We made it!!!!

Just wanted to post a quick update from NOVA SCOTIA! As I type this I can hear the ocean in the background, how relaxing.

We made it after a long day of travel. It seems longer because they are two hours ahead of us so really we left at 10:30 and got here at 3:45, but it was 5:45 here so the day was almost over. The day started bright and early at 5am when I snuck in and got Zane up for a morning cuddle before we had to go. We were at the airport very early since Zach had to go to work, so we hung out in the A terminal, where I never am, and where they need more bathrooms. I'm just saying.

Our first flight to Toronto was on a very small air plane and mom and I weren't sitting next to each other. Mom chatted with some guy from Halifax, David, and I read, slept, and listened to music. Airplane rides are so relaxing without a one year old to wrangle. We got to Toronto at 1:45 and hurried through customs, back through security (with our shoes on, can you imagine), and got to our gate just in time to start boarding.

The flight to Halifax was a little longer and again mom and I weren't any where near each other. But it went well and we got here around 6pm Halifax time, or should I say 1800. I love that everything is in military time here, that is how I think at work so it works out great. We picked up our bright green Ford Fiesta, and I do mean freakishly green, and headed to the B&B. We stopped and ate at Wendy's ( we were desperate after a day without food and the Canada version of Wendy's only took Mastercard).

We arrived at our beautiful B&B overlooking the ocean just in time for a sunset walk on the rocky beach and a dip in the freezing cold ocean. Turns out I won't be needing that dreaded swim suit after all. Now it is 8pm in my mind but 10pm here so I should try to be lulled to sleep by the sea. Tomorrow is whale watching, a maritime museum, and the beach. I can't wait!

Ten on Tuesday

1. Today is one year since I have seen my father. He was in town last year at this time for Zane's baptism and left on the 26th. So needless to say it was a rough day at work, with some especially depressing patients just to make things worse. My coworkers were supportive, as always, complete with a buying me a blizzard to cheer me up. This is why I will always be fat, but it worked.

2. While I was at work over the weekend Zane learned how to give fives. It is the cutest thing and he gets very excited about it. Job well done Zach.

3. The new alarming trend with Zane is he wakes up right before I have to leave and then screams bloody murder when I actually have to go. This has happened a few time, including today and Sunday when I could hear him screaming outside the house. I am not a fan of this new trend.

4. I am almost all pack for the big trip Thursday. I have a few loose ends to tie up, which I guess I will be doing late into the night tomorrow since I have to work again. I  think we have gotten all our questions answered about Nova Scotia and we should be all set. I am going to miss Zane horribly, maybe we will skype. Stay tuned for blogs from Nova Scotia coming soon!!!

5. Yesterday Zane and I chased each other around the house all morning. It was great fun. He loves being chased and chasing. At one point when he was trying to get me to chase him he looked over his shoulder and ran right into a wall, leaving a big goose egg/bruise on his forehead. we had to lay off the chasing for a little bit and he was fine.

6. When we weren't chasing we were reading books. Zane seems to have a longer attention span and loves picking out books to read. His current favorites are all the Sandra Boynton books. They are just the right length for kids his age. Yesterday he got a new book from amazon with my new book for vacation and we read it dozens of time. Great fun!

7. It is almost time to take another nephew to their 7th birthday baseball game. Blaine turns 7 at the end of September, but we are going at the end of August. We better start saving up. It is so much fun to see a game through a 7 year old's eyes. I can't wait.

8. Can I just say how excited I am about reading a book on the beach. That is my all time favorite hobby. And it won't even be 100 degrees outside.

9. Number one priority when I return from vaca is finding a place that will fit me for good tennis shoes. The shoes I have for work right now are killing my feet. I had the same style for the first two years of work that worked well but wore out fast. I tried something new and thoroughly regret it. My feet, ankles, pretty much my entire legs hurt at the end of the day. Zach's Aunt runs a shoe place, maybe she could hook me up!

10. I am trying to put together a short weekend get away for Zach and I's 5th anniversary. It won't actually be on our anniversary, I'm thinking September some time. I think I want to do a short trip to Chicago, but I don't know what to do or where to stay in Chicago. I would love some suggestions, that aren't crazy expensive, but fun.

