Another long post, and the very first WFDW!

First lets talk about Zeke, because that was the origin of this blog and still its center. His sitting is going really well. It was as I suspected and he just finally did it when he felt like it. That or my constant nagging about how ridiculous he was being by crawling before he would sit up sunk it. But I'm putting my money on the prior. Either way yesterday he was crawling around and pulled himself into this position.
Its blury, I know, but it's hard to get a picture that isn't of that kid sometimes. And this is his first *true* time sitting up, i.e. no one is holding him steady and he isn't bracing himself with one hand on the ground. Finally.

On a less exciting note I have to admit that my son has become a verified, card carrying, fit-thrower. I didn't think it would begin this early and I'm actually a little lost as to what to do about it. I don't want to punish him for the behavior. He's too little to punish anyways. He wouldn't understand time-out and I don't even feel he is big enough to spank yet, not to mention the fact that I want to reserve spanking for much bigger offenses than this. My plan (albeit a plan formed before having children and we all know how those plans go) has always been to only spank for outright defiance in my children, you gotta nip THAT in the bud. So to get back on subject: What do I do? Punishing is out, because 1. I don't know how to properly punish an almost 6 month old and 2. I've always felt that tantrums (at least most tantrums) are just the child-that-doesnt-know-any-better's way of showing and releasing frustration and better then punishing them for it, really the only way to go about it is to let them know that THIS isn't going to get them anywhere and tell them what would be a better way of handling their emotion once they are calmed down.

So I suppose thats my answer isn't it? I let him know this isn't working? He's not even old enough to give new options to. So far I have been comforting him, but not giving him what he wants. Like when he get so very angry because daddy has to go to work or he cant have the scissors. Of course daddy isn't going to stay home, and I'm not going to give my baby scissors. So I hold him and tell him calmly that I'm very sorry but he cant have such and such. And he usually screams and throws his body around in my arms until he passes out asleep from the effort, then he cries in his sleep a while. It's so hard. Because he doesn't understand what I'm saying, of course, other than the "I'm not giving you what you want" part. And he's not old enough to give other options, or even to understand other options, to vent his emotions. So I just breath thru it.

Any thoughts, suggestions, empathy? Feel free to tell me I'm going about this all wrong, as long as you then tell me the right way to go about it of course ;)

Finally I want to introduce the first of a new weekly installment I am trying out, entitled What's For Dinner Wednesday?! (or WFDW) I've been thinking for a while now that though I LOVE to share pics of Zeke, and also to vent frustration and get advice on raising him, there is also a lot more to me. *gasp* I am more than Zeke's mother. And while this is Zeke's blog, it is also mine. So we are going to expand a bit. There will still be pictures of Ezekiel galore. I will still record every tiny detail of his little life, because that is a LOT of my life. But I'm also going to talk more about what's going on with me, my faith, and my opinions on being a wife and mother-of-a-small-boy.

And we will have, tentatively because this is a test, once a week, an installment of What's For Dinner Wednesday? Because I LOVE to cook, and I LOVE to eat. And who doesn't sometimes get in a dinner rut? You know what I mean, you don't have ANY more ideas for healthful dinners, you are bored, and it would be nice to know what so and so across the way is having for dinner. So I will post a dinner with directions every Wednesday. (It's what Josh and I had Tuesday, so I guess a more appropriate title would have been What Was for Dinner Teusday. But there's no alliteration there people. Give me some artistic wiggle room!)

Some caveats: I LOVE to cook. I LOVE to eat. I HATE to clean dishes. Especially pots and pans because you cant just throw them in the machine. So these meals use a minimal amount of pots and pans. Usually 1, maybe 2.

I LOVE to cook. I LOVE to eat. I have a short attention span. These meals are quick to make. Or at least quick to prepare and then sit unwatched for a while.

I LOVE to cook. I LOVE to eat. I NEVER follow a recipe. These are not recipes. These are directions. There are no measurements because how do I know how much you want to make? If you are feeding a lot, use a lot. If you are feeding a few, use a few. There are no ingredients because how do I know what you like? If you love chicken and hate broccoli use a lot of chicken and a little broccoli, or no broccoli, use carrots instead. It wont explode.

