Summer Birthdays

Rhema turned 2 on July 15! This was the day we woke up in Colorado for the first time calling it HOME! We stayed with Grandma J the first few nights, then drove to the Springs to prepare to move into our new house. Grandma got an ice cream cake, which Rhema heartily enjoyed.

We have two birthday boys in August: Seanin turned 4 on August 14, and Zaden turned 6 on August 24. We had a joint birthday party at the Focus on the Family birthday party room with some new friends we met through mutual friends who live in Texas. Wendi is a kindred spirit, and I know she and I will get together often! With 7 kids of their own, the B family also homeschools and has much in common with us. We are grateful to have been connected so soon after both of our families moved to the Springs. Charis made the minion cake, which the boys requested!

On August 28, Verity turned 6 months old! We celebrated her 1/2 birthday with a half cake, also made with love by Charis. Verity is writing her own special story, as her cake reflects.

And since she wasn't thrilled in the above photo, here is a happier shot!

Summer Summary

Oh, Summer, where art thou??

I remember...back in the day...when we first began homeschooling, we lived in Las Vegas. It was stinkin' HOT in the summer, and so we happily took our "summer" break in March or April, when it was pleasant outside and we had easily breezed through our school materials. We'd order the next core early and begin another round of school when it was hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk. With a couple of babies born during our 4 years in Nevada, plus quite a bit of traveling to Colorado, Utah, and Idaho, we enjoyed our free and easy and flexible schedule, pretty much doing school "year-round" but taking breaks whenever we wanted.

But our next few moves happened during summer months (2009, 2012, 2015), with babies also arriving in summer months (2011, 2013, 2015). So it just made sense to keep a more "regular" school-year calendar.

With last summer bringing us back overseas PLUS a new baby, this summer was bound to be less...stressful, I suppose. But it was busy nevertheless! Here's a rundown of some of our summer highlights:

* Charis, Tobin, and Arden attended the Christian Youth in Action training camp the first week in June. Run by Child Evangelism Fellowship, this training prepares teens to share the gospel with children during 5-day clubs held throughout the summer. The kids learned how to completely run a club by themselves, from leading games and songs to teaching Bible and missionary stories, Bible verses, and review and application activities. It was a lot of work, but they all agree they are glad they did it!

* Immediately after this intensive training week, Charis left for a week-long missions trip to a reservation in South Dakota along with a team she has accompanied 4 different times now. She loves those kids and got to specifically use the skills she had just cultivated the week before as she interacted with kids and shared the gospel.

* Kenna, Lucan, and Zaden had swimming lessons the first two weeks in June. Seanin and Rhema and I enjoyed some quality hang-out time.

Zaden loved getting rides in the boat!

Seanin braved the big slide by himself at the park!

* Tobin enjoyed another great week at Camp Cedars with the Boy Scouts! This year was even more fun for him since he actually knew boys in the troop! Unfortunately, he missed out on a family visit...

* We got to spend some time with our CO family when Joel and Sarah and their boys came through for a few days' visit on their way to a family reunion in Kansas (or maybe Missouri, I can't remember). We especially enjoyed an outing together to see the train park and then get some ice cream in the Old Market.

Charis, Anders, Zaden, Arden (before his summer haircut!!), Cade, Lucan, Kenna

* I flew to Salt Lake City (alone! Without children!) to attend the Young Living Convention. I met up with some friends and had a fabulous time learning more about essential oils and the incredible opportunities available to us. I pumped while I was gone, and while Rhema wasn't thrilled about the goat milk she got in a bottle, she did fine and resumed nursing without missing a beat when I returned.

* On June 28, Ted and I celebrated our 19th anniversary! Actually, I think our date night was the next weekend, but we DID get out for a date. And now I can't remember what we did...pretty sure we went to eat at Sinful Burger...oh! I think we saw Finding Dory! And then Ted took the kids to see it during the discounted matinee show the following week.

Charis made this darling baby Dory for me after seeing the movie!

* We had friends come through and stay with us the night of July 4 on their way back home from a trip. We had a relaxed visit over some yummy grilled food and somehow failed to see any fireworks.

