Birthday Week: Mr. Personality

How can I possibly put all that is Zane's personality, at two, into words. He is a ball of energy, wrapped in happiness, with a little bit of mischievousness (is that a word) mixed in just for good measure. He has a very tender heart and always has  a song playing in his head, not unlike his mother and Grandmother. He is funny, without trying to be, making funny faces at times, dancing, tickling, and always wanting to laugh/giggle with whoever is around. He has never met a stranger, saying hi and bye to everyone he meets. I am sure there are many days that Zane's happy face has made many old lady's days. I love to watch him interact with strangers because he never doesn't want to talk to someone, pure child's innocence. Even when there are people who don't appear to be friendly or someone who I wouldn't necessarily talk to (think cranky old lady in Target) he says hi, repeatedly, until they eventually say hi back and inevitably smile.

Though I can be a bit of a wild child, and is quite the handful, all and all he is a very well behaved little boy. When he does get in trouble, he takes it to heart, crying like you have told him that you don't love him anymore. He is quick to give hugs after getting up and he does seem to be spending much less time in his timeout spot. I can see him learning right from wrong and choosing to do what he is suppose to do, over things he knows he is not to do. Of course this doesn't happen all the time, but whenever I see him making a conscious decision to do right, or be polite I know my hard work at parenting is all worth while. He says thank you consistently and we have moved on to please and bless you when people sneeze.

He is very loving, wanting to cuddle, giving hugs throughout the day, and patting people just at the right time. There is nothing better than his little head on my shoulder, arms around my neck, patting my back. He hugs all the kids that he meets, with his favorite hugging companions, besides me of course, being Maggie and Adeline, both willing to hug him as much as he would like. One of our new games is "name who you love", which leads to him saying, "I love mamma," "I love daddy," "I love gma," ect. If you want him to tell you he loves you, be sure to ask for the opposite person. Whenever I want to hear "I love mamma," I am sure to ask for "I love daddy." 

I am constantly amazed at how easy going he is and how quickly he adapts to new situations, new people, lack of naps, changes in schedules and all the craziness that our life involves. With my work varying days and times, our constant travels, and his ever changing baby sitters when I have to go places on my day off, he is growing up being able to adapt to new things and new people quickly. I count it as a huge blessing that he we can pack up and take him to Oklahoma or vacation, and completely screw up his schedule (i.e. adventure camp)or run him ragged and he is always a trooper. Can you tell that I just adore this boy, can you tell? Of course he is not without his faults, but who wants to talk about faults during birthday week. I wish I could put some adorable photos with this post but my computer is dying apparently so posting via the iPad. Maybe I will add some tomorrow if my computer comes back to life.

Birthday Week: A few of Zane's favorite things

There are times when I wonder if Zane has ADD. Most of the time I try to rationalize it as a short attention span with the fact that he is only two years old and in turn can't concentrate on any given thing for longer than a minute. But then I see other two year olds calmly playing with cars or their toys for extended periods of time and wonder how I got blessed with this ball of energy.

With that being said here is a quick run down of Zane's favorite activities and toys at two. He is constantly in motion so he can fly through any or all of these numerous times in one day. His favorite thing to do is explore the outdoors. He would spend all day outside running, jumping, and discovering his world around him, given the chance. We spend lots of time at the park, the zoo, the train museum, and any other outdoor activity I can think of. He loves to be chased, throw/kick balls, water plants, and talk to/see animals. I have been trying to get him to run through sprinklers in our back yard ever since the weather has been warm enough, but it took his cousin Maggie's helping hand to really get him enjoying this classic summer activity. I guess it is try what they say, everything is better with a friend.

When we aren't outside Zane is much harder to entertain, but we manage. He loves books, sitting in our book reading corner, by the book shelf, reading to himself (adorable toddler babble with all the right inflections) or usually to a stuffed animal or toy. We have book time every night and currently he needs every book to be read by me and daddy, classic only child situation. He has branched out with his book collection and sits still to actually listen to the story more now as well. His current favorites are Yummy Yucky, a Christmas present from Aunt Abbey, Poke-A-Dot Old MacDonald's Farm, which I highly recommend for kids learning to count that love farm animals, The Giant Pop out Farm Book, No Hitting, and of course all the How Do Dinosaur books are still in the rotation. As you can see sometimes books are his toy of choice to bring in the car.

