New Blog

Hey y'all, we have a new blog for both kids!

www.spikesandponytails.blogspot.com

Don't forget to become a "Follower" of the kids so you get updates! Love y'all!

4th of July 2009 and BOB

They look EXACTLY alike!



For the fourth we all got up and went to Big pop and Maamaa's house. It was a fun day filled with YUMMY food and great fireworks. Ford would jump when he heard a loud pop from the fireworks but was not the least bit scared in any way. He actually LOVED watching them.
Especially the smoke bombs!

The kids were all dressed in their 4th best...red white and blue.


Ford loves playing in the water. He enjoyed playing in the new pool that his grand parents bought. He really liked the facts that he could pull himself to standing from the edges. But as you can see, it's slippery in a pool and things happen when 8 month old tries to hold their balance in a slippery pool. When he slipped out of the pool my initial reaction seemed calm on camera...but I actually became very nervous when it set in how he landed on his neck. His aunt Adrienne was closer than I though and got to him quickly. I always get nervous when I don't prevent something that I see might happen, but on the other hand I feel like if I prevent everything then they won't learn. It can be nerve racking being a mom!



We have been very blessed to be able (because I'm a stay at home mom) to spend every other Friday with daddy. We go to BOB with Brad (Bible on the Beach) and the youth group kids. It is a lot of fun and the kids enjoy the sand, water, and attention! Ford is teething a lot so anything he can get his teeth on he does...therefore he has his binki in his mouth a LOT, so not to eat too much sand! He really enjoys picking up the sand and moving it from place to place. Enjoy the video.

a few more notes:
Ford eats a TON. still having 5-7 nursing's a day, he has eaten all kinds of foods, including tofu, chicken, bread, plums, nectarines, etc.
He really enjoys self feeding. He eats a banana whole on his own!
His top right (if looking at him) "eye" tooth has come in and right front tooth has also begun to come in. His entire upper gum is swollen because at least 2 more are working through. He sucks on his upper lip a lot to sooth the pain. During his teething time he has been increasingly clingy to me and me alone. But I don't mind a bit ;). He has been waking up at 5:50-6:15am every morning since we were in TN...not happy about that! But it is what it is, I'm hoping to get him back on a later morning schedule soon. He is wearing 12 month clothes right now comfortably. I am really short on that size too, which is weird because with Annabell I had a ton through 12 months and then it slowed down, but I have a lot of 9 months and then a lot of 18 but not many 12 months...not to worry though, I think we have enough friends to barter for some hand me downs...my personal favorite!
Well we love y'all!

Cruising

(Compliments of Sister!)

(Hanging out at lakes park...he was just laughing at all the kids around him)

(Ford at Annabell's 2nd b-day party)

Ford is on the move. He goes goes goes until he is ready for bed. He is still taking 2 naps a day, thank you Jesus ;)! He is now pulling up on everything and trying to cruise along side of whatever he has grabbed onto. He especially enjoys holding onto peoples legs and pulling up.

Ford'S top "eye" tooth just broke skin 2 days ago. He has been chewing and biting on everything. It looks as though his top two front teeth are coming through as well...but they haven't broke skin yet.
I'm not sure if it's teething, a growth spurt or what but Ford has really been eating a TON! He still takes 5-6 feedings a day from me (milk), and also eats 3 full meals a day, with snacks! And when I say 'full' meals I mean it. For example at dinner last night he ate 1/2 a large tortilla, 4 cubes of zucchini, oatmeal, puff cereal snacks, and 1 1/2 egg yolks!!! The night before he at 1/2 of a chicken breast and everything I mentioned before with the exception of the tortilla, and he ate 2 whole egg yolks as well! So I'm thinking it might be a boy thing...because I keep hearing all the moms talk about how their boys have eaten them out of their house! Granted they are teenage boys, Ford is just starting on it WAY early!

We went to Great Grandma Zachritz house the other day to visit. It was so much fun because Ford got to meet his Great Uncles, Rob and Charlie and his Great Aunt Ann. Plus he saw Chris, Sue, Clair, and Great Grandma of coarse! Lots of visiting and Ford ate up the attention. He was teething and they really must of been bothering him that day because he was chewing on everything. I turned the corner to look at him and to my amazement he had an ENTIRE rubber duck head in his mouth...must of felt good! Here is some video.
Some of Fords latest sounds are:

• Baabaa
• Daadaa
• MaaMaa
• *Muah*-the kissing sound
• Yay!
• and he can kind of mimic the sounds Annabell is making.
• He also said "bad" yesterday after I told him that spitting food on mommy is "bad". He said it with smiles though ;)

I am not allowing Ford to watch TV until he is older, like his sister did as well. But it is much harder now that Annabell likes to watch her shows. I usually tell her she can watch them when Ford is asleep, which she is pretty good about. OR sometimes I will allow it to be on but I make sure he can't see it, by putting something in his way, but now that he is mobile that doesn't work so well.
And last but not least here is some video of Ford eating a Nectarine, he loves them!!! Great to teeth on too! Love y'all!

