Party Time

It's been really fun with all of Zane's friends turning 2 because he gets to go to lot's of parties. He likes them because he knows he'll get cake and other treats and will get to play. The other day we went to his friend Kai's party and he had a huge slide that Zane loved. He also ate 3 cupcakes, one that we gave him, one from Zack's leftovers, and one that he snuck that we didn't see him get! He didn't take a nap that day, probably from all the sugar! Here's a picture of him stuffing his face. To see a cute video of him bouncing, go to "My Baby's Two" on Kai's website.

Haircut

Zane got his haircut again finally. The last time was when Emerson was one week old (it was my first outing alone with the two of them). As you can see, he needed it. He was so well behaved and just talked non-stop to the lady cutting his hair. By the end, 4 other people who worked there were all over watching and laughing at how cute he was being. He was a hit.

Before...
After...


He even got a tattoo at the Barber Shop...

Big Boy Bed and Other Updates

Big Boy Bed Update:
Ok, so Zane made it two weeks with a perfect record of not getting out of his new bed. We were so impressed with our little guy and just couldn't believe how lucky we were. We were congratulating each other on such an awesome feat, when suddenly it all changed!! We spoke too soon. Starting yesterday, and continuing right at this moment, Zane decided that getting out of his bed over and over and over is fun and exciting and that nap time is not for him anymore. Yesterday I put him back in bed for 2 1/2 hours and he never fell asleep!! Today, right now, I'm sitting outside his room just praying that he'll get tired enough and give up on the fight and go to sleep. If anyone has any brilliant ideas of something that may work, besides just putting him back again and again, please let me know. Man, what a stubborn dude. The biggest bummer is that Emerson has been taking amazing afternoon naps and instead of being able to get things done or have any kind of rest time, I've been working up a sweat putting Zane back in bed. Uggh.

Here are some other things lately:
*Zane has been loving playing with Emerson and has thought she's funny and fun (and the feeling is completely mutual). They entertain each other and laugh at each other a lot now. He takes care of her too, like by giving her toys and telling me when she's crying if I'm in the other room or rubbing her head or back and saying, "It's ok, Emerson" when she's fussing. He also asks to be sure she's coming all the time. When we were at the gym the other day, she was "jumping" on the trampoline with him and he was happier than ever and if other kids tried to jump too, Zane told them he only wanted Emerson (which isn't nice, but funny that he loves her so much).
He's also getting really good at sharing his toys with her and using his toys to talk to her in different voices. He even asked her if she wanted to play with his pants the other day while standing right by her. And he tells her what he's doing all the time, just in case she's wondering.
Watch this video...funny things to look for: Little Mermaid doll with no head, saying "Cheeese" when he thought I was taking a picture, Saying, "Here you go, Emmy" which sounds like thank you, Zane's toys in her lap.

Friends from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

* Zane started pointing and saying "Go away" to us and others, but now that he knows how much we hate it, when he accidentally says it, he interrupts himself and says hi instead to cover it up so we don't notice.

* When someone in a store asked him his name the other day, he said, "I'm Zane. Zane Weingartner. I'm two. I'm nice. I'm cute."

* When trying to go #2 on the potty the other day, he pushed and said, "I can't get it. It's really, really hard."

* When one of us says no to something, he asks for the other parents, or goes and asks them. Already scheming us!

* He says, "I'm so so happy!"

* In the car, when Emerson is screeching, Zane thinks she's trying to sing along and cracks up and says, "Emerson's singing, Mommy!"

* When Zack or I pass gas (I know, I know, gross) Zane asks us if we have a stinky diaper and checks his own diaper and asks if it's a stinky diaper.

* When we're getting ready to go places and he's waiting, he says, "I gotta get outta here!"

* When we're driving, he yells stop at stop lights and tells me when the light turns green. He also says, "We're going up (or down) a hill."

* When we were reading about dinosaurs the other day, I saw one and said, "That one is kinda weird." Now he says that all the time about dinosaurs and other things. Since he can't say his r's, it's so cute..."That's kinda weead"

* When he hurts himself he says, "Ow, ow, ow, ow, I got hurt." because that's what I do. :)

* He asks for the music loud when we're listening..."Loud, please!"

