18 months!

I can hardly believe that my little man is already a year and a half! It has been 18 months of love, challenge, firsts and growth. Everyday I feel like Zach grows and changes everyday and I am so fortunate to be able to work from home so I don't miss a single moment of his life.

Zach had his 18 month check up and he is a healthy, happy little man. He is 33 inches and 26 pounds 3 ounces which puts him in the 50%-75% in size. He is still not much of a talker but he is so active it's almost like he doesn't have time to talk! The only time he will sit still is to read or watch Toy Story. We must spend an hour or two a day reading books, which I LOVE. He has recently become obsessed with Toy Story and I swear we watch one of them every day! I am thinking of making him a Woody costume for Halloween but we'll see.

Here are some other things Zach is into these days:

*He still loves animals. He plays with Abby all the time and loves to chase any other dog or cat that will give him the attention.
*Zach is getting really into building things. He loves to stack his block, nesting cups and anything else he can.
*He loves to play with cars, trucks, trains, etc. He is so cute, he pushes his cars and trucks around and says "vrrrrrrrmmm" and makes "choo choo" noises when he's playing with his train.
*He knows and can point to all of his body parts, clothes and family members. Matt is really good at working on his ABC's and Zach can identify about 30% of his letters when asked.
*His favorite thing to do is hide. He will hide behind anything and wait for you to come find him and he just laughs when he jumps out and "surprises" you.
*Macaroni and Cheese is by far his favorite thing to eat. He won't eat any vegetables but won't turn down any type of fruit.
*Zach is really smart (and I know I'm biased because I'm his mother but still!). If he sees you do something once he remembers. This isn't always great though because he can get into everything now!
*He is very affectionate and loves to give kisses and snuggles. He also likes to do knuckles instead of high fives which is really cute :)
*Zach is doing great with swimming. He now floats alone, holds his breath for a short distance under water, knows how to roll to his back when he's pulled face-first into the pool and he is starting to actually swim. His instructor said that soon we'll be ready to start real swimming not just safety lessons.
*We still go to My Gym every week and he loves it. It's a great way for him get rid of some of his never ending energy!
*Zach is teething is 2-year molars right now which is not fun :( He has been getting pretty cranky and chewing and drooling again. I can't wait for them to just get in!
*He has learned how to blow and loves to blow bubbles by himself or blow out candles for me.

Zach is doing so much more that I just can't remember it all but it is fun to watch him grow and learn these new things!

17 months!

Yikes! When did my baby get so old? Zach can do so many things, it's kind of sad that there really aren't many physical milestones left for him to do. He runs all over the place and climbs everything! He is such a little dare devil that I am constantly afraid we're going to end up in the ER soon. He loves to climb onto the couch and stand up and walk across it, mostly because I tell him not to. A couple weeks ago he wrapped his legs and arms around the armrest on our arm chair and rolled off of it and landed on the dog bed. He was inches from hitting his head on the window sill and I almost had a heart attack but he was fine. I'm trying to let go a little because I know he needs to test and learn what he can and cannot do on his own but it sure is frightening! Whenever he figures out a new trick he gets so proud of himself and that is my favorite part, the giant grin when he accomplishes something and the boost of self confidence he gets.

The biggest milestones these days are verbal. Zachery is a little slower than his peers when it comes to talking but he's getting there. Knowing his father I figured that he would excel at this, haha. For months the only things he has said with any regularity are 'mama' and 'this' and he does use this in the right context. I feel like a damn parrot because all day I am naming whatever 'this' he is pointing to but I know he is understanding. He has 2 different sea horse toys in his bath toys so when I name one of them he will search for the other one because he knows they are the same name. It is really amazing to watch because when I ask him to bring me something he knows exactly what it is, he just won't say it. I figure one day he is going to look at me and say something like 'nice weather today, huh mommy?' and I'll just fall over in shock :). Zach has probably said about 20-25 different words but none of them have been consistent until very recent. We have now added 'bye' (pronounced as BEE along with a wave) and 'cookie' (pronounced by Zach as COOK). We had our most interesting verbal experience last week. Whenever he is on the changing table after his bath or when changing his diaper he points to different body parts and asks 'this?' so I name them for him. Well, he is a boy so one of his favorite things to grab is his penis so when he asks we tell him it's his penis. Last week I was changing his diaper and naming body parts when I named his penis. He looked up at me and repeated 'my penis?' (pronounced as MY PEIS) and it was all I could do not to burst out laughing. It was so cute and of course that was his first 2 word phrase. I can't wait until he has his own children one day so I can remind him of this-priceless!

