Disneyland

Yes! That is Lightning McQueen, Red (aka "Brad") the Firetruck, and one of the tractors from Cars the movie!

Matt had a conference the second weekend of November in Anaheim, so we all decided to go and visit Disneyland....with Radiator Springs being our main stop.

The kids were so excited to get there that they didn't want to go back to sleep, even though we got up at 3am. Eventually we got them to take some short naps on the plane. I thought Hollin looked so funny riding in the car service.

 

I could focus on these aspects of the trip:

*It was cold and pouring down rain our first night at Disneyland

*Hollin got really sick

*she earned herself an expensive pair of Minnie Mouse pajamas from a gift shop after having a blowout diaper

*the combination of daylight savings time and traveling two time zones had the kids up every morning at THREE am.

*flying with a grumpy three year old and a sick one year old is not for the faint of heart

*Zane spilled a bright red drink on the carpet in our hotel room

*and he cried every.day. to ride this Teenage Mutant "Inja" Turtle ride that we saw at the mall. Like, would have chosen this over Disneyland. (Thanks Uncle Rico)

But I won't mention that stuff. Nope. I'll just say that I was super excited to finally see Disney for the first time. Our second day there was perfect! Sunshine and upper 60s. We had a great time! We spent all day at the California Adventure Park. Zane's favorites were Carsland (obviously) and Monsters, Inc.

Zane and Mr. "Uh-tato" Head

Eating at Flo's V8 Cafe

We got back to the hotel at 4pm and both kids crashed! For the night! Good thing we went to bed early because they were up waaaay before the sun the next day! They sure are sweet when they're sleeping.

I'm thankful that we were able to take this trip as a family. Memories made. Not planning any trips with two kids for a few more years....

 

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better late than never: 13 months

Just now getting around to posting pics of our thirteen month old. Girl does not want to take a nap today (not normal for her), so this will probably be short and sweet. She has dropped her morning nap for the most part. I made the mistake of letting her fall asleep in the car today at noon. So then she took like a 10 minute nap. Boo.

 

She crawls everywhere and cruises around the furniture, but still no walking. Maybe she'll start while we're in Arkansas?! That would be fun!

 

She started saying 'cheese' today while I was taking her picture. Well, "eeeee!" Close enough.

She has four top and four bottom teeth. One more coming in on top.

 

Her favorite things are: her brother, someone crawling toward her really fast, bonking heads, books, and food.

Standing up in the chair while I try to take pics.

Sweet sleeping angel.

 

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Just cuteness

Bath time buddies

Ready for bed

Matching monkey jammies

Ready for church (Zane calls it "shuel" aka school)

He wanted to "dress like a mans"

Precious girl in her big girl carseat

Sunday afternoon naps are the best

He put marshmallows on the ends of a pretzel stick and said he was lifting weights. Hilarious.

Stepped up his game with bigger 'weights'

 

 

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12 month appointment

Is that not the saddest little face you've ever seen? That is the face of a one year old after four immunizations and a blood draw. And of course she's a chubby one year old so they missed the vein in the right arm and had to do it again in the left. Oy vey.

 

Zane told me before we went that "I just can't watch baby Hollin get shots because it might hurt her". So for shots he hid his face. When she started screaming he YELLS, "Aaahhhh! That doesn't sound very good!" Apparently he got over that. Fast forward to the lab, where I'm sweating bullets, holding Hollin in a full body lock in my lap, two phlebotomists are trying to find a vein, she's screaming bloody murder....where's Zane? Head poked between legs, under an arm, wherever he can get to see what's going on. "What they doin', Mommy? What is a vwein? Why they need her blood? STOP scweamin', Baby Hollin!"

 

Seriously brutal. It wore us all out. Even Zane. He came home and fell asleep at 4pm. And slept until five the next morning! Luckily, matt needed to get up early and work on a presentation. But 5am is still early. This is how I found him in the living room at 7:30am.

Here she is before the appointment.

Playing in the exam room. Happy and naive to what was about to happen.

One year stats:

Height: 29 inches (38th%)

Weight: 21lb 4oz (66th%)

Head circumference: 47.5cm (96th%)

 

Short, chunky, big head, healthy. Pretty sure her stranger anxiety just got a lot worse.

