Rain

It's common, when a loved one dies, to find something that makes you feel like those who are gone are near by. For example, shortly after my Grandma Dotter died a dragon fly came and landed on my mom's shoulder, in turn now dragon flies remind my mom of her mother. After dad died, people told me to try to find something like this as it would be comforting to me whenever I saw that thing.

Six months later I have decided that thing is rain. As depressing as it sounds, it is perfect for my father. He loved rain and prayed for it daily. There has been numerous times over the past six months where I have felt dad was with me, while it was raining. The day after dad died it rained a slow, cool, rain all day. This made perfect since to all of us because we knew that one of dad's top priorities, once he got to heaven, would be to bring some rain to his beloved farm land.

There were a couple days before Zane's surgery that it started to rain right at the time I became over whelmed or started to really miss dad. The night before surgery Mom, Able, and I stood on the front porch watching it pour, and I remember saying "dad's here." There were days after surgery, when I became over whelmed, that I found myself looking out Zane's window and saw that it was raining. I immediately would feel dad's presence, bringing me strength.

Last night on my way home from work, it began to rain. It had been a long weekend at work, not the usual slow, relaxing weekend. As it began to rain I felt some of that stress melt away and I began to cry, as I knew my dad was watching over me. I'm sure there will be many more of theses situations in the years to come and I am sure I will be brought to tears each time.

Ten on Tuesday

1. This weekend we got a lot of work done around the house. It is amazing how much work I get done when it is nice outside. It was beautiful over the weekend and we were able to clean the leaves out of the front flower beds, go on a walk with Zane, Zach did the taxes, and I cleaned/reorganized several places in the house. Yesterday was a gloomy, rainy day, and I didn't get nearly as much done.

2. Zach is traveling to Arkansas for work tomorrow and I have to work. This means that neither of us will be home until 8pm, too late for Zane to stay at day care. So this means Zane gets a fun filled day with his Grammie. We thought his Grammie would love a day of Zane all to herself and I am sure Zane will have a blast as well. Thanks Grammie!

3. Zane is doing better with eating pieces of food. His latest favorite is little bits of grapes. He has a little difficulty picking them sometimes ( grapes can be slippery) but he seems to enjoy them once he gets them in his mouth. We also tried stage 3 foods with him and he did great. He hasn't vomited while eating in days  (knock on wood).

4. I have been doing well with working out, though there have been multiple sicks days, but I have powered on. I feel stronger and have lost 4 pounds. I know it isn't much, but I am trying to stay motivated, eat better, cook more, and not get discouraged.  Zach has been a great workout partner and has really helped me stay to our menu plan, thanks Zach!

5. I'm excited about my upcoming trip to Oklahoma. Zane and I are going the first week of March, partly to celebrate Abbey's birthday week, and party to stay true to my goal of going home more. I am terrified of flying alone and cannot figure out how I am going to go to the bathroom in the airport. I am thinking I am going to have to take the stroller. How do you get through security with a stroller? If anyone has ideas of flying alone with an 8th month old, let me know!

6. Also this weekend we worked on Zane putting himself to sleep for naps. This has worked on and off, but with trips out of town and our multiple illnesses I had fallen off the wagon. In GREAT news over the weekend we got back on the wagon and he is doing amazing. He puts himself to sleep with only a little mutter in his crib before hand. It makes our day run so much smoother.

7. I had to work today and my take home message from the day is "There is no need to be hateful to people." I try to be pleasant, positive, and happy with everyone at work ( families, patients, and co-workers alike) so when I am have to deal with unhappy/hateful people it puts me in a funk. I know they are under a lot of stress, I have literally been there, but being mean to other people gets you no where. Ok I'm off my soap box.

8. Zane has woken up screaming the past two nights shortly after we put him to sleep. It isn't a hungry or I'm in pain scream, it's the scream of fear that he had after surgery. It is the most heart breaking thing I have ever seen. Last night he woke up and was so upset he could barely catch his breath. He didn't know where he was and couldn't get himself pulled together. I don't know what kind of bad dream he had, but I can't help but think he could be remembering some of what went on in the hospital. Zach said he did it again tonight while I was at work. Poor little man, those memories can't fade quick enough.

