My Darling Children

A few quotes from Zach that probably only Mike and I will appreciate:

1. "This is so rediferous!  I hate it when this happens!"  

This was yesterday, after I couldn't find the dogs' collars, and said that Dad didn't know where they go and must have put them in the wrong place.  We were on our way out the door with the dogs, and the dogs really only wear their collars when in the car (I want to make sure they can be identified as belonging to us should we get into an accident).  I was frustrated that Mike had supposedly put the collars in the wrong place because he didn't know better.  As it turns out, I think the collars might still be at Mike's parents' house from when we were in Colorado.  Oops.  The rediferous comment helped me to not be too frustrated about such a little thing, though. 

2. "Mom, I can't believe you didn't break that bench!"

We recently got a bench for our mudroom, and today I sat on it to put on my shoes.  Apparently Zach thought I was too big for  it.

3. "Did the 'naut who wasn't driving have to sleep on the way to the moon?"

We were reading a book called On the Moon, which combines cartoon drawings with real pictures of the moon and outerspace to tell what it was like when the astronauts landed on the moon.  It says in the book how it took 4 whole days for them to get to the moon, and I compared that to us driving to Colorado, which takes one whole day, and we don't even go nearly as fast as the rocket goes to get to the moon.  Zach must have thought about how we make him sleep when we drive to Colorado (or on most long drives, usually), and so he wondered about the "'nauts" going to the moon.  Usually he calls them astronauts, so I don't know where the whole "'naut" thing came from.

4. "Nobody knows why I bit Drew."

As you can imagine, this one didn't go over so well with me.  This morning when Drew woke up from his nap, I was changing clothes, and Zach went into Drew's room, with my permission.  I could hear them both laughing, and then suddenly Drew's laughs turned to crying.  Then I heard Zach walk out of Drew's room and start doing something else.  So I called Zach into my room and said, "Zach, why is Drew crying?"  Zach's response was, "Oh....um....let me think...I'm not sure...um..."  It was obvious that he had done something he didn't want to tell me about.  Once I finally got him to come clean, he told me that Drew was crying because he bit him.  My obvious next step was to ask why Zach bit Drew, and that was when I got the quote stated above.  Eventually he showed me the red marks on Drew's finger.  I still never figured out why Zach did it, especially when they were playing together and Drew was still in his crib, so he couldn't have done something to make Zach mad, I don't think.  The whole situation resulted in a time-out for Zach and we didn't get to go to playgroup, which was a bummer for him and me.  Playgroup was supposed to be at Paige and Will's house, and Zach LOVES Paige, who is 5 and one of 2 girls (the other girl just turned 2) at our otherwise all boy playgroup.  So this produced many tears, and another cute quote, "But I haven't seen Paige in SOOO LONG!"  I was as disappointed as Zach to not get to go to playgroup.  After all, I need the time with my friends as much as he needs it with his, but I want to nip this biting thing in the bud and hit him where it hurts, so to speak.  Mission accomplished, I hope.

On another note, we had Zach's preschool conference yesterday.  It was a good conference, and I am amazed at the portfolio the teacher gave us.  The portfolio is filled with pictures of Zach engaged at school, anecdotal notes from the teachers about all the milestones he has reached, samples of work, and quotes from Zach, which were apparently captured with a little tape-recorder.  It's a 1.5" binder that is seriously filled with pages.  Zach's teacher said that he is Mr. Happy and very friendly and helpful.  We were worried he might be a little too helpful (a.k.a. bossy) sometimes, but she said he's not anymore helpful than any other kids, which was good to hear.  We are so happy Zach got into this preschool, and we're thankful he'll be there next year for 4 year-old preschool as well.

