Red Pencil Diaries

my pink lip gloss from sephora, the way Zack smiles at me when he’s really happy, my favorite comfy jeans, extra soft tshirts, striped socks, silver jewelry, funky beads, that feeling of satisfaction at the end of a workout, feather pillows, cold grape kool-aid, dark jamaican rum, shiny things, colored glass with the sun filtering through it, catalogs, eBay, chenille socks, the spicy after-taste that makes your nose burn when you eat a hunk of wasabi on your sushi, my iPod nano, the way Dave’s eyes scrunch up when he smiles really big, long drives on sunny days with no place in particular to go, putting the moon roof back when the weather is warm, singing along with old songs, my vanilla birthday cake scented shower gel, getting email, getting phone calls, sharing stories with a friend, going out to dinner and having dessert (but only occasionally!), cold milk over crunchy cereal in the morning, buying something i really want on sale, penguins, painted toe nails, strappy sandals, long hair (on me), Zack’s silly babble (although i wish he would talk!), extra soft (more than 250 thread count) cotton sheets, feather pillows, our down-filled comforter, my soft old quilt, silly nicknames, funny hats, having someplace to go, cooking, dancing, almost anything blue, watching boats on the river, city lights at night, hugs, long eye lashes, nice teeth, the smell of candles burning, more hugs, vanilla, kisses, and so much more.

It’s already Friday. Where has my week gone? Zack has been helping me “clean” today. He got into a cabinet and pulled out all of my plastic bowls. They are all over the floor. And when I tried to clean the refrigerator and freezer, I sprayed the 409 on it and was wiping, he used his hands to help me wipe it down. lol

Last night Dave and I discovered that Zack now has 3 new teeth in. I knew he had a molar coming in, but now his canine teeth are also poking through the gums! He has so many teeth now. Just amazing!

There’s a new (ish) restaurant near us called Crawdaddy’s Cafe. It opened across from Jeffboat where the old Rocky’s used to be. We went in expecting jambalaya and red beans and rice. We were pleasantly surprised to see a diverse menu that was “cajun” influenced, but not strictly cajun. I had a really good salmon “etouffe” with a saffron sauce and shrimp. Dave had a seafood sampler with some blackened fish. It was pretty tasty. The prices were just a tad higher than we’d have thought, but they had other more reasonably priced items—we were both in the mood for some seafood. We think we’ll go back again soon. The waitress was super nice and helpful—even when Zack wiped down the window with his greasy hands. And the owner/manager even came out to say hi and see how we enjoyed the food. He talked to Zack about how good his grilled cheese was. lol

Oh well, breaktime is over. I have to get back to the house cleaning. I just wanted to take a moment to post some thoughts and take a rest. Afterall, the weekend is here! woohoo!

I just posted some new pics in our photo gallery area. They are from last week when Zack decided he no longer wanted to use a highchair and started taking his meals from a chair at the table. There are also a couple of pics I took last night of Zack asleep on Daddy in the recliner. So cute! Check them out.

It IS The FAIRLY Odd Parents. Not the FAIRY Odd Parents. Haha!

I always swore that I wouldn’t become one of those moms who let their kids get their way over everything when they go out to eat. The moms who allow their kids to climb the seats and stand in the chairs. The ones who let the kids climb all over them and thrown fits. Dave and I thought maybe if we took Zack out to eat more often, that he would get used to eating out. That if we had regular meal times at the table and if we showed him how to eat and behave at home, that he would learn that and be an angel when we go out to dinner. But we were wrong.

Zack recently decided he hates high chairs. He sometimes will sit in a booster seat. But most times, he climbs out of the booster seat and so we have to sit in a booth and let him stand next to us. He peers over the booth seats to people behind us. The tries to climb under the table. He tries to push me out of the booth. He lays down. He sometimes throws a fit. I’m on the verge of giving up on eating out all together.

