Happy Halloween!

"Happy Feet" would like to wish everyone a Happy Halloween, on this, his first Halloween! I can't take credit for the costume idea, but I certainly can for finding it! When Len and I were talking about what we should dress up the critter as (Zach left it up to us this year), I wanted to find something that resembled a "critter" like a bug or a lizard. Len thought, why not a penguin since he walks like a penguin and his little "happy feet" are always kicking and moving? Brilliant! Well, after several stores (i.e., Walmart, Target, Kohl's, Babies 'r Us, etc.) I was about to give up finding an infant-sized penguin. Wouldn't you know one afternoon I was in the Children's Place looking for a baptismal outfit (perhaps a little Divine intervention), and there on the rack by the register was the most adorable PENGUIN COSTUME! Sold!

So, here is our adorable little happy feet penguin for his first Halloween!


What a busy day we had! We had a nice morning getting ready for the festivities, and Zachary didn't mind at all when I put on the first few pieces of his costume. I can't believe how well he tolerated the hood and booties. I waited to put on the body of the costume, since he wouldn't fit in the car seat with it. I had the day off from work to get ready for the Baptism later in the weekend, so I was able to take him to daycare myself and watch their little parade with all of the adorable little children in their costumes! Zach just chilled (get it? chilled like where penguins live?? oi!) in his stroller and enjoyed the adornments and cheers from the on-lookers. He's so cool! (get it again? I know... I'm nuts!)



Later that evening after Len got home, we all answered the door to give the trick-or-treaters their goodies. Zach seemed to enjoy all of the action. Since Len pulled together a costume on a whim, we decided that maybe it would be fun to walk around the neighborhood with our amazingly adorable little penguin and have Zachary experience his first trick-or-treating evening out! (The scrubs Len wore during my c-section must've accidentally fallen into his bag after changing back into his street clothes!... Len was a surgeon if you couldn't tell - McDreamy is how he referred to himself - and I was the paparazzi, as usual!) What a blast, and everyone thought he was so adorable!! He even carried his cute little pumpkin treat bag (thanks, Mom-Mom) for the people to put candy in... I think he's well practiced for next year when he can knock on the doors himself!!




And this is the first door ever where Zachary trick-or-treated! You know I had to take several pictures of that, and I think the homeowner thought I was crazy! hee hee

Happy First Halloween, Zachary (a.k.a. Happy Feet)!!

A Sundae Stroll...

We had another beautiful Autumn Sunday, which was a nice treat after a very nasty, rainy Saturday. With the temperature at 65 and the sun shining down, we decided it was a perfect day for a late afternoon walk (after the Raven's game, of course). What is always motivating for me on our walks is when the destination is Baskin' Robbins for an ice cream sundae... especially when they have Pumpkin and Apple Pie flavors! So we headed out with our precious cargo tightly strapped in our new baby backpack. I carried him on the way, and Len toted him home, so you can guess that all of the pictures are of the latter part of our walk (hee hee).

Zachary loved reaching out and touching the leaves... and the pine needles, too, even though they were not as soft.

What a nice family afternoon... we're so lucky to have such happy-go-lucky little cutie pie!

Sunday chores

Talk about having a supervisor on your back watching your every move! Here's Len's very ingenious way to wash dishes and watch the critter all at the same time. Otherwise, we don't get anything done when Zachary is awake and playing. It's just way to easy to play with the little man instead of working around the house!

Pumpkin Pickin'

Yesterday at daycare was pumpkin pickin' day. Zachary was all ready for his big moment... picking out his first Halloween pumpkin. They did a beautiful job decorating the play yard with festive fall scenery, and I was lucky enough to be there to take a couple of pictures. (I timed drop-off just right to be when it was his class's turn to head outside.) He picked the perfect pumpkin, too!

Preppy boy!

Zachary had on one of his new outfits for the Fall season, and he looked so adorable I just had to share! And let me tell you, Zachary was especially affectionate today dishing out hugs and kisses left and right when I picked him up from daycare. He's so darn cuddly with the sweater vest, so it was quite a treat to hang with the little guy this evening!!

PS - He's getting so good at pulling himself up hanging on to just about anything. He truly loves being up on his feet more than anything and gets so excited when he's cruising around!

And here is a photo Len took this morning with his camera phone to send me at work. I just love when he does that!!

Precious memories...

Today has been a relatively quiet day for us... church, a couple of errands and laundry. Len and Zachary are upstairs napping, and I'm sitting here, reflecting and looking back on my own childhood as I browse through this blog and how much we've done with our little bundle of joy.

I have to say, I was a pretty lucky girl growing up, myself... I had both parents home for the balance of my upbringing (my Dad retired when I was in elementary school and my Mom was home my whole life). How many kids can say that? I think about it so often with Zachary going to daycare, but remind myself he too, is safe, loved and well cared for. I am especially reminiscent today... you see, today is not exactly a day of happy celebration for me. Exactly 9 years ago, we lost my Dad.

