Santa is Scary

That is really saying a lot for Zac who pretty much loves everybody.  No stranger danger for this one.  When Santa came walking down the hall, Zac grabbed on to Jer's leg.  As Santa got closer...Zac got closer to Jer until he pretty much had a death grip on him.

 So we gave Zac a minute to check Santa out before bringing him over, but that really didn't do anything as you will see below.

After we were done with the big scary man...Zac calmed down and watched the other children sit on his lap and the world was calm again.

Last year we waited in line at the mall for a little while to see Santa but then ditched the idea before we got up there due to the fact that you couldn't take you own pictures and they were charging like $20 for the pictures.  Zac was not even 6 months old yet and wouldn't know the difference so I didn't care...(BTW...hey University Mall....kids just want to see Santa and parents want a picture.  Stop capitalizing on the simple joys of Christmas..Really?!).  Well a ward Christmas party is the way to go.  Free and you KNOW who Santa is (definite plus in my book).  Maybe next year he will care, but for now Santa had better just stay away.

And...here are more pics of the kid.

Wearing Dada's hat

Just watching the kids play outside...can't wait to be big enough to play with them too.

Just cooking a piece of bread

Family - Does anybody else think this  kind of looks like Syd?  Proof they are related I suppose.

Just talking to Grandma H on the phone (he mostly listened, but there was a point were he mumbled something back)

Still talking to Grandma H...boy can she talk!

Adventures in Independence

November, where did you go?  Oh wait I know, you snuck by while we were distracted by life beating us up. 

It all started on October 24th during that fateful indoor soccer game.  Jer got slammed, hit the ground, and rather than getting up, rolled on the ground grasping his leg in agony.  I knew immediately what happened (though I was hoping it wasn't true) ...his ACL was a goner.  The weeks after that were a whirlwind of activities...Halloween, doctors appointments, stressing over the realization that the current insurance plan we are on is not so great for a family (great for 2 people...not for kids) and the expenses of meeting a high deductible and the costs of a knee surgery (and all the bells and whistles that you have to pay for too), work responsibilities, still suffering from morning all day sickness (yeah...pregnant if you didn't know) and caring for an active child and a gimpy husband (although he did a lot more than I ever expected him to).

Jer had to wait until November 17th to get the surgery, but he had it and is doing well. Christmas this year is going to be very low key and low cost...after all we did just spend a great deal of money on medical bills....Merry Christmas Jer, Santa brought you a new knee!  (Actually, we are not that lame, he got a new laptop for Christmas).

On a happier note, Zac is doing well and has decided recently that he would like to be more independent.  Part of this independence is feeding himself.  As much as I would love for him to always feed himself, I am not loving the mess it creates.  You'll see what I mean below...

And...

Other things Zac is doing:
- Up and down the stairs on his own (on his belly like the pros of course)
- Likes to "brush" his teeth...aka suck on his tooth brush (we can usually get a few good swipes in, but we try.  He loves to do this when we are brushing our teeth.
 - Getting into all the drawers you really don't want him in (you know the ones with markers and scissors)
 - Back to not eating really anything with nutritional value.  He is now on a strict diet of oatmeal, PB&J (or honey), waffles, pizza (LOVES!), crackers, bread, Scooby Snacks (Scooby-Doo fruit snacks) and milk. (if we're lucky he will eat some chicken)...seriously people I am running out of ideas of what to feed this kid and actually have him try and like as well.
 - He says a few words: Dada, Ball, Mama (which I swear sounds like he is calling me Amy, huh?), light, Ozzy, puppy, apple (or bapple because he thought they were balls first)
- When you ask if he is hungry and if he is he will put his hand to his mouth and pat it (very cute) and will run to his high chair
 - Loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...but mostly just the Hotdog dance.  He dances to it and really gets down!
 - No doubts about it...he is a lefty.  He favors his left hand for everything, I don't think he will be changing to his right hand.  We are both right handed and have no clue how to work with a south paw.
  - Since the last post, he has now decided the tub is one of his favorite places to poop!  Disgusting!  I had to change the water 3 times the other night (3 times!)  What's your record?