* When he smells anything bad, he says, "PU, I don't like that smell."

* He tries to "beat box" like a guy on TV, but he calls in "being a box." He says, "I'm being a box, Mommy (or Dada).

Emerson is screaming, grabbing everything, rolling all over, playing with her feet and ears, she gets the hiccups everytime she laughs, is eating rice cereal every night, has healthy normal kidneys (after getting some bummer tests done), and is taking good naps. When I listen to audio books, she looks all over the place looking for whose talking. She's still waking up at night... oh my.

Emerson lately has been LOUD and WIGGLY! She figured out how to scream as loud as possible and doesn't hold back. She screams when she's happy, sad, mad, tired, excited. Her face turns red because she's screaming at the top of her lungs! I wish I had a better video, but you can hear her screaming at the end.



She's also rolling all over the place now! Zane and I were eating breakfast a few days ago and we both watched as she did her first roll. This video is of her second roll ever. After this she hasn't stopped at all. She already won't hold still for diaper changes anymore, we can't put her anywhere above ground anymore, and she squirms when she holds us. Man, she's growing up fast.

Rolling Over from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

This next video is her 3rd roll. She's definitely proud of herself after this one. :) By the way, the blanket that she's on was made by her great-great grandma, which is pretty cool.

Recent Pictures

Here are some recent pictures of what we've been up to...

Emerson practicing her new rolling skills (a video is soon to come)




Zane wanted in on the action and starting rolling with Emmy. They were both cracking up.
Our big boy being silly.
We had 3 days of cold and even snow last week, so we were stuck inside and got a little restless but...
Luckily a friend of ours passed down their train set, so we played with it ALL day for several days. It was really fun for Zane to set it up and then of course to roll the train all over it. I even got hooked into it and spent a lot of time trying to make the perfect track.
Zane and Emerson have been "playing" together more. Notice Zane's toys put on Emerson's lap. He's really liking sharing toys with her and also having her sit with him while he plays so she can laugh and squeal at him.
Two big mouths...

Zane's imagination has been exploding lately!! In this picture, he's pretending he's a butterfly and is "flying" up the stairs. It was his idea to use his blankets for wings. He likes to act like lot's of different animals now.
In about 8/10 pictures taken of Emmy, she basically looks scared with those big eyes wide open. It's funny.
Zane had some friends over to play and to eat lunch.

Fresh Beat Band

Zane has a new obsession...the show called "The Fresh Beat Band" on Nickelodeon. It fits perfectly with two of Zane's favorite things to do, sing and dance. He (and we) sing it all day and he begs to watch it all the time. It is the absolute cheesiest most ridiculous show ever, but for a 2 year old it is awesome and unfortunately for us the songs are super catchy so we have them in our head constantly. The four characters' names are Twist, Shout, Marina, and Kiki. In the first video he's saying all their names. He also tries to copy some of their break dance moves by throwing himself on the floor. In this video, when he's dancing like Twist, he's also trying to beat box like him and then is singing, "Just gotta move" which is one of their songs. In both videos, he's just singing on his own. When he's actually watching the show, it's a whole other story...he goes crazy and is super animated and energetic and just has so much fun!



In this video, he's singing another song that goes, "It was a great day. It was a super way...." "We'll kick it our way...we'll play" He sings in different tones of voice and also watch his right food kicking the whole time. My favorite part is when he says, "I got the moves, Mommy" at the end. I guess I say that a lot to him. Sometimes now, when I try to sing other kids songs with him, he says, "No, sing Fresh Beats!" and the second I start singing it he busts out dancing.

Too Tired to Eat

We've been trying to feed Emerson rice cereal as close to bedtime as possible so she'll sleep longer. This is what happened...

Big Boy Bed!!

