This one goes to eleven

Well, Zach's birthday came and went faster than Lindsay Lohan's prison stay and the time just keeps on flying by. He had a great first birthday...we assume. I'm sure someday he will look back at the massive amount of people who showed up, and/or wished him a "Happy Birthday," got him a fun present, told him he was the cutest and wished the whole family well, and he will remember none of it. That's ok though. At least we had fun, and we learned a valuable lesson: don't have huge parties for a one-year-old.

Zach and his friends.....what? 1-year-olds can't have friends 30 times their age?

Zach, family and an obliterated cupcake....I mean he mutilated that thing...it spun in....there were no survivors.

Speaking of gifts, Zach brought home the mother-load...(technically, I brought home the mother-load while Zach slept in the back of the car and spilled raisins all over the back seat) but either way, they are his presents and he is having a blast with them! He loved everything he got (even the clothes) and he's been using all of his stuff a lot more lately. It makes us feel a little more validated when we see the mountains of toys in the living room actually being used finally. Most of that is due to his mobility. He's walking around now like Arthur Bach on a bender, but he's getting better. Amazingly, whereas just a few weeks ago on his birthday he was just barely taking a few steps, he's now walking around the entire house with only a few falls here and there. It's a good thing we splurge on his extra padded diapers.

Here's a picture of him playing with his Dino-walker toy that he got from Nonie and Papa:

Excuse me ladies, I didn't find the time to put on any pants.

And here's a video of him walking. (Mind you, this was taken last week, so in baby time a week is like a thousand years of improvement....as I write this, he's taking Token on a walk around the neighborhood)

He's been doing a lot of other cool stuff over the last several weeks. He's talking a lot more and making a little more sense. The ratio of sounds coming out of his mouth to words is widening, but I feel like that will begin to shrink eventually. He makes the Tiger sound "Grrrr" and he is very good and pointing things out when we ask "where is the fan?, where is the light?, where is the ceiling, where is the sky"....see the pattern? He can also point out the Red Balloon in Goodnight Moon (ironically enough, he can't quite find the actual moon yet) and he knows several household items by name such as "Dog, ball, blankie, book, stairs" along with all the other aforementioned items, and some others that I probably am not remembering right now.

Here's a quickie of him showing love to his most valuable item on Earth:

Zach is definitely going through a lot of growth (mentally) right now. It seems like he's learning more and more each day. For instance: it's extremely funny to watch Mama's terrifyingly shocked reaction when he reaches up to turn on the burner to the stove. Kelly is off this month (and going back to work next week and none to excited about having to leave Zach again) but they did a ton of fun stuff: multiple trips to the beach, visits to the grandparents and great-grandparents, music class, and a ton of swim-time. So I think Zach has had a pretty good 12th month...in fact, I think he's had a pretty good first year. Let's bring on number two! Speaking of number two..........(I'm talking about Zach, not me...you're gross)

Since I'm in the video mood today, here's ONE more of him playing catch with Token...I swear most of the force in his throw comes from him, not me......*cough

Fun Facts:

• Zach now pinches as a sign of what we imagine is love when we pick him up...it's great.
• He picks out his own bed-time book....Suuuper cuuuuuutteee!
• He's getting more independent in his walking and what-not, but interestingly, also getting a lot more of the separation anxiety when we start to walk away.

-pf

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.
  

We all have our little faults. Mine's in California.

So I said to Kelly, "Hey! I should start a blog for Zach...you know, to track his growth and make sure we remember his accomplishments and all that stuff."

"Yeah, Kelly said, that's a great idea...only you already did that...you haven't posted anything for three months."

"Oh......right" I said.

Well it wasn't my fault. It was my "unbreakable" Mac Mini, on which all of our pictures are kept, that unexpectedly broke. Well I called in the big guns (William) and he fixed it saving me money...and not just regular money...Mac money. (That's worth more than regular money apparently)

Anyway, now that the "unpleasantness" is out of the way, let's just forget all about it, pretend it never happened, and let us never speak of it again. On to the main subject:

Zach is doing well. It's pretty much been life as usual with him. Lots of sleeping, eating, grunting, pooping etc. Actually Kelly went back to work in March (technically the end of February) and this "term" goes until the end of April so it's a couple months of either bringing Zach into town to see the grandmas (or other much-appreciated designated babysitter) or the grandmas coming here to watch him at home. It's been pretty tough for us. Kelly misses him a lot during the day and I've been pretty busy at work with the election, so I usually don't get home until after he is asleep for the night. (Note that even though I didn't actually say that I miss him too, like I did for Kelly, I do, in fact, miss him) Zach enjoys it though. He loves seeing his grandmas and always smiles for them...sometimes it takes a while for him to smile as he usually sleeps in the car on the way to Burbank and sleepy Zachy is not smiley Zachy.

