What I did for my birthday

This picture was taken 2 years ago, but I didn't get any like this, this year.

This year I had a full day of celebrating my birthday because I was up most of my birthday! I got home from work around midnight and was on the Internet for a while. Then I decided to watch The Biggest Loser. I just love that show. It is very motivational to me. In fact, I started to lift weights while watching the show. After I watched The Biggest Loser, I decided to start making some baby food for my son. So I washed, peeled, cut, blended, boiled, and blended apples to freeze for Zander. I had a lot of fun doing it, and can't wait to do it with other food. Well when I finished with all of that I had stayed up all night and it was 6:15 a.m. I figured I better get some sleep because I was supposed to meet a friend later that morning. I finally got out of bed at 10:15 a.m. and left around 10:30 a.m. I was supposed to meet her at 11 a.m., but didn't get there until 11:30 a.m. because I took 294 instead of I 80. I met, Carrie, a good friend of mine, and her son Mason at a mall in Joliet. Mason is 2 months younger than Mason. And I haven't seen Mason since he was 2 days old. We shopped for a while, and then had lunch at the food court. We had a nice time. After lunch we headed over to Toys R Us. Carrie had to pick up her daughter from kindergarten, so we headed back home. We stopped at my mom's to spend time with them, and then we had a yummy dinner over there. My little sister came too to help celebrate. We had steak on the grill, my favorite sour cream and parsley potatoes, green beans, and fruit salad. It was delicious. It was a great birthday, but unfortunately my husband had to work most of it. He worked at 11 a.m. until probably 10:30 p.m. or so. But he did bring home roses and a card for me. I told him I didn't want any gift for my birthday. It was a very nice birthday.

Zander did not like sitting the normal way in a cart.

MasonMy roses from my husband

I wish I were a stay at home mom

Most days I miss my baby. I was grumpy today at work and did not want to be there. I want to be a stay at home. I am so thankful I haven't missed any of the firsts. I hope that continues. But I am still sad that I have to be away from my son for 37 + hours a week. I know if I was a stay at home mom, I would miss working. I love being a nurse and I love working in the Emergency Department. But on days like today, I WANT TO BE A STAY AT HOME MOM.

Thank goodness for In Laws

My parent-in-laws have been so helpful with Zander. I am so thankful that they are willing to watch Zander 2 days a week. Otherwise I am not sure what we would do. You see, I can't put him in daycare because I don't get off work until 11:30 p.m., and my husband gets off between 10 and 11 p.m. at night. My in-laws only live about 10 minutes away from us. I am so thankful for them. I know they love spending time with Zander, and he loves spending time with them.

Zander playing with his Grandpa Meeter (my father-in-law)

A New Baby and Young Married Couples Bible Study

This morning at 4:30 a.m. our friends had their baby, a girl, Lillian Grace.

She is so cute and so tiny. We aren't used to a baby that tiny since Zander weighed 8 lbs. 11 oz. at birth. She weighed 5 lbs. 15 oz. and 17.5 in. long. We visited them today. But first we went to church. Then we had lunch with my friend Antoinette. Antoinette and I met in Nursing school, but I haven't seen her in a while, so it was nice to catch up with her. Of course I forgot to take a picture of us at lunch with Antoinette.

We then went to St. Mary's hospital after lunch to visit Lilly and her mom, Michelle, and dad Paul. After visiting with them we went to Young Married Couple's Bible Study. We invited our friends Sam and Jen to come with, so we picked them up on the way. Before picking them up, we decided to stop at Stracks grocery store to get cupcakes and pop. Well, as we pulled into the parking lot for the grocery store, my husband noticed a cop car following us. My husband parked and got out to talk with the police officer. Our license plate sticker has been renewed, but I lost the sticker. Thankfully the cop let us go without a ticket, but we really need to get another sticker. Young married couple's Bible study was so much fun. I just love our group. We usually have about 12 couples attend. This week we had 8 couples plus the couple that leads our study. Bill and Barb lead our study, and I just love them so much. They are great. Our study is called, Love, Marriage, and Stinkin Thinkin. It is a study on DVD, and so far is very interesting. I took some pictures while at the group, but of course none of them were of the married couples. I wanted to but forgot. All the pictures I took were of the kiddos there. We bring the little kids with to the group. The parents usually keep the older ones at home.

Joseph turned 1 in July and has just learned to walk

Zander and Joseph hanging out while the couples finish eating. We had Italian Beef sandwiches and spaghetti, plus lot of yummy sides.

Joseph had the best time with the candy bowl while we watched the DVD of our lesson

He didn't eat any of it, but he sure had fun playing with the candy.