I LOVE to cook. I LOVE to eat. Especially veggies and cheeses! These meals have LOTS of veggies. And LOTS of cheeses. Because veggies and cheese are my favorite foods, so I know about quite a few of thse. But veggies and cheeses are fairly interchangeable. See above. None of these recipes explode. Even in you leave out the kale or the leek because you dont know what that is, even if you use Parmesan instead of Romano because that's what's in your fridge.

So without further ado...

Our first recipe is going to be Chicken Soup. There is a lot of sickness going around and it’s good for the soul people, so much better than nasty canned soup!

A disclaimer before we begin: Homemade stock is best. I realize this. And its not hard to make. I realize this as well. But I am lazy and like meals made FAST. So unless I’m feeling special, I buy chicken broth in the soup isle. Sue me.

So to begin put one of those handy boxes of chicken broth on the stove in a big ol pot to heat up.

Then chop up and add some celery, some carrot, some peas, some whatever veggies you like in your soup. Tomato (even canned diced tomato), onion, green bean, asparagus, leek, really whatever is in the house! Pictured is carrot, celery, tomato, and onion. Add a bay leaf or 2 if you’ve got them in the house, or even 3, heck why not?

Now in a perfect world you have some left-over cooked chicken just laying around. I wish I always had left-over chicken. Or even better you still have some left-over turkey from Thanksgiving. If you do, this is the time to shred it up and throw it in! If you don’t you will have to cook some before putting it in. Don’t worry, its not hard and you can boil or fry or bake it, it doesn’t really matter. Or just go buy a cooked chicken at the grocery store and shred that sucker up, no one has to know!

Let it all simmer until your veggies are nice and soft, then you need to add grain of some kind. I like to use wide egg noodles, or wild brown rice. If your feeding it to kids they might like some little stars or letters. Throw it in until they are done (check the package for a time), fish those bay leaves out if you added any, and enjoy!

And now I will leave you with some pictures of Zeke eating HIS dinner last night. If you can even call what happened eating, which I don't. There were peas on the tray, peas on the floor, peas on the wall, even peas between Zeke's little toes. Only God knows if there was a single pea in Zeke's tummy.

The stockings have been hung on the chimney with care

All 3 of them folks, its true :)

Also done with care? Cookies. With care, I assure you. And a tree was decorated. You guessed it, with care. And I even took pictures of Zeke with care. In front of said tree.

Seriously, why do we have to be so full of care when we hang the stockings? I dont get it. Are they afraid you will thumb tack yourself?

Anyways, Pictures!Isn't this gorgeous? I just love that I caught such a special moment.

My boys, my life.

This is his determined face. He is going to come get me, I assure you.

A you can see we went ahead and got a big tree and put it on the ground. Zeke, fortunately, and I will admit a little disappointingly, doesn't seem interested in it. The ornaments are safe for one year at least.

Also, if you have a blogger account (and you know that you should) you should follow me! Its easy to do, I assure you. Just click on the little linky in my right sidebar that says "follow this blog".

And finally, how do you like the new sidebar anyways? I know, I know, I need a new picture of me and one of Josh. Its hard to get Josh to let me take a picture of him, however. And even harder to get in front of a camera myself! I will work on it, though.

PS Isnt Zeke wearing the absolute cutest outfit ever known by man...or even mom? Aunt Jen and Uncle Josh have such wonderful taste. Ok, ok, its probably 95% Aunt Jen. But Josh gets points for bringing her into the family ;)

So many new things

This is going to be a loooong post. Because I have SO MUCH to say. First we need to discuss today. Then all the new things Ezekiel has been doing, and there are A LOT. Then I wanted to talk about my newest hobby. And my new carseat. So brace yourself people. Also, there are a few pictures, although Monday I will update EVEN MORE. Because tomorrow Zeke is going go wear his SUPER CUTE Christmas outfit from Josh and Jen to church, and we will take pics when we get home, in front of a decorated tree of course! Another warning before we begin, there will be A LOT OF THIS because I am all caffeinated up! Apparently the 2 or 3 cups of Joe I had in Boise over the holiday weekend got me re-addicted...

