real food, real boy

Z is completely finished with any form of baby food/cereal and has graduated to real people food. His very favorite is Pizza. He loves every bit of it! the tomatoes, the cheese, the sauce, the bread, ALL of it. He also loves cheerios, corn chex, and drinking from a cup. He has grown up so much in the past six weeks.

Today we went to a doctor's appointment and the doctor said he's perfect :) and quite lively.

He's almost 18 pounds and is 26.5 inches! he's so close to crawling. I think that it will happen in Utah over the break.

He had to get six vaccines today as well. Five shots and the oral of the rotavirus. He did so amazingly well. He did scream, but he stopped as soon as I picked him up! Then he gave the nurse a big smile goodbye and promptly fell asleep.

Here's a shot of how Zeb spent his day when we were snowed in! I nearly went stir crazy, but I think Zeb enjoyed his time immensely.

no church no church

This morning we woke up and turned on the news to find that church had been cancelled! "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Toledo 1st--CLOSED" is what it said across the bottom of channel 13 news. We are on level 2 snow emergency. This means that we are to leave our houses and venture out only if absolutely necessary. Level three would be a road closure except for emergency personnel. Apparently you get ticketed if you go out in a level three! kind of crazy really, especially since we only got about 6-8 inches! the city of Toledo doesn't have enough plows and they say there's a layer of ice under everything. We have had quite a pleasant morning though! I'm sad to not be able to teach my lesson and I really do love going to church, but it's nice to be "snowed in". Kent made blinni this morning and really it's kind of cozy and fun. I actually did my lesson for Zeb and Kent and we read over the Spencer W. Kimball lesson for today, so we got in as much church as we could. Our morning was calm but now Kent is out home teaching and then is going to shovel walks with the Elder's quorum. I hope Zeb will zonk so that I can get packing and finish up some Christmas presents! the weather is supposed to improve considerably by Tuesday so I am hoping that our flight makes it out just fine.

Ward Christmas Party!

I'm assuming that next year with Santa may not be as pleasant! Most of the kids between 1 and 2 years had screaming fits or shakes of terror when placed on Santa's lap. Good thing we got some good Santa/Zeb shots this year :)

There was lots of good food at the party and a great Nativity with the Primary kids! Three of my four kids were there and acted as wisemen/shepherds. I'll admit that I have come to enjoy my time in primary far more then I ever thought possible. I actually look forward to going and teaching the lessons. I love the kids. I lucked out hugely with a great class. I'm positive that I have the best kids in the entire ward! We are switching around at the year though, we'll have to see how I fare. I have learned that whenever I am happy or comfortable with my calling, something gets changed up! I really thought I would just have to suck up the fact that I was in primary, but now I actually love it.

hip hip hooray

For some reason growing up we always celebrated mom on December 15. It's like another mother's day, only better. All moms get to be celebrated on mother's day, but today is a day held especially for my mom! It's "best mom, Nannie Annie, and mother-in-law in the world" day. Zebby is especially sad he can't actually be there to celebrate so he is holding the sign (and has that look on his face).
Mom, you are the best for many many reasons. We'll list just a few here!

1. you have always built us up and caused us to be better
2. you have taught us and made us smarter
3. you are a world traveler and always bring back the best gifts
4. you help build kent's fabulous tie collection
5. you make great stuffing
6. you always have great advice, but only when we ask for it :)
7. you overlook our faults and think we really are the best children ever
8. you have forgotten (well almost) all of the pain I put you through when I was born
9. you always send zebby the coolest stuff
10. you always check in on me, even though I'm a grown up.
11. you always tell me that I am your favorite daughter
12. you always tell Kent that he is the favorite son-in-law
13. you always tell zeb that he is the favorite daughter's baby
14. you are so accomplished and we are so proud just to be your family members
15. you are the best mom, mom-in-law, nannie annie ever!

WE LOVE YOU and CAN'T WAIT UNTIL TUESDAY!

I am soooo excited for five o'clock tonight!!

Kent has his last test today from 3-5! He just finished one and now is putting in a little extra study for the anatomy practical. And then...he is MINE! It's been a very long week for the two of us and I am so ready to have a few days of relaxation (kind of!). I knew he was a little stressed when I woke up to find this sight, along with a clean kitchen (he even washed all of my pots and pans from making food for the relief society activity).

