Kisses.

Zane has really been into giving kisses lately, which I adore! Today, he walked right up to the cat and started giving him kisses. The only camera I had handy was my phone, so the picture isn't the best quality, but it will have to do for now. It was seriously one of the cutest things ever!

Introducing...the fork.

I gave Zane a fork for the first time today. I've been told by other mom's and our pediatric nurse that we should be giving Zane a fork (easier to use than a spoon usually) at almost every meal so he can get the hang of it. I have been told that he may or may not use it but always have it on the tray to offer it, so that's what I did tonight. He LOVED it! He did pretty good. He would take the fork and scoot it towards the food, but didn't quite get the "stabbing" part down. Once I helped him "stab" the food he was able to put it in his mouth...he still used his hands more to feed himself than anything, but at least he was trying. I don't have any toddler size metal forks (just plastic ones that don't work worth crap), I'm on the hunt for some, but in the meantime I gave him one of our dessert forks and it seemed to do the trick for now!

Mastering the fork!


Very pleased with his new skill (he's clapping here)!

Playdate with old and new friends.

Zane and I traveled up to Everett today to visit an old college friend of mine who I hadn't seen in years...Kristi. Kristi has a beautiful little 1 year old Addyson and is currently pregnant with twin boys due in April! Since Kristi is on restricted bed rest I wanted to go up and visit and keep her company while her hubby was at work. A couple other old college buddies joined us as well, Lori and Brooke and it was so good to see them all. Lori has a 2 year old Andrew who I had never met, so it was awesome meeting him and letting all 3 of the kids play together.

The kids (and adults) enjoyed a delicious lunch of macaroni & cheese and corn dogs! Yum! In the picture it looks like Zane was neglected and was not given food, but its just because I was too busy taking pictures to dish him up any. Don't worry, he was full before we left!

For some reason, Zane ended up in Addy's chair and Addy was strapped to some phone books with a belt. Isn't it the guy who is supposed to give up his seat for the lady? I might need to teach Zane the way it really is supposed to be. Sorry Addy.


Here is a picture of all 3 cuties together on the couch. Not sure why Andrew and Zane have the dolls and Addy has nothing. I guess these boys are just in tune with their maternal instincts or something!


As we were leaving I told Zane to give Addy a hug good-bye and apparently that meant a "kiss" to him. I hope Addy's dad doesn't see this, Zane may never be allowed over again. It was too cute not to take a picture of though!


I hope to see all 3 of you ladies again soon...lets not wait so long this time!

It'll grow back...right?!!!

We had another horrible experience with Zane getting his hair cut today. To say he hated it is an understatement. The poor kid has great hair if he were a girl! He has my hair, thick and grows really fast...not so good when you are a boy who hates getting their hair cut. He wouldn't sit still (and was crying/screaming the whole time) so the razor and scissors slipped a few times. The final product resembles a famous character from a great 90's film...see for yourself below!

Meet Zane:


Meet Lloyd:

Tricky, tricky.

Getting Zane to eat meat is always a challenge...unless its a chicken nugget! He loves sandwiches though. Last night I made sloppy joe's for dinner and I put the sloppy joe in between two sandwich bread pieces and cut it up like I do his jelly sandwiches. I'm happy to report he actually ate...one. Darn! He is so smart, he figured out after the first bite that it wasn't a jelly sandwich. I managed to get him to eat a few more pieces (not willingly on his part).

Breaking all of the rules.

The things I swore I'd never let my child do that I am graciously allowing him to do.

Watch t.v. while he eats.


Eating outside of his highchair.


Climbing all over the couch.

Birthday lunch.

My good friend Brenda and her two kiddos met me near my work yesterday to take me out to a birthday lunch! Brenda has been doing this for about 3 years or so now and its always such a special treat. The kids are very entertaining and it really is just a lot of fun.

Happy Meal!

Zane enjoyed his first Happy Meal today. He was way too distracted by all of the other kids running around to actually eat more than just a couple bites, but he did enjoy his nuggets in the car and back at home.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yep, I am officially over 30 now! I'm so happy with where I am in life right now and am just happy to be turning another year older! I had a great day, Zane and I went to breakfast with my mom today and then we laid low at home for awhile. Josh, Zane and I all went to dinner this evening and then went over to my dad's house for a few gifts. I must say, my favorite gift was a toilet seat! Ha, I know, crazy huh? We have an oak toilet seat in our master bathroom (came with the house) and its always been something I wanted to change, but it was never a necessity to really spend $$ on at the same time! I got one for my birthday (because I asked for it) and I can't wait to put it on! Ok, enough about my toilet seat issues...I had a great birthday and it was awesome to spend it with my two favorite boys!

A picture from dinner tonight!

Zane See, Zane Do.

Zane Saw.



Zane Did.


*Just one side note...I did pull him back before his mouth actually got down to the water in the dish...but he would've done it if I would've let him!