I have started looking into potty training methods after a little issue we had a couple weeks ago. When your baby shows you that he can take off his own diaper you really shouldn't put him to bed anymore without pants...I went in one afternoon to get him from his nap and he had taken off his diaper...and he had pooped...and he had it EVERYWHERE. This was by far the most disgusting thing I have had to deal with since becoming a mom. I stripped his shirt off him, turned on the tub and scrubbed that little body until it was pink. I must have used 3 different washcloths and half a bottle of baby wash. I threw everything in the washer in the hottest water he had to soak and took bleach and water and scrubbed his crib down. We had to leave the house because it was so unpleasant...not fun. After that I bought a potty and a kids book and we have been trying to get him on board but it hasn't happened yet. Yesterday I came across this article http://www.babycenter.com/0_potty-training-in-three-days-or-less_10310078.bc which talks about a method where you potty train your baby in about 3 days. I showed it to Matt and we are going to try it the first weekend in August-it's the next weekend where we have NOTHING going on and can commit to being home all weekend to do this. I know it's kind of early to some people but if I can get him potty trained at a year and a half I will be one happy momma! If he doesn't take to it we'll try again in a few months but you never know until you try :)

The most exciting thing we've done in the last month was take Zach on his first trip to Disneyland. We went on Father's Day (Matt is such a trooper!) and it was great. I got a season pass so I plan to take him a couple times a month, it is a fun thing to keep us busy and out of the house! Here are a few pictures from the last month:

Zach and his friend Sammy at the zoo. Zach said 'goat'!

My funny boy playing at Chip n Dale's Treehouse at Disneyland

Although he doesn't look happy, the Jungle Cruise was his favorite ride :)

Playing in Toon Town!

The only family shot I got of us at Disneyland-such a fun family day!

Maycations Part 2

So part 2 of our May travels takes us first to Omaha(ish), Nebraska to visit my family and celebrate my cousin Daniel's graduation. We flew out there at 6:45am the day after we returned from San Diego. The take off went well, I fed him his bottle and he did great. Soon after that he crashed and slept until we were getting off at our layover in Salt Lake City. The take off from SLC did not go as well-he screamed and cried and layed on the ground and had a tantrum. Finally we were able to get Matt's Ipad going to one of his videos and he calmed down. We got to a very cold Omaha and my Uncle Eddie picked us up and took us to their house which is in a very small town called Kennard. We just hung out at the house and relaxed all day with family. My parents and brother were there as well as my Uncle and Aunt and my 3 cousins (it was their house we stayed at) and my Grandpa Lenaeus. The next day, Sunday was Daniel's graduation from high school. It was so surreal to watch him graduate because I remember when he was born, I remember playing with him and holding him and thinking he was the most amazing little thing ever and now I have my own amazing little man. I can't fathom the day when I have to watch my boy walk across the stage and get his high school diploma; I am so glad that we were able to make the trip out there. Another reason that it was so important to me to get out there was that my grandfather was going to be there. He lives in Florida so I don't get to see him often and I wanted to make sure he got to see my son-the first great grandchild on the Lenaeus side. We stayed in Nebraska a couple days after the graduation and spent a lot of time together. Zach really had fun watching my cousin Jake, who just finished the 5th grade and is very athletic. Zachery is really starting to get interested in sports and playing with balls (hehe) so he loved watching Jake play basketball at the party with his buddies. On our last night we got to see one of Jake's baseball games (where he did awesome-I can't wait to watch Zach play baseball!!) and Zachery actually watched a couple innings which is remarkable for how active he is-he never sits down! We had such a great time visiting my family and I am so grateful that they had us out there!