* On July 15 our baby Rhema turned one! Charis made a fabulous birthday cake for her and we had a simple family celebration.

* The last week in July Charis attended a Bible camp with some of the kids in the local youth group. Aside from sleeping in a bunk the first night that had bed bugs in it (!!!!!!!)...she says it was a great week. (Mom is trying to refrain from further commentary here...)

* The first week in August our backyard hosted up to 16 kids during the last 5-day Club of the summer. Charis, Tobin, and Arden all taught 4 clubs, which kept us busy several weeks in a row as we drove to Omaha and Bellevue to other host homes. So it was nice that the last one was right in our yard with kids we knew, mostly from church but also a few from the neighborhood.

* On August 8 the kids took the online Bible Bee test, the culmination of 8 weeks of study over the summer, working through their Discovery Journal to dig into John 13 - 15 and also 14 different memory passages.

* August 10 - 14 I took another trip, this time to San Diego for a "Naples Reunion" with a number of ladies who were stationed there at the same time. It was SUCH a blessing to go! I stayed with my dear friend Joyce, co-founder of Missione di Luce with which I was involved during my time in Italy. She, like many of the ladies I met up with, now lives in San Diego. It was a joyous, refreshing few days as we caught up on each others' lives, prayed together, laughed together, and definitely ate good food together. I'm thankful for the opportunity to go.

We spent all day at the beach, people coming and going as their schedules allowed. Sooooo nice to relax and talk!

Sheri opened her home for sushi-making at lunchtime and lots of hang-out time through the afternoon.

I think this is almost everyone who was able to make it!

* August 14 was Seanin's 3rd birthday! Charis made another amazing cake, and we had a family celebration at home.

* We had a local Bible Bee celebration in our backyard August 20. Nine families had registered for the summer study, and while not everyone was able to complete everything, the feedback seemed overwhelmingly positive. We rejoice that kids spent time in God's Word, learning how to study the Bible and memorizing verses that will renew their hearts and minds! Also, we praise the Lord that Charis was able to qualify for the National Bible Bee Competition again this year.

Kenna receives her certificate and chooses a verse to recite (John 13:34-35).

* On August 24 Zaden turned 5! We had a family party for him since his birthday was on a Wednesday. We had to work around a friend's schedule, but we did finally have a friend party on September 2. Hooray! Two cakes, lol!

I took Zaden to get a haircut a couple of days before his birthday. Everyone was very sad at how short his hair is now, but I still think he's a cutie-patootie!!

We have generous friends who let us borrow this inflatable water slide for the friend party! It was a hit!

Brothers and friends!

Aaaaaaand that's the story of our summer! All good things must come to an end, I suppose. We actually kicked off our school year on August 29, so I will try to be better about keeping more remembrances on our blog as the school year gets underway!

Update: Kenna, Lucan, Zaden

KENNA:
We had an ice-skating birthday party for Kenna at the end of February when she turned 9, a fun celebration with friends and cousins. While many remark about how much Kenna looks like Charis did at this age, their personalities are very different. Kenna is definitely a girly tomboy: you are likely to find her outside digging up and collecting worms for her dirt-filled birdhouse container, with toenail polish on the nails of her muddy feet. She loves to dress up but hates to shower (although a good long soak in the tub is always a treat). She plays hard and works capably, although her bedroom is more likely to be a disaster zone than to reflect the organizational skills of her big sister. She loves, loves, LOVES to read, and it doesn't bother her in the least to do schoolwork "later" when she'd rather finish the current book in her hands. Her math skills are coming along nicely after some struggles, and while she knows/feels she is "behind" (finishing up the Beta book instead of Gamma this year), she works steadily and is understanding the concepts well. Her sloppy handwriting is something she has a desire to change, so she is working more in earnest on learning cursive and practicing on various pieces of scrap paper. While the language arts writing assignments have never been her favorite, she has discovered that typing out a creative story can actually be fun...so last week's assignment is still a work in progress as she adds a little each day to her Story Starter. Kenna is a social being, thriving when she gets to play with friends or attend anything remotely social. She loves her siblings fiercely and carries Rhema around like a pro. Her current career choice is to be a missionary in Fiji...and I wouldn't put it past her to make that happen!