9. Knife update: I finally cute myself with the knife while making chicken pot pie yesterday. Yes, I made chicken pot pie and it was delicious. Also, I thought you all might want to know when I finally cut myself as it was bound to happen soon :)

10. In other great news I found out last week that I get to stay on day shift during my upcoming night rotation in April. There was a brief two day period where I was told I would have to go to nights and it pushed me over the edge just a little bit. I wasn't sure how I was going to make my life work. Nights puts me in such a dark place because I never get to see Zach ( and now Zane) and frankly I just couldn't imagine going through that right now. So God came through for me yet again. He really doesn't give you more than you can handle, though sometimes I wish he didn't trust me so much ( as the old quote goes).

Happy Tuesday!

8 month update

Zane is 8 months old today and is full of personality. He has strong opinions on what he wants to do, what he wants to play with, where he wants to go, and is working hard on finding a way to get there by himself. He seems more strong willed as of late, whether it is fighting taking a nap, or throwing a miniature fit when he can't play with something (i.e. a cell phone of the flip camera). He has been a funny boy since the beginning, but recently I feel like his own little personality is really starting to shine through. He loves laughing and loves having people laugh at him. He finds his daddy hysterical, as seen in this video where he found Zane feeding him dinner very funny. So cute!

Zane seems to have changed a lot this month but I am having a hard time trying to figure out how to put it into words. He seems more independent for some reason, though he really isn't independent at all. He has started feeding himself this month, mainly cheerios. I continue to try to get him to eat little pieces of other foods, like fruits and veggies, but he has the most unbelievable gag reflex so this usually ends with vomit. I am starting to get a little stressed about it, but surely at some point he will get past it, right? Let's hope so because what is a first birthday party without the birthday boy eating cake.

He is much more independent in his playing as well. He can get from sitting to laying and rolling all over the room in no time. He loves to roll all over the basement, but for some reason he is most fascinated with the door to the laundry room. He rolls over and investigates it on a daily basis. He is making great progress on crawling, but he really is quite satisfied with his own method of getting around. Over the past month Zane has started to prefer being on the floor, playing with toys, and moving around, rather than in his saucer. He is enjoying his jumperoo more, now that he is tall enough to reach everything. He goes pretty crazy in it and can be fully entertained by it for most of our hour long workout. Zane is also now a big fan of peek-a-boo which has led to hours of fun.

Appearance wise he just seems bigger and more like a little boy each day. At his last cardiology appointment he weighed 21 pounds and was 28 inches long. I think he is going to have Zach's skin tone, as he has started to seem a little more olive skinned as of late. That dark skin and white blond hair is going to be show stopper for sure. His eyes continue to get bluer and I am still holding out hope that he will have Grandma Dotter's eye color when it is all said and done. His twelve month clothes are starting to get a little short and a little snug, but I am not buying any more winter clothes so we are making them last until spring time gets here.

Zane and I were both sick for most of this month. Zane has had a cough for most of the month, but he seems to be feeling better so lets hope that the winter illness is over soon. All things considered I think we have made it through winter with only minor illnesses ( knock on wood) which is amazing and a huge blessing. I want to comment on his lack of ear infections so far but am not saying a word for fear of jinxing it.

Zane got his first tooth this month, he flew for the second time, enjoyed Brendan's birthday celebrations, had fun on the farm with my family, enjoyed his first Valentine's day, and has had hours of fun here at home as well. This week we ventured outside for the first time in a while. Zane got to play in the leaves, which he wasn't really sure about, and he thoroughly enjoyed Grandma B's wind chimes. I am looking forward to many more fun outside activities in the month to come.

An update from the lungers

Yesterday Zane and I sat around the house being very pathetic, coughing with runny noses. We briefly left the house so I could got to the doctor and get my Z-pack. For some reason Zane is anti-sleep when he is sick. He slept a grand total of an hour yesterday, 30 minute at 9 and then a 30 minute nap at 3p.m. Both naps were taken only after much protest. This is the opposite of how I deal with illness so it was frustrating to say the least and I was exhausted with no voice by the time Zach got home.

