Thursday, December 23, 2010

Craft Time!

It's the week of Christmas and we're just now doing Christmas art projects. Here is a post dedicated to all of the projects we made this week. We had a ton of fun along the way!

The first is the Christmas Wreath. It's quite simple to make. You just take a green piece of construction paper and fold it into quarters. Do this twice. Trace your child's hand on each folded up piece of construction paper one time and then cut it out. This will give you 8 cut out handprints. Glue the palm of each handprint together in a circle shape making your wreath. Then take whatever you want to decorate it with. My two year old loves the little pom-poms you can buy at any craft store, so that's what we used, and in red and green .. Christmas colors! You can also use glitter, glitter glue, stickers, etc. Let your mind run wild! Here is a picture of Jacob's finished product!

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The next one we did was Rudolph. This is also easy and fun for children of all ages. Take two pieces of brown construction paper. On one trace the outline of your child's foot. This is the face of rudolph. You don't need the toes, just the shape of the foot. On the other piece of construction paper, fold it in half and trace your child's hand like you did for the wreath. Cut it out and you will have two handprints. These are the antlers. Glue the palm of the handprints to the wider portion of the foot and this is your reindeer. Glue googly eyes on the face of the reindeer and a red pom-pom on the narrow portion of the face for rudolph's nose. And there you go! Quick, easy and fun! Here is our finished product.
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The next two you will need white paint for. The first one is a handprint ornament that we make every year. Paint the palm of your child with white paint using a sponge brush. Place a blue ball ornament (plastic or glass, your choice) in the palm of your child's hand and curl the fingers up around the ball. Carefully remove the ornament and set aside to dry. Once it has dried, take a ballpoint pen and dip it in the white paint. Tap it around the fingers. This is snow falling. Then take a sharpie or paint pen and decorate each finger as a snowman. I put a top hat and scarf on each of mine. Here is the finished product of the one Jacob and I made this week.


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And the last is just something fun I thought up at the last minute. It's just a small blue felt bag, white paint and some felt snowflake stickers. I painted my son's hand with white paint using a spongebrush. I then pressed my son's hand down on the felt bag to make his handprint. It didn't turn out all that great, but we tried. After it dried, I took a blue sharpie and wrote his name and the date on it, so we'd always have it. Then I let him go to town decorating it with the felt stickers. He had a ball! Here is his finished handprint felt bag ... this is hanging on our tree this year and probably will be every year after!


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Monday, December 6, 2010

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!

At my house! LOL I had our decorations up before Thanksgiving because of the family coming down, so I took a few pictures of everything. Take a look!


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Our tree!

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Our Nativity Scene!

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The Holidays are upon us!

The past few weeks have been a little nuts. We had family in from out of town the weekend before Thanksgiving. My sister and brother-in-law came down that weekend to visit, have a little early Thanksgiving feast with us and meet Henry for the first time. We had a really nice visit with them! Saturday night we went out for dinner at Outback and then on Sunday we had our early Thanksgiving dinner. I wish I had taken some pictures now, but at the time I just didn't even think to pick up my camera. On our menu was turkey, homemade stuffing (made by ME!), mashed potatos, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole (made by ME!) and homemade cranberry sauce (also, made by ME!).

Then on Thanksgiving day my mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law and nephew all came down from PA to visit for the holiday. Because we were limited on space, we went out to eat instead of cooking and staying in. My parents came with us and we all were off to Maggianos at Tysons Corner. Best.meal.ever! Seriously. If you ever have the chance to go to a Maggianos, DO IT! Here's a little picture of me with my little guys!



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On Black Friday, my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, myself and Henry went out to brave the crowds and get a little Christmas shopping done. I managed to get all the clothes I needed to get for both boys and finished up one of Jacob's gifts at Toys R Us. It really wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. Gymboree was pretty sad (it was really well picked over), but other than that, we were able to find what we wanted and the lines to check out weren't very bad either. Friday evening we went out to dinner with my in-laws and then took my nephew and Jacob to see fire trucks at the fire house. They both LOVED it!

