Georgia Aquarium

Next time you see Zachary, ask him how the aquarium was. I bet you $5 his response will be very close to:
We saw a show and things came out of the TV and the Jellyfish stung me and we got wet and I was scared and it was loud and there were scary things that came out of the TV!

Note to self: My almost 4 year old is not ready for the 3 and 4-D movie experience.

Falling - with Style

Poor Zachary - he comes by this naturally. See, his mom is a clutz. Always has been. I trip up stairs and on flat surfaces. I fall out of chairs for no reason. I regularly have bruises and can't remember the cause.

Yesterday:

He was running in the Shack and fell, Superman style, face first on the carpet tiles. Not so soft. Bruised shins, skinned elbow, and skinned palm. Yowza!

Today:

He was running out to greet Daddy home from a trip. Falls in the middle of the driveway. Didn't twist his ankle. Just fell and scraped his foot.

My question: should I invest in the parent companies of Neosporin and Band-Aid??

August 2009

All Hail the King

Scene: driving up Bryant Irvin

Zachary: "Mommy, I don't want to be a prince anymore."

Me: "OK..."

Zachary: "I want to be King!"

Me: "Yes, your majesty! I'll alert the masses." accompanied by major eye rolling

Sophie's 12 Month Check Up

Doctor said she looks great! She was very cooperative, except during the 4 shots (to be expected).

Vital stats are:
Height - 30 3/8 inches - 87%
Weight - 24 lb, 2 oz - 90%
Head - 18" - 70%

Doctor Young has also encouraged me to quit bottles cold turkey. I haven't given in - so far. We'll see what tonight brings. :)

Happy Birthday to Sophie!

Dear Sophie,
One year ago today, I was in labor with you (please see last year's 8/15 entry for all the gory details), and then I welcomed you into the world. We first got to know each other during late night feedings and watching the Olympic Games. You kept your light eyes, and your hair got lighter. You loved your brother instantly, and bonded with your Daddy after he passed your crying test. You've learned to eat solid food, sit up, crawl, bear crawl, and walk. You love bath time, music class, and your frog lovey. You're not easily impressed, but you're a shameless flirt. Both skills will serve you well later in life.
I hope you enjoyed your family time, party, and dinner today. I know you liked the cake (as any daughter of mine should)! I am so proud of you and I know you will do great things!
Love,
Mommy

And She's Off!

Sophie has officially started walking today. She's trying to get from point A to point B and is pretty successful. Yay Sophie!!!

Fear of Flying

I have never been afraid of flying, even with my child, until I heard about passengers being trapped on planes for hours at a time. This is the latest instance, and I am infuriated.

1 - Why didn't the passengers do something? Ideas for things to do include:
a - call the airline
b - call a family member
c - call the police
d - fake a heart attack
e - fake an asthma attack

2 - Why didn't the employees do something? Ideas for things to do include:
a - open a door
b - go against 'orders/protocol/etc' and get the passengers out in a safe manner

3 - How is this even allowed to happen?
When did we stop caring about how we treat others? What if the airline president's mother/father/spouse/child had been on that plane? Or better yet, the airline president him/herself?

Within all the 'rules' we have forgotten how to be human, how to show a little compassion and decency toward another.

More to come as I organize my thoughts...

July 2009 Photos

Tummy Yuck!

 It all started Sunday afternoon with a minor diaper leak. Monday was traumatic for all involved, and Tuesday wasn't much better. I have now tried all diaper creams and various wipes, done lots of laundry on "HOT" and de-germed this house more times than I can count. Thankfully, all appears to be back to normal, and we can move on. Whew!

BTW - In the battle of the diaper creams, Boudreaux's Butt Paste wins hands down. I recommend Bag Balm for chapped skin. And what I'd really like to find is a spray on diaper cream. Any suggestions?

First Police Chase

Disclaimer: We were not being chased!

As we exited Zachary's school today, I heard sirens. This is not unusual as there is a fire station about 2 blocks away. Then a black SUV with damage to the front left side came tearing through the parking lot with a police car right on its tail, narrowly missing my parked car. We hurried back inside as the director and another teacher came out to see what was going on. Poor kids were very upset (as was mommy) but calmed down pretty quickly. Zachary wanted to know what was going on so I had to explain that there were some people doing 'not nice things'. The police were trying to get them and take them to time out.

Hopefully this experience deters him from a life of crime. :)

Zachary's First Vacation Bible School

Zachary attended his first Vacation Bible School this week at St. Matthew's. Although he was a bit unsure about being at church without mom and dad, he ended up having a great time! He made some new friends, enjoyed playing with Charlotte, and had lots of fun making things and singing songs.

