We went to Woodstock

This weekend we took a roadtrip to Bethel, NY for the opening of the Woodstock museum, which Rob has been working on for the past 5 years. While I realize I'm a bit biased, I really think this is one of the best museums I've gone to. It's a great integration of the pop culture, politics and history of the time.

Zack went with us and, as usual, he was just great.

Here he is while we were finishing packing the car on Friday.
And in the car on the way to NY.
The opening wasn't until Saturday night, but Rob gave us a special tour on Saturday afternoon so that I could really see everything, just in case Zack got fussy later that evening. It was great to be in a museum with no one else there. It also meant we could take a few pictures that we couldn't have otherwise. Like this one on the psychedelic bus.
Or this one on the love bug.
"We're leaving already?!"
Zzzzzzzzz.......

Week 14

So what did Zack do this week aside from eat, poop and grow (of which he did quite a lot)?

He played on his bouncy seat.
He took a few baths. He loves the water--can't wait to see what he thinks of Nonnie and Nonno's pool this summer!
He took a few naps, sometimes on Dad....

...sometimes on Mom.
On Memorial Day, we went for a walk on a trail near our house. He's only been in the carrier facing front once before, so he wasn't sure what was going on.
But he got the hang of it....
...and got downright comfy towards the end.
He was also quite a trooper while we went car shopping, making it through a bunch of chatting with the salesman and 3 test drives with only a little snack.

He's getting more personable and chatty, if that's possible, and he's definitely getting bigger. He's also starting to know what he wants and protests if it's taken away. He grabs onto our hands and can be pulled from lying to sitting holding his head steady the whole time. He's sitting pretty well, too, though we can't take our hands off of him yet. Bedtime has just gotten better, literally going from screaming one night to sleeping the next, after we bought a Miracle Blanket. It's essentially a strait jacket for babies, and it's amazing. He's now sleeping on his own for most of the night, so once I get used to that I'll get longer chunks of sleep, as well.

I start back to work half time next week and to be perfectly honest I'm not sure I'm ready, though I know he'll be in good hands with Rob. I hope that by the time Zack has kids, the US is on par with the rest of the world in terms of parental leave.

Boy in motion: 13 weeks

I tried taking a picture of him on his tummy because he looks so cute. But as you can see...



...he'd rather be on his back.

Time flies

Zack is 12 weeks today. That's 3 months. Can someone please tell me how that happened?
We've all been sick this past week, even Zack. He had croup compounded by all the pollen in the air. Even if he doesn't have allergies per se, there's an awful lot of stuff in the air for his little body to be dealing with. He's such a trooper though--he either slept or smiled through the coughing.

Our first Mother's Day was wonderful and low key. A wonderful breakfast, a beautiful bracelet, and a day on the couch watching movies, followed by a yummy dinner. Perfect.

He continues to be a chatterbox and loves interacting with people. He was supposed to join his dad at the office for a few hours yesterday, but Rob hardly saw him at all. Zack managed to charm a few of Rob's female coworkers within minutes of arriving at the office and spent the rest of his visit with them! Is this a foreshadowing of his teenage years?

Grandma and Grandpa are visiting this weekend and they are in for a big surprise, since they haven't seen him since he was about 3 weeks old! He's pulling more things towards him and he's more easily distracted by things when he's eating. He's still doing his ab exercises and I'm sure he'll be sitting before we know it.

He can almost touch his toes when he's sitting--he just hasn't quite figured out how to get his hands and legs working in unison.
His eyes are still a lovely shade of blue. His hair is filling in in the front, though it's hard to see for the cradle cap he's got. Hopefully that'll clear up soon.

More pictures

You can see more pictures of Zack and the fun we had last weekend here.

10 weeks

We seem to have been so busy this week that not many pictures were taken, despite the fact that my camera is almost always in my bag. He visited his dad at the office again. We went for a long walk in the gorgeous sunshine on Friday with a friend who just had triplets. He had his first excursion into DC on Friday night, visiting friends for dinner. My dear friend Kristen and her mom, Patti, came to visit for the weekend, which was lots of fun. Zack joined us as we went shopping on Saturday, but he decided that he'd rather stay home with Dad on Sunday, so I had a Zack-free girls day out at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival--lovely! It was just what I needed to recharge. He's become even more talkative, if that's possible, and he knows how to get our attention if he wants it. He kept me from taking a nap the other day by staring at me--when I'd look at him, he'd grin from ear to ear. How could I sleep after that?!