My sweet little baby boy is officially a big boy now. He made the transition to his big bed last night and is right now, at this moment, attempting his second night. I hear some jumping around, so I'm just really hoping it goes as well as the first night and first nap (which were both basically perfect.) This is sort of the rough draft of his bed...we haven't gotten the head board on yet and once it gets colder, we'll add the baseball team comforter. We also added the railing after these pictures were taken. When he was trying it out, he pulled the sheets all the way up to his chin and asked us to turn off the lights. He also really did not want his pajamas on ( I have no idea why) so he slept in his diaper. Every time we went in to cover him up, his body was laying all over the place in different directions, just like in his crib. So cute.

We got to read some books together in bed, which I LOVED. That was much better than reading on the floor, which is where he always wants to read instead of in his comfortable glider chair. And it just felt good to snuggle in together.

My Big Boy Bed!!


By the way, on this same night, we decided that we had to start letting Emerson cry it out when she woke up. She's been waking up way too much and I've been giving in and feeding her because she acts starving. She slept from about 8:30 - 3:30 and then woke up ready to eat, but instead I just let her cry (and gave her a paci every once in a while). Although, she dozed off a few times for a few minutes, she ended up crying until 5:00. Then she slept until 7:30. So, it wasn't too bad. I'm hoping she cries less tonight and then even less tomorrow and so on until she sleep all the way through the night (our dream come true!). I had a stomach ache the whole time she cried and was wide awake, but if it works, then it's worth it!! We left the crib in Zane's room for now just in case, but once he's doing well consistently in his new bed, we'll move it into Emerson's room and then we'll have our own room space back, which I'm really looking forward to.

Flinching, Chasing, and Spitting

Zane was being silly on the couch and Emerson was watching...but as he got sillier and louder she started flinching and blinking really hard. She's pretty sensitive to noise, so you can imagine her reactions to a 2 year old loud, energetic boy! I also like how she's sitting up so much better, but still tips over a lot.



Zane loves the mouse Gus Gus from Cinderella. He wants to watch that movie a lot and I think it basically has nothing to do with Cinderella, but it's because he loves the mice, especially Gus Gus. So, the other day when I went to get him out of his bed, he asked for Gus Gus to get him out of bed and wouldn't let me get him. So I went downstairs to get him and pretended to bring him back up in my hands and once I got to his bed I pretended he jumped out and then we went on a big chase. Ever since then he loves pretending to catch him and have him jump out of his hands. I also love how he actually looks for him. He's getting so good at using his imagination.

Chasing Gus Gus from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

Emerson has been experimenting lately with new sounds with her mouth. Her latest is spitting all the time. She spits when she's happy and spits when she's mad and spits when she's crying. It's pretty hilarious, especially when she's laying on her back and it sprays all over her face, like in this video.

New Sounds from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

Some Recent Pictures

Zane only falls asleep in the car now when he's REALLY tired. One minute he was talking and reading and he basically zonked out mid sentence with the book still in his hand.
Wearing a new hat he got from Aunt Becca.
I was trying out our new camera and taking a bunch of pictures and he was getting tired of it...this is him rolling his eyes at me I think.
Sleepy guy...
Emerson likes standing up in this bouncy toy. It's funny though because after she's in there for a while, the whole thing is full of drool.

Growing up!

I feel so so far behind on my blog because of not having a camera. Luckily because of generous, generous, friends we were able to get a new camera so I'm ready to post, post, post. You wouldn't think that much goes on during a two week period, but a lot really does happen when you have a toddler and baby!!!
One thing I really want to do is to write down the funny things that Zane keeps saying so later I can look back and read them. It's a daily thing that he's saying new funny and smart things. Like today he put on his backpack and walked up to the door and said, "I'm ready to go on the school bus. I gotta go to school. Ready, Mommy?"
I also HAVE to do better at catching all of Emerson's firsts. I don't want to be that mom that takes a million pictures and keeps track of everything for my fist kid and then just does whatever for my second.

