Brothers

It has been great to have Zach home for the summer, and Drew has really enjoyed having his big brother around to play with. I read recently that siblings fight an average of 3.5 times an hour, which adds up to 10 minutes of every hour. Zach and Drew are probably pretty close to that average, but it depends on the day. They do play really well and get along well for the most part. One day recently, Drew and I were talking about friends, and Drew said, "I have one friend, and that friend is Zach." My dad also overheard the boys having a conversation when he was here where Zach said something along the lines of, "...that's because I love you, Drew," and Drew's response was, "I love you, too, Martin." (Martin is the latest of names that Drew calls Zach, I am Aviva or Abiva (not sure which), and Drew wants to be called Bro. These are characters in a cool show they've watched on PBS called Wild Kratts.)

Now that it's summer, one of the things the boys have been into has been sleepovers.

During the school year, sleepovers are pretty much only allowed on weekends or when we have company using Zach's room, but during the summer, the rules are different. If there's nothing big going on the next day, we don't mind a sleepover. The boys do well with it, though Drew normally has a harder time settling down than Zach. I think part of that stems from Drew taking naps in the afternoon and Zach not, so Zach is much more tired when 8:00 rolls around. Last night they were sleeping in Drew's room, and I was listening to them on the monitor. After a while, I heard Zach say, "If you don't turn off the light, I'm going to go tell Mom and Dad." Then Drew said, "No, I'm going to go tell Mom and Dad." Good one, Drew. At one point Mike went upstairs and Drew had his cowboy boots on. Last week when we went to go to bed, I peeked in on the sleepover boys, and found Drew asleep with his slippers on.

One of the coolest things is that Zach is getting better and better about reading, and he can read books to Drew now. Reading to Drew builds Zach's confidence and helps Drew get even more interested in reading himself. Drew already loves books like crazy, but this makes him more interested in learning how to read, I guess.

Tonight before bed, Mike, Zach, Drew, and I were all reading together, and the first book Drew picked was an easy one, so Zach read it to us all. The second book was Frosty, The Snowman, and Drew insisted that it was his turn to read, so he and Mike tag-teamed it, and Mike read some words, and Drew "read" some others. It's so great to have kids who love books. It makes me sad to think of kids who don't get read to every day (or ever), and how much they're missing out on.

Mike and I had our tenth anniversary last week. To celebrate, we took the boys out to dinner at PF Chang's (which went better than I expected), ate outside (something I love to do), and then walked around the little lake at the mall. It was a nice night, and a perfect way to celebrate with our boys. We even got some cute pictures of them by the water.

I included this next one because I think it's funny how Jake is reaching for Drew. I was a teeny bit nervous about Zach holding Jake on the rocks next to the water, but he handled it fine and nobody fell in.

There were lots of geese in the water, and at one point we saw some people who we sort of know from our neighborhood, and they gave Zach and Drew each a half piece of bread to feed to the geese. Right after I took this picture below, that goose reached up and snatched a piece of bread right out of Zach's hand when he wasn't looking. It was hilarious.

It was one of those great days/nights where Mike and I reminisced about our wedding 10 years ago and how much our lives have changed in that time. In 10 years, we've lived in 2 apartments and owned 2 houses, had a few jobs including Mike's current job as a P.T. and small business owner, had 3 kids, owned 2 dogs, owned 7 different cars (whoa!), gained more family members than we've lost (primarily a bunch of nephews), and taken a few trips. It's been a good 10 years, and spending our anniversary with our 3 sweet boys doing nothing too special was very special in and of itself.

Six and Six Months

I've been lazy about blogging lately, and now I'm behind. Last week Zach turned six, and Jake turned six months. Time keeps flyin' by.

I decided to start off Zach's birthday with some Star Wars pancakes. In our house we have two kinds of pancakes- "dad's kind" are basically buttermilk pancakes, and "mom's kind" are the thin, Swedish pancakes my family always had when I was a kid. The boys prefer my kind, and so do I, but they end up being kind of a lot of work for me, because they get eaten so quickly that I barely get to sit down for the whole meal. Anyway, I thought that I'd try something new for Zach's birthday, so I used a recipe for whole grain pancakes using wheat flour and oatmeal, and I added chocolate chips, because every thing's better with chocolate chips. They were very think and I had a little trouble getting them out of their molds, but the boys loved them. I feel really bad I didn't put a candle in Zach's pancake, but I was flustered because they were taking so long to cook and I just forgot. He didn't seem to mind, though.

