Summer Update

Let me tell you a little about Summer (3 yr. 5 mo.).  She is such a caretaker.  She loves to mother Zane and even her friends at times.  She wants to be good and her heart melts if she thinks she has disappointed or upset you.  Therefore she is a very obedient child...more so at school and church.

She loves school and her teachers. 

These days we play school so much at home.  Most of the time she is Ms. Debbie and I am in her class, or she has pretend students, or Zane is her student. 

This week we were playing school and this was the conversation:

Summer: Who has on a green shirt, and a black shirt, blue jeans and house shoes?

Jana: (I raise my hand. That's how the game goes.)

Summer: (Walks to me and puts her hand on her hip.) Hmm, you have a green sweater.  I said who has on a green shirt.

Seems silly, but this is how all of our pretend conversations go...she asks me a question-I answer and she then says "no" and picks a different answer.  I just sigh and wonder if I will ever get it right.

 

When they line up at school the teacher tells them what color square to stand on.  When Summer gets to stand on the pink square it makes her day!  She got to do that last Friday.  So as we were driving to school Monday morning she said, "I wish wish wish I get to stand on Pink.  God took my wish away-and put it in Ms. Debbie and Ms. Melissa's heart."

I just smiled and thanked God for her sweet heart. 

Here she is loving on Zane during his first adventure SITTING in the front of the grocery cart.  So glad our grocery store has double child carts.

Not sure if I posted this one before...it was from when Mimi was visiting this past weekend before the weather turned cold.  Our little grown man! 

Pumpkin Comparisson

This weekend I went through Summer's outgrown clothes and found these cute Halloween pajamas and thought maybe Zane could wear them. 

Here is Summer at 17 months

 Zane wearing the same pajamas at 7 months

By the way, the pajamas are size 12-18 months!

Fall Activities

We are excited to be enjoying Fall with the colorful leaves all around us and nice weather...because it seems winter temps are on the horizon. 

Summer anxiously awaited the arrival of the pumpkin patch on the lawn of her school.  We purchased a few pumpkins large and small.  One morning this week we painted them.  I painted the big one and Summer painted all of the small ones.  I was impressed with the face she made on one of them...but then the painting continued and the mixing of colors continued and now we have 3 pumpkins that look like a brown explosion happened near them.  She related them to a piece of dark chocolate that she tried the night before for the first time.  "See, they look like dark chocolate."

So many cute ideas on Pinterest, right?  Well I found these cute rice krispy treat pumpkins with mini rolos as the stem and green icing as the leaf.  Summer, Mimi and I made them last night and took to her class today for a special surprise.  They were a hit. 

Mimi is visiting from Roll Tide (as Summer would say) and it is so nice having 2 more ready and willing hands around.

7 Months, 9 Years, 3 weeks

Little Man Zane is 7 months now. 

The past month has flown by.  He can now: Sit unassisted and Eat puffs, mum mums, cheerios on his own.  What a game changer!  I can put him in his high chair with a handful of Cheerios and it is a snack and entertainment. 

He is much happier these days yet he still loves his naps at home. That swollen gum still has not produced a tooth but it isn't causing him grief. He loves big sister which is good because she wants to be his mama and she gives him zero personal space. This morning when we went to get him out of the crib she got in with him and less than 1/4 inch from his face she yells"It's BIG SISTER!" I mean, I could barely handle it as we just-woke-up, but he just smiled at her (sigh). Glad they love each other.  His new thing is to sleep on his tummy.  That is fine with me except he will wake up and decide that he is suffocating.  I have watched him on the monitor and he can roll over but there are times when he feels that he can't and THAT is what keeps me getting up twice a night with him.  If its not the teeth its the rolling over...I'm sure he will come up with something different next month.  Anything to get Mama to come visit him, right?

 

Chad and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary this week!  We had an awesome dinner at Ruth's Chris and enjoyed a real adult conversation without multitasking involved.  9 years is a long time...I decided to talk about our past 9 anniversaries and uh oh, we couldn't remember years 4-8.  So, I insisted on a picture and a blog entry.  Now to start planning the big 10.  I am thinking a beach in the Caribbean!

The past 3 weeks I have been on my version of the Atkins Diet.  When our friend, Lisa, came to visit she got me going as she has lost 20 lb on it and has sustained it for 4 months or so.  The first 2 days were grumpy (to say it nicely) as I am a carboholic.  However, I stuck with it after I immediately saw 3-4 lbs drop off.  By the end of the first week I was figuring out what I could eat and I can honestly say that I feel satisfied.  In the past 3 weeks I have lost 8 lb.  Here is a sample of what I eat.

Breakfast: Atkins Bar 

Snack (if I'm at home): cottage cheese with  tomatoes and pepper

Lunch: Salad with Protein (chicken, eggs or cottage cheese), Avocado and a little hummus

Not pictured: Afternoon Snack consisting of an Atkins Treat Bar with a cup of coffee

 

Dinner: Roasted Chicken with lots of veggies (zucchini, squash) and avocado.  But I also eat alot of spaghetti squash with butter and cheese.

Just thought I would share in case anyone is looking for a jump start to healthy eating.  In time, I will reintroduce carbs back into my meals but in a natural way (sweet potatoes, corn, fruits).  It has been good for me to break my addiction to bread.  I didn't realize how much I ate it until I had to remind myself not to eat it.

Zane Laughing

This weekend Zane found his new love...balloons! 

After hysterically laughing for a few minutes we finally decided to get this on video.

Brother Sister Sweetness

Summer and Zane are at a sweet stage where they really love each other.  I will savor these sweet moments...and those chunky edible thighs!

Big Sister is such a loving little mama. 

Fast forward a few years and there will be some serious wrestling like this!  I assume accompanied by some high pitch screaming. 

As well as alot of plain ignoring each other. 

Sitting Up, Teeth and Travel

Look who learned to sit up this week! 

For the record, Zane is getting to be a happier baby.  The past two grocery experiences I took him in his carseat (instead of the baby bjorn) and he was so content that he fell asleep (in public).  He smiles all of the time.  Love him so much!

In addition, Zane is getting his first tooth!  He has been drooling for months but he officially has a swollen gum and I pray it will pop thru the skin TONIGHT! Till that happens, we are on tylenol.

This past week we had a quick trip to Charleston to get a car.  The car didn't work out but the upside is we got to spend some time with this sweet girl.  Zane and Madelyn sitting in a tree... 

 K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Summer went to the allergist/asthma specialist to have a skin test done to confirm the previous blood allergy test.  We called it "planting a garden" on her back and turns out nothing grew!

Which means we can spend more time outside without the fear of grass, pollens etc setting her asthma off. 

Summer loves her daddy!  In this moment, she said "Daddy loves I."  Yes he does!