Snow x2

Seriously! Snow! Again!

While in Denton for Christmas it snowed about 3 inches on Christmas eve. Real