The Schwarz's

Christmas 2011

2011-12-27T12:43:00.007-05:00

The cousins

Family photo
Nate in a pile of boxes & paper at Mamaw & Pap's

Opening DS game at Grandma & Grandpas

Zach @ Grandma's

Zach & Nate at Grandma & Grandpas

Nate showing love to his DSI XL

Nate opening his DSI XL

Zach realizing that he got an I pod touch

Zach has the 'Cheese Touch'

Santa brought Zach two games for PS3

Nate opening presents

Santa came!

Getting ready for bed on
Christmas Eve

Sitting on Santa's lap at Daddy's work party

Zach at his Christmas concert for school

Light Up Night

2011-11-29T16:10:00.003-05:00

We went to Beaver's light up night on Friday. This was the first time Lee got to go since he wasn't leaving for camp until the following morning. We watched the parade, rode the train, roasted smores and drank hot chocolate.

Fall 2011

2011-11-11T19:42:00.010-05:00

My tree huggers

Jackson in the pile of leaves

Zach & Nate in the pile of leaves

Zach & Nate sitting in front of our big pile of leaves

Zach, Nate & Jackson

Zach & Nate

Naters

Nate & Jackson

Nate

Nate sitting in the leaves

Halloween 2011

2011-11-11T19:27:00.005-05:00

Zach & Nate with Vincent & Ryan

Zach & Nate as soldiers

Zach cleaning out the pumpkin

Nate with his pumpkin

Update

2011-10-15T14:01:00.008-04:00

It has been awhile since I have posted anything. School obviously has started. Zach is in second grade and a straight A student and is playing football. Nate turned 3 and is now potty trained. We haven't done much since football takes up all of our time. Here are a few pics from the last couple months.

Football time

Zach & Brody after homecoming

Nate's birthday

Buster, the newest edition to the family

Waiting for the bus

First day of 2nd grade

2011-09-22T17:42:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday Nate!

Vacation Week 1

2011-07-07T20:57:00.006-04:00

Sliding
Playing catch

Mr. Cool

Zach

Zach & Carrick

Nate learning to ride a bike

Posing

Messy face

Surfin the waves

Zach's 8th Birthday Party

2011-06-12T22:48:00.004-04:00

The water grenades
Baseball pinata

Zach had two cakes...a baseball and here is his football cake

Daimien, Tony & Nate waiting for the fun to begin

Zach trying to catch a water grenade

Zach waiting to blow out his candles, but the wind did not cooperate!

Zach opening up a disco ball. Look at JJ's face. Love it!

Zach took his time & read every card

Snow Days

2011-02-24T08:55:00.010-05:00

Here are some photos from the past two months. Zach & Nate went sled riding with Jake & Brody & Grandpa. We have pictures from the Super Bowl :( and pics from the snow day on Tuesday where the kids went sled riding with Eli.

Sorta snowman and a snowball fight

Eli, Zach & Nate

Super Bowl

Grandpa & NateThe boys racing
Zach & Brody

Video of Nate sled riding

Sledding

2011-01-14T13:46:00.003-05:00

We went sled riding the other day. Here are a few pics.

Group shot

Zach flying down the backwards
Nate having some fun
Nate & daddy

Christmas 2010

2010-12-28T16:04:00.010-05:00

My boys on Christmas Eve

My boys part 2

Us on Christmas Eve

Santa was here!

Zach and his oo7 game

Nate and his Thomas jammies

Zach and his BB gun

Nate opening Sesame Street house

Nate & Jake Christmas Day

Breakfast with Santa

2010-12-20T10:42:00.004-05:00

Zach had breakfast with Santa on Thursday at his school. Here are a few pics.

Zach with SantaZach and his friends Sarah and Maren

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

2010-12-06T08:55:00.003-05:00

Nate & his Charlie Brown tree
The winner

The boys

Our family-too bad it wasn't a close up, it would have been a good Xmas card

Every year we get a real Christmas tree. We usually go to Hozak's so we can ride the wagon and hunt down our tree and cut it ourselves. Then we go back to the barn and drink hot chocolate and buy a new ornament. For the past couple of years we have been getting a Concolor Fir. The tree smells like oranges. Last year Hozak's had a couple left and said they wouldn't have any more for a couple of years. They had become so popular that they've been cleaned out and we have to wait for the thousand that they planted to grow. So we called around and Allison's Tree Farm said they had Concolor Firs. Lee really wanted this tree again so we went and it did not go as planned. We waited 15-20 minutes for the hayride. This was Nate's first experience and he really enjoyed it, especially the hayride. We get to the field and the driver of the wagon said that they really didn't have any Concolor's that were the size we wanted. Meanwhile the owner said "Oh yeah, we have a lot in the 6-7 feet range". Too make a long story short, I don't know if I'll go back, though next year those Concolor's might be in our range so who knows.