Rex and Zander, Rex was born in June, so Zander is about 2 months older than him, but they weigh close to the same

More pictures of Zander 6 months

Play date with college friends

My good college friend, Sarah, moved to Arizona about 2 years ago. At the time they moved so her husband could go to school out there. They planned on moving back to the area. After her husband graduated as a nurse anesthetist, he found a job in Arizona that he really liked. We hope one day God will bring them back to this area, but we know wherever they live we will always be friends. Well, Sarah is in for a visit. Today Zander and I met her up at Cosley Animal Zoo in Wheaton, IL with other friends. We came a little late because we decided to visit a family friend who was recently diagnosed with liver cancer. We arrived around 11:45 a.m. and only Sarah and Molly were still there. Sarah has a son named Josiah and he is almost one month older than Zander. Josiah was born on February 26, 2009 and Zander was born on March 24, 2009. It was fun to see Sarah and Josiah again. He has gotten so big and he has so much hair. Even though Zander is younger than Josiah, I think Zander is longer than Josiah, but they probably weigh around the same. The Cosley Zoo is a small zoo with a petting zoo. I was surprised, but it was free. That was nice. Molly, who went to college with us, met us there too. Molly has 2 girls. The oldest, Kaylee, is 4 1/2 years old and her youngest, Brianna is 1 1/2 years old. It was so cute because when Kaylee wanted to pet the animals she would ask them, "Can I pet you?" At one point in time the gum Kaylee was chewing fell on the ground. She picked it up and brought it to her mom and said "Mom, get a wet wipe and wipe it off." She was hoping her mom would wipe it off and she could continue to chew it. Both girls are adorable. We had a good time.

Zander and Josiah

Brianna and Josiah


Molly and Sarah with Brianna and Josiah


Josiah, what a cute smile

Today was also nice because McDreamy got off work early tonight and was home by 7:45 p.m (he started earlier than usual at 1 p.m). I kept Zander up so he could put him to bed since he did not see much of him today. I enjoyed my 3 days off and bummed I have to go back to work. But I work tomorrow, and then I am off Sunday. Sunday we have another busy day planned.

Six months

Zander turned 6 months today. We took him to Portrait Innovations for his 6 month pictures.

This is what you, Zander, have been up to in the last month:

-You tried "real food" one week before your sixth month birthday. You have only tried peas, and you don't know what to think of them yet. I am not sure if you like them or not.
-You love to sleep on your belly.
-You have gotten both of your arms and legs stuck in between the slats of the crib one time when you were supposed to be sleeping for the night. (Mommy had to come rescue you because you didn't understand that you could slip them back out)
-You still wear size 2 diapers.
-You wear 6 to 9 month clothes, but still fit into some 3 to 6 month clothes.
-You eat between 6 to 8 oz. of Good Start formula about 4 to 5 times a day.
-You love when mommy sings the song "I love you Lord" and even if you are fussing at the time you stop fussing when you hear her sing that song.
-You love to roll.
-You get up on all fours and rock back and forth (mommy thinks you will be crawling soon).
-You scoot a lot, especially when you are laying on your back. You do it most often when you are crying and laying on your back.
-You love your playmat, but hate your exersaucer.
-Most days you like the jumpy thing that hangs in the doorway.
-You are such a sweet and mellow baby.
-You do not cry very much, only when you are really hungry or when you are sick.
-You like to help turn the pages when I read to you.
-You smile all the time.
-You are still infatuated with your hands and feet. And you love to play on the playmat with your feet.
-You can now sit up on your own for quite a while.
-You waved for the first time. You did it today, on your 6 month birthday. You waved at Ed from our small group, and then you waved at Grandma the next day, Friday, September 25th.

Wordless Wednesday

Still Sick

Zander is still sick. And man was he fussy today. I feel so bad for him. He just wanted to be held all day, so that is what I did. I had intended to get some much done, but got nothing done. I just realized I didn't even take any pictures of Zander today. He was in nothing but his diaper for most of the day. Our house has been hot all day, and I refuse to turn on the air. I think my husband would not be happy if I had turned it on. McDreamy left for work around 10:45 a.m. and is working a 12 hour day today. So I was home with a fussy baby all day long. I had wanted to go to MOPs this morning, but got up late because I didn't go to bed until 4 a.m. this morning. It was probably best I didn't go since Zander is still sick and fussy. I couldn't get out to the store either. So, my mom and dad picked up some sweat peas baby food for Zander. I love my parents so much, they take care of Zander and I. I didn't have much success tonight. More ended up on his face and bib than in his mouth. I will try again tomorrow. I hope Zander gets over this cold soon.

