Ten on Tuesday

1. The big news of the day is the arrival of sweet Alice Pearl Blakley. She was about nine days late, but finally graced us with her presence today, coming in at 8lbs even 20.5 inches long. Everyone is doing well and we all can't wait to meet her. I hear that Mamma did amazingly well through it all and both Mamma and Daddy are over the moon. Alice makes my third niece and joins the clan of January babies. Of my, now eight, nieces and nephews three of them are born in a ten day period in January, between the 10th and the 20th. It's a good time to be born I guess!

 I think she looks like her beautiful mamma!

 Here was the crowds reaction at my house to seeing the newest addition to the family. The boys were super excited and pretty upset they couldn't cuddle her immediately.

2. While we all anxiously awaited Alice's arrival, Rowan, Grandma, and I went on a little outing to the Cowboy Museum (Edmond Children's Museum) and to go get pizza. Rowan was dressed in his full cowboy outfit for the occasion.

 3. As I mentioned last week Rowan is loving Zach's old Engineering books. This week we added a highlighter and some tabs to help with his studies. Of course his super fancy shirt only helps with his successful studying, of course!

 4. Last night we had family dinner at Aunt Abbey's house. All the children's emotions were running high after four days of being cooped up inside on a long weekend. We left with no major fights or injuries so I consider that a success. These two are remain adorable and get along quite well most of the time. They could spend hours playing with their Hotwheels. E always tries to send Rowan home with a few new Hotwheels, which we really don't need. Such a sweet little guy, best friends!!!

 5. Saturday is the Boy Scout Pinewood Derby. We put off working on our car for as long as possible, but while we were rained/iced in this weekend Zach and Zane got a good start on it. First up was Zach sustaining a minor injury while using his power tools. In good news Zane had learned all about first aid a few meetings ago and did a great job patching Zach up.

 There was lots of sanding, and resanding. Zane was very patient with the whole, some what boring process.

 Finally he got to paint! His design is after the Star Wars X-Wing ship (I'm only mostly sure that's the correct name.) I hear there are a few Star Wars categories to compete in. I'm not exactly sure what all takes place in Derby, but we're all very excited about it!! 

 6. Packing continues, as does construction on the bunk beds. Both are pretty well finished. The bed still needs some sanding and staining, which we couldn't do while it was raining outside. The boys are thrilled to be sharing a room at the new house. I'm still pretty concerned about how small their new room is going to be and how messy Zane's much bigger room currently is with just him living in it. I have no ideas on how to make this better. I guess we'll see how it goes.

7. Rowan has decided upon a birthday theme, Cowboys!!!! During the packing we found the leather cowboy vest of Uncle Able's, which is just his size. And we scrounged up a cowboy hat and a bandana as well. Today we went to Hobby Lobby and got all the supplies we will need in one stop, which is just about all the energy I have for party planning currently. In good news Rowan's party planning is much less intricate than Zane's. He does have high hopes for stick horse races and hopefully Grandma finding her saddle to bring down for him to pretend to ride. He's such a sweet happy little guy, I cannot believe he is almost four. And I pray his sweet spirit isn't crushed by his brother's arrival.

 8. As is often in the case in Oklahoma, the weather predictions of a horrific ice storm turned out to not be true. Thank the good Lord, but the hype is still quite annoying. Zane's school was cancelled Friday when there was no precipitation at all. With MLK Day yesterday this made for a four day weekend, inside a house where most of their toys are packed up. All things considered the boys did great. Rowan is currently really into puzzles and does them over and over again, with amazing patience. Grandma got him two new ones we didn't pack that he does multiple times a day and we ended up unpacking a few as well.

 Zane is still enjoying his Legos from Christmas. Each one makes a few different things, so we are starting on the second time through with each set. Zane really wants/needs someone to work with him, talk to him, help him, cheer him on, as his personality. So as much as I despise Legos I sit with him and try to be patient with it all. (As you see the construction of the bunk beds came inside during the cold adding to the utter disaster/mess that is the inside of my house currently, full of boxes, saw dusting, lumber, craziness!!!!!!)

One of our most fun activities this weekend was shadow puppet shows and dance parties in flash lights.

 9. Here is the classic Oklahoma Snow Day picture. Cold, but no sight of ice or snow! Thanks to Aunt Abbey for the hand me down coats which were much need and my boys are really enjoying!

