Zaiden 10 month

I am a little late getting to this post as Zaiden turned 10 months old last weekend over the Easter holiday weekend. 10 months brings a lot of activity for Zaiden. He is on the move and pulls to stand and cruises around furniture. He will stand for a few seconds on his own without holding on sometimes! He now knows where the things are that he is not supposed to have (chords, the dog bowl, etc) and as soon as someone is not looking will crawl at super speed to get there and then look very innocent when told "no." He is getting good at feeding himself and is starting to try more foods. He babbles a lot and has a few new sounds, but still not "mama," he is sticking with his "dada." He will sign more (by clapping his hands) for more food at dinner and raises his arms for "so big." He will sometimes wave bye if someone helps him first. He still loves to have the attention of his brother as well as from our dog, Parker. He is still having some challenges with sleep and has slept through the night a few (very magical and wonderful!) nights, but still wakes up frequently..... oh, well. This month brought a big change as he started a new daycare so he could continue to go to the same place as big brother, Zander who started in a pre-school. He is in the baby room and it is a bit of a change as he will not be with Zander (he was very sad on his first day when I left him there all alone....but only for a few minutes), but he also loves it as he now is around several other little babies his age. The teachers report he really likes "baby school" and loves to clap his hands during music and circle time! We are looking forward to having nicer weather so we can spend more time outside. We have had a few chances to take an afternoon wagon ride or spend time in the swing, which he LOVES!

Family Vacation 2016

We took a long weekend getaway a few weekends ago to warm, sunny Arizona. This year, Zeb became a Cubs season ticket holder and is really excited to begin the season. We had talked about taking a trip to Spring Training for many years and decided this would be the year. This was Zaiden's 1st trip on an airplane and a long family vacation and he did really well. Both boys did great on both plane rides. We left Thursday night around bed time and arrived to Arizona very late, but we made it to the hotel and got a little sleep. On Friday, we spent the afternoon at the ball park to catch a spring training game and even met up with Aunt Maggie who makes the trip every year for some sunshine and baseball. We even had a little time to spend in the pool as well as made a few trips to some local parks to play. On Saturday, we returned to the ballpark and had a great afternoon in the warm sun watching the game from our picnic blanket on the lawn - this was a lot of fun for both boys to be outside. On Sunday we made a trip to the zoo where Zander and Zeb watched a 3D movie, we took a train ride and got to ride the carousel. We ended our trip on Monday before our flight back to Chicago with a visit to a train park. It was a great first vacation as a family of 4!

Zander is 3 years old!

How is this spunky, smart, sensitive, adorable little boy 3 years old already!? Zander is such a grown up little boy. This year has been amazing to watch how much he has grown. He is a tall and skinny little guy, but is a really good eater. He loves eating his fruits and vegetables....but also has a good appreciation for donuts and cupcakes! He is now able to run and jump and is getting really good at catching a ball. He likes to color and draw and loves to practice using his scissors. He can dress himself with just a little bit of help and is a big boy and can take himself to the bathroom. He talks.....a lot! We call him a chatterbox and he loves to tell stories and will often say, "can I tell you about....." and will tell a long story about something that happened at daycare or often his favorite topic....our recent trip to the water park. I also often hear "Mom, can I tell you something" and then he will have to stop and think about something he wants to say because he really just wants to talk. He is also able to sing several songs and likes to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle" to his little brother. He is also SO smart and is super excited to start pre-school later this month. He not only sings his ABCs, but can identify all the letters. He counts to 20 (usually skips 16, but who needs 16 anyway!). He knows all of his colors and shapes (his favorite is still the octagon). He seems like he is going to be a great reader. He is really good at pointing out symbols "Look mom, there is a Target truck or the gym sign - YMCA" He knows the lines of many of his favorite books (favorites are Mr. Brown can moo and the Ear book). He can also be funny and of course as a little boy, loves to talk about poop and farts!  We can't wait to see what this next year brings!

Our Birthday weekend celebration started with a trip to the Brookfield zoo with Grandma and Grandpa

Zander was so excited to get a new tricycle for his big day
 and so happy to have the warm weather to be able to enjoy riding it! 

We celebrated his Birthday with a small party at our place with family and a few friends
He picked a Paw Patrol Birthday theme

Zaiden 9 months

Zaiden has discovered his freedom this month. He is on the move and loves to explore. His personality is also starting to come out more now that he is on the go. He loves to wait until you are not looking and go straight for something he knows he is not supposed to have....and with a big, dimple smile on his face. He also likes to explore Zander's toys a lot more than his own, which has created a few brotherly battles already. Zaiden continues to think Zander is the coolest guy ever and there are sometimes Zander agrees, "come one little buddy" and other times, not so much "no, no baby" Not only is Zaiden crawling, but he is also trying to stand up and gets up onto his knees on any toy or stool he can find and was already caught standing up in his crib when he is supposed to be napping. His only words so far are "dada" but he is beginning to sign "more" although I am not sure he fully understands it yet, but just knows he is supposed to do something. He is starting to get his first 2 teeth and seems to always have his hands in his mouth. He is beginning to eat more foods and has now had pancakes (not so sure about this) and french fries (double fisting these!) He continues to be a cute, smiley, mischievous guy who loves to laugh.

