Lately

Stephen has been gone for the past three week. You'd think I'd be use to this by now, but I don't think it ever gets easier. This last week has been the hardest. Zander and I have been trying to keep ourselves busy, and binge-ing on foods that we can't eat with dad around like pickles, olives, seed bread, and ranch just to name a few. Mostly, Zander is the one keeping me busy. He gets into everything! Lately his favorite things to play with are cords of any kind, the plant in the living room, and the garbage cans. He doesn't play with any of his toys anymore; like all babies, he wants whatever I have or whatever he can't have. It drives me crazy! I feel like a broken record day after day telling him "no" or "don't touch that" etc... most of the time he just smiles or laughs at me and continues to do what he's doing.

He is becoming more fun to play with because he can move around and he's getting bolder by freestanding all by himself. He'll be leaning against the couch and I'll hand him something to play with, so he grabs it with both hands and stands all on his own until he realizes what he's doing and then falls down. He loves torturing the cat. He follows him around the house trying to pull his tail or an ear until Toby gets fed up with it and nips at him and runs away. His newest love is tipping over the garbage cans in all the rooms and pulling out tissues and ripping them into tiny pieces all over the floor. And he still bites. Hard. Usually it's only me or Stephen he'll bite, but the other day I noticed that I had several small bruises all up an down my arms! The little beaver!

Zander loves being outside. We go for walks quite often and he'll sit at the edge of his seat looking all around the neighborhood and enjoying the breeze on his face. I've been trying to weed my flowerbeds and vegetable garden the last few weeks. Zander wanders off into the dirt eating handfuls of it at a time--dirt, weeds, rocks, bark, bugs...you name it, he'll put it in his mouth. He is such a mischievous little boy I have to constantly keep my eye on him. I sure am glad to have him though. He is what makes me get up every morning....literally...
He makes me laugh a lot throughout the day, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

A few days ago Zander and I were downstairs; I was on the couch while Zander had pulled a kleenex out of the box to rip to pieces on the floor. I didn't mind because it was occupying him for quite some time. I'd glance down at him every now and then to make sure he wasn't eating anything. He finally got up and started putting these tiny pieces of tissue on the table next to me. after a while I glanced down at them and every piece had blood on it! Not only that, but there was blood smeared on the table, so I took Zan man and gave him a look over because he never made a peep. I noticed that his hand was bloody and that he had bitten his finger. I got him cleaned up and he went back to what he was doing. The next morning he was playing with a bracelet in the bathroom. I was in the kitchen cleaning dishes and I heard screaming. He bit the same finger in the same spot! Basically, I think he just reopened his wound from the night before, but there was blood dripping from his hand. I cleaned him up again putting neosporin and his first band aid on his poor little finger. So that's what this picture is--his first band aid.

SO mischievous!

Bear Lake

We spent a few nights in Bear Lake with the Washburns last week. Stephen was the only one who didn't come. It was nice to spend time with the family and especially to see Shule and Lori's family. Zander and I went to the beach for just one day, and that's all we needed. Both of us got sunburned. Zander loved playing in the water, but did not like having a  life jacket on. We finally got on the boat and when we did Zander fell right to sleep. Oh, and I got pooped on by a seagull. Boo!

 Happy boy!

 Sun bathing!

 Taking a snooze on the boat

 Zander and Olivia were best buds

 Back on land again. whew!

Blackmail Picture For Future Use?

Dirty Mouth

Stephen and I planted a new tree in our front yard by the front porch last Saturday. I put Zander on a blanket near where I was digging the hole so I could keep an eye on him because I didn't want to leave him in the house by himself. Anyway, as I was digging he was exploring his surroundings--he was eating the grass, feeling the rocks and dirt, and watching me dig the hole. He grabbed two fists full of wet dirt and stuffed them in his mouth when I wasn't looking. I didn't realize just how much dirt was in his mouth until he started gagging and tried throwing it up. I tried to scrape out as much as I could out of his mouth with my fingers, and then gave him a glass of water to wash the rest of it down with, haha. I didn't know what else to do! After that I stuck him inside just to be safe checking in on him periodically. Silly boy!

Mr. Zan Man

Since Zander turned eight months, it seems like he's been growing at hyper speeds. He started crawling right at eight months, and two weeks later he's already trying to pull himself up on the furniture. He's starting to imitate sounds, and getting more teeth. His most recent noise is clicking his tongue. He'll do it all day long now. He is learning something new every day, and I love it! He follows me around the house like a little puppy. Once he's caught me he'll try to stand himself up on my leg, and then bites me. He chews on anything and everything. I found bite marks all over the crib, on his toys, and mine and Stephen's skin. I know its because he's teething, but I've been trying to teach him not to bite people. The other day I picked him up from the crib, and he grabbed my neck and sunk his teeth in it. That one hurt! He loves chasing after the cat, but Toby hates it. He's a good sport about it, most of the time.

I found him like this yesterday after his nap, so we lowered his crib that night.

I thought I'd better get a short video of Zander crawling.

And this is his new trick he learned last week.

