The Zwickl Family

The Pennsylvania Zwickls

2011-10-31T16:22:00.038-04:00

Hello from Coraopolis, Pennsylvania!

We are all officially living in our apartment in Coraopolis now. I have been meaning to update you all on what's been going on, but I seem to have forgotten how impossible it is to get "quiet" time with a new baby and 3 year old. This brings multitasking to a new level. :) So here's a bit of what we've been doing.

The Aquarium
Before we left Denver, we needed to make one last trip to the Aquarium, one of Connor's favorite places. We were disappointed in the food (we ate in the restaurant, and I swear the last time was a lot better, both food and service wise), but the animal part was pretty fun.

Connor was pushing his stuffed shark against the tank, and the otter tried to follow it wherever he moved it. It was too cute!

Looking for sharks!

The Race
Every year, we always do the Race for the Cure in Denver. This year, I couldn't go (I figured that since I got tired driving myself to the dentist the week before, I was probably still not up to walking a 5K). I went back and forth deciding on if I should just go downtown with Ethan and wait for Mom and Shannon and Connor to finish, but in the end, Ethan and I just stayed home. But Mom, Shannon, and Connor enjoyed themselves.

Apparently, Connor isn't as much as a morning person.

What's better than one drum?

Two drums...

AND playing with your Auntie!

Party!
We had a big party at my parents house October 8th, celebrating Andrew's birthday (who was back in town), Connor's birthday, Ethan's arrival, and our departure.

Originally, I had wanted to get a bouncy castle for Connor's birthday, but Colorado weather decided to give us a present - a bunch of snow. So while we decided it was not going to work to send a bunch of 3-year-olds outside in 30 degree weather, I still needed to do something so that these kids wouldn't be bored. Enter a pinata. While it doesn't necessarily sound like a good idea to give our attack-happy 3-year old a stick and tell him to beat something until candy comes out, it worked out pretty well. At first, the kids didn't quite know what to do, but they figured it out when candy started falling. I'd say it was a success!

Yes, that is my father's night stick. And no, no one got hurt.

A sample of the too much food:

Andrew's birthday cookie, Connor's birthday cake, and

"Welcome Ethan" cupcakes. Yum!

The rest of the party was very enjoyable for us - we got to spend some time catching up with people we hadn't seen in a while and have one last hurrah before leaving. We even managed to get a small game of blitz in by the end of the night. It was really a lot of fun, but bittersweet. We're really really going to miss all our friends and family, but we're looking forward to visits - on both ends.

Go East Young Man
Andrew's parents came up on the 12th and took Connor on an airplane with them so that he didn't have to make the cross country trip again. This worked out well for us, so Shannon, Mom, Ethan and I had a little more space in the car and freedom to travel. We left Colorado on the 13th, at about 6:30 or so. The first night, we made our goal of Colby, KS (which has the best play area in the world!). The next day, we hit Wamego, KS for the Wizard of Oz Museum - which was pretty cool.

Ethan - as expected - napped a lot in the car.

Mom - as not expected - napped every time she was in the backseat.
Apparently, not driving is boring.

Ethan was sleeping. Until I posed for the
"Poppies! Poppies will make them sleep. Sleep!" picture.
Go figure.

We really made good time and managed to get just outside of St. Louis by that night. We knew that if we made it to St. Louis, we'd be able to make it all the way to PA by the next night, so it was really nice when we were able to pull up to the apartment on Saturday night. Ethan did really well during the car ride - though by the end, he was definitely done with being in the car seat. The few times that he really cried hard, he just wanted to be held. Poor baby! It was great when we finally were able to take a bit of a brake from having to strap him into the car seat.

Seeing the Sites in PA
Of course, after we got here, it was time to go site seeing! Sunday we ate at the Hard Rock (both our Mom's are huge fans and collect pins), and then rode the Monongahela Incline, which was pretty neat.

The view up from the bottom. Apparently, back in the steel days, the people of Pittsburgh needed a cheap way to get to the bottom of the hills to go to and from work every day. I think round trip was something like a nickle. There are only two inclines left in operation.

My silly husband who makes faces...

And then tolerates my need to constantly take pictures.

The view at the top. It was actually really pretty.

Monday, Andrew had to go back to work, but his parents, Mom, Shannon, the boys and I all Rode the Duck in downtown Pittsburgh. Andrew, Connor and I did one of these in Seattle, and I'm pretty convinced now that these are really fun and informative. I learned a lot about the city in the hour trip - plus, Connor got to "drive" the boat - the highlight of his day!

Apparently, the sun always - and only - shines on Mom. :)

See - Ethan was there, too! Just mostly warm in his carrier.

Connor LOVED being up front "driving" on the water. I really thought that he'd have a fit when the guy had him switch so that another little kid could drive, but he got up with no problem. And then we had some extra time on the way back, so Connor got to go up a second time and drive. He had a blast!

Tuesday, we had lunch with Andrew at Jersey Mike's (such a good Philly Cheese steak!!), and then Shannon and Mom had to leave that afternoon, which was pretty sad for us all. Andrew's parents stayed until the following Monday, so we got some more site seeing in. We hit the Children's Museum the next weekend, and also managed to get to the Trax Farm pumpkin patch. It was really nice to have them here for the extra days, and the help was greatly appreciated. And Connor really enjoyed having his Grandma and Grandpa here.

This was a wind tunnel thing that Connor didn't want to get out of. He had fun chasing the balls and throwing the fabric in the air to watch the wind catch it.

No, I didn't tilt the camera. The room is at like a 45 degree angle (I can't remember the reason, but it has something to do with gravity, I think). It was incredibly difficult for me to walk in - blame it on my flip flops. And the black & white checkered floor!!

Andrew and I got so excited when we saw this (even though you can't see it too well).
It's UrSol, the Chanter, from The Dark Crystal.

Building - and flying - a Rocket with Daddy

The 3rd level of the Museum has this big pool for the kids to play in. Connor really really likes water, so he didn't want to leave. And I, of course, didn't put the rain coat they supplied on until after he was already pretty wet. Thank goodness I still kept a change of clothes in the diaper bag for him!

Ethan, deep in thought.

Who doesn't want to play with a giant light bright?!

Or in a giant maze?

It's Mister Roger's Sweater!! Won't you be my neighbor?

King of Pumpkin Mountain!

Ethan loves sleeping on Daddy.

Trying to get a picture of Ethan's face while he sleeps on Daddy.

Picking out a pumpkin!

Looking for some grass for the goats...

And then feeding it to them.

Riding the trailer around the farm.

Riding on the train.

Officially 3
Connor is officially 3 now, and I wanted to quickly catch you up on his development. Aside from the smartest child in the world (gush gush), when we got his official 3-year check up in Denver before we left, he measured in at 37 3/4" (she tried hard to get the 38" from him, but he's just slightly below it), and 35 lbs, which puts him at the 50% and 55% respectively. I'm hoping that he gets at least to 40" by August, when we plan to go to Disney World, so that he can ride some of the "bigger" rides. Anyway, I think he's huge, but mostly it's because he's more than half my height. :) We just measured him again here last weekend, and by our airplane growth chart, he's hit the 38". He just keeps getting so big!!

I love this one, because he's almost got that devilish look on his face...
He definitely acts like it!

He continues to talk a ton about everything, and cracks me up when he repeats phrases that he's heard, like "Uh huh, yeah" randomly in a conversation. He still says things are "doog" instead of "good" and "Donnor" instead of "Connor" (though it is getting closer), but I really think most of the time I completely understand what he's saying. He has so much energy that I could make a fortune if I could bottle it and sell - or at least take some of it for myself! "Yesterday" is pretty much any day that isn't today or tomorrow. And he likes to tell people that "We're going to Disney World to see Capt'n Hook!" (You can see his "hook" pose in the previous post...). He gets that it's next year, but I can't wait until it's here, because he's going to have such a blast. And to Andrew's dismay, he picked up "Fist pump, push up, Chapstick" from a Jersey Shore episode Shannon and I were watching months ago. He does the actions - as best a 3-year-old can. We didn't encourage it, but it's hilarious. :)

He's also progressing really well in potty training. He's wearing underwear all the time now, and we have had only one accident so far (knock on wood), fortunately, when we were at home. He likes to go to the bathroom with his toys, and says, "Let's talk about the animals." And then he'll talk about dinos or one of his bath toys. He's even going to the bathroom by himself now, and then moves the potty so that he can reach the sink to wash his hands. I was standing next to him in the bathroom and asked if he wanted help, and he says, "No - I can do it by myself." He's such a big boy! But he still needs help getting those clothes back on, though he is getting better. :)

He's always very interested in what you like - "Do you like snakes?" or "Do you like spiders?" are very common questions for him to ask people - even strangers. He also likes to say, "Remember when we saw (blank) at the (blank)?" Fill in blank with any animal and place - like sting rays and aquarium. He brings up stuff we did weeks or months ago all the time. And of course, he still LOVES dinosaurs. And wants to watch Jurassic Park every day. And say "Remember when the T-Rex ate the Raptors in Jurassic Park?" Well, at least he's not squeamish, right? :) Dinosaur Train is one of his favorite shows (PBS - it's so good - even for adults!) and he knows a ton of dinosaur names - he's even pretty good with pronunciation. And he's really good at naming them correctly (scientific names, though he also has "Bob" and "Spike" and "Hammerhead" - and his snake, Ian). His signature move still is, of course, a roar (again, even to strangers). Getting him to take a picture without either bringing a dino up to hide his face or his hands up like claws is rather difficult. But he's getting better.

The perfect example of the "dino in front of my face" pose from Connor.

And then the claws.

And again... I probably have half of all Connor pictures just like this. With claws.

Because what's a picture without them? That's right - a boring picture.

Waking up from a nap. I loved his hair!

My sweet Baby... Getting so big!

Before the roar... and the claws.

2 Months!
Ethan is now 2 months old - and I can't believe how big he is! We had to find a doctor out here, which was a bit of a challenge, but we looked on the Children's Hospital website and found someone close. While I don't like them as much as the people in Parker (it's probably just psychological 'cause Andrew thought the Doctor was fine), they seem nice. Ethan got three shots and an oral, and it's just never easy to watch them stick one of my kids and then have him scream. Poor Ethan! But once I was able to pick him up and cuddle him, he calmed down.

He definitely has my head. :) At 16", he's at 50%. He's also 23 1/4", and 11 lbs, 12 oz - and almost completely too big for newborn clothes (I'm the hold out on that one, I think - if there are no feeties, then I still put him in. They're just too cute!). He also does really well with nursing (although he has "nicked" me a couple of times with that tooth - but not too bad), and he does really well most nights - last feeding at 10:30 or 11pm, and then maybe 3:30 or 4:00 - sometimes at late as 5 am! I love it. Not every night is like this, but more often than not, so it definitely helps on the sleep front.

He's also awake a lot more during the day now, showing us those beautiful blue eyes. I had to remind myself to give him tummy time, since I get nervous putting him on the floor (he does have a rambunctious older brother who likes "runny time"), but we're getting better about laying him down. While he hasn't yet turned over, he really enjoys tummy time, and I don't think it's too far out in the future.

First Bath... It went well. He definitely loves the water as much as his brother...

Getting out, however, is a different story.

Just one week...

and still too small for the swing.

One Month - and the 'hawk is still natural. :)

One Month - I think this is my favorite. He looks so sweet!

Tummy time!

Streeetch!

2 Months! I had to take it quickly before he fell over! :)

"Enough Pictures, Mom!"

Because he is.

Brothers

Connor does really adore his baby brother - he always wants to hold him and hug him and sing to him. Yesterday, he went and got a book and started "reading" to him (I wish I'd gotten a picture, but we were in the middle of making dinner!). He's always concerned about Ethan - if he's crying, he'll tell Andrew or me "I think Ethan wants you" or that "He's hungry!" Unfortunately, he has tried to pick Ethan up by himself once or twice - under the pretense of needing to burp him. Fortunately, Ethan seems to be pretty tough and can handle the love that Connor dishes out.

The only thing that puts Connor off is the spit up - he's always worried Ethan will spit up on him! And he's not too keen on the really loud crying. Connor will put his hands over his ears when he thinks Ethan is too loud - or he'll just take his toys and leave the room! But sometimes he gets upset when Ethan is upset - he just wants him to be okay. It's really cute how much he loves his baby brother.

A quick, drive by kiss from big brother.

Every time Ethan has tummy time, Connor wants to lay down with him, too.

And then, of course, "they" want their picture taken.

I don't know why this one won't flip... Annoying.

But I LOVE this picture.

They're both "rocking and a rolling", according to Connor.

Halloween

Our Monster & Policeman

We went to the Zoo on the Sunday before Halloween (originally - we planned on going on Saturday, but it snowed - and even though we're no strangers to the snow, we decided to wait for Sunday). They had Trick or Treating, and since we got the membership and knew we could get in free, we figured it would be fun to go. So we bundled the kids up and headed down. Connor had a lot of fun, and got to practice his "Trick or Treat's" and "Thank You" and "Happy Halloween's" for the actual day. He did end up with quite a bit of candy - and he had a blast. Ethan stayed nice and warm in the stroller - and slept through the whole thing. :)

We got so many compliments on Connor's costume. Everyone loved it!

(It probably helps that he growls at everyone, right?)

I told Andrew I was going to start telling people that I made it.

He said he doubted that even I could keep a straight face. Funny guy I married.

Andrew and Connor in front of the Stargate. We got a kick out of seeing it. The museum had this really elaborate "haunted house" thing to go through, and part of is was supposed to be Egyptian. Andrew and I had just made some obscure Stargate comment, turned a corner, and then saw it.

Hilarious. Well, we thought so. :)

See - Ethan was just snug as a bug in a... stroller.

Until we let him out at home. :)

It was a subdued holiday for us this year - no pumpkin carving parties or anything like that. As I said earlier, we did get to a pumpkin patch, which was really nice. We picked out our own pumpkins, though one ended up rotting a bit too much by Halloween (I ended up just drawing on it with a marker). The other, Connor and I carved on Halloween. He had a lot of fun watching mommy cut the lid, scoop out seeds, and trace the pattern. Next year, maybe he'll be able to do one all by himself.

