Moments that last a lifetime

Little boy, you melt my heart. Completely. 

I love to find you in your crib in the morning, kicking with all your might, as you watch your mobile wiggle from your activity. You act like you are watching shooting stars!

I love the look you give me every single time I catch your eye. 

Yep, that one. 

There is a sparkle in your eye for those you love that touches me to the deepest parts of my being and I love being your Mommy.

I love the way you grab my arm and try to eat it when I am changing your diaper.

I love how you open wide just like a little bird when you are hungry. And boy can you put down some food!

I love how you kick your feet every single time you are excited. Whether it is getting a "hello" and a smile from a stranger, or seeing a fun toy, or seeing one of your siblings round the corner. You kick like your life depends on it. 

I love you how reach for my face when I am feeding you and pull away often to gaze into my eyes. 

I love how you squeeze and explore the folds of my neck and my collarbone when I rock you at night. 

I love how you look at Conner with such eager excitement, how you wait in anticipation for each word or action coming from him.

And I love how you study Alaina's face with such seriousness as she talks away, only to break out in the biggest grin ever when she pauses to make a funny face at you. 

I love you how you look so adoringly at your Daddy when he walk in from work (as you buck and kick in excitement). 

I love to watch how content you are to sit and observe, taking in this big world.

I love to see how you are already showing an extroverted side, gaining excitement (and kicking!), grunting in desire, to interact with other children and babies. 

I wonder how in the world I was chosen to be blessed by your presence everyday and I cannot imagine my life without you. 

You light up my world, you fill my days and you have my heart. 

I will just enjoy it since I know that one day not far off, you will begin to tantrum, throw things, hit, bite and disobey. You will develop your own will that you will test against our parenting and you will talk back, be selfish and annoy your siblings. 

So yes, I will enjoy for now, that you go with the flow, you are laid back and easy going, all you want from your family is interaction and love. 

I promise that even as your grow and change, I will bare with you in love, I just ask that you bare with me as well. 

I love you Zane David and what is amazing is that God loves you even more. 

Christmas 2012, Part 2

So our Christmas traditions have been shaping up over the past few years and we always gather with family, usually Keith's parents on Christmas Eve. We enjoyed fondue, a Sandberg Christmas Eve tradition that was delicious (yes, forgot my camera)

A tradition I have fond memories of from growing up with having a sleepover with the siblings on Christmas Eve, so Conner and Alaina set camp in the bonus room. Yes, that is how they slept, Conner in the recliner and Alaina on a bare couch. Kids. : )

Keith and I were super smart this year and chose no gifts that required assembly and I have even wrapped some in advance, so it made out night short and sweet which we welcomed. 

We have made a concerted effort to not make Santa gifts too elaborate. I still have mixed feelings about the whole Santa thing, I mean it is fun and all but a person, or article (or something) I heard or read recently had a good point. Do I really want my kids to feel like most of their gifts come from a fat guy they don't know that is not even real? No! I paid the money, I shopped the sales, I want credit! HA! No really, I think having some small things from him make sense, but if I am giving my kids big gifts, I want them to know that I gave it to them because I want them to have fun things and I care about them. Anywho...this is what Santa brought this year.

 Now if any of you know me at all, you know I am a clearance shopper and like to brag share the deals I find. Hey, being primarily a stay at home does not afford us the ability to buy things at full price. That sacrifice is worth every penny. Especially when you are a good clearance shopper like myself. : )

Conner: Angry Birds, bought on sale, Golf Putter found on clearance, Wii remotes and games on clearance, Star Wars ship clearance and golf balls on sale.

Alaina: New Bike! This was on sale but she was also due for a bike. Since we did get her last bike at a yard sale for $6 and this is the size she will be in for the next 3-4 years, we thought it worth it. The guitar was super clearance, gold belt clearance ($2!), sequin shirt and fingerless gloves, all clearance at Target. Oh, and the helmet? $7 at Tuesday Morning during their half of clearance event. I know. I'm good.

Zane: What do you get when you are a baby AND the third child? Things you need. Bath toys, bath storage set, baby food masher, baby plates...all amazon bought and the token clearance feeding mat. Why not?

Well, kids, as you read this in the future, you will begin to understand just how frugal your parents are. I trust that you will appreciate it since you are already showing signs of influence since, when I come home from shopping, you ask me if I got any good deals. Just like I did, you will make fun of me as you grow older, groan and roll your eyes, but just remember when you give your first gift that you paid only a few dollars for because you found it on clearance.....you are carrying on a lifelong tradition of Riggs frugality. You're welcome.

