True and Zoey UPDATE

How do my babies grow?

Zoey is getting incredibly big and very capable all of a sudden.

She can do the following with great proficiency

- Feed herself with a fork and spoon and drink out of a regular cup. In fact she is a great eater, she will eat all kinds of veggies and especially loves roasted carrots. Meat and cheese are the first things to be eaten on her plate, then she goes for the rice and finally her veggies. She is eating so much which makes sense with the growth she has been doing. I can't wait to see what her height percentile is when we take her for her well child in March.

- Pretend Play - Zoey has recently started to play with stuffed animals, pretending they are her babies and dragging them around to mother them. It is way cute but the car is more cluttered then normal. :) Pretending to read books is also a favorite past time.

- True still amazes us with this creative abilities. Most recently we realized that he knows how to use scissors with ease. He generally spends at least an hour a day coloring, gluing, cutting and making things"beautiful."

- He is also growing like a little weed. When he was younger we thought he was lactose intolerant and didn't allow him to have much dairy. But when Zoey started to drink milk he would ask me for some and I started to give him little glasses to see how he would react. He loves milk and has had no stomach issues. YAY! Both kids are drinking organic skim milk, at least two glasses a day.

- I have been a little concerned about vitamin D for both kids. I need to research a little about what Pacific Nortwest kids need to be taking in order to not be deficient. They take multi vitamins everyday but I think they need more D. And I need to make sure they get outside even when it is cold. :)






Zoey loves to help me cook. In order to distract her I let her peel the skin of the garlic. She loves it!

My list of thankful thoughts

So much to be thankful for, so I thought I would make a list.

1. Matt, who is so patient and loves me steadily despite my wild ways and crazy antics. What a rock, friend and partner in hilarity and sorrow. I am the luckiest girl in the world.

2. True-Blue, I can't imagine what my life would look like without his joyful spirit bounding around our house. Recently, he spends almost all of his playtime dancing and singing, I could watch him ALL DAY LONG.

3. Zoey-Lala, this girl cannot get enough of me! She constantly wants to cuddle, hug and love on her Mama and I am treasuring every moment as I know it won't last forever.

4. My mom is an incredible piller of strength. We have shared the most intense, crazy moments of our lives and she consistently responds in love, kindness and grace. So grateful to be her daughter.

5. Sisters and brothers! Sometimes I think about having more kids only because I am sad that my kids won't have this community of genuine love and support that I experience on a daily basis. So blessed to have David, Ted, Lael, Abi, Elisabeth, Hillel and Howie as my best friends.

6. Aunt Suzie - What a loyal, loving aunt and friend. She has helped raise and mentor all of us and I am so thankful for her.

7. Friends who are so amazing, constant in their love for Matt and I.

8. My house! Still can't believe that I own a house in Seattle. So happy that Ted and Jill helped us to remodel the carport into an extra bedroom.




Love, love, love!

Bathtub singing

True has gotten in the very awesome habit of making up silly songs. Tomightnin the bathtub he is singing
" my mom and dad are so so sweet!"
"if you see my family they will give you a hug!"

He just realized that I was noticing what he was singing. In order to disract me he just asked me, " mom, when you are in jail do the gates crash?"

Hmmmmmm, I have no idea why he thinks I have been to jail.

But now that he has my attention he has started to sing "my mommy is so beautiful.".

What a little doll!

Haloween and Jesus

We were getting ready to go to church and True asked me if we were going to sing songs about Halloween and Jesus. I said that I didn't know any songs about Halloween and Jesus. True looked at me like I was totally crazy and he said yes you do remember, the bats fly over Jesus!

crazy town!

It is NOT a wonderful day.

This morning True took a look at the cloudy sky and declared, "It is NOT a wonderful day, it's a weird, weird day, Jesus made this day so weird."

Bananas!

Say no to the boob and the great and wonderful Daddy

Three weeks ago I quit nursing Zoey. My sisters were shocked and dismayed because they (especially Lael) really thought I should keep breast feeding until Zoey was at least 5 years old. Can you hear the sarcasm dripping? But, to be honest I was very proud of myself for nursing her this long and was willing to go until she was two. However she was only nursing at night to put herself back to sleep and it was really keeping us both awake at night and made for a tired mommy and a grumpy Zoey so we stopped. She was ticked off to not be able to get in bed with us in the middle of the night and nurse whenever she wanted. Matt would go to her crib at night and talk to her, sing a little song and watch his ipod while she cried with such intensity you would think that we were stabbing her in the legs. She did this for a couple of nights and then got the idea of what was happening and has been sleeping through the night for a couple of weeks now!

Can I hear an Amen? Can I hear dancing and frolicking in the streets?

Free at LAST!!!!!!!

I was getting so tired of being tired!



While I was busy doing the running man, Matt got some amazing bonding time with Zoey. She is wild in love with her Daddy and I love it. She has taken to calling him, Maaaaatttt and when on the plane to Hawaii all she wanted was Maaattt. And, I was so happy because I could sit next to my peaceful little True-Blue and read my book and play on my ipad while Matt wrangled the little diva. I would occasionally glance up from readings and give a benevolent smile while inwardly I pumped my fist and thought not for the first time that I am the luckiest girl in the world!