Saturday morning we took the boys to the Air and Space Museum. We didn't stay all that long, but they had a good time and got to see some airplaces (which Jacob is obsessed with). My in-laws left to go back to PA straight from the museum and we just went home to veg out the rest of the day. Here's a picture of Josh (my nephew) and Jacob from the Air and Space Museum.


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Saturday, November 13, 2010

Halloween 2010

This year was the best Halloween we've had in a LONG time. Jacob was old enough to go Trick-or-Treating, Henry was here and so adorable, and my mother-in-law was here visiting. That was really special for us because it was her first time being here for the Halloween holiday and it was Jacob's first year Trick-or-Treating. We enjoyed her visit so much. I was so sad to see her go home, but I'm glad that she and my father-in-law will be back for Thanksgiving.
We got up on Halloween and went to breakfast, went to Target to do some shopping and then to the mall. We came home and baked cupcakes, which Jacob got to decorate all on his own. We then got ready and went out to Leesburg for the annual Halloween parade. After the parade it was trick-or-treating time! Jacob had a blast! He wasn't certain what to do at first, but after a few houses, he was leading us around the neighborhood. haha Below are a few pictures from our Halloween this year! Enjoy!


My littlest pumpkin!

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Jacob's Cookie Monster pumpkin.

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Our "Z" pumpkin.

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My guys!

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Decorating his cupcakes.

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My littlest dinosaur.

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My biggest dinosaur, watching the parade with his Nana.

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First time trick-or-treating!

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The cutest dino out there!

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Happy Halloween everyone!















He's here!

Our littlest man is here! Sorry it's taken so long to update. Things have been crazy around here lately!


Let's see ... I had my last OB appointment on Wednesday, October 13th at 4:45 PM. I worked half of the day that day, went to my last sonogram appointment, went home for a few minutes, then off to my OB appointment. Anyway, my BP was slightly high and I had protein in my urine, so I ended up being sent to the Birthing Inn to be monitored for a little while. My parents had to come and pick up Jacob because I had a good feeling I was not getting out of their that night. I was right, too! My BP kept going up (probably because I was so nervous), but my labwork came back fine. They ended up keeping me overnight anyway since my c-section was scheduled for the next day. I didn't get the best night's sleep, of course ... those L&D beds SUCK, not to mention the hip and sciatica pain was unbareable.


The next day I was prepped and moved into the OR around 12:15 PM. John came in just before my surgery began and we anxiously awaited the arrival of our littlest guy. At 12:56 P.M. Henry Joseph Zuzik was born. He weighed 7lb 8oz and was 21 inches long. He looked just like his big brother only Henry weighed almost double what Jacob weighed when he was born. We make some beautiful babies!



We spent three days in the hospital and despite a little jaundice and some breastfeeding issues, we were both discharged on Sunday, October 17, 2010. It's been a rough month adjusting to being a mom of two, trying to divide my attention among them both equally, keeping the house in shape, taking care of my husband and the biggest challenge of all has been breastfeeding, BUT it's all been VERY worth it! I can't believe tomorrow my baby will be one month old already. :(

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Four more DAYS!

Until we meet our littlest man! Henry Joseph is scheduled to be born via c-section on Thursday, October 14th at approximately 12:00 noon. We're so very excited and yet (I'm) so very nervous all at the same time!!! Next time I update, I'll be the mama to two of the sweetest little guys ever and my house will be over run by BOYS! haha

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Henry's Sprinkle

Last Saturday, September 25th, was Henry's Baby Sprinkle. It was so much fun and nice to see everyone who was able to come. Jacob had a lot of fun playing with the other kids and opening his own presents.

A lot of people don't believe in showers for the second baby and that's fine. Especially when they're close in age and the same sex. I, myself, wanted to have another "party" for Henry because I didn't feel it was right to celebrate Jacob coming into the world and not celebrate Henry the same way. Yes, the load of gifts and guests was a lot smaller the second time around, but I expected that much. It's not as if I needed much with them only being 2.5 years apart and both being boys. I just wanted to have the memories, pictures and maybe some cards to show Henry that people cared about him too before he was born.

