We Hit a Milestone!!!

After much stressing out by Mommy, Zoey rolled over this week!!!!

Like any neurotic first time mom, I stress and worry about everything, including whether or not Zoey will be on time with developmental milestones. At 3 months she rolled from her back to her side and I was certain rolling over would happen any day. But almost two months went by and no progress, so I was starting to worry. The doctor told us not to worry about it because kids with her height/weight profile tend to be slower when it comes to rolling over. Well of course that made me more worried because what I heard was that my baby was too fat to roll over. Zoey proved the doctor wrong cuz she did it all on her own when Mommy wasn't even expecting it. When it happened we tried to call Scott to tell him cuz he was at work, but had to leave a message. I was able to get it on video (the second time she rolled over), so that was nice. He also got to see it for himself when he got home from work. Now she hasn't done it again since then, but Tummy Time has been scarce the rest of the week (we need to work on that).

Here's some pictures I took prior to her rolling over that day

Here is the video

Zoey's First Zoo Trip

Wow, somehow I got behind on blogging! Gotta get caught up so I am ready for the A to Z blog challenge starting April 1st.

Last Saturday we took Zoey to the zoo for the first time. She had a pretty busy day. We started off by getting together with Scott's dad's side of the family. There were some distant cousins or something in town. Neither Scott or I really knew who they were or how they were related. Lol! It was just a short little visit but it was nice for Zoey to see some of the family she sees less often and to spend some time with her grandpa.

After that, we headed to one of our favorite places to eat... BD's Mongolian BBQ. I hated this place first time I tried it over 10 years ago and now I love it. Funny how things can change in 10 years. We met our friends Amanda and Duane and their son, Colin, there. Today was kind of like a last hurrah for our little families because Amanda, who I've been friends with since the 6th grade, is moving back to Utah, where we are originally from. Anyhow, we enjoyed some lunch and then headed over to the zoo.

Prince Colin and Princess Zoey

I am weird, so I thought it was awesome that Zoey and Colin got to have their first zoo experience together, even though they are both too little to really enjoy or remember it. Since it is still pretty early in the zoo season, a lot of the animals were inside, so we mainly saw a bunch of empty exhibits. We did get to see some of the animals, and more importantly we had a great time just hanging out together.

St. Patty's Day and Our Pot of Gold

St. Patrick's Day brought us our own special type of pot of gold, peace of mind. Seriously there isn't enough money in the world to buy that (although it did cost money, in the form of a co-pay to get ours). On Thursday we took Zoey to see a specialist at Nationwide Children's Hospital to have her hemangioma looked at. Her pediatrian wanted us to see a specialist because it has grown quite a bit since it first appeared two months ago.

The visit went pretty well, as long as you don't mind waiting for an hour in the exam room before the doctor comes in. Basically the doctor told us that it is a pretty big hemangioma, but since it doesn't seem to be bothering her or causing any developmental issues (it's on her neck, so there was some worry about it affecting movement), the main concern at this time is cosmetic. She gave us a topical medication to put on it. It's actually drops that they give elderly people to put in their eyes when they have cataracts. We just rub two drops onto the hemangioma twice a day.

We have to go back in a month to make sure it hasn't grown. If it gets too big it could cause blood flow problems. Anyhow, if it gets bigger the next course of treatment would be to inject it with cortisone. Hopefully we don;t have to do that because Scott can't go to her next appointment with me and I don't think I can deal with them sticking a needle in her neck!

Here are some pictures of Zoey in her hospital gown

Spinach and Bacon Chicken

I made this recipe tonight for dinner. The recipe card shows the substitutions I made from the original recipe, which called for wine instead of broth and heavy whipping cream instead of cream of chicken soup. It was a pretty good dish, except the soup made the sauce a little to heavy and overpowering. I think next time I will dilute the soup or think of something else to swap in.

Click on the picture for a larger image

(If you click on the picture and save it, you can print it out as a 4 x 6 recipe card)

Updates

Just a quick blog to update you all on a couple things going on with the Poes.

1) Zoey had her 4 month check-up on the 11th. Things look pretty good. She weighs 17 lbs, 7 oz (97th percentile) and is 25 inches long (75th percentile). I've been stressed out by the fact that she hasn't rolled over yet (one of the downsides of having an online group of people who had babies around the same time). The doctor told Scott that babies with a height/weight profile of Zoey's tend to be slower rolling over and we don't need to worry about it. I admit that it bothers me still. I joke and say that the doctor told us Zoey is too fat to roll over (which makes Scott mad). I am only partially joking though. She is only 4 months old and already I am hyper aware of potential weight issues. I hate that!!! Gonna have to work on that. Anyhow, the doctor also said that the hemangioma on her neck has gotten bigger, so he is going to go ahead and refer us to a specialist at Children's Hospital. Basically he just wants someone with more experience in that area to take a look to help determine if it will go away on it's own or if it will need treatment. I actually feel better about this now because I would prefer a specialist look at it rather than find out later it is worse than we thought.

