Zach is nine months~!

Hi All!

Welcome to the latest edition of Zach's first year where we are officially done with 75% of it!

Yup he turned 9 months.

Zach is able to sit up on his own now. However, he is STILL not crawling. Doctor said that all appears well - his reflexes and muscle tone are fine, and he is interactive, and mobile in other ways - so they are not at all concerned. It DID make our vacation easier not having to watch him like a hawk.

And vacation was a week out at Sylvan Beach with Aunt Cathy and Uncle Mark and cousins Natalie and Ben. (woo hoo - we really know how to live it up!) We had a visit from Aunt Melanie and cousin Megan too. Zach loved the water when it was calm - but on windy days when those waves started coming - he was a little less thrilled. But nothing can beat squishing your toes in that sand so he had a blast even on windy days.

He is officially up to 5 teeth with that sixth tooth giving him a heck of a time (and thus Zach giving us a heck of a time.) He is eating lots of finger foods, pastas, cheese, bagels, blueberries, and PICKLES! Yes - he loves dill pickles which we found out on vacation.

He says Mama, Dada, baba, that, and hisses like a goose when you get too close.

He is weighing 19 pounds 7 ounces, and meaures 28.5 inches long. That puts him in the 50% height, 25% weight, and 80% head circumference. Gotta love the Morphet melon.

We are in the process of possibly getting a new house - so wish us luck!

Keeping faith

Had a great day today. Took the kids (Sophie - 2.75 yrs old, and Zach out to dinner up at Marshall St. near the SU campus.) It was beautiful weather and Sophie did a great job eating French fries, carrot juice and milk for her dinner. I know, I know. The kid is incredibly hard to feed.

Zach is eating his fruits like a champ, and we are sneaking his veggies in between bites of his fruit. Doing the cheerios pretty well. Just gotta get him a little more dexterity so he can grab the suckers himself. Self feeding - another step towards independence.

He is sitting by himself, usually only for a minute or two and then falling over. Very cute though. Crawling - not even close. I have a sneaky suspicion the kids is going to walk before crawl. YIKES.

Steven and I ran the 'Komen Race for the Cure' 5K. Just started getting back to the running recently. I was able to squeeze in 2 5-milers this week and the 5K all on new sneakers. Not in love with them, but they aren't terrbile. That's the most I have been able to run in like 18 months. 7 more pounds to go until I am back to pre-pregnancy weight. uugghh

So I found out Thursday that I may be losing my job - how perfect since it will be my 10 year anniversary on June 9th. Never quite knew what something like this would feel like. I have been working since I was 16 years old - I don't recall ever being let go before. WHOA. 21 years of working. Maybe it is time for a break.

I am not necessarily terribly upset about getting laid off. However, I am very nervous about what my future holds. I am trying to just let the big guy in the sky guide me. I just pray that what I am supposed to do next will be clear- I mean extremely obvious because sometimes I can be clueless.

Peace.

7 months for Zach today

Hi All:

Zach is officially 7 months today.

He has yet to pop anymore teeth, but he has figured out how to chomp on Cheerios nonetheless. He is eating 3 square meals a day now and then some. He still seems awfully skinny to me - probably because big sis always seemed like a linebacker!

He is not quite sitting up totally unassisted yet - probably within the next few weeks, He rolls both ways very well. He can scoot and rotate on his tummy and roll - so he is mobile. I love setting up toys around him and watch him go for them. He sleeps on his tummy now which makes me nervous - but better than Sophie and her insistence on sleeping with the covers over her head.

He loves to stand, and does so very well with good balance and longevity. I do hope we can keep him from walking until his first birthday!

He has a great grip and very accurate reach. I am hoping we can start the self-feed finger foods soon.

He is still our happy little boy and gives lots of smiles. (Except at 3 in the morning... yeah - we will one day get sleep again.)

All in all - we are all doing well and enjoying our little family.

We look forward to the summer!

Gotta run - someone is crying....

6 months for Zach!

Hi all!

Zach has officially hit the 1/2 year mark. Can time get any faster?

Well, back to work I went. It's been 3 weeks now. He screamed the first week at the sitter's, but seemed to adjust the

second week and, yes, he finally decided to take a bottle. WHHOOOEEE!!! He is eating like a champ - peas, sweet potatoes,

carrots, applesauce, pears, bananas, and mashed potatoes. And as of yesterday - he has 1 tooth! I discovered this while

nursing. OUCH!

He hates tummy time. He has started to roll over from his tummy to his back, although he doesn't do it consistently,

but that's OK.