He's started to pull himself up to sitting. He doesn't quite get there unless he's already close to vertical, but he's definitely working those abs! He's really getting good at tracking people as they walk by. And just this weekend he's started to notice his feet if he's sitting up. And how could he not pay attention to those adorable little feet?

9 and a half weeks

Editor's note: From now on, readers, please feel free to assume that any picture posted on this blog has not been taken on Zack's actual birthday, but rather several days afterward, since his parents seem incapable of any picture-taking activities on Thursday. You may now return to your regularly scheduled program.

We have a guest appearance this week from Zack's Uncle Geoff, who, as he put it, is "full of smit" for his nephew. They're going to have lots of fun together.
"The Lip" is in no way related to Geoff's presence, but rather to the fact that it was later in the evening and Zack was pretty much just over-stimulated.

This week, Zack went to an infant playgroup and enjoyed it very much (and his mom enjoyed talking with people over the age of 9 weeks very much). He had a visit from his Granny Leslie this weekend. He had his first set of immunizations and was quite a trooper. He visited his dad at work and got to sit in on a meeting. I'm sure he contributed quite a lot to the discussion.
He continues to be quite a talker and is getting so strong. When he's reclining, he's started to try to pull himself up to sitting, which means we've got to really start paying attention or he's going to launch himself off our laps, which probably wouldn't end well. He loves to play with toys in front of him and is starting to pull them into his mouth.
Best of all, we get to see his great smile whenever he sees us.

Elephant

About 15 minutes before this, we were in the car and he was screaming...until we pulled in the driveway.

Figures.

8 weeks + 3 days

The weather was so gorgeous the past few days that we were too busy working in the garden to take pictures. Not that I can prove to you we were doing anything because today it's been thundering, lightning and pouring all day, making it too soggy to take pictures of anything outside but the lilacs I can see out the new room's window. These crept over from our neighbor's yard and ironically, bloom only on our side.
Not that I'm complaining.

But I suspect that you're not here to listen to me blather about lilacs. You're here to see the latest photos of our Sweet Pea.
He's getting to be such a little person! And a happy one at that. He smiles lots, has started to imitate some of our facial expressions, jabbers away, and has started grabbing toys and pulling them to his mouth.
He had a busy week--he visited his dad at the office, went to two restaurants, went on his first major shopping expedition yesterday, and got a bath today (which he seems to like).
Next week we go to the pediatrician, have a "play date", and who knows what else!

7 weeks

This has been a busy week. We went to Gettysburg on Sunday to see the new Visitor's Center and to see Nonnie, Nonno, Angie, Lee, Elvira and Dale. Zack slept through most of the exhibit and the movie, but that was just so he was rested enough to charm everyone at dinner.

Over the past week and a half, he's been smiling, which is just wonderful! Of course, today he decided to strike his pensive pose, rather than smile for the camera.

To celebrate his 7 week birthday, he and I went to Brookside Gardens which is a beautiful garden that is part of our county's public park system. It was a gorgeous, sunny, 70+ degree day and lots of things were in bloom. I seem only to have managed to have taken a picture of this:
And this:

6 weeks & 42 years

Today calls for lots of cake--it's Zack's 6 week birthday and Rob's 42nd birthday!

Don't worry, Zack will get his cake vicariously.


This is what I woke up to this morning.

Many New Friends and Cousins!!!

Thank God for all these new friends and cousins, I was kind of getting tired of just mom and dad!.........hey, when am I getting a new puppy!!!!

5 weeks + 1 day

We though it best to let sleeping babies (and daddies) lie, so the pooch agreed to pose on a different couch for Week 5.

If Zack could talk, I'm sure he'd say that Dad's tummy is the best place for a nap.
And just in case you missed the most adorable little toes....

PS. We have a week 4 picture, it just hasn't posted itself yet.

3 Weeks Old!!!!!

...So here we are again pooch, one more week closer to controlling your life!!!




sssssnnnnnnnoooooooorrrrrrrreeeee.........................................................



aaagh.....oogghhh.......aaaarrrrrrrfffff............


heeeyyy!!.....no camerassssssss!!!!!!

2 Weeks Old!

I'm gaining on you pooch..........still need some help getting propped up though!

Keep it down out there, I'm trying to get some shut eye!

Gotta love these giant granpa hands!

Don't ask me what I'm looking at......it's still blurry!