It seems that Drew packed a little something extra in his suitcase to bring home with him from Colorado- an attitude.  All of a sudden this week, Drew has started seriously asserting himself, mostly when it comes to sharing toys with Zach.  For example, Zach was sitting in Drew's little red car, and Drew just started pulling at Zach and whining/screeching like he wanted Zach to get out.  Yesterday after Drew's nap, he was just in a terrible mood, and I was trying to distract him by getting him to play with me.  I showed him the pounding toy Aunt Sandy and Uncle Will just sent him for his birthday, but he wanted nothing to do with it.  Nothing, until Zach started to play with it, of course.  Then he crawled right over, grabbed the hammer that was in Zach's hand, and tried to muscle it away from Zach, again while whining/screeching about it.  It's really difficult to not laugh when Drew does this sort of thing, because it's just kind of funny to see.  It's also difficult to discipline a 1 year-old, because he's just so little, and it seems like he doesn't understand much.  But, like the biting, I know I need to put a stop to this stuff right away, so I am trying to do just that.  One positive thing, though is that Drew is trying to walk more.  He gets very proud of himself when he strings a bunch of steps together.  He loves an audience, too.

Colorado

Last week we were in Colorado to visit my family.  The boys and I flew out on Sunday the 15th, and Mike joined us on Thursday.  Lots of pictures were taken, and I'm including lots of them on here.  My justification for so many pictures here is that I almost never put pictures on Snapfish anymore, so this is my way to share them with family and friends.  

The flight out to Colorado was somewhat painful.  The idea was for Drew to get a decent nap in on the 2 hour drive to the airport, but he decided to just sleep for the last half hour of the drive and be a pain on the plane instead.  His plan worked perfectly; my plan not so much.  But, the boys and I all survived the trip and Drew easily went to sleep that first night at my parents' house, which was a blessing. He must have just been exhausted, though, because the next day, Drew, who is normally a pretty happy baby, decided that he didn't want Grandma Ruth, Grandpa Dick, or anybody else in Colorado to see his happy side, so he became a total crabby-pants.  It didn't help that he was so tired when we got there, and then developed a cold that night, so he didn't feel great. Plus, he was in an unfamiliar house with unfamiliar people, so basically, if you weren't Mom, Drew didn't want anything to do with you. That made it difficult for everyone because Drew was crabby, which made me  crabby, and it was just stressful. On Monday Drew started having a really hard time going to sleep and would just cry and cry. That didn't help the crabbiness (his or mine) one bit. Thankfully, though, after a few days, and many times of walking into Drew's room to plug him in and lay him down again, he realized that sleep-time was sleep-time, and Mom wasn't budging on it. That helped.

On Monday two of my high school friends came over.  Ange is almost done with law school at CU and Ana is in her first year of her residency in pediatrics.  Ange brought her 8 month-old son Ben over, too.  He is such a cutie and almost as big as Drew.  It was fun seeing Ana, Ange, and Ben again.  Of course Zach acted like a crazy kid, trying to show off for Mom's friends.  He's not always that weird, Ange and Ana!

Monday evening I got to go see my friend Britta, who is a friend from college.  It's so weird that she is from Minnesota, we met in college in Iowa, and now she lives back in my hometown.  It was fun to see her and catch up as well.  

While I was out with Britta, my sister Sandy and her son Anders arrived.  We were really bummed that my brother-in-law Will couldn't come for the trip.  When I told Zach that Will wouldn't be there, he said in a very sad voice, "What?!  Why?!"  Unfortunately, Will and Sandy's dog is not doing so well, so Will stayed home to take care of her.  Anders is now 6 months old, and quite a happy, content baby, except maybe at night, but I never really saw any of that.  He and Drew thought it was fun to see each other again.

I left Drew with my parents, Sandy, and Anders, and Zach and I met my sister Becky and her son Cam at the Denver Zoo.  The Denver Zoo is really a great zoo, and we had a lot of fun.  My favorite display was probably the gorillas.  One of them was laying right by the glass, just lounging there with his hands over his chest and his legs up on the wall.  I forgot to pack my camera, so these zoo pictures were taken with my phone.  In this gorilla one, the coloring looks a little off, but it's just Cam's reflection you're seeing.

