8.10.2011

Um...Catching up again....

Well looks like i'm playing catch up again with this darn blog. I really have every intention of updating it on a monthly basis, but time seems to get away from me these days. It is beyond busy with two little ones and Chris and I seem to jam pack plans into the summer months that make life even that much more crazy. I'm not complaining though - its all fun!

So...here is the gist on where we are all at:

BLAKE: He turned 3 on July 23rd. We had a little party for him on his actual birthday and his playgroup friends all attended. His party was a cowboy theme party because lets face it, the kid wants to be a cowboy. We even made him a John Wayne shirt for the day. Blake is also acting like a three year old in full force. He tried to negotiate about everything and bedtime has become an hour long task with him pulling out all the stops, "i'm thristy", "I have to go to the bathroom", "i'm cold", etc... etc... He is such a funny kid though and it is so fun to sit and have conversations with him everyday. Just the other night were were over hanging out by his swing set and he said, "mommmy, come over here and sit down. Let's talk" So we sat and he told me stories about riding horsies and getting in shoot outs with John Wayne. Best way to spend an evening in my opinion.

Here are the pictures from Blakes Party


GRAYSON: Grayson is 7 1/2 months now. CRAZY! How did that much time pass by. It's amazing how fast things go with the second one. He is crawling and just got his first tooth last week. He is such a sweet baby!

CHRIS: Chris is working hard and staying successful in real estate despite the troubled economy. He is also enjoying some time off hunting these months and is getting ready to go bow hunting with my brother next week. Chris and I have also joined our local crossfit gym and are really enjoying that. Chris will be competing in a competition this weekend with the gyms in the area.

ME, MYSELF and I: I have been staying home with the kiddos and I'm really enjoying it. I'm thankful to experience their early years with them. I have also started a mini business to give myself something else to do. I'm making and selling stationary products (notecards, invitations, birth announcements) and paper party supplies. I created a blog to showcase the items i have created. My blogsite is www.rachelspartyplace.blogpsot.com). I'm also training for a half marathon that I will be running in October. The half marathon is a fundraising event for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and myself along with a few of my friends will be running the race in honor of my brother and his fight against Lymphoma. If you would like to donate visit my fundraising page http://mch.nikewm2011.llsevent.org/runforbrandon

Here are links to our pictures from June and July. This is mucho info and pictures to jam pack into one post - i apologize. I will try to be better moving forward. :)



6.13.2011

Catching Up!

Well its been awhile since i have posted an update or pictures on what has been happening with us. Shame on me! I guess life with two little ones is a bit busier than with one. or at least i will use that as my excuse.

April and May have been great months spending time with family. In April we took a trip to Red Bluff for the annual Round-Up. The trip never disappoints and my parents put on a fabulous party for everyone to enjoy. Chris's mom and step dad, Al came this year and it was great to see them and share the experience with part of Chris's side of the family.



We also spent some beautiful spring days at home with the boys during the month and Blake was able to watch our new driveway being put in. What a thrill that was for him to to see the tractors going and the cement being poured.


In May we spent some great days in the backyard with the boys, spending time with friends at the park and we even hit up a San Jose Giants game one evening as well as spending a gorgeous day in Santa Cruz with some friends at the beach.




And last but not least we spent Memorial Day Weekend camping with family and friends up north. It was a little on the cold side this year, but its always a good time and something we look forward to every year.


Grayson is 5 1/2 months now which blows my mind. He is rolling over from back to stomach and stomach to back. I will lay him down on a blanket, walk out of the room and when i come back he has rolled across the room. He is so much more active than Blake was at his age. Its fun and interesting to compare. At Graysons 4 month appointment he was 15 pounds, which is exactly the same weight Blake was at that age. Blake was shorter though and looked much chubbier.

Blake is definitely acting his almost 3 year old age. I thought it was going to be the terrible two's but I'm guessing 3 is going to be so much more challenging. He has learned the art of back talking and pushes his limits daily. And on the other hand Blake is also one of the sweetest and funniest little kids I have ever met. His favorite thing to say to me these days is, "mommy you are the best". That comes right after I have found a missing toy, get him a drink of water, or whatever other task he asks me to do. I think i can manage the more challenging days if he keeps telling me how great I am. ;)

Enjoy all the pics, because there are a lot of them! And I will be back in a couple of weeks to tell you about June....Hopefully!

