Ten on Tuesday

1.We spent the weekend in SEMO with Zach's family. Rowan got to meet his Aunt Trina, Uncle JR, and his four cousins. Everyone fell in love with him, obviously. I'm not sure who wanted to hold him more, Aunt Trina or his oldest cousin, Clay. I loved seeing them all together, though with six kids together it can get a little crazy and very loud. Zane also loved playing with all his cousins and thoroughly enjoyed farm time. He even guilt tripped Papa into getting some baby chickens!

Here are all the cousins getting their first look at little Rowan.

 Meeting Aunt Trina

 Clay loved holding him. You can tell he is a master big brother.

 Here is Miss Adeline, my new babysitter.

2. Also, over the weekend I was able to attend Adeline's Daisy Scouts awards presentation. She thought she was going to get to 'bridge' (walk across the little bridge in the front of the church, but turns out she just got a certificate and a pin for her first year in Daisies. She will be a daisy for another year then bridge into Brownies next year. She looked adorable in her blue smock and I'm so glad I was able to be there for her big day.

3. There was a bit of a breakdown on Thursday with Zane's potty training resulting in Big Buzz Whizzle, who he had only earned the night before, "going back to his spaceship" (aka the closet) for the weekend. However, after putting all his poops in the potty over the weekend Big Buzz Whizzle has returned and things are going pretty well. Knock on wood. We have decreased his chart to three days in a row to get a bigger prize and have implemented trying to poop every time he has to go pee. So far it is going well. Hopefully we have turned a corner because I almost, completely lost my mind on Thursday when things were NOT going well.

Zane with his big buzz.

 Ro and buzz playing on the couch.

4. Monday the three of us had an outing to Suson park farm to see the animals. We found a different way to get there since the main road is flooded. Zane loved seeing the animals, I got a workout pushing the kids around the park, then we ended our trip with playing on the very busy, very fun, play ground. The weather was beautiful, Zane peed and pooped in nasty bathrooms, and we all had a great time. It was a lovely day!

 This is the big rock in the middle of the playground that Zane loved climbing. Slightly scary for mom, but he did really well with it.

This playground had a musical area which really pushed it over the top.

5. Today we had a quick morning zoo trip with one of my friends before it got too hot. It was a blast and we left just as all the crowds arrived. I am constantly amazed how well Zane does with listening and following instructions when we are out and about versus when we are at home. When we are at home, with nothing going on, he seems to not even hear me speaking, but the past couple weeks he has been a wonderful listener when we were on outings. I'm glad he works this way and not the opposite or we could never go anywhere.

Riding the puffin on the carousel. 

 Favorite animal of the day!

6. In depressing news our basement is oozing water again. This happened two years ago, almost to the day. After much research and after having Zach's uncle come look at the situation, we have determined that the ground is just too saturated here so the water under the house seeps up through the small cracks in our basement floor. So the laminate flooring has been taken up, again, and our basement is a disaster area, again. This also means that it has been rendered useless for playing. We have yet to determine what exactly to do to fix it, but currently all I see are dollar signs when I think of the different options.

7. Two weeks ago I started working out, doing random workout videos and walking/jogging on the treadmill. Week one I worked out five times, which was the goal I had set for myself. Then the basement debacle of 2013 happened and haven't been down their since. Last week was basically a wash, but this week I have decided to try to get my exercise in while doing something fun with my kids. Yesterday was the park, today was the zoo, but we could also do something easier like a walk around the neighborhood.  Walking around while pushing two kids is quite the full body workout. I still would like the option of going downstairs, but for now this is my new plan.

8. Rowan's update for the week is that he is using his sweet little baby voice more and I think beginning to recognize Zach, myself, and his bottle. He smiles and coos at me when he actually focuses on my face, and more adorably, he grins ear to ear when he sees one of us shaking up his bottle. His little face is to die for and I just can't kiss it enough. He still refuses to sleep when Zane does, but I enjoy our snuggle time together.

Seriously, how cute is this baby!

