30...times 2!

Happy 30th Mike & Roxanne! Thanks for a great evening of friends, food, and wine!! :)

Scrub a dub dub!

Puppy Love

Mystery solved!

Thanks to Becky, I learned the origin of the Presidential letter!

Apparently it comes with the storks we order here in Houston. But I also found out how any one can get one! If you follow this link, and then click on the section about invitations and greetings, and then baby's birth, there is a simple form to fill out! You have to do it in within the first 12 months of birth and takes about 6 weeks to receive. Or 10 in our case ;-)

You can also get a birthday greeting for 80ths and up, an anniversary greeting for 50+, and a wedding announcement!! A neat little something!

Yesterday Z and I ventured out in the BOB to Marble Slab. It was a good but kinda stressful walk as its along a busy street. Even though there is a sidewalk, still a little scary! But the ice cream was well worth it. Z was looking super cute in his shades...although when he got there he was asleep and they were halfway asleep so don't know how useful they were! But we had fun anyway. Ill post some pics later...I have a sleeping boy on me right now so cant get to the cord!

Thank you Mr. President

So last week we got something interesting in the mail. Matt picked it up and says, "we got something from the White house".

I replied, "It's probably just a coupon...just trash it" assuming it was White House/Black Market ;-)

"No, the real White house"

"Maybe campaign literature?"

"I don't think Zachary would be getting voting info quite yet!"

So...it turns out it was mail to Zach from Mr. & Mrs. Bush welcoming him to the world. Well wasn't that nice? I didn't even send them an announcement! heehee. They didn't send a gift but I guess we will settle for the nice card for his baby book! :)

(I have no clue still how we got this unless they send them to all new babies but that would be a lot of mail. So thanks to whoever signed us up! Must have been one of our Republican friends!)

A roll! And other Z Man updates...

It was only one, but hey, it was exciting! Z man was doing some tummy time and then started leaning and next thing he was on his back! He looked very proud of himself too! We will see if it happens again, but for today, that was pretty cool! :)

He is also in Size 2 Swaddlers now and a mix of 0-3 and 3-6 clothes. We ran out of size 1 diapers and thankfully had some Size 2s someone gave me at a shower and they fit! Maybe a little big still but seeing as he is almost 12lbs anyway, they are pretty darn close. And for the clothes, it all depends on the brand but definitely out of the newborns...

Zachary is also a flirt! The smile thing is definitely catching on. Although hard for me to capture on camera, it is not hard for him do when the flashing is not in his face! We had a trip to the post office today for stamps (which by the way are going up 1 cent on May 12th) and he was smiling and cooing for the lady in front and behind me. They thought he was rather handsome. And yesterday when we were out on our walk, he was smiling for one of our neighbors. He knows how to work it!

HE SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT! We have been pretty consistent since almost like week 3 on about 4-5 hours...and then have been on about 6 hours for the last few weeks...but over the weekend we have started to get closer to 8!! He is still like an alarm clock and wakes up at 6am practically on the dot for breakfast, but he is starting to drop that last feeding. It started on Friday night when he ate around 930 or 10pm and then crashed out. When we went upstairs around midnight he was still asleep and since it was the weekend, I figured I would just let him sleep and if he woke up at 4am or whatever, it wouldn't bother Matt. But sure enough, 6am came and he had not woken up until then. Go Z!

We are also napping in the crib now, especially for the morning nap. I want him to be used to his crib when I move him in there...and I don't think I will have a problem at all. I lay him down a little but after that first morning feeding and he lays and kicks and watches his mobile...and then drifts away!

He is just doing so great and of course I am very proud. I am not one of those moms that knows when babies are supposed to do this and that by, but I think he is doing a great job on all that he is doing! :)

2 month check up!

Today was Zachary's 2 month check up! First off, I cannot believe he is already 2 months old. Where does the time go??

The appointment started off great. Weighed and measured and all checked out by the doc. Zach now weighs 11.5lbs (45 %), 22 3/4in (45%) and head 15 3/4in (50%). So he is doing great and right where he should be! Then...it was the dreaded shot time. He had 3 in one leg, 2 in the other and an oral vaccine. Man, it was a whole new scream! But he really did good. He cried when he got stuck but as soon as I scooped him up, after a few whimpers, he was okay and passed out in the car seat. Dad was in the area so met us for lunch next door at cyclones and still snoozin. Z woke up for lunch and it wasn't until then that the fussin began. I gave him a little Tylenol like the doc said and he CRASHED. Actually fell asleep in my arms while I was comforting him. So mom got a little rest too. A little more fussin after his dinner but seems to be okay now.

So here are some of his 9 week pics and a couple from today too!

Mom,Im getting too big for this!

Look at this big boy!

Loungin at the doc....

One of my poor little thighs!

Crashed out...mom was finally able to lay me down!

Home Again...Home Again!

WOW, what a weekend! It was busy but tons of fun and lots of exciting things happened...namely my cousin Lec getting engaged, meeting Miss Paige, and Julia Joy arriving into the world!