4.07.2011

March Happenings

Grayson turned 3 months old on the 20th of March. How time flies. He is already trying to roll over - which just makes me want to tell him to slow down on that growing up thing. It's already going by way too quick!

Blake is as crazy as ever. He is tons of fun to have around and we have the most interesting conversations everyday. He is also growing up WAY too fast!

Me and the boys took a trip to Red Bluff at teh beginning of March to visit my family. Grayson was able to meet more of his family and Blake, as always, had a blast riding all of the toys and feeding the horses. Never a dull moment for him, which was great!

Here are the pics from the month. Enjoy!

3.19.2011

Grayson's First Giggles

Grayson laughed for the first time last night and we caught it on video!

3.01.2011

Motorcyles, Horsies and Firetrucks...Oh my!

February brought lots of fun and some visitors.

We took a trip up to Red Bluff at the beginning of the month to see my parents and my brother and his family. We had a great time and the weather could not have been more inviting. We spent the days outside roaming around my parents property riding motorcycles, horses and tractors. Blake was in HEAVEN! We also got to introduce Grayson to many of his family members on my side of the family.

Later in the month Chris's sister Colby came to visit with her family. Blake had tons and tons of fun with his cousins. Blake and Rory were like tazmanian devils running through the house. They all got along so well and had a blast together. It was really fun to watch and see.

We also had some other outtings in the month that included going to the fire station with our playgroup friends and a family trip to Happy Hollow when Auntie Carrie was in town.

Grayson is getting bigger and bigger and has started smiling which is tons of fun. We had his 2 month appointment in February and he weighed 14 pounds and was 24 inches long. I was curious to see how he compared to Blake at the same age and so I looked back into Blake's baby book. They were exactly the same size! Grayson is a dream baby and sleeps so well. I only have to wake up one time a night to feed him and we get teh occassional night when he sleeps right on through. This is a godsend considering Blake just recently started sleeping through the night. ;)

Blake keeps us laughing with all of the crazy and cute things he says and does. He still is very into wearing Chris' boots as you can see from a couple of pictures. He likes to also ride his horse straight out of the bath butt naked with boots and his cowboy hat on. Crazy kid!

Here are all of our pictures for the month. Enjoy!

1.24.2011

The "cowboy" and the 1 month old

First off I want to share the most recent shot we took of blake that I find hilarious! The picture was taken right after Blake saying, "mommy, I'm a cowboy". I would take a guess that Blake has a little redneck bred into him. ;)


So Grayson turned 1 month on the 20th. Hard to believe. Here is a shot we just took the other day. He is such a GREAT baby. I mean I think we hit the jackpot with this one. He sleeps wonderfully and doesn't cry about anything. I thought Blake was an easy baby - well this boy blows Blake out of the water. Just crossing my fingers that it continues.


We have had a great month enjoying the boys. The weather has been awesome lately so we have had a lot of outside time which we need. Melody and Al came to visit a week or so ago and we had a lot of fun with them while they were here. The next few weeks should be lots of fun also with visits from both of Chris's siters, auntie colby and auntie Carrie. We are also taking a road trip up north to visit family there.

Here are all of our pictures from the past 5 or so weeks!


1.05.2011

Ho Ho Ho Merny Christmas!

Christmas was so much fun this year! Not only did we add to our family but Blake was so entertaining and really could get into the Christmas spirit...right down to leaving the milk and cookies out on Christmas Eve before bed. We have lots of pictures and a few videos that I had to share. Enjoy!

Blake playing his new guitar


Ho Ho Ho Merny Christmas

12.24.2010

The new addition is here...Grayson Grant Zanger

We would like to introduce the newest addition to our family...Grayson Grant was born December 20th at 10:18am via c-section. He weighed 9 pounds 5 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. We are all settling in at home now to enjoy the Christmas holiday.

I have attached a link to some pictures we took of the birth day through yesterday.

Enjoy!

12.14.2010

The Countdown Begins!

Baby boy Zanger #2 will be delivered via c-section on December 20th at 9:30am unless he decides to enter this world earlier. Only 6 more days left of being pregnant and I couldn't be happier. Hives and carpal tunnel BE GONE! And on top of that comfortable, restful sleep is non-existent - and even though a baby brings a whole different type of sleep deprivation, I'm READY!