Much to my surprise he loves stuffed animals and always has to take a companion with him on our outings or shopping trips. He rarely takes the same animal two days in a row, sharing his love with all his furry friends. I recently tried to take some of his zoo out of his bed, but quickly found that he had taken them all back in there by the end of the day. I really can't tell you who is his favorite is, he plays with all of them, feeding them, giving them drinks, making the run/play, and always giving snuggles and kisses. The animal that he cuddles at night changes from day to day and sometimes we will put him down with, lets say his Otter, and when I go check on him before going to sleep he has his giraffe. It is very cute stuff and he has a whole flock of well loved animals that he takes great care of.

This is his favorite dinosaur who is often chosen as his car seat companion. On this day he even got to go sliding at the park with him.

He still thoroughly enjoys his kitchen, cooking more things "for us" now, though he is in need of some little plates/cups for serving. He still plays with Potsy all the time, making Potsy one of my top recommended children's toys ever, entertaining for the whole family. Everything else he plays with is all boy, balls, play tools (hammering on things in the garage with daddy ranks up there as one of his favorite activities), cars, and of course trains. To hear him tell it he loves trains and constantly wants to play with them, but in actuality he gets bored, or possibly frustrated, with them quite quickly. The little wooded trains/tracks seem to be very frustrating, as they constantly are coming apart and are difficult to put back together with little two year old hands. So we have gotten him (thanks to Aunt Abbey's bday gift) some of the dinosaur train, larger, plastic trains/tracks that look like they will stay together better and be easier for him to push around. Who knows if that will help or if he really isn't that interested in it. The Dinosaur train stuff is soooo much cheaper than Thomas so if he out grows it or doesn't like it we aren't out a ton of cash. I think he will play with them a lot more once his new train table is set up.

He does all sorts of pretend, which is the most fun to watch. Usually it involves him talking on a pretend phone (what does that say about his parents), but also there is a lot of pretend with his animals and dinosaurs, making them run, feeding them, and of course making them fight (he is a boy after all). He still loves music and constantly breaks out into song unprompted. He dances along to the tunes in his head all the time, which is beyond adorable. Currently the Dinosaurs A-Z song is his favorite and we will randomly hear him singing "toot toot, toot, toot...then bambling along to it's tune." LOVE IT! He still doesn't have the patients for painting or coloring but will request to do both often, but then only actually colors/paints for about two minutes then he is on to other things. I did buy him play dough, against my better judgement, for his birthday. We shall see how that goes, if he starts eating it I will put it away for his birthday  next year.

Lastly, his new favorite request is, "I drive." Every time we turn into our housing addition on our way home he begins to request "to drive." This I think began when he got to play in Uncle Able's car with mom on her last visit up here, then he got to play in numerous cars at the farm in May, and now he loves it. If he has been good, with no fit throwing during our outing, he gets to "drive" while I take the groceries inside, it's a win win. He still loves driving his car outside as well, but nothing beats "driving" mommy or daddy's car. What can I say, he is all boy. Check out all his "driving" shots.

Of course I can't forget to mention his on going love affair with the ipad. He watching Thomas on it a lot now, so we are trying to gently nudge him back to some of the other apps, that may be a little more educational, but not really. He does know all the animals in peek a boo barn, and most of the sounds that they make, which is huge progress from when we bought it. It remains the only way to keep him stationary for longer than about two minutes and makes the airport a dream. It has been well worth every penny. And that is my busy boy's favorite things at two.

Ten on Tuesday

1. Last night was one of those nights that makes you question how exactly you are going to survive parenthood. Zane woke up at about 10pm and we didn't get him back to sleep until around 4am. He was screaming, crying, saying ouch, pulling on his ears and throwing up any meds we tried to give him. Needless to say I had to call into work and did my nursing from home today. We went to the doctor and of course he has ear infections, so we have another amoxicillin prescription, which I am unsure about how I am going to get him to take. He slept the afternoon away while I awaited news from the Richards family about their new arrival. 

2. And the news was that baby Everett Ambrose Richards was born at 1:18pm, weighing in at 8lb 1oz and he is 20 inches long. I know some of you might be thinking that is a big boy, but he is the littlest Richards yet and absolutely precious. I adore his name, with Ambrose being in honor of my dad. It was our Grandfather's middle name and dad's favorite/alter ego at times (mainly for passwords to things) but it is a sweet reminder of him and oh so perfect for our newest nephew. I couldn't sleep this afternoon, waiting patiently by the phone for the phone call telling me that he had arrived. Here is a link to my sister's blog where there are more pictures, but here is my personal favorite, little Everett getting his first bath. I can't wait to kiss that little head. Welcome to world little baby Everett, you are loved by so many!