Those are the highlights, other than that he just keeps us laughing all day long.  He keeps us equally as frustrated too, with this new found independence came deafness (or at least a sudden misunderstanding of the word "no").

Here are a few other pictures of Zac being a funny kid.

Playing with cups.

Just hanging out in the window.

Getting into trouble with Ozzy.  I am sure glad we have a dog to clean up after Zac!

Just one of many nap created hair do's (what does he do in his sleep to cause this?)

A New Trick

Courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa H:

I would say he makes this sound about 95% of the time after taking a drink.  He knows it makes us laugh and so I am pretty sure that just encourages him to do it more.  I guess I like knowing that my son, even at 15 months, is a comedian and wants to make people laugh.

Superman

This Superman....

 

Kind of got it?  We took him first to our ward Trunk or Treat....he made it to 3 cars...in 45 minutes.  

Car #1 he didn't know what was up and didn't really want people putting stuff in his bucket (granted he didn't even really want to hold the bucket).  

Car #2 he figured stuff goes from one bucket into his bucket and he sat there for 10 minutes taking one piece of candy from that person's treat bucket and putting it in his own.  Fun game for a toddler.  Before we left this car I grabbed most of it and put it back.  

Car #3, gave him 2 things a plastic snake, which to a 15 month old is just as good as candy, and a sucker...Game Over.  Suckers are the candy to rule all candies in this kid's mind.  He can hold it, suck on it, wipe it all over his face and hands, and as long as we aren't in the house or in the car and baby wipes are handy, mommy doesn't care...could it get any better.    

This Superman....

  

 

Will get to those Starbursts whether you help him or not.  A little wax paper isn't going to prevent him from eating those delectable chewy treats.

This Superman...

Had his first Halloween trick or treating excursion. 

On Halloween, we went around our culdesac. Halloween is fun in Texas, everybody just sits out in their driveway and waits for the kids to come by.  We went to about 5 houses this time...in about 30 minutes (improvement).  He carried his bucket about half the time.  I was carrying it when we got to the last house.  This was our friend's house, and just when I was thinking he still didn't really get the point, he grabbed the bucket from me and ran up to her so she could put some candy in his bucket.  My kid is so smart!

She gave him a few treats and then he looked in her bucket and saw...you guessed it...a sucker.  Game Over.  He tore into that immediately, sat down on the ground and just went to town. 

Note to self, no suckers before bedtime, crazy child will result.

And finally, this superman...

Pooped in the tub the other night!  I yelled in horror and he just smiled.  Little Stinker!

(probably too much information, but it was a first (of probably many) for me).

Such a Big Boy

Zac is 15 months.  I took him to the doctor today and he is doing great, he is right on track developmentally (although I think he is advanced, they asked if he says 2-3 words...he says more than that!)

Zac is SO big, in fact he is now trying to feed him self.  Of course he is no good at it.  First he tried to feed himself some chicken and rice.  He would stick the spoon in the bowl, come out with nothing, stick the spoon with nothing on it in his mouth, remove said empty spoon and then reach in and grab a handful of chicken and rice and shove it in his mouth.  Eh...he tries.

Next we tried some applesauce...we did a little better with that.

As you can see he claps when we say "Yay!".  He also knows he is freakin' adorable and gets this look on his face and will cock his head and leans it on his sholder.  You know he is just thinking "I am soooo cute and amazing, just look at me".

After his trial of feeding himself applesauce, you can imagine there was quite a mess.  You see, he wasn't very graceful at removing the spoon from the container.  Sometimes he would flick it out and it would land on the bib, or his face, or my knees (I learned to back up and put a towel on my lap).  Here is a taste of the resulting mess.  Unfortunately it is hard to see the applesauce, but it was pretty much everywhere from nose to tray.

