Giggle

Dear Zachary Conner,

This morning you crawled into mommy and daddy's bed.  You must have crawled into our bed very carefully as you did not wake me up. Instead, I woke up to you stroking my hair and whispering, "Mommy, wake up."

I'll remember this little spot of your sweetness forever.

Love you,

Mommy

Dear Zachary Conner,

Today we spent the morning together playing and being creative!  We played with cars, lining them up, sorting them into different types; cars, trucks, trains, buses and tractors, and crashing them into each other.

Then we played with your Mr. Potato head little friends.  You found the arms, faces, feet, and hats for the potato, carrot, and corn characters and were very determined to put them together yourself!  You put out your hand and said, "no mommy!" and tried and tried to put the pieces together. Then you asked, "help mommy," when you needed it.  You are growing and changing so fast almost right before my eyes. 

We listened to Elmo Live tell us some stories.  The past couple of days it seems like Elmo Live is an entirely NEW toy for you and it is so much fun to watch you interact with Elmo especially when you tickle him.

I did let you watch two episodes of "Wonder Pets" today while I was on hold on the phone today. When it was all done, you kept asking, "more Wonder Pets Mommy!"  But I had to say no.  You were very angry with me, until I asked you if you wanted to color with the Wonder Pets.  I found your Wonder Pets color and sticker activity book and we colored and played with stickers for over 30 minutes! Your favorite thing right now seems to be stickers. You told me the names of the animals on the stickers as you stuck the stickers to the paper.  We put all the land animals on the yellow piece of paper and all the water animals on the blue piece of paper. You really enjoyed sticking the animal stickers to the paper!  Then I asked you if you wanted to Paint and you got very excited!!  I pulled out your finger paints and started with giving you red paints.  You painted all over the piece of paper and then asked, "blue paints," and pointed at the plate.  I squirted blue paint out and you covered your hands in finger paints and added blue to your painting.  Then you asked, "chick hicks" I asked what color is "Chick Hicks" and you said, "green! Green paints!" You saw the yellow paints but did not know the word for yellow - but said "more paints" and pointed to what you wanted.  I squirted out some yellow for you, and said "YELLOW" and you parroted me.  It was fun to watch how excited you became while finger painting.  I think we'll need to get you some more colors and watch our little artist bloom!  I hung your paintings on the refrigerator and you pointed at them and said "Zach paints!"  Yes, Zach you paint!!

Then it was time for lunch.  I thought I would introduce you to something new today, Chicken noodle soup. (laughs) Boy was this MESSY!  But you loved the noodles and chicken in the soup.  You saw that I had green beans in my soup and asked me for them. I spooned them into your bowl and you gobbled them up! You even tipped the bowl and drank the broth when you were done, just like you do with the milk from your cereal.

After lunch it is nap time.  I tried to snuggle and take a nap together today; however you were all about peek-a-boo & hide and seek with the blankets, tickling and just being silly. So into your own bed you went and without a complaint today. 

Zach, I just want you to know I am so enjoying all this extra time at home with you. It has been so much fun! I know this won't last forever, as I will eventually find another job.  But I treasure this extra time with you and count it as a blessing. You are growing and learning so quickly right now it is amazing to watch you soak it all up!

I like you, I love you, now and forever!

Your Mommy Megan

Dear Zachary Conner,

Today, at 3:53 p.m. it will be exactly one year since you were born. Your daddy and I cannot believe how fast the time has gone by.   It seems like it was only two weeks ago we were holding you in our arms for the first time.

















But it has been a year.  You have grown and changed so much in this year.  When you were born, you were just the right size for a new baby boy, seven pounds seven ounces. We could easily hold you just like a football with only one arm.  Now you are 24 pounds (almost 25 pounds) and it's pretty tough to pick you up with one arm. Especially since you are always on the go-go-go now - crawling and walking along furniture and wanting to always be busy playing or reading books.

Today we are having a first birthday party for you!  We've invited lots of family and friends to celebrate this day with you.  We'll be sure to take lots of pictures so you can look back many years from now and laugh at how goofy our clothes will look to you off in the future. 

Zachary, there are no words to describe the joy and love you bring to our lives.  Sometimes we still can not believe you are here with us but we also can not imagine life without you.  You brighten our days with your contagious smiles and giggles.  The wonder and amazement you show when you discover new things brings joy to our hearts and warmth to our souls.  Your big open mouth big wet kisses in return to our kisses causes us to overfill with love. 

