7 Months

I can't believe he is 7 months already. He is so much fun and it is hard to imagine life before Zach was here! 

A picture of one of our playdates on his 7 month birthday!: 

Colorado Trip Number 2

Last week Andy went to North Carolina for a conference and Zach and I thought it would be more fun to go to Boulder than to stay at home by ourselves. I was a little bit nervous about the plane ride with just the two of us, but he did great!  As long as we were doing something different every 30 seconds for the entire four hour plane ride life was good ;-). We had a fun and busy week and got to see lots of people. The only down-side was that Zach got his first ear infection while we were there. Once I figured out why he was so upset and got him in to see the Dr. at Urgent Care things were okay. Poor little guy. He was in so much pain but he was very brave! A few highlights of our trip are pictured below. We spent one afternoon with my friend Kelly from college and her little boy Sam who is about a month younger than Zach. We had a great time seeing them and we loved meeting Sam for the first time. We also had a visit with Zach's great-granddad which is always a highlight of our trips to Boulder! While visiting Grandmom and Granddad (Andy's parents) they introduced Zach to the joys of shredding magazines which has now become a favorite pastime and can keep him busy for much longer than the normal 30 second intervals. We also attended a baby shower where Zach made a little friend. We were sad to leave but luckily we will be heading back there the day after Christmas! In other news Zach now has two cute little teeth on the bottom and he loves peas and peaches too! 

Zach and Sam playing together

Zach is starting to learn what to do when someone pulls out a camera. 

Zach wanted to try out Sam's Jumparoo to make sure it was as fun as his. Turns out it was!

Riding in the car together on our way to lunch. 

Little feet

Great-Granddad, Zach and Grandmom

Zach loves his Grandmom!

Zach and Sonja at the baby shower. 

Zach is a Party Animal...

... A party lion to be exact! Zach had a big Halloween. He went to three Halloween parties this year. His social calendar is far more exciting than ours is! His first party was at the church. He was in the costume parade and won for the category of "Littlest Lion". Of course he was also the only one competing for that award, but now we have the little certificate for his baby book. He went to another party on Sunday afternoon. We don't have any pictures of that party for two reasons 1. Our camera ran out of batteries 2. When it was time to line up all of the kids on the couch and take their picture, Zach threw off his lion mane and sat on the floor eating Cherrios instead. Hey, at least he was happy which is more than can be said for the other babies that were all lined up and screaming their heads off!

Yesterday we had a Halloween party with our playgroup. That was by far the best because there were 10 little babies all under a year dressed up in precious costumes. As you can see I had to include some pictures below of some of the other precious babies in their costumes. What a fun first Halloween!

update: We have now added pears to the "Foods Zach Loves" list!

Eric the turtle, munching on the letter "G" with Tinkerbell Mackenzie

The sweetest little lion in the jungle. 

A brave little lion. 

Eric the turtle with Mariska the leopard.

Zoe the frog 

Zach and mom waiting for trick-or-treaters.

A Fun Night Downtown

Last friday we went into DC to see some friends. We ate wonderful Thai food and had lots of fun catching up even though it was a cold and rainy night. 

Zach and daddy, ready to get some dinner. 

Zach and mommy at the restaurant. 

Zach and daddy were twins. 

Bundled up in his stroller for the walk back to Ali's. 

He is so funny when he tries to smile and keep his pacifier in at the same time. 

That Brian sure is a fun guy!

Zach and daddy hanging out on the couch. 

A long night and still in a great mood. 

The Cuteness Never Stops!!!

I feel like every time I turn around Zach is doing something new and exciting. He pushes himself up to his hands and knees and rocks back and forth like he is ready to go. Then instead of moving forward he moves backward. Poor little guy. He sees the toy he wants on the floor and then gets further and further away from it! I am noticing that he is starting to watch the other babies in our playgroup and tries to do what they are doing. He always seems to be a little closer to crawling after we get home from our playgroup. He also started drinking a little bit of water from both a sippy cup and a regular cup. He enjoys the regular cup much more but ends up wearing most of it. The sippy cup is more fun to play with at this point. So far he has loved all of the solid food that he has tried except avocados and he will even eat those as long as I mix them with something else. I am making all of his food and freezing it and having so much fun doing that! So far he eats rice cereal, oatmeal, bananas, apples, sweet potatoes, green beans and avocados. Tomorrow he is going to try the butternut squash that I made him tonight for the first time. His doctor suggested that we let him start to try Cherrios. We were a bit nervous about that one but he did a great job with them and they keep him busy for a long time. Andy mentioned that you think your kid can't get any cuter and then you see him eatting Cherrios. That is the truth! It is so cute to watch which is why I posted about 400 pictures of it below! The funny part about it is that ever since he was very little he has made gumming/chewing motions with his mouth to indicate that he wants to eat or wants more, so he gums the Cherrios and then keeps gumming and I am never sure if he is still eatting or asking for more. It will be great for him when he can start to communicate with some of the Sign Language signs we are teaching him. Also in this set of pictures are some of him in his new Jumperoo that Grandma gave him for his 6-month birthday. He loves loves loves the Jumperoo. He starts jumping like crazy and singing at the same time and then stops, looks at us, and starts giggling. Quite honestly it is also very nice to be able to get things done around the house while he is happy, safe, and entertained.

This is Zach's "working hard" face.

This look of excitement can usually be easily brought on by

mom or dad singing "BINGO"-I dont know what it is about

that song!

6 months!

Zach will be 6 months old on Friday! It truly is hard to believe. Time flies when you are having fun. We just got back from the doctor. He weighs 16lbs 11oz (50th percentile), he is 28in (90th percentile), and his head circumfrence is 18 in (90th percentile-lots of brains). He had lots of shots and did a great job. He cried for a second and then was back to his smiling happy self!

Our first visit with Baby Christian

Mommy's cousin Brooke just had a new baby. Christian Cruz! We went up for a quick visit last week and it was so great to meet him. We know that Christian and Zach will be great friends and quickly got off to a good start. Hopefully Christian will forget that Zach tried to gouge his eyes out:-) Thats his way of showing love these days!