Soooooo. Today Zeke really showed his Christmas spirit! He was happy and content in not only 1, not only 2, not even only in 3, but 4 WHOLE STORES of Christmas shopping in a ROW! Seriously. Then we even went to lunch at Tomato Street. And he was STILL HAPPY. He sat in the high chair the whole time playing with a soup spoon! Daddy tried to give him a crayon to play with. I almost stopped him, what a silly daddy trying to teach his 5 month old to color right? But I decided not to. I don't want to be "that" mom, if you know what I mean. Daddy also let him drink some water out of a straw, and I thought that was silly too, but then guess what? He drank out of it! So I guess mommies dont always know best do they? Psss, dont let Josh know! But I am getting ahead of myself, into the "new things" section and I'm not done talking about today! After lunch it was almost 3 o clock. Way past nap time. So we went home for a while so Zeke could rest. He went right to sleep, woke up 2 hours later, and then off we went again to buy a Christmas tree. And he was STILL HAPPY. And let me tell you, it was COLD. That coat Grandma Kim bought him sure came in handy! OF course by the time we got home, had dinner, had our bath, bla bla bla, it was too late to decorate it. So we will do so after church tomorrow.
Now, on to NEW THINGS. Zeke finally has started what I will admit is crawling. At least he took 3 consecutive "steps" in a row. Which was the definition of crawling that Josh and I decided on for our bet. In fact, the other day when I put him on our bedroom floor to play while I showered, he followed me into the bathroom and almost got stepped on when I got out! Then yesterday he followed Josh and I into the kitchen to see what we where doing in there! Its a whole new world, let me tell you. And very exciting.

Another new thing is Zeke is finally sitting up sometimes of his own will. This is something he has refused to do until now. He is still really unsteady but at least he is willing to work on it now right? He especially likes to sit up in the bath, he gets some really good splashes in let me tell you! Here is a picture of him with his favorite bath toy, its a ducky. We could NEVER get him to do this before. Like I said, still very wobbly, and especially in the bath. Who ever heard of a baby that crawled before he sat? But I am hopeful that he will be sitting soon. And we're going to buy one of those sticky bath mats I think...

My last new thing was drinking out of a straw. We discovered this today and were fairly amazed. We started just dropping the water into his mouth with the straw. But then he got mad whenever we werent doing this so we tried letting him suck it up. I really didnt think it woudl work but he must of understood there was good stuff in there because he sucked some right up. Maybe I should try that sippy cup again?

Now, my latest new hobby has been crocheting Amigurumi, because lets admit it, one small boy needs only so many hats. And I haven't been able to post any because they are going to various small cousins as Christmas gifts and I dont want to spoil the surprise cuteness. But in some recent frustration with trying to figure out how to make a lambs head I decided to start a simple project until I figured it out. Hence the creation of Zeke's new pet octopus! Obviously he is Japanese. And yet to be named. Any ideas?

What was last? Oy vey. Oh yes. The car seat. After much unnecessary stress over such a relatively easy decision I decided that I wanted the Radian65. I know that many of you were on the edge of your proverbial seat about this. I like how tall it goes compared to most car seats, the fact that it allows a 5 point harness until 65 pounds, and the fact that it will FIT INTO MY CAR. It is suppose to arrive between the 11th and 17th. So that is exciting. I know Zeke will be pleased to fit into a car seat with his coat in, which currently he cannot.

Anywhos I am out. PS Do you like the linkies? Its going to be my new thing. ;)

It must be Christmas time at last

Attention everyone.

The nutcracker army has been assembled, cookies and peppermint fudge are on their way, and my Bright Eyes Christmas CD is playing. It is time. The Christmas season has begun.

Also, this weekend we are getting our tree!!! So I better wrap some of those presents hiding in my closet to put under it, lol, I'm so excited. We still haven't decided if it can go on the ground, or where it will go if its not on the ground since we are a strictly anti-coffee-table family... I don't want a tree knocked over by a curious baby... Oh well, even if it is the nutcracker army is safe atop the fireplace. Zeke cannot reach them there. Not this year at least.

A side note: I cant wait until I have enough nutcrackers to be a true crazy nutcracker lady. Josh says I already am but he is just being polite, I think.

Door?

That was FedEx with Josh's present!! What perfect timing, yes? I would tell you what it is but he is known to look at this every once in a while. Rest assured that it is awesome.

I better go hide it!

First Thanksgiving

No pictures at the moment but lots of news. First, we are back from our trip to Boise for Thanksgiving. It was fairly successful. We were happy to be there and happy to be home, at least, and I call that success.