Last week Stephen and I went on our first date without Zander in over eight months. I was really looking forward to it because I was desperate for a break. I didn't want to ask anyone to watch Zander because I was afraid he'd just cry the whole time, and that's no fun for anyone. Stephen asked his mom and dad if they'd watch him for us while we went to dinner. They happily accepted, and off we went. of course I couldn't help but worry about him during dinner, but it was SO nice having dinner with just Stephen. We went to Cold Stone for dessert afterwards, and then headed home. I asked Pat how he did, and she said he didn't cry at all. I was so relieved! she also said that he is by far the easiest grandchild they have, haha. That really made me feel a lot better about Zander just because the last few weeks he's been so whiny and crying a lot; I needed a few hours away from him, so thank you grandma and grandpa Washburn for giving me a much needed break! That was all I needed to regroup and be able to calm down and refill my patience, so to speak.

Bathroom Mishap

Stephen came home from work yesterday. I was in the living room playing with Zander while he took off his gear and changed into some more comfortable clothes. Stephen finally comes into the living room with a sad and embarrassed look on his face. I asked him what was wrong. He told me he broke the toilet seat, haha! This is the second time he has broken the toilet seat since we've been married. I couldn't stop laughing. The first time it happened we were newly married and going to school. Stephen got up one morning to get ready to go to class and came back in the room where I was still sleeping. He had the exact same sad face and told me he broke the toilet seat. He was really embarrassed. I died laughing! I got up to look at it and sure enough it was cracked right down the middle, haha, I don't know how he keeps breaking them, but it gave me a good laugh. This time it broke on the side. These aren't the plastic seats, mind you, that's why its so puzzling how he breaks them.

Zander Update

Zander is eight months old! He has four teeth--two on top and two on bottom, and loves to use them when he eats. He'll take a bite of food and then push it to the front of his mouth so he can use his new teeth. He loves to clap his hands, and has learned how to sit himself up from his back or his belly, he is, also, officially crawling! He's still a little slower on his hands and knees, but assumes the position whenever he's on the floor. He'll either be on his knees or up on his two big toes. If he really wants to get somewhere fast he'll do his army crawl. It is now time to baby proof the house!

He also loves to pull mommy's hair whenever I pick him up no matter if I have it down or up in a pony tail. He loves to play peek-a-boo when I go down the stairs and then pop up in the banister. Whenever I lay him in his crib for a nap or for bed he waits for me to put his blanket over him and then grabs it with both fists, pulls it up to his chin, and rolls over to his side to sleep (it, seriously, is the cutest thing). He studies and stares at new people. He is so serious and inquisitive when strangers talk to him, but he always smiles at them. He is starting to like daddy more and more; he reached for Stephen while we were in the hospital instead of wanting me. I think that made Stephen's day. Zander's newest game he likes to play is take a bite of food, then drop it on the floor.

Whenever I hold him when we go somewhere, instead of turning his head to look at and watch things he has to turn his whole body. He has become quite a wiggle worm! We can't get enough of our Zander and look forward to all the new things he will learn in the months to come!

Lately

The past two weeks have kind of been a blur, yet they've been the slowest weeks of my life. My whole life, now, revolves around a little eight month old boy who has been having a difficult time as well. After his teeth came in a few weeks ago, he hasn't been the same, and I don't mean that in a bad way, but last week he came down with the flu. There was throw up and diarrhea everywhere for a week. My washing machine has been going nonstop since last Wednesday. Let me put it this way, I bought a brand new bottle of stain remover two weeks ago, and it'll normally last me four or more months. There is only a quarter of a bottle left after one week's use. This bug has been awful! There has been a lot of crying, snuggles, and changes of clothes, sleepless nights, and long days.

My little sickie

Zander gave me a scare a few days ago because he hadn't had a wet diaper in almost 24 hours, he still has diarrhea after a week, and I couldn't get him to drink any fluids. I called my doctor a few times throughout the week, and yesterday she finally told me to take him to the ER for an evaluation just to be safe. So I picked Stephen up from work and we took Zander in to make sure he wasn't dehydrated or had some sort of a different virus other than the flu. He checked out just fine. I knew he would, but that just took a load off my shoulders so I don't have to worry about him anymore.

At the hospital

He's been so irritable lately to the point that nothing I do will calm him down. It's been tough deciphering if he's somehow uncomfortable or just throwing a fit because I'm not always right by his side. I've been frustrated to tears many nights, and wished I could get away and have some peace and quiet and time to my self, but I haven't been able to yet. I finally just had to get out of the house for awhile after being cooped up for a week even though I had to take Zander with me.

We went toy shopping. Zander doesn't have very many toys, and the ones he does have he gets bored with easily and won't play with them. So I bought him a few new books and two toys. Little did I know they would be the most annoying toys on the planet! Haha, I wasn't able to test them out in the store, but when I brought them home and tried them out they wouldn't shut off! He is really good at finding mommy and daddy's cell phones no matter how hard we hide them, and he loves to play with our car keys, so that's what I bought him--his own cell phone and car key, but the phone seems to work by motion, so anytime you face the phone towards you it talks, chimes, and beeps at you nonstop. I took it apart to see if maybe the button was pushed in and got stuck, but nope, that's just how the toy works. Zander loves them and plays with them all the time, so as long as he's happy I'm fine with it.

Stephen leaves for Georgia again in a week, and will be gone for the rest of the month of August. I'm excited for him, but kind of dreading being a single mom for that long especially since Zander is getting old enough to crawl and throw tantrums. This will be the time I can work on my patience--it hasn't been easy this past month, but at the same time I'm looking forward to all time we get to spend together.