Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

We've made it through yet another year in the Zitt household! Our Holidays have come and gone with great times and lots of reflection......some good, some not so good. All in all we're glad to be together and life seems to be coming together a bit. I suppose we started out behind the preverbial "eight-ball" at first, things have settled down and we're looking forward to a happy and productive 2007. Here are some recent happenings in our life:

• Logan has been dealing with an ear infection which has lasted almost two months. He was on medication for it during our visit to Wilmington, again a few weeks later, and another time in early December. Now he's on his fourth medication, and our concern is that tubes will soon be necessary. It doesn't phase him much, he's the same goofy, happy, energetic kid he always is. He's also recently had a recurrence of the blisters on his thumb, which were initally a result of exposure to cold sores at 5 months of age. It may be something he will periodically have to deal with throughout life, but our fingers are crossed in hopes it goes away.
• The Bengals tried their best to ruin the Holidays for us this year. As it turns out THIS was the year Mike got a ton of Bengals stuff for Christmas. Almost as to rub it in his face, items such as floor mats for the truck, a steering wheel cover, a pillow case, a 4ft blow-up football, a towel, a hand-warmer, a scarf, a license plate cover, and a cell-phone case all decked out in orange and black had Mike's name on them.
• Tina has done a ton of work on our basement, and it has turned into a very functional living space. We've got Grandma's old console TV hooked up to a VCR, Playstation 2, and the console stereo still works great. Gotta love that old tube sound and tone! There is also a play area for Logan down there, where the easel that Grandpa Tom and Grandma Carol got him for Christmas.
• Logan loved all of the gifts he received, although I believe he enjoyed opening everyone else's presents just as much! The past two years he's had virtually no interest in unwrapping his items, and this year he wanted to open everyones!!
• We are deeply saddened by the loss of Marilyn Harmon, who passed away on 9/26/2006. It makes us happy that Logan got to spend some time getting to know her, however brief it may have been. Grandpa Leo seems to be doing well, Tina has spoken with him since then.
• The Christmas exchange at the Hudson's was another rousing good time, the Bengals game notwithstanding. The themes were "Health & Wellness" and "Fun & Games". We find it funny how Dan can always find a way to find the Bengals in every theme. Good times were had by all, even those who chased Logan around the house all night.
• Mike has experienced some health issues lately. A problem arised in November that found him in the hospial due to suspected heart concerns. All tests were negative, so that was a relief. He's also experienced some back problems resulting from a *pop* he felt while bending over to pick up Logan. Most of this is likely due to weight concerns, so he's going to start a program soon.
• Tina has been considering going back to school to finish her degree. We're slightly optimistic this can happen, but it may not be as soon as we'd like.

Tina has not gotten much response to her request for pictures and information to include in Logan's "Family Album" scrapbook that she has begun to work on. She'd like info such as full names, birth dates, favorites (colors, foods, etc) and any other information you would like him to know about them. Michael let us know that he's recording a story for Logan, and we so appreciate that. It would be great to get as many of those as we can. Just pick a children's story, it doesn't have to be long, and record it for us.

We hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2007. We miss you!

Whoa does time fly sometimes.....

We've been away from the blog for quite some time now, and send out sincerest apologies to those of you who've been waiting for updates. Now that we've gotten that over with let's get caught up, shall we? Vacation in Wilmington was a great time! As you can see above Logan visited the beach for the first time at Wrightsville. He really seemed to like the water sloshing in between his feet as the tide came in and out. He handled the 12 hour drive fairly well, although there were moments. We had plenty of "Veggie Tales" and other children's music to keep him occupied along the way. We learned several things about life while visiting with the family.