Since my mom was here to help out while Mike was out of town for a week, she took Zach and Drew to the zoo on Zach's birthday. It was a hot, sunny day, and they had a good time. Drew asked me all winter and spring if it was warm enough to go to the zoo yet, so he was pretty jazzed to get the opportunity last week to finally go again. Jake and I hung out at home and ran a couple of errands. That night we went out to eat at the club, and since Zach was getting a free sundae for his birthday, Drew got to have a special treat, too.

The boys could pick just about anything to be on their sundaes. Zach wanted M&Ms, Oreos, and caramel, but Drew just wanted sprinkles and a cherry on top. They gave him 3 cherries, which really made his night!

Zach didn't really want to pose for this picture, but he was a good sport about it.

Mike was set to return from Washington, D.C., late Thursday night. However, because of some bad weather all along the east coast, his flight was delayed and ultimately canceled, so he did not arrive home until Friday night. Zach's birthday party was scheduled for Saturday afternoon, and Friday afternoon Zach started complaining of a headache. He ended up having a low-grade fever, and we decided we'd just wait to see how he was in the morning before doing anything about his party. Saturday morning he woke up feeling great, so I baked the cupcakes for his party. Mike, Drew, my mom, and Zach went to Zach's baseball game at 11:00, and I stayed home so Jake could nap and I could frost cupcakes.

Zach made some catches,

and had a hit,

while Drew happily ate a snack. (Sorry about the blue font- can't change it.)

They returned from the game with Zach not feeling so great, and after finding out his fever had returned, he took some ibuprofen and went straight to his room and took a nap. After a tiny bit of hemming and hawing, we decided that we had to cancel the party. What a pain. I had it all set up that Darth Vader would be there, I had paid to rent the park shelter, the cupcakes were made and frosted, etc. But, we knew Zach wouldn't be able to enjoy himself if he was sick, and we didn't want to get all the other kids sick, so we had to do it. Zach woke up from his nap feeling good, at least until I told him we had canceled his party, and then he started crying. I felt terrible, but I know it was the right thing to do. We still had the grandparents over, so at least Zach got a little bit of a party, and I was able to reschedule the party for this weekend. It was good we did cancel it, too, because at some point either Saturday or Sunday, Zach's temperature spiked to almost 103 degrees, and on Sunday he took a 3 hour nap. Obviously he had some sort of bug, and I would have felt terrible had we passed that on to any other kids.

A few pictures from the family party:

Trying on the new life jacket from Grandpa Kevin and Grandma Cynthia, so he can go fishing with Grandpa.

Opening a bat and baseballs from Aunt Sandy, Uncle Will, and Anders.

A cool new scooter from Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Dick.

Blue again- no idea why that happens or how to fix it, and I don't care enough to waste my time trying to figure it out.

Drew loves Zach's new Buzz (from Grandma Linda and Grandpa Curt) as much as Zach does. And Zach loves the Y-Wing fighter Mike and I got him. I got it back in March, which shopping for Drew's birthday present, because it was on sale for half price.

Drew was also happy to show the new Francesco car he got from Grandma Cynthia and Grandpa Kevin. Francesco is in the Cars 2 movie that comes out in a couple of weeks. (We've read the book, so I feel like we already know the main plot of the movie as well as the characters, and often when Drew is riding his bike, he is Lightning and I am Francesco.)

Zach doesn't look like a sick kid in this picture. Even though he hardly ate any dinner (homemade pizza- you know he was sick if he didn't eat much of that!), he did eat a cupcake.

I like this one just because it has all 3 boys in it.

Now for Jake. That kid is so stinkin' cute, but I am soooo ready for him to nap better! I know it was this way with Drew until sometime between 6 and 7 months, so I figure things will change any day now (fingers crossed). It's common for Jake to take a 40 minute nap, then wake up unhappy but unwilling to go back to sleep. Then about 2 hours later he needs another nap. It makes it very difficult to go do anything, because usually in that 2 hour window Jake also needs to eat, and often times so do Zach and Drew. I'm feeling a little sad, thinking about the freedom the boys and I had last summer to go spend hours at the pool, and right now, that just isn't an option for us. Plus, it's hard to get anything substantial done in 40 minutes, and I think if Jake would sleep longer, he could have longer awake periods, and we could all have more fun.