I promise, we try to make him behave, but at 15 months, he doesn’t understand much and there’s not much you can do to reason with him. And you can only yell “No!” so many times before you go insane AND drive the people around you insane as well.

So my apologies. He’s rambunctious. He’s almost 2. And I TRY my best to get him to behave. I guess for now, I just have to stick with restaurants with booths and ones that serve food quickly and aren’t too crowded with folks who don’t like and don’t want to be around kids. sigh

To everyone who reads this… Happy Valentine’s Day. And I mean it! It might seem like an over commercialized holiday, but I have been thinking about how lucky I am to have the friends I do have and the wonderful hubby and son that I spend every day with!

Today Zack and I gave Pebbles a bath. What fun. I sat in the floor, scrubbing the dog, trying to keep her from jumping out of the tub and at the same time trying to keep Zack from climbing into the tub! Fun fun!

This evening, Dave and I attempted to go to dinner at TGIFridays’ with DFA (Zack was in tow). Zack is teething and was sniffly. He got fussy, then fussier. I ended up having to take him out to the truck while Dave got our meals packed into to-go boxes. It was rather frustrating. I feel bad for DFA… sorry that you had to sit through all that. Most times, Zack is at least decent through the meal. We didn’t know he would be acting up quite that bad. I saw a couple get their menus and move to another table while we were there. I hate it when he’s so loud that he annoys others around us.

On a happy happy happy note… Dave gave me my Valentine’s Day gift early. We’re going out tomorrow night to celebrate because Dave has class on Tuesday night. So he was excited and gave me my gift early… an iPod Nano! woohoo! It’s so cool. I’ll post more about it later, but yay! I have a nano! yay! Dave is the most wonderful hubby! I love him.

This week, Zack has decided that he doesn’t like highchairs anymore. He prefers to sit by mom and daddy—usually in a booster seat. This morning, I got him in his highchair (but didn’t buckle him in—and we push his seat up to the table instead of using the tray now) and gave him his plate of pancakes and his juice. I sat next to him at the table and proceeded to eat my cereal. Zack got out of his highchair seat and pulled out the chair next to me, climbed into it and sat down. So I moved his plate over and he sat there and ate. It’s super funny that he wants to be the big boy so bad now. He also cried and fussed so much at dinner last night at Applebee’s, that Daddy got him a booster seat and sat him next to him at the table. Zack was all smiles then. lol He’s too dang cute and too big for his britches.

I can’t believe it’s been 15 months since Zack was born. Every day, he’s more toddler and less baby. He’s up here now trying to “help me type.” But he stinks… ick! I think I’ll have to finish this post later… brb…

On Monday night, Zack wandered down the hall and opened the hall linen closet… Dave and I were in the office and hadn’t realized he’d wandered so far away. Zack managed to stick his finger in the side of the door by the hinge and then leaned on the door and got his finger stuck. He screamed and Dave and I came running. Dave couldn’t get his finger out… so he got it as loose as possible and pulled it out. Well… it pulled the skin back on the tip of his pointer finger from below the nail down to the next joint. There was a bit of blood and when I wiped it away, I noticed a deep purple crease in his finger. I couldn’t get his finger to stop bleeding, so we took him the the Clark Memorial ER. Luckily, it was fairly empty. They took us back and we sat him on a gurney to wait and wait… the doctor looked at it and sent us for an Xray, which was oh so fun. Try telling a one year old how to hold his fingers… they ended up taping his fingers down (that weren’t injured) and I had to get an Xray too while holding his hand a certain way. Nothing was broken, but by then, his finger was quite swollen. They ended up giving him some Tylenol with codeine and after we got it to stop bleeding, he got some dermabond put on it. He’s been using it and it doesn’t seem to bother him, but he’s teething and I can’t keep him from putting his finger in his mouth! sigh I was so nervous that night. Feeling like a bad mom for not having been there to stop him from getting into the closet in the first place. But he’s a curious kid, and I can’t possibly keep him in sight 24/7. I’m just glad he wasn’t hurt too bad. Poor Zack!