Let the force be with you...

2010-11-09T09:13:00.003-05:00

Touchdown!

2010-10-21T12:30:00.003-04:00

This past Saturday Zach scored his first touchdown of the year. He was really excited because it was in a playoff game. He has scored touchdown in scrimmages and one in a game but that one was called back. So this was the first one that actually put points on the board. We play Central Valley this weekend. Once we win that game we will be in the Championships. Yeah!!!

This is a pic of them coming out of the fog. If you look you can see Zach, #1.

Here comes the bride...

2010-10-11T15:28:00.005-04:00

On 10-10-10 at 3:33 p.m. Lee's Uncle John and MaryJo were married in the gazebo.

BT Bonfire

2010-10-10T10:46:00.003-04:00

On October 9 BT Bears had their end of season bonfire for the kids. I took a couple pics, but none of the actual bonfire. The kids had fun running around. Their was pizza and drinks and a DJ that played music all night. We also had a firework display that the kids really enjoyed. Now the Twerps & Termites are onto the playoffs. WE ARE....BT!

Chase showing his BT spirit

BT Football

2010-10-10T10:32:00.005-04:00

Zach & Vince after the parade

Zach running after a Hopewell Viking (he made the tackle)

Zach passing out candy for the Beaver Homecoming Parade

Lee & Zach & some teamates in the parade

BT Bear

BT Cheerleaders

In the huddle (Zach #1)

Zach getting ready for action

In huddle

Zach & Vince after homecoming game

BT Bears Homecoming

2010-10-10T10:19:00.004-04:00

On September 18 the BT Bears had their homecoming. Since this was Zach's first year I didn't know to make him a sheet until a couple days before, so I made him a sign out of poster board. I'm not very creative but whatever. We'll make a good one for next year. The twerps won!

Zach next to his sign the cheerleaders made for him (notice they spelled the last name wrong)

Lee & Zach next to their sign, & Uncle Doug & Brody next to their sign.

Nate's Two

2010-10-10T10:14:00.004-04:00

I'm way behind on posting stuff but here are a few pics from Nate's birthday.

2010-10-05T13:23:00.001-04:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEE!

2010-09-22T14:28:00.001-04:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATE!

Here we go...

2010-09-02T13:18:00.004-04:00

Back to School!! Here are a few pics from his first day, as well as, some recent football pics.

Bus stop time!

Nate wanted his picture taken too!

Zach and the football gang

Zach & Brody

Zach (#1) in the action

I'm a big kid now

2010-08-19T13:21:00.007-04:00

At the beginning of summer Nate tried the potty and then forgot all about it. These last two weeks he has been using it on an almost daily basis, sometimes twice a day. He's almost a big boy now!

Our friendly "little" vistitor while we were at camp

Zach & Anthony fishing

Nate & Morgan fishing

Zach playing football

Ouch!

2010-08-17T13:32:00.003-04:00

For those of you who don't know, Nate got a second degree burn on his hand. He tried to pour some coffee for himself. While lifting the pot he realized it was too heavy and rested the bottom of the pot on his hand. I took him to the doctor and he gave him some cream and we had to wrap his hand for 10-14 days. This is a picture of his hand a couple of days after it happened .

Vacation continued...

2010-08-17T13:13:00.004-04:00

Here are a few pics from Midway Park along with some others.

4th of July

2010-08-10T10:48:00.006-04:00

Here are a few photos from the bike parade the kids "race" in on the 4th of July.

Yelling that he's ready to go

Zach & Nate getting ready for the parade

Charlie, Nate & Jake

Brody, Zach & Aunt TaTa

Vacation 2010

2010-08-05T12:19:00.007-04:00

Our vacation consisted of going to the beach, shower, dinner, and run, run, run. I swear we needed a vacation from our vacation. Zach had so much playing 4 square (at one point there were 15 kids playing), capture the flag, playing with his cousins & neighbors and learning how to ride his bike. Nate played very well on the beach and wanted nothing to do with us. All he wanted was his Char Char (Charlie is our 12 yr old neighbor, who Nate just loved). Here are a few pics. I will post more at a later date because their are just so many.

Zach chillin on the beach.

Zach's shirt says it all.

Charlie, Zach, Eric & Carlos playing mini golf for Zach's b-day.

Nate picking the sand out of his toes.

Nate sitting in the triangle

Erie Zoo

2010-07-28T12:09:00.005-04:00

While we were on vacation we ventured down to the Erie Zoo. While it was nice that the animals were so up close and personal, they didn't have a lot of room to move around. Here are some of our favorites:

Zach and Nate waiting patiently for the trainGroup shotJust chillinRed pandaSam the gorilla ( she has psychological issues). I'm being serious!