In Zach's eyes, no trip the zoo is complete without a train ride, so at the end of the day we hopped on the train for a little rest.  We had the wagon with us all day, but the boys did quite a bit of walking and even more running, so the rest was welcome.

Since it was such a gorgeous day, we decided that we should all get a little ice cream before heading home.  Zach helped Cam spot a drip before it dropped.

Later that day Drew decided to share some smiles, as long as I was nearby.  Here he was trying on Zach's sunglasses and loving them.  I later bought him his own pair, and he's not too terrible about taking them off all the time.

Wednesday morning Drew and Anders played together some more while Zach and Grandpa Dick went to the railroad museum.  It's interesting to look how different Drew and Anders are now in size and to know that before long they'll be the same size, just like Zach and Cam, who are 9 months apart.

When Zach and Grandpa got home from the railroad museum, Grandpa made Zach one of his specialties- a peanut butter, mayonaisse, and pickle sandwich.  I'd say yum, but I think it sounds gross.  Zach and Grandpa sure enjoyed them, though.  I told my Zach that that can be a special treat he has only with Grandpa Dick!  

After lunch the boys and I headed to a park to see another one of my high school friends, Chris, and her two kids, Peyton and Nick.  It was Peyton's 5th birthday that day, so Zach made her a little card.  The kids were shy at first, but after a little while they warmed up to each other.

Here's Chris and Nick, who is 18 or 19 months old (I suddenly can't remember).  He looks just like his daddy!

Wednesday night we celebrated Cam's 3rd birthday, which was on Thursday.  Sadly, I forgot to take my camera to Becky and Tom's house, so I don't have any pictures of the event.  We had a delicious dinner that Becky prepared and Drew gobbled up (stuffed shells, and I think Drew ate about 3 by himself, which is more than I ate!) and a yummy cake she also made.  Cam picked my absolute favorite- chocolate cake with cherry frosting- YUM!!

While we were in Colorado, Drew discovered that he loves Sadie, my parents' big golden retriever.  He would see her and do his sign for Foudy, our dog, and crawl over to her.  He loved laying his head on her to love her up, which was very sweet, but not something I ever got a picture of.  Drew also loved Sadie's big pillow.  Here are Drew, Zach, and Anders playing around on it.  There were lots of pictures of the boys on the pillow, but I just included a few of my favorites.

Thursday evening I got to go up to one of my favorite restaurants- Beau Jo's Pizza.  It's in Idaho Springs, which is a little mountain town about a half hour from my parents' house.  I met another one of my high school friends there.  Preston lives in Boston but was in Colorado for the week visiting his parents and doing some skiing.  It has been a while since I've seen Preston, so it was really good to see him and catch up.  That night Mike flew in, so after dinner I headed to the airport.

Friday morning started early.  Mike, Zach, my nephew Cam, my brother-in-law Tom, and my dad all headed down to Union Station to board the Amtrak and ride it up to Glenwood Springs.   Here are the two little engineers excited for their first big train ride.

Zach and Grandpa enjoyed looking out the window.  It's hard to say who was most excited for the train- Grandpa or his 2 grandsons.

I thought this was a cute picture of Zach and Cam being kind of silly in the lounge car on the train.  It's a long train ride- about 6 hours- but the boys did really well, according to the grown-ups on the train.  My mom, sisters, the babies, and I drove the 2 cars up to Glenwood and met the guys at the train station when they arrived.  