We look forward to the months and years ahead but just for today we are going to try slow life down and relive all the moments we've had in the first 365 days of your life so far.

We love you very much!!
Love -
Mommy Megan & Daddy Dave

Dear Zachary Conner,

You are growing and changing so much!  Everyday your daddy returns home from work and exclaims - "Zach you've grown!" I don't think you are growing THAT fast! But you are a good eater and are packing on the pounds like all the babies do on my side of the family.  Don't worry, once you start crawling and walking you'll slim right down again just like your cousins!

Zach, you are finally back to your old self again today after having your 2-month vaccinations last Tuesday.  You cried more than normal and were not as hungry as you normally are for almost an entire week.  But today you officially have your appetite back!  Yeah!! 

HANDS! You are all about your hands lately!  You have been putting your hands in your mouth since birth.  However, you are now AWARE of your hands.  You will bring your hands together and hold them.  You are also gaining more control of your hands and arms, you still have a ways to go but we can see you trying!  You are VERY good at pulling your mommy's hair now too!  OUCH! You are also starting to reach and grab for toys that we put in front of you.  Your daddy and I tried to capture this on video tonight but you were camera shy.  Oh well - next time!

This Friday you and I are going to make our first trip to Duluth.  You will get to see Grandma Pam, Grandpa Daryl and your uncle Bryan.  You'll have your first experience with a dog when you meet Gabby - Grandma and Grandpa's Newfoundland.  You'll also get to meet some more of mommy's friends.  You'll meet Lori & Jeff and their daughter Cassidy; Jason & Kelly and their kids Devin and Ender, and we'll make a trip into St. Luke's hospital too where you'll meet all sorts of mommy's old co-workers - Cyd, Nancy, Carol, Marty, Pat, and the list goes on!  Your daddy is going to stay at home and work while we are gone and he's going to miss you very much while we are gone.

We love your smile and your sweet personality Zachary!  More and more of your personality shows everyday!  Most important of all - we love you!

Love you always Zachary!
Mommy Megan (and Daddy Dave too!)

Dear Zachary Conner,

You are maturing with amazing speed!  Already at just six weeks, instead of startling and your arms shooting up over your head, you move your arms and legs with control.  When we place you on your belly, you lift your head to look around.  You also do not mind it as much when we place you on your belly.  Although after a few minutes you start to fuss.  You cannot see as much when you are on your tummy so you get frustrated because you can't see as much.  When we lay you on your back you can turn your head to your preferred side (the right side) and you'll bring your fist to your mouth to suck if you don't have a pacifier in your mouth.  If we touch your hand with a toy you will jerk your hand toward the toy.  When we pull you up to a sit, you can keep your neck straight and can hold up your head for a few minutes.  Your daddy is especially proud of you being able to hold your neck and head up.

Zachary, I had all these 'plans' to get so much done at home while on maternity leave.  But I have found that it has been next to impossible to get anything done because you need to be held, rocked and fed so much of the day and night.  Now I am finding that it is hard to do much except to smile and play with you.  Zachary, you are now starting to gaze at my face, smile, wriggling with glee and you have wonderful gurgles and coos.  I am riveted to your face Zachary, I love to smile and coo back and forth with you for hours on end.  We listen to music and dance in the living room, we play peek-a-boo and patty-cake and all will make you smile and coo.  Your daddy and I love your facial expressions, even when you scrunch up your brow and look like you are questioning what we are doing.  Maybe you think we're weird making all the funny faces at you.

We can now tell the difference between your cries - whether you are hungry, have a wet or poopie diaper, or are just tired.  Although, you normally don't explode into a full out cry right away.  You'll whimper and make your 'uncomfortable' noises for a while and if we don't hear these then you'll start to cry.  When you do cry we are pretty good about soothing you.  Some things that we have found that soothe you if you are fussy; a pacifier, holding and rocking you, the Baby Einstein Crib aquarium (this works wonders!! If you don't have one - BUY IT!!), singing to you, and anything that moves and has music - your swing and bouncer chair.  I've found that you won't go to bed at night if your bunny isn't in your crib with you - it's like something is missing.  Maybe you like that she is there with the chick on her shoulder to watch over you.  *smile*

You are starting to show us your personality.  You definitely like to see what is going on around you.  If you can't see what is going on you will cry. You love music - all types so far. We look forward to seeing more of your personality as you grow.

We love you Zachary!
Love,
Mommy Megan and Daddy Dave