Zach's 7th Birthday

2010-07-26T10:50:00.003-04:00

I'm somewhat behind on my postings, so I will try to update a little everyday for the next couple of days. If I spend too much time on the computer Nate gets antsy. Zach had a movie birthday party. We rented a little room @ the theater and had buckets of popcorn and drinks. He opened his presents and then the kids had cake and ice cream. After that the kids went to the concessions counter where every kid got the movie meal and then we were escorted into the theater to watch Toy Story 3. Here are a few pics.

Kennywood

2010-07-15T18:00:00.003-04:00

The whole gang, minus Micah.
Our family

Aren't these boys cute?

Say cheese!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZACH!

2010-07-01T09:06:00.004-04:00

Baby Shower

2010-05-12T11:18:00.003-04:00

In my last post I couldn't post pictures of the baby shower. Here is my attempt

A Walk to Remember....

2010-05-01T08:56:00.003-04:00

Last weekend was a very busy weekend for the Schwarz Clan. Saturday was Zach's opening day for baseball. He started the day off with a parade in the pouring rain. Nate and I got soaked. Then all the players on all the teams got to run out on the field when their name was called. Then Zach had his first game of the season. They lost, but Zach was 2 for 2 at bat. Yeah! I only made the parade because I had to leave early for my sister in law's baby shower. The shower turned out really well after a rough start due to weak coffee:) They got a lot of nice stuff for Peyton. I forgot the camera to take pics of Zach's parade and for some reason my camera isn't uploading the baby shower pics. I will try again at a later date. Sunday was the March of Dimes walk at Brady's Run Park. The pics you see here are from Kevin & Jen's sight because I once again forgot my camera (I suck). It really was a sight to see and very emotional seeing the shirts people had that were "In loving memory of". Micah's Mob was the top team in Beaver County raising over $7,000 and had so many people supporting him in the walk. I can't wait for next year!

Easter 2010

2010-04-14T11:31:00.013-04:00

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Our lives are somewhat boring. We were busy over Easter weekend with a couple of Easter egg hunts and Micah's birthday. Here are just a few of the photos we took. Zach & Nate at Grandma's My little Naters on Easter morning

Happy Birthday Micah!

How cute are they?
Maybe in 10 years they will be able to look at the camera all together

The Birthday Boy!

Zach & Tony with their findings

Nate & "my bubba" at Center's Easter egg hunt

Zach with his friend Sage at the Industry Easter egg hunt

Nate didn't like the Easter Bunny

Zach & Eli at Texas Roadhouse for Breakfast with the Easter Bunny.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

2010-02-06T10:14:00.003-05:00

Last night we decided to go outside and build a snowman. This was Nate's first time out in the snow. He threw a fit as we were getting him dressed. Once he got out there he wasn't too sure about it, but then he threw another fit when we had to come in because he was having so much fun. Here are a couple of pics. At this time we didn't have too much snow. I'll post more pics later so everyone can see how much snow we got.

X-mas 2009

2009-12-29T10:19:00.009-05:00

Zach and his I Carly remote, random dancing anyone?

Zach loves his Luigi guy

Nate loves his Elmo kitchen

Nate looking at all the presents Santa left

Nate sitting ontop of the train table

How sweet these cousins are

The boys doing the dishes on Christmas Eve (had to get a record of this one)

2009-12-23T09:30:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday Jake!
sorry it's a day late.
Happy 1st Birthday to Jack too!

X-MAS PROGRAM

2009-12-11T21:41:00.004-05:00

Zach had his Christmas program this past week. The entire Kindergarten class sang 3 songs and than each class said a poem. The Snyder Band performed, as well as the fourth grade drum circle and recorders. First and second grade also sang and recited poems. The kids and I have been sick the last couple of weeks. We're all better finally. Hopefully it stays that way. We don't want to be sick for Christmas. Since we've been sick we really haven't done anything which is why I haven't updated the blog. With the holidays fast approaching I will try to update as much as I can.

Oops! I'm not supposed to be in here!

Zach at his Xmas program

Zach and Nate before school one morning

Zach at swim practice

"I don't know what happened to the Oreo's!"

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T09:57:00.003-04:00

The Cousins

My boys

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-24T17:20:00.003-04:00

Zach and I went to Janoskis Pumpkin Patch today with Jen & Eli. The two college graduates got lost on the way there. So we finally got there and we thought we lost Jen's money (it was under my shoe). We had a good time. We didn't walk through the maze because it was too muddy. The kids got their faces painted, jumped in straw, rode bikes, and went through the haunted barn (not sure if Eli liked that). Then we took the kids to McDonalds because our $20 didn't leave us with enough money to eat at the pumpkin patch. That's a shame!