Developmentally-wise, he is pretty much following the "What to expect..." flow chart. He's eating mashed up veggies and fruit now three times a day along with his 3-4 six ounce bottles. He's loving his food still. He's also very recently started eating Krispy Rice (not Rice Krispies...we stick with Kirkland brand food, and for that matter, pretty much anything else that Kirkland sells) He still hasn't gotten the pincer grasp down, so the idea is for him to lick his hand and mash it down on a pile, seeing how many he can get to stick, then shove his entire hand into his mouth and...the rest is simple.

He loves his oatmeal and bananas, but he loves the bowl that they come in equally as much.

He's also started "scooting" around on the floor. I can't really call it "crawling" because to get from point A to point B he uses a complicated system of rolling over, swiveling, grunting, bobbing his head, and kicking needlessly into the air. However, it works. We can't leave him anywhere anymore without worrying about what lies within a 10-15 foot radius that he can get into. He's also standing while holding onto things pretty well. He can't get into the position himself, but he can stay there for ever. Also, I haven't seen him sit up by himself, but I did enter his room the other day to find him sitting....just chillin' waiting for me. That was kind of cool.

He's been really interactive with toys and people. His focus is much better and he smiles a lot. It takes a while to warm up to new people, but he's usually pretty good with them.

This is Zach shopping with mommy for mommy's birthday at Target.

Zach loves his toys. But clearly daddy also likes Zach's toys (as seen here in the background)

Sometimes, there's so much to do and so many buttons to press that it gets a little overwhelming.

Great, he likes the drums...this does not look good for mom and dad's future sanity.

Zach hasn't been to his music classes in a while and he doesn't have many friends (what a nerd) so he's entertained by mommy most of the time. He goes shopping with us, plays with toys in the house, plays outside on the grass with Token, and sometimes goes to the park.

Whazzzuuuuuuuuuup!

His best (and probably only) friend, is Molly. He loves her because she lets him play with her toys and she gives him kisses and hugs.

In this sequence, Molly teaches Zach that pink can be a guy color too, and that bangles are a fun toy to put on your wrist, and put into your mouth.

April's probably going to be another busy month. Zach has his baptism this month (so we won't have to worry about that purgatory thing anymore) and Kelly is working still so he'll be doing his daily road trips. There will be plenty of growing though (hopefully up, and not out) so I'll try to be better about more frequent posts, I promise!

Kelly wouldn't tell me how much this outfit cost her for fear of emotional and/or physical abuse so we'll just suffice it to say that it's super cute and "you can't put a price on that"

Fun Facts:

• Zach has sixth teeth now; two on the bottom still and four on top. It's making him a little extra cranky and giving him a runny nose.
• He totally has moved into life-size adult poops now that he's started on solids...totally gross.
  
• He puts out his arms to let you know he wants up

-pf

I found Palmolive had a nice, piquant after-dinner flavor

Merry Christmas!

Zach had his first visit to Santa! As you can see, he was stunned to see just how big Santa really is. He did a great job though; no tears, and no fussing. Although his smile was ruined by the lady taking the picture. He was totally ready to smile big just like dad taught him when the lady shook some can with rocks in it...obviously that caused a bit of alarm because his picture came out a little more surprised than happy. Oh well...it was a great first Santa Pic.

Speaking of Santa, we are in full swing with Christmas right around the corner. We had a little Christmas gathering as you can see below, mostly to test the limits of how loud we could be without waking Zach...the answer is not very...besides, he thought it was pretty lousy of us to put him to sleep right when we started to play games.


Last week, Zach got another visitor friend. Linda brought her son Aidan to visit. He is a little older than Zachy. In this picture, Zach wonders what that stuff is on top of Aidan's head and secretly hopes that he can grow some of that stuff...or at least put it in his mouth.


AND, segueing nicely from putting things in his mouth, Zach has started to eat rice cereal. This started from Zach not feeling good for a couple weeks after Thanksgiving. He was congested and went through his first cold...it wasn't fun for him, but he pushed through. However, during the cold, he decided that he was not about to further his frustration and eat from a bottle so he went through an understandably fussy period. We thought that maybe he would be more interested in the spoon (since everything is going in his mouth these days anyway) and what d' you know, he took to it like a zombie to brains.

We don't feed him very much, or every night, but it's a good way to try to get him to sleep longer through the night. He doing a pretty good job of that still (right now he's going from about 730-430 with the occasional "re-swaddle and comfort" sessions throughout). I'm still looking forward to his sleep training though. Especially with Kelly going back to work in January.

He's still growing and doing new things what seems like every day (see the Fun Facts below) but we're trying to keep him on a pretty consistent schedule.

He still gets his bath pretty much every night. He recently got a rash on his back and chest which could have been from getting over his cold, but I think it might have also been from putting bubble bath in his bathwater. I had pretty sensitive skin and since Zach is basically my doppelganger, we can only assume that he does too...so now my water/soap ratio is favoring the water side much more.

He is definitely laughing a lot more now. Apparently Token is hilarious because Zach can't stop cracking up when he walks by. The "super-secret move to always get Zach to laugh" is to put his arms up by his head and shake him around...raspberrys on the tummy also raise the hilarity ante.

Did I mention before that everything is currently going in his mouth? Well to him, this includes items that are in no way small enough to fit.

Well, bye bye for now...the next time I post, Zach will have had his first Christmas! ....or at my current rate, he will have had his second birthday.

Fun Facts:

• As mentioned, Zach eats everything (or at least tries to).
  
• Zach is definitely able to hold his body up when he is being held...when I pick him up and put pressure on his stomach, it looks like he's either flexing his tummy muscles like a body builder, or taking the dump of the century.
• He's "sort of" sitting up when we prop him...he falls to one side or the other most of the time...we blame it on t he sheer girth of his body.
• He JUST started really giving us good raspberries...he loves his tongue and uses it frequently.
• He is really responding well to people now. He definitely knows us and the grandparents (and he shows it in his face) and he gets nervous around big crowds.
• Zach is still as diabolical as ever, making sure to sleep the 4-5 hours that I'm up after him, but starting to cry the instant I get into bed and get comfortable.

-pf

Come get some...

Ah Autumn: the leaves are changing color, the weather is getting cooler, Christmas is getting closer, the Dodgers are going down in flames again, the Zach is drooling. It's a magical time of year. Let's start off with two classic fall traditions:

First, we took Zach to Lombardi Ranch which is close to us now that we live in flavor country. We went with Mary, Ryan, and Molly and Zach picked out the perfect pumpkin that dad said we shouldn't get because we weren't even going to be around on Halloween night.

Zach; amongst the pumpkins

Molly showing a little love to Zachary

He had a great time and he was especially excited that mom dressed him up in a shirt that was the same color as his surroundings. Zach really didn't want to go all out this year for Halloween night, as he knew he wouldn't really get a chance to go trick-or-treating, so he opted for an easy, but cool costume.

The dude could barely fit into his rash guard but we think he pulled off a pretty sweet surfer.

The day before Halloween, Zach and Kelly came by my office to visit and to see the other "Durkee kids" all dressed up. While he was there, he took some time to update his Facebook page:

Workin' for the weekend...

We have this chair called a "Bumbo." It's meant to be used once a baby can sit up without neck support and without falling to one side. It's a really cool idea. Unfortunately, I don't think they took baby's with Zach's girth into consideration during the design phase:

We know a remote farm in Lincolnshire, where Mrs. Buckley lives; every July, peas grow there...

Zach is officially three months old now. I've been keeping up on "what your baby should be doing by now" and apparently ours is a genius because not only can he speak (he said "yeah" very clearly the other day and just tonight he said "ohhhh" inquisitively) but he also understands and employs ironic endeavor in waiting until after I have gone all the way back downstairs and unpaused the DVR to start crying in his crib at night.

He's also doing some other cool little stuff that I want to remember for posterity:

Fun Facts (extended)

• He rolls over from stomach to back (for me, but not for Kelly)
• He is drooling a lot and soaking most of his shirts. I hear this is not due to teething, but him learning how to digest food
• He is yelling a lot in the late afternoon. In the morning, he is very happy but as the day goes on, he gets more cranky
• This week, he will most likely be making the transition to his crib for bed-time...as long as mom can let go
• The easiest way to make him smile or laugh is to clap his hands and perform cheer-leader-style actions with his arms...this doesn't mean he is going to be a cheer-leader...
• He is wearing clothes that are for 6, 9, and 12 month olds...keep in mind he is 3 months
• Zach is sucking on his hand when his pacifier falls out and it seems like eventually he's going to get the whole thing in there...we are hoping he will find his thumb soon
  

Well that's all for now. Here's some video of tummy-time with mom.

-pf

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

Buckle up bonehead, cause you're goin' for a ride!

Well since it's been SOOOoooo long (two weeks) since the last post and SOOOoooo many people (one person) complained that they don't know what's going on in Zach's life, here's a quick (long) update:

Zach has been a ramblin' man over the last couple weeks. He's been to visit the Grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles, friends, AND he had his first day of school last Friday!

While I was out of town on Tanner's bachelor party having a fun time, Zach and Kelly stayed at Nonie and Papa's for the weekend. We learned a few things:

1. 35 diapers is not enough for an extended Friday - Monday weekend.
2. Zach seems to be aware of his surroundings because he gets a little wired when we are not at home for extended periods of time.
3. Kelly is not allowed to eat Panda Express or Chipotle while breastfeeding any more...."if you eat Panda or Chipotle and breastfeed, you're gonna have a bad time."
   

Stephanie came over to meet Zach

Kathy (Stephanie's mom) also met Zach (she's known Kelly since Mommy-and-Me...Kelly's mommy-and-me)

Also, while I was out of town, mommy and baby went over to the Runyon's to watch USC beat Ohio State. (Zach was wearing Buckeyes colors so needless to say, he was disappointed for the rest of the weekend...however, while he was at the house Ohio State was up so he may have been their good-luck charm.)

Sue and Jeanette met Zach for the first time

Stephanie met Zach thought he was hot...as in temperature hot, so she handed him off to...

... Samantha, who had of course met Zach before, but he was happy to sleep on her shoulder for a while.

Tiffany posed with him in front of the banner to help make it clear which team he wanted to root for.

Later that weekend, Kel and Z-man went over to Grandpa's for a family barbecue. I was bummed that I wasn't there (mostly because at that exact moment I lost $30 to the Carnival casino, regardless of the fact that I had drawn a 20 off of a double down...it only got worse from there)

Trish-the-dish meeting Zach-Attack

Cousin Tricia, Aunt Patty, Son Zachary, Uncle Randy and Cousin Daniel

Auntie Robin, visiting from N.C., loving on Zachary in his super style Ralph Lauren outfit

The week was pretty standard-issue. Except for the big "first day of school" for Zachy....technically it was the first day of mommy-child music play time, but it's a type of school...

There aren't any pictures, so you will just have to imagine the cuteness that ensued. Kelly said he had a great time listening to music, playing with rattle drums and blowing bubbles...REAL bubbles too!, not just the standard spit kind that he's used to. Also, the ever alert Zachary was caught snoring during the "hello how are you?" song and the teacher had to stop in the middle because of the volume...although she didn't stop because she was mad, she "just wanted to listen because it was so cute." I wasn't there so I have no way of knowing whether or not that is true, but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that it was, in fact, cute.

That same night was Rosh Hashanah so we got to go over to Scott and Hadar's to see all the aunts, uncles and cousins. Zach had his collar popped and was in "chillin" mode, so we had a great time.

Pop, lock and drop it

Saturday was a relaxing day and Zach and his dad stayed home and watch football and movies while mom went to Sarah's wedding shower.

Today's pretty much of the same but we got some visitors.

Christine, just back from her honeymoon, came over with...

...Victoria, who is one of two followers of this blog, and had lunch with us and...

...Katie...........who held Zach and smiled for the camera.

We also gave Zach a bath during their visit and afterwords he was happy and excited as usual;

Zach: Happy and Excited

Finally, here is some happy-smiley-laughy video of Zach in the morning:

He tends to be much more alert and happy in the morning....at least someone's getting enough sleep.

Fun Facts:

• We both think there's something wrong with the scale...is it possible that he weighs 16 lbs already? His two-month appointment is coming soon so we'll find out.
  
• He is just about 5 minutes away from officially growing out of his 3 month sized clothes...I think we have a big baby.

-pf