Glenwood Springs is a place that is very near and dear to my family's heart.  We used to spend lots of time there when I was a kid, always staying at the Hotel Colorado, an old hotel that is rumored to be haunted.  We still stay at that hotel every time we go there.  Glenwood is a little town in the mountains near Aspen that is famous for it's hot springs and for it's place in history (it is where Doc Holiday died).  I've heard it is the largest natural hot springs in the world, but I don't know if that's true or not.  There are 2 pools that are open year-round.  The big pool spans over 2 city blocks and the temperature of the water is cooled to about 90 degrees.  The smaller pool, called a therapy pool, is cooled to about 104 degrees.  We took the boys in the big pool, and Zach and Cam loved it.  Anders found it so relaxing that he fell asleep.  Drew was not a fan at first, as you can see from the picture below.  He did warm up to it a little bit, though, and got to splashing all over.  The day we were at the pool was a beautiful day, so they opened the water slide, and Mike took both Cam and Zach down it.   Apparently it was freezing, so I'm glad I skipped that.  

On our last day in Glenwood, Becky, Tom, Cam, Mike, Zach, and I headed up to the Glenwood Caverns.  We decided to skip the cave tour this time and just do some fun stuff with the boys.  

Here are Mike, Zach, and me on the tram on the way up.

Zach and Cam were not at all afraid to be up so high.  They enjoyed the view.

There was a giant maze up on top of the mountain.  We had to race around to find our way to each corner of the maze to find the shelters with the letters M-A-Z-E.  Mike was across the way at the M shelter and took this picture of Zach and me at the A shelter.

Here's a good action shot of Zach and me racing to the next shelter.  We finished in 7 minutes, so Zach got to pick a couple of prizes.

This is the view atop one of the shelters.  Amazing, isn't it?

Here are Becky, Tom, and Cam up on top of the mountain.  You can't tell as much from this picture, but I really think Becky looks like Charlotte on the T.V. show Private Practice.

The boys and I all rode the alpine coaster, and that was fun.  I purposely made sure Zach went with Mike, because I knew I'd be too chicken to go super fast, and I thought Zach might have more fun with Dad, who wouldn't be chicken.  They had a blast, and all the boys rode the coaster again.  This picture is Tom and Cam just starting out.

This is the view from the top of the mountain, looking down on the valley below.

Here's Zach and Cam waiting for the tram to go back down.  We had so much fun up there.  It was nice that my parents and Sandy and Anders were willing to stay at the hotel while Drew napped so that we could get Zach and Cam out for some fun.

This is a picture Mike took from the tram.  It's a little difficult to see in it's small size, but if you click on it to make it larger, you'll be able to see the Hotel Colorado, where we always stay, in the sort of lower-right corner.  It's U-shaped.  The pool is across the street, right smack in the middle of the picture.  Then there is I-70 and the Colorado River, and then the train tracks and the depot.

We headed back down to my parents' house on Sunday afternoon.  We stopped in Idaho Springs for some Beau Jo's pizza again, as that is the tradition in our family.  Monday morning we headed out to the airport to begin the trip home.  We ended up leaving Denver about an hour later than we were scheduled to, and by the time we got to Omaha Drew was exhausted (no morning nap), and so was Zach.  They both fell asleep before we got to the interstate and slept at least part of the way home.

Though the trip started out a little rough and had some difficult moments (as to be expected when traveling with a one year-old), it really was a good time.  Probably the best thing for me was watching Zach and Cam play together.  Even though they only see each other a few times a year, these boys sure do love each other.  When I asked Zach what the best part about the trip was, I expected him to say something we did, like the zoo, the pool, the train ride, the train museum, the roller coaster, etc.  But his answer was an enthusiastic, "CAM!"  I just wish we lived closer so they could see each other more often.  They are at that age now where they can just go off together and play, and they don't need the adults to help them (except for the occasional refereeing and reminding Zach that he's not Cam's boss).  I love watching Zach and Cam from afar and imagining Drew and Anders in a few years being the same way.  

