Second Tooth!

The tops of Tiger's first two teeth are all the way through today and are now clearly visible. Which means he has been having trouble falling and staying asleep today. Thank goodness for baby 0r@jel. Also, when I put him down on the floor for some tummy time this morning, he waited about 2 seconds and then turned over on to his back in one swift motion. Ok, check that one off the list. He seemed pretty happy about his accomplishment too.

To prepare Bear for the talk he is assigned in Primary in two weeks (Why marriage is an important part of Heavenly Father's plan for his children), we spent FHE discussing what the word marriage means and how we get married in the temple so we can be an eternal family. It's sometimes entertaining to ask questions of a 5 year old like, 'Do you want to be a daddy someday?' followed by, 'Why?' and 'Do you want to be a Daddy like your Daddy?' He decided he wants to be a fun daddy like his daddy someday. So, I think I will put that in his talk.

First Tooth!

Last night Werty was holding Tiger because he was super fussy and he noticed that his gums were bleeding a little. Looks like his first tooth finally broke through. Poor guy. All day yesterday he just wanted to be held, but I was canning apple pie filling. It was a new recipe so it took more time than I expected. Makes me feel like a bad mommy because I had to keep putting him down. At least now I know why he was so unusually clingy.

I ended up with a batch and a half of apple pie filling - 10 quarts. I forgot that I could only fit 8 quarts in the canner. I really should have only done 8 and saved some time and frustration. The recipe said it made 7-10 quarts. Yeah, no. Halfway through I had to make another half batch of syrup, slice twice the number of apples, etc. In the end, I stuffed the jars too full and when I took them out of the water bath at 1am and 2am respectively, some of them started spitting out sauce like a volcano. It was loud - belching jars - and funny once I got over the shock and concern. Today they are all sealed. I am thinking we will eat the ones that lost the most syrup first, just in case. Perhaps my zealous over-stuffing is why it took twice as many apples than the recipe stated. I am looking forward to apple crisp and pie this Winter thanks to my in-laws apple tree.

Meanwhile, Tiger loves the exersaucer. It only took him a couple days to figure out how to stand up with his feet and turn the seat to move to a new toy.

 Some random pics from this week:

 I started working on Halloween costumes this week, starting with Twilight Sparkle for Little Miss 2. This is what I have done so far. I got to use two new stitches on the applique, including a decorative one, woohoo!

Last weekend we went to the Museum of Curiosity. Here we are in the Waterworks room.

  

And the Rainforest area for littler kids. I love this photo (above) because Bear and Little Miss 2 are working together. He hands her the ball, and then she rolls it down the track.


Bear and his cousin working the digging machines.

Losing Together

My sweet Tiger is so supportive! I have hit the post-pregnancy stage where my hair starts falling out, so Tiger is losing his hair too. Tiger's hair is coming in lighter and shorter on the sides, giving him the look of a faux-hawk. After his last bath, I combed the longer hair in the middle into a mohawk, but it didn't really survive being slept on. He has kept his dark hair much longer than my other two kids. It doesn't look like it will be as light as his brother's, but whether or not it will be darker than his sister's hair remains to be seen.

Almost Milestones...

Two days ago, I was giving Tiger some tummy time on a pillow on the floor. He was pushing himself up on his arms pretty well, but started getting tired after about 5 minutes. So, he leaned to one side and rolled onto his back. The pillow helped, putting gravity on his side. Last night he was on his back, playing with Daddy on the bed. Once again, gravity made all the distance as Daddy was pushing down on the bed (memory foam topper, nice and squishy), and he rolled onto his tummy. Totally can't do it on his own yet, so it doesn't really count, but he's figuring out the basics. I think he is going to be moving a little earlier than his siblings. After all, this was the kid that amazed the delivery nurse by doing a push up when he was less than an hour old because he did not like being put on his tummy during his evaluation. He was also kicking his legs army crawl style during tummy time. Too bad tummy time makes him spit up like crazy - he's got some acid-reflux, even though we aren't medicating him since he is able to sleep with it. He just spits up a ton after every feeding, every burp, every time you move him...you get the idea.

