Missouri Trip Summer 2017

I didn't get to write this when we got back because we went straight into baseball camp and Zane's birthday week, but it was a blast so I want to be sure to document it. We had to fit in our summer Missouri trip before I headed back to work since I'll be working weekends the rest of the summer. With this being said we did not have a lot of days to fit in a lot of things because Zane's baseball camp started bright and early Monday morning.



We started our trip early Wednesday morning (three weeks ago) and drove nine hours to Zach's parent's new little cabin in the woods. Thatcher was an absolute trooper on his first road trip, he slept all day, and only woke up when we stopped to feed him. We listened to Serial's new season S-Town, which was pretty entertaining if you're looking for a podcast to listen to on a long trip. The cabin where we stopped was built by Zach's dad with help from everyone in the family. It is gorgeous inside and has a beautiful view from the newly finished covered porch. The boys had some adventures in the woods, went fishing (though the fish weren't biting), then we ended the evening with smores over the campfire. The boys got to sleep in the loft, Zane fell out of bed and Rowan fell down the stairs in the morning, but everyone had a great time. Baby Thatcher slept all night like a champ!

This was three weeks ago and he already looks so different and so much bigger.

Thursday morning we headed back to Zach's parent's to visit Aunt Trina's crew. This was the first time they had met baby Thatcher. Aunt Trina, Uncle JR, and all the cousins instantly fell in love with baby T, how could you not? Clay is now officially taller than I am and has grown into a wonderful young man. I had great conversations and tons of fun with my niece and nephews. They are good kids, I miss their sweet faces.

Here is the final count on Korenak cousins, seven, from left to right Blaine (12), Levi (8 tomorrow), Clay (14), Baby Thatcher (2mn), Zane (6 in this picture), Adeline (10), and Rowan (4).

 The oldest and youngest boy, how is he fourteen years old Clay remains possibly the cutest baby I've ever seen.

Aunt Trina getting her baby fix.

Friday morning we played at Mike and Amy's before heading to St. Louis for the big Cardinals game. Thatcher sneaked in a few more cousin snuggles before we had to leave.

Blaine was great with baby T as well.

 Zane's yearly rope swing pictures. This is his favorite thing to do at Grammi and Papa's. I have pictures like this from the past few years, I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a shirt on in any of them.

Friday night was full of baseball game fun, which I previously blogged. Then we had one more day to do our other favorite thing in St. Louis, the zoo!!!



 We went with my friend Michelle and met up with our friend Becky who has twin girls. That made the grand total of children at this Zoo day, eight! When we all met each other I was the only one that was married and none of us had children. I love that I'm friends with these wonderful women and I've loved watching their families grow. I wish we could hang out more often.



 Of course the big event is the penguin exhibit, which never disappoints.

 I'm pretty sure I have a picture of Zane, in this exact spot, every June since he was little bitty. It's his happy place.

 Family photo with the penguins is also a yearly tradition now. This was baby Thatcher's first trip to the zoo. He slept through most of it, but I'm sure he had a great time.

 Carousel fun!

 

 This marked Becky's twins first carousel ride, sadly it wasn't a huge hit.

 My favorite place is probably the seal lion tunnel. It's like being in the ocean, gorgeous! He's Zane with a tiger seal before we headed home. Yes, we hit up the snake house, I was feeding Thatcher during that though so no pictures of Zane and the Gaboon Vipers or the Anaconda (yes he saw both).

 Saturday afternoon we just hung out with the Wamsers. Our children are all pretty much the exact some ages and all got along so well. They had a blast and we had some sad good byes Sunday morning when we had to head home. Here are Ruthie and Rowan (Rowan is three months older than Ruthie even though she looks about a year older than him) both four years old!

 Jamie and Zane, both six in this picture.



