Scooting

Zach is diligently practicing scooting backwards . . . this morning he got his feet stuck under Greg's bass amp and then at nap time he did this:

Davis Lake

Though we live in a tiny little neighborhood where the only amenity is that they give you a warning before they begin fining you for being able to see your trashcan from the road . . . we do live right down the road from a very large neighborhood with a lake, playground and a couple miles of walking trails. On the weekends we often walk down there to see the geese and ducks and walk the trails. Zach was giving the water fowl a couple smiles here and there but mostly just staring at them, trying to figure it all out!



(these were taken a few weeks ago when the temps were still in the 70s . . . )

Mr. Casual

Zach is pretty laid back most of the time, but never more so then when he's sleeping . . .


The other day we went in to get Zach up from his nap and found this:

(see the little yawn in there?)

I think the only thing that would have made me laugh harder was if his arms had been propping his head up . . . little lounger . . .

Sitting Up!

Zach loves his bumbo seat, and so does his Mommy. It gives him a chance to check out his surroundings from a different perspective and when I have the tray attached as well, it gives him good practice at reaching for his toys.

But he won't be needing the bumbo for playtime much longer . . . he's quite determined to be sitting up on his own! For the last couple of weeks he's been able to sit up for very short bursts, but we've setting him up and catching him when he falls over 5 seconds later. He's getting better and better at keeping his balance and has even started to catch himself and correct his balance. He still needs to use his hands for extra support, but I'm sure he won't need them much longer!

This was taken on the 11th, the first day he was able to support himself sitting up . . . look at that concentration!

A more recent picture, if he didn't have the bulky sweater on, you'd be able to see that he's sitting a little higher up . . . take my word for it!

Halloween

Well, I had every intention of getting these pictures up weeks ago . . . but at least I'm getting them up before Thanksgiving!

The day before Halloween (which is my Uncle Tim's birthday, Happy 50th, Uncle Tim!!), Zach and I visited a pumpkin patch with some friends.


He was a little too young to appreciate the epitome of fall that it was. But he was good sport and even let me take a picture of him with some pumpkins.

I can now see why portrait studios buy great seats and balance boards for infant pictures . . . otherwise you're just laying your child on the dirt . . . oh well. (Thanks Grandma Gigi for the cute bib and pumpkin shoes!!)

The next night was halloween. We thought about taking Zach to a harvest festival, but Greg got back in town late that afternoon from a rained out camping trip, so we decided to stay home. But we had to dress Zach up in his costume (a hand-me-down). He's dressed up as Pooh bear dressed up as a sunflower. Not the manliest . . . but he was 3 months old, that's not a a very manly stage of life to begin with =)

Biltmore, one last time

At this stage of the game, it's all too easy to get bogged down in dirty diapers, dirty clothes and the all important nap schedule. Every once in a while we need to break it up and have a change of scenery. Zach does a pretty good job napping in the car or in the baby carrier, and when Greg and I go together it doesn't seem to be a problem at all to take this show on the road. So, at the end of October we took one final trip up to the Biltmore with our year long passes. The fall colors were just a little pass the peak of the season but still oh so beautiful. We toured the winery (the first time I've been able to do the wine tasting since I was pregnant every other time we went), the farm and then took some walks on the grounds.

I think the farm was my favorite part of the trip. It was our first time visiting the farm and we loved walking through the kitchen garden (which was mostly empty due to the season), the stables and seeing the animals in the petting zoo. Zach was a little too small to take him in to see the goats and chickens, so we just observed from the other side of the fence. We'll definitely have to take him back when he's older, the chicken with the slipper looking feet were cracking us up!

Chatterbox

I love the time right after Zach is done eating, when his belly his full and he's in a great mood . . . he apparently loves that time, too.

3 Months

I know it's a little late . . . but better late than never, yes?

We're are enjoying this little man more and more with every passing day! He didn't have a well visit this month, so we're not sure of his exact growth, just that he is growing! He's moved up to the next size of clothing, and it's probably about time to move him up to the next size of diapers (we've dealt with some pretty bad blowouts the past couple of days). He's very liberal with his smiles and a couple times a day we can get him laughing - that's the best!

He's still super strong, pushing himself up like a champ, spinning in circles during tummy time, and he's starting to push himself backwards. The other day I had him on a blanket next to me while I was on the computer and I looked down to see that he had pushed himself right off the blanket. I really don't think I'm prepared for him to moving that much yet!

Night time has been going wonderfully, for several weeks now he's been sleeping 11-12 hours through the night . . . it's amazing. We lay him down between 7:30 and 8 and he sleeps straight through until 7 or 8. I can hardly believe that life is settling into a livable pace this early on!

He most definitely has the characteristics of a first born (I would know . . . ) and it's fun to see his little personality coming out. Yesterday at church I was sitting in the lobby with a couple other moms with boys a few months older than Zach during the sermon. The "older boys" were sitting up on their own and playfully grabbing toys from each other. Zach was ever so intently watching them while laying on his belly. Every once in a while he would furrow his brow and squeal at them. They would turn to look at him and he would bust out a huge smile . . . Someone loves being the center of attention . . . =)

Still his favorite . . .

