Palm Springs

Dear Kate and Riley,
Last week we got to tag along with Dad to a conference in Palm Springs. Dad was really busy doing "work" things (like playing golf) so it was mostly just Zach and I hanging out at the pool. We had a blast. I have found that when we can live on "Zachary time" and have no obligations or things that we have to do, he is just happy all the time. It was nice to worry about nothing but having fun, if it took us 30 min to walk from our hotel room to the pool, fine. If he wanted to eat half his lunch at 11 and half at 12, it was fine. If he wanted to get in and out of the pool 100 times, it was fine! Take an hour to eat an apple? Great! It made for one very happy baby. If only real life was like that. He is independent enough that he could play in the baby pool on his own and I could sit on the side which was my favorite part. He made a new friend every day which also made my job easier. We even got to stay an extra day past the conference to have some play time with Dad. It was a good little "spring break" for us and I'm glad Zachary got to have a fun time, because the next vacation, we're leaving him behind!

These pictures are a great example of "Zachary time" he took this apple off the table and started eating it, I thought about taking it away but thought, ahh, whatever, we're on vacation. He spent almost an hour chowing down on this apple! He even took it out on the balcony and sat in the chair looking down at people and chomping. He ate it all the way to the core, when I finally took it away he cried (ok so I had to do SOME mommy things on this trip!)

Every day when we came in from the pool he would just CRASH. this day he actually fell asleep sitting up in our bed. He just sort of flopped over and stayed there for over 3 hours!

Love,
Mom

Spring has Sprung!

Dear Kate and Riley,
I know all the people in Utah and Wisconsin and other cold places hate it when I say things like Spring is here! because, well let's face it, its pretty much spring here all the time. But I look forward to our California springs when we can get back to the reason we live here, the beach. We've had some good beach days in the past few weeks. I've also discovered how much a very active almost 18 month old deters even the most determined mom from taking pictures. He just moves too fast for me! I find that by the time I even find my camera he's often no where to be found. Just not worth it most days. I'm determined that next week in Palm Springs (we get to tag along with Dad to a work conference). I'll get some good shots.

a beach day

St. Patrick's Day, it seriously took me like 20 min to get one shot of him looking at me

I got rid of our patio furniture and felt like I doubled our sq. footage, he LOVES playing on the patio!

I found the solution to the eating problem, get him REALLY hungry! This day after playing on the patio all morning and at the park all afternoon, I swear I've never seen him eat more. Here he is eating every last crumb, even the ones that fell on his shirt. And seriously, are those fat feet in the flip flops the cutest thing you've ever seen or what?!

Love,
Mom

We've been MIA

Dear Kate and Riley,
Well there's nothing like the month of February to make sure that life is really boring. After all of the traveling we were doing I was ready to get back to boring and we have done just that. Unfortunately that makes for bad blogging as well.

We've really been up to nothing lately and its been nice. A lot of park days, play dates and napping and its just how I like it.

Zachary is just getting bigger every day, he's flown through the last two sizes of clothes and I almost wanted to cry when I had to buy my BABY shorts that were size 2T! He is big and everyone seems to assume he is older than he is. He's learning SO much and it is so much fun to watch him so aware of his surroundings.

Some "new" things in our boring last month--

• new words-- almost every day its something new and he will imitate almost anything. His personal favorite is "TRUCK" which he yells non-stop as we are driving. Also "birdie" which sounds a LOT like baby and I couldn't figure out why he was always pointing and yelling about the babies until I realized they were birdies! "Pooh Bear" is another cute one though it may only be decipherable by mom and dad. I love hearing him try out new words (and sounds, he's really good at car and motorcycle sounds)
• food-- it has become such an issue. Zach (and mom) found out the hard way that eating nothing but carrots for two days WILL cause digestion issues (I won't go into the other details). He seems to be all or nothing. I agree with Aunt Kelli's theory that they are like rats, he must just store it up for those bad days.
  
• sickness-- first double ear infection combined with a sinus infection and a nasty cough. No fun for mom or Zach. This led to first round of antibiotics and mom's first worry that her kid is going to be a druggie as he literally SQUEALS with delight every time I give him his medicine and immediately says "mo, mo mo" (more, more more!)
• singing-- Zach is LOVING when we sing with him and although he doesn't try to sing along so much he is getting better at doing the motions, this kid is READY for nursery (oh PLEASE can't we send him a month early!?)
• shows-- yes I'm one of "those" moms. I swore I wouldn't be but if its between turning on a show or having him get into a huge mess while I get ready or make dinner, well I choose show. He loves "Tigger and Pooh" and "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" they are both pretty annoying but whatever keeps him happy. Mom prefers "Backyardigans" and "wonderpets" so we compromise sometimes.
  
• Cars-- what is it with boys and their cars? While spring cleaning last weekend we found a big bag of Dad's old matchbox cars. It was like Christmas morning! He has done nothing for the past three days but line those cars up and then throw them all on the ground. He also puts them all in a basket which he then carries into the kitchen. Then he RUNS the cars back and forth from the basket to the coffee table. I don't know why, but I'm not asking.

Ok I think that was a long enough post to make up for two weeks of not posting. March should be more exciting. We have at least one trip planned and Aunt Jill and Uncle Austin will be in town so that will be exciting too.

Here's my treat to make up for having no pictures. Ignore the horrid singer in the background. And forgive me for trying to get the most out of the St. Patrick's Day shirt.




Love,
Mom