Elijah took this pic!

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This seems like yesterday

I was looking through some earlier pics of Zane and Elijah and I can hardly believe they look so young only 3 years ago. Zane was only about 6 days old in this picture and was still jaudiced a little bit. Elijah looks like a baby too compared to now. It is amazing how much and how fast they grow. I have really cute pics of Elijah as a toddler that I have never posted so I will try within the next week to get them scanned and loaded onto my dropshots page.
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My how time flies!

Although Elijah does still kiss Zane, Zane would rather him tickle him until he explodes instead! I should have known even then that Zane would be just like Elijah and be the pickiest eater to ever walk the Earth. He actually ate mini tater tots for the first time tonight. That is sad. He is so picky that he wouldn't even try them even though he does love mashed potatoes. He took a bite finally after I left them on his plate and he said "mmmm, good." Elijah never took a bite of a hot dog until the first grade. For all of you that have toddlers who enjoy eating, count your blessings. Sometimes that is one of those battles I am just not going to always fight in order to make eating time a pleasant experience for him and me both!
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Toddlers and Tiaras!

Have any of you ever watched TLC's new show Toddlers and Tiaras. I don't have any females at all besides myself at my house so there is not a lot of beauty pageants etc.. on t.v. It is mostly football, Motocross, The Exterminators, and of course for me The Real Housewives of whichever city is currently running! But, last night, or early this morning (1:00 AM) I was flipping channels and found "Toddlers and Tiaras". It is a reality show that follows the Glitzy Glamour pageant circuit in the South for ages 8 months -47 years. There are different divisions divided according to age..babies, 2-4, 4-7, 8-10, pre-teen,teen, and Mrs. Yes, even the moms put on swimsuits and compete against their 3 year old daughters in talent, evening gown, and swimsuit for the title of Ms. Ultimate Grand Supreme and $5,000 cash. No where big enough a prize for the humiliation they must feel. The issue I have with this circuit, much less the show glamourizing it, is that these little girls are sweet and pretty and some of them you can tell like getting on stage and showing their dress of and could really care less if they win or not. But the parents are unbelievable!! A little 22 month old named Ava joined the 2-4 year old class and was competing in talent..are you ready for this...baton twirling. PLEASE! If I gave Zane a baton he would hit me with it, chase the dog with it and try to cram it in the potty. She flipped it around a little, all the while her Dad, yes I said DAD standing beside her coaching her to twirl and twist and smile. He is also, by the way, the one who does her hair and makeup and designs, sews, and puts on her gowns. He is married and the mom was pretty but I don't think I could stand my husband sewing a dress for my 2 year old. Well, she didn't win the big prize, but got a trophy for being the most beautiful. That should have been enough ,but apparently the father was destroyed because she didn't technically place in the final line up. He went on and on about how he would have to sit down and explain to Ava that this just wasn't her day and that the judging just wasn't fair and she would have to try again next time. Do you think for a second that a little girl who has no idea what a pageant is or why she has to do it and can only put 3 words together at a time really feels disappointment in herself for not getting the big trophy. The fact that she got one should have been reason enough to celebrate her.

Besides that issue I really don't think fake eyelashes, spray on tan, flipper partials, hair pieces, intense gymnastics training, and reminding your child that he/she is more beautiful and more talented than the rest of the other children, not to mention giving the pedofiles of the world a really great new show to watch (promoting kiddie porn) are probably the best choices to make as a parent or network executive. I know everyone thinks their child is the greatest and most talented and beautiful. It is just human nature, but you aren't doing your child any favors by letting them really believe that they are more perfect than everyone else or at least they are when they are covered in makeup, fake lashes, tan, partials, hair pieces and $2,000 dollar dresses. You don't want your kids, especially your daughters to find their self worth inside of a beaded gown or buried underneath a bunch of makeup. Especially when they all will go through that pre-teen, big tooth, uncoordinated phase of maturity. Not to mention the amount of money parents spend going to, participating in these pageants only to win $100 or nothing at all and leave with a crying, disappointed little girl. At the end of the day when the little girl that won $5,000 went home with her mom all she got was a good job and a $10.00 bottle of perfume from the dollar store. Her mom, however, got a $800 handbag and a bunch of new clothes. Now I wonder why people spend so much time questioning their motives.