I'm disappointed I didn't get a single picture of my sisters and me together on this trip.  I'm sure Mike would say we have enough pictures of my sisters and me already.  It seems like the 3 of us are together less than ever since all the kids have been born, so it seems like we should make note of those times by taking pictures.  One funny thing Becky's friend Caitlin's 5 year-old daughter said at Cam's birthday party- "Mom, why do Becky and her sisters all have the same hairstyle?"  Another lady at the Hotel Colorado asked us if we were triplets or just twins (I'm not sure which 2 she thought were twins- she didn't clarify).  That was kind of funny, too.  There's something comforting to me about looking like my sisters.  I guess it's nice to know that people think we go together.

Whew!  I got through this post faster than I expected!  Thanks for a great trip, Family!

3 Short Zach Stories

Mike and I work out at a place called Farrell's, where we do kickboxing classes and resistance bands training.  I generally work out there 5 times a week, and Zach is often very interested in what goes on there.  We've talked before about him going along and watching, but it's a 45 minute class, so I've hesitated because I have been afraid he'd get bored.  Drew hasn't been feeling well since he got his shots yesterday, and I knew Mike was pretty worn out from a long week, so I thought this might be a good opportunity to get Zach and his energy out of the house and give Mike and Drew some quiet time together. So right as I was on my way out the door to go to a kickboxing class tonight, I decided to ask Zach if he wanted to go with me.  He was ecstatic about that idea, and I think Mike was happy about it, too.  The class was pretty small tonight, and Zach just sat along the side and watched happily.  There were a few times where he tried to get me to watch something he was doing while I was punching the bag, and that wasn't so easy, but otherwise, he was great.  He got lots of compliments afterwards from other people in the class about what a good boy he was.  So in the car on the way home, I said to him, "Zach, I feel really proud of you when you're such a good boy and you follow directions like you did tonight."  And Zach said to me, "Fanks (he still has a little trouble with the th- sound).  And I'm proud of you, Mom, when you do good stuff."  I asked him, "Did I do good stuff tonight?"  Zach said, "Yeah, you did.  I saw you doing big kicks!"  Then he went on to tell me how my kicks were this big (picture his hands far apart) and other people did kicks this big (hands not as far apart).  Then he said, "You and the teacher were doing the biggest kicks."  I should take him to class with me more often- he's good for my ego! :-)

Also, the other day while Drew was napping I decided to paint my toenails.  Zach has been asking me for a few weeks to paint his, and I've managed to avoid it.  I knew when I decided to paint mine while Zach was with me would probably make him ask again, but I did it anyway.  And, just like I was afraid of, Zach decided he wanted his toenails painted, too.  I figured, hey, it's winter still, he wears shoes and socks most of the time, what the hell.  So I picked the manliest color I could find in my bag- sort of a steely purple.  I figured it wasn't as bright and colorful, and therefore would be less noticeable on both Zach's little toes and on my carpet, should he not let it dry long enough.  He thinks it looks pretty great, but he said he wants pink next time.  Now that I've done it once, I may have dug myself a hole.  Maybe we can make a deal that we only paint his toes in the winter.  

Yesterday at lunch Zach went to pick up his grilled cheese sandwich, which had been sitting on his plate for 5 minutes.  As he picked it up, he sort of gasped.  I asked what was wrong, and he said it was very hot.  I said that it couldn't still be hot, and Zach said, "I picked it up, and it's like 7 feet hot!"

