Learning Letters

So, what have I been doing with my time? This is the question I ask myself each evening as I crawl into bed exhausted from the day. If I look around my house, I would say, not much!!! I’m amazed at how the days fly when I am occupied with the care of a 2 ½ year old and a 2 month old. And though there are times I just want run away and not come back, I am so very very happy. I love these kids, and feel so blessed to have them in my life.

Zachary has been having a difficult time adjusting to having a new little sister and just simply being a 2 years old. He has so much to learn and understand. I really do miss that sweet happy baby of just 1 year ago, but now and again, I see him reappear, even if it is only for a small moment between tantrums.

I felt he needed some more scheduled activities with Mommy, so I decided to start him on his ABC’s. This was more of a way to get us to sit down together and have some quality time, but he is really picking up the letters. We are having a great time at it and we both look forward to our projects together.

I will only bore you with our first week of projects and of course we started with “A”. I am just so excited with his enjoyment of our activities I had to share. And in the process, I am learning what he likes and doesn’t like to do.






Our first day we made a page for the letter A. We used his finger to make little ants. It was really more of a Mommy project, but he got to do one of his own, Which is below. Every time he looks at it now, he says “finger ants!”























On the 2nd day was a felt board story of 10 Little Apples. I was so surprised at how he took to this concept and now asks for it almost every morning. As I was making all of this, I was wondering if it was going to be worth all the trouble. And he has answered that with a resounding “YES!!!”














But I didn’t realize that I had made 12 pieces to go with only 10 apples. Zachary has to have everyone eat an apple and feels so bad for the two that are left out. Guess I need to make two more and sneak them in just to see his reaction.






The next day we made Apple Crisp. He loves to help in the kitchen, so this activity is always a great hit with him. He loves to taste each ingredient as it goes into the bowl. He doesn’t believe mommy when I tell him that flour or baking soda taste "YUCKY!" all by their selves, he has to find out for himself.

He enjoyed the cooking more that the eating, but I enjoyed both!! Yummy!

On the 4th day we had an apple puzzle. To my surprise, he could care less about this activity. He usually loves puzzles, but this one, just did nothing for him. Glad I didn’t put much effort into it, but will try it again later. I did make the mistake of trying this after his nap, which isn’t always the best time of day for such things.

And on the last day, we made an ant. He always wants to paint but doesn’t get the opportunity very often since his Mommy is too lazy.

This was a two part project. After the paint dried we put the accessories on like eyes and legs. He was insistent that we make the legs different colors.

It now sits on top of the aquarium as he loves to pull the eyes off. He is always delighted though when he looks up to find it watching him.

It has been a lot of extra work to organize these projects for him, but I can truly say, it has been worth it. Zachary has always like books, but in the three weeks that we have been doing this, he much prefers to read books together than to watch his dvds. So I am so very excited with that development.

My Computer is Finally Fixed

Well, I haven't blogged in some time now because my computer hasn't been feeling so good. I will admit I have become a facebook addict and find I love wasting my time playing all those games. As a result, I inherited a virus that caused me to only be able to get on facebook and nothing else on the web. After weeks of frustration, I finally got someone out to fix it and it is feeling so much better now. So needless to say, I am way behind in everything involving my computer.

I will be updating as soon as I can.

A Day At The Beach

Today we ventured to the beach. It was really a beautiful day there today. And I remembered to pull my camera out for some pictures. Kaitlyn slept most of the time, and Zachary had a blast.

My beautiful little family - the joy of my life

Grandma loved sitting and holding Kaitlyn while Zachary and I played in the water. When Kaitlyn wasn't being help, she slept.

Sunglasses for everyone!! Zachary just loved his new sunglasses and wouldn't take them off for the longest time.

A little malfunction - but easily fixed!

Zachary having a great time!

A Quiet Sunday at Home

I use to enjoy days at home, especially when I felt productive by getting a lot of things done. That is a thing of the past now, at least for now. I'm lucky if dishes get done or the house is barely clean. I find that what I do manage to do, is undone before I even finish. Do I sound frustrated? Maybe, but not today (or at least not so far). I am not attempting to be productive in any sense of the word.

