Zachary is ONE!!

I mean, seriously. Can you believe it?? Time has FLOWN by!!

He turned one a week+ ago, but we had his birthday party yesterday. He was so funny. He loved everyone singing to him but didn't know what to make of his own cake (we got a "smash" cake with the big cake) he bit his fingers in it and I finally cut a piece out and put it up to his mouth and he took a nibble, but that was it. I think he was shy to eat in front of everyone. :)

He just started pointing to things he wants. He is still signing milk, but now he signs it for everything! LOL! If I have shown him a sign for a work, he uses the sign for milk. So he understands and remembers that I showed him a sign, he just can't remember it or figure out how to do it, so he signs milk (like for dog, more, thank you, bird) he just signs milk. hehe.

He is a crawling madman. He is fast too! He isn't showing interest in walking yet, which is fine by me. He is saying Mama, Dada and Nana (natalya) ocassoinally and Uh-oh. Not talking nearly as much as Natalya was but he does like to squeal. Oh boy can he squeal. I guess he wants to make sure he is heard because he is LOUD and high-pitched. !!

He loves balls. Any ball he is obsessed with. He got lots of ball toys for his birthday and he is in ball-hog-heaven. He carries them everywhere, although it's pretty funny to watch him try to figure out how to carry the balls and crawl simultaneously. He has also suddenly become obsessed with balloons! He had one we got at Publix last week and he would NOT let go of the string. I mean, I had to pry it loose to get him to go to sleep. When I take it out of one hand, he sticks the other out and grabs it with the other hand. Smart kid. lol. So for his birthday party, my grandmother went to dollar tree and got like 12 helium balloons and the strings were long enough to reach the floor- he was loving it- crawling around and grabbing all the strings. He would crawl past you with them all trailing behind him! hahahaha! I have all these pics of him clutching onto the balloon strings.

He is a pretty smart cookie too. He was in the bathroom with me the other day and picked up a roll of toilet paper that had not made it onto the actual roll yet and he looked at me and pointed to the roll like, Mommy, this goes over there.

He also loves putting things in and taking things out. Especiall balls. hehe. Anything he can put in and out makes him happy. To occupy him, I will sometimes give him a plastic cup and a couple of small-ish balls. In out, in, out.

I can't believe he's already one!! He's my baby! He's not supposed to be this old!

A few new pics of the kids

I snapped a few pics today of the kids. I have been lax on the picture taking. I am still pretty bummed about my camera, and have been using mom's old camera (thanks!). And it needs the battery to be recharged a LOT. We went to the pumpkin patch last weekend and had a LOT of fun- when we got there... battery died on the camera. I think I took one picture. They had fun though- and Natalya picked out a pumpkin that needs to be carved, so perhaps that will be the plan for this weekend. We always carve a big one and paint some small ones. (Speaking of which...I need to find the paint!).

Kids are getting big. I can barely even lift Natalya anymore and Zachary is no tiny thing himself. :) Natalya is doing great at gymnastics. She's in a pre-competition class and loves it. She can do bunny hops on the balance beam now by herself without holding onto a coach! She is also doing simple math. She'll say something like, "Mommy, I have four crayons!" And I'll say, "If I take one, how many do you have?" And she'll say "THREE!!" And she can do it quickly too, with very little hesitation.

Zachary is out of his "dada" kick and into "Mama" kick. Everything is "Mama". My new favorite? He will say "uh-oh Mama" when something falls. :) His top two teeth are in, barely poking through- finally! He was working on those forever it seems like. He is crawling everywhere- and he's FAST! If he knows you're after him, he'll hit high ghear and laugh the whole time he's beelining away at top speed. Very cute. He also started "kissing". He does the sweet open-mouth baby kisses, but also, if you say "Zachary, kisses!" He will make a kissy sound by sucking his tongue through his lips. It makes the same sound you'd make if you were puckering and making the "kissing" noise. It is REALLY stinking cute!

Both kids are balls of energy and I can't wear them out fast enough!

Without further ado, here's some pics... Not great, but better than nothing, right?
These are from a few weeks ago at the park


And here is one from earlier this week

And then some from today

Zachary's first sign!

I've been signing with Z just like with N. We started with him at around 3 months, just like with N. She picked up her first sign, "milk" at 7 months. I haven't given up on Z yet, but it's taking a lot longer! (That boy thing and communication thing).

He tried to sign dog once a bit ago, but hasn't really attempted anything since.

Today he signed milk to his sister, then has been signing it all day! He is so excited to have put it together he is very exuberant with his signing. He gets the biggest smile when he signs it and you say, you want "milk"?

Of course, I've been nursing him a lot more today than in the past few weeks as a result since I want him to appreciate that asking for milk will actually result in him getting milk. kwim?
LOL

Communication begins! I love it!

Awww- poor Zachary

He is finally getting the top two front teeth in and it is taking forever! Poor baby- the front right one is protruding down, but the gums haven't popped over it yet, so it looks like the tooth is "in" but it's the gum poking down. You can tell it hurts. I was trying to let him chew on my finger, and rub the gum to help it pop through, but he was resisting. The gum was bleeding some too. I have tried giving him cold things to chew on, wet/cold washcloth, etc, and he's having none of it.

