Zachary
We got back from Vegas (our annual trip to the WPPI photographers convention) last week, and Adrian took this adorable picture of me with Zachary right before we settled in for a little nap together. Vegas recap coming soon, but first, enjoy the cute, cuddly photo. :)
Hindsight. Gotta love it.
When I first registered for all the baby stuff after finding out I was pregnant, I fell in love with the Chicco Travel System because it was highly rated and I was told constantly how safe it was. Well, what no one could have told me was that my son would grow out of the stupid infant seat (which never hooked on to any grocery store shopping cart properly) in a mere FOUR MONTHS, when we had to graduate him to a beautiful Britax Marathon…. and that ginormous Chicco Cortina stroller would become nothing but an extremely heavy hassle to get in and out of the car.
I was incredibly grateful when my mother-in-law, Debi, purchased a Maclaren Quest for us, relieving my back from having to lift that monstrosity of a stroller out of the car, and we use it quite often, but since we are a two-car family, the Maclaren typically stays in Adrian’s car, which we use more often, and the huge Chicco hangs out in my trunk. For the past month or two, I’ve been considering selling my Chicco system as it’s in very good condition (anyone interested? it’s red), and purchasing an inexpensive umbrella stroller for the other car, like the Chicco Capri, which my mom & dad have and like.
So.. today I hung out with my parents and Zachary while Adrian stayed at home to get work done as we prepare for the big photographer convention next week (our studio software company has a booth there), and on a whim, without ANY prompting from me, my mom asked if I needed another lightweight stroller, and then, in an awesome gesture, offered to purchase one for us! We headed over to Buy Buy Baby and after looking at the aforementioned Chicco Capri, then an Inglesina, and then a few different models by Combi, I finally decided on the Combi Cosmo in Sand, a nice neutral color that will work.
The price was very reasonable, at only $129, and it comes with a zillion features, including a little storage pack on the back, a high weight limit, and a drink/snack cup holder in the front bar. The turning radius is also pretty fabulous and I can steer it with one hand for the most part. The best part is that it folds up in under 3 seconds – SERIOUSLY! We put Zachary into the stroller to test it out and he got sooo comfortable – even putting his feet up on the bar! Our Maclaren doesn’t have a bar, and there’s no way he could get his feet up on the bar in the Chicco, so I think this was a perfect choice for him and will allow him a lot of comfort, especially since he’s in a stage where he’s not very happy in the stroller and would prefer to be running around.
Here’s the stroller we got:
The great thing is that even though this is a lightweight stroller, the Combi infant car seat works with it, so no need for a travel system! Phew! I’ll definitely be purchasing one of those for the next kiddo in a couple years.
Now all I need to do is sell that Chicco.
I really ought to be sleeping right now, but my very nature demands that I write down these thoughts so I don’t forget.
Zachary is at a very interesting age right now. He is all at once an easy baby and a hard baby, which is probably a common thing for most parents to feel, I’d think.
He is challenging in many ways – mainly because he doesn’t want to sit still and I’m usually a pretty tired mama (but that’s really a good thing, I reassure myself, because he’s happy and he’s curious, and he likes to explore and engage himself with the world around him), but every day, Adrian and I say to each other that we are just SO lucky that he (insert some smart, intelligent characteristic here) or that he never did (insert one of many awful habits or characteristics here) like other babies we have heard about and that we are so thankful that we have such an easygoing, happy, curious, interesting, loving boy.
Since Zachary became more mobile, it has frustrated me that he no longer wanted to cuddle with me. Once he started to crawl (around six and a half months old) he became much more of an independent baby. And he is very independent, it shines through him. He loves doing things on his own, and even though sometimes he requires a little help, guidance, or encouragement, he is very proud of doing things by himself. You can see that even at just a year old.
The last time I can really remember Zachary being cuddly was when he was getting his first tooth at about 8 months old. He wasn’t walking yet, so he wasn’t completely mobile, and didn’t yet know what he was missing. So he, in his teething misery, was content to cuddle in my arms until the effects of the Tylenol that I’d given him kicked in, and he fell asleep. I still remember how I felt sitting in my glider, cuddling my poor, sad little guy with his head resting on my shoulder, which was wet from his tears. It seemed like he started walking so quickly after that, at about 11 months old, and he simply stopped being a cuddly baby at that point – there were too many other interesting things to do. Life is very fast paced when you’re a baby trying to absorb all of the interesting things in life.
So now, fast forward a few months. It’s funny, when you have a kid, time seems to pass very slowly and yet too quickly at the same time. Four months is an eternity, but at the same time, how did my child just turn 15 months? Didn’t he just turn 1 five minutes ago? But I digress. Now that Zachary has been walking for a few months now and is even running around our house, he’s able to see things from a different perspective. He’s really grown up a bit, which is funny to say because he’s still just a year old, but a lot can change in a few months.
It seems like something has kind of clicked in his brain. I’m going somewhere with this, I promise. I noticed in the past day or so, that he is saying Mama and Dada much more deliberately these days. Like today we went to the mall and I walked into Bath & Body Works for a few minutes while Adrian and Zachary stayed outside and away from all the smelly stuff. When I returned, Zachary looked at me with a pointed expression and said “Mama, Mama!” Adrian told me that he’d been calling for Mama the entire time that I had been inside the store. He knew that I had left and he missed me! He is similar with his Dada… When Adrian is working in our home office during the day, Zachary doesn’t understand why he doesn’t want to come out and play all the time. He calls for Dada so much he sounds like a broken record! He will wander in to the office excitedly saying, “Dada, Dada!” in a voice that just begs you to come and play with him. It’s very cute. Very engaging.
So that’s where I was going with that little explanation. Zachary is very much interested in engaging with those he loves right now. He doesn’t understand how important it is (maybe he does- I don’t know- kids can be very intuitive) but I love that he’s in this little stage and I hope it lasts longer than his non-cuddly stage. It makes me happy when he waves at my mom or hugs my dad all on his own after they leave from babysitting him. It melts my heart when my little boy crawls into my lap at the end of the day when he’s ready for bed and in need of a few cuddles from his Mama. It makes me so happy when I ask him to come over for a hug and a hiss and he gives me a hug and (this is so cute) puts his little head under my lips so I can kiss his forehead. Then once I give him a kiss and he pulls away, he puts his head back again, so he can have another kiss. He is just the sweetest, cutest, happiest, CUDDLIEST boy right now! Cuddly only when he wants to be though – it definitely has to be on his terms. But, I am thankful that he decides to include his tired-out Mama in those plans several times per day. I personally plan to take advantage of it as much as I possibly can, while I can! And hopefully when he’s a little older he won’t be too old to give his mom a hug right when she needs it! :)
Zachary turned 15 months old today! How did that happen? It seems like we just brought him home from the hospital. Today we had a family outing to the mall so that my husband could pick up a computer cable from the Apple Store, and while putting Zachary into his stroller from the car, a memory came to mind.
Zachary was 4 months old when we decided it was time for a lightweight stroller (we got a Maclaren…love it!), and I remember his little legs hanging down from the seat, sock-covered feet dangling and swinging in the air. He’s such a big kid now! He sits in the stroller like a boy, not a baby! And his little feet (now wearing toddler-sized shoes) no longer dangle, they sit on the foot rest.
Time sure passes much faster than I ever anticipated. Some days are hard and some are challenging, but still I wish I could slow it down a little bit. There are too many wonderful little moments that I’d like to have more of….
happy Valentine’s from our family to yours! today Zachary and I spent the afternoon with Aunt Amy, window shopping at the Promenade in Coconut Creek, playing with some Thomas trains at a toy store (baby boy cried because he didn’t want to leave!!), giving little Z his first taste of ice cream (he loved it!) and enjoying the cool weather.
we came home to hugs and kisses from daddy, Zachary’s favorites for dinner, play time with his books, toys, and his fun airplane which he loves to push around his room, and lots of laughs and sweet, funny faces for mommy. he is just a sweet, loving little boy and I am glad to have been able to spend the day with him.
tomorrow starts the work week again as Adrian and I prepare for the WPPI (wedding & portrait photographers international) trade show, the biggest tradeshow each year in the photography industry, where we have a booth for our studio management software, Táve. it is going to be a great time, but we are spread thin right now getting everything ready!
hope you all had a lovely Valentine’s… here is a little card to brighten your day!
Adrian’s main job with Zachary is doing bath time. Not only is he just better at it since he has longer arms, but he always manages to make baths really fun, playing with all the toys, squirting the water, getting the job done quick so that Zachary can have more play time. :)
Here are some photos from a particularly cute bath time a couple weeks ago. Adrian decided to put on his swim trunks and jump in with Zachary for some pool-like play time since it was too cold out to use the pool. Zachary had a great time!
Loving his bubble baths :)
Playing with Thomas the Train bath toy
Getting squirted with an airplane bath toy. What a cute little face!
Gosh, I’ve been such an awful blogger! I have been meaning to post these since I got them in November, but with work and life being so busy, this little blog has not been updated as much as I’d like. I keep thinking of things I’d like to write, but I haven’t had a free second. I’ll try to update more.