LUCAN:
Having received a number of art supplies for his recent 7th birthday (celebrated fireman style!), Lucan describes himself very seriously as an ARTIST. Some days it is an effort to pry him from the table and convince him that he really would enjoy going outside to run around! He has always loved working on his own little projects at the table by himself (yet with a constant stream of chatter about what he is creating to anyone who will even pretend to listen), and since he is not a typical rough-and-tumble boy, he usually responds to my requests for outside play time with reluctance...until he comes up with a creative play scenario that has him narrating his actions and traversing the yard in his own neverland. He and Zaden are--usually--best buddies in these scenarios. Lucan is very passionate about Jesus and wants to tell others about God's love for us. Almost every day he says something that reflects his tender heart, whether talking about being a missionary or praying for our sponsored kids in Africa. His prayers are wide-sweeping as he asks the Lord for there to be no more fighting or wars (before playing good-guys-fighting-bad-guys, lol). This post I left on Facebook awhile ago still makes me laugh:

Lucan has been showing such a tender heart to share the good news of salvation through Jesus with others. This sweetness does, however, end in a good giggle at times, as this conversation shows...you'll have to imagine my responses for brevity's sake.

"Mommy, when I grow up, I want to tell people in South America about Jesus. When I am 19, I will tell people in Peru. After I walk to all the cities, then I will go to Brazil. I will be 20 then. And then I will go to Argentina. I think I will be 24 then. And then I will tell people in Chile about Jesus when I am 25."

After listening to Lucan tell about his planned route, I ask him if he will learn Spanish.

"Spanish?!"

"Yes. Most people in South America speak Spanish. And most people in Brazil speak Portuguese."

Pause. "Um, never mind."

Quiet...

"Mommy, do people in Canada speak English?"

ZADEN:
While he loves to run around with his siblings and friends, Zaden is still a cuddler and usually prefers to sit on Ted's or my lap in church instead of joining the kids when they leave for their class. Though we are trying to remind him that sucking his thumb means it's (nap) bedtime, he still pops his thumb in his mouth when he's tired or feeling shy. I'm trying not to make a huge deal out of it; simply making him aware that big boys don't suck their thumbs (and if he's sucking his thumb, then it clearly means he needs a nap!) seems at least a step in the right direction. I'm enjoying this last year of not having to do much of anything "school-ish" with Zaden, although he sometimes REALLY wants to work on some kind of workbook, anything to make him feel like he's doing school also. We are lazily learning to write letters and finishing up random workbooks when we feel like it, and he sometimes listens in on Kenna's reading and almost always listens in on Lucan's reading. He is an AWANA Cubbies graduate now--hard to believe he will be a Sparkie next year! He is a passionate little boy, and by "passionate" I mean "still prone to insanely ridiculous temper tantrums." (He had a meltdown Sunday morning because Ted gave him the plate he asked for. Sigh.) He is also an excellent tattle-tale, which may or may not be helpful, depending on which sibling he feels the need to report about. I am trying to capitalize on his desire to help in the kitchen, even though having one little helper usually means I end up with 4 or 6 extra hands to keep gainfully occupied.  As cute as he is, Zaden probably often feels overlooked, with two cute baby sibs that need a lot of supervision and all his older sibs engaged in schoolwork that Mom needs to oversee. There are times when lesson plans need to rest awhile so I can snuggle and read with my thumb-sucking boy!

August Birthday Boys

Whew...still catching up on 2015...I hope in heaven we get to review all our precious memories from life here on earth, because time is speeding by WAY too fast down here!

We have two birthdays in August. Seanin turned 2 (on the 14th) and Zaden turned 4 (on the 24th). We had a simple family party for Seanin. Our cousins from Omaha had homemade pizza and cake with us. (Charis made the cake!)

Then on Zaden's actual birthday, which coincided with the first day of public schools in our area, we decided to go to the Omaha Zoo! We got a military membership, and it is a fantastic deal! We had his birthday party the next day, since on Tuesdays there was a discount at a local bounce house play place. We spent about an hour and a half letting the kids bounce off the walls there (ha!) and then came to our house for lunch and cake. Charis made this cake as well--from scratch, and it was amazing!