Sleep is going OK. We have a 50% chance of getting him through the night right now. He hates to nap during the day.

Sophie on the other hand will take a 2 1/2 hour nap sometimes!

Zach managed to keep Buddy yelping for a solid 30 seconds as I attempted to unlatch one hand

from one ear, he would speedily grab the other ear with his other hand. Quite a grip dear old son has.

He loves his jolly jumper - which is great when trying to get things done in the kitchen. He is a happy little guy and

his favorite person is Sophie. He just looks at her and laughs - we all do!

Getting ready for the Easter bunny. Easter egg hunt tomorrow with some friends.

And Monday is the 6 month checkup - with shots. :(

Happy Easter to all!

5 months for Zach!

Hi everybody!

Greetings from cold and blustery central New York.

Zach hit 5 months today. He is my happy baby! No teeth, no rolling over, no sitting up - but he sure does laugh and smile a lot!

We have started eating solids and he tends to show a preference to his carrots and peas over his bananas and applesauce. And this is a kid who just doesn't like his rice cereal. I'll have to pick up some oatmeal next.

He just LOVES his sister Sophie. Every time he sees her he smiles and when she says ANYTHING to him he laughs.

He had some playdates this past week - and loved the other babies. Little Kyler (3 weeks his elder) and him actually had a conversation and smiled at each other. It was quite a riot - and totally unexpected.

We managed a trip to North Carolina to visit Babcia Morphet. What has usually taken us 11 hours, took us quite a bit longer due to Pennsylvania being totally clueless on how to handle snow (hopefully no offense). (Route 81 in PA was closed for 4 days in a row !) I now have all the confidence in the world about parenting after enduring a 14.5 hour car ride with a very active 2.5 year old, a 4 month old who refuses a bottle, and a dog (by far the best travelling companion). Did I mention that route 81 was closed in PA, and so was route 80, and all traffic was diverted to the PA turnpike, also known, on this occasion, as the PA parking lot? Oh yeah -Cracker Barrel has barred us from ever entering the place again. :)

It was a good trip nonetheless because we were able to spend time with Babcia and was nice to see some sunshine and warmer weather.

I start back to work in two weeks. We'll see how that goes... Wish me luck (and I will always take your prayers!)

Going to try something different for the pictures this time and let you all link into them at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/boulygirl/ZachAt5MonthsMarch52007

Anyone having difficulties with the site, feel free to let me know and I can send along the pics via email.

Take care!

Zach is 4 months!

Howdy!

Zach turns 4 months today.

He is quite the charmer - likes to jibber-jabber and smile. And Moma knows right where the ticklish parts are that make him laugh.

He now likes his bath, watches TV with big sis, is still refusing the bottle (*sigh*), and has started on rice cereal. Still no teeth - so Sophie has him beat that way! He has rolled over ONCE and that was that. He doesn't appear too ambitious in this regard; don't know if he'll ever do it again. :) He loves to be held and is perfectly content when held, otherwise, well, let's just say he likes to be held.

We all have colds right now - Sophie is running a nice little 104 degree temp and the weather is downright bitter. Keep the kids in your prayers - I hate seeing them sick!

Zach is 3 months!

Happy New Year!

Zach turns 3 months today. We had a fun Christmas when Grandma Morphet, Aunt Cindy and Uncle Mark all came in to spend Zach's first Christmas with him. (Incidentally, we have decided that we are definitely in need of more space (1400 sq feet) and will start house hunting soon.)

He is quite the little smiler. Even chuckles occasionally. This makes him a lot of fun when he decides that he wants to be happy. Otherwise, we have a "high needs" child on our hands - he loves to be held most of the time he is awake. I know that soon he will be crawling, then walking, then running and will have little interest in me holding him - so I cherish the time for now.

For Christmas, we were able to stop in to Great Grandma's who is now 96. (WHOA!) Unfortunately, Zach wasn't the most cooperative for a picture - but Sophie did oblige.

He coos like crazy and the most interesting milestone this month I found was that he has started to interact with Sophie - he likes to watch her and will coo and smile at her when she stays still enough for him to see her!

He refuses a bottle, and is partial to hid Dada at nighttime - this makes it very interesting trying to get him to sleep! He is waking 2-3 times a night from 9PM-8PM so we are managing some OK sleep for now. He loves sitting upright so we have purchased a "Bumbo" seat - whatta find!

Two is certainly more "interesting" than one. (Feel free to read between the lines.) Hope everyone has a Happy New Year and we'll send out the next update in about a month.