Down moments: Zeke's inability to nap if there is anything interesting going on. This is a rather pain at home but even worse when we aren't at home, as you can imagine. It could have been worse, I suppose. The first day at Kathleen's he napped very well, and he always did great at night as soon as Josh or I were in bed with him. I think for Christmas I will just have to be more mindful that traveling is exciting and lay down with him every afternoon at the quietest available moment. This trip we where so busy that I tried to get him to nap on the go or in a back room of a noisy house by himself and it just doesnt work.
The drive back. We didnt leave until after 2, so well over half of the drive was in the dark, the sun set at about 4. One passenger in the car did NOT enjoy that. I tried to refrain from telling my husband that I had TOLD him we shouldn't go to church on Sunday because if we left too late the drive would be miserable. Zeke does great on these long drives in the mornings. I succeeded through the first 2 hours of screaming, then to my shame went into an "I told you so" rant.
Zeke is still overwhelmed by lots of new faces at once, people that put their faces really close to his face, and really loud people. I just described our families.

Good moments: The drive there. Zeke was so good and patient. In 7 hours we only stopped twice and he never got cranky. He played mostly by himself with his crochet hook, or listened to music.
He said "mama" for the first time!!
There were moments when Zeke did really well with strangers. Uncle Zack and cousin Tyler both got him laughing really loud. He let his grandmas and grandpas all hold him, my parents especially got to treck him all around the mall, lol. It gives me hope that he will get better and better. After all, he does better at playdates and I havent had to rescue him in the nursery at church in absolute weeks. Again I think next visit with somewhat less absolute craziness since its longer will go a bit better. It seems like it was the huge family gathering days that were the worst.
Getting home. He was so soo happy. He just kept looking around and smiling and even giggling to himself. We put him down at 9 in his crib and he didnt even move until almost 5 for a feeding. Then at 8 he moved into bed with me and slept past 10:30!
Hand-me-downs from aunt Jen (and cousin Ashton too). We spied them out this morning and they are great! Thanks!
No crawling! Haha, I win!

All packed up

I am all packed up and ready to go to Idaho for Thanksgiving, or jet-set as I like to say...I don't know where I got that...

Anyways, I am super stoked. Seriously. I am. And I should be decorating the house for Christmas so that it will look all nice when I get back home but Zeke is taking a late nap and I don't want the noise in the closet to wake him. We where at Kait's a bit too long today probably, oh well, it happens. And it was worth it because Molly, Zeke's girlfriend and also Kait's daughter, gave him a big fat kiss. Seriously people, we didn't even tell her to! She did it of her own accord. I am glad they are listening to their mommies and falling in love but a little worried at how young they are doing it. Maybe those two should slow down!

PS Haha Kaitie, I blogged it first!

Also, as many of you know, because this comes up surprisingly often, Josh and I decided not to give Ezekiel a circumcision when he was born. We had many reasons for this decision and did a LOT of research, and we haven't regretted it for a second. Quickly put we just felt that the medical reasons to circumsize didn't really hold (and neither did the medical reasons to NOT circumsize), I knew from experience with other small boys that it wasn't "dirtier" or harder to clean, and neither of us wanted to do something, especially a painful surgery, just because everyone else does it. Not that everyone else does, I was surprised to find out how many of my friend's children aren't these days.

Anyways, I wasn't actually planning on getting into that decision or my reasons for it although I'm happy to discuss it with any of you. What I wanted to segue into was this reply to one of my ulitmate fav. blogs/bloggers and hero about this same subject. I never thought of it this way and found it so interesting.

...Something that I didn't see brought up on your comments was female circumcision (FGM) [I am fairly certain this stands for Female Genital Mutilation, am I correct?]. This practice is common all over the world. There are varying types I through III. Type III includes removal of clitoris, labia minora and majora, then sewing the vaginal opening, leaving a very small opening the size of a matchstick. I have assisted in delivering babies from women with type III circumcisions, and it was not pretty. Not to mention all of the other health problems it causes. We lived in a city that was predominately Somali. The State Department sites that 90% of Somali women have been circuited and that 80% of these circumcisions were Type III. I have spoken with many Somali women about their circumcisions over the past 5 years. They cite reasons such as, "girls will become prostitutes if we don't stop their sexual drive", "if you don't cut the clitoris it will keep growing until it's hanging down between their legs". It has also become a convenient way for women to prove their virginity before getting married. It's interesting to note that it is the older women who keep this tradition going and the #1 reason for circumcising is simple to them.... "It's the most beautiful". It's how they look, and they want their daughters to look the same. [I find this such a frightening parallel to male circumcision in the U.S.: circumcising boys without their consent because it is the way their fathers look and it is the most "beautiful" (or normal, or acceptable, or common, or least different, or usual) way for boys to look in this country. Should that alone be reason to continue this practice in our country?? Should that be a reason to continue FGM of girls in other countries!?]

