Zach loves his Abuelito

I hope he will always LOVE to read

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if brother does it then I do it

wind in my hair

Zach is my little complainer so to distract him I open the window. It usually does the trick.

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crooked smile means it likes it

Jase asks to have window open in the car so he can enjoy the breeze.

Lovely Locks

This past weekend we went to visit Jason's family. The weather was great and we had a great time. It's always a nice treat to see them. Even though the boys don't see them all the time, they are so happy and excited about seeing them.

Jase loving his Grammy time!

Jase doesn't carry Thomas everywhere he goes anymore. He does like to take him outside to play in the dirt. I stopped letting him watch Thomas because it was becoming an obsession and he kept reciting the shows and wouldn't really talk about much anything else. So I think this has affected his desire/need to carry Thomas where ever he goes. Thank goodness because we only had one and it was a Christmas special!

The boys playing with their cousin Austin. Look how big he is getting. Only like an inch shorter than me and only in sixth grade.

Zach and PawPaw playing sword fighting.

Grammy and PawPaw on poop scooping duty so that the kids wouldn't step on brown glass. YUCK!!!!!

Kick that ball!

He looks like a big boy here. He swings his right arm when he really gets walking/running and sometimes tilts his head to the side when he gets excited.

They think their Grammy is really funny.

Zach had his tubes put in and his adenoids removed this week. He did really well and the doctor said that he right ear was A LOT worse than he had realized. He said it was pretty nasty. So it has been draining blood and other icky stuff. When he woke up from the anesthesia he was pretty cranky for a bit then he fell back to sleep and when they woke him up he was just like new. Happy guy eating goldfish and drinking apple juice they had for him.

Even when he was out of it coming off the anesthesia he was able to sign milk to me when he was crying! Wow, especially since he was drugged.

We had a great time in Charlotte visiting Jason's brother, Tim and his kids, Austin and Bailey. The boys love being around them. It was really cute to see how excited Jase got when he saw his cousin Austin get off the bus and then when his Uncle Tim got home from work he ran to the door and said "Hi Uncle Tim, I so happy to see you."

Zach has been known to bite Jase a time or twenty. So Jase usually runs from Zach when he thinks he's about to be bitten. Or he puts his arm to Zach's face to let him do it?! Here is what it looks like.

Jase's finger has gotten infected and looks pretty sore in this photo. It has since gotten better and we also started him on some antibiotics for precaution.

I flat-ironed Jase's hair to see how long it is and to see if it's long enough to donate to the Locks for Love. I think it's just about there but it's too close so we are going to let it grow a little longer so that we don't have to buzz cut it to get the full ten inches.

He stayed still for me while I did it and this makes me feel better to know that he may actually stay somewhat still for a real haircut. One day soon. Isn't he so cute!

We went to Monster Jam a few weeks ago and forgot to post pics. This is a video we took. The really liked it. Next time we will go to Atlanta so the arena will be bigger and they can have a better show to watch.

Potty training and Pond fun!

After getting the potty training DVD and books for Jase he has had a little interest in sitting on it. He actually peed on it for the first time! This was so exciting for all of us and he did it before taking a bath and after getting out of the bath he ran over to it and peed again. We could not believe it. I haven't really pushed the issue yet just so that I don't make him want to retaliate and back track. So we just have been doing it at night before bath. Well, yesterday I needed to get urine sample for the doctor's office so I needed to get him to pee during the day. After three tries of him sitting on the potty he went for me. He was so excited and gave me high five. Now we just have to get me to get on top of it and put him on it numerous times during the day. Is there a how to train a mommy book?

Jase used to not be interested in doing any artwork. Since taking out the dairy/casein in his diet he has actually sat down to participate. So we painted a bird house for Grammy (Jason's mother). This was before painting and I guess he wanted to practice with his mouth.

There are the colors before the painting.

He had to put the brush in each of the colors and then paint. So cute. He wanted to paint the same spot over and over. We then packaged it all up and he and I took it to the post office.

The paint after Jase got a hold of it. A piece of artwork all in it's own. Now I wish I would have save this to see it dry. I have a quick hand at throwing things away.

This was the best photo I could get without flash that was semi clear and had both of them looking at the camera.

A moment that is rare.

I have been trying to make different things for dinner. Here was my attempt at stuffed mushrooms. They were really good the second time I made them when I filled the bottom of the pan with enough liquid to cover most of the mushroom caps. YUM.

This past weekend my parents came to visit and thank goodness they did. Friday night I woke up with a super sore throat and fever. After a few hours I broke out in hives. I was so scared that I was going to end up in the ER like last time but Jason pumped me up with Benadryl and Zantac (helps with hives for those that don't already know this). My hives got a little worse then disappeared while I slept literally all day long except about an hour total. I haven't been in bed all day in years, I couldn't even tell you the last time. Too bad I was sick to not really enjoy it.

My dad bought a John Boat so they took the kids down to ride in it. Here they are riding on the back of the lawn mower in a wagon down to the pond. Serious faces looking at the water. Zach's profile is so precious.

Jase pointing out the boat! I was still not feeling well and the thought of them out there made me nervous as hell. It's really clear water and shallow but still!

There they go!

Checking out what they can see on the bottom.

Zach is trying to talk. He says Bobo (pacifier), mama, hot, tootoot and tries to say Jase. No one told me that becoming a mother meant that I had to learn how to read minds!

I think Jase liked it!

Aaaaaahhhhh! I know my dad was nervous enough for both of us, especially when he saw Jase doing this.

Give me a break.

We had our first appointment with the school system through Child Find. Jase can speak very well and knows so much but his ability to communicate back and forth is a little delayed. So we wanted to make sure there wasn't any significant delays and get him evaluated and tools for me to help him learn how to communicate with us and other people. The asked me a ton of questions about his development and they even did a little activity with a speech therapist. He seemed to be a little confused with some of the questions but did really good. So for the next few weeks I have some exercises that I have to do with him and see how he progresses. If he was in school then they would have a teacher do it. At that time we reevaluate and go from there.

It's tons of fun in the backyard!

Zach is getting tubes next Tuesday so keep him in your thoughts and hopefully we will see a new happier baby soon! By the way, we learned a hard lesson in making sure you have any expensive procedures done at the end of the year when you have made more payments toward your deductible instead of the beginning of the year when you have your entire deductible to meet. Grrrrr..... (Jase 39 months and Zach 17 months)