Here are my parents, brother, Matt, Zach and me with Daniel

Here are all the Lenaeus':Me, Zach, Uncle Eddie, Jake, Daniel, Grandpa, Rob, Rachael

My favorite picture I took of my little man playing in the yard

Zachery giving me kissed through the storm door

My happy boy after his cupcake at the graduation party

Eating katsup at lunch with the men

Zach LOVED the giant lawn at my Aunt and Uncle's house

Zach playing with Jake before his baseball game

The last trip of the month was to Las Vegas for my family reunion. This was for the Thrush family, my mom's dad's family (if you are able to follow that!). We have the reunion every other year and in the past it was always held at a park in Overton (about and hour outside of Vegas) but this year my parents hosted the reunion at their house in Vegas. Now there were a whole lot of people there that I didn't know and really didn't have any chance to get to know since I was chasing a 16 month old around the house. Zach did really well considering all of the new faces and the fact that he feels like that is his house and all these people invaded it. He played in the pool a little bit and tried to even play with some of the other babies towards the end. Later that night we went to dinner with my best friend Carly, her husband Kevin and their little guy, Aiden. Zach was not at his best during dinner. It is really getting to be too difficult to go to a restaurant with him, he wants to run around everywhere and he is so picky with his food I never know if he's going to eat what we get him! The trip to Vegas was short and busy but it was nice to visit with my family and see my bestest :)

After all of these trips I have decided that I am not flying with Zach again until he's at least 2 and when we do he is getting his own seat! I started having a panic attack because he was so upset on the flights home (which is understandable since our first flight out of Omaha was cancelled and we spent about 10 hours in an airport or on an airplane that day) and I'm just not looking forward to ever experiencing that again, lol. I feel like I need a vacation from all of these vacations but we had the best times and are always reminded of how lucky we are to have the family and friends we do!

Maycations Part 1

So May has been a busy little month for the Seibert family. Instead of spreading out our travels over the course of the year we decided to pack in 4 trips this month. Great planning on our parts, especially with a 15 month old who is pretty set in his schedule and doesn't hesitate to let you know when you are inconveniencing him :). Our first trip was actually just Matt and me, it was the first time we had left the little monkey for a weekend and boy, was that hard. For Christmas my brother got Matt and I tickets to go to Stagecoach, which is a 2 day country music festival in Indio, CA. My parents rented an RV for the family to stay in which was great since the other option is to camp in a tent and I'm not really a tent kinda gal :). We are so fortunate that we have our parents close by so it was easy to ask Matt's parents to take Zach for the weekend. We dropped him off on Friday and made the loooonnngg drive to Indio. Once we got there I made myself a very stiff drink and tried to relax. I know that this probably sounds ridiculous but I felt so guilty and I missed him so much. Eventually I relaxed and we had a great time. We hung out all day and drank and visited and went to the concerts on Saturday and Sunday night. We got to see Josh Turner, Darius Rucker, Easton Corbin, Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood and Kenny Chesney-it was awesome! It was really hard to be away form my boy for 3 nights but we all survived and seeing him on Monday was the best feeling :) Our second trip this month was a family vacation. For Christmas Matt's parents gave us a trip for 3 nights to San Diego so we could go to Sea World. We left for San Diego on Tuesday morning and got settled in our hotel. We tried to go down to the pool that afternoon and Matt took Zach in for a few minutes but it was too cold to stay in so we got all cleaned up and went out to dinner. Zach was in one of his moods so we all took turns taking him outside and playing with him while we were eating dinner. Wednesday morning we got up and went to Sea World. When we got there the first thing we did was go see the person dressed up as Shamu and Zach was so excited! I was worried that it would scare him and he wouldn't want to go near it but he was really good. The first thing we did was go over to the Sea Lion and Otter show. I remember loving that show when I was a kid and it was still just as cute. Zach seemed to enjoy the show and loved the little otter. After the show we walked around and looked at some aquariums, dolphins and went to the kids area. Zach LOVED the kids area-we went on a couple rides, met Elmo and played on this kiddie bounce floor. The bounce floor was his favorite thing and he ran all over that thing. In this play area they had big, soft blocks and Zach loved running out and collecting them to bring back to us. At one point another toddler tried to take one of the blocks Zach has playing with and Zach bit him :(. This was our first really aggressive moment and I wasn't really sure how to handle it because he was standing up for himself but not the right way and I didn't want to make a scene and ruin the day. I'm really hoping that we don't have to deal with a moment like that again for awhile! The last thing we did was go see the pet show. I think Zach enjoyed it but he was so tired by this point in the day that he was getting a bit cranky. That night we went to an area where there were a bunch of little shops and restaurants. After dinner I took Zach on the Merry Go Round and he loved it!