2009-10-06T12:55:00.002-04:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRODY!

2009-10-05T17:17:00.001-04:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEE!

Award Time

2009-10-02T21:49:00.003-04:00

Zach's school has started a program called "Building Block of Character". Students are encouraged to display the qualities and traits that build a good character. Each month a new trait is emphasized by the teacher. A monthly school assembly is held and a student from each class will be recognized for displaying that character trait. Zach was the person from his class that was recognized at the assembly for September, a positive attitude. Hopefully this is the first of many awards for my little man.

2009-09-22T09:00:00.001-04:00

Happy 1st Birthday Nate

1st Birthday Party

2009-09-20T21:00:00.004-04:00

Nate's first birthday party was on Saturday. The poor thing had an ear infection, so I'm not sure how much he enjoyed. He got a lot of great stuff that I now have to figure out where it goes. People with children will understand what I mean. Nate eating his cake with no icing. It's hell being allergic to dairy!Nate's friend Jack.

A video of everyone singing Happy Birthday to Nate.

Lost Tooth

2009-09-14T12:33:00.003-04:00

Zach lost his first tooth yesterday. He woke up in the morning and said his tooth was loose and that night came downstairs and said look what I have....my tooth. Now begins the awkward stage in child development. Loosing teeth and new ones coming in that are just too big for their face. This is not the time to get a family portrait, although we need one. My Zach still looks cute though!

Kindergarten

2009-09-03T19:06:00.003-04:00

Zach had his first day of kindergarten. Everything seemed to go well because he wants to go back tomorrow. Other than the bus stop being moved without my knowledge, I was worried for no good reason.

Baptism

2009-08-27T23:25:00.003-04:00

Nathan was finally baptized on Tuesday in a private family service at Holy Trinity Lutheran church in Beaver. This isn't the normal church we go to but our Pastor has been out on disability since Feb. We were waiting patiently for his return but things must not be going as expected so Pastor Kantz was willing to baptize our little Naters. Next up for us will be Nate's 1st birthday. I can't believe my baby is going to be one. Soon he will be a toddler then off to kindergarten like Zach will be next Thursday.

Mini getaway

2009-07-24T15:52:00.004-04:00

We are on a mini getaway to the cottage for their annual Halloween parade. Here are a few pics.

2009-07-18T21:39:00.004-04:00

Here are some more pics from our vacation.

Long Vacation

2009-07-08T09:05:00.004-04:00

Our almost 3 week vacation is coming to a close. Here are a few pics. Will update more when we get home.

Zach's 6th B-Day Party & a 9 month check up

2009-06-23T23:18:00.004-04:00

Zach had his birthday party on Sat. at Lunar Mini Golf in the mall. Zach invited all his friends to help him celebrate his 6th birthday. If you wore white you glowed. I started taking pictures and realized I didn't have the flash on, but that turned out to be a good thing because you can see some of the stuff glowing in the dark. Zach had a lot of fun. I hope everyone else did as well.

Nate had his 9 month check up. He is 21 lbs. 1 oz and 27 3/4 in long. She said as far as him eating, stick to those foods that I know don't make his sick and take it from there. She said he will grow out of it by the time he is 2. She said both her daughters could hardly eat anything and they grew out of it. She said it's just a pain because I will always have to bring his food with us wherever we go. He only got 1 shot today and they tested his iron level, which is low. So they prescribed him some meds and will see him in a month to test him again. Hopefully they will be back to normal. Nate is crawling around everywhere and getting into everything. He is pulling himself up and pulling stuff down ontop of himself. He is going to be the wild one. Zach had his check up too. I think he may have been more upset about getting a shot than Nate was. He toughed it out though and didn't cry.

2009-06-21T10:58:00.001-04:00

Happy Father's Day!

Finally Home

2009-06-16T11:23:00.003-04:00

Yeah! Micah is finally home. We got to see the little guy yesterday. He is just too cute. He looks just like his big brother. We can't wait to se him again.

2009-06-13T10:10:00.001-04:00

Stanley Cup Champions!!

Micah Update

2009-05-28T15:19:00.003-04:00

Love this picture of baby Micah so I just had to copy it from Kevin & Jen's site. He's becoming a little porker weighing in over 5 lbs now. He's now in his own room in the pediatric ward. Hopefully he will be sleeping in mom and dads room soon.

2009-05-10T09:53:00.000-04:00

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Busy....Sick

2009-05-09T10:54:00.006-04:00

Isn't this cute?

