Ten on Tuesday

1. Uncle Able arrived yesterday afternoon to great fan fair. Zane is stir crazy in this house and Mommy cannot rough house with him, at all, so he was ready for his uncle to show up. This morning we went and got breakfast, with Uncle Able and Zane both wearing their fun hats. This afternoon they headed to the shark park to run off some energy. From what I hear Zane had a blast and might have hit on some older women at the park. They also went to the fish store to check out the fish and snakes then headed to Ted Drewes for some custard. Mean while Rowan let me sleep for maybe thirty minutes while they were gone.

Classic Zane

2. Zane's night time ritual has had a few steps added to it as of late, mainly going over the rules of night time. Every night we go over what happens if he wakes up at night. "Zane what do you do if you wake up and your happy moon is off?" "I wake up, my happy moon off, I turn it on by myself." Then he tells me all the other rules that we go over every day, such as; "No throwing fits," "No crying for mamma," "No milk at night night." The other rule is that if something is wrong he can use his big boy worlds so we know what it is instead of crying. This has back fired with him telling us random things, i.e. "My finger hurt" which aren't true instead of crying. None of this seems to be helping much. He had another hour of crying, random requests, and fit throwing last night resulting in no iPad today. Nap time this afternoon was just as bad. Cue my huge frustration.

3. Yesterday I ventured to the grocery store for the first time with both boys, by myself. I was feeling really good about myself, thinking "this is totally doable, no problem" as I walked back to my car with my groceries. While putting my groceries in the back of my fancy new car, I set my diaper bag down inside as well, and closed the back hatch, before realizing my car keys and cell phone were both in the diaper bag, locked in the car. So it didn't go that great. I stood there for a long time trying to figure out how the hell On-Star actually works before giving up and hauling both kids back inside to call Zach to come rescue us.  (Turns out there is a number on my dash board I didn't know about I could have called to have them unlock the car, who knew.) Luckily we had gotten crackers out to eat during the ride home so we had something to eat while we waited. Surely next time will be better.

4. Friday my friend Karen came to meet Zane and brought us the finishing touch for his room, his letters! I bought Zane's on Etsy before I realized that Karen was crazy crafty and can make letters that are much cuter than those on Etsy. As a surprise gift she also made him an adorable little Mickey Mouse hat as well. Thanks for coming to visit and thanks so much for all the gifts, we love them!

Yes, she free hand painted all the adorable little bugs on the letters, aren't they lovely!

 Here is Zane in his cute new Mickey Mouse hat. I love his tough guy face in this picture, adorable!!

 Big brother joined in on the fun with the Mickey ears that Uncle Able got him from Disney World.

5. Rowan continues to have a difficult time and we continue to not be able to come up with any solutions to help his GI issues. We changed his formula to Enfamil Gentlease to see if that would help with his gassy, crampy, fussy self. So far it doesn't seem to have changed anything much. We are doing pear juice and Mylicon gas drops, even though I maintain they are a placebo drug. We did Karo syrup in most of his bottles for a week or so but it never yielded any "results." (Nurse lingo for he never pooped) Nothing seems to help and I hate to see him strain and grimace every time he is awake. It also seems to be much worse between the hours of 7pm and 11pm, fun fun!!! This photo shows pretty well how huge his little belly is most of the time. It also shows how adorable our little man is becoming. Where did  that tiny mouth come from??? It's a mystery.

6. Here is what afternoons look like at our house. Rowan trying to kick out some poop while Zane tries to smother him, which he would call "playing with brother." Poor kid nearly gets stepped on about ten times a day. So far he has survived with only get bumped around a little, no harm no foul, right?

Yes, the airplane is biting Rowan. 

7. In exciting news Able brought me pecans from Mom, fresh, tasty pecans. I immediately made a cheese ball, covered in real pecans. Hooray!!! I have been waiting all winter to make a cheese ball with real pecans. The ones I made this winter used store bought nuts of some kind and it just wasn't the same! Thanks mom!! This was one of Zane's first experiences with the infamous Dotter Cheese Ball. Needless to say he is a natural at the technique of dipping off pieces with a cracker, without breaking it. What can I say, it's in his blood.

8. Abbey and her family are headed our way this weekend. Dear God let it be nice outside or it is going to get really crazy here with five kids in our little house. I'm excited to see them all and can't wait for them to meet little Rowan.

9. Rowan is awake much more these days and seems to actually be enjoying/paying attention to his toys and surroundings a little more. His eyes are still much darker than Zane's were, but lightening a little. His newborn PJs are getting too short and his other newborn cloths are getting tight as well, possibly because his belly is always so huge. He has been on a few trips outside the house this past week and has done well both in the car and in his wrap. I still don't want to take him out and about too much, i.e. to crazy crowded places, for fear of him catching something during the tale end of flu/RSV season. This means Rowan and I chill here a lot while Zane takes little trips out with other people, but we are fine with that!

10. Lastly here are some pictures of my latest photo shoot with Rowan on my bed. This was on the day that Zane was at daycare, otherwise Zane would have needed to be in the photos if not trying to take the photos himself. Zane loved being back at daycare, even though he has only been once so far. He personally said good bye to every kid before we could leave and loved introducing his baby brother to everyone. I'm sure he can't wait to go back Thursday.

Newborns always look so serious since they can't smile yet. I can't wait to see how his little face changes once he starts smiling at the world around him. I'm sure he won't turn out to be nearly this serious.

 Side note: It is impossible to really get what a baby looks like from pictures. The camera really does add at least five pounds. In these pictures his face looks really chubby and his head looks kind of large. Neither of these things are true. He has a tiny little head and a not so chubby, but highly adorable, face. We just are loving our time getting to know this new little person.