(You can see the lump on her neck in this picture)

2) Scott got a great deal on a microwave, so we changed out our old one. For those of you who don't know, Scott and I live in his grandma's old house and a lot of the appliances are pretty old. The old microwave was huge, and Scott's grandfather designed the cabinets to hold it, so now that we have a smaller microwave I am left with a huge gap. Any suggestions for how to make it look better?

3) Scott and I are starting are new work schedules starting on Monday. I will work M-W 8:00 til 6:30 (that means 10 clients a day. Uggg) and Scott will work Thur, Fri, and Sun. I have mixed feeling about it. My days will be super long and I am worried about being able to maintain sanity seeing that many clients a day, but I am also excited to get four days in a row that I will be home with Zoey. I guess we'll just have to see how it goes.

4) In order to pick up a little extra income, I have taken a work from home gig rating internet searches. It seems like it will be super boring, but it pays pretty decent and I can work between 10 to 20 hrs a week depending on what's going on. I'll start that as soon as I can get the log on issue I am having resolved.

5) Scott and I are both continuing to do our other blogs. His indie book blog continues to pick up speed. He picked up a blog award the other day from N.R. Williams. He has a book giveaway that is ending on Tuesday and one that has just started, so head over to his blog and leave him a comment if you are interested in winning a free fantasy e-book. Over on my blog, Razzy's Corner, I have done my first official post, which turned into a 5 part series on bullying.

Well, I think that about covers it. An update will be coming soon to What Zoey is Reading. We have picked up quite a few new books for her and I will be sharing my thoughts on those in a upcoming post.

Saturday at the Park

Yesterday was one of the first somewhat sunny days we have had where Scott and I have both been home with Zoey, so I wanted to take advantage and get some outside time in. We took her to two of the many parks we have within a short distance of our home. We started out going to Inniswoods Metro Park, which is more of a quiet scenic walking park than a playing park. We strapped her into her stroller and took the the boardwalk trail through the woods. I was surprised she stayed awake through the whole thing because she hadn't had a nap other than the few minutes she slept in the car. It could have been Scott's energy drink that he sat in her cup holder. While she couldn't drink any, she just picked up on the energy vibes. LOL!

On our way home, we stopped by a playground just a few blocks from our house, so Zoey could have her first experience sliding and swinging (at least on the playground). She seemed to really enjoy the slide, but was nonchalant about the swing, after all she has the same thing in the front room. LOL!

It was a great day. I think Zoey enjoyed herself, but she was so tired she came home and crashed.

Recipe for California Casserole

I made this casserole for dinner last night. I have no idea why it is called California Casserole, because there is nothing specifically Californian about it.

I wasn't a huge fan. It wasn't bad and Scott said he enjoyed it and he did take it for lunch today.

The pepper jack cheese was an adjustment I made to it to give it a little kick, so if you would prefer you can use all cheddar cheese. It calls for a lot of cheese, so feel free to cut back on it of you want. Scott's recommendation was to use shredded potatoes instead of the rice, and I agree that might be a good substitution.

Click on the picture to see a larger view

(If you click on the picture and save it, you can print it out as a 4 x 6 recipe card)

Arnold Weekend

Well, it's the first weekend in March in Columbus, Ohio which means only one thing ... It's Arnold weekend. For those of you who don't know, which is actually probably a lot, Arnold weekend is the weekend of the Arnold Classic Sports Festival. It's a pretty big deal in the world of sports, especially body building. This is a weekend that Scott looks forward to every year. In fact it is apparently one way he keeps track of how long we have been together (It's been three Arnold's now) LOL! This is the first year we have lived in Columbus for the Arnold, which made it more convenient, but I think it also took some of the fun out of it. Having a new baby also kind of changed things. I actually didn't go this year because of Zoey, plus the fact that no UFC fighters were at the Expo this year. I go to meet UFC fighters and Scott goes to get free supplement samples. Scott actually ended up only going on Friday this year instead of his normal three days. Since there weren't any fighters there this year, I will post my pictures with fighters from the two previous years.

Me with Randy Couture

Scott and me with Forrest Griffin

Scott and Me with Forrest the 1st year we went to the Arnold

Scott's friend, Six Pack (aka Mike), came up to go to the Arnold with Scott, so Zoey and I dropped them off at the expo center and then went shopping. It was a good time. We found some good deals and she was awake and happy the whole trip. She has discovered the monkey that hangs on her car seat and finds it fascinating and loves to talk to it.

After our shopping adventure, we went home and took a nap until the boys called us to come pick them up. We then went to BD's Mongolian BBQ for dinner. I was disappointed in Scott and Six cuz they got unlimited bowls but only had two. Shame!!!!

Here is Six with his brownie sundae

Saturday rolled around and it was Zoey's 4 month birthday, so Scott and I took her to Half Priced Books to get a couple books. We got one of the Goosebumps books we were missing from the series.

And then we got her a book for me to read to her during nap time and when Scott isn't home for bedtime story.

