A Very Happy Thanksgiving

Alexis Nicole Bates has chosen November 27th, 2008 to join or family. Yep, Thanksgiving Day 2008, plus it is Joel's fiance's birthday too. A little something extra.
Amanda made it home before Aaron did Wednesday night and asked him if they could go out and walk the mall or something. So after dinner, everyone loaded up and went to the mall. After being out for about 2 hours we started to head home. Aaron taught Zack a fun game of Mall Hide-And-Seek in which Zack and Aaron would run to the space between each store and wait until Mom would come and find them, then they would run to the next open space. Aaron & Zack had a blast but Amanda had a difficult time keeping up. Give her a break she is full term pregnant at this point.

We came home and put Zack to bed after which Amanda desperately needed a bath to relax. After her bath she went to get a bowl of breakfast cereal. Again give her a break. A break is just what she got too. Her water broke about 10 PM on the 26th. So after calling Aaron's mom to come over and watch Zack, we headed off to the new Intermountain Medical Center. Amanda started full on labor at around midnight. Alexis was born about 4 AM.

Both mom and baby were fine. Amanda did a superb job of maintaining her weight and was off to a good quick recovery, which she would need with a 3 year old brother waiting at home. Alexis came with all 10 fingers and all 10 toes. Even a little bit of a retarded toe (it's a family thing). She was lucky and didn't get her fathers 'butt-chin' as Amanda puts it. She did however get the Putnam family ears. Very tiny. She was also born with a full head of black hair, which would explain all the terrible heartburn that Amanda went through. Even two weeks early she came out a healthy 7 lbs. 5 oz. an measured 20 1/2 in. A full pound and 1 inch less than big brother.

Everyone has agreed that she looks a lot like Amanda. It has been a long standing joke that both Amanda and her sister Britta are great copy machines. They make great copies through their children. Abby and Alexis are very much like their mothers and Zack and Landon are very much their fathers.

Amanda and Alexis are doing quite well and Zack is adjusting to being a big brother.

Stud!

Granted, it's his aunt Ranna and Nadene, but look at our little Ladies-Man! He's got an older woman on each arm.

I Can Cook!!

Zack a very independent child. He is learning to do things all on his own. He has now learned how to cook several things. It really started one morning that the pregnant Amanda was really tired due to, of course being pregnant. She hadn't had that much sleep from the previous night, but Zack doesn't grasp the fact that not everyone has the same stamina as a 3 year old does. So he came in and asked "Mommy I want pancakes, please!" Amanda said that she was too tried to cook them and said that Zack should cook them. To this Zack of course said that she should cook them. Back and forth this went for a little while before he got bored and said "OK, I can cook." To this response he headed straight to the pantry and started to pull out the pancake mix. Aaron found him struggling and immediately asked what he was doing. To this Zack answered "I can cook!" Since then Zack has cooked (Ramen) Noodles, Pancakes, Chocolate Syrup, Chocolate Cream-O-Wheat and Mac&Cheese (all under supervision, we would like to avoid the ER as much as possible as well as getting as much of our security deposit back as possible!)

Our Little Guitar Hero

The big thing right now are music games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band. We have opted for the former. Whither you are playing or watching, fun is had by all. It is definitely a great way to get everyone, especially children, excited about music. Every now and then Joel and Ruthann will come over and play. It's fun to watch them because they are much better then Aaron and Amanda. Zack has a great fondness for this as well. So much so, he has his own 'toy' guitar that he uses to play with the band. But what is most admirable is how he has picked up how to use the drums. Every now and then he will pick up the drum sticks and say "I'll play". Aaron has been working on patterns with Zack too. He will tell Zack a pattern and Zack will repeat it by hitting the corresponding color pads. He is such a smart kid. But hey, we are his parents, we get to brag as much as we'd like to!

