Yesterday we went to Doug's parents for lunch and swimming. Doug took Zander swimming for the first time, he LOVED it! It was so cute he was kicking his legs and trying to get away, like he knew how to swim already! I took pictures and videotaped, they came out cute.








At lunch he was doing so good with eating! This is good because he has hardly ate any solids and I was starting to get a tad worried. I gave him some little bites of my veggie burger, and some watermellon and a few other things. Since he refuses mushy stuff we're going straight to bites of real food, within reason of course. He loved the veggie burger! He's had watermellon before with Colby, oh, and Colby gave him some peach last week and he loved it.

Zander 8 month update

Zander is 8 months old today so here's an update about him in the past month:
-He crawls all over the place!
-He can go from a crawl to a kneeling position and to a sitting position
-He pulls himself up to stand on EVERYTHING, last Monday was the first time he walked along the couch trying to get the remote.
-He crawls over to say hi to the cats and gets so excited when they let him pet him
-He crawls over to say hi to Vinnie and gets a little disapointed when Vinne gets up and walks away
-He has experienced food in the last 2 weeks but doesn't think much of it
-We tried: sweet potatos, avocado, a piece of mama's regular potato, and banana. He's gnawed on lime, celery and lemon. His favorite thing is rice crispy cereal, we hope to move on to cheerios soon so he can try picking them up himself.
-When I gave him banana(tonight) he promptly threw up.
-He's a total boobie-baby.
-He gives fives.
-He has the cutest giggle while we're tickling him, he cracks up!
-Not only does he have 3 teeth - tooth #4 and tooth #5 are coming in! I can't really let Zander chew on my fingers or hand anymore because he will bite and it hurts. But he thinks it's really funny to crawl up to my knee and bite it, it totally tickles.
-His hair is starting to come in more and he's getting some long locks of hair that curl at the back of his head like both my brothers had. I love it. I love the curls. It's still hard to tell if his hair is going to be brown, light brown or blond. It just depends how your looking at him. But I don't think he'll be a redhead as we previously thought he may be.

------------------
The other day I was reading one of the baby magazines and a mom was talking about how she journaled her daughters life and just wrote little things. I wish I had done more of the little thing journaling. One of the things she wrote was "she folds her hands together when she nurses". Zander always did that and it was so precious. I think I took a picture of it.

So the other night we were laying in bed nursing and he was cuddled up next to me with his feet on my legs. Yes, his feet hit my legs, sometimes my knees! And I love the feeling of little feet up against me. When he was little his feet would be pressing my tummy when we layed down to nurse and it reminded me of how it felt when he was inside me. I love feeling his little feet up against me.

Pictures of the boy from this morning

At the play area at Metrocenter. I had to keep Zander from "kissing the baby", he wanted to kiss his reflection. :-)

And one from when we got home:

love

Zander and I were driving this evening and he was singing at the top of his longs. I mean signing! It was so dang cute. So we get home and I open the door and say to him "we're you singing for me?" and he grabs his little feet, which have is his little sandals on them, and pulls them up in out three times in a little V. So he not only sings for me, he dances for me! Love it.

Zander update

So Zander's been pulling himself up to stand on things for a few weeks. Monday was Doug's day with him and Zander pulled himself up on the couch and went for the remote, so Doug moved the remote and Zander walked along the couch to get to it. :-)

Zander is a speed crawler, he is on the move so fast.

He gives fives. You put out your hand and say "give five" and he does it -repeatedly. So I say "five, five, five, five". It's the cutest thing ever!

On Sunday one of Doug's grandma's was holding him and me and his other grandma were across the table and he demonstrated giving fives. So then me and and his other grandma clapped and said "yay". He looked at me and started clapping! I've never taught him clapping before, he just did it because we did it!

Poor kid really doesn't like food. I gave him some avocado for the first time on Sunday and he ate it, only making a little face. Then Monday I tried avocado again and he spit it out and whined about it. Tuesday we did a little bit more avocado with less of a fight. Tonight I boiled a sweet potato and mashed it and mixed in some breastmilk. I thought if I made it mushier he might like it better. Nope, he gagged 3 times and made plenty of faces. Vinnie liked the sweet potato though, I didn't want to waste any breastmilk nutrients - hahahha so I gave it to the dog.

