Bootanical Gardens and Cptn kangaroo October 30, 2008

This past weekend we went to the Botanical Gardens for their Halloween party.  The Gardens are beautiful, but the event isn’t that great. The plus is that it’s free with our membership and the kids get a practice run wearing their costumes.  That is a good thing because we inevitably figure out that someone’s costume isn’t working.  Olivia is going to wear her dance costume from last year (thank goodness it has another use for all that money!) and she is going to be Shirley Temple in the good ship lollipop.  Emma is going to borrow a mermaid costume, but we didn’t have it then so she wore her Auburn cheerleading uniform (which brought lots of comments and ridicule!).  Cord was the one that needed the most help.  I had a lion costume for him, but when I went to put it, it was a little too tight .  He wouldn’t keep the head on, so he was walking around in a tight bodysuit and we called him Mr goodbody all day.  See the resemblance?

                   

Slim goodbody always freaked me out a little, so Cord will not be wearing this Friday.  He will be a cowboy in jeans, flannel shirt and cowboy hat! much better.

What we want to be when we grow up… October 22, 2008

Emma has repeatedly said that she wants to be a “fighterfighter” when she grows up.  Well, she got a chance to visit the local firehouse this past Saturday and she was full of questions for the fireman.  She wanted to know where the hoses were, did they ride on the back of the truck. where do they sleep, and what each piece of equipment was inside the truck.  He was very patient and answered all her questions:

here are most of the zellner kids inside the truck-

emma is showing her “fire fingers”.  A friend asked me if that is like “jazz hands”.  I guess it is

Cord had a chance to try on the equipment too…

Free Workouts October 17, 2008

Huntsville Hospital gives new moms three free months at the Wellness Center that can be used anytime in the 6 months after your child is born.  It is such a fun perk for having a baby Last year at this time I used the one that I “earned” from having Cord.  I loved the yoga class, and it helped so much to stretch out those tight, sore muscles from holding a new born all the time. 

I just started back again using the free months from having Lucy.  Today I attempted swimming.  I used to swim all the time, but it was amazing how slow I was and how quickly I tired out.  The whole time I was thinking about Michael Phelps and wondering how many times he would have passed me if he were in my lane too.  I have three months to improve my flexibility in yoga and my endurance in swimming. 

An update on the closing of LA Weightloss: I ended up getting all the bars that I had ordered and bringing them to my home and asking for a refund for the weeks that I had left.  So far I have kept it up, losing about 2 pounds a week as I would on LA.  The only exception being one great week at the beach that included Thomas’s doughnuts and Hungry Howie’s pizza and breadsticks!  I was lucky that I broke even that week

Cord’s favorite face October 16, 2008

My 17 month old likes to make the same face over and over- especially when he is being shy or flirty with someone.  I finally caught it on “film” last week at the beach.

swaddle me blanket October 14, 2008

We have used a blanket called “the swaddle me” blanket since lucy was born.  It wraps her arms in around her and connects on the outside to keep her swaddled all night.  She has slept on her back for all 4 months because of this great invention.  When she is really grumpy, I put her in it and hold her facing outward and she is so much happier.  Here are a few pictures from last weekend when we stayed overnight with my aunt. (many thanks for that Foster family!)

Getting strapped in…

Happy as can be and playing games with Meredith, my cousin

What am I going to do when she doesn’t fit into this blanket? This is the last size that they make.  Anyone ever used this before? What did you do when the child got too big to be swaddled?

Lucy- 4 months October 12, 2008

Lucy turned 4 months old already.  Here she is this week while we were at the beach.  She is being held her favorite way- turned out with your hand around her tummy.  She still fusses a lot around 7:00pm and she decided to start waking up more often in the night.  Not good trends for the Zellner family!  We just returned from our trip, and I put Lucy in her own room for the first time tonight.  I will probably be hiking up the stairs every three hours over the next 12 hours.  She also ate cereal for the first time today.  She LOVED it.  Maybe, just maybe that will cause a deep sleep

help me help you! October 3, 2008

Yesterday was the beginning of switching out the closets from summer clothes to winter clothes. The colder weather made me realize that I need to get moving on this.  So yesterday, I started with Emma and we tried on all her clothes from last winter.  If they didn’t fit, they went in the “lucy” pile.  It took about two hours and I was completely exhausted.  She tends to be the kid who doesn’t help you when you are trying to get her dressed- she gives you the wrong foot first if you are putting on her shoes, she puts both legs in one side of the pants, she puts her arms in first and gets stuck.  By the end I was wanting to yell like Jerry McGuire to his client, played by Cuba Gooding Jr ,”Help me help you!”  I am sure Emma would have responded the same way Cuba does in the film: