He's on the Move!

So I'm pretty terrible about keeping this updated but every time I get ten minutes to myself there are about 30 other things that I need to do first as most of you can understand! Zach is growing and developing so fast that I feel like I can hardly keep up with it all. About a month ago Matt and I swore he was going to start crawling because he would get on all fours and rock and take a "step" or two. We followed him around with the camera and it was like he decided that he no longer wanted to go and refused to even get on his hands and knees. He developed his own style of movement which was rolling all over the floor. He was so funny just rolling and scooting everywhere, but not so funny getting a hold of everything (and I thought that I had done a decent job baby-proofing-HA!). Then over this past weekend he really got the scooting/army crawling down which is super cute. He is so determined and gets so serious about everything and just gets terribly upset if he can't do it.

But yesterday that all changed when he started crawling! We had just gotten home from his play date and grocery shopping and I put him on the floor so I could put the grocery's away. I came back in the living room and he was in front of the TV stand trying to pull out the cords (like I said, I fail at baby-proofing!) so I picked him up and put him back in the middle of the room with his toys. He was looking really cute so I got out the camera and he fell forward to all fours and went for it. It was amazing and I am so glad that I got his first crawl on camera. Of course I started crying and called Matt who said "I'm on my way home NOW" and hung up before I could say a word! He's not going everywhere yet, thank goodness, but he's going across the room and I'm sure in a couple days there will be no stopping this kid. I have been so eager for this moment but I have been dreading it all at the same time. I know that my life has just made another drastic change. No longer can I put him down with his basket of toys to go do laundry and find him in the same place when I come back. I thought the 2 small baby gates we got for Abby would work when Zach started moving but I also see now that I'm going to have to go get one of the large ones that you can shape because he is drawn to the floor heater and likes to lay his face on it-fine during the summer when its off but I really don't need him to burn his beautiful little face when I turn it on for the fall! He also discovered Abby's food and water bowl's yesterday so I'm sure he'll be sampling dog food sometime in the future :)

He is developing such a little personality too and that is the best part of motherhood by far. I love seeing how he reacts to new things and situations and how fast he is learning. One of his new things is clapping. Matt and I brought him into our bed on a Friday morning and he just looked at us and started clapping, it was really cute. Now he'll do it all the time and we start cheering for him and he smiles. He is still talking all the time and his favorite thing to do is blow raspberries. He will find a way to put his mouth on whatever body part I have exposed and start blowing. His sneezes make him laugh too...actually any body noise/function causes him to giggle which is such a boy thing!

Zachery's palate is expanding too. Now that he is 8 months old there is a whole new world of food that we are getting ready to explore. He is usually a pretty good eater but has started to get a little picky lately and refusing some things that he used to love. This week we started yogurt and he really likes it! I buy the plain/organic kind and put different fruit in it for him. We tried pumpkin yesterday and he loved it. He also likes turkey (lunch meat more than ground), eggs (although only at Legends, he won't eat them when I make them) and we have given him a little fish (salmon and halibut) and he loved them. He has gotten the pincer grasp down and can now feed himself puffs and small things like peas and corn. We are still avoiding all sugar and juice...I want to keep his eating habits as healthy as possible for as long as possible! I don't think he will have any sweets until his first birthday (which is already all planned in my head, lol). It's fun to watch him try new things because he always looks disgusted at the first bite but then if he likes it you can't feed him fast enough!

The biggest thing that I am doing with him is potty training. Yes, you read that right. I have gotten all kinds of doubt and negative comments about this but it's still something that I am trying. It's not like I expect him to be potty trained anytime soon but I figured if I can at least get him comfortable with the toilet and make it not scary for him so that as he gets older and is ready to potty train for real it won't be so hard. Whenever I change his diaper, after a nap and after a meal I will put him on there and we sing a couple songs until he tries to get off and it has been working pretty well. He has gone on the toilet a number of times so we're going to keep trying it.

Our next big adventure is Halloween and I can't wait! I tried his costume on him the other day and it was already too small so I'm going this week to exchange it. If anything else exciting happens I'll try to get on here and let everyone know!! Here are some pictures from the last month:

With proud Daddy before a USC game

With Mommy cheering on the Steelers

It was time to lower the crib!

Playing in the pool in Vegas

I can't believe my little monkey is 8 months old already!

September Already!

