More William Love

Seriously how beautiful is this child.
(ignore the flower pillow.  And Adda, take this as proof that we do some belly time sometimes...)

Loving on this guy

Seriously words do not do justice to how much I'm loving on this little guy. He is a total chunk and I can't get enough of him! Zack says the camera adds 10 lbs but I earned every roll on him! Also that smile just warms my heart.

I love you little buddy. You and your foot that looks huge in this shot!

Zackrison Sister Update

SARAH
Last Week:

• Released the Lower Lights Christmas CD - "Come Let Us Adore Him". It turned out great and orders have been rolling in which has been exciting to watch and overwhelming to ship (luckily I don't have to do that, although I did plenty of other administrative work around the release).
• Took June shopping again to try again to find more weather-appropriate clothes she's willing to wear. This time we went to the Gap and I actually told her she could get anything she wanted there - knowing first there would be very little she actually liked but also anything she does like will be worth the money spent on it because she will wear it to death. We came away with 3 graphic tshirts, 2 pairs of sweat pants, and a pack of underwear (that's what she was most excited about - and it was the most expensive thing we bought and she didn't actually need them but I was anxious to make it a positive experience for her so I splurged)
• Took the boys to the indoor skatepark in Midvale on Saturday night, and left them there while Huck, June & I walked around the Fashion Place mall. Haven't been there in forever and now I'm anxious to go back without the little ones to have the chance to browse around the new Crate & Barrel and H&M. Driving past point of the mountain always means a stop at Pei Wei on the way home, so that's incentive for me.
• Did a little more yard work. Pulled out the garden and trimmed back the roses. One more round should do it for the end of the season wrap-up, but I'm afraid I might have already missed my chance. Had our first real snow on Friday night.
  
• Watched supportively as Scott put up the Christmas lights on the house
• Tried to explain several times why all her friends get to have their Christmas stuff up already but we don't
• Made some good progress on my work project 
• Went to a watch Scott play with newish local band Moth & the Flame at Velour with Courtney (no baby yet)
• Had dinner at Mom & Dad's on Sunday - haven't done that in quite a while

This Week:

• We're headed to La Canada for Thansgiving. We'll try to leave at 4am on Wednesday and hopefully we'll beat the Vegas traffic
• Lots to do to get ready for the trip. Laundry, shopping, packing, cleaning
• Looking forward to a yummy Thanksgiving feast and hanging out with family for the weekend.
• Take a shipment of Lower Lights Christmas CDs to the post office. This will probably take me a couple hours.
• Finish William's stocking - made great progress on my trip back east last week. Just need to put on the finishing touches now.
• Get creative with my wardrobe - none of my regular clothes fit anymore, but can I really bear pulling out maternity stuff already?!

ANNEE
Is excused while she recovers from her Marathon!  Super impressive!!

Check out those skinny feet and that adorably chubby baby!

ANA

Last few weeks:
-Started to feel healthy again.  Such a blessing
-Volunteered in Jack's class during their Thanksgiving "Thumpkin Pumpkin Pie" day.  It was so lovely.  Zack took the morning off of work to watch William so I could go in and help.  It was the first time I got to see Jack in his class and I loved it!!  I always consoled myself when we thought we couldn't have more kids that I would just volunteer a ton in Jack's class and as grateful as I am for the way my life has changed, I was wishing I could be more a part of his Kindergarten experience.  Zack was my hero and helped me get both of my wishes answered!
-Had our first parent/teacher conference and got Jack's first report card.   She pretty much said Jack was a rockstar academically and personally.  Preaching to the choir...that boy is a champ and we are so proud of him
-Am loving the age gap between my kids.  Not that I don't hope for another one close to William's age, but Jack is so helpful.  He loves Will to death and is old enough to not be in diapers, buckle himself in the car, get dressed, feed himself, and entertain himself.
-Worked as little as possible but managed to make it through month end without losing it.