Zander does love his little brown rice crispy cereals though.

Oh, and Zander got a hold of a quarter of a lime at my parents house yesterday afternoon and he shoved it right in his mouth and loved it. Wierd kid.

I feel like I'm not signing enough. We do MILK,DOG, waves hi & bye, and LOVE YOU. I try to do EAT when he eats and DRINK when he drinks. Since he loves the cats, and they actually let him pet them unlike Vinnie, I've been signing cat to him. He was so excited to pet Munky today he just kept looking back at me and I'd say "CAT" and do the sign. He was saying something like he was trying to say cat. He's so smart.

New food for Zan

I gave Zander a new food today - rice crispies made of brown rice! I wanted him to have a 'finger food' type food, but I don't think he's ready for cheerio's since he's only had sweet potatos once. So we were at sprouts and I found some brown rice crispie cereal with no junk added and the peices are so small I figured it would be safe.

It's cute when he eats them, he pulls my hand to his mouth for another one. We sat on the floor eating cereal for a while. He's such a little man eating his cereal then he'd grab his sippy cup and drink water.

nursing musing

Tonight after Zan's bath we were laying in bed nursing. It was wierd because after a while he had switched to that comfort suck but he was still awake with his eyes wide open staring at me. Then he proceeds to shove his hand in my mouth and feel my teeth. And I'd take his hand out, kiss it and try to redirect. Then we'd repeat this cycle. Eventually he went back to nursing suck and fell asleep. It was cute.

Pictures from Studio Mama!

update

Zander went to the doc on Monday, he weighs 22 pounds!!

Zander commando crawls now. That boy can move when he wants something. Things he is drawn to: tv remotes, cell phones, daddy's shoes, daddy's guitar, the cat, money.

Tonight Zander and Vinnie were laying on the bed and Zan scooted his way over to Vinnie and put his mouth on him. ummm, gross. Zan loves to put his mouth on anything. I had to go to work early because I had to go downtown for a class, so I left before Doug & Zan. Doug said he was sitting on the bed putting on his socks and shoes and Zander scooted over, pulled himself on his knees and started licking his back and putting his mouth all over Doug's back. Doug said he was soaked! haha, Zander also will put his mouth on my tummy and I say "That's where you used to live until you grew big enough to be born!" :-)

Zander sees his cousin Jacey all the time and he is FASCINATED. He really wants to touch her, so I'll take his hand and let him touch her leg gently because she is still tiny.

Bath Time!

trip to the Zoo!

Zan and I went to the Zoo with Becky & Sophie on Saturday. It was fun, but hot.

Zander updates

Zander's teeth have sprouted! You can see them now and you can definitely feel them - they are sharp! Zander is constantly sticking his tongue out to feel them. Even Uncle Marty and Auntie Colby noticed how much he's been sticking his tongue out lately.

Zander has such a love for music. He started hitting his toy drum last week so we started putting the bongos in front of him and he loves them! He get's excited when he sees them and just loves to jam out on his drums. He can hit with both hands but he usually hits with his right while scratching with his left.

Last night Doug brought home an acoustic bass from the studio. Zander was so excited when Doug showed it to him this morning. Doug put it in Zan's room so Vinnie wouldn't bother it and while I was changing Zander on the bed I let him check out the bass. He loved it! He kept hitting it and then he'd pull on a string and get so excited.

When Doug came home the two of them sat on the floor with their instruments and it was so cute. Doug played the bass and Zander would hit his drums. Then Zander would just sit and watch Doug all fascinated with the music. Then he'd hit the bass or try to pull the string. At one point Doug rolled back and laid on the floor playing the bass, then Zander decided to lay back just like Daddy right next to him.

He's such an amazing person these days. He is so insistent in pulling himself up to stand. And he loves to "walk" if you'll help him. He does a great job of stepping with each foot. Doug thinks he'll skip crawling and go right to walking.

in awesome news...