He must have done it while I was on the computer last night or something! I'll be honest, I am very happy to have a husband who deep cleans when he gets stressed! I'm the one that has been grumpy this week with him being gone until 9 or ten. he just cleans. He cleans pretty well too :)

He has been working his tail off this week and for that I am insanely grateful. I have the best husband in the world. I can't wait to spend the next three weeks just having fun with him! I am so excited to be headed home but I wouldn't be too disappointed if we stayed here and had our own little Christmas, just the two of us (well, we would probably let little zeb participate too!).

here it is

Here is a video of Mitt Romney's "religious speech" for those of you who haven't seen it. It's about 20 minutes and, in my opinion, it's fabulous. Listen to it while you're cleaning or doing something around the house.

click here

keep it going afterwards to hear more of Mitt's positions.

This is in no way my official endorsement of Romney. I'm still researching. I do however like a lot of what Mitt does/says.

less than a week and you'll see the cutest baby EVER!

I just thought I'd post some pictures to get you all excited for us coming on TUESDAY(although really it will probably be Wednesday if our flight is delayed even a little)!!!! and since I know you are all really just excited to see the rugrat, they are all of him.

Don't lie, we know you are mostly anticipating the arrival of Z! Kent and I have decided that this is going to be to our benefit. We can just leave him with all of you and finally have some time to ourselves! we have quite the list of "things to do in Utah" for when we come home :)

really, this little Zeb is irresistible.

ahhhhhhh. for so many reasons.

I have such Christmas anxiety. I have so much to do it's ridiculous! and here I am sitting at the computer. I am so anxious about getting everything accomplished before we leave. The house needs to be deep cleaned, I haven't gone running once this week, I have two holiday parties this week still (I need to make food for both), I need to make my pixie pal gift in the next five days because the part I ordered online just showed up today, I need to finish Kent's present, we have a 6 month check-up for Z, and to top it all off I just found out that the season finale of "The Biggest Loser" is on Tuesday while we are in the air en route to Utah! I am so mad. Why couldn't I have planned ahead? Plus, Kent has the tests of death on Friday so he isn't any help with any of these things!!!! oh, and Zeb. This baby sure requires a lot of constant attention. It's much harder than having a rabbit or something.

Really, I thrive on this sort of thing though. I make things this crazy too. I still go to playgroups, walking groups, and cooking groups and out with the missionaries. I think that one of my favorite things about Christmas is, in fact, the busyness of it all. I love being out in the stores with all of the frantic people and loud Christmas music. I love talking to the people in line next to me and finding out about their Christmas shopping. It just makes me feel like Christmas is really here!

and speaking of ahhhhhhhhhh. read this!!! my sister called and told me about it this morning. It's outrageous. It's times like this that I sure wish I was still teaching Biology! It is so amazing. My students would eat it up.

"A 1-year-old girl's deceased siblings were removed from her abdomen by Indonesian doctors at Sumatra island hospital, according to a report from French news agency AFP.
The two bodies, believed to be triplets that did not fully develop, were successfully removed from the girl Tuesday during a five-hour surgery, the head of medical services at the main state hospital in the West Sumatra city of Padang told AFP.

The girl had initially been diagnosed with stomach tumors, however doctors later discovered her abdominal discomfort was the result of two deceased siblings connected to her digestive tract.
One of the bodies was complete except for limbs. The second had only a head with hairs and part of its digestive system". foxnews.com

Isn't that CRAZY?!?!

and here is how Z deals with all of the christmas frenzy! I sure wish that I liked to nap. Oh, and good thing he doesn't have any extra siblings hidden somewhere.

southwyck mall

This is the scary mall where we do walking group. There are only 11 stores open. There is also a scary carousel that still runs. I cannot figure out how any of the places have enough business to actually stay open. One great benefit of the mall is that they open it for walking every morning. It makes it quite nice during the winter months here in Toledo.

They have put up lots of fun decoration for the holidays to try and lure people in I suppose. This morning at walking group I stuck Zeb in some of the fake snow to take pictures! He tried to eat it. He also had a lot of fun playing with Cohen. He loves other little kids so much. I really think he's going to just love all of the attention he'll get with all of you in Utah. I am, however, very nervous about his sleeping habits when we come home! He gets up between 6:30 and 7:30 here, which isn't too bad, but I am terrified that it will equate to 4:30 or 5:30 in Utah! He will definitely have to go walking with mom in the mornings. Ahhhh!!!

one of the things that makes me happy!

