August? What was that?

Are we shocked at my lack of blog posting for the month of August? Probably not! Zane turned 5 months in August and spent the rest of the month growing like a weed and learning new things left and right. When I took his 5 month pictures on August 4th we still had to prop him up to sit and he was still just having his first tastes of rice cereal.


the 5 month onesie shot (monkey onesie made by my godmother, Michelle)


By the end of the month he was scarfing down bananas, sweet potatoes, apples and peas and loving them all:


And laying down? Being propped up with pillows and boppies and other nonsense? Nonsense! We have a sitter on our hands. And it doesn't look like he will stay sitting for very long. He's already trying to crawl over our legs and lunge himself forward. Thumbs up for sitting!


Of course the biggest thing that happened in August (and the reason for my lack of blogging) was that we bought our first house. We closed on July 31 and spent a few weeks painting, adding a pergo floor to my office and putting up crown molding in our bedroom. I promise, I will have pics of all that as soon as we finish unpacking. But for now, say goodbye to your first house Zane:



And say hello to the house where you will take your first steps, learn to ride your first bike, wait for the bus for kindergarten, build a tree fort and snowmen, and who knows, maybe even learn to drive a car:

A tail of two kitties

When M and I first moved in together, back in 2005, we decided that it was time for a new roommate. One of the furry variety. My mom knew someone who had some cats (understatement) who needed a good home, so we went to see if we might want to take one home. And we did. Two.

Kramer and Wendy were two fluffy, crazy, lovable, smush-faced persians. Wendy was a bit skittish at first, and spent a lot of time in hiding. Kramer immediately followed us around like a puppy. We didn't know much about persians when we took them home. Only that they had a lot of fur. A LOT. OF FUR. and loved people. In no time flat, Wendy made her way out of hiding and we discovered a lot more about our new furry kids. Including the fact that dear sweet Kramer had a host of health problems. It started with seizures, which we opted not to treat with medication as that could alter his sweet and loving personality and also shorten his life span. So instead, whenever he would have a seizure (usually in the middle of the night, while sleeping by our feet) I would hold him as gently and firmly as I could to keep him from hurting himself. M once said that he knew after watching me with Kramer that I would be a good mom. God forbid I ever have to hold anyone else while having a seizure ever again.

We had a few good years with Kramer and eventually things took a turn for the worst. He was on heart medications (which, since this post is quickly becoming a downer you might remember that in a flight-induced fog after a trip to Seattle I took myself instead of giving to the cat. That made for an interesting call to poison control!) and our fabulous vet went above and beyond doing all the research she could on his condition. In the end, he suffered a blockage in his heart that cut off all blood flow to his lower half and we knew it was time to end his suffering. It was the saddest night of our lives together, yet pulling us through was the fact that a little life, more precious than we could ever imagine was busy growing from kumquat to plum-sized.

We thought Wendy would be sad without Kramer. And while she definitely looked for him, she seemed to like the position of only child. While she had it anyway. When Zane arrived, we wondered how she would react. But, like a protective big sister she would sit outside his door when he cried or rub her head on his feet when I fed him.

On our moving day, a day we were looking forward to for months, Wendy died quickly and what we hope was painlessly in the basement of our new house. After watching Kramer suffer, we were thankful for the small favor that we don't think Wendy was in pain. We think it was just her time. And it was probably God's way of reminding us that life is fragile and to be thankful for every moment that you have with the people (and yes, even animals) that you love.

We'll miss those two crazy fur balls.

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!)