Halloween 2012

This year Grandma was here for Halloween which made for a much more festive day. We decided our front porch needed to be much spookier, so we headed to Hob Lob early this morning for some more decorations. We got a few scare crows, a big spider, then made a few ghosts when we got home. We also got a happy ghost balloon at the grocery store which was fun for the whole day. After nap time we decorated the front porch and played in the leaves. So much fall fun fun we could hardly stand it.

 Here is our super spooky front porch.

In the evening we started our Halloween celebrations with a bon fire and weenie roast in the back yard. It was pretty chilly so the fire was a nice touch. We had hot dogs, tater tots, and butternut squash jack-o-lanterns ( a new tradition I think). After dinner it was time to get ready for the main event, trick or treating. Zane had been excited about it all day. "It's HappyWeen mamma." He couldn't wait to get his dinosaur costume on and head out. I thought he might be a little nervous about going up to strangers houses, but it didn't phase him in the least. He even had trick or treat, thank you, and Happy Halloween down after a few houses. After we made our tour of a the neighborhood we sat on the front porch, ate candy, and handed out candy to the neighborhood trick or treaters. Zane really enjoyed handing out the candy and talking to the other kids as much as going house to house. 

Here are the highlights or our night in pictures. He made an adorable dinosaur, complete with stomping, roaring, and singing dinosaur songs along the way. 

 I love the chocolate smile!

 Daddy and Zane with their popsicles. 

 Zane talking to his ghost friend in the door. 

 Zane handing out candy to the neighbor kids.

 One last jump in the leaves before coming inside for the night.

We ended the night with home made donuts, a Halloween treat from my childhood! They were just as amazing as I remembered!\

Ten On Tuesday

1. Grandma arrived Sunday  evening and it has been nonstop fun ever since. Yesterday we headed to the zoo where we saw all sorts of animals; snacks, lizards, sea lions, tigers, bears, you name it. We rode the train and the carousel. It was quite the day at the zoo. Here are some highlights.

This seal and Zane became fast friends. He did all sorts of tricks for us, so much fun.

 Zane and Grandma by the camels.

 Here we are on the carousel. Oh yes I'm riding on a caterpillar, 5 months pregnant! 

2.My favorite of the day was Zane in the reptile house describing the different things he saw while mom and I were trying to read the different descriptions of things. We were obviously making it way too difficult, here is Zane's explanations, " This is a snake." "This is a turtle." In front of Anaconda Zane "read" the sign, " uhhh this is big snake." Genius!

"Snake scare me mamma." Me too Zane, they are so evil.

 Here is Zane and the Anaconda. 

3. Today we headed to West County to the Butterfly house. Zane enjoyed chasing the butterflies and thought it was quite entertaining that they ate bananas, just like him.

4. After seeing the butterflies we headed to the playground.

 Highlight of the playground, the dinosaur of course, ROAR!!!!!!!!!!!

 Closely followed by the telescope, not unlike on a pirate ship!!

5. While on the playground I heard murmurs of a carousel. I have been there numerous time and never knew there was a carousel there. Turns out it is in a building across from the playground. Why don't the people at the butterfly house tell us about that when we go there?? It is a beautiful carousel, with very festive music, but not so friendly workers. How can you not be friendly at a carousel. Zane rode it twice and had a blast.

This carousel was all horses and a few deer, but was gorgeous.

 Grandma and Zane rode the second time without me.

6. Zane is officially a neat freak/borderline OCD. He forced me to sweep the living room floor the other night, because it was "yucky." He brought me the broom and picked up all the toys so I would sweep. He obsessively puts things away, pushes in chairs, and pretends to sweep/mop the floors. None of this is a complaint, just an observation. First words out of his mouth this morning were "there's a mess mamma." Yes, there is a mess, your toys all over the floor. So he picked them up and "mopped" the floor. I think a little broom could be under the tree at Christmas. Also, a stick horse which would work better than riding the mop around all the time.