Well we've been pretty busy lately. Last week Zach had his Big Show. We got to watch all the kids perform and see all the crafts they've been working on recently. This week has been hectic. Zach had his last two swim lessons on Monday and Wednesday. He passed his level one and can move onto level 2 in the fall. He had a T-ball game on Thursday and he didn't have to use the tee at all. Yeah! He has another game tonight. Zach also had 2 field trips this past week. On Tuesday they went to Pat Cataan's and McDonald's and Thursday they went bowling at Center Lanes. Nate went to the doctors on Tuesday. He had two ear infections. Zach has been getting headaches recently and yesterday he got this rash all over his torso. I took him to the clinic and he has an ear infection as well. The doctor said that might be giving him headaches but to still keep the appt. with his pediatrician in case its something else.

Picture from the T-Ball parade (Zach's #5)

The Big Show

Zach's swimming certificate

2009-05-08T11:27:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday Anthony!

Swimming and Singing

2009-04-19T16:14:00.004-04:00

Zach and his cousins have been taking swimming lessons since March. This past swim lesson I brought my camera. Zach sang in church today. Why are all these kids making faces?

2009-04-12T19:00:00.004-04:00

HAPPY EASTER!!

Here's Nate having fun on Good Friday.

Here's Zach and Nate at Grandma's house on Easter.

New Edition

2009-04-08T16:49:00.003-04:00

A new edition was added to the Bechdel family on Monday. His name is Micah Ethan Bechdel. He was about 12 weeks early. He weighed in at 3 lbs. 2 oz. and was 16 inches long. Everyone is doing well and our thoughts and prayers are with them.

6 Month Checkup

2009-04-01T17:18:00.002-04:00

Nate had his 6 month checkup yesterday. He now weighs 18 lbs. 4 oz. and is 27 inches long. He is starting to sit on his own and is eating all kinds of baby food now. He still gets up every 3 hours in the middle of the night. The doctor said if a baby hasn't slept through the night by now he's not going to. Zach didn't sleep through the night until he was 3 so I should be used to it. Only Zach didn't get up every 3 hours. So I will just be a zombie for the next several years if he keeps this sleeping habit up.

50th Birthday

2009-04-01T17:14:00.002-04:00

Saturday was Carla's 50th birthday. Here are a few pics.

Too Cute!

2009-03-25T10:53:00.004-04:00

2009-03-17T21:00:00.004-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Nate on his new swing
Zach at his St. Patrick's Day Parade

2009-03-01T12:26:00.001-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MORGAN!

2009-02-28T12:02:00.001-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELI!

5 Months

2009-02-23T10:28:00.002-05:00

Nate turned 5 months yesterday. Here are some recent pics.

Cereal Time

2009-02-01T11:44:00.004-05:00

We have been giving Nate cereal in his bottle. We originally tried it to see if it would help with his spitting up. It didn't. The doctor said to keep giving it to him and to try it by spoon as well. So here is a picture and video. Also we have a superstar in the making. Zach got these glasses at Chuck E Cheese yesterday.

2009-02-01T11:43:00.001-05:00

LET'S GO STEELERS

4 Months

2009-01-28T15:56:00.003-05:00

Nate turned 4 months last week. He had his check up yesterday. He now weighs 15 lbs. 2 ozs. and is 25 inches long. As much as this kid eats he should weigh more, but when you throw up as much as he does, maybe not. I asked the doctor about him getting up every 3 hours at night and how to break him of that. Here is an example of what I'm talking about. The other night he woke up at 10, 1, 4, and 7 to eat and also woke up at 5:30 just because. The doc said he has a sleep association with mommy. The only way Nate will fall asleep is if I'm holding him. So he gave us some info on how to get him to sleep and also how to stop feeding him at night. He said at 4 months he doesn't need to eat at night anymore. He also had to have his shots yesterday, which didn't go over well last night. He cried from about 6:00 until 10:00. He cried so much we called the doctor. He said he was fine and to alternate Tylenol and Motrin. He seems to be in a better mood today.

More X-mas

2009-01-07T18:47:00.006-05:00

Here are some more Christmas pictures that I've finally uploaded into the computer. Also some pics of Nate from the other day. Also is one video of Nate talking to Zach. Right before this was taken Zach had Nate laughing out loud. Of course by the time we got the camera he was done. The other video is of Zach when he realized he got the Wii for Christmas.

Christmas 2008

2008-12-29T12:55:00.002-05:00

Here are a few photos from grandma's camera.

2008-12-23T10:51:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday Jake!
Sorry it's a day late.