Zaden Funnies

Sigh...this blog is collecting cobwebs! Someday...but for now, I give you some Zaden funnies from this week:

"My favorite color is Batman."

When I asked him if he wanted to help carry something to the car, he paused, looked at his empty arms, and said, "No, I just want my hands."

When I was reading in silly voices and he didn't like it: "No, read like Mommy!"

The Littles

Some random tidbits about current life with the littles...

SEANIN
Seanin had his lip tie clipped on September 11 and has done beautifully with nursing ever since!  I'm so glad we had the procedure done.  He was fussy that day (understandable), but was back to his normal self the next day, and we noticed a big difference with his eating and sleeping habits.  And I felt as if he were milking the breast much more efficiently.  Praise God!

We did start putting Seanin to sleep on his tummy a few days ago with fantastic results.  He really had not been a great sleeper at all--ever.  Trying to get some sort of predictability to his daily routine was impossible, and you can imagine how difficult that made our school days (not to mention nights--oy!).  I wondered aloud if sleeping on his tummy would help, since he seemed to prefer cuddling on someone's chest while sleeping.  Ted tried putting him down that way, and lo and behold!  It was like MAGIC!  He goes 3.5-4 hours or so at night and has a fairly predictable 3-hour schedule during the day.  He rarely wakes up in the middle of a nap cycle anymore, and I am SO THANKFUL God pressed that on our hearts to try!

ZADEN
Zaden is adding to his vocabulary daily, and it is so fun to hear him chattering away!  One of my favorite things to hear him say is, "Bess-oo, Mommy!" whenever I sneeze.  He will stop what he is doing, run into wherever I am, and say that if he hears me!  Melts my heart!

Like Lucan, he went through a huge bus obsession.  When he first started talking, "bus" was easy for him to say, and so EVERYTHING on wheels was a BUSSSSS!  This led to great exclaiming in the car as he realized the power he had to name every. single. vehicle that we passed.  "Bussss!" he would shriek.  "Actually, that's a car."  "No, bussss!"

Similarly, all liquid is "milk."  If we are reading a book that has pictures of water, such as his Flashing Fire Engines story book that depicts a hose spraying water at a fire, he pronounces it "milk."  "Actually, that's water, honey."  "No, MILK!"

He is an amazing eater--pretty much anything he sees us eating, he wants to eat himself.  Heaven forbid that we should scoop it up to cool onto his plate before we sit down to pray...no, he wants us to scoop from the pan just like all the big people!

Zaden's eyes are as big as ever and look even more so since Ted buzzed his hair.  It was looking pretty ratty, since he twirled it while sucking his thumb, resulting in various bald patches where it got knotted up so badly that it either fell out of its own accord or had to be snipped.  I almost cried when I saw his near-bald head, but we're getting used to it (and it's growing back!), and I do love how his eyes look bigger than ever!

He still loves "Baby Say-nin" and "holds" him frequently: that is, he holds out his arms, we hold Seanin out so Zaden THINKS he is holding the baby, and Zaden smiles, coos over him, kisses him, and then runs away.  He also likes stealing Seanin's blankets and running around wearing them like kingly robes.

When Zaden goes down for a nap or for the night, he settles himself into his crib with his stuffed buddies arranged just so around him, lies down on his tummy, indicates that we are to put his blanket over him, pops his thumb in his mouth, goes to twirl his hair but remembers there is nothing left to twirl, removes his thumb, and says, "Daddy (or Mommy or Charis, whoever is with him), song!" and then we sing "Jesus Loves Me," just as we've sung with all the kids.  It will never get old!

LUCAN
Lucan is taking on more of a big brother role now that he has officially moved into Zaden's bedroom!  (That noise you heard was the cheering of Tobin and Arden who no longer have to share their space with a 4-year-old!)  The two little boys shrieked with giggles and delight the first few nights but seem to have settled down and are used to sharing now.  We kept Zaden in his crib since he doesn't seem to mind, and he is such a good napper...why mess with a good thing?!

