SANTA!

We visited Santa today. Zach was not sure what to make of it, but he put up with me handing him off to a man in a big red suit. Wasn't too big on smiling, but at least he didn't cry!

From ZACH

Thanksgiving & Christmas Tree

Today we put our Christmas tree up with the help of our friend Karen who is visiting for the weekend. We put a superyard around the tree, but I think Zach will breach the wall within a few days... We ended the day with a trip to the Jungle, dinner at Willow Street and a drive through the Christmas lights at Vasona Park.

First Haircut

Zach got his first haircut today. It went pretty well. He got upset about halfway through and I had to put the camera down and hold him still with his hands in his lap so he wouldn't get cut. That is when the binky appeared... Sad to see the baby mullet go, but he really does look like a toddler now!

7 O'Clock Crazies

Every night around 7pm, Zach goes nuts. Here is a sample from last night...

ZACH WALKING

Park & Pumpkin Patch

We visited El Quito Park today and stopped by our neighborhood pumpkin patch. Zach enjoyed himself at the park, but absolutely did not like the pumpkin patch or petting zoo.

Zach's 15 Month Video

Here he is - 15 months!!!

Zach Standing

Zach's Crawling!

Zach started crawling across the floor yesterday.

Zach's 1 Year Video!

I finally got it uploaded!!!

ZACH IS ONE!!!

Wow, did we ever have an awesome weekend of festivities for Zach's first birthday! My parents and my great-aunt Daryl drove up from San Diego to help us celebrate in style. :) Zach had presents, dinner out (at Red Robin) and a cake on Friday, his actual birthday. On Saturday we had a little birthday party for him, with yet another cake... It is just mind-boggling that my little man is 1! He seems to be changing on a daily basis the past week or so and I expect him to start cruising the furniture any day now. I think he might just bypass crawling on his knees altogether.

I will post 1 year video sometime this week, but for now here is a slideshow from his birthday:

BUBBLES!

From ZACH

From ZACH

From ZACH

From ZACH

From ZACH

From ZACH

Zach's 11 Month Video

Each month I tell myself I'm going to update the blog more often... Obviously I am way behind this month. However, here is Zach's 11 month video and I hope to get some pix posted soon!

Carmel & Big Sur

Tom has the week off for one of his remaining "Family Bonding" weeks that we need to use up before Zach's 1 year birthday. Today we took a daytrip to Carmel and Big Sur. When we had been dating 5 weeks we took a trip there for New Years 2003. It was a trip down memory lane to revisit these places and it was fun to be there with Zach. It was his first time seeing the ocean and a stream, but he didn't seem too impressed. :)

Picture Post

Zach is now rolling and is somewhat mobile. He has rolled into the kitchen a few times and pulled some of my cookbooks off the shelf and chewed on them. Today Tom put the doors back on the bookcase where the cookbooks are stored and I have the feeling we will be baby proofing a lot more in the coming weeks!

Zach pulled this drawer open a few inches:


Zach did not understand the snack trap was holding food. He thought it was merely a challenging toy with the objective being to get the contents out as quickly as possible:


Baxter enjoyed this game:


Hiking with our friends, Guy, Marsh (not shown) and Harper:


Zach in a pack:


Stopping for a rest:


Sleeping babies:


To the moon, and beyond!


Yup, this is how I roll:




March of Dimes walk at Vasona Park:

Easter

This year for Easter we revived our LA tradition of having friends over for turkey, chocolate and jelly beans! :) The Easter Bunny made it past our five kitties and dropped off a nice basket for Zach. He absolutely LOVES his pop-up toy! One of Zach's friends, Harper, came over with her parents and she and Zach got to play a bit.


The Easter Bunny Cake:


Zach's Basket:


Zach and his bunny:


The table is set:


Harper:


Zach:


Marsh & Harper:


Harper getting crazy:

10 Month Video!

Here it is! Pix post to follow soon, I promise!

Zach Discovers His Mouth (& First Words!?!)

Zach & Panda

Zach taking a nap with his panda. The panda starts out by his head and always seems to end up face down on the opposite side of the crib!

