A Few Videos

Our weekend was incredible.

We went to the Garden, ate hotdogs wrapped in pretzels dipped in cheese at a city park, dodged baseball size hail, I wined and dined at a benefit and got to be in the same (fairly big) room as John Goodman and Ozzie Smith!!  And that was only Saturday!

Our weekend was awesome.

But the big news?  We have a mobile baby on our hands.  I was able to capture a video of LBZ last week, as well as him trying to crawl yesterday, and how far he has come in just one week.  I have the three videos below.







He is so close! It's totally the army crawl, but he will be off of his belly sooner than we might like. He is already all over the place. I absolutely love to see him so interested in everything around him. A sign of another happy and independent litle boy for us.

Our weekend was fantastic.

And just for fun, here is BBZ at the same stage!

Pumping while driving. And other things we've been up to.

We have been so wonderfully busy around here!  I'm afraid if it weren't for my monthly updates of LBZ's growth, I wouldn't blog at all!

I tried to write a post about our wonderful Easter weekend in the far north, but I lost it.  I'm not going to re-write it, but I will incorporate some photos into this post because it was so stinkin' awesome.

On April 1st, N and I took the boys to the Zoo.  It wasn't the first time for LBZ, but it was the first since he was big enough to ride in an umbrella stroller, thus enjoying more of the views, in my opinion.

For the record, I am not a fan of this kind of carrier.  I read an interesting article about why it's best for a baby to be worn facing its mother, but this was the only one I had in my car this day.  It worked well enough, even though my back did hurt quite a bit afterwards.
I also got a haircut!  I recently found a new stylist and she did an awesome job. 

This photo was taken on the second night of our annual Yonder show weekend!  My mom was in town and watched the boys and we had an absolutely fabulous time.  N and I have been so caught up in our own little worlds of work and mommying and daddying that we hadn't talked, you know really talked, in a while.  We had a wonderful reconnection after these shows that is still going strong.  Goodness, I sure do love him a lot.  And Yonder.  Thanks, guys :)

Our Easter weekend was absolutely fabulous.  We parked at our Metro link station, so we took a car, a train, an airplane, and another car to get to my parent's house.  I cannot explain how wonderful it is to hang out with my parents.  I just miss them so much!  Here are some of my favorite shots.  It's hard to narrow down over 100 photos!

The pilots gave him a front seat view!

We had to hit up Chuck E Cheese :)

Did some egg decoratin'

Went to an egg hunt at the Children's Museum

Me and my boys :)

My sis my nephew

Love this playground!

Sitting in the sun

Feeling the grass

Running!!!

Easter morning at Meme and Papa's house!

Baby's first Easter

Matching blue eyes

I love this one.  A whole lot.

Cousins!

Riding a real bike for the first time.

 I love this one, too.

The best we could do with a tired babe and a non-napping little boy.

His little old man sweater :)

My sis and our boys

The BEST picture of the whole weekend!  My and my mom's camera both ran out of batteries at the same time, so all I had for these pics on the stairs was my iPhone.  I cannot believe how great this photo turned out!  Plus, since I took it on my phone I could add the sweet frame to it.

Snorkeling in Meme and Papa's tub is the coolest.

Sitting up in the sink is pretty fun too.

What an incredible weekend it was!

Speaking of incredible weekends, the next one was too.  Last year, some of my oldest girlfriends got together for a lunch at my house as a way to reconnect.  I hadn't seen some of them in years.  We decided to get together again and invite even more from our 3rd grade class.  It was a reunion of sorts.  All thanks to the incredible way Facebook allows us to stay connected.

I made this pic extra big so you can see how many lovely ladies and beautiful kiddos are in this photo.  I absolutely love that all five of us who have kids had a boy first.  That's funny to me :)

It has been beautiful around here lately, and LBZ is at the perfect age for sitting outside in the grass.  He doesn't move very fast and in enamored with all of the colors and activity that is outdoors.  I grabbed my camera as soon as I noticed how perfect he looked sitting in our front yard.

Then, to my big surprise, BBZ decided that he wanted to be photographed too.  I love this picture, even though it kind of looks like BBZ wants to eat his little brother.

This past weekend, we decided to do something different.  We wanted to get out of the house and didn't want to spend money, so we went to a local park where there's a gorgeous and huge lake.  We walked the path, threw some rocks, dug in the dirt, nursed on a bench, and had an unbelievably wonderful time spending the afternoon together.  It was absolutely perfect :)

We also squeezed in a trip to the earth day festival yesterday, where BBZ managed to eat ice cream when it was 50 degrees and proceed to shiver for the better part of the afternoon.  Man that kid has a sweet tooth!

So as far as photos go, that is our last few weeks in photos. 

I have been insanely busy at work.  Being off for 2 extra days for Easter did not help.  The piles I returned to were high, but manageable.  I think I am finally caught up!

