Odd Place for a Nap!

I kid you not!!! I did not stage this at all!

I've been having some difficulties getting Zack down for naps lately. When he does go down for a nap it's been taking between an hour to an hour and a half for him to go to sleep. I've basically been leaving him in his room that long, (we have one of those plastic child proof things you put on door knobs so they can't get out. I know, cruel, but gives me peace of mind in the middle of the night, while in the shower and at nap time). Well today was no different. Put him in there at 3:00. Pounding and banging going on until around 4:45 ish, about the usual time he's been crashing if he does go down. So I went in to see where he landed. First view, diapers all over the place again, (See below). Then, I found this!

I had to stop myself from laughing too hard! All the toys are out of his toy box. He's sitting on his two cabbage patch dolls, (well Darin and I's) and his blankie and blanket.

He was fast asleep too. I picked him up, changed his poopy diaper and laid him in bed. Slept soundly through all of it!

I guess whatever works right?!! :-)

Zack's Fashion Show

After his non-nap yesterday Zack decided to try on a few of Mommy's shoes. :-)

Yes, I do own a pair of gold shoes. They were for my best friend Michelle's wedding where she made us wear gold dresses! :-)

Getting into Mischief

I need to post a few lighthearted blogs that have been happening here.

First: Getting into Mischief.

This is the image I walked into yesterday morning when I opened Zack's bedroom.

It may seem like a lot of wipes and diapers for one little boy but the wipes we get at Costco, the diapers, I keep a few of the ones he grows out of on hand for Riley, Adrienne or anyone else who may come and visit and needs to change their kid so I have a range from Newborn to size 6 on hand. All of them were no longer in the changing table.

We had a repeat performance at "nap time", (he didn't take a nap yesterday at all).

Update on Mark: He's home and doing well!!! YEAH!!!!

Update on Grandpa: He's still in the hospital. I'll have you click on this link to see Mo's update. Zack and I went up this afternoon and he's got much better use of his left hand now. He went for an EKG just to see how his heart is functioning with the kidney issues. His heart is looking very good. Please continue to keep him in your prayers!

Update on the Patients

Hello, thought I would give you an update on Mark and my grandpa.

Mark had surgery yesterday to clean out one of his arteries. Click on this link to see Molly's blog on the progress of the surgery. It sounds as though Mark may go home today if things went well through the night. Please continue to keep Mark in your prayers that he heals quickly.

My grandpa on the other hand is still in the hospital. I went up to see him on Monday and noticed he was very confused. He thought he was at home a few times while we were talking. My parents said he gets Sun Downers syndrome when he's in the hospital. It's something that happens to some people when they are in a hospital or nursing home in the evening. They get confused and disoriented. He was better yesterday morning but then something new began to happen. My dad had noticed that Grandpa wasn't able to use his left hand very well. He didn't have a lot of control in his fingers and had difficulties picking stuff up. Then in therapy the staff noticed he wasn't standing well on his own as well. The thought in my family was maybe he had a stroke. They did a CAT scan last night and found nothing but he was then experiencing some blood in his urine. This morning we know that his kidneys are not working as they should and he is going in for some more tests to see if they can find out what is causing the kidney problem and his hand problem. Please keep him in your prayers and the doctors as well that they can find out what is going on.

Thanks!

Request for Prayers

I have a request for some prayers please.
Yesterday wasn't such a good day of news. My sister Molly's father-in-law, Mark, was admitted to Mercy hospital on Saturday after having what appears to be a small stroke and found out that he has 70% blockage in his carotid arteries and had a pin-size spot on the back left part of his brain that controls sight...he never had any symptoms from that but he had numbness from the arteries which is what got him to the hospital in the first place. The Schuster's are still waiting for doctors to determine a course of action. He will have surgery to clean out one of the arteries but they aren't sure if more is needed until some results come back from some tests on his heart. The Schuster men do have a history of heart issues so please keep Mark and all of the Schuster's in your prayers please.

The other news we received last night was that my grandpa was taken to North Memorial because he was experiencing dry heaves and pain in his left side. The pain is the part that was the most concern as a few years ago he had a tennis ball sized aneurysm removed from his abdomen, right near where the pain was. This morning we know that the doctors believe it is diverticulitis. They are treating him with antibiotics and will hopefully be released either tonight or tomorrow morning. So please say a prayer for him as well.

