Hello...anyone there?!?!

Gah...anyone there?!?! I know it's been an incredibly long time since I last posted (like 2yrs 😬) so I will do my best to update but will probably forget some things we will fast forward to more recent and go backwards from time to time. 

The good 

Ian is now 7.5 and will be entering the 2nd grade in August.

 1st grade was good to him, he and his 2 other buddies from kindergarten were all separated and were left with togetherness on the playground. Last summer he conquered riding his bike sans training wheels. Started with a swimming club 2 nights a week. Originally we were going to do one season and then do basketball but he wanted more swimming so another season we did. Winter season was over and again thought we were done but decided to go for just 1 more and take the summer off and just swim in our pool. That actually did happen 🙌🏼🙌🏼.  I will tell you as a mom of 2 who are basically 4yrs apart in age puts you in 2 different stages. You have your 6.5yr old who understands "we need to eat quickly so we aren't late" and then the 2.5yr old who time means nothing to them purely numbers that mean nothing to them. It makes for very trying nights, thankfully swimming was just 2 nights a week. We are no where near ready for the commitment of 4 nights a week practice and the weekends for meets (honestly I may never be ready for that until maybe highschool 😳😬). 

Lane is now 3.5 and has conquered potty training. 

He spent this past year doing maintenance swimming lessons with Little Fins Swim School 2x a week (we did take the month of the July off as we have been busy). He has conquered the diving board and immediately goes into rest/float mode flips and swims making his way to the ladder.

The struggles: rationalizing with irrational small people. The constant question of "why?" This past year I also got tired of seeing toys going un-played with. I downsized their toys by a storage ottoman full. They haven't questioned where a single toy went. We are learning less is more. We are no where near a minimalist standard of living but we have downsized our belongings in a couple areas and I have changed my cleaning routine to allow for more time to be spent in other areas. Some days are still juggling acts. I like to think that it is completely normal to have such days, it is right? 

Lane 18mos errr...20mos

Good golly can you say we've been busy??? Poor Laner's buddy I will attempt to recreate the past couple months for you. Let's see you have grown and learned new words. You're eating has taken a nose dive but you're still growing so apparently you're getting what you need. You like to be outside, you like to jump in the pool, play in the sand at the beach or swings set, swing on the swing set and pretend to drive the gator which has turned into actually driving without the steering part. Your first 2 word sentence was "stop it" your first 3 word sentence was "I want that" both fitting for being a second child.  

This summer you have experienced a lot. In May we went to Duck, NC in the Outerbanks with Ma, Grandpa, Jennifer, Grant, daddy, mommy and Ian. You got discover the beach which at first you were not a fan but quickly learned to like it. 

 Got another round of swim lessons under your belt with Sis. Got to go to the dunes not once but twice. Got to spend 4 days with your cousin Levi while at the dunes and got super sad when it was his turn for a buggy ride and as they drove off you said "I want that" and your little bottom lip stuck out due to the amount of sadness you were feeling. 

Mommy took you and Ian back up to the lake a few weeks later 

In a couple days a big change is coming to our house. Ian starts kindergarten which means for a good 7hrs it's just you and me Laners.  Although you will nap about 3 of those hours 😉. 

Love you Laners!! 

Mommy

Lane words

We have words and lots of them in no particular order. 

Momma

Dadda 

E- Ian

Stinky

Hammer

Doggy

Anpa- grandpa

Ma

Juice

Tookie- cookie

Abbie

Pizza

Hat

Lane 15mos

So somewhere since the past post Lane you turned 15mos old. You learned how to walk. "Your" vocabulary is growing daily and you can sign "more and eat" two very important signs in your life. When you wake in the morning while I'm changing your diaper you are constantly signing "eat".  You sign it the whole walk to the kitchen, while I'm putting you in your high chair, basically you sign it until food is in front of you.  

You can smile for the camera 

You are ornery and keep us on our toes!! And we say "Lane Michael" at least 5x in about 20min. 

