First Smile!

Although Zachary smiles a lot when he is sleeping (or tooting :) Today I noticed his first real smile. I can tell because he did it more than once, and it was when I was being extra smiley/goofy. I then spent way too long attempting to get him to smile again...so I gave up. But we will capture one soon enough! The scratches on his face are from one little finger nail I missed...darn baby nails grow so quickly!!

We've had a great day so far. 70 degrees outside! Gona and Baca came and took Kenna and Josh to the park and out to lunch. I went to get a much needed pedicure and purchased some birthday gifts for McKenna and some wedding gifts for next weekend. Something about this weather really puts me in a great mood!!

--"why are you acting so strange mom?"--

--"nope, not going to smile"--



--sticking his tongue out, mocking me--

--snoozin on my shoulder--

--chillin--

We had a pretty busy weekend! Saturday we were introduced to the newest Andersen. Lucy Noelle was born around 2 in the afternoon on Friday. Tara had an easy delivery and she was 6lbs 9oz, almost the exact same size as Chloe when she was born. We went there in the morning to see Lucy and give Chloe her big sister/birthday gift.

--Chloe loves her sister--

--Lucy Noelle--

--visiting Chloe and Lucy--

That afternoon we took Kenna to Gona and Bacas to play and spend the night. Then Josh and I went tree shopping for baby Zachary and got him an autumn maple and flowering pear tree. We planted two for Kenna when she was born, so we thought it was only fitting :) Then we went to dinner at a Greek place I had been dying to try called Yanni's. We reminised about our Greek travels and had really yummy gyros! That night we watched Date Movie (really stupid BTW) and took it easy.

On Friday Kenna and I had a great day. We ventured over to crocker elementary school (the school that she will go to.) It has HUGE toys. I didn't realize it was a mile and half walk to get there, but she walked the whole way there and home! I also didn't think that class was in session...so we did have to wait until recess was over to play, oops!

--BIG slide--

The nice weather didn't last long. Seems that the rain started this weekend and never stopped! Oh well, will be perfect garden planting weather tomorrow! I think Zachary and I will venture out and buy all our veggies today to plant, woohoo!

Patronizing

I guess our little girl is growing up. Normally we try to distract her while we get ready - talking about where we are going and what we are going to do. We find that this keeps her focused on getting her hair done, getting dressed, getting shoes on, etc. And it leaves little time for distractions like dollhouses, marks on the floor, the dog and other things that make getting out the door take hours. Many times we ask her questions like where is your coat, and do you think it is nice outside today? I think she must think we are idiots because today Josh says "where are daddy's shoes?" Kenna responds "I don't know, I didn't move them!" It is a rather silly question! I guess our distractions need to get more creative :)

On an exciting note, Zachary slept 6 hours straight last night...woohoo! But that was only after Josh laid on the floor with him for 45 minutes and stared at the ceiling fan :) Thanks little boy for giving mommy some sleep!

Ahhhhh Spring is here

We had the best day today! Zachary and I went on a really long walk with Shelly and Nolan. Then I finished weeding outside while he took a nap. I got a chance to start on his baby announcements...I know a month after he is born :) I chatted with my mom for an hour during nap number two, then Kenna and I went to Kindermusik. I think the weather just puts everyone in a good mood!

--must be having happy dreams, look at that grin!--

--I didn't pose him, he sleeps like this sometimes!--

--kenna acting like a lion--

--on her way to heathers, I couldn't get her to hold still for a picture of the ultra-cuteness--

A visit from Tim and Janice

On Wednesday Tim and Janice came down from Wisconsin to visit. We all went to Chili's for dinner and Kenna had a blast sticking her tongue out at Uncle Tim. She really isn't normally allowed to do this, so was a special treat to pick on them! Of course they came with the CUTEST little ralph lauren outfits, and some other fun things like 4th of July socks and a big sister shirt for Kenna. It was really nice to hang out. Unfortunately Zachary didn't poop on Aunt Janice, which has become a tradition...but he still has a few years in diapers...so we are hoping!

--aunt janice holding Zachary--

--on Friday we had a playdate and picnic with Chloe--



--a picture of Chloe's birthday with Dora cupcakes from Saturday--

--daddy and Zachary snoozing on the couch afterwards--



--Kenna holding her baby brother--

--here is a picture of Kenna at about the same age for comparison :) --

--Zachary talking--

--playing in his bouncer...look at the little toes :) --

--alert, checking things out--

--post bath jammies--

--kenna said she was wearing her hat to "keep my hair out of my eyes" she sported it all morning!--

--kenna and her buddy--

--Zachary checking out his mirror--

--closeup--

--snoozing after a long day!--

Chloe's birthday

Today we had quite the fun day. Chloe turns three next week, but because her little sister is due at roughly the same time, the Andersen's had her party a little early! Great minds must think alike, because we had planned on the exact same location for Kenna's party in May, the "castle playground" near big creek lake. We had dora cupcakes and got to play with Kevin and Chloe all afternoon. Was quite fun, despite the threat of rain. Then, this afternoon we played and knocked out some of the chores that have been looming :)

I also wanted to make sure to write about McKenna's elaborate imagination. Lately she has had more and more invisible friends, but the ones that frequent our house most often are dogs. She has a small white dog named Maggie (coincidentally the name of Chloe's real lab puppy.) Kenna's maggie fits in her hand and is often hiding, eating or barking. Maggie goes everywhere with us, and sometimes brings her doggie friends for mommy and daddy to hold in our hands too. A few days ago she was making lots of barking noises from the back seat. I asked her if Maggie was barking because she sure was noisy! Kenna told me, "no mommy, your doggie and maggie are woofing together." Silly me!!!

