Zina is one!!!

I am late on this post! I could not get the internet and blogger to participate and let me blog for the last few days, so this is my first opportunity to blog since she turned one. Her birthday was Sunday, but we had a party Friday with Steve's parents and Tina, and a party Saturday morning with my parents, Grandma Sanders, my siblings, Jess and Crew, and we had another party at our house on Sunday. We just spread out the birthday celebration. And added in my birthday and Zach's.

Zina loved her cakes! The first one, Tina taught her what to do with it. The second, she didn't figure out for a while. Then she discovered it was chocolate and went to town on it! Since then she has had a piece of cake, which she destroyed. Her Grandma and Grandpa Robinson and aunt and uncles gave her a new outfit and two little soft ponies. She LOVES the ponies! Tina taught her to make noises for them, and she has been doing so ever since. She doesn't care about clothes so much yet, but I think she looks absolutely adorable in her birthday outfit. From her Grandma and Grandpa Jackman and Kolton, she got a pair of overalls, two shirts, a red winter hat, a pair of sunglasses her Grandpa thought she would like, and a duck rattle/teething toy. She doesn't really notice most of the things her grandparents gave her. She shakes the rattle, and I love how she looks in overalls. Her Uncle R.Jay, Aunt Jess and Crew gave her a toy cellphone and pink soft teddy bear. She likes to push the buttons on the cellphone and hug her bear. We gave her a puppy toy that barks when you push a button. She has the button down, and Zach pushes it whenever she is not. I am glad it has a switch. If only Zach didn't know how to turn it on!

Miracles

Okay, there are shadows all over the place on this picture, and it is now over a month old, but this is my little girl. She is chowing down on her first chocolate chip cookie. Steve had been giving her little bites and when I took her, she got ahold of the entire thing. I decided to let her have a go at it. She got about 1/2 of it eaten and the rest REALLY soggy. (And, for Grandma Sandy, those are the tie-dye socks you sent for her. Zach loves his, too, but I have not gotten a picture of him with his.)

I have always dreamed of having children. All I wanted to be when I was little was a mommy, along with a VERY short stint of wishing to be a nurse and even shorter time of wanting to be a witch. Even my formal schooling is focused on that goal. I am a child development major with a minor in home and family living. I love my son so very much, and was excited when he was born, but I think I was even more excited to have this beautiful little girl. I have always wanted a girl. All I have is brothers, so maybe that is why, but she was my dream come true. I had her name picked out from high school, before I had even met my husband. She was going to be Zina Lyn. When we found out she was going to be a girl, I was absolutely elated! I was getting a girl!!! Part of that was that the thought of raising two boys two years apart while finishing college was an absolute nightmare, but part was the longing for a little girl.

I don't know why I went off on that tangent, but maybe it is inspired by another miracle girl that was born just a couple days ago. Some good friends of ours had wanted a baby for so long and were hoping to welcome one for longer than I was. Each time I got pregnant, I was careful to tell them before they got it through the grapevine. I prayed each time that they could experience pregnancy and parenthood, too. I hope that we would get to share that special time together. She was always so excited for me and wanting every detail, and I loved that I could tell her. After Zach was born, they were our main babysitters, offering to take him for my classes, date nights and just for a break for me. When I was overwhelmed with parenthood and my husband was working late, I took Zach to their house and she would provide much needed adult conversation. I realize now they were our support system. Then I got pregnant with Zina and hoped, again, that there time was soon. I secretely wished that we could be pregnant together. It is such a wonderful experience to share with a close friend. I had Zina, and then they announced they were expecting. I was beside myself with excitement! I think I may have been more excited for them than I was for me with either of my children. They were born to be parents and have a touch with children that no one I know can match. And now, they are the proud parents of a little miracle girl. I guess her waiting to come was just to much for her, and she made her entrance quite a bit early. She is doing good, and, from the picture I saw, is beautiful and perfect! If you guys read this, know that I am forever grateful for all you have done for me, and I wish you the best. I won't post names since I haven't asked you about posting this. I know you will know who you are.