Thank you and hope all of you are staying healthy.

27 Week Baby Update - I PASSED!

Hello, sorry I haven't blogged in a while. A lot has been going on and I haven't had much time to blog. Hopefully I will blog more soon but right now I wanted to get 2 out there right away.

We had our 27 week update on Friday, the 20th. I would have blogged then but wanted to wait until my glucose test results came back. Just got off the phone a while ago and I have passed my test. Normal levels are between 65-99 and I am at 79. Hemoglobin should be between 12-15 and I'm at 12.5. So everything is looking good there. Yeah! Don't have to give up my ice cream!! :-)

The baby was being a little stinker at the doctors office too. He liked the sugar drink they gave me. He wouldn't sit still for the doctor to listen to his heartbeat for too long. Sounds like I have another boy in my belly. :-)

Next appointment is July 22nd. Nothing major happening during that visit. Until then...

Here is a picture of my side profile from this weekend. This has been a request of my friend Michelle's for a while. She threatened to take my picture in the restaurant tomorrow night when we get together if I didn't post a belly picture of me soon so I'm saving her the trouble. :-)

Does this get me off the hook M~? :-)

"I Mow the Lawn?" "Hear Lawn Mower?"

These are by far two of his favorite questions right now, (besides, "Hear Plane?" and "What're you doing?"). He is absolutely loving his new lawn mower from his birthday. Hope he still loves doing this when he can do it for real! I won't count on it though.

The day after his birthday:




These next two sets remind me of our neighbor on Edgemont, Danny O. He used to follow Megan around our yard everytime she mowed the lawn. Only Megan too.

Helping Grandpa Al mow the lawn.





Grandpa tries to take a break but it's only a quick one and Zack's off again. He's quite the slave driver.





Sweeping up! Such a big helper!



Helping Daddy mow the lawn.

One "Hail" of a Party!

It's official, my boy will be celebrating birthdays like his Mommy, in the basement! At least this year we celebrated part of it there.

We had Zack's birthday on the day of his birthday, Saturday, May 31st, and had quite the adventure. We started the evening out on the deck enjoying the beautiful weather, sunny and partly cloudy. Then about 5:30 we heard the sirens go off. Off to the North there were threatening clouds but we were still sunny and partly cloudy. We didn't take any chances though and moved everything inside and down in the basement. Around 6:00 it started to hail walnut sized hail stones!

I feel very bad for all of my family who were here because none of them left without a little bit of hail damage. The only ones that didn't really suffer were Al and Diane because their car is a rental. :-) We had lots of leaves down and a few of my plants I planted Memorial day weekend got a little banged up but nothing serious. Our neighbors vinyl siding got pretty dinged up.

Once the storm was done we returned upstairs and continued the party. Zack had a great time and enjoyed his gifts. A few of his favorites are his lawn mower, airplane, pots and pans and food to cook with. Oh yeah and a "peener" which translated is piano. Here are a few photos of the day and day after.

Grandpa Tom giving Adee her first Dr. Pepper.

Zack and Riley in a rare moment, sitting still at the same time!

Grandpa Al and Great-Grandpa Cooley

Great-Grandma Cooley

Riley taking a break from her bubble blowing. She had a bubble chin from all of her blowing. :-)

PRESENTS!!!

Grandma D showing Zacky the Curious George and the "Dinadoors" book from Mommy and Daddy. He's also holding a watering can of his own so he can help Mommy water all of her flowers she likes to plant.

A lawn mower that blows bubbles from Grandma Trish and Grandpa Tom!

Cooking pans from Auntie Staci, Uncle Sean, Meghan and Emily

Fishing pole from Daddy. Curious George boots from Grandma D and Grandpa Al.

Riley takes a ride in Zack's Little People bus she and Auntie Mo and Uncle Dude gave him.

The AWESOME birthday cake made by Auntie Meggie!

Yummy cake!

Smiles for Uncle D

The day after:

Zack's ready to golf with his new clubs from Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Cooley.

The Piano Man. Testing, are you there?