Memorable Moments: #4

If You Want A Good Tip

One evening we were out eating dinner at the local cantina. We asked the waiter if he would put some water in Joshua’s sippy cup. As he walked away Joshua raised his finger and said, “NO ICE.” We have no idea where he got this from, so it cracked us up.

Other funny things Joshua has said this summer:

"Hey! Whatcha doing in there?"

To me while I was feeding Tobin in his room.

"Nice time!"

(as in have a nice time) to Kurt when he skipped work to spend a day on the lake

JZ: "What's That?" pointing to cow udders

ME: "You know what those are...they are udders"

JZ: "Women have udders."

ME: thinking of what to say... "Are you ready for a new book?"

Just a little sampling. It's been really fun to watch him learn and grow in language development. At this age they average one new word every day. To hear him start stringing things together is amazing.

And some funny things Tobin has said:

"hey!"

"heeeeyyyy!"

"heyyyyy!"

(He has a certain cry that really sounds like he is saying "HEY!")

Memorable Moments:#5

Ooops-missed one yesterday, so today is a double feature of our Countdown of the summer's most memorable moments.


Do as I say, not as I do.




Traveling with wee ones can be a stressful adventure for sure. Fortunately on both our plane trips this summer our boys were great travelers. It's nice to have Joshua appear as a mild-mannered, obedient angel of a child to the hundreds of people you encounter along the way. In order to accomplish this you have to give a steady does of Benadryl (just kidding!) and keep him on a tight leash. As we were boarding a plane on our return trip from Delaware Joshua was lolly gagging a bit down the Jetway. I turned around and snapped at him to "pay attention." Of course while I was turned around yapping at him I ran the stroller into the heals of the lady in front of me. oops.

Memorable Moments:#6

Can someone turn the heat off please?

Well it's not really a memorable moment per say, but something to be remembered about this summer: It’s been hot here in Texas. I vowed a long time ago not to complain about the heat. It’s silly to live in Texas and complain about it being hot. But seriously, it was hot this summer. We had 40+ days of over 100 degree heat and it's been the third hottest summer in history. I actually had a dream in the middle of the summer that we had gone to visit on the East Coast and the weather was nice and cool and I told him I was not going to live in Texas anymore.Here’s a picture of an Austin squirrel my friend Ann saw (yes, he is still alive).

Thankfully it has cooled off this week-hopefully it will stay that way.

Memorable Moments:#7

The Dream Job That Wasn’t

Mystery shopping. Getting paid to shop. Making money with kids in tow. Doesn’t that sound wonderful? Excitement could only begin to explain the feeling when I finally found out how to get connected with legitimate mystery shopping companies. I registered with a handful but, sadly, found that it takes a lot of time to find good jobs and to do the paperwork after them. Some have been great, like Mr. Gatti’s pizza delivery (with only 5 minutes of paperwork) and others not so great like HEB (hit all the areas of the store and remember the 50 employees you interacted with by name for 10 bucks). I got to eat out at Chuy’s twice, which was lots of fun, but the paperwork took about an hour and a half. So, while it could be great in the right situation, it’s bye-bye to the dream for now.

Memorable Moments:#8

We're counting down the summer's most memorable moments. Click here to start at the beginning.


1-800-222-1222





That's number for Poison Control, just in case you need it. We needed it twice this summer. Once when Joshua got a hold of my flavored calcium supplements. Fortunately they only cause constipation (which they didn’t). The second time was when Tobin decided to flounder around during a diaper change involving butt paste and managed to lick some straying Boudreaux’s off his hand. It clearly states on the tube to call poison control immediately if ingested. So, Kurt made the call to see what we need to do. Again, only causes constipation if a lot in ingested. (why they make it sound so imminently dangerous on the tube I don’t know …) The best part about this call was that flustered Kurt told the operator he had been changing his son’s six month old diaper. Now that would be toxic!
Ah, good ol' Mr. Yuk. Sadly I ordered these stickers two years ago and never got them. We'll have the number memorized soon enough.

Memorable Moments:#9

Dream Big

Every parent dreams of watching their child win an Olympic gold medal; therefore the chance to expose them to their first taste of the Olympic dream is very exciting. Joshua had an early bed time routine one evening so he could catch the vision. During the first five minutes he was exposed to one pair of Olympic divers, along with a really long (like 10 minute) beer commercial and a sitcom with scantily-clad women having an inappropriate conversation. Not exactly the vision I was hoping for...

Tobin is stretching for the 2024 Olympics; I'm campaigning for Estonia to host.