Family Resemblence

Now, there is no doubt that Zach has mostly his daddy's genes. The male Ross genes run strong . . . but looking at this picture, I might get to claim a couple of Zach's features, the eyes especially:

Apple Picking 2k9

At the beginning of October we got to take Zach apple picking for his first time! Since this is an annual trip that we take with Nate and Kristie it's easy to look back and remember what was going on around the time of previous years trips. Last year I remember watching other families with their children riding around in wagons and sitting on their dad's shoulders to reach the high branches. I wondered if Greg and I would ever get to experience that and prayed that God would bless us with children. Little did I know that I was already several weeks pregnant and that God was giving us such a precious and perfectly healthy son!

The apples and scenery were wonderful, too and we had a blast picking apples and hanging out in the beautiful orchard.

A HUGH spider we saw between two trees. Don't be fooled, I was no where near as close as the picture looks, my zoom was helping out. Greg was proud of me for getting a picture at all . . . I'm completely terrified of spiders . . . *chills down my spine*

I'm pretty sure Nathan wanted the spider to jump on me. Brother-in-laws are the best =)

Normally I get to be the tree climber, but Greg got to do that this year since Zach was strapped on to me in the carrier. I lived vicariously through him instead, haha.

Storytime with Dad

I absolutely LOVED to read when was I younger (and I still do, I just don't have as much time). I can clearly remember Saturday mornings sprawled out on the dining room floor right in front of our sliding glass door reading Nancy Drew for hours. The sun poured in and it was the most relaxing place (to a 10 year old) to lounge.

I'm determined that Zach will love to read just as much and it's never too early to start so I try to read to him each day. The other night, Greg was reading him a book before bed and I think Zach knew that each page turn was counting down to him being "forced" to sleep . . .



I'm not sure which is more sad . . . for him to hate sleep or reading?

Our dryer, may he rest in peace

Our poor little dryer finally bit the dust =( It was a hand-me-down from Steve and Carol and has served us well for the past 3 years (and them for many years before that) but it finally dried it's last load this month. The motor was so far gone that it would run dryer for 5 minutes, overheat and shut off, require an hour to cool down, run for 5 minutes, etc, etc.

Before we replaced it, Greg took the whole thing apart on several occasions and fixed several other problems it was having (a wire on the control panel had shorted out, the rollers were squeaking like a dying animal, and we thought a fuse had shorted out as well). With his handy-man skills we were able to keep it limping along for a few extra weeks, but when he figured out it was the motor that was dead and it was more to replace the motor than to buy a new dryer, we turned to craigs list.

Greg found a good deal from a guy that sold them out of a storage unit . . . we're really hoping it was legitimate and that we didn't buy someone's stolen dryer. Really, really hoping =)

So, now we have mis-matching laundry machines but I've never been so happy to have dry towels in under an hour!

Visiting Mawmaw and Pawpaw

A few weeks ago, Zach and I drove up to Concord to visit my grandparents who moved here right before Zach was born. It made my heart so happy to hop in the car and drive 20 minutes to visit with them as opposed to the previous 6 1/2 hours to Fairfax, VA. I hope that our visits with them will become more frequent now that Zach is awake for longer stretches between naps.


Pawpaw (he actually wants Zach to call him "grandfather") said that Zach is the most attractive male that's related to him. (Can you tell he believes in honesty in all situations, that's quite a qualifier there!) We won't tell his sons he said so . . . =)

Skilled at Sleeping

Zach loves to grab his sheet (or the blanket he's lying on during tummy time) in his little fists and snuggle down as far as he can when he's tired. During the night, the very edge of his mattress provides the best area to grip and we often find this when we get him up in the morning.


It apparently doesn't bother him at all, we'll just hear the normal happy baby noises letting us know he's awake.

Supermen

I love my boys . . .

Thumb sucker!

Zach has officially ditched his pacifier in favor of his thumb. (Except for car rides, his arms aren't quite long enough to manuvre around the safety straps yet!) He looks so content just lying there, sucking away. He still has some trouble getting the thumb in position, though. His most frequent blunder is to tuck the thumb in between his pointer and middle finger (picture the "I stole your nose" routine) and still try to suck only his thumb . . . doesn't work so well.

The best of friends . . .

One thing I was very nervous about before Zach was born was how Spartacus would adjust to having a baby around. And if his barking at cars and people going by the front door would wake up Zach. Thankfully, it's all working out wonderfully. He's only woken the baby up a few times and it really hasn't been a problem at all recently (Zach must be used to the sound from all the barking he heard while in the womb). It's been fun to see them interacting when they're both awake. Zach loves to stare and watch the dog and Spartacus seems to be counting down the days to when Zach gets to eat solid food and the messes will begin.

Spartacus will often stand guard over Zach when he's playing on the floor. I can't wait to see how these two will play together when Zach is mobile!

Greg took these pictures a couple weekends ago:

Don't you make me relax in a plush seat while rocking gently . . . don't you do it!

Zach has decided that swinging just isn't his thing. We've borrowed 2 different swings from friends and he'll chill in them for 10 minutes or so and pretend to be pretty happy . . . then the allusive swing monster jumps out and scares him . . . I can't even sit him down in the swing now without him screaming. Kind of defeats the purpose of the swing in my book =) Funny enough, we've discovered that he's super content just playing on blanket on the floor . . . low maintenance . . . I like it!

Here's Zach before the monster attacked . . . nearly asleep. I probably should have taken a picture of him screaming just moments later to prove my point, but you'll just have to trust me.