He slept well last night with only minimal coughing. He went to sleep at 7:30 p.m. and didn't wake up until 3am. I am pretty sure he woke up because he was hungry not because of his cough. That is a huge improvement from the past couple of days. He was coughing quite a bit when he woke up this morning, but seems to be feeling much better today. He ate a whole bottle when he woke up, which is also an improvement from yesterday. He still is not wanting to nap, though he is blatantly tired.

My update isn't as great, but I'm getting there. I couldn't talk at all last night, which led to a very quiet night, with Zach and I talking via written notes. I don't feel horrible so much as I can't stop coughing, am continually blowing my nose, and don't have much of a voice. I started my Z-pack yesterday afternoon, so I am banking on feeling much better by tomorrow so I can work. Mainly I just need to be able to talk without going into a coughing fit.  I didn't sleep well last night, what with the uncontrolled coughing, but luckily this didn't wake up Zane. I was hoping up that I could nap today, but no such luck.

Today I tried not to talk much, resting the vocal cords, but that has been difficult while being a mommy. I didn't realize how much I talk to Zane, carrying on random conversations with him all day, until I tried not to talk today. We were hoping to get outside today, but it was very windy and Zane wasn't in a great mood, what with the not napping. Yesterday Zane and I investigated the yard briefly, playing with the wind chimes  (which he loved), leaves, and tall grass in front of our house.

I have aired out the house for two days now, Clorox wiped everything down each day, washed all the sheets, and last night I bleached or machine washed all of Zane's toys. I will get all the germs out of this house come hell or high water.

1. We are all sick again. I don't know what is wrong with us, but we now all have horrible coughs, sore throats, and snotty noises. Zach took Zane to his doctor yesterday, she said it was a virus of some kind and we would just have to wait it out. He wakes up coughing in the night and feels miserable, poor little guy. Doctor said he was good to go to daycare, which I disagreed with but I can't call into work anymore and neither can Zach. We shall see how we feel Friday when I am suppose to work again. Zach said he did good at daycare and didn't cough very much this evening. Maybe he is on the up swing, I am not.

 

2. Making matters worse for little Zaney boy is that he is teething big time. He got his first official tooth yesterday, the left tooth of his bottom two front teeth. The right one will break through soon I'm sure. Sorry mom no more toothless grin.

 

3. In good news Zane's cardiologist wrote me an email back ( at 10pm on a Saturday) saying Zane could stop his lasix. This is very exciting and means he is down to one medication a day, pepcid. I don't see him getting off that anytime soon, but at least he is off heart meds.

4. Zach and I went on a date Sunday night to celebrate Valentine's Day. We went and saw The King's Speech, which turns out was very good and surprisingly funny. Zach and I were the youngest people in the theater by at least 20 years. This could be because we went to the 4:00pm show or because Zach and I are now old people. Thanks Maggie for baby sitting, Zane loved his Valentine's Day date with you!

5. I wish I felt better so I could be enjoying the nicer weather we have been having. It has been in the 50s for the past couple days and most of the snow has finally melted. Maybe Zane and I will enjoy it on the way to my doctor's appointment tomorrow :(

6. In other good news the little boy that I wrote about the other day, who was going to get the huge brain tumor removed, is doing amazing. He is totally appropriate after surgery, the tumor was benign, and he went home today! He was one of the cutest patients I have ever had. He acted like a little old man, though he was only 7 years old and the size of a four year old ( due to the tumor). We talked about farm life, his horses, his dogs, stacking wood, and he told me he would miss me when he was at home. Also, one of my favorite quotes ever " I had to terrorize the turtle to got it to stop biting me." We were talking about his pond, obviously. He is seven, how funny is that!!!!

7. I missed Dad a lot this weekend for unknown reasons. It just felt like a weekend that I would have called home and talked to him Saturday morning. I so want to tell him about Zane and talk to him about parenthood, it is hard to grasp that that will never happen. He was in one of my dreams, briefly.  He told me to stop looking for him and that he was fine and then disappeared. That is probably why I missed him all weekend, huh. The mourning and missing really does come in waves. I think spring will be hard without Dad, as I usually called him a couple times a week as I planned/planted my garden.

8. I am thoroughly enjoying eating my homemade bread. However, that is a lot of bread for two people to eat. I probably shouldn't make that again until we have visitors. 