I wish so very, very much he was here today to share in all of the joyous things in my life - an INCREDIBLE husband who takes such good care of Zachary and I, and the most AMAZING son who fulfills me more than I thought another human being ever could. I know my father looks down on all of us and protects us (I feel him in my heart so often)... I just wish I could see one more time that look of pride I used to see on his face when he looked at his family. I feel like I had that same look today when I gazed at Len holding Zachary tightly against his chest as they rested their eyes together on our bed. I wish Zachary had the chance to know his Pop-Pop... I know he'd love and adore him as much as he does his Mom-Mom. You can bet when he is old enough to understand, I'll be sharing all of the incredible stories of me growing up with my Mom and Dad. I only hope I am half as good of a parent to Zachary as my parents are and have been to me!

Backpacking... precious-cargo-style!

Len has been commenting that the Baby Bjorn is getting uncomfortable to carry Zachary in now that he is getting heavier. We've seen the backpacks around, and finally decided to buy one.

Well, let me tell you, what a difference! Zachary really seems to love it too!!
I wish we bought it sooner when the weather was warmer... I think this will just motivate us more to stroll even as it gets a bit chillier out. We can all just bundle up for our family weekend walks... who can resist those cool, sunny autumn days? It will be fun to crunch in the leaves as they blow at our feet!

Up on all fours!

Guess what? This evening while at home playing with Mommy and Daddy after daycare, Zachary decided to try getting up on all-fours and crawling like a big boy!!! We were soooo excited! When I picked him up earlier, he was still in military-crawl mode, so I'm not sure what came over him. Len said he saw it coming... Zachary's shoe was off and in his way when trying to make his way to another toy to grab and play with. To avoid the obstacle, the little man decided the fastest way would be to just go over it and in order to do so, he needed to push up on all fours. Len and I cheered so loud and clapped, he knew he was on to something and was very proud of himself. He did it several times, but it was very hard to get just the perfect picture. Here some some of my attempts. Our little boy is growing up so fast! (He also worked very hard practicing pulling himself up... he was a ball of energy tonight. I think it was because he actually took a TWO HOUR nap at daycare this afternoon- woo hoo!!)

Another wonderful Jersey weekend!

We had another fabulous road trip to New Jersey this past weekend! Today is Columbus Day, so Len and I are both off from work... thank goodness, because we definitely needed a day of rest after all the fun activities we were part of all weekend long. The prime reason for our travels this weekend was for a wedding on Saturday (friends of the Goodman family, so Len and I went with his parents). Zachary was also very lucky to see his Uncle Dan and Emily, as they were in town for a christening on Sunday... what great timing!

A cool first for Zachary was sitting in the highchair that his Mom-Mom used to feed me in! Now that he's becoming such a big boy, it was time for Mom-Mom to break out the highchair from storage and get is ready for the critter! He looked so cute in it... it's hard to believe that so many decades ago, I actually fit in that little seat!!

Wow, an adult Saturday night out... this was only our 2nd major baby-free outing since Zachary was born and we truly did enjoy ourselves. I do have to say, I missed the critter soooo much, but knew he was in very loving hands with Mom-Mom (with some help from cousins Hailey and CJ, too!). The wedding ceremony was earlier in the afternoon and we had a good amount of time before the reception, so we were able to stop back at Mom-Mom's house for a quick visit, some pictures (we even got the next installment of the 4-Generations) and a feeding before the food, drink and dancing began for the grown-ups.

After Grandma, Poppie and Great-Grandpa had some much anticipated hugs and kisses from the little man, we headed out to the Lambertville Station for the party. I had a little purse-size photo album with me to share with our friends at the reception, but I think I looked at it more than anyone else throughout the evening. :) It's so hard to leave him on weekends, since we miss him so much every day during the week while we're working! We all had a great time and enjoyed a beautiful party!

The next morning, we began with a brief music lesson... Zachary really LOVED playing Mom-mom's piano! Maybe we'll need to look into more official lessons in a few years... time will tell.

Then, we were off to the Goodman's for brunch with the family before they headed out to the christening. (What a busy weekend!) After that, we raced back to Mom-Mom's for an afternoon visit with cousins Hailey and CJ and Aunt Lynne and Uncle Chuck. We went for a nice walk around Mom-Mom's beautiful neighborhood and around the pond. The weather was just so amazing (warm and sunny), you couldn't help but spend every moment possible outside!

After our walk, we went inside for more playing, where Zachary had yet another first. Allow me to explain... in a previous blog entry, I shared that one of the little guy's favorite toys is the remote control. Well, another one is the PHONE! And he totally can tell the difference between the "play" phones made just for him vs. the real one (not made for him)... and he ALWAYS opts for the real one. He managed to get his little mischievous hands on the real phone and made his first call completely on his own... guess to whom? 911, of course!! That's right... our little critter will come in handy in an emergency, but when just playing, it's not so wonderful. Luckily, they called back the house for confirmation before deploying the emergency vehicles to come save us from absolutely nothing! Oi!!

Here's the little gremlin opening some early Halloween presents and trying on a costume, too!

We just LOVE our trips to New Jersey!!

Phelps Phans!

