Anybody Up for a Challenge?

I think this may be a random, rambling blog of my thoughts.  First, Drew had his 6 month check-up today.  It went fine.  At 17 lbs. 10 oz. he is in the 50th percentile for weight, 49th percentile for height at 26.5 inches, and 68th percentile for head circumference.  He's gone down a bit in weight as far as his percentile goes, but he's still two lbs. more than Zach was at 6 months, so I'm not worried.  He's also one inch taller than Zach was.  The doctor was very happy with his social skills and his ability to sit up and stuff.  

Later today Zach, Drew, and I went on 2 walks.  The first one was after we picked Zach up from Grandma Linda & Grandpa Curt's, where he was while Drew and I went to the doctor and ran errands.  Zach has been kinda weird about riding his bike lately, like he's kinda chicken about it.  But today it was his idea, so I hopped on that right away.  It was almost time for Drew to eat, so we quickly got inside, got Drew out of the carseat, and off we went.  The second nap was after the boys' naps, and this time we took the dogs with us.  Zach decided he would be the leader, and that I should follow him.  So, when we turned on the street we often turn on, Zach started in with the fire hydrants.  He loves fire hydrants.  On this particular stretch of the walk, there are about 7 fire hydrants, and we have to stop, Zach gets off his bike, and then we both basically pet the fire hydrant.  Other things we did on the walk included sitting on big rocks in somebody's front yard and sitting in someone's grass.  Zach really wanted to stay at the rocks for awhile, and I sat for a few seconds to be a good sport, but then I told Zach we should move on because the homeowners might think it's weird that we're sitting on their rocks.  Zach was funny when he wanted to sit in somebody else's grass.  Our lawn guy came today, so we had a sign warning to stay off the grass.  So when we get to these other people's grass, Zach hovers above it and asks me if he can sit on it.  I told him yes, and he said, "Well, I wasn't sure, because they put all that seasoning on it."  I guess he thought that since our lawn got treated, they all did.  I thought it was funny that he called it seasoning.

So I have an idea that may be a long shot.  I read about this local running group that is participating in a challenge of running 20 races in 2008.  I think that's a cool challenge.  They started early in the year, though, and since there are only 3.5 months left in 2008, I don't think I can do that.  But here's what I'm thinking.  Maybe I can do one race a month for the rest of 2008.  That's only 4 races, but since I'm not doing a ton of running because I'm doing kickboxing and resistance bands, it still seems like a challenge.  Then another thought I have is that maybe in 2009 I'll set a goal of doing a series of races, like one or two each of a 5k, 8k, 10k, maybe a 10 miler, and a half-marathon.  I don't think I'll really want to do a whole marathon, but maybe that will change.  Obviously I need to do some more thinking on this, but if I'm not starting until 2009, I've got some time to figure it out.  Anybody want to join me in this challenge?  Sisters, are you in?

Picture Overload

I haven't blogged in a few days because not much has been going on, yet somehow I'm exhausted from feeling busy with plain-old everyday life stuff.  Well, that and the fact that Mike golfed all day Saturday and half the day Sunday, so I didn't get much of a chance to recharge my batteries before going into the long weekdays.  

The big news around here is that my new nephew finally has a name.  Sandy and Will are unique in that they don't like to do anything too quickly- eat dinner (Will is probably about as slow of an eater as Zach is, and that is SLOW), get married (they were together 7 years before they finally decided to get married), have kids (married 6 years before this little guy was born), etc.  So it really shouldn't be a surprise that naming their son took some time.  I like that they don't hurry through life- we should all learn a lesson from them about slowing down.  However, I was starting to get impatient, wondering what the heck (a phrase that Zach picked up from Uncle Will and is saying quite a lot- thanks, Will) to call this little guy.  Anyway, all that time proved to be useful in that they picked a great name.  Anders Wilson D. (I'm not putting that in for privacy purposes).  They wanted a family name, and so Anders comes from my grandma's maiden name, which was Anderson.  Wilson comes from Will's side of the family.  You can read a more detailed explanation and see many adorable pictures of my little blonde nephew if you click on Sandy & Will's link on the side of my blog.  He is so cute!  

