Feb Recap: 1st Half

I am SO FAR behind on blogs entries that I have to consolidate - all of February's events in just two or three condensed blog entries. Here is a recap of the first half of February.

Feb. 3rd - Morning in the life of the Chicago Counts

Here is Wyatt chatting


Here is Zach eating

There are others of us eating and playing at the breakfast table, but you'll have to check out our youtube account under ascounts.

Feb. 4 - Zach loves horses
Zach has recently gotten very interested in horses, and more specifically, wearing my riding helmet. He wears it when he's getting a horsey ride from Art. Here are two pics to show the helmet shenanigans.




Feb 7-8: Overnight trip to Wisconsin
See separate blog

Feb 10
Zach really enjoys playing (with and w/out Wyatt) in Wyatt's "big bed" (his crib). This day they played for a bit, lots of laughing, then Zach read a story to Wyatt, while Wyatt played with the puzzle.

Wyatt and Zach playing in Wy's crib.


Wyatt and Zach looking cute in Wy's crib


Here is Zach making Wyatt laugh. Zachary really does enjoy being the one to make Wy laugh. If I am the one making Wyatt laugh, Zach will come over and say "Mom, how you make Wyatt laugh?", as though he's getting pointers or something.


Here is Zachary reading "If you give a Mouse a Cookie" to Wyatt. A translation of the movie: "fluff pillow a few times. Read book. Pictures. Get so excited, draw his own. Get out paper and crayons, and draw a picture. Picture is finished, he'll sign name. With a pen. Put on fridge. Need scotch tape. Notice that Wy does not care at all about the story and is just playing w/ the puzzle.

Feb. 12: Zachary helping out
Zachary has been very helpful with Wyatt recently. He likes to be present at diaper changes and help with many duties. The phrase "I can do it" is heard often. Here is Zach, under the supervision of Art, giving Wyatt a bottle.

Feb Recap: 2nd Half

Here is a recap of the second half of February.

February 13 - 17: Nana comes to visit
Mom came in to visit the boys and Valentine's Day weekend seemed like a good time. Mom got in mid-morning and Zach, Wyatt and I went to the airport to go get her. We were there plenty early and had to wait a bit for her to get there. Zach was very busy of course, first playing w/ cars, then running around a bit. When I finally saw her coming down the escalator, I told Zach "Nana's here", and he dropped everything, turned around and went running over to her yelling "nana, nana"...just like he had done with Poppi during his first visit. Lots of people turned around to smile and watch. Zachary has definitely gotten the airport greeting down pat! We made it back home just in time for lunch. Then naps for everyone (Mom had not slept well, and had gotten up VERY early for her flight), adults too! I can't remember everything, b/c it was a long time ago (I'm typing this on May 2nd), but I'm sure we went out to the playground for a bit after naps. And Mom surely watched the boys while I got dinner ready. Saturday, Mom was nice enough to not mind me going to breakfast with the ladies in our Sunday bible study...honestly I'm not sure she would have noticed if I was there or not - she was busy busy playing w/ the boys. When I got back, we took off to do some shopping, first at the great secondhand kids stuff shop (unfortunately due to the lead paint scare, they had removed all their great used toys and only had clothes), then off to Target (?) to get some things for the kids. After the kids were in bed for naps, Mom and I went to another thrift store for 3T clothes for Zach. On the way home we stopped by Dunkin' for a treat and McDs for some fries for Art. Later that evening we went out to Zoba's (our favorite restaurant in Evanston). We made a reservation b/c it was Valentine's day, and they treated us great, as usual, and gave us a free appetizer and a free Valentine's Day dessert. Sunday was church then home for lunch and naps. As soon as the boys went to bed, Art and I took off for our date while Mom stayed home. What a disaster it started out to be. We had looked up a bowling alley to go to. When we got there, it was a small place and it was PACKED with kids. They were having a birthday party and nearly all the lanes were full. We thought "we just got away from kids", so we left. We had to go back home to look up another bowling alley on the internet b/c my phone wasn't staying connected to the internet. Then off to another place that was closed, then to another which we could never find. We gave up (it's been nearly 2 hrs now) and went to downtown Evanston. We ended up going to a restaurant called Cajun Kitchen where we shared a pecan pie and I had a hot chocolate, Art a beer. We stayed there about an hour and enjoyed ourselves, so it ended up being a good time after all. We stayed gone too long and were not able to make it to bible study. Monday the boys and I drove downtown with Mom so show her Lake Shore Dr. We got off at Navy Pier, thinking we'd just have a look around but parking was $19, so no thanks. Back to Evanston to do our Monday morning grocery shopping. That night we had a surprise birthday party for Mom...complete with Carmen's Chicago-style pizza. Zach thought the party was for him b/c he had been using the potty. :) Below are some pics of the party.


