35 weeks

I'm moving pretty quickly these days.
It took Mom awhile to get me to sit still for this shot. Isn't my hat cute?
I went on my first fishing trip recently. Dad took me out on a boat while Mom went and looked at these guys.
That's me, Captain Zack!
Steering a boat is hard work, so I sat back and let someone else take over for awhile.
I didn't catch anything......but that was OK because look at the view!
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Last night I tried to get pictures of Zack on his hands and knees, but the camera just blinked at me and wouldn't let me take a picture. So I'll try again tonight. Suffice it to say that the frequency and duration of that particular stunt is increasing (the hands and knees thing, not the blinking camera).

If he's awake, you can be pretty certain he's moving. Squirming here, twisting there, checking everything out. The amount of calories he burns in proportion to his body size must be enormous!

He's started making this noise that sounds like the Count from Sesame Street..."Ah Ah Ah Ahhhh".

And he's starting with the separation anxiety. I've had to drop him off at daycare this week, and he's cried each time. Thankfully it doesn't take him long to get over it. I'm curious to see what he does when Rob drops him off tomorrow.

34 weeks: In which a few more years are taken off my life

Yo, yo, yo. Just the ZackMan here, hangin' with his dawg.
Just chillin'.
You talkin' to me?
No, man, I'm hip. I do not look like an elf.
Word.

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Ok, so Mom's never going to be a gangsta rappa. Anyone surprised by that?

Movin' on, to this lovely picture of hydrangeas picked from our bushes. They've turned these amazing shades of pinks and rusts and purples and blues and greens.
I've been meaning to pick some for awhile, to bring them inside to enjoy, and I finally did that last Sunday. I put Zack in the sling, got my clippers and out we went to the bushes on the side of the house.

Snip, snip, snip.

Then we walked around the house to the bush at the front of the house.

Slurp, slurp, slurp.

Wait, what?

Slurp, slurp, slurp.

At some point, Zack had grabbed a hydrangea leaf and was sucking on it. I quickly grabbed it out of his mouth, while remembering what I'd just read about hydrangeas being poisonous. I got on the internet which was less than helpful. "...need to eat lots of leaves to be poisonous..." "...most poisonous plant for infants...." Thank goodness for Mary Beth at the Poison Control Hotline. Not only was she helpful and gave me the info that I wanted, she was pleasant and reassuring as well. We learned that Zack would have had to eat a lot of the leaves to maybe get sick, we just had to watch for any skin irritation (there was none).

We also learned that he's getting faster and sneakier and we need to be more careful and aware of his movements.

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He got weighed yesterday, when he went to get some of his shots: 18 lbs, 9 oz.

He has discovered the letter B. As in "b b b b b bb bbbbbbb blah bleh blah bbbbbbbbbbbbb."

His sleeping has gotten worse, but from everything I read and hear, that is to be expected for this age.

I feel like I always say this, but he's getting more adept at moving. Not crawling yet, but there's lots of purposeful scooting and rolling and down-dogging, all getting smoother and quicker. He gets on his hands and knees more frequently, though I don't think he realizes the potential in that, yet. He's interested in EVERYTHING. We've been going to the playground in the evening, where he likes to swing and even just sit and watch the other kids. I'm quite certain that he's planning his moves for next summer.

33 weeks

He had another new experience last weekend...Rice!
Which he took very seriously.
Probably more got on me than in his tummy, but that's to be expected at this point.

I also caught him spellbound by his Dad's guitar-playing.

He just had to try it himself.

He's moving around more than ever--a combination of rolling, scooting (usually backwards), and inchworming. He's been getting up on his hands and knees a little more often, but he doesn't stay that way for long (yet). When he's scooting around on he's been reaching up to things, as if to pull himself up, but he hasn't done it yet. He continues to love food and eats very well and he's doing great at daycare. While we get ready in the morning we usually put him in his crib, and we've caught him cracking himself up. Apparently it's an inside joke. He also thinks it's the funniest thing to be turned upside down. Come to think of it, he just thinks a lot of things are funny. With all of the sad and discouraging news in the world these days, coming home to his smile is so refreshing. I hope that he never loses his joy and sense of humor.

32 weeks: with pictures

Last weekend we went up to Pennsylvania to my parents' house because there were still some people who hadn't met Zack.

My dear friend Deb's parents hadn't met him, so we spent Saturday with them. Here is a picture of Deb's daughter's Haley and Kayla with Zack. I'm sure you're thinking "Such well-behaved, obedient children, to sit so beautifully for a picture!"

I suppose I could allow you to remain deluded, but in the interest of full disclosure, we had to take about 20 pictures like this....