Here are some random pictures.  Let's see, first there's Zach doing a crayon/rock activity.  You heat up the rocks in the oven and melt the crayons on it.  The rocks end up looking pretty cool. However, on this particular occasion, Zach was really into the brown crayon, so lots of the rocks ended up looking like big chocolate chunks.

Here's Drew posing in the rocking chair for his 6 month pictures.  I'm not sure, but I think maybe he's sticking his tongue out a little.  

Here is Drew taking his own picture.  

Ok, not really, but it looks like one of those pictures you take of yourself.

And here is where the onslaught of pictures starts.  Yesterday we had Drew's 6 month studio session.  Warning- LOTS of photos below.  I just couldn't narrow it down.

This is Drew when we told him that Aunt Sandy and Uncle Will still hadn't decided on a name for his new cousin, even though they'd been home from the hospital for a couple of days already.

But then we told him that we were sure Aunt Sandy and Uncle Will would come up with something great, and Drew felt better.


Now here's a bunch that just show what a happy baby Drew is.  I originally had his pictures scheduled for a time when Zach would be at preschool, but since I've figured out that's generally Drew's naptime, I had to reschedule.  I'm so glad I did.  The thing that got these great smiles from Drew was Mike tickling Zach.  Drew thinks Zach laughing is the greatest thing ever, so he smiled really big every time Zach got all cracked up.  So, Zach was very helpful at this picture appointment.

Finally, here's a little progression of Drew in a chair.  These were the last photos we took of him, and Mike and I think they really show his personality, which is coming out more and more- very curious, silly, and happy.

I'll try to not get quite so picture-crazy next time.  Judging by the number of pictures on this blog entry, I'm sure you can imagine what it was like in the studio trying to narrow down our choices so we didn't spend a fortune on Drew's pictures.  We actually got it down to 3 poses in about 15 minutes.  Mike had a tee-time that was coming up rather quickly, so we were under the gun.

I'm an Aunt Again!!

Early this morning, after a long, drawn-out labor and delivery, my sister Sandy gave birth to a beautiful baby boy!!!  He weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces and is 20 inches long.  He was born at 1:40 a.m.  You can see pictures by going to my sister's blog- just click on Sandy and Will over on the side where I have other blogs listed.  He is beautiful!!  This little baby boy is unnamed as of now.  I just talked to Sandy and she sounds good, but very tired.  Hopefully today she and Will will come up with a name.  Zach thought if they weren't going to stick with Clocker Baby that they could use Wookie/Woogie (I'm not sure if he says it with a K or a G sound), and call him Wook, which sort of sounded like Luke.  So that was my suggestion to Zach, that they could use Luke, but he seemed to think Wook was better.  I ended up telling him that we'd just let his parents name him.  Anyway, congratulations to Sandy and Will.  I know they'll be awesome parents and have so much fun with this little guy.  I'm excited that Drew now has a boy cousin just 6 months younger than he is.  What fun they will have growing up together!!  I am so excited to meet this little guy- I can hardly wait to get up to Minneapolis!

Random Stuff

First, I'm so excited to say that anytime now I will be an aunt again.  My sister Sandy in Minneapolis is in labor.  It's been a long day for her, so hopefully that little girl or boy will come soon!  I cannot wait to find out if I have another nephew or my first niece, and what his/her name is.  Keep it going, Sam- I know you're doing great!

While Zach and I were getting ready for his nap today and praying for Clocker Baby (that is what Zach named his new cousin a long time ago- it will be hard to call him/her something else), Zach randomly asked me, "Will I die sometime?"  I have no idea where that question came from, because we don't really talk about death very often.  I told him that he would, but probably not until he is very old.  He said, "I don't want to die, though."  I tried to assure him that dying isn't a bad thing.  Then he started telling me that after you die you come back and have more and more birthdays.  It was all a very interesting conversation to have.  I kind of tried to change the subject because I wasn't sure I was handling it right.  Oh well.