Nana feeding Wyatt while Shayna tries to get Zach's food ready


Art, Shayna and Zach in party mode


The delectable Carmen's pizza - Hawaiian yum!

Zach and Nana watched some Cars, then stayed up late playing until Zachary got tired. The next day we prepared to take Nana back to the airport. Nana generously offered to get the boys changed out of their jammies into clothes. She will kill me for putting this in here, but it is too funny to leave out. She somehow accidentally put Wyatt's jeans (size 6-9month) on Zachary (size 2Toddler), thinking they were capris maybe (?), and sadly, was able to snap them closed. Zachary was not pleased though and came into the dining room complaining. Mom then told me that she thinks that Zach is growing out of these. I had to laugh hysterically and say that he grew out of them 2 years ago. Here's poor Zachary, really milking his sad situation. :) Poor Nana, getting teased and she barely deserves it!

Zachary wearing Wyatt's pants

Feb 18: Is Zachary too small??
So after the pants debacle came this little adventure. One day Zachary decided that he'd like to sit in Wyatt's baby play chair. I knew Zach would fit in the seat, b/c it is intended to turn from a baby chair (with insert) to a toddler booster seat (taking off the feet) that straps into a chair. However, I did NOT expect him to be small enough to fit when the tray was clipped into place (for infants only). Sigh. Being 25th %tile in weight can get you into some tricky spaces. Perhaps we should increase his milkshake intake. :)


Feb. 23rd
Poor frustrated Wyatt! He has been trying and trying and trying to crawl. We keep taking videos, thinking that "this is it!", but it hasn't been yet. Here is one of those hopeful videos.

He does get pretty frustrated, and lots of complaining.

Feb. 26th

Here is our happy boy. Just a random picture.

Wyatt has taken a huge interest in Zachary's red rocket. Today Art put him on it and see what happened. Wyatt was pretty glad to be on it, but didn't have the balance thing down pat.

Proof that balance needs to be worked on.


Wy looks so serious here. Check out Zach's super-speed image in the back.


Here you think "maybe he's enjoying it"

Art is very proud of Zachary's "footie" skills. Zach generally can out-kick most of the kids at the playground. Here is a little video Art took of he and Zach kicking a soccer ball around the dining room. Art likes that Zachary uses both feet.



TA DA!! We have made it through February! Clapping, cheering, crowd goes wild! Ok, maybe it's just me going wild, but I'll take that.

Feb 7 & 8 : Overnight trip to Wisconsin

Feb 7-8: Overnight trip to Wisconsin
In our 22 month stint in Germany, we did quite a bit of traveling, both far away (Scotland, Spain, Belgium, France, etc) and close by (Dortmond, Duisburg, etc). We did not let the fact that we had a baby, then a toddler, stop us from taking trips and exploring around us. Now that we are back in the US, we did not want to stop this trend and get into a rut of never traveling b/c it's too hard w/ the two little ones. So, using our Christmas money from Art's parents, we took an overnight trip to Kenosha, WI. Not too far away - less than 2 hrs. I did a ton of research on things to do in Kenosha which turned out to be unnecessary. We got packed up and left early Saturday morning, well, ok, around 10am or so. We wanted to be in Kenosha in time for lunch. We drove around the 'downtown' area for a bit and finally picked a cute looking diner. It worked out really well for us, and the cook even made Zach's pancake in the shape of Mickey Mouse - too bad Zach has no idea who that is. :) While at the diner, Art got chatting w/ another diner about a snow festival in Lake Geneva which was 30 miles away. It sounded fabulous with huge snow sculptures and activities for kids. So we (Art really) decided that we should forgo all the plans we had for Kenosha (just a few museums really) and try out Lake Geneva. We had to make a quick stop at McDonald's on the way out of town so I could nurse Wyatt and give Zach a chance to play on the playland. We got in the car and the kids were BEAT. Unfortunately it took Zach awhile to fall asleep and we were almost there. Traffic into town was stop and go and it took some time to find a parking place. On the drive down, Art was obsessed with the way they name their roads in that county. Numerically. The highest road name was 392nd Ave. I think we started around 60th or so. Here's proof:



Once we parked, we decided to sit in the car for a bit to let the kids finish napping. We probably stayed there for another 30 minutes b/f getting out of the car. Then we walked around the town, which was plenty cute. We even saw a little slice of heaven - Caribou Coffee! I got to splurge and get a Turtle Mocha - YUM! Then we made our way down to the epicenter of the snow festival. I was thinking (hoping) that the sculptures would be indoor, b/c the weather was unseasonably warm - there was almost no snow on the ground. Sure enough, all the snow sculptures were mostly melted. Below is a picture of what the sculpture is suppose to look like and what it actually does.