I'm off to Canada! Happy Tuesday!

Five on Friday

1. I have been in a bit of a funk over my past three days off. I think it is because I am a little bit worried about leaving Zane for 6 days. Not just because he has become very attached to me over the past month, but also because I haven't spent a day away from him since he was born, so I am just not sure how it is going to work. I am also dreading going to nights in a couple weeks, which will mean less time with Zane and everyone's scheduled being screwy. I'm trying to pull up and get excited about my trip. I know Zane will be fine and I will have a blast.

2. Another stress added to this situation is I cannot figure out how to go about calling home from a foreign country. I guess I forgot that we are technically going out of the country, but just up to friendly Canada. I don't want to be charged an arm and a leg to call using my cell phone, but I have yet to figure out how to make it work. Also, not sure how I am going to survive without being able to google things continually on my phone. Kind of feel like I'm going back in time a bit. I feel naked without my phone.

3. Zane has been working on moving backward the past couple days. He walks backward, backing up to whatever is behind him. Whether that is the wall, the couch, me, or any number of things. He sits downs and scoots backward, backing himself into the corner of the tub during bath time. He lays on his belly and crawls/scoots backward as well, very funny to me, but he is very serious about it.

4. I am sick of the heat. Zane and I have been trapped inside all week. We usually go out and about at least a little bit, playing in the backyard, swimming, or going to the playground. However, we nearly died of a heat stroke going to Target yesterday. There is only so much we can do inside before we need a change of scenery. Today our change of scenery was stepping out on the front porch, for literally a minute, to get the mail.

5. I haven't gotten to eat my usual favorite summer foods yet and need to try to remedy that. I haven't had one fresh tomato, let alone a tomato with cottage cheese. Nor have I had fried okra, my other summer time favorite. I had fried squash once, which isn't nearly enough. Maybe I can convince Zach to go to the farmer's market tomorrow, but again it is blazing hot so that might not be a good idea.

Stay cool!

Ten on Tuesday

1. Check out these adorable summer photos of Zane eating watermelon. I personally didn't like this particular watermelon so I gave Zane my piece and he went to town. He also proceeded to play with the corn husks, so the last picture is a little throw back to my childhood pictures of me playing in the compost pile. 

 2. Ever since Zane and I got back from OK he has been very clingy to me, crying anytime I am out of eye sight, including screaming crying at the door when I left for work yesterday. This is concerning since I will be gone for a week soon. Both for Zach having to deal with a crabby baby boy, but also the fact that when I get back I am sure he will be just as clingy to Zach which will make me cry.

 

3. In sad news the whale pool officially has a hole in it. That lastest exactly a month. Zach patched it once, but I looked out the window this morning to see a pathetic, deflated, whale pool. Such is life.

 

4.This past Saturday was an end of an era for Zach and I as we went to see the last Harry Potter movie. We have seen all of them together in the theater except the first one and the one that I watched with my college roommates while Zach was sneaking into my house to propose. It was one of our first dates out after having Zane and the this last installment made for a fun date night out while mom watched Zane. I have to say I cried and am sad to see it end, but it was a great ending. Spoiler alert: the good guys win again!!! Hooray!

Here is our family photo we took prior to heading out to the show.

5. Also this weekend we had our own little Halloween in July here at the Korenak household. We did this for a couple reason, first of all I thought it would be adorable, and secondly I'm pretty sure neither of these costumes are going to fit come October. The first costume is a tiger outfit Zach's mom got for our unborn children years ago (possibly before we were married). It did not disappoint, though Zane wasn't a big fan. This one might still fit in October.

The second costume is the Korenak family clown costume that all our nephews have worn. Zach's mom made this one and it is super cute, but is going to be too small at Halloween.  He was enjoying this one more until he fell down, then we had a sad little clown. 

6. Last night Zach made these exploding chicken taquitos from food network.com. It is a simple, quick recipe that turned out very tasty. I wasn't sure about the canned chicken, but it was still very tasty. I am sure I will use it with left over chicken next time.

