Happy 5 Weeks!!!!

The wife seems to like to use 3 exclamations in all her weekly birthday titles for Zane, so why not one-up her with that one extra exclamation point. After all, it's my first post. But, after she reads this and gets embarrassed over being one-upped in such a public forum, it might be my last... So, in the meantime, happy 5 weeks, Zane!!!!

This past weekend, the weather was nice (mid 60's), so Zane took his first trip to Alki Beach in the bohemian mecca that is West Seattle. He went for a nice little walk in his stroller with his mom while I trained for my big half-marathon in June (watch for it on ESPN!) with a 3-mile mini-marathon. As always, in my absence, big sister Molly was around to protect Zane after her initial priorities of sniffing and pooping were satisfied. Suffice it to say, it was a successful trip for all parties involved.

Til next time...or maybe never. Time will tell...

- Papa M, Jr.

moby fun

One of our most favorite baby gear items right now is our Moby wrap.  Now that we've figured out how to use it (thanks to our friend and doula-extraordinaire Jennifer!), we can take Molly for walks, go shopping, and even eat out sometimes with Zane all snug and cozy.  He's basically swaddled on one of us.  It's great!  He feels safe and falls asleep almost instantly, and we get to use two hands and still hold our little guy.  Dad's even worn the Moby with Zane:

And a self-portrait with mom:

1 Month!!!

It's really hard for us to believe, but Zane is one month old today!  He's growing up, and he's even already at an age where he has his very own Social Security number.  We were so tickled when his card arrived in the mail this week that we almost took a picture, and then we quickly realized that we didn't want anyone to steal his identity before his first birthday.  :) 

He's already changed so much since he was born, so we've decided to start taking pictures of him with the same object over time.  What better than his dad's yearly US Open t-shirt?? (that's pressure for dad to stay in the same size t shirt for years to come!)  We chose to start with Zane's one month birthday.  The shirt's a little big on him now, but it's going to be a fun way to watch him grow.

Happy St. Patty's Day

Zane celebrated his first St. Patrick's Day all decked out in green, and he even got to make an appearance at his very first St. Patty's party.  He's pretty sure that he was the hit of the party.  Here he is getting in a power nap on the way to the party:

And striking a pose at the party:

Happy 3 Weeks!!!

Zane is 3 weeks old today!! (I promise I won't post weekly birthdays until the time he's 18... but for a little while longer at least)  This week we ventured out for Zane's first trip to the dog park with Molly before the Seattle rain started back again, and it was quite an adventure getting both of them in and out of the car in a semi-orderly fashion.  I'm happy to report that we all survived!  We even had a successful shopping trip to Target.  Zane probably doesn't remember much of that since he was asleep the entire time in his carrier, but I have a sneaking suspicion that he'll have many more opportunities to check it out.  Today he gets to visit dad at work! 

So far Zane still likes being snug and swaddled like a little burrito baby, and his least favorite thing in the world is having his nose suctioned - at least it's over with quickly!  He's already starting to get a lot more head control, but it's still wobbly enough to be scary to us.  I also never realized how stressful it could be to try to cut tiny razor sharp fingernails - I quickly learned it's something to only be done with a full and sleepy baby. :)

Here's a picture of Zane from this week.  I think he was telling dad a story that was far more interesting than that silly spreadsheet...

Hungry, hungry hippo!

Zane's two week check up was yesterday, and he totally blew past his birth weight!  He weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs, and he grew an inch already, putting him at 21 inches long.  That means he's 21st % for weight and 50th % for height.  Our munchkin is growing!  His next check up is at 2 months... I'm sure there will be a lot more changes by that time! 

Zane's starting to spend more and more time awake, so that's been fun!  The picture below is from his first trip to Lincoln Park last Friday.

Happy 2 Weeks!

It's been an exciting two weeks in our household, and it's hard to believe that it's already been two weeks since Zane made his arrival into the world.  The first week the three of us and Molly started to figure each other out, and this week, Zane got to meet his Grandma and Grandpa.  Needless to say, he's been held an awful lot these last few days!

Molly's been a great big sister so far, and although she's been a little jealous, particularly with visitors, she's been fairly calm and tentative around our newest pack member.  She also was extremely exhausted our first week home because she stayed awake with us each time we got up during the night! 

Zane's already changed so much since we first met him, and we're curious to see how much he weighs at his next check up this coming Monday.  He's been chowing down, so we're pretty sure he'll be close to if not back to birth weight.  Here are a couple of pictures from when we brought him home to now:

1st day

one week

two weeks