I guess time will be the only thing to help. I don't remember Natalya having any trouble cutting her teeth.

Almost crawling.

Almost. he's at the ... get up on my hands and knees and rock back and forth then flop on my belly stage.

Of course, my kids don't do anything normally, and he has to add his own twist. Which is, he gets on his knees then puts his head on the floor for support and scoots across the floor with his forehead on the floor.

Let's see, what else- he is sitting up on his own- he will lay on his back, lean up and to one side, then stick an arm out and sort of push himself up. He has also figured out how not to fall on his face when he is sitting and wants to be on his belly. Previously, he would stick one leg out, with one bent in front of him and lean forward until- smack- on his face on the floor. Now he sort of leans up and pulls his foot from under him and lands on his belly. This is a huge improvement and happened literally overnight several days ago.

He also calls everything "dada". He will say "mama" when he is in his crib and is really mad but that's the only time so far. The other night, we got into bed and Doug was already asleep and I swear he said "HEY DADA!" and started saying "dadadadada" and smacking Doug in his back. He hasn't really picked up any signs yet. He will sometimes do dog, and sometimes milk, but nothing consistently.
Oh, he was watching a Baby Einstein the other night and the screen came up and said "dog" and he said "duh". and started laughing and jumping all over. This boy loves dogs. And balls. When he sees a ball, he gets so excited! In fact, right now Natalya and he are playing with a ball and he is bouncing all over the place. :)

Fun in the water and Zachary's first words

Awwww- I love the talking stage! Zachary has been saying "dadadadadada" for a while, and we suspected he was putting it together with "daddy", but we weren't sure. Same with Mama. Then this week, it seems to be clicking. He can't wuite get "Mama" out, but if someone else is holding him and he wants me, or if he's in his crib and wants me, etc, he will start going "MMMMmmmmmmmm" "mmmmmmmm" :D
Today we went swimming with my brother at a friend's house I was housesitting, and Doug decided to come over after work. He came up to the gate and Zachary saw him and starting going "DADADADADA DADA!" And he hadn't made that noise/sound until he saw Doug. It was so sweet! It's official. His first word is Dada.

He also has picked up the game "where's the baby" from somewhere. We were atthe pool on Sunday with some friends and he was sitting with a towel next to him - he picked it up and was hiding behind it. We said, "OH! Where's Zachary?" and he would lower the towel grinning and laughing like crazy.

And Natalya! Oh my gosh! This child is crazy! All the gymnastics has hern doing some wild things. My brother was showing her how to go down the slide on her back, and then he did a cannonball off the diving board. She runs up to the board and goes off the end, doing a perfect cannonball! It was so cute! She was trying to be just like Uncle Tony. Then she says, "Hey Uncle Tony, watch what I can do!" and goes running to the end of the board and does a front flip off the board into the water! HOLY COW! Tony and I just looked at each other like, did she just do a flip? After picking our jaws up off the ground, we yelled and clapped for her. It was kind of funny though, this little kid with arm floaties doing front flips off the board!

Where's Zachary?

My little guy is barely a baby any more

I really can't believe it. Up until the end of last week he was only nursing and turning away all baby foods. (both store bought and homemade)

A couple of days ago, I decided to try small bits of soft foods and he LOVED IT! He is now eating little bits of soft foods, mashing it between his gums and eating a TON! When Natalya was this age, she was eating some baby foods but that's it. She didn't start eating bits of things until she was a lot older.
Today he ate two meals, pretty big meals too. The first was scrambled eggs, toast and pears...the second was salmon (Loves it!), black beans, rice and eggs. He kept grabbing my hand and pushing it in his mouth to put the food in there. Once he was done, he turned his head and that was that.

I'm not ready for him to grow up. He's the baby!

What's new

Lots of things apparently! :)

Zachary is signing milk and it also apparently means Mama. When we went swimming yesterday, Stephanie was holding him while I went to put some things in the car and he got upset (he was tired) and looked her right in the eye and started doing the sign for milk (his version). I was coming back up the stairs and she said, hey Brandy, what does this mean, and she did the sign. awwww. My baby boy is getting so big!

He and Natalya were actually playing with each other the other night. He was sitting on the floor with the boppy behind him and he was so excited about the ball Natalya was playing with he was hopping up and down on his legs and actually hopping forward! It was so funny. Natalya sat across from him and was rolling the ball back and forth with him and he was having so much fun with her.

Natalya's birthday party is on Saturday. She is so excited about her Spiderman party! We are hoping that Mady can make it but her brother's birthday is that day so they are having a party too. We'll keep our fingers crossed for that.

I'll try to take some more pics and post later!

What do you think this means?

Z was sitting on the changing table while I was wiping off his back (yuk. don't ask. you don't want to know), and he leaned over, put both hands on the front of my nursing tank and pulled it out as hard as he could...then proceeded to sick his head down my shirt.

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

I was laughing so hard I could hardly breathe.

Think he was hungry??