Zander signed MILK 3 times yesterday for Doug!!!! :-)

________________
We went to LLL last night and in an effort to crawl and chase after the toddlers Zander did 2 faceplants straight into the carpet, that = a screaming, hard to console child.

His teeth are just about popping through. I thought I saw something and felt something yesterday. Then at LLL one of the other moms was holding Zan while I went to the restroom and she's like "I see them!" she could see his teeth. Well, the are sharp and coming through now and he bit me with the first time with them, lovely.

Picture from Easter Sunday

He's a natural!

Zander was given the LeapFrog Learning Drum for Christmas from Uncle Mike & Auntie Nene. Since Doug is a drummer we are given drum related gifts, which is cool. We want Zan to know musical instruments and music in general.

Tonight he was on the floor and Doug turned on his drum. Zander started hitting the drum!! He was doing it soooo good. And he'd even repeat the patern of the drum! I took a little video of it, I'll try to put it up soon. Soooooo proud of our little music boy!

Since we don't have a guitar at home and Doug can't really play his drumset here Doug and I have been playing bongos for Zander, he likes it.

In other milestone news....
Zander has been saying "Mammmmmammmmaammmamm" and "Maaaumm" since yesterday morning. Now, he's been saying "Hi" for a while. It's not just me and Doug that have heard it: Colby, Marty, my mom, Melissa and Mickey have all heard him say it. He's just not real consistent, he says it when he feels like it. Mostly when he notices or sees the person and they say hi. But the "Mammmamaa" has been consistent since yesterday morning while I was getting ready for work. I'd set him down he'd say "Mammmmaaammmm" and put his hands up for me to pick him up. I was in the shower and he was in his chair and he said "Mamamamma" the whole time. I'd ask "Are you saying Mama?" and he'd smile. So yeah, I'm proud. :-)

Happy Easter

Easter eggs

My family colored easter eggs today. Zander would take an egg and suck on it so he got food coloring all over his mouth and hands. It was cute.

Happy 6 MONTHS to ZANDER!!!!

The love of my life is 6 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!! I can't believe it, he is truly the best kid. Doug and I are always so thankful we've got such a wonderful, healthy son.



Things he does:
-Eats his toes and pulls his socks off.
-Puts his arms up to be picked up.
-Puts his arms out and lunges when he wants to go to someone (ususally me or Doug, but my mom and dad, too).
-Sitting better for longer periods of time.
-Scooting all over the floor, usually backwards.
-If he's on the bed and trying to crawl he pushes up on his arms, gets his legs up and moves his feet but they will slide back and forth on the bed.
-He's talking with his high-pitched voice alot
-Get's really excited when he sees boob when he's ready to nurse.
-Likes to hold the boobs and move them acordingly while nursing.
-Likes to pinch, sqeeze and pump the boobs while he's nursing. I don't make these things up, people.
-Helps hold his bottles of EBM.
-Loves remote controls, cell phones and phones. He likes to talk to mama on the phone while I'm at work.
-Loves his sippy cup, he'll reach for it when he wants it and he can hold it.
-Wants a drink of whatever your drinking and will reach for your glass and wants to hold it. I let him try to drink water but usually just putting his mouth on the glass pleases him.
-Sunday he started chewing. He's not chewing anything but he'll just make the chewing motion.

I can't believe 6 months have flew by since Zander was born.

2 best parts of my day

Today I had to pick Zander up from the grade school field because my dad coaches Mickey's little league. Melissa watched Zan until I got there. When I got there I was greeted by a big ol' grin. Zan and I walked around the playground and I put him on the slides to let him slide down. Then I sat on the swing and held him and started swinging. He LOVED it! He just laughed and laughed and coudn't stop looking around while swinging. Now I look forward to picking up Zander on little league afternoons because we can swing! :-)

We came home and I put him on the floor for tummy time and for playing with his cars. He was trying to get his cars which were just out of his reach but he kept scooting backwards. He scooted himself way back off the blanket and turned himself around facing the other way. Zan can scoot! I can't believe it, he's growing up so fast - it makes me sad because he's not a little baby - but it makes me proud his so strong and healthy. I love him so much.

_________________love