Sick, Sick, Sick

2008-12-20T15:32:00.004-05:00

Well it's that time of year that everyone starts getting sick. Little Nathan is no exception. He's already had an ear infection, which does not bode well for the remaining winter season. He started getting sick with the sniffles on Sunday. Took him to the doctor on Monday. She said he has a cold and bring him in if he gets any worse, which he did. We took him on Wednesday because he could hardly eat because he had such a hard time breathing. They gave him a breathing treatment in the office, which seemed to help, and sent us home and gave us stuff to give him breathing treatments every 4 hours. We made a follow up appt. for Thursday morning. The physicians asst. listened to him and gave him a breathing treatment. She called a doctor in afterwards and they both listened to him and said they would like to admit him just for observation to make sure he was getting enough oxygen. They thought he had the RSV virus, which in adults and older kids is just a cold, but in babies it inflames the lungs, which results in the wheezing and all that good stuff. They did a chest x-ray which was negative for pneumonia and in order to test for the RSV virus they had to stick this little tube up his nose to get some mucus. He really didn't like that to much. Luckily he was eating enough that he was having wet diapers so he didn't have to be hooked up to an IV. They did hook him up to a monitor to so they could watch his oxygen level and pulse and some other stuff. He has lost a little bit of weight. He weighed 12lbs on Monday and at the hospital he weighed 11 lbs. 9 oz. They said it could take a couple of weeks until he is better. Now I want to say this to all who read this. Do not touch Nathan if you are sick!!!! And even if your not sick wash your hands before you touch him!!!!! He obviously can't handle it. And if you don't wash your hands be prepared for me to yell at you. I'm going to turn everyone who's around my son into Howard Hughes. Like I promised in the last post here is a video of Zach singing at church for his school.

Christmas Programs

2008-12-16T11:41:00.002-05:00

Zach had two Christmas programs the past couple of days. On Sunday the 3 year old class and the 4 year old and TK classes sang during the church service. I will post a video of that later because I don't have the camera with me now. Today his class had their X-Mas program. They sang songs, danced and receited poems. Zach had a lot of fun.

2008-11-27T19:18:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Who Me?

2008-11-26T16:37:00.001-05:00

I thought that these were some good pictures of Nate. Doesn't his hair look red? I think it's the quilt.

Catching Up

2008-11-25T20:44:00.005-05:00

It's been awhile since I have posted anything. Nathan had his 2 month check up today. He is 10# 12 oz and 23 inches long. I looked at Zach's baby book to compare and Zach was 12# and 22 1/2 inches long. Nate had to get 2 shots and 1 vaccine orally. He actually did pretty well. I thought he would cry a lot longer. He only cried for maybe a minute. We went to camp over the weekend and we had about 2 feet of snow. Zach got to go play outside. He tried to sled ride but he just sunk down in the snow. Daimien also had his birthday party the other weekend. Everyone went ice skating. It was Zach's first time and he did OK. He can't wait to go again. We did Thanksgiving at my parents house on Sunday and I took a picture of the 4 boys. Nathan is wearing his Thanksgiving bib but I don't know how well you can see it. He wasn't all that happy he had to get his picture taken.

Circus

2008-11-10T17:51:00.004-05:00

Last week we went to the circus with the Bechdel family. Everybody had a good time. On another note last week with Nathan was fun, NOT! He went to the Dr's on Tuesday and had his stool tested and it showed he was not allergic to his formula. Yeah! They took him off the Zantac and prescribed him Previcid (which is $30 for 11 pills!!!). He then begins to projectile vomit over the next couple of days along with a 6 hour cry fest that really lasted 6 hours minus a 20 min feeding. Took him to the Dr. on Thursday and they sent him to the hospital to have a ultrasound and an upper GI. Everything came back fine. Yeah! We took him to Children's Hospital in Oakland on Friday and talked with Dr's there and they said he is just a fussy baby. You've got to be kidding me. Hopefully the older he gets the less fussy he will be.

Trick or Treat

2008-10-31T11:12:00.004-04:00

Trick or Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat! Zach had his Halloween party at school yesterday. He came home with all kinds of goodies. Then we went trick or treating last night with his cousins, Daimien, Jake & Brody. Daimien was a ninja and Jake & Brod were mummies. I'm a bad Aunt because I forgot my camera and did't get their pictures. Here are pics of Zach & Nate dressed up plus a pic of Nate laughing.

1 month

2008-10-21T16:28:00.006-04:00

Yesterday, Nathan was 4 weeks old. It has been a crazy month to say the least. We have changed his formula 3 times because he was allergic to the milk and soy based formulas. He is now on alimentum, which is supposed to be a hypoallergenic formula. He went to the doctors yesterday because he has been projectile vomiting and they found traces of blood in his stool which means he is allergic to this formula. The doctor said to keep him on this formula for a couple more weeks to make sure all the proteins from the other formulas are out of his system. So he might not be allergic to alimentum. Lets hope he's not. The doctor also thinks he has acid reflux and put him on zantac. So not only is the poor thing allergic to his formula but he has acid reflux. Who knew babies could have acid reflux? The good news is despite all his feeding issues, he has been gaining weight very well. He is now up to 9 lbs 11 oz. As much as he throws up its a miracle he's gained anything. Here are a couple pics I took last week.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-14T21:46:00.002-04:00

Last Tuesday Zach went on a school field trip to a pumpkin patch. He went on a hayride and picked a pumpkin from the fields. He also went through a corn maze, jumped in straw and went through the spooky barn. He also got to pet some of the animals. Here are some pictures we took and a picture of Nathan's first bath.