Carrying with tradition, Santa laid out all the gifts which the kids will run down the stairs to check out (at no earlier than 7am as strictly enforced)

Conner and Alaina were very good at waiting until 7am to wake us and were READY TO GO. It did lessen the mood for Alaina to keep saying with unabated excitement "I KNOW Santa brought me a drum set, I just KNOW it." Um. No, he didn't. That reminds me of another idea I heard about this year. Have the kids write their lists and MAIL them on December 1st. That way there is no changing them. That will keep you from doing what I was doing on Chrismtas Eve when they wrote their lists. "Are you sure you want that? Didn't you say you wanted a _________?"

The tradition is that the kids stand at the top of the stairs, and when we say "go", they can run down and see their gifts. Well, last year where was, how can I say it? A little hiccup in that playing out. See for yourself. By the way, before you watch, just know that no one was truly injured.

So this year, after being warned strictly to WALK down, here is how it went down. Notice the measured, paced steps to their gifts. : )

Where was Zane during all this you ask? Fast asleep. He slept in and then joined us for the opening of the gifts where he taste tested everything he got.

It was a FUN morning as we took turns opening our presents (our family rule is that you get one present from each person, so we each had four to open) and eating cinnamon buns and egg cassarole. 

Grandma and Grandpa came over.

And Papa and Nana came later.

 

Alaina got all thing girly, and she could not WAIT to put it all on.

 

After a brief nap time for all, we went over to Gresham and Jen's to celebrate with the whole Riggs clan.

We then arrived back home, Christmas night and COLLAPSED from a very full day. We are blessed.

Christmas 2012, Part 1

OK, the Christmas posts will have to be broken into two and approprately so. The first phase is always exciting, the getting and decorating of the tree. While I will delve into the getting of the tree I will leave the decorating of the tree to your imagination. Just imagine Keith on the couch watching football, Alaina placing two (or five) ornaments per branch, and Conner sitting by the tray of crackers and cheese, eating his weight in food. 

Not sure how it started but our tradition has been to go to the Lowe's home improvement store the Saturday after Thanksgiving and get our tree there. I think the tradition started out of frugality and continues for the same reasons to this day. You can get a tree for around forty bucks. This year, due to Zane, things were a little different. We didn't make it on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and I think it was because a child was melting down, but we did make it to the Lowe's the Monday after Thanksgiving ready to fulfill this years tree picking. We always start by parusing the aisles for Christmas lights in that year's color. (Keith grew up with colored lights, I grew up with white lights, so naturally, we agreed to alternate) This year it was Keith's year for ugly colored lights so we bought a few boxes because we always forget to check to see if we actually NEED more lights which results in....well, you guessed it....owning bins and bins of lights. 

Next, it is off to the Christmas tree "lot" to find the perfect tree, where Keith takes his job seriously, carefully and meticulously inspecting each tree for quality and size.

Meanwhile, the kids are hard at work helping out, doing what they can to identify the best tree.

Yeah, thanks guys.

Like I said, this tradition started years ago. The first record I could find of it was this year.

First of all, yes Keith is wearing the same orange vest. Apparently, that is part of the tradition too. This picture was taken in November of 2006.

We always pick out our tree, drag it to the front to be cut and then carry it out and tie it on the roof, hoping that it will stay there for the short ride home. Her is Conner in 2007. 

Again in 2008.

 And again in 2009.

Every  year, we followed the same procedure and even had the same checkout cashier for three years (shout out to Arlene!). 

                              How fun is THIS girl?!

Now as far as 2010, I forgot the camera and in 2011, I was pregnant and (most likely) grumpy, so no pics from those years, but......back to 2012. 

Several years it was the first tree we picked up, this year it was the third. Conner and Alaina were nice enough to take a break from their joy riding on the pull carts to come and approve of our selection. 

 So off, we hauled it to the front for the cutting and then out to the parking lot for tying it to the top of the van. This year, Alaina joined in the roof top picture and just to prove he was there. There is Zane. Oh, and I guess the kids feel pretty cool and "tough" being all wild and rebellious on the top of a car. Check out those faces and postures!

It is then that we head home, only to meet the challenge of two adults getting the tree properly placed in the unsteady tree stand while tree sap spread on our hands and clothes, tree needles are scattered throughout the house and children run around in circles out of excitement, frustrating the adults efforts to communicate about getting the tree in the tree stand! Good times. 

