Sweet Moments...

A few nights ago after dinner, Paul took the kids outside while I stayed in to do the dishes.  Doing the dishes was so much more enjoyable with a view like this :-).  Paul is such a good daddy! 

They also picked flowers while they were outside that night, and Kennedy picked her first flowers for mommy. I remember when I was registering for our wedding and my mom told me I would need vases like this for all the flowers my children would pick for me. It seemed like something that was so far off at the time, but it has come so quickly and I was glad to be prepared to have something to display her flowers in....it was such a sweet moment!

Kennedy's Newspaper Debut

When we were at the Easter egg hunt, a very nice lady from the paper asked if she could take Kennedy's picture. I, of course, said yes and as soon as she got her camera out, Kennedy put her head in my leg and made a pouty a face. She snapped a couple of pictures, but I knew she didn't get a good one. Much to my surprise,
she used one of them anyway :-). I showed Kennedy and she was a little confused, but very proud!!!

Easter

We had a great time with Easter activities this year. It was Kennedy's first year dying eggs and she loved it! I was worried that she was going to hate her hand being stained afterward, but she thought it was hilarious and kept calling herself the green-handed monster!!

 Our friend, Julie, was in the Midwest for business again and spent Friday night at our house. She is always crazy busy when she's out here, but we consider ourselves lucky when she carves some time out for us!

He always has his tongue out!!

Brodhead had an Easter Egg Hunt (or candy hunt) in town on Saturday, so we decided to check it out...Kennedy did NOT like the Easter bunny, but did like the candy she picked up.

Our two dolls on Easter! We had a great day; went to church, had brunch at the same place we went to last year and then came home to find that the Easter bunny had been to our house!!

Woah!! Looks like the Easter bunny had some help from Santa :-)

March

I cannot believe it has been almost 2 months since I last updated the blog!!  Time has seriously flown by and I'm not really sure what we've been doing?! March started off with me flying by MYSELF to California (my parents flew out here to stay with the kids, SO nice!!) for my 15-year class reunion. It's crazy to think it has been 15 years since I graduated from high school, especially since when I get together with my friends from then it's like no time has passed....I miss them dearly and love that we have our reunion weekend every March! After seeing them this time though, I feel like once a year just isn't enough! We had a ball catching up on each other's lives, reminiscing about way too many good times, eating lots of food and drinking lots of alcohol. Since my parents were in Wisconsin, we were able to have a slumber party at their house, too fun!!!

Also, during the first part of March, we had an appointment to have Will's head shape evaluated. I had noticed for awhile that the right side was flatter than the left and that the back of his head was flatter than it should be. At his 6 month appointment, the doctor assured me that it would correct itself. I kept waiting for it to get better and it just wasn't, so at 8.5 months we took him to get evaluated and they confirmed what I was thinking. His case was borderline moderate and we could go either way. That's exactly what I didn't want to hear; I wanted them to tell me he needed it or he didn't. So, after much contemplation, we decided to get him fitted for a DOC band. We figured we could take the chance that it will round out on it's own or we can get him the DOC band and it will definitely be corrected. He has been in the band for a month now, March 16th was his first day, and we KNOW we made the right decision. His head has rounded out so much and the band doesn't bother him at all, not even at night!!  He has to wear the band 23 hours a day and we go to Madison once a week to get it adjusted (there is a foam liner in it, and they shave it a little every week as the head grows). At his appointment last week, the physical therapist said he is doing great, so much improvement, and he is about 1/2 way through his band, so he will probably be in it another month or so. Here he is just coming home with it.....

We spent tons of time at parks....there are some REALLY nice parks here!! They are like forts and Kennedy loves them!

