Tuesday, May 24, 2011

A. Idol

Whose it going to be? Scotty? Lauren?

It's a hard choice. I have no idea.

Zumba



In an attempt to lose that baby weight and feel okay about my body again, I started a Zumba class. Yay!
It's 6 weeks, twice a week.
The first class was last night. It felt good. I worked up a sweat. I was tired and it felt good to climb into bed. But I got up this morning. We even went for a walk.

I have a workout video called Yoga BootyBallet. And some of the Zumba moves are similar to the YBB moves. Just some slight variations.

I feel good about it. I am doing this for me.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

13 weeks

Alexander says 'Hi'

Day Out with Thomas

We took Nicholas to ride Thomas the Train at the Essex Steam Train Station.
Here is riding the little roller coaster.
He's here riding the little fire trucks. He loved ringing the bell.


Alexander loved sitting in the stroller and taking it all in.





Nicholas on the train in my sunglasses.







Here's Thomas!


Alexander enjoying the train ride with Mommy.

















Ohio Vacation

A couple of weeks ago we took a vacation to Ohio to visit family and friends. It was a 15 hour drive across 4 states. The boys did fabulous.
Part of the reason for our trip was my 10 year college reunion-May Day. We got lucky and the rain held off until the afternoon. We had a brief but good time back on campus. Then my wonderful friends hosted 3 families at their house for kiddie naps and some good conversation. Thank you friends. It was a wonderful reunion of friends and thier families. The kids were great together.
These are some friends at the ceremony; Jen, in back; Kendra and her son Ethan in front.
Here's Nicholas at the ceremony.



My friend Dri snuggling Alexander.


This is my mom and Alexander



Nicholas enjoying a cookie.


My dad with Alexander. Alexander wanted to eat so he is knawing on Grandpa's shirt.


We took a trip to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo during our visit. This is a lovely zoo if you get a chance to visit. It's not too big yet you feel it's worth the admission. They have a sky lift ride, boat ride and train ride as well as all the wonderful animals. It was easy to go through in 4 hours with a lunch break. Perfect for little kids.


Here's Joe and Nicholas on the sky lift ride.


Nicholas loved the mock safari vehicles sitting around. We had to all get in this one.
He checked this one out by himself. He had to pull all the levers and push the pedals.



Family picture.


Nicholas and Joe staying dry under a leaf in the rainforest.


On the train.

On the boat ride. Alexander took a nap on the rocking water.
Besides these two fun filled days, we took some time to hang out at Nana and Papa's house to play with the trucks and tractors and pool table. My mom and I went to get pedicures, which was lovely. We also invited over more family and friends to meet Alexander.

The trip was great. A true vacation for me as Joe takes Nicholas and my mom takes Alexander. I am relieved of my 24/7 mommy duties for a while. Thank you husband and mom.

We made it back in only 14.5 hours too. I am not sure we are anxious to do it again anytime soon but it wasn't hell.

Okay that was our trip. Thanks for visiting with us.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Love this store


I first became a fan of Aldi while living in Germany. We had one right across the street where we lived.
While my husband went to post to work and I had no transportation to go anywhere and knew no one, I walked across the road to Aldi. I picked up a lot of German words.
And now that I am back in the States, I still love Aldi. They have super cheap prices and carry some German products which I miss dearly.
The only problem is the closest is 40 minutes away, gasp! So I don't get there often.
If you haven't been...GO! Take a quarter for the cart, you get it back. They only take cash or debit. And bring your own bags otherwise you will have to buy them.
They carry the brand Fit & Active. In which I have found an all natural fruit snack for Nicholas. He loves fruit snacks. And if you look at the label of Welches and other brands, they are full of sugar. But not these. No sugar added, all natural sugar.
Their other Fit & Active brands are good to.
The last time I was in I found little Nuremburg bratwurst. So super yummy. I really miss the German bratwurst.
So go check out the Aldi near you. You won't be disappointed.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Alexander: 3 months

I've been trying to get this post out all week. So I don't have all the pics up but I'll post anyway and hopefully more pictures will soon follow.


