7. My beloved husband arrived home FROM WORK at 0500 AM this morning. He was taking the place of tech who was injured and through numerous things going wrong and taking longer than expected, he was at a job sight until four with an hour drive home. He slept until 8:15 then headed back to work, without a voice. So much for him getting over his illness. Mom and I made a pear pie and his requested dinner for this evening. He powered through pumpkin carving, but headed to bed at 7:00 p.m.

8. While waiting for daddy to get home from work, Grandma, Zane, and I played in the beautiful fall weather. The game of choice today was train ride in the play house. He was the conductor, mom and I were the passengers, and leaves were the tickets (obviously). It was a blast!

 Zane fell out of the train quite a few times!

 Tickets please!!!

9. Once daddy got home it was pumpkin carving time. Zane requested we carve happy pumpkins and drew on his little pumpkins. We had a little bon fire to keep us warm, which pushed it over the top as far as fall fun. Zane thoroughly enjoyed his photo shoot with the happy pumpkins.

 Here's Grandma's happy pumpkin.

10. Zane is very excited about Halloween tomorrow. He has practiced saying trick or treat, daddy and him cleared a path way through the leaves to our front door for trick or treaters, and our newly carved pumpkins have candles in them on the front porch. It should be tons of fun, I can't wait!

Heart Party 2012

Today marks two years since Zane's heart surgery. It is a day to celebrate life and our many blessings. The farther removed we are from the actual surgery the more I can't believe we ever made it through the entire ordeal  Also, the more that the gravity of our blessings hit me. I don't know if he would be alive if he hadn't had his repair. Maybe he would still be alive, but I know he wouldn't be running circles around me like he is now.

Here is my big boy, celebrating his heart birthday. Yes, that is a Mickey Mouse sticker on the wall behind him.

This past week was the first real time that Zane has noticed and asked about his scar. It's always been there, almost like a birth mark, you don't know you have for awhile. But Monday, in Target, while buying a brownie mix for his heart birthday, he actually noticed it was there. He pointed to his belly button and said "my heart" and when I corrected him, telling him his heart was up on his chest, he pulled his shirt up and noticed his scar. Here is the conversation that followed, "It a boo boo mamma?" "Yes, it's a boo boo, but it's all better. They fixed it, that's why we are having a party." "Why boo boo mamma?" The question I had dreaded since the day he was diagnosed. The question I have been asking myself since that day as well. My heart dropped and I burst into tears. " I don't know why you had a boo boo baby." He gave me pats, "It's ok mamma." Because to him it's fine, no heart ache attached to it for him, just a interesting scar on his chest.

I pulled myself together and finished my shopping. When we were checking out Zane put the brownie mix on the belt to be checked out and quickly told the lady, "it a heart party" and pulled his shirt up to show her his scar. The poor women I am sure thought he was critically ill, especially after looking at his mom, who was a bit of a hot mess at that point. She gave him a sticker, which he promptly put on his boo boo. Nothing strange about this situation to Zane, "boo boo sticker mamma."

I know that conversation won't be the last about the situation. The two year old mind can't wrap around the gravity of it all, but some day he will need/want to know what happened, and the big question of why. I don't have an answer to that one, I still ask it a lot myself when I let myself think about how his heart isn't really fully "fixed." There will be another surgery, another battle. Another battle that he will be fully aware of and remember.

Here is Zane showing me his boo boo today.

Today was full of joy. We were pirates for most of the day, made brownies, cleaned the house, watched some little Einsteins, had a dinosaur train dance party, played in the leaves, and with our pumpkins. He announced, "it's a party for my heart" when Daddy arrived home. He also told him that he had super powers, which was adorable. We had pizza, which Zane said was "delicious." Followed by heart birthday brownies. Nothing says 'I'm happy to have a working heart' like pizza and brownies. Zane got a present, a pirate ship, what else. He has spent the rest of the evening playing with his new ship and watching Robin Hood. What a perfect celebration. It was a celebration of life. The precious life of my happy little boy. He lights up the world with his happiness, so today we celebrate that. I love you so much little boy. You never cease to amaze me. I wish I had more answers for you, but just know mamma and daddy love you so much and you are stronger and braver than you will ever know. Happy Heart Birthday!