And here are just a few more pics of Zac just being cute.  (This is another cookie picture, needless to say he did a lot better with this one).

I don't even know where this face came from, he had a happy smile on his face until I pressed the button on the camera...I think he inherited his mother's curse of not being able to take a normal picture (always posing).  That is Jer in the background trying to vacuum up some of the rice that neither made it on the spoon nor in his mouth.

One Cookie and a New Bike

Yes...one singular tiny little chocolate chip cookie made this mess.  I honestly don't know how.  I gave it to him and walked away, came back 5 minutes later to this?  I am guessing he liked it.  That's his "What?!" face.

In other news, we got Zac a tricycle.  It is one where we push him until he can ride it himself.  First though we had to put it together...and Zac had to help.  At one point during the process he put his mouth on the handlebars, I think he was saying to all who were listening "this is mine...I licked it".

The best part was taking a ride...

We took it for a quick spin around the culdesac, but it was dark and bedtime so it wasn't super exciting, but he still had a good time. 

Please ignore the ring of drool around my son's neck.  He is drooling like a maniac these days and honestly after a horrible night last night with him waking up every couple of hours screaming, I am pretty sure we are working on some molars.

And why not a few more pictures of my soon to be 15 month old.

Stuck under the crib, but he got the binky that was under there (yes he was crying, but I had to get the picture)

Please note string of drool flying out of his mouth!

This is what happens when you take pictures of tired children.

Needs and Wants

Our story begins many years ago when I was in dental school.  When we/students started seeing patients in the clinics I needed (or wanted, as Ames continues to remind me) one device that would allow me to listen to music, watch movies, make phone calls, text, and see my schedule.  Naturally, I needed...sorry Ames, wanted, a smart phone.  Finally, after years and years of debating I finally was going to get a smart phone for Father's Day.  I've been looking at all the different options, and I boiled it down to two phones: the Droid Incredible 2 or the iPhone 4.  From everything I was reading it really didn't matter, they were both great phones, and I finally decided to go with the Droid phone because it was a first generation iPhone with Verizon.  I wanted them to work out all their little bugs first. 

Zac watching Baby Einstein while I was home for lunch

So, fast forward a couple of months now.  I’m still figuring out the phone, and having fun trying to use the phone to its maximum potential but I know I’m far from that.  I’ve been using it for its navigation (GPS), looking up pharmacology questions, using it for ebooks (which is awesome), texting, calendar, phone calls, games,  random internet questions, etc...Now if you ask Ames, its function is for Bubble Blast (it’s a game).  However, if you ask Zac what’s the true function of the phone, it’s for Baby Einstein on You Tube.  If he sees my phone he goes crazy, and starts grabbing at the phone crying.  It’s hilarious when he actually gets to watch one of the You Tube clips.  We finally got it on film.  What's sad is that I thought I was going to be using this phone for all these cool things, but no, I'm using it to watch Baby Einstein...welcome to fatherhood, right?!  Daddy's toys aren't for daddy :)  Now, after some of you watch the short little video clip of Zac watching Baby Einstein, you may have noticed him screaming a couple of times.  Actually, he is "mooing".  He is copying the flying pink cow in the video.  It makes us laugh every time.

Some of the funny things our little man is doing now is talking.  Man, that kid wont stop talking.  However, you can't understand a word/noise he is making.  One word we know he is saying is ball.  He will point to a ball and say, "Ba".  The other funny is the kid won't walk anymore, he is running from one thing to the next.  I think I have finally figured him out.  He has his mother's personality and my energy.  I'm going to blame those traits on the "Mother's Curse". "The Mother's Curse" (for those who don't know what I'm talking about) is when you were little and your mom or dad said, "I hope you have a kid just like you..."  And then we had Zac!

I had to put this picture in, it's one of my favorites

I thought I better add this in at the end, it was Ames' birthday a little while ago and I better at least post a picture of her.  We love you!

Happy Birthday!