Nine months old

April 08 - December 08.....longest nine months of my life. December 27, 08 - September 27, 09.....fastest nine months of my life! I now have a very busy, mischievous little boy on my hands. He is pulling up on everything and LOVES to "walk"....with the assistance of someone holding his hands. Today he actually crawled for the first time! He's been getting on all fours for awhile now, but hadn't actually conquered the crawl until today.

Proof of mischievousness:

Zane has seven words in his vocabulary: hi, bye-bye, mama, dada, ba-ba (bottle), Lola (Matt's parents' dog, his all-time favorite word....he says this, um...about 500 times a day), and Pay-pay (Paisley, one of our dogs). He calls Emma, our other dog, "Lola", too. He also waves bye-bye and puts his hand to his mouth to blow a kiss. We're still working on the "blowing the kiss" part.
He eats pretty much anything we're eating. His faves right now are waffle and fruit for breakfast, refried beans, avocado, and gnocchi. The only food I've found that he really didn't like was zucchini. Most kids would spit it out, right? Nope, not Zane! He just sits there with his mouth open and cries! So I either have to get it out with my finger or get him something to drink to wash it down. It's just down right pitiful!

His favorite past times are "walking", playing with his LeapFrog table and SillyTown toys, and cell phones and remote controls. He LOVES to be outside. Total boy. He has books that are "touch & feel", where the animals are fluffy or leathery or sticky. So now he tries to feel of the pages of every book. He's a pretty smart little cookie.
He's just now starting to get on a schedule....like, where most 6 week-old babies are...that's where we're getting to now! HA! This kid does NOT require sleep, but we're getting him to bed pretty consistently around 7:30/8pm. He usually wakes up once during the night. Then he gets up early to start his day -- like anywhere from 4:45 to 6:15am! Yikes! He hates sleep so much that he has started hitting himself in the head when he gets sleepy. What in the world? Surely that's not normal behavior!?

He makes his "Popeye face" on command and it is still the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life! All in all, he's a pretty sweet kid and we've decided to keep him around for awhile. :)

The End

Rosemary Beach

Zane's first trip to the beach! He didn't know that you weren't supposed to eat the sand. Oops! That's the cutest little sand-covered face I've ever seen!

Things Zane loved about the beach:

*Listening to the ocean during naps
*Attending Nicole's wedding

*Aunt Lindsey getting engaged*Playing with Skeet
*Getting ice cream from the Sugar Shack*Eating said ice cream*Eating lemons
*Playing with mom in the sand*Strolling around town*Hiding in the pillowsThings Zane did not like about the beach:

*The waves splashing him

*Waiting on food

*Pauses between bites of ice cream
*Not seeing Dad-o for a weekMore likes than dislikes equals future trips to the beach! Yay!

Here's a video of Zane playing "Pop goes the Weasel" in the couch cushions.

He's Popeye the Sailor Man!

This is Zane's new trick. My mom calls it his "Popeye face". Too cute!

She said yes!

Zane and I spent last week in Rosemary Beach, Florida with the Bell family. (Matt couldn't go because he was working nights in the NICU. Boo! :( We really missed Dad-o!) The highlight of the trip? Erik proposed to Lindsey! Now Zane will have a new "Uncle Rico"! We've given all of his uncles new names...My brother, Lee, is Uncle Bob because his first name is Robert....Matt's brother, Tyler Allen, is Uncle Al....and now he'll have Uncle Rico!

"How much you wanna make a bet I can throw a football over them mountains?... Yeah... Coach woulda put me in fourth quarter, we would've been state champions. No doubt. No doubt in my mind." In case you're lost, this is a quote from Uncle Rico in Napolean Dynamite. HI-larious movie.

Congrats, Lindsey & Erik! We are so happy for you--two of the sweetest people we know! I know that you two are made for each other and can't wait to see what's in store for you as you embark on this journey called marriage. Well....I guess you do have to survive the engagement first, huh? Here's to stress-free planning!

"Uncle Rico" with his celebratory gum cigar

Aunt Lindsey showing off her new bling! Can you tell she's a little bit excited?!I think this guy's happy with the decision, too!

Thug life?

I just had to post this picture! This look says, "I been doing hood rat stuff with my friends!"

Stay tuned......Beach pictures will be posted soon!