Birthdays!

The Zappia family is in the midst of birthday-mania!  We have lots of birthdays in the late spring/early summer in this family so it seems like we have cake almost every weekend for somebody.  No complaints, obviously.  Luke and Adrienne shared a birthday party this year - best move ever by me.  We hosted roughly 5 boys and 5 girls at Rochester Gymnastics Academy.  The kids did Tarzan swings on the ropes, flips in the spotting belt on the trampoline, jumped in the pit, climbed the rock wall and bounced in the bounce house.  We sugared them up right before we handed them off to their parents with cookie cake and mini cupcakes.  Spastic fun was had by all.

Penn State Proud

Luke is drinking the kool-aid!  Ok, not really because real kool-aid might be the grossest drink ever.  But we can officially declare that we have managed to completely brainwash Luke!  One of the projects he had to do for school was create an "Interest Center." This was a collection of pictures, facts, things, etc. that each student had to present to the class and they could pick anything they wanted as their topic.  Luke picked Penn State, naturally.  So he told us what kid of things he wanted to tell his class about Penn State and we created the foam board in the picture below.  So pretty cool that Luke picked Penn State, amiright?  But I haven't even gotten to the best part yet!  When I picked Luke up from school on the day he presented, his teacher walked with him to meet me because she wanted to tell me what a phenomenal job he did.  Apparently, he did what she called a "professional," job.  He presented clearly, in a logical format, with the right volume to his voice and at a good speed with planned pauses.  She said she was blown away and wanted to know if we had practiced the presentation.  Of course, we did not, but then I thought we should have. oops. Anyway, we love that Luke loves Penn State and can only hope that we don't need to sell our organs to send him their by the time he's ready to go to college.  

Spring Break 2015

Since we had such a horrible and harsh winter this year, we decided to escape to the south so we could remember what warmth felt like.  Matt and I braved the 14 hour drive to South Carolina in a van wiht 3 kids and 1 mimi.  I'm proud to say that our young road warriors we fantastic in the car and we only suffered through a few minor meltdowns with Coco.  Matt and I kept saying that the road trips we went on when we were younger were so much harder because we didn't have our own dvd screens and headphones for entertainment (amongst other portable electronics).  And although the kids were great on the road, next year's spring break is going to involve take-offs and landings.  

A few quick highlights of the trip were:

• the water parks in the hotel and the fact that they were open late giving the kids opportunities for daily double sessions
• the Starbucks in the hotel that provided much needed caffeine for the adults
• the beach
• beers on the beach
• runs on the beach
• sun, green grass, and the absence of small white flecks falling from the sky
• miniature golf -  minus the club to the mouth (Adrienne's one time baseball-like swing connected with my teeth)
• the seafood buffet and watching how much a 4 and 7 year old can consume
• friends from Brighton to play with
• visiting with cousins in Richmond, VA

It could have been a little warmer but that round goldish yelllow thing was always in the sky and you can't pay enough for the smiles on the kids' faces.

Words!

Coco is joining the ranks of the excessive talkers at chez Zappia.  Everyday she has new words but these are theses are the ones she's really good at:

Mommy
Daddy
more
no
help me
Dora
hat
hot
baby
backpack
ball
owie
bye bye
hi
mine!
nose
eye
ear
row
out
down
water
shoe
seat
bounce
bubbles

The Battle of the Black Pants

The amount of laundry I do in any given week is completely determined by the number of times Luke insists on wearing black pants.  And since that tends to be every single day and he does not own seven pairs of black pants...you do the math.  For whatever reason, he is focused on color more so than just the style.  Most kids love sweatpants of any kind, Luke likes only black sweatpants.  Don't even suggest grey, they are completely and utterly unacceptable.  If fact, he "hates grey!"  Royal blue?  They are not worthy.  Navy blue?  Maybe, but only if there are no clean black pants because the laundry slave is clearly not doing her job.   You would not believe the number of times my little black pants dictator orders his laundry to be done.

I know you are thinking 1 of 2 things right now:

why doesn't she just make him wear other pants?  easier said that done, my friend, easier said than done.  I'll leave it at that.

Or maybe you are thinking, get smart and buy seven pairs of black pants!  Now see, this is where I think the universe is against me.  Or against black pants at least.  I've given a herculean effort towards buying black pants!  They either don't fit or they are the wrong material.  face plant.

I've currently got the favorite pair of black pants with the family seamstress to see if she can work her magic patching up a gigantic hole in the knee.  I need these pants fixed for my sanity.  stat!

My only hope is that I find an article from a medical journal that links black pant wearing with genius level IQ.  Then he can wear them whenever, wherever and however he'd like.