3. In other news Zane and I made it home safely from adventure camp, and boy did we have some adventures. I meant to do a whole post on it, and will, but I was beyond exhausted when I got home and now it's birthday week, so next week I will fill you in on all our fun. Suffice it to say if there was an adventure that could be had at the farm or surrounding area we did it. The kids were all troopers, playing well together, and behaving amazingly well behaved. Maggie and Zane are best friends and Brendan has truly embraced his role as big brother/cousin and resident helper. Here are a few highlights to tide you over until the actual post.

Brendan sporting his new hat that Grandma brought him from Ireland.

 The crew in their farm shirts.

 Maggie and Zane made quite the pair.

 Zane led the crew in numerous dances/sing a longs, this one at the splash pad.

Ready for a bug hunt

- To see the entire Adventure camp photo album you can go here.

4. Our flight home Sunday marked Zane's last free flight, super duper sad face. He does amazingly well on the airplane, having slept through probably 95% of all his flying time. He woke up with about 20 minutes left in our flight Sunday and thoroughly enjoyed looking out the window and reviewing the safety instructions in the seat back in front of him. He always gets all sorts of compliments on his good behavior and this trip he got a lot of compliments on his manners, saying thank you to the TSA is pretty much unheard of, except for Zane who thanked all of them.

5. Also on this trip I got a new Thunder shirt for the NBA finals. It was strange watching people in the airport, while sweating to death because the AC wasn't working, it wasn't a sea of red/orange like it usually is, but a sea of Thunder blue. I have mixed feelings about it since I haven't lived their since the Thunder arrived, but I am trying to support anything that is positive coming from my home state. So I will "Thunder Up" as they say, and did this evening in my new Thunder blue shirt.

6. Now we are in a mad dash/scramble to prepare for Zane's birthday party this weekend. I have given up on it being adorable, though I did enjoy researching adorable ideas, but I have no time or energy to do that. So Monday Zane and I bought Thomas decorations, because they are readily available, ordered a cake from a local bakery, and I bought him a few little presents online. The famous banner from last year is hung, as well as a Thomas one that I thought would be the length of the mantel and really is the length of the long wall that my big mirror is on, so that's where it went. The celebratory balloon wreath is on the door and now all we have to do is put our basement back together, clean our entire house, grocery shop, wrap presents, put up the rest of the decorations, and try to get our house to not smell like vomit anymore all before Saturday. Did I mention I work Thursday and Friday #impossible.

7. Zach and his dad did an amazing job sheet rocking the ceiling of our basement while Zane and I were out on adventures. Zach is still "mudding" and sandy, but tomorrow we should be able to start the clean up processes. He added recessed lighting on the other half of the basement, which makes it so much brighter and a light switch so you can turn the main lights off from downstairs instead of having to turn then off upstairs then hope you can find your bed in the dark (that one's for you mom). It will have to be painted at some point, but there won't be time for that before company arrives Friday evening.

8. The other project that is being wrapped up just in time for Zane's birthday is his long awaited train table. Zach had finished it awhile ago and over the past few days we have successfully painted The Island of Sodor on top of it. We did quite a bit of research, yes I googled Island of Sodor Topography, and I think it turned out amazing. Zach added the finishing touches of a light house, the Quarry, and labels of important areas, such as Brendham docks, Knapford Shed, Tidmouth sheds, the Quarry and Henry's tunnel, this evening. We love it, hopefully Zane does too.

9. Today I was also feeling pretty terrible, not sure why, probably lack of sleep, so Zane and I lounged around on the couch feel crummy together most of the day. At around 3ish I ventured out to get the mail and here is what the road in front of my house looked like. I was so exhausted that I just said, "huh that shouldn't be that way" and went back to the couch. This led to our water pressure being next to nothing all evening and all sorts of construction equipment driving past our house. I have to say water main breaks are a totally new territory for me having grown up in the country. However I am very familiar with having a muddy river next to my house, so it's all good.

