Fourth Month's Old - Wide Awake

Someone please stop the weeks from flying by! I feel like I just did a post about Olivia turning 3 months and here we are again.

Well folks, someone has entered the 4 month wakeful period. If you've never heard of such a thing, it's real. Olivia is barely napping right now and her nighttime sleeping habits are far from something to brag about. This too shall pass though, right?!

Other than not sleeping much, Olivia has been really exploring the world around her. She loves looking at everything, especially her brother playing. She has started giggling a lot more and it's just the sweetest sound in the world!

She found her toes and is trying to master sticking them in her mouth. This week she even sat up unassisted for a minute! Zachary was somewhat of a physical freak when it came to doing things early and I think Olivia will be following in his footsteps (God help us!)

We go to the doctor next Wed for her 4 month check up to see how she weighs in and measures up. I have a feeling she'll be right on target or ahead with both. I suppose we'll also discuss solid foods at that appointment...eek!

Zachary sitting up at 4 months old & his 4 month picture

Hands on House, Revisited - Again

Today we went back to the Hands on House. We've been there a handful of times before but Zachary loves it and since the weather didn't seem great for the pool I decided to head to Lancaster for a bit.

It's so cute seeing how much more interactive Zachary becomes each time we go. I noticed that he paid a lot more attention to the "imagination" toys this trip than he ever has before.

He put on a puppet show for me with this cute doggie.

He climbed aboard the pirate ship looking for lost treasure (apparently in the ceiling)

Then he rode the tractor. He does this every time we go and always says it was his favorite part.

Miss Olivia enjoyed all of the bright colors and kites they had hanging from the ceiling. She also got a new bow from Mrs. Dana.

Back on the ship, Zachary reenacted a scene from Down Periscope.

On our way home, he was pooped from all of that imagination! ***
Olivia was wide awake, as always!

*** No pictures were taken while driving, we were stopped at a gas station

Zachary's Birthday Weekend - Three Years Old

I feel like we've been celebrating Zachary turning 3 for a month! With getting his new bike last week and then preparing for his party all week long I am just about birthday'd out!

Friday was Z's actual birthday and Rich took off of work so we could have a fun family day. We took Zachary to see his first movie, Toy Story 3, and he loved it! He did pretty well in the theatre, minus talking loudly and fidgeting (totally expected!). Friday night we went out to dinner, to Friday's. We took Zachary there for his 1st birthday and thought it would be fun to go back.

Saturday was the big party day and we woke up to buckets and buckets of rain. We were pretty bummed because we planned on having a bounce house for his party but we held out hope that the rain would eventually stop.

Zachary's theme for his birthday was Cars. I made him a McQueen cake and then mini Tow Mater cakes.

the birthday boy!

opening his gifts with help from dylan and collin

more gifts

blowing out his candle

eating cake with his buddies

black icing mouth

Ta Da it stopped raining!!!

Katelynn had a blast in the bounce house

bouncing birthday boy

Uncle Chris, Aunt Cristin and Katelynn had a sleepover with us and in the morning Rich made waffles.

Katelynn and Z dining together

Zachary had an amazing birthday! Big thanks to our family and friends for helping us celebrate our special little boy!

Firecracker, Firecracker...Boom, Boom, Boom!

We just had a super busy and spectacularly fun 4th of July weekend! Saturday we went to The Jack's house for some swimming, eating and fireworks extravaganza!

Olivia went swimming for her 1st time.

A family photo!

Anna & Olivia

Lillian running around

Collin

All 5 cousins!

Daddy & Z waiting for the fireworks to start.

Hey, ANOTHER family pic! Poor Olivia is being strangled.

Me and the kids - Poor Olivia again

The fireworks display was amazing. Top notch job Phil and gang.

Yesterday we all got in our patriotic outfits and went celebrated with our neighbors. It was such a great day!

Next up... someone special has a 3rd birthday!!!!

A Boy and His Bike

This morning we took Zachary to Toy's R Us to pick out his very 1st bike! We wanted to surprise him and get him one for his birthday but we couldn't stand watching him ride the princess bike any longer! Plus, we wanted to get him the right size. Can you believe he can ride a 16'' bike?

When we first got there he took a Diego bike for a spin. This was a size 14 and we figured he'd outgrow it in a month. (Yes, I'm a nerd and took my camera to the store with us.)



We ended up bringing home a CARS bike and a VERY happy little boy! He hasn't gotten off of the thing since we got home.

There he goes!

Sleep & Play

I literally have a mazillion pictures of Zachary. When I look through them 99% of them are of him doing, well, nothing at all! I don't recall having my camera glued to my body 24/7 when he was a baby but the amount of pictures that I have, of complete randomness, proves otherwise.

While I don't have the kind of time to take pictures of Olivia in every outfit I put her in, and every time she smiles, poops, or moves, I'd like to try to get more of just the everyday mumbo jumbo.

This weeks focus was sleeping (and playing)! My girl, she loves her sleep! Ok, she doesn't LOVE it because she's still not sleeping through the night (though she did go 7 hours the other night!) However, she does take amazing naps for me and for that I am truly grateful!

The similarities between Zachary and Olivia don't end with their appearance. She LOVES sleeping with her blankie and she loves sleeping with it over her face. This makes us totally nervous but Zachary did the exact same thing with his Blankie Bear. He literally wouldn't sleep unless it was draped over his entire face.

Here she is with her taggie blankie.

After her nap - so content

Is it just me or do they both have the EXACT.SAME.FACE.?


Boo Boo's happen even when you're little.

Today I took Olivia up for her afternoon nap and she was not at all ready to sleep. I grabbed my camera and had fun playing around with her in her crib.

Hugging her blankie

She loves her paci's!

She has discovered her feet and always has them up in the air.

After her nap we went outside to play. She absolutely loves the exersaucer. I have to say it was the best $5 purchase my mom could have made. It was Zachary's favorite place to be and so far Olivia is one happy girl in it!

This is unrelated to Olivia but I have to share!!! Zachary is a bike rider. He is a GREAT bike rider. He hops on any bike that isn't being occupied and just pedals away. Lately he's been riding a little girl's bike with a princess basket and tassels coming out of the handle bars. He usually puts one of his trucks in the basket to "man it up" a bit. haha!

I had to get a picture of him in it, for black mail of course :)

Don't worry, he's getting his very own bike tomorrow morning. I just pray he doesn't choose a hot pink one with a princess basket on it!