Our "pet" monkey.

Zane is officially climbing onto everything. We put the ottoman next to the couch so when he does climb up there he has something sort of blocking him from falling off...he still manages to fall to the side from time to time, thank God for pillows and for not a long fall!

What's up spike?

Final Christmas Celebration!

We finally had our last Christmas celebration of 2008 (carried over into 2009). We headed up north to Burlington on Sunday to celebrate with some of Josh's side of the family. Zane did great in the car; as long as snacks were being handed his way! We left right after nap time to drive up there, so I knew he wouldn't sleep, but he did really good. As much as I love Christmas time, I must admit, I am very happy its finally over for a year!

He's a master gift opener now...doesn't need any help!


WOW!


Looking at a scrapbook with Grandpa Alexander.


Tuckered out on the way home!

Scuba Josh!

Josh is a lover of scuba diving! For Christmas I got him a DPV scuba class/dive; a DPV is an under-water torpedo looking scooter that you turn on and "drive" around under water looking at "cool stuff" (my made up definition off of the technical one Josh gave me). He finally was able to redeem his lesson and dive this past Saturday...but after class and after arriving at Redondo Beach they had to cancel the dive due to poor visibility. Due to all of the flooding the water (even Puget Sound) is very murky and they could only see about 2 inches in front of them...scary if you ask me. Anyway, he will resume his dive this coming Saturday.

Trying on his wet-suit for size before the dive.

Cheesy I know!

New boots.

Grandma Alexander bought Zane a pair of boots last week! I guess its not such a bad thing that its snowing out right now, he might actually get to wear them before he grows out of them. I couldn't help but share this picture of him wearing them for the first time...I'm not sure if its the fact he has no pants on that is so cute or the fact he is having a difficult time figuring out how to walk in them...maybe its both!! Maybe we'll get to try them out in the snow tomorrow!

New Trick.

Zane has accomplished how to climb on top of our ottoman with no assistance. Problem is...his way of getting down. He doesn't quite get that he needs to turn around and slide off backwards; no, he thinks the way down is to just step right off. We'll be working on that one. For now just enjoy his look of accomplishment.

Christmas Part II

Due to the snow and crazy schedules we had a couple Christmas events rescheduled last week so we made the up this last week(end).

The first was on Wednesday (New Years Eve) afternoon. My good friend Brenda and her two kiddos Tate and Kennedi came over so the kids could exchange gifts...oh and enjoy some yummy kid friendly snacks.

Digging into the snacks before his friends arrived.






The second was on Saturday we went to my mom's house and celebrated with her. Zane is really getting the hang of opening presents...I hope he doesn't start to expect this sort of thing every weekend!!




All tuckered out on the way home.


The third event was today and we headed out to my dad's house in Buckley...where might I add it started to SNOW while we were there. UGH...that is becoming a bad 4-letter word in this house! Its still snowing as I type this, so annoyed. Anyway, enough about that...onto more pictures of Zane opening presents...spoiled kid.










And if you wouldn't believe it...we still are not done with our Christmas celebrations...we still have 1 more to go next Sunday!

2008 in review.

Ok, so I'm going to totally copy my friend Lori with her 2008 in review post she did about her little boy Andrew (and their family).

Here is Zane's 2008 in review (I know you guys only care about him)! I feel like he did so many new things every month it was hard to just pick the top events of each month, but here you go.

January 2008
Zane started daycare; here he is pictured with his daycare lady Tracey on his first day.


February 2008
Zane started developing terrible Eczema. This took a long time to get under control.


March 2008
Zane was entered into the Baby Idol (cutest baby) contest and he placed 3rd out of 6600 kids! That's my cutie-pie!


Zane was baptized.


March was apparently a big month...he also started on rice cereal this month.


April 2008
Zane started on more exciting baby food and liked it a lot more than that rice cereal stuff.


May 2008
Zane hit 20 lbs (at 6 months) and was moved from his infant car seat to his big boy car seat.


Also in May, Zane saw his first (and last) Dermatologist for his Eczema and she found the trick to make him better! We've kept on top of it and he's doing great now!


June 2008
Zane took his first plane ride and played in the sand for the first time.




July 2008
Zane started to crawl.


Zane also started swim lessons in July.


August 2008
Zane started to walk...although this picture is with the assitance of the walker, he really was able to walk un-assisted, just have no picture to prove it!


September 2008
Zane received his first kiss from a girl other than me!


October 2008
Zane had his first major cold, requiring assistance from an inhaler.


Zane also turned 1 in October.


November 2008
We officially sad good-bye to the bottle.


December 2008
Zane enjoyed (or didn't so much) his first snow.


Zane also enjoyed his "1st" Christmas. Although it officially was his 2nd, this is the first time he was old enough to really enjoy it!


Happy New Year to everyone, we wish you a safe, healthy and happy 2009.