Lucan still loves to build, anything from puzzles to train tracks to magnet structures to Legos to Math-U-See blocks.  He's quite protective of his creations and gets extremely upset when Zaden messes things up.  He will cry pitifully, covering his mouth in his distress.  It's hard not to laugh at the drama, but it does show Lucan's passionate, sensitive personality!  He even asks at times, "Mommy, will you please put Zaden to bed?!" because he knows that nap time is the best time for him to play without interruptions.  Although...then he often has to fight his big brother Arden, who enjoys building with the same play sets Lucan is working with while I do our afternoon school reading!

Speaking of school, we have not officially started any school-ish activities with Lucan.  I may start working with him on some writing.  He has begun showing a lot more interest in coloring and drawing than he has in the past and enjoys creating elaborate picture scenes on the white board when I let him!  The drawing below shows mountains with an orange tree and a blueberry tree on top and a person in between.  There is a small crooked tree in front of the mountain with the fruit trees on it.  To the right of that is Split Mountain (which we went to on Labor Day) with the Leaning Tower of Pisa in between the halves of Split Mountain.  Love it!  (Note that the green scribbles in the top left corner were NOT Lucan's doing and have nothing to do with his masterpiece, LOL.)

Lucan may be on his way to becoming a vegetarian; for some reason, he resists eating chicken in almost any form.  (Chicken spaghetti?  Hello?  Kid-friendly meal...he wouldn't even touch the noodles.)  On the other hand, he adores salad or veggies with Ranch dip and will often fill up on veggies and fruit, bypassing the main course altogether.  Thankfully he does like cottage cheese, cheese, eggs, sausage, and other forms of protein, and of course good ol' PBJs!

A food funny from tonight's dinner...as I mentioned, Lucan really loves salad.  Tonight I made a Caprese salad--fresh tomatoes and basil from our favorite farm stand, mozzarella di buffalo, plus some olives.  Not all the kids appreciate this kind of salad, so we had carrot sticks on the table as well.  Lucan decided to have some salad.  He got halfway through eating it and then lamented, "Awwwww!  There are LEAVES in my salad!"  (Referring to the basil!)

Lucan has continued to do well with using the potty, although he still wears pull-ups at night.  He still feels the need to proudly announce his bowel movements...since the weather has been nice and all the windows are open in the house, we can hear him wherever we are as he shouts, "I DID go poopy on the potty!"  And he will continue to holler that over...and over...and over...until someone reaffirms him, "Good job, Lucan!"  Lord willing, the announcements will stop before he graduates...

Zaden at 18 Months

Just a few things I hope I always remember about our sweet boy at this stage of his life...

• He still sucks his thumb and has callouses on BOTH thumbs.
• He twirls his hair when he is tired and has on multiple occasions twirled it into a complete knot that can only be solved with a pair of scissors.
• He loves nap time--he smiles and makes the sign for nap or sleep when we announce it's time.  I've never had a kid nap so easily!
• When we put him down to sleep, he must have:
• Fuzzy monkey in one corner of his crib (by his head)
• Fuzzy bumblebee in the other corner of his crib
• The windows SHUT (I tried to leave them open one nice day and he was not impressed)
• His blanket on top of his back, since he is a tummy sleeper
• And he still enjoys the background noises from his giraffe from Grandma J.
• When we carry Zaden downstairs, he waves at all the family photos that line the wall, smiling at the people.
• One of his current favorite activities is toddling around the house holding as many smallish random objects as possible: a wooden block, a wadded up piece of paper, a stray Lego, and a Lincoln log, for example.
• He isn't speaking much still, but he definitely comprehends a lot.  His "yes" and "no" nods are endearingly definite.
• Not sure if this is the result of being such a late walker or if it's just part of HIM right now, but he walks like he just got off a horse!
• He wore a romper yesterday, the first time in shorts since last summer, and oh, my goodness...the pudgy little legs and knees!  Love!
• He gives kisses now...big, happy, wide-mouthed, wet kisses.  I love them.  I love him!