Great Free Blog Backgrounds!

I must admit...I have an addiction to changing my blog background like I change pocketbooks! I can't help myself it is just way too much fun. And besides it is so easy when you have so many free sites that have amazing choices to spice up your blog according to your mood or the holiday at hand. I have found another one recently (don't ask me how because I am not sure myself). It is called www.thatblogplace.com and the lady that designs for it is very talented. She has some really beautiful, extremely easy backgrounds to download for free that don't erase your widgets! (which is the most important thing) I have seen some I liked other places but when you add them you have to edit your html body page of your template and I don't like doing that. I also use www.thecutestblogontheblock.com for backgrounds too but my newest one is very exciting. So for all of you bloggers that have the same addiction I do feel free to leave me some of your favorite background designers blogs on my comments page or sidebar. Go check out the ones above. They are great!

Zane the performer!

Oh to have the energy and the pure joy that toddlers experience when their doing something they enjoy! Zane can be the quietest kid in the room and when he thinks no one is looking he will pretend he is on stage performing in front of a crowd of millions. It is too funny!
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Shop at Home!

As you can see I have added a link to Shop at Home on my sidebar. I order a lot of things online for me and on my moms behalf. So one day I signed up for Shop at Home. It is free and no money, contracts etc... are required. Just your name and email is all that is required. Whenever you order something online from Walmart, Target, Seventh Avenue, Toys R Us, etc.. ( The list of participants is enormous) they give you a percentage of what you spent back. Each company is different. For example, I ordered a Cardio Twister from Brylane Home for 129.00 and I got 8.00 back from Shop at Home. It goes into your Shop at Home acct. and at the end of every month they send you a check for what you have earned. If it is under 20.00 then they hold it until it reaches 20.00 or more and send it then. For the past two months I have gotten $28 and $33 cash back in the form of a check I cashed at my bank. I didn't do anything else but just order what I would have anyway. It just showed up at the house. It is a neat thing. I can always use free cash, especially for shopping!! The link is on the sidebar. There are also some great coupons there as well. I use coupons.com for grocery shopping every week. They have cereal, pull ups, all kinds of coupons for things I buy anyway. That is the key. Don't clip coupons for the sake of clipping and then end up buying things you don't need because you have a coupon. Only clip them for the things you have full intention of buying anyway!

Little boys and their toys!

Brian had to get his toy out this weekend and play with it. As soon as he starts it up all the boys in the house go running to the door so they can see it. It is way too big for Elijah at this point,maybe when he's 17!! He enjoys tinkering with it though.
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Pet Grooming!

Most of you all know that we have a rotten Boston Terrier (Biskit). He is 5 years old now.(Brian says 35 but I say he is in kindergarten) He is a short hair so he is easy to keep clean and doesn't really shed unless he's nervous. His nails grow out of control but the are sensitive so I don't cut them myself. Thus the reason for this post! I have a friend that I went to high school with who is a groomer. She owns Groom and Go mobile pet grooming. She is certified, bonded all of that. She inherited the business from her mom after she decided to retire so she's been around it all of her life. Her and her husband take vans out and will come to your home and wash, clip nails, clean ears, etc... on your dogs. It takes about 35 minutes and they pull right up into your driveway! It is the greatest thing ever! It costs us about 40 dollars when we took him and had to leave him at a few other groomers and it costs 55 for Tracy to do it at my house. She is based out of North Knox. but she goes everywhere. If anyone wants to have her come to your house and do it instead of taking your dog somewhere else let me know and I'll give you the #. She has all new state of the art grooming equipment and it is very clean too. You must give it a try!!

