Cousins!

11 days ago, my cousin Ember had a beautiful baby boy named Luka. I impatiently waited 9 days before I could get to Arlington to meet him... He's absolutely precious and it was SO awesome to introduce Zanna and Wyatt to their baby cousin. Cousins have been some of my very best friends throughout my life, so I look forward to Z and Wy having those special relationships too.

Happy Halloween!!

Zanna was uber-excited about everything related to Halloween!
We ate "mummy dogs" for dinner (z calls them "mommy dogs") and then she and Cam carved a jack-o-lantern just in the nick of time, and we got all dolled up as a sparkle pink rose flower pot and a bumblebee. But, just as we were leaving the house to galavant around the neighborhood in a search for too much candy, Zanna's costume had a malfunction. So, in comes Jenny Sims to the rescue! She had sent us, by way of her mom-in-law, adorable princess and frog costumes. So, we caught a few cute pics in the first set of costumes, quickly had a wardrobe change, and headed out as a princess and an oh so kissable frog. Thanks Jenny and "mama Jo!" For saving the day!
Here's pics of our Halloween fun.

Fun with pumpkins!

If you have too much time on your hands, you could spend it going back through this blog to find 3 years worth of pictures of Zanna at the St. John's pumpkin patch. Or, you could believe me that they exist and that they're too cute for words, and just look at this yeAr's fun with pumpkins! ( plus a bonus pic of Zanna with Bone Jangles just for fun!!)

Pumpkin patch parade!

Today was the Day School's pumpkin patch parade. I made Zanna a "sparkle pink" rose flowerpot costume at her request, and she was adorable! Kudos to the blog clumsycrafter for the idea... Super cute! Did learn its a bit tough to walk in, but... Still the cutest thing ever!

Here are pictures of before and during....the little boy dressed as Dash is Thomas. He's Zanna's super good friend.

"Let the children come to me"

First Presbyterian has a beautiful tradition of having Children's Sabbath where the children of the church lead worship at both services, and since Zanna is 3, this was her first time to participate. She took her role as greeter very seriously and practiced so diligently at rehearsal on Saturday, working on shaking hands and saying "good morning, welcome to worship!" And this morning, she was ready to greet with a huge smile on her face and joy in her heart. For me, children's sabbath is one of my favorite Sundays...it is phenomenal to hear God's word read and proclaimed by kids.... Honesty in prayer and exuberance in worship!

Wyatt's new "Doc" band

Monday afternoon, Wyatt was fitted into his Doc band. He does not seem to mind it very much, and so far, we've had no problems. I have decided to decorate it with dinosaur decals so more pictures will come when I get the Dino decals in ;)

Oh, and as if getting a helmet weren't enough, we also fed Wyatt his first rice cereal on Monday evening. He loved it, though my hopes that it would bring about more sleep into our house are as of yet unfulfilled. Hopefully soon!

Running buddy

So Cam and I are "training" ( I use that word very loosely!) for a half-marathon at the Ed of January. Turns out, it's hard to find time to run... What with full-time jobs, two kids and all of the rest! Who would have thought?! :) well, today it is too beautiful to remain indoors, so I took Wyatt on his first adventure in the jogging stroller. He did great, I sweated up a storm, so I guess it was a win for everyone!

My little helmet-head

Wyatt was born with torticollis, a condition of tightened neck muscles from his in utero position. This tightening of neck muscles causes him to have a right head tilt and also not to be able to turn his head all the way to his left. Due to this, he developed a flat spot on the side of his head, because when he lies down, he lies on that one side, causing his skull to grow in other places and creating a flat spot. Yes, we did and do ample tummy time, it turns out that babies born with torticollis are likely to develop this flattening because of the amount of they now spend on their backs for sleeping. While sleeping on their back has greatly reduced death from SIDS, it has also increased the kiddos with flat spots like Wyatt's.

I mentioned Wyatt's "oddly-shaped" head to his pediatrician at his 4 month appointment and she recommended we visit Cranial Technologies to see if he's a candidate for a cranial band ( like a helmet you may have seen on babies). It turns out he definitely is a candidate with how severe his torticollis and flat spot are, so beginning next Monday, my sweet Wyatt will be a "helmet head" for a while. I was very anxious when I first learned he may need to do this, I felt guilty of doing something wrong to my baby boy, and nervous about him needing this corrective helmet. Now that we've been in twice to the Cranial Tech place, my guilt has subsided (some) as I now know it isn't something I did or did not do. I'm feeling still a little nervous about the process, but very hopeful that Wyatt will only wear it for a short time and that it will benefit him. If we were to not treat, it could be something that affects his facial alignment, which could then cAuse inner ear problems (affecting balance etc) and even airway compression making it difficult for him to breathe. So, if you were wondering, it's not simply cosmetic-if it were just looks, I don't know that we would change anything as he's perfect, flat spot and all. But knowing this could be something that impacts his health, we are glad to be able to help him. Next week, look forward to a picture of the cutest baby you've ever seen in a helmet!!! Until then, here's some pictures of him at the doc waiting for his photo shoot to measure his precious head....

Just one kid this weekend...

Zanna is visiting Mimi this weekend in Dallas for some good spoiling! They're going to go see the Little Mermaid play at her school and z has been telling everyone about it for weeks! I hope it lives up to her expectations. While she's gone, cam and I are trying to work in our jungle of a backyard so we can plant grass. I spent the better part of this morning moving the homemade irrigation system (huge bricks and PVC pipe) so Cam could use his new favorite toy, the tiller, to till up the earth. This project is LONG overdue, and if you have ever seen what passes as a backyard at our house, you know I'm not kidding when I say it's a DUMP! I can't wait to have grass and a playscape back there! I secretly wish we could be on one of those backyard transformation shows... It's definitely ugly enough to qualify :)
Anywho, the point of this blog was to say we only have Wyatt this weekend and its interesting noticing that he misses his sister. He is usually surrounded by the noises of a busy little girl, and typically pretty content to let her do the noise-making. Without her here, he's finding his voice :) he's been talking up a storm and then when it's too quiet, he looks around like " wait, where's my sister?!" It's pretty cute! I enjoyed getting to dote only on him this morning the way I used to with Zanna. We had some good giggles while he played on his mat this morning.. He even called Elmo (or maybe Zanna). I miss my punkin but know she's having a ball soaking up the undivided attention of her Mimi!!

Sibling love

Today, when I picked Wy up from school, he was SO excited to see Zanna-she walked into the room, and he lit up with a huge smile!!! I love to see them interact, and as I was putting stuff into the car, I happened to catch this amazing moment of love...I just LOVE these pictures!