9. Zane throws fits now and I don't like it. Specifically when we try to take away his favorite bath toy. This toy is different every night. But every night he thinks he has to take a toy with him to go put his jammies on. He looses his mind when we take it away. He has to learn that throwing fits gets him no where, but I usually give him the toy back, so maybe he isn't learning any lessons at all. Oh well...

10.Here is hoping my head and/or lungs don't explode. They feel like they might right now. Hope Zane behaves himself tomorrow so we can get some rest. I am so so sick of being sick!

Homemade Bread

When we were growing up mom would make homemade bread all the time. Mostly in the summer when we were all home, especially during harvest when she would make her famous ranch burgers to take out to the field for lunch. I would always watch/help her, but some how never actually learned how to make bread. Probably because I could never imagine a time when I would actually be the one making the bread. In my little mind mom would always be there to make it.

Well, time has passed and I have learned the hard way that my parents won't always be around to make the bread or tell me all I need to know about gardening. I sure wish I would have paid more attention when dad was telling me about all of that, but again I thought he would always be a phone call away to tell me what kind of plants and dirt to buy. Sigh....

Anyway, as part of my new years resolution to learn from my past regrets and move forward I decided I wanted to learn how to make my mom's home made bread. Mom gave me a great tutorial the last time I was home and I came back to STL, with my detailed instructions, ready to make some bread. It's been a couple weeks since I was home, and there was a brief period where I thought I had lost the instructions, but I found them yesterday and decided today was the day to face my fears and give it a shot.

I got all my ingredients this morning, including what I am pretty sure is going to be a life time supply of whole wheat flour and another bread pan, came home and began preparations. I have figured out why I am not a huge fan of cooking/baking. First of all when I am going to actually cook or bake I like to start with a clean kitchen, everything put away and in it's place so I can easily find it when I'm cooking. This means that before I ever start cooking I usually clean the whole kitchen, which takes some time. Then through the process of cooking the kitchen is a wreck again. A dirty kitchen stresses me out, so when I have finished the meal I usually do the whole cleaning routine again and by the time I'm done I have spent an entire day cooking and cleaning. Or what  happens more often is I don't clean it right away and regret it when I wake up to a messy kitchen. The second reason is that there are some amazing cooks in my family, setting the bar way too high. My mother, sister, and grandpa are all great cooks. They make up dishes, throw things together out of whatever they have in the pantry, and when they taste something they know just what the dish needs. I, being a science minded person, really need a recipe and get pretty stressed out when I go off script. And of course there is the inevitable, comparing myself to these amazing cooks.

I digress... back to the bread making. It went well, though I have to admit I was highly stressed out during the whole thing. At one point I told Zane that whether or not he will ever get to eat home made cinnamon rolls all rests on the results of this bread making experience. Zach promptly told me I was being dramatic and we moved on. I felt that my dough wasn't as wet as mom's had been when I took it out of the mixer, but had no idea how to go about making it moister, so I just continued on. I still don't have a good kneading technique and didn't want to practice too much for fear of "killing" the yeast which I am told can happen with too much kneading.

The bread rose nicely in my yellow bowl. I don't know what you would do if you didn't have a big yellow Pyrex bowl, as it is a pivotal part of the process. I then had to try to figure out how to make the tops of the bread look nice and smooth before putting it in the bread pans. I didn't do a great job but again was scared of murdering the yeast so I stopped after only a couple kneads. It took longer to rise in the pans than I felt it should. I contemplated throwing it all out at this point, but again Zach told me I was crazy and I patiently waited for it to finish rising.

Here is the end result. One beautiful loaf of bread, one pretty ugly loaf of bread, and five delicious looking rolls. We had a piece of homemade bread for dessert after dinner and I am happy to report it was everything I had dreamed it would be. I am one step closer to being a good mother, though Zane promptly spit out the tiny piece I gave  him and then made the worst face ever at me. It will grow on him I'm sure.

