Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!!

 Brothers...just wanna have fun!!

Ah, Zachary!  I don't think he was very happy with the last post.  It must not have been filled with enough excitement for him!!  On Sunday, Zachary got up on all fours while I was reading to Nicholas and his Daddy was walking to the other room.  Then, he just started crawling...real crawling!!!  He was sitting on his blanket when he spotted the ring of multi-colored plastic keys that he just loves to chew on which was stashed atop the pet hospital toy.  Then, away he went!  My jaw dropped mid-sentence and Nick stopped dead in his tracks!  And, just like that...Zachary was off!!

The next day, Zachary started pulling up on the recliners and sofas.  (Before he would only pull up on people and some taller toys.)  He even took my hands and started to take his first "true" assisted baby steps!  What a big boy!!  He is now into everything...  And boy is he quick!  Let the fun...and chaos...begin!!

And...he's off!!!

And today, just to ensure that I knew he was growing into a big boy, Zachary said my favorite word.  I was feeding him lunch in his high chair when he dropped his spoon on the floor...again.  It had been a rough morning and night, so I sighed, grabbed the spoon, and stood to go wash it.  Just as I turned my back I heard him say in the cutest, sweetest little voice, "MaMa"!!!  Now, I know that he was just practicing his sounds and at this point isn't completely sure what MaMa means, but after my reaction it probably was a little more clear!  I jumped back into my seat and leaned over to give him lots of hugs and kisses and he just smiled away at the extra attention!!  Sweet, sweet boy!!!  (Oh yeah, and earlier in the morning while we were shopping at Target, he did happen to say "DaDa?" with a cute inflection.  But if no Daddy is present to hear the words...were they truly said?!  Just kidding...  He got lots of hugs and kisses for that, too!!  Zachary is a Daddy's boy, too!)

Mama's Boys!!!

While I'm at it, here are two more cute little tales...

Nicholas is now obsessed with muffins, thanks to SA Grandpa.  So, to break up the monotony of a rainy Monday, the boys and I headed to HEB to pick up some bakery muffins.  We walked into the store and Nicholas insisted that I find a Car Cart.  Luckily, there was one nice, not-so-shiny, red Car Cart left at the front of the store.  (The HEB Car Carts are extraordinarily large and hard-to-steer shopping carts with a little bench seat and two steering wheels attached between the cart and the cart handle bar, if you've never been fortunate enough to see one!)  So, I plopped both boys into the bench seat and buckled them in.  I was a little wary about Zachary flying forward and bashing his head into the steering wheel, but he sat up and balanced like a champ!  (Which is impressive considering how terrible those carts are at maneuvering...and never mind the fact that I'm a bad cart driver to begin with!)  Then, a miracle occurred.  We not only found just the muffins were we searching for, but we also bought all of our weekly groceries!!  The boys were amazing!!  They both drove and vroomed with their steering wheels, looked around at all the yummy goodies, hugged and tugged at each other, and just smiled and laughed for 45 minutes!!  Shame on me for not getting a picture!!  I even have a camera in my purse now...I just plain forgot!  I must've been in shock!  Now...what are the chances of that happening again next week??

"Eat this, Zachary."

For some reason, Nicholas has started fighting his afternoon nap.  (Please don't drop the nap, Nicholas!!  I need those two hours!!!)  So, one day, not unlike many others, I tucked Nicholas into his crib, turned on his radio, and left the room.  I heard some singing and talking in the monitor as I moved about the house, but that's pretty routine for Nicholas as he winds down for his actual nap.  But soon, I started hearing some strange noises.  There was a weird buzzing noise and a few loud thwacks.  Ten minutes later, Nicholas was still making strange noises, so I decided to peek into his room to see what was going on.  Oy.  He had dumped almost his entire Thomas train collection and a bunch of stuffed animals onto his bed and was sitting atop this mess like a little prince.  I grabbed the camera and walked into his room.  At first, he was shocked to see me.  Then, he quickly shut his eyes up tight as I asked what he was doing.  And, of course, he replied, "I'm taking my nap, Mom!"   The strange buzzing sound was the sound of his poor battery-powered Thomas train that was turned on and trapped underneath the stuffed animal he was sitting on.  The train was quickly rescued.  Nicholas eventually took an hour-long nap about one hour after the toy-hording incident!

Caught!

"I'm taking a nap!"

Okay, now we really should be caught up for a while!!  :o)  I apologize to Uncle Charles for making him read, but a podcast is out of the question until the boys can recount their own tales!  ;o)