Baby In A Bag

I was a little behind on laundry the other night (yup... I'm a mom!) so Zack was a bit limited on pajamas.... Ok, he had none, really! So, we ended up resorting to "the bag." The first night Zack wore this outfit, it was his first night at home and, as new parents, we were worried about keeping him warm enough in the night.
There he is, drowning in his bag, with his little mittens. He's so little and precious! Well, 8 months later, my little Baby In A Bag is just as cute as the day we brought him home!

My Missionary Brother

My little brother Tyler entered the MTC this past week. I was lucky enough to find a sub for my class so that I could be there to see him off. I've always considered Tyler and I's bond to be very close, and I've always had a special relationship with my brother. He's "my favorite little brother" and I can't say enough good things about him! I was a lot more brave than I thought I would be. Not one tear was shed from me! Pretty impressive, I must say! The process of dropping the missionaries off is pretty brutal now! You literally pull up to the curb, another Elder helps get the bags out of the trunk, you get one last hug and they are on their way inside and you are being hurried out so that other cars can pull in to take your spot. I think it lasted a total of 5 minutes! But we parked up in the temple parking lot and took some extra pictures and said longer goodbyes there, so that was nice. I'm so proud of Tyler! Sweden will never know what hit 'em! Well, at least when Tyler leaves the MTC in about 9 or 12 weeks, they won't! ;)
Does he look ready to go?
Yup! I'd say he's good to go! :)
They were all so happy because they had a pretty good comedian to lighten up the mood (aka ME!)
I told him that I was the last girl he'd get to hug in the next two years, so he'd better soak it in! He laughed and said he was ok with that, and three more pictures were taken after this one! ;) I love my brother!
The two second drop-off at the curb....
And off he goes! Good luck Tyler! I love you and am so proud of you! Stockholm, here he comes! :)

Zack's Poppin' 'Em Out!

Zack has 3 teeth now! I've kind of put in little plugs about tooth 1 and 2, but I have yet to really mention tooth #3. It kind of came as a shock to Clayton and I! We were just sitting in church and Zack opened his mouth real big and we saw it in there. It was pretty big, so who knows how long it's been in there! But in church we found teeth 4 and 5 just ready to break the surface and I see it happening any day now. They are so close to the surface, the gum is white... I just need to be able to actually feel a tooth, and then I'll believe it's there! They are coming in such a random order and just skipping all over in his mouth! But I guess that makes my baby unique from other babies, and I love that, because he is a very unique and special little guy! He's been such a trooper. Maybe teething is a nightmare for other parents, but it really hasn't been as bad as I expected. I will admit, tooth number 2 was a doozy, and I was just praying for the day that one would pop in so my baby would stop hurting. But once it came, he was back to my happy little man! I've been trying to take a picture of him each day a tooth comes in, so here is what we have so far. I love that in each picture, Zack is still just my happy and smiley boy that he always has been! I love Zack so much. I am continually awed by what parenthood really IS like, and I love it. I will admit, I feel a little jipped in that I don't get to be a parent as much as I'd like, but with as much time as I do get, I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to be a mom to such a perfect little boy!
December 18, 2007 was the morning after tooth 1 broke through. He'd had a very rough night the night before, so all day at school I was worried about him. But I came home and felt around in his mouth, and there it was! I had to have Clayton check to to make sure I wasn't imagining things. I was so excited for my little boy!
Tooth 2 broke through New Years Eve/New Years Day 2010. That night was tough! Literally at the stroke of midnight he began to cry and wake up, which was just the first of many cries that night. But when you see this smiley boy the next morning and a new tooth to show off, it makes it worth it!
Tooth number 3 may or may not have broken through on January 17, 2010. That's the day we found it at least! He must have been really brave with this one, because we had no idea it was even close! My big brave boy. Mommy loves you Zack and I'm so proud of you! I can't wait for teeth 4 and 5!

Christmas.... With LOTS of Pictures!

I'm a little late on the Christmas post, but we had a great time! We stayed up in Farmington with my parents for a week-and-a-half to celebrate the holidays. My entire family was able to be there, which was so fun! We took so many pictures, so I'll try to keep things brief. But here is the grand tour of our Christmas holiday!