Double Double Toil and Trouble.

No, it's not a witch playing guitar (Shannon!).

It's a witch stirring a cauldron. Hello?!

The apartment complex gave us flyer's to put on the door to let people know we were participating in Halloween - and apparently, a lot of people had candy, but there weren't a lot of kids going out. Andrew did take Connor (while I stayed at home with Ethan to hand out candy) and came back with way too much candy (And a not so big thank you guy who gave out KING SIZE bars... yummy!). We only got two little groups of kids, though. I have to assume that most of the people with kids took them to neighbourhoods or something. We ended up with a bunch of leftover candy that Andrew - thankfully - took to work to get rid of. The people at his work are less than thrilled - and full of candy.

Football Hall of Fame
This past weekend, we made our way to Canton, OH, where the NFL has their Hall of Fame. Andrew has a friend who is working in Toledo, and we met him there for this "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" (Andrew's argument? That we'd never just get on a plane to go - so I ceded the point). Actually, the visit was more enjoyable than I'd anticipated, and we may even go back, if they finish renovations before we leave this end of the country.

Andrew & Connor with Denver's John Elway (top) and Detroit's Barry Sanders (bottom),

who Andrew loved when he was a kid.

John Elway

Shannon Sharp

This was a 3D Hologram. It was amazing - very Star Trek.

It's the future, people, the future!

Connor LOVED picking up the little phones at each screen.

I told Andrew I was ready for an upgrade to my ring. :)

Connor tried designing it. Mommy kept saying "More Diamonds!"

With the Vince Lombardi trophy.

Why am I the only one smiling?

We wanted to get to Cleveland to the zoo since we can get in free (I've heard it's really good, and it does look bigger than the Pittsburgh), but we didn't make it this time. There's also the Melt Bar & Grilled that Andrew saw from a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives episode that we want to try (apparently, everything in the form of grilled cheese - my favorite!), so we'll have to try again and do both.

On Tap
Well, that just about gets us current. :) We've got a lot of things coming up - we're going to New Jersey to visit some of my family for Thanksgiving, and then we'll be heading back to CO for Christmas. Connor, Ethan and I will be leaving PA on the 11th, and Andrew will follow us on the 22nd. After Christmas, we'll head to AZ to see Andrew's parents, and then we'll be back in PA.

We're also hoping to make it to see Santa before we leave PA, and maybe get to the zoo one more time. And then our overall mission is to go find some restaurants that we've seen on TV - Restaurant Impossible, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and Cupcake Wars. We've got some research ahead, but I did find a Cupcake Wars winner (with a store front!) in Phoenix, so we're planning to make that one.

Helping Daddy put together his new dresser.
He had so much fun with the dresser, bookshelf and storage shelves.

Last but not least, we're still working on getting everything organized in our new home - which also includes the mad dash to continue to go through everything and donate as much as we can (we have WAY too much stuff). To Andrew's delight (sarcasm), we also have picked up a new book case (apparently, after eight years together, it's still *shocking* that his wife reads), a new dresser for Connor, and a storage/shelf thing for Connor's toys. And since Christmas is coming, it's time to sort through those toys, or two little boys aren't allowed any toys. :)

So - it's always busy for the Pittsburgh Zwickls. :) Until next time...

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PS - Love the new blogger - SO much easier to post and edit... This really will make it easier for me to keep up. I'm so happy.

Welcome Ethan Thomas Zwickl!

2011-09-22T00:28:00.000-04:00

Ethan Thomas Zwickl

September 9, 9:23 am

7 lbs 11 oz, 19 3/4"

If you haven't heard yet, we have a new member of our family!

Ethan managed to wait until the scheduled C-section on September 9th. To be ironic, after we "checked in" and I was hooked up to everything, I actually started having contractions at a somewhat regular interval. Of course, at the time, I was just wondering why I was getting really uncomfortable pains, but the nurse clued me in when she came in and said, "Hmm. The baby didn't like that contraction." Apparently, Ethan a) was very sure he was going to be born on the 9th, and b) like his brother, had a heart rate that declined with each of my (little) contractions. So I guess it was a good thing we were already there and ready for a C-section!

I will say that this time, the whole thing went a little smoother than last time - since it wasn't an emergency. Everyone who wanted to see us before the surgery was allowed to hang out - and there was quite a party going on in my room before hand. Both Andrew and my mom changed into their scrubs to accompany me in the OR, and my doctor got started a little after 9 am. It took them slightly longer this time to open me up due to the scar tissue on the inside of my abdomen, but at 9:23 am, I heard the sweet sound of a crying baby with a healthy set of lungs.

Andrew and Mom had to leave with Ethan shortly after his birth, and unlike last time, I stayed awake for the "put the mommy back together" part. I didn't see anything (other than a blue sheet!), but it was kind of interesting to hear them count all their tools ("Scissors - one, two, three, four... where's five?" "Oh! Here's five!"), and I'm glad to say that everything was accounted for - and not left inside me! My recovery was in the regular OR instead of the maternity, due to a shortage of something (I was never sure if it was nurses or space, but the ward was really not crowded), so it delayed my getting to be with everyone again, and they couldn't bring Ethan down for me to nurse him. But, about an hour later, they had me in our room and I got to hold my newborn again.

Nursing this time, I'm pleased to say, is going much better. And my milk came in much sooner, as well, so Ethan didn't lose as much weight as Connor did (Ethan's low, the night before we left, was 7 lbs 1 oz - don't worry, at our first check up last week, he was already up to 7 lbs 3.4 oz). We had a ton of visitors, and it was a nice stay, but we couldn't wait to get home. We were able to check out on Monday, and have been slowly working ourselves into a routine. (Poor Connor didn't like that Mommy AND Daddy weren't home at night, but the new bed time book Auntie Shannon bought for him, "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight" really made bedtime easier).

I had thought that Ethan might "come" with a cell phone (as my not-quite-3 year old can work my phone almost better than me) or a helmet (since his big brother is... well, let's call him tough), but neither item was clutched in his hand when he was born. He did, however, come with a tooth. I know - very odd. But when he was born, he had a small bump on his gum, lower left, and it baffled the staff, which of course, was not super reassuring. But, the general consensus was that it was most likely a tooth. When we went to the pediatrician for his check up, he also wasn't sure, so he sent us to get x-ray's at the hospital across the street. It took a little longer than we would have liked, primarily because they had to discuss how to do an x-ray on someone so small (Ethan was 5 days old), but they confirmed that it was a tooth and it did have roots (had it not had roots, they would have pulled it so it did not come loose and go down his throat). Long story short, Ethan, and his tooth, are doing well. :)

I'm doing mostly okay - because of the scar tissue, as I mentioned, it's going to take a bit longer for me to heal completely. I can't pick up Connor, which is hard, and it's difficult to constantly remind him not to jump on mommy. I get sharp pains on the left side of my incision, but my doctor told us this is just the nerves regrowing. Andrew has decided that it means we should celebrate each time I'm in pain because "Yeah! My nerves are regrowing." This does make laughter through tears possible. :) The first couple days were the hardest - holding Ethan while I'm trying to get up is still not the best idea. But we're getting better, and if I go slow, I can carry him up and down the stairs. But I definitely see the difference between the first recovery and the second - and this one is definitely slower.

Connor is thrilled to be a big brother. He wants to hold Ethan all the time, and gives him kisses and "pets" him. He really loves to call him "sweetheart" and when Baby Ethan cries, tells him "It's okay, It's okay" or "Don't cry, Baby Ethan, I'm right here." Every morning, he says, "Good morning Baby Ethan!" and then turns to me and says, "I said Good Morning to Ethan!" We do have to remind him not to push on him and that he needs to be gentle (he's also obsessed with Ethan's eyes - and tried to help him open them, much to my dismay). But Connor really does adore him. He didn't like Ethan's umbilical cord (or, "belly cord" as Connor called it), and he got a little worried the first time he saw me nursing Ethan (and then lift his shirt and asked if he could nurse him, too). And now he talks about how when he was born, he was little like Ethan. All in all, he's really adjusting well to having a new baby brother.

Andrew came home Thursday night, the 8th, and was able to stay until this past Sunday (the 18th), and it was really good to have him home. He got to spend a lot of time with both of his boys, which hopefully will tide us over until we see him in three weeks when he comes back. Our plan now is to head back to Pittsburgh the weekend of October 14th - and then we'll all be together for a long time.

Well, that is the update for now. Enjoy the pictures! :)

Connor, getting ready for surgery. :) No, he wasn't allowed into the OR - but the nice nurse gave us the hairnet and face mask (which he didn't like) so he could play, too. He was obviously having fun.

I think this one is my favorite. :)

Or this one...

Ethan!

Daddy, Connor and Ethan. Connor LOVES holding Ethan - and has even tried to do it all by

himself. Poor Ethan will have to be tough.

Hanging out at the hospital.

Some of our "visitors"...

Nana & Ethan

Grandma & Grandpa

Adam & Jamie - Jamie is also holding their baby, Reid, as well as Ethan.

Jamie & Heather, with all three of the Zwickl grandchildren.
Reid is HUGE compared to Ethan.

Grandma & Ethan

Nana, Ethan, Connor & Dziadzi

Brittany, Elizabeth & Ethan

Shannon, Connor, Ethan, Heather & Maria

Sleepy Connor and Daddy

Big Brother and Little Brother taking a nap.

You'd almost think we posed them this way.

Leaving the hospital.

Our Family

Back in Colorado Again... For Now

2011-08-24T11:20:00.022-04:00

Hello!

I figured I ought to try to get another posting done soon just to let you all know what's going on in our world. Connor and I are now back in Colorado - Andrew, Connor and I started out our LONG road trip back on August 12th - the day after we celebrated our 4 year anniversary, not that we did much (next year hopefully we'll do something crazy fun!). We left about 1pm in the afternoon on Friday, made it to St. Louis that night, and then Saturday at 10pm local time pulled into my parents drive way and then collapsed into bed. We felt like we made good time, considering how many times we had to stop for some pregnant lady and so that Connor didn't go crazy.

Andrew left that Sunday afternoon, but not before we got to meet the newest member of the Zwickl family. His brother Adam and his wife Jamie had a baby on August 1st, so we stopped by their house to meet Reid. Very tiny! You forget how small they are. Andrew's parent's were in town, as well, and they got to see both their grandsons. Connor adored Reid - which makes me all the more excited for him to be a big brother. He's going to be such a good big brother.

It's been a busy summer for weddings for us. We were invited to four within a two month window, and I went to another one with my sister. The last one is literally one week after we have our baby, so unfortunately, we will not be able to make it. Andrew did make it back the weekend after we drove back to CO for his friend Scott's wedding reception on the 18th, so it was nice to see him again. He's coming home for Labor Day weekend Saturday morning, leaving Monday night, and then coming back in on Thursday night, since we have to check in to the hospital at the unearthly hour of 6am on Friday, September 9.

COUNT DOWN
Speaking of the hospital, we do have most things ready for the baby. I say that probably to make myself feel better. I haven't packed a bag for the "stay" (the baby knows that we're having a scheduled C-Section, right?), organized the temporary bedroom he and Connor will be sharing until we make it back to Coraopolis, haven't gotten the pack and play from storage... etc. But, at least we're scheduled for surgery. Obviously, I've got a lot to get done in the last week before the baby makes his appearance.

So, I'm at 38 weeks now. I'm tired. I'm sore. I'm tired. I'd love to sleep in a position without feeling a sharp pain in my hip/leg. And I'd really like to sleep on my side. I miss bending over. And sitting in a seat without 19 cushions. But, all in all, the pregnancy hasn't been that bad (of course, it's easy to say that with one week left, right!). It did not go a smoothly as Connor's, and we obviously had a totally different set of events going on with Andrew in PA and us in CO, and this baby firmly settled on my nerves, but thankfully, everyone has been healthy and there were no complications. So we are very lucky and blessed to have had that. But seriously - I'd love to sleep...

When we came back from PA, I did end up going back to work for my old boss for a few weeks - she'd finally hired someone who started literally the day after we got back into town. So, what initially was supposed to be a few hours a day, a few days a week, turned into a bit more because there was so much to do and apparently, I'm addicted. I officially stopped working again on Tuesday, my last day, because Maria had to start working and couldn't watch Connor for me. I did bring some work to do at home, but now I'm going to try to "relax" and get ready for the baby for the next week.

I do have a ton to do, as I mentioned, but I also have to try to find Doctors for us to go to in Coraopolis, as well (so if anyone knows of a good OB/GYN and pediatrician in the eastern Pittsburgh area near Coraopolis, please let me know! It's incredibly intimidating to see 15 pages of names to look at... and pick one!). As I said before, we're not totally sure how things will happen at the end of September/beginning of October, but we are tentatively planning to "recover" for four weeks or so before heading to PA. Of course, nothing is set in stone, so we'll see.

On an exciting note, we did have a Sprinkle for the baby last weekend - instead of a full on shower, we just had a smaller celebration for the new baby. It started out as a surprise for me, but then Shannon and Mom decided that since I lived here, it would be a tad bit difficult to explain what they were doing as they cleaned and made enough food for an army (we still have some left overs - let me know if you want a pinwheel or some queso!). It was really nice to do something special for this one, especially since I just feel like everything has been a little chaotic (our own fault, of course - we could have just moved to PA way back in April and it would have been totally different... but that would have been just too easy!). So I have some cute new things for our baby, and some gift cards that we'll use in PA since we won't be able to transport much when we head back. Andrew and I are really very appreciative of our wonderful family and friends.

Not too much else is going on right now, so I guess I'll go ahead and start uploading pictures. :) We'll catch up again in about a week - hopefully, we'll be able to get pictures up of our new addition soon after he's made his arrival. Stay tuned!

PICTURES
As I continue to be too lazy to try to fit these pictures into the dialogue, here are some of the things we've been up to the past month.