7. Mom and I have been researching antinausea/anti-sea sickness remedies. So far we have tried "less drowsy" Dramamine, which didn't make me that drowsy, but I don't know if it would keep me from 'feeding the fish.' We also bought ginger root and sea band bracelets (supposedly works via acupuncture/pressure points to prevent sea sickness). I plan on using them all in hopes of not throwing up while viewing whales. Anyone else have ideas?

 

8. Mom headed home Sunday after a week of watching Zaney. It was wonderful to have her here and I loved being able to call and check in on them while I was at work. Makes me wish I lived closer to everyone, yet again. Zane had a blast, but I think might have worn mom out a bit. Thanks mom!

 

9. Zane and I have been working on his whisper voice the past few days. This is in response to one of Zane's new favorite pass times, screaming for no apparent reason. Not screaming, crying, I'm sad, but just screaming randomly. This is not acceptable, so in response I whisper to him and he tends to do the same. We whispered all evening today right up until lullaby time, it was great. 

 

10. In good news Zane has been sleeping through the night again as of late. He still is in the process of getting a few teeth, but has done well the past few days with little tylenol. It has been wonderful. I cannot believe he is 13 months old and I am still talking about sleeping issues. Hope this is the end of that nonsense.

THE baby blanket

My sister wrote a blog today about THE famous baby blanket. The one that your new born baby is swaddled in as soon as they enter the world. The faded blanket with green and pink stripes, that everyone has a picture of their baby in. Apparently NPR is doing a story on these blankets and Abbey asked people to share their blanket photos. I thought it was a wonderful idea so here are a few pictures of my baby boy in THE blanket.

We saw the blanket again, a few months later, when we were back in the hospital for Zane's surgery. Yes, these are the same blankets that sick babies are swaddled in at Children's hospitals. Here is Zane, back with THE blanket, after surgery.

Ten on Tuesday

1. We are back from our whirlwind weekend trip to Oklahoma and we are all exhausted. We had a great time and it was wonderful to see everyone, but per usual I didn't sleep much while I was there. Oh and did I mention it was 110 degrees there.

 

2. While in Oklahoma I discovered that Zane's new favorite food is watermelon. He ate a ton of it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Such a great summer food.

 

3. Once again Zane was a champion flier. The worst part is always the airport, where he gets extremely tired and I won't let him go to sleep because I want him to sleep on the plane. Bringing the stroller was key to my success, though he did need to get out and run around a bit in the port. He slept all the way there and on all but about 20 minutes of the flight back. That 20 minutes was a wrestling match, but over all he did great.

 

4. While I was gone Zach was busy on a surprise in the basement. He built shelves in our laundry room, which gives us so much more room in there and I can't wait to organize them. We also got our meat delivered to us, courtesy of Zach's parents. Our freezer is completely full now, I am so excited. Does anyone have any good beef recipes they want to share, I have a ton of beef!

 

5. Mom flew back with Zane and I yesterday and is our live in babysitter for the week while Zane's daycare ladies are on vacation. Hope Zane doesn't exhaust her too much. Thanks mom!

 

6. Mom and I are in serious Nova Scotia trip planning mode. We came up with a trip title over the weekend, "Maritime Meanderings," designed and ordered our t-shirts, Abbey has ordered us a trip journal, and mom is working on making sure we truly have all the important reservations made. I am getting very excited, especially after I looked at the weather report for Halifax today, highs in the mid 70s and lows in the 50s at night!! Hooray!

 

7. While in OK Abbey, Anna, and I got the best pedicure ever! We randomly googled nail salons on 23rd street in OKC and came across a wonderful place. The pedicure was only $35, they used multiple sea salts/rubs, hot stones, and I even got an adorable little flowers on my big toes. What a fun relaxing time. It was Abbey's first pedicure and I think she may be hooked.

 

8. Zane had his first experience with swimming in the lake during our Oklahoma visit and seemed to really enjoy it, before getting horribly tired. The lake was were we swam growing up and holds very found memories for me. Turns out being a parent at the lake is much more stressful, what with the constant sunscreen applications, fears of drowning, constant noise, and no way to get my baby to sleep and if I did I had no where to lay him down. It wasn't nearly as relaxing as my days full of eating, floating around the lake, and sleeping on the couch of yester year.