And so, St. Matthew's is seeing the 'next generation' of Moroneso kids begin their youth participation. I wonder if they'll be as mischevious as the last? :)

11 months old...

Time sure does fly!
Seems like just yesterday I was pushing Sophie out (sans meds, need I remind you), and today she is 11 months old and we are working on her first birthday party. Zachary's first year went by so slow, especially compared to Sophie's. I am happy to report she is crawling well, standing on her own, very curious (nothing escapes her mouth), and a pretty happy baby. She is most giggly when she is sleepy, but will usually share a smile with her brother or during a game of peek a boo. Sophie crawls on tile and other uncomfortable surfaces just like Zachary - "gimpy" as Auntie Mandy would say. She's a great sleeper still, which is such a blessing, and she has 7 teeth.

I imagine she'll be walking by August 15, 2009, and talking a bit. Our girl is really growing up!

The Gift

I have married into a family where most men possess a special gift with women. I've heard the stories and seen it in action. My father in law has it, my husband certainly has it, and I figured my son would inherit it too, right along with the black hair and deep brown eyes.

Zachary has been honing his craft over the years, first trying it out on grandmas (highly successful), then cousins and aunties (all adoring fans now), the ladies at church (he was slipped a piece of communion bread about a year after his baptism), and various babysitters.

Last night, he pulled out all the stops and managed to stay up till 10:30 PM with Ms. Sarah rubbing his back and the light still on. When Mommy and Daddy got home and saw all this going on, the thing that first caught our attention was the gleam in his eye and the sly smile on his face.

Ladies of the world, let this serve as your warning - Zachary Moroneso has found his gift and he is not afraid to use it!

Cousins

It's hard to believe that 5 years ago, Megan and Kaitlyn were flower girls in our wedding. Now they are young ladies. Here are all the cousins at the end of the Texas trip!

Anniversary Trip

We headed down to San Antonio with hopes that we would get at least one day of vacation in before being called home to attend to inconsolable children. We managed to complete our whole vacation (10 meals without kids) with no desperate pleas to return home!
Thank you to the Mathis family for taking such great care of our kids, and thank you to my fabulous husband for a great trip and for being such a fantastic husband and parenting partner!!

Happy Fourth of July!

When Janice decided to come with her family for a visit, I invited everyone to my parents new house (that they weren't living in yet) to celebrate the 4th. They have a great view of several firework shows from their patio and front yard. Dad cooked awesome sliders and we had lots of great food!

Sophie got settled in her 'bed' just before the shows started and Zachary liked the fireworks much better when he couldn't hear the sounds.

Fourth of July at the Pool

The pool is one of the best ways to beat the heat in Texas, and July 4th is no exception. We had a super fun pool day with lunch, swimming and splashing,

finding coins,

and a watermelon eating contest (Kaitlyn came in 2nd!).

Can't wait for next year!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Zachary has never been to a baseball game and we thought a Fort Worth Cats game would be lots of fun, especially on Fireworks Friday and with his cousins.

We started with ice cream and his first Sno Cone (which he loved - yay for mommy!!!),

watched some baseball,

danced with Dodger,

used Grandma M's water fan

and got ready to watch fireworks.

Zachary didn't like the loudness of the fireworks, but we covered his ears and he liked watching the colors! He had a great time on this very late night!!!

Welcome Mathis Family (and my new A/C)!

About 18 months ago, a trip to Italy was born. I have to admit I was a little jealous... there's no way I was going to get to go, with one toddler and a baby on the way. But that Italy trip did get me a trip away with my hubby...

See, Janice and Steve Mathis (Steve's sister and her husband) needed someone to stay with our nieces while they were in Italy. I was trying to plan a 5 year anniversary get away with my Steve. I offered to go to Atlanta to stay with the girls if she would come here to stay with my kids. A deal was brokered, and Janice decided to bring the whole family for a week's stay in Fort Worth.

They were to arrive on Thursday, and on the Saturday before, we kicked preparations into high gear. Things were going well - house was getting cleaned, bug guy came, door guy came, and plumber came. I made 2 trips to Target and one to Albertson's. Steve came home on time to get changed and switch cars to make the airport run. And in that instant, when I was removing car seats from the Tahoe so there would be room for people and their luggage, it all went south. Steve came out to announce that it was hot upstairs. As I shooed him back in the house, declaring that it could wait a minute, I was thinking, ok buddy, what do you expect in Texas in July? All that heat has to go somewhere! As my dad says, God got me. Sure enough, our A/C upstairs was out.

Thankfully, we have lots of family nearby and we were all able to sleep in a cool place last night. We got a new outside unit this morning and by the afternoon the upstairs had cooled nicely. What an exciting start to the visit!