Happy Meal

I'm actually not talking about a kiddie meal from the land of the Golden Arches.  I'm just referring to Corinna by the pet name that her loving big sister has given her, "Happy Meal."  I mean, she is scrumptious and all - maybe that's what inspired this moniker.   It does roll off the tongue easily when using it as a term of endearment, "Come here my little happy meal," or "Aw, look at our sweet happy meal."  A bit more awkward to get out when adding some urgency or disapproval: "Don't touch that happy meal!"  "That wasn't nice, happy meal!"  Like most nicknames, it doesn't have the most flattering of rings to it.  Alas, I've found myself absentmindedly calling her this.      

"Happy Meal" has invaded all things.   Let's take the religious Christmas carol Away in a Manger for example.  And now let's add some of Ade's creativity to it and her version comes out a little like this:

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Happy Meal lay down her sweet head.
The stars in the bright sky looked down where she lay,
The little lord Happy Meal asleep on the hay.

So ridiculous but why would you discourage something so cute and harmless?  And I try really hard not to stifle creativity but make no mistake, I am nervous for the nicknames she comes up with for me in the future.   

Sparkly One

Coco has made one complete extra-uterine orbit of the sun!  And Matt and I have survived (with only a few battle wounds) a year of parenting 3 small beings at the same time.  Hooray for all of us!  We had a lovely first birthday party for our tiny tinkerbelle. She flitted and flopped about in her glittery outfit, wooing the crowd left and right.  The theme of the party was sparkle and shine and nothing says fun like a little glitter - which I may be finding in my house for the next eighteen years.  Luke and Adrienne really "helped" assemble the party decor by putting their mark on the glitter filled balloons.  I'm clearly not the only one in the family fond of those itty bitty shiny bits of papery metal.    You would think by now that I would be able to anticipate how tempting a helium tank and confetti could be for the young folks but nope, no I did not anticipate competing with them for party supplies.


So our Coco was the star of the show, per usual and was spoiled, per usual.  She sure is the apple of a lot of eyes.  For the record books, here are some things she is doing these days:

walking, running, climbing stairs
dancing, a lot of dancing
spinning
says: hot, ball, dada, dora, baby
sleeps through the night but is easily awoken from naps (ahem, I wonder how that happens, Adrienne?)
likes playing with the play kitchen and doll house
favorite foods: toast, pasta, bananas, yogurt


We've truly enjoyed Coco's first year (who couldn't?!?!) and can't wait to watch her little personality emerge more and more.

Christmas is Coming

It's almost that magical time of year...you know, when parents everywhere can begin forcing their children into submission with the universal Santa threats.  I'm an overachiever so I've already been using them for weeks now.  So with the onset of "Santa is watching!" also comes the daily "I know what I'm going to ask Santa for."

This morning at 6:30 am.

Luke:  I'm going to ask Santa to make me be able to fly.  And also for him to build me an iPhone 6. 

At least he has an imagination. 

Just Journaling

There are so many things that I want to remember about the time that is now, the time that my kids are young.  I find that my memory isn't as sharp as it used to be and I completely blame this on the utter exhaustion that having young children creates.   So I do my best to log certain things in that area of my brain that I have labeled "things you should try to remember."  This file is getting very large because there are just so many moments that I want to keep.  And I hate being cliche but the saying "The days are long but the years are short," is just so darn heartbreakingly true.  Many people have told me, write it down, write it down!  So, here we go.

The other day Luke smelled cologne on Matt and asked him why he smelled "so handsome."  He also claims he's marrying his classmate Zoe Sheehan.  Her name is going to be Zoe Sheehan-Zappia.  Luke loves flannel sheets and at 7 years old, still wants to hold your hand while he falls asleep.  He also still sucks his wrist when tired, something he's done since infancy.  Current;y likes playing minecraft on his ipod but has been asking for the new iphone 6 and a golf cart.

Adrienne, when talking about devouring food, says she "ate it like a wolf."  This often sends Matt and I into hysterics.  She also says "Fank you" instead of thank you.  Adrienne loves to cuddle and likes to fall asleep with you laying next to her with her feet wedged between your thighs.  She's currently into drawing rainbows and hangs many or her masterpieces on her bedroom walls with masking tape.

Coco, makes a sound that goes like this: nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnaaahh.  Shakes her head no at just about anything and does a cute little wiggle dance when music comes on.  She pulls her hair and ears when she's mad an drubs her nose with her pointer finger when falling asleep.   She LOVES to climb stairs and play the piano.  

And for our part, Matt and I want to remember that relaxing time after the kids have gone to bed where we watch shows or read books while having a beer or a latte with the fireplace on.

A normal trip to the dr. with all 3 kids - waiting for the dr. to come in.