Forgot

I forgot to mention a few things:

• Ford claps when he gets excited or when we say "YAY!", it's so cute. He also claps when we play patty cake. He's been doing this for about 3 weeks.
• Ford can pull himself to standing now! Man that happened quick!
• He blows raspberries on me and actually tries to do so (I think I might of mentioned this before).
• He now will "chase" Annabell and I which he thinks is hilarious since he is crawling.
• He has another tooth coming in on the top...I think it's the one beside the front center teeth.
• He will say "YAAAAAAAY!" when we do sometimes. He likes to "sing" if Annabell is singing too.
  

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

Visiting

We have had an eventful few weeks. It started out with our visit from Jana Soviar. We finally got to meet her little girl, Elise. Ford and Elise are about 1 month apart. He enjoyed having someone around his size. He's use to being pushed around by his sister, so I think he was surprised to see someone his size. He grabbed her pretty rough a few times, but that's what happens when you are use to being the smallest, you learn to be tough. Elise was a good sport with all the affection from Ford and Annabell. Ford looks like a Zachritz as you can see in any picture, and Elise looks like an Evans to me. Maybe they'll be as good as friends as Brad and Blake were!

Soon after Jana's visit came our visit with my TN family! Papa, Aunt Kari, Mikayla and Sharon all came down. Kari got about 12 days with me and dad and Sharon had about 5 days once they got her from Orlando. Ford was able to experience his first boat ride while they came down. We all really enjoyed it. I don't think, however, that Ford enjoyed his life jacket at ALL. It was a bit too big for him, but the smallest one we had. So it was raised around his chin and face, which caused him to get a little frustrated. He did enjoy the wind though.

Ford has been spoiled from all the attention everyone gave him. Especially from his Papa. He played with Ford quite a bit and Ford ate up every moment of it.

Ford had started to belly crawl a few weeks ago and scoot to where ever he needed but last week he actually started to crawl on all four! He had been rocking back in forth but hadn't taken more than one leap forward, but about a week ago he started to crawl, and I was so happy that my family got to see it! He really must of had a switch go off in his head because he was and is all over the place. His little chubby knees get so red from crawling all day! He gets excited that he can get to whatever he wants now, which has made me keenly aware of how messy my house is! Spring cleaning in the summer is about to happen.

Ford has also been saying "Maamaa" for about 3 weeks now. He directs it to me which is amazing to me. If he wants me and I'm not around he will begin to yell "mmmmmmmmmaaammmmmmmmmmaaaa" until I come pick him up. I really enjoy hearing my name being called!
Ford has eaten quite a bit of solid food lately! He has had bread, tortilla, watermelon, & mango. He really enjoys all of it. I did give him egg yolks this morning which he was excited about at first, but after the first one wasn't as enthusiastic about. He also loves drinking his water from his cup and does a pretty good job with it. His clothes are always soaking wet afterward, but that's okay.
I think one of Ford's "Eye" teething are coming in. he at least has a white spot there...so we'll see.
In the video below Ford is having his first taste of watermelon from his aunt Kari. He looked like a little bird waiting to get fed, so I caught a few moments. If you notice he is in a walker. He no longer plays in a walker, exersaucer, swing, bouncer, bumbo, or anything else confining. Which makes my day a little more chaotic, but still wonderful. I can't believe how old he is, I feel like I just had him!
The other video is of Brad "wrestling" with KK, Annabell, and Ford. I love how Ford was all about jumping in and trying to climb on daddy!

and last but not least is a tiny snid bit of Ford crawling. I will get some better footage soon. You have to watch for a minute to see it. Ford and Annabell are playing. They have really started to interact which is wonderful, he even makes her laugh now! Love y'all!
p.s. Ford likes to blow raspberries on me, it cracks me up because he is actually trying to blow raspberries! ! !

It's a small world after all....