It is no lie when everyone says that the time flies by with a baby, I can't believe it's September already and my little guy is 7 months old! It seems to go even faster since we have been so busy. Matt and I had our first 2 nights without Zach since we had 2 weddings in the same week in August. Zach stayed one night with Nana and Papa (my parents) and one night with Nonni and Papa (Matt's parents) and he seemed to do pretty well with both. He did decide to refuse the bottle with Matt's parents so he was asserting a little independence and probably punishing us for leaving him another night :) It was nice to have a few nights with my husband again. I have decided that once Zach is no longer breast feeding and is sleeping through the night he will have to have a sleepover with each set of grandparents every month (I just haven't told the grandparents this master plan yet!). It was also fun to have a reason to get all dressed up and see my husband in a suit!

Zachery and I also spent a few days in Las Vegas to visit my friend Carly and her new son, Aiden. It was so much fun and Aiden is absolutely adorable! It was so fun to see how tiny and sweet he was but I sure don't miss having a newborn. I'm sure one day I will but for now I can still remember the months of no sleep and the fact that Zach was extremely fussy for the first 12 weeks. The good thing is that my mother keeps telling me you usually only have one difficult baby so at least I got it out of the way first...we'll see in a few years if this wisdom has and truth to it :) Here is a picture of Zach and Aiden on our outing to the mall:

Zach and I went to the Aquarium with Matt's mom and his cousin Lisa while she was here visiting and we saw Matt diving. I don't think Zach recognized that it was his daddy in the water but it will be so much fun when he finally does.

Our family had a wonderful surprise this week when my Uncle Eddie flew out here from Nebraska to spend some time with us and meet Zachery. I had no idea he was coming here and all of a sudden I looked up because Abby was going crazy outside and there he was! It was great to spend some time with him since I haven't seen him since before I even knew I was pregnant. I am looking forward to going out there in May to see the entire family and watch my cousin Daniel graduate from high school.

The biggest development with Zach has been his speech. He is now saying "blah" and "da" all the time. It's a tiny bit annoying that I have to listen to da-da-da-da all day long and not ma-ma-ma-ma. But I know it's not da-da as in Matt, it's just noise to him right now. It's pretty incredible how quickly he understands things and how much he is learning all the time. He has also learned how to take apart his toys that are hooked together with plastic links which is pretty impressive to me since he is just 7 months old. Not that I'm saying my child is a prodigy but...haha. Here is a little video of Zach having a conversation while in his jumper:

Well, the little man is starting to get fussy since I have left him alone to play while I did this so I better get to him!

What a Busy Week!

Zachery has had a week full of firsts and adventures! Last Wednesday we started going to a playgroup with other babies that are around his age. These are mostly moms from my exercise group, Stroller Strides, and all of our babies are under 1. Every Wednesday we are alternating houses and getting together for a few hours to give the babies a chance to play and us a chance to have adult conversations, which is a welcome change! So far Zach hasn't been very "social", he has been pretty fussy and not wanting to really do much but be held and chew on me. This is how he was the first few times at My Gym and music class also, so I think he's just going to be a child who takes a little while to get comfortable in a new setting. He gets that from me for sure! Here is a picture from this weeks play date:

Zach and friends at playgroup

Zach and I will be hosting our friends at the end of the month so I am looking forward to that, and the housekeeper that Matt is getting for us that week so we don't have to do all the hard core cleaning!

We went to the Orange County fair on Saturday and that was a blast. There wasn't much of anything that Zach could do except the pony ride. We had so much fun taking him and watching him that I already can't wait for next year when he will hopefully be big enough for a couple of the rides. He reacted pretty well to the pony and really only got upset when they stopped walking to let other kids on and off.

Moms little cowboy!

He also enjoyed the petting zoo where he got to pet baby deer and goats.

Zach loved the animals :)

Over the weekend Zach also finally rolled from his stomach to his back. Of course we missed it but it and he hasn't done it again but I was so relieved that he did it. I put him on his tummy on the floor and looked back at him 30 second later and he was on his back. I was getting a little worried because he should be able to roll both ways by now so at least he showed me once. It's like he knew it was stressing me out and he wanted me to relax and stop rolling him that way. Zach has also gotten very vocal in the last few days and is babbling up a storm. I am waiting for all of the consonants to come but so far I am getting "Ga" and then grunting. At least ga is a start! I know once he starts talking he won't stop, especially if he is like his daddy :) but that's one of the things I love most about him! Another big step that happened on Saturday is that Zachery got up on all 4's for the first time with his tummy off the ground.

Zach's first time on all 4's

And last night he started rocking back and forth while on his hands and knees. It is so exciting but this means I better get baby proofing the house ASAP! On Monday we went to this park in Westminister called the Splash Pad. It is basically a small fenced in area with statues that shoot water out and sprinklers that pop out of the ground and spray water. It was organized by my work out group and it was really fun to watch all the toddlers play and run in the water. It was a little too old for Zach but I know next Summer he is going to love it!

We had our last music class this week so Matt and I decided that we wanted to start Zach in swim lessons and today was our first mommy and me class. It was so much fun and Matt was able to leave work for a little while to come and watch which made it even better! I hate that he misses out on some of these things but I am so glad he came today because this is the thing he has been most excited about Zach doing since we found out we were having a baby. The pool we did the class at is in Seal Beach and they keep the temperature at 90 so it was perfect for the little guy. He loved it and for the first time I didn't have to ease him into the water like we do at my parents house in Vegas, I just went right in with him and he was smiling and laughing. There were 3 babies/mommies in the class and we sang and practiced going under water, floating and kicking so it was fun. Matt and I have decided that we are going to do these classes once a week since Zach seemed to enjoy himself so much. It is also really important to us that he knows how to be safe in the water. After I get comfortable with him in the mommy and me class we are going to start the water safety classes. I got there early today so I could watch and they were dropping babies not much older than Zach in the water face down and they were flipping over and calmly floating to the side of the pool. Since my parents have a pool at the new house and Matt's parents have a jacuzzi we really want to make sure that Zach is able to do this if he were to ever fall in. Here are a few pictures from the class:

Zach loving the warm pool

Zachery learning how to float

Going under the water!

Zach is 6 months old!

Well, the time does certainly fly by! My little man turned 6 months last Friday and I cannot believe he is now closer to being 1 than a newbie!

Zach had his favorites for his 6 month dinner-sweet potato and carrots

Don't get me wrong, I definitely don't want to go back, the first 6 weeks were rough, but I miss my cuddly little guy. Zach is really starting to explore everything around him and is so squirmy that it's hard to hold him for very long! It is amazing to watch him discovering new things and I'm so enjoying every minute of being home with him so that I don't have to miss any of it! He had his 6 month check-up with the pediatrician last week and he is weighing in at 17lbs 8oz (50th percentile) and 27 inches (75th percentile) so for everyone who comments on how chubby he is, he is perfectly average in that department ;). I do have Zach involved in a few different activities; on Monday's we go to My Gym which is a children's gym. He really seems to enjoy it and I have noticed that he is really strong for his age and I think part of that is from going to the gym. They teach me how to do stretches and "exercises" with him to build his muscles and develop his motor skills.

Here is Zach doing "push ups" at My Gym

We are also doing a baby music class that is almost over. It has been fun for him, except that he gets a little fussy after a while. He wants so badly to be moving and doing things on his own that he gets really frustrated.

Here is Zach taking a ride during music class

The music class only has one more session and I am going to get him into swimming. Since my parents bought the house in Vegas and it has a pool I feel a lot more comfortable if he at least has some lessons and everything I've read says the earlier that you start swimming the better and more confident your child will be at it. That is my Zach project this week, to find a mommy and me swimming class that we can start. It will be fun and it will be great exercise for me as well! The other really exciting thing that has happened this week is that my best friend from college, Carly, had her little boy! Aiden was born on August 1st and from the pictures I have seen he is absolutely adorable! I am so excited for Carly, I know she is going to be such an amazing mother and it is going to be so fun to have our little boys grow up together since they are only 6 months apart :) Zach and I are planning to go and visit her in a week and a half so I can hardly wait! So congratulations again to Carly and Kevin, Aiden is a luckly little guy to have you two as parents!

Welcome to our Blog!

I have decided to start this blog for a few reasons:

1. It is the easiest way to keep everyone updated on our beautiful little boys progress and milestones. He is growing and changing so fast that it seems like there is something new with him everyday. I cannot believe that he is going to be 6 months old this week-it's no joke when everyone tells you that it flies by!

2. I swore that I was going to be the best mom and document everything that Zachery did but the reality is that I barely have the time everyday to do my hair! By keeping a blog I will have a document of all his exciting milestones and he will be able to look back at all this one day. I'm sure that he won't actually look back at it until he has kids of his own but I'll have it all for him nonetheless!

Like I said he will be 6 months on Friday and it is amazing all of the things that he is doing now. He is rolling over from his back to his stomach, he has 5 teeth with the 6th one ready to cut any day, he is tucking his knees under him and pushing his chest up and is soooo close to crawling. He has also been eating solid food for about a month now and it is always so much fun to introduce him to something new. His current favorites are butternut squash and sweet potato and he loves banana and watermelon. We put the fruit in these mesh pacifier things and he is able to chew them to be small enough so he doesn't choke. It is so funny to watch him because he gets so aggressive while he is eating and he is such a mess that we usually strip him down first and put him right into the bath after.

Zach has so much personality already and it is so fun to continue watching it develop. We have a busy week coming up with Zach's music class, My Gym and his 6 month check-up so I'm sure I will have tons to write about next week!