my valentine

I took too many pictures... and couldn't decide on just a couple... enjoy.

Happy Valentine's Day

Dennis made the cutest Valentine's this year for his classmates.

They say, "Have a SUPER Valentine's Day!"...
... and they are super heroes.
I can't take credit for the creativity... I just got it from Pinterest.

two weeks old

2/5- Zola had her first bath in the bathroom sink because we hadn't gotten the bathtub out yet and she really needed to wash off her bum. The wipes were not doing the job justice. :) She doesn't seem to like the water as much as Dennis did when he was a baby. She was holding onto my shirt the entire time. She hates getting cold. The only time she really cries is when she is getting her diaper changed, changing her clothes, or after taking a bath. 2/11- Trying out her Valentine's Day outfit from her Auntie Chrissy. It is super cute and fits her as well as any of her clothes. She is just long and skinny. Sister Beckemeyer made her the hat during Sunday School.

2/12- Two weeks old. Relaxing on a beautiful Sunday morning with my awesome family.


2/13- Zola is spending more time awake now. She will sit there for a couple of hours grunting. Here she is yawning. You can tell that her neck muscles are getting stronger and her eyes are focusing more on things. I just noticed today that she has a red angel kiss on the back of her neck.

all about the girl

Zola is the name of my great-grandmother and baby Zola's great-great-grandmother.

Maree is Ryan's mother and Zola's Nonnie.

Elizabeth is my second middle name, my mother's second middle name, my grandmother's middle name, and my great-grandmother's middle name. In fact the name goes back to the Mayflower.

She carries a strong heritage of noble women with her name.

pictures taken February 1st
Zola very rarely cries. She is easy to console when upset. She sleeps pretty much all day and night. After 1 week she weighed 4 lbs 11 oz and after almost 2 weeks she weighs 4 lbs 15 oz. She has the cutest little grin and the same little grimace that Dennis had. Her belly button fell off only after a few days of being home from the hospital. I think it came off prematurely because it sometimes bleeds. She has a cowlick right in the middle of her hair line- that will be fun to part around. Her hair is dark brown and her eyes are grey- Just like Dennis. She has very olive skin. She has long legs that like to stretch straight out often times to the right. She has long feet with nice arches. I have found her sucking her thumb already though it isn't a habit yet. She had a little jaundice the first week home but it went away on its own because she is such a good eater and pooper. She sleeps best laying on your chest. She sometimes whimpers in her sleep and it sounds like a whining dog.

We LOVE this girl.

all about the boy

I have been so impressed with Dennis adjusting to having a sister. He has really stepped up to the plate. The first couple of days were hard because I was in the hospital. He even told his teacher that he hated me. Wow. Strong words for a little guy. But here are some examples of how awesome he has been... and then some stories with no relation to Zola just because he is cute.

Overall, Dennis has been so polite. He says: please, I'm sorry, and thank you without being prompted! He is so soft with baby Zola and just likes to look at her.
While getting ready for church with Grandma last Sunday he packed a bag full of cars to play with. Grandma said that he could repack with only one car. So, instead he put his Book of Mormon, a photo album of his family and a car in his bag. When they got to church he was so independent. During the sacrament he just paged through his Book of Mormon looking at the 6 pictures in the front over and over. He didn't even get his car out until after the sacrament by choice! Such a big boy.

We got a huge bag of candy in the mail for Valentine's Day and Dennis LOVES candy. Typical behavior for Dennis with a bag of candy would be to eat as much as he could before anyone told him no. And, after being told no, we would have to take the bag away so that the temptation was not there. This week however, he has asked me every time if he could have a piece of candy. He will ask in a polite voice, "please, can I have a piece of candy". One day I said no. He said, "please can I have just one?" (meaning one m&m from the small bag) I said, "ok just one." Afterwards, he just sat there looking into the bag at the remaining m&ms. I distracted him and we went and played with other toys. Later I found the bag of m&ms... every single one was wet... he had sucked on everyone and put it back. Technically, he didn't eat the other m&ms.

Since Dennis was being such a great big brother, Zola got him a present. Dennis thought it was his Birthday! He was super excited. "Can I open it?"
My never ending battle has been trying to get everyone in our family to put their things away. When we walk in the door, we should hang up our coat, take our shoes off and put our belongings away instead of making a pile by the door (I am guilty as well). This week, Dennis has been really good. He was in a rush and still remembered to drop his stuff off in his room!
While playing over at his best friend Eloise's house he reminded her that she needed to listen to her mom. When she asked him why he said, "because she is your mom". GO DENNIS!

We had to move Dennis' car seat over next to the window in order to have room for Zola's car seat as well. Dennis LOVES this because now he can reach the window button. When it was just us in the car, he rolled it down and we enjoyed the balmy 65 deg weather. But the next time we were in the car, Zola was with us. We explained to him that we couldn't have the window down because it would make Zola cold. So, he listened and obeyed. Immediately after Zola was dropped off at the Doctor's, He rolled it down! After learning how to roll it back up, he put it up and down- up and down... over and over. Ryan then explained to him that we shouldn't put it up and down so much because it could wear out and break. Dennis thought about that for a minute and then started whispering to himself. Ryan asked what he was saying. "up and down- up and down" he said, "we can't make this window go up and down up and down because it would break." Then he pointed to the other window and explained the same thing... and then he pointed to the next window and explained the same thing... to all of the windows.

While reading scriptures with his daddy, Dennis was explaining to daddy that there were bad guys and they were going to shoot the prophet with guns. His new favorite movies are now The Incredibles and Kung fu Panda.

I haven't been able to get Dennis to nap in over a year and I have always been amazed that he still napped at school. Well, recently, he has decided that "sleeping during the daytime is silly" and will find any excuse to not close his eyes. One day he had to go to the bathroom 8 times. Another day he "needed to write in his journal".

We LOVE our Dennis. He amazes us everyday with his lovable personality.

coming home

I feel so fortunate to have been able to bring Zola home with me! Looking back to when Dennis was born, it was extremely exhausting and stressful to have him in the NICU. I didn't have anything to compare it to but I knew it was hard. Now, after having a "normal" experience with Zola, I am really appreciating the easiness of it all. My eyes started to well up when the nurse cut the security band off of her foot. She is mine and I get to keep her with me.

Here we are in the car showing how excited we are to be going home.





So happy that life is on its way and we are creating a new normal. LOVE IT.

happy birthday ryan

We celebrated Ryan's birthday in the hospital so that we could all be there. My mom made a German chocolate cake and they brought all the presents so that we could have a party together.

One of the things that Ryan got was a puzzle from his Grandma Funk. Both Dennis and Ryan were ready to start it.
Dennis was good to help his daddy carry everything out to the car. Since Ryan got a new backpack someone had to wear the old one...