Meanwhile, yes, Tiger is also teething. In between the spit-ups, I have seen drool. It's usually camouflaged by spit up, but I have now observed what Werty saw last Sunday. Drool. Plus, being a nursing mommy, let me just say, I can tell he is teething. He is still our little cheerful boy, smiling at everyone.

Here's some pics from out trip to the Aquarium earlier this month, starting with the penguins.

Warning! Potty Training in Progress!

A few days ago, Little Miss successfully stayed on the potty long enough to pee. She went in the potty TWICE today! I did a happy dance for her, which seemed to get her attention and cause a smile. I am hoping to get the brunt of the potty training done before Bear's preschool starts up again. I figure it will be much easier to deal with now than when I'm rushing the kids out the door in the morning. /crosses fingers.

Tiger's 2 Months Update

Took little Tiger in to the doctor's today. My other kids were pretty well behaved, and we were back home within an hour. Tiger is doing well, cheerful the whole time except when getting his first round of shots. Poor boy. He is such a champ. Here are his stats:

W: 12 lbs 2.5 oz  95%
L: 24 inches  100%
Head: 15.5 inches  97%

At his 2 week check-up he was also in the 95-100% range in everything, so he's staying steady, no worries or surprises.

Last Tuesday we attended our annual ward summer swimming party at Scera pool.Bear was very comfortable in the water, wandering all over the large shallow pool (they have a deep-end pool on the other side), the water up to his shoulders and chin. Looks like he is ready to start learning how to swim. Before we had kids, we decided Werty would be in charge of that, since he is the better swimmer. (I am supposed to teach our kids basketball, since I have more experience there. That was the trade off.) Little Miss wore water wings and played with her daddy. I had about 10 mins with Little Miss in the water, then took care of the baby and visited the rest of the time.

On the way home from the party, Tiger was not happy in the stroller, probably because it was after 9pm and getting dark. Almost as soon as I take him out and Werty goes on ahead with the empty stroller, Little Miss decides she is done pushing her umbrella stroller and wants to be pushed. So, I am holding the baby on my chest with one hand, pushing a 2 year old with the other hand. When something that felt like a leaf blew into the side of my head, I did not have a spare hand to investigate. I waved at it once, and thought the leaf had fallen out of my hair onto the ground. Well, I get home, put the baby down, walk into the bathroom to wash my hands. I look into the mirror and scream. There on the front side of my shoulder, inches from where I had been holding my baby is a 2 inch long scarab-looking black beetle. (Google cottonwood stag beetle to see a picture of it.) The first thought that comes to my mind is the episode of Doct0r Wh0 when Donna Noble has the scarab attached to her back that she can't quite see, feeding off of and erasing her future potential. Bear's reaction to seeing the beetle was, "Yay, we can keep it as a pet!" We got a jar, put some leaves and a little water in it, and kept him for a week. Today, we let our pet go back to the park. I explained to Bear that it needed to go back to the park or it would die of starvation because it was starting to look sluggishly frantic. He found a nice spot under a tree, and let it go. It was interesting to watch all week, but I am glad it is gone.

Renaming the Blog

When I started writing a blog, I put it off at first with the rationale that we didn't have kids yet, and the blog would be mostly for sharing updates about kids with family and friends. Well, so I started the blog right after we found out we were finally expecting our first (best Christmas surprise ever!). The blog was Audra and Werty for, like, a week. But only my FFXI friends knew me as Audra, so I changed it to Zanne and Werty. Zanne was already my nickname in the blogosphere thanks to my best friend. When I was teaching, I jotted down the funny things that my high school students said or did. But it has been a long time since our family focus was on my husband and I. Now that I am a stay at home mom, it's my kids that do funny things that I should mention. Often times I forget to write them down. I hope that changing the title will remind me that the blog really is about updating family and friends about my cute kids and the hilarious and creative things they do. I need some stories to embarrass them with later, right?

One quick update: Tiger (named Tiger because we already had Bear, and Little Miss' favorite animal to pretend to be at present really is a Lion...so I couldn't resist.) is quite the cheerful 8 week old. I shouldn't be surprised, it was even mentioned in his blessing. He already smiles back at us and occasionally he has laughed as well. He has been doing it for a week and a half. My grandmother's response was that he was probably too young to really be interacting - and then 3 minutes later she experienced it for herself and she changed her mind. She agreed that he really was smiling back at her.