This morning was a fun morning with basically just Zachary and I. Kaitlyn spent most of the morning sleeping, so Zachary and I just hung out together. We looked at blogs on the computer which we both enjoyed. I haven't had the time, so I got to catch up with friends and he enjoyed seeing all his friends' pictures. He is starting to recognize them and call them by name, And he saw one of the new babies and exclaimed "cute baby!"

This soon became old news and Zachary insisted we paint. So much so that he brought the picture we did yesterday to me and yelled "Paint". At that point I figured saying "one more minute" wasn't going to cut it. So we ventured outside to do more painting.



Kaitlyn decided to join us at this point. And I thought we would keep our painting to the theme of the weekend and use just red and blue paint.

He was enjoying painting so much he didn't want to stop even though he was starting to get so tired he wanted to sit in my lap and have me paint for him.

And here is the finished project.

4th of July

With such a busy week and with Kaitlyn's little cold, we stayed home and had a quiet holiday. But how quiet can a day be with a 2 year old? I have to be thankful that both my kids gave me a gift I really needed and they both slept in until 8am. Though they both took their turns waking me during the night the extra sleep at the end was much needed.

At the ripe of age of 7 weeks, I can already tell that Kaitlyn just loves her big brother and he loves her. Of course, Zachary is always full of many kisses for Kaitlyn and is always right there to "help" me with her care. Kaitlyn seems to be happiest when she is around all the activity of her big brother. Once the room is silent, she will start to cry. And of course, today was no different than any other.

Zachary trying to get Kaitlyn to play with him

And even with a cold, little miss Kaitlyn managed to entertain us with a smile or two. I couldn't quite capture the best of her smiles, but thought is was still cute enough to share.


Today was a big day for us in that we pulled out the paints for the 1st time. I have been kind of scared to put paint and Zachary together in the same time. Awhile back we had a ordeal with the dot art paints, which resulted in grandma swearing that all paints were forbidden from now on. Some time has passed (maybe two weeks, I'm not sure) and I decided to be brave and give it a try. The project was attempted out in the backyard were minimum catastrophe would occur. All went well, and much fun was had.

I thought it would be fun to make a picture of the flag. But being the creative artist, he had to make is own rendition.

My serious artist at work

And here is the finished project

I hope you had a wonderful and safe 4th of July!!!

Trying to keep busy

Zachary has become somewhat challenging since Kaitlyn was born. So, I thought that maybe if I incorporated more fun activities into our daily routine, we all would have a better outlook on life. The jury is still out as to if this is helping, but I'm still hopeful.

- Here is a rundown of this past week -

Monday - Irvine Regional Park

This was our first outing as a family since Kaitlyn arrived. Our first stop was the zoo. Then we took a train ride which was a big hit, as was the playground.

" All Aboard!"

At the playground, Zachary is found either on the slide or at the swings.

(sorry no picture on the slide)

I had to include this one more for the background - it was a beautiful day!

Tuesday: Beach

We set off to meet some friends from our mommies playgroup at Seal Beach. It was a short but fun trip. I wasn't too sure about going to the beach with two kids, but it was fun and I definitely want to go again soon. Once I got home, I realized I completely forgot to pull the camera out. So this means I really do have to go again. Regretfully, I have no pictures of Kaitlyn's first trip to the beach.



Wednesday: A School Day

Zachary just loves going to school. This day was his individual therapy sessions which is just great fun. Too bad school wont always seem like play time for him!

He just loves the slide that dumps him into a pit of balls. What a happy boy!

And another great activity they do are the rings. Just another form of swinging, which he loves.

Thursday: Baking Cupcakes

We baked some cupcakes for a 4th of July potluck we went to on Friday. I was amazed at how great he did with all the mixing. Frosting the cupcakes turned out to be a bit of a disaster, so there are no pictures of that part of our project. But all in all, it was a fun activity for us both.

