Monday Memories...on Wednesday

I purposely waited til today to post this memory because today is Zachary's 4th birthday! Mama is having mixed emotions over this event...I am a bit sad because my baby boy is growing up but yet, I am happy that he is 4! I cannot tell you how fast the past four years have gone by, it's so unreal to me. I vividly remember the night I found out I was pregnant with him (December 1, 2003, almost 5 years ago!!!!!) and how wonderful it was to be pregnant with our first child. We chose not to find out from the ultrasound if he was a boy or girl but I think I knew from the beginning he was a boy (I think it was all the citrus I craved and apparently, Holton women crave that when expecting a boy!). My original due date was August 8th but he decided to come 9 days early which was just fine with me. At 9:47am on July 30, 2004, our precious Zachary Thomas was born! I remember just holding him and trying to imagine what he was going to look like as he grew up...and here he is at 4.

The past four years have been such a learning experience for us. We both remember so well the first day home from the hospital when it was time for Zach's first diaper change and he peed and pooped all over us! We both panicked and were running all over the house to get things to clean it up! We love to laugh at that one! Now, our boy wears underwear and goes potty all by himself. He has gone from having hypotonia (weak muscle tone) in his legs which required PT to help him learn to walk at 18 months to now running, jumping and doing all sorts of things normal 4 year olds do.

Zachary has a sweet spirit, so kind and loving to others. He is very thoughtful and has the most vivid, wild imagination we have ever seen. Every day is an adventure for him and he loves to have fun and make people smile. His vocabulary just blows us away and he is learning things so fast, it really is neat watching him learn and teach Ava new things too. He loves Star Wars, army stuff, pirates and building huge, elaborate towers with his building blocks. He loves hearing all sorts of stories and books, loves to watch "Little Bear" and "Blue's Clues" but mostly, he loves to create his own stories and adventures.

Zach is such a good big brother to Ava, although they do squabble frequently (what siblings don't?), they play so well together and he teaches her so much. He also has a special tenderness for Renee and has even given her one of his beloved "Puppy"s! He loves to call her "Baby" and whenever he hears her start to fuss, he considers it his job to cheer her up (which he always does!).

So, to our sweet son who is a great blessing to us from God and who has blessed us these past four years, we wish you a very happy birthday! You are still and will always be our baby!

Love at first sight

His very first smile, thanks to Uncle Jason

The best baby

His first birthday...he was so clean and careful, the adults were the ones who painted up his face with icing!

A rare, serious look

His 2nd birthday party, he was crazy about Thomas the Tank Engine, he could name them all...I asked him today if he knew the names of the trains and he had no idea...

My sweet baby

His 3rd birthday party (Army theme that he picked out himself) when he got his Barney Bear, thanks Gaga and Papaw

I love this picture of Zach last August at the beach

Almost 4 years old and so grown up (and also standing up peeing in this picture, he asked me to take it so I could see what a big boy he is!!!) Yes, indeed.

Thanks Aunt Jen!

Aunt Jen came over last night to give Zach his birthday present since she will be out of town for his party this weekend. Zach was very excited to open his presents (and even offered to let Ava help) and was VERY happy to get a new Star Wars shirt! Aunt Jen also gave him a very huge watergun and another cool army tank shirt for this fall. Zach asked last night if I could wash his new Star Wars shirt so he could wear it today. Here is one proud boy in his new shirt! Thanks so much Aunt Jen!

New 5k PR...

I ran the Etowah River Run 5k up in Canton on Saturday morning. The conditions were pretty good, and I was able to run it in 20:48... a new 5k PR (personal record) for me. This is the second year I've done this race, and it is a good one... mainly because Bojangles is a sponsor, and you get free cinnamon and boberry biscuits at the finish... yummy! I recommend checking it out for you runners out there...

Family picture time...

We went to Portrait Inovations on Saturday afternoon to get some family pics. The kids all did great, and our photographer was really good. It was maybe the most succesful picture trip ever! ...Except for the fact that we left Ava's teddy bear there and Mommy had to go back and dig through the bin of stuffed animal props to find it... which thankfully, she did.

I wear my sunglasses at night...

This is how Zachary fell asleep for his nap today.

Some pictures

Here are some pictures from July...we are having a great summer!

Watching Baby Einstein together

Sweet Daddy kisses

Zach just adores his baby sister...and she just adores her thumb

Trying to beat the heat...and breaking the watering ban

Our beautiful Ava

Already using the computer!

The best toy ever! Zach has spent hours building different creations and using his (extremely) large imagination!

Tiny dancer

Who keeps letting this girl behind the wheel?

The two nutballs...

Jason and Steph brought the kids over this past weekend to play on the new playground. While we were cooling off inside, Zach and Jackson put on hats backwards over their eyes while they were playing guns. I tried to get a couple picture of them, but they wouldn't sit still. This evolved into a new game... Daddy pops out from around the corner to try to take pictures while Zach and Jackson run around the house like maniacs. There was much screaming and squealing involved.

Finally!

We've been wanting to get the kids a swingset for the backyard for some time now and it finally happened this past weekend! Jeff started working on it Friday night and finished Sunday afternoon. Thankfully, my brother Jason was able to come over on Saturday and help which definitely sped the process up! To celebrate our new fun toy, we had Jason, Steph and the kids over for dinner Sunday night to play! (Jeff and Jason worked hard and both got some sunburn-especially Jason, sorry bro!-but they are pretty handy with hammers and drills thank goodness!)

Some comments from Ava: "You did a great job Daddy". "Daddy, I love it"

Monday Memories

Feb 2006 (Zach was about 19 months)-Poor Zach started throwing up and couldn't keep anything down for an entire day so we took him to the ER at Kennestone Hospital and they determined he had rotavirus and was dehydrated. So, Mommy and Zachy rode together on a stretcher in an ambulance (no sirens, it wasn't that dramatic...but its too bad he was asleep the entire time and missed out on an ambulance ride! And that was the first-and hopefully only-time Mommy had every been in one) and were transferred to Scottish Rite where he stayed for two days. Poor thing was just miserable and looked so pitiful. He was a brave boy. We definitely prefer Scottish Rite Children's Hospital and will always take our children there over any other hospital. It's just better because they cater to the needs of children and know how to treat them. (Small world, one of Zach's nurses was a girl that Jeff used to work with only a couple of years before!)

Feeling terrible at home.

On the stretcher when we got to Scottish Rite (thankfully, we had his Puppy and cloud blanket to make it a little more bearable).


In his "cage" as we called it :)

Finally, sitting up and feeling a little better.

Even playing with his toys...with one hand because the other had an IV :(

Trying to decide which movie to watch...thankfully, they had Thomas the Tank Engine (but only one!) which we watched so many times, that mommy and daddy could start quoting the lines...

Getting ready to go home...that boy was exhausted!