Picture Post

Wow, what a fun couple of weeks it has been! Zach now has two teeth coming in. With each he fussed for a few hours and then boom - a tooth appeared. Zach has started having "wild" spells where he is just crazy and energetic. He usually crashes shortly after. Here are some recent pictures:

This was a night Tom and I were eating dinner and Zach was in his high chair. Usually we give him a toy or two and he plays while we eat. However, this night (3/23) Zach took every toy we gave him and threw it on the ground. This is the aftermath:



First time eating mashed potatoes (3/28):


Going for a little hike (3/29):


Being a ham (3/29):




Playing with Dad (3/30):

9 Month Video

Here it is! Zach's 9 month video! This past month Zach has gotten his first tooth - it is just barely peeking through. He is now just starting to think about crawling. He mainly lies on his stomach and looks at stuff he wants to play with - and reaches for it, but can't figure out how to get around. He is vocalizing a lot more and is now eating a wide variety of food, including puffs. He picks them up and puts them in his mouth. He had a great 9 month check-up and is in the 75th percentile for height/weight/head circumference.

Zach the Swinger

This past weekend my parents were visiting and we took Zach to Vasona Park in Los Gatos. We put him in a baby swing and he LOVED it. He smiled, giggled and had a grand old time!

Zach's 8 Month Video!

This Week In Zach

This week we've had our first experience with stomach flu. On Thursday night Zach threw up twice and then on Friday morning he had some nasty intestinal stuff that was, for lack of a better word, incredible. I've never seen a mess like what his 21 pound body produced. We thought he was in the clear today, but just about a half hour ago he threw up again. He's running a bit of a fever. Poor little guy! Through all of this he's still been his happy, usual self, though.

Today, before he got sick again, we went to a baby disco with another family. It was really more geared towards the 3+ crowd. We danced for a short while, then sat on the floor with some toys and books. Zach was totally oblivious to everything around him, but he did enjoy playing with some toys. On the way in they put a band on Zach's ankle and gave us the matching ticket. We had to give them the ticket on our way out, so that we could leave with our child. It seemed a bit odd to me, but the other couple we were with explained that they do this at a lot of places. I'm not sure what would have happened if we lost our claim check for our child...

Dancing with Mom:


Right after Zach sneezed all over my face and chest. EW!


Story with Dad:



Earlier in the week I bought a changing table on Craigslist for $25. Since Zach now outweighs the weight limit on the bassinet in the pack-n-play by 6 pounds, we needed something downstairs to use for changing him. I'm really liking the new changing table, as is Oscar. Tom found Oscar in one of the green bins underneath earlier in the week. I'm not sure how he wedged himself in it, or why...



We are supposed to have a playdate here on Monday, but if Zach is still sick, we'll have to cancel. This coming Friday we are leaving Zach at the Y for 4 hours so we can go on a DATE. A real DATE. With dinner AND movie. :)

Zach vs Avocado

Yesterday I tried giving Zach some avocado in a mesh teething bag.  I learned not to give him mushy stuff in that bag.  The avocado was EVERYWHERE including on his pants.  It was such a mess, but he seemed to have fun!

Apple TV

Tom gave me an Apple TV for Christmas. Last night I got a bunch of old photos loaded up on it --- it had been an endless stream of our wedding, honeymoon and Zach. As much as I love all 3 of those, it was getting a bit old... Now that I am watching photos from my childhood drift across the screen I am seeing a little bit of similarity between Zach and myself. I kept thinking he looks like Tom...

This weekend we bought a car seat and jogging stroller. Zach is over 20 pounds (!) so his days in the infant carrier are numbered. We're going to transition him over to the car seat once he can solidly sit up on his own.

7 Month Video

Zach's New Trick

What a big week this has been for Zach.  First he started eating solid foods, and now this:

Zach & Icarus

Jumperoo Zach

Christmas Video

Solid Food!

We started our solid food quest in earnest upon returning from San Diego.  Armed with a new high chair, we were ready for battle!  On Monday, Zach finally ate solid food for the first time.  We have been trying for about 6 weeks, and all he has done is spit it back out at us.  I tried carrots on Monday and he actually seemed interested and there was less remaining in the bowl then when I started!  Since then he has become a carrot eating machine, finishing off about 2 jars a day.  He still doesn't like oatmeal and has very little use for green beans.

This whole process is obviously very messy.  He gets the food EVERYWHERE, no matter how diligent I am about wiping him, his hands, his face, etc, etc, etc.  He is absolutely adorable when he is eating, though, and it is fun to watch him discover new tastes.