Zach said he's excited for preschool tomorrow.  Tomorrow is the first day that I am not supposed to go in- I'm just supposed to drop him off in the drop-off line and his teachers will meet him at the car.  I hope that goes well.

Preschool

Zach had his first day of preschool today.  This morning he seemed a little unsure.  When I told him that he got to go to preschool today, his response was, "I don' t want to go."  I told him he'd get to do lots of fun playing there, and he said, "But I just want to play here."  I was feeling a little uneasy about how it would all go.  But then I reminded him that they'd also have snack, which is something that is generally enticing to him.  He was a little more interested.  Anyway, as the morning went on, he didn't argue at all with me when I said it was time to get dressed for preschool, or later when I said we needed to get his shoes on and go.  So that helped me feel more at ease.  He asked as we pulled into the church parking lot, "Are some kids scared?"  I told him yes, and of course, he asked why (as he often says, why is his best question).  After I explained why they might be scared I asked if he was, and he said no.  

The preschool director was outside greeting kids and asked Zach right away what he did on Saturday.  He gave her a blank look, as I thought hard to myself, "What DID we do Saturday?"  Then she said, "Were you in Iowa City?"  Turns out she was at the Hawkeye game, too, and saw us there.  She has a great memory to know Zach after just meeting him a few times.  That mention of the Hawkeye game got things off to a great start.  We then walked into his classroom and one of his teachers, Mrs. Gray, greeted him right away.  We got the papers out of his bag and he went to put the bag in his cubby, and the other teacher, Mrs. Johnson, met him there to say hello.  He immediately started telling her about all of the things we had ironed onto his schoolbag, the different sports balls and the skulls and crossbones.  He was obviously excited to tell her about those things, so that was good.  I interrupted him to say goodbye, and he gave me a hug and Drew and I were off.  Zach never looked back.  Phew.  I felt good about how things were going.

When we picked Zach up a couple of hours later, Mrs. Johnson said things went really well.  The first thing Zach said when he got in the car was, "So I had fun today!  I made a new friend- a boy."  That was good.  He didn't know the boy's name, though.  Getting details from Zach can be difficult, unless you quit asking questions.  Then details randomly come out.  He did tell me that they had pretzels, cheese, and juice for a snack, and that he looked at a fire engine book.  Later he told Mike that he painted and that his picture had to dry.  He said he painted with another boy.  I asked him if he and the boy talked while they painted and after he said no and I asked why, he said, "We didn't have anything to talk about," in the most casual, kind of "Duh, Mom," kind of way.  He was happy that he knew his teachers' names, and he told us that one was wearing white and one was wearing blue.  He also said later that there are 4 boys in his class.  I'm not sure how many boys there are, but I'm pretty sure it's more than 4.  One other thing he said was that he wants to go to preschool all the time.  So, I'd say that overall it was a great first day of preschool.

I definitely enjoyed the time Zach was at preschool.  Drew slept for about an hour of that time, so I got the kitchen cleaned up, some laundry done, checked my email, and vacuumed upstairs.  I could get used to this!

Oh, here's the standard first day of school picture of Zach.  

A 3 Year-Old's Best Weekend Ever

I think this weekend has to be at the top of Zach's list for best weekends ever. First, he got to go to Pa's house and go to the Hawkeye game. Then, on Sunday after church and naps, we headed out to our neighbor Molly's parents' house.  Molly, Brad, and their son Cooper, who is 9 months old, were staying up there over the weekend taking care of all of the animals. Zach got to ride one of the horses with Molly and by himself. He wasn't nervous or scared at all- Molly said right after he got on he asked to go fast. After riding the horse, Zach got to help drive the MULE- which is a kind of truck, not an animal. He loved doing that, too.  Then he got to brush one of the horses and feed some of them.  He thought it was pretty cool.

Here are Zach and Molly riding on P.J.

Zach liked brushing P.J., too.

Zach thought it was fun to feed the mule and the horse.