So I should have taken a picture of the car, it was loaded down...but probably still had room for more. Ended up just being Matt, Zach, Esther and me, mom took her own car with Maddie. We decided 2 dogs would just put us over the max capacity for sure. Esther and Zach were great travellers, I think both slept almost the whole time. We had one feeding on the way and have decided Zach's car time limit is about 4 hours so it was just about perfect. Heading to Abilene should be a little more interesting here in a couple of weeks but we can do it. Zach also did well sleeping in his pack n play and napping too. He took one nap in it upstairs by himself and was good until he woke up...now that's a cry like one I had never heard before....I think it went something like this..."where the H*LL am I?" Poor baby! And he wanted to be hanging out with the family. Next nap time we just reclined the stroller and he slept like a champ there.

Saturday afternoon we went to the Hawkinsons to meet Paige. Jack & Ash were there too so it was nice to visit with them as well! Paige is gorgeous and slept like an angel the whole time we were there. I cant get over her blonde hair even though I knew she would be. Those Swedish genes are strong! I think she looks a lot like Jeff but it could just be the hair color. Looking forward to seeing her in a few weeks and how she has changed! It was so good to see Ginny and Jeff with Paige. It was fun having Ginny pregnant with me as we could compare symptoms and pains, etc so now I am having fun comparing new mommy things! :)

Saturday evening was the engagement party for Lec & Ricky. Lec proposed Saturday early evening and then brought her back to the house. He had flown her parents in from Kansas City for the festivities too which was a great surprise to see her face when she saw them. The ring is gorgeous and the happy couple was glowing. Looking forward to the wedding!

And early Saturday morning back in Houston, the Labbes welcomed Julia into the world. Rox had a great labor and delivery and is feeling good. I got to go see them all at the hospital today and she is a cutie!

So all in all, a great and exciting weekend. Esther and Zach both crashed when we got home last night. Too funny.

Last but not least, my baby boy is NINE weeks old today. Friday was his 2 month birthday. Wow, I cannot get over how time is flying and how big he is getting. We have his 2 month check up tomorrow and I will be sure to report all his new stats!

Heading Out.......

WOW, it takes a lot to take a baby out of town!! The car is packed and we are waiting on Matthew now to get his stuff loaded up. The weather in Dallas is supposed to be cool this weekend, go figure, so that requires long and short sleeve shirts for Zach. I think he has 4 bags....1 for clothes, 1 for bottles and formula, the regular diaper bag for well...diapers, and a small tote for miscellaneous. Plus we have the pack n play, stroller, pump bag, boppy, and of course his car seat! Good lord! Who knew someone so small could require SO much! Good thing mom scaled hers down to just one little bag. And don't forget Esther and her bag too! Thankfully we have the Acadia to pack it all up!

Anyway, Ill be sure to take lots of pics this weekend. We plan to see the Hawkinsons and maybe the Martins too...plus of course all the Wells family. Cant wait! :)

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend enjoying the weather and catch up with you later!

Spring time!

Today was nice outside so we decided to enjoy it while we can!

GO KANSAS!

Thank you Mario Chalmers...you just won us about $900! With a clutch 3 point shot to put the game into OT, Kansas came out victorious and has me winning about $600 in Jeffs bracket and Matt winning about $300 in my brother's! WOOHOO! Guess that will cover Z's diapers for the year! :)

Good weekend....

We had a great and busy weekend. Friday night we had dinner with my parents at Pappadeaux which is quickly becoming one of Z's favorite places to dine! We never have to wait for a table, its loud enough to be where IF he fusses it wont bother too many people and quiet enough where its not bothering him, and oh yeah, they have the best banana pudding ever!

Saturday was Allison's 30th Karaoke Birthday Bash at Spotlight Karaoke. We had our own private room so we didn't have to compete with people for singing time. Basically they had like a giant MP3 player where we could go search for artists, song titles, etc and then the singing was ON! It was a lot of fun, especially because we like to SING! And, for the first time in I cannot REMEMBER how long, all 10 book club ladies and their spouses were there! AND WE DIDN'T TAKE A PICTURE! Oh well, another time. Allison looked fabulous and thank you to Justin for putting on a great bash. It was definitely a good first real night out away from baby! And on that note, thank you to my parents for watching the Z Man and for mom staying the night. It was a much needed night out.

And then Sunday was my God-daughter, Katie's baptism! I was so honored when Katie and Becky asked me to play this special role in Katie's life. I have been on this journey with her mom for a long time and through many prayers and tears and hugs, here we both are now with our little miracles! I promise to always be there for Katie girl and to help guide her in her faith along the way. The ceremony was beautiful. And the after party was great too. It was such a nice day out and all the babies napped and ate and played together. So sweet to watch!

Proud Parents Andy & Becky
Me and my precious Godchild, Katie!!

Babies in their play clothes at the lunch!

So all in all a wonderful weekend. We were definitely tired today though, Z and I slept on and off. Tomorrow we will be more productive! :) Friday we are heading out to Dallas for our 1st big trip!! Imagine this...Matt, Me, Z, Esther, and maybe Grandma and Maddie! It will truly be a test of the car. Zach is excited to meet cousins Sarah and Lec....and of course his newest friend Paige! It will be another fun and busy weekend and we cant wait!