Zay & Emma at the zo

It took me forever to get this video to upload.  It's Isaiah and his friend Emma at the zoo last month.

"Mommy walk"

When Zay wants to go outside, he cleverly phrases it as a suggestion for something I might want to do, thus "Mommy walk."  He said it a million times the other morning because I'd told him we were going to walk to story time at the library and he was getting impatient to leave.  I explained that I still needed to pack the stroller--it's kind of a long walk, so I bring extra bottles & sippy cups, snacks, diapers, toys, etc.  So while I was in the kitchen getting snacks ready, Zay took care of packing the stroller...He cleared off a whole shelf of books, shoved in every diaper he could find, and thew in a dozen Hot Wheels cars to top it off.  I'm not sure where he thought Eliza was going to sit, but he's sure a funny little helper!

The Park

This afternoon Zay, Eliza, & I went to the park with my friend Stephenie and her two kids. She has a son Zay's age and an older daughter. Zay played really well with Finley and that was fun to watch. Most of the time he just plays next to other kids rather than with them, but he actually made a few attempts to interact with Fin. He was even brave enough to go down the slide by himself and kept saying "Cooooooo" (cool) when he got to the bottom. He always says it in this really high-pitched voice; it's pretty cute.

Little Laney

Laney is a friend of Isaiah's. It's handy since I'm also friends with Laney's mom. They live right in our neighborhood and also attend our ward. Zay and Laney attend nursery class together and seem to get along well (that means Laney doesn't get TOO mad when Zay hits her).  Laney got to stay with us the other day while her mom was at work. She is so quiet and shy compared to Isaiah and it was fun to watch them interacting. Zay even let Laney wear his warm coat while we went on a walk. He loves having kids to play with and I think Laney enjoyed herself too. We had fun being the backup daycare for the day!

Our little party animal

That's right, Eliza is a party animal. She is so afraid of missing out on something fun that she even sleeps holding on to her toys. I thought it was cute when I found her like this the other day. She loves to lay there and play with all the toys hanging above her. This time she just got all tuckered out and decided to take a little snooze.

Eliza's Heart: The Saga Continues

I wanted a post title that would make it sound really dramatic, even though it isn't. So we had our early follow-up appointment with Eliza's cardiologist. (See earlier post for the back story)  I was all ready to announce that she only has 5 holes in her heart now (she had 6 before) but then I heard Jerel telling someone she has 3.  So now I'm all confused.  My version is that she still has one PDA (she had two before) and all four of the VSD's.  All of the holes she has are either the same size or smaller, so that's good.  We are set for another checkup in 6 more months to see how things are going.  The doctor seemed confident things would continue to improve and didn't anticipate any treatment being required.

So it was pretty funny because the reason we had to go in early for a follow-up was that our pediatrician was concerned because Eliza's weight had plateaued and that could indicate that she's having difficulty eating due to her heart problems.  Or it could indicate that she has two particularly small parents.  We are fully aware of this and realize we're pushing our luck hoping for at least one of our children to break through the 5-foot barrier.  Anyway, the doctor was trying to explain that he didn't think her heart was causing any growth issues, and said something like "Well, it could just be that...I mean...well, neither of you are the tallest people in the world..."  I just thought it was funny that he was tiptoeing around it, as if we aren't already well aware of the fact that we're short and that normal people don't need a step stool in each room of their house.  We're glad she seems to just be shrimpy, rather than being unhealthy.  He also commented at one point that babies who are malnourished because of heart problems don't tend to have rolls on their thighs like she does.  Maybe he thought we were in there because we were super paranoid?  We just went because the pediatrician told us to.  But even so, I do wish she'd grow; I'm getting bored of her 3-month size outfits.  By the way, this picture is in her current church outfit.  It's a dress my mom bought her that reminded her of a dress her little sister used to have.

The False Meaning of Easter

We all know what the TRUE meaning of Easter is, but on Saturday we went ahead and celebrated the fake meaning of Easter by going to an Easter egg hunt. My friend Tammy hosted one at her home. She has tons of land (well not tons, acres would be a better measuring tool for property) and had different areas for different age groups of kids. Zay had a good time filling up his basket (courtesy of Grandma Greene Jr.) with the plastic eggs. And, as you can see here, he also thought he was supposed to eat the egs. He had such fun that we kept letting him pick up more and more eggs and then when he looked the other way, Jerel would toss them from his basket back into the grass for him to happily find again.

The night before, the muffin fairy visited our house. I had told Tammy I'd bring muffins for the Second Breakfast meal that preceded the Easter egg hunt. Then I got a terrible cold. By Friday evening, I decided I'd just buy a muffin mix and do the easy way. By Friday slightly later in the evening, I decided I'd just buy already made muffins. I told Jerel my plan and he volunteered to go buy a muffin mix for me so all I'd have to do was mix it up in the morning. And then, I put my tooth under my pillow--wait, wrong fairy--And then, I went to sleep while he went to the store. Magically when I got up in the morning, there were fabulous made from scratch muffins all ready to go!

And so, while the TRUE meaning of Easter is the best part of Easter, the second best part of Easter is definitely watching cute kids hunt for eggs that are right out in the open in the "Ages 0-3" field at Tammy's house! (The third best part of Easter comes later tonight when I sample the chocolate in the baskets Grandma Atkinson sent...)