We live in front of the ocean and only yesterday happened to take Zackary down to introduce him to the waves and sand for the first time. As I expected he wasn't all that excited. We let him sit with us on the sand, and feel the cool ocean water in between his toes. Then we walked along the jetty where he seemed to really like watching the water crash up on the rocks. He was enthralled more with all the children laughing, running and yelling! I think he will love the ocean, I just hope the sun doesn't turn his pale skin into lobster skin. No matter how much sunscreen we put on, it doesn't seem enough to me! It was a fun adventure for us. The other big first this weekend was starting sweet potatoes (his first real food besides the cereals). He loved it!!! He ate it all yesterday and today. I decided to make as much of his baby food as possible, and it actually was very easy! So 5 days of this food and then on to carrots maybe!
Along with a general update of my little 6 1/2 month old muffin man I wanted to write some of our daily events that take place to keep Z-Man clean, happy and entertained!!! First, he is doing great! He rolls all over my bed, if I wasn't on the end of it he would roll off. He loves to sit, stand, hold onto his feet, swing, laugh, and so much more. After every nap (about three a day 9, 12, 3) he sits or lays in my lap and we sing songs like monkeys bouncing on the bed, patty cake, if you're happy and you know it, and abc's. Then I have cards with pictures of animals on them and we sit and look at them talking about the animals and how they sound...he loves this. He takes the cards and holds them looking at the pictures...so cute! Also, when he wakes up in the morning I always sing "Rise up this morning, smile at the rising sun, 3 little birds sittin on the doorstep singing sweet songs, a melody pure and true, singing this is my message to you...don't worry about a thing, cause every little things gonna be alright, etc." He LOVES this...and smiles the WHOLE time. Ben and I have been singing this to him since he was born, every morning.
Here are some more of his cuteness...
Taking his nap in his crib on his back on St. Patrick's Day-this picture is huge. He used to only nap on his tummy. He loves cuddling with his burp cloth that mommy sleeps with!
We have now started him on oat cereal which I have to say is going worse than the rice cereal. He just doesn't really like it. He knows how to swallow...but spits it out. So I think I might just start a vege...like winter squash or sweet potatoes. We are feeding him once a day after his 4pm feedings. If any of you have ideas, please let me know! 
Zackary has many play areas set up for him around the house. Three in our bedroom..the doorway swing, saucer, and the drums (floor play area!). Here he is playing the drums with grandma...so funny! He loves it! Dad is really good at it. We have three play areas in the living room. Another saucer that he walks around, another swing and a floor gym. We also spend a lot of time sitting on pillows and looking at all the people, trucks, flowers and doggies outside! The swing seems to really help soothe him before a nap (great idea from grandma)! In the kitchen we have his highchair, and a bouncer chair. He likes the bouncer in the evening around 5. He sits in it sucking on his pacifier, playing with his feet while watching us cook and eat. Some nights he is talking and spitting and some nights he is super quiet. He enjoys the highchair in the morning while I am eating breakfast but he in the evening he likes his bouncer. He also loves going outside. I have him in the Bjorn a lot while I water or we just walk around and look at all the plants. Yesterday I had him sitting with me on the front porch blowing bubbles everywhere...that was fun!
The above picture is part of our nightly routine before bedtime! I first nurse him for around 10-20 minutes 6pm and then Dad reads him a book and then we dress him for bed on our bed and talk to him a little. This part has gotten increasingly difficult as he can roll now both directions, and thinks it is funny to not let Dad dress him in his PJ's. Side note: we have totally stopped swaddling now (that was an ordeal...one night cold turkey and crying it out with great results) and we put him in PJ's and a sleep sack. Tonight though I didn't realize that they were all dirty so he is just in PJ's...see how that goes! The doctor said NO BLANKETS...so we have the heater on low! After we dress him for bed I sing a song to him (right now it's Fools Rush In by Elvis) and then it's off to bed with Dad. He holds him and sings him the same U2 song every night within five min. it's off to bed at 6:30! He's sleeping till a 4am feeding and then up at 6:30-7am. Even though he is sleeping 11 hours a night and taking three naps he still seems tired. His naps are not that long, we are trying to work on improving that. Putting him to bed at 6:30pm has helped with his naps some (30 to now 40min naps) but it's still a work in progress. He has been doing this really fast head twitching thing for a couple seconds after naps or when he's getting tired. It's involuntary, and it is worrying us both. I videotaped it and showed the ped, but she didn't really seemed to concerned. I guess if he keeps it up we are going to seek out a neurologist. I know that the nervous system isn't fully controllable at this age, but it's weird and you have to follow your motherly instinct right! An update on this next time.
Oh the days of sleeping...sweet memories! :)
This past weekend Zackary went on his second trip to Las Vegas. One of my closest friends lives there so a bunch of us decided to meet up. There were three babies all relatively close in age and one toddler and the husbands! It was a fun weekend in all. Although Zackary and I got no sleep, we managed to smile and enjoy our time with everyone. It's hard to function on little sleep...and I felt so bad for him, he was really thrown off of his schedule, even today being at home it's been a struggle to know when to put him down for his naps. The weather was beautiful though and Ben got a golf day with the boys so that made him happy! My friend that lives in Las Vegas has a backyard swing that Zackary and I went on everyday and he loved it! It would put him to sleep after awhile.
A week before we left for Vegas we started him on some organic brown rice cereal. It was so funny to watch him spit it out and make a nasty face..but continue to reach for it and want it. He still isn't eating it really well, maybe cause I use water not formula or breast milk?. We are also struggling with him not sleeping through the night which is really making him tired (and us!). My last post talked about not swaddling him anymore, but we still are. We are realizing though that the time is drawing near to start sleep sacks because he gets his arm out of the swaddle every night and wakes us up crying. We have to cold turkey and just stop...and let him cry so he starts sleeping again all night and taking better naps. I feel bad for him. He is reaching for me now and giving me hugs, so cute, and laughs a lot for his daddy. He wants to eat the TV remote and his crab bath toy. He's rolling over really well from stomach to back. We also have this oldie Elvis CD for babies that he loves. We played it a lot while in Vegas and it really calms his down. He's off to sleep now, I better join him!
We live in front of the ocean and only yesterday happened to take Zackary down to introduce him to the waves and sand for the first time. As I expected he wasn't all that excited. We let him sit with us on the sand, and feel the cool ocean water in between his toes. Then we walked along the jetty where he seemed to really like watching the water crash up on the rocks. He was enthralled more with all the children laughing, running and yelling! I think he will love the ocean, I just hope the sun doesn't turn his pale skin into lobster skin. No matter how much sunscreen we put on, it doesn't seem enough to me! It was a fun adventure for us. The other big first this weekend was starting sweet potatoes (his first real food besides the cereals). He loved it!!! He ate it all yesterday and today. I decided to make as much of his baby food as possible, and it actually was very easy! So 5 days of this food and then on to carrots maybe!
