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.

Party and The Next Day

We went to Jordan and Ben's engagement party on Saturday in Pueblo. It was a lot of fun to meet Ben's family. Zane was super happy and loving life that night and Emerson had one of her worst nights ever, not sure why. It was almost 100 degrees outside, so they put a little pool out. We didn't have any swim diapers, so tried him in a regular diaper first and it got too heavy. Then, we had to decide between going naked or wearing his shorts with no diaper...we didn't want to risk a nasty sunburn so went with the shorts. He didn't hold back at all. He also had a big audience laughing at him, which made him be even more silly and have more fun. When we got in the car to go home, Emerson feel asleep within seconds and Zane asked to go back to the party.




The next day, he woke up not feeling well. The very first thing he said when I went into his room was, "I'm sick. I don't feel good. I have a cough." All morning, he kept saying it over and over and over. I think he just has a little cold, no fever or anything, but it just mellowed him out a little the past few days.


Anyways, you have to watch the whole video, because it starts out sad and sort of pathetic, but then gets cute at the end. He was being like this all morning and then I gave him just a tiny bit of Tylenol because he knows it's medicine and from that second on he was fine...nice placebo effect!

"I don't feel good. I'm sick." from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

Are We Home Yet?!?!

Here's 22 memorable things that made up our drive from Woodbury, MN to Castle Rock, CO:

1. 17 hours total travel time including driving and stops
2. 2 days
3. 1 night in a hotel in Kearney, Nebraska
4. Zane and Zack swimming at the hotel and Zane eating random snacks for dinner by the pool
5. lot's of sunflower seeds, snacks, and drinks
6. one adult driving and the other smashed between 2 car seats in the backseat to entertain kids
7. crying, crying, and more crying
8. Kanye West, Veggie Tales, and other music on the radio
9. Scooby Doo, Shrek, Cinderella, Thomas the Train, Kung Fu Panda, and other videos on the DVD player
10. tons of spills and stained clothes
11. fussing and complaining and saying, "I want to go home!"
12. feeding Emerson in the car and Zane running around parking lots
13. sleeping in one hotel room together, waking up at 6:30 am
14. Zack and me eating pizza in the hotel bathroom so we didn't wake up Z and E
15. 3 suitcases, 1 diaper bag, 3-4 other misc. bags, coolers, stroller, bed, lots of odds and ends
16. Zane being so worn out after the first day that he fell asleep with literally no sound in the hotel, thanks goodness because it didn't wake up Emerson
17. Zane asking for candy, specifically for Reeces Pieces, us saying no, him crying
18. crying, crying, and more crying
19. singing, games, playing, laughing, tickling, dancing and anything else to pass time
20. changing diapers in the car and in gas stations
21. Zane smiling for hours when we got home...he and Emerson were both SO happy
22. Zack and I decided that we will definitely fly next time!

Emerson did sleep a lot, but when she was awake she needed constant attention or she would start crying...what a baby!!
We thought of anything we could to entertain Zane. At one point, he just starting putting stickers anywhere he could think of, including all over his face and body. He was sticking out his tongue in concentration.
Just a quick glimpse into the driving insanity that we experienced...

Minnesota

From Michigan, we drove about 8 hours (which felt like 20) to Minnesota to visit Zack's parents. Both of his sisters and their families were there too. We got there just in time for Ed's 60th birthday party so we got to celebrate with them. On our trip, we also got to eat some good food, go to Mall of America, play outside a bunch, go to yoga, get pedicures with the girls, and visit the Children's Museum again. Zack and I even got to leave the kids at home with Gigi and Papa while we went to dinner and the blink 182 concert. Thanks for a great trip guys!

Zane got to go on a bunch of rides at Mall of America. He loved riding with Gigi!
You can see his little face popping up in the middle of the train smiling. This ride was a mini roller coaster...I think Gigi was a little nervous but Zane liked it. :) :)

Zane and Papa were having a man to man conversation on the front porch...
We took pictures of us and the babies in the parking lot of the mall because we weren't sure if they would all be as happy once we got in there. That is Becca and Sarah, Zack's sisters. The baby next to Emerson is Fisher, Becca's little guy.
Emmy liked hanging out with her cousin Fisher, who is about 6 weeks younger than her.


I think Zane was rocking them a little to hard because they both look a little startled.
Zane got to ride on the "tractor" to help mow the lawn with Papa and Dada.


Next blog entry: The drive home :)

Lake in Michigan

We got to spend a week at Lake Michigan with my family last week. It was so nice to play, relax, and spend time together as a family. Zane was basically in heaven. He had extra attention from everyone and got to do tons at the lake.

Here is Zack relaxing and reading with Emerson. We set up a tent so she could be in the shade.

Here's Zane and I on the jet ski. I had to get used it it first on my own and then I took Zack and then Zane on a ride. He loved it but then noticed the stop button so turned off the engine out in the middle of the lake a few times. That's when I decided to come back in. He talked about it the rest of the day.


He spent HOURS and HOURS just playing in the sand, throwing it in the water, building and breaking "castles," filling buckets, laying in it, "swimming" in it, rubbing it on our legs, putting it in his hair and whatever else you can imagine. When we brought him in after playing, he was so caked in sand that we just stripped him down and sprayed him with the hose each time. He liked that too. :)

Emerson hung out a lot inside, but was pretty happy during the trip.
We took one quick morning trip to the park and library to get Zane out of the house for a while.

Good vacation reading....he was reading Us Magazine.
One of Zane's favorite things to do was to run into the pack of birds and watch them all fly away. I took this picture from the deck of the house...it's him and Zack running and scaring the birds.
Zane went on his first fishing trip with Grandpa and had absolutely no fear! He held the fish and helped with everything.

He even gave his first caught fish a kiss on the lips.
He grabbed the minnows out of the bucket to use as bait.
Emerson spent some time in the shade of her tent out on the beach. The sound of the waves put her to sleep and when she wasn't sleeping she was pretty content just hanging out with us.
We walked down to the pier one day to get some ice cream. Zane asked specifically for strawberry and it got a little messy as you can see.
Here's Zane driving the boat. He kept trying to change the radio station and other settings.
He went in to go swimming a few times. It was pretty cold though, so he didn't spend too much time in the water.





Since he was playing so hard, he took good long naps. Here's Zane just waking up from a great nap.
We got to ride in the boat. We went with Dave to go pick it up. Zane loved it and acted really brave and confident when we were going slow and got a little nervous and quiet when we went fast.

Sunbathing...


He also got to ride in the kayak, but we didn't get a shot of it. We also spent two afternoons tubing behind the boat. I loved it...once Nellie and I both went on one tube together and ended up flying off in a crazy way. We didn't try that again. It was a great trip!!