Well we finally ventured out and decided to take the kids to Disney. My TN family came in and we met in Orlando. Papa got us 5 day passes so we went as long as we could, 3 different parks, 3 days in a row. Talk about a roller coaster, we had a blast, but we were exhausted when all was said and done. Ford enjoyed looking around. He really liked "it's a small world after all" at Magic Kingdom and "Nemo" at Epcot. Thankfully we had a double stroller and the kids were covered from the sun. Ford enjoyed the rides he rode. He couldn't ride too much though except for at Magic Kingdom. But the heat and teething kept him a little irritable, but considering all things he behaved extremely well. He would even nurse while waiting in line so not to take out too much time during the day. He was especially interested the characters.

Animal Kingdom was also pretty interesting to him because he was able to see all kinds of Animals, and hear live music from the different "cultures".
So thank you papa for the great time!



Oh yes, that's right, I did mention teething. Well on the first day at Magic Kingdom we discovered that Ford's first tooth pooped through! By the end of the week his second tooth (both bottom middle) had come through as well. He was drooling a ton, but has been since 2 months so I didn't suspect until he BIT me while nursing! I thought it hurt more than normal and sure enough he had a tooth! He has been a happy baby though, no fever, or extra fussing, he's just been great!

You can see in the above pictures that he is gnawing on his binki.

While in Orlando he had his first taste of bread...he did quite well with it. He has also had watermelon, puffs, yogurt puffs, & cheerios. He had some meat but seemed to spit up most of it...
He also had his first experience with us all sleeping (kari, brad, kk, annabell and I) in the same room. He did pretty good by the third night, the first two not so much. He was use to sleeping in more quite and dark rooms. I was happy to see him adjust ok though, especially since he'll be sleeping in TN soon with us in his room.

Love y'all!

the woes of being little brother...ha

So much has gone on since I last posted but I just don't seem to have as much time as I use to for posting! Ford is now eating all kinds of foods. We are going to try broccoli this week. He really enjoys peas! Which is great because I know he is getting his green veggies!

I really think he has some teeth coming in. Maybe even in the top too. His drooling and spit up has hit an all time HIGH! His shirts are soaked with drool and immediately after eating and for about an hour after he spits up a lot if his stomach gets jolted or squished at all. I am constantly covered in spit up. The smell doesn't even get to me as much anymore, sad really. ha.

Ford and Annabell play so well together, and he is such a good sport. She was dressing him up the other day and actually allowed it to happen. She would try to put bows in his hair and put several "necklaces" on him.


Ford's favorite time is bath time and I don't have to hold him up anymore. He plays all by himself, splashes his sister and grabs at different toys. He laughs hysterically when they both splash at the same time. I have yet to get this on film because water goes everywhere and I'm not sure how the camera would do with that!
Well daddy got to see 2 firsts! Brad said that Ford said "Dada" when he was changing his diaper yesterday and then dada again when holding him. Maa-maa confirmed it yesterday as she heard it as well. Brad also saw Ford take his first "crawl" today on the church office floor. He usually rolls to wherever he wants to go but today he felt like actually crawling. He is always on the go, so I don't know what I'll do once he actually is crawling. I do know that I need to get my house RE-Baby proofed. We have tons of little toys everywhere. They will be gone soon! OR at least put in a safe place ;).
Ford has been battling a cough/cold for about 4 weeks now. Well actually the cough has just come into play for the last 2 weeks but the first 2 he had a runny nose. So I took him, Annabell and Briana all to the Dr on Monday, which they all were prescribed antibiotics. He is doing well with them. I can't tell if they are working. He seems to be coughing more (not often but in intensity) intensely lately so I'm hoping that it is just the cold being broken up and pushed out. Please pray for his healing! We have been and also thanking the Lord for the healing provided. We have my TN family (most of them) coming into town on Friday and we are taking the kids to Disney!!! So hopefully I will be able to post right after that. Well that's it for now, love y'all!

Almost forgot, here is a video of Ford and Annabell in his crib. She climbs in with him (even once waking him from a nap) and begins to play with him, hug him, and jump on and by him. He laughs so hard at her that I finally caught some video of it. Like usual he was laughing more before I got the camera, but you get the picture from the video.

P.S. Ford had his first poop in the tub today. Annabell was in the tub and not thrilled and a little put off by it! Haha. Pretty funny.

always happy

Ford is always happy. It's one of the first things people say about him. I ventured to the grocery store in the rain with 3 kids...ha. It was a fun day. I decided to not bring even one carrier in because it would take up too much room. Ford was TICKLED PINK that he got to sit in the 'Car'. He kept moving the steering wheel pretending he was driving the entire time, with the exception of taking time to laugh hysterically. These pictures captured a lot of the kids. Annabell loved being the 'Big' girl and sitting in both the cart section and the front by me. The babies (Ford and Briana) enjoyed driving the cart.