After enjoying his time at the farm, we dropped Zach off at Grandma Cynthia and Grandpa Kevin's house for a sleepover. This was not just any sleepover, though. Zach and Grandpa camped out in the tent in the backyard. Zach got to help set the tent up and everything. It sounds like he had a difficult time settling down at bedtime because he was so excited to be camping out, and he was up around 6-6:30, I think, so needless to say, by lunchtime Zach was pretty tired. Thankfully he took a LONG nap today and went to bed earlier than usual. He spent the morning "playing all kinds of stuff" (his words) with Grandma Cynthia while Mike and Kevin did some painting. 

While Zach was at Grandma & Grandpa's last night Drew, Mike, and I headed back up to Molly's parents' place to grill some burgers and just hang out with Brad, Molly, and Cooper. Zach absolutely loves our neighbors- all of them- Chuck & Joyce, BJ & Susan, and Brad & Molly- so when we're with them, he talks nonstop and wants a lot of attention. I'm so happy he loves our neighbors, and it's great that they all love him back. That being said, it was nice to hang out with our friends without Zach there, because we could actually have a nice conversation with Brad and Molly without being constantly interrupted by Zach. Drew and Cooper aren't really into interrupting yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

We ended the weekend with the boys' first bath together. In this picture I think Drew looks a little like the old man they use for those bitter beef face commercials.


Tomorrow is Zach's first day of preschool. I got his name ironed onto his bag today, along with some other little patches he picked out at Michael's yesterday of footballs, basketballs, soccer balls, baseballs, and a couple of skull & crossbones, since he's into pirates. His bag looks good, and he likes it. I think he's pretty excited about preschool tomorrow. Hopefully it will all go well! I'm sure I'll have more to write about tomorrow.

First Hawkeye Game

Zach got to go to his first Hawkeye football game today.  He had so much fun.  We drove to Mike's grandpa's house in North English last night (Pa's house) and stayed there so we could celebrate Pa's 85th birthday.  This morning Grandpa Curt, Grandma Linda, Mike, Zach, Drew, and I went down to the historical center with Pa for coffee.  Zach seemed to enjoy chatting up all the old men there.  

Zach, Mike, and I left from there to head to Kinnick.  Traffic on I-80 wasn't as bad as we expected.  For those of you who are not from Iowa or aren't Hawkeye fans, here's a little info for you- I've heard it said that on Saturdays during football season, "All roads lead to Iowa City."  I'm sure ISU fans say that with Ames in place of Iowa City, but really, I think it's more fitting to use Iowa City because there are so many Hawkeye fans in this state.  It's really fun to drive to a game along I-80 and see all the cars with Hawkeye stickers, license plates, etc., and all the people in their cars with their Hawkeye gear, especially when it's a really old couple in their embroidered sweatshirts and whatnot.  Anyway, thankfully today traffic wasn't bad.

We got inside the stadium around 10:30.  After checking to see if Uncle Will was there at his seat (he wasn't, and we found out later he was not going to the game), we headed over to our seats.  The people around us thought Zach looked pretty cute all decked out in his new Hawkeye shirt (thanks, Grandpa Kevin & Grandma Cynthia!) and hat.  

The teams were out warming up, so already Zach was excited.

Then the band came out, and that made him really excited. 

He was ready to sing the Hawkeye fight song.  He remained very excited throughout the national ansem (that's what he calls it) and the introduction of the teams.  

The whole atmosphere  was great, but nothing topped the sparkle in Zach's eyes at seeing everything, or the joy in Mike's eyes at watching Zach.  Just before kickoff our neighbors got there, so of course that made Zach that much more excited.  The Hawks had a good game, winning 46-3. Zach quickly got the hang of yelling out the O when Iowa scored (more info for you non-Hawkeye fans- whenever Iowa scores a TD the cheerleaders have the big I-O-W-A flags- one letter at each corner of the stadium, and they wave them in order as the crowd in that area yells that letter, thus spelling out Iowa multiple times).

  

When we were on defense he'd put his hands up by his mouth and yell, "Get 'em!  Get 'em!!!  Get the bad guys!!"  It was all pretty cute.  We left at the beginning of the 4th quarter, because at that point Zach was getting quite tired.  He fell asleep before we ever got to I-80.  Too much excitement for one day!