Little Mr. Z

Zachary is now 4 months old. In honor of turning 4 months, he started to roll over today. Poor guy had is arm pinned underneath him though and couldn't make it all the way. I'd like to hold off on rolling or anything else for a while. I feel like he has left the newborn stage way too quickly and while I wasn't even looking. He is such a big boy already.

* Zachary is the cutest boy! Brielle tells me every day that Zach is the cutest baby boy in the whole world. I would agree. I also think he is so sweet.* He is a very smiley little guy. He will smile and laugh easily. It certainly makes me feel like a real comedian. He also smiles really big for Brie and Ava. . . . until they start smothering him. *Brielle always calls him Zachariah. Ava calls him that too now, but with an H at the beginning and it sounds more like diarrhea. * Zach is a perfect 4 month old sleeper. He soothes very easily. When he starts showing he is tired, I rock him a little in my arms, wrap him up, lie him down in his crib, put a soft blanket next to his cheek, he burrows his cheek into the blanket, sucks on his chupa and drifts off to sleep all by himself. What a good boy. His naps are still a little sporadic during the day, but he usually sleeps a good 3 hours in the afternoon. At night he still wakes up twice to eat and I still don't mind (usually). * He loves his swing and is usually quite content there. He also gets a lot of time to kick around on a blanket on the floor completely enthralled with how incredibly amazing his hands are. He gets to be on the floor until Ava comes along to terrorize him thinking she is playing with him. The other day she was sitting on him hoping he would give her a pony ride.* Zach is smelly and sweaty. This is different from the girls. I don't know if it's because he is a boy or what, but he really does sweat. And when the kid has gas . . . . watch out!* Zach loves kicking around in the bathtub with his sisters and I love how he smells and feels when I get him out and lotion him up. Mmmmmmmm!* He gets dressed up by Brielle regularly. He has been accessorized with everything. Ava applied strawberry lip gloss to his lips yesterday and then was showing him how to smack them together. Poor guy.* Zach does not like his car seat at all. He'll still sleep in it sometimes, but would much prefer to be in his bed. If he is awake in the car seat, he is usually screaming. Those of you who have talked to me on my cell as I drive around town can attest to that. There is a lot of background noise.

We absolutely love having a baby boy. And we are so glad that it is this little boy!

With Love, From Laura

I've been wanting to do this post for a while now, but had to finish up the holiday festivities first. Yes, it took me this long. I want to tell about two very special people and the incredibly generous things they have done for me recently. They are both Laura. Laura, my sister and Laura, my sister-in-law. Actually, when I started thinking about it, every Laura that I know is very kind, genuine and nice. Maybe I need to name a daughter "Laura".

First, my sister Laura. This Laura has certainly changed from the teenager Laura that I grew up with. I think she is an amazing mother. She knows just the right advice to give in any situation. She is so fun to be around. You know your name is safe with her - in that she will not talk badly about other people. She is very giving. Her family is the most important to her. She is nice to everyone. She was especially nice to me when I wanted to decorate Zach's room.

I decided I wanted to do Zach's room as a baseball/Red Sox room. There were no bumpers that were Red Sox colors, so I sent swatches of fabric to Laura and she made him an awesome blanket (Scott and I both agree it is the best she has made) and a crib bumper. I know it took a lot of time to go to stores and get the right ribbon and minkee fabric. I also know it took a lot of time to sew the two items and I soooooooooooooooooo appreciate it. We love the blanket. It's soft and just very cool looking. And we love the crib bumper and how it made the room come together. Here is Zach's room. Go Red Sox!P.S. Scott was the nice one who put up the wall paper border. And don't you love my red rocker? I bought it on Craigslist. Finally, I have a rocker!


Second is my sister-in-law, Laura. I always wish that this Laura lived closer. I think we would be great friends. I also wish her kids were closer to my kids. Laura is married to Scott's brother. She also is an amazing mother. When I say amazing, I really mean out of this world AMAZING! I see and read about the things she does with her kids and it always inspires me to try to be a better mom. I always think, "Hmm. I should do that." or "That is a good idea, I'll do that with my kids." She is a loving and supportive wife. She is someone who happily goes about doing more than I could even imagine possible in a day. She lives in tight quarters with three small kids and I never hear her complain, she just makes it work by being organized and happy with what she has. I have so much respect for her. She is also a Primary President and is wonderful. I know she has a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She seems as though she is ready and willing to take on any challenge. And this Christmas, as a gift to us, she did.

Laura and Alan had our family for Christmas to give a gift to. She never asked what we wanted and really surprised us with what she made for us. I was actually tearing up as I pulled these out of the box this morning to take pictures of them. She put so much work into this gift. For us. Wow. I am so grateful. She sewed the costumes of the nativity for us. Every year at Christmas when I was growing up, we acted out the nativity story out of the Bible. I LOVE this tradition. I always want to do it with our kids. We've had nothing to dress them up in. We're overflowing with princess dress ups, but not so much shepherds. So now, because of Laura, we have all the costumes to act out this little play at Christmas time. They are beautiful too. The fabrics are great and they all have head pieces and accessories. Can you believe she did that for us? Thank you so much!