One thing I have to do occasionally for work is travel to our state capitol.  I've been about 3 times in the last 6 weeks or so, so the drive is becoming more familiar.  I usually try to arrive there with 30 minutes or so to spare so I can pump before my meeting.

Being as busy and tired as I have been, I slept in one morning that I drove to the capitol.  As I showered that morning I contemplated my pumping options.  During one of my trips I waited until our lunch break to pump, which was extremely uncomfortable.

I usually pump at 9am, 12pm and 3pm.

Another thing I contemplated while showering was pumping in the car.  I mentioned this to N before I left and he thought I was crazy.  Crazy or not, I decided to wear a particular bra that happens to assist with a hands-free approach to pumping that I often do at work while multi-tasking.

I refused to attempt it on our busy interstate highway, which kind of scares me anyway, and waited until I got to the off-beat highway that leads into our capitol.

Deciding to go for it, I got myself all hooked up to the pump, which was running on batteries, while I was stopped at a stop light.  The timing was perfect.  I stayed in the slow lane going about 5 miles under the speed limit.  I didn't pass anyone, and those who passed me couldn't see what I was doing.  Or so I like to believe.

Then I noticed something up the road.  It was a car parked on one of the overpasses.  As I got closer I realized it was a cop car.  I drove under the overpass, gently covering the plastic pump parts with my arm and continued driving, and pumping, wondering if the policeman had ever pulled over a woman for pumping and driving.

It's not illegal, right?  Don't tell me if it is.

So I arrived in our good ol' state capitol, comfortable as can be, with my usual 8 ounces of pumped milk that I get with my first session.  I pumped again on my lunch and decided to forgo pumping on my way home.  I didn't want to push my luck!

As if that's not enough updates, I have to add one more.  LBZ continues to be ear infection free.  BBZ on the other hand, is now on his second ear infection since his tubes fell out sometime over the winter.  We will be traveling down the similar road of chiropractor care with our oldest starting next week.  He has  been struggling with allergies for a long time, so I really hope this helps him with all of his symptoms.

We'll see!  What have all of you guys been up to?

Little Brother Z is 7 Months Old!

What is it about 7 months that seems so much older than 6 months?  You are growing right before our eyes and did so many new things this month!



At the beginning, you still preferred to lay on your tummy on a blanket...

Then you started to like the idea of sitting up!  You needed this boppy or some pillows in case you toppled over, but even when you did you just rolled onto your tummy and kept on playing!  You have the best demeanor.

That fuzzy hair of yours is so absolutely fabulous!  It's best right after your bath when it stands straight up, which it actually does all the time unless I have a hoody on you.  People often stop me and comment on how great your hair is :)

All of the drool was a sure sign that another exciting first was getting ready to make it's appearance!

You rode on your first airplane!  You were so happy and charming and had all of the people sitting around us oogling all over you.

You are so grown up that you sit in a high chair now!  You also love various pureed food, that I make at home for you.  Your school has a rule that parents can't bring food for their kids without a note from your doctor, so I had the chiropractor write one for you!  I love being 100% sure of where your food comes from.

That plane ride took us to your first visit at Meme and Papa's house for your first Easter!  You liked the eggs :)

And your first trip to the Children's museum in their town!

Look at you sitting up all by yourself with no pillows!  Just like your brother at 6/7 months, you couldn't at the beginning of the month but could by the end!

Discovering the excitement of grass in between your fingers.

Your little old man sweater that I bought for you while I was pregnant.  You look so handsome on your first Easter.

And your first bath sitting up!  I have a seat that you use in the big tub, and this is you in Meme and Papa's kitchen sink.  You loved it!

I absolutely love this photo of you and my dad.  You both look so happy!  He loves you, your brother and your cousin so much :)

And last, but not least, you cut your first two teeth!  If you look really closely, under the avocados, you can see 2 cute little white teeth just starting to pop through.  You were so unhappy one morning at about 5am when I first felt them.  It must have hurt pretty badly because you refused to nurse and just cried.  Your daddy and I felt so hopeless having to hear you cry that way.  I actually gave you some Tylenol, something I rarely do, which helped you a lot.

Oh sweet baby Lu, you are growing right before our eyes and I love every minute of it!  You saw the chiropractor today and for the first time since our first appointment, we didn't schedule our next one!  You are doing really well and the doc said I can just bring you back when I think I need to.  I am so happy that your ears responded well to this treatment.

You are so unbelievably happy all the time.  People always comment on what a great and laid back demeanor you have.  No one makes you laugh like your brother.  You love sweet potatoes and avocados, but aren't too sure about bananas and pears.  You are somewhat small for your age, but wear 6/9 month clothes and 9 month sleepers.  You get really angry when your toys get just out of your reach and will holler and squeal until we either move you to the toy or move the toy closer to you.  If you're playing with something and we take it away from you, you get really mad too!

You are definitely showing us little pieces of your personality and we just keep getting to know you.  I am so glad you are here and so unbelievably happy to have you, your brother and your daddy in my life.  I love you so much, Luther-Lu.

Love,
Mommy