TOF poster child

Today was Zane's 3 month post-op cardiology appointment. Zane woke up today at 6:30am, this means that he was due for a nap at 8:30am, that of course didn't happen, so he was a very sleepy baby boy for his doctor's appointment. The echo was shorter this time for some reason, maybe they aren't looking at as much stuff now. It was a good thing it didn't take as long because he is much more into grabbing onto his wires, trying to roll off the table, and getting horribly mad at the poor lady rubbing the cold goo all over his chest.

His doctor was happy with the results. The patch between his ventricles is doing great, there is no narrowing in his pulmonary artery, and the tiny hole between his atrium's continues to close as is it should. He said he was the poster child for successful TOF repairs. He weighs 21lb, happy, healthy, and doing amazing. I did forget to ask him if Zane could stop taking his Lasix. This was really the only question needed to get answered during this appointment, but I have no brain, so of course I forgot. I sent the doctor an email and I am hoping he will say we can stop the Lasix now that he is all healed up.

We don't have to go back for another appointment until August. I can't even imagine what Zane will be like in August. He will be running all over that doctor's office. I am so excited that he has, pretty close, to a clean bill of health. Zane and I came home exhausted, both with colds and feeling slightly crummy. He has slept most of the afternoon and I even got a short nap in too.

Hooray for my happy and healthy baby boy! God is good.

Ten Tuesday

1. We finally bought a new stroller. I have only used it once, but so far am really enjoying it. It easily folds and isn't much heavier than the stroller I had before. Zane seemed to enjoy his ride, though it was very brief.

2. Zane has finally figured out how to eat and feed himself little bits of food. He went from immediately vomiting when I would try to feed him these things to eating cheerios like a champ all in the span of a week. It amazed me. Now our house is covered in cheerios. Yesterday I tried to feed him little pieces of apple, which he loved "chewing" on, but never managed to swallow. Silly boy!

3.  I am so incredibly sick of snow. After the "storm of the century" I guess the weather people just gave up because they totally forgot to mention the 4-5 inches of snow that we got on Saturday. Friday I watched the news and they said there may be a "dusting" of snow tomorrow. So I, and everyone else I worked with, didn't get up early for work on Saturday. I woke up to at least 3 inches of snow I had to clean off my car and horrible roads. Apparently after the storm of the century St. Louis put away the snow plows. Luckily the stormed passed while I was at work and the roads were fine for my drive home.

4. I fell completely off my diet this weekend at work. We had a super bowl party on Sunday and I had an easy assignment which meant way too much time to eat all the tasty goodies people had brought into work. I had cake, cupcakes, cookies, Michelle's amazing taco dip, and so much more. Then I ate chicken wings and chips when I got home, not good. I got back on the wagon yesterday. Back to salad and getting extreme.

5. Have I mentioned that Zane's feet are two different sizes. I bought him some new cheap shoes to wear when we go out and about ( I irrationally feel like he needs shoes on to keep his little feet warm even though he always has on socks). The right shoe fits great while the left shoe continually falls off. I see this being an issue in the years to come when he actually starts needing to wear shoes.

6. Zane had his first taste of chocolate the other day. It was a weight watchers fudge bar, which I'm not sure how much of that is actually chocolate, but he loved it. Here is the end results, very cute.

7. Zane fits in his little round house overalls now. These are the overalls that are the miniature version of the kind of overalls dad use to wear. They were bought at Atwoods and everything. He was so adorable in them, but of course he promptly vomited on them shortly  after these pictures were taken. 

8. Happy birthday to my father in-law Mike. Hope you had a great day!

9. In good news I found my Ipod. I had thought that I lost it on our most recent trip to Oklahoma, but yesterday I found it at the bottom of my diaper bag. I did loose my Great Grandmother's wedding ring on that trip though, which I'm absolutely sick about.

10.  The other thing that I lost, due to having lost my brain after having a kid, is the bread recipe that I wrote down with my mom while I was home. I wrote out detailed instructions of when to mix, when and how to kneed the dough, and all the details that I needed to know so I would be able to do it all again. I know it made it back to MO, but it has disappeared. I am depressed about it. I am hoping mom will blog about how to make bread in great detail soon so I can make it at some point. Hint Hint mom : )

Rainbows in the clouds

The other day I saw a show where Maya Angelo was talking about her life, which was full of struggles and heartbreaking events. While discussing how she got through the tough times to become a world famous poet and writer she said a quote that I loved.
 