Zaden Update

It's time for a general update so that I can get past my feelings of being too far behind and once again start posting more regularly!  My apologies to the grandparents, but I don't have any pictures to share right now; I'm typing on Ted's laptop, as mine needs repair.  (There is something wrong inside the place where the charger goes--it isn't recognizing the charger.  The battery was down to around 40%, so I rescued what I needed for the immediate future and shut everything down.)

In no particular order...actually, I think I'll break this down into separate posts!  This one will spotlight Baby Zaden, as Lucan will probably call him for at least a few more years:

ZADEN
Our "baby" isn't such a baby anymore!  At nearly 17 months old, he FINALLY has taken some steps on his own within the last week!  He has been perfectly capable of walking by himself for awhile now, but he simply was not inclined to do so.  It was almost a game to him...he would slowly rise from a squatting position so that he was standing by himself, clap and grin while we cheered for him and urged him to walk toward us, and then plop right back down on his knees and scoot over to us as fast as he could.  Stinker!  Man, that little guy can move FAST on his knees!  He still is not walking consistently, but that should change pretty quickly now that he realizes he can do it.  Here's a very brief video of him toddling around our room.



To further identify himself as a "big boy," he has given up nursing.  He was doing so every morning probably up through Christmas, and gradually the sessions just got shorter and shorter, then sometimes every other day, until at one point I realized it had been a few days...and decided we were both ready to move on.  I'm so thankful that we made it 16 months!  Who would have thought we would have even gone that long given the struggles we had in the beginning!

Zaden still sucks his thumb and twirls his hair, especially when he is tired, which has endeared him to everyone he meets.  He is a great little sleeper and is transitioning from two naps a day to one longer afternoon nap, which has been helpful as we move to a more structured school schedule now that we're settled in our home.  He adores all of his older siblings--even Lucan now, who has decided that maybe Zaden isn't quite such a pest after all.  He lights up when someone plays silly games with him and is on his way to being the center of entertainment wherever he goes.

Some of Zaden's favorite things:  "Mr. Chubb-Chubb," the fat gray cat who hangs around our house for no apparent reason other than the fact that the kids seem to adore him.  Zaden exclaims when he sees the gray furball outside the windows, and if he can pat him, all the better.  He loves Daddy's homecoming times at lunch and dinner, melting Daddy's heart as he scurries down the stairs or across the tile to meet him at the door!  A favorite food right now is a clementine from Alfredo's fruit stand--I do believe that boy could eat the whole lot every time we bring home a new bunch.  (Bananas are so two months ago.)  Any kind of pizza is hailed with delight, as is pretty much anything Mom or Dad happens to be eating.  Grits and couscous are yummy but terribly messy, and let's just not mention what happens when the boy has refried beans or Texas stew.

Zaden isn't yet talking, although he does a good imitation of a cat sound (probably because of his affinity for Mr. Chubb-Chubb) as well as something that sounds reasonably like "hi," and a definite "mama."  He signs clearly for "more," "milk," "food," "eat," and "all done," with an accompanying "please."  Actually, he gave us some creative communication in the commissary today after church, when he was CLEARLY ready to be OUT of the cart, telling us, "all done, please!"

His left cheek has a darling dimple that thrills my soul...I don't know where in the gene pool that came from, but I'm so grateful that it surfaced! (Lucan has a less-pronounced dimple in the same cheek, so I assume they stopped by the same dimple counter on their way out!)  His eyes still invite comments from strangers, although he seems to have grown into them a bit more.  His thumbs both have blisters on them from sucking them, sigh.  He has I don't know how many teeth, but probably at least 7-8.  I have no idea how big he is; we never made it in for his 12-month check-up, and at this point I'm just inclined to wait for the 18-month point, which he'll reach Feb. 24.  But he's a happy, healthy kiddo, giving us no cause for concern, other than the typical toddler propensity for ramming his noggin into, oh, walls, for example.

We are so grateful God knew better than we and sent us Zaden Ezekiel 3 months into that year-long deployment!

And Another Birthday Celebration!

Turning one was so much fun that we just keep on celebrating!  Actually, we received a birthday package from Grandma J this past week.  Here are some pictures of Zaden enjoying his fun frog card with the googly eyes and unwrapping his dump truck (which Lucan thinks belongs to him, sigh).

