2 1/2 years and 1 month!

On August 19th, Zane turned 2 and a half! We weren't able to take his t shirt pictures that day, so I was just planning on taking them on Monday. Then Zane came down with croup, so we pushed them off a few days more. It worked out because I got to take both Zane's pictures and Caden's 1 month pictures yesterday on the 23rd. It was fun, but Zane still doesn't strike a pose for very long! He also wanted in on Caden's pictures :)

We decided to do Caden's monthly pictures with his dog, and we now have the big version of his dog too:



The little one is just like Zane's Teddy:



So here's Caden at one month (time is already flying by!):









And Zane jumped in...






Here's Zane at 2 1/2 +4 days - notice he insisted on keeping the big dog for his pictures ;)












It's hard to see, but the shirts don't touch the floor anymore when he's wearing them! Then Zane couldn't wait any longer and climbed into Caden's crib with him:






And finally, Zane trying to get the camera ("I want that!"):



My sweet boys... they're both growing so much every day!

tummy time

After our visitors left, we had a pretty low key weekend. Zane continues to love to be included with anything involving Caden, and he's been a particularly big supporter of tummy time. Zane jumps onto Caden's blanket to lay with him, and we have to make sure he's not too boisterous!



I've also gotten in some extra swaddle practice on Zane:


And he has proven that he can still fit in the bouncy seat:



We checked out a new playground for us, and it was Caden's first playground trip too (ignore the funny face I'm making while taking the picture of me and Caden):









Zane was a little hoarse that Sunday, but we didn't think too much of it. Until we got a phone call on Monday afternoon saying that Zane woke up from nap with a 103 fever! When Caden and I picked him up, he was really hoarse and sounding wheezy. :(



So we brought him home, gave him some ibuprofen and called the pediatrician... we managed to get an appointment that afternoon, and Zane had croup (again). He even rocked this mask at the doctor's office since he had a cough (I was so impressed, but I think it just shows how yucky he felt that he let me put it on!):



Thankfully, Zane started to feel better fairly quickly. He stayed home with Caden and me Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday until he sounded much better this morning. Needless to say, it was quite an adventure for me having a clingy/sick 2 year old and a 4 week old on my own!

There was lots of hand washing going on, and so far Caden doesn't even seem to have a cold... We also washed Caden in the baby bathtub for the first time since he was starting to outgrow the sink :) Zane was a big help!



It's clear that Zane really likes his baby brother, but it's becoming more clear that Caden really likes his big brother too. Caden has started tracking Zane as he moves around and talks, and here's a picture of him looking for Zane when he got up from the table the other day:



On Wednesday the three of us ventured to Alki to get Zane outside for a bit.



We talked about the ferries and said "hi" to a seagull. :)






Zane even helped me pick out Caden's clothes each day - like choosing the fire truck onesie! We also put Caden in the frog suit:



Since Zane got to go back to school today, it was a nice, quiet(er) Caden/Mama day:

cousins!!!

Two weeks ago, on August 10th, some special visitors arrived - Uncle John, Aunt Ginger, Matthew, Lena and Mary! Zane was very excited to have his cousins staying with us... he and Mary were like two peas in a pod. A very busy, fast pea pod. :)







While they were here we got in some time at a few different parks and our mini beach, Alki. Amazingly, Lena and Mary braved the cold water and got all the way in. Zane on the other hand sent me to fetch water for him in his little bucket.





A few times we were out and about, Caden got in some special snuggle time with Aunt Ginger at home.



Caden did get in on a little bit of the action around the house too:



He also got to hang out with his cousins some:






One of the playgrounds we went to has a zip line type swing for big kids, and Matthew and Lena got to check it out while Mary and Zane played on the rest of the equipment and cooked up some spaghetti and oatmeal for me:









Lena had a bunch of successful rides on it before the incident... she accidentally came off of it at the end one time, and now Lena has claimed the first broken bone (her wrist) of all the cousins. Unfortunately she had to spend part of her visit at the hospital getting it checked out and had a giant splint the last day, but she was trooper.

It was very quiet around here after they left when it went back to being just Caden, Molly and me during the day. Molly still has some Matthew withdrawal!

both of my boys

Zane definitely likes hanging out with Caden... especially in Caden's crib on the lion blanket (Caden's been a superstar at sharing so far!). Not much makes Zane more tickled, except for when I'm holding both of them. That makes Zane giggle and exclaim "you're holding both your boys!!!" It's pretty sweet, even if there is a little whining leading up to it ("I need to hold you...").

Zane has been really helpful when it comes to talking to Caden during diaper changes and telling him it's going to be ok. He's also quick to let me know when Caden needs me to hold him, and Zane beams when he gets to hold Caden with us too! So even though emotions are still running high around here, particularly by the end of the day, I'm loving how excited Zane is about his baby brother.



This past Saturday we headed down to the edge of Lake Washington to watch the Blue Angels' air show that ends SeaFair every year. Zane was not a fan of the "loud planes" when they flew overhead for practice runs while he was at school on Thursday and Friday (good thing Mr. Eddy was there to hang onto!), but he thought they were more fun from daddy's lap with ear plugs in. Zane has seen the Blue Angels 3 times now, and it was Caden's first time. Caden was thoroughly unimpressed and stayed asleep in the moby with his earplugs in the whole time. :)



Zane thought all of the boats out on the water were pretty cool, but the highlight for him was noticing a dog swimming in the lake:






Then on Sunday, Zane ventured into the bouncy house for the first time after soccer... after all of the bigger kids cleared out and it wasn't so intimidating!



On Monday, Caden turned two weeks old!! His two week check up was yesterday, so we got his updated official stats: 8 lbs 4 oz (48%) and 21" long (66%). His second visit to the pediatrician wasn't much better than the first... he still had to get completely naked to be weighed (how many times does a baby have to say that he doesn't like being naked or having his diaper changed to finally make it stop???), and then he had to get his heel pricked for the 2nd half of the newborn screening tests. Ouch!
Here are some two week pictures:



Wiped out from his busy morning...






And you can see that his umbilical cord stump popped off last Wednesday:






Since Caden's entry into the world was so swift, our doula didn't get to make it to the hospital before he was born, so she's giving us a few postpartum sessions to make up for it. The first was last Thursday, so I got to spend some solo time with Zane, which was a lot of fun. I picked him up from school a little early, and we stopped off at the grocery store so that Zane could pick out what we should make for dinner. Not surprisingly, he picked pasta. Then he chose the type of pasta (fun rotini), a red sauce, agreed to some sausage, and some yummy bread. We cooked it together when we got home, and I think Zane enjoyed having Caden there to watch from someone else's arms.

Yesterday was our second session, and we opted to use it for more Zane time again. This time we went to get his hair cut as soon as I picked him up from school. We had let it grow out, and then he started complaining about it being too long and getting in his eyes... Oops! Here he is showing off his new 'do:



Then we got to color and use his new safety scissors while Caden watched. Zane and I made almond butter and jelly sandwiches with yogurt for dinner (and today's lunch!), and he scooped and spread the AB and jelly all by himself!

After Zane's bath last night, we had a monumental moment! He peed in the potty and finally got a coveted potty treat (a jelly belly)!!! I let him pick out two, and we were both super excited. He's been wanting a potty treat so badly at school and at home, but the potty was still too scary. Who knows if this will be a one time for now thing or a regular thing... only Zane knows :) But he was so incredibly excited, sweet, and proud calling his daddy to tell him that he got a potty treat!