All of it is worth it since it allows other sweet traditions to ensue, like the annual picture in front of the tree. (prior to 2006 we did not have a digital camera so we have to start there)

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

 This was the year I was pregnant, just finishing the first trimester where I was sick and all I wanted to do and DID do was sit on the couch and eat Cheez-its. This is seriously the only picture I have from that year's tree tradition.

 HA!

With that I leave you in anticipation for Christmas 2012 Part 2!

Zane's 6th Month!

Since we are only 10 days away from Zane being 7 months, I figured I better hurry and try to remember at least a few details and moments from his turning 6 months. With Christmas and working more over the Holidays, it is a bit of a blur and I didn't write down any specific milestones (sorry buddy), but will do my best. : )

Zane's sleep continued to struggle a bit. It did not help that we are constantly on the go, that four teeth came in nor that Zane kept getting his arm stuck like this everytime he would go to bed.

 I think he would stick it down there for comfort and he would often hold the rail of the crib tightly in his hand. Hope his desperate attempt to cuddle with the crib railing is not a sign that we ignore him too much.  

But who could ignor this face? Yes, I tote him around the house with me daily doing chores and cleaning up and he is happy to tag a long. This is where he sits when I am doing laundry. 

He smiles so easily, exactly like I remember Conner being. Such a sweet nature is a joy to be around.

Since he was not sitting up on his own yet, his days was often a rotation of "stations".

The exersaucer. There is one upstairs and down for convenience and yes, this one is probably from 1992. We don't roll with nice stuff over here. I actually prefer the empty tray so we can load it up with random items. He quite loves the exersaucer. 

The Jumper. As most children, his first experiences in this were just having his arm disappear and pop out a leg hole as he drifted like he was in the wind. Well, this month, it definitely become a jumper. He loves to jump and his legs will often start "jumping" before his bottom is seated (make it very difficult to actually get him in the jumper and is now a two man job).

The bumbo. This is kept on the kitchen counter and his spot when the family is in there for meals or I am cooking. He loves to sit eye level with the kids when they are eating breakfast at the island. Actually, not sure who is enjoying that more. Oh, and yes, the arguing over who the bumbo is closer too continues. We may need to have the counter professionally measured to the hundreth of a centimeter and a red circle drawn because then and only then will the kids finally see that it is "fair".

As you see he also eats in the bumbo and boy can he eat. At our six month check up he had gone from the 50% to the 25% in weight and the doctor said he is definitely ready for more solids. So solids he got! We have gone straight to food this time around, so (all mashed) banana, steamed apples, sweet potatoes, avocado, chicken, quinoa and egg yolks have been the foods so far and he loves them all! I think he came in at 75% for head, 50% for length and 25% for weight. I can bed that % will jump a LOT at 9 months. : ) We started solids twice a day with a bigger meal at night because you know, it would start helping him sleep through the night. Not so much.

The doctor did say I could feed him as much as he wanted, basically until he is not interested. Well, if leaning to the side out of food coma with a foot propped up on the tray to give your big belly relief is not full, I don't know what he. What can we say? He enjoys food like his Mama.

Finally figured out how to upload video so here is a peek of his first bites of food. Keith has to provide a "seat belt" of sorts due to the lunging behaviors. Like I said, he enjoys food.

 Conner continued his active role as brother (so many people told me that older kids are not interested in their baby siblings. Could not be farther from the truth!) and changed a diaper all by himself. 

Alaina is always the completely in your face doting sister, ready to play and make funny noises for Zane.

This girl LOVES her brothers. I am amazed at how much she and Conner play together for their age and gender difference. I try to not think that since we limit the media so much that hey have nothing better to do than to pal around together, but whatever the reason, it is good. 

Speaking of that girl, here is a token picture of one of her "ensembles" that she put together to wear to school. I guess she is planning to rap while she is there too.

OK, back to Zane. He has taken to waking up and practicing getting up on all fours. Me? I am trying to enjoy every nonmobile minute get with him and I am already planning to turn the downstairs changing station to a play pen so I will be ready! I think it is going to happen sooner than later!

Oh, I almost forgot it was Thanksgiving right after he turned 6 months....love that I can match he and Conner, even though there is a 8 1/2 year age difference!

Well, there you go! Six months come and gone just like that. I have to say, I have truly treasured and enjoyed having this sweet boy my my side everyday. We still only use the sling when we go out and having him close like that so much is a content feeling that I have felt few times and I will miss it. However, I am excited as he grows the way he interacts, talks (oh the vocalizations, he is certainly chiming in already to this loud household!) and show his God given personality are going to be so fun to experience!