Connor with baby Reid - and Aunt Jamie & Uncle Adam. He was having a great time kissing and pretending to tickle him. Fast forward a few years, and I'm sure they'll be best friends. :)

Connor showing Uncle Adam the neat app for the Jedi Light Saber. This is where Uncle Adam decided he needed this app on his phone, too. As an aside, I think babies are born with phones now. Connor knows how to work my phone almost better than me!

Baby Reid Matthew Zwickl

Aunt Heather & Baby Reid

Connor with his Godfather

Uncle Andrew and Baby Reid

Connor at the Botanical Gardens at Chatfield - the reception site for Scott and Amanda's wedding. He had so much fun running around! I, on the other hand, was less than pleased about the mosquito bites on my belly - and I was wearing a long dress!

Our attempt at a family picture too late in the night.

We went to the Denver Museum on the 20th. Andrew and Connor tried docking the space shuttle together - Connor was a little more distracted by everything else.

Andrew then became determined to get it docked - once his engineering brain determined how the little fans on the sides worked!

Successfully docked within the lines. He was quite pleased.

This is a really cool table that spins the Earth bigger or smaller - again, Connor lost interest before the adults - Shannon and I couldn't stop spinning it and watching as the pole was huge, then small... then huge... It was ridiculous. :)

Connor and a Pirate display... we probably shouldn't have done it, but it was too hard to resist. I wonder if someone from the Museum saw it they'd revoke our membership?

Connor's skeleton - sort of. The old Hall of Life has a new name and a ton of new stuff. This skeleton (or muscle or nerve screen) moved to match your body movements. Connor was fascinated.

At the rock climbing wall.

They also have a display that records you running - or in my case, slowly walking - and your image. Connor had to be held back so that we all could do it without having two images, as was the case with Andrew's image, which kept fluctuating between them. In case you were wondering, my energy score was a 1. Surprised? Neither was I. Though my waddle was much more pronounced than I thought it was!

Connor - obviously much smaller than the dinos we'd come to see.

Andrew is so good about my need to take our picture. His radiant smile says it all. Secretly, I think he likes taking pictures as much as making me crazy because I just keep taking it until I have a good one.

Or until my mom grabs the camera and makes him smile - sort of.

Pirate Connor, discussing "Captain Hook" - who he is most excited to meet when we go to Disney next year. He's very good at showing you the "hook." And in case you didn't know, Captain Hook is waiting for us.

The amazingly awesome watermelon baby carriage my mom made for the shower. Tasty!

Baby Miles - getting so big!!

Connor showing Ella his Tag Leap Frog - they played so well together!

And all smiles!

The extremely delicious and pretty cake.

My helpers.

The second funniest thing? My "Look! Monkey's in the hood" double meaning comment.

The funniest? All the aunties arguing about which one was being to refered to by the bib. :)

And So It Begins

2011-08-01T12:49:00.000-04:00

Hello All!

It's been a LONG time since I've updated our blog - mostly, once I started working agian, I didn't seem to have the time (or the will?) to regularly update our blog. But so much has changed in the last year and a half, and I'm actively trying to get caught up, especially since there are so many changes going on in our small but growing family.

Moving Day is Nearly Here
It's semi-official - Andrew was offered a job in the Pittsburgh, PA area back in March, and he's been working since April with periodic trips back to Denver. I worked until the first week of July, and now Connor and I have joined Andrew in our new home in Coraopolis, PA (just outside of Pittsburgh). We're sort of temporarily here, since Connor and I will go back to Denver in a few weeks (current plan is to drive back on August 12th) because we want to have our new baby in Denver.

So we're slowly settling into the new apartment and getting familiar with our new home. We have travelled around a bit, and made it up to Erie, PA to check out Lake Erie the first weekend after we moved, and this past weekend, we went to NJ to see some of my family. Both excursions were a bit of a road trip (2 1/2 hours one way to Erie, 5 1/2-6 hours one way to NJ), but totally worth it. This weekend, we're planning on staying a bit closer to home and are thinking zoo or something local, since we're not too far from another long road trip back to Denver.

We did manage to get our house sold - it was on the market for just over three months when we got the offer, and we closed on July 25th. It worked out really well for us, since we were starting to get nervous. It would be a lie to say I wasn't pretty sad when we were officially moving out of it, but it's really nice to not have to worry about a mortgage payment - and the rest of the things that go along with the house. I'm going to miss my nice kitchen and bathroom, though, and hopefully, it won't be too long before we get to be homeowners again.

Baby Updates
We're almost at 34 weeks now. If you haven't heard, we're having another boy, and no, we do not have a name yet. We get to fight over he same names that we already have, so it's slow going. Plus, it doesn't help that Andrew and I were together less this pregnancy, so we couldn't talk about it as much as we did the first time. But I assure you, we will have a name for our new little bundle of boy joy. :)

Pregnancy this time has not been as "easy," so to speak. The baby has been on my nerves - literally! He's sitting on my sciatic nerve (and some other nerve I can't remember the name of) and so I've been quite uncomfortable since about the third month or so of my pregnancy. Totally different than the first time, when I don't remember much discomfort until I was pretty close to the end. In this way, I feel like I've been pregnant for a LONG time. And it is getting pretty exciting that we're getting close to meeting the little guy who likes to kick me so much.

We have a scheduled C-Section (since I had to have one with Connor) on September 9th. We sort of picked the date - my doctor wanted to do it on the 6th, one week before my due date. But we liked the idea of having the baby on a Friday since you get extra "time off" and it also gives the baby a few extra days of development. Or protection from Connor, if you want to look at it that way. :) Also, we really liked the novelty of having a 10/10 baby (Connor) and a 09/09 baby (new baby). We've already discussed that when the amnesia sets in and we're ready to have baby #3 (which is supposed to be a girl, by the way!), we'll have to make sure we plan for 08/08.

Connor
Connor is almost three now - the time has gone by SO quickly. I can't believe how much he's grown. He speaks very clearly in full sentences and can count up to 15, knows his ABCs, and loves to sing. He even has started making up his own verses of songs - instead of the Itsy Bitsy Spider, it's sometimes the Itsy Bitsy Mama! Or Dada! And Baa Baa Black sheep has "one for the little Connor who lives down the lane." He's incredibly creative and imaginative, and he'll crack me up when he's playing by himself with his Dino's or animals and the things that he says to them.

He's very sensitive to boo boos and always wants to kiss them if he sees a one. He smiles a lot and laughs a ton. He tells me when he doesn't want to go down for a nap that he's "not nappy!", but then falls asleep in minutes anyway. He's pretty picky about having mommy rock him, though - he doesn't like it when Andrew does it, or really, anyone else. I am a little worried about what we'll do when we have the new baby, but I'm sure we'll be okay.

Connor really enjoys being in the water - he can't get enough. He doesn't wear swimmies, or like being in a tube too much, so he pretty much has to be carried or pulled in the water unless it's really shallow. Every day Daddy comes home from work, he asks to go the pool. He'll grab the bag that we usually carry all the towels in and stuff and just start heading for the door. It's pretty hard to say no. :)

We're slowly working on potty training. My original plan was to have him trained by the time the new baby comes, but I don't think we'll be all the way there. But we're getting close! Generally, we do really well after he wakes up. After a successful attempt, he has a "Yeah, Pee Pee in the Potty Oreo Cookie!" He's so funny. We're just trying to get him to understand when he needs to go he needs to tell us. He's been really good about being in the shower or bath and saying he needs to potty, and then he'll get out and go. So we're pretty optimistic that in the next few months, we'll have a completely potty trained Connor.

Above all, it's REALLY REALLY nice to be together again - the first morning he woke up that we were out here, he was like, "Where's Daddy?" He always asked that back in Denver, and I would tell him "Daddy's at work." When I told him that this time, he got a little sad look and said, "Oh - we have to take him to the airport." I tried to explain that Daddy would be home at the end of the day, but I don't think he fully understood until Daddy walked through the door a little after 5. The smile on his face was a mile wide. And then he asked to go to the pool. :)

Pictures
Because I give up trying to fit the pictures into the dialogue above, and there are a lot of pictures over the past several months, I'm just going to post them together at the end and put notes below...

The weekend we drove Andrew out in April - the Rockies just happened to be playing the Pirates at PNC Park and we had to come see them. Fortunately for us, the Rox were still on their winning run, and we got to see them win AND have fireworks!

The really amazing view of deer right outside the corporate apartment Andrew had when he first was out here. Unfortunately, the apartment was near nothing (shopping, food, airport, Andrew's work), so we found one a little more convenient for us. While we no longer have deer just outside the balcony, we do have a pretty spacious 2 Bed/2 Bath 1100+ SF apartment that will suit us for now.

It has become a tradition of sorts to go to a Rockies game for my birthday - unfortunately, the first attempt this year met with a snow-cancelled game. We managed to reschedule at a time when most everyone was able to make it (there were like 17 of us!). And again, the Rockies gave us a huge victory.

My dad took Connor to the Denver Aquarium in June, and it's amazing to see how big Connor is getting! He had a BLAST at the Aquarium, and still talks about how Dziadzia took him to the aquarium and he saw sharks.

The B-17 visited us and the airport had a little plane that Connor was able to "ride" - since he was too little to peddle a la Fred Flintstone, Shannon pushed him around in a circle a couple of times. He LOVED it. We did get to go through the plane (my dad took his second flight as well). After watching Shannon climb into the plane and have to get on all fours before standing up, I wisely decided that I would skip the front and went to the back to see if I could just go through there, where the wonderful staff were very accommodating to my un-suckable in belly and inability to navigate stairs easily.

We took Connor to the Ren Fest, and he had a ton of fun. He really liked the Joust with the horses, rode the butterfly ride and fed some animals - and got his very own sword and shield (which is STILL his favorite thing to play with - even though we have to take it away when he gets too excited and hits things he shouldn't be - like Mommy or Daddy!). He also got to ride an elephant (my mom was the only willing volunteer to ride with him). The day went really well, and I managed okay with the walking and sitting.

June was a long month - Andrew wasn't able to make it home at all, so it was so nice when he finally came home for the 4th of July weekend. He also came home the next weekend for a friend's wedding (between the two of us, by Summer's end, we'll have made it to FIVE weddings). This one was in Nathrop, CO, just outside of Buena Vista. Really pretty. And look at the huge baby belly!

The moving crew after they unpacked the truck in less than a tenth the time it took to load it. I didn't do much because I'm restricted to holding anything heavier than a pillow (officially 20 lbs, but they won't let me hold anything!). But Connor and I instructed them all very nicely. :) My Uncle Jim, his daughters Melissa and Hailey, my Grandpa, and my cousin John and his girlfriend Anne Marie all came up from NJ to help. And Connor rewarded Hailey (he just ADORED her) by attacking with a (foam) sword Shannon bought him from Target for a $1. Later, Uncle Jim - not Connor - broke it.

Just a cute picture of Connor, "hiding" and then hanging out in his chair with his Panda.

At Lake Erie - we went to Beach 11 at Presque Isle State Park - where there was no E Coli scare, and where it was in a sheltered bay and had shallow water. It was PERFECT for Connor, because there were no waves and it was really very calm. And of course, Daddy let Connor "bury" him in the sand. They probably played for at least half an hour, just building stuff and then desroying it, and piling sand on Daddy. And when it came time to take our self portrait, Connor would smile until the last second and then turn in to Andrew. He did this three times before we got a half decent picture. He was so funny.

Notice the waves - this is a different beach we drove around to at the park, on the unsheltered side. After seeing them - and the breakers! - we realized that it was really good that I'd looked a little bit of the park up. Connor would not have lasted very long in these waves - and the water got much deeper pretty fast. It was also really neat to see such a large body of water that wasn't ocean. Kinda different for those of us used to land locked Colorado.

Before Connor passed out in the car, we stopped at this place right outside the park for some ice cream. Connor actually really enjoyed it!

We had a lot of fun in our (short) NJ trip this past weekend. I'm annoyed I didn't take more pictures, but I guess we were having too much fun. :) My grandpa and Andrew took Connor to the stables that border the back of my uncle's property, and Connor hesitantly touched a horse (maybe next time, we'll actually get him on top of one!). And no, we didn't put Connor in the trunk - he climbed in himself. The last one is a picture of my Aunt Barb, Uncle Larry, and Pop Pop with us after dinner at Mastori's.

Looking Forward
Well, that about sums it all up. I will try to be much better about updating, though it will be a little difficult once we do go back to Denver, since my computer is staying in PA. But, hopefully, I'll manage. We'll be back in Denver until probably the end of September, and then we'll be trying to settle back in Coraopolis with a brand new baby, who I'm sure will be as much a handful as his big brother.

See you soon!

UM... YEAH...

2010-02-21T01:19:00.001-05:00

Like I even need to mention that I'm horrible at actually attempting to keep people up to date on what we Zwickl's are doing... I actually can't believe that I've been as bad at is as I have, and unfortunately, I have no desire to actually catalog almost six months of what we've done... so, I guess I'll just hit the highlights. :) Pictures always take the longest, so in interest of actually getting this up, you'll have to wait until I can get my act together. :) I promise, soon...

NEW JERSEY
In August, Connor and I went New Jersey with Mom, Dad and Shannon. Andrew ended up not being able to go with us, since he needed to be in WA before we would be back. So, Andrew and I spent a nice night out to celebrate our anniversary before we left - dinner and The Proposal (hilarious!). The flight went well, and Connor is actually becoming an amazing traveler! He's gotten on a plane more times than most 1 year olds, I wager. Anyway, we landed in Philly quite late, and then headed to Dad's parent's house to stay. Mom, Dad, and Shannon all went to NY the next day to see the Yankees play (they won) while Connor and I hung out with the family. Mom and Dad stayed there, while Shannon, Connor and I headed to another Uncle's house to sleep in the best bed ever. We were really quite busy over the week that we were there, but it was really nice to see people we hadn't seen in a while, and let them all meet Connor, who was walking quite well.

