Introducing Baby Z #2

Last week was the annual CFO Conference aka the annual ski trip for all of the AHS CFOs and Controllers. They had it in Salt Lake City this year, but with the pregnancy Karis and I did not attend. Karis could have broken down into tears at any point that he wasn't swooshing down the slopes (just teasing....kind of :)), so to do something fun we went and had a 4-D ultrasound done. Baby Z #2 was not in a good position - his head was down kind of behind my hip bone and he insisted on keeping his arm up in front of his face. So, after 1 hour and 20 minutes of drinking soda, eating chocolate, doing squats in the room - all in hopes of getting him to switch positions - he FINALLY moved his arm and we were able to get some fun pictures. It'll be interesting to see how much he actually looks like the pictures, but even so it was fun to think that you're getting the first glimpse of him.

The Taj Mahal of Playsets

We've been remiss in not posting these pictures earlier, but Karis has finished building Zachary's new playset. This was quite the undertaking as our yard is not level, so he had to bring in dirt and extra wood to try and create a level ground to build the playset on. The playset came in 6 different boxes, so it has gone from separate nuts and bolts to something that all three of us have climbed into the "house" at the same time! Zachary loves the swing and the slide, and has coaxed Karis to go down the slide as well. There is one more piece - a rope ladder that we haven't put up yet (Overprotective Amy thinks that he'll fall and crack open his head!). Anyway, Karis worked on this thing night and day thanks to the halogen lights Amy's mom bought him for Christmas - the pictures below show the progression to the final product. Hopefully he'll have many hours of fun play out there! Many thanks to Rob D and Kent J for helping Karis out with the construction!

Picture of Rob and Karis in the early construction phase

Karis working diligently at night on the playset (he's inside the house looking through the door)
The finished product (sorry for the shadows - faulty photographer! :)

Adam & Zachary enjoying the swings

A view from the other side - this playset has the tic-tac-toe game, rope ladder, swings, slide, steering wheel up in the "house", telescope, rock climbing wall, picnic table underneath, area for sandbox and a homey "chimney" to top it all off.

Feeding the Ducks

Two Sabbaths ago, we joined the Deininger family as they drove down to Lakeland to visit Lisa's grandparents and feed the ducks. This was the first time that we've joined them, so Zachary had a new experience. As you'll see in the pictures, there was more eating of the bread themselves than feeding the ducks, but he did manage to get the hang of throwing the bread towards the end. Of course if it didn't manage to reach the water, he thought nothing of scrambling to get the bread and eating it.....much to Amy's dismay with the thought of all of the duck poop on the ground everywhere, but oh well - good for the immune system I suppose! :) It was a very fun Sabbath activity, so hopefully we'll be able to repeat our experience again!

Luke feeding Zachary some bread

Zachary and Karis feeding the swan

One-on-one time with Mom - eating more bread (you'd think the child was starving! :))

Who needs to throw bread to the duck when you can just chase them around!

Confession is Good For the Soul

Well, they say that confession is good for the soul - so I'll share a very "blond" moment that I had recently. Two weeks ago, we had a lovely afternoon up in Mt. Dora exploring the small touristy shops and upon arrival at home, Karis told me to leave the van in the driveway because he had stuff on the garage floor where the van is to be parked. Later that day, I headed out to do some errands, and as the garage door lifted, I thought to myself "Amy, be very careful backing the car out of the garage because the van is in the driveway and it is going to be a tight fit." I then settled into the car, and immediately let habit take over where I carefully looked left to be sure that my side-view mirror didn't hit the garage door on the way out. You guessed it....I ran into the mini-van! Luckily I "only" scrapped the side of the two vehicles, but that "baby dent" (as one repair person called it) is going to cost us a LOT of money to get fixed on both vehicles (how can baby dents cost so much to fix??? Perhaps being an auto-body repairman is the way to go for a career!). Anyway, needless to say I felt quite stupid over the whole experience - only to feel worse when my husband was as calm as could be as I confessed the whole ordeal. It was like heaping hot coals on my head, because I knew that I would not be so calm if the shoe was on his foot! Well, hopefully two important lessons learned - look RIGHT when backing the car out of the driveway when the van is there, and lesson #2 - be CALM next time your husband does something a little "blond." I've posted pictures of both vehicles below - not yet fixed....

The van's dent is right below the striping on the side (approximately half way down the door panel)

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a quiet week with Grandma Connie returning to Seattle - Zachary got back into the swing of things at the sitters. It was fun to have Valentine's Day this week, so we found a cute little shirt for Zachary - the "Lovasarus" -perhaps that should be our new nickname for him....It kind of fits all situations - ones where he is being well-behaved and a "love" and others where he is acting like a little dinosaur! :)In other news, we are busily getting ready for Baby Z #2. It is hard to believe, but we only have 12 more weeks to go. I've had a request for "belly pictures" but unfortunately I have been lax this pregnancy (so thanks for the reminder) and don't have many. But, I will try and post some periodically from now on, with perhaps a progression of the pictures at the end! I wore "normal" clothes until the first of January, so when I switched over to maternity clothes, a lot of people at work were surprised that I was expecting. As you can see, I've done a lot of expanding since then! :) I'm gaining more weight this pregnancy, so I can tell that I am going to have some "get back into shape" work cut out for me after I have the baby!

Grandma Connie's Visit

This has been a fun week with the arrival of Grandma Connie last weekend. We started off by watching the SuperBowl, and the commercials!, only to be surprised by who won! Zachary has had a fabulous time playing with Grandma Connie, and we were VERY thankful for her visit when both Karis and I came down with Zachary's flu from last weekend. Luckily it was short-lived. Zachary and Grandma Connie have gone on many walks, have played "horsey," "chase Grandma," introduced Grandma to "Monkey Joe's Playhouse," and read many books and played with many toys - it'll be sad when she leaves this Tuesday!

Inside the wonderful world of Monkey Joe's!

Playing "horsey"

On an unrelated note - Zachary has finally decided that mandarin oranges are perhaps delicious after all!

The Highs & The Lows

We didn't have much happen this week - although we are looking to next week (beginning Sunday evening) when Grandma Connie comes to visit! Zachary started off the week doing one of his favorite activities - sliding, so I've included some recent pictures. I can't believe how big he's gotten!

The week ended on a bit of a low note when Zachary caught a stomach virus and spent Friday throwing up and battling a fever of 103 degrees. Not fun for anyone in the household - but he seems to be on the mend today (slowly) although his appetite is definitely not back. We're all just praying now that we don't get it as well! :)