...this (yes, Zack is kicking Haley as she tries to get up on the couch)...

...this...

...and this...

...before we got that good one.

How Deb can say "No" to this face is beyond me!

Sunday was another day of new people. Zack hadn't met his Great-Grandma yet, so we remedied that.

Too bad no one looks alike in our family.

Zack got to spend lots of time snuggling with Great-Grandma...
...and he was in full raspberrying form.

32 weeks

The little guy was 32 weeks yesterday.

(Insert lovely pictures of him meeting his great grandmother last weekend HERE.
As a preview, there will be no taking the Wizard of Oz in vain this week.
No guarantees for next week, however.)

Rob took the camera and all of the lovely pictures along with him to New Orleans yesterday. I'll try to remedy the situation this weekend.

31 weeks

Last weekend we went to the zoo.

We saw lions...
...and tigers...
...and prairie dogs...
Oh my!
We kind of misjudged how interested Zack might be in watching the animals (not very), but he was totally enthralled with watching all the people, so all was not lost.

Afterward,we went on an emergency clothes shopping mission. Because all those pants that were long on Zack back in the spring? Yeah, well those now work for shorts.

As an aside, our neighbors just had a baby boy, whom we just met at 2 weeks old. I was convinced that Zack was never that small...only to find out that Sidney was almost the exact same size as Zack at birth. How is it possible to forget so quickly?

Oh, right. Sleep deprivation.

Back to our story.

With that mission accomplished, we went to eat Thai food.
Well, Rob and I had Thai food while Zack watched. He'll soon be getting to the point where he'll be able to partake in whatever we eat--he certainly wants to badly enough!

"Hey, Mom? Mom????? Where's my food?"

Enough of this vacation stuff

Hi.
(Mom thinks it's really cute how I cross my feet).

Enough of these vacation pictures. I've been doing lots of stuff since then.

Like learning to play the bongos.

And going on my first Metro ride.
And just generally being one cool cat.
Mom says this is what I get for not taking a nap in the morning.


Sleeping on Dad is much more comfortable, I have to admit.
Mom wanted me to pose with the dog so that everyone out there could see how big I was getting, so I did.
What?! I'm posing, aren't I?

Week 30: pictures from Cape Cod

Our week in Cape Cod was lovely, and already seems so long ago.

We went to the beach nearly every day. The beach is just gorgeous in Truro, it's part of the National Seashore so it's very natural and not crowded. This was the day it must have been in the 60's on the beach, though it was much warmer off the beach.
Zack liked the feel of the sand on his toes.
We went with our friends Dom and Margaret, and their son, Sean. Those specks out there in the water are Sean and Dom, boogey-boarding.
You may have noticed that in all these beach shots, I'm never in the water. That is because I was clearly born to go to the beach substantially nearer the equator, not in New England where getting in the water is basically equivalent to getting into a big tub of ice.

You can't see it really well, but the house in the back with the blue tarp on the roof is falling off the dune because of all the erosion.
Sean just LOVED Zack and was such a big help in keeping Zack entertained....
...and in keeping him safe. Of his own accord, Sean put pillows all around where Zack was sitting, just in case he toppled over. See that blanket behind Zack? That's the blanket that I knitted for Sean after he was born. To say that it's well-loved is an understatement and I couldn't be happier with that.
One night we had a picnic on the beach. Zack desperately wanted some chips and guacamole.
The kids got to toast marshmallows and make s'mores. The guy in the middle spearing marshmallows is Tom, a college friend of Dom and Rob's that lives on the Cape year 'round. Isn't it time for another vacation yet?
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To update on Zack's progress, he's now splashing when he takes a bath, and cracking himself up when he does it. He's getting really good at putting his pacifier in his mouth (and it's a directional paci, so I think that's pretty good). He's also started to pass a toy from one hand to the other. His mobility increases by the day, but he's not crawling yet. He will go after a toy that's out of reach, though. His sitting is great, and he has started bouncing while he sits. I've started giving him pieces of banana to play with after feeding him his dinner, and it's pretty funny to watch him smear it around, bring it to the edge of the tray, then try to scoop it up with his mouth. There is definately more on him than in his tummy, but he's getting there.

He had his first trip on the Metro last Saturday when he and I went to Teaism and the Phillips Collection (the Jacob Lawrence exhibit is pretty amazing, by the way). He loved watching the train come into the station and then once on the train, well, he had a captive audience so what was there not to like?! He liked how his voice echoed in the galleries of the Phillips and I think he may have even been paying attention to some of the paintings, particularly the large abstract ones. We may go to the zoo this weekend.