This week:
-Grandma Z came out to help me through my first week with Jack home full time and the baby.  I tell you I am so lucky to be so wonderfully supported by our families.  This has been such a gentle way to ease into life with two kids.  Thank you John, for loaning her to us this week.  She is a joy!
-Host Thanksgiving dinner for Grandma and Grandpa Z and the billion other people Zack can't stop himself from inviting.  Seriously, our total is up to 12.
-Get ready for my busy work week next week...either that or totally ignore the fact that its coming and let future Ana deal with it.
-Get my hair cut for the first time since March.  I have been letting the worst haircut of my life grow out since last December.  It's finally long enough that I think she could shape it a bit...fingers crossed.
-Get on the elliptical machine 5 times.  Turns out I gained 80 pounds with this pregnancy.  With only one baby.  Here's to a long road of exercising ahead.
-Try to meet up with Sarah this weekend and pass along the two huge boxes of maternity clothes I have sitting in my garage.  I am so glad to be saying goodbye to them and so excited for a new nephew/niece on the way!!
-Maybe take advantage of our visitors and escape for a bit of early Christmas shopping with Zack.  Zack and I both agree that Jack has been an all star lately and Santa needs to be extra good to him this year.  :)
-Commit to doing Christmas/birth announcement cards this year.  I certainly don't want to be in the photo, but maybe I can take Jack and William in and get a cute boys shot.  I think finally have two kids makes sending out a photo without Zack and me a whole lot more legitimate then just sending one out of Jack on his own.

IE LI

Last couple of weeks:

• Ran the Richmond half marathon
• Hosted John and Dorothy for a couple of days
• Took John and Dorothy to Mei Li's school for American Education Week and school book fair
• Picked up my new glasses.  I didn't need them.  Apparently, I'm not much of an accessory girl except when it comes to my glasses.  I have been collecting them since high school.
• Took a break from running, but I'm so ready to start again.
• Yard work
• Thanksgiving prep
• A Christmas Carol at Ford's Theatre with Steve.  I wept.  It was so great.  I understand that this is an old Zackrison tradition.  I'm so glad we finally made it.  In past years, we forgot to buy tickets until they were sold out.

This Week:

• Stephen turns four.  I think he's going to love everything we have planned for him.  I'm so excited! 
• Babysit for a friend.
• Cook a lot.
• Earnests come to town!
• Run a 5k or 10k on Thanksgiving day.
• It's going to be a great week! 

RACHEL

Last Week

• Everybody Wins on Monday.  Met Flor, our 4th grader.
• Dinner with Mom & Dad & Sazband at the mall on Monday.
• Felt so so sick on Tuesday.  Went to bed at 9pm.  Didn't want to go to work on Tuesday or Wednesday but did in the end.
• Forgot to bring cookies to work due to the feeling ill.  Oh well! 
• Ken went to PA for a work thing on Thursday, I worked late.
• Friday was a long day, as it always is before you try to head out on vacation.
• Friday night we bought Season 1 of Modern Family and started watching it.  It's so funny!!
• Saturday I slept in and was awoken by gardeners working outside which totally reminded me of being in high school!  I lounged around all morning because I didn't feel like doing anything, but finally pulled myself together so I could go to Day 1 of the sale at Anthro.  Picked up 4 sweater skirts, which is what I want to wear all season long.  It's like wearing a blanket all day, how is this not awesome! 
  
• Played games with some friends on Saturday night. 
• Church on Sunday followed by making Pizza Monkey Bread for lunch/dinner. 

This Week

• Not going to work all week long!!  Turns out this doesn't mean I won't be working all week, but at least I won't be going in. 
  
• Run every day!  Because the weather is prefect!  And because I can! 
• Begin the planning for the ward Christmas party.  We are helping with the decor again.  Hopefully I don't regret this...  They want a Whoville theme so we really need to re-watch The Grinch this week for inspiration. 
  