10. Lastly, as most of you know, my brother is opening a spice shop in OKC. Savory Spices is looking to open in September, but the planning and preparations are well under way. You can follow his shop on twitter at @SavorySpiceOKC or "Like" him on facebook (not sure if I worded that right, I have to admit I have never been on facebook) under the same name. Mom and Able are currently in Denver at Spice Shop training. I saw the pictures/plans for the inside of the shop this weekend and it is going to be amazing. I am so proud of my big bro!

Birthday Week: A Year in Pictures

I will start off this year's birthday week with a look back at our year in pictures. Enjoy!

July 2011

August 2011

September 2011

October 

November

December

January

February 

March

April

May

June

Ten on Tuesday

1. I think I want to try this idea from pinterest. I have taken all the jackets off of Zane's books anyway, because they were getting torn, so this way they would be put to good use. Now if only I could remember where I put them. I probably threw them away in cleaning frinzy at some point, but I am hoping to find them and make some art for Zane's new room.

2. Yesterday I finished one of my previous pinterest craft ideas, a balloon wreath, for Zane's birthday month. It was stupidly simple to make, with no mess, and I think it turned out really cute. I added some noise makers and ribbon just for fun! It can be our front door wreath during birthday months and at birthday parties. Perfect!

3. I officially have finished the baby blanket, only after being thrown into a fit of rage. I had decided to make it all yellow, instead of yellow with a white border, my original plan. I did this because "it would just be easier." It would have been easier had the company not discontinued that color some time during the last 6 months. I went on a mad internet search without and results. I still find it very hard to believe that there is no way to get my hands on some Baby Bee, Pitter Patter yarn, color: sunkist, but apparently I can't. Little baby Richard's (no he doesn't have a name yet) is going to have to deal with his smaller border. No pictures yet. I don't want to ruin the surprise.

4. Now that it is actually June I am trying to pull together birthday plans for Zane. I can't believe his birthday is only 14 days away. It isn't going to be a big party, just Zach's family coming in for Father's Day weekend, so we will celebrate then. My family will be busy loving on the new baby in Oklahoma. It will be loosely Train themed and pretty sure I am going to buy a cake to minimize the work I have to put into it. I'm sad that none of my family will be able to make it in, but such is life. I am hoping to have a small party of sorts with them while Zane and I are in OK, but may have to mail his presents home. I can't believe our new nephew will be here by then. I can't wait to meet him.

5. Zane and I head out tomorrow morning for Oklahoma Adventure/Farm Camp. Mom and I have been planning out the itinerary all week. We have lots of ideas of things to do, with full knowledge that most of them either won't work or we won't have time to do them.There will most likely be movie and nap time each day so that mom and I don't die and so the kids don't have heat strokes. The t-shirts are being made and Zane and I can't wait to see everyone. I am not evening trying to entertain Zane in the airport, I am going straight to Thomas the Train videos on the iPad.

6. While Zane and I are in Oklahoma, taking part in numerous adventures, Zach will be here drying walling the ceiling of our basement. His dad is coming up to help him, so hopefully he doesn't work himself to death. After our battle with our house smelling terrible this past winter, the basement ceiling was torn up and now needs repair. I am sure they will gets tons of work done with Zane and I out of the house.

7. Remember the adorable pictures of Zane in his new dragon pool last week. Well I came home from work Sunday to find the top circle of the pool deflated. That's right, Zane bit a hole in it, so patching the pool has also been added to Zach's To Do List this weekend. Whose child does that?

8. I was suppose to work today, but by the grace of God work called this morning to see if I wanted to be on call. I had contemplated calling in, due to the fact that Zane, who is 2, got up three times last night screaming bloody murder. He would have none of Zach taking care of him, though we tried, but he screamed "I want mamma" continually so of course I couldn't sleep through that. I am about one more sleepless night away from loosing my mind. I have no clue what is wrong. This morning he was straining and crying when he pooped so maybe he was constipated last night, but that doesn't explain every other night that he wakes up, at least once streaming bloody murder. I go back to, what happens when/if we have another child. Can you tell I am beyond frustrated with this topic.

9. Today I gave Zane a hair cut in preparation for farm camp. Every time I cut his hair he looks so much like my dad it is frightening/sad. As soon as I get those tears under control I can't help but think if he looks that much like my dad I am sure he looks at at least some what like Zach's birth parents as well. It is strange to me, and kind of neat, that he probably looks like people we have never met, but who were kind and strong enough to give their son a better life.