Zaiden 8 months

He is on the move! 8 months brings a big milestone as I think we can now officially say Zaiden is a crawler. He is just beginning to actually crawl only a few arm/leg moves at a time, but he seems to have mastered his own method we like to call the inchworm. Zaiden gets himself up onto his hands and knees then will dive forward and will keep doing this pattern until he reaches what he wants. He can cover a pretty good distance when he is motivated (usually to cause trouble like emptying a box of wipes at daycare!). In all aspects he seems to be such a big boy. He continues to love the attention of his brother and will try to get his attention by laughing or squealing at him. He loves to get hugs from Zander. Zaiden is also starting to give "high 5's" when we ask. He continues to be a good eater and is making great progress as a sleeper (thank goodness!). He continues to be a happy little guy and loves to give smiles and coos, although he did not have many for the camera this month.

This was the closest smile I was able to get on camera this month! 

He had a lot of fun at the children's museum 

Our little inchworm showing off his skills 

Holidays

The best thing about the holidays is spending time with our family and this year was extra special by having the addition of Zaiden to our family. Zander loves being a big brother and it was great to see them spend so much time together. Thanksgiving was spent in Wisconsin and we enjoyed some mild weather and spending some time outside. The month of December was filled with many Christmas events as Zander was old enough to be really excited about the season. He could not wait to get home after our Thanksgiving travels and put up our tree and Christmas lights. He did several cookie/candy baking projects with mom. We made a trip to Milwaukee to see the Holiday Train with Aunt Abbie and Uncle Garrett. We met up with friends over Zaiden's baptism weekend to see the zoo lights. The weekend before Christmas, we spent the weekend in Chicago celebrating our own family Christmas. The weekend started with a trip to see the play Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer play (unfortunately Jasmine and Zaiden stayed home due to Zainden's injury/illness). We then had a family dinner at home followed by a Christmas box of (matching!) family pajamas, movie and snacks for a Saturday night movie night. We then got up Sunday morning to unwrap the presents under our tree followed by breakfast in our pajamas. We then traveled to Wisconsin to spend time with friends and family for Christmas. Zander was very excited about having Santa come visit and he asked Santa for a Teddy Bear which he was thrilled to find under the tree Christmas morning (and even requested some new toys for Zaiden). We then continued our travels to Iowa over the weekend for a busy few days visiting friends and family, although the trip was cut a bit short due to the arrival of an ice storm. We have enjoyed spending the rest of the week with a lot of family time. We rung in a quiet 2016 at home and spent the rest of the day gearing up for Iowa's trip to the Rose Bowl (with a disappointing finish). We look forward to many good things in 2016!

Holiday Train in Milwaukee 

Zoo Lights 

Some Christmas baking projects

 

Family Christmas at home

 Santa was good to the boys! 

Starting a new year cheering on the Hawkeyes with dad 

7 months

It has a busy time of year, but we still had to take some time to celebrate Zaiden's 7 month milestone. He is a very active and busy little guy. He is getting so close to crawling as he scoots around very easily in circles and is beginning to push himself backwards and is starting to get his knees under him. He will also stay on his hands and knees and rock if he is placed there. Parker and Zander continue to big his biggest motivation, although this Christmas season the tree became very appealing he made some good efforts rolling to rip apart a few presents! He has pretty much mastered sitting and can reach very far to get to the toys he wants. He grasps toys very easily and although still puts most things in his mouth is staring to use the toys too (he likes to bang a hammer from a toy he got). He also continues to be very interactive and talkative and likes to take turns and will sometimes copy people (especially blowing raspberries). He is feeding himself baby cookies and has a pretty good appetite taking most of the foods we give him. Thankfully he is sleeping better for the most part, with the exception of did not have great sleep over our travels. He did also have a milestone of his first (2) ER visits this past month as he had a nursemaids elbow (dislocation of the radius bone), but at the same time was coming down with a virus and was running a fever which threw off all the doctors and delayed the elbow diagnosis and the generally pretty easy job of popping it back into place (I now know how to do it in case it happens again!). He was a trooper and I think actually enjoyed some of the extra cuddle time with mom! Life with kids is always an adventure!

I actually got a lot of smiles for the camera this month! Isn't he so cute!!