Aaaaaaand...Goodbye, Ohio!

The rest of our stay at Great Wolf Lodge was a lot of fun!  We would totally do this again, with more than a one-night stay, if given the opportunity!  Zaden even had a bit of water fun on Wednesday, but he wasn't nearly as thrilled to be wet as the rest of the crew.  Lucan thought he was big stuff, going around and around in his climbing adventure to the smaller of the big waterslides--he needed a bit of help getting out of the end of the chute in a timely fashion, but otherwise he did great on his own!  Ted and I again took turns going back and forth between the littles and the big kids.  Final verdict:  This family gives the Great Wolf Lodge 16 thumbs up!  Here are a few pics from our stay.

We left close to 3 p.m. and headed to St. Louis, where we stayed the night in a Marriott Residence Inn.  Just in time, too, as we experienced a HUGE thunder/lightning storm about an hour after we got everyone to bed.  Thankfully, everyone (but me!) was sound asleep by the time it rolled in, thoroughly exhausted from all the playtime at the water park!

After mowing through an extensive selection at the continental breakfast, we hit the road again, this time to our friends Craig and Mimi's house, where we stayed overnight at the beginning of our Forever Long Road Trip.  Since we only had one short night together then, it has been fun to just hang out together!

We've only been here a couple of days (since Thursday afternoon), but we've packed a lot in already!

• P90X workouts and morning runs with Mimi!  (Ouch, I'm sore, but I'm motivated to get back into the exercise routine again!)
• A trip to the Legoland Discovery Center (pics here).
• Yummy meals, so far to include lasagna and salad, Craig's super bacon cheeseburgers, and some amazing biscuits and gravy!
• A campfire with s'mores (pics here).
• An early first birthday celebration for Zaden, since he turns one on August 24 and we'll be in flux!  (Pics here.)

Zaden's little party was so fun.  We kept it simple and picked up an individual little red velvet cake with sprinkles at the grocery store for Zaden to have for his very own get-messy feeding frenzy, then got an ice cream cake from Culver's for the rest of us to eat.  Mimi pulled out some birthday decorations, and in a snap the dining room was ready for a PAR-TAY!!  We had a blast watching Zaden experience his first real sugar rush!  It's hard to believe it's been nearly a year since our sweet little guy made an appearance with his daddy halfway around the world!

Zaden Update

So...Zaden turned 9 months old on May 24!  I'm sure one day I will look back and feel that his entire first year was a blur, the way I barely remember Arden's first year because of having a 3-year-old, 18-month-old, and newborn all at once.  But for now, I'm treasuring all the moments I can scoop up and stuff into my heart.

Normally I would have skipped the 9-month well-baby check-up, but since Zaden's weight has kind of been an issue, I figured I'd go ahead and schedule an appointment, especially since we were able to piggy back with some other errands at the hospital the same day.  Looking back at some of his stats...

2 months: 10 lbs, 15 oz (54th percentile)
4 months: 13 lbs, 9 oz (14%)
6 months: 15 lbs, 2 oz (7%)
9 months: 19 lbs, 5 oz (27%)

2 months: 23.3 in (84th percentile)
4 months: 26 in (76%)
6 months: 26.6 in (46%)
9 months: 28.5 in (50%)

So it was definitely nice to see that his weight is in a better range!  They asked me to bring him back for a check at the 7-month point, since he had dropped into the single digit percentiles.  I wasn't concerned, since he hadn't started solids until after he was 6 months old, so he was bound to gain weight once he was eating something besides breast milk!  As you can see, he definitely doesn't look like weight is a problem, ha!  Look at that double chin!

