Lost in translation

As Zachary's vocabulary expands, I'm realizing that sometimes, there are breakdowns in translation from English to Zacharese.



Zachary: "Mommy, what are you doing?"
Mommy: "I think I'm going to lay here next to you on the couch and take a little cat nap."
Zachary: "Oh, OK. I think I'll take a dog nap."

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Zachary has started calling Todd, "Todd" instead of Daddy. (This is so funny!)

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Zachary had a little persistent itch. After a warm bath & some medicine, he wasn't satisfied with Mommy's remedies. He said to me, "Mommy, take me to school. Miss Dody can fix it."

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Zachary: "Mommy what does a fireman do?"
Mommy: "Well, whenever there's a fire, people call a fireman. He drives his big truck to the fire and uses a giant hose to stop the fire."
Zachary: "Does he wear a jacket?"
Mommy: "Yes, he does wear a jacket because sometimes he has to get really close to the fire. The jacket keeps his skin from getting too hot."
Zachary: "Skin? What's skin?"
Mommy: "Well, it's on your whole body. When you touch your arms & legs, you're touching your skin."
Zachary: "No, Mommy, I don't have skin. I'm just Zachy Todd."

omhg!

Spoken by our 3-year old son this week,

"Oh my Holy Goodness!"


(We think it might be a combination of "Holey Moley!" and "Oh my goodness!")

Grandpa Time

My dad is here for a few days this week. Zachary & Allie love Grandpa. These pictures are super cute.

Pretty little smile

Yes! That stubborn front tooth is visible now. She's so darn cute!

Sweet things

Just some cute pics of the kids -

Spring is here!!

I am SO happy it is warm. We've been spending a lot of time playing outside, swinging on the swingset (pictures soon) and climbing trees! Zachary has started climbing the tree in our front yard. I love watching him (ever so cautiously) try to get just a little higher up the tree.

Allie pushes her cart all over the yard. She stops & picks up little leaves & sticks to put in it. SO cute!:

Zachary, just being cool:

He rarely lets me take nice pictures of him now that he's a "big boy." I am grateful that he was cooperative this day:

The Latest

Here's what's been happening over the past 10 days -
Allie has had 2 little babies since Christmas, but has only recently begun to play with them. I love watching her be a little mama. She really is so sweet. See how she knows the right way to hold her baby?

...and Zachary has become what I'm silently calling "the annoying little brother." From what I hear, a little brother is always following you around, wants everything you have, and constantly picks at you. This is Zachary's new thing with Allie. And yes, I realize he is actually the big brother. But he's playing the role of the little brother lately.
Here he is, having taken Allie's baby away from her...

And he decided that the baby needed to go to the doctor (you know, because going to the doctor every other day has become our new "norm"). Apparently, the doctor is two Raccoons. Yes, the Raccoons gave the baby a thorough examination of her lungs, ears, eyes & belly. So funny!

Allie found (and loves!) herself in the dishwasher.

And that silly front tooth FINALLY came in. This picture is at least a week old. Today, you can really see the tooth a lot better. Her smile is almost symmetrical.

As of today, we are down to just 1 breathing treatment daily (Zachary). They would do their breathing treatments together. Todd & I would just laugh at the two of them sitting there with those nebulizers. Allie's lungs are much better and Zachary's are just about 100%. Thank God they are both better.

I'm back...sorta.

I don't even know where to begin. The following phrase keeps running through my head: "V is for virus..." Zachary has lots of ABC books where they use little sentences like that. A is for Apple. B is for Bear. V is for Virus.

Our home computer died a week ago. During the process of an attempt at a resurrection, we learned that it had 70-80 viruses in it. Yikes. That's just a little more than the number of viruses that have infected the 4 of us over the past month.

Just when I thought we were in the clear for all our sicknesses, Zachary puked all over me on Sunday morning. Then he puked on our couch. Two cushions & a pillow were covered with y-u-c-k. (BTW, any suggestions on how to get rid of that smell? And remember, I've already spent 2 days working on it...with no success.)

