The days are flying by and it is shocking to me how quickly our kiddos are growing. Maddy's 3rd birthday is around the corner and is enjoying having a little brother more and more. Elliott is as happy as ever tipping the scales at 19 pounds and has almost out grown his infant car seat. It's bitter sweet to say the least.

Elliott's favorite new toy is his jumper. He LOVES it. He laughs and jumps his heart out. I put it in the pantry so he can be entertained while I cook or do dishes. It actually works out great, because there's so much junk in my pantry he just jumps and stares at everything on the shelves.

Spring is officially here. We've had many rainy days, but the sun has made of few appearances. Of course we had to enjoy it! Elliott enjoyed the swing for the first time.

I tried to find some pics of Maddy and Elliott at the same age where they are in similar poses. I love to see how much alike they are.

Life is still chugging along here. We've been battling cabin fever, but hope is on the horizon! We've had a few beautiful and warm days here and there... we can't wait to get out and play.

In the process of being house bound we've been trying to keep ourselves entertained. Painting, dancing, jumping, trampoline-ing, and rocking out. I think we're going to make it till spring!

Maddy and Elliott are building quite the interesting brother/sister bond. They smile and make each other laugh... but Maddy also drives him nuts!!! Maddy can be very rough with Elliott because she gets so excited to be with him. When we try to calm her down and pull her off of Elliott, she goes into what I call, holding in the crazies. Maddy will literally start shaking and bite her lip trying to contain all her Elliott excitement. Another Maddy development is she's been asking for new diapers, waking at night, and telling us she's peed. Of course she tells us after the fact and refuses to use the potty. But baby steps, right!?


We had a fun Valentines Day. Maddy got a Dora umbrella and could hardly contain her joy. She also enjoyed her first tea party with Grandma. After a few practices the was drinking from her tea cup and could almost pour herself her tea. She's been asking for tea parties ever since.

Elliott has been growing leaps and bounds. He's playing in his exersaucer, getting pretty good at sitting up, and loving solid food. His new favorite pass time is playing with his toes, apparently they are very exciting. He's still a perfect happy little man. Boy do we love him!

In other Zmoos news... Zmoos Chiropractic just got a K laser. And I have to admit its pretty awesome. I've had back pain ever since being preggers and now its gone! Lots of patients really like it and I think Ethan really likes the fact that he can say he has a laser Ha Ha.

Lastly, Grandma Zmoos just turned 80! Family flew in and we partied it up! We love you Grandma and look forward to the many more fun and happy years we get to share together!

At 12:16 this morning I woke up feeling not so wonderful... This was actually a blessing in disguise. I stayed home from church and slept for over 3 hours and got some much needed R & R. And even better, Ethan's parents currently have Eth and the children over for dinner. So my rest continues. I'm finally feeling better, I've eaten 3 pieces of toast. Wow and I know, huge progress. Now with a quiet house, I can actually update my blog. So lets get going!

Time keeps flying by and the kiddos are keeping me in a constant state of exhaustion. Maddy continues to be 2 and having the expected daily melt downs, but is still a smarty pants, cutie pie most of the time. Elliott is growing at an amazing rate. He is 3 months and is sporting 6 month old clothing. He is a smiley, happy fellow who doesn't cry very often and is very patient.

Life has been fun and crazy we enjoyed a whole month of Christmas festivities!

Annual Ginger Bread Houses....

This year we did ginger bread houses with our friends the Stangers. We stayed pretty traditional, but Shawn made an impressive log cabin. Maddy attempted a house, but basically ate candy the whole time. The next day she was sick and had diarrhea, awesome!

Pre-Christmas with Mike and Karen...
We enjoyed a wonderful dinner and fun opening presents. The highlight of the evening was Maddy's trampoline.


Anniversary...
Ethan and I semi-celebrated our 7 year anniversary. Due to the chaos of Christmas and travel, we never went out to celebrate. We actually spent our anniversary night at a super 8 motel near the airport, in separate beds, each sleeping with a child, and enjoying a magical Mc Donalds dinner! Good thing we love each other and it didn't really matter. We'll have to make it up, good thing we got many more anniversaries ahead of us!

Christmas in New Jersey...
Christmas in NJ was wonderfully, crazy. We had 13 people crammed into my parents house. Ethan, Elliott, Maddy and I all shared the same room during most of the trip. It was great to be with family. The best part of the trip was the time Maddy got to share with her cousin Lucy. They got along great and had fun together. We would have gone out and played more, except Maddy gets really carsick. She puked 4 times on the way to my parents house from the airport. She arrived at my parents house in just a diaper. Poor girl. Thanks to Mom and Dad for dealing with our craziness!









Ethan went back to Iowa before me, so I flew back to IA with kiddos alone. It went really well. While going through security, the lady checking my ID asked if Maddy was four. When I told her Maddy was 2 and Elliott was 3 months, she replied, "Wow, you grow 'em big!" Ha Ha. We got delayed in Chicago (shocker, stupid Chicago) but fortunately that had a play place for children there and Maddy got to get out her wiggles.



Blessing...
After we got home we had Elliott's blessing. We just barely squeezed into his outfit!!! The blessing was wonderful. Elliott fussed and whined a little during the blessing but when it was all over smiled and giggled as Ethan sat back down with him.



Life is crazy. Life is good.

Welcome to the world Elliott Ethan Zmoos!

Born October 8, 2010 at 3:56pm 7lbs 5.6oz 21in

I guess his birth story starts about 2 weeks before he was born... During those two weeks I had 4 nights of regular contractions. One night we even went to the hospital. We discovered that I was 3 1/2 cm dilated and 60% effaced and they stripped my membranes. Nothing changed, so they sent me home. After two days and absolutely no contractions, I went to my regular doctors appointment and I was 5 cm dilated and 80% effaced. Since I wasn't feeling contractions and was already at 5 cm, the doctor suggested we induce.

So the next morning we headed to the hospital. At 8:30 I was still 5 cm and 80% so they ruptured my membranes after 3 hours of little contractions still no change... so we started the dreaded pitocin! I handled it well for about an hour then at 6cm and 80%, called for the epidural. The contractions were pretty painful so I prayed that I could have a rest from the contractions so that I could stay still for the epidural. Thankfully I only had one during the whole procedure. Luckily I got the epidural just in time, right before it kicked in I had a contraction that made me unable to catch my breath, cry, and shake. Boy was I grateful for epidurals! 2 hours later I started feeling pressure, it was time... 10cm and fully effaced. Two contractions later Elliott was born. The experience was completely different from Maddy. With Maddy by the end I was exhausted in pain and could barely hold her. With Elliott I could actually feel him being born and was so happy to hold him and even breastfeed him in the first hour. It was amazing. All I could do was cry and say thank you.

I had to include this pic of Maddy with her baby brother! They are practically twins!

The next day Karen, Mike, and Maddy came for a visit. Boy oh boy does Maddy love baby brother Elliott.

Things have been great at home. My mom had flown out and is helping. Elliott is a wonderful, patient little guy. And thank goodness, a good nurser. I'm healing up pretty quick and feeling good. We even enjoyed the beautiful weather and went on a family walk.

Maddy absolutely loves Elliott. She wakes up asking for him, helps change his diaper, and likes to snuggle and pet him! We are so grateful for a our little family.