What a beautiful day today was... a perfect early Fall sunny, warm Saturday! We started our day by taking a walk to Dunkin' Donuts for our morning coffee. Today happened to be our community yard sale, so there were TONS of people out and about and lots of energy in the air for a Saturday morning. We browsed everyone's tables of "gently-used merchandise" (a.k.a. trash or treasures, depending on who you ask) and even unexpectedly bought a couple of things (i.e., cd's we'd never pay full price for, a baby gate, etc). Once we got home and fed the little guy his lunch, we decided we totally needed more of the beautiful weather, and it was a PERFECT day for a parade.Wouldn't you know today was the "Parade of Gold"... Towson, MD finally celebrated the homecoming of it's local 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic champions - Michael Phelps, Katie Hoff, and several others from the Paralympics! So, we packed up the car and headed out for a short drive south to make it to Towson in time for the 3:00 parade start time. Zachary slept on the way down, but awakened in time to watch the marching bands, cars of dignitaries, fire trucks and tons of people march down York Road. He wasn't fazed AT ALL by the very loud sounds, which kind of surprised Len and I. And I mean LOUD... we were right in the front row on the street and there were marching bands that stopped and played right in front of us, fire trucks that sounded their sirens as they drove by, and car horns honking. He just chilled and took it all in, watching very intently!

It was really exciting to see our local celebrities... we were so glad we went and couldn't have asked for a more beautiful afternoon!

Zachary hits double-digits!

Our amazing little son turned 10 months old today! I can't believe I'm sitting here typing this blog entry in celebration of Zachary's 10-month birthday. It was this time just last year when we were celebrating a baby shower and anticipating his arrival... time sure does fly (especially when you're having such a blast). This month's tribute to the critter is all about "Tricks 'n Treats" (since his first Halloween is just around the corner).
It has been a month of so many new achievements for our little guy, and as you have read in previous entries, I often refer to these little milestones as his "tricks." So, here is a recap of all of Zachary's new (and quite adorable I must say) tricks...

• Pulling himself to a standing position from a sitting position in his crib. Now that the mattress is lowered, he looks more like he peeking through the bars of a jail cell when he's in there, though I don't think he feels that way. He'll sit in his crib and play for quite awhile before summonsing Mommy or Daddy to come and get him out... I love to listen to him talking to himself or his stuffed animal on the monitor!



• Crawling all over the place (military style). He's really getting good at it, but still MUCH prefers to walk while hanging on to our fingers. Len and I will need the service of a chiropractor soon, I'm sure!



• Clapping... whether it's in sheer delight, celebration, or for no apparent reason at all! I just love when he's so proud of himself for whatever reason!



• Blowing kisses... he kisses his fist (including a loud MWAH sound effect) and thrusts it toward you with such conviction! He'll do it on demand (usually), or in return to your blown kiss to him, or completely self-initiated just to get your attention and let you know he loves you. Moments like these just melt my heart, and make my day, my week and even my month! Zachary is such a loving little boy and isn't afraid to express it!

• Waving... whether it's hello, good-bye, or just to say "look at me," Zachary is getting really good at waving. Sometimes it's a whole-arm, hearty wave (sometimes the left and sometimes the right - we can't really tell if he has a preference yet), and other times it is a cute little wave with just his fingers flapping up and down. The critter also LOVES to wave at himself in the mirror... it's just soooo precious to watch!



• Walking by himself behind his walking toy. (This is a repeated achievement... so let me explain why it is significant at this point. He was doing this previously but very unsteadily. He got ahead of himself one day and was going too fast to keep up, so he took a bit of a fall [Daddy was out of arms reach and unable to catch Zach since he was moving so fast]. This apparently scared Zachary to the point that he wouldn't even touch the handlebar for a couple of weeks. Now, we're back to not having the major fear and pushing it around all over again... yeah!)

• Playing catch with Mommy and/or Daddy! If you toss the ball to Zach so it lands in his lap while we're sitting on the floor and playing, he'll pick it up (usually by the tag) and "throw" it back to you. I use quotes around throw because it isn't exactly the most accurate toss, but it is obvious he totally means for the ball get back to one of us so we can throw it to him again. I truly believe he understands the game of catch... and he's pretty good at it for only 10-months old! Maybe we have the MVP of Game 9 of the 2028 World Series in our midst... who knows!! :)

Some other treats over the past month include:

• Cutting his first teeth (still just the two on the bottom, but I'm sure there are more very close to breaking through).



• Expanding his new foods list to include more "people-like" food (vs. the baby food he's been eating) such as fried egg yolks, white and wheat bread and Rotini pasta.



• Kisses, kisses, kisses! Zachary never hesitates to plant a great big kissey on me whenever the mood strikes him... which is quite often. I especially love it when he wraps his arms around my neck, gives me a great-big, open-mouth, slobbery-wet kiss on my cheek, then squeezes me oh so tight when I pick him up from daycare at the end of a long, hard day. He will also kiss just about anything if the mood so strikes him... including his exersaucer, his stuffed animals, his walking toy, and his highchair tray to name a few. I get a flutter in my heart when I see him do this... he's such a little cutie pie!

Happy 10-month birthday, Zachary! Thank you for continuing to flood our hearts with so much LOVE!