They love Starbucks

Little piano player

Adventures in putting an infant to sleep at bed time

I just reread my last blog post and realized it captured everything but wasn’t very entertaining or funny.  Rest assured that I haven’t lost my mojo or my abundance of material.  Please read below. 

Adventures in putting an infant to sleep at bed time:

So you’ve worked all day, strained to keep inappropriate comments in your head instead of spewing them at your coworkers, picked up all the kidlets from their various childcare arrangements, kept your patience in public while dealing with said kidlets, made dinner while your pants are literally being pulled off your body and demands are being shouted from the couch for refreshments (multiple), ate said dinner while attempting normal conversation while reminding said kidlets that they need to actually sit at the table every 15 seconds, scrubbed infinite germs of the bodies of the babes,  and it is now the challenge you’ve been waiting for all day! Oh, it isn’t?

 A true competition of wills, a scorecard of your parenting skills, an ego booster or failure reminder: Bed time. 

Let me preface the rest of this post by saying that Corinna has been the best “sleeper” we’ve had so far.  And that ain’t saying much.  She did start sleeping through the night around 6/7 months which is way earlier than either of the other two infant non-sleepers who I will not name.  The problem with little miss Coco is that getting her down seems to be quite a challenge these days (it used to be easier, dammit!).

 Now, this is a story all about how my life got flipped - turned upside down…

So it’s 7:30 pm and I’ve already been through the experience I outlined above previously in the day.  I’ve got a cute and clean babers in my arms, relaxed in the glider, lights off and it’s go time.  I peacefully begin to feed her and this, my friends, is the exact moment when she starts faking me out.  She closes those perfect little baby eyelids and nuzzles in all warm and cozy while quietly nursing away.  This continues for a good 10 minutes and right about then, I’m thinking to myself:  good job self, tonight’s the night she’s going to go to sleep quickly and easily.

Sucka! 

Coco decides it’s time to start flailing her arms and smacking, and I mean smacking, me as hard as she can on the chest.  She loves that loud “whack!” sound. I do not love that loud whack sound.  So I restrain her arms so that I don’t have to explain bruises and scratches to others and this is when she begins her little wiggle dancing.  It’s a cross between bucking her body back and forth and wiggling side to side.  It’s cute, but not when you are thinking she’s going to sleep or when she has her teeth on one of your sensitive body parts.  Okay so the dancing is slowing down and now she pretends to close her eyes drift off to sleep again.  This is when the 4 year old busts in the room and announces that she “needs” me to come look at her bowel movement that looks like a big stick!   The baby’s eyes fly open and she listens very closely to the conversation.  I kid you not.  No laughing going on here.   Ok, so we take care of that situation and it’s back to rocking and nursing.  Baby eyes close again and approximately 10 seconds later, the cat starts meowing and pushes the door open.  Baby eyes fly open again.  I kick the cat out and mutter a few things under my breath and back to the glider I go.  Pretend sleep starts again and it has now been about 30 consecutive seconds of eyes being closed.  This is when the neighbor lets out his two very large, very fluffy, very white, very annoying dogs.  They begin to bark, baby eyes are open again.  I mentally rip neighbor a new one.  At this point, I attempt to sing as to drown out the barking but seeing as though I have zero musical talent I think this is doing more harm than good.  Ok, I’ll get out of the glider this time and try walking the room or swaying to lull her back to sleep land.  This is when the hubs arrives home from softball and opens the garage doors which can be heard all the way in Canada.  This is just a brief interruption and I continue on my way walking around the room.  The moment comes when I’m pretty sure the baby is asleep and it’s time to put her in the crib.  Of course, the second that tiny little head touches the mattress, the eyes fly open and the wailing begins.  I take deep breathes and try to calm myself.  You see, the wailing was coming from me, not from the baby.  Ok, I’ve given myself a new pep talk and pick the baby back up and she goes back to sleep in my arms.  I wait minutes and attempt the crib again.  This time, it appears that my stealth baby putting down skills have worked!  I go to take one step away from the crib, and wouldn’t you know it, my dang ankle cracks so loudly that it wakes the baby back up!    I am not making this up.  I search the room for the hidden camera because surely, I’m on that show Candid Camera.  This time I do not pick her up out of the crib because even though she woke back up, she’s still very drowsy. I spend the next 5 minutes rubbing her back in a robotic motion as to not break the pattern and cause her to wake up again. I roll my ankles to insure they won’t crack as I sneak away again and muster up the courage to try the exit again.  I make it out of the room and the door is closed – I did it!   One hour and 15 minutes later.  Whew.  And now I’m so exhausted that I put myself to bed.  And all the barking, meowing, children and garage doors couldn’t make enough noise to wake me up. 

The end.

Did you catch the Fresh Prince reference up above?