Anyway, below are a few pictures from my Sprinkle. Enjoy!



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Jacob opening one of his gifts.

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Here he is with his cars that he LOVED!

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Jacob and Henry got matching "Big Brother" "Little Brother" shirts from Gee and Pap.

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I love these little things! My mom got me the one with the mother and infant when Jake was born, and this one for now while I'm pregnant with Henry.

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Henry's very beautiful cake!

Belly cast!

I've seen a few celebrities and people on TV that had made these belly casts when they were pregnant and I just thought they looked really cool. I'd never have been able to do one with Jacob because I never really looked pregnant with him. But, this time is a whole other story. I've looked pregnant for months. There is no mistaking the tummy. So, I broke down and bought one and had John help me out with it. It turned out really cute and I can't wait for Henry to be here, so I can get his birth stats written on it. I only wish that I had been able to make one for Jacob, too.

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This was right after we were done. Still alot to do ...

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After a few coats of blue paint.

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Jacob's hand print with his little message to his baby brother.

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The turtle that I was quite proud of drawing on there myself!

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After everyone at the Sprinkle signed it!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

3D Ultrasound!

Yesterday was our 3D Ultrasound! I can't decide if I am pleased with how it turned out or not. We got some okay pictures of Henry, though he didn't want to show us his face ... little turkey ... but, it was only 20 minutes long and they do NOT let you go over and it just seemed very overpriced for what it was. Here are a few pictures from our session, though. Little Henry just didn't want to be photographed yesterday, I guess. Anyway, enjoy the photos!!!

Here he had his foot up in front of his face.
And, here his legs are curled up and the hands/arms are in front of his face.
And, again ... he just didn't want his picture taken. Haha!





Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Henry update!

Because of this gene mutation that I have (a blood clotting disorder), I have to go see a Maternal Fetal Specialist often throughout this pregnancy. Today was a routine ultrasound (and I'll be having one a week now until he's delivered). I love going to this place because they're so nice and efficient. It took me one hour to get from work to the doctor's office, have my ultrasound, stop and get lunch and then get back to work. They're just so fabulous! Anyway, back to the appointment ... Henry is looking great! He's growing like a weed! He weighs approximately 4 lbs 11 oz now which is what Jacob weighed when he was BORN! I'm getting more and more anxious to see how big he's going to be when he's born and to see what he looks like. We are having a 3d ultrasound done in about a week and a half, so we'll get a good idea of what he's gonna look like when he's born, but still I just can't wait to hold him in my arms. It's sort of bittersweet for me, though, because this is more than likely my last pregnancy. I'm so happy to meet my baby boy, but so sad that I won't get to experience this ever again!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Update!

I've been slacking so bad lately on updating this blog! I apologize. A lot has been going on since I last updated. In February of this year we found out we were expecting our second child. My due date is October 24, 2010. The pregnancy itself is going much smoother than Jacob's did. I'm not sick all the time. I have an appetite. My blood pressure is under control and I'm not showing any signs of pre-eclampsia like I did last time. The latest issue we thought I might have was gestational diabetes, but it turns out I don't have that either, thank goodness!

In June we found out we're having another little man. His name will be Henry Joseph! I keep thinking I want to have three kids, but I don't know. I think Henry may be it. John says he's done, but he was done after Jacob, too, so I don't pay much attention to him. lol

Jacob turned 2 in May and has been talking up a storm ever since. He cracks me up with some of the things he comes up with. He's really into "ming-ming" from the Wonder Pets, trucks and cars, and dinosaurs. I'm loving getting to watch him grow each and every day! He's really the best little guy anyone could ever ask for!

John and I are doing great! We had a rocky start to the summer, but we're definitely better now. We're just so excited for what the rest of 201o will bring and cannot wait to meet our littlest man in less than 2 months! It's weird to think that we entered this year a family of three and will exit the year a completed family of 4!