Zachary and the Musk Ox

A week or so ago we went on a Saturday morning outing to Cracker Barrel and Cabela's. There was a lot of new stuff for Zachary to see. He really liked the musk oxen.



There are actually lots of fish in here - they must be camera shy.

There was a button you could push to make this guy talk. Zachary really enjoys pushing buttons right now and having something happen so this was big.

He really enjoyed running freely in the deer hall. We don't know how the other visitors felt about it, but they were all friendly enough.

Sleepy Baby

This was after a trip to Costco. They were giving out samples of peanut butter sandwiches.

Outtakes

Happy Birthday Grandmother!!

Love you - See you in a week!

Into everything...

(I think he had a little help with that last one...)

Chargers fan

Better luck next week, guys!

Helping Daddy Mow

and frog catching...

Taxi service

Thwarted!

Charles got our gate installed this week - note the decorative stylings on the bottom. :-) Zachary is happy to be able to run back and forth down the hall now and we feel much safer.

Look out Colt

Second molar

Top left molar is here today!

Go Horns!

God is great, God is good...

let us thank Him for our food. Amen!

This picture is from Charles's phone so it's not the best quality, but this is seriously the cutest thing I've ever seen! They all know when it is time to say the blessing and put their little hands together. As you can see Zachary has already graduated to the big table in his new room.

Funny hats

Just hanging around...

I've seen these child seats in bathrooms many times and always wondered, 'who uses these things?' Now I know! It actually worked quite well. This was at Babies 'R Us today - Daddy was watching football so Zachary and I went shopping.

First first-year molar

I noticed a new tooth coming through today - it's his top right first molar. Still no sign of the canine. I felt it and Charles tried to but Zach had had enough of us poking around in his mouth - it only bled a little.

pianoFORTE

So big

Guy Skill #1

Zachary has figured out how to change the channel - he points the remote right at the TV and punches the buttons with his little thumbs. It is hilarious!

Little Guys Rule!

This outfit was a birthday gift from Zachary's belove Ms. Flor, his teacher in the infant room.

Zachary and Daddy did a little yardwork too

And we had a very nice visit with Aunt Cynthia and Uncle Bob!

Labor Day at the park

This morning we took a walk down to the neighborhood park. We went yesterday too but we forgot Zachary's shoes. Today we remembered so he was excited to be able to run around. I thought it was so cute that he was playing in the dirt for the first time and snapped away with the camera. After a while, we noticed his arm was covered in ant bites. Argh - bad Mommy! Yes, in that middle picture he is sitting on a pile of ants, and in the next one he is most likely getting bitten. And now you know... the rest of the story.

He didn't cry or anything though - we came home and put on a little Benadryl and he was fine. I'm sure this is just the beginning of what will become my Mother Litany: "Zachary, did you put on your sunscreen?"... "Zachary, are there ants over there?"...

Yay!!!

Tonight we were watching the football game and after our second touchdown I clapped Zachary's hands during Texas Fight. Then I let go and he kept clapping! His eyes just lit up at his new skill. He clapped the rest of the night, even when we went to bed. He really likes clapping!

Our new baby gate

I'm sure he could squeeze past it if he really wanted to, but it's better than nothing. His favorite new game is throwing things through the railing.

Ladies' man

I dropped off Zachary at school today - I realized as I was leaving the room that he was the only boy in there. One boy, five girls. He was loving it!

Happy Birthday Uncle Bob!!

I'll never forget your birthday now - it was Zachary's original due date!

Flugtag

Last night we took Zachary to Flugtag - it's an even put on by Red Bull where teams build these crazy contraptions and then try to make them fly. It was at Auditorium Shores, and there was a perfect view from my office building. It was a good thing, because there were about a million people there and it was hot! We went down a little early with our friends Rick and Becca and Zander - we parked in my office garage and walked over to Hooters for an early dinner. Zachary ate a whole grilled cheese sandwich and flirted a lot. We were going to go look at some of the flying machines, but the crowd was already too huge so we just went up to my office building and joined the party there. Zachary had a great time running around Mommy's office - it was a fun night!

Happy Birthday to Papaw!!

August is a very popular month for birthdays in my family - lots of Leos.

But, I think Papaw holds the record, at 89 years young today!

Happy Birthday Papaw!

First day of school

Today was Zachary's first full day in the toddler room. Since he is the littlest guy in there (okay, the youngest anyway!), he wanted to look tough so he wore his camo with his tattoo from his pirate party. We thought he looked cute but his teachers were appalled - oh well!

I took him today so I could meet his teachers - I got him signed in and his food and milk in the fridge, but I hadn't quite made it out the door when I lost it! I had to go over to his old room and cry for a few minutes. The teachers were all very sweet and assured me I was not the only one. He of course couldn't be happier in there.

Anniversary weekend

This is a big week for us and Jim and Kathleen - we somehow squeezed both our anniversarys and two kids being born into the span of 9 days (their anniversary is today). Last weekend was the birthday celebrating so this weekend was the anniversary celebrating - we decided to work out a kid-sharing deal. Andrew and Reid spent the night with us Friday night - we had a great time playing Monopoly and swimming. Then Saturday they kept Zachary for us so we could finally go see the latest Harry Potter movie. It was fun and worked out great - we'll definitely have to do that again!

Happy Birthday Reid!!!

Today is Reid's 8th birthday! Here is a picture of all the boys from Zachary's birthday party on Saturday (thanks Kathleen!)

The cake

1 year checkup

Today I took Zachary in for his 12 month checkup. He is doing just perfect, as we all suspected. He was 32 inches tall (95-97%), 26 lbs 12.8 oz (90-95%) with a nice big brain in his 49 1/2 cm head (>97%). He's right on track with talking (they expect one word by now, he's got at least three - 'uh oh', 'dad', and 'ball'). And of course he's walking, so that's a little bit ahead of schedule, especially for such a big boy.

He got two shots, but he did not cry. At all. He just stared at Tracey while she gave him the shots, then frowned slightly. Then he grinned at her. Huh!

He can now eat all the things that were no-no's the first year - peanut butter, strawberries, eggs, and fish are all on that list, all favorites of mine! And he doesn't have to eat any more of that blucky infant cereal since he should be getting enough iron from meat and stuff. Oh, and we can phase in whole milk now - yay!

Happy Birthday Gary!

I'll never forget Gary's birthday because it's the same day as our anniversary!

I just may forget to post about it until a couple of days later. :)

Happy Birthday Zachary!!!

One year old - wow!!

Here is Zachary just after he woke up this morning...


And here he is the minute he turned one... Having a birthday is exhausting!

I already have a ton more pictures to post... more to come!

Early birthday present

Evening stroll...

Mac&Cheese Aftermath

Walking in shoes