Zachary turns seven

My baby is seven and almost done with the first grade! I know we all say this but he's getting so old.

We had a low key birthday weekend. Friday night we went out for pizza downtown Naperville at Giordano's. Opened a few gifts & ate some cake.

Saturday Mark took Zach, Cameron, and 2 friends from school to a movie & restaurant. They had a great time. And props to Mark for handling 4 boys for an outing!

getting ready to open a few gifts

blowing out the candles of my masterpiece!

Lindsey's 1st birthday

Lindsey turned on 1 February 12!

We had a nice weekend/get together planned with my Mom & Dad who had flown in from Phoenix, my sister & family came down from Michigan, and my in-laws drove down from Wisconsin.

Lindsey however was not impressed & was not happy being forced to participate in present opening & cake eating. The poor little peanut ran a super high fever all weekend and I ended up taking her to urgent care on Sunday morning, where she received antibiotics for an Upper Respiratory Infection.

We made the most of the circumstances and we managed to snap a few of the necessary pictures. None of which she smiled in.
Oh well, hopefully her 2nd birthday will be better.

Happy Birthday Lindsey Lou, we love you!

The Blizzard of 2011

Mark attempting to start the shoveling. It was so deep in some spots that the snow blower couldn't get through it.
We (mostly he) had to take off the 'top layer' to get the snow blower going.






Sitting on piles in the driveway.
I have never seen so much snow!
















Climbing the mountain of snow in the cul-de-sac after the plow came through.
They had a ball!















The snowplow had to help from a tractor to clear the snow in the cul-de-sac.

Today

After a long and challenging weekend, two good things happened today.

First, the Packers (finally-- sorry honey) made it to the Superbowl.

And secondly and most importantly, Zachary, finally, lost his first tooth!

I was starting to worry that it was not going to happen, as I think he was officially the last one in his 1st grade class that had not lost a tooth. He too was starting to get anxious about it, as several of his much younger friends have lost several.

A good way to end a weekend with 3 sick kids, as we spent a good part of Saturday morning at the doctor's office getting an official diagnosis of each kid. One with a double ear infection, one with a croup cough, and one with an upper respiratory infection. I get the 'mother of the year award' for not taking my kids to the doctor sooner, as I thought they all just had bad coughs. How is one to know the difference between a 'beloved virus' and an infection? I sure don't! Winter can't end soon enough for this family.

11 months

One of her favorites at the moment is "Lindsey is so big!"


Lindsey is 11 months today, which is crazy that we are one month away from her being one years old!
I took her to her follow up appointment on Friday with the pediatric neurologist and she has only gained over a pound something since her 9 month appointment. She is still just a little peanut!

Her head, however, continues to be on the bigger side, so we will head back again in 6 months to check in with her neurologist. He think she looks good & still doesn't see any concerns that would warrant further action such as a CAT scan, but wants to monitor her progress. He thinks she is still about 2 months developmentally delayed with her gross motor skills and recommended continued physical therapy, which we still do on a weekly basis.






She is slowy getting around with the army crawl, but we are working hard on getting her to crawl. She seems to have weak & skinny little arms that have a hard time supporting her weight and her lovable, kissable big ol' noggin!







Exploring her way around the house, playing here in the kitchen

January Thus Far

Mark took Zach to his first Chicago Bulls basketball game. Mark was hosting the sky box for work and had an extra ticket, so Zach got to tag along. He thought it was the coolest thing & really enjoyed watching the game.






I'm back to babysitting 3 extra kiddo's 4 days a week. The kids really have a good time together, as here they are, playing outside on one of the semi-warmer January days. 20 minutes of fresh air a day I say, to work some of their energy out!








A special treat of donuts before school, as we celebrated Allie's birthday, who turned 7.





Lindsey's first bite of a donut

New Years Day

On Wisconsin!

New Years Day....
Getting ready to watch the Rose Bowl. Everyone has got their Wisconsin gear on & they are ready to go.