Zietz Family Happenings

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Bye Bye Binky!

We had a big milestone happen at our house in the past two weeks! Tucker said bye bye to his binky! He had always been very good about using it only in his bed. He even would throw it back on the bed when he was done sleeping.

Recently, he had started to bite holes in it. A couple friends had shared some things they did to get rid of the binky. Joy told me how she had her daughter get rid of it after she was biting it, so I thought, perfect timing! I don't want him to choke on it anyways! And Karly told me about how when her kids were three they took the binky to build a bear and then that way they could still have it with them. I had thought about the binky fairy, etc. but I didn't think Tucker could comprehend it. So we went with the build a bear.

It's been over a week now and we haven't gone back! He cried a ton the first day for his nap and refused to sleep for the first time in his life! Thankfully he conked for bed that night and there haven't been any tears since.

He was very excited to get his bear. True to my mom's convictions, he did try to rip the binky out of the bear during his "screaming nap". He wanted the binky out and wanted "binky in the mouth" Oh well. One rough day and we've succeeded! Here's some pics of the "big day!"

Friday, September 6, 2013

Up and Up We Go!

Brayden has grown into a very quick crawler, experienced cruiser, he's adept at pulling himself up onto everything and has no problem standing with only one hand on something. This is definitely further along than Tucker was before he was 10 months old. He also started to climb up the stairs shortly after he turned 9 months. Clearly I had to grab a video! He's much faster now (hello baby gates!) but he doesn't know how to climb down..little problem.

Here's the video from when he first started climbing up:)

Monday, September 2, 2013

Diamond Anniversary

You know those lists where it says what classic gift correlates to the number of years you've been married? Well the highest the list goes is 60-diamonds! We were SO blessed to be able to celebrate my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary this weekend with a huge party with lots of family and many of their friends-some of whom were even in their wedding party or at the wedding! Pretty cool to have lifelong friends like that! It was very humid but that didn't stop the fun and all of the children running around. Here's a fun rundown of how the family has expanded since they've been married:

Ed+Rita=the TWO that started it:)
Rich, Karen, Mike, Marianne= FOUR kids
Add each of their wives/husbands=FOUR more "kids"
Of those four families there are now FOURTEEN grandchildren (ranging in age from 8-31)
Add the wives/husbands of the grandchildren=THREE more "grandkids"
Of those fourteen 14 grandchildren there are now SEVEN great-grandchildren.

If you do the math, from those TWO who started it all 60 years ago, there are now THIRTY-TWO additional people who are a part of our awesome family. As my grandfather always says, all I said was "I do" and look what happened!?!

My grandparents are two of the most loving and fun grandparents! Not many people get the privilege of having both of their grandparents around and with it when they are in their eighties. It is so awesome that our kids get to enjoy them. My great-grandmother, Nanny, my grandma's mom, was alive until I was almost in 8th grade. I have so many great memories of her, and I pray my kids will get to have the same experience as well! They set a great example of how to be loving and serve your spouse, yet still be independent and have your own fun. They have travelled the world, babysat for all of us, attended the majority of our sporting events and given us countless pennies for making good grades:) It was really awesome to celebrate their life this weekend.

My gift to them (they don't know it yet) is a book with all of the pictures from the party. My cousins Alyssa and Kayla assisted in the picture taking too (thanks!) and I think we got some great ones. Can't wait to put it all together, but here's a sampling.