January News

In order to make compiling our annual history a little easier, I thought I would steal a trick from Kristi and start writing monthly updates to include other news that wasn't in our blog.



January has seen a few changes in our house. Starting with the littlest one, I think we've seen the most change. Nora has gone from being a baby who screams and cries from about 9 pm until 2 am to being a baby that goes to bed between 8 pm and 9 pm and then I don't hear from her until about 5 or 6 am (knock on wood). She also is finally taking good naps during the day as well. This is really a treat for me, as I really don't function very well without my sleep. I'm not sure what the trick was--it could be that her stomach is not bothering her since we put her on some medication for reflux, it could be that she's using a pacifier some, it could be that she has just matured. However, I think it's because Kevin got tired of having a cranky wife and prayed earnestly and the Lord answered his prayers. She is growing very well. She was 12 pounds at her two month appointment. She is little Miss Smiley. It doesn't take much to get a big grin out of her. She loves her bath and could stay there all night. She doesn't like getting out of the bath, though. It's always a challenge to see how far we can get into her jammies before she starts screaming. Right now we are able to get her diaper on and sometimes the lotion. Her favorite place to hang out is on the bathroom counter. That's great for me because I can just lay her there while I'm getting ready for the day. However, she is getting far too close to rolling over and I've had a couple of close calls, so I guess I'll have to be done with that trick. She loves to watch Zane and he loves to give her hugs and kisses.



Zane has also made a lot of growth this month. He is getting use to sharing Mom's time and loves to love his baby sister. He is busy, busy, busy. He does a pretty good job at entertaining himself most of the time, but sometimes he still really wants his Mamma. He learns new words every day, it seems. I think he has about 50 words right now, but his favorite words are "car" "woof-woof" and "Dadda." Within the last month he has become really interested in singing songs that have actions. He loves to sing "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" "Monkeys Jumpin' on the Bed" "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" and "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes." He loves cars and books. His favorite books are "The Bike Lesson," "One Fish, Two Fish," "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus" and "Go, Dog! Go!" and David books. We can read those books a dozen times in a day. Zane started nursery this month. Mom was in there with him the first couple of weeks subbing for the nursery leader. He did pretty well. He has a hard time putting the toys away when it's time, but I think it is getting better. The nursery leader said he did "great" last week. He seems to love it and doesn't blink an eye when we just drop him off. Hopefully, he will continue to love it. Zane also moved out of his bed into a toddler bed. It was such an easy transition. He was so excited about his new bed. He fell out a couple of times the first week, but now has now problem. For a few nights, after he got use to his bed, we had to teach him that he had to stay in bed and not get up and play, but even that seems to no longer be a problem (knock on wood again). Finally, Zane is really enjoying spending time at the Children's Museum. Grandpa and Grandma Pickup gave him an annual pass for Christmas. We try to go at least once a week. Zane loves to be there and run around to all the different activities. His favorite places are the Dig Pit, the Hospital (especially driving the ambulance), and the theater.

Kevin has had a busy month. He is still working on his graduate degree, taking just one class per term as he is working full time. He has had class on Monday and Wednesday morning, which means he works late on those days. He has Scouts on Tuesday evenings and then usually stays up very late doing homework. He enjoyed a trip to the Winter Lodge with the scouts. Everyone had a great time tubing down the hill and playing in the snow. Things seem to be going very well and work. He is working on a very important project and there seems to be a lot of interest in what he is doing. Most of Kevin's Saturdays have been spent serving others. One Saturday he took a friend from work to the dry-pack cannery and helped him get a lot of food storage. He helped two people move. Also, we had a huge wind storm that knocked a bunch of trees down. Kevin spent quite a bit of time cleaning up a fallen tree for a family who was recently baptized in our ward. He also spends a lot of time serving his own family. Instead of coming home and watching TV like I hear so many men do, he drops his things and plays with his kids. Then he cleans up dinner dishes and helps bathe his kids and put them to bed. What a stellar dad and husband!

Holly continues to adjust to being a mom of two. Sometimes it feels like I don't accomplish anything all day, and sometimes you feel like it's a miracle I accomplished all that I did. I've had a hard time adjusting to two babies, but I try to remember that the first couple of months are the hardest. It's always so rewarding to get big smiles from Nora and big hugs and kisses from Zane. I also really enjoy watching Zane have so much fun in life. My energy has been focused on helping Zane learn to be happy and helping Nora get into some sort of schedule. I've decided to start baking all of my own bread and it has turned out pretty good. I love to read to my kids. I've decided to run a half-marathon for the Fourth of July. It is the flattest marathon route in the country (I think that's what they say). I'd love to have anyone join me. I tell people I'm running this all the time, not to brag, but because then I will have to be accountable and not back out.

We all enjoyed having Joey and Adrienne Peacock stay with us while their parents were in Arizona. Zane LOVES Adrienne so much. She can always make him laugh super hard. We really enjoy both Joey and Adrienne. They are a lot of fun and are such good kids. We played Scene It and Joey whooped us! He knows everything. He is someone you would want to have on your "phone-a-friend" list for "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?".


We also enjoyed a visit and the very end of the month from Grandpa and Grandma Tolman. As soon as Grandma walked through the door Zane ran right up to her and gave her the biggest, longest hug. I think she even tried to put him down once and he wouldn't let go. We had a lot of fun shopping, eating and playing. Zane loved the Play-Doh war with Grandpa. We were sad to see them go.