We are all very curious how big this baby will be considering Blake was 10 pounds. I really can't tell if I feel/look bigger or smaller. My friends tell me I look smaller, Chris tells me I look bigger (thanks husband) - who knows! What I do know is that I'm a lot more uncomfortable. I don't know if this is because the baby is positioned breech or if its because he is bigger or maybe its because I have gained 10 more pounds with this pregnancy than the last, or the fact that I was a lot more active (swimming, walking, etc...) when pregnant with Blake. I guess we will find out sooner than later.

Wish us luck on a smooth delivery and before you know it we will have pictures posted of our newest addition. Yay!

12.01.2010

Oh Christmas Tree

Yesterday we took a trip up to the Santa Cruz Mountains to a Christmas tree farm to cut a tree down. I'm so glad we did! For the past three years Chris and I have gone the lazy route and have picked out our tree at home depot. Now while HD has really great trees for cheap, it definitely was worth the extra time and money to see our little guy running through the trees so excited to pick out his Christmas Tree. We thought we would share some pictures of our Christmas Tree cutting adventure and the finished product with Blake debuting his Christmas jammies.

(Please note the silly fish hat Blake is wearing. He is obsessed and wants to wear it everywhere. We even had the pleasure of him wearing it to the grocery store today)

Heading out to look for our tree




Helping dad cut the tree down


Helping carry the tree


And of course we couldn't leave without riding the tractor


Our tree and a proud little boy!

11.22.2010

November & Baby Update!

Well if December flies by as fast as November we should have a baby here in what will feel like tomorrow.

We had a nice visit with Chris' Grandma Ruth last week. We were able to join her for dinner and Blake had a lot of fun playing on her mechanical hospital bed. she let him push lots of buttons and he was having a blast.

Since I'm so close to my due date we weren't able to travel for Thanksgiving so we stuck around home. We had a really great time with Aimee and her family in Gilroy, which is like my second family. Blake had an absolute blast playing with all of the kids and we had an instant babysitter with Aimee's sisters girls who are 14 and 10. Who could ask for more! Made for a relaxing Thanksgiving. The only downfall was with all the spare time I had I think i ate enough for 3 grown men that day. I was shocked when the doctor told me this morning i had only gained 3 pounds from last week. I was convinced it was going to be 10. ha!

The day after thanksgiving we went to Christmas in the Park in downtown San Jose with our playgroup friends and decorated our community tree. We had a lot of fun hanging out with friends and contributing to the beautiful display of christmas trees for the community to enjoy.



and last but not least... a BABY UPDATE!

So I'm 36 weeks as of Sunday. We had our weekly doctors appointment this morning. This baby is a stubborn one and is sitting in frank breech position (butt first). We went ahead and scheduled a c-section for December 21st but we are secretly hoping either baby turns around or just decides to bless us with his presence early that way we can be home and settled before Christmas. Cross your fingers for us! Either way though we are so excited to meet our second baby boy!

Here are my 34/35 week belly shots

35 weeks with baby #2


34 weeks with Blake

11.07.2010

Halloween Time!

October seemed to be filled with lots of halloween related activities. Blake got to visit the pumpkin patch with his playgroup friends, grandma einck and mommy and daddy. Lucky kid! We also had an adventure at Happy Hollow and a Halloween party with our playgroup friends. Always a good time!

Blake spent a week at his grandma and papa eincks mid month. He had a great time and mommy got a much needed break to get some things done around here. B keeps talking about his visit. He is now addicted to the book puff the magic dragon (which my mom read and sang to him everyday) and wants me to read it before bed every night as well as at any point he wakes up during the middle of the night. I think i'm a little puffed out...but he loves it so I will continue doing it. Blake also immediately announces "papa's tractor" to anyone who might step foot into our house. I think we might have a country boy on our hands.

We ended the month with Halloween of course! Blake was a super hero and he did some trick-or-treating with our friends and neighbors. It was tons of fun and he loved getting all the candy. Lucky for us he was only interested in the lollipops - so the rest mommy and daddy can eat.