Happy Day 2

2008-10-06T15:16:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday Brody!

Happy Days

2008-10-05T10:54:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday Lee!

Congratulations John & Caitlin! We wish you the best of luck on your wedding day!

WE'RE HOME!!

2008-10-02T16:32:00.003-04:00

Yeah, we're home. We came home Wed. the 24th. Sorry for the delay in posting anything but it has been quite a transition. Thanks to Jen for posting pics so people wouldn't have to wait so long to see Nathan. Nathan is completely different from Zach when he was a baby. For example, our first night home Nathan cried from midnight until 5:00am. He has had a couple of good nights where he will cry when he's hungry and go back to sleep shortly after, but for the most part he cries most nights. I think he might be a colicky baby. If he is I'm not sure how we will survive on 3 hours sleep a night. I am having somewhat of a difficult time recovering. I don't remember being in pain this long after I had Zach. Hopefully all will be well soon.

Nathan Edward Schwarz

2008-09-22T21:35:00.004-04:00

I'm writing a post for Lee and Sarah since they are busy getting to know their new little man. Nathan Edward was born this morning (Sept. 22nd) at 5:39am. He weighed 8 lbs 2 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. Sarah will be home on Wednesday so I'm sure she will have much more too share. Until then, keep them in your prayers and enjoy the pictures. Check out the excited new big brother! :o)

(Sorry, Eli and I are in this picture. Like I said, Sarah will have more when she gets home.)

Baby Update

2008-09-19T15:17:00.002-04:00

Well the countdown is on. There are officially 9 more days unitl I'm due. I had an appointment yesterday. The good news is that I was 1cm dilated and I didn't gain any weight. The bad news.... the doctor said women usually follow their previous pregnancies. So that means since Zach was late there is a good possibility that this baby could be late. I really didn't want to hear that because I really just want to get this over with. The doctor said that if I go past my due date that they have some kind of gel that they can insert that might help get labor started. Maybe this baby is holding out for Oct 5, so he and dad can have the same birthday. Or possibly the 6th so he can share his birthday with his cousin Brody. I wanted to do a poll on when people think I will go, but I'm not really sure on how to do it with this blog site. I'll have to ask my computer specialist.

Baby Update

2008-09-04T18:09:00.002-04:00

I have been slacking on my baby updates. Last week was my last two week appt. I gained 5 lbs in those two weeks. How is that possible? Anyway today was to have been my first weekly appt. but an hour before they called to cancel due to emergency surgery. So my appt isn't until Monday. I hate to say I was looking forward to it (because it was an internal) but I wanted to see if any progress has been made. This past week I've been extremely tired and having a lot of lower back pain and waking up with cramps in the middle of the night. Hopefully something is going on!!!

Baby's Room

2008-08-20T13:40:00.003-04:00

Well, the baby's room is almost done. We just have a few finishing touches. Lee worked really hard painting the room and stripping all the woodwork and restaining it. For those of you who haven't been in our house, the baby's room used to be our "walk-in" closet because the room is so small. It really was an all purpose storage room as you will see by the before photos. We will post more pics when it is all completed.

Update

2008-08-14T16:14:00.002-04:00

I had another 2 week appointment yesterday. I am about 34 weeks. 6 more weeks to go. That sounds like forever! I have one more 2 week appt. and then will switch to weekly appointments. He is moving all around and kicking me and it is becoming pretty uncomfortable. I will give an update in two more weeks!

Cheer!

2008-08-02T19:34:00.002-04:00

Morgan had cheering pictures today. Too bad she is wearing the wrong colors.

