"Muffin" "buggars" "jujubee"

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! :)