Z.M.C. - 3 Months Old Today

Sorry for the long delay in posts. First we had company - Edward Morris - last Thurs - Saturday. Zachary had a cold we think on Fri/Sat, or at least he had a runny nose and was a little grumpy. He has since passed that to his Mom - who has been miserable since Sunday night, and his Dad - who's been slightly less than miserable since Monday. We all seem to be back on the mend though, which is a relief. However, the Zila Monster is in full force today - being extra grumpy and more sleepy than normal - so hopefully he's not getting it again.

The three pictures are for those who are tracking his month-old birthdays by photo.

Z.M.C. - A 'First' Captured

On 8-19, Zach started rolling over on purpose. He's done it sporadically since then, rolling over both left and right. Luckily, Art has finally seen Zachary roll over! The picture was taken when Zach's Nana was here and caught the first day of rolling over on film. He does seem to enjoy it - perhaps because we clap and squeal everytime he does it - he gets good feedback.

The other first captured is Zach's first Dexter scratch. It happened while Zachary was in his bouncy chair. Dexter hates that chair. At first he was just playfully batting at Zach's hands and feet, and it some point it turned bad. So Dexter is no longer allowed near Zach in the bouncy chair. In that chair is the only time that Dexter messes with Zach at all - maybe it's the vibration, or the movement, we're not sure, but he's hated that chair since Zachary first sat in it. Of course Zach screamed bloody murder when it happened, but didn't utter a peep when I cleaned it with soap/water, then again w/ alcohol. It's healed now, but it sure made us feel terrible for a few days. This occured 8.23.

Baby look-a-likes

Two of these pictures are Shayna at 5 months old. Two of them are Zachary at 3 months old. Very similar looking! I still contend that Zach has Art's nose and eye shape, but it's clear that he did get some Sklar in him as well - other than the 'butt chin', as Staci coined it.

8.21 ZMC chair

Just a quick post to show you Zachary's new chair. He's a little small for it now, but it should 'fit' perfectly when we get back to the States. Walgreens had them for $4, and I couldn't resist...especially since sitting up is currently Zach's favorite thing to do.

Dexter - still a kitten

Two of my favorite things about kittens: 1. When they run at you sideways and sort of hop at you (because they are being fierce) and 2. when they get done cleaning themselves, and a little bit of tongue is sticking out and they don't realize it (most older cats stop doing that - more tongue control I guess). Well, Dexter does the first quite a bit still. The second is harder to catch now that he's almost a year old (in September). However, the other night, not only did he accidentally leave his tongue sticking out a bit, he even fell asleep that way, as the picture shows. I just love seeing that, and it doesn't happen that often!

The other picture is just proof of where that one missing sock goes each day. Dexter hates socks, and gets double fun out of attacking Zach's socks! At least that isn't Zachary agression - he's an equal opportunity sock hater - dress socks, sport socks, mine, Art's he doesn't care!

8.19 - ZMC's week of firsts

This week has been jam-packed with "firsts" for Zachary. On Wednesday, at playgroup, he rolled over from his belly to his back. I thought it was an accident, however on Friday, he rolled over 6 times on purpose. Zach's Nana was thrilled to witness it. Unfortunately, at this publication, his Dad has not seen him roll over yet. We'll keep trying though.

Thursday was also a 'semi-first'. Last Saturday, on 8/12, he did what we 'thought' was his first laugh on purpose (he does in his sleep sometimes). But it was difficult to get him to repeat it later on. Then on Thursday 8/17, he did his pseudo-laugh (it sounds like a cough, but he's smiling) again several times - though only if I "chew" on his belly. So I'm counting it as his first laughter.

Friday we also took Zachary outside for him to lie on a blanket naked. He seems to love being naked on his changing pad, so we thought he'd love the opportuntiy to wiggle around naked outside. We put him on his belly for some pictures, but they looked a little skeletal, so attached is the picture from him on his back (tastefully cropped for his privacy). As you can see, he's not thrilled with being naked outside. He got a little fussy until we put his clothes back on, and then he was fine with being outside, but he still wasn't full of smiles.

8.12 Dexter & Zach: Stroller buddies

Since before Zachary was born, Dexter has loved being pushed in Zach's stroller. Art and I had been talking for awhile about trying to take them both out in the stroller at the same time - Zach in his carrier and Dexter in the storage compartment - but we had never gotten around to it. Finally on Saturday (8.12), after I got back from my 40 minute walk w/ Zach, I decided to put Dexter in the stroller and just see how it went. Art was at work, so I decided to just walk around the apartment complex - thinking I could scoop Dexter up pretty quickly if he bolted, since I didn't put his harness & leash on. Well, Dexter seemed to love it. He just rode around underneath, staring at everything, and poking his head out occaisionally. We did that for about 30 minutes. I only got nervous about him jumping out one time: a lady with her small dog came walking by - a dog Dexter doesn't like, and likes to run at him (though never gets too close; he'll slow down before he gets near the dog). I had to take a quick turn down an alley to avoid anything. I don't know if Dexter would have gotten out, but he was hanging out of the stroller, like in picture 1. The rest of the time, he was more like picture 2.

Z.M.C - 8.16 Playgroup

This morning Art stayed home and worked on his dissertation so Zach and I could go to playgroup (that and Art will be at the office working tonight until Zach's 'Nana' comes in at 11pm, so he spent some time at home this morning). He's been a few times before, but slept the entire time. This time he actually interacted w/ some other kids - a little. He definitely liked looking at them.

These two pictures show the progress he's made at holding his head up. He's getting very strong. I'm sure some of it is easier for him because his head is so little (25th percentile) for his age. Makes it harder for me though, to get him to fall back asleep after a "micro-nap" (as our peditrician calls his 25 min. naps), since he just likes to keep that head up and look around. Sigh.

Z.M.C. - Dexter - S.S.C: Disgusting moment

This story is not to be read by those that are 1) easily grossed out, or 2) not amused by potty humor.

So I was in the kitchen, holding Zachary. All of a sudden I hear one of his 'explosive' poops, and feel something hit my leg. I look down, and there is poop splattered all over the kitchen floor and some on my leg. So here I am trying to keep Dexter from licking the poop off the floor, clean up the floor, and clean myself all while holding Zach. I can't put him down anywhere, b/c he has poop all over the place (or so I believe). I get the pooped wiped off the floor and head upstairs to change Zach and assess the damage. Turns out there is almost no poop in his diaper (he was wearing a cloth one at the time). He apparently shot it all out the side, bypassing his diaper completely. Then Dexter comes upstairs and plops down on the floor, and I notice that he's vigorously cleaning himself. Looking closer, it's because he has poop splattered on his back and tail. So I have to put Zachary down on his blanket on the floor, catch Dexter (he's onto me at this point - knows I'm going to trap him), and wash his back.

That is insight into my NEW multi-tasking life. No longer multi-tasking w/ million dollar projects w/ UPS - now it's a kid, a cat, and poop. :) Ahh, the life of a DE (domestic engineer). :)

This picture is of Dexter, exhausted from playing, on my bed - back in May.

Z.M.C. - Thumb sucker

Zachary is getting quite proficient at sucking his thumb. It is a good 'clue' to when he is getting tired and ready for a nap. He also uses it during the night to go back to sleep if he awakens. I'll wake up to the sounds of some serious slurping. Mostly he would rather have his pacifier to start off with, and then when he's more calm, switch to the thumb; other times he prefers his thumb. He's come a long way from trying to stick his entire fist -in his mouth, which he still does when he's REALLY tired. Or when he's starting to get very hungry. Hopefully he'll grow out of it on his own - before he starts school - but for now it's nice that he is able to self-soothe. It is amusing when he trys to get BOTH thumbs in his mouth - I'll try to get a picture of that!

Dexter & Z.M.C. - getting along better

Dexter is getting more tolerant of Zachary, and more used to his crying. We are very happy about this, b/c Dexter has seemed pretty upset for awhile. He's finally coming back to 'old Dexter' where he cuddles with us some during the day, and likes to be petted. He's willing to be closer to Zachary now. In fact, the other night, when I was trying to get Zachary to go to sleep (around 3am), and he just wouldn't, I started to get pretty frustrated. I was sitting in the rocking chair w/ Z. laying on my lap w/ his head on my knees. Dexter must have thought I was pretty upset, b/c he jumped up in the chair, avoided jumping on Zach, and planted himself on my chest, with his head under my chin, purring up a storm. I loved it - and it had the added bonus of making it easier to deal with Mr-not-sleepy !

