3 Months!

Time is flying!  I love him sooooooo much!!!!!!!

Readin Books and Having Tummy Time!

Zane is not a fan of tummy time at all.  So I try to distract him by reading books to him!  Here, we were joined by dad!  I just loved it!  It was just so cozy and Zane was in a parent sandwich!

13 weeks!

I decided to put Zane on a little different schedule today.  I was feeding him every three hours during the day and he would sleep though the night, but now my goal is every four hours with no nighttime feeding.  So, I've moved it to every 3 1/2 hours to sort of break him into his new routine.  It's gone pretty good so far.  It started off good, then got hard!  Hopefully it will get easier.  On the three hour schedule we did a late night feeding at 11 pm which would get him through the night until 8 am.  With the 3 1/2 hour schedule, it will be at 10 pm with an 8 am wake-up still.  I think he'll do okay because its been hard waking him at 11 pm.  The book that I'm getting this all from, Babywise, says that you can adjust the last feeding time to a little earlier by increments of 15 minutes.  I'm going to see how he does for a couple nights and then we'll see!  I am excited about this!
Here he is snoozing at 13 weeks!  Mom, you can see I took your advice and cut a hole for his thumb in a mitten. He still scratches his little nose and it's just not able to heal.  I'm sure tons of people can trim a baby's nail so that they won't scratch themselves, but I can't seem to!  :-)  Oh, and he can still suck his thumb!  It's just so cute!  :-)
Love you all!

Wednesday Night Bible Class!

Zane did so great tonight!  I was concerned because this is during his naptime, but he slept about 30 minutes before we had to leave and made it with just a tiny bit of fussiness at the end.  I was so proud of him.  He also had a little buddy in class with him for the first time! 

Just Cuteness!

First Time in Bible Class!

Zane went to Bible class today for the first time!  I've been thinking about him because he can now hold his head up and he is more alert.  The teachers are so nice and told me to hold on to him for as long as I wanted to because before I knew it, he would be going to college!  Well, I have been.  But, today I thought it would be good if I took him and stayed with him.  Let me tell you, I walked into the classroom with him and started crying!!  What a baby I am!!!  Can you believe it?  Sigh.  It was just such a big event to put him in that little chair and let someone else teach him-it was overwhelming.  But, Zane did great!!!  He was alert and attentive until about 9:35 and then he just started yawning and yawning and got a tad bit fussy.  I picked him up and he just closed his little eyes after a few minutes.  It was precious.  I am going to go in there for a few times until I get comfortable leaving him and then...well, let's not talk about me leaving him, shall we?  :)  He's just so precious!

Time for Bible Class!

Looking so serious.  :)

Whoa...where am I going?  Mom?  Can you give me a hand?

Precious Nephew!

I am so pleased to let y'all know that my sister gave birth to a handsome baby boy on Saturday!  His name is Elliot Thomas and he weighed 8 lbs, and was 21 1/4 inches long!  He is a big boy!  It sounds like Amanda did great and they are both doing just fine.  I am so proud of her and so proud to be his aunt!

Little bundle of love!

First family photo!

Preciousness.

12 Weeks Old!

Time is flying!  Zane is almost 3 months old!

Big Boy Toy!

On Wednesday we put together a toy that my good friend, Jan, gave Zane when he was born!  He is able to hold his head up by himself really well now, so we decided that he was ready for it!  I put it together and couldn't wait for Zane to wake up and try it out!  He sure did look it over when we put him in it.  It was so much fun to watch him!  He liked the lights and sounds that it makes too! 

Whoa, what's this?

Concentrating hard!

Thanks, Jan, for thinking of Zane!  We love you!

Italian Meatballs

Meatloaf and meatballs were not my thing growing up.  I did not care for them whatsoever.  Actually, we didn't really have meatballs growing up, so I'm not sure why I disliked them.  Jeff also made meatballs when we were dating and they were great!  Maybe I just never had them.  (Did you make them, Mom, and I just forgot?) Anyway, the other day, I made my mother-in-laws meatballs!  I've had the recipe for awhile, but was reminded of it when we went to their house a little while ago and ate them.  They were so good. Pure ingredients, all homemade.  So, I gave it a shot.  The recipe says that it makes 20 meatballs, but I'm not good at dividing up stuff equally to make a certain number, so I used a tablespoon to measure the meat.  Mine made 38 balls. (.84 pointsplus each)

Italian Meatballs
4 slices dry bread
1 lb ground beef (I used 96/4)
2 eggs
1/2 c grated Romano cheese
2 T chopped parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
1 t crushed oregano
1 t salt
dash pepper

Soak bread in water 2 to 3 minutes, then squeeze out moisture.  (This part was so gross!)  Combine soaked bread with remaining ingredients, mixing well.  Form into small balls (about 20).  Brown and cook them in 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Yes there is one missing!  I had to try it out.  :-)

Fresh Tomato Spaghetti Sauce

1/4 c vegetable oil
2 large onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
12 c fresh tomatoes, peeled
3 (6 oz.) cans tomato paste (or more)
3 T sugar
1 T salt
3/4 t pepper
3 T oregano
2-3 bay leaves

Heat oil in large kettle and cook onion, garlic, and green pepper until tender.  Add remaining ingredients-stir well after each addition.
Simmer uncovered 45-60 minutes.  (I recommend using a splash screen because mine made a mess on my stove.)  Remove bay leaves.  Meatballs may be added now and cooked for 30 minutes.  This sauce freezes well.  (I'm going to try that out!)
-More tomato paste may be added, if desired for extra thickening.