Thatcher's Three Month Update

Sweet sweet Thatchy baby is three months old, time continues to fly by. Our little man is huge! He is eating six ounce bottles every three or four hours and as of this evening is weighing in at 14lbs 13oz. Last week I switched out all his clothes and jammies to 6-9 month sizes and some twelve month jammies to accommodate his big old feet. Speaking of his feet, I had the doctor look at them at Zane's seven year old well visit. He thinks that they are still turning in too much and he needs to see orthopedist for some specially made shoes. I have to agree that I didn't see any changes after wearing shoes 24/7 for a month. So I'm giving his feet a rest before he gets his special shoes.

 T can still fall asleep anywhere and frequently dose. Here he is sitting up, with his tiny shoes on, completely asleep. The magic of the 3rd baby!

Here are his tiny Sperry's he wore all month. I adore them and these tiny size ones are almost too small.

Here is one of his new tricks, pulling his fat little legs up to his belly, working his abs out. He's starting to try, to maybe roll over to his belly, but he's pretty lazy so he is in no rush. Notice how his little feet are touching, they are always like this and it's so darn cute, but know that's what we have to fix.

 Little Man continues to hate tummy time, even though he's getting much better at lifting his head up and he tries to move his little feet to shove himself forward. Oh my goodness his fat little thighs and perfectly round little head are just heaven.

He is pretty mobile when he's on his back. I will set him down and when I come back he's shoved himself all over the place and usually in a circle. I never witness him turning himself around in circles, when I'm watching he just sits and kicks, but once I leave he is quite mobile. Here's is tiny smile, very proud of himself.

 Speaking of his smile, he has perfected his little smile and giggle this month. He has so much to say and will talk, coo, giggle, and smile at everyone these days. My favorite is when he's talking to his brothers, it's the sweetest things. Look at his tiny smiling face.

Thatcher remains super chill and tolerates his brothers manhandling him with grace. He is forever having glasses, hats, or all sorts of costumes put on him and he never seems to mind. I find it all very hysterical!

This month he has started to enjoy the toys in his gym more, of course Dolares is his favorite. Hands down best baby toy ever. He also enjoys sitting on the couch with his brothers, watching tv, playing peek-a-boo, giggling, you know guy stuff.

So after three months I can't imagine life without this little face. His tiny personality brightens everyday. I love his sweet voice, his smiles, his little wide mouthed baby kisses, his bobbing little head, and his soft baby hair. The addition of Thatcher to our family has brought out the best in my other two boys, when I was so scared it would do just the opposite. They adore him and can't be unhappy or in a bad room when they are around their baby brother. It's all going by to quickly and he already seems so big. He's the easiest, happiest baby we could have ever asked for.

Ten on Tuesday

Ok so things have been off with our travels and Zane's bday, but I'm back and lots has been going on. So here are some highlights in no particular order.

1. We spent Father's Day at the lake with Able, Kari, Alice, and Grandma. It was a lovely day, almost chilly when we arrived, and never got too terribly hot in the afternoon. Baby Thatcher took his first dip in the lake and did not hate it, which to me equals he loved it. He kicked and splashed and didn't cry so it was a huge success.

 First family of five Father's Day pic!

 We also got to help Uncle Able celebrate his first Father's Day. Here he is with one of his many God children. He is Zane's Godfather and will also be Thatcher's come November when baby T finally gets baptized.

My too big boys contemplating life. 

 Here is Uncle Able with his Father's Day hamburger, a special creation he came up with especially to celebrate this big day.

 2. The boys started swim lessons on Zane's birthday. Here they are the morning of their first lessons. It's at the outdoor swimming pool in Edmond and the session is Monday through Thursday for two weeks. So we are now halfway through week two and I think it's been lots of fun and at least Rowan has learned a lot. Zane could have gone up a level, but I don't see any level four people there so who knows if there would have even been a class. So far his class has spent way too much time jumping into the pool and learning how to dive when I personally feel they should be working on strokes, or breathing, or something that could actually help them survive in the water.

 Here are my tan, blonde headed boys, ready for their first day, in matching shark swimming suits. No this isn't planned there are just sharks on all boys swimming suits.