This picture is of both Dexter and Zach waking up from a nap. I tried to get them both while they were still sleeping - fairly close together I might add - but by the time I got the camera, they both were awake.

S.S.C. - Future w. UPS

Well, I talked to Mario (my boss) this afternoon about my future at UPS. I have officially told him that I will not be coming back to the West District to work, since I'd only have about 4-6 weeks before we left ABQ. I told him that I don't want to completely sever ties w/ UPS yet, in case I want to (doubful), or need to (could be w/ Art's low salary) work while we're in Dusseldorf. SO, Mario is looking into what the possibilities are for an extended leave of absence as well as what the procedures are for transfering overseas. My FMLA leave is up on 8/24, so something will have to be decided by then. We will need to go on Art's insurance starting 8/25, because staying on mine through Cobra is very expensive ($1200/m -medical only). I will talk with Mario again in the coming weeks to see what my options are for not completely severing ties w/ UPS just yet. He did say that it is a little easier to get back on with UPS once you've left than it once was. It used to be near-impossible to come back once you left, and it apparently is no longer. So, we'll see. It could be I will never work for UPS again, or it could be that I will once I'm back in the States, after Germany, or maybe we will need for me to work there while we are in Germany. My preference at the moment is to not work outside the home at all - to have my job be taking care of Zachary and our family. But we shall see. It will also depend some on our life over there. I expect I will be changing from an "Industrial Engineer" to a "Domestic Engineer". :)

Z.M.C - "2 Month" Dr. Appt 8.2

Zachary had his '2 month old' appointment today. New weight: 11 lbs 8 oz; length: 23.5 inches (This is up from 22 inches at his 1 month). This is interesting (at least to me). His weight is in the 50th percentile (for kids his age), so he's perfectly average. His height however is the 75th percentile, and his head size is a small 25th percentile.
This appoinment required shots. :( He got 3 shots today. He was very screamy, and it broke my heart when he started 'clawing' at his face while she was putting on the bandaids. But it was very cute when Art took him to hold him, he had mostly stopped crying (after I held him for about 15 seconds), but was doing a very pitiful 'fake cry' whine. That was amusing - like he did not want to stop being upset. 5 minutes later, he was alseep on Art's chest. His appointment was good, everything looks healthy and normal. He was a very happy baby - smiling at the doctor. He'll have a 'weight check' appointment in a month, and the nurse will add it to his growth chart (with all the percentages). Then we have his next Dr.'s appt in 2 months - for his 4 month check-up and more shots.

He had 2 growth spurt days this week (Mon & Wed) - where he ate non-stop (every 2 hrs), and would not nap more than 30 minutes. However he rewarded us for his trouble last night by sleeping from 9:30pm to 5:30am, then again, after eating, until 7:15am.

The picture was taken on 7-25.

Z.M.C. -Look how far he's come

Just for fun - attached is a picture taken during his first few days at home - so he was a week and some days old. He hardly looks like our little man...in 2 short months! What's interesting is the 'newborn' outfit he's wearing (swimming in rather) still fits him. Zach is long and lean.

Dexter the Destroyer 7.30

As many of you know, Dexter is a 'handfull' to say the least. He destroys most things. All of his toys have been ripped to shreds, and now he's trying to take his angst out on Zach's stuff. Some of his favorite non-cat-toy items to play with (belonging to anyone) are flesh (hands and feet), socks (he seems to hate socks, and will pull them out of my drawer to have a go a one), crinkly stuff (like paper), and foam. Art once had a foam clown nose, and Dexter destroyed it completely over the course of a few days. So Zach has a foam bathtub insert that I've been trying to keep out of Dexter's reach. I had put it in a storage box to keep it safe, and the picture shows that 'safe' is a relative term. This is what we found when we came home from church. I like how Dex is sitting in the middle of his destruction as though he's proud of it. Sheesh.

Z.M.C. - passport photo

Zach got his passport photo taken last week. Good thing he's getting better with his head. If he was still floppy, I'm not sure the picture would have worked. I had to hold him up in front of a white screen, and try not to be in the picture. Pretty neat to think that Zachary will have a passport photo as an infant - just like all the Counts kids. This is a picture of his passport picture - we got his picture taken at Walgreens.