AND Will turned 9 months! Crazy! He is the age Kennedy was when we moved here and for some reason she seemed so much older to me at this age :-). He is now army crawling and saying "uh-uh" (guess he hears it too much :-). He 8 teeth!!! and is almost solely on table food, he now sees what everyone else is eating and thinks "I don't want baby food!"....I have to force feed him a fruit/vegetable combo in the morning just to make sure he gets some extra fiber. But, he now has had cherrios, chicken, bread, green beans, avocado, orange, apple, banana, pasta, broccoli, curry chicken, crackers, turkey, cheese, french fries, stir-fry, animal crackers, carrots and I think that's about it??? He is still nursing and has now decided he doesn't want to take a bottle, which makes leaving him tough, but is now drinking from a sippy much better, so that's a relief. He is great sleeper at night, but has started to HATE taking naps, which is making me crazy!!! He loves to play and I think Kennedy is enjoying that he can play with her better and better every day. We went to the doctor for his 9 month appointment and I couldn't believe it...he is in the 36th percentile for his weight, 99th percentile for his head size and off the charts for length. So far it looks like his is going to be a tall boy!!

Will and Kennedy Update

I really cannot believe our little baby boy is going to be 8 months tomorrow, time has flown by and he is definitely becoming his own little person! He has huge smile on his face MOST of the time, it is so contagious! He laughs all the time and is very ticklish. His favorite thing right now is his walker...he loves it when you go in another room and he has to try and find you. He is trying to repeat sounds, and thinks it is great when you repeat him. He LOVES attention, especially mine...he has a hard time being separated it from me, even if I'm only one room away and he can see me, I still seem to be too far away. His 3rd tooth just came in!! He is eating 3 meals a day and is still nursing, although a couple of weeks ago he bit me and broke skin...talk about painful!!! It was very hard, but I nursed him through the healing process and think we have an understanding now, we'll see?! He has learned to clap and is oh so proud of himself, "yay Will!". He hates loud noises, especially his sister yelling at him; first-born children are so lucky, they don't have to deal with the torture of their siblings right out of the gate, poor Will! Even though she is hard on him sometimes, she also plays with him a lot; I am very surprised how long they can play together already. He is still a great sleeper! He can sit up on his own, but doesn't do so very often as he is always leaning over for a toy. He is pushing himself backwards, pulling himself forward and rocking back and forth on all fours, so I know crawling is right around the corner!! 

Kennedy turned 2 years and 5 months on the 19th...crazy!! Going from 2 to 3 years is going SO fast!! She talks, talks, talks non-stop. I can't believe her little jaw doesn't get tired :-). She says the most hilarious things. She is starting to develop quite an imagination and is talking about monsters, going on adventures to find crocodiles, bears and turtles and playing make-believe. She loves to play kitchen, have tea time, go on picnics and play with her dolls. There is one baby in particular who has to go everywhere with her and it happens to be the one Will likes best too! When he sees it on the floor, his eyes get big and he goes for it, then of course he puts it in his mouth and Kennedy gets mad because her doll is wet...so funny, I can't tell you how many times a day that happens! We are not making much progress on the potty front, one day Kennedy told me she wanted to wear underwear not a diaper, I thought here we go, this may be the beginning and almost immediately we had a huge accident (the messy kind), of course while I was in the middle of nursing Will, so that was the last time I did that! I may try it again though because that's how a few of my girlfriends potty-trained their kids, and nothing else seems to be working. She is getting to be quite the drama queen and now tells me "Momma, you're mean to me"...I can't believe that is starting already!! I'm sure this stage will pass soon...ha, ha!

They are both so much fun!! Paul and I were just talking yesterday about how lucky we are to be blessed with two very cool kids!

For those of you at home who are missing them....Here a few current pics I took the other night after bath time....

The Mauneys - Est. 12.31.11

The beautiful couple - Pat & Sarah Mauney

On New Year's Eve we drove up to Ferndale with the Bordessa's for Pat and Sarah's wedding. It was so much fun! I always thought it would be a great idea to have a wedding on New Year's, but have never been to one. It was quite festive and what better way to bring in the New Year than celebrating love! Congratulations Pat and Sarah, you are a wonderful couple!

Jackie, Sarah and Me

Paul and Me

 Jackie, Mike and Me

 Jarrid, Paul and Ryan

Renee and Marc

Jolynn, Robert and Monique

4 Generations of Zimmerman Men

I have been meaning to get a picture of this every time we are out in California, but always end up forgetting. I finally got it and love it; it is so awesome to see four generations together, very sweet!

...and the women who married them!