July. A recap.

Didn't I finish out June saying that I would be a better blogger in July? I guess not! Let's see, what has been going on this month?

Z started out this month with a 4 month appointment. He was 15 pounds and 25 inches. Straight down the middle: he is in the 50th percentile for height, weight, and head. (((our little average baby)))). he had to get some shots. But he was a trooper.



Z went on his first roadtrip! We drove 4 and a half hours to Corning, NY to visit our friends Stacy and Dan and their adorable and fun 1 year old twins, Ryan and Maggie. Zane was in awe of all their cool toys and he came home with a bunch of them that they had outgrown.

Ryan and Maggie eating breakfast. Pretty much the only way to guarantee a shot of the two of them since they are so busy crawling all over the place. And I hear Maggie took her first unassisted steps a few days later. I'm not surprised, she was so close!


Thanks Ryan and Maggie, I love my new exersaucer!



Z did amazing in the car - for about 3 hours. That seems to be his limit at the moment. But all in all, a sucessful first trip (it totally helps when visiting people with kids for a first trip - as it is our truck was loaded down and we didn't even have the pack and play, stroller, or swing in the car). This also made room in our car for all the wine we brought back. I mean, we did go up for the finger lakes wine festival afterall ;)

As for Zane, he's pretty much just loving life. Spending time with grammy and Alice while Mommy works, and growing bigger and learning more tricks every day. On Friday, July 24th Z rolled from back to front for the first time! And I totally missed it of course. I was working on the computer and he was playing away happily on his back on the blanket next to me. I look down and thought "oh, how happy he sounds" then did a double take and thought "WAIT. Did I put him on his belly?" Nope! He got there all on his own! He's been trying again since then and pretty soon he will be rolling all over the place.

He had his first big dip in the pool. I wish I had taken my camera. I was holding him in the big pool. We started out just sitting on the first step and before I knew it I was walking around in the water and Z was laying back in my arms, hands behind his head, like he was doing a backfloat. His dad the fish was so proud!

Another big first was he had his first taste of rice cereal last night. He didn't eat a whole lot, but he was certainly very interested in it and was having fun playing with the new textures and licking his fingers. Can't wait to try a new food next week. Next up are bananas, avocados and sweet potatoes. These should all be much yummier than brown rice!




So, that, my friends, is July in a nutshell. I can't believe the end of the month is almost here. We are planning to close on our house on Friday, which probably means blogging in August won't be any better. Please forgive me Zane. I promise, we'll find other ways to remind you how much fun you had during your first summer.

Zane. Meet Wendy.

Last night, after 4 months of Wendy trying to rub herself up to Zane to get him to pet her, he FINALLY noticed her. He was playing with Dad and all of a sudden Wendy ran past and he was fixated. She came up to check him out and at first there was a bit of a stare-off:


Zane reached out to touch the furry thing:


And she LOVED it!


BFFs for sure. At least until he learns to grab handfuls of fur.

Happy Birthday America (and Zane too)...

Zane turned the big 4-months on July 4th. His homemade onesie photo parade is interrupted with this store-purchased shirt to celebrate the big day.



Zane truly is Mr. Independent. At 4 months he is starting to really discover toys. He loves to shove them in his mouth best of all. He's pretty much sleeping through the night on his own and has finally embraced tummy time as something that is fun (he finally realized that it's a great way to check out the world) and is no longer satisfied with just chewing on his hands - feet are yummy too.


We had a great long weekend. Friday we went to Lancaster for First Friday to check out our son, the baby model. He participated in a mini photo shoot with our fabulous wedding photographers Joel and Rita Wiebner (if you know anything about me you know how much I talk about how much I love these guys!). We're saving our pennies for a big family photo shoot for the three of us, but in the meantime I jumped at the chance to participate in this new mini photo shoot that they started doing. Each month they have a theme and then the photos are hung in their gallery for all of the adoring public to see during First Friday. The theme this month was a local food eating contest. Since Z is too little to actually eat anything they posed him in and around a bunch of fruit. Fitting since when you are pregnant they tell you how big your baby is growing in fruit terms. Early on just a little blueberry all the way up that watermelon. Here are M and Z checking out Z's best shot:


We had a great 4th of July - we celebrated with the Donahue clan and Z got to take a test run in their exersaucer (isn't it great to have friends with older kids?). He loved it and I think it's time to get him one of his very own (especially since he seems to be getting bored with his play gym as of late - laying down is SO 3 months old, ma!)


Most of all, the long weekend was spent enjoying time with our growing son. It amazes us how fast he is growing and changing and we are trying to cherish each moment as best as we can.

June comes to a close...

Seriously. Where has June gone? My son's entire 3rd month just flew by in a flash. And what do we have to show for it? hmmmm....let's see...

The penguins won the first Stanley Cup of Z's life. We were in New Hope for the final game and Dallas had a whole set up with a penguins and red wings jersey and a blow up stanley cup. Dallas has been setting up still lifes of hats or helmets or jerseys for championship games since he was a little kid - good thing he has an exhaustive collection. Of course, since I spent a few years of my life in Pittsburgh it's only fair that Z have a little bit of love for the 'burgh in him. Yes Z, I agree, the best thing about Pittsburgh is the stuff to eat, although I was thinking more about those salads with the fries on top:



Z loves sitting up. Forget that laying down stuff, that is for BABIES. Of course, as soon as you pull him up with your fingers he shoves a finger or a knuckle in his mouth and CLAMPS DOWN. Ouch.



He still loves sucking on his fingers. Of course, one finger is not good enough for this kid. You will often find him with three fingers FROM EACH HAND shoved in his mouth at one time. I guess he comes by it honestly. His uncle Josh used to shove a blanket so far into his mouth we thought for sure he would suffocate himself. Aparantly he just had a really big mouth :)



The best thing that Z has learned during his third month of life requires no photo at all...he now sleeps through the night!!! Ok, I might be jinxing myself here because it has only been a handful of times, but it only takes 3 times to make a habit, right?! And, well, that night does end at 5am (we need to work on that one kid), but for now, I'll take it!

See you in July! I can't wait to see what excitment Zane's 4th month brings.

Happy Father's Day!

Yes, yes, it has been entirely too long since I have visited blogland and my poor son someday is going to wonder what the heck happened to the month of June 2009. I'll tell you what happened my dear son, your mommy went back to work! But, I'm taking a few minutes of the peace and quiet of this Sunday morning while my favorite two men in the whole world are taking naps (Wendy too) and all I hear is the rattle of the dryer and the click click of Zane's swing to say Happy Father's Day!

Zane - you are one lucky guy, I have to say. You have a mom who was smart enough to pick the most amazing man on the planet to be your dad. :) His face lights up when he walks into the house after work because he gets to see you! He loves to sing you silly songs and dance around your room with you to hippy music to get you to fall asleep. He lifts you high over his head so that you will giggle. He watches baseball with you (even if he might be setting you up for great days of sadness by teaching you to be a Mets fan - hey, maybe it will build character) loves to take you for walks to show you all about whats out there in the world.

As you get bigger your dad is going to teach you all sorts of cool things. He'll teach you how to play kickball (a skill probably used more by adults these days than children, but maybe all these kids of kickball adults will revitalize the game for the schoolyard set), baseball, football, and golf (basically any sport you want to learn to play with a ball - dad's your guy). He taught mommy how to play most of these sports and we still love each other very much, so that should give you some idea of his patience as a coach! He'll help you with your math homework (and first he might start by teaching you how to count), take you to Philly for your first cheesesteak (or roast pork with broccoli rabe if he has his way), to Camden for your first concert (this will probably happen before you are old enough to chew the cheeseteak), and to New York for your first baseball game. Zane, have I mentioned that you are one lucky boy?!

But more than all those fun things your dad is going to do (and probably more important, although you won't realize it until you are old), your dad loves you more than anything in the whole world. And if you grow up to be anything at all like your dad you will be a good, strong, honest, smart, and dependable person. And fun as hell.





(and a quick shout out to my own dad. Happy Father's Day to the guy that taught me that if you don't fall down every now and then, you aren't trying hard enough. I love you Dad. Thanks for showing me what it means to be a great dad so that I knew what to look for. You make a pretty wonderful pop pop too!)

3 months!

Wasn't I just talking about how time flies? Well, it really does. My father-in-law said it goes by so fast because the first few weeks are so hard. And man, he was right! The first few weeks flew by in a sleep-deprived haze. But, now, here we are suddenly with this 3 month old who lights up our world with his smiles and laughs at his favorite toys. He's grabbing at anything you put in front of him and shoving it in his mouth, but his favorite thing to chew on contines to be his hands (one finger clearly isn't good enough for this guy).
Mahmood and I couldn't be more in love with our son if we tried. Happy 3 months baby Zane!




Oh, this month's onesie courtesy of his Auntie Rose. Future kappa alpha theta heartbreaker? You betcha!

hi ho, hi ho...

...it's off to work I go.

This week marked the end of my maternity leave and I returned to work. Where the heck did those 12 weeks go? I can't really believe it. Luckily I have the most amazing job ever and my return to work has been painfree so far. I went into the office with Zane on Monday and my mom came to pick him up for a few hours. The rest of the week has looked something like this:



In other big news, this week was also my 35th birthday. I did a lot of great things to celebrate. We started with a big party on Saturday. Z of course, was the life of the party in his party-perfect digs:



I thought turning 35 would be harder than it has been. I guess with everything else going on in our world (Zane, work, the house) I haven't had time to worry about it. Heck, if I knew how sweet life could be at 35, I would have signed up sooner!