Where does the time go...

No clue where the time goes.

Zane is almost one year old. Only twelve more days and my baby will be one! How does that happen? I blinked my eyes and another year flew by! Even more astonishing is my surrogate nephew, Kole, is going to be SIX in the beginning of March. HOW? Crazy. For sure.

So, in honor of Zane's first birthday, I tortured my poor children with a trip to the portrait studio. Usually we go to Kiddie Kandids. However, the Kiddie Kandids in our mall closed...There one day and gone the next. I was totally astonished that it closed because I was pretty sure that I alone provided enough revenue for them. Apparently I didn't and Kiddie Kandids has filed for bankruptcy. Bummer.

I asked a friend for a referral and went to Portrait_Innovations. We had a great experience. They shot a ton of pictures (ALL of them are in an album on my Facebook page) and we bought a TON of pictures. The kids did great and overall I was very pleased with our appointment and how it all turned out.

You can see in Zane' picture he is still my "vampire" baby. But, it won't last too much longer as one of his front teeth is coming in.

In other news, Jim and I are quickly approaching our trip to Europe. We are defiinitely excited, and a little nervous to be venturing to another country. But what an adventure! I just hope I won't miss my boys too much..I know they won't miss us too much!

My Vampire Baby

I know the whole Twilight series is popular right now.

In fact, I am pretty infatuated with the books and movies myself.



However, Zane has take this whole "vampire" thing to a whole new level.



In October, Zane got his first tooth. Right, front, bottom. So cute.


The next tooth came in right next to it. We were joking about Zane asking for his two top front teeth for Christmas. Sure enough right around Christmas I felt some more teeth coming in. But they were not where I expected them to be. Can you see them?

Look closely! Now you see why he is the "vampire" baby?

Luckily he seems to be limiting his diet to plastic toys right now...

Speechless

I had a customer come in today for the H1N1 vaccine. Yes I have it in stock and no you can't have it. Unless you are in a priority group.

She was 18 weeks pregnant. Pregnant women are at high risk for complications so are in the priority group for receiving this vaccine. She said she had been going back and forth trying to decide if she should get the vaccine at all but finally decided that having a baby with autism was better than having a miscarriage. WHAT? Okay. Now I was beginning to understand. She was one of those...

Those? The ones who believe that vaccines are the root of all evil. That vaccines cause autism... Even though you can read on the CDC website and the FDA websites that several studies have been conducted and do not show an association between vaccines and autism. The FDA protects people. Keeps them safe from potentially harmful substances. They are not for promoting drugs--but for safety and health. I have a hard time believing that if studies were truly showing that vaccines may be responsible for autism that something wouldn't be done.

I don't want to downplay the importance of autism awareness and how serious autism can be. So, instead of arguing with this patient, I let her express her opinion and kind of kept my mouth shut.

So, as I was starting to give her the shot, she tells me she is afraid of needles. Which is why she had two kids without an epidural. I said, "Good for you! "

She said, "Yes, it was good. Epidurals just slow everything down. It was great!"

I smiled and said that I had had 2 c-sections. She said, "Oh, I'm sorry."

Sorry? Seriously? That was kind of offensive. Just because my labors didn't fall into her "Labor Plan" doesn't mean that they were any less miraculous or wonderful. I said that it didn't matter as long as my kids were healthy. I think she agreed with me. Maybe not...

I was kind of speechless after that.

Toilet Training Tribulations and Triumphs

I think we have done it. We have found the right bribe.

We have been having issues with our stubborn-if -it- isn't- my- idea -it -I -am- not -doing- it- three year old and potty training. He just was refusing. When we took him for his 3 year old well check, the doctor said to give him a little time and try again. She suggested that even though we had tried different incentives maybe we hadn't touched on the right one...Well, I think we found it.

They were going to be discussing pets at preschool so they were asked to bring in a picture of a pet they had or a pet they wanted. Since there are NO pets in my house, my Mom helped Cade pick a pet he would like. Cade decided he wanted a fish. A goldfish like Dorothy, Elmo's fish. **LIGHT BULB!**

Cade was told he was not allowed to go back to school in pull-ups. He was not supposed to be wearing them, so when the teacher noticed them, we got a phone call. But Cade loves school and was doing well. Didn't want to pull him out over potty training--especially when he knew how to do it. So the bribe...the fish.

We bought a fish tank, rocks, plants, and little figures. We bought fish food. Every day that Cade was dry, he got another piece to his tank. He knows that when the tank is all ready, he gets his fish. We have had NO accidents. Amazing. We found the right bribe. We are still working on number two, but, one step at a time... WOO HOO!

Speaking of well check appointments, Cade weighed in at 43 pounds and 41 inches tall! In the 99th% for height and weight. Zane was over 17 pounds. He gained 5 pounds in the last two months. Guess he had some catching up to do! He went from being in the 5th % for weight to the 50th%. Now he is right where he should be. Happy, chubby, healthy. Love it.