That said, here are some of my favorite images from Zachary’s 1st birthday party. Since it was his 1st birthday party and he was born around Thanksgiving, we decided to have a pumpkin/fall theme. I’m sure the next one will be something like Thomas the Train or Bob the Builder or Elmo or whatever…but he won’t remember this one, so I got to pick. :)
The images were kindly taken by my good friend Jessica Savidge, a fellow photographer who I work with quite often (can’t wait to shoot with her this coming weekend at a wedding, in fact)!
I painstakingly made this birthday banner by hand without a Cricut machine. I cut out all the letters with an X-acto knife. It was super hard, and I worked on it up until 3am the night before the party, but it was totally worth it! It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever made and I'm so glad I finished it for Zachary's party.
Yummy half & half cake from Publix. This was originally a Halloween design with Jack O' Lanterns on it. I told them not to put the faces on the cake since it was for a birthday, not Halloween. Well, as you can see, one of the pumpkins still has ears. LOL.
Pumpkin cookie favors for Zachary's friends :)
Me, my mom, and Zachary
Zachary thought his birthday cake was pretty cool!
He was not really interested in his little smash cake though. It was cute!
He wanted to feed his cake to Mommy. :)
Then it was time to open presents….
Zachary really loved this alien stuffed toy!
He loved his little piano!
One of my gifts to Zachary - a book about wild things for my little Wild Thing! :)
Our happy little family! :)
You can see more photos on my Flickr page. :)
Zachary is such a fun little kid to be around right now. He is running ALL over the place- quite a handful but oh so much fun. He is really a little person now and so much less of a baby. I am in love with this stage – there is so much learning and discovery and it’s so much fun now that he understands just about everything I’m saying (even though he doesn’t talk much yet).
He says just a few words still – mama, dada, dog and Maya (our dog) and now he is saying Tah! for Thomas the train. My mom is relentless trying to teach him to say grandma but he hasn’t caught on yet – LOL.
He is a very good listener even though he gets very upset when you tell him not to do something that he really wants to do (which of course Adrian and I think is kind of funny, we have to try not to laugh). He is very good at following directions, and I love asking him to find things and give them to me – like a shirt that fell on the floor, a toy, the ball, my iphone, a cup, even the dog’s toys he understands are the dog’s and will give them to the dog when prompted! it is very cool.
He likes his blocks (eating and stacking them) and anything with colors and shapes, and loves his Elmo shape sorter. He is starting to understand which shapes go where and how the colors match up. He knows which parts go to which toy. He is VERY inquisitive and likes to understand how things work. He loves buckles and tries to figure out how to unbuckle and re-buckle things (Thank you Aunt Amy for Bucky the buckle turtle toy!). He likes to try to take things apart and figure out how they work which is really amazing to see. He loves leaves and rocks and bricks and your typical little boy things. :) He adores his dog and his daddy and mommy and the TV remote.
The cutest things he’s done in the past few days are help me empty the dishwasher and use a paper towel to clean the table! I have been showing him how to clean the table when I spill something on it, and he’s figuring it out. it is soooo cute!
He also does this fake-out thing where he will offer you something like food or a toy and then right when you go for it, he takes it back and starts laughing. it is hilarious!! he just started that recently too. he is learning how to be funny. :)
I just took him for his 1 year appointment.. He is now 13 months and weighs 27lb 12oz and is 33 inches tall! A very tall and skinny little boy! He wears 18 month clothes but usually the 18 month pants fall off of him which can be a little frustrating for his mommy!
Every post is better with a picture, so here’s a sneak peak of Zachary’s official 1st year photo shoot (done at 13 months).
who knew teething would be so hard?? for the past four teeth I have bragged about what a good sport little Zachary was with teething but his 5th tooth is getting the best of him. today was a horrible day in the world of teething, filled with lots of crying from my little guy and some from me too. seeing him grab at his gums and cry out in pain is absolutely horrible especially when he’s already had his tylenol and motrin and neither one of them are doing their job very well, and there’s nothing else that mommy can do but hold her crying boy and kiss his little head. hopefully tomorrow the tooth will make an appearance, and we’ll have a few more days of calm until teeth number 6, 7, and 8 decide to show up.
Zachary has had a fascination with buckles as long as I can remember. Even when he was tiny, he was always very interested in the way his car seat and high chair snapped together and tried to figure out how to un-buckle himself! He loves to play with all the buckles and now that he can walk, he will often just walk up to his car seat and stand there for a few minutes trying to figure out how the whole thing works.
For a while I’ve been wanting to find him a buckle toy, and I took a few minutes to google it this morning and found a few different options. This one, made by The Buckle Toy, is the nicest (with pinch proof buckles, even) and definitely the cutest and most colorful (thus, most appealing to Zachary). The next time I buy Zachary a gift, I might even buy two, so I can keep, say, the turtle toy at home and the small pillow toy in my diaper bag.
