucking his thumb like a champ. Whatever.