See all the splatters on the stovetop?  Such a mess!  :-)

Thank you so much for sharing your recipes Janie!  They are a delicious pair!  :-)

Snip, snip!

A sleeping baby













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Clippers and a file













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Operation "I hope this time I get his nails short enough and smooth enough so he quits scratching his little nose!"

October?

I just can't believe that October is just around the corner.  Seriously, October?  I was out walking with Zane tonight and was almost sad because I was thinking about the time passing so quickly.  Summer, the season that Zane was born in, is almost gone.  It's been a blur and I almost wish it would stand still.  But, today he started touching my face while he nursed and if time stood still, I would miss out on moments like that.  He is just so precious.  I can't believe how big he's getting.  I like that he's cooing at me, following us with his head and eyes, and smiling.  I just can't believe that's it's almost October!  Now, what to make him for a fall costume?  Any ideas? 

Learning About Jesus

Such an attentive little jewel. 

A+ Check-up!

Zane had his 2 month check up today and he passed with flying colors.  He weighs 13.4 pounds, and is 24 1/4 inches long!  Our doctor said that his weight is the 64th percentile and his height is in the 75th percentile.  You know, I'm not exactly sure what that means, other than he is above average for other children his age.  His head is only in the 31st percentile though.  He has a smaller head!  The doctor said that it is fine-if he had a large head, they would be concerned, but smaller heads are okay!  I think his head looks just right.  :-)  Zane also got four vaccines today-one oral, and three shots.  It was hard for me to know that it was going to hurt him.  Even though he's a little guy, I tried to talk to him about it and tell him it would hurt, but not for long.  You should have seen those needles.  They were really long.  I saw it about to go in, and just looked at his little face and held his hands.  The nurse was great.  She was really fast, and I just counted one, two, three-and then I got to pick him up.  But, I sure didn't like him feeling pain.  He did get some bright bandaids though! 

I am so thankful for a healthy boy.

Such a sweet boy.

11 weeks!!!!!

Daddy and Me

Gotta start early on the ice cream...after all, he's a Harris!

Love them!

Moving those arms!

War Baby

My little blessing woke up today with bloody wounds!!!  He's been sucking his thumb and I guess he claws at his face in the midst of it.  I clipped his nails yesterday, but I guess I didn't do a good job.  So, this morning when he fell asleep for his nap, I nip, nip, nipped at them again and then tried to file them smooth.  I sure hope it does the trick.  It looks like he's been at war with a cat!

10 weeks

Zane went with me to get my new glasses today!  I thought the picture was clear but turns out it was blurry.  Good thing for new glasses!  He was making the cutest faces at me.  :)

Where's Zane?

We had fun while folding laundry!

Mmmm, Brotchen!

The other day we had sauerkraut, potatoes, porkchops, and bratwurst and I wanted to make German brotchen to go with it, but didn't have time!  So, I tried out the recipe yesterday.  It turned out pretty good!  They were softer than authentic bakery brotchen, but they were still really good.

I think they would have been prettier if I had applied the egg white wash better.

They were great with butter and honey!  The recipe for brotchen is here.

Special Visit

While we were in Midland, I was thrilled to get to visit my adopted grandmother and introduce her to Zane.  We both used to live in North Dakota and growing up when they had grandparents day at school, she would come because mine lived so far away!  Her late husband baptized me 19 years ago this month.  I always enjoy our visits when I go to Midland, but this time I was especially excited because she would get to love on Zane.  She had him smiling and cooing!

Love this one!

Labor Day Weekend

We went to Midland to introduce Zane to his great granddad and grandma, and other close friends that I've known for a long time.  We had a wonderful time!  Zane did a great job traveling up there, and while we did have quite a bit of crying on the way home, I'd say he did pretty good.

On the way home, we stopped by Kerrville and met my parents.  I think Grandma really enjoyed getting some love from her little grandson.  We also made an impromptu stop by my friend Lani's!  It was great to see her!  Unfortunately, Zane puked all over her within five minutes of meeting her.  Then I took him and got some more of it!  You'd think I'd learned from our first trip with Zane to Sargent to bring extra clothes, but nope, I didn't!  Thankfully, Jeff had an extra shirt!

Happy traveler!

Peaceful traveler!

Great Grandma and Zane

Mini Magnums and a wahoo game!

Ladies win!

Great-granddad, dad, Zane

Definitely the center of attention.

Zane with Grandma-I think my favorite of them so far!