Drool is pretty much what covers all of Ford's clothes now. I still see no teeth but I have never experience a baby with so much slobber. He teethes on EVERYTHING too. He gets so mad when I take stuff from his mouth when he's trying to chew on them.
Lately he squirms and pushes away from me when he sees anyone or something (toys etc..) that he wants. It's crazy because he will push off my lap to get down and play but doesn't know how to crawl yet. You would think he does by the way he acts. He looks as if he is ready to walk away. He's about big enough too! He's so big, and heavy! Love every bit of him!

Today we went to the park. I just took a picture of Ford being patient while waiting for his turn in the swing. Then a picture of him being excited while swinging. And finally a picture of him with my dear friend Adrienne, she's visiting from Hawaii. Love y'all!

p.s. Ford's now eating bananas too...so what next...carrots??? ;)

go go go

Ford is on the move! Well not technically crawling but close! He ROLLS everywhere! He gets so frustrated when he can't crawl to something and somehow always seems to scoot backwards. He completely crosses rooms by rolling!

He had his first teething cookie tonight...not the best idea ever! He broke off several pieces and almost choked on them. We had to take it away and he was NOT happy. He gets very upset when something is taken away, he throws the biggest fit that he can. I took him out of the bath, which is his favorite time now. He loves to play with Annabell and splash (which he thinks is hilarious) and also plays with the blocks, anyways, I took him out of the bath and he throws a fit every time. He will not stop crying and throwing his hands down until I take him back in the bathroom. At least to watch his sister play while he's already in his PJs. That is the only time he gets upset really. Well besides when he gets hurt! On Monday I accidentally let him fall forward on a medal step at the park! I felt HORRIBLE and he felt worse. He had a huge goose egg right on his forehead. But thanks be to God he is just fine, you can barely see the bruise anymore either.
He still has no teeth in, for Zachritz babies I guess that is a long time (7 months), but for Armstrong's I don't think it's such a big deal. Both my kids seem to be taking after my side as for when their teeth come in.
Ford is starting to really reach out for people. He was so excited to see his daddy after work today that he jumped into his arms.
Ford will be trying banana and mango this week. Love y'all!

6 month check up

Ford is a big boy! He just had his 6 month check up. Here are his stats:

1. Weight = 20.81 lbs 97th
2. Height = 29inches 95th
3. Head = 90th
   

So we went in on Friday the 1st for his appointment but had to return on Monday for his shots since he was running a fever on Friday. Ford and Annabell were sick most of last week. Fords came and went quickly (so teething might have something to do with it). But besides his fever the Dr said he looks great. He is Very observant of everything and notices people and their eyes so well. He loves to stare into anyone's eyes and watch for you to lock into his gaze.


Ford also loves playing with his friends!
If we are hanging out with a friend that has a baby around his age, I will lay him on the ground next to the other kid and he will be completely amused. He has to reach out and touch them. Today he reached out and pulled the little girl's hair next to him.
Ford is really starting to enjoy the swing. He now will laugh when I push him a little faster than normal, or when I begin to tickle him while swinging.

Well Ford finally is starting to eat solids on a daily basis. (here is some video of him eating his first bit of avocado...you don't have to watch the whole thing because it's pretty long.)

He eats cereal everyday and now has been having avocado, which he likes, for a few days. It has caused him to be a little more uncomfortable when trying to go the bathroom (Gas!). But besides that he loves it. I think we will add sweet potato soon. He also gnawed on a banana today. He seemed to like it. He also is VERY interested in drinks and cups. I need to go buy him some slow drinking cups. He loves the flavor of his daddy's vitamin water...he doesn't drink it of course, just licks the rim of the bottle. Well Ford is SO close to crawling. He becomes very agitated when he can't move on his own. He has pushed his body up a few times, but he pushes up on his toes instead of his knees. I am wondering if he will go straight to pulling up and skip crawling. Only time will tell.
He has been pulling on his bumper at night. Tonight I went to check on him and his arm was stuck under his bumper so I had to pull it off him. I question if he should have it, but at the same time it cushions his head because he scoots himself up against the crib SO hard that it would hurt to be against the rails. Thankfully he can toss and turn if something bothers him.
Well I have included some of my favorite pictures of the past few weeks. Love y'all! (P.S. his GG ( Great Grandma Nester) bought him this hat...I LOVE it because it reminds me of my dad's marine hats!