Drew's 1 Year Check-Up

Today Drew woke up thinking it'd be a great day, but the poor kid had another thing coming.  After we dropped Zach off at preschool, we headed home for Drew's nap.  I had to wake him up a little early to go to the pediatrician for his one year check-up.  At first he was full of happiness and was giving every nurse that walked by his silly face, the one where he squints his eyes until they're basically closed and gives his huge smile.  Then one of those nurses pricked his finger and wouldn't stop squeezing it.  Seriously, it felt like she squeezed that thing for 10 minutes and like she was trying to get a quart of blood out of my sweet baby's little finger.  Finally she was done, and Drew got back to being happy.  He especially enjoyed unrolling the paper that covers the table.  I told him no while smiling a couple of times, and he laughed and did it some more.  Then when I was a little more firm with him, he knew I was serious, and that produced the next round of tears.  But, he stopped messing with the paper and I was able to get him distracted and happy again.  Then a student PA came in and checked Drew out, and he gave her his silly face, as well as Sally, the PA we usually see, when she came in after that to do the real check-up.  He was happy with her until I asked about his circumcision (we've been a little worried we'll have to have it redone) and she started tugging around down there.  That did not make him happy one bit.  But again, he got over it.  Then the nurse came back to do his vaccinations, and that was the last straw.  I think it didn't help that it was past lunchtime and he was hungry.  At least it was just a 2 minute drive home to some yummy lunch, and he even got to taste my Thin Mints.  He sure used his ever-evolving sign for "more" with those!  (He used to move his hand up and down for "more," then it changed to one clap, basically, and today it was one closed hand to one palm.  The real sign, f.y.i., is like 2 closed hands with the fingers touching.)

Drew seemed to be pretty happy after lunch, and he took a long nap.  I gave him a little Tylenol before his nap because the nurse and doctor said a fever is common after this round of vaccinations.  We played happily after his nap, and I left him happy when I went to work out at 5:15, but when I returned home at 6:15, I found a different kid.  I don't know what Mike did to him while I was gone!  Just kidding.  But really, you could tell the poor kid just didn't feel great.  He wasn't himself.  He just kept fussing.  He would be happy for a minute, but then he would kind of whine and cry.  He was happier just sitting on my lap than doing anything else, and that's not like my normal, happy, active little pumpkin.  During his bath he was happy again, and he seemed pretty happy to get to bed.  I hope tomorrow he's feeling fine!

Oh, his stats- he gained 2 pounds since December, and he now weighs 22 pounds.  This puts him in the 37th percentile.  At one year, Zach weighed 21 pounds.  Drew is 29.8 inches long, which means he grew 1.3 inches in the last 3 months.  He's in the 47th percentile.  Zach was 29.3 inches at 12 months.  And their head circumference was almost exactly the same at 12 months, so I'd say they're on the same growth curve.

Finally, because no post is complete without a picture, here's one of Zach and Drew enjoying on of Drew's new birthday presents.  Somehow, I don't think this is how it was intended to be used.

Celebrating Drew's Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Drew's birthday with Mike's family.  It was a great time, and very low stress, which is what I like.  

Zach and Drew started the day off by snuggling on the couch.


During Drew's nap, Mike and Zach  went to pick up the meat/cheese tray, and I got all the food set up.  Having just Mike's family was nice for many reasons, one being that we were able to use all of our own dishes rather than getting paper plates and such.

The family all arrived right on time, and enjoyed catching up with each other.  

Drew got to enjoy the balloons Zach picked out for him at the grocery store.

Then we all sat down for lunch.  Another nice thing about the party being so small- we could all fit around the kitchen table!  Ok, Mike stood, but we could mostly all fit around one table.

Drew practiced his silly face while he waited for his lunch to be served.  We were treated to many silly faces yesterday, and they just keep on coming!  I love this look- it makes me laugh every single time.  If I am ever mad at Drew and he gives me this face, I know I'll snap right out of it.  

After lunch we had cake.  I made a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting.  A big thanks goes out to my friend Kristi for her tips on how to make the cake more moist and some other tips she gave me.  It's obvious the cake was made by an amateur, but that's ok with me.  I thought it tasted pretty good.

Drew seemed to like it, too!

He really didn't do too bad of a job of getting it all over himself.  There was some on his face, and some in his hair, but it could have been worse.

After the cake, we went to the living room to open presents.  First, Zach got some more snuggling in, but this time with Aunt Katherine.  We were so happy she came home from college to celebrate with us!

