ScrumpyDaddy

On Saturday December, 19th we had a first day of snow. It snowed all day long. When we got up in the morning I would say we had at least 2 inches on the ground. I told Abby to go look out the window. She looked out our bedroom window and said, “There’s snow out there.” We went down had breakfast and then all got ready, except for Zach, to go out and play in the snow. Zach took his morning nap, which worked out great because then both Dave and I could go outside. Zach is 5 months old and not quite old enough to be outside for an extended period of time even with his snow suite.

We took out the snow pants, boots, mittens, hat, and winter coat. By the way, the snow pants, boots, hat, and mittens were all from our local Salvation Army store (less than $10.00 for all 4). The Salvation Army store is great for kids who grow out of things so quick and can only use things like snow pants and boots for 1 year. Anyways, Dave and I put on our long underwear, we don’t have snow pants, and got our hats and gloves on. The 3 of us headed outside to enjoy the snow.

It was beautiful outside. It wasn’t very windy and with all our layers on it didn’t feel too cold. The snow was still falling, but it was just lightly falling to make the perfect winter scene. Abby immediately went out in the snow. She wanted to make snow angels. She made at least 5 or 6 angels while we were outside. She really wanted to make snow balls and a snowman, but the snow was too fluffy and soft to make those. Not quite wet enough snow. We will have to wait until later in the season.

Abby had tons of fun anyways. We got out the sleds and pulled her around a little bit. We also went sled ridding. We have a hill for a backyard so Mommy and Abby went down the hill together many times on the blue and orange sleds we have. Abby laughed each time and wanted to keep going.

We stayed outside for about an hour before it started to feel cold on our faces. We knew it was time to come in and Abby was ready. It was a wonderful time. Days like this are why winter is so great. I am just glad it wasn’t a work day and I didn’t have to drive in it.

Abby’s Snow Angel

Zach is now 5 months old. He is growing leaps and bounds. I had to change out all his clothes right before Thanksgiving to his 6 to 9 month clothes. Zach you have to stop growing so that we have enough clothes for you, LOL! Zach is now 19 lbs 13 oz.

Zach is getting much better at his fine motor control. You can see him concentrating on controlling his hand to pick up specific toys. Then once he has them he can now hold onto to them and put them in his mouth (which he does most of the time) or shake them to make noise. He loves one rattle in particular. Whenever he moves it and it makes its rattle noise he smiles. We keep that one at the dinner table with us. We have been putting Zach in his high chair at the dinner table with some toys whenever we are eating. He seems to like that better than the bouncy chair or on the floor. He likes to be up with the rest of us at the table. We will probably be starting him on solids soon. He seems to be getting interested in watching us eat, typically a sign they want to start solids.

Zach is also moving forward with his gross motor control. He has now rolled over completely several times, though I think Dave has missed everyone of them. Dave will be with Zach and trying to get him to roll over for him and of course Zach does it the second Dave looks away for something. You catch it one of these times Dave. Zach has also discovered his feet. He is starting to grab them when he is lying on his back. We now have to keep shoes on him to keep him from pulling off his socks and then sucking on them. Wet socks, gross! We still have to work on those stomach muscles to help him sit up on his own. He is getting much better though. When you hold his hands he will try and pull himself up to sitting position. He still can’t stay there on this own and needs support, but we will keep working on it.

Zach is still a very happy baby. He loves to make noise and make himself heard, whether that is good or bad. He also loves his sister and still smiles whenever he sees her. She is wonderful with him. She is now starting to play with him more, since he now reacts more to her. She reads him books, gives him toys, and loves to help whenever she can. She will get very jealous if you don’t ask her to help. She is a great big sister. I hope it remains this way.

Unfortunately, Zach is sick right now with a bad cold. It has gone to his chest so he is coughing and wheezing. Dave took him to the doctor yesterday and they prescribed nebulizer treatments every 4 to 6 hours to help open him up. I hope he gets better soon.

Every year there is, of course, a favorite part of the weekend. Usually it is going to Linda and Andy’s for their special meal after Thanksgiving Day. I love Andy’s cooking. This year it was still the same, though different. Usually all the family goes to Linda and Andy’s. This year the meal at Linda and Andy’s was very small and intimate. Since Becky had gotten sick no one really wanted to be around us. They didn’t want to take the chance of their kids getting sick, like Becky, since we didn’t know exactly what she had (turned out she had just a 48 hour bug of some kind). The family is being very cautious this year with the loss of Maddie. Since we only go to NJ once a year for Thanksgiving, so we got the priority to go to Linda and Andy’s.

We went there on Saturday afternoon for a late lunch, early dinner. It was only Dave, Abby, Zach and I along with my one cousin Janet and my Aunt Carole and Uncle Dave. It was a wonderful time. We got to talk with Linda and Andy and hear wonderful stories of Maddie and her year with us. I had only seen Maddie one time, which was last Thanksgiving, since like I said before we only see that side of the family once a year. I hadn’t really gotten to know Maddie, but was able to get to know her a little better through their stories. We talked about how she could say hi, mommy, and had just started to say daddy. We saw wonderful pictures of Maddie all around the house. We even took the time to go to her room and see some of the posters from the funeral. I lost it when we went into her room and couldn’t hold back the tears. No one should ever outlive their children.

We continue to lift up Linda and Andy and pray for strength and comfort.

It has now become a tradition since we started going to my Uncle’s for Thanksgiving that either Friday or Saturday morning we head over to a local nursery to look at their Christmas display. It is a wonderful place called Willow Run. They have live animals that you can feed, a Christmas display of various Christmas scenes, and of course Christmas trees all wonderfully decorated. Each year we pick out several things to buy from Willow Run. Mainly window clings of some sort. This year we did end up getting couple other things. We let Abby pick out LED lights for a small tree we had for her bedroom. She also picked out a small gold star for the top of her tree. She was so excited to get to pick these out. We also got a Christmas door mat and some window clings. We are trying the gel ones this year. We will see how they go.

Abby, of course, loved the animals the best and probably could have stayed there all day feeding them. At Willow run the animals are all behind a double fence so you can’t touch them. They have tubes you put the food down that goes into a trough for the animals to eat. Abby liked putting the corn kernels down the tube one kernel at a time. It was a miracle the animals could find the kernels and eat them. Though I have to say it did save me quarters, since she wasn’t putting whole handfuls down the tubes and then asking for more over and over again. Way to have self control kid!