"God puts rainbows in the clouds so that each of us, in the dreariest and most dreaded moments, can see the possibility of hope."

This got me thinking of the many rainbows that I have seen through the cloudy days of the past few months. There have been too many to count. My friends, old and new, who check in on my all the time. Making sure that I am not in a dark place. My amazing family, especially my ever patient husband, who continue to walk this difficult road with me. My son, nieces, and nephews who are my ever present happy thoughts, helping me look to a brighter future. There have been some rainbows that were larger than others, but all have given me strength to move forward, carry on, and strive to be happy.

Having spent a lot of time pondering this quote/thought on Friday, I then spent this weekend at work, surrounded by horribly sad situations, counting my many blessings. Specifically realizing what a miracle, blessing, and rainbow Zane's life is. Today I saw a kid walk himself down to the 6th floor to have a huge brain tumor removed. If you had seen this boy on the street you would have had no idea that he had a huge tumor. If I had seen him I would have questioned why the left side of his face was ever so slightly droopy. This family sat in the same waiting room that my family and I sat in for hours, waiting for my baby to get out of surgery. They looked at the same fish, I saw them eating breakfast at the same table, and I am sure they thought the same "what if" thoughts.

During our wait I was very confident that everything would be fine and that Zane would live a normal healthy life, though I knew he had a rough couple weeks ahead. When I saw him in the ICU he looked amazing. His little face was puffy and he had all sorts of tubes and monitors, but he was perfect in my eyes. My baby was in the hospital for four days. Those four days felt like a year. We quickly learned the ins and out of the hospital, where to shower, where to eat, where to sleep, and when the doctors would come by. But by the end of the 4th day we were home, playing, and grilling like nothing had happened.

Zane is now amazingly healthy. You would never know that anything was ever wrong with him, unless you took off his shirt. He smiles, laughs, rolls over, eats, just like he should. I am in awe of this blessing. The parents I deal with each day usually take home a different child than they brought to the hospital, usually months before. I can't imagine that kind nightmare. I also think often about the fact that there are a lot of children in other countries, not as blessed as ours, who have the same heart condition as Zane who will not live a long life.

I start each day with the same prayer. 'Dear God, thank you for this day. Thank you for the amazing miracle that is my son's life.' I think I will always start my day with this prayer along with thanking Him for all the rainbows he puts in the clouds.

The next phase and a parents love

Over the past month or so I have felt a big shift from baby baby to... lets say medium baby. I don't really know what to call it because Zane is still definitely a baby. He can't crawl, he has no teeth ( which is strange but true), he doesn't feed himself, he wears diapers, and  the list goes on and on. However, over the past couple months the baby baby things have slowly been transferred downstairs into storage, awaiting the next little Korenak baby ( that is terrifying).

The first thing to go was his baby bath seat, which has been put away and now Zane enjoys the freedoms of laying or sitting in his bath water, splashing and playing with his toys. He loves it, though some times he is slightly over confident in his reach and mommy or daddy has to help avoid the face first slide into the water. I, very reluctantly took the baby swing downstairs at the en of November as he was way too big for it.We had kept it around a little longer during the post-op healing period to help him/us get some sleep. His bouncy chair, which he spent endless hours playing and giggling in, also was put away to make room for his now adored saucer play station.

The most recent change to our routine is the transfer from the baby car seat to his new big boy seat, which he can be in until he weighs 55 lbs. That seems crazy but that is what the box says. This change was what made me really feel the shift into the new phase. Along with the car seat went our stroller, since we only had the kind that his car seat would snap into. I loved the stroller, it was light weight, easily fit in my trunk, and easily folded and unfolded ( once I got the hang of it and got my Mommy confidence). I miss being able to take Zane out of the car, in his car seat, put him in the shopping cart, and go.

This morning was my first trip to the grocery store with Zane using this new system. Yes, he has been in the new car seats since before we went to Oklahoma for Brendan's birthday, but with the sickness and the snow I have been on house arrest for weeks now. Let's just say I have yet to master the new system. The puddles of mush/ice/water weren't helping my cause today either. But we managed and Zane loved his shopping cart cover and the ladies at the grocery stored loved seeing Zane sitting up playing hen with his toys. I loved the end effect of the shopping cart cover, which was that Zane wasn't licking/biting the nasty shopping cart handle, but it was an extra step and extra thing to lug around. We will see how long it lasts.