Saying that, Zane and Emerson are both getting so big and having some "firsts!" Emerson is growing a bunch. She just turned 4 months old and weighs 15 lbs and is 26 in. long, which puts her in the 90th %tile for weight and 97th for height. She just started getting really good at sitting up on her own with just a little help and she can sit in her Bumbo seat all alone. The other day, she started rice cereal. The video is of her very first try. Seriously, by the end of that bowl of rice, she was basically eating perfectly. Zack and I were both in shock. She chowed it down and was grabbing my hand to shove the spoon into her mouth. I had to make more for her. The second day, I think she forgot how to do it again, but that's ok. She'll get it soon. We're hoping it will help her to sleep longer at night.

First Bites of Rice Cereal from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

Zane recently got his own bike, one that actually has pedals that he can reach. We still have to push him from behind because he doesn't have the pedaling thing down yet, but I love how he feels so free and independent on it. He's been wanting a bike forever, but all the ones we've tried have been too big. We've made lot's of trip around the block and to the park already.

On the way home from the park, it started raining so we all put our hoods on. :) I know, we're dorks!
In this video, first he sees a doggie. Then he says, "I gotta go on a walk." When he rings the bell, he says, "Excuse me" because I taught him to say, "Excuse me, coming through" and ring the bell when someone is in the way, which hasn't happened of course, but funny that he says it. At the end he was saying he wants to go in the water (puddle).

Bike Riding from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

Updates

Our camera is broken!!!!! My worst nightmare. I feel like I just lost the past week of my kids' lives because I couldn't take any pictures. Dang it.

For now, here are some recent things about Zane and Emerson:

Zane:
* He reads whole books by himself, with expression and everything. His two favorites to read are "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?" and "The Seals on the Bus."
* His sentences are getting longer and clearer everyday. I cannot even believe our conversations now.
* He's super super super picky about food right now. I need to start sneaking nutritious foods into his favorites again.
* All day, he says, "Watch this, Mommy" and "Do you wanna play, Mommy?" and "Wanna come, Mommy?"
* He can say his first and last name, Emmy's and our first and last names, and my sisters' and husbands' (or fiance's) first and last names...he also knows names of friends and their mom's names too. :) He's just gotten really good at remembering names when he sees people and also listing them when he's away from them.
* He can tell me about the Bible story he hears about in church on Sundays and he's right.
* He can have a pretty normal conversation on the phone with people now and wants to make real phone calls.
* He can play a Sesame Street computer game all by himself, knowing which buttons to push (either a key or the mouse button)
* He wants band aids a lot now for his "owies" and if he sees any owie on me, he asks if I want a band aid.
* The other day I told him his pajamas were almost too small and he said, "Yeah, they're almost Emerson's."
* When we went to the doctor for Emmy's checkup, he told her, "Just Emerson, not me," like to be sure she knew that he didn't need to be seen or get any shots.
* He likes the "Fresh Beat Band" on Nickelodeon a ton and sings and dances with them amazingly well. He bangs his drums on our ottomen (how the heck do you spell that) and has to make sure everything is off of it first.
* He understands what I'm saying almost always when I reason with him now or explain why.
* He's my sweet sweet little guy who I love so much.


Emerson:
* She's 4 months old now, is 26 in. long, and weighs 15 lbs. She's in the 97th %tile for height and 88th %tile for weight. She's growing out of some of her 3-6 month clothes already!!! She's still in a size 2 diaper, but may be moving on from that soon too.
* She likes to be held up high in the air and get dropped down...it's a sure bet for a smile or giggle.
* She still wakes up at least once a night to eat and a few other times and has to get soothed back to sleep...uggh! The doctor said she shouldn't need to eat at night anymore though, so we're going to try to let her start crying it out. ( I hope it works).
* She smiles at herself in the mirror.
* She hates the car and carseat, but after fussing enough usually can't resist falling asleep.
* She is pretty sturdy sitting up when we prop her up and holds her head pretty steady.
* We haven't yet, but need and want to move her into her own room VERY soon...hope this week.
* She has to be in the middle of what's going on, or she gets upset.
* Her eyes are still extremely blue, just like Zack's. :)
* She's my sweet sweet little girl who I love so much.