Party like its .... 2007! (for the last time)

Pictures on their way, but this video? Well, let's just call it a preview for the music video....

Because education starts at home...

Today we had big adventuring. Zachary got his first trip to a climbing gym... he's still a little small, but its just a matter of time (they do have pretty little climbing boots....). We also got a book of Mother Goose Nursery rhymes. We've been reading through (some of them are less common than others, some we can all sing along to...) but Grandma Jackie brought us a more creative version of one:

Three rodents with defective vision
Three rodents with defective vision
Observe how they perambulate
Observe how they perambulate
They perambulated after the agricultural workers spouse
Who severed their posteriors with a kitchen utensil
Have you ever observed such a phenomena in your entire existance?
As three rodents with defective vision...

*grin* Hm, possibly not as politically correct as you might expect from the special ed teacher, but there you go.

super-zach
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

And so we figure, I should upload a few more photos and write up what we've been up to in Santa Cruz, for those grandparents across the pond. Yesterday was an open house for Jackie and Michael's friends to come meet Master Zachary. He got a lot of attention but was so well behaved considering the noise and number of people grabbing him to cuddle.
Today, he slept during our tour around the cliff and beaches of Santa Cruz county. That of course was the point though, He'd woken up at 8:30am and played almost non-stop until one. His interactive awake periods are getting longer and he started oohing more and possibly aaahing. He has not yet managed however to realize that when he is tired, getting all worked up and flustered doesn't help and that an mid-morning nap might be the key.

Play Safe!

Play Safe!
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Zachary got his introduction to West Cliff Drive this afternoon. It was a beautiful day. By noon it was warm and the surfers were coming out en masse. It was hard to remember it is christmas eve and just a few days past the solstice. I haven't checked on new york weather in several days - I hope the cats are staying warm in what is inevitably colder than this weather! We figured this sign was a good life lesson *grin*... Be Cautious... Play Safe! Zachary has obviously got it down. Napping, the safety pasttime...

We made it (part deux)!

happy squirrel
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

We finally got to Santa Cruz! Via the wonderful highway one. And found new clothes awaiting zacharroni's arrival.

We made it!

the painted ladies, and SF skyline
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Tada! This is a picture of the three of us in Alamo Square Park, right near Debbie's house. The houses behind us are called "The Painted Ladies". We had a lovely day, wandering out to Fort Point (more pictures on flickr), visiting the Sea Lions on Pier 39. We wrapped up the day visiting the shops at Ferry Building market... yummy desserts came home with us for dinner. Also? Sourdough bread is amazing. No joke. Tomorrow we head to Santa Cruz. More later. We're still trying to figure out what timezone Zachary is living in....

Off we go.....

The diapers are clean, we all seem to be wearing clothes, and so far no one has yelled (very loudly, and that was mark, and it was at his toe, so it doesn't count). We are all clean (by some sort of miracle, since the hot water seemed to go off before we left. Awesome) and have packed most of the universe... California, here we come!

Morning fun

Daddy Reads
Originally uploaded by Niais

Zachary is still recovering a bit from his vaccines, so sleeping more between feedings. This morning though he had a burst of interest so he got lots of play time. Mark read to him, we sang songs, and as the video shows, he even got to play "track and grab". Ok, maybe its "track and fling". You be the judge.

How can we tell when he's hungry?

chewy mum shoulder, mmmm tasty
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

:) He's not so subtle....

Good morning Grandparents!

Flame Chaps
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Let's make it a two baby early morning feed. We have an ice storm. It'll be rain by the next time we wake up. But the flaming chaps were too cute to keep to ourselves....

AMAZING

Our baby is *amazing*.
:)
He has *so* many tricks. Yup.
Besides the standard baby tricks (eating, pooping, sleeping) he comes with an enhanced set... we have smiling, and laughing, and crazy cooing sounds.. not to mention our two new favorites, fist in mouth (with great repeatability) and as of this evening... grabbing! Ok, its a new trick, and its not one hundred percent but... definitely grabbing. And he has long conversations with my boob, but that's a different post....

Oh, I forgot!

Our baby ate all the other babies.
No joke. According to the CDC.

As of today, he's 15lbs 12oz.
*grin*
To be fair, its because we're freakish and exclusively breastfeeding. That means especially now at the start the percentile results are a bit skewed.

And he's hitting the baby tylenol. After eating this afternoon he looked up at me and screamed. Screamed like I was actually torturing him. For a long time. At which point I gave him baby tylenol, because frankly? With tears and snot and spit up, it was clear even without a fever he may not being having a fantastic time.

He's doing much better. Cuddling his daddy and napping. Thank goodness.

All but one...

Why, you ask, did our charming boy get only two shots instead of three? Oh, that's right. Because the third got recalled this morning.
Seriously. This morning. How unreal is that? Mm. Anyway, he was a superstar. He yelled (duh, he got a jab in each thigh) but then I fed him and he looked a little dazed and fell asleep. Because he's amazing. :)
Also? The weather is currently a wintery mix. As we walked home it was hailing & snowing AT THE SAME TIME. Weather is whack. Let that be today's lesson.

The world at his fingertips.....

one passport down, one to go
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Now if only he could move more efficiently than by wriggle.

