a picture speaks...

This picture pretty much sums up Molly's feelings about Zane's new found mobility - she's somewhat terrified at moments, but she still has to be at the center of everything. :)  We put Zane in his Christmas pj's to get a picture for this year's Christmas card, and I couldn't stop laughing when I came across this one.  So here's a sneak peak of Zane's Christmas picture ;)

We put up our tree this past weekend, and he's only tugged on it really hard once so far... it has a different look to it this year without any breakable ornaments and none of the small ones around the bottom.  We'll do our best to keep Christmas ornaments off his new food list. :)  Now that he got the all clear for almost all foods, Zane's tried out cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, turkey, and egg yolks.  Yum! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Zane celebrated his very first Thanksgiving today, and he got to try turkey for the first time!  He seemed to be a fan, and had some bread, mashed potatoes, carrots, and parsnips to go along with the turkey.  Yum!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends!  Around here, we're pretty thankful for our little mobile man! 

once, twice, three times the baby...

Zane had his 9 month check up today and he's still growing by leaps and bounds.  He is now 20 lbs 5 oz and 29.5 inches long!  That puts him in the 46th and 90th %.  He's just about a half pound shy of tripling his birth weight.  Since he's caught up on all of his vaccines, he only had to get his first flu shot.  His second one will be in about a month, and I'm already not looking forward to it because he's feeling pretty pitiful tonight so far! 

We finally lowered Zane's crib mattress this weekend, and the picture from above is from when he tested the height out.  He's getting tall!  He's only got another couple of inches in his current car seat, but hopefully it takes him at least another 3 months to get there.

Zane also got to experience his first snow!  That's right, it snowed!  It flurried a little on Sunday with no accumulation, but this morning, there was snow on the ground.  Zane giggled when he looked out his window.  He spent a short day at daycare (and I spent a very short day at work) because they closed early along with the school district.  It looks like we might have another snow day tomorrow... hopefully he takes some big naps so I can get some stuff done.  Here's a picture from our front door early in the afternoon before it started accumulating in the street:

 

happy 9 months!!!

Zane turned 9 months old yesterday! He has now spent as much time outside of my belly as he was in my belly! Zane had another busy week crawling around, exploring, and chomping on his new favorite teething ring - our phones.  He also got to try out whole green beans, banana chunks and peach slices.  They were a big hit.  His new found crawling skills have also inspired him to roll over a few times because he was so mad about being stuck on his back instead of crawling.  Then today he managed to pull himself up to standing several times rather than kneeling like he has been lately.  His next step is going to be learning how to sit down from standing.  I feel some scratches and bruises coming...

Our monthly t-shirt pictures are turning more and more into action shots... I did manage to get one of him stretched out on his back before he rolled over on me - our photo shoot may be relocated to the floor next month. :)

 

it's official...

Zane is now crawling on his hands and knees in just about any direction he so desires!  He started this past Wednesday and hasn't stopped since.  He is officially trouble now! He even wore his big kid pj's to show us how grown up he is.  Thankfully he's not the speediest yet, as we just started seriously baby proofing the house this weekend (we're procrastinators!), and we still have a few more things to do to make it a little more Zane friendly. 

Wednesday was a big day for Zane - not only did he start crawling on his hands and knees, but his second tooth broke the surface! Now he has his two bottom teeth. You can see the first one a little bit in this picture (they're still coming up so very slowly):

His most favorite activities now are crawling as quickly to Molly's water bowl as he possibly can and blowing raspberries on our arms -  it's a little messy, but I couldn't stop laughing when it happened.  He's also been trying out some new finger foods like butternut squash and pear bits.  Here's a picture of him inspecting the kitchen drawers for the first time:

mini yogi

Zane's first tooth finally broke through his gums sometime Tuesday, and it's still taking forever to pop all the way out!  It's just teasing us.  I haven't been able to get a picture of it, but I did get a shot of him working on his downward dog yoga pose while he was testing different ways to move forward.  He's been moving forward in short tentative bursts all week, and it seems like he used a different technique every time - pulling himself forward with both arms and sliding on his belly on the wood floor; moving his knees forward, splatting and repeating; moving his hands forward and splatting... you get the idea.  Zane also showed us that he can pull himself up to standing from a sitting position.  

He's still working on his puff eating technique, and Molly is reaping the rewards.  For every puff Zane eats, I think she's eating at least 5 as they get tossed overboard.  The new foods include lentils, cherries, and cinnamon (ok, not a food, but his first spice).  Who knew that cherries could turn your oatmeal bright purple: 

... and your face, your hands, your arms, your tray, your mommy's hands and arms... we won't even mention what it does to your diapers!  They seemed to be pretty tasty though. :)

In other exciting news, Zane's been stringing together lots of ba's, ma's, da's and ga's together, and he's even been saying "ma ma" by itself.  Not to anyone or anything in particular, but I know that's what he means. ;)