After that we dropped her off with Aunt Phyl so Scott and I could go to the Strikeforce event. Normally there is a UFC event that goes along with the Arnold; however, the UFC decided not to do one this year, so Strikeforce had one instead. My receptionist's husband, also named Scott, got her tickets for it and she knew we enjoyed MMA, so she invited us to go with her. I was somewhat skeptical just due to the fact that other than the main event, I didn't know any of the fighters. It was a great time though. We had Club Level seats, which were really nice cuz we had a great view of the cage. For the most part all of the fights were pretty exciting. I did get super annoyed during the women's fight because the crowd was really disrespectful. I don't care if you think women's MMA is lame or whatever, but at least show some respect. People were yelling stupid and rude things before the fight even got started. The fact of the matter is that those women could demolish most of the stupid people who were screaming. All in all it was a really good night. I did learn that after over a year without a beer, I really wasn't missing anything. it didn't taste good and just gave me a headache.

Here are some pictures from the fight

Zoey and me in our matching Tapout gear

Zoey with Pepsi at Aunt Phyl's

Scott and me at the fights

Scott giving his typical "get the camera out of my face" look

Our view, unzoomed

Zoomed in

Today is Sunday and while the Arnold is still going on today, neither of us are going. Scott is at work and I am home with Zoey. Hopefully next year the UFC returns so I have a reason to go.

Recipe for Enchilada Meatballs

Here is the recipe I made on Wednesday night. It was a little on the spicy side, so if you aren't a fan of spicy I recommend using tomato sauce instead of taco sauce. This recipe uses crumbled up corn bread, and there was about half a pan left, so since it's just Scott and I, I served the remainder as a side. I then served the meatballs over Mexican rice.

(If you click on the picture and save it, you can print it out as a 4 x 6 recipe card)

The typed recipe can be found in the recipe page tab

What Zoey is Reading Updated

This section of the blog will be dedicated to what books Zoey is reading and will be updated as the books change. Check the page tab for previous books.

CURRENTLY READING: Knights of the Silver Dragon - Riddle in Stone

Watchers are disappearing. Moyra's dad is acting crazy. And a suspicious stranger races through town, her face hidden beneath a rustling hood. Something's wrong in Curston, and Kellach thinks the new statue in Main Square is a clue. But can the Knights unravel the statue's riddle before it's too late?

I really enjoy this series, so I am glad we are back to it. We just finished up chapter 4 tonight and so far so good.

First Book of Sushi

Scott is kind of obsessed with sushi, so shortly after Christmas I was buying Zoey a sushi set like the one we had bought her cousin, Neko, and in my search I came across this book. Scott reads it to her frequently (I can't pronounce most of the words. LOL). She really enjoys it and Scott now how it memorized for the most part.

All the Ways I Love You

We bought this recordable book for Zoey for Valentine's Day. Scott and I each took a turn recording a page. I thought this would be a great alternative for the nights Scott works late and isn't home in time for Zoey's bedtime. She really loves it and it will calm her down if she is having a fit. However, I went to read it the other night and it stopped working. Hopefully we can contact Hallmark and either find a solution (I really hope so since she likes it so much) or get a refund (It was kind of expensive).

JUST FINISHED - Goosebumps: Welcome to Dead House

11-year-old Josh and 12-year-old Amanda just moved into the oldest and weirdest house on the block--the two siblings think it might even be haunted! But of course, their parents don't believe them. You'll get used to it, they say. Go out and make some new friends. But the creepy kids are not like anyone Josh and Amanda have ever met before. And when they take a shortcut through the cemetery one night, Josh and Amanda learn why.

Scott bought me a good portion of the Goosebumps books as a Christmas present. I enjoyed these when I was in middle school and wanted Zoey to get a chance to enjoy them as well. Of course they might be a little bit to scary for her once she gets old enough to understand them so they will have to be put away for a few years.

This particular Goosebumps book wasn't a big hit with me. It just wasn't very exciting.

A Few Updates

Well, February has come and gone. It was a pretty good month all and all. As the month comes to an end I have a few updates.

1) I have uploaded all of Zoey's pictures from February to the Shutterfly Share account.

2) I have decided to start another blog, Razzy's Corner, which will be a kind of parenting advice column of sorts. I figure it will be a good way for me to keep up to date with parenting/behavior mod stuff since I am not seeing as many kids in my practice as I would like.

3) I have decided to start trying out new recipes, so I will be blogging about those and plan on making a page tab on this blog for easy reference.

4) The updates to What Zoey is reading will also be added to a page tab for easy reference. I will be updating this tomorrow.

5) I have also decided to make a page tab for my favorite photos from the previous month. This month's is:

5) Scott is having a lot of success with his blog. He has been doing reviews of indie books and started doing interviews with indie authors. Some authors have started offering him free copies of their books for him to give away as contests. He is up to 19 followers and yesterday went over the 100 visits in a day mark. Today he was even featured in David Alderman's blog

6) Scott and I will both be participating in the A to Z Blog Challenge, which involves posting a blog for each letter of the alphabet. This will start in April. I will be doing it for this blog as well as Razzy's Corner, so make sure you check that out.