10. Meanwhile I am starting my third and final third trimester!!! As is always the case at the first of the year the NICU census drops, they hire new nurses, and I have to go back to the med/surg floor. Last week was my first week back on the floor for two days in a row. I have no idea how I'm going to do this for 12 more weeks. My guess is I'm not going to be able to, but that means going on maternity leave without a baby and without getting paid. Working on the floor you never sit down and little Thatcher does not do well with that. I felt like I'd been beaten by a baseball bat when I got home Thursday. Here's hoping for some calmer work days and little man to behave himself for a few more weeks.

Ten on Tuesday

1. This news has kind of gotten lost in the holiday season fun, but here it is. The Korenaks are moving yet again! This move is a lateral one, hopefully to our financial gain. We bought this house which is roughly the same size and is in the same neighborhood as our current house. It definitely isn't our final move, which was always my hope when we started renting, that we would move one more time, into a house we could live in for as long as we wanted. This house will be fine for the next five or so years, but we will most definitely have another move ahead of us. This house can't handle three teenage boys.

So the packing has started yet again. I am usually a professional packer, this is our eighth move in ten years, but at seven months pregnant I am struggling. The boys are great helps and we do have plenty of time this move, unlike the four days I had to pack up our last house. Yesterday I packed these moving buddies! I had previously tried to pack Woody, but the box didn't have room for Buzz. I've watched toy story enough to know these two are moving buddies and need to be in the same box. I also included a remote control car in case they need to make an escape.

 2. Last  Friday and Saturday there was quite the snow storm here, which I completely missed out on because I was at work. I HATE driving in the snow, but I have a job that I have to go to no matter what the weather does. I hear this weekend will be just as terrible, but possibly an ice storm instead of snow. So Rowan and I took full advantage of a lovely morning to go for a bike ride/walk around the neighborhood. Rowan was a trooper, riding his bike for my thirty minute walk and ending at the park for some fun. I'm so not a fan of winter. I'm ready for spring already.

 3. During our packing Zach found the last of his Engineering books, the ones he used to study for his Professional Engineering exam. He took that test years ago, he's licensed in multiple states, and has no plans of going back to school, so he finally decided it was time to part with these books. But our hoarding children found them first. Rowan is now obsessed with his Engineering books, his favorite being Electromechanical Energy Devices and Power Systems. After hours of trying to get him to study his letters (which he does not know all of) I convinced him that he could find letters in Daddy's books and highlight them. It's all very entertaining until we lost his beloved book last night and a full meltdown ensued.  It has been found and he is back to his studies.

 3. The other fun find during packing was one of Daddy's hats that looks so much better on Rowan. Zach doesn't have the head for hats, but Rowan does and this hat is oh so fancy, just like Ro!

 4. Zane has lost another tooth, or should I say, Zane has ripped another tooth out of his head. When he came out of his room with this last tooth I asked how he manages to pull teeth out that are barely loose. His response, and I quote was "This time I used a yo yo!" Begging the question what he had used for the previous two teeth, the answer was part of the wooded penguin in his room. He's a crazy person and claims this doesn't hurt him, but we have discussed not using foreign bodies to remove his teeth in the future. Now he has a huge hole in the front of his mouth where there are three teeth missing now.

 5. I know everyone is anxious to hear how little Alice is doing and the news is that she is still cooking. Aunt Kari's due date was yesterday and baby Alice wasn't ready to show her sweet face just yet. Kari is doing well, though I'm sure she's tired of being pregnant. The boys both gave their little cousin a pep talk at dinner this week, she obviously didn't listen to them. Zane and Rowan cannot wait to meet, and cuddle their newest cousin. So prayers for a save delivery and a healthy baby continue. I'm sure it won't be much longer!

 6.  Thatcher is hanging in there, he's getting bigger and is always kicking and squirming around in there. Last week was my glucose study, one of my least favorite parts of pregnancy, and I'm happy to report I do not have the betis!!! I'm also very happy that I'll never have to drink this nastiness again.

 7. My super fancy boy's newest love is ties. He found this old Christmas tie in his underwear drawer last week and really wanted to wear it to school on Wednesday. He did start the day in it, but we brought a slightly less fancy shirt to change into when the tie came off. Yesterday Uncle Able gave him a new bow tie which he really wanted to wear today, but I don't know how to tie it. Apparently that's something I need to know for my four year old's wardrobe.