 In his new sun hat.

 Looking like Carlos in Daddy's shades.

9. Thursday afternoon, after potty training failures and many other debacles, I went back to something that I know is entertaining. Building with canned goods. I did this all the time as a child and Zane has enjoyed it before. This time was no different and was our one success of the day. Here is his can tower, that he also managed to help fall safely, so as not to hurt himself, very impressive.

 Success!!

10. I'm hoping that spring/summer is actually here this time. It has been beautiful the past two days and should stay that way for awhile. If it freezes again I'm going to loose my mind. My garden is up and looking adorable. I have bought Zane's summer shoes, gotten out his shorts, and found my fat lady capri's so there is no going back. I'm ready for playing in the backyard, swimming pools, and sunscreen!!!

Fishing 2.0

As some of you might remember, Zane went fishing for the first time last April with Papa and Daddy. He was  a little too young to get excited about going fishing, but once we were down at the pond he enjoyed watching Daddy and Papa catch little fish for him. Here is the slide show of pictures from last year. It's crazy how much he has grown, going from a baby boy/toddler face, to a big boy this year.

A few weeks ago Zane requested a trip to Papa's to go fishing again. He has been very excited all week, ending with a trip to Target for a new Iron Man fishing pole. We headed to Grammi and Papa's house Friday evening in the midst of some pretty gloomy weather, not great for fishing. After much explanation we finally got Zane to accept the fact that we couldn't go fishing Friday night, or in the rain, so fishing would have to wait until Saturday.

Saturday morning it was rainy and gloomy, so more waiting until the rain died down, after nap time. He woke up, very excited about his impending fishing trip, only to go out to the shed to find out that they had to find worms before they could go fishing. Zane's cousin's, older and more frequent fisherman, understood this drill quite well and headed out for a quick, very productive worm hunt. Meanwhile Zane was walking around with his fishing pole saying "no worm hunt mamma, I go fishing." "Can I go fishing mamma?" "Daddy, I go fishing now?"

Zane and Levi heading out to go fishing in the drizzly rain.

 Clay, Levi, Adeline, Blaine, and Papa hunting for worms under the wood pile, while Zane waits patiently with his fishing pole.

 The hunt continues...

 still no fishing

It was extremely wet so the worm hunt was a very messy affair. Clay had a large piece of mud in his ear by the end of it, but they did find lots of muddy worms to feed the fish. Here are the kids with their finds.

Once we found the worms Daddy and Papa had to ready the fishing poles. Finding bobbers, stringing line, adding weights. All while Zane paced the shed, waiting for his moment to fish. Slowly getting tired of the idea all together I am afraid.

 Luckily, early in the day Papa and Zane had bought some baby chickens, who were great entertainment while waiting for the fishing trip.

Finally, it was time to head to the pond. It was gloomy and sprinkling, but we pressed on, everyone in their wet boots, down to the pond for fishing time. 

Once we were down at the pond there was a little more waiting while everyone got their hooks baited. Then it was the moment the truth, time to go FISHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

The series of photos above were taken over a three minute period, the total length of time Zane stayed interested in fishing, once he was actually at the pond. To be fair fishing isn't that interesting and it took daddy a little bit to catch a fish with the Iron Man fishing pole. Luckily Blaine caught multiple fish, hooking them by their belly and in their mouth. Meanwhile Zane and Levi quickly moved on to other activities, such as throwing sticks in the water, sword fighting with sticks, hitting trees with sticks, pretending to cut down trees, and then finally requesting to go back to the house after about fifteen minutes. Eventually daddy did catch a fish. Zane and Levi came running to check out the catch, even getting to hold the stinky fish, a little boy's favorite activity. 

Blaine caught four fish total and showed them all to the little boys before throwing them back in the water.

 Somehow he managed to hook two of them in the belly not the mouth.

 Filling the pond with sticks, great fun!

 Zane and Levi "pretending to be the Lorax," missing the point of that movie completely.

 Holding daddy's fish! 