Yes it is true. Alexander is 3 months old already. He's growing so fast both in time and size. I just can't believe it. My little baby is going to be gone before I blink my eyes.
He's over 12 lbs now and about 23 inches long. Since there is no doctor's visit this month we don't have official measurements. But I have been packing away all his 0-3 month clothing and bringing out the 3-6 month size. He's just pushing those toes right to the ends of his sleepers. And I was a little fearful he'd be swimming in this next size. But he's not. He actually fills them out well. Growing fast.
So what's he doing now?
He loves to lay on his playmat and kick and "play." His favorite toys are a lion and this star-smiley face that lights up and plays music. He just smiles and kicks when he sees them.
He has become sensitive to sound. He gets startled easily by loud noises. And let me tell you I have a very loud toddler. I sneezed today and it startled him into a cry. Poor guy.
He loves to smile. As I've said before he sleeps on his tummy. So I'll go turn him over when he wakes up and he'll look at me and give me a big 'ol grin. It's a beautiful sight
And he scoots. He'll scoot himself across his crib and even turn 90 degrees. Sometimes I think he's going to push himself up and roll over. But not yet.
He took his first vacation last week. A 15 hour road trip to Ohio to visit Grandma and Grandpa G. He's not a fan of his car seat. But he was a trooper. He liked the extra snuggle time with Grandma. He is now going through withdrawal.
How's his sleep?
Pretty good. He's up once at night and then a very early morning. According to babycenter.com, a baby his age typically "sleeps through the night" for 6-8 hours. So he does that. However his second stretch is only like 3 hours causing him to wake up early morning. That one could stretch a bit more for me.
How's he eating/feeding?
He eats ALL THE TIME. He took 7 oz last night before bed (and had his best night sleep yet). We've actually started phasing in formula with the breast milk. This is for many reasons. 1. He is just a poor nurser and will be hungry again in a very short amount of time. 2. To fill him up a bit more since formula digests slower than breast milk. 3. To stretch the breast milk further since I don't forsee myself breastfeeding for the whole 12 months. But I give you moms out there that can do this a whole lot of credit. It's not easy.
















Alexander is just a little sweetie and so patient with us. I am excited to see how he keeps growing.








Staples

No I am not talking about the office supply store.
But instead about the staples you keep in your fridge. The items you buy immediately when you run out. Besides the obvious milk, eggs, bread, I keep real Parmesan. Not that jarred, pre-grated fake stuff. No a block of real Parmesan cheese.
And a must have is the microplane grater. I have this style shown. I use my Parmesan on pasta, rice, bread, in breadcrumbs, meatballs, etc etc etc.
I am telling you, buy the real stuff. It lasts Forever! And if it gets a little mold on it. Just cut it off. It's cheese after all.





















While searching for a picture of Parmesan cheesed I found this picture of cheese making. I did this. When I studied in Switzerland we made cheese. I am the one that got to scrape the curds out of the vat. We used a cloth like this but I had to hold one end in my mouth as well. It was a tough process but so much fun and an experience I will always treasure.




Another item always in our fridge is hummus and peppers. My son LOVES this. If given a plate of food such as hummus with peppers, chicken nuggets and pasta. He will eat the hummus and peppers first. And usually ask for more. I have to tell him to eat his nuggets.






He also loves cheese wraps, with the shredded cheese. So to keep all the cheese from falling out, I spread the tortilla with hummus first. He devours it.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

PJ Day


Today is a rainy day outside.
Inside we are having a lazy pj day. I love it. But we are going a little crazy keeping occupied.

This is not either of my kids, but how cute.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

CatSkunk


So we have a cat named Sophie. Well tonight I let her inside and immediately realized what a mistake. Our Sophie-cat met a skunk tonight. And apparently they did not get along.
She is currently in her cat carrier in the garage. We'll figure out what to do with her tomorrow. She is a feisty son of a gun so giving her a tomato juice bath does not sound like fun. I'm calling groomers in the morning to see if that's an option.
Ugh!
Our house reeks!