WASHINGTON
From August t0 January, Andrew was "assigned" to Richland, WA, to work at the Hanford site (it's where they were working on some of the pieces for the Atomic Bomb during the 40's.). They've been working on cleaning it up for the last 40 years, and apparently, there's no end in site. Andrew's deal was that he worked for three weeks, came home Thursday nights, and then went back Sunday night. He was gone quite a bit, which none of us liked, but it was better than no job. He was able to spend a lot of vacation up and be home about ten days each for Thanksgiving and Christmas, which was definitely nice. In the time that Andrew was in Washington, Connor and I got to visit three times - basically two weeks each time. The first time, we focused on the Tri-Cities area (Richland, Kenewick, Pasco), the second time we visited Seattle, and the third, we just drove a lot from Seattle to Portland. Again - Connor has flown a lot, and he's done really well.

BIRTHDAYS
Because of the 3 week plan, Andrew wasn't able to be home for his birthday on Oct 5th, but he came home the weekend after - which was Connor's birthday, on the 10th. We celebrated Andrew's birthday when he came home, and Connor practiced opening presents with Daddy. On Saturday, Connor's actually birthday, we had a big party to celebrate. The original plan included grilling outside, but the weather did not want to cooperate, so the whole celebration was in confined to the house. Andrew's parents and grandma flew in from AZ, and it was nice to see them again. We also had quite a bit of his extended family come, as well, which was nice since we don't normally see too much of them outside of summer. Connor didn't quite know what to do with his birthday cake (no smashing from my little guy), and he wasn't very good at opening his presents - he was much more excited about playing with the toys afterwards. He did end up coming down with croup right after his birthday - which he ended up "fighting" while we were in Seattle - but he managed to get through it like a trooper.

HALLOWEEN
Andrew was able to be home for Halloween, so he got to go Trick-Or-Treating with us. Connor's costume? He was a turtle. :) And so flipping cute it was ridiculous. We took him out in my parents neighborhood (because of course Nana and Dziadzia - the new correct version of grandpa in Polish - had to go with), and managed to get quite a bit of loot. It was a little chilly, but Connor's costume was basically little pants and a coat with a hood, so he stayed pretty warm. He really enjoyed holding his bucket - and afterwards, could get enough of dumping his candy out and then putting it back in, and then dumping it out... He actually still plays with the bucket a lot now. And we're pretty sure that he'll have a ton of fun next year...

THE HOLIDAYS
November and December - and pretty much January and February - flew by quickly! Like I mentioned before, Andrew was able to be home a lot for Thanksgiving, so we got some good family time. Thanksgiving was a pretty quite affair - just dinner with my parents and siblings.
Pre-Christmas, we had dinner with Andrew's brother/wife and sister, and then Ellen and her boyfriend Dan joined the Palombi's for dinner Christmas day. Christmas was pretty fun though - Connor had a blast with opening presents. At least, at first. He was a wee bit spoiled (okay, a lot bit spoiled), so there was a ton of stuff for him to open, and after a while, he was just done. But he did really well. Shannon got a Wii, and we spent entirely too much time (and continue to spend too much time!) playing Super Mario Bros. Andrew, Connor and I stayed at my parents both Christmas Eve and Christmas night - Christmas night was because it suddenly was 10PM, and none of us (Andrew, Shannon, Maria and I) were ready to stop playing! Really, I still get excited about going over to my parents 'cause I just want to play! We did get to see our Hawaii-based friends, the Gomes', when they visited, which was nice, but unfortunately, weren't able to spend much time with them since we headed to AZ pretty much right after they got in.
We spent New Years in AZ with Andrew's family - and this time, Adam/Jamie and Ellen/Dan were all there during the same time. Ron, Andrew's Dad, had to go to airport like seven times in five days for all the travel! We were down the longest, from Tuesday to Saturday, so we got to do quite a bit, including the Phoenix Zoo. We really had a nice time, and are hoping that we can make it down again sometime before next winter.
The Monday after we got back, Andrew had to head back to WA, my grandparents came in on Tuesday, and then Connor and I headed to WA, too, until the 20th. Again - January just flew by. But we had a nice time with my grandparents, who I wish we could see more often (we're also hoping that New Jersey will make it into our travel plans this year).

JOB STATUS
Unfortunately, the funding for the project Andrew was on ran out in the middle of January, and then was officially laid off February 1st. When we came home in January, there was a possibility of him going back to WA on a different project, but it didn't work out. So, right now, Andrew is doing the stay-at-home-dad thing. Which, fortunately enough, works out since I'm finally back to work. Yes, after a year of being the stay-at-home-mom, I was able to find something. I'm now working as the Admin/Office Manager for a promotional company. It's basically a two-woman show - myself and Linda, who I knew from IOM (we used to work with her for various promo products). She worked with mom quite a bit, and we still kept in touch, and when her office manager told her she was moving (after 10 years), she knew that I was looking for something, and long story short(ish), I started work on February 3rd. I've been there a few weeks now, and I'm really enjoying it. A lot to learn, but really interesting. Now, we're just crossing our fingers that it doesn't take too long for Andrew to find something - although he and Connor are enjoying their extensive time together after not being able to see each other all that regularly.

THINGS CONNOR DOES/SAYS

Connor does seem to favor Dada a lot now. He's always running to get him, and freaks out a bit when he can't have him. But he still loves me, too. :) He's getting SO BIG! We just had his 16-month appointment - he's 31 1/2" (50%), weighs 26 lbs 14 oz (60%), and his head measures in the 95% (like that's a surprise!). He has a bunch of words now other than Dada and Mama - balloon (which is really more like brrrrr but always means balloon), book, ball, buh-bye, bath, more, that. Andrew's also taught him to point to his mouth when he's hungry - which he does all the time! Our little guy loves to eat. We've started letting him use a spoon, and it's just messy time when he does it. But he's definitely getting better at it. He LOVES bath time (in fact, we have to s-p-e-l-l it if we're talking about it and not giving him one, since he gets so excited about them!) and it's tough to get him out of the tub. He's running all over the place, loves to go up and down stairs, holds hands with us when we're walking, hugs his stuffed toys (as well as any other baby he can get his hands on!), and loves learning. He's always pointing to everything thing and asking "That?" Andrew does a very good job at explaining it all to him. :) He just got over a small bout with RSV (a respiratory virus which apparently normally puts babies in the hospital, but Connor must not have had a severe case at all) and an ear infection. They couldn't give us anything for the RSV, but he was on antibiotics for two weeks for the ear infection - and consequently got a pretty evil case of diaper rash. Fortunately, the ear infection, RSV and diaper rash have disappeared. We've also had a couple BIG milestones - Connor is officially weaned, and sleeps through the night - in the crib. Weaning was actually much easier than I thought it would be, and since we were already doing it pretty much only at night, right before bed, I wasn't in any pain once I stopped (which is great, because we all know how much I don't like pain!). We are the happiest sleeping parents on the planet. :) And really, I think Connor is sleeping much better now, too, since he has all his own space.

IN SUMMATION
We're not sure what our 2010 plans hold, but hopefully, only good things will come our way. There are several places that we'd like to visit, but trips will be put on hold for a bit until we can get things settled in the job market. Andrew should graduate with his Masters this December - we're all anxious for that to happen, since he hates homework. He's taking two online classes now, since when registration came he wasn't sure where he'd be, and has two more left until he's done. We've also taken the last two seasons off from softball (Fall 'o9 and Spring '10) due to our crazy schedule, but hope to be back at it for summer, which should start registration around April or May. Right now, like the rest of the world, we're pretty addicted to the Olympics. We watch it as much as we can, and then get the updates from the web if the event is taking too long to get to the point and we have to go to bed. It's really annoying to us that they don't a) show more of the events and b) show the events when they're actually happening, but we still gobble up anything we can (this morning we watched women's curling, USA vs. Russia - and tried to understand what was going on... but it was the Olympics! So of course we watched!). Those of you on the East coast, I don't know how you can manage to stay up late enough! Whew!

Anyway, that wasn't too bad, I guess. Actually, typing this mess isn't too tough - it's the loading the pictures and the formatting that I hate. Ugh. So we'll see how much of the latter two I do. :) That's it for now. Hope things are going well - and I'm really going to try to update you all again... sometime... before summer. :) But don't hold your breath! We know how I am...

I hate blogging...

2009-08-04T02:11:00.001-04:00

So I don't know what happened to the font - formatting this is a nightmare for me... but since it's way past my bedtime, I'm just going to hope that you spend extra time trying to read the ridiculously small print. Sorry - next time, I think I'm going to just ignore making it look "pretty!" (And if any one has some tips for me, I'd love them! I have like a 24" screen, and I only get a 3" window to work with! Ugh! That's got to be another reason I'm so bad at this...).

Seriously? 10 Months?

2009-08-03T22:26:00.000-04:00

Okay - so it's almost official. I am probably the worst blogger in the world. Like, I remember that I have this thing that I should update, but I just never actually get around to doing it. Partially, it's because I really want a new camera so that I'll have my very own camera cord, but that's just not going to happen any time soon. So, combining my total procrastinating skills with my lack of camera cord, and throw in the constant sharing of a computer (I'll get to that later), it's taken me almost FOUR months to get around to updating the blog. So, without further adieu, I'll go ahead and update you on what's been going on with the Zwickl's for the last couple months. :) And trust me, there's a lot to cover (this could also be why I'm so slow -it's just piling up!).

WHERE TO START? (aka April)
According to Glinda, it's always best to start at the beginning. :) So, I guess the first "big" event was my 30th birthday. Yes - the dreaded 3-0. But I'm okay with it. :) I'm not so happy with Mother Nature, though, but that's okay. On my actual birthday, Shannon, Maria, Jeremy, Andrew, Connor and I all went to dinner at Carino's. I had originally planned to go to the zoo with everyone, but we had some crazy bad weather, and the rain just didn't cooperate.

Drinking a Peach Belini with Shannon

Sisters

So, the weekend after my birthday, we ventured to Coors Field to see our beloved Rockies play, after dinner at BD's Mongolian BBQ (my favorite place to eat downtown!). All in all, there were a bunch of us - Andrew, Connor, Shannon, Maria, Jeremy, Mom & Dad's P and Z, Elizabeth, Scott, and me. We were pretty lucky that we sat beneath the overhang in the first deck so that when it did rain (again!) we were a bit sheltered. The Rockies managed a 10-4 victory over the Dodgers (who we continue to follow in the league!).

Daddy and Connor walking to dinner at BDs Mongolian before the game

So alike!

Connor, Nana and Auntie Maria

Mommy and Connor

Shannon and Elizabeth

Jeremy and Maria

Heather & Andrew

Dad and Mom P, Dad & Mom Z (and Connor)

The Whole Crew

STANDING AND WALKING, SQUEALING AND GRUNTING
Connor's been moving quite quickly through the milestones. He pretty much mastered crawling at 6 months, and started moving super fast almost right away. Andrew and I have to be pretty quick to catch up to him. He quickly learned to climb the entire set of stairs - heavily supervised, of course, though now, he can make it up all of them by himself with us only "casually" watching. :) So, because he weighs a ton, it's nice to let him take himself up the stairs! :) He'd been pulling himself up on everything, and I used to joke that if the couch was a mile long, Connor could walk a mile. At about 8 1/2 months, he took his first un-assisted steps. It was so exciting. He was just playing with Andrew, and then suddenly, it was step-step-step, fall. He quickly had to repeat the effort, and has been walking as much as he can ever since. He's quite adventurous, and really likes moving around. I'm still not comfortable with him walking by himself on concrete or other hard surfaces for anything longer than a couple seconds, but I'm sure he'll be running in no time!

He's also started high fiving, and waving bye-bye and hello. It's crazy to watch the development process - one minute he can't do something, and then the next, he's doing it over and over. He's also quite talkative. Da-da-da-da comes out almost all the time, and we think he's figured out that Andrew is Da-da. Haven't had much repeat of the ma-ma, but that's okay. I know he loves me, too. :) He's also squealing and squeaking (and will mimic you if you make a little noise), and grunts/growls on command. It's so freakin' cute! Also, he loves making raspberries - and is quite good at getting everyone wet when he does it. Lately, he's also started laughing back if someone near him is laughing - it's like he's in on the joke. It's adorable. (Can I gush enough about my kid? Man!)

Connor still doesn't have any teeth, but I'm hoping that some will come in soon. I'd really like to start giving him some more table food, but I'm nervous about the teeth. We're trying little things, but he seems to be doing well with blueberries and other fruits, so I guess it's okay. In the last couple of weeks he's started being a little picky about eating his baby food - and I'm hoping it's just that he's teething or something like that, and not that he's given up the baby food all together. He's still nursing just fine, and we're pretty sure he's getting enough to eat (he's HUGE), so it's all working out okay. I'm just the worry-wart mom!

Here are a bunch of miscellaneous pictures of Connor throughout the last couple months...

APRIL

'Cause he's just too cute!

Crawling in the pen

MAY

Walking with the couch

Playing with the carseat

7 Months

8 Months

MAY AND JUNE
In May, Ella had her first birthday - and I can't believe that's she's getting so big! Her theme was Strawberry Shortcake (the coolest little girl ever!), and she had quite a crowd. Connor had fun playing with the other kiddos there.

Ella-Bella and her new car!

Connor & Izzy (and Mommy & Marie)

Blowing out the candles

My first Mother's day as an official Mom was nice - we didn't do much, but it was nice to just enjoy each other's company. My mom and Shannon also sent flowers to me (a heather plant, which I have so far managed not to kill), and I got some really nice cards from friends and family. We spent some family time at the bowling alley with my parents, and all had a pretty nice time. For Andrew's first Father's day, it was pretty much the same - just relaxing with the family, and enjoying our little guy who is growing like a weed!!

