March

First, the most exciting news: Zooey accepted Jesus into her heart this month! March 10 before bed, we were reading about the Lord's Supper, when Zooey asked if Jesus lived in her heart. After explaining that we have to ask Jesus in our hearts to forgive us of our sins, she prayed, "Dear Jesus, please come live in my heart! Amen." I asked her if she knew why Jesus died, and she answered, "For my sins!" It was such a privilege to be there with her for this moment. She was so excited and keeps talking about how Jesus lives in her heart.

- Zooey sleep-walked once this month. She was totally exhausted and was coming down with a fever. It was so weird! She came out to the living room, looked around, then laid down right there and fell asleep again. She never woke up when I took her back to bed.
- She said, "I'm going to marry Daddy. We will take a trip to the hospital and a babysitter will watch you and Daddy for five nights. Then I will bring five babies home."
- My sweet girl ran onto the playground at BSF and saw me there with my class. She ran up to me, and yelled, "I wanna see my mommy!!" It's these moments that just warm the cockles of my heart. :)
- My dad had to go to the hospital this month. Zooey was very concerned about him. She prayed for him every night and told me, "I wanna go see Grandpa at the hospital. I am really really worried about Grandpa." She has such a sweet, loving heart.
- For about a week this month, she came into my room when her bunny clock woke up and sang me, "Good Morning God" to wake me up.

Zooey has been working so hard at her speech and OT, and I can tell she's making huge strides. I got to help at the teddy bear picnic at her school, and her focus and attention were great! Her SLPs say she is doing awesome. She gets frustrated sometimes at the drills, but she will now take a deep breath all by herself and then continue trying. If something's not working for her, she'll often tell the object to obey her. It's pretty funny. :)

She was so cute at the teddy bear picnic. She was excited to find the bears and loved going on the little scavenger hunt. I love the wonder and curiosity of this age. Zooey loves getting caught up in imaginative games and stories. She will play with her dolls for a very long time, just making up little stories.

Zooey loves Tennyson and her sweet little cousin Gideon. She is always concerned when they cry and wants to know why they are crying. She tries to help them feel better by telling them, "It's ok. Don't cry!" and she'll give them a hug. Such a loving little girl.



She loved roller skating so much, we're thinking about doing lessons this summer.

Getting ready for the teddy bear picnic

Going on a bear hunt

Found her bear at last!

February

Zooey started asking a lot of questions about Jesus and heaven this month. Thankfully, God answered my prayers on how to best answer a four year old with the BSF preschool program lessons and the amazingly timed home training lessons! In fact, my phone notes are mostly about these comments and questions for February. :)

- "I wanna thank Jesus for saving my sins."
- "Mommy, are you going to go see Jesus? Are you going to take baby Tennyson with you?"
- I love how Zooey still calls Tennyson "Baby Tennyson." LOL
- One day after speech, Zooey was having a hard time obeying, so I encouraged her to pray and ask Jesus to help her obey. She fell to her knees, looked toward the sky and yelled, "Jesus! Come down from heaven and help me obey!!"
- Zooey taught Tennyson how to pray after we read our Bible one day.
- In the car one day, "Mommy, are you going to take me to heaven to see Jesus today?"
- One night at dinner, Zooey told me, "I gonna have babies one day." I asked her some questions to find out she was going to have four babies, two boys and tow girls, and she was going to marry Daddy. :)
- Another night she told me she was going to marry me, Daddy and Baby Tennyson when she grows up. :)

I had heard that this was an age when kids start to ask a lot of questions, and I actually remember asking a lot of questions when I was four. I am so incredibly thankful to be there for these questions about her budding faith and to have BSF and a solid church home to teach her, too.

Zooey got her ears pierced on Valentine's Day, after months of asking to have it done. It was...quite the adventure. We're now in April, and some days I wish I hadn't done it. It is what it is, though. She loves her little butterflies and asks when she's going to be able to wear dangly earrings. My answer? Never. LOL :)

She loves school and is really starting to talk about her little friends there and what they do at school. She's picked up some interesting habits from her class, which consists mostly of boys: fake burping, talking about poo. It's funny, but I can't laugh too much, you know. :)

The day she got her ears pierced!

President's Day at school

Love the way she dresses herself

January

It has been TOO long since I've done an update. Life is crazy right now, and I cannot wait until summer break. Thankfully, I've been taking notes in my phone about the cute and wonderful stuff I don't want to forget. :)

- I took Zooey on a trike ride. At lunch, I asked her if she had fun, and she said, "Yes, thanks. That felt good today."
- She said, "Your phone's calling you," whenever my phone rang.
- "Love you forever."
- One night before bed, I told her I was sorry I didn't get to play with her much that day and asked her to forgive me. She replied, "Ya. I just really need you to play with me. You no feed baby Tennyson ALL DAY LONG. Stop feeding baby Tennyson all day."
- She calls the color silver, "silverware."
- God answered a prayer of mine and Ryan suggested pulling Zooey out of school next year on Wednesdays to be able to attend BSF. This was a thought I had, but I hadn't suggested it to him, yet.
- She had a cold one day, and took a drink of her water and said, "Feels so good! I feel sick." Then she blew her nose out onto the ground. Yuck! lol
- I was in the shower one day when she got up from her nap, so she went in the kitchen and got her own bowl and goldfish. She showed me what she did and said, "I know; I'm so special!"
- I was doing my quiet time one morning and praying. She came into the living room and kneeled beside me to pray. So special! 

Super fun craft - ice cube painting. Kept her busy for about an hour.

Poor baby got gum in her hair. She did not like the peanut butter removal process.

So excited to see "baby Tennyson."

Tennyson 7 Months

Tennyson is 7 months old! I cannot believe he's more than half way to turning one! I tell you, I thought things went fast with Zooey, but Tennyson seems to be growing at warp speed.

Tennyson now:
- sit independently
- has his two bottom front teeth (got his first on 3/15)
- is eating finger foods
- weighs about 18.9 lbs. as of last week sometime

Tennyson loves:
- puffs! What baby doesn't? :)
- Let it Go the song from Frozen. Yup...he gets SUPER excited when it comes on in the car or at home...or when Zooey sings it. He hears it a lot.
- swinging at the park
- tickles
- peek-a-boo
- has grown really interested in animals

Tennyson doesn't like:
- other people putting him down for naps

Tennyson and Zooey have a pretty special bond. I think this is one of my favorite things as a parent. I love to watch their relationship grow. Tennyson has some separation anxiety now (not all the time, thankfully!). What's interesting is that he seems to have it with Zooey too. The other night we went out to dinner, and I was buckling him in his car seat; Zooey was not in the car yet. He sat up in his car seat to look at her seat, and when he didn't see her, he started crying. As soon as he saw her climb over the front seat he sat back and was content. When we got home that night, he craned his neck to find her and was so happy to see her! He will also fuss if she walks out of the room when she's been talking to him. It's really sweet!

One of my favorite times of day with Tennyson is nursing him to sleep and rocking him. I didn't do this with Zooey. I hope I'm not starting too bad of a habit! :) He is my last baby, though, and I just want to relish every second of those snuggles. I love to feel his weight on me and how his little body wraps into mine like a little comma. It is so relaxing for both of us!

quick snooze while Zooey was at speech

They love each other so much!

sitting like a boss! :)

Big boy toy at RaRa's