KC, BFF, ER (almost)

 Kansas City….oh, where to begin?  The interview trail continues. Thursday evening the three of us headed up to Kansas City, where our friends Daniel & Jordan were SO gracious and let us crash their house for four nights!

   That’s Z and his new BFF, William. William is much older and wiser. A whole 23 days, but let me tell ya, those 23 days make a world of difference! He taught Z a few things….like “all done!”. OK, we’re still working on it. Zane also taught him a few things….like how to be an excellent splasher in the bathtub! Jordan & I took the boys to Monkey Bizness, an indoor playground. The boys had a great time. We successfully wore them out and were rewarded with afternoon naps!

Jordan is, well, pretty darn amazing. She’s like 35 weeks preggo, chases around a 1 year old, does about 10 loads of laundry a day, and has never lost a pacifier. ;)  Right, Jordan? Seriously, thanks so much for letting us stay there. We promise not to show back up next month!…..since that’s when Matt’s actual interview is scheduled.

That’s right. He showed up on February 22nd and his interview wasn’t until March 22nd. There’s early, and then there’s reeeeally early. Luckily, they worked him into the schedule, which is good for two reasons. 1) We don’t have to make another trip 2) We’re supposed to be in Denver that week! (See ya soon Seth & Laurie).

On Sunday we had a BIG scare. Zane was playing with his blanket, when he fell face first onto the hardwood floor. And didn’t move. He falls a lot, usually not a big deal. When I ran over to him and turned him over, it was bad. Soooo bad.

He had a HUGE, black goose egg on his forehead. I can’t even describe how big it was. He was obviously crying (and so was I) but then it was like he couldn’t hold his head up. He would pick it up and then drop it down on my shoulder. We were getting ready to head to the ER (still in KC, by the way) but I had Matt call our pediatrician first. By this time, Z was playing like normal (I was still crying), and Dr. Magee said there was no need to go to the hospital. “God made foreheads thick for a reason.” That’s why I love our doctor. He doesn’t overreact. He told us some signs to watch for and reassured us that he was gonna be just fine.

The top pic was taken a few hours after it happened and the next was taken three days later. I’ve been keeping toboggans on him when we go out in public….don’t want to alarm anyone! Plus, he looks pretty cute with one on!

We’re still dealing with snow, too. Matt drove through a blizzard in Iowa on his way to Nebraska and it snowed about 3 inches in KC. Next stop: New Orleans…doubt there will be snow there, but you never know!

What did we bring home from Baltimore?

Snow, snow, and more snow! Our flight was delayed a day because of the 30 inches of snow that fell in Baltimore, and to our surprise, we landed in a white Little Rock!

We had to get up that morning at 3:30am to make our flight. Why was it not hard to get up that early? Because I knew I was coming home to these sweet cheeks!

We were fortunate that we landed in Little Rock when we did, because shortly after that, they started cancelling flights. Whew!

The unexpected snow storm in Little Rock made our drive home quite an adventure. We couldn’t go up the on ramp to get on 630, so we re-routed up to 40 West and then down the 430 river bridge. Cars in every direction! Ahhh! Did I mention Matt’s windshield wipers decided to stop working? What an adventure. Matt said I was making him nervous (I was making him nervous? Whatever…) and made me sit on my hands and not make any noises. He wanted me to close my eyes, too. yeah, right. So then I just focused my worries on my mom driving up with Zane. They made it safely.

I wanted Zane to make a snow angel, but the little toot wasn’t big enough to even make a dent in the snow.

He had fun scooting around on the snow.

Zane and Brandie are talking things over.

We borrowed the neighbors’ snowmen for a pic.

He does this a lot. Just puts his arm up in the air.

Matt is absent from these pictures because the morning after we got home from Baltimore, he flew to North Carolina to interview at Duke. This week he drove to St. Louis for an interview, and once again, more SNOW! He was stuck on the interstate forever trying to get up there. He’s back home now…until Thursday, when we’re headed up to Kansas City & Omaha. Fingers crossed, no more snow delays!

Crabby jammies

 

He just looked too cute in his crabby jammies and sock monkey slippers. I had to add more pictures. This was the morning after we got home from Baltimore. He slept until 9:20am.  MY child! What a great welcome home present! I just couldn’t keep my hands off of him. Hugging, kissing, squeezing, rubbing his little head. I pulled myself away to take a few pics.

Look at those sweet little hands holding his sippy cup.Boy you turn me…..Up.Side.Down 

Love this kid.