So the sculptures were a bit of a bust, but the lake (Geneva I presume) was pretty cool. I had never seen ice fishing before. The lake was so frozen that there were several pick-up trucks parked on the ice and guys fishing. I was intrigued!


Back into the car and back to Kenosha where we have a hotel reservation. We specifically picked a hotel w/ a pool so the boys could play. Zach had been very excited all week b/c we bought him some water wings (just like Steven had when Jenny visited us). He wore them around the house for days. We checked into the hotel around 5pm and had about an hour to swim b/f going to dinner. We did not take any pics that day at the pool, but here are our pics of the kids getting ready:

Here is Zach testing out his old baby float, now used for Wyatt.

Here is Wyatt, waiting patiently on the bed in his swim diaper.

The pool was fun. Zach was pretty nervous and didn't want to let go of us. Wyatt was interested in one thing only - splashing. He was a splash-o-matic. It did not bother him if it went up his nose and he's gasping for breath, he just needed to splash splash, splash. Zach did much better in the "hot pool" (hot tub).

After swimming, we were STARVING and tired, so we walked the 100 yards down the street to Cracker Barrel. I was carrying Wyatt and was NOT feeling well - low blood sugar, but did make it in time w/ no real issues to the on-the-table biscuits! Dinner was glorious but we were all beat. The kids and Art were asleep w/in minutes of getting back to the hotel. I, unfortunately could not sleep. I read in the bathroom for awhile then finally went to bed.

Next morning we had breakfast, then headed to the pool again. Zach was getting more comfortable today and was willing to be further away from us, though still not swimming on his own. Here are some pics:


Shayna, Zach and Wyatt in the hot pool - not for too long.


Art, Zach, and Wyatt in the pool.


Art helping Zach get into the pool.

Then out of the pool and back to the room to shower and pack up. We let Zach watch a video while we packed, and Wyatt fell asleep on the bed, just keeled over really. :)



Once in the car, we headed over to Pleasant Prairie, WI, home of a Jelly Belly (famous for their jelly beans) distribution center and FREE tour. It was ok. Great for free, especially since we got free jelly beans after the little train ride. I thought that we would actually see how it works. However, this was just a distribution center, so the tour was a little train ride around the warehouse, stopping every few yards for a video explanation of what happens in each stage.


Here is a giant bean hanging from the ceiling.


Very cool. There were several portraits made entirely from jelly beans.


Art and Wyatt on the train. It was a warehouse rule that we had to wear those hats - heads must be covered at all times.


Shayna and Wyatt on the train


Art and Zach. Zach was not thrilled with the train ride and was ready to get off. Lucky the tour was less than 30 minutes.

After the train tour, they let us out in their gift shop and gave everyone a sample bag of jelly beans. Then we were left to our own devices to explore the gift store. A nice touch was their jellybean sample counter where you could ask for - two at a time- a sample of any flavor. Art and I tried lots of different things, constantly amazed how much a jellybean can taste like it's muse. Art's favorites were the fruit ones - kiwi, grapefruit, mango, etc. I got a bag of each of my favorites: coconut and smore. Yum! We got a small bag of candy corn for Zachary who has been getting candy corn when he goes in the potty.

I nursed Wyatt in the car while Art and Zach played around outside. Then off to find lunch. We bypassed a McDonalds since they rarely have anything for our vegetarian son (some McDs have pancakes) and settled on the only other thing around - a truck stop restaurant. It SEEMED like a good idea. It was not. Uggh. We were wishing we were back at the Kenosha diner, and spending 1/2 the money on a good lunch. Alas, there were not many options and it was getting LATE and the boys needed to eat. But, it was such a "memorable" trip that we took pictures. I've never eaten at a truck stop restaurant, to my knowledge, so there you go. There was a telephone at every table, which surprised me in the age of cell phones being so cheap.



We got back home around 3 and put both boys into bed - exhausted. It was a very enjoyable trip.