 

9.We got Zane's one year pictures back today. Of course Zane was adorable, as was expected. Now comes the tough part, deciding which ones to buy. I will put some up just as soon as I get the CD in the mail.

10. Zane has a molar coming in and was pretty emotional this evening. It looks painful and I think he has a few more teeth on the way. He is biting everything, including himself and Zach, hopefully his evening Tylenol helps him sleep well this evening.

A not welcome new phase

As I have said over the past two weeks Zane has been an emotional basket case. This has shown itself in the form of throwing fits over everything, complete with true tears, falling on the floor, and stomping away to pout/tell the wall his sad stories. How does a one year old know how to sulk off, head down and everything. It makes my day exhausting and frankly I miss happy go lucky Zane. Don't get me wrong he isn't crying and fit throwing all the time, but this use to never happen so any fit throwing is too much.

We had initially blamed this on his acid reflux and being off his pepcid for a week. Well, that theory has been blow out of the water. He has been back on his pepcid for days and there has been no improvement. Last nights was shades of a new born all over again. He would wake up crying, not just mummbling, for real crying. We gave him his binki, tried to ignore him, and finally I went in and cuddled him, but the moment I laid him down he would scream. This cycle repeated numerous times between 3am and 5am until finally Zane and I went to sleep in the chair at 5:15am.

This morning I decided that I would take him to the doctor and have his ears looked at, grasping at straws for a reason for his craziness. Of course he didn't have an ear infection and I'm sure the doctor thought I was nuts. Here was her brilliant advice to me, " maybe you should get a white noise machine in your room to drowned out his crying in the room next door." She said he is in a new phase, with lots of new things he can do so he wants to do these new activities at all hours of the day. I just need to ignore the screaming/crying coming from the next room. I can not go in the room, but I will still be awake. Sad face.

In good news he napped well today and we both had fun playing in the pool. So it was a fun day, but I am dreading tonight. I can't wait for the next phase to come around.

Ten on Tuesday

1. Today I had planned to take Zane to the Zoo before his first nap. However, he was very emotional this morning, needing lots of cuddles. By the time he woke up from his first nap it was already blazing hot and humid so no Zoo today. Just a quick trip to Target, the bookstore, and then back home for laundry and play time. Not a very exciting day.

2. We took family pictures and Zane's first year pictures at the botanical gardens on Friday. We started at 10am, but that proved to still be too late in the day, as it was already 90 degrees with 95% humidity. It was good that we did family pictures first because by the end of it I was drenched in sweat. It was difficult to get Zane to stay in one place long enough to get his picture taken, what with him being one and all, but we gave it a shot. Hopefully she at least got a few good shots. We shall see.

3. Zane and I are flying home Friday for a quick weekend visit with the family. I know I have said this before, but this really will be Zane and I's first flying trip by ourselves, as long as no one gets sick this time. I am going to take the stroller and he can walk, so I think it should be fine. Hopefully he sleeps on the plane like he has previously.

4. I do have a few concerns about flying since the past few days Zane has been an emotional wreck. I am blaming it on his belly and praying this isn't a knew phase. He had gone about a week and a half with out Pepcid and I think had started to get a belly ache again. That added to a few constipation issues and he was a very upset little boy all weekend long. Multiple fits were thrown, tears were shed by all parties, and no one got much sleep. But we have a new Pepcid prescription and drank some apple juice so things should be turning around.

5. Zach's friend Adam was in town Friday and Saturday for their friend's wedding Saturday evening. We had a great visit and Zane warmed up to Adam quickly. I got off on Saturday so Zach and Adam were able to go to the wedding together in Columbia, MO.  It sounded like they had a great time. Congrats to Andrew and Keri on their wedding, have fun in Hawaii

6. Last night I watched the D.C. and NYC fireworks shows. I have always favored D.C. because Abbey use to live there and nothing is more patriotic than our nations capital. That being said, NYC's fireworks were leaps and bounds better than D.C.'s last night. Who knew? I would have rather that NYC's were also set to the music of military bands, but I guess you can't have it all. I miss seeing live fireworks though. I could hear them going off outside all night, but didn't see any this year.

