Tricks to get a toddler to eat

Fifteen minutes ago we fixed Noah his plate for dinner. Some cheese (which he loves) and some meatballs. Once he eats all that he gets fruit. He'll always eat fruit. If I let him choose what he eats, that's all he would have. I suppose I could have it much worse...at least fruit it really good for him. But he needs protein and other things too, thus the meat and cheese. Tonight, as usual, he's refusing the meat (unless it's chicken, like chicken nuggets, then that he'll eat). After many attempts with the meatballs...trying to convince him they're not hot, taking bites to show him how good they taste, trying to ignore him and let him figure it out on his own...Nothing was working. I was about to just let it go as usual when Mike had the brillant idea of trying ketchup. Daddy is a genius!! Covered in ketchup Noah at most of the meatball and now is on to his fruit!! Oh the tricks of trying to get a picky toddler to eat!!

Kristi and Casey's Wedding!

My sister is a married woman! Kristi and Casey Zimmerman were married Saturday June 27th in College Station. The wedding was beautiful! Kristi was of course a gorgeous bride. I had the honor of being one of the matron's of honor and standing by her side during the ceremony. I loved being able to watch Casey's face as Kristi and my Dad walked down the aisle and as he said his vows to my sister. What a blessing to know my sister is loved by such a great guy!!

We also had the honor of having Noah as the ring bearer for the wedding. We were super anxious about how he was going to do and up until the last second we didn't think he was going to pull it off...but he did! He was way overstimulated all weekend and not acting like himself at all...not sleeping well, whiny and clingy...you get the picture. Immediately before the ceremony we were all standing at the back of the church and he was fussy and upset. He was supposed to walk in with Kennedy, the flower girl, Casey's 3 year old neice. She kept trying to hold his hand but he wanted none of that. He also refused to hold his pillow. Every time we handed it to him he would just throw it down. But we did discover he liked the flower petals Kennedy had in her basket. So we thought maybe he'd just help with those. Well, amazingly enough he started down the aisle next to Kennedy (not holding her hand though) but as soon as the petals fell on the floor he said "Oh!!" and sat right down on the floor in the middle of the aisle and started picking up the petals. In a stroke of brilliance, Mike picked up his cell phone (Noah had been holding it but dropped it when he stopped to pick up the flowers) and gave it to Noah and told him "Go get Mommy" (I was the last bridesmaid in and so I was just a little ahead of him and he could see me at the front of the church). So my big boy actually took off down the long aisle all by himself, waving Daddy's cell phone, and made it all the way to the front of the church. When he got there he put the cell phone up to his ear and made his "ha-oo" sound. It was just about the cutest thing I've ever seen!! I was laughing and crying at the same time and was sooo proud of him!!

The whole weekend was great but went by in such a blur! A HUGE THANK YOU is owed to my wonderful husband who took care of Noah most of the weekend by himself so I could be there for my sister. I had a blast and am so so thankful that I got to be a part of things. It was wonderful to get to see so many friends and family members in the same place at the same time...my only complaint is that it went by so fast and I wish I could've had more time to really talk with everyone.

We are still waiting on the professional pictures from the photographer but I had to get some stuff up now because everyone just looked so great I couldn't wait!! More to come later.

The beautiful bride Getting ready

Bridesmaids putting finishing touches on each other

Bridesmaids

Kelly (Maid of Honor), Angela (Matron of Honor), me (Matron of Honor), Casi (Bridesmaid), Ashley (Bridesmaid)

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Casey Zimmerman!!

My handsome boys after the ceremony

The happy couple

I gave a toast. Everyone said it went well. I think I said most of the things that I wanted to. Funny thing is that I've made fun of Kristi for the last 6 years because she almost spilled her champagne during her toast at our wedding. Well, in the first few seconds I must not have beenvery still and felt wine drip down onto my foot. I guess that's what I get for giving her a hard time all these years...it's harder than it looks!

Dad and Kristi danced to a slow version of "Brown Eyed Girl". She was laughing and crying the whole time. So fun to watch them together!

My handsome boys again

Mike and Noah with Bill, long time family friend

Grandmother, Aunt Mattie, and Aunt Georgie. What a blessing that they were all able to be there for the big day!

We were in serious discussion about something...who knows what.

Thomas (my brother) and Brittney-such a cute couple!

The Varners-long time family friends

Casey showin' off his moves. I was impressed!

I have such good looking siblings!

Our proud parents

Brother and Sister

Noah was sooo handsome in his little suit!

The Tilton (Zimmerman and White) Ladies

Sisters

Big hug at the end of the night- I LOVE YOU SISTER!!

Making their grand exit

In their limo getting ready to leave. Perfect ending to the perfect wedding day!

Congrats Kristi and Casey. We love you both and couldn't be happier for you!! We look forward to making so many wonderful family memories with you in the future. May God richly bless you as you start your new lives together!

These are a few pictures from the rehearsal. I love how the pictures of Noah demonstrate his true feelings on the situation. Notice how he's pulling away from Kennedy as she's trying to hold onto his arm. That's a classic Noah move-he usually doesn't like to have his hand held-Mr. Independent!!
Then there's the arching of the back with Mike. This is another classic Noah move that is usually followed by a stiffening of the body as he tries to slip out of your hold.