Some fun facts about Zaden:

• He is our first thumb-sucker!  It's so darn cute that it's pretty much impossible to discourage the habit!  It used to be he would only suck his thumb when he went into his bed or right after waking up, but he has started to pop that thumb in his mouth a lot during his waking hours, too.
• When we put him in bed (on his tummy, his preference), he sucks his left thumb and uses his right hand to stroke the hair on the top of his head.  A-DOR-able.
• He has a slight dimple on his left cheek.  This is rather a novelty for our family, although Lucan does have a slight dimple as well.  Stinkin' cute.
• While he looked like a little clone of Arden and Lucan the first few months of his life, he looks like a mini Ted now.  His smile, like his daddy's, totally rocks my world.
• Look out world--he's mobile!  He has the army-man crawl down pat!
• Tile floors are a bit of a deterrent at present, but I'm sure it won't be long before he'll be trying to explore the stairs.
• He's a great little eater but not terribly patient--once you put him in the highchair, you'd better make sure the food is ready to be shoveled in!
• His face totally lights up when someone smiles at him.  It's a good thing he is Number Six, because I think he'd be a very sad, lonely boy if he didn't have such a circus happening around him all the time.
• Seriously, he is the easiest baby I've had.  I'd have a dozen more kids if I knew they'd all be as easy as this boy!  He eats well, he sleeps well, he doesn't have any health issues, and he's so happy and easygoing that it is truly startling when he cries!

Zaden Update

It's a little late to do Zaden's 6-month update, I suppose!  Here are his stats from his 6-month check-up:

15 lbs, 2 oz (7th percentile)
26.6 in (46th percentile)

Since his weight had been in the 13th percentile during his 4-month check-up, the pediatrician asked us to bring him back in another month for a weight check.  Thankfully, she said we could do it in conjunction with Lucan's 3-year well-child visit; otherwise I may have just blown it off.  I wasn't concerned--Zaden had just started solids literally two days before this check-up, and he was (and is) nursing just fine, usually 5 times a day.

So anyway, we took him back in last week, and his weight is up to 16 lbs, 4 oz, which puts him in the 9th percentile for weight now.  I don't remember how long he is, and unfortunately, they didn't write it down for me this time and my hands were full with the two little ones.  All I heard was that I don't need to bring him back for another weight check!

This is a happy Zaden in the huge high chair that our friend Chris brought over.  I LOVE this thing!  He had definitely outgrown his swing, which was what we were using for feedings before this--rather difficult, since he learned that he could jerk his body and make the swing move, resulting in food being smeared all over his face.  Now I can plunk him in here and let him play with toys while I get his food prepared, and the chair has wheels, so we can easily move it.

The foods Zaden has tried so far include avocados, squash, carrots, parsnips, apples, bananas, and pears.  I've used chicken broth as well as breast milk mixed with the rice cereal; he really seems to enjoy the broth.  I need to puree some green veggies and start him on those; just haven't had time yet.

We're still working on figuring out the sippy cup.  Kenna was sweetly helping him with this tonight, and I managed to snap a picture.  (Yes, it's a pink and purple sippy cup.  It's the only one we currently have with handles!)  I think it's harder for him to figure it out because he hasn't had a bottle at all since he was very, very tiny and the doctor had told us we needed to supplement with formula.  (Thankfully that didn't last long at all!)

As you can see from that picture, he is sitting up very well.  I absolutely LOVE this stage, where the baby can sit up and play with toys in front of him but can't move anywhere yet!  His personality so far seems to be very similar to Arden, who was content to sit on his blanket and let the world come to him rather than Kenna's tendency to take on the world herself.  (I still remember Kenna trying to sit up using her abdomen muscles even from as young as 3-4 months old!  Zaden has no such interest!)

Zaden's preferred sleep position is on his tummy, and I still often find him sucking his thumb when I go to wake him.  I love how he had his ankles crossed in this picture with his little butt sticking up!  He doesn't seem to suck his thumb quite as often, though--only when he's sleepy, like when I wake him and he instinctively knows he's going to be nursing, he'll find his thumb before I sit down.  He still is a champion sleeper, taking 3 naps a day plus sleeping a good 9 or so hours at night.  I am extremely thankful for this!

Overall, Zaden is one of the happiest, easiest, most laid-back little guys I've ever known!  He adores his siblings and rewards them with shrieks of laughter, blown raspberries, and all kinds of fun responses.  He doesn't have any teeth yet.  He recognizes his daddy's voice and gets excited when he can hear Ted on Skype.  We look forward to celebrating Zaden's 9-month birthday by having Daddy HOME...or at least close to it!