Wise Men
Mary, Joseph and swaddling clothes for baby Jesus.Shepherd and Angel.

Happy New Year 2010!

After Christmas we got to have my parents, Jessica, Bryce, Evan (sort of) and Krista here visiting for the week. It was good times, as usual. And included a lot of good dinners, as usual. One evening my Dad brought home king crab legs and scallops for dinner. Delish! We honestly love having family here with us. We got to spend New Years with Mom and Krista. Everyone else had ditched us by then to party with other friends. We had a pretty good party of our own though. We did cheese fondue for dinner . . . . . . and then watched the ball drop in NYC and celebrated the New Year at 10:30 pm (NY time). It was perfect. We were out banging pots and pans and even lighting fireworks at 10:30. Then off to bed for the kids and Scott and off to a movie for me, Mom and Krista. I think this is a great tradition until the kids can catch on to it. It was great!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Zachary's Blessing Day

Little Mr. Zachary Scott Buchanan was blessed by Scott on December 27. It was really a good day. Zachary looked super cute in his little white outfit. He fell fast asleep right before going to be blessed so he was nice and quiet. Scott gave him a sweet and beautiful blessing just for him. We had two of Scott's brothers and all three of my brothers and our dads here with us to bless him. Perfect. Really, perfect.

After church we had everyone come to our house for lunch. I made Market Street Grill's clam chowder in bread bowls, a spinach pomegranate salad and shortbread for dessert. It was so nice to spend the afternoon together with our families. We really appreciate all of them being there. We love Zach and were happy to have a special day to celebrate him.

Happy Birthday Brielle!

December 25 was also Brielle's 4th birthday! Happy Birthday to our baby Brielle! She found balloons and streamers when she came down the stairs that morning. And got to blow out a candle on her cinnamon roll while we all sang to her. She is even wearing the leopard print leotard and tu tu that Grandma Sue sent her for her birthday. Sweet!She really is so lucky to have her birthday on Christmas. She spent a fun day with all of her family! She loved playing with her cousins all day! That evening at Grandma and Papa's we had a birthday celebration for her. She had a BEAUTIFUL pink sparkly princess cake and pink ice cream. The cake was delicious with rainbow chip on top and chocolate with Nutella on the bottom. We all sang to her, she got to blow out her candles and open presents. Perfect. She is now most certainly a four year old. Brielle went to her 4 year old doctor appointment yesterday and had to get 5 shots! She was not at all happy. She did well on hearing, seeing, jumping, etc. At 4 years old Brielle weighs 30.8 lbs. and is 39.5 inches tall. She is staying right in the 5th percentile for weight and the 50th percentile for height. Wouldn't we all like to be there?

She is cute and helpful and happy. She loves baby Zachary and plays with Ava all day long. She has made a lot of friends at preschool. That is really all she talks about are her friends. She is extremely social. She still loves to dress up and adores anything that is frilly, lacey, silky, fancy, sparkly, etc. We love Brie Brie!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was so exciting. It is true that Christmas morning is even more fun when you are the parent watching your kids be so happy and excited than it ever was before. I loved it. The girls woke up and went directly down to see their present from Santa, to see if the cookies and carrots were eaten and to see all of the birthday decorations for Brie.

Brielle and Ava got a little play house tent from Santa with a sink, washer, stove and table. There is also a market tent for going to the store. They were very happy. Ava loved going in and out and playing house. Brielle used it as a Wonder Woman changing room. She would disappear inside and then burst out in a new outfit or no outfit at all. There was a lot of present unwrapping and it was done almost entirely by the girls. They got dolls, snap dogs (favorite), a jewelery box for Brie and books from Jessica. Oh, and a ring pop from their stockings. Santa also thought it would be fun to give them gum in their stockings because they don't get it much and it is SO EXCITING. Ava ate and swallowed about 3 feet of bubble tape all in that Christmas morning. Nice.
Scott REALLY surprised me with a laptop that I LOVE!!!! And Scott got surprise presents of his own.
We then had a breakfast of cinnamon rolls and lots of hot chocolate. We were lucky enough to have Uncle Evan and Aunt Jessica with us for Christmas. We were all happy to have them . . . especially Ava . . . she loves Evan, but is IN LOVE FOREVER with Jessica.The rest of Christmas day was spent at Fred and Rama's house with Brian and fam and Alan and fam. We love getting to spend Christmas with so much family. It is so fun for the cousins to all get together and play all day long with all the new toys. Ava throwing her special Christmas tantrum because she is desperate for a Christmas nap. Isn't she precious!
We had a very nice dinner of Chicken Cordon Bleu and each of us that was up all night the night before had a big huge Big Gulp of a caffeinated beverage to go with it! After dinner we opened all the nice presents from Grandma and Papa and from each other. I got the most wonderful present from my sister in law, Laura. She actually made costumes for the nativity for me. We used them that night to act out the nativity while Papa Fred read it. We will use them for many more Christmases to come.A wonderful Christmas!