Andrew won some Rockies tickets at work, and we were able to go see a day game, so Connor got his second trip to Coors Field. We rode the light rail down - a first for both Connor and me - and then got to sit in the club level seating. By the way - I'm so club level seating people. :) It was really nice - but it was a little difficult with a baby. Connor didn't like it so much when everyone cheered, so Andrew and I took turns walking around with him once he started to get fussy. One of the ushers also let us know that Dinger, the mascot, was coming by, so we asked the people behind us to watch our stuff (they were really nice), and then both Andrew and I got to have a picture with Dinger. Even though we think it'll be a while before we take Connor again to a game, it was a lot of fun. :)

On the Lite Rail

Andrew, Dinger, Connor and Heather

May also gave us a couple of chances to get in the water with Connor - he loves bath time, so we figured he'd love pool time just as much - and we we're right! He just adores being in the water, and we try to get him there any chance we get. For Memorial Day, Andrew's Grandma Lorraine's pool was officially Connor's first dip. :)

Connor playing, ready to swim

Testing the water with Daddy

The family that swims together...

We also had a BBQ in June, and had our own baby pool for the babies, and that went okay - once we got enough hot water into it to make it not freezing! Connor and Ella liked it for a little bit, and they also had fun trying to get out of it!

Connor climbing out to Nana

Ella and Connor - ready to play!

The search for grass...

Corn Hole - Maria , Peter, Scott, and Jeremy

Our cousin Melissa made it out for a visit in June, which was really nice. She made it out the day of our BBQ, and stayed for about a week. Mostly, she got to hang out with Connor, Andrew and I at our house during the day until everyone else got off of work (which I'm grateful she didn't mind!), but we did have some pretty exciting outings. We went to Casa Bonita, since everyone who visits from out of town has to go there!

Heather, Connor, and Andrew

Connor - check the hat!

We also took Connor for his first Zoo trip - which was only okay for him. It did coincide with his 8-month birthday, where he also managed to get a nice bruise/rug burn on his cheek by somehow falling on the ottoman. This kid is going to give me an ulcer! Anyway, I think the zoo was really for us adults more so than him - he pretty much had the "tolerate it" baby look the whole time. He does get pretty excited about trees, so we had to let him touch those as often as he could. He did find a little rodent-like creature that he was fascinated with, and watched as it ran back and forth on the other side of the glass.

8 Months - and so happy!

Riding Daddy's shoulders

Melissa, Connor, and Mommy

Such a tall kid...

The peacock posed for us!

Shannon and Melissa with some kanga's!

Daddy, Connor and Mommy

Auntie Shannon and Connor

Connor was fascinated with this little guy!

Melissa also gave us an excuse to go down to Colorado Springs to visit the Garden of the Gods (which none of us had been to before) and Cave of the Winds. I think everyone had fun, and Connor did well for having his normal routine completely changed. We did get some pretty good pictures, though!

I love Colorado.

The Whole Group (Yeah tourists!)

A bored Andrew and Connor, and happy Shannon

Maria, Melissa and Shannon

CAVE OF THE WINDS

Melissa & Connor

Andrew, Connor and Heather - I'm so happy that Connor was smiling for this!

I also forget that Andrew is ridiculously taller than me until I see pictures...

Andrew carrying Connor through the caves... Connor lasted about half the tour in the Bjorn, and then we had to take turns carrying him...

Maria, Shannon & Melissa in the caves...

Heather & Maria - and she had way too fun. :)

We also went to another little girl's first birthday - our friend's Sara and Andy's daughter, Exia, turned one in June. And there were so many other little ones there, too! It was actually really neat to see what other babies close to Connor's age were doing. The babies were 9 or 10 months old, and at 8 months, Connor was moving the most - just pulling himself up on the tables and chairs and walking around. He was quite popular!

At the beginning of June, Andrew got put on standby at Washington Group. Basically, it's like being put on leave - he's still an employee of the company, and we still get benefits, but he's on an unpaid leave. There's the possibility of him going out of state for work (still as an employee of WGI) - basically a few weeks gone, and then home for a long weekend, then back out. We're crossing our fingers that the economy turns around and something happens soon (and for a short term project versus a long term one!), and the most likely candidate so far seems to be Washington state. It would be interesting if Andrew got an assignment like that, and Connor and I would probably go spend some time with him up wherever he ends up, since we're flexible for travel now. The not-so-great part, is, of course, that we've got to share the computer now, which makes it much more difficult for me to get that blog updated (any excuse, right?). But it is really nice that Andrew is home with us every day, and he's gotten to spend a lot of time with Connor.

Another highlight for June was that our local Sam's Club was sponsoring a Nathan's Hot Dog eating competition, and of course, Andrew had to participate. He had quite a crowd of people rooting for him, too! It was 5 minutes of all-you-can-eat hot dogs, and Andrew was one of maybe 12 people. He ended up standing between a police officer (in uniform) and a guy who probably had about thirty pounds on Andrew - and it ended up being where all the action was! The big guy came in 1st, with 8 1/2, the police officer 2nd with 7 1/2, and Andrew finished 3rd with 6 1/2. It was pretty neat to watch - not near as disgusting as watching it on TV on the 4th. :) After the amateur competition, there was a group of professional eaters (um, aren't we all?), and the guy who won ended up getting to be in the real competition on the 4th (he didn't win, but it was still neat to have someone from CO represent!!).

Getting ready to eat! (The guys on either side finished ahead of Andrew)

Eating

The super cool sign we made him!

JULY
Connor's first July Fourth celebration went well. We had the last hurrah at Andrew's parent's house (more on that later), which backs the golf course in Louisville, where they do the fireworks show. My parents and sisters also joined us up there, and there was quite a big group of us. Like every year, the fireworks end up looking like they're just for us. The show was shorter this year than last year (only about half as long as last year) - just another sign of the slow economy -but it was still amazing. My mom and Andrew's Dad took turns "playing" with Connor inside so that he could watch the show, and he actually watched for a little, but then he took a nap. :) Maybe next year he'll enjoy it all a little more!

Jamie & Heather

Mom, Shannon and Heather's temporary tat's - they were so fun!

Connor...

eating Nana's shoulder.

Showing off his walking skills

Getting ready for fireworks

Adam and Jamie got married on July 11th (national Slurpee day! 7/11!) in Crested Butte. We went up on Thursday, and Connor got his first road trip -with mixed reviews. It's about a 4 hour drive, which at some points, felt like longer (we did get a new car seat for Connor a few weeks before the trip, but he's still rear facing - at least for a few more months). Connor slept for a couple hours, and those were the best times. Once he was awake it took about 1/2 hour for him to decide that he was fed up with the car seat. So we had to pull over a couple times to feed and change him and let him stretch a bit (the ride back was the hardest - I climbed in the back seat with him to help entertain him, but he still cried straight for about an hour - poor baby!). Anyway, we stayed at Jamie's parent's condo, across the street from the base of the ski resort, which was nice. Friday was a beautiful sunny day - unfortunately, the wedding was on Saturday, and it rained. We had about a 30 minute delay to let the rain pass. Fortunately, Marshall, Jamie's dad, had stocked up on umbrella's, and they passed them out to all the guests. The umbrellas actually made for nice pictures. All in all, the wedding was pretty - and the wildflowers were beautiful.

9 Months!

Walking with Daddy

Checking out the things he's knocked to the floor

Connor and Mommy at the Rehearsal Dinner

Connor and an all dressed up Daddy!

Waiting in the car for the rain to go away...

Andrew and Ellen

The bridesmaids, Jamie's sister's Tosha and Katie (on the ends), and Ellen, holding the umbrella

Marshall and Jamie

The ceremony

The newest Mr. & Mrs. Zwickl

Walking away

Ellen & Andrew going up the aisle

Maria and Jeremy

Matt & Michelle

Shannon, Maria and Heather

Cutting the cake

July 15th was a historic day in the Denver-Metro area, and we were invaded by 5"kids" from Boston - NKOTB at Fiddlers! The best part, really, was that Jenn made it in from Hawaii, and Whitney came from California so that we could all go together. In total, there were 9 of us: Shannon, Maria, Brittany, Jenn, Whitney, Venessa, Elizabeth, Sarah (her sister-in-law), and me. Elizabeth and Brittany told us they had a surprise, which ended up being a limo - apparently the best way to get 9 people in one car, so that we could all talk and have fun. Honestly, it was awesome! We had so much fun, and it really was better than taking three cars. The concert, as expected, was pretty amazing, too! Jabbawockees opened, which was pretty neat, and then those five boys we've loved so much took the stage. We also were pretty lucky in that Donny and Danny ended up being on the corners of our row when they came into the audience to sing (I think I almost got crushed from the screaming women!), But we had an incredible time.

Peter, Blake and Ella hanging out in the limo before we left

Shannon taking a sip of something nasty!

Venessa and Brittany kissing the locket

They were so neat!

Elizabeth, Heather & Shannon

The Kids

Venessa in Danny heaven

The bunch of us crazy girls

Brittany & Heather

Whitney, Brittany & Jenn

Sarah, Elizabeth, Shannon & Maria

"You're like Baby, I'm like Swayze..."

Whitney & Heather

Maria, Shannon & Heather

Jenn and Whitney stayed a couple of days after the concert, too, and so before they left, we (Marie (Britt & Jenn's mom), Brittany, Ella, Jenn, Whitney, Lorelei, Connor and me) got to go to the zoo. It was fun to have a couple other babies for Connor to hang out with, even if he still was pretty much the "tolerate it" baby. I'm sure he'll like the zoo a bunch more in a year or so, but he did pretty well. Anyway, we had a good time. We missed Francis, Maddie and Taylor, but then Jenn let the good news out that they'd all be coming back for Christmas, so I can't wait to see them again, and so soon!

Excited baby Connor (who's not so baby anymore!)

Ella, in her borrowed shoes!

The baby crew - Connor, Ella and Lorelei

Whitney, Marie, and the babies

Two weeks after our Crested Butte trip, we took another road trip down to Arizona. Andrew's parents have "officially" moved to Arizona. They were selling the house, but ended up taking it off the market and letting Ellen rent it with some friends, so technically they still have a house here, but for all intents and purposes, they're Arizonians. So, with our open schedule, Andrew and I helped them move down to Mesa. We drove the Acura down Friday, stopped in Albuquerque (Sandia Casino) for the night, and then made it to their house Saturday afternoon. The drive was a little better this time for Connor, since we tried to maximize the time he'd be sleeping. Again, we just stopped when we needed to, and Andrew and I spent some time in the back seat to help keep him occupied. The last 45 minutes or so before we made it to Andrew's parents house, where there's really no place to stop, of course, was when Connor pretty much cried straight. Once we made it to the development his parents live in, he finally decided to sleep. Ironic. One of the neatest things about the trip is that Friday in he hotel room, Connor was showing us how much better he was getting walking, and then by the time we left Arizona on Wednesday, he was a hundred times better. It was just such an amazing example of babies learning process. He's able to walk, stop, change directions, bend down to pick something up, and start again - sometimes. :) Anyway, we flew out of Arizona Wednesday night, after having a two hour delay on our flight, which was supposed to leave at 5:20, and ended up leaving at about 7. The 5:20 would have worked, since I could have nursed Connor during take off, and hopefully, he would have slept, but the 7 delay made it so that he was up almost the whole flight before he decided to take a nap about fifteen minutes from landing. Go figure. But it was nice to see everyone and get a chance to go to AZ in the summer - just so that I never have to do it again. :) The high there was 115. It was generally in the 110's - but we spent most of the time inside, where there was AC. We did hit the pool, but that was early in the morning (like 9:30 or 10), before it got to hot. So I'm comfortable to continue to visit only in December, January, and February!

UPCOMING EVENTS
Well, I think I've managed to cover the big stuff... I've had to use my pictures as a guide - if I don't have pictures of it, I can't remember it! It's horrible getting old! :) We do have a new baby in our world, since our friend Diane had a little boy on July 9th - 4 weeks early. Little Braden Des Daniels was 5 lbs 15 oz, and 19 1/2" long. We just got to meet him (I know - it's horrible that I forgot to take pictures!), and he's so tiny! He's a shade under 7 lbs now, but still so long and skinny. When I held him, I couldn't get over the differences in my huge bohemeth of a baby, and the new little guy. :) Connor was totally curious about him, too - he kept trying to peek into the car seat and play with him. :) Maybe in a couple months. :)

We've got a couple things coming up - Connor and I, and hopefully Andrew, will be joining my parents and Shannon in a summer NJ visit, which I can't wait for. We'll leave on August 11th, and come back on the 18th. Andrew and I will also celebrate 2 years of married on the 11th (even though it feels like it's been so much longer!). Because (hopefully!) we'll both be on a flight, we'll try to do something this next weekend together to celebrate - probably something simple like dinner and a movie, but it'll be fun. I did have jury duty for 8/3, which I was super excited about, but I got excused (jurors 1-120 had to report, and I was 314 - oh well!). And we have Connor's 9-month check up (finally) on Tuesday, so we'll see how he's doing against all those other babies. :) We had to reschedule because of the AZ trip, and had planned on originally doing it late because of the wedding, so we're a bit behind. I'll try to update again after we get all the info. :)

I guess that's it for now... I'm keeping my finger's crossed that I'll do better about keeping this up to date. :) See you soon!!

6 Months!

2009-04-15T12:27:00.000-04:00

A couple people told me if I updated the blog more often, then it wouldn't take me so long when I finally do do it... so, here's my attempt at staying on top of it! :)

CHECK UP

Eating the paper

Crawling to Mommy

Not too much is going on with us - except Connor has hit the six-month milestone. And boy, that kid grows fast!! His doctor visit, which was exactly on his 6-month birthday, went well. When the nurse came in, Connor was sitting on the table, tearing up the paper and trying to eat it, and crawling all over the place. She said that she normally sees the 9 month old babies doing that. He weights 18 lbs (55th percentile), is 25 1/2" (15th percentile) long, and his head is 45 1/2 centimeters around (95th percentile). I'll take blame for how "short" he is so far (though I know he's going to sprout up soon!), but that head thing is totally his father's fault! :) Oddly enough, I still think he looks perfect. :) He also got one oral vaccine, and then three shots. The first little shot in his leg scared him and he jumped and then cried, and I almost cried with him. But the good news is that the next time we go, for his 9-month check up, there won't be any shots. Yeah!