 Clay's catch

All and all it was a great time, though pretty muddy. Everyone went through multiple outfits, with lots of laundry to be done at the end of the day. The older kids stayed a while longer with great fish stories to tell upon their return. We left Zane's Iron Man fishing pole at Papa's so I'm sure there will be more trips to the pond this summer. All the poles will be read and maybe we should buy some bate next time!

Two month appointment

Today was actually Rowan's two month appointment. We had placed some bets on how much we thought Ro weighed and we were all way over. Little man only weighs 11lbs 11oz, 50th percentile, and is 23.5 inches long, 75th percentile. He is just a little peanut. He is meeting all his milestones and got five different vaccines today, four shots, one oral. He has been the crabbiest, saddest little boy all day. The boy who doesn't really like to be cuddled had to be held and eventually I had to resort to the baby restraint of the swaddle to calm him down. This is the last weapon in the baby soothing arsenal. Rowan has never liked being swaddled, not even as a brand new baby, but it did the trick during the ultimate freak out this afternoon.

When I finally, at 4:45, got him to sleep I decided to go back and read Zane's two month appointment blog to compare the boys stats. I should preface this by saying that I have never gone back and read any blog posts from pretty much the first six months of Zane's life. I take comfort in knowing they are there so that if at some point I want to look back and see what happened I can, but for now I am fine with trying to forget most of that time. I didn't think reading Zane's two month update could be that bad. Boy was I wrong. I immediately regretted that decision. Turns out Zane had a heart condition that was quickly getting worse. His two month vaccines made him miserable as well, but during his crying/fussiness his hands and feet turned purple. Then there was the haunting ending of said post " The next month is going to be one of the hardest of our lives. I can't even imagine what the third month update will entail." Written, on August 19, 2010, with the thought that Zane would have surgery in the next month. Turns out the the next month entailed, not my son's open heart surgery, but the loss of my father. Hence why I don't read those blogs.

So the take away is this, Zane was two pounds heavier and half an inch longer at this point in his life than Rowan is now. He had been to a ton of doctor's appointments and we were just waiting for him to get big enough for surgery. I was in a very dark place already and it was about to get worse. My assessment that I don't remember what we did during that time is accurate. None of the happenings in that post were familiar at all. Most importantly it is yet another reminder of how truly blessed we are today. I don't take the health of my children for granted, for a second. This maternity leave, what with its fair share of struggles, has been one hundred percent easier than Zane's with very few tears. Just as I had hoped. The screaming baby will pass, his little legs will feel better, and all will be back to normal. In the words of Zane, " not yet....soon."

Ten On Tuesday

1. I had hopes of starting today's post with Rowan's stats from his two month appointment. Turns out that isn't until tomorrow. If your wondering whether I remembered that prior to taking my two month old out in the freezing rain, to the doctor's office, the answer is no. And yes we get to do it all again tomorrow morning. Can't wait! So for now the Rowan update is that he would really like to suck his thumb, but can't quite figure out how to make that happen. He is beginning to get annoyed by his pacifier, so hopefully he figures out how to keep his hand/thumb in his mouth for longer than a couple seconds.

2. Yesterday we drove out to O'Fallon for a Baker family dinner so everyone could meet little Rowan. Much to our surprise Grammi was there as an added bonus. Rowan got to meet his Great Grandma Baker and all of Daddy's Aunts and Uncles on the Baker side. We had a great visit and during our trip we learned that Rowan hates his car seat. He screamed most of the hour trip home and the last fifteen minutes of the way there. Getting plane tickets home for farm camp is looking like a better decision all the time. Driving to Grammi and Pappa's this weekend could be rough.

Great Grandma couldn't keep her eyes of the sweet boy!

3. Grandma Blakley headed home Saturday evening after spending a few days with the boys and I. The big event was our trip to the zoo, on a rather warm day. After the trip, with Rowan 'being worn' I decided that a double stroller was in order. After another debacle, were my motto of "make time to do it twice" came into play, we finally have the double stroller I wanted. The boys and I met Michelle yesterday for another zoo day and I'm happy to report the stroller worked amazingly well. It's not too big, Rowan slept in his chair the whole time, and Zane could easily get in and out of his seat.

