Zander Check-in

We had great intentions of providing Zander a few 'practice nights' without Mommy and Daddy over the summer to get him used to the idea, but the sudden change in the timing of our Korea trip did not allow us this luxury.  Despite our sudden departure, we are thrilled to report that our pumpkin is doing great.  (We are thankful that technology has allowed us to receive text updates from family without the roaming costs of having local Seoul cell data service!)  Here is a Day 2 photo update from Nana Pat entitled: 'Little Drummer Boy':

Day 2: 'Happy at breakfast' - eating his favorite, peanut butter Cheerios with soymilk! 

Day 2 dinner update: 'Eating shrimp (Zander's favorite!) with Nana':

Day 4: 'Zander was flag-holder at school' - precious!  Note to John, Mary, Cole and Fiona: Zander is wearing his new 'Big Brother" T-shirt you sent in this photo - thanks for the wonderful gift!!

We have also been able to Skype (FaceTime, technically) with Zander and Nana Pat a few times in the mornings while Zander has been getting ready for school.  Here is a photo of our session on Day 4:

Notice how serious Zander is!!  He was very quiet and reserved during the whole session we had the previous day, but fortunately goofy Daddy was able to break through to get some hearty giggles this time!

Zander has also been having fun with his 'countdown goodie bags' (thanks for the suggestion Jan!).  Each night he gets to open a gift bag with a number on it representing how many nights until Mommy and Daddy get home:

Zander opened the first (number 7) bag on Easter night after we left.  One of the items inside was a framed photo of the three of us for our little guy's room.  Nana said he was very excited to see the photo and promptly gave big smooches to both of our images - cute!  Although, further discussion has revealed that the favorite part of the gifts has actually been the plastic eggs containing jellybeans... who can compete with candy?

Zander has also enjoyed spending some extra time with Cousins Luke and Brady this week.  And we were delighted to hear that he's been eating very well - Aunt Heather sent the following text after serving Zander dinner on Day 2: "Can u say 'Eating Machine?'.  I have never seen a little guy this young eat so much and do so well -- WOW! Tortilla-crusted tilapia - gone!  Broccoli - gone!  Peas - gone! Penne pasta - gone! Nana's rice - gone!  Nana's fudgesicle - gone!  He loved it all!!!"  Thanks for the humorous text Heather!

Here is a pic of the cousins (with Aunt Heather) on Easter:

We soooo appreciate all the extra TLC that Zander is getting from Nana Pat, Aunt Heather, and his teachers at school in making the week go as smoothly as it has.  Aunt Heather has also been a tremendous help in getting us ready for Kiana.  Since we were not expecting her until the fall, we didn't have any clothes for our newest pumpkin!  Heather got the word out to a few of her friends who have had girls, and three of them have generously provided a full (and adorable) wardrobe to get us started.  Thank you so much Amy, Sarah and Katie - we so appreciate your kindness!

Finally, a few recent videos of Zander - jamming on his guitar, riding his bike, and playing baseball with Daddy (while wearing his apron and construction hat, of course):