This really got me thinking about my cosmetic reasons for wanting to circumcise my son, and how dangerous that line of thinking can become. [I believe that "line of thinking" has perhaps become a trap for American parents regarding male circumcision as well.] Somali women would even suggest that because we circumcise our males, it should be fine for them to circumcise females. Although there is no comparison to the degree of mutilation that it causes, I am happy to be able to report to them that we haven't circumcised any of our children, male or female. [Certainly male circumcision is much less extreme than the female circumcision spoken of here. However, regardless of the difference in extremes, I drew a huge parallel between these two and the reasons both have been carried out as long as they have.]

I of course dont want you to think that Im suggesting any of you with circumsized boys have mutilated them, or even that circumcision is a bad choice. Your choice, as long as you chose it, is the right choice, if that makes sense. I just found this so interesting that I had to share.

New look

Lol, I know, I change my look pretty often. What can I say, its fun. Also I don't do it nearly as often at Kait. And that makes it all ok doesnt it?

Anyways, thanks for your patience if you've tried to get on the last 2 days. I know its been strange.

Zeke will be crawling any day now. Seriously. Josh and I's bet (Josh-before Thanksgiving; me-after) will be a close one. 8 days to go.

In other news, and this might be TMI and if so, too bad, but Ezekiel has not pooped in 1 week tomorrow. At first I thought it was just because he ate a WHOLE banana Thursday night. But now I'm getting a little concerned. I tried to feed him applesauce a couple days ago to get things going but he didn't like it. So then I tried some watered down apple juice this morning...his first juice experience. It also didn't go well. He found the apple juice in the bottle insulting or something, he wouldn't take it. So then at the grocery store I bought a tippy cup. Well he's not really ready for it yet I don't think (nor did I really expect him to be). He LOVED chewing on it and playing with it, and he even held it really well and got it into his mouth. But he wouldn't suck. And so I tried removing the little thingy that keeps it from spilling so it would dribble into his mouth. He probably got 2 ounces all over himself and 1 in his mouth...if I'm lucky... So now we are going to try pear for dinner. The taste wont be as strong as apple, I think, so maybe he will like it. And I think if he doesn't poop tomorrow I will call Dr Morgan because I am out of ideas! Any one have any?

One thing is for sure. Zeke is only allowed a half banana at a time from now on!

Also, look at Zeke's adorable hair! I bought him some product, its called Surf Hair or something like that, lol. I also cut two little sections that have been driving me insane. They were WAY longer then everything else.

Feeding himself

Ezekiel has decided he is old enough to feed himself. He used to be content with just holding an empty spoon while I fed him. But now he wants to dip his spoon in the food too, so we gave it a go last night (on Daddy's bath night...heehee). He did surprisingly well, he got well over half of it into his mouth. Still WAY messier then when mommy does it, though. So maybe this will only be a weekend, daddy bath day, treat...


Josh and I also watched Kung Foo Panda last night. Zeke thought it was sooo funny. He's always watched the TV when we watch before but this is the first time he reacted to it at all. It's also the first time we ever watched a cartoon, so that may be related. He was laughing and laughing at the Panda, however. Cracking us up for sure. Then after the first 5 or so minutes he lost interest and fell asleep. Score.

Toys

Zeke is suddenly very interested in toys. Not only in the old classic sense of loving to hold things and put them in his mouth, either. He is beginning to play for the first time. Right now his favorite game is knocking down towers. Josh and I build them out of stacking cups or the little blocks Kait gave him (thanks Kait!). But he has also shown interest in flipping the pages of his board books, and rolling cars back and forth. He LOVES cars and especially wheels. Its ridiculous. Cars and knocking things down...sounds like a boy to me, at least he's got an interest in books too.

With this new love of toys is also a startling new ability to make messes! My son, who cant crawl yet I might add, is still somehow able to make his way across the blanket to his toy basket, flip it over, and spread it everywhere in the time it takes me to go to the bathroom. Evidence: below.
Actually with a combination of rolling and "catterpillaring" as Josh and I have named it (he lifts his but waaay in the air and then stretches out) he can very slowly make his way towards whatever he wants. This was annoying at my mindful mothers meeting yesterday because what he wanted was a little girl's coloring book and NOTHING was distracting him. He is stubborn, my son.