 Baby T was awake for the first few lessons, but has slept through the last three or four. Here he is super smiley and talking to me on the first day. It has been surprisingly cool and beautiful in the mornings which is great for Thatch and I, but makes the swimmers freeze to death.

 Little Rowan has been very enthusiastic about his lessons. He is the first one to volunteer for everything, he's always the first one underwater, and usually the first one to start shivering midway through (he has no meat on his bones to keep him warm.) Today he did swim pretty far without a pool noodle and seems to be making some good strides towards swimming. We'll test his skills this weekend at the lake.

 Zane knows how to do all the things they are learning in his class, but it's good review and lots of fun. He won the treading water competition yesterday and the diving and cannonball competitions today. He swims across the pool great, when they are actually swimming, which isn't a lot.

3. Saturday was my first day back to work. Here is baby Thatcher on the last day of my last maternity leave. Something about it being the last maternity leave made it that much harder to see it end. This was by far and away the easiest and best maternity leave. There are a lot of reasons including Thatcher being a fantastic sleeper, my other kids being older, and for the most part not loosing their minds. Any length of time I have away from my job always reinforces the fact that I could easily walk away from nursing and not miss it for a minute. I tell myself I'd go crazy as full time stay at home mom, that I'd miss working, and adult contact, but in reality I wouldn't. I was off for exactly three months and did not give my job one thought, except to dread going back.

4. By the grace of God I got to actually work on Saturday. The flex pool nurses have been being cancelled a lot this summer and I really should have been cancelled Saturday, but was only cancelled Sunday. When I get cancelled I don't get paid so definitely need some prayers that whatever is going on at the hospital reverses itself soon. It was hard to go back, made worse by Zane waking up before I left with a 101.4 temp. Zach's first day with all three boys included taking Zane to urgent care where he was diagnosed with Strep, yet again. I'm starting to wonder if he needs his tonsils out. So the boys had a lazy day resting.

5. My last day of maternity leave was sad, as it is, but we got a surprise pick me up when a present from my Aunt Laurie arrived. She always sends gifts at just the right time and with presents for everyone not just the baby. This box was pirate themed and came with all sorts of goodies for everyone. Here are my pirate boys, the shirts were courtesy of Aunt Laurie as well. So so cute!

6. Summer boredom is in full affect at my house and with a baby I don't have a lot of time/energy to entertain people. Sometimes the boys do great finding things to play, like this day when they made amazing costume mash ups. Zane was an Iron man pirate, cowboy, super hero. They came out in all sorts of costume mash ups that were amazing. Don't get me wrong we still have lots of fits and lots of arguments about wanting to watch TV all day!

 Zane was also an Iron Man pirate with the body of Batman.

 Apparently Zane's costume was a little too scary as it made pirate iron man Rowan cry "I don't like when you're a scary bad guy Zane!"

 7. Summer time also means that little Thatcher has both brother's attention all the time. My big boys are actually a huge help. They both can hold and entertain Thatcher for brief period of time and they are both working on feeding him. Thatcher loves his brothers and is starting to smile and laugh at them more, which  melts my heart.

 This is a picture of Zane and Thatcher's first game of peek-a-boo. It was a huge hit, lots of baby giggles. I cannot wait for more games ahead. It is truly everything I had hoped it would be, Zane is great with him.

 8. Other fun things Thatcher's brother's have done for him these days; hooked him up with his first super hero cape at the tender young age of three months. I remember when Rowan got his first super hero cape, from Zane of course, it was for his seventh month photo shoot. It's truly a right of passage.

Super Hero Baby Rowan at seven months old, smaller than Thatch at 3 months for sure.

9. Today was one of our first summer outings. I completely and totally forgot that the life insurance people were coming to my house to do my health screening, until the 10 minute reminder went off while we were at Otto's house. I miss my memory oh so much. We had fun at the Science Museum along with the rest of OKC. Lots of fun!

 10. Lastly, how about this adorable picture of Zane and his baby cousin Alice. Alice and Uncle Able got to stay at our house the other night while their house is under construction and it was tons of fun. Zane is quite taken with his baby cousin, it's adorable.