21 months, and counting...

(Playing at the mall's indoor play space)

Not much longer until the big TWO! Zach is undeniably already well into the "terrible twos", and has been for quite some time. He is VERY opinionated (gee, wonder where he gets *that*.... cough), and has no problems telling Mommy or Daddy what he does and doesn't want. 21 months seem like they have gone all to quickly!

(Texting on Grandma Liz's phone)

Favorite foods right now are pizza (eaten only in the order of all toppings first, lick off sauce, then eat crust), apples, and fruit snacks. Breaded chicken has gone by the wayside now, but he'll still imbibe occasionally. He loves pretzels and dry cereal as snacks, and pancakes are still a favorite breakfast item.

(Eating cereal with a fork, for some reason. Don't argue with a toddler!)

Favorite shows are Dora the Explorer (ugh!), Go Diego Go!, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Ni-hao Kai-Lan (aka Chinese Dora). He also gets a kick out of Barney, Blue's Clues, and Thomas the Tank Engine, but less so than the other ones. These are all the type of shows where the kids are asked to "play along" and shout out answers, and Zach finds such joy in yelling out things in response. Kai-Lan is probably the most responsive he gets, followed by Dora/Diego. Funny how easy Chinese is for a 21 month old to repeat. We have also recently bought several They Might Be Giants educational kids' CD/DVD sets, which we usually play in the car. He gets to watch the educational DVD about numbers/letters/science, and Mommy and/or Daddy get to enjoy TMBG music that we already love. It's win-win.

(Helping Mommy make--and taste--brownies)

Right now both Zach and Mommy are suffering through a killer sinus infection. I just came down with it yesterday, and it's kicking me hard, let me tell you. No wonder the poor boy was fussy. I feel fussy myself, and I'm an adult who has the ability to express herself verbally. He's been on antibiotics since mid-week, and I'm just sticking it out with OTC meds. Zach also had a raging ear infection again, but it didn't seem to bother him as much as the sinus infection did. We're hoping the "yummy pink bubble gum" medicine clears up both.

(Coloring with Daddy while at IHOP)

Brad is busy as ever at work, usually bringing work home with him and staying up half the night for various site pushes and migrations. The internet never sleeps, and unfortunately it seems that Brad doesn't either when there's a crisis afoot... which is almost always. But, we do know he's well appreciated at his office, since the CFO recently took the entire IT team out for a happy hour, and he always brings home lots of fun gift cards, movie tickets, sports tickets, and other goodies. He also recently enjoyed a nice pay raise and a performance bonus, so that somewhat made up for the late nights.

I had a fantastic February with my Norwex business. I had a great home party in February with 13 buying guests, and I sponsored a few small giveaways and now have close to seven hundred Facebook "fans" to whom I can advertise, so that was a big deal for me. I'm still in love with the company, and as a consultant, I get treated really well. All good things. I also finally got my website redesigned to the way I wanted it to look. I did it myself too, a double bonus. I'm pretty proud of it. In fact, when you're done reading my blog post, if you haven't already seen it since the redesign, click the image in the right column and check it out :)

Other than all that, we haven't had much in the way of anything exciting happen in the past few weeks. We're all just ready for spring to, well, SPRING already. Funny, it snowed yesterday morning, about 1/2 inch, and today it's in the upper 50's and sunny. Ohio weather never fails to confuse! I'm not complaining, because we are slated to get in the upper 60's later in the week... yay open windows! Yay turning on the new ceiling fan in the living room that Brad installed! We're ready for it! :)