A video of my helper

Once were were done, he got to enjoy licking the bowl.

Friday - 4th of July Potluck with our Mommies Play group

We had lots of fun at the potluck play date. Zachary had tons of fun playing with all his friends. And an added bonus was when the pool and water table came out. Water makes everything so much more fun. And I had a good time too talking with all the mommies. Unfortunately, Kaitlyn woke up this morning with a little cold, so she had to stay home with her Grandma.

He hasn't gotten to see Sophie for some time, so he was full of kisses for his girlfriend

Just having some fun with his friends

You may be asking, "Where is Kaitlyn? No pictures of her?". She has come along with each day's adventure (except Friday) but, I am finding that if she is around noise, she is found fast asleep. So needless to say, she sleeps through our entire outings. When things get quiet, Miss Kaitlyn wakes up. So most of her awake time is at Zachary's nap and during the night. She did sleep through the night for 3 nights in a row. What a great gift!!

So not to leave her out, I have included a picture of my girl. I took of her one night during of one our late night "girl talks". I kind of got one of her first smiles captured on film.

Four Weeks Old

It is hard to believe how fast the past 4 weeks have flown. I have managed to take pictures during this time and will work on updating my blog, but it has been next to impossible to get anything done these days. As other friends have done, I took a picture of Kaitlyn each week to show how she has changed. I didn't realize how much she has changed until I compared the pictures. All of a sudden she is getting more alert, it is just hard for me to notice and appreciate it in the middle of the night.

Kaitlyn has decided that whenever Zachary sleeps, her job is to be awake and demanding attention. So, needless to say, I am not getting much sleep myself, which in turn is causing some baby blues for me. Now that she is almost a month old, I am hoping that things will start turning around and get easier.

Zachary is doing awesome through all of this. He is the best big brother and is so gentle with her. And of course, he loves to kiss her when ever possible. I will post pictures as soon as I can of all that has happened in our last 4 weeks.

Tummy Time

I have been having the hardest time giving Kaitlyn any tummy time because all Zachary wants to do is jump around and over her. She seems fine with it, but I'm a nervous wreck. Then I thought maybe Zachary would like to do tummy time too!!! So he now goes and gets his blanket and keeps Kaitlyn company. It doesn't last too long, but at least we all get a little quiet time out of it.




It didn't dawn on me until I was looking at this picture to think how much Zachary has grown in 28 months. It doesn't seem that long ago that he was my tiny baby on the blanket, and now look at him - he's my big boy!

Construction Trucks

Zachary is ever becoming all boy!! We are having some construction done on our street and this made for a very exciting day. There was the dump truck and the "scooper" truck. He wasn't too sure which was his favorite, because they both are pretty cool. He sat there for over an hour watching them and only left because they went on break.

But....the grass was wet and he didn't want to sit on it or on the hard cement walk, so we had to bring out a chair to sit on while he watched all the action.

Zachary of course, loves his trucks and a day doesn't go by that they aren't all over the house. This is a picture of him with his trucks. And he is screaming at the top of his lungs! Just a new thing he has picked up this past month.

Payton's 2nd Birthday Party

I was so glad that we were able to go to Payton's 2nd birthday party and enjoy the celebration with her and our friends. I couldn't believe how well Zachary did. He normally has to sit on the side for awhile until he gets comfortable. But he just walked in the door and jumped right into the middle of the action. It was great to see! Kaitlyn slept through the whole party.

sorry the video is sideways but I couldn't figure out how to turn it around.

Can't believe that's my little boy at the top of that slide!

Since this was my first outing with both kids, my mom was kind enough to come with me.

Going To The Grocery Store

Going to the grocery store has become more difficult as Zachary gets older. He just will not sit in the cart anymore. But, thankfully, he thinks the truck cart is too much fun! The store I go to has one blue truck and one pink truck. I always got the blue one for him until one day it was being used, so we had to take the pink one. Ever since that day, the pink truck is a must have!