On Thursday we went back to Sea World (they have a deal where you get to go back the rest of the year when you buy a ticket) so we could finish seeing everything we hadn't gotten to the day before. The first thing we went to was the dolphin show and I loved it but I think Zach could have taken it or left it. After the show we went to the touch pools and Zach got to touch the star fish and he seemed to enjoy that. We went through some aquariums after that and he really seemed to love that-until he fell and cut his lip open :(. Next we went to the Shamu show which Zach wasn't really into. I think he's still a few years from enjoying watching these types of shows but he did really good despite having to sit still all that time. To finish out the day we went back to the kids area where Zach discovered the water play area. They had little holes in the ground that shot water into the air and Zach LOVED this. It was so funny to watch him running around getting all wet and how surprised he got every time the water shot out-it was basically the cutest thing ever.

Worn out after a couple long days :)

On Friday we went to the park before heading home. We had such a wonderful time in San Diego and it was so nice for Zach to spend some time with his grandparents. We had 2 other trips in May that I will be updating about later-it's a busy house!

My Second Mother's Day

So it is so hard for me to believe but yesterday was my second Mother's Day as a mommy. We didn't do anything too special, Matt was out of town so I got to spend the day with my little monkey and have dinner with my wonderful mother. I like to think that I am a good mother to my little boy; I love him more than there are words and I would do anything for him. I am so lucky that I have had such a great example in my own mother and she has taught me how I want to raise my own children. I'm not saying it was always perfect, I was a teenager at one point, but as an adult I think of my mom as one of my best friends. I hope that when Zachery is a grown man we can have a close relationship and that he feels as fortunate as I do that we have each other. Being a mother is the greatest challenge and greatest reward of my life. Anytime I am having a bad day or not feeling very positive I just look at Zach and his big, toothy grin and I can't help but instantly feel better. It makes my heart melt when he says mama or when he comes and cuddles up in my lap-these are the moments I live for! I hope all my mommy friends had an amazing Mother's Day and told their own moms how much they love them!

My favorite picture of my mom and me at my wedding

Being pregnant with Zach was one the most amazing times of my life!

My mom with Zach in the hospital, her first grandchild

Zachery's newborn photo shoot, he was 12 days old and I was exhausted but sooo in love!

Zach and I a few weeks ago when we went to the farm to pick strawberries-he's 15 months old now!

Zachery's Easter Eggstravaganza!

We have had so much excitement around here and I just haven't had the time to write about it. Last year was so much fun celebrating all of Zachery's first holidays and our first holidays as a newly expanded family of 3 but this year he is starting to understand what is going on. Easter was the first holiday where he seemed to get it. Zach's first go at hunting for Easter eggs was at our Stroller Strides egg hunt after class one day. Zach fell asleep at home so we didn't make it to class that day so as soon as he woke up we raced over to the park to play but we had already missed the egg hunt. We got there and he saw a blue egg that was next to another baby and went over and took it. It was really funny how excited he was. Well, I made him give the egg back but there was one more egg hiding in the grass so I directed him over to the egg and he got so excited when he got it. He must have held onto that egg and chewed on it for hours.