Baltimore, Blizzards, & our first “Baby-cation”

Reasons Matt & I went to Baltimore:

1. Matt interviewed at Johns Hopkins University for fellowship positions in Allergy & Immunology.

2. To see the city, a potential new “home town”

3. To spend time together, as this was our first get away since having Zane

4. Catch up on the sleep we lost this past year :)

Hotel Lobby

View from our hotel window

Reasons we got stuck two extra days in Baltimore:

1. The Great Snowpocalypse 2010. We got to Baltimore on Thursday and, while cold, it was really pretty. On Friday afternoon the snow started falling….and falling…and falling…and fell for 24 hours…….at a rate of about 1 inch per hour! Yes, while there, it snowed about 26 to 30 inches and the wind blew so hard we couldn’t see out our window! Compare the top picture to this next picture:

and the other window that we couldn’t see out of:

2. The trains weren’t running and our flight got cancelled. So, yes…we definitely got to relax and catch up on sleep because EVERYTHING was closed! You’d think that in Baltimore they would be prepared for this, but I don’t think they get blizzards very often.

When we were driving from the airport to our hotel, I noticed these street signs and wondered, “What’s a snow emergency?”

And then I found out……

What we did to pass the time in the blizzard:

1. Played in the snow. Duh.

It’s hard to take a self-portrait in a blizzard. Sorry about that, Matt.

2. Tried to see just how deep it was. I have NEVER seen so much snow! It was crazy!

3. Slept and ate. A LOT.

How I survived with out my baby boy for 5 days:

1. My mom and aunts sent me lots of text pictures. 2. Knowing he was having a great time and getting spoiled every minute that we were gone. Even when Lee and Brandie tried to sell him at Wal-Mart.

Obstacles we had to overcome to get home to see our Zane-O:

1. Cancelled flights

2. An unexpected snow storm in Little Rock

3. Being stuck on the I430 bridge, in the snow, with NO WINDSHIELD WIPERS! The normally 30 minute drive home from the airport took us 2 hours and 30 minutes.

4. My mom battling the elements to drive up from Hampton with that precious cargo. (baby Zane).

The BEST part of getting back from Baltimore:

There’s just one….

He looks adorable in his crabby pj’s we bought him in Maryland. And when did he become grown?

The snow storm caused our power to go out not long after we got back home, so we had fun playing in the living room and getting warm by the fire.

Thirteen months

 

Thirteen months and SO MUCH FUN! This really has been a fun month with my little toot head.  His personality is still so funny! He keeps us laughing with his little imitations. I’m kinda dreading the day he starts talking….Look out! Mommy and Daddy are bound to get into trouble when he starts repeating us!

The other night we accidentally set the alarm off in our house before we left. As soon as we got the alarm turned off, Zane looked up at us with a serious face and started going, “Whoo, Whoo, Whoo!” He was imitating the sound of the alarm! Hilarious.

He has been imitating coughs, puppy dog growls, the sound when you clear your throat, and yawns for awhile now. This month, add in the sound our Keuring coffee pot makes when it’s warming the water and pretend nose blowing.

Matt says he growls a lot when he’s eating. Guess that means he likes his food? Or he’s warning us to stay away? He was definitely wanting us to stay away from his macaroni & cheese wedges (his new fave) at Cheeburger Cheeburger! What a fun 13 month birthday meal!

Speaking of food, we’ve been trying to fatten this boy up! When we went for his one year appointment, he weighed 20 lbs. Which is all well and good, except that he weighed 20 lbs three months ago, too.  Kinda fell off the ole growth curve.  We’re not really concerned….I’m sure it’s a combination of three things: 1. He's walking now and he never sits still! 2. He was sick the week before. 3. He was drinking 25 to 30 oz of formula from the bottle everyday. On his birthday we switched him to whole milk in a sippy cup and we could only get him to drink about 4-6 oz a day. He’s doing much better now that he’s gotten used to whole milk….adding a little chocolate didn’t hurt, either!

For the record, he still doesn’t sleep through the night. Occasionally, he will sleep all night, but most nights he wakes up two or three times. We don’t get up that many times, though! Usually we wait until the early morning (think 5am) screaming before we go in, give him some milk, and rock him back to sleep.

He likes his paci when he’s sleepy and loves his “blankie”/”lovie”. He has two blankies. A big one and a small one. Here he is with the small one. Watching TV. This never happens, by the way.

Actually, he’s just now started to realize that we have TV’s. In the mornings and right after his naps, when he’s just woken up, and still kinda sleepy….that’s about the only time I can get him to sit or lay with me and watch cartoons.  Well, he watches cartoons.  I watch him. Cause he’s so darn cute.

Blankie is also fun to put on your feet or use as a telephone.

  

His favorite foods right now are: mac ‘n cheese, blueberries (he doesn’t even share these with the pups!), this frozen dinner by Michelina’s that has popcorn chicken and mashed potatoes…but the mashed potatoes are formed in the form of smiley faces and he can pick them up and eat them, french toast, waffles, bananas, fruit popsicles, and any kind of desert!

He has finally started pointing. Here he has pointed out some new toys he would like to have.

 

Oh, one more thing for documentation purposes.  Kaye Kaye gave him his first haircut Saturday night. He looks like such big boy now.

Happy 13 months, Bear Nummins!