He definitely is moving a lot more now - his crawling is slowly coming along now. He's managed to make it over my "speedbump" (basically, two pillows and a blanket!) for his "pen" (a bunch of pillows around his blanket), and he'll get all the way to the kitchen or the computer, depending on where we are. Yesterday, Andrew said he "escaped" twice, and then eventually got tired and fell asleep on the pillow. He's so cute. :)

EASTER

We had a super busy Easter weekend. We took Connor to his third Church visit. He actually did quite well - we sat near the inside aisle, so if I needed to, I could make a quick getaway to the hall or the bathroom, but there was no need for me to be an escape artist. :) He woke up shortly after we got there, and then was fascinated by the woman who was sitting behind us. The sit down-stand up process of the Catholic mass actually worked in our advantage, since Connor enjoyed standing (the kneeling part, not so much, so we skipped it). He enjoyed all the singing that we did, as well. He got a little fussy, but I was ready with the bottle, and so the whimpers never quite made it to wails. Afterwards, my dad had to show him off to his friend, Bob, the usher, and Father Bert. Then we went back to my parents for breakfast, where Connor got his first taste of OJ (which he liked!). We hit Andrew's Grandma Lorraine's for first Easter Dinner, where Connor got inundated with presents. Then back to my parents for second dinner, and more presents. :)

Tasting OJ

Easter Presents at GGma's

Chewing on the pacifier

(he plays with it all the time now - and it doesn't always go in the "right" way, because he likes to chew on the outside! Silly baby!)

Auntie Shannon "helping" with the basket

Fun Bathtime toys!

Connor and his Penguin (the coolest weeble!)

A side note - Connor went through three outfits on Easter. We're currently in between the diapers, too big for size 2's, and two small for 3's, and that poop is evil now that he's eating solids. It's annoying because sometimes it happens too quickly for me to get a picture in his cute clothes! His official Easter outfit was victim to a surprise "spray" (Shannon was changing his diaper, when suddenly we heard "May Day! May Day! Help!" - Connor had apparently got her - and his clothes! So then we put on another outfit, which he managed to poop through. Ugh! I love my bottle of Shout.)

ODDS & ENDS

What else... Well, I'm struggling to keep up with clipping those finger nails! If you look closely at some of the pictures, Connor's managed to scratch his face in various spots (right now, he's got an hours old scratch on his little cheek!). I feel like I'm getting them every day, but they just grow so fast. Grr! Anyway, he's also much better at napping - at least the past few days. I think he's going through a growth spurt (again, hoping for some more height!!). We also have given him a little bit of apple juice, and he could not get enough of it! We're going to work on using a sippy cup, but it comes out so fast right now, I'm a bit hesitant to give it to him - I just don't want him to basically pour it on himself! But he does do really well at eating time - he's actually trying to "feed" himself now - he grabs the spoon when I am feeding him, and tries to "help" bring it to his mouth. He's so silly! We've pretty much made it all the way through the fruits and veggies for stage one Gerber, so stage two isn't that far away! No teeth yet, but hopefully soon!

This Saturday is another milestone - my 30th birthday. Whew - it feels weird. I'm actually looking forward to it, which I totally hadn't expected. And though there are definitely days that I feel it, (exhibit one - on Easter, I was holding Connor, turned to my left slightly, and managed to twist my knee so that I hobbled for the next two days, and it still hurts a little bit!), I don't think of myself as "old" - which I always remember 30 being, when I was younger (ends with "teen"). I'm still struggling to figure out what exactly we'll be doing on Saturday, since my initial plan of going to the Zoo isn't going to work (curse you, weather!), but I'm sure it'll be fun. :)

That's it for now. Enjoy the miscellaneous pictures of our adorable baby boy! :)

Go Yankees! (Check out that baby belly!)

Escape from the Baby Pen!

Can I call you?

6 Months and driving! (We're parked, don't worry!)

How's my driving, Nana?

Daddy eating Connor

New Family Photo!

The Adorable Baby Connor!

Growing So Fast

2009-03-23T13:08:00.000-04:00

Hello Strangers! I know - it's been a while. But I've finally got some time, and a sleeping baby, so I'm going to try to catch you up on what's been happening at the Zwickl House for the last two months or so. :)

To begin with, we have a FIVE MONTH old baby! :) Connor is making so much progress with his development. It's amazing to watch him suddenly do something new one day, and by the next, it's a common occurrence. Most recently, he's taken to rocking on all fours. We know that crawling is not that far away (and boy, do we have some baby-proofing we'll need to get done!). But, let's start at the beginning. :)

CONNOR'S WORLD

On January 18th, Connor was baptised. Shannon and Adam were the Godparents. We had a nice ceremony at St. Therese Church (I was hoping that Father Bert, the priest who performed our Wedding Ceremony, would be able to baptise him, but unfortunately, he was sick). Connor wore the christening gown that Andrew, Adam, and Ellen wore, as well as Ron. So it was quite a Zwickl family tradition. :) He did okay during the ceremony - just a little bit of crying, but nothing that was too bad. He did, however, let out a nice big poop during the tail end of the ceremony, which was loud enough for anyone standing close by to hear. Ahh - that's our precious baby. :) Afterwards, we all headed to my parents house for a nice party and some good food.

Grandma and Nana getting Connor Ready

Connor and Mommy

Baptism

Daddy, Mommy, Connor, Uncle Adam, Aunt Shannon

The Yummy Cake

We also have hit the milestone of 3, 4, and 5 months. Connor's mastered the art of rolling over, from both tummy and back. The tummy thing moved slowly - he started doing it occasionally from about 1 month, but then was doing it all the time when he hit about 3 months. The back thing, though, moved much quicker. He did it once or twice on separate occasions, but then at about four months, it was go time. Now he spends almost all his time on his tummy. We'll put him down on his blanket on his back, and unless he's decided that he wants to play with his feet (which he does a good percent of the time), he's on his tummy, scooting around on the blanket looking for his toys (he's really good a grabbing them and bringing it to his mouth - he does that with everthing! Fingers included!). His current loves, by the way, are the catapillar that sings colors, numbers, and classical music, as well as any of the rattles he can work into his mouth. We think he's still working on some teeth - though nothing has broken the gum yet. He was drooling quite abit about two months ago, but things have slowed down a little on that front (thankfully!).

He's all smiles and giggles - and loves to see his reflection in the mirror (yesterday, he even tried to "eat" his reflection - because, you know, all things go in your mouth!). Whenever he's really unhappy about something (usually, being put down when he'd rather be held!), and we've picked him up to try to comfort him, we can usually take him over to see himself, and suddenly he'll just stare at himself. If we hold him close enough, he'll just start patting the glass to try to get to the baby on the other side. :) He talks all the time now, but nothing distinguishable yet. He's just practicing his sounds. He's so cute - he'll just sit there and start babbling. Andrew and I are each attempting to teach him dada and mama, but I think it'll be some time before he manages those. He's still really strong, and we "work" on walking all the time - sometimes he tries to take a step with the same foot he just moved. He's too cute. :) He also loves being tossed up in the air - he gets the biggest smiles and giggles out of that. And he's so inquisitive - if there's a new sound, he has to know what it is.

Connor has also been introduced to the joys of food - we started giving him two ounces of formula and cereal every morning in a bottle at a little over four months. I did try mixing it with breast milk, but then it got difficult to throw it away if he didn't want it, since I hate wasting it. So, the formula combo works the best. Apparently, we were supposed to be giving it to him on a spoon so he'd get used to eating that way, but it was just too liquidy to really manage, so the bottle won. He got the extra nutrition that he needed, and then I would just nurse him after the two ounces until he was full. On his 5-month birthday, we started with the "real" food - peas!! Yum. He did okay - the first couple spoonfuls went okay, since he's so used to opening his mouth for everything, but then he caught on, and decided he didn't like this thing called food. But he's caught on. So far, we've tried peas, pears, sweet potatoes, bannanas, and squash. It seems like the bannana's are his favorite, but there are still so many other's he needs to try. :) And he's still doing really well with nursing, so we'll keep that up for a while more.

Last month, Connor also got to meet his great-grandparents, my grandma and grandpa on my dad's side. I was 9 months old before they met me, but they managed to meet Connor just before he was 4 months. I believe that it was love at first site. :) Grandma did kiss dad before she got to Connor (because 29 years ago, when she met me, she walked right past my dad, and he's never gotten over it!). The great-grandparents and Connor had some nice time together - Connor kept telling Great-Grandma all these little secrets. :)

Bathtime is a newfound playtime for Connor. He has certainly mastered the art of splashing and kicking up the water. He loves it. It's funny that when we first gave him a bath, we couldn't get him out of there fast enough, but now, we let it stretch a bit before we pull him out. There's no tears or anything like that when we end bathtime, so at least that's nice. :) He doesn't have much hair to shampoo, but he's getting more than he had (of course, still nowhere near how much he had when he was born!). Although he can sit a little if he's supported, and sometimes he'll make it a minute by himself, he hasn't begun sitting up by himself yet (though not from lack of trying - he's using those stomach muscles a lot lately, and if you have laying down, he's trying to see what else is going on!). Since he's still a bit of a wriggler, bathing Connor is still a two person job - and, I think we both just enjoy it so much that it'll be a two-person job for a while. :)

Connor is growing so fast that I constantly have to go through his drawers and take out what's too small - he "tries on" a lot of the clothes, too! He's generally a good sport about, until I try on the fifth onesie in a row or so. :) He's also still getting over a cold - mostly over, just a little of the sniffles still - that Andrew brought home one day (we're actually all still trying to get over it!). The first couple nights were tough because he was so stuffed up, but he's gotten much better.

3 Months

Wearing Auntie Shannon's Shades

Peeking out

Standing with Mommy

4 Months

Sitting with Great-Grandpa

The man in the mirror

4 Generations!

Sleeping with Daddy

Staying warm at Softball

Playing with the Catapillar

5 Months

First Taste

Lounging in the bath

All Clean!

Super Baby!

(He constantly ends up with his bib backwards like this!)

Playing with Mommy

Sitting by myself

Ready for a walk

ANDREW & HEATHER

So what's been going on with us? Well, softball started up again at the end of February, so we're back on the field every Tuesday. So far, we're a very frustrated 1-4, but we've got three games left, so we'll see how we end it. This season is a bit unusual for us, since we normally finish in the top three, but there are only four teams total in our league. Hopefully summer will go a lot better. Connor has made it to most of the games so far, as well - he's a big fan. :) My parents normally watch him on the sidelines, and make sure he stays warm, since it's still a little cold. We've also had the mixed blessing that the majority of our games have been at 6pm, so the sun is still sometimes out. Of course, we have like three players who have a hard time making those early games, so we've been short once. In other news, Maria stumbled down the stairs last weekend and managed to break her toe, so she's out of the line up until, at the earliest, the beginning of the summer league.

Andrew is still working on his MBA, so he's gone until about 10pm or so on Monday's and Thursday's. He lives for those flex days, since he gets a three-day weekend every other weekend (although they fly by so quickly!). But the goal is December of 2010, and then he should be done. Neither of us can wait. :) Silly, but the part that I miss most is being able to plan dinner for the week. Since he's gone on Monday and Thursday, and we've got softball on Tuesday, we're ususally just down to Wednesday and Friday for nights that we can make and have dinner together (Sunday's are my parents, and Saturday is never a guarantee). He's not planning on taking classes this summer, which will be nice, so we'll look forward to having dinner time then. :)

I'm still looking for a job, though I'm enjoying my time with Connor immensly. I've found out that I'm eligible for unemployment benefits, which help a great deal, so it makes the stress of having to find a job, and care for Connor, a bit less. We've gotten a great routine down, as well. Each morning he sits in his bouncy chair (strapped in!) while I shower. Then we have cereal, watch Price Is Right, and then take a nap (he does, anyway!). It varies between 30 minutes to 2 hours, but usually I can work lunch in there and some time to catch up on a billion things, like laundry. The rest of the day changes, but with the weather, we've been able to work some walks in, which have been nice. I keep hoping the weather gets better because I want to take Connor to the Zoo! :)

Let's see... what's upcoming? Not too much. We're tentatively planning a trip to Las Vegas in May/June for the World Series of Poker, and we got Connor some little swimming trunks in anticipation of being in the pool (with how much he loves bathtime, we've high expectations of swim time!). Then there's Adam and Jamie's wedding in July - and we'll see if Connor's able to walk down the aisle since he's the ring bear! :) I'm also still hopeful about our big family trip to Florida in November, but we'll see how that plays out. Guess that's it for now... Connor's done a great job sitting content in his swing until right now, so I'll talk to you all later. :) Happy Spring!!

Time Does Fly!

2009-01-08T17:06:00.001-05:00

Hello all! Again, apologies for how long it takes me to update this blog. It's been busy at the Zwickl house! I'm still learning time management - which, let me tell you, is difficult, since Connor seems to think that all of the time is his. :) I imagine one day this will all be easier, however, I'm not sure that it's going to be any time soon. Right now, we just take one day at a time!

To start off with, we've missed a couple holidays. So let's back up and go through everything that's happened in the last couple months. :)

October
Connor's first Halloween was a nice, slow introduction to what I'm sure will become one of his favorite holidays. Connor and I went to lunch with Andrew, so we got to use the stroller for one of the first times (and let me tell you, we love the stroller! It's such a smooth ride!). Andrew was dressed as a Zombie, but I didn't dress up this year. We spent the evening before Halloween looking for a costume for our little guy, though! And let me tell you - there's very little in the costume department for three week old babies. :) But we did manage to find one costume that we figured worked better than anything else (okay, when you see the picture, you can tell that it was still way too big for him!).

Connor, in his primary outfit for the day!

On a walk with Daddy and Mommy

Andrew, the Zombie

Nana & Connor the policeman!

The night of Halloween, Andrew, Connor and I went over with Shannon, Elizabeth, Jim & Marie to Brittany and Peter's to watch them give out candy. We had fun eating pizza and watching the little kids in costume ("I'm a pterodactyl!" and "I got the white web in my white hair!" were the two best comments from some of our kids, and nearly caused Shannon and Elizabeth to wet their pants) . I'm sure next Halloween will be very different! (And hopefully, it will be easier to find Connor a costume!).

