Silly Picture Update

Our New Life

Hanging out at the beach...we figure that the grass is a safe place to let him walk all over where he can't slip and fall on toys and hurt himself. We had fun doing that this morning.


Ya...go!!!!

Wednesday 4:10PM

Our first and hopefully last emergency room visit. Our new little walker slipped on a puzzle and came tumbling down with his lip landing on the corner of a hard plastic toy. There was a lot of blood which immediately sent me into life safe mode. At which point everything gets blurry. While I held Zackary, Ben, my sister and my mom helped us get ready for the er room. We waited about 15 minutes when we got there which seemed like an hour to be triaged and then we were taken right into a hospital bed...(private room). Zackary had stopped crying on the way to the hospital and his lip stopped bleeding as well. We just weren't sure if it needed to be sutured. Our room had a tv so Ben found the PBS channel and Zackary's attention went to the cartoons for a few minutes (don't even remember what). At this point we fed him dinner which he ate every last drop and was seeming to calm down. After a short while a physicians assistant came in looked at his lip (which promptly reinstated the screaming crying) and said it pretty much needed to be stitched. We had to hold numbing cream on his lip for 12 minutes...so I held the cotton ball and held Zackary and Ben did whatever trick he could think of to divert his attention away from it. I was getting nervous because I new what was next...and I will be brief. We burrito wrapped Zackary, nurse held his face, PA put in 3 sutures, while I talked to him and Ben held him down in the wrap. On the 3rd stitch Zackary was falling asleep (or passing out)-ughs, and within 4 minutes we were done. He was sweaty...and tired. We all were. So we changed him and got home. We were gone about 2 hours...and after a quick PJ change we cuddled for awhile and then I put him to sleep. He was attached to me throughout the whole experience which was so humbiling for me.
We are still raw from it all. I know it might happen again but it won't be easier. And it's hard to hear that it might happen again...we know that...but this experience sucked as I am sure they all will. I hope his little legs are a walkin' real strong soon...so we can move on to the next worry! He's doing fine. Swollen little lip but smiling and moving along!

14 months

I wish I could have remembered my life at 14 months. Such a wonderful, carefree time in life. I would have loved to have been capable of holding onto those precious memories. I could have known how much fun it was to play with so many toys, have food made for me, sleep, sleep and more sleep, walks in our neighborhood and hanging with Mom and Dad together. But our memories don't start that young and maybe for a reason.

Zackary is at a really fun age right now. His favorites are in some of the pictures I have included. Peekaboo is at a all time high right now. He places his arm in front of his eyes and then moves it away dramatically displaying peekaboo. He will do this with anyone almost as a way of offering peace and figuring out if you are cool or not. His big milestone is walking! My last blog displayed his first steps in a short distance. A couple of days later he had built more courage up to walk across the room. Two weeks later we are walking around the whole house, thinking magically the steps in and out of rooms will disappear if I just keep walking and I don't have to pay attention to what is in my way-that's Mom and Dad's job!!! He is good at it though, a natural-well a clumsy 14 month old natural. It's insane to me to think that it only took him 14 months to become a little boy...walking, saying mama, dada, nana, and more in his own language, feeding himself, giving Bentley treats, waving hello, and so much more. His neurons are working overtime to ensure his proper development...I think I need some of that neuron action-a sort of tune-up!
He is really into flowers. He has to immediately turn to any page in a book that has flowers on it. He will point to certain colors for me and when we walk outside he not only has to touch them but he pretends he is smelling them. It's really precious. His favorite flower....a red rose! Anytime we are walking and he sees one, he points (with his whole hand, not a finger) and if we pass it he reminds me by turning around for a block or two trying to point to the flower...meanwhile whining..."go back!" He will remember those flowers on the next walk regardless of how much time passes in between.
He likes to build with blocks, ride in the laundry basket, climb the stairs and stare at our American flag, play with balls and any grandparent, cuddle with the pillows on our bed, have books read to him (we give him a choice of two and he picks which one he wants...and he is so proud of himself for choosing), stack, climb, go on walks in his mini car and stroller and listen and dance to MUSIC. Music stops him in his tracks. In the morning we bust out a CD of tunes from a music class we went to last spring. He loves it! We wind the night down with some lullabies, and during the day we have different toys with music and a favorite car ride CD...(Elvis Priestly lullabies).
Favorite foods include ANY fruit especially berries, bananas, and pears. He likes meat and most veges excluding green beans and peas, enjoys bread, oatmeal and yobaby yogurts!
Our newest outing is to the local mall where we visit the koi pond, carousel, and all the fountains. He loves the carousel...I get dizzy after one round, he wants to keep going! It's so much fun. Also we live close to a park and if I even mention swings, he knows exactly where we are going and what we are going to do there!

There is a flower page in this book...It's his favorite.


His dislikes include having his face wiped after eating, more and more the afternoon nap (ughs for me), not walking towards the park or to look at red roses when we are out in our stroller, having to wait to eat fruit at the end of our meals, not being able to drink mom's coffee, saying goodbye to Mom or Dad, not being able to go up the stairs several times each day!

We are excited for Christmas...Ben wants to chop a tree down himself-(sounds exhausting)! I just want to magically have the whole house decorated so I can sit drink some hot cocoa and blissfully enjoy my 3 boys company in front of the tree.

And He Walked!!!

He did it. He was standing across from me holding onto our bar stool while I was sitting on the chaise lounge. He let go of the stool and took a couple of steps right for my legs and with two arms in the air and two feet on the ground made it to me! He was so proud of himself as were Mom and Dad who were clapping loudly. He did it again once more...and then moved on to other things. For most this moment is not a big deal, but for us...it was elating. It's been amazing watching his increasing development these past 14 months.

The Skeleton and Spider

Zackary started out with wearing his skeleton outfit (below) for Halloween and then come late afternoon he became a spider. I think he is teething so we knew he wasn't going to last long out trick or treating...so we went out early. Our neighbor offered Zackary their bowl of candy and he would take a piece out and throw it on the ground...over and over. It was so funny! Next year will be even more fun with his being more aware of Halloween and all the festivities.

In Case You Need a Smile