Have I Told You...

...how big this girl was at her 9-month checkup?



She weighed in at 21 lbs. 15 oz. of pure perfection :) And she is 28 1/2 inches long.

...how sweet my little boy is?

I was trying on a dress I bought for some weddings we have this summer and my sweet Lukey came to see it. He said, "You look fancy." And then he told me, "You should leave the dress on so Daddy can see you. He will think you look like a princess." Isn't he the sweetest?

And THEN, I was trying Paige's Easter dress on her and Luke said, "Paigey looks like a princess. Maybe I can be a prince and we can dance together." Seriously. I can't make this stuff up. Get in line ladies! We have a charmer :)

...how Luke goes to the bathroom now?

He is officially standing up. And he wants everyone to see him do it. (We need to work on some modesty!)

...how cute Paige looks in her big girl jammies?

...that Paige has earned the nicknames "Boo Boo" and "Bruiser?

She is constantly on-the-go, pulling herself up on anything, beginning to cruise the furniture, holding on with one hand, getting into anything and everything that she can!

...how much Luke loves the park these days?





...how often I look down and see this little one trying to climb up my leg?

...how blessed I am to have these two sweet babies?

Dads and Daughters

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook, and I just had to share it!

I am the daughter of a dad that did basically everything on this list. My sisters and I are very lucky, and I know Paige will be too! Love you Dad!

Click here and enjoy (and maybe grab a kleenex!).
http://www.fromdatestodiapers.com/50-rules-for-dads-of-daughters/+

What's Been Going On?

Things are kind of busy and crazy around here and time is limited. Here is a rundown of what has been going on (I promise to get the camera out this weekend!).

Last weekend we headed to LP. I had a bridal shower to go to and we had Zukowski family pics scheduled. Let’s just say, I have no idea how they are going to turn out. I am sure there are some good ones, but getting 11 people (which includes two little ones) to all smile and look and keep their eyes open at the same time can prove to be difficult. Not to mention, when we arrived at Starved Rock (our photo location) and I took Paige out of her carseat, she was missing a shoe – Wally! Moms – you know how stressful coordinating outfits can be and to be missing a shoe was very irritating to me! And our attempt at a picture of Paige and Luke in their adorable Christmas outfits did not quite turnout – both are crying!

Monday we were back to the grind, but we also had Paige’s 4-month doctor’s appointment. I was SHOCKED to learn that she is only 14 lbs. 12 oz. I mean, that is a great weight and she is doing fantastic, but have you seen her lately??? She looks like she weighs much more than that – ha! I also couldn’t believe that when I looked back at Luke’s stats he was 16 lbs. 8 oz. at his 4-month check up – whoa Bubba! She was 25 inches long and really just doing fabulously. She proved to be a bit tougher this time around with the shots too.

Since we had painting done last week, our house has been in disarray. Everything needed/needs to be put back on the walls and furniture re-organized. And since the painters were there, we have been having a terrible smell coming from our dryer, oven, and even the toaster when it was plugged in. We had no idea what was going on until I Googled (thank goodness for Google – Papa Jeff knows a lot, but even he couldn’t figure this one out after we did everything he had suggested and found no issues). It turns out that fumes can settle in these appliances (or something like that). We had our entire basement finished and partially stained so we think that is where the problem lied. We really got the fans going in the basement and the smell has finally started to go away! We also changed the layout of the furniture down there, and I am loving it! It feels so much more open and gives us more space for Toyland USA. We still have some reorganizing and decorating to do, but it is turning out to be a great family/play room.

Paige sleep update: Well, we had one good night this week. Paige could not keep her eyes open so we put her down at 7, she woke at 10:15, I fed her and laid her back down, she slept until 5:45 – woo hoo! And then the next night she was up 3 times…sigh! We got the go ahead at her doctor’s appointment to start cereal. I really wasn’t ready to start it with her yet (we waited until Luke was about 5 months), but now I am thinking it is worth a try if it might help her sleep (although I don’t feel that hunger is the reason she wakes up…). I know cereal at this point isn’t really for nutritious reasons, it is just about learning to eat, but it’s worth a try right? If she doesn’t seem into it, we will stop and try again in a few weeks. If she does like it, but it doesn’t help her sleep, well, we will just keep hoping that more than 2 hours of uninterrupted sleep is in our near future on a regular basis!

The rest of the week was pretty typical. Typical now equals busy. Busy playing, feeding, cooking, cleaning, washing bottles and pump parts, laundering, organizing, cuddling, reading, singing, dancing, bathing, sleeping, or lacking sleep, rocking, and so on.

Life in the Zukowski house – crazy at times, but I wouldn’t change it for the world! (I continuously remind myself that one day my house will be empty and I will be wishing there was an almost-3-year old talking my ear off and a baby fussing because she wants to be held by her mama!)

Shoes & A Bookstore

I have done a post about shoes before. Basically I don't like spending money on shoes. I probably am still wearing the same shoes today that I was wearing back when I first posted (November 2009) - ha! Jeans are another story - I can't seem to get enough of those...anyways...

Here are Luke's newest shoes. He calls them his running shoes. He has had them for about a month now. They are so easy to get on and off (velcro), but super cute in my opinion. And they were on super sale at Sears. I never to think to look at Sears for shoes, but they actually have a really great selection (at reasonable prices).