Jake is army-crawling all over the place. Its' really fun to see his curiosity in action now, as he motors around from one place to the next to check things out. He loves to touch my painted toenails, and he's very interested in vents as well. Today he discovered a doorstop he could boing, and he liked that, too, just like Zach did as a baby.

Jake was doing well with solids, and I even make some of my own baby food for him. He was doing great, but lately he hasn't been doing as well. I think part of the problem is that he's tired in the evening from not napping well, and so he doesn't really focus well on eating. I just started trying to give him some fruit in the morning, too, and that's been kind of hit or miss. Today it went pretty well, I think. He still isn't doing great with a bottle, which is frustrating. It means that I am never away from him for more than 4 hours, and I'd say that's even a stretch! I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I was away from him for even 2 hours. Most weeks I'm away from him mostly just to go to kickboxing class or to go for a run, and lately it seems like life is too busy to squeeze much of either of those in. But look at those baby blues- they do melt my heart.

Zach and Jake have such a sweet connection. Jake's face lights up when Zach talks to him. I know it's delusional to think they'll always have such a sweet relationship, but I do hope that the age difference between them is great enough that they will not fight much. I don't particularly remember fighting with my sister Sandy as a kid, and she and I are also 6 years apart. I suppose when Zach is 16 and Jake is 10, Zach probably won't have much time for Jake, but we'll see. For now, I'll watch with a happy heart as Zach and Jake bring each other joy. Wow- that sounds sappy.

I really cherish any pictures I can get of all 3 boys together, especially if I can get one of all 3 smiling, which is no small feat. This one of all 3 in their jammies is pretty decent, even though they're looking over at my mom instead of at my camera. I just love how you can see they all have the same hairline.

This one kind of cracks me up because Drew looks so pensive, or like he's posing like someone years older than him would do, but I really don't think he was trying to pose. Jake's face is funny, too.

While my mom was here, I was able to get a couple of good pictures of her and Jake.

In addition to army-crawling, Jake is also now sitting up like a champ. It's nice to be able to set him down on the floor and not worry too much about him falling over. He's not very graceful about getting down if he wants to go explore, but that will come.

To take these 6 month photos, I enlisted Zach's help, which is definitely why I got these huge smiles. I LOVE these pictures, and I love knowing that Zach helped produce those humongous grins. That is one little guy who really loves his big brother!

At Jake's 6 month appointment yesterday, I found out that he weighs 15 pounds 10 ounces, which is exactly what Zach weighed at 6 months. Drew weighed 17 pounds 10 ounces at 6 months. What's odd about that is that Jake was the biggest at birth and Drew was the smallest. I'm kinda bummed that Jake hasn't doubled his birth weight and that he's gone from the 70th percentile at birth to the 17th percentile at 6 months for weight. He was 27 inches long, which puts him in the 68th percentile, and also makes him the longest of the 3 boys. So I guess he's long and skinny. He doesn't look skinny to me, and the nurse practitioner wasn't really concerned about him not being bigger. I guess at least he's gaining weight. We just don't have big kids in this family, and I'm okay with that most of the time.

This all reminds me that Zach also had his 6 year check-up last week. Try not to fall off your chair in shock, but he's not big, either. Zach is not quite 45 inches tall, which puts him in the 37th percentile. Weight-wise, Zach was 43 pounds 6 ounces. Back in November he was up to 44 pounds, but when he got so sick this past spring, he dropped 5 pounds and is just now catching back up. It seems like my boys eat really well, so I don't know why they're always on the small side. I guess they have kick-ass metabolisms, like their dad. Lucky boys!

One last picture- Grandma Ruth and 3 of her 6 grandsons. It was great to have my mom's help while Mike was gone. Zach was really sad that Grandma would miss his Star Wars birthday party, but he was very happy she was here for a whole week. My dad had been here for a couple of days, too, before heading back to Colorado to check on the house and get some stuff done, and that was fun, too. Thanks for coming and especially for all the help!!

First Days of Summer

Wow- it's summer already. It really feels like it was just Christmas and the dead of winter. Although it didn't seem like that horrible of a winter, I'm still so happy to have summer and the warmer temperatures upon us. Because of a couple of snow days, Zach's school didn't get out until Monday, June 6. It's so crazy to think that he is done with kindergarten! He had a great year and loved school. We went with the half-day kindergarten program in a neighboring district because we weren't sure if we wanted Zach starting school and being the youngest in his class, or if we wanted to wait a year and have him be a little older. The idea with half-day was that if we felt like he wasn't ready yet, we could move him to our home district next year and do full-day kindergarten. The half-day program he was in had the same curriculum as the full-day program, minus the extra recesses, rest time, lunch, and some of the specials. So we felt like it was the best of both worlds- Zach would get the full curriculum and everything he needed to be ready for first grade, or he would have a great primer for full-day kindergarten next year. But, given Zach's teacher's recommendation and seeing how much he has learned this year, we have decided first grade is the right fit for Zach for next year. I am excited about it, but I think it will be a harder transition for me than this year was, because he will be gone all day long. He's ready, though, so I'm excited for him.