Anyway, I do have some fun pictures & videos of the kids over the past 2 weeks. I'll try to get some blog work done soon. In the mean time, say a prayer that Zachary & Allie are 100% well. Even if just the two of them are healthy, Todd & I will feel like we can get this boat afloat again. I don't know what will happen to us if we hear Zachary again say, "Somethin's wrong with me..."

The Green Goblin

I drove through McDonald's (in Zacharese, it's called "Old McDonald's") and got Zachary a Happy Meal. The toy in the Happy Meal was "The Green Goblin" from Spiderman. It looked a lot like this picture, including the jack o' lanterns & the flying thing he's standing on.
We haven't really introduced Zachary to many "bad guys" yet. I think the scariest "bad guy" character he's seen is "Hopper" on the movie, A Bug's Life. This has been an intentional effort we've made, just to protect his little mind. I loved listening to Zachary try to figure out this "bad guy." Here are some of the concerns he had.

"Is he standing on an airplane? Does it fly?"

"What's he holdin'? It looks like a pumpkin. Is it a real pumpkin?"

"Mommy, somethin's wrong with his belly. What's wrong with his belly?"

"Mommy, is he smiling? I don't know if he's smiling. Why isn't he smiling?"

Quick update

Everyone's sick again. (Except, of course, Todd...the person who eats the least amount of fruits & vegetables, doesn't eat a healthy breakfast and sometimes drinks coke...)

So, anyway, while I'm administering several medications, multiple breathing treatments daily, and RE-sanitizing the whole house (AGAIN), I haven't been taking pictures. But here's one from last week that melts my heart...

Allie, orally fixated

This child always has something in her mouth. This is WAY more than the typical age-appropriate-baby-teething habit. She's not chewing. She's not sucking. There's just something in her mouth at all times. I imagine her saying, "Ok - Socks on. Check. Pants buttoned. Check. Hair combed. Check. Something in mouth. Check."
Usually, I'll get the camera to take pictures & immediately grab whatever she has in her mouth - just so I can get a good picture. Well, I decided to go ahead & indulge her little urges and I let her keep the object while I took pictures. Here are some examples -

Biggest strawberries I've ever seen

I guess since we're close to Florida, we get good strawberries this time of year. These were very YUMMY!!

Snow(y) Day

They're calling it "The Winter Wallup" here in Atlanta. I'm certain my Indiana family & friends will laugh at the idea that this 1/2 day snowfall has almost completely shut down the city, but the reality is - we rarely get snow like this.
It was really a fun day. It snowed for 6 hours straight and it was SO pretty. Thick, wet snowflakes that poured from the sky. I loved watching it fall. In this first picture of Zachary, you can see a large snowflake that fell right in front of his nose as I took the picture. SO funny.

Our day happened in 3 phases. I'm sure you can imagine the circus I was running as I tried to find snow-worthy clothes for both kids. And, of course, Allie was not cooperative. Since she's not walking and it was super wet, phase 1 involved her snuggled up in the stroller & watching from the garage. She would have NOTHING to do with that idea. After much protest, she won. I dragged both kids back inside so that I could change her from the warm full-bodied snowsuit that was only conducive to sitting still.

Phase 2 involved Allie wearing a combination of Zachary's old winter clothes & her fancy church coat (not snow-proof) with a pair of baby Uggs (also not snow-proof). I put both kids in the wagon & we went for a walk. That was really neat. I love how silent it is when the snow is falling. It was so beautiful.

The second part of Phase 2 was Zachary building a snowman. SUPER fun.

We used broccoli for the eyes. Ha! I love this little snowman!

Since Allie had bucked her way out of the straps in the wagon, I decided to give in & let her follow Zachary around. I cringed as she crawled through the snow, her pants & shoes soaking wet. She loved EVERY minute and yelled in protest when I finally dragged her back inside.

She even knew to eat the snow. Yes, I know, the mitten is on the wrong hand. I can't talk about it.

Phase 3 started when Daddy got home. After bringing both kids in & changing them from wet to dry clothes, Todd wanted to take them back out to play. He & Zachary had such a good time building a much bigger, much better snowMAN!! Super FUN!!