And then there's Paige. Well, of course, she doesn't really NEED shoes and it is more of an accessory than a necessity, but people like to buy them for her so I need to start putting them on her. And of course, every kid needs pictures taken of their first pair of Nikes! These are courtesy of Aunt Kathy - thanks so much! I love them and they fit perfectly (and help keep her socks on - ha!).






____________________________________________________________

We were supposed to have Luke's last Tremendous 2's class yesterday morning, but I got a call about 30 minutes before we were leaving saying that the teacher was sick and the class would be rescheduled. I panicked for a second. Luke was looking forward to the class and was all ready to go so I put on my mommy thinking cap and came up with Plan B. We were off to Barnes & Noble for some bookstore fun. Luckily, Luke thought that was a great alternative to his class!

I think every book Luke picked out was Cars 2 related! I was surprised to see some Cailou books. I didn't know they had those. We read a lot of those books while we were there too! And Luke was perfectly fine leaving without buying a thing. I told him this upfront and he was fine with it - amazing!







Bright-eyed to sleepy girl!

Random

So while you are reading this on Friday (or Saturday), I am most likely sitting in the garage hopefully collecting lots of money from our garage sale. It has been a lot of work gathering everything, pricing, and setting it up. It is our Village-wide garage sale so hopefully there will be a lot of traffic! If not, I probably wouldn't talk to me for a few days since I will be really po'd! Oh and the rain better hold off!!!

On another note, Paige had her 2-month check up on Tuesday. She weighed in at 12.5 lbs (up exactly 4 lbs from her birth weight) and is 24 inches long. She did really great and was smiling away at Doctor until the nurse came back in for her shots :( She got 3 of them. In a matter of 10 seconds, her face went from eyes wide open after the first shot, on the verge of tears on the second one, and full out red face screaming by the third. It is over quickly and she calmed down fairly quickly too, but it is never fun. She slept for the next I think 5 hours.

On Thursday, Luke and I (and Paige) attended a park district class called Tremendous 2's. It is only 4 weeks long and is the last class we will be able to do since I will be going back to work next month. There are only 3 other kids in the class (all boys). It is held in a preschool classroom. There was free play for the first 15 minutes, he painted a school bus, had a snack, heard a story, and sang a couple of songs. I wasn't overly impressed with the teacher or other kids/moms, but it is something to do and gets us out of the house for a bit!

I will leave you with some pictures of the kids since that is really what you come here for anyway :) These are some pictures from Andrew Family Fun Day on 8/28/11. This was a great little fun day put together by Wally's school for all the teachers and staff.

There were games and fire trucks,


a police dog (Luke's favorite part of the day!),


a sleeping baby,


tattoos,


face painting (they both got a thunderbolt = school mascot),


and swimming!

Random thoughts in the middle of the night...

It's 4 AM.

I am wide awake.

It is storming pretty bad out.

One very loud thunder woke me up and that was it.

I came downstairs.

I am making lists.

Lots of lists.

I'm feeling very anxious about the next few weeks.

Wally had jury duty on Monday.

He was put on a jury and finished up yesterday.

His summer vacation finally begins.

This means I can breath a little easier.

The list on the refrigerator that I created a few weeks ago can finally start getting some things checked off of it.

I am thankful.

Our daycare is very flexible and allowing us to just go 2 days/week in June (as they always have) and we are able to keep Luke home all of July and until Wally starts school in mid-August (without paying!). Then he will go 2-days a week until I go back to work in October sometime.

How many lists can one person come up with.

The one list I dread the most though is always the grocery list.

Why is that?

Luke is officially paci-free.

On night #2, he asked for his paci and was heading towards the garbage to get it.

I told him he threw it away and was a big boy and he said ok and laid back down.

Last night, he didn't even mention it.

I feel good about it because I didn't push it or "lose" it. He willingly threw it in the garbage.

Luke was so sweet last night.

He was putting toys on my belly and watching them move up and down since the baby was moving.

He touched my belly and asked, "When my baby sister coming out?"

I told him in a few weeks.

He said, "Why?"

He is ready to meet her.

He then proceeded to get his baby doll, wrap him in his blankie and give him kisses.

Seriously, Luke is the sweetest boy ever!

Wouldn't you know that I am wide awake on the first morning where I don't have to take Luke to daycare and could actually sleep in an extra 15-20 minutes.

I made chocolate chip cookies last night.

You know the ones where you just add in a stick of butter and an egg.

I am so tempted to just sit and eat them all right now.

The only thing holding me back is we ran out of milk last night.

I can't have cookies without milk.

I guess I should get back to my lists or even better try to go back to sleep for a bit.

Things that made me smile this week...

The little boy who INSISTED on wearing his rain boots when the sun was shining and there were no puddles to be found.




A little boy flying his helicopter


and then being an airplane himself!


One's determination.


These two!




Mommy's lawn boy.






Who needs stairs!




Deciding last minute after work to take Luke to Wally's baseball game. I didn't have anything but a blanket for us to sit on, but we had so much fun especially at the ice cream stop that followed the game!

This combination of pictures on my refrigerator :)


And this 32w3d belly with a little girl whose moves have been known to take my breath away these days!