At the rehearsal dinner...we pretty much let him do whatever he wanted as long as he was happy and somewhat quiet. It was way past his bed time and he hadn't napped well so we were expecting major melt down. But he made it through the night. Unfortunately we left behind probably a 5 foot diameter of food debris around his high chair. He's usually pretty messy but this night he was putting food (mostly french fries and fruit loops) in this empty box and then shaking it. He thought it was hilarious and since we were in a room full of family and friends and he was happy, we just let him enjoy himself. Silly boy.

Fourth of July

We had such a good time 4th of July weekend. We found ourselves with a weekend with literally no plans (except for church on Sunday of course) which is a rarity in our family. We started off Friday by meeting with our realtor to look at some houses in Round Rock and Pflugerville. We found one that we really like but now just need to wait for something more to happen with the condo (three showings so far in 2 plus weeks but no other action). We'll look around some more but it was exciting and a good start.

That afternoon after naptime we went to the Brushy Creek Lake Park where they have this really cool water playscape (we called it a sprinkler park). When it's consistently over 100 degrees outside you have to find something you can do outside without frying and this was great!! Noah loved it. He's really into water these days. He didn't really appreciate it when he got sprayed in the face but he had a great time running around and splashing and playing in the smaller sprays and spouts. There is lots of water involved so if you go, parents-be sure to wear your swim suit too (I learned this lesson for next time)!

After the park we went to Kawaii Shaved Ice in Round Rock for sno cones. We'd heard good things and it was closer than our usual spot so we decided to check it out. It was pretty good (the ice was great, just not enough syrup) but Casey's New Orleans Sno Balls off Airport and 51st still has the best sno cones we've ever had!

On Saturday we stayed at home and grilled on the patio and then played in the pool. No fireworks for us this year. Noah still goes to bed around 7:30pm and since it gets dark so much later these days we decided to just stick to our normal schedule. Maybe next year he'll be better at staying up later. What a good weekend though! It was some great family time and really relaxing.

Eating hot dogs outside on the patio on the 4th

Father's Day

We had a busy but low key Father's Day weekend this year. We listed our condo (finally!) on Friday which was super exciting! On Saturday, Mike had a youth outing with the seniors to Barton Springs and other fun Austin stuff. While he was out playing on Saturday Noah and I shopped for his gifts. He got Dad's Awesome Grilling Book, some new beer and other various treats. After opening presents Sunday afternoon we went out to REI to look for some hiking boots for his upcoming trip with the youth group to Colorado. Then it was out to Rudy's BBQ for dinner!! Yum Yum! Lots of fun "guy" stuff. Here's Noah trying to help Daddy open his presents.

Happy Father's Day Daddy/Mike! We are so blessed to have you in our lives! I love watching you be a Daddy to Noah-you are so good with him! You can tell by how his face lights up when you come home how much he loves you. I couldn't ask for a better father for our son. I hope you know how special you are to both of us. We love you!!

15 months

Noah's 15 months old now. We're having so much fun with him. He is like a little sponge these days-learning so much so fast! Especially talking. No exageration, it seems like he picks up a new word almost every day. For example, last week at the beach he learned beach (he says beachy), truck, birdie, grapes (sounds like braps), yucky, and finally started saying mommy regularly (for a little while it was about every other word but it's worn off a little bit now). This week he's started telling us what sounds animals make. So far he knows that duckies say quack quack, cows say moo (although he says boo but it's close enough!) and sheep say baa. Some words require a little more imagination to interpret (as my dad likes to say) but others are pretty clear. Oh, he also says please now too ("pease"). He knows to say it anytime he wants something. He's already figured out that if he says please, nods his head yes, and points to something that he'll usually get what he wants. We don't always give in, but he sure has learned how to work the system already! I love that he's getting so much better at communicating with us and you can tell he enjoys being understood!

Some of his favorite things these days are keys, balls, cars & trucks, blocks and books. He still loves playing outside and begs to go to the pool. If we get his little turtle floatie out he immediately starts saying pool and will actually bring the floatie over to us and put the little spout up to our mouth to try to get us to blow it up for him. He follows commands pretty well for a young toddler...he knows how to pick up his toys, how to throw things away, you can ask him to pick up something and bring it to you and he does. He knows where to looks for things that you ask him for-even if they're in the other room. All this is so fun and cool to watch him grow more and more into a little functioning person. But of course it also means we have to be on our best behavior around him so he doesn't learn bad habits since he tries mimic everything we do. He's also wanting to exert more and more independence which is good for him but can also be challenging for us as parents. No major tantrums yet though thank goodness! I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

We had his 15 month check up today and all was great. Noah weighs 27 lbs (75-90th percentile) and is 32.75 inches long (90th percentile) and his head circumference is in the 95th percentile--in other words he's still a pretty big boy for his age! Our pediatrician did hear a slight heart murmur for the first time at this check up. It's very common in kids Noah's age and at this point is considered innocent and will just be something they monitor at each check up. Thankfully we come across this all the time in kids at my clinic so I knew from experience that it's pretty common and was therefore a little less alarmed by the whole thing. I was so proud of Noah for actually holding still and being somewhat quiet while the doctor was doing all his listening. He got two shots and I think had an idea of what was coming this time. Poor buddy. It was a little harder on me because of that, but he recovered quickly which was good.

We turned his car seat around last month as you can see below. New recommendations had come out to try to keep kids rear facing as long as possible past age one. We tried as long as we could with Noah, but he's just so tall that his poor little legs were getting all scrunched up. He was so happy to face forward-the look on his face when we first put him in the car was priceless!