 

I have to give credit to Zane. He was really a good helper. He wanted to know what was taking the doctor so long. He asked her, "Did you have a really hard case next door?" Ha! Obviously he's heard a little medical talk at home. He taught them how to 'shoot webs' like Spider-Man. I thanked him for being a good big brother while I was putting him in the car. He took one of his stickers off and slapped it on my arm. "Ank you for being a good mommy." Highest praises from a three year old.

 

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Halloween 2012

I had to work Halloween night so Matt was in charge of trick-or-treating. I was off the day before Halloween so Zane and I spent the day making Halloween crafts and goodies for his party at Ms. Jeri's.

Mummy hotdogs and mummy cupcakes

We made ghost paintings with our feet and spider paintings with our hands. And the mummy cupcakes....Zane "helped" make them. We talked about not touching our mouths or noses while making the cupcakes. His main role was placing the eyes. Every.single.time he put one on he got icing on his fingers. Every.single.time he started to lick it off. Every.single.time he would stop himself and say, "No." He started getting really frustrated and said, "I just want to EAT them!" Well, of course I let him eat one, but let's move on to the best part.

The next morning we walk into Ms. Jeri's house, excited for the Halloween party. I'm holding Hollin on one hip and the cupcake carrier in my other hand. She tells Zane that they're going to make cookies and....Zane interrupts. With an excited voice he says, "We don't need cookies!" He points to the cupcake carrier that I'm holding. And flips the latch. And the cupcakes, aaallll of the cupcakes, fall upside down in the floor right in her entryway. Awesome. He looked heartbroken.

Making cookies with his friends

I was informed that the lady bug has wedding plans for her and Zane.

Zane has....how many costumes again? Like a hundred, or something redic. And every time someone asked what he was going to be for Halloween? "I'm gonna be superman in my superman jammies!" (Side note: His superman jammies are size 2T. He's now in 4T. So they hit about mid-calf.) The NIGHT BEFORE Halloween he tells me he's going to be Robin (as in, Batman and Robin) for Halloween. You're thinking he has a Robin costume because he has a zillion. NOPE. Oh, and also, he tells me that "Baby Hollin is going to be a giant baby for Halloween." ??? Again, awesome.

Luckily, I know all about the elements of surprise, newness, and bribery.

I just happened to have this hidden in my closet. And he just happened to get surprised with it on Halloween morning. And loved it. Phew. Robin was a distant memory.

He looks adorable and just like his daddy.

I give Matt all the credit for this little cutie's costume. He picked it out.

And even though Halloween is his least favorite holiday (and because I was at work), he took the kids to the neighbor's house and trick-or-treating.

Here's the cuteness overload:

 

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raising zane.

Never a dull moment.

The most important thing in Zane's life right now?

Superheroes.

Proof.

 

 

 

Ironman, Thor, Wolverine, Hulk, Ninja Turtle, Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Captain America (not pictured). Totally ridiculous that he has this many costumes. He gets up every morning, asking who he can be today. And after bath, "Which super hero can I be tonight?! Occasionally I tell him he has to be Zane. Like, for church. Other days it's just not a battle I choose to fight. But I did trick him into wearing his batman shirt under a button-up one day. It was his "disguise". I have to give him a 'Superman curl' when he's dressed as Superman.

I've been videoing him a lot lately. His imagination amazes me, and I don't want forget the things he says or the sweet little voice his says them in. He randomly tells me all throughout the day that he loves me. My favorite is when he says, "Mommy, I love you too much. How can I love you so much?" I mean, seriously? Is this real life? I got him on video promising to give me kisses even when he's big and in school and in front of his friends. I'm terrible.

Of course, everything he says isn't sweet. Sometimes it's just weird. Like the morning he woke up with morning-whiny-voice (nails on a chalkboard) and wanted to sing "Nationwide is on your side." Um, ok. Sing it. "But I need the muuuuusic!" You better believe I YouTube'd that as fast as my fingers would type. And then he was fine. Now he sings it every time we ask what his favorite commercial is.

"Oh, pickles!" is his new favorite phrase (instead of oh, darn). He also likes "Oh, puppets!" which has caused me to whip my head around a few times in surprise.

He tells me he has things "all under control". The other day he opened the door to his room and asked for help zipping his jacket. I showed him how to get it started and then he said, "I got it all figured out now. Thanks for your help." And then he closed the door in my face.

He is definitely full of character. He's sweet sweet. My tiny superhero.

 

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