But he can't. So at least we'll know where he is for now.
Today was lots of excitement. Zachary & I went to lunch with the girls, and then had some quality lab time. Ok, cleanroom for me, napping for the boy. When's the mommy get a nap, hmmmmmmm? *grin*

All is well, channukah was lots of fun, we're getting excited about california, and the last picture was *not* a doll, :P

DON'T PANIC

8th night 2
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

zachary is still here. sorry there was no post yesterday :-P

the trouser, for contrast

I had to go back and look how baggy they were and wow he's growing fast!

Zachary Zoo

Zachary Zoo
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Happy Chanukah Zachary Zoo. So this week has been an exciting and I'm sure sarah will fill you in on all fun things, like zachary sleeping 6.5 and then 7.5hrs, then he got a cold and had his first green boggie. He has also started to verbalize (making OH and occasionally AH sounds) on what seems like purpose, and now I get to play a game of repetition with him. And just for a omg reference he came home from the hospital in these trousers but then they were around his armpits!

Zach's first cold...

Be grateful there are no pictures. I definitely almost took one of the snot.
He was a little laggy yesterday and I was a little worried. But Mark had been a bit sick, I felt like I was getting a little sick, so we weren't entirely surprised. And so he slept and fussed for much of yesterday. Until night time. More fussing, less sleeping. He'd slept 7.5 hours the night before... maybe that was flukey and part of being sick. We were all excited that it might mean real sleep ;) We're so easily tricked. He woke up this morning and was *just pissed*. *grin* Not in the english sense. I got up and walked with him and he suddenly got quiet.... Oh, that's right. He screamed out the big giant lump of green snot and now... Big smiles! *laugh* Babies are amazing. We should all be so instantaneously fixable. Poof, no more snot, bring on the fun! He is such a happy baby, it is astounding.

For Debbie...

I think we've found the perfect job for Zachary.... or maybe this one....

*Don't* wake a sleeping baby....

Start your laughing now.

Zachary is doing fantastically. So well, in fact, that his night sleeping is quickly stretching out. No huge surprise, really. He's a good eater, he's the size of a small sheep, he's turning two months old on saturday. And he's been a good sleeper, even when he was waking up frequently to feed. He's been sleeping ~5 hours at a stretch at night, and we were pleasantly surprised when that started (because 2-3 hours is just a little on the short side, frankly).

Last night, he slept a whopping 6 and a half hours. Whoo!

His parents, of course, slept more like 5.

5:05am

Me: "Is he awake?"
(woke up through some combination of too much milk, squeaking baby, and hyperactive mom silliness)

Mark: "I don't know. He could be hungry."
(who knows why he's awake. Willow, probably. She has a sense of when her meowing is most effective/annoying)

(a long pause, during which the baby makes baby noises. Sleeping baby noises.)

Mark: "I could wake him up."

Sarah: "Don't wake the baby."

Mark: "Maybe he's overheated?"

Sarah: "Could be. Don't wake the baby."
(although at this point it would be bliss if he fed. Certainly more comfortable...)

Sarah: "I think this is an ok length of time for him to sleep. We should be happy. We're going back to sleep"

(ten minute pause)

(the baby makes some sort of noise. A sleeping baby noise.)

Sarah: "Is he hungry? Is he awake?"

Rinse and repeat.

Mark & Zachary are back in bed :)

So much news! So little time!

Hola World
Originally uploaded by Niais

Ok, first things first.
We went to the otolaryngologist. Whoa. Say that five times fast.

ZACHARY IS ABSOLUTELY HEALTHY.

:) See? In caps, so there is no concern. The very nice doctor put a babysized scope down Zach's nose (yes, he loved that. Lots & lots.). It was very cool to watch what happened when he breathed - and what happens you might ask? Well, this little bit of muscle that isn't yet rigid closes up over his airway as he takes big breathes. And its fine. And it should go away around six months, or at least by two years. Here's to several more months of nursing next to loud machinary.

In much more *fun* news - Zachary suddenly noticed the world. Poof. The last few days he's been smiling at us, and looking around a little more. Yesterday was like the day the world was born. Suddenly he's staring at objects (and us) for ages. We got out this toy that was a gift (when received we thought it was so big it would eat him - he's caught up to it) - anyway, this video is a little clip...he's started to play. He gets frustrated because he knows he wants to grab, but his body hasn' t worked it out yet. But he spent a bunch of time (ok, several minutes, several times) staring at it (it has big eyes, and a mirror on one of the feet), waving his arms, making cooing talking sounds to it. Absolutely incredible.




We're such new parents. It is so much fun.

Snowbaby

First Snow
Originally uploaded by Niais

It snowed a grand total of 1 inch today in NYC. So of course we figure a prime opportunity to take Master Zachary Collins out in his beautiful red snow suit. Now for those of you have finally figured out the confusing technology that is flickr.com we've thrown up a new hurdle. Sarah (ie niais) has posted her pictures to a different flickr account. And just to keep you on your toes I took my camera out too and those pictures are on my account (m0nk3yphd).
We wander up to the park and then back making a snow angel on the way. Enjoy both sets of pic's.