Yet one more reason I love living in Toledo...

For some reason we get BRAVO on our TV. We have the basic channels and BRAVO. It's a little bit fuzzy, but definitely still viewable. I love it and I'm obsessed. I cannot tell you how much I look forward each week to the new episodes of Project Runway. Tim Gunn makes me laugh so hard and who doesn't love Heidi Klum? The contestants are some of the craziest people alive. The show is so addicting.

Bravo also shows "Top Chef". I have such a weakness for these ridiculous reality contest shows that have these crazy challenges each week. I love watching to see what the designers end up making or what the chefs end up creating. Plus, they rerun all of the episodes and old seasons of the shows regularly (which means I won't miss anything while we are in Utah for Christmas!!) and they have Law and Order: Criminal Intent marathons. Thank heavens we don't have cable. This channel is enough of a temptation for me! and how could I forget? the show that makes me the craziest... Real Housewives of Orange County. I cannot even begin to explain the insanity of this show.

BRAVO is my guilty pleasure. I get so excited to curl up in a blanket and make Kent watch the new episodes with me! I love BRAVO.

yet ANOTHER reason to love this place!

Check out the amazingly beautiful ice storm we had today! these pictures are from our front yard this afternoon. The roads are disastrous and the news is already announcing school closures and delays for tomorrow. There were actually a few catastrophes in the church parking lot today as well!! Just a few cars sliding into to other cars is all. When we emerged from church it appeared as though all of the cars were covered with big pods of ice. We had to chip ice away to get to the key hole and even more when we tried to open our doors! I really love the way the grass blades snap in half when you slide across the lawn in this weather.

my 2nd favorite Zeb

I know that I said my favorite Zeb is laughing Zeb, but my second favorite is "after nap" Zeb. He is always so ridiculously smiley and happy. He is nothing like me right after I wake up. Once again he takes after his dad. Maybe he isn't my baby.

today's hidden tree

Hip hip hooray! It now really feels like Christmas! We just got back from The Nutcracker performed by the Toledo Ballet. It was absolutely wonderful (although it did make me homesick for Metta! good thing we are coming home in a week). I got tickets a few weeks back and I thought Kent knew for sure. He claims that it was a surprise to him but I still have my doubts.

One of the best parts of the evening was that it was at the Stranahan Theater, no more than a quarter mile from our apartment. We walked and probably made better time than if we had driven. Walking home in the freezing cold through the snow made a fabulous end to the evening! Zeb hung out with Sam while we were gone and did quite well. I think that he will do just fine with all of you relatives that are new to him. He really isn't afraid of people too much.

We tried to get the background in this picture. If you look closely enough you can see the wall. Yep, we sat in the last row of the theater. The very-very top row of the balcony. The tickets were really cheap and having terrible seats has become somewhat of a tradition for us whenever we go to any cultural event. There was a huge section of empty seats in the price category ahead of us though and at intermission we got all of the people around us to move up with us. We figured they couldn't send us all back to our seats. For the second half of the show we had much better seats.

hidden tree

Yesterday's tree was possibly my favorite thus far. Christmas Crunch and Mickey's Christmas Carol! Zeb also enjoyed them. Nothing better than Christmas Crunch to remind you of the holidays. Plus I love "the Christmas Carol" with Scrooge McDuck as Ebeneezer and Mickey as Bob Crachett. I do think tonight's hidden tree will be the very best of all! it's a great big secret so I can't post about it yet! I think that Kent already has it all figured out though.

drink drink drink

I guess it's pretty normal. I asked the neighbors if their rugrat drinks bath water and they said yes. Zeb LOVES warm sudsy water. weirdo. He is obsessed with sucking all of the water out of his little bear bath sponge. He will only sit up in the tub now so he leans completely forward and sucks all of the water out of his sponge! The best is when he topples forward and goes face first into the water and comes up sputtering and splashing and gasping for air! he does it to himself yet he looks at us with this look of bewilderment, wondering "how could you have done this to me?" it's adorable. When he's in the tub it makes me realize how much he's grown (and how much cuter he is!). Check out his baby picture! he was one ratty looking rugrat. And he fits on the little bear perfectly! Now he can barely sit on it. He kinda looks like ET. Okay, a lot he looks like ET. Good thing they get cuter.

laughing fits

Zeb has been having quite a few little laughing fits lately. He had one over at the neighbor's house while watching Sam and Jack throw a basketball around. He laughed so hard that he fell over. This video was yesterday. I made a funny noise at him and he just started giggling! I love when he does it. Laughing zeb is my favorite zeb.

the manor house

This morning for playgroup we went to this huge old mansion that is all decorated for Christmas! Apparently it belonged to the Champion spark plug millionaires way back when the company started. It was really neat. I want to go back with Kent before it closes. There are rooms full of trees and decorations and lots of great Christmas stuff. They've also got a large train set going in the basement.

