Zoey's bedtime story

Once upon a time there was a princess named Rapunzel. And she... what did she do?...
*did she go for a run?
Yeah.
*could she fly?
Yep. She had a cape. And a magic wand.  And she used her wand to turn somebody into a cape so she could fly. But she was mean and she turned everybody into frogs. And she locked them in a cave.  But then the people came to save them.  And she wanted to care about everybody's feelings, so she let them go. So she was nice to everybody.  The end.

I had to save this.  Usually daddy takes Zoey to bed and tells her a story and sings her a song, but daddy is out of town, so Zoey told me a story and sang me a song instead.  I'm really lucky.  This seriously made my whole day.  She also sang me the cutest little song that she made up.  Gosh, I just love my little sweetie.  

*mom said

Zoey's Third Birthday

Zoey Mae is now officially 3 years old.

Click here to see.

https://goo.gl/photos/v52hAAicFLJE1fKJ8

Nate's First Birthday

Click here for a Nate's First Birthday

Or copy the link below and paste it in your browser

https://goo.gl/photos/rT88iZMCxrFe4LxCA

Texas to visit the Cleverleys

Check out our Google album of our trip to Texas if you are interested.  We loved staying with the Cleverly family.  

https://goo.gl/photos/ZJ9HUbVo652fVkwv7

Rolling over, swimming, shots, and siblings

I'm sad to admit that almost all of the progress made in the last week with the kids at night has been lost.  We all got a case of the stomach flu. In an attempt to help Zoey find a little extra comfort and sleep better at night, we gave her binky back at night.  Today she woke up at 6AM instead of her usual 7:30 or 8.

Nate also learned to roll over while sleeping. This is a great milestone. And I would be more excited, but it wakes him up, pulls his blanket off, and makes him quite upset.  I'm not really sure how do deal with this. I don't want to have to interfere every time he rolls over, but I'm not sure how else to get him to sleep.  I'm sure he's not going to figure out how to roll back onto his tummy for a couple of months.  Sigh.

Such is life, I guess:  two steps forward, one step back.

Some other things we have been doing lately include Nate's first, second, and third time swimming.  We tried to get it all in before the weather got too cold and the pools close.  I even slipped his head under for half a second a few times. He was a champ every time. He is always very surprised, but never cries or chokes.

Zoey is swimming better than ever.  She can swim about 3 feet under water in one breath.  She loves the hot tub, jumping in, and playing motor boat with dad as well. She is learning to swim out a little bit and turn around to swim back to the step all by herself.  Sometimes she swims a little too far before turning back tho and needs a little nudge to make it in time.

Zoey is such a sweet little two year old right now.  She is really learning to deal with her feelings and take deep breaths to calm down. She can articulate what she wants and is even polite and patient most of the time. She plays with her little brother so well.  She tries to tickle him both with her hand and by "eating" his belly. He thinks it's funny.  She loves to cover him with blankets and tuck him in.  She plays peek a boo with him even tho he has no idea what is going on.  It's so fun to see them interact.

Nate just got his 4 month shots and cried for about thirty seconds.  What a champ.