Sensitive Toddlers

Almost Friday!! I hope all is well with everyone. Just a little update on things. Potty training is going splendidly with my little Zane. He gets on the potty with no objection and I give him some of his favorite things to play with that normally he can't have so it is incentive to sit and potty. Then he talks to me and sings and after a few minutes he will go pee pee. Then he says "All Done" and off he goes.

He has come a long way in a short amount of time. I'm sure most of you know that Zane is very, very sensitive and has had a hard time adapting to change. Most toddlers do, but he has really struggled with it in the past. I read all the books on having a sensitive toddler, different personalities of toddlers and I learned a lot. You would think I would already be aware of all that considering I work with toddlers that have special needs, but I still learned a ton. I think often people look at little ones and categorize their fussing, crying, stubborness, and refusal to do certain things as trying to control, being sleepy, being spoiled, needing to socialize etc... Some of that some of the time is true, but each little person has a different personality, some high intensity, some super sensitive, some slow to adapt, some know no strangers, some easily distracted etc.. If you will take the time to read a little on your childs personality then you may not be so easily frustrated by some of the things they say and do. For example: When Zane goes into a room full of people, even some he may know, he does not like everyone paying him all the attention. He needs to watch and listen and sit with me or Dad and just observe and take it all in. Then when he is comfortable he will make baby steps to get down and socialize. I don't force him to talk to adults or even acknowledge them at that point because it will only exaggerate the reaction. It is not an act for him it is his way of adapting. If something is scary to you and I, it is real, for toddlers it is the same. We may not understand why getting a haircut, sitting on a potty, going to a family Christmas party with 20 people in the room, or even the doctors office waiting room is unnerving since we have done it 500 times before, but it is and pushing the issue will only make the fear greater. I have worked with toddlers that were so opposed to change that they had to wear the same shirt and shoes every day or else they would lose it. After about 3 months of that they went onto something else and it was not an issue anymore. The motto around our house is "Pick your battles." Some things may be worth confronting but some are not. The last year I worked at Brickey, when I had Zane, I had a child whose parents thought he had special needs because he wouldn't eat foods with any texture to them like applesauce or hamburgers. He was evaluated over and over and it turned out that he was just extra sensitive and needed a little help adapting to rough, grainy textures. He didn't have special needs he had parents with preconceived ideas about what a normal, good toddler should and shouldn't do and like. With a little maturity and growth he was fine and ate what everybody else did. The lesson is don't label your kids as "backwards, shy, difficult"etc.. for you are creating a label they will feel inclined to live up to.

What a pose!

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This is supposed to be our bed!

As you can tell when it's bed time at our house we have to begin the wind down at 8:00 because it takes until 9:30 to get everyone in their spot! I guess it's a good thing we have a king size bed, even the dog gets in on the action. Oh well, one day it will only be the 2 of us in the bed (and maybe 5 more Boston Terriers). When we finally do get everyone to bed, and Brian and I spend some time together, then I go use my Cardio Twister for about 45 minutes 5 days a week. It is the greatest exercise machine I have ever seen! That's my unwind time (at 1:00 am)! I can't really focus on me time until all the babies are sleeping peacefully and I know they won't need me for a few hours (I hope).
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Bouncin with Spongebob

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Happy Valentines Day!

My very sweet hubby bought me the biggest bunch of flowers on the planet for Valentines Day. He knows I love an assortment of flowers so he bought a huge one with a dozen roses mixed in it. He also bought my mom a bouquet as well. We don't usually do a whole lot for Valentines Day because we try all year long to remind each other how much we love and appreciate the other one but we did go out to eat at Smoky Mountain Brewery and left Zane with my mom for a couple of hours too. We had a good time and really enjoyed that restaurant.
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Thanks goodness it's Friday!

Zane got a race track from Papaw Jim the other day when he came by to visit. The car goes along the groove in the track all by itself. He likes it a lot but he really likes to let the car run down the hallway or under the couch and asks me to go get it!
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New blocks from Nanny

Zane also got some new cardboard blocks from Nanny. My kids at Brickey had these in the classroom and they really loved building different things. He can knock them down after building them up and they don't hurt as much as the heavy wood ones.
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