Drew got a lot of great presents that he has been enjoying very much today.  Zach has been enjoying Drew's new presents, too.  I'd say the two favorites so far are the little basketball hoop thing (Drew loves putting balls through things, so this is a big hit) and the car.

The great thing about this little car is that Zach can push Drew in it, too, and they both have fun.  And for as big as it is, it's surprisingly easy to steer.

It was a great day and a great party.  Thank you to all of Mike's family for coming to celebrate with us.  

Here are just a couple of fun pictures of "the kids," as Mike's dad would say.  

I think the last time we had a picture taken of Mike, Katherine, and me was about 7 years ago or so.  That picture is in our dining room right now, and the one below will go in the dining room too, on our new picture wall.  I think it's safe to say that Katherine has changed the most in the last 7 years, since she was just 12 then!  She's still cute as a button, though, I think.

A Couple of Things I Forgot

I forgot to write down some other things that Drew currently does:

-He loves to read books.  One of his favorites is Pat the Bunny, and as soon as we get to the page where we read Judy's book, he almost immediately throws his hands up for the SOOO BIG part.  We also have a Baby Einstein book called Dogs, and the last page is a picture of puppies that look just like Foudy.  So as soon as we pull out that book, he starts doing our sign for Foudy.  There's also a page where the text is, "Dogs pant when they're warm," and when we get to that page, Drew opens his mouth and starts breathing in and out real fast, like he is panting.  These things the he does with these two books always make me smile, especially because Zach used to do the same things with both books.  

-Mike has taught Drew how to blow kisses.  He doesn't do it every time, but he will put his fingers in his mouth and then pull them out and kind of goes, "Muh!"  Then he's very proud of himself.

-He laughs quite often when he farts.  He's a guy's guy already!

Happy First Birthday, Drew!

Our baby is one today.  It's amazing how quickly a year goes by.  We had a pretty busy day today, which was kind of a bummer, considering it was about 70 degrees here and we really didn't get to enjoy it much.  Hopefully tomorrow will be as nice and we can get outside a little more.

Drew has had met some more milestones the past few days, just in time for his first birthday.  First, he used a spoon for the first time.  He really enjoyed the spoon.  Sometimes he would scoop with it, and other times he would use his left hand to put food on the spoon and then put the spoon in his mouth with his right hand.  Of course, there was a lot of spilling going on, but that's ok.  

Drew's other newest trick is that he started WALKING!!! Yay! Last night he took his first steps. I think the most he took in a row was about 4 or 5. He seemed pretty proud of himself.  We even managed to get some of it on video, but I can't post that here.

So, for Drew's birthday today, we started the day with some Hot Hoops, one of his favorite toys of his big brother's.  Drew loves to put the balls in the hoop, but he has also figured out how to put the ball on the little launcher and launch the balls towards the hoop.  He has yet to make a basket that way, but at least he's trying.  I couldn't decide between which of these first 2 pictures to post, so I just went with the both because I think they're cute.

After we picked Zach up from preschool, we made an impromptu stop by the park to see our friends and former neighbors Susan and Anna.  Susan was due to have her second baby yesterday but is still waiting.  It was great to see them again.  

After our very brief stop at the park we headed home for lunch and then went to Drew's one year photo shoot.  That was a blast.  We went to the same place where we had Zach's one year photos taken, and she just does such a great job.  It's too bad we can't afford to go there more often!  I was worried Drew would be shy and not smiley, but he was great.  He didn't want to sit/stand still, but I am hopeful that Susan (not the aforementioned Susan) got some good pictures.  At the end we put Drew in just his diaper and put a little cake in front of him and let him go at it.  That was so fun.  He wasn't sure what to think at first.  He got some frosting on his hand and just kept looking at his fingers like, "What is this stuff on my hand?"  Then he pulled the candle out of the cake and was trying to put the frosting from his hand onto the candle.  Eventually he put a little in his mouth, but even then, I wasn't sure he was really into the frosting.  Then he got his leg in the cake, and he kept lifting it up, so he was trying to balance himself on just one leg.  Thankfully he didn't fall over.  That was especially good because at one point in the shoot he crawled off a little chair head-first (we just couldn't get there in time) and bonked himself on the hard floor.  So I'm sure in the cake photos he will have a little red spot on his forehead, but that's ok.  Anyway, finally Zach got into the picture with him, and they both had spoons.  Then they could really go at it, and that was fun for both of them.  I can't wait to see the proofs.  I doubt I'll be able to post any of them on here, but if I can figure out a way to do it, I will.  It was so much fun, but by the time we were done, Drew and Zach were ready for naps and I was ready for a break, too.