8. In another installment of why do we ever buy or keep toys, the boys spent an extremely long time playing with wood scraps this evening. Zane had saw and Rowan had a hammer, lots of "working" took place. We had originally gone outside to ride bikes, but wood blocks is so much more fun. The neighbor boys came over eventually on their bikes and convinced them to take a spin in the gorgeous weather.

9. Let's see if there is any other news?? Not really! I did finally get started on Thatcher's baby blanket. My hands still hurt pretty bad most of the time (about time to schedule my appointment with the Rheumotologist for after baby) so crocheting isn't nearly as fun as it once was. I can do about two rows a night then my hands hurt too bad to continue. Good thing I only make blankets for my children and my nieces and nephews.

10. Baseball sign up for the spring was today. I think I found a solution to Rowan wanting to start t-ball this spring, which I really can't handle with a newborn. We have decided he'll do swimming,which is a 30 minute commitment once a week vs a few hours a week, and only ten dollars instead of a solid $100 or more for tball. We will reassess in the fall once we've figured the whole three kids things out.

We Have a Name!!

The process of naming our third baby has felt like it's gone on forever. It was made worse be finding out the gender so much earlier this time. With the older boys I think I was eighteen weeks and twenty weeks when we found out they were boys. With this little guy I found out around fourteen weeks, leaving us with months to argue about names and get nowhere. Everyone who talked to me about it asked the same question, "what is left on your name list from your other kids?" Simple, Rowan Danny, which is already taken. So the search started from nothing and stayed at nothing for a long time.

I should mention that Zach and I previously took about a week or two to name the boys. We had boy and girl names fairly lined out going into the ultrasound, so once we found out the gender the name was pretty well set. So the months of debate was an unwelcome change. Every name I suggested Zach hated for random reasons, there is a K sound at the beginning, there is a K sound at the end, if I look at it funny the T looks like a K, it's too boring, it's too weird, and my personal favorite "I just don't like it." Zach did give a few suggestions, such as Winslow, which as all my 90s children friends know, Mr. Winslow lived across the street from Steve Erckle and was a large, old policeman. NO!

We toyed with idea of Atticus for a long time, however the new (or really old depending on how you look at it) book by Harper Lee ruined the name for me. Not giving away too many spoilers here, but in the new book (which in reality was the first draft of To Kill A Mockingbird which ended up being scrapped and rewritten) Atticus is not the larger than life, man above reproach, defender of everyone's rights based on his extreme character. Spoiler Alert: he is a down right, hardcore, racist and it kind of broke my heart. Don't read it, it will ruin Atticus and the name for you forever. I know that Harper Lee never really wanted this book to be published and was convinced to do it on her death bed, by someone trying to get their hands on her money. However, it did get published, and I couldn't get over him being a racist, so I couldn't commit to the name. Also my best friend has a dog named Atticus, which was less of a hurdle to get over, but still sort of strange.

So for weeks we were left in a terrible version of the name game. It should be noted Zach and I both hate talking about baby names, probably because we so rarely agree on one (only three times to be exact). The only people who might hate the name game more than we do are our children, who on a daily basis would yell at me, "But what are we going to call him MOM!!!!!!!!!!" Implying, get it together parents and name our little brother. One day I asked Zane, who was the most annoyed by the whole thing, what he thought about the name Beckett. His response was priceless, "Yeah, Beckett that sounds good, his name is Beckett, let's just call him Beckett." Turns out Beckett sounds a lot like Bucket, which we yell a lot in our house when people are about to throw up, not a great connotation and Zach wasn't completely sold. Also, I liked the idea of all the Grandkids having their own letter and their is already a wonderful B in the cousin mix on both sides of the family.

Much to Zane's dismay the debate continued until Christmas Eve 2016. On our way home from Christmas Eve Mass (our first, failed attempt), Zach saw a sign for E. Thatcher St. in downtown Edmond, OK. I love all -er ending names, my favorite being Asher, which  upon research we found out was way to popular and would be shortened to Ash a la Ashley's from my childhood. So I was delighted to hear Zach suggest Thatcher (which I'm confident I had thrown out as a suggestion before). I think that Zach might have been persuaded to settle on a name by the idea of never having to talk about  naming another human being for the rest of his life. So we shook on it, thus naming our third and final boy Thatcher Valentine.