Here is Zane captaining his pirate ship, a.k.a. his bed.

 Loving his new toy!

 Ending the night with a kiss for mamma.

Ten on Tuesday

1. We had a fun fall weekend complete with pumpkin picking and family  photos in the park. Pumpkin picking was a huge hit with Zane, he found lots of pumpkins he wanted, but settled on the one that he could actually carry. He also saw some "happy ghosts"  in the trees, per his imagination. He enjoyed the farm animals before we left, including an amazing turkey, while I enjoyed a delicious apple cider donut, amazing!

2. Photos went well, we took them in Tower Grove park, which was full of beautiful fall trees. I think it went well for having a two year old. He got the idea, but also wanted to look at the pictures on the photographers camera a lot, like he does at home. My first venture in wearing actual shoes since the toe injury did not go so well. I ended up at home with ice packs back on it. I am hoping the pictures turn out well and I can't believe the next time we take pictures I will have two little boys to hold. 

3. For some reason, in my mind, I keep thinking I have six months before the baby arrives, denial I guess. This obviously isn't true and I realized it this weekend. I have done zero in preparation for this bundle of joy and am beginning to get slightly stressed. I feel like I should do something with his room, but doubt I get there, need to buy new bottles, and figure out if any of the clothes from Zane will actually work for this end of winter baby. Oh and we have to think about naming him too, that isn't going well at all. I have about two names I can tolerate at this point, but none I'm in love with. Zach wants to name him Gus, not happening. 

4. Zane is currently in a big pirate phase. Saturday I went to buy the yarn for the baby's blanket (that's progress right) and found a pirate hat and hook in the dollar area. They were worth about a dollar in that they were both torn or broken within ten minutes of our pirate fun starting. We fixed it so they still worked for our backyard treasure hunt, but not great. After hours of fun pirate play we decided to make the $10 investment into a sturdier pirate hat and hook. I can't wait for them to arrive, he is going to love it. There are some gold coins included as well, which hopefully he approves of for buried treasure. Zane was having none of pretending the arts and craft sparkly foam puffs were treasure during our treasure hunt. Here he is in his get up before it fell apart.

 

5. Baby blanket yarn is bought and I am currently in the one to two week process that is getting the first two rows of the blanket done. I am terrible at it and this is my least favorite part of the whole process. The first time I left out a stitch in the pattern all the way across, had to undo it and start over. I did it correctly last night, only to realize it was way to wide. Third time hopefully is a charm. I don't know when I am going to work on it though since the Cards epically failed to make it to the World Series. 

6. I need to wish all the October birthdays a big Happy Birthday from me. Mom's was the 15th, my friend Jeff's was the 18th, Tracie and Granpa's were yesterday, and Able's is tomorrow. Hope everyone had/has a great birthday, sending you love from the STL!

7. Zane has turned into an eating machine over the past couple weeks. I probably just jinxed us and he will be in time out for not eating soon, but so be it. He is eating everything in site and full meals not just snacking all the time! This is ground breaking out our house, that's why it's making the list. His favorites at the moment include peas, green beans (not making it up), peaches/pears, cheese of all forms, yogurt, apple sauce, and of course his all time favorite chips and dips (my bad). 

8.  Yesterday was a rainy day and Zach was coming home late from work so I had to pull out all my rainy day tricks. High on my rainy day list of activities is baking cookies. Of course everytime I want to make cookies we are out of eggs, it is uncanny. No fear though I got on pinterest and found a no egg chocolate chip cookie recipe that turned out to taste just like regular cookies. I didn't feel bad eating the dough as a pregnant person or feeding it to my two year old either. Win win!! 