 When we got home from our grocery shopping Zane and I were both beat. He took one of his longest naps to date, of course I didn't go to sleep because the key to a long Zane nap is that I decide I won't try to nap at the same time. When he got up he was starving  and feed himself some cheerios and puffs. This is also a new thing for Zane which he is loving.  He was doing so well, eating some sweet potatoes along with it, but a coughing fit ended his lunch fun with large quantities of vomit.

I am amazed at the love I have for my own child. Only Zane could projectiley vomit all over himself and me and I not loose my mind. I calmly clean up the situation ( and it was a rather large situation), change Zane's clothes, clean the vomit off of him, myself, the high chair, the floor, wash out his clothes, start the laundry, and then happily go back to playing with my favorite little man. This happens with all sorts of bodily fluids everyday and yet I still adore him and do it all with only slight amounts of disgust (the disgust is really just with the blow outs). Oh the love of a parent is so strong. Thanks Mom for cleaning up all my bodily fluids without complaint for all those years that I don't remember. It now means the world to me, thanks for still loving me after all that.

Ten on Tuesday

1. I survived the "storm of the century." Why do news people insist on calling every storm the storm of the century. I hope this was the storm of the century because it wasn't that horrible. Not something I want to drive in everyday, but doable. It was mainly sleety, freezing rain today with just a little bit a snow on top for good measure. The drive home was frightening, but went well. At least I don't have to work tomorrow because I would most likely be sleeping on a cot at the hospital. I have slept at the hospital before, it is awful. Needless to say I am happy to be home and cozy with my little family.

2.  Yesterday was horribly gloomy and I dreaded trying to get to work today all day long. Turned out the drive to work was totally fine it didn't even rain over night. I basically wasted the entire day being in a funk. I am so sick of winter, snow, sleet, ice, and freezing temperatures and it is only the first of February.

3. Happy birthday to my brother-in-law Brent. Hope you had a great day in snowy Oklahoma.

4. Zach and I got a new computer last week and I am loving it. It is amazingly fast which makes me so happy. It is great to turn on the computer and not have to let it "warm up" before getting on the internet.

5.  We got the link to Zane's professional pictures today. How great is that, only three days after they were taken. It must not be the busy season for photographers. Here is the link.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=689143334408%3A1813726814&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee
It is in a Kodak Gallery so you have to log in to look at them. There are more serious face pictures this time, which at first I thought I wouldn't like, but turns out I love them. We got pictures of all his different faces and great family pictures outside. I might be a little bias, but I think he is freaking adorable.

6. Zach's job closed today so he got to hang out with Zane at home, watching all the nasty weather unfold. I am hoping Zach stays home with us tomorrow. Partly because the roads are terrible, but also because how fun with a day with the whole family at home in the middle of the week be. However, I am sure he will have to go to work because turns out "storms of the century" are great for the generator business.

7. Zach got the storage thing completely done and we have put some storage containers up/stored some of Zane's new toys. We still are going to need to order more bins, but I think it looks awesome. Here is a picture of the finished product.

8. Per numerous people's requests here are some pictures of crib peek-a-boo with Zane and Zach that I mentioned in the robe post.

9. For those of you worried about my Oklahoma counter parts, they all also survived their storm of the century. Mom said she got maybe three inches of snow and never "was on the lamp." That is Oklahoma code for without electricity. I had tons of fun reading www.thelostogle.com today. It's a blog that was purely focused on making fun of the news coverage of the storm today. It isn't always about that, but it was today and it was hysterical. There is a Gary England winter weather drinking game for all of you who have played/heard of the Gary England tornado drinking game. Hysterical!

10. I think Zane is going through a growth spurt. He has been eating a ton more over the past week. He now drinks 8 oz bottles and before bed he has been having "power feeds." For example this evening Zach said he drank 12 oz. in a hour. This has not been helping the sleeping through the night though, still getting up at least once sometimes twice. That crazy kid just can't go all night without seeing us.