The Mount Rushmore state

This weekend the boys and I traveled to Aberdeen, SD to see our friends in the Mount Rushmore state. Zachers was awesome in the car... for about the first 3 hours of the trip. :) Hey, that's better than I thought he'd do.

Once we got to Aberdeen, it was pretty smooth sailing. I was worried about Zach sleeping in the same room as us. Not necessarily for nighttime, but for the naps. To my surprise, he did great. The only trouble we had was the last night of the trip when he didn't get to bed until about 11:30 p.m. and it wasn't until Jamer took him for a drive that he finally fell asleep. I think he was having teething trouble. :( Poor little Monkeypants.

The weekend brought lots of fun times for us. We went to an Aberdeen Wings game (AAA hockey), we got to see ALL of the people we wanted to and we also got to take Zach for his first swim!

The first swim wasn't exactly what we expected. They had just cleaned and re-filled the pool, so it was pretty chilly. We had the place to ourselves, but it was pretty cold so we didn't stay long. A couple days later, we went again and it was like swimming in bath water. Zach loved it. He splashed and giggled the entire time.

All in all it was a great long weekend. We're happy to be home and sleeping in our own beds, but we sure do miss that Aberdeen gang.

Things we learned this week

1. If Mommy and Daddy are eating, Zach wants to eat -- even if he just finished a full meal.

2. Just because Zach doesn't like green bean baby food, doesn't mean he doesn't like chunks of green beans. In fact, he loves green bean chunks.

3. When you go to Famous Dave's, but forget the diaper bag (which has all the toys), Mommy's bottle of Tylenol makes a great toy.

On Thursday Zach has his 9 month doctor appointment. What a big boy! Immediately following that, we're packing up the car, dropping Annie at Gamma and Gampa's and heading to Aberdeen for a long weekend. It'll be Zach's first car trip and we're not quite sure what to expect. I suspect the normally 4.5 hour trip will take much, much longer. We'll see.

Watching the ambulance come down the street during the St. Paddy's Day parade in New Richmond.

 Inspecting the sucker he got from a friendly leprechaun at the St. Paddy's Day parade.

And we're off!

For a long time Zach could only push himself backward. Now, he's officially mobile. This is what we discovered this morning:



He won't go for anything unless he REALLY wants it. We've found that Mommy's cell phone (especially when Annie's picture is displayed), the lap top's power cord and the TV remote are the most popular options.

Like father, like son

Zach's our little drummer in the making. He loves his bug-themed drum.

The transition to toddlerhood

 
At 8 months old, Zach's crib is still set on it's highest setting - the newborn setting. This hasn't been a problem for us until recently. Now, Zach likes to pull himself up to see what's happening. He still doesn't stand, but he can get pretty high on his knees.

I've been dreading this day. My little baby is becoming a big boy. While I'm excited to see him progress and learn, I get sad that he's becoming more and more independent. He's not a tiny baby anymore. He's becoming a (gasp!) toddler.