Visiting Jon's Family in Massachusetts, Day 1

Nana Liz was very excited to have Zachary visit.
Ginger was just happy that he brought his own toys.

I'm going to have to put up the shots from our trip to Boston up in installments. I'm single-dadding it this weekend, as Amy has a conference in San Diego she had to attend, so there's not a lot of time for blogging. In adddition, Zach and I have a Halloween party to attend today (Sunday) and yesterday was spent preparing our (yes, "our") costume. (I modified a simple, yet clever idea I found online: dress baby in white, attach yellow fabric circle to his chest, add horns and a pitchfork: instant deviled egg! well, we happen to have a set of horns and tail - who needs a pitchfork! - so I'm going as the deviled part of the costume and Zach already had a white hoodie ... so I went to the local kids consignment shop and found some white pants and a yellow onsie to cut the "yolk" from... he'll be the egg ... and of course, pics will be up soon!)

Wow, that was a long aside... Now to the actual subject of the post: the three of us travelled to Boston last weekend to introduce Zach to the rest of my side of the family. My dad's brother and his family visited on Saturday. Here are the photos from their visit:

Cousin Marysa and Zachary



Cousin Tiana and Zachary. I can remember
when both the girls were Zach's age. Man, how
time flies!



Aunt Denise meeting Zach for the first time



Playing with his new horse toy



Uncle Mike (my dad's little brother). He still remembers
how to feed a baby. And change one, too! No photos
of that, you'll be relieved to know. I was too busy
making sure he got the diaper on straight. He did, and
received the Proud Daddy seal of approval.



Sharing a moment



Hangin' with the cuzzins. Zach didn't seem
to mind being the center of attention! I think
he's use to it ;)

Visiting with Friends

Last weekend we made the trip across the Bay (it always seem like it's going to be such a trek, and it hardly ever is) to visit with our friends Andrew and Isabelle and their son, Sebastien (6 wks to the day younger than Zachary) and Dan and Lynn and their two boys, Kaenon (3 yrs) and Augden (1 yr).

It's always great to connect with friends after not seeing them for awhile, and this visit was especially fun with all the kids together.

Kaenon and Zachary, in particular, seemed absolutely fascinated by one another.

Amy, Isabelle, Zachary and Sebastien



Zach & Sebastien



Andrew reading to Zach




Kaenon and Zach

Kaenon obviously hasn't been reading the blog, or he'd know about "everything in the mouth"



Kaenon was extremely patient with Zachary



Buddies!


And just a couple more obligatory cute Zach photos ...

mmmmm, plums ...

now that Z has teeth, he's able to explore his interest in less mushy solid food:

next thing you know, he'll be grabbing for the pork chops!

This Just In: Zach is Tall

Sorry, no photos in this post. If you're bored by text and rudimentary baby statistics, skip to the bright, colorful, pretty pictures below ...

Amy just got back from the "6 month" pediatrician visit (I know, I know, he'll be 7 months in 3 days, what can you do?) and it's official: Zach is tall.

weight: 20 lbs-6 oz (90th percentile)
height: 29.5 inches (off the freakin' chart!)

In other words, (newsflash!) he's tall!

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming of adorable baby pics and witty commentary ... ok, maybe not so much with the latter, but hopefully enough of the former to make up for it.

Sunday in the Park with Zachary

Last Sunday, Adoption Connection hosted a picnic at a park in the city. We showed up kinda late, but Zachary still got to play with some baby and toddler friends, and also had his first swing and slide experience! He seemed to like the swing a lot more than the slide. Not that he didn't like the slide, but it went by so fast that I don't think he realized it was fun until it was over. The swing elicited a lot more smiles and belly laughs. I'm psyched that he could enjoy the playground so much, I can't wait to take him back again and again and again.

Second Tooth!

Just two days later, tooth #2 sprouted!

First Tooth!!!

Breaking news (pun intended): Zachary's first tooth has finally surfaced! There's not a lot there, yet, just the very tip of the lower, center-right tooth (and the center-left one is not too far behind), but we're pretty jazzed. Our little baby is growing up! Though we're going to miss that toothless grin, we're looking forward to the big toothy smile that's going to take its place. Here's a glimpse of what's to come:

So far there have only been a couple of nights that he's woken up (and therefore, we've woken up) b/c of teething. We're leaving a pacifier at each end of his crib so he can find it at night (and he often does!) and sooth himself. Hopefully that trend will continue.

Look, Ma ... one hand!

Zachary has sort of been able to help hold his own bottle for awhile now, but just yesterday he drank the final ounce or so of his formula without any help from Daddy. Amazing in and of itself, no doubt. So today I thought I'd give it another try, this time with about three ounces left. Not only was he able to hold the bottle himself, as evidenced by the photo below ...

... he took it a step further, completely on his own, and finished off his meal with one hand!!!

And we didn't even have to send him to finishing school to teach him how to be so genteel (note extended pinky) :

Grandparents Ingersoll & Ankeny Visit

Two of Zach's three sets of grandparents visited him in the last month - what a lucky guy!

My folks, Liz and Bob (aka Nanna and Grandpa Bob) came to SF for a visit for the last two weeks of August. Considering that most of our time was spent watching Zach do the baby thing, we somehow managed to get out every now and then. One of our trips was to Stern Grove, an outdoor music venue in the city. We enjoyed a picnic lunch, listened to the SF Opera, and had an impromptu "play date" with some families of little ones who happened to set up camp in the vicinity.

It was great to have my parents here for such an extended stay, and not just because they did the dishes and were more than happy to babysit so Amy and I could get chores done or (gasp) have our "date night". No, the best part was that they got to see a bunch of "firsts". First solid food ... first time sitting up on his own ... and every grandparents' dream: the first cold, complete with runny nose.

Best of all, the end of their trip overlapped with the beginning of Grandma B and Grandpa J's visit, so they got to meet each other and Zach got to bask in the love of four ga-ga grandparents.

Jay and Barbara were here for Labor Day weekend. We mostly watched the Baby Channel... actually, Zach's getting to the point where he is very interactive and playful, so it's not so much watching as it is participating, which is so much more fun!!!

Lots of photos for your viewing pleasure:

Hangin' out with Grandpa Bob and Pachy the
Elephant in our back "yard".




"Whatchootalkinbout, Nanna?"




Playing out in the back "yard" with mommy.








Bundled up at Stern Grove.




Bought these mittens and the moose
hat in Jackson - soooooo CUTE!




Grandpa Bob talking to Zachary about all the
fun things they're going to do in the city.




Nanna demonstrating to Zach how to open wide.
She's obviously done this before.




Zachary always gets a kick out of seeing
that handsome baby in the mirror.




What? Is there something wrong with
documenting my son's first snotty nose?




Proud grandparents Ankeny and Ingersoll.




I think they're enjoying themselves.




Another proud grandparents shot.




Sweetest. Baby. Ever.




Monkey see, monkey do. Can't say which is which in this case.




Did I mention that Zachary is the Sweetest. Baby. Ever.




Grandma B and Grandpa Jay brought some presents
for Zachary. Here he is, sitting up all by himself,
not quite knowing what to do with the wrapping
paper... "you mean it's OK to rip this up and tear
it apart? You're kidding, right?"




In case I forgot to mention it: Sweetest. Baby. Ever.

goin' for a walk

father and son ready for a walk through the neighborhood!

First Solid Food!!!

Here it is, the long awaited video of Zachary's first meal of solid food:




The little guy is a fast learner, as you can see on this video of meals three, four and beyond:





I'll be adding photos of these meals soon for your continued viewing pleasure.