Here is Zach with his teachers after his last day. The teacher in the black shirt was his main teacher, Mrs. Hallman; the other two were associates in his classroom.

So Tuesday was Zach's first official day of summer vacation. We celebrated by having our friends Susan, Anna, and Lucy over. Susan's husband was of out town, so I know she was having some long days. Mike was also out of town, and my mom was here helping me out, so we thought it'd be fun for all of us to get together.

Once Zach got home from golf, the kids hit the pool and the sprinkler. Then we had dinner, and they were back in the water. It was very hot out, so it was the perfect night for it. They had so much fun, and these pictures are great proof of that.

Here are Zach, Lucy, and Drew trying to run away from the sprinkler.

Anna and Lucy have the same swing set at home, but they've never put a pool at the bottom of the slide. The girls loved the water slide idea, though, so I have a feeling BJ and Susan will be following our example soon.

Jake played with Grandma while I took pictures of the big kids.

I love this picture of Zach, Anna, and Drew. They all look so happy.

We couldn't quite get Lucy to stand still long enough for a picture, so this was the best I got of the four of them.

Anna and Drew- not sure where Zach disappeared to.

Anna and Zach pretty much light up at the mention of each other, which is good since they're already betrothed to one another. After I took the pictures above, Anna started saying she wanted a kiss from (or maybe to) Zach. Zach wasn't so sure at first- I think he's hitting that girls-have-cooties stage. I said, "Oh, come on, Zach- just let her kiss you on the cheek." Anna said, "No! On the lips!" And I said it was up to Zach to decide what he was comfortable with. So then they both had this funny, awkward moment, during which I snapped this picture. This will be great at their wedding in 20-25 years.

Then they decided a hug would be best. Good choice, kids. And like a true little brother, Drew was squirting them with a hose during their moment.

After a couple more runs down the slide and some dessert, we decided it was time to end the party. Susan and the girls biked back home and I got the boys showered and in bed. Everybody was exhausted after all the fun.

Let the Fun Begin!

With the nicer weather we've been having the last couple of weeks, we've been enjoying lots of time outside in the sunshine. I love it, and so do the boys!

They've done lots of swinging, and I couldn't resist getting a picture of all 3 boys in swings at the same time. Jake's still a little small, but he loves swinging gently.

We have also filled up the pool a couple of times. I made Zach wear a t-shirt on this particular day because he had a strange rash on his trunk and I didn't want to put sunscreen on it. He wasn't thrilled with the idea, but he was a good sport about it.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

On Sunday I took all 3 boys to the pool at the club for the first time. Jake didn't care for the water in the little pool because it was too cold, but he enjoyed being in the big pool with me. Drew can touch in the big pool, but the water comes up just above his shoulders, so he's pretty nervous about that. As a result, he spent most of his time on the edge of the pool since I was holding Jake. I felt kinda bad for him, but I also want him to get used to standing on his own when he can. I have a feeling, though, that his swim lesson teacher will have her work cut out for her with Drew later in the summer when lessons start! I was nervous about going on my own with all 3 boys, but overall it was a good experience. Because Jake is still taking short naps, he needs them frequently (like every 2 hours), so I told the boys that if Jake is going with us, we won't be at the pool for long. Probably the biggest pain was getting everybody out of their swimsuits and into dry clothes before Jake lost it due to exhaustion. We didn't follow protocol and instead of going into the locker room to change, I just held a towel around Zach and Drew while they got dressed. I don't think anybody minded, though. Jake looked really cute in his swim trunks, swim shirt, and big hat, but I felt like our time was so valuable that I didn't want to waste a minute of it taking a picture. Now I'm kinda bummed that I didn't, but I guess I'll get one next time.

Now for a tangent. Jake is doing really well with sitting up now. Here are some cute pictures I snapped of him showing off one day last week.

Foudy's always willing to pose for a picture, too. What a good dog.