What a fun day

Today I was a little nervous. I had a ton to do, and had both kids all day. But it was surprisingly fun! We started the day early and went to the library. Did some puzzles, played with the train, listened to story time and checked out some books. Then, we came home. I fed Zachary and made a picnic lunch. We headed to the park and met up with Chloe and Tara. Kenna was sporting some very cute shorts, but ended up falling down three times and really scraping up her knees. We had fun at the park, regardless, but she got really upset on the walk home. She complained that her knees hurt...so I improvised and figured out a way for her to ride on the stroller. Then we got home and Kenna took her nap while I played with Zachary (would be nice to get them on the same schedule one of these days :) After she got up we headed to the vet to pick up Rylee from her dental cleaning and then to the grocery store. We spent the rest of the night eating dinner, playing and finally bedtime. Man, I am beat, but life with two kids isn't too bad! I feel like we got it down :) I am so happy to have such great kids and to be able to spend such a sunshiney fun day with both of them!

Easter

We had such a great easter! This year we got up early on Saturday and took the whole family to Living History Farms easter egg hunt. The farm is many acres of rustic buildings from the late 1800s. You can see how blacksmiths, farmers, doctors, etc worked then. Anytime you visit you will see people wearing authentic clothing from that time and doing things the way they would in the 1800s, very cool! I am glad we got there early. We pulled in about 8:30 and there were only like 50 cars, so I thought it might be a bust. While I sat in the car and fed Zachary, and Daddy and Kenna waited in line hundreds of other people showed up.

We bought our tickets and headed straight for the toddler easter egg hunt. They got to find three eggs then got a brownie and some milk. She thought it was a blast. We headed up the hill to the other exhibits and then saw that what we had just walked right to now had a line of hundreds of toddlers. Thank goodness we got there early!

-kenna and the easter bunny--

--looking for eggs (they had stickers inside, how fun!) --

--it was chilly, but ended up in the fifties by the time we left--

--eating her brownie and "choklit milk!"--

--just part of the line, wish I had taken a picture from afar--

--after the hunt we went to the bunny barn, here she is petting bambi--

--this look is priceless, holding a bunny with some help from daddy--

--then they went on a horsey ride--

Pretty fun day, and well worth the $5 to get in. We will probably make an event out of this every year, and will definitely get there early!

On Sunday Kenna woke up to see that the easter bunny had come. He left her stickers, art stuff, and a chocolate rabbit. She thought it was more fun that he left Zachary some diapers and a toy duck!

Later that morning we went to Mace's for some formal introductions of Zachary to his great grandparents and some yummy easter lunch!

--checking out her easter loot!--

--gramma great holding zachary--

--josh and emmi staged an easter egg hunt for kenna and kade. They had a blast!--

--Bridgot got a turn, he was happy until I got the camera out!--

At the end of the day AJ brought over his rediculous new truck. He is planning on lowering it in the next few weeks, but all the men got a hoot out of its huge-ness!

Happy Easter!

More fun pictures

Thanks Kathy for taking all of these photos!

--another shot of my birthday guests--

--kissing her brother--

--gona holding zachary--

First checkup

We went to the doctor yesterday for Zachary's 2 week checkup. Because he was a healthy boy, and because the weather has been awful, Dr. Bilgi told us to skip the 1 week checkup, and just come in for a two week one. Zachary weighed in at a husky 9lbs 5oz, and was 21 inches long. Right about 50th percentil for both. He is definitely a good eater, and all was well. The next appointment is 2 months!

2 weeks later

Well, last night was my first night alone with two little ones. We took Gramma Rue to the airport, and after a tear felt goodbye I had a minor epiphany realizing that I would now have to handle both of them by myself. It wasn't too bad, just have to think of new ways to do things. I have to put Zachary down, even if he is crying if Kenna needs help in the bathroom. And Kenna held the books while I read them last night so I could rock Zachary. She is still a great big sister and wants to be involved in everything Zachary including diaper changes, baths, and feeding him.

We had a great time with Grandma Rue here. We sure ate well, and she gave Kenna that one on one attention she needed. She also helped keep the house clean and weeded my garden in preparation for spring. I wish the weather had been better because I think we all got a little stir crazy, but the three weeks flew by very quickly!

--stick em up--

--she LOVES her brother--

--daddy took kenna to meet Maggie, the Andersen's new puppy!--

--constantly wants to "hold my baby bwudder"--

--gramma rue and kenna cuddling and watching movies--

--some cuddle time with daddy, he's been working 15 hour days and we sure miss him!--

--what zachary does best, other than eat, sleep!--

--some visitors for my belated bday party--

--a pic with his eyes open, 2 weeks old!--