My family does Easter on Saturday because all of my family comes in from Las Vegas and it is easier for everyone to travel home on Sunday. We had a good little crowd at my parents which included 13 kids with Zach being the youngest (14 1/2 months) and my cousin Jessica being the oldest (16). My mom and dad fill about a hundred plastic eggs with candy and money and hide them all over the front and back yards and the kids go crazy. They "hid" some eggs out in the open so Zach could get them and he did get the hang of it again. He picked up about 12 eggs and made a big $8 which we taught him to put in his piggy bank. It was so fun to watch Zach run around and play with all the kids and how great all my older cousins were with him. I loved being the oldest cousin and playing and taking care of all the younger ones so it is so fun to watch the kids I took care of take care of my son.

On Sunday when Zach got up the Easter Bunny had already been to our house and left him a pretty impressive set up (if I do say so myself!). He loved pulling all of the books, puzzles, toys and snacks out of his basket but his favorite thing by far was the little box of colored goldfish crackers. I guess this is what happens when you don't really let your child have sugar ;). Matt and I had fun playing with him until we went to Legends and had breakfast with my parents and grandparents before they headed back out of town. Then we went home and put Zach down for his nap and hid a couple plastic eggs for him to find when he woke up. Once he got the first one opened and realized they had animal crackers in them he was all about the egg hunt! That night we went to Matt's grandmothers house (GG to Zach) and had dinner with Matt's parents, his Uncle's Ron and Tony and Aunt Monnie and Aunt Leslie (Matt's sister). It was great and Zach got even more Easter gifts (he is a very loved little boy). GG gave him an Easter basket and Nonni and Pop (my in-law's) gave us a family basket with a few new books and animal crackers for Zach and even a toy for Abby (the Easter Bunny remembered her that morning too!). It was such a great weekend and we got to spend so much with our families which is what it is all about! I am so happy that Matt and I live so close to our parents that they are such wonderful, loving people and they love our son so much. I hope everyone had a great Easter and got so have some quality family time too!

He's a little person!

When did this happen? My tiny, helpless, screaming bundle of baby has turned into a little person. A toddler. I knew it was happening but yesterday it really hit me. For Christmas I made most of our family calendars with photos of Zach from the past year. The March pictures are from St. Patrick's Day 2010 when my little guy was only 6 weeks old. I walked past the calendar and it made me realize how much he has changed in just one short year. Not just physically but in all aspects.

We have gone from strictly breastfeeding to eating all table food, from laying in one spot to rolling, crawling and now walking, from sleeping maybe 3 hours at a time to sleeping 11 hours at night and the list goes on. It is so fun to be his mommy and I am so lucky to be able to be home and watch the changes happen. I LOVE this little boy!!

Walking!

So much for updating this once a week, huh? Well we have been pretty busy here in the Seibert house so what can you do? At least I am updating his daily calendar so I'm doing better in year two than I did in year one. Since my last post we celebrated the big 1. It was so much fun to have Zach's party with his/our friends and all the people we love most there to help us celebrate. Here are some of the highlights of our last month:

We took Zachery to the Belmont Shore Chocolate Festival and it was a blast! He LOVED all the goodies (of course) and it was fun to watch his reaction to everything. This was him trying frozen yogurt which was a hit. His other favorite was the chocolate covered marshmallow. And I wonder why he all of a sudden protested veggies ;)

Zach and I went with a few of my college sorority sisters and their babies to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Matt used to be a volunteer there so we hadn't been back since then. It was fun since he is older he was actually a little interested in watching the fish (only for a moment though-he is only 1). It was also nice to get out with some other moms and have adult conversation!