His middle name was always, most likely, going to be Valentine. I have already used the names of the two most important men in my life, besides my lovely husband of course (who, for the record, did not want his child named after him, I suggested it multiple times). I love my Grandpa Dotter to death, but am not a huge fan of either of his names (Billy Dale), so I gave middle naming rights to Zach. Keeping with our thought that middle names should hold meaning Zach went with a very traditional Korenak name, Valentine. Zach has an Uncle Val which he is pretty close to and his father also had an Uncle Valentine. I wasn't fully on board with it, but at some point during the horrible name game, mentioned above, I said, "Ok I'm closing my eyes and opening this name book, you close your eyes and point to a name, that's what we'll name him." When we actually did this Zach legitimately put his finger on Valentine, closing on debate on this child's middle name.  

So the names of our little family are finally complete. I tried buying Thatcher a Pottery Barn Christmas stocking to match his brothers during the after Christmas sale, to make it official, but I was too late. So he'll get his stocking next year and this blog will have to be the official announcement. The boys are beyond excited about little Thatchy, as Rowan calls him. Since getting a name Rowan also feels that Thatcher really wants a stuffed animal to cuddle. He let him cuddle his stuffed polar bear the other night, in an attempt to get Thatcher to stop kicking me. Most days Rowan thinks Thatcher really wants to cuddle his little Hedgehog I bought when we told the boys they were having a brother. Rowan can't figure out why Thatcher doesn't "cuddle it" when he places it against my belly. Strange how that doesn't work. There have been a few mornings where this has been my wake up call, Rowan shoving a stuffed hedgehog under the covers demanding Thatcher cuddle it.

A name makes it more real and gives the little guy his own personality. I'm excited that we've finally chosen our little guy's name. There is a twinge of sadness, as with all the lasts we'll be facing this year, at the thought of there not being anymore babies to name. But such is life, we'll have a lovely little family with our three, sweet, blonde headed boys! Nothing is as I had pictured it growing up, with two boys and two girls, but turns out it's so much better!

The Tale of the Yellow Family: A Kindergarten Story

I should start off by saying that this story has been going on for months. I never mentioned any of it because I felt sure it would pass. When school started all the little Kindergarteners were placed in "families." Zane was put in the yellow family, at the table in the very back of class. The reasoning for this, I've since found out, was two fold. Zane is super tall so could see from back there, and being at the far back table means he can wiggle around and get up if he needs to. The other people in his family were initially one other boy and one other girl (who I'll refer to as little girl A). Initially Zane was ecstatic about having a family and was making plans for them to all wear yellow shirts together every day! Of course he just knew they would all be best friends and everything would be amazing. One thing I know for sure about Zane is that he is the eternal optimist!

A few weeks into the year we started hearing stories about how the girl at this table said he bad coloring skills, called his drawings scribble scrabble, all things that he took really hard. Zane would randomly tell us things like, "she just lies, she tells the teacher I'm teasing her when I'm not." Random things, out of no where. At first I found it really entertaining, because he would get so worked up about the supposed lying five year old at this table. And yes I know she is five because that has been mentioned several times, "she's not even six mom!" (So disgusted at a five year old). "Well she just judges me mom, she judges my coloring skills even though her cutting skills are terrible." (Lots of judging had begun without the yellow family.)

Right before Halloween a new little girl came to the school and joined the yellow family (little girl B). Side Note: I should say that I have met all the children in this story. They are all perfectly lovely, kind, cute, children who appear to like Zane, and always give him hugs and talk with him at the multiple events I've been too. About the same time that the little girl B arrived the other boy in the family started having to sit by the teacher most of the time and rarely was actually at their table, making things worse. This left Zane in a yellow family full of girls. "Mom they girls always just chit chat." "They can't sit by each other during circle time because they talk to much, but won't talk to me." So much drama in the yellow family!

Of course the two girls became fast friends. From what I hear they "do everything together, are always saying the same things, whatever little girl A does, little girl B does the exact thing, they talk like babies, ect. ect." They now both call his coloring skills scribble scrabble, they say he's babyish, they tell the teacher he's mean (when obviously there is NO WAY that could ever be true). All of this according to Zane of course. "Mom they are just ...... so ANNOYING!" "They talk baby talk." And on and on. At one point I did tell Zane if he didn't like people saying he had bad coloring skills he could work on improving his coloring skills. You know focus on something he could control. I have suggested, on numerous occasions, that Zane ask his teacher if they were ever going to change seats. When I asked how he was doing sitting still at parent teacher conferences she mentioned sitting in the back of the room lets him move around, so I wasn't concerned about him getting a seating change.