Big Brother

I am so excited about adding a member to our little family. I think we all are. Zack is really getting into it. He loves the idea of a baby. Aaron has been showing him how to wrap his "baby Stitch" with a blanket, like we will his baby sister. One of my favorite things to ask Zack right now is "What's your baby sister's name?" His response is, "Baby Lexi in Mommy's tummy be snow!" (The be snow is because we told him that she will come out of Mom's tummy when there's snow outside.) I've tried to shorten this with just Baby Lexi, but to no avail. He loves this extra long name for his sister.
There are some things we don't really need to prepare him for. He is going to be so good at helping to take care of her. He is a very empathetic little guy! He doesn't like to see anyone hurt, and will do everything he can to make them feel better. There have been a number of times when he has insisted on putting his boo-boo Thomas on my various "scratches". A couple month's ago I rolled my ankle. I couldn't help but cry a little as I sat and nursed it. Zack was very concerned and asked me what was wrong. I told him that I had hurt my foot. He went running for the first aid kit telling me he was getting a band-aid for me. I told him I didn't need one, it wasn't that kind of boo-boo. After this he wouldn't let me just say no to boo-boo Thomas. I had to go get it out of the freezer for him so he could nurse my hurt ankle. He's helped me put band-aids on Aaron, and loves to help wrap anything with a bandage! He is such a little helper, and I am really excited to see him put this to use with her.
Another thing he loves to do is lift up my shirt to expose my bulging belly and say hi to the baby and give her "kisses". These are the raspberry kind of kisses, and very sloppy. It has been difficult to explain to him that this is a practice he can only do at home. He tries to lift up my shirt in public a lot so he can say hi to the baby. The other day while he was saying hi he decided to sing her a song. He then went into a very sweet rendition of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" followed by a not so sweet "Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat" from Alice in Wonderland.
It's been so much fun to see him learn to interact with my belly, and I can't wait to see him do this with Alexis when she's born!

Boo At The Zoo

We have had a great time this year at the zoo. It has been totally worth getting a membership to the zoo considering how often Zack loves to go. We aren't quite sure if it's the animals that he loves or just the fact that every time we go we ride on the train. Anyone who knows Zack would lean toward the latter.
This year we decided that it would be really fun to take Zack to Boo At The Zoo. We thought it would be a great for him to take another go at the zoo this year before it gets too cold. Not to mention yet another excuse for him to wear his costume... he's Batman! Well it turns out that several thousand other people thought the same thing. This was a record breaking day for zoo attendance. The place was packed. Seriously...there were parts that even Aaron felt the his personal bubble was being invaded. Amanda had a rough go at it, being 9 months pregnant and all. There were lines for every stop to get little treats from sponsors for the day. Even though it was uncomfortable, Zack was very well behaved and he had a great time.

We ended the afternoon by going to a quiet lunch at the Olive Garden. This was exactly what we needed to unwind from our very hectic morning. This also gave Zack the opportunity to place his first ever order at a restaurant. We knew what he wanted so when our sever came to take our orders he asked us what we wanted and as it came time to ask what Zack wanted, he interjected with this: "Excuse me sir... I want Mac & Cheese... PLEASE!" We were very taken back not to mention very proud that not only did he used his manners, but that he has grown up to a point where he can place his own order. He is growing up so fast.

Oktoberfest

This time of year holds a lot of traditions for Aaron. It first starts out with the State Fair which we have already posted. Usually the next event is Oktoberfest. Aaron's dad served a LDS mission in Germany and has brought a great love of the food home with him. Every year Snow Bird hosts an annual Oktoberfest celebration. Most of the crowd is there for the beer; which Oktoberfest is most famous for, even here in Utah. It also has a menu of German food. We don't go for either, I'll explain. It is a beautiful time of year up Little Cottonwood Canyon, with the leaves changing and the fun German atmosphere. This is why we have been going. Aaron says that the food selection used to be better but they changed caterers. So now Aaron's parents cook their own German dinner. This is something of an undertaking, but well worth the wait every year. We went up the canyon on Saturday and then had dinner with his family on Sunday. After dinner they clean up and then draw names for Christmas. This has been a tradition that Aaron has said he's enjoyed for many years. I hope it is one that we can continue to enjoy throughout the years as well.