November
Andrew and I had our first "date" since Connor's birth - and it was the first time that I'd been away from Connor. The original plan was to go to dinner and a movie, but it was slightly adjusted. My cousin Jenn from NJ was out, and she and Shannon watched Connor while Andrew and I went to see Role Models (which was hilarious, by the way!). While they were watching him, they got one of our favorite pictures.

Baby Connor

Andrew and I ended up coming straight home after the movie, picking up Connor, Shannon and Jenn, and then going to dinner. We missed him too much!

Jenn, Heather, Shannon, Connor, & Maria

Connor had a milestone on his one month birthday - he rolled over from his tummy to his back for the first time - and the second. :) Dad, Shannon and I put him down and were playing with him on the carpet, and he started to make the motions like he was thinking about turning over. So we encouraged him, and to our surprise (and his!), he rolled over.

One Month Old Connor James

On the way to rolling over

Getting frustrated

Just after the rolling!

November also ushered in my first large stretch of time from Connor - New Kids on the Block came to town on the 14th. Because there was no way we were going to miss it, Shannon, Maria, Brittany, Elizabeth and I all had to see those Boston boys. We went to dinner and then enjoyed the show. It was an awesome concert - I really had fun, and only missed Connor a little bit... Okay - about half way through the show I was ready to go home, just because I was ready to go to sleep! I did my share of being the 30-ish mom standing and screaming, but the clock seriously hit like 9:30 and I started leaning in the seat... and then sitting... but the concert was still pretty great. The only "thing" missing was Venessa, Jenn and Whitney - but we thought of them and made a pretty sign (but, of course, I don't have any of those pictures! You'll have to go to Brittany's page for some).

Thanksgiving gave us two big meals, as we had our annual dual-Thanksgiving. This year, however, will be the last time we do that, since Andrew's parents are officially retired (at least his Dad is), and they've moved to Arizona. We had "first dinner" in Louisville about noon, watched some football, and then headed back down to Parker for "second dinner" (sometimes I feel like we're hobbits!).

Our First Thanksgiving

December
Connor definitely started smiling - and not the fleeting ones while he was sleeping. I tried several times to get those sleepy smiles, but to no avail. It's so nice to get those little "I know you!" smiles first thing in the morning when he wakes up. And he's a lot more "awake" now - we call him alert baby. Andrew is so good at getting those smiles from Connor, our happy baby. He's even laughing a little here and there, which is too cute!

My attempt to get the sleepy smile... I failed.

Andrew's company had a children's Christmas party on December 2nd, so we took Connor for his first trip to Santa, which I'm happy to say, he handled as a pro. There were no tears from this little guy. To him, it was just another person holding him. :) He's used to being passed around, and as long as he's held, he doesn't care.

Daddy & Connor at the party

Maria had her 28th birthday on December 8th, and we had a nice dinner at my parents (yum - spaghetti!) and celebrated the fact that Maria's getting old. :)

For Connor's two-month birthday, he managed to roll over, again! Two more times, and again, he surprised himself. :)

Two Month Old Connor

Sucking on his fist during tummy time - he loves it!

That next weekend was the "adult" Christmas party, and Connor had his first overnight trip to Nana and Jiaji's, since Andrew and I were staying the night. It was at the Sheraton downtown, and a really nice night. Andrew was busy most of the night, doing his presidential duties, and of course, he's not 100% happy with the way the whole evening turned out, but I think he did well. We also won as a door prize a free night at the hotel, so we're looking forward to another adult night. :) And in the morning, we were definitely ready to go get our little guy, since we missed him! The following Tuesday, we took him along to my Christmas party at Fitness Together, and he was a big hit - every one wanted to play with and hold him. And he was a good baby, and slept in his car seat in some of the weirdest positions.

He also had his first attempt at sleeping through the night on the 13th. It surprised me when I didn't wake up until a little after 6am. It was nice, but he hasn't done it again, since! Close, but not quite. :)

Venessa had her baby on December 23rd, a little boy named Isadore Asher Leffler (Izzy), so Connor will have yet another baby to play and grow up with. His little circle of friends is getting so big!! We haven't got the chance yet to meet the new little Leffler, but hopefully soon!

We had Christmas at my parents (Andrew, Connor, and I slept in my old bedroom), and watched the traditional Muppets Christmas Carol so we could say there was only one more sleep 'til Christmas... day. Christmas morning was fun - although Connor didn't really care about the presents. I held him on my lap and tried to have him "help" open his, but after about the third present, he was done. I'm sure next year will be more fun for him!

Connor in one of his giant Christmas bibs

Connor with all the presents

Shannon's birthday managed to fall on the same day that the Av's were playing the Red Wings, so we got tickets to the game. Shannon, her friends Wendy and Carl, Elizabeth, Mom and Dad, Maria and Jeremy, and Andrew and I all sat in the lower level - and came within inches of getting a puck that went over the glass. Dad did also "win" a t-shirt that came down in a parachute (Shannon got the t-shirt, but Dad is excited about the parachute). Connor stayed with Auntie Brittany and Uncle Peter, since we figured he was still a little too young for his first hockey game.

On the 29th, Andrew and I took Connor on his first plane trip, and we went down to Arizona to visit Andrew's parents, and the other family he has that lives down there. We used the Baby Bjorn in the airport, and it was so much nicer than lugging a car seat or pushing a stroller. And Connor does very well in the carrier - he slept almost the whole time. Andrew did a good job "rocking" him to sleep. :)

Andrew and Connor - in the airport

Sleeping on Daddy

Posing

Connor did well for his first flight - we feed him during take off, and then he slept for most of the flight and the landing. Connor was pretty much held the entire time down there, and loved sleeping on Grandpa Ron and Grandma Judy.

Connor and Grandma

Connor and Grandpa

Arizona was having beautiful December weather while we were there - it was in the 70's pretty much the whole time we were there - and only while we were there! You could tell we were the tourists, since we wore shorts. :) And went swimming on New Year's day. We also managed to finally get the picture of the elusive smile.

The Happy Baby Connor

Andrew and I did catch a cold in Arizona - Andrew got the cough, I got the sneezes. And little Connor got a little of both, but he only a tiny fever one night, and then nothing, so he did fine. Mommy's immune system must be doing him a good job. We came home on the 2nd, and the flight, however, did not go as smoothly (and I never want to have to change him in those tiny bathrooms again! Germ-a-phobe mom had some issues with it!).

January
Not too much has happened so far. Andrew is currently on his way to Vegas for the weekend, and Shannon is hanging out with Connor and me, since I think I'd go crazy without some adult conversation while he's gone. :) Next weekend, we will be having Connor's christening, but that's pretty much the extent of our January plans.

Big news for us, I guess, is that I am not going back to Fitness Together. It definitely wasn't the plan - I was hoping to start back part time next week, but it looks like things are moving slowly in the franchise world, and they apparently cannot justify adding "back" my position (they'll call me if something changes, but I don't see it happening soon). So now I'm spending as much time as I can looking for a job. The part that's a little frustrating was that I was really certain I was going back, and Andrew and I had interviewed a woman who does day care from her home. So, hopefully some things will work out and I'll have a new job soon.

The good part is that I get to still spend each day with Connor, and enjoy his smiles (I wasn't really looking forward to being away from him all day!). I also don't have to worry yet about how I'm going to continue to breast feed him - something that we've been doing pretty well the whole time (well, aside from those first two weeks, that just sucked!). The next challenge that we've got to work on is getting Connor to go to sleep in his crib - so far, he sleeps with us (and it's partly my own selfish desire to be able to nurse him while we're both half asleep), but poor Andrew gets a little sliver of the bed, and I'm sure he'd like a little more space. :)

Okay - I guess that's it for now. :) Talk to you all soon!

Connor!

2008-10-27T14:05:00.000-04:00

Connor James Zwickl

7: 48 am, October 10, 2008

7 lbs 15 oz, 19 3/4"

Sorry it's taken so long to get some pictures up, but it's hard being a new mom! :) So let me catch you up...

We checked in to the hospital on Thursday, the 9th, at 10:30 pm. The nurse started the induction process, and Andrew and I were settled down to sleep a little after midnight. As we were warned, we didn't get much sleep (and the chair that "turns into" a bed that Andrew slept on was pretty uncomfortable for him!). About 6:30 am, the nurse came in to tell us that we were going to have to do a C-section, since our baby didn't like any of my contractions, and his heart rate would go down after each one. Since they were early contractions, and not too strong yet, they didn't think that he'd do well with labor. So, Dr. Cheng was on her way in. We frantically started the phone tree off, and let people know that it was go time. I was really unprepared for the C-section, and a little scared, but it all went really smoothly. Because of the short notice, I didn't get to see anyone before I went into the operating room. Long story short, Connor was born at 7:48 am, and it was so reassuring to hear his little lungs let out that first wail! And our beautiful baby boy is the spitting image of Andrew. :) Andrew was with me for the first part, but then followed Connor when he left to go to the nursery. I ended up falling asleep shortly after I got to hold Connor, so I kinda lost touch on the timing. I do remember waking up as they were done sewing me up, and I asked them to make sure they didn't have any extra parts leftover!

Doctor Andrew - ready to go into surgery!

Our First Family Photo

Daddy and Auntie Brittany in the nursery

Connor - with his arms up, the way he likes it!

Auntie Elizabeth, Nana, and Auntie Maria

Apparently, it was quite a while before I came out of the recovery room, but as I mentioned earlier, I had really no concept of time. It all happened quite quickly on my end, but I guess we can blame the drugs! :) Mom did "sneak" into the recovery room to make sure I was okay. Andrew hadn't told anyone Connor's name - and we didn't really have a chance to confirm with each other that we were going with Connor James until we were in the recovery room, anyway (we were still kicking around other middle names). But eventually, we were in our own room, and Connor was brought back, and the free for all to hold him began!! We had a lot of visitors over the days we were there!

Mommy and Connor

Connor, Mommy and Daddy

The Paparazzi

Connor and Jiaji Peter (Polish for "Grandfather")

Connor and Nana

Connor and Grandpa Ron

Auntie Maria and Connor

Auntie Shannon and Connor

Mommy, Ella, Connor, and Auntie Brittany

Mommy, Auntie Brittany, and Connor

Connor and Geri

Auntie Brittany and Ella - who needs to see everything that's going on!

Auntie Shannon, Mommy, Connor, and Auntie Maria

Uncle Scott, Daddy, and Connor

Andrew stayed at the hospital pretty much the whole time, although he did make it to the Bronco's game on Sunday ('cause I'm the best wife in the world! Although it would have been nicer had they actually won!), and he went to class on Monday. But he did manage to "relax" on the dad bed. :)

Daddy and Connor on the chair bed

We ended up spending five days at the hospital, much longer than we expected, especially since we hadn't planned on the C-section. But we left with a healthy baby, so there's not much else we could ask for! :) We did try to leave on Monday, since they'd given me the okay, and took out the staples, but we had a bit of a set back when they came in and said Connor wasn't able to leave. His weight had gotten down to 7 lbs 2 oz. Most babies lose weight after they're born, but because Connor had lost more than 10% of his body weight, he wasn't going to be able to leave. Most of the problem was because I was nursing, and my milk hadn't come in yet. So, after many tears (mine!), we stayed another day and supplemented with some formula. We were able to get Connor's weight up to 7 lbs 4.5 oz on Tuesday, so we were all able to go home! Both Andrew and I were excited to get back to our house and sleep in our own bed!

Going Home!

On the way to the car

The Thursday after we got home, Whitney, Lorelei, Brittany, and Ella all came over, and we got to catch up, since Whitney was in town for a couple of days. She also brought dinner, which was awesome - since making dinner wasn't a top concern for Andrew and me!

Heather and Connor, Brittany and Ella, and Whitney and Lorelei

We've taken a couple more pictures of Connor over the last couple days. And I'm sure we'll have more, especially since there are so many "big" days coming up!! :) The holiday's are my favorite time of year! :)

Connor's Tummy Time

Connor in his swing - which he loves!

We getting used to the different little noises he makes, and we're completely smitten with our baby. We've got about a half a dozen different little nicknames we call him. He's just so sweet! And we can't wait to see what he does each day. He's over 8 lbs now, so he's growing and getting bigger. Each time we go to the doctor's for his check ups, they're surprised at how strong he is (it must be because we watched Ahr-nold so many times while I was pregnant with him!).

That's it for now... I'll try to keep the updates on baby Connor frequent for you all! :) Have a Happy Halloween!!

Introducing Connor James Zwickl

2008-10-13T23:59:00.000-04:00

At last, we have a baby boy! :) We'd like to announce our new arrival, Connor James Zwickl. Connor was born on Friday, October 10th, at 7:48 am. He was 7 lbs, 15 oz, and 19 3/4".

Mom, Dad, and baby all doing fine, and hope to be home from the hospital tomorrow. We should be able to get pictures up soon!! We'll also get all of those details out for you, as well!

Due Date

2008-10-06T22:35:00.000-04:00

Well, it's October 6th, and there's no baby on the horizon! So we're still waiting for him to make his appearance. We had our doctor's appointment today, and I am still at about the same almost one centimeter. But everything is going well - the baby's heartbeat was 140 today, and he's been unusually active. We have scheduled the baby to be induced on Friday, October 10th. The doctor says that we could wait longer, but we really don't need to, since it seems that the best estimates are that we've got an 8 1/2 lbs baby in there! Whew! But we're managing to stay busy, of course!

Andrew's Birthday!
Andrew celebrated his 28th birthday over the weekend, which was pretty exciting. Friday, we had a nice dinner with Ron, Judy, Adam, Jamie and Ellen at Mt. Vernon. We had some yummy crab and prime rib (well, I didn't have the Prime Rib, but everyone else did!). We also celebrated Ron's birthday, since it's on Wednesday (early October seems to be a popular time for these Zwickl babies!).