Feb. 28,2009: Family trip to Chicago's Art Institute

Saturday morning, Feb. 28, we decide to head downtown to visit the Art Institute. The month of Feb. is free admission and we're finally going to take them up on it. We made a lunch, bundled the kids up, decided on one stroller only, and take off - walking the 1.5 blocks to our El station. Luck has it that the money machines are not working, so the attendant had to let us in for free. Change trains at Howard to take the Red line downtown. I love the train station platforms here in Chicago! They all have heaters that you can stand under. Way better than the cold German and Dutch platforms. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the station and walk the 2-3 blocks to the Institute. It was SO COLD out there. I definitely needed another layer. The Art Institute was PACKED OUT. I guess b/c of the free admission. There was a homeless guy outside selling those magazines with the tagline "admission to the institute is free today, so you can spare $2 for a magazine". Good idea. We get inside - there is actually a line out the door to get in, in the super super cold - and plan our route, picking 2 areas to check out. We knew the kids would only last so long, so we just picked the most promising. Zach started getting pretty whiny at one point, so we put him in the stroller and Wyatt in the Ergobaby. That did not please Zach who wanted for DaU to get him "uppa". So he was a bit of a pill for awhile. Wyatt was well behaved though. We'd been there for about an hour and it was getting time for lunch. I nursed Wyatt first in the infant care room in the ladies bathroom (nice!), then we headed downstairs to the cafeteria. We were hoping we could just buy a drink or something and park it at a table and eat the lunch we brought. No such luck. They were pretty strict on people getting in line and going through. So Art went and found us a great place to sit and have lunch. Several other families had the same idea. After we ate, we were all pretty exhausted, so we started the long trek home. Wyatt fell asleep in the Ergobaby, and so we put him in the stroller once we got on the train - Zach wanted to look out the window. Zachary was getting very very tired and kept asking for his paci so he could take a nap. I didn't bring it of course, so he just had to wait until we got home, then he passed out. It was a fun day, but exhausting of course. When we got home, I took off for a ladies get-together from church and Art stayed home. We were too beat to even go out for our usual Zoba's, so we ate waffles! :) Good end to a good day.

Some things we saw:
Monet painting for the bridge outside his home. We took this picture because we saw this actual bridge when we went to France over Easter in 2007 and toured Monet's house and gardens. So cool to see a famous painting depicting a scene we have seen in real life.


Art with Wyatt in the Ergobaby and Zach pouting in the stroller. Art would stand in the middle of the room and I would go look at the paintings up close, then we would switch. Zach was interested in some of the paintings and such for awhile. He really liked this "big bed" that was on display in the Asian section. He said that when he gets big he's going to sleep on that bed. So funny.


Here is a painting that I really liked. I forgot to write down the title and artist. I guess I can look it up.


Here is a painting that Art really liked. He liked all the vibrant colors.


Here is the long hall in the Art Institute. There were statues and artifacts and paintings all in the hallway.


Art holding a cuddly Zach near the beginning of the visit. I got in trouble with this picture b/c I had forgotten to turn the flash off. Two separate museum attendants swooped down on me.


Famous Van Gogh self portrait. We spent a good deal of time, as Art would say, "paying homage to his people". We also both really liked the painting of his bedroom. The paintings hanging on the wall of the bedroom (a painting within a painting) were also of his works - a self portrait and something else.


Here is a picture of Staci's favorite (don't know if it still is) painting that she used to have a poster of. I was shocked by the size of it. It is huge. I wish I had panned out some so you could see how large it is. You can kind of tell - there is a guy wearing a black coat standing to the right of the painting. Amazing really. So talented.


Here is a painting that Art and I both really liked. Again, we did not write down, or take a picture of, the title, artist and description.

Wyatt's big boy crib

Uggh. It took me WAY WAY WAY too long to put this crib together. It is a very old crib given to us by Art's parents. There were no instructions or anything. Just lots and lots and lots and lots of screws that had to come out and go back in, then out again (b/c I put something on backwards), then in again. Repeat. It made us long for the Krom heirloom bed that Zachary used in Duesseldorf. That bed was wonderful, and so easy to put together. However, it did finally get put together. We finally have decided to kick Wyatt out of our bedroom. He's been sleeping in the playroom for a few weeks while we got him used to sleeping away from us, and while he was being weaned from his night nursing. Had I known it would have been so easy we would have done that a few months ago. No screaming and holding over and over through the night like with Zach. Small tangent. I got the bed put together today, but Sunday is going to be the first night that Wyatt is going to sleep in his big bed (because we are taking a trip to Wisconsin this weekend). The big bed is in the same room with Zachary's toddler bed. They will be sharing a bedroom at least while we live here in Chicago and likely for many many years to come. Zach says he is very excited, but we'll see how it really goes. He has been correcting me when I say "Zach's room". He says "no mommy, it's Zachy AND Wyatt's room." Pardon me!

Here are some pictures of both boys in the crib for the first time. Zach is "helping" Wyatt get used to his new bed. Zach was even so kind as to allow Wyatt to use his "red car, blue car" sheets since the sports sheets earmarked for Wyatt's bed were not clean.

02.04.09 Zachary - budding performer

Zachary loves to sing. Loves even more to sing with his inflatable microphone. Here I finally caught a brief moment of his performance. It's hard to make out what he's singing b/c he is being so silly. He's singing "Jesus Loves Me".