10. Lastly, my garden has taken a turn for the worst, which I really thought I was going to avoid this year. My broccoli was doing great, but I guess I waited to long to pick it and it got leafed out and kind of brown. One of my two tomatoes was eaten over night, which means the one left probably isn't long for this world either. Also this week all of my beets have been eaten by something, most likely bunnies. I have been watering it diligently, morning, noon and night on my days off, weeding it, and thinking good thoughts only for it to fail. I am super sad. The carrots, onions, garlic, and herbs all look fine, but I was really hoping for beets and tomatoes. This is the point in the summer when I think it was all a waste of money and I should just go to a farmers market. Sad face.

11. To not end on such a depressing note, here is the new highlight of my life. Zane says thank you, unprompted, the majority of the time when you give him things. To me this is a HUGE parenting victory. He hasn't mastered please yet, but all day whenever I got him a snack or juice or whatever random thing he requested he always responded with an adorable, toddler version, of thank you. Sweet Success!

Week of fun recap

Since I have been off since Tuesday Zane and I have done all sorts of fun things. I love when I have multiple days off so that I can get the errands and chores done, but I also get to do fun adventures on other days as well. This weeks adventures included, the Botanical Gardens on Tuesday, as mentions on my Ten on Tuesday. We saw the Lantern Festival and hit up the splash pad, both did not disappoint. Wednesday we ran errands, went to the farmers market, then ate lunch with Daddy at Dewey's, which was amazing, as always.

Yesterday was a rainy, gloomy day so I had planned on going to try out the Train Museum's Creation Station, just for some sort of indoor activity. Of course we couldn't not ride the train and look at the choo choos while we were there, so it turned into much bigger adventure, followed by frozen yogurt,which Zane loved. Creation station wasn't as awesome as I had hoped. There were tons of train tables, so no one had to fight over trains or Cranky the Crain, which was Zane's favorite. There was a  kitchen, dress up area, post office area, school bus that you could drive, arts and crafts, and books. However, it is only open at certain times and then only for an hour, which seems odd. Zane enjoyed everything and tried to make friends, but the little girls there were having none of hanging out with a boy. Zane also could not stop picking up/organizing the toys, which I completely own as my fault. They had the same cookie set we have at home, so he went searching for all the cookies to put on the tray and put away. Then the book area was a mess and needed picking up. Cue me feeling bad about constantly making him pick up his toys, but I am sure there could be worse habits he picked up from me. 

Zane tried to play in  this house with the girls, but his trying to hug everyone scared them off.

 Peacefully counting cookies, which was interrupted by the Creation Station resident bully who was "being cookie monster" aka throwing Zane's cookies everywhere, causing confusion and delay.

 Dress up time!

 We got a personal ride on the miniature train, as we were the only passengers. We even saw a whole flock of Turkeys in the meadow.

Finally today we made our first trip to Grant's Farm this season. It didn't start being open on week days until the first of May. They lost a lot of money over the warm winter/spring, because we have wanted to go for months. Today, it was strangely cold, especially for the first of June. I had to dig out his jeans and jacket since it was 55 degrees when we left this morning. In a genius move, Michelle and I arrived just as it was opening so we didn't have to stand in any lines. There were all kinds of animals out on the tram ride today. The buffalo were crossing the road so we got to see them up close and personal. Zane got to see lots of cows, which he had been asking for since he woke up.

We spent some time with the overly aggressive goats. Zane hugged them all and even tried to pick some up.

 We rode the carousel as well. Zane choose the Dragon this time, which is by far the coolest/biggest animal on the ride.

 These shots are priceless. Jamey and Zane, leaned up against the fence, looking at the cows and Zebra, all while babbling away in their own language. It was the cutest thing ever.

 "Look mamma, a cow."

 We ended with my favorite part, the Ponies. There were a lot of them and even a new fawn running around.

 Here is our attempt at a picture of the boys with the horse. Zane escaped his stroller mid picture.

We were done by 11:30 and missed the huge line that had formed while we were inside. Grant's farm is cool, but not worth waiting in line for an hour for. We headed home for naps all around, then enjoyed the beautiful weather in the afternoon.Sadly I work all weekend, but it has been a great week, full of fun. Next week is adventure camp, so there is more fun to come. Thanks to Michelle and Jamey for driving "across the river" to come join in the fun. We had a blast.

On a side note, I can't believe that it is June already. This means we will welcome our fifth nephew into the world this month and celebrate Zane's second birthday. I can't wait!