You have to have the holiday goodies, or it's just not the holidays! :)
All the stockings on the fireplace.
And the table is set for our traditional Christmas Eve candlelit dinner. A favorite tradition of mine!
After dinner, Grandma Kathy gathered all the grandkids around to read them The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck.
Then everyone opened up their Christmas Eve gifts (for most of us, it consisted of pajamas.)
Zack's say "My 1st Christmas." Mommy was a bit excited for his first Christmas! :) But he's so stinkin' adorable! Afterwards, Uncle Tyler read Luke 2, and the kids all put the characters in their correct places in the stable using one of Grandma's Nativity sets. We then watched The Nativity movie, set out cookies and treats for Santa, and went to bed.
Zack was the first one up on Christmas morning. We waited in our room for another hour for everyone else to get up! But he was happy and excited to be awake! Mommy and Daddy... Not so much yet! :)
Wood Family Tradition states that you have to drink a mug of either milk, egg nog, or hot chocolate before you can go in to see if Santa came.
And sure enough, he did! And he brought Zack a Baby Einstein Exersaucer! Grandma and Grandpa Romberg got him a little sports center and Grandma and Grandpa Wood got him a monkey... A fake one! Don't worry! Here he is sorting through the rest of his Christmas goods! He was very hungry for his own breakfast, so we kind of plowed through Christmas so we could eat. But we still had a good time!
Everyone had a great time!

The day after Christmas, we got family pictures taken together. They turned out pretty good! Here are all the families in our family! :)
My wonderful parents who started it all! I love my parents. They are both wonderful people who would sacrifice anything for the ones they love. They are amazing people and I am so blessed to have them for my parents.
My brother Dusty, his wife Hilary, and their kids Jaxon, Lilie, and Alex who got to be all bundled up for this picture!
My favorite sister, Kacie, with her husband Nathan and their kids Brystal and Boston. So glad they made it all the way from Texas to be here for the holiday!
Here is our little family. I liked how the photographer did this one in a sepia tone. It looks neat!
The photographer took some cute candid pictures of Zack, and later said that he was the best baby he'd ever worked with because he was so happy and smiley, even though we were all freezing! I pretty much have the best baby ever!
And last, but not least, "The Alone One" as the photographer affectionately called him. This is really my younger brother Tyler. He goes into the MTC on Wednesday to go on his mission to Stockholm, Sweeden so it's probably a good thing he was "alone!" But he is so pumped and ready for his mission and he's such a great kid!
And here we all are! For the last time together in (at least) 2 years. We had such a great time with my family!

And to end the post, here are some random pictures taken throughout the break. Hope your Christmas was just as fun as ours!
Tooth #2 popped through on January 1! Happy New Year Zack!Attack Uncle Nathan!
All the grandkids!
Top: Jaxon, Lilie, Brystal (Nathan... Not a grandkid, but there to make Brystal happy!)
Bottom: Alex, Zack, Boston

Temple Square

Before Christmas, we had the chance to go see the lights at Temple Square. I don't know what it is, but it has always just been so exciting for me to go see them each year! We got to go with some friends of ours from my school. We are so lucky to have such great friends. We had a great time!

Zack is all bundled up and ready to go!

Me with Lindsay and Amber and her little guy Ryker, the girls I teach with. I don't know the girl on the right though... She's a friend of Amber's... But she was very nice! :)

Zack with his friend Ryker... I look creepy, but the babies are really the focus of the picture! :)

Update From This Morning...

I blogged using this picture this morning saying that before this was taken he'd had a pretty rough night. He was up every couple hours with that whine that is more than just "I don't want to sleep," but rather saying, "I am in pain and can't get myself back to sleep." Well, it paid off! I came home and felt his mouth, and sure enough! His first tooth broke through the gum last night!!! I have been dancing around my house singing, "MY BABY HAS A TOOTH! MY BABY HAS A TOOTH!" I'm weird, I know... But I am so thrilled! He's been teething for a couple months now, and we now will have something to show for it! He's so cute and is so brave. He hasn't been NEAR as cranky through this process as I thought he would. But after last night, I knew something had to be up! The tooth is on the bottom row, front right (if you are looking at his face). I am so excited! Good job Zack! One down, a bunch more to go! (That would have sounded more cool if I knew how many teeth people actually have!) Oh well! :) Good job Zack! I LOVE YOU!!!

To Get Me Through The Day...

Look at this face. How could you not love that! This is the little face that I leave each day to go and teach school. While I love teaching, and I have an awesome class, I do miss my little boy through the day. But, thanks to my sweet husband and my wonderful babysitter, Jessica, they will occasionally text me pictures of him through the day so that I can see him when I can't be with him. It always seems to brighten my day and help me teach just that one more lesson before I run home to play with my boy! Here are some fun pictures that have literally gotten me through the day.
This is the one I got this morning that inspired the post. I was so worried about him because he had a rough night teething. But Daddy sent me this picture to let me know that he was happy and doing good after I left. It helps me have peace and sanity through the day to know that such wonderful people are with my son, and know that I am thinking of him and wondering about him. Thank you Clayton and Jess for getting me through the day.