Valentines Day was so much fun. It's hard to believe that every holiday from here out is no longer his "first". However this was the first Valentines day that he could eat treats! My parents got him a chocolate covered marshmallow (after the previous weeks success) and that was about the funniest thing I've seen my son do so far. Once he got a little taste for what it was it was like watching a snake take down a mouse (sorry for the graphic description). He held on to that candy and smushed it into his mouth and did not move his hand from his mouth until it was gone. Marshmallow was gushing from between his fingers but there was no moving that hand. It was really cute and above is the aftermath. Matt was so great and got me the new jogging stroller I wanted which was so sweet of him. I know you don't need a holiday to show everyone you love them but it was so fun to smother our little guy with hugs and kisses this year :)

Zach and I went to Las Vegas for a long weekend so that I could stay with my cousins while my parents, grandparents and Aunt and Uncle went to the Grand Canyon. Since they are teenagers I was only with them at night (like they wanted me around anyway :) ) so I got to spend a lot of time with Carly and Aiden. It always seems like when I'm needing best friend time most I am fortunate enough to get out there and see Carly so I am so grateful for that. It was really fun to watch the boys this time because there was a little interaction and it makes me so excited for the future when they really can play together. It is so fun that they are only 6 months apart!

Zach has been making so much progress with his swimming lessons. We started private lessons in early January and they did not go very well at first but now he LOVES it. This is a little video of him rolling from his stomach to his back and floating by himself. It really makes us feel good that he is learning this so early since we have him around water so much.

Here's the biggest development, walking! While we were in Las Vegas (2/18) he took his first multiple steps and he's been getting better ever since. This video was taken Saturday (3/5) which was the day he really started to take off. He is about 50% crawling and 50% walking and it is so amazing to watch him develop this skill. He gets so excited when he walks across the living room and his giant smile is almost too much for me to bear, I just want to squeeze the heck out of him and smother him in kisses. It is wonderful to watch that self esteem boost whenever he does a good bit of walking. He is officially a toddler now and my sweet baby is becoming more of a distant memory, which is OK, I LOVE this age.

We have some fun things coming up this month so I will try to post soon but who knows if that will happen, ha ha.

My Baby is 1

To my Beautiful Baby Boy Zachery,

The first thing I want to tell you is that I am so proud to be your mother. From the moment I get you out of your crib in the morning and you give me your big, toothy smile until you and I cuddle before you go to bed every night I am so full of love and joy. Everyday you amaze me with how inquisitive and smart you are. I have wanted to be a mother for as long as I can remember and it is everything I had hoped and so much more.

The first few weeks of your life were so difficult, it was much harder than I ever thought it would be and there were moments that I didn't think one of us were going to make it :). At 6 weeks I learned you had a sensitivity to dairy so I had to cut it out of my diet and we soon learned that you had a hernia in your groin which required surgery at 11 weeks. After both of those things were repaired you were so much better but then at 16 weeks you got your first 2 teeth! I felt so bad because my poor baby seemed to be in constant pain and there was nothing that I could do to help you.

At about 6 months things changed and you suddenly became so much happier (of course you had gotten your 8 teeth by this time). I have loved watching you grown and develop. You have accomplished so much in this first year and it has truly been amazing to watch. You have grown from this little bundle that just cried and ate and slept at all the wrong times to this handsome toddler who crawls like a pro, cruises the furniture and is starting to stand up all by himself. I love that you are still so loving and that you love to crawl into my lap and cuddle with me, I cannot explain how much my heart feels like it is going to burst with love when you do that.

There are so many things I wonder about the future and I really hope that I am doing everything I can to make you a happy, well-rounded child. If I had guess how you are going to be based on right now I think you will be a kind man who is very empathetic to the needs of others. Your love of animals makes me think you may do something where you work with animals but you seem to catch onto things so fast I know you can do anything.

Zachery, I love you so much and have cherished every moment of your first year of life. I can't wait to see how you are as a toddler and am looking forward to the milestones to come; walking, talking and independence. Always know that mommy is here for you and I will always love you more than words can express.