1. We learned that a week away from our daily lives is a needed and wanted necessity.
2. We learned that planning a vacation is hard enough, but planning everyone else's time can waste precious brain cells and from now on we say nay-nay.
3. Tommy taught us what the internet is for...........:)
4. Tommy also taught us to use caution when watching movies that he claims are "different".
5. We learned that Tina wasn't the only one to put Mr. Bubble in a major Wilmington fountain.
6. We learned that loading Edie into a horse drawn carriage is a challenge. Good thing she enjoyed the ride!!
7. We learned that treadmills should never be used without adult supervision.
8. We learned that a styrofoam cooler in the back of a rental car should never be trusted.
9. We learned that Julia is both sentimental and sneaky. And good at both.
10. We learned that family really is everything.

Our voyage saw us travel a different route than in previous years. In doing most of the driving I can tell you that I-75 S to 40 E is much much much better than before. Not shorter by any stretch, but better for sure. We didn't get to spend as much time with everyone as we would have liked, but spending a little time was certainly better than nothing. Tina is still a little bit upset that we didn't get to spend some time with David. I'm sure there will be another day soon when we can visit and perhaps stay longer. We stayed in Maggie Valley, NC, the night that we left. The Ramada we stayed at was not the greatest hotel experience we've ever had. I think we were all so anxious to get home that it kept up from sleeping well. Some of you may know that Tina's car broke down 20 minutes after we arrived home. *SMACK*, welcome back to reality! 3 weeks and about $1,000 later the car is up and running. That's been fun. Logan had his second birthday last Sunday. He's officially a two year old, but I think that rule should be changed. When he starts acting like a two year old, he's two! We could go into great depth and detail about vacation and birthday parties, but I figure we could just show you. Here is a picture update for you. Love and hugs to all!

Sum-Sum-Summertime!!

A happy summer to all, family, friends, and colleagues!! As you can see, the Zitt family has dove into this glorious season head first. What's that? I figured the head joke was coming. Let me just start off by saying that coaching 10-11 year old little leaguers requires patience, knowledge, and above all the ability to motivate. Our guys hadn't won many games this year, and the coaches decided to offer the players a wager. Win tonight and we would shave our heads. Obviously they completed their half of the bargain, and we all followed through on our portion by baring our hat racks. I kind of like it, actually. It's very cool for the season and it's fashionable. Logan appears happy in this picture but he didn't stay that way. His main beef these days is getting his head wet, and he threw a royal fit when Daddy tried to douse him. He has officially hit the terrible twos!! We love our little man, but boy can he get cranky!! His favorite words and phrases are "NO", "I want to", "I want that", and "Mooooooooommmmmmmmyyyy"! He bubbles around the house like he's at Disney World one minute, then he's kneeling on the floor like he dropped his ice cream the next. His teeth cause much of his distress as he is currently cutting molars. We took another trip to the Zoo this week, and he got to feed and pet some goats. I used to laugh at parents who would take their small children out with them and put them on leashes. Only now do we know the incredible benefit of our leash. He wants to be just about everywhere just about anytime, and keeping him tethered helps. Now all we need are shoes with wheels and we're set. We won't bore you with any more of our parental babble, so enjoy some more pics!!

Zoo Trip!

We took Logan for his first trip to the and based on his love of his puppy (read 160 lb dog) and the cat, we thought he'd love visiting all of the wonderful animals there. There were a number of animals that interested Mom & Dad and the more we tried to point them out to Logan, the more we worried that this might not be a new favorite place for him to visit this summer since we bought a family membership. We stopped to look at some monkeys, went into the cat house, saw some breed of antelope as well as visiting the reptile house, but still nothing seemed to really spark his attention
(I may have forgotten to mention he has been fighting a stomach virus for several days and his enthusiasm has been a bit dampened by his upset tummy and also the molars he's trying to cut). We saw a number of peacocks - some very close up,
but still, no real smiles.
When we got to the elephants, we finally got what we had been looking for!


He waved to them and chatted up quite a storm as we watch them for a few minutes before heading out for more adventures. He seemed a bit more excited as we traveled around a bit more. He had a bit to say to the rhinoceros as well, but I don't know if it can be repeated here!

I'd have to say the best reaction was when we went inside to see the giraffe...
Logan was especially amused when the giraffe smiled back at him!

