365 grateful

I'm going to try this....  365 days of gratefulness.

 Day 1

Movie night and a three year old that wants to snuggle in the chair.

Tonight Zeke looked into my eyes and said "I love you, mom, you 'mell good"

Dinner time

Last night, Evan and Ben were eating a quick supper before they left for football practice. Zeke was hungry and kept begging for bites from Ben. The begging wasn't working so finally he went over to the kitchen table, folded his hands like he was praying before a meal and then started stomping his foot to get Ben's attention. It was hilarious! He knew what he wanted and no one was listening to him! He is so funny right now because he is just a little sponge....he takes in everything!

This Boy

Climbs...

and climbs....

And Climbs....

And makes it nearly impossible for us to get mad at him....

Because he gives us that sweet smile and we love him so much....

Have I mentioned that he can now get on the kitchen counter?

Dancing Zeke

We are slowly getting used to seeing Zeke walk around the house, in and out of rooms. He has mastered walking and dancing now.

In the video you can also hear him say "What's that?" at the end. He says that probably about 100 times a day. He walks around the house and says it to everything. Mostly it's just a point and "wasit". It isn't really clear in this video, but enough to get the idea. 

Missing

For a few minutes tonight, the baby was missing....

It took us a few minutres to find him....

He was so proud of himself!

Toddler

I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that we don't have a baby anymore....we have a toddler. Tonight I cleaned out the bottle cupboard. Zeke is done with his bottles. I made hold on to them longer than he would have liked. I never realized how hard it would be knowing this is the last baby our family will have. Up until last week, he was down to just one night time bottle. He really wasn't interested in it, and would have gladly given it up a month ago...but knowing my nights were limited to sit and rock him with him bottle, I made him hang on a little longer. On Thursday night, I fed him his last bottle. And we rocked, and we cuddled and I knew that was the last time I would feed my baby a bottle....I was hit off guard with how emotional that would be for me.

He is more a toddler and less a baby.

On Thursday night, before he drank his last bottle, he took his first three steps. He was so excited and so proud of himself. And we were too....except it made my heart hurt just a little.

My baby....for just a little bit longer.

Look Who's ONE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ZEKE RIAN!

Ear Tubes...

Zeke had his tubes put in last Thursday. He did very well with it. Here he is playing before the surgery...hard to believe that it was 6:30 a.m and he hadn't had a bottle yet. He was just happy and charming as ever.

 

 And here he is after they brought him back. He was pretty groggy waking up, but once it was out of his system, he was back to himself. We have noticed that he is trying to say a lot more words and makes a lot more sounds.

Oh My Heart....

In three weeks, this boy has a birthday....How is this possible?



9 months

I woke up this morning still wondering how our fourth baby boy is nine months old today. How does this time go so fast? And why is no one listening to me when I tell them to stop growing up.

How does Zeke go from this......




to this.....

Big, Proud Boy

Zeke is so proud of himself that he can pull himself up to toys now. This is how I found him in his bedroom playing! And, the smiles in these pictures capture Zeke...he is so happy all the time. Here is the smiley boy....snotty nose and all (yuck)!
 

Playing with the door stop is hard work...

I noticed that the vibrating door stop got slower and slower and eventually stopped....

This is how I just found Zeke.

Playing is hard work!

Zeke's new obsession

Zeke travels around the house doing this...

It is safe to say he is into everything his little arms can reach!

Zeke 7 months

Evan and I took Big Z to get his 6 month pictures taken...at 7 months. He wasn't as smiley as normal because he was tired, but I think his pictures turned out pretty cute!



New Day....

Better day...

Zeke is officially mobile. He is rolling and army crawling all over the place. He has a funny army crawl....I'll have to get it on video soon. It is pretty cute!

Zeke is also eating baby food for lunch and supper and cereal in the mornings. We tried Gerber Puffs the other day, and he loves them! He does pretty well picking them up and getting them in his mouth...I am sure that is due to the fact that he has had some practice picking up army guys, legos, fuzz...anything small he can find on the floor. We just talked to the older boys this morning about having to keep tiny stuff in their rooms and their room doors shut. Christmas should be interesting. He is just getting interested in all the things around him so I am sure the Christmas tree will snag his attention.

We went to the doctor last Friday for his 6 month checkup. He weighed 19 lbs 14 oz. He is a TANK! He is wearing mostly 12-18 month clothes already. He is built just like Evan was (and still is).

Oh Little Brother...

Things are about to change around here real quick...

Zeke is a very determined little boy....

And it seems like now that he has had his hands on the big boy toys....

He has figured out that this is where he wants to be...

He can roll across the living room pretty quick now days...