Over Christmas break Zane remained stressed out about going back to school and "being annoyed" by the two little girls. Yesterday was his first day back. When he got home he told me that the girls "hadn't started to annoy him until the afternoon" then he didn't say anything else about it. I thought this might be progress, I was wrong! Later in the evening Zane got in minor trouble about God knows what. Nothing big, I think maybe I told him to take a shower and he said no, I have no idea. But this sent him into a rage, which I knew couldn't be about a shower. So when I asked what in the world was going on, he started crying, and fell into a puddle of emotion.

After lots of cuddles and tears last night, and months of stories from the yellow family I think I figured out the problem. Zane is very concerned that he isn't best friends with every single child in his class. I had him list all the people he considered really good friends last night. This was about ten people, which out of class of eighteen is pretty freaking good if you ask me. But after he told me who all he considered his friends he said, "see mom, that isn't everyone, the girls at my table don't even like me." Translation they don't consider him their best friend and the two of them sound like they are best buddies without him. It's really eating away at his little soul.

Once I thought about it for a bit Zane has always made fast friends with everyone he meets, but has never really had to spend extended time with any of these "friends." In preschool/pre-K he only went two days a week so not a lot of time for people to get on his nerves. Everyone there was always excited to see Zane on the few days he actually went to school, but had he gone every single day I'm sure there would have been some people who rubbed him the wrong way and vis versa. At child watch, at the gym, he would get the whole place playing together. He knew everyone's name, and left with tales of multiple "best friends." But he would never be there for more than an hour or so a day, not time enough for anyone to annoy him or for him to realize they might not be best friends. Now the tough lessons of life are starting to set in. Not only will some people not want to be his best friend, turns out HE himself might not love every single person he meets. But you have to get along with all types of people and it's ok if you don't love every single person you meet.

So I held my huge boy, and wiped away his tears. In his sad, crying face I could see a tiny glimpse of the little boy from years before. The little guy who, from his earliest days, loved so fiercely, and so freely that I can remember watching him on the playground as a toddler fearing the day when his innocence and loving spirit might be crushed by reality. I don't think it's been crushed by any means, but reality is setting in and it's hard. His tender little heart struggles with it. So we talked for a long time about ways to ignore the girls if they were annoying him, things he could focus on instead of focusing on their baby talk, focusing on his school work, focusing on things he can control because you can't control other people, remembering all the new friends he has made, being kind to everyone even if they aren't being particularly kind to you, and I once again threw out the option of asking the teacher if they would ever be moving seats this year. After this long conversation, he did say, "and sometimes when I'm at school my hug sack just gets empty." Me too buddy, but we filled it up and I reminded myself that no matter how big he gets he still actually is pretty little and needs lots of mommy cuddles which so love to give.

MO Christmas 2016

This past weekend was Korenak Family Christmas in Southeast Missouri. There is no way around the fact that the drive there is brutal, made much worse by my youngest son who was way too cramped in the car during the nine hour car ride. The big boys did good, thanks to the Netflix ground breaking technology of downloading movies. Love it!!

The first evening Zach went to famous Bloomfield Christmas Tournament and came home with this gem. Yep, that's a picture of 17 year old Zach, a.k.a. 2001-2002 National Beta Secretary! This is the shrine to said Beta Secretary that is set up in the Bloomfield High School Gym. They obviously didn't have football at his high school. Yes, they put his Men in Tights Hat, from his National Beta Convention skit, in the trophy case. My personal favorite part is Zach's terribly creepy face and the fact that I'm pretty sure this was a glamor shot picture. Did I ever mention that a young Zachary Korenak sang the National Anthem at the 2002 Oklahoma City Beta Convention, where we met. Looking back on it he sang it in his now famous, and hysterical, Christmas voice! Anyway I got a good hardy laugh out of this flashback photo from BHS!

While Zach was making his public appearance the boys and I were partying with Adeline. They spent most of the evening taking silly pictures on the iPad and laughing hysterically about each one! Adeline is the sweetest girl and played so nicely with my boys, even though they are quite a bit younger than she is. Miss Adeline will be celebrating her super ultra golden birthday next week on the tenth. Happy Birthday Adeline!!

 Adeline was quick to carry Rowan wherever he needed to go, especially if there were scary dogs around. She's such a great big cousin.

