Somebody blows their nose and you want to keep it?

Zach is currently going through his first big cold. It's not a bad cold, just a cough, sneezing and stuffy nose. It's just really sad and totally pathetic when he coughs and sniffs all the time. We found out it makes us feel better if we say "Awww, po witto Zachy has a coad" Then there is at least a little cuteness hidden within the mucus. Also, as generous and giving as our son is, he has graciously donated his cold to both of us so that we can literally take part in his entire life.

In less gross news, Zach has been really happy this month because it's a "mommy is home" month. He had no idea where she was going when dad had to take care of him in the morning for those last couple months so at the end of her last session, we took him in to "mama's office" and he found that it was more exciting that anyone could have possibly imagined. (To be fair, he thinks that the remote for the fan is also more exciting than anyone could imagine, so his fascination level should not be gauged against your average person).

You may think he's learning, but he's actually listening to his E.L.O. Greatest Hits album

Zach preparing his "my dog ate my homework" defense

Of course he went immediately for the 'Z'...and no it's not because that was the only letter within his height range, how dare you for thinking that

Zach was baptized on April 25 at St. Robert Bellarmine (the same church we were married in) with his uncle Greg and our friend Mary as the Godparents. Greg tried to do his best Don Corleone but Zach wasn't really getting it...maybe the terrifying 'orange peel in the mouth' trick would get his attention. What he did enjoy was having holy water poured over his head. He was apparently feeling the holy fire burning within and by the grace of God was given the power to almost jump out of Kelly's arms and into the baptismal font. Fortunately, he did not succeed. He still had a good time and was very excited that so many people came to see him on that special day.

Zach and Great Nonie

Great grandpa Jack, Great grandma Dode, Great grandpa Ralph, Good Zach, and regular Mom and Dad

Mary, Zach and Vito

Notice the Kung Fu grip Zach has on his mom's arm...well wouldn't you be slightly concerned if someone was holding you upside down and backwards under a guy in a robe holding some kind of mysterious sin-removing liquid?

Visitors to the house keep tapering off as time goes on (we assume it's due to the fact that everyone already knows how awesome Zach is) but we still get the occasional guest. Katie and Victoria's mom and dad (Mike and Marianne) stopped by with their daughters, Christine visited too; and Katie's friend (and mommy of two girls) Gianne came by to go to the park with the group...they took Zach too.

Feeding a baby is like riding a bike with no seat...you can do it, but somehow not as enjoyable as you remember

My focus is immediately drawn to the dude in the back auditioning for the buttercup fairy...seriously, what is that pose?

Someone needs her own baby, stat

Charlotte found our stairs...and TOTALLY LOVED THEM

Here is some video of Zach crawling today. He's been toying around with a few different techniques and typically goes for the "whatever gets me there the fastest" style but this is one of our favorites because it's just....it's just crazy man...

Katie works for Dreamworks Animation (I know, I agree, I like Pixar better too, but when Peanut M&M's aren't available sometimes you gotta just go with regular) and yesterday was "Shrek Day." She invited Zach and Kelly to enjoy the festivities and have "one Shrek of a time" (I can't even guess at what that could possibly mean). They had a GREAT time.

SHREK!

SHREK!!!!!!

SHREEEEEEEEEEEKKKKK!!!!!!!!!

shrek

And finally as we skid out and plow through the guardrail of Summer, we look forward to fun in the sun, and water. Zach wanted to prepare himself for the biggie pool so we gave him a taste of adventure right in our own backyard.

No, daddy is not torturing his son in this picture

No, daddy is not standing by laughing as his son falls face-first into the water

Well, that's all for now. Zachary is growing up as fast as ever so I'll (once again) try to produce a few more blogs per month to keep up with his ever-progressing progress.

-pf

Fun Facts:

• We recently found out that Joel and Kim are due to have a baby (hooray) in December 2010, so that will be the first baby cousin born after him....FINALLY someone his own size to pick on.
• Zach had his 9 month check up...perfect as usual quoth the Doctor.
• He is consistently saying 'mama' and 'dada' now (the former more than the latter). We are unconvinced that he understands what he's saying.
• On Peter's "Horrible father scale of intellect" I put Zach above Cat but below Dog and Gorilla at this point in his life, as he can move around and motion at stuff he wants, but still can't understand basic commands or language.
• Next post I'll get some good "Zach standing" pictures....he's about two weeks away from climbing out of his crib so I'm sure we'll have an interesting story about that.
  

That's the last time you put a knife in me, hear me?

So Zach is two months old...wow that was fast.

Unfortunately for him, two months translates to "baby's first shots." We visited the doctor in the morning, as that is usually "happy Zach" time so we figured it would help ease the pain....you know....like giving an inmate ice cream before the electric chair. He did pretty good considering they gave him a few different shots along with a yucky oral medicine. I think the extra padding in his thunder-thighs helped him (see exhibit A below). He slept the rest of the day, which was most likely helped by the Tylenol we gave him.