• Get so many tasks done!!  I have a list a mile long I've been forming since I knew I'd be taking this week off.  I want to get my skirts hemmed finally, rotate out summer and winter clothes, take a batch of things to DI, organize the office and craft shelf, put up our Christmas decorations, finish our Christmas cards, etc.  This week is already too short!
• Turkey Trot 5K/10K on Thursday with the fam!  Turkey trots are my very favorite part of Thanksgiving day.  I know that sounds crazy.
• Visit the US Botanic Gardens to see their Christmas decorations, including the mini trains. 

CHRISTINE

Last Week:
- Had training all week at work.  This meant sitting in a freezing cold conference room with no windows in a nearby hotel for 8+ hours everyday as we were basically retaught everything from school.  It was good to have a refresher on a lot of things, but it was definitely a lot of information and I really can't remember the last time I spent eight hours a day in a classroom-like setting.  And on top of it all they actually gave us assignments we had to get done at home each night.  It was a pretty long week, and as a result of the lack of sleep and freezing cold room I came away from it all sick, but it was nice to at least have a clear idea of what I needed to be doing each day at work. 
- Had dinner with mom and dad and all at CPK Monday night, it's always great to have family around.
- Went to dinner with some of the other new hires after training one night.  It's fun to be back with a lot of the people I interned with last summer, we actually got pretty close last summer so it's great to catch up. 
- Studied as much as possible.  Last week wasn't a good week for studying with some of the later hours at training.
- Went to yoga at my gym one night.  It was alright, definitely not the same as It's Yoga, or I guess 3B Yoga now, where I was going in Utah, but it still felt good to go.
- Tried to sleep as much as possible.

This Week:
- Study.
- Work Monday-Wednesday.  The office is pretty dead this week but hopefully I'll be able to find somethings to do.
- Thanksgiving!!  I'm very excited for all the celebrating and family time!
- Work Black Friday at Anthropologie, 5am-12pm.  Sounds awesome, huh?  Work again Saturday evening.
- Study some more. 

William Todd Zackrison

I met Todd in 7th grade.  He was hilariously sarcastic, ferociously loyal, and always ready with a lame joke to make me smile when I was grumpy.

When Zack came into my life at 15 1/2, I think it's safe to say Todd was not his biggest fan.  In fact, he insisted on calling him the Jolly Green Giant the first few months of our relationship (It still makes me chuckle that the meanest thing he could think to call Zack references a tall happy guy).  But then he met Zack and the two became fast friends.  Don't get me wrong, I think he continued to call him the Jolly Green Giant, although not to his face, but that's just Todd.  We all remained friends throughout high school, visited one another through our college years and stayed in touch through frequent phone calls after we were all married.  He was not able to make it to our wedding which in some ways was good because I think Zack and I would have fought over which one of us got him as our wedding attendant.  He was our unofficial best man, and bridesmaid.

Throughout junior high and high school Todd would tell me and Dani two things constantly.  One, that we needed to name all of our children after him (especially the girls) and two, that some day in the middle of the night we would get a call to tell us he had been killed on some foreign battle field.

That call came Halloween night in 2003.

This last summer we took a trip out to Arlington National Cemetery to see Todd's tombstone and tell Jack more about our best friend who gave up his life for this country.  

When we found out last spring that we were having another boy, pretty much the only thing Zack and I agreed on as far as names go was that his middle name would be Todd. 

The world was a better place with Todd in it and he is missed by our family daily.
Little William Todd, you have huge shoes to fill.

These Women

I have these women in my life.  Strong women.  Capable women.  Loving women.  Sacrificing women.  And I'm surrounded and upheld by them.  They came and supported my family when we started down the IVF road and couldn't escape the Boston winter.  They came and supported me with chocolate cake when the doctors thought I was miscarrying.  They came with offers to get Jack out of the house when I was sick in bed.  They came and supported me when I was so swollen and pregnant I couldn't function.  They came and watched my child while I gave birth to by second.  They came and supported me and held my baby while I cried and tried to heal my torn body.  They have come and they continue to come.  They come in many different ways. Some in person, some through phone calls, some through emails and some through the mail, but they come.  And I am stronger, more capable, more loving and more sacrificing because of these women.

And I love you all.