We also bought him a very cool toy with some money that Josh's aunt Deb sent us, to encourage him to sit up more. It sort of works. He will sit maybe 10 minutes which is longer then he ever has allowed before. Zeke's refusal to sit drives me bonkers, in case you haven't noticed. I don't know why. I've accepted his constant "serious" or "concerned" or "concentrating" (depending on who you ask) face and the fact that he rarely smiles in front of anyone but Josh and I. I've accepted that other than the "dada" he gives us every few days he doesn't babble at all. My son is almost always silent unless annoyed and I haven't even jumped to a premature diagnosis of autism (even though its been suggested, ridiculous). I have shrugged my shoulders and said that he's slightly behind socially and probably just shy. Yet this not sitting this gets to me. Maybe because he's always been so ahead physically before? Who knows. But its become a fight and therefor we picked a toy that would necessitate sitting to play with.



Other than that no Ezekiel news really. I guess a slight cough but honestly Josh and I are wondering if he is faking it. It's really shallow, like he's clearing his throat and he seems to cough the most when he is bored and we are ignoring him... It might be imitation because he's heard other's coughing recently. Then again he might also have caught the cough. Who knows.

Growing up

Today (since Zeke has a cough and therefor cannot go to any playdates for fear of spreading possible infections) I cleaned out Ezekiel's closet.

I took all the clothes that don't fit him, from the ridiculously small newborn outfits to the 6 month shirts that I decided just yesterday were showing a bit too much stomach and folded them all nicely, placed them into a plastic tub, and then carried them down to our storage closet. And as a sign that my emotional roller-coastering is over (for a while at least), I didn't even tear up. Yes, the unemotional, totally sarcastic Courtney is back. The Courtney that laughed at her moist-eyed husband at their wedding. NOT the new, weak, Courtney that cried when her husband said Zeke would be a man before we knew it.

A related side note: I'm working on telling Zeke I love him at least as often as I say "You're driving me nutters". He'll probably figure out my strange and maybe slightly unhealthy way of showing affection, after all, Josh has told me that every time I tell him "I will kill you" he just thinks of it as "I love you". Also, Zeke already gets his very biggest smiles when I call him naughty and spoiled. But still, maybe I should try to lessen the psychiatric bills...

Anyways, I cant believe how big he is getting. Or the fact that I will probably have to buy new pants soon...again. His legs are so long, its ridiculous trying to find anything that will fit him. Good thing I prefer his pants a good inch or two below his belly-button (yes, I am a child of the 90's) because if I put them any higher most would be well above his ankles. And dont get me started on his footsie pajamas. A couple of them also had to be put away because the poor child couldnt straighten his legs anymore. I might just cut off the feet...

I forgot

Sorry I never did post those pictures, I totally forgot about it. My brain is gone these last few days, it was taken over by extreme hormones at some point. It seems like all I've done is swing erratically from one side of the emotional spectrum to the other lately. Poor Josh.

Anyways news.... hmmm. Well I made a bunch of baby food. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. And Zeke LOVES sweet potatoes. And I mean LOVES. He gobbles up 4 ounces in about 2 seconds flat and would still probably eat more if I let him. And 4 ounces may not sound like a lot, but it is. At least I think it is, lol, I guess I have no idea what an almost 5 month old is supposed to eat in a sitting. How much are one of those little jars? Whatever. It's more than he's willing to eat of anything else, he tends to lose interest after a while and decides he'd rather nurse instead.

We also had Grandpa Keith and Grandma Tammy visit. That was a lot of fun. Also Zeke got a card and money in the mail so pretty soon we are going to go buy some new toys...I am more excited then he is I think but that's pretty much to be expected.

Zeke says dadadadadadada ALL day now. But of course only when its just the family. He wont do it in front of people.

That's pretty much it. Pictures!

Halloween! This was Zeke's "warm" pea-pod outfit. He also had a skeleton onesie. I have more pictures but for some reason blogger wont accept them.

Here is Zeke and his freind Jordyn. We watched her a couple days this week. Ezekiel really enjoyed the company. Maybe he wants a sister?

