The Zoe and Silas Show

This is what shopping at BJ's used to look like... But now it's time for the shopping cars!!!! Lots of places have them, we recently test drove them at BJ's. The cars have little seat belts like our wagon does so they can't climb out. I think S&Z probably prefer the double shopping cart to the car because they seemed to be up in each other's business most of the time (let's be honest, Zoe was up in Silas' business). It's nice to have options though!

As the parent of a young toddler, you will find yourself making a lot of animal sounds. Some of the sounds your kids might catch onto right away ('woof-woof' in our house), whereas with others you can tell they get it but they just won't produce the sound themselves ('quack'). Awhile back I caught Silas saying 'moo' to the Leapfrog refrigerator barn . After months and months of me saying moo, he ultimately produced the cow sound to an electronic toy as if that's where he learned it! Wendy recently gave us a Fisher Price Little People Jungle . It has been a BIG HIT around here and is probably one of the current favorites. Within a day of getting the jungle, both kids started spontaneously roaring. Here's an undercover video I shot when I heard them. They are the cutest little lions I've ever heard!!!

Derek decided to grow a beard recently. I think it looks great, and the kids love touching his face! Here he is with Miss Z this morning before we left to see the pediatrician. After having a meltdown at the end of the pedi visit and crashing for a few minutes in the car on the way home, they managed to pull it together once we got home. Julia had cooked up some ground beef last night with tomatoes and olives, and also made mashed potatoes for us. It was the second night in a row that she made dinner for us! I ended up putting together a dominican-inspired shepherd's pie with everything she made. S&Z chowed for lunch! While I was getting stuff from lunch cleaned up, I noticed Zoe paying a lot of attention to the little blue chairs that go with their new table. She recently figured out how to get up on the chair, even though it's a little too tall for her. I went into their nursery before putting them down for a nap. Without me noticing, Zoe had moved both chairs int

We saw the pediatrician again this morning - it was our 4th visit in as many weeks. Both kids have an antibiotic-resistant sinus infection. Zoe also still has an ear infection after 5 days of meds; thankfully Silas' double ear infection is finally gone after the 10-day round of amoxicillin. While in the waiting room, we noticed that a rash had appeared on Silas' arms and trunk. Since this coincided with being on meds, Dr. Rundquist had to assume it might have been related to the amoxicillin. Silas was going to get a non-amox antibiotic for the continued sinus infection, and because it's easier to have them on the same meds they were both prescribed Suprax. Silas' O2 saturation was also down a little and he was wheezing during the exam. Apparently he also has broncholitis and he'll be treated with albuterol. He was given a nebulizer treatment in the doctor's office that he tolerated amazingly well at the end of a very long doctor's visit (we were there for 2

As I mentioned on Friday , Zoe is sick again. She seems much worse off than Silas was when we brought him back to the doc last Monday. At a minimum, she's definitely more vocal about it. We had another call-the-pediatrician-first-thing-Monday-for-a-same-day-appt/mommy-cancel-rearrange-all-meetings kind of start to the week. We were at the clinic by 8:30 and out of there 45 minutes later with another prescription for antibiotics. She has a horrible cough that's keeping anyone from sleeping very well. She cried inconsolably for 1+ hour when I got home from work tonight. She definitely seemed worse than yesterday, but this could also be due to end of the day exhaustion.  Dr. Rundquist said that if she is not showing signs of improvement in 3 days we need to call her back in order to up the dose of amoxicillin.  Silas seemed to be getting better with meds, but now his cough has re-surfaced along with quite a runny nose. I'm afraid the 10-day antibiotic treatment didn't c

Wendy & Dave recently made a pasta recipe that included cherry tomatoes, pesto & parm. I was searching the cabinets last night and came up with this dish inspired by those ingredients. I can rarely re-create my improv recipes, which is why I'm starting to document them here :) 1 lb. whole wheat pasta (rotini is great because it soaks up the pesto) 1-1/2 pints cherry tomatoes A few drizzles of extra virgin olive oil Salt and pepper 10 oz. mushrooms, cleaned and sliced 1/2 pkg. of your favorite chicken sausage (I used jalapeno), halved and sliced Italian seasoning A few handfuls of fresh spinach (optional) 1 jar prepared pesto Freshly ground parmesan cheese 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss cherry tomatoes in olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Roast for ~ 40-50 minutes, or until tomatoes have burst. 2. Add ~ 1 T. olive oil to a large skillet and heat over medium-high. Add chicken sausage and give it a little headstart on browning before add

As the kids have gotten older, they have naturally become incorporated into many of our household routines. The two routines that are the most fun for all of us are making coffee and putting away the groceries. GROCERIES You might be able to imagine the chaos that could ensue when trying to put the groceries away with two toddlers underfoot. Instead of treating this as a stressful time in the house, Derek decided to teach Zoe & Silas how to unload the grocery bags (did I mention that he has the patience of a saint?). Zoe in particular takes her job very seriously; Silas mainly likes to explore the various kinds of packaging and see what makes the best noises :) I can't wait until they can start earning an allowance :) COFFEE I love coffee, but I didn't drink it for almost two years leading up to Silas & Zoe's birth. Derek's family is Portuguese and they take drinking coffee very seriously. Grandma Dutra talks about how her parents worked in a factory w

The last "Watch Us Grow" photo that we were able to get of Silas & Zoe sitting in the brown chair was at the beginning of November.  Today we managed to pull off a fun little photo shoot on the chair. It was mass chaos! Here was the best picture we got for the FB album!

It's funny how no one tells you about some of the tougher parts of parenting. This could be because what's hard for me is easy for someone else. Or it could be that your friends & family with kids don't want to scare you too bad, in the event that you might actually change your mind and not have them too... There are two things that we are currently dealing with that are on my "nobody ever told me" list. 1. Sickness.  I'll be honest: I had no idea what's involved in a kid "building up their immune system". This winter Derek & I have had a pretty easy going attitude about germs, which is that we're not going let S&Z live in a bubble at this stage of the game. That was NOT true last winter, because they were preemies and they were < 6 months old. Everyone had to be healthy and Purell'd. Now that they are close to 1-1/2 years old (!!), however, we know that they have to get exposed to things at some point. We would rather

My friend, Tom, told me about a website where you can order a bound copy of your blog. I've had it on my radar for awhile, but I finally just got around to making a book of the first year of entries. It starts with 'Icing on the Cake' , the last entry before they were born, and it ends with Halloween . It turned out better than I could have imagined! I cried when I opened it... One hundred ninety-four pages of love, photos, stories, and milestones!

In an attempt to keep S&Z up later than normal in order to shift schedules to accommodate the dang time change, we ran errands and went out to lunch on Sunday. This was the first time that they entertained themselves with coloring in a restaurant. They also provided Derek & I plenty of entertainment! Zoe is a nut job and has been in a great mood lately.  She gets funnier by the day...