What's been going on around here!

***It doesn't seem to want to post my pictures I had originally chosen, so this is one of my husband and two babies playing a couple weeks ago.***

I promise, really, I will put up some current pictures with a post soon. I would today, but I don't know where we put the cable for our camera, and I don't know how to get the memory card out! I think my hubby better teach me how! Ha!! My husband's the best! Above are two pictures from this morning. One is my beautiful baby girl eating an apple. We started giving them to her to entertain her, and they are so soft that she has been able to eat them, no problem. The other is my little boy eating his oatmeal. He really loves it. Don't believe the face. It was just early!
So, today is the last day of the first week of school. Yes, I am still in school. So is my husband. I think I might get to graduate soon. Actually, on a "student survey" I put my anticipated graduation date as "Not sure--Soon!". Anyway, back to today.
We have concocted a crazy plan to save on child care costs, and to minimize the caregivers our children have. We take them to school with us three days a week. The other two I get a sitter for my class. That way, we only pay for daycare for less than 5 hours a week. That is the genius part of the plan. The crazy part is that we have a 2 3/4 year old and 9 month old on campus for three hours three days a week. CRAZY!!! Zach hates to ride in a stroller, so he is always walking. But he gets tired and says, "Mommy, carry me." I would love to just carry him to minimize his fit, but usually I am carrying Zina. And I can't carry Zina and Zachary while pushing a stroller! And I have the stroller because Zina will sit in it for about ten minutes, and who wants to carry a baby, chase a toddler/preschooler and carry everything needed for a class and caring for those same children.
Today, Zach was pretty funny. We had eaten on campus at their all-you-can-eat buffet cafeteria a couple times this week. Trying to get into the swing of school and family always takes us a bit and our home cooking goes out the window for a few days. We always park at one end of the campus and walk to our classes at the other end. To get there we have to walk past the cafeteria. I promise, I fed Zach before this little trip, but he saw where we were and decided he was starving! I told him we did not have time. So he starts looking for the cookies. We also walk by where they have had cookies to lure students to buy dining options. The cookies were not there. I did the only thing I could think of to stop the tantrum I saw coming. I promised him anything he wanted at the bagel place downstairs. He went for it. He picked out a pudding filled donut and told me, "I want THAT bagel." I could not convince him that it was a donut. And he wanted a juice. So we snacked right there.
When my class was done and it was my turn for the babies again, Steven forgot to warn me that Zach had seen the preschool playground and wanted to play there. I walked right past it, and he threw a full out tantrum. So I offered the smartest thing of the day. We would walk to the park and play and make Steven drive the van down to find us. The walk was about the same, but it didn't take us too long and the kids enjoyed a field trip to the park. We had been skimping on park runs, so I guess I better take them to the park a lot in the next few weeks. Pretty soon it will be too cold and snowy.

Zina is Crawling!

I will put a video up as soon as my batteries are charged and I can get a video, but had to post. I am using this blog, partially, to record what is happening with my children, in case I forget to record it elsewhere. So, for this post, it will have to be an old picture, but it is true. She is mobile! She has been crawling a few "steps" whenever someone was not looking for the last week or so, but yesterday we caught the real deal, for sure, when she started crawling across the whole room to get to what was kind of off limits. Before crawling she mainly scooted on her bottom or threw herself at whatever she wanted.

This picture, along with yesterdays, were taken in April. She has grown so much!

The beginning, sort of

Well, here we are. My first post as a blogger. This is my family. My husband, Steven, our little boy, Zachary, and our daughter, Zina. Oh, and I am Rayne, the mommy and Stevensprecious. Those two little ones are my beautiful babies! They are my world. Sometimes a bit too much of my life.

I decided I should join in the blogging craze after reading them all the time. I guess it is time to come out of the framework. There should even be a picture when I am done, if I have done it right. Like Tina said, a blog is only fun with pictures. Without pictures, it is just a bunch of words.

That's all for now. I need to get going and be a mommy again!