ScrumpyDaddy

Zach is now 7 months old and 22 lbs. I cannot believe how time is flying. We had to move Zach out of his infant car seat into a convertible one, still facing backwards.

Zach is now rolling all over the place. We have to be careful what toys Abby is bringing into the living room. Can’t have Zach getting a hold of Abby’s small toys for her Barbies. Zach is also starting to get up on his knees and hands in the I want to crawl position. Soon enough we will have to put up the baby gates to confine him.

Zach has also decided to start eating his solid foods again. For a couple weeks he wasn’t opening his mouth so we stopped giving them to him. He has now had sweet potatoes, squash, and carrots along with rice cereal. We will be starting the greens next, peas and green beans. We will see how he likes those and then it will be on to fruits.

Lastly, Zach has a tooth. This past Saturday, Feb. 6th, I felt a tooth poking through on his bottom right side. It is not fully in yet, but you can see it if Zach opens his mouth and keeps his tongue out of the way.

Can’t wait to see what is next!

It’s official, a friend of my daughters this morning said, “Our house isn’t this much fun.” Yes! We’ve done it. We’ve become that cool house that the kids want to come visit and never leave.

Today we had neighbors of ours over for play time and lunch. They have 3 children. Their oldest is a year older than Abby, middle child is Abby’s age, and the youngest is a couple months older than Zach.

Abby loved showing them all her toys and her room. Abby has never before showed interest in playing in her room before today. They would go up and down the stairs and at times just stay up in her room for a while playing. On a winter day like this when it is only 26 degrees outside it is nice to have people over and let the kids run around and play while the adults talk. Abby is finally to the age where she doesn’t need mom or dad to play with her and can go off with other kids to play.

We had a great lunch of chicken tortellini soup with bread sticks and pumpkin pie for dessert. All homemade. We made the soup and pumpkin pie and our friends supplied the bread sticks. Yum all around!

Chicken Tortellini Soup (Recipe given to us by our best friends from Kentucky,thanks Candra):

Take a raw whole chicken with skin on and season with salt, garlic powder and poultry seasoning. Put in large stock pot with onions and celery and cover with water (we also put in a few shallots). Cover pot and boil for about 2 hours or until the chicken falls off the bones. Remove all chicken, bones, onions, and celery and put in separate bowl. Remove the chicken from the bones and discard bones along with the onions and celery (the boiling takes away all their flavor and puts it in the broth). Then saute onions and carrots together. Put the chicken, onions, carrots, and one can (with all juice) of diced tomatoes back in the broth. Cook up tortellini separate from the soup and do not put in the soup (if you do the tortellini will get too soft and break apart). To serve put tortellini in bowls and pour the soup over top. Serve with grated parmesan to top.

Try and enjoy with your friends!

That’s right folks, Zach’s vocabulary is growing. When I picked him up tonight from day care Zach started going la, la, la to me. Then while Dave and Zach were playing we swear he was saying Da da to Dave. The other day Dave was looking at pictures on his computer with Zach sitting on his lap and Dave pulled up a picture of Abby and Zach said Abba. We are waiting to see if he does it again to see if he is trying to say Abby.

So now Zach makes m, b, l, and d sounds. Keep it up big guy!

Zach is also doing well eating solid foods. Zach has solid foods once a day for dinner except on weekends when we usually try to give him something around lunch time too. He has been on rice cereal for several weeks now and we have started other food. He has had sweet potatoes and squash. Sweet potatoes were a bust, but so far he is really liking the squash. We will see if he ends up liking sweet potatoes later after trying some other things.

Today I wanted to take some time after writing so much about what Zach is doing to write an update on Abby. She is growing so much and becoming so independent and yet loves to play with Daddy and I. She can take out her own toys and play with what she wants while Dave and I are doing our own thing. Like right now she is getting out her cars while Dave is browsing the internet and I am writing this blog post.

She is really starting to play with imagination. She loves to play with dolls now especially in her new doll house that Dave and I made her for Christmas. She also plays with her baby dolls and stuffed animals (especially during nap time and bed time in her bed). She likes to make the dolls talk to each other and asks will you play with me (doll to doll). She also likes to get them undressed and have them go swimming or taking baths. She then needs help to get their clothes back on. Oh why do they make it so difficult for a 3 year old to put skin tight clothing on a Barbie or princess doll.

Today she got out one of her “baby” toys. A puppy that you press different parts of its body and it says different things. I really love it when she presses it and it sneezes. She always says bless you to it. She will also answer its questions or do what it tells her to, like giving it a hug when it says, “Hug me”. She can follow directions very well when she wants to. Though, since she is a typical 3 year old, she seems to have trouble listening to Mommy and Daddy and doing what we ask like, brushing her teeth, getting her pajamas on, getting her coat on to go outside, and other important stuff that we need her to do. Sometimes it can be such a fight for her to do some things that she does everyday.

Anyways, Abby loves arts and crafts. She plays with play dough and loves using the cut outs and presses that she has gotten from previous birthdays. Abby also loves to draw and color and is getting very good at making circles and trying to draw objects instead of just scribbling. She also concentrates when she colors in coloring books to try and stay in the lines. She is getting much better at that. She also can spend a long time painting. Yesterday she spent about 45 minutes painting with her easel after making valentine hearts to hang up on the windows.

Abby is very much into the Disney movies, especially the princesses. I think her favorite is Ariel. She likes to sing like Ariel and loves to watch the movie or listen to the tape of the songs.

I know this was a long post and there are so many other things I can say about her because she does something new and wonderful every day. It is hard to pick what exactly to write about.