And wonderfully enough, it snowed last night! I was so happy to wake up to a blanket of snow covering all of the leftover leaves. Ridiculously there were actual school closures this morning! and those schools that weren't closed were all late start by two hours! we only got three inches! I'd think that Toledoans were more accustomed to the snow.

baby bird.

It's like feeding a baby bird. Zeb has taken up an extreme aversion to baby food. He abhors it. He must take after his father because he will eat absolutely anything as long as the texture is to his liking. He has been eating what we eat for dinner, just a little more mushed. I have tried to puree his foods in the magic bullet but he really won't take it due to the consistency. He won't eat his rice cereal either. I have resorted to chewing up my food and spitting it back out for him to eat. Like I said, just like a baby and mama bird. He likes his food to be in small little pieces. What a particular little rugrat. And he loves to puff up his cheeks when he eats! Here he is devouring a mixture of carrots, zucchini, squash, and tomatoes.
The camera flash always picks up the reds in his hair! I don't think that it will appear that red in person when you all see it :)

Cause of Death!!

Today in the lab we discovered our cadaver's actual cause of death. I, for one small minute, wanted to become a pathologist! When we opened the pericardial sac to get to his heart we found a crazy, unnatural amount of blood surrounding the heart. This is a picture of a living patient, so picture all the red blood in the picture as dark brown, chunky almost plastic-like pieces of blood. It was very exciting. But once again... fat got in the way. His heart was so fatty that as we tried to find his coronary arteries, fat and oil were literally dripping off our hands. I will never eat KFC again!!!! I really wish I could take pictures in the lab (and so did my professor). It was a text book example of cardiac tamponade (blood around the heart)!

Merry Christmas Countdown!

I got this idea from a friend (thanks ashton's mom!) and had to alter it a little due to our circumstances, but I think it will be rather fun nonetheless. I love countdowns! and what's better than a countdown till Christmas? How about a countdown to heading home for Christmas?!?! I cut out these little construction paper trees and numbered them starting at 16. That's today! Sixteen days till we board the plane to SLC. On the back of each tree is something fun to do that will help us get in the Christmas spirit just a little bit more!! And to add a little twist I am hiding them all around the house. Kent and Zeb will have to search for them every day in order to see what the day's activity/surprise is. I started a little late but I figure better late than never. I think that it will be a fun tradition to continue. I'd tell you what I wrote on the trees but then Kent will know and the surprise/excitement factor will be nearly eradicated. Can you tell that I have a lot of time on my hands? my goodness! I'm turning into one of those cheesy moms/wives that I swore I'd never be.

favorite things

Yesterday was CRAZY! I cannot believe that I didn't post. I apologize to all of you in utah :) We were running around like banshees all day long. We didn't get home from church till late (choir and tithing) and then we had to head up to the Detroit airport and pick up a BYU student interviewing for med school here today! It was actually a lot of fun! Zeb LOVED the airport and all of the people. Plus it was really fun to help somebody out (especially considering students did the same for Kent last year..thanks Andrew!). This boy we picked up at the airport is married and has a little boy so I'd love if he gets accepted! the more wives and kids, the better :)

Anyway, back to the belated yesterday post. Lately Zeb has had the funniest fascination with this blanket! Thank you to Grandma Oswald (weird that she's Zeb's great grandma!). He will lay on it or sit on it and carefully touch and inspect each little animal head. It's adorable. And it keeps him content in his crib quite awhile after he wakes up. hooray. I can't believe the rate at which he is growing up. It's like he turned into a real boy overnight.