Sad Momma

I am sad for a couple of reasons. One of which is what happened on Sunday, September 20, 2009. We got to church a little early, because there was supposed to be question and answer time with a pastoral candidate. I entered the children's area to speak with a friend and I was holding Zander. When I walked in the room a boy about 10 or 12 years old approaches us. I have never met this boy, but I recognize him as the son of the pastoral candidate that will be preaching today. Our church is considering this boy's father to be our pastor. So I have seen pictures of him and recognized him from the pictures. He walks right up to us and says, "Nice ears" in a sarcastic way. He was referring to my son's ears. Then he proceeds to put his hand behind his ears and do dumbo ears to make fun of him some more. I was crushed. I know kids get made fun of, but I did not think it would start at 6 months of age. I can't believe this boy was making fun of a 6 month old baby. I am still crushed. Then he proceeds to make fun of him so more. My son drools a lot because he is teething. The boy makes fun of that. Later, right before church, he approaches us again and tells me he has 2 nicknames for my son, Mr. Drool or Slobster, and he asks me which one I want him to call my son. I should of said neither, but I said Mr. Drool, because I thought that one was the lesser of two evils. My son is not a slob. I was so offended. I understand he is just a boy, but I think he knows better. He should know by now that he should not make fun of anyone or say mean things. The second reason I am sad is that Zander is still sick. My poor baby. I just want him to be healthy. OH, and by the way, the church voted and we have a new pastor, the one who spoke on Sunday. SO, I will be seeing more of that boy.

Da Bears

We had such a fun day to end our weekend and to end my days off of work in a row. Unfortunately tomorrow I go back to work. Today we went to church. And we officially have a new pastor. I am so excited about that. I will post about that later. After church we went out to lunch with friends from church. It wasn't the usual people we go out to lunch with each Sunday. It was nice to visit with other friends. Two of the men we went out to eat with are cops, so they had some interesting stories to share with us. After lunch we went to the Wagner's house, our good friends, to watch the Bears game. Sam and Jen Wagner are big Pittsburg Steeler fans. Well, our family are big Chicago Bears fans. Sam was so confident that the Steelers were going to beat the Bears. So confident that before the game he mentioned that the game would be very one sided, meaning it would be all about the Steelers. Boy was he wrong. Way to go Bears. I am so excited the Bears won. The final score was Chicago Bears 17 and Pittsburg Steelers 14. GO BEARS! Zander was all decked out for the game!

Homecoming and good friends

Today we attended my homecoming for my College, Trinity International University. We had a blast and I saw so many people I haven't seen in a long time. It was so good to see them.

Me and my good friend Robyn, my old R.A. and next door neighbor my sophomore year

McDreamy and Zander with our college mascot, the Trojan

Just some of my friends I saw and their families

Then we went over and had a nice visit with the family I used to nanny. Only the girl I nannied was there, as well as her parents. I also watched her 2 older brothers, but one is away at college and the other was in South Bend for the Notre Dame vs. Michigan State football game. I first started with this family as their nanny in May of 1999. I can't believe it has been 10 years. Their youngest child, Mary, was 1 1/2 years old at the time and their oldest was 9 years old. Mary is now 11 years old. Wow, it makes me old to think about that. I absolutely love this family and they are like family to me. They had so much fun playing with Zander. We loved our visit and had such a good time with them. And we enjoyed the delicious food they made for us, including birthday cake to celebrate my birthday. My birthday is coming up soon.

Mary, the girl I used to nanny, and Zander

Apple picking

I love apple picking. I went apple picking today with some friends and their kids. Our church does a play group for moms and their kids. We have fun playdates once a month. We had so much fun. This is the first picking of any kind that I have done (unless you count nose picking). I had the best pumpkin donuts too, and I don't like anything pumpkin. I ended up picking 11 lbs of apples. I hope to puree apples and freeze them for Zander. And I had to get some apple cider too.

Zander and I picking our first apples ever

I had this great photo op. idea, and Zander would not look up

for any of the pictures, and I took a lot. I tried everything.

They had a petting zoo, and this is Joseph with the goat

Ella

Zander on a tractor

Then after apple picking I went shopping quick for an outfit. On my way to the store I called my best friend, Jane, and told her to come to my house 1/2 hour later because I had to stop at the store quick. She asked what store, and I told her. She said she was standing in front of that very same store. So, we ended up shopping together and then going out to Applebee's for dinner. After dinner we went back to my house. I put Zander down to bed, and then we started on invitations. We are throwing my sister a bridal shower on October 17th and we had to get working on the invitations. We had fun, and had a pen war in the process. Jane won. We were up until 12:30 a.m. working on the invitations, and almost all of the invitations are finished. I have to finish up the rest on my own because we didn't buy enough.

Sweet Pea

Guess what Zander did today! He ate peas for the first time and I think he liked them. I hope he loves fruits and vegetables as he grows up. I know I do! He tried peas for the first time on Thursday, September 17, 2009, one week before he turned 6 months (I forgot to post it yesterday). This was his first taste at real food. All he had before this was breast milk or formula. I was going to wait until his 6 month birthday, but we think he is ready now.