King's Island

2008-07-31T10:57:00.006-04:00

We arrived home yesterday from our last vacation of the summer, I think. We went to Kings Island in Ohio and everyone had a good time. Lee and I stayed in Nickelodeon land for most of the trip with Zach while the others went and rode the "big people rides". Poor Daimien rode the Vortex, which is a big coaster with loops, and threw up at the end. He then joined us in kiddie land and was gun shy about riding the coasters there too. Who can blame him? The first day we were there some of the coasters were down because of an electrical problem, but were up and running the second day. Zach showed no fear when riding his rides. His first coaster was a little one called "Little Bill's Giggle Coaster". Poor dad had trouble fitting into the seat and mom couldn't ride anything. His next coaster was a biggie in kiddie land. We called it "The Raptor" but that's not the correct name. The video posted is of Zach on that ride. The other coaster he rode was "Fairly Oddparents", which is a typical wooden coaster but for the kids. We went to the water park on the second day and Zach got to ride a big water slide. I think like five people could sit in this raft and go down this slide. Lets just say I don't think I would have done it, but he seemed to enjoy it. Zach got to meet some of the characters around the park and took some pics with them. The last night there we went over to the "big people side" and the kids played all kinds of games. Zach came home with a batman pillow, an elephant, a care bear, scooby doo, a frog, and a dog. I just took stuffed animals to the good will and I come home with all this. The only bad thing about this trip, beside the long car ride, was the walk from the shuttle drop off to the park entrance. It must have been a half mile and I had a lot of trouble with it. By the last night I had tears streaming down my face because I was in pain trying to walk to the shuttle. All in all it was a good time and hopefully when the new baby is Zach's age we will go again.

Busy busy busy

2008-07-24T21:20:00.003-04:00

It has been non stop while we have been on vacation. We went to the neighbors house for dinner yesterday. The kids played badminton before dinner then after dinner they lined up on the couch and played their game boys. Jake had arts & crafts this morning and then we went to the movies to see Space Chimps. Jake had tennis lessons after we got back and won 1st place in his tournament. Zach and Brody went to the park after the movies. We then got ready for Halloween night. The kids dressed up in their costumes and went down to the center where they split the kids up into two groups and took group pictures. They then got to go trick-or-treat around the point. Sadly this is our last night. Zach and the boys are at the neighbors since it is Zach's last night playing game cube. Zach is sad to leave and really wants to stay. But we will be leaving on Monday for Kings Island so I will be updating on that vacation as well.

Vacation Update

2008-07-23T10:20:00.004-04:00

Yesterday morning it stormed but it turned out to be a nice day so we went to the beach. We went to family night on Monday and got to play some games. We went to bingo last night and Jake was the big winner. A whole $5. The kids are at arts & crafts now having fun. It looks like a nice day so we will try and hit the beach again.

Zach having fun!!

2008-07-21T11:03:00.005-04:00

These are some pictures of vacation and more importantly pictures of Zach's first crush over the last couple of years. He has been a busy bee over the last couple of days. On Thursday nights they have a theme night. Thursdays theme was "Happy Birthday". He got to decorate his own cupcake. He played pin the tail on the donkey and some game where you tie a balloon around your ankle and try to stomp someone else's. Zach did really well. He was the youngest of the three kids left in the game so of course they ganged up on him and got him out. They then played capture the flag which Zach had no idea what was going on. We've been to the beach everyday except yesterday. We went to a square dance at the community center and Zach had a lot of fun. Currently he and his cousin are at arts and crafts. Hopefully we can get to the beach today, but it's not looking good.

Baby Update

2008-07-19T10:42:00.002-04:00

I had a doctors appt. on Thursday before we left for vacation. I gained 5 pounds for a grand total of 17 lbs. I have about 10 or 11 weeks to go. She said the pain I'm feeling is normal because it is my second. Since everything was stretched out from Zach all my ligaments are pulling down further, you show earlier and all that fun stuff. She suggested that I were a maternity belt to help lift up my uterus so it has some support. The baby's heart beat was 147bpm. I now I have to go every 2 weeks. I'm pretty sure the internal exams will be starting so that sucks. I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions for about a month now. I didn't feel them with Zach but they say you feel everything more with the second. It's just a daily reminder of how painful the real ones are. So on that fun note, I'll be signing off. This picture is from the 4th of July and you can see my baby belly.

Vacation 2!!

2008-07-07T15:10:00.005-04:00

We left for vacation on Zach's 5th Birthday. Happy Birthday Zachary!! We went to New York first. We had two nice days at the beach. Zach built sandcastles and went swimming with Dad. We went for long bike rides so Zach could have some practice before riding his bike in the parade. We took Zach to see Wall-E for his birthday and we got to see some fireworks and THE bonfire. Jake and Brody got there in time to ride in Van Buren Point's 4th of July parade. Every year they have a bike parade and you are placed in different sections and each section someone wins for best decorated bike. At the end of the parade everybody get a prize too. A fire truck takes people around the point to see the sights too. After the parade we set of for camp. We celebrated Zach's birthday again when we got to camp. Zach said he liked going on vacation for his birthday because he got to have two parties. We didn't do our annual firework display this year since there were cops around. We did get to see the fireworks in Warren though. It was nice to get away for a while but it feels good to be back home.