by admin ~ January 26, 2012
Each month seems to get more fun.
Gabe and Zara are talking more and more each day.
The kids continue to eat almost anything we put in front of them but they developed a bad habit of throwing their food onto the floor when they got mad about something. We tried explaining to them that we give them good food and it was “not nice” and “rude” to throw their meal on the floor and explained they made a “mess”. This had little impact so one day after they made a particularly large mess I made them pick the food up off of the floor before they could play. This pretty much cured Zara of all food throwing but Gabe could care less. He eagerly picks up the food he threw on the floor.
The kids have also started interacting with each other more. They spend a lot of time giggling at each other. Any time one does something silly or mischievous, the other quickly does exactly the same thing. Unfortunately, interacting has also meant a bit of biting, pushing, fighting over toys goetc. If they’re being mischievous we count to 3 then they go to “time out”. If they’re mean to each other we tell them it’s not nice to be mean to each other, we send them to timeout, then they have to say sorry and give each other a kiss when timeout is over. One of the first clear things they said was “not nice.” Zara usually waddled over to Gabe, leaned down and said “not nice.” It’s pretty hard not to laugh at them sometimes!
We flew to the east coast for the holidays to visit our family in PA. The kids did awesome on the flights and have become quite the little travelers! Zvonimir and I normally only get a few hours a day with the kids during the week so it was really fun to spend 10 whole days with them. They change so much so quickly. The kids loved being around family but Gabe was very shy at first. They got to see all kinds of animals including Clydesdale horses, parrots, cows, dogs and cats. They loved it but they were very excited to see Maggie when we had returned. She had been in boarding at our vets while we were gone and she was thrilled to be home. I’m not sure that she was so excited to hear the kids screaming but she was happy to be home.
We have 2 picture galleries this month.
December Seattle Pictures
View our December 2011 photos.
PA Visit pictures below:
View our 2011 holidays photos.
by Amy ~ December 6, 2011
November was a really fun month. Gabe and Zara are starting to chatter more and more. Every square truck is a “mailman” and they scream excitedly when they see a bus or a truck. Their vocabulary is growing by the day (tractor, ball, shoe, sock, backpack, diaper (pronounced biaper by Gabe), and many more). Their favorite activity is looking at picture books and pointing to the pictures when you say the words. They also know their body parts and when you ask where their nose is, they stick a finger up it. Even more fun is when you ask where your nose is… better move quickly or you’ll have a finger jammed up your nose! Gabe still chatters more than Zara. He’s still very loud and very high energy. Zara loves to sing along with music and is quite content sitting on the couch or your lap reading a book. They often get into battles about who gets to sit on my lap to read a book. Recently, Gabe started saying “Mama, Mama” and getting the Inside, Outside, Upside, Down book. He knew exactly where in the book you said “Mama Mama I went to town…”. They also love Go Dogs Go and hold their hand up when the dogs are at the red light (stop dog stop). It’s pretty amazing that they know exactly where in the book you say certain words.
This year we spent Thanksgiving in Seattle. We recently joined a club that has a Thanksgiving dinner. It was a great meal and the kids were awesome. They ate a ton and didn’t make a peep. I love being able to take them out to restaurants and have people comment on their good behavior!
View our November 2011 photos.
by Amy ~ November 23, 2011
October was a beautiful month here so we spent a lot of time at the park. Gabe loves walking to the park but Zara would prefer to be carried!
We enjoyed a beautiful weekend at Fort Worden state park on the Olympic peninsula where we celebrated Willow and Jonathan’s wedding. Their wedding was on a former military base where the former military housing can be rented out. While the houses have not been updated for quite some time, they are large fully furnished and a great value. Our unit was a 4 bedroom portion of a house that was bigger than our own house. The wedding was very nice and Gabe & Zara did their best to be quiet (they weren’t very successful!).
Gabe continues to be very shy around strangers. His latest thing is to cover one eye when a stranger looks at or speaks to him. Zara could care less about strangers!
We also attended Croatiafest, a local festival to celebrate the Croatian culture. Gabe and Zara wore their Murter tee shirts to show their Murter pride.