Here is Zane with the famous snake statue in the River's Edge exhibit.

 Jamey and Zane talking to the monkeys.

 Waving to the brown bear.

 Enjoying our new stroller.

4. During our zoo trip with Grandma we found a stuffed mole rat, for only $6, so we had to get it to go with our "Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed" book. We have read this book a couple times, but it was never one of Zane's favorites, until we brought home our very own Wilbur. We now read the book at least twice a day, Zane knows pretty much all the words, and frequently dresses Wilbur in Rowan's clothes. This led me to google naked mole rats. Turns out they are pretty awesome creatures. They are the only mammals that have the same sort of living hierarchy as bees (eusociality), with a queen rat and then worker mole rats. They are very tiny, burrowing in tunnels in Africa, they lack the neurotransmitter needed to feel pain, and they are basically immune to cancer. However, they are terribly ugly, and very tiny, but our stuffed Wilber is adorable. The STL zoo has naked mole rats in the children's zoo, a must see on our next trip.

 Zane and Wilber, who is dressed, obviously.

5. Sunday afternoon we went to Jamey's second birthday party. Zane and Jamey are two of a kind, both full of energy, which can lead to them being a little rough at times, but I think they had a good time playing with each other. When we got to the party I realized my camera battery was dead. Charged it for zoo day on Monday, only to forget to put my SD Card back in it. This pretty much sums up my life currently. Needless to say most of the photos are courtesy of my phone. If I only had a brain!

Checking out the turtles in the pond behind Jamey's house.

6. I'm excited to report that Zane has completed his sleep chart, getting his final prize of Superman jammies, this morning. I don't know what is going to happen from here. At some point he just has to sleep without getting a prize, but unsure if that will really happen. I guess we shall see. Here is Mr. Man in his Super Man jammies. He put them on the moment he got home from daycare today and promptly spilled milk on them. I guess sleeping in them will have to wait for another day.

7. In other exciting sticker chart news Zane finally finished his first five days on the poop chart and is four days into the next week. Our new tactic, which seems to be working well, is going utterly crazy (a.k.a Celebrating) when he poops in the potty. Think reaction one might have when their team wins the world series or super bowl. Jumping up and down, yelling, pounding on walls, all out celebration with every poop. I also got a few new blue prizes, super hero things from the one spot, that have added incentive as well. A bone stickers tomorrow and he gets big buzz whizzle. Long story about the failure of the first buzz, so yes we are now working for the, in Zane's words "big buzz whizzle, with a helmet and buttons."

8. This weekend's father son project was a bird house, per Zane's request. They got a bird house kit on their weekly Lowe's trip and one more thing, a real life tool belt and a tiny real hammer. The tool belt is just like daddy's. It is over the top and a little large, throwing off Zane's balance a bit, but he loves it. Here are the boys building a tiny bird house. This probably deserved an entire post, but too lazy to get that done.

 Using his tiny, real hammer. Adorable!

 Their matching tool belts. Zane has quite a few more tools than daddy.

Panting it, orange and pink.

The finished project.

9. This weekend we are headed to SEMO for hopefully, spring time fun, at the the farm. The boys are going to go fishing and we are keeping our finger's crossed that everyone stays well enough that Rowan can finally meet his Aunt Trina. Speaking of which, Happy Late Birthday to Aunt Trina! Hope you had a great day, let's eat cake to celebrate this weekend!

10. Lastly, the adorable picture of the day. After Rowan's two month photo shoot Zane wanted to be part of  the fun. Here is the end result, a very cute picture of all the Korenak boys. As a side note, Zane has figured out his name and goes around saying " I Zane Able Korenak" all the time. This evening he decided everyone's middle name should be Able, "Daddy Able Korenak," "Mommy Able Korenak." Very entertaining. Aren't they an adorable crew!

 Kissing brother