Here is the link to the recipe if anyone is in need of a cook recipe sans eggs!
 

9. I took care of a baby today at work whose parents weren't with him. Put him to sleep no problem, glad to know I still got the touch. It's been awhile. 

10. Tonight I came home to a sick husband and my very excited pirate son. Zach headed downstairs to sequester himself, I put Zane to bed, then cleaned this house Velveteen rabbit style. I haven't burned anything but I can't rule it out. Please send some prayers that we don't all get the fevery, achy illness that Zach has.

P.S. Happy Mole Day everyone!!! 10.23

A glimpse into life at our house

This video, taken a few days ago, pretty much sums up life at our house. This is after bedtime, when it should be calming down, getting ready for night time. However, my son usually goes balls to the wall right up until he jumps into bed. This video is a great example of Zane entertaining himself, all while never sitting still! I find it highly entertaining, hope you do as well.

Zane frequently can be found marching around the house, singing songs that closely resemble Sousa  Marches. The 'horn' he is playing during this march is the end of a play golf club. Yes, you could argue that maybe Zach and I should have made him take it out of his mouth to prevent some sort of injury, but you can't take a musician's instrument away from them mid march.

Times like this is when I can't help but imagine that I am going to give birth to a two year old, clone of Zane, and there will immediately be two little boys marching around my house. Can't wait!!

"Are you happy Mamma?"

Wednesday was a rainy day here at home for Zane and I. I was finally over my weekend illness and wanted to soak up the day with my little boy. Zane's imagination has been growing by leaps and bounds recently which makes for much more interesting playtime. As the drizzle began to fall Zach requested to "go sit" outside, translation being "sit and watch the rain on the porch," which we do quite often. So we grabbed our snacks, drinks, and chairs and headed out to the porch.

 It wasn't a down pour so not as much fun to watch as some storms, but Zane quickly announced that we were on a pirate ship. The pirate ship being the front porch, the yard/rain being the ocean. He ran around the porch, marching, singing, talking about his hook, pirate ships, and of course lots of aarrrhhs. After exploring the 'pirate ship' Zane determined we needed a treasure map. I think this idea came about somewhere between Dora's "I'm the map song," Peter Pan, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and the treasure map in a Mickey Mouse book we have. Also, from the depths of his adorable little imagination. So off we went inside to make a treasure map. I put an X on the page and surrounded it with yellow dots and let Zane do the rest. He was extremely careful in choosing his colors, "ummmm green mamma," "ummm it need water mamma," "it need sand." I wish I could get in his little mind and hear what he is thinking, because he was deep in thought the whole time he was scribbling away on the piece of paper.

Once our map was complete, per Zane's determination, we headed back to the porch for a treasure hunt. Zane sat in his chair examining his map, talking to to himself about pirates for a while then we 'went hunting.' After a bit of 'hunting' I came up with some 'treasure' in the form of side walk chalk. We added some chalk details to our map, then drew ghosts and pumpkins all over the porch. A great time was had by all!

At this point you might be wondering why I am telling the story of a random rainly afternoon. Well here is why. In the midst of our sidwalk chalking and examing the treasure map, Zane looks up at me and randomly asks "Are you happy mamma?" Not prompted by anything, just asked me out of the blue if I was happy, and it set me back on my heals for a minute. I know he wasn't really asking a deep question about my inner happiness, but out of the mouths of babes come some pretty deep questions when you give them a little thought.

Had the question been posed to me a year or two ago my answer of, "Yes Zane I'm happy," might not have come so quickly. A lot of work went into getting to that answer and through it all the Zane was my ever present happy thought. On the darkest of days I could find happiness in his sweet smile and constant stream of energy. Daily I am amazed at his little spirit, his budding imagination, and his little mind soaking him everything around him. Parenthood is hard and often times frustrating, but seeing the world through the eyes of your children is the best experience in the world. One I wouldn't trade for the anything. It makes all the sleepless nights, the fits, the messy house, and the total exhaustion one hundred percent worth while. I cannot wait to start seeing it all through another little boys eyes soon.