On Saturday, we went to Casa Bonita with a group of over 20 people, including several newbies! Andrew was hoping that the "delicious" Mexican food and the atmosphere would help the baby to come join us. It almost worked, because I did have a couple serious contractions on the way home, but there were only four, at four-minutes apart, and then they stopped (at the time, I was happy because they hurt!!). Before we left, we did get a cute picture of Andrew and I in front of the fountain (and yes, he's actually smiling!!), but my camera cord doesn't fit my camera, so I can't upload it until I go to my parents again, since my mom's cord works.

Okay - here are the pictures at the fountain. :)

On Sunday, Andrew's actual birthday, he did exactly what he wanted - and watched football all day. :) The Bronco's won, but he didn't do so well in his football pools. We ended the weekend with dinner at Outback with my parents, Maria, Jeremy, and Shannon. Andrew did have some more homework to do, but he managed to get it mostly done before we went to bed.

Overall, we had a nice birthday weekend - lots of relaxing for the chaos that we know will come with the baby!!

Thursday Plans
My last day at work will be Wednesday (I can't wait!!), so I'm going to be able to spend Thursday at home, getting anything last minute ready that we need to, and resting (I'm really looking forward to sleeping in!). Andrew will go to work, and then we've got a softball game at 7:50, and then afterwards, we'll "check in" to the hospital at 10pm - and I've been told that we probably won't be able to sleep much. We'll see how that goes! So hopefully, some time Friday morning or early afternoon (at the latest!), we'll have our brand new baby. :)

Five Days?!

2008-10-01T20:59:00.000-04:00

So it's getting down to crunch time. We're getting really close to having the baby - or at least I hope!

I'm still at work - and planning to continue to do so right up until the baby is born (hopefully, I'll avoid going into labor there, even though the girls are hoping to use it as an opportunity to not work!). I'm trying to drink water constantly and keep my feet up as much as possible, too, since my ankles and feet have suddenly started to swell (which is new for me!). My sneakers are kind of tight, so I'm happy that we're still having good weather so that I can wear my sandals and flip flops! :)

I haven't had a chance to get pictures of the baby shower - or other recent events - uploaded on the computer, so I'll add that to the list of things I'd like to get done this weekend. Since the weekend seems pretty packed, chances are supposedly good that we'll have this baby soon! Everyone keeps telling us to make plans, since that's when he'll make his appearance.

I am having some contractions - or at least I think they're contractions. Basically, just super sharp pains, but they're one or two or three, and not really something worth timing. The Braxton Hicks contractions are weird, and I can feel that the baby isn't moving as much as he did before - though he still definitely manages to find space to push out at mommy and kick. Two weeks ago, when we were at the doctor's office for a normal check up, he had the hiccups, and the doctor's assistant had to just give up on trying to get an accurate heartbeat since he kept moving. It was funny. :) After two weeks solid of being not dilated at all, we got the "good" news on Monday that I was almost one centimeter dilated.

We also did tentatively plan to induce if the baby doesn't come soon - so, it looks like if he doesn't pick his own day, we'll go with 10/10, which my doctor says is a good birthday. :) So it's a little weird to think that in only a few more days, Andrew and I will be parents. I'm anxious to meet the little guy and see what he looks like. We've got this informal contest about who's going to have the biggest baby - between Ella (who was 7 lbs 2 oz), our baby, and Venessa's baby (who's due mid-December). Dr. Cheng guessed that the baby was already 7 lbs two weeks ago, so Andrew's pretty confident we've got this one in the bag (there goes my hope for a nice little baby!).

Catching Up

2008-09-01T23:27:00.001-04:00

Well, I can barely believe that summer is almost over. It's gone by super fast. And I've been really bad about updating the blog (I blame it on the fact that I can't get Internet on my computer, and Andrew is a big hog of the lap top!). So, here's a quick run down of what's happened the last two months...

The Baby's Room
We've started working on putting the room together. This pretty much involved painting over the ugly olive green color in the bedroom with a much nicer blue. Andrew and his dad painted the room, and it looks so much brighter and larger than it did before.

Room Prepping

The Finished Project

After we got the room painted, we started doing the "fun" stuff - which was getting the furniture for the baby's room. While it's still not complete, we've got the crib, dresser, and changing table all set up and in the room. Andrew and I put the changing table and crib together, which was kind of fun. We also got the bedding for the crib, so it makes it so that the baby is the biggest thing missing. :) There's still some more stuff that I want to get done in there, but here are some pictures of what the baby's room looks like now, with furniture.

I guess the next thing we're missing is the baby, but we're only five weeks away!

Other news on the baby front is that he is now officially in the "ready" position. He made us a little nervous the last few weeks, since he hadn't "flipped," but at our doctor's appointment on Friday, the sonogram finally showed that he had his head down. So now we're back to waiting for the baby to pick his birthday, rather than us scheduling it (which I was not a big fan of)! Everything went well - we got to see his heart beat again (at a perfect 132 rate - he's been pretty consistent!), and we got another set of sonogram pictures. The funny thing is that this time, the sonogram totally doesn't make sense to me. Andrew said he could see the baby's head and arm, but I was at a loss, and told our doctor's assistant that I couldn't see any definition, and that it was way easier earlier in the pregnancy. She said it was probably because now he's so big it's hard to see all of him in the screen - totally makes sense. So I guess I'll have to see him when he's born!

We also have no name for the baby yet - hence all the references to the "baby," which is pretty much what we call him all the time. Andrew and I are still going through our mental list of names - trying to figure our what we each like, and what actually sounds good with Zwickl - which is actually a bit difficult. But we'll have a name for the baby before we leave the hospital! :)

Our baby is also quite the partier - I swear he's practicing his dance moves each night. It's actually getting kind of weird to watch my belly move, instead of just feeling the movements. Just more proof that he's getting bigger! He's definitely more active in the evening, when I'm home from work - normally when I'm sitting on the couch or lying in bed. I do know that I'd prefer it if he'd lay of my ribs - at least a little bit! Pretty soon, though, he'll have a lot more room to practice those moves!!

Visit from the Gomes

We did get to see Jenn and Francis, Maddie and Taylor this summer, which was really nice. They Gomes family even made a trip to see our softball team play (which, incidentally, took second in our league). We also spent some time at Amazing Jakes, and it looked like everyone had fun.

My mom holding Ella, who's wearing Andrew's hat...

Wings Over the Rockies

Mom, Dad, Shannon, Andrew and I all went to the Wings Over the Rockies last month. Andrew's company occasionally has functions that we can get cheaper tickets to - this time, it was the airplane museum... so of course, we had to go! It was pretty neat - except for the part where I forgot that I was pregnant and tried climbing into the cockpit of some of the planes. Guess I really am my father's daughter!!

Andrew's 14er

Another activity some people from Andrew's work arrange is the annual 14er - we weren't able to participate last year, because it was around the time we were getting married. This year, I was also sadly unable to go - but Andrew, Brittany and Peter all went and climber Mt. Sherman. Andrew actually remembered to take some pictures, so we'll share those. I spent the day with an adorable little three-month old baby... Ella, of course! Shannon came over to make sure that I didn't get to tired, so the three of us had our own nice day!

Andrew, of course, didn't take any pictures of himself, so we'll have to see if Brittany and Peter have some. :) Otherwise, it'll be next year 'til we get some more 14er pictures. :)

Odds & Ends

Other exciting news is that we took second on our softball league. I meant to take some pictures of the team, but we didn't get a chance before everyone left. But we finished the season having only lost three games, which was pretty good. Hopefully, fall league will end with us at number one!

That's it for now... I will definitley try to get some more updates soon... my baby shower, my "bump", the baby's room... it'll just take some more time. :)

Vegas Vacation

2008-06-29T23:35:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm at 27 weeks now, and the baby is moving like a crazy person! :) There are definitely some mornings that it surprises me how much he moves. He began moving the Monday after our sonogram, and he's been pretty much moving non-stop. At first, it was a little weird, but I'm actually enjoying the movements a lot. They're like little reassuring kicks of him saying that he's okay. Andrew has gotten to feel him kick quite a bit - he's much more active in the morning and the evening, when I'm "relaxing" or laying in bed. It's still kinda weird to think that there's a little person growing inside of me!

We managed to get a babymoon in this past month. It was a quick trip to Vegas. Andrew and I had Christine & Kerry's wedding on Saturday, June 21, and after the wedding, we were planning on driving to Las Vegas. So, my parents, Shannon, and Ellen, came to pick us up in Morrison, and then we started our *very long* drive to Nevada. After several stops (mostly so that I could relieve my sensitive bladder on a regular basis), we drove straight through the night and were on the strip at 6:30am Sunday morning. We stayed at the Monte Carlo, and spent some time at the pool in the morning, after meeting up with Andrew's parents for some breakfast (his aunt and uncle and grandma would meet us later in the day).

We walked around the strip, and got a chance to catch one of the water shows at the Bellagio, as well as check out the always beautiful Conservatory. I also love chocolate display - Bellagio is my favorite! :)

Monday, Shannon and I went to the the Mandalay Bay Shark Reef, where they had the elusive water fountain (apparently, Las Vegas Casinos have decided to make more money by removing all fountains so that people are forced to purchase water).

The Shark Reef was pretty incredible - lots of different animals and sea creatures. We even got to see some sting rays (always my favorite!).

We left Vegas Tuesday morning at about 5:30am - and made it just in time to our 6:50 softball game (yes, we managed to pull out the victory!). Mom turned 50 on Wednesday, and Brittany turned 29 (for the first time) on Thursday. For Britt's celebration, we went to the aquarium, and had a very nice dinner (the guys just aren't as pretty to look at!).

I also got to *finally* have my picture with my newest baby niece - she's so adorable!!

That's it for now... I'll try to be better about getting the next update on the web for you all. :)

Sonogram

2008-05-20T20:39:00.000-04:00

We had our sonogram appointment last week. It was so neat to see the baby move, especially since I wasn't feeling anything. We got to see the size of the head (and if you ask me, I saw that it was measuring small - but maybe that was wishful thinking on my part!) and what the estimated due dates were based on the different measurements. Everything went really well. Here's a picture of the baby's face - pretend he's looking at you, laying down, with his head to the left. I think our baby is adorable. :)

We saw the spine, the kidneys, two arms and two legs, and the four chambers of the heart. We saw the arms moving, and the hand was even on the face for a minute, so I think our baby was getting in some thumb sucking time! The baby kept moving around, and a lot of times, he was moving into better positions for the technician to do her measurements. When it came time to try to get that heart, though, he was pretty stubborn, and she kept trying to poke the baby so that he would move. And then it worked, and we got to see what we needed (which was totally reassuring!). We also decided to find out what the baby was... and... we're having a boy! :) So now the real debate for names is on. We've got a few months to figure it out, but it's good to have half the names removed from the list. :) Maybe we'll actually have something picked out before he's born!!

I did feel a little bit of movement yesterday. It's really very weird. Andrew got to feel some of the kicking, but it's still really faint. The best decription I could come up with is like being on a ride, and going really high, and that feeling that you get in your stomach. He was active in the early morning yesterday, and then last night, and then nothing today until about now (just after dinner). It's still really nice to feel the little movements - I'm looking forward to them - but I'm sure that eventually I'll just want him to sleep. :)

Some other exciting news... Brittany's little daughter is the cutest baby in the whole wide world (and because we're having a boy, she can be my favorite girl for a little bit longer!). Ella Jean joined us on May 3rd at almost 11:30pm. She's so cute (have I said that yet?). She was 7 lbs and 2 oz, and 20 3/4 inches long. I wish I had some pictures to put up, but I'm apparently the bad Auntie and don't have any pictures. So we spent almost all day at the hospital, giving me a glimpse of what I'll be doing in a few more months! I think the baby is fine where he is! :)

Andrew's sister Ellen graduated from college last weekend. I got to take the day off (my first official paid vacation day since I've celebrated 6 months at Fitness Together now) and we went up to Fort Collins for her ceremony. So no more graduations for us for a while. Hopefully, his own graduaton from the UCD graduate program isn't that far away. Andrew is 7/16ths of the way there. :) He's taking the summer off so that we can get the house ready for the baby, and then starting back up two nights a week at the end of August.

One final note - our ten seconds of fame (if even that!). We went to the Rockies game last night agains the Giants. Our seats were in left field, and there was quite a bit of action when Clint Barmes hit his homerun out there - it basically landed under the feet of one of my coworkers. Andrew couldn't catch the ball, and I was frantically trying to grab it, and the guy behind me was trying to reach over me... Basically, I was folded in half (the baby did not like that!). Eventually, my coworker's husband got the ball, but we made it to the Rockies website - in a way. If you check out the link, you'll see the highlight of the game, and if you look hard, you can see Andrew in his black Rockies t-shirt, and the guy (in red) is crushing me. I'm fine by the way - but it's totally awesome to see it and know that was us! :)

http://colorado.rockies.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200805192732580

First Post!

2008-04-20T23:59:00.000-04:00

Well, here goes my attempt at moving into technology! We're not particularly exciting people, but we'll try to keep you up to date in what's going on with the Aurora Zwickls. :)

The most exciting thing right now is that we're going to have a baby. We're due October 6th - the day after Andrew's birthday, and two day's before his dad's. We're pretty excited about it! We haven't decided yet if we're going to find out what the baby is - at this point, Andrew's calling the baby "him" and I'm tend to refer to the baby that way, as well, but I'll tease him and respond with "she." Either way, Andrew's nixed Coriander from the baby names, so some of you will be happy! Right now, the baby is affectionately called "Nicodemus."

We've got some upcoming events that we're looking forward t0 - waiting for Baby Ella to make her appearance (any day now can't come quickly enough for Brittany!), planning a trip to Yankee Stadium since it's the last season, and getting to Vegas again. I've been told that now is the perfect time for us to have the "babymoon" - the short time before the baby's born to use for stuff that we apparently won't be able to do once he or she is here. So, we'll see if Andrew and I can get these trips planned! We'll let you know. :) And we'll see if I'm able to figure out how to get some pictures up on this thing!