Look at that incredible form; it's got Olympian written all over it.

Summer's top ten counted down

There never seems to be enough time to blog about our adventures, so we've complied a list of the summer's top ten memorable moments. For the next 10 days we'll count them down. Enjoy!



Love in the Air



*note* I'm having formatting problems getting this font to not be so big, but I"m going to let it go now...
Joshua solidified his relationships with buddies Ava and Hannah. They've said some pretty cute things about each other. One day Hannah told her Mom that, "Ava is my best friend," and then said, "Joshua is my boy." !! After hanging out with Ava one evening, Joshua said, "I love Ava," after we said our prayers. It was so sweet, especially considering he's never said I love anything without being prompted.

While we're on the topic of love, it's been so sweet to watch Joshua and Tobin becoming buddies. Tobin smiles and laughs at Joshua all the time and the big brother is always giving Tobin a hug, a kiss, or a toy. Of course, they have their moments, but I have a feeling they will be ganging up on me to get into some mischief pretty soon.

Back from the 1st state

Did you know that Delaware was the first state to ratify the constitution? A little trivia for you. We had a great time catching up with family and friends in Delaware (and Pennsylvania, New Jersey, camping in Maryland and the coast of Virginia.) It was great to see Joshua playing with his cousins and we packed a lot in. I felt like we were gone for a long time, in a good way. Kurt took great care of the boys and I felt like I actually got a vacation too! Here are a few favorite pics-you can catch the rest on our Picasa photo site.



Bring on the crabs! Joshua loved the fresh crabmeat, dipped in butter of course.His first s'mores, but not really-Kurt didn't give him any chocolate-it was already way past his bedtime.

A little hike with cousins. (This is just before the mosquitoes carried everyone away.)

Hanging at Mom Mom's with more cousins.

Sweet boys, Sean was able to make Tobin laugh a lot.

Oh, wait, I was actually on vacation wasn't I? I think this is the only picture to prove it since I'm usually the photographer.

We really enjoyed the week-thanks guys! We can't wait until next year.

Snacking and Snoozing

Apparently mealtimes at the Zeb house need to be a little more entertaining:

Mary, Mary quite contrary...

I've been wanting to do a vegetable garden for years but in looking into getting started it was always too overwhelming. A few weeks ago however we went on a rampage pulling out bushes and weeds out front and then Kurt dug up a plot for me! The following weekend we bought a little bit of better dirt and then added our compost to it. Then we planted carving pumpkins and acorn squash.7/5-The initial digging.

7/11-We planted the seeds. Joshua's buddy Ava was over to help. She has more experience gardening than the rest of us so we were lucky she was there to help.

7/23- The Acorn squash has sprouted! We have six plants growing and they look great!

7/26 Working in the dirt. The hardest part so far has been keeping Joshua from digging up the seeds/plants.

Last week I noticed one of the pumpkins sprouted. We planted the seeds a little late so I was beginning to lose hope. Hopefully at least the one will make it. We still have space to plant some more things. I was planning tomatoes, but it's just so hot right now it seems like it would be a losing battle.

To be continued...

Yum

On the 7th Tobin went for his 4 month check up. He weighed in at 15 lbs 5 oz and 25 in. We got the go ahead to start solids, so two weeks ago Tobin got his first taste of some yummy rice cereal. He's doing pretty good with it now and the night before last he had three helpings!


Also new for Tobin has been the exersaucer. He is getting the hang of playing with the toys. Joshua loves to spin him (slowly) in it. Gotta love that sweet silly face. Last night we took the boys to the gym's childcare so we could have a date night. The folks working the baby room said they had 9 babies and Tobin was by far the best. (Don't tell any of the other moms) They said he was so happy the whole time. We are so thankful for his sweet and happy demeanor.

Joshua and his girls

Joshua LOVES the friends from his playgroup! He talks about them almost everyday. Here he is with best friends Hannah and Ava on the 4th of July. It was so fun to catch their friendship on camera.

Which Baby is Which? ( 2nd edition)

Time for another edition of "Which Baby is Which?"
1)


2)

3)

4)

Answers are in the comments section-let me know how you did!

4 months and counting

Tobin is 4 months old today. He has the sweetest demeanor and is so laid back. Yesterday we went to a parade and festival that was hot and he went for a long time without feeding but didn't complain at all. In fact, he only fussed a little bit right before eating yesterday evening. Otherwise, he didn't cry all day. Pretty amazing.He can palm a basketball already!

Here's a video of some fun times with Tobin. Please excuse me as I chomp my gum and speak in my mommy high pitch.