Love,

Mom

Almost 1!

So the last year has literally flown by. I cannot believe that in a week and a half I will be the mother of a toddler. I wanted to get photos done for Zach's first birthday so we set up an appointment with Jessica Lake, the amazing photographer who took my maternity/newborn photos and the baseball pictures of Zach at around 8 months (you can see her stuff on her blog: www.jessicalakephotography.com/blog and the sample pictures of Zach should be up soon). She does this really cute session for the first birthday where you take the traditional dressed up photos but then we get the baby to his diaper and put a cake in front of him and let him go. The photos on her website are always so cute that I couldn't wait to get pictures of Zach all messy, frosting covered and smiling. We were set last Thursday and I got a really cute cake for him to attack along with a really cute blue outfit for the nice pictures. I should have known we were in trouble when he only took a 45 minute nap that morning (he usually goes for an hour and a half in the morning) but I was optimistic. We got there and started taking pictures but Zach wasn't very cooperative. He didn't want to smile and he kept trying to crawl to me but luckily Jessica said she got some cute ones so we decided to move to the fun part. That's when it all went downhill. I apparently have the only child on the planet who doesn't like sugar or getting dirty (he's a boy!!). He put one hand on that cake and started screaming. We tried to get him to have fun with it but he just freaked out and the more I tried the worse it got. He would let me feed him a bite or two of cake but if I tried to put him down near it he threw a fit. So, I wound up wearing most of the cake :)

Not exactly what I was hoping for but it was an experience all the same!!

2010 Wrap Up

So it turns out I'm pretty terrible at this blogging thing :) My goal for this year is to get on here once a week (I've even put it in blackberry as an ongoing event!) so every Saturday during Zach's nap I plan to get on and keep everyone up to date. Rather than try and catch up on everything we've been up to I'm just going to do the top 10 best things that happened in 2010 to my little family (strictly from my POV, I'm sure my husband would have a different list!):

10. Our first nights away from the out little one.

This was a major accomplishment for me but luckily I have my amazing parents and in-laws who were willing to take Zach the first 2 nights from home because Matt and I had weddings (2 in the same week!). It is silly but I had forgotten how much fun I have with just my husband and how much I loved sleep!!

9. Zach's first Easter and Halloween

Obviously most of my top moments involve Zach since all of his firsts are firsts for me too :)

8. My parents buying a house in Las Vegas

Their new house means that Zach gets to see more of his family out there and I get to spend more time with my amazing best friend Carly and see her adorable little guy, Aiden.

7. My in-law's annual family vacation to White Stallion Ranch in Tuscon, AZ

It was wonderful to get to spend a week away with my boys and the rest of the family. Zach got to pet horses and get up on one and we just got a lot of quality together time which doesn't always happen with everyone always being so busy.

6. Zach crawling!

Every milestone he accomplishes just amazes me but this has been the most fun (and most work!)

5. Zach's first Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving and was so excited to spend time with family. It was especially fun since Zach was eating solid food so he got to partake in the gluttony :)

4. Zach's first Christmas

Again, being with my family is always great and spoiling the little guy was tons of fun too!

3. Family vacation to the Virgin Islands

We went with my parents, my brother and his girlfriend and had such an amazing time. As I get older I really cherish all the time I get with my parents and I love watching them interact with my son.

2. Celebrating our 2nd anniversary

I know it's not a very long time but I am so grateful for my amazing husband. He works so hard to take care of our family and he always makes me feel like the most beautiful girl in the world. I love you honey!!

1. The birth of my son/first child, Zachery Robert Seibert

Nothing could prepare me for the emotions I feel for this little guy. I will never forget how I felt the moment I first saw him and how I feel every time he looks up at me with his big, beautiful blue eyes. Being a mother is the most amazing experience and I never knew it was possible to love another person so much. He makes me a better person and I am so grateful that he's a part of my life :)