The diva

So, I am not complaining but.... and I hate to write this down, I hate to think how our lives are going to change but Zoey is becoming, has become, um dare I say the word? A diva, dictator, captain of this ship and we her nervous and jumpy subjects are giving her a wide berth, accommodating this newest and frightening stage of her development. And we certainly are hoping that she will quickly outgrow this diva stage, we are doing "smallkine" discipline to help her "redirect" her reign of terror with moderate success. What sends her into spasms of rage is usually her poor big brother and he is the little diva's main target. If he is holding any toy, she demands it with a shriek of "mine, mine" and if he doesn't give it to her she goes banana's. If True is getting hugs and kisses from Mom and Dad she looses her mind and will push and hit him trying to get him off of us.

Bonkers!

True seems to be pretty nonchalant about the whole situation but it makes me a little edgy.

It's just a stage

and it makes it easier when you see how pretty she is! Her pictures are super cute but in person you just want to eat her up.
and even in this diva stage we are so crazy in love with her that we can hardly stand it!

Jesus and Rachel Zoe

Wednesday morning happenings

True just told me "hey Mom, Jesus can see us, He can put his big head down and look at us right now."

For some reason this just creeps me out!

I just got Zoey dressed for a wam Seattle day, a diaper and a dress. She decided she would like to also wear a night gown over the dress, pink velour pants and one pink rain boot. Somebody call Rachel Zoe because there is some serious fashion mistakes being made over here.

This water smells like mayonaise

I try to do my best to expose True and Zoey to the natural wonders that are available to us who are lucky to live in the beautiful Nortwest along the Puget Sound. We visit parks, beaches, create fall leaf collages, discuss the mountain ranges, explore the varied insects in our backyard, I feel like I am doing a pretty darn good job in introducing them to the environment that surrounds us.

So please imagine my chagrin when after boarding the ferry to Bainbrige island (in the Puget Sound) True looks over at me and says, " MOM, this water smells like mayonaise and I no yike it!"

Wow

A one year wonder

Zoey did it, she made it through our steady but always a little bit wild parenting; we are the parents of a beautiful one year old!

Zoey is such a lover - She loves to snuggle, nurse, be held and hug anyone but especially her brother. Uncle Bob and Uncle Howie get a lot of affection from her, if they don't pick her up she will walk over and hug their leg. So cute! I love waking up to hear her babbling and trying to get someone to wake up and notice how cute she is being. She loves to be around people and her cousins and brother our her favorite people to be with. She especially loves it if they are running, their is something about the movement that makes her yell and laugh and their funny antics.

She started to crawl at 6 months, cruising at 7 months and walking at 11 months. She will sign that she is all done and more, her words are Mama, Dada, mo (more) and hi. She has made it through her vaccinations with no fevers and irritabilitly. She has 8 teeth and they have certainly been difficult as they break through the skin. Teething seems to exasperate her desire to wake up at least 3 to 4 times a night to nurse and then snuggle with Dad, we have had many long, long nights with her but she is slowly sleeping for long chunks of time.

She is pure sweetness.







Zoey's list of likes

Nursing
True-Blue
Playing in the tea drawer
Sleeping anywhere but her crib
Playing in her car
Playing on the deck
"Helping" to load the dishwasher
Climbing the stairs
Popcorn
Carseat
Banging on the computer keyboard
Dancing
Music

Zoey's list of dislikes

Bathtime
Going to sleep in her crib
Most foods
Brother messing with her
The gate blocking the stairs

Guns

True recently found a nerf gun left here by Miguel and Noni. He started playing with it while I was working in the yard. I heard him talking to himself and had to try really hard to not laugh out loud.

His one-sided conversation went as follows.

"I has a gun - ha HA, ha HA"
"I is a bad guy - ha HA, ha HA"

His ha HA ha HA was really loud and funny. Later I was trying to tell Matt what he had been doing and he interrupted me and said "Dad, I had a gun and I laughed a terrible laugh."

Lordy, he is so much fun.

True the ballerina

True is non-stop talking lately. My days of listening to NPR in the car are over.
At dinner he told us, "Mom, you are the queen, Dad you are the King, Zoey you are the princess and I am the ballerina!"

OMG!

I didn't even know that he knew what a ballerina was! So cute.

We have been going to Bible Study Fellowship and he LOVES his class and his teacher. He cried for 2 minutes the first time I left him and now he can't wait to go. He is really ready for preschool this fall.
and I get to go to the lecture and hang out with a small group without the kids and it is heavenly. Zoey goes to Abi's house or one of my super-friends watch her for me.

Conversations with True

Here is a little bit of my conversations with True tonight.

Me: True, come on get in bed.
(He ignores me)
Me: True, RIGHT NOW
True: Hey, Zoey's mom
Me? What?
True: Hey, Zoey's mom
Me: Hey, kid! I'm not just Zoey's mom, I am your mom, too!
True: oh
True: Your my mom and my dad is crazy.

Later, I am singing him song while we lay in bed together. He asks me to sing the "quiet song" which is the old Psalty song I grew up singing - I cast all my cares upon you, I lay all of my burdens down at your feet. When I finished singing it I asked him to sing me a song. His song went something like this.

I cast all my care on you-hoo. I lay my burdens, all on your body. and then we are at the farm. there are so many ducks, cows and g-hoatttttss on my farm. then we will dance all over.

Sing it with me, mom!

What a kid!

2010, Really?

How is it possible that it is already 2010? As a kid it seemed that I would never make it to be in this decade!

We had a great Christmas this year. My whole family from Alaska and Hawaii were here as well as Josh and Whakawa. We ate, laughed, talked and the boys did a construction project; we turned our carport into an extra bedroom. The kids had an amazing Christmas and made out like little bandits, lots of toys, books and clothes.