The kiddos have started trying to repeat words we say. They love hiding their face and saying “boo.” They also love blowing kisses and have even started giving kisses. When they hit you or give you a boo boo you can expect a big wet kiss with sound effects (mwah!). One night Z heard the kids talking after we put them down for bed. After a while he heard Gabe say “Za-Za”, no response from Zara then “Zaaaa-Za.” It cracked us up so from time to time we call Zara Za-Za.
This year we dressed up as the 3 little pigs and the big bad wolf. We didn’t really trick or treat but it gives us a reason to stop and meet our neighbors once a year.
View our October 2011 photos.
by Amy ~ November 12, 2011
We continued to take advantage of the beautiful weather by spending a lot of September outdoors. We took a road trip to Mount Rainier where we hiked up towards the glacier. It was a clear day but it was extremely hot and the mosquitoes and flies were biting like crazy (of course they didn’t bite Z!). The kids got to touch the snow in the glacier and were not sure what to think of it. It always amazes me that there are patches of snow when it’s so hot! Another weekend was spent driving several hours away to hike to a beautiful alpine lake. The kids did very well on the hike up and loved playing in the eating the wild blueberries along the way. It was a lot of fun and we were all exhausted by the time we made it back home!
Gabe and Zara are doing great. They are really starting to chatter and say odd things like mailman, backpack and Nah-nah (their word for Maggie). We’re continuously working on sharing… some days go better than others! They both learned how to blow kisses and get a big kick out of Skype calls! They are also growing – a lot! They were both above the 98% in height for their age and seem to be growing out of clothes quickly!
Gabe often takes a book, toy, or some other item as a trade when Zara has something he wants. If that doesn’t work brute force is applied. He has learned to milk every “boo boo” to the max and will search his body for a boo-boo when sympathy is needed (or if you ask him about his boo-boo). Long after the scrape on his knee was healed he continued to bring it to our attention and need a kiss/ hug. He’s quite the drama queen! Gabe is our little snuggler. He loves to cuddle and give kisses. For a long time Gabe didn’t seem interested in chatting but it seems now that he’s more of a chatterbox than Zara. Gabe loves to walk to the park and happily holds your hand or if he has on the backpack with a leash, he’ll bring you the leash to hold onto.
Zara, on the other hand is miss independent!!! She refuses to hold your hand, and gets very angry if try to hold her hand or hold onto her backpack leash. In fact, at times she will just lie on the ground and refuse to move if you try to hold on. Zara, no angel herself, has learned that quick feet, squealing like a pig, and if all else fails, sharp teeth ensure brother cannot take what she’s playing with. Zara loves to grab a book and sit on your lap. We joke that Zara acts more like a cat. When she wants love and affection she’ll sit on your lap but do not try and make her sit on your lap if it’s not her idea!
They crack each other up often. They chat back in forth when we put them down for bed, pass food back and forth during meal time (because the black beans on one try look SO different on the other tray!). When one giggles it’s usually not long until the other is giggling. They are the first one by the other’s side if there are tears. The one not in trouble will at times sit down with the other in time out (or brings toys to the one in time out). All biting, tackling, hitting aside, it’s obvious they have a great bond and love each other.
View our September 2011 photos .
by Amy ~ September 19, 2011
Once again we’re behind in posting pictures so we have a bunch of pictures! Gabe and Zara have changed so much in the past 5 months. I’ll try to hit the highlights but I’m sure I’ll forget something!
Month 17
Summer is starting to wrap up in Seattle so we’ve been trying to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible. We’ve taken a few beautiful hikes, played in the wading pools at Green Lake, and spent numerous hours at the park. We also celebrated my birthday starting out with a walk on the beach. Zara loved pouring sand all over her legs, while Gabe loved eating handfuls of sand. We had lunch at one of our favorite restaurants on the water. We finished off the evening with dinner with some friends we met through breastfeeding class and walked to the park. It is always fun to see the 4 kids together and watch them growing up.
View month 17 photos.