Zachary's communication

Well he has picked up two signs- sort of. ;)
He tries to sign "dog" every time he sees one of them and he LOVES the dogs. He gets so excited and he tries to touch his fingers together, but he doesn't quite do the sign. You can tell he is trying to though. He also tried to sign milk once or twice. He's on the way with his signing!

He does love to talk though. It goes something like this: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh AAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

or so. And He's LOUD!

I have been telling him to say "mama" and he will watch my mouth and open and close his mouth like he's saying it, but nothing comes out. :) Hey, it's a start!

A few pictures

A pic from our "camping" trip. In the bed in the hotel. LOL.

He's not crawling yet, but he gets up on those knees and scoots...backwards. Which makes him really mad when he's trying to reach something in front of him.

How can you resist that smile??

(please excuse his serious case of mismatching. It was laundry day. ;) )

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!! I have no idea, but it cracks me up every time I look at this picture.

He LOVES his sister. And she is so proud of being a big sister.


She is endless entertainment to him. Here she is playing peek-a-boo out of her carseat box. He is cracking up hysterically.

My babies are growing up on me.

Zachary had a mini-appointment yesterday to get an IPV booster vaccine. He is 19.35lb. We moved him to the convertible carseat since infant carriers only go to 20lb. I put him in it for the first time tonight and I almost shed a tear for him growing up and getting so big! He is cutting tooth number two (bottom front right), already has the first one, the front bottom left. He enjoys chewing on me with his teeth. fun! :)

He is sitting up pretty well, when he begins to tip over, he'll shoot one arm out to right himself. He still does fall over a lot, but he's getting there.

We went "camping" this week. I call it our non-camping camping trip. LOL. The plan was to tent camp at Rock Island State Park, or, if it looked like bad weather, rent a cabin for the night. When we got there, we discovered that Bonnaroo was this week/end and the tent campsites were all booked up. There were two cabins, but they had a two-night minimum stay and we didn't want to pay two nights for one night of stay. So we went over to the river and played on the beach and N and Doug played in the water. Z did not care for the river. He loves the bath, but he sort of looked at me like, 'woman? what are you thinking putting me in here. Gross.' hehe. Natalya loved it though. I had to bribe her to get her to leave.

We were flying by the seat of our pants and didn't really want to drive home so we drove over to Cookevill for dinner and pulled up to the Days Inn and stayed there for the night. I whipped out my (free- Thanks Kelly!) Entertainment Book and found a 15% off discount at Days Inn, so we got the discount too. :) Natalya was really excited about staying in the hotel and wasn't too upset about not being able to stay in the tent. I sort of played it up- "Natalya! We're going to stay in a hotel! You can sleep on the floor in your sleeping bag! It'll be just like camping!" She bought it. :)

And thank goodness! Because it STORMED that night. I was so happy to not be in a tent.

We had a good trip and then when we got home Doug took N to gymnastics for her new class. She moved up to Mighty Mites from the Preschool class and she is having an absolute ball. She has learned all kinds of new things and is loving every second of it.

I'll try to post some pics in a bit. :)

Zachary has a tooth!

It popped through yesterday while he was chewing on my finger- OUCH! I can feel it now when he chews on my fingers, but it's hard to see. And...it's keeping him awake, which is why we haven't gone to bed yet, and it's nearing 2:30 a.m.
Good thing Publix has had coffee bogo lately.

awww- a little tooth! Bottom left.

Zachary

My big boy. He is getting so big. I can't believe it. He is sitting up pretty well on his own, but still tips over to one side ocassionally, so I try to prop him up (like with the boppy in these pics) to help him gain strength. He is almost too big for his infant carrier, so this weekend we'll be cleaning Natalya's old carseat really well, washing the cover and so forth to put him in it. waaahhhhh!!! I am not ready for him to grow up. It goes too fast!

He has the best smile. This week he started doing something funny- I think he got it from natalya. When natalya laughs and smiles really big, her eyes squint, almost together, and this week, Zachary started doing it- when you laugh or smile at him, he will squeeze his eyes shut and smile really big. It is SO CUTE!!!

Look-a-like

Our children are nearly identical- it's a little crazy!
Check this out
Natalya at 4 months two weeks and Zachary at 6 months one week

Some pics and How does your garden grow?

We planted a few seeds leftover from several years ago to see if they would grow, and what do you know?? They sure did (well, most of them). We have now transplanted some to pots since an in-ground garden would be difficult due to the neighborhood deer, raccoons and opossums. :)




Here's some recent pics of the kiddos:
Zachary enjoying the excersaucer


Doing a little painting

Being silly

Having some yummy roasted corn at the Ren Fest

Zachary is 6 months old

Actually he was 6 months old last Wednesday... waaaaaahhhhhh
It's gone by so fast!!

He had his well baby today and he is 18.55lb and 27.5" long- 67%ile for weight and 87%ile for height. How did Doug and I get such tall kids???

Dr says he looks great. He was thrilled and pleased when I told him he was 100% breastfed with no formula. He got one vax today- HiB, and took it great- cried a little, but nursing calmed him down. The doctor also commented on what a great temperament he has. I agreed and said he is so laid back I can hardly believe it. We are so very lucky.

Reminiscing

Natalya




Zachary