Here's a funny picture from a few days after Drew was born and one from today that I think is funny.

Some other things I want to remember about Drew and things he's doing right now:

-He loves to grab the phone and hold it up to his mouth and say, "Aaaaah," as though he's talking to someone.

-If you ask him what a cow says, he'll say, "Boooooo!"

-He is figuring out how things work.  At the grocery store the other day, he took the pen from my hand and was trying to use it to write on the paper.  The tip wasn't out and he wasn't holding it in a way that would actually make the ink go onto the paper, but I could tell he had the right idea.  It also seemed like he was aiming the remote at the TV the other day, which would be weird, because the TV is rarely on when he's awake.

-He loves Zach's marble run.  There are lots of things that spin and flip on it.  The other day I asked him, "Drew, what do you want to play with?"  And he went straight to that marble run.  Then he raised his hand up towards the top of the TV (where we keep the marbles) and started going, "Ooooooh!  Oooooooh!"  until I got a marble for him.  Don't worry, I sit right with him when he has the marbles so he doesn't put them in his mouth, and he only gets one at a time.

-He has no fear of dogs, big or small, but apparently is a little afraid of cats.  He's just like his mom!

-He likes singing, and if you ask him if he can dance, he bounces up and down and smiles.

-He has long been fascinated by my belly, but just recently he started giving me raspberries on it.

I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting, and I feel like some of what I just wrote I've written before, but hey, that's why I'm writing it down; so I don't forget it!

And, because no post is complete without a Zach story or two, though these are probably only funny to Mike and me:

-The other night I was awakened by Zach coming into our room crying.  The next thing I knew, he was crawling up onto our bed.  In my groggy state of mind I thought, "What the hell is Mike doing, letting Zach get in bed with us?"  Then I hear Mike telling Zach we'll take care of it in the morning, so I asked Zach what was wrong.  Turned out he had a toenail that was bothering him, and he wanted us to cut his nail.  It was like, 2 in the morning.  I felt his toenail and could feel that a little piece of it was loose, so I grabbed it and pulled before Zach could protest.  I was a little worried that I would pull off more than necessary and he'd be hurting a lot, but thankfully, that did not happen.  I got the loose piece of nail removed, and Zach happily went back to bed with no more tears.

-Yesterday I was taking the boys to Grandma Linda's for the day and the dogs to be groomed, and then I was going to run some errands.  Zach woke up happy and was full of instructions on what I should do to take care of Puppy, his little stuffed dog.  It went something like, "First you have to feed him, Mom, and give him a pill so he doesn't get ear infections.  Give him one scoop of food and some water.  And make sure you let him out."  Then there were about 20 other directions that I didn't really listen to because I was trying to get everything/everyone ready to go.  I did tell Zach I wasn't going to be home to take care of Puppy, so he decided that George (as in Curious George, the stuff monkey) could take care of puppy "with his four hands."  Then at the end Zach said, "Ok, so follow all those ingredients, ok, Mom?"  I thought it was cute the he used the word ingredients there instead of instructions.  I know, it's not really a funny/cute story for anyone but the kid's mom and dad.

Ok, time for bed.  We're having Mike's family over this weekend for a little birthday party for Drew, so you can be sure I'll lots more pictures and aimless ramblings to post then.