Hope everyone enjoyed October as much as we did. Only about 8 more weeks until the new baby arrives. Will have another belly shot and update coming this months sometime.

xoxo

10.26.2010

Baby Boy #2 Update

Everything is going well with baby #2. 31 weeks as of yesterday. We are going to the doctor every 2 weeks now. I'm measuring normally - but i was measuring normally with Blake and look how huge he was! I did find out recently that I don't have gestational diabetes with this pregnancy which was fantastic news. We are really hoping for a smaller baby this time around - but we will roll with whatever comes our way. I have to say that as smooth as everything is going this pregnancy is slightly different than the last. I definitely have heartburn much more and I am more uncomfortable now that i have entered my 30 weeks. And I'm a lot more tired I feel like. Maybe that is because I'm also chasing around a 2 year old. This baby moves very similar to how Blake moved around - Very slow movements, not a lot of sharp movements which i'm thankful for. For a little fun I put together a couple of belly shot sequences. One of when i was pregnant with Blake and the other is this pregnancy. I'm feeling like I look bigger in this late stage than I did with Blake. Hopefully that just means that I have gained more weight and that this baby isn't bigger. Please cross your fingers for me. ;)



10.04.2010

Red Bluff & Walla Walla

September was a great month. We spent the beginning of the month in Walla Walla with Chris' family. It has become a tradition that we head up to the northwest for Labor Day weekend and partake in the traditional Walla Walla activities which include country concerts, labor day parade and the good ol' fair. All activities I grew up doing, so why not expose the darling little boy to them. We always have a wonderful time and this year was no different. I forgot my camera however so not many pictures to share - only those from my phone.

Later in the month we headed up to Red Bluff to spend a few days with my family. Chris went deer hunting with my dad and brother and the girls (+ Blake) stayed behind and had a great time hanging out. My dad bought a motorized john deere tractor for the kids and Blake could not get enough about it. He is still talking about the tractor and the horsies and the Rhino that my mom takes him for rides on to feed the horses. A total boy we have on our hands. I love it!

Well enjoy the pictures from the month. I have been a little lazy about taking picture these days so there aren't too many. I have a feeling once baby #2 gets here we will be snapping away again.

9.11.2010

Baby News....

So I was horrible at taking pictures in August and have almost nothing to share so I thought I would give you all a baby update. We had our 20 week ultrasound about a month ago (I guess this update is coming kind of late). Everything looked great. Baby was doing well, moving around a ton and his little heart beat was as strong as can be. What more can you ask for. We of course found out the gender and are so excited to have another boy! The baby was laying breech - which later in pregnancy won't be such a great thing but for now its not too worrisome since the baby moves around quite a bit. I go in next week to get my gestational diabetes test done - chances are I will have it again, but I'm sure hoping not.

Ultrasound pic and belly shots! Enjoy!

20 week ultrasound picture of baby's face


Belly shots!

8.19.2010

Oh July...you flew by WAY to fast!

So now that it's the middle of August I will finally get around to posting our July pictures. We had a very eventful month of July. Here is a quick recap of the month...

  • July 4th we spent at home poolside with our friends Aimee and Kris. It was probably the most mellow 4th of July Chris and I have ever exprienced. Good times!
  • We took a trip to Trinidad, Ca for a long weekend with the Einck family and some family friends. Blake loved the beach and we definitely will be visiting this area again.
  • BLAKES 2ND BIRTHDAY! So much fun to celebrate another year with the coolest kid I know. We had a wonderful time and Blake loved his birthday and eating CUPCAKES!
  • The Burkes came to visit! yay! They were able to celebrate Blakes birthday with us and we had a fun filled 5 days going to Santa Cruz, Happy Hollow and just hanging out!
  • The last weekend of July we went to RB to celebrate Blakes birthday with the Eincks and also to celebrate my cousin Melissa's little girl Amira's 3rd birthday.


Phew...That was a busy month. Wait until I post about August. ;)

I just want to also mention a few things about Blake. Now that he is 2 we have our challenges but he is also so much fun to be around. He is starting to talk more and more and it's fun to finally be able to communicate with him. Some of his interests lately are:

  • BIG TRUCKS...especially firetrucks and garbage trucks
  • Watching me cook and helping "blake help", "blake watch"
  • Throwing tantrums and whining. ha! Mama and Dada don't love that
  • Playing outside watering plants, riding his four wheeler and playing with Zoe
  • Another thing thats cute is that he calls Chris and I...MiMi Mama and DiDi Dada. Not sure where that came from but it has stuck.


So anyhow...here are our pictures from July. There are a ton!