The next day we opened presents and everyone loved what they received. The boys both got Legos with carrying cases which are perfect for Zane current love of Legos. Zane got a Red Ryder BB gun from Uncle JR, which of course is every boy's dream. They also got lots of new shirts, a basketball goal for their new room, a fire truck, and walkie talkies which have made for endless fun. Adeline helped Zane build his Legos and he finished the whole little diner in one day, which he was very proud of.

 And of course there was lots and lots of tasty food! The little kids table proactively said their prayers early so they wouldn't have to wait for the adults to start eating. I like how these kids think, very cute stuff.

Rowan had two main goals for our trip, the first one was to take a ride on Papa's track loader and the second was the ride a horse. He got to do both and loved every minute of it. First up was his track loader ride. He woke up from his nap one day and came outside to tell Papa "It's perfect weather for driving a track loader." You really can't argue with that! Papa drove him around and even smashed a big paint can for him. I took videos of everything, per Rowan's request so he can watch them "everyday!!!"

We spent New Year's Eve at Aunt Trina's riding horse and shooting BB guns. It was pretty chilly, but the boys powered through. Zane got BB gun lessons from Uncle JR and Daddy and apparently is quite the shot. He doesn't have fantastic aim with his bow and arrow just yet, I think because he can't keep it pulled back long enough to really aim, but that doesn't seem to be a problem with the Red Ryder.

 There was lots of talk about gun safety. Everyone knows how much guns stress me out, especially around children. I've seen one to many accidental shooting, when everyone was doing everything right, but it still ended with a child dying or being seriously injured. I'm sure everyone enjoyed watching me be stressed out about it. To Zane's credit he has been extremely responsible with both his bow and his BB gun hopefully that continues.

Rowan braved the wind and cold for his long awaited horse ride. He rode two different horse, Nancy (below) who is a very old and gentle, and Hillbilly who is a boy and little bit faster. Adeline walked him around the yard for a long time then Aunt Trina took him on a ride around the farm. He came in with frozen hands and a huge smile on his face. Of course he had his cowboy boots on for his ride because he is a cowboy after all.

 In the evening we played board games and the big cousins I hear stayed up till past midnight. My little family headed back to Grammi's and struggled to stay up long enough to get showers and get in bed. I sat down to read a little bit and was asleep by 9:15pm. The New Year came just the same and I was able to function the next day so it's all good. I did manage to eat some pretzels and drink a glass of Gingerale for dear old Dad before heading to sleep.

Here are Levi and Rowan, both of the tiny boy body type!

 Clay won Clue which meant he got to force everyone to play Monopoly. Zane was on Clay's team, though I'm not sure how much help he was. Clay was very patient with him and remains the sweetest young man.

 The other big attraction at Papa's house is Shy the dog and Papa's cows. Shy is getting old and currently has some sort of leg injury that makes her look very pathetic. She limps along on three legs and spends most of her time with the cows. This is unfortunate since Rowan is just now able to tolerate being around Shy Shy. So we took a trip up to see the cows and visit Shy. Papa's cows are very tame which meant we had the added bonus of petting them. I reinforced with Zane that isn't usually how cows act around people and really he should treat them as though they might kick you or run you over at anytime, just in case.

Zane also got lots of practice with his bow. This huge piece of Styrofoam is a much better/fun target than the little Amazon box we had set up in our backyard at home.

 Then we headed home yesterday so Zach could turn around and leave on a business trip today. The ride home was much more difficult for me. I was terribly uncomfortable and little man was NOT having a good time. It was also really foggy/gloomy most of the way which makes is less fun. The boys did amazingly well sharing the tablet. We forgot to renew our Netflix movies on the iPad so were down to one device to watch movies on for the ride home. There was little to no arguing so we celebrated with pizza for dinner.

 Rowan rocked over around Tulsa and couldn't stop signing the Super Why song. It's a very catchy tune and extremely entertaining to a very tired three year old. He sang his little heart out until he fell asleep, funny stuff.

Now we are back home and Zach is gone for the rest of the week. I'm exhausted, but that's not news really. Zane goes back to school tomorrow and I go back to the doctor. Rowan will be at daycare so hopefully his first day without brother isn't too terrible. It has been a wonderful two weeks with Zane at home and I continue to be amazed at how much fun they have together. They are truly the best of friends and it warms my heart. We had lots of fun in MO, but it's great to be home!