He chose Peanuts band-aids because he thought they looked cool.

We have been giving him baths every night to help calm him down after his intense days of sleeping and eating. He LOVES the water. He also loves splashing as much of it as possible out of the bath and onto the sink, floor, or his mom and dad. After the baths we have been swaddling and rocking him and reading bedtime stories. That sort of helps...but he usually falls asleep for the night about an hour after that nightly procedure.

He stares at himself in the mirror during bath-time. Soooo vain...

In social news, Zach is still enjoying his Friday music classes. He is the only boy, so he gets lots of attention. We have had a few more visitors over to the house recently. Kelly and Chris came by with Blake to visit. Unfortunately, I wasn't home, but I heard Blake loved the house.

Blake is my cousin, once removed and Zach's second cousin...let's just call them cousins...and now the word cousin has lost all meaning to me.........cousin

Last weekend we (Kelly, Zach, Token and Peter) took a walk to the big park which is a couple miles away to visit with Mary and Molly.

The other pictures in my Picasa album are really cute...this is cute too...but just not AS cute

The 30th was our four-year wedding anniversary so on Saturday night, Nonie and Papa took care of Zach while Kelly and I got to go out on a date. We talked about a lot of different topics that we don't normally get to discuss: Zach's clothes, Zach's behavior, Zach's sleeping habits, Zach, etc.

Today when we picked him up, we brought his swim outfit that Penny got him and we went for his first dip in the spa.

Yeah that's right, he's cool, big whoop, wanna fight about it?

Zach: A Total State of Zen

He loved to splash around in the spa and his kicking technique was flawless. We are sure he will be swimming in another two months...or so...

Fun Facts:

• Kelly thinks he is teething already because he is sucking his hands and drooling. I'm not convinced.
• Zach is officially 14lbs 10oz....that's the 92nd percentile in weight. He is also officially 23 1/2 inches long which is the 67th percentile in height.
• He has had a couple 5 hour stretches during the night, and one glorious evening, he slept for 6 hours straight...of course we didn't because we were checking him all night to make sure he was ok.
  

-pf

You're the doc, Doc

This morning we went to Zachary's two-week appointment and everything is going great. The doctor's actual words were "perfect" but of course, I don't keep track of those things....it's just that word "perfect"... it sounds so nice. You know, like a Perfect test score, or a Perfect game. Really, by definition, it can't get any better than that...but not one to dwell on his Perfection, I'm just happy to know that he's doing well....Perfectly well to be exact.

However, he does have a little "issue" that apparently most babies have. Acne. I know, I thought it was saved only for the embarrassment of teenagers in their most vulnerable years too! The doctor (and our What to Expect... book) said that it's completely normal and that it peaks around 2-3 weeks and should go away within a month. I guess it's just another one of those weird baby things.

Here's a picture to embarrass him 13 years from now. It's not bad...just around the forehead and around his nose.

Some other interesting stuff we learned:

• When he was born, Zach could only see about a foot or so in front of him, and only in black and white. At this point it's getting better, and he can see most colors, but it's still not great. Objects close up are kind of hard to focus on and objects far away are blurred:

I can only assume that from up close, I look like this to him:

...and from a distance, this is what you would look like on approach:

• Pretty soon (within a few weeks) he should be able to start "cooing" and making more distinguishable noises. That would be him talking to us. We are supposed to talk back to him but Kelly tells me the noises I make are annoying compared to his "sweet" gurgling...I can only assume Zach loves my noises. Here's some video of him laying on the bed being cute...make sure to listen for his sneeze at about 1:01 in. It's one of the cutest things he does right now.
  

Recent visitors to the house have included Great-Grandma Leisel, Uncle Will, Nick and Nikki.

Great-Grandma Leisel and sleepy Zach

Uncle Will and interested Zach

Nick and fidgety Zach

Nikki and hungry Zach

He also visited Nonie and Papa's (which was the furthest he's ever traveled in his entire life) and played in his other crib.

Zach loves visiting his grandparents

We also introduced Zach to the bottle (since Kelly has been filling up the freezer with frozen pumped milk-sicles) and he chugged that puppy like a freshman.

2.0 fluid ounces per minute...BAM!

That's all for now!

Fun Facts:

• I'm going back to work on Monday so it will be Kelly on her own (I'm sure there will be visitors) in the months ahead.
• Saturday night will be Zach's first sleepover at Nonie and Papa's house. Kelly and I are going to Christine and Rick's wedding.
• I changed the navigation image at the top of the blog per William's request. Was it better before? William will definitely let me know it's my fault if it doesn't look good.
  

-pf