October 14 = New Chalkboard Day

We went to McDonalds for breakfast this morning- they have a bookshelf with lots of fun books that Liam and Malia could choose from...

Uhm.  Look at this baby.

Snuggles:

I updated my chalkboard again- I love this thing.

Lord help us if we get to Winter Storm Liam.

June 28 = Apple Day

Look how cute they are eating their apples on the steps:

Since I finished my Tidying Up book last night, I started another book today- here it is!

January 11 = Preschool Day One

Let me start with another Facebook meme that I think is hilarious:

And now I'll tell you about our day!  We started with our morning routine: getting dressed, eating breakfast, brushing teeth and cleaning up Liam's room.  Then we did our inaugural "circle time."  It's more like triangle time if all three parties are engaged... but just go with me on this.  So we updated the day of the week, the date, and discussed the weather.  Our theme this week is "All About Red" so we read a book about colors- I've put a hold on some better books at the library but they haven't come in yet so we will have to settle for a book we already had- and then sang a song to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it," telling him to put his finger on his head if his clothes have any red- which I strategically ensured.   Then we did our matching folder:

 Malia decided to help.

And then it was time to go to the grocery store.  I usually go to the commissary on Sundays but Zachary worked all weekend and he thought he'd be able to go on his way home yesterday but didn't get off in time so I headed to this cute grocery store down the street- it's so nice and clean- and it had this cool cart:

Well they look innocent there but boy, oh boy.  They wouldn't stop fighting each other.  Liam was honking Malia's horn and Malia slapped his hand away and told him, "NO!"  So I moved Malia to the normal baby spot on grocery carts and that worked well for a while.  And then Liam discovered he could get out of the car.  So I calmly buckled him in.  Then he discovered he could still stick his arm out of the side.  And by doing this, he could knock over a whole row of hairspray.  Like fifty bottles of hairspray.  Or like thirty cans of Campbell's soup- ya know, whatever was in his reach.  So that was fun.  We checked out and I renewed my vow of never going grocery shopping with the two of them alone ever again.

Then it was lunch time!  Since both of them do so well eating at a little table at the CDC I decided to try it out at home:

They did great!  Then it was nap time and then I had to go to the pharmacy to pick up Malia's seizure medicine (her neurologist called me on his cell phone and had a conversation with me about her care instead of making me go all the way to the Bethesda) so that threw off my plans for the rest of the day but here's a picture of Malia after throwing her dinner on the floor:

June 20 = Pink Shoes Day

We went out and picked the rest of the lettuce that was ready so we could ahead and grow some more!

And then it was off for errands for the day!

When we found out we were expecting a girl in February of 2014, we got tiny pink shoes for our little lady and posted a picture on facebook as our way of letting everyone know.

Malia has always had disproportionately small feet so she was just now able to wear those tiny shoes:

Our first stop was Barnes & Noble.  Zachary and I watch The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon every night before we go to bed and he's been promoting his children's book for the past few days- it's daddy animals teaching their animal babies to say dada but they all end up just making their own sound.  We figured Liam would love it since he loves making animal sounds.  On our way out, Liam started shouting his version of "Grandma's Car!" "Pop's Car."  We just said, "yeah buddy, they're somewhere..." and then Zachary saw that there was an identical model of each car in the parking lot that he was pointing to.  Smart boy!

We then headed to Buffalo Wild Wings.  Zachary has been wanting to go there for as long as I can remember- he used to go with the guys before class so he hasn't been in a while now.  The manager was so nice and brought Malia some mandarin oranges and brought Liam some ice cream!

 

We've also been working on cleaning out our garage for the past few days- we unpacked a few boxes that haven't been touched since they were packed in Jacksonville- that was fun!

January 28 = Catch Up Day

Well... I haven't taken any pictures since the baby shower.  Oops!  But I do have some notes to share.  I have this really awesome calendar- This one- so there's a column for each day and then rows for me and then 5 areas of my choosing.  The top one I have dedicated to Liam/Malia.  Malia doesn't have too much on her schedule at this point so they can share a row.  Zachary gets the next row so I can keep up with his classes and meetings.  Then I have a row for planning our meals and then another row is devoted to planning out exercise whether it be a time to aim for to go to the gym to do cardio and/or weights or when a yoga class is.  I've been leaving the last row blank but decided this week that would be a good place to write down cute things Liam and Malia do or milestones they reach.  Here's this week's pages so far:

I put everything in pencil because I am very aware that things change... pretty often.  I'm tempted to start using colored pens so I can add some color to my life but... I like being able to erase and rewrite things so I'll probably stick to the pencil.  So on Monday, Malia ate some scrambled eggs and Liam let me read him a whole book (This one) for the first time ever!  Also, I have been working on getting him to clean up after himself.  Believe me, it would be much quicker for me to put his things away but teaching him to clean up after himself teaches him a little bit of responsibility and also helps with our routine.  So he will take out his blocks and pour them out on the floor but before he moves on to the next toy that he will undoubtedly just make a mess with, he has to put his blocks away.  He's been doing a great job and I'm thinking it's starting to stick because we got home from the gym and he took his hat off while standing in the middle of the living room but walked to the closet where his hat goes and waited for me to open the closet door so he could put it away.  Success!

Tuesday, Liam had speech at 10 am and one of his therapists from the county school system came at 2:00.  His speech therapist excitedly told me that he has started saying a lot more two-word phrases which is the main thing we are concentrating on in speech and that one of them was "all done."  We have a sign for all done but I've never heard him say it before so I told the therapist that came at 2:00 about it and she got him to say it!  So now if we do the sign and say "Alllllll..." and wait for a second, he'll say "Done!"  He also continued his new interest in books by bringing me a book, letting me read a page or two and then disappearing to bring me another book.  He brought me four books total- I'm loving it!  I also wrote down that Malia ate some ham!  I wrote this down because it's fun to remember what foods she's been eating but it'll also help me in case of an allergic reaction which I hope she doesn't have.  

Today was Liam's last day of preschool- his teachers don't know that yet because I'm going to let Zachary do the dirty work- he's going to go in Friday and talk to them.  But I also wrote down that Malia ate some kiwi and Liam brought me books again today!  I love that he makes me sit down and then gets in my lap before we can read- it's really the only time he shows me affection (unless his Daddy bribes him with food in exchange for giving mommy a hug or kiss) so it's now my new favorite thing to do!

So that's what's been happening- I hate that I have no pictures- I'll probably overcompensate these next few days!