This isn't even posed. They really did stare at each other like that for about 15 minutes. They were cracking me up. Then of course they started grabbing each other's faces so I had to move them a bit farther apart.

Zeke's first baby Mohawk! I cant believe it took me this long! It's pretty adorable.


Just Zeke being his cute self for Tammy. I love his little mouth in the first one!

First word!!

Zeke said "dada" this morning!! In fact daddy got so excited that Zeke said it 6 or 7 times after that to make him do it again!! And he's only 4 months, 3 weeks, and a day! Haha, I had to look it up on my myspace ticker.

I cant actually stay on forever but I wanted to let the world know. Tomorrow I'll get back on and put up some pictures and a video of Zeke eating avocado, its pretty funny, he didn't known quite what to think.

New Pictures

No news, its been a boring week so far I guess because I have nothing to say about the past 4 days at all. Just thought I'd put up some pictures since Ezekiel is refusing to be put down and driving me absolutely bonkers. I think he woke up from his nap on the wrong side of the crib or something. Oh well for mopping today, my floors can just be dirty.

This was taken earlier this week, the result of Zeke's newest game, entitled I Want Whatever Mommy Has. It started with my food. That's classic. Then the crochet hooks, I got that, they are shiny and easy to hold. Then there was the apple he held all day long. But a can of tomato sauce? I put my foot down at the cheese grater one night, which started off Zeke's very first fit.

I love this game, really.



















Here is one of Zeke's new booties. Now that Zeke naps with me I've been a crocheting fool. Oh yeah, did I mention that yet? Yes, my son who sleeps 10 hours every night alone in his crib with only 1 or 2 wake-ups refuses to nap alone...AT ALL. Trust me, I've tried. So I spend 2 or 3 hours a day now either reading or crocheting...sometimes I watch TV or get on the net, all while holding him.

Fighting him during the day was messing him up at night. And I LOVE our nights recently. So I gave in. He'll outgrow it and its getting me caught up on the Viscount de Bragelonne.















And this is that hat I mentioned, cute huh? I'm making a few more for Zeke's friends soon. I also need to find a cute girl hat to make Molly too. She will only marry Zeke if I bribe her lol. Or at least bribe her mom!






































Isn't this adorable? Kim took it at the Arboreum and I just love it for some reason.














Zeke playing.














Playing with his toes and *kind of* sitting up. I don't think he will ever really sit up. He gets so mad when you make him try. Trust me, this lasted about 6 seconds for the picture. He flops right over, and when you try to pull him back up he locks his knees so you cant.

I don't know why I bother, he's such a stinker. He wont ever try anything until HE wants to.

The wonders of Josh

Im a bit bored at the moment, the baby is asleep and my husband at home depot. So I will use this as an excuse to publicly humiliate him. I was just looking at pictures today, trying to pick what I will use for the collage I am putting up in the kitchen (that big empty wall is finally getting to me). And I thought, hey, why not do a history of Josh? Pretty much my husband over the last 4 years with various stages of facial hair.

The respectable days... Josh HATES that last picture. Its part of why I love it so much. I will admit he did not put on the hat willingly.

Perhaps turning into a pirate?

I take it back... a mountain man.

Or a cuban?

Haha. I just love it. I should keep taking pictures of him, I haven't been as often lately. Not only do I fully enjoy them but I bet Zeke will someday too.

Anyways, all of this beside I have accomplished things this week, really. I finished a bunch of wash clothes and another hat for Zeke. And this one is REALLY cute, I followed a pattern and everything, which I've never done before. I'm making some matching booties and then I will take a picture. Also I made applesauce. And canned it and everything. It is gorgeous, if I do say so myself. ;) And I do.

Arboretum

Zeke refused to be happy even though I went to the Arboretum specifically to get good pictures. I think he was cold to be honest. Oh well, next year perhaps? Kelly and Kim were bribing their boys and it seemed to work fairly well...too bad Zeke is too little to bribe! I'd be all over that. Next year I'll try again...with jelly beans. Thanks for meeting me anyways girls!

Pumpkin Patch

Wow, I finished those photos fast. What can I say? Zeke took a long nap yesterday and I don't clean on Sundays.

Also a size update since we got shots this morning: Zeke is 17 pounds 3 ounces and 27.5 inches tall. 90th and 95th+ percentiles respectively. We have an inch and a half in our carseat left. We may have to buy a new one before Thanksgiving....