Time's up

We can't give Zeb back. The most lenient of the safe haven laws expired today for little Zeb! He is six months old! I can't believe it. We can no longer just drop him off at a police station or hospital with no questions asked. He is officially ours for keeps. We were going on a trial basis and we lucked out with such a good rugrat!
Here he is enjoying baby Einstein (at five am last Sunday after peeing in his pajamas and sheets and losing all interest in sleep). He loves to stick his legs in the air while he's watching. Maybe it's from when he watches me do pilates! When my legs are in the air he is very content to just stare. During the other parts he gets fussy. He laughs hysterically when we all do lunges at the mall walking group. He thinks it's so funny to watch us from his stroller bob up and down.

this is INSANE

I read this today and my mouth stayed in a dropped postion the entire time. I can't believe it. Some of the numbers they give are SHOCKING! I don't think that people know what they are eating most of the time. Mom, you'll love this.

The 20 worst foods in America

Nativities galore!

The stake here does a huge "interfaith nativity/creche exhibit" at the stake center every year for Christmas. It is AMAZING! They have hundreds of amazing nativities from all over the world that are donated by people in the stake and community.

My favorite is the one pictured to the right. I think it is from Africa. I love that they have lions, zebras, and elephants at the manger scene with an African Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

This morning we went and volunteered as hosts! I'll be honest, I had a lot of fun. We had the very first shift from 11-1 and nobody came so we (six fun women from the ward) just got to talk and walk around and enjoy ourselves. There are some great pluses to being at home with the rugrat and not working all day! I absolutely loved it. Kent and I are doing a shift tomorrow night together as well. Hopefully the Saturday night one will be lots busier than this morning.

Most everybody left their kids with a sitter (hooray for Cynthia) but I did bring the little rugrat along cause I thought he would just nap. He DOES not nap if there are people and lights and music around! He giggled and laughed a lot and then crashed immediately when we got home. He did fall on his head though. It has been happening a lot lately because he wants to reach for something while he's sitting up. When he reaches, he topples. He looks a little roughed and bruised up, but I'm sure it's good for him. This picture is for you Laney, since you only want to see Zeb. No more pancake mixes, I promise.

favorite thing...

Today has been a most ridiculously busy day. I've enjoyed it immensely. I really like having all the hours in my day blocked out with a purpose, even if the purpose is something regular like walking group, enrichment meetings, or hobby lobby.

I was out and about lots longer than I had initially planned so I went straight to school to get Kent before I made it home to make dinner. This meant we had to come home and figure out what we were going to eat. Luckily we had my current favorite food in the world!!!! when I find something that I love, I can't help but tell everyone that I know about it. Yet another purpose for my blog.

Hodgson Mill's whole wheat buttermilk pancakes. They are absolutely delicious. The texture, consistency, flavor, and everything else is just splendid. I used applesauce instead of oil and so they were low fat too. I love the texture of whole wheat. I must have Grandpa Howell taste buds or something (although growing up I would cry when he forced us to eat his whole wheat mac and cheese).
I'm not sure if they sell them out West (they are made in Illinois) but I highly recommend them to everyone.

early Christmas present to me :)

Yes, by the broadast of terms (and some of the more stringent ones), I am an environmentalist. I feel that we, as God's children, have a stewardship over Earth. Regardless of the severity of global warming and melting ice caps, we still have no right to be wasteful or overtly cavalier about our consumption of fossil fuels.

After a friend mentioned she had started using reusable grocery sacks (thanks em f.) I decided it was a noble endeavour and that I wanted to do the same. I have been searching for some inexpensive bags ever since. I located my bags this week at Meijer! Oh, how I adore Meijer. Sometimes I just go to walk around and look at things. I love the foreign foods aisle. But back to the point. These bags were oh-so-inexpensive and if any of you Utahns want to halt your improvidence and do your little part, just let me know and these can be part of your Christmas present too:)

Zeb will not lie down.

I think that he's teething again cause he is being so darn particular. He will only sit up. and he's drooling like a leaky faucet. It's all fine and good except for the fact that he can't get himself into this position. He'll get all frustrated and try to sit up from being flat on his back or stomach. It looks like he's trying to do sit ups and can't! The whole sitting up thing started about three weeks ago and now he's a real pro. Plus, I think that he's quadrupled the amount of hair he has in that short time. Less than three weeks until he makes his Utah debut. He's pretty excited. We are working on a few more tricks that hopefully will be perfected by the 18th.

z loves the snow

Last night was Zeb's first real snowfall! at least where the flakes were big enough to count as snowflakes and not just flurries. We stuck him out on the front lawn for a bit so that he could enjoy it! His reaction was so funny every time a flake landed on his face or head. I think that he enjoyed it immensely.