And yes, before you wonder, we did stop by to see Daddy's favorite animal...

All in all it turned out to be a great day for the whole family!

The first haircut & Easter update.

Okay, so now we're up to the first haircut! We were warned that this could be a traumatic event for Logan...having some strange person come at him with a pair of scissors and take his beautiful curls. There were others that warned us it might be traumatic for us (read "Mommy"). We took him to Great Clips, where we get ours cut and could not have had a better experience! He was a little apprehensive as Alex put the cape on and more so when she sprayed his hair down with the water bottle, but overall, he was quite calm. Other patrons must have been through this before as we were asked several times if this was a first haircut. Apparently it showed on Mike's or my face (or both... or maybe it was because we took a camera to a haircut).
The finished product couldn't have been better! Mommy was able to keep the curls in a special envelope they provided and we were given a "Baby's First Haircut certificate" for our scrapbook.



We had some special pictures taken with Mike's Grandparents which many of you have seen through the PhotoParade we sent out. Unfortunately, those who didn't receive it or were unable to open it will have to wait until the originals are ready for pick up from the photographer.

For Easter, we were invited to my Aunt Sally & Uncle Bob's place for the annual Easter egg hunt. Mike was skeptical that Logan would know what to do. I figured since he and the others at daycare had been having pretend egg hunts, he would have some idea, but was surprised when he picked up 14 eggs with only a 5 minute head start!


One more post to go and then we'll be caught up!

Aunt Janet's birthday....

Last time we posted, I mentioned that my Aunt Janet's birthday was coming. It's come and gone and was a great deal of fun! The little man was excited to get dressed up for the occasion.


He and Kelli bonded over a bunny puppet and a paper plate. The strangest things will amuse this boy!

Many of you have heard of our attempt to describe "the face" - our best description is that something has amused or delighted him so much that he doesn't know what to do with himself. This is the best picture we've captured of it so far. Usually we're laughing too hard to be able to catch it with the camera.


After we left Aunt Sally & Uncle Bob's place, we went to visit Mike's Grandparents. Although they have toys for him, Logan loves the singing animals that have come from the gift shop at Aunt Elaine's workplace. His favorite is the Happy Birthday Bear that some of you have heard. To be honest, I can't remember what this pair sings.

A couple of weeks later there was a birthday party at daycare for his friend Matthew.

Since there are a few other major events, I think I'll put those in a separate post...

The new (and not so new) goings on....

So what's new here? Okay, let's start with what's not so new, but new since the last post.

We met with our Lamaze group for our semi-quarterly gathering at a place called Pump It Up in West Chester in February. This is a pretty cool place if you're a little guy - and not too bad for the grown ups either! We brought Logan's cousin Maria with us since we hadn't seen her for awhile. In addition, our friends John & Carol and daughter Bella (picture is of Carol & Bella on the slide and John with the camera) and Jim & Dianne and daughter Adelaide joined us.

Some of the kids in the group knew what to do as soon as we walked in (Say "Hi" to Luke - He's just 1 week older than Logan). Logan & Maria were a little less adventurous at first, but quickly got into it!

As you can see, we left with two tired kids that night!

So, what else is new? I got my MACSIS billing job back at GCB with a raise! No, we're not on our way to a million dollar home or anything, but every little bit helps! I was also approached by another local agency to make a change and join their company. It felt great to know that my skills were recognized outside of my own agency and to be recruited by another one. After weighing the pros and cons of both positions, it was decided that it made more sense to stay where I am. Mike has also been looking into a new postal position as well. We'll let you know when /if anything changes there.

We'd like to thank everyone who sent prayers and kind thoughts our way for Mike's family. His step-father, Tom Braun, recently lost his father Leo Braun to cancer.

Hope to hear from you soon,

Tina, Mike & Logan

BTW, Happy Almost Birthday to Tina's Aunt Janet

- we'll let her tell which one this is for those who don't already know!