7. This evening I went to say good bye to two friends from work who are going to do travel nursing for a while. I will miss their happy faces at work. They both have been beyond supportive over the last year. Good luck Jen and Beth, come back soon!

8. Today I started working on my anniversary year in review book. This is usually a fun task, looking back on all the things we did over the past year of marriage. Keep in mind I do the book from August to August, so the first months I had to do this year were September, October, November, and December. Shoot me! I got to November, was crying, and had to quit. I contemplated not doing it, as I don't really want to look back on a lot of this year. However, I have done one every other year and I am sure I would regret not doing it at some point.

9. After getting highly depressed with the year in review book I decided to work on Zane's scrapbook. I have finished all his pages that Abbey set up for me, but still have a few I'm thinking about doing myself, like an eating cake page, and a page about Mooly the cow. This was a much happier creative outlet and I have loved how all the pages have turned out.

10. Tonight I had a horrible glimpse into what working nights with Zane is going to be like. I was getting ready and unable to pay attention to him for maybe 30 minutes and he had a complete melt down. At the end of the 30 minutes I was able to cuddle him and all was right with the world, I didn't have to leave him crying at the door. I am pretty certain that the first time that happens I am going to quit my job. It is going to be awful. Time needs to slow down because I have to go to nights on, wait for it, my dad's birthday, August 14th. Classic Audra's life. Gotta love it!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Fourth of July

Growing up the Fourth of July was my Mom's side of the family's biggest holiday/get together. All the aunts, uncles, and cousins would descend on Oklahoma to visit Grandma and Grandma for the 4th. We spent most of our time at the little lake were we have a little cabin. There was lots of swimming, eating, and tons of family fun. On the evening of the fourth we would drag our tired, sunburned selves, into Okeene for the Okeene fireworks display, which took place at the football field. There was usually at least one small fire, always conversations about which element made which color, and the show always ended with the American flag that lit up on the far end of the field. We laid on blankets soaking up the summer. The fireworks were followed by Swans ice cream at Grandma's. Grandma, Grandpa, and usually some of the uncle's stayed at the house and watched the D.C. fireworks on TV. Then the Blakley gang had to head back to our house while all the other cousins stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's. And that usually ended the great Dotter Fourth celebrations.

It has been a few years since we had a big fourth celebration, but it remains one of my favorite holidays and I always try to do a few patriotic things to celebrate. This year I thought I was going to be at work, but due to there only being 11 patients on the floor I got to be on call today which means I was able to celebrate with Zane and Zach here at home. We started our patriotic celebrations with little sausages and bulleyes (toast with an egg in the middle, I know it goes by many names) for breakfast. While Zane played upstairs we listed to the 'sounds of season channel' which was all patriotic music today. Then we had family nap time, which I think is a very American past time, at least I felt celebratory.

When we woke up from nap time we decided to go get snow cones and head to the playground. Sadly the snow cone place was closed, but we got dip cones from Dairy Queen, which might be even more American than snow cones. Then we headed to the playground, which was still a little wet from last nights rain, but still a good time. Zane had a little mishap on the slide, which was frightening, but everyone was alright, though we were all a little shaken up.  Zane had a great time, saw a puppy, and had a blast climbing up and down the stairs.

 This afternoon, after  quick trip to the mall, Zane swam in his pool while Zach grilled hamburgers. Our dinner was extremely patriotic, grilled hamburgers and fried squash. You cannot beat that!! I fried three squash, easily enough to feed four or five people, but we ate it all. I cannot stop eating fried squash. Luckily it is literally a sometimes food. I only eat it a couple times a year, but when I do it gets out of control. Zane loved his first taste of fried squash and grilled hamburgers. I know his Grandpa was smiling down on him as he ate almost all of his little cheeseburger.

 -Here is Zach with his All-American dinner complete with a red white and blue Budweiser can.

After some playtime downstairs we came up for books and bedtime. We watched The Capital Fourth and listened to the sounds of fireworks going off outside. Then I rocked Zane for a little bit, with patriotic songs for lullabies tonight. All and all I think it was a great celebration of America. I hope everyone had wonderful 4th of July celebrations with their loved ones. Happy Birthday America!!!