How Sunday dinner is made ;)

This is how Dallin babysits....

While I'm slaving away making this:

Forever Young

Ladies and gentlemen, I have arrived. Arrived at the eternal age of 29. The age I will forever remain. From now on, each year's birthday will simply be groundhog's day- 29...29...29...29. Forever.

Haha! Just kidding. I really could care less about my age. That number hasn't bothered me ever since I hit 16 and now it's all good. I don't feel 29. I still feel early 20s, somedays even as young as those glory days of high school. Age really is just a number and I think I have a young soul and plan on staying that way ...forever!

I had one main goal to accomplish before my bday and that was to lose all of Z's baby weight. Mission accomplished and then a couple extra lbs. yay. happy birthday to me! hello, skinny jeans. My, how I've missed you. Your cousin, maternity jeans, aren't nearly as much fun as you. Thanks for coming back to me. *tear* *sniff, sniff*

So, wanna hear about "my day"? Good! Because I'm going to tell you.

It started off bright and early at 530am. Zade woke up. Dallin got up with him but when I heard the pitter patter of Dace's feet heading downstairs, I thought I better lend a hand. I dragged my groggy, royal birthday butt down to the living room where Dace was already in position in his chairs with cartoons on. Why are cartoons even airing that early? It just encourages these wee folk to actually get up and stay up. I sat down on the couch beside Dallin who was feeding Zade. Zade was stuffed up and snozzy all night and had had a rough night. We knew he'd be going back to bed shortly. So I turned my attention to our oldest.

ME: Dace, it's pretty early, bud. Don't you want to go back to bed for a little bit?
DACE: Nope! All done!

well, that settles it. D and I had a good laugh over his cut and dry answer. Then I went back to bed. When I woke up again, I thought for sure it was at least 9 if not 10. Nope, barely after 8. So we made breakfast- bacon, eggs and homemade hashbrowns. Just as we were sitting down, Dace comes to me with a poopie diaper. Might as well change that BEFORE eating. Then after I had had my birthday breakfast, Zade decided to have 2 poopie diapers back to back. Three poopies in less than an hour all before 10 am on my birthday. happy birthday to me! I loudly declared my release from poop duty until the end of my birthday.

Then the same old same old of the day commenced. My awesome new visiting teachers brought me lunch and a message and we ate together. Just as we were finishing up, my bestest friend Lisa stopped by with a birthday cake all for me! She's so awesome!
The boys almost napped in unison. I had just under an hour to myself before Zade woke up and of course that was just as I was getting ready to get in the shower. So then it was get ready, dinner for Zade and dinner for Dace, Dallin went and picked up the babysitter and we were off to our little birthday dinner at Fancy Q. Mmmmm, sushi! I love sushi. I am pretty sure I could eat it once a week.

We ate with Staci and Greg and Craig and Emily and their little guy Judah, who is just older than Zade. It was a great meal and great company. Following that, D and I headed for the beach. It was the perfect night to be there. The warm air was perfect, a gentle ocean breeze. We were walking along in our bare feet with the soft sand below, warm ocean water cascading over our ankles. To our left out to sea was the orange full moon, overhead was a clear sky with bright shining stars and to the right a crazy lightening storm moving in. It was a feast for the senses.

We got home just before 10 and both boys were still awake but Dace was in bed and Gladys was feeding Zade in the rocker. D drove her home and I had both boys in bed and asleep within 10 minutes. They were ready for it.

It was a great birthday. I got to spend the day mothering my sick baby boys then relax and enjoy my evening with my babe and a few friends. Life is good...even at the ripe old age of 29. ;)

Who Do you Wuv?

'Nano' is Dace's nickname for Zade.

Just a big boy sittin' Up

Before I begin this post, let me just announce that there will be a dacemovie posted tomorrow, for all you Dacebook addicts that might think Zade is taking over the blog. I really am trying to keep a good balance....anyway...

So this afternoon, Dace was down for a nap and I was getting ready to eat lunch. I put Zade down on his tummy in the living room, went to the kitchen, came back and there he was sitting up all by himself playing with his toys. Over the weekend he figured out how to move his arms and crawl so now he is officially on the move. I guess sitting up on his own was one more thing he wanted to figure out and check off the "to learn" list. He was so proud of himself. I sat down with him and just watched him play and smile at me, beaming with pride over his new accomplishment. So now he's a big boy sittin' up all by himself. (PS- Dace thinks it's pretty cool too. It's so much easier to play cars now)

Toes in the Tub

Halfway to Birthday Cake

Zade is 6 months old today. This thought almost blows my mind. I remember shortly after he was born looking down the road to six months, how it would be a week before my birthday and it seeming like it would never get here. then Poof! Here we are.
He is hovering around the 22 lbs mark. He has started moving his arms forward when crawling. Maybe I'll be right in my prediction of him being completely mobile by my birthday. He is full of smiles and giggles and constant humming sounds. He adores his big brother and seems pretty fond of mom and dad too. He loves to laugh and bounce and dance and be played with. He is such a joyful addition to our family and our hearts.

wearing his grandpa pants

Now I Know My ABCs...

Lunchtime Hum

Dallin has an incredible calming effect on these boys. Here he is multi-tasking by feeding Zade lunch as well as putting him to sleep for his afternoon nap.

is it Fall yet?

I am so ready for this heat to be over! This has been the hottest summer the Deep South has seen in decades. We even had a few heat advisories over the last few weeks. It is time for this heat and thick humidity to leave us in peace for the fall and winter months.

Anyway, here's the update on the boys. Dace is learning new words every day. He is starting to put 2 or 3 words together and can say the whole alphabet except for H and W. He is doing great in the potty training department, initiating most of it on his own. We got him a new floor puzzle this week, 55 pieces and after we do the frame for him, he can pretty much finish it on his own. He is a smart little boy.

Zade is eating up a storm, simply adores playing peek a boo with me and cars with Dace. The two of them will make each other laugh and play really well on the floor together. It is so cute to watch this growing brotherly love. He is scooting around a little bit faster every day and spends a lot of time up on hands and knees rocking back and forth. Yesterday, he successfully crawled around two paces up on hands and knees but for the most part he drops to his tummy and army crawls. No teeth yet but he is gnawing on anything that comes near his mouth, especially my thumbs.

Zade trying to put Dace in a headlock without assistance. I came out of the kitchen and this is what I saw.

Dace is a boy of order. He did this all on his own.

Prune face!


Leftover blueberry gazpacho (chilled soup) served over pancakes with fresh cream. Every monday morning should start like this.

Homemade calzones. They were just kind of good...just a little bit. ;)

Crawling Progress

Guess who he gets his eye color from?
He almost has this down pat.
Fell asleep watching Franklin.

This clip probably won't be too interesting to anyone but the grandparents but I wanted to post it for them. It's kind of like when you're all sitting around at home with everyone and the kids are on the floor being the entertainment. That's this clip- watching Zade progressing like crazy in the crawling dept.