You meet your cousin Levi and became fascinated with his drool and took it to be your job to get it. 

Which Levi being here also means you took swim lessons with Sis and became a natural at floating. 

You go bed to nightly at 7p, usually wake around 11 in need of some snuggles and again around 2:30 and wake up for the day anytime between 7-8a. 

We go end of this month for your well check! 

Love you Lane Michael!!

Ian 5yrs

My sweet Ian boy I can't help but feel both sad and excited as you turn 5yrs old. **edited to add in 5yr stats 40.5lbs and 43in tall.  Sad because my first baby is growing up and excited because my first baby is growing up. Excited as to what new experiences and challenges this next year brings.

This past year you have excelled at being a big brother so I only except that to continue 😉. You started pre-school where our suspicions were confirmed that you excel and feel most comfortable in small group settings and prefer to observe larger groups and proceed with caution when deciding if you want join in. You are still my sweet loving shy boy with a sweet voice and smile. Things that you love: watching movies in the big bed and also on the big screen, swimming, swinging, hot wheels, batman, wearing "fast" shoes, pizza, the color blue, animals, that your daddy works at both the fire station and the bank, Laners, and getting him to jump in his bed. I could go on but the bottom line is you love life!  May this next year being a 5yr old be fun and healthy!!

Love you Ian Boy

Your momma 

12mos

Lane Michael,
You baby boy are 12 months old/1yr old!! Nov. 29th 6:49pm you took your first breath. From that moment on a lot more firsts happened with a lot more to come.  You are longer and heavier and even more awesome now!!!  I m still in awe of the amazing amount of learning that goes on in a matter of 12 months, the number of milestones that are met, and the ability for me to function on 2.5hrs of sleep a couple days.  I'm beyond grateful to have a happy and healthy little boy.  Your laughter is the best noise ever, your smile is one of my favorite things to see, watching you try and master skills has me exploding with excitement and joy when I see your facial expression of "I just did that, I'm awesome".  You sleep like a champ, eat like a champ, demand for things like a champ, can sign "all done", find your brother to be hilarious.

You are happy:

My wish for you is continued happiness and health. That you learn that things are just things, toys are just toys but love, respect, hard work, education, imagination, determination, goals, experiences, good manners and family are by far the best things in life and will take you far so far in life.  Know that you will stumble and fall and make mistakes and that's ok because you aren't alone. You are loved, you are awesome, you are smart, you are important, you're a keeper, and you are mine!

And here is a fantastic side by side of you and your Great Grandpa (aka Poppy) Lane in the same high chair both at 1yrs old 

I Love Your Laners!!!

11 months

Oh Laners where to begin? For starters we will pretend that this was written before 10/29 and posted on 10/29 instead on 11/5, love you. 

I feel like we have spent a lot of time at the Drs office and I have spent even more time on the phone with insurance (I pray that when your older the whole process improves)You've had an ear infection and then we had a weekend in which you spiked a fever you had something that the Z house had never experienced. For the longest time we didn't even have a working thermometer, then I decided this summer to get one like the use at the Dr. office. Anyways, I had to use that sucker and then I sent my alarm for every hr to check on you. After 3 days of on and off fevers you broke out in a rash 2 days later.  Dr. is 95% you had roseola and there is a 5% chance for an allergic reaction to amoxicillin (I have to schedule an apt for an allergy test). You still had your ear infection so got you a different RX and I believe you are healthy again as your eating and attitude have improved! You are furniture cruising and upgraded to a crawl over a army crawl at times, army crawl is still you're go to mode of transportation.

We went trunk or treating at a local church, a firefighter saved a baby giraffe!

You wanted to try the stairs at Grammie and Papa Jim's, what you didn't know was that trying meant going up all of them. Sis makes you work!

Went pumpkin picking with Pumpkin Poppy as your brother now refers to him as. You got to ride on the tractor and loved it!

Ian helping you brush your 6 teeth

CAUTION: you bite!

Went on your first trip to the beach

One of my favorite doggie's