As much as this question seemed to come out of nowhere, since then he has asked numerous times if we are happy. Later that day, after Zach had come home sick from work and was napping, he was very concerned about Daddy being happy. "Is daddy happy mamma," said in a highy concerned little two year old voice. He wants the ghosts in books to be happy, his toys to be happy, it's his own little quest to make sure the world is a happy place I guess Shouldn't we all strive for that. Man I love how kid's minds work!

As a bonus I just so happened to be video taping Zane examining his treasure map when he asked me if I was happy. It is kinda long, but his little voice is just to cute to strim the video down.

Ten on Tuesday

1. I'm falling apart. I now have a stabbing pain in my right  lower back, probably from limping from the left big toe fracture. This evening I added a fat upper lip to my list of complaints, when Zane got a little too excited during signing time and hit my face with his head. I cannot handle my body hurting anywhere else. Sigh...

2. Our trip to SEMO this weekend was going great, right up until Saturday evening when I starting throwing up my socks, which lasted all night and into Sunday. But it was still great to see everyone. Zane loved playing with his cousins, specifically Levi, who is just his size, and Adeline who showed him the ropes of Grammi and Papa's.

 Playing in the tent!

3. In exciting news I am halfway through my pregnancy, hooray! This baby is sitting incredibly low, hence the back pain, and me being way too uncomfortable for this early in the pregnancy. I need to schedule the baby's ECHO, but am dreading it and putting it off. No we aren't any closer to having name ideas, still got nothing.

4. Zane and I went to buy the baby his first new clothes yesterday. In case you were wondering baby boy clothes still aren't as fun as baby girl clothes, but it is much easier to not go crazy buying stuff. Still lots of stripes, bears, dogs, ect. I did get a new little alien outfit, some long sleave onsies, and little boy pants. Why didn't I just have another summer baby? Oh right I thought it might take longer than a month to get pregnant, obviously not the case.

5. Here is a little preview of Halloween. Zane finally has gotten over his fear of his Halloween costume and has tried it on numerous times this week, stomping and roaring around the house. He also has taken to looking out the window for ghosts, I don't think he has spotted any yet, but who knows!

6. It's October, which means it is Cardinal baseball time here in the STL. Friday night's game five was one for the ages, with the biggest post season comeback ever! I had thrown in the towels in about the 5th inning and headed to bed with Zane. We were both woken up by Zach's cheers of joy coming from upstairs. I was highly confused, since they were loosing hard when I headed to bed. It was a very exciting game and everyone in STL is buzzing about it. 12 in 12 baby, go Cards!
7. This weekend we have family photos, hopefully somewhere with beautiful fall trees. I am not excited about being photographed pregnant, but such is life. It's strange to think these will be our last family photos unitl baby boy joins us! Now onto what we should wear....hhmmmm???

8. I'm sick of the presidential election. I'm ready for the adds to be over and the debates seem like a huge waste of time because they both are saying opposite things, so one of them is lying, but no one calls them on what is actually true. I will vote, I think everyone is ready, let's just get it over with already!
- That could possibly be crabby pregnant lady talking, not sure.

9. How about those Sooners!!!! I loved watching OU vs Texas this weekend. It was old school Sooners, looking like they new what they were doing. Very exciting stuff. I'm sure the let down is coming, but I will enjoy it while it lasts!

10. Lastly, Zane, who has always called me Mamma, started calling me Mommy this weekend. I think it has to do with his cousins calling me his mommy, kind of like how he started calling his Daddy Zach this weekend. I wasn't sure how I would feel about it and turns out I'm not a fan. I like mamma much better. Somehow Mommy sounds a little winey and less loving. Sure it's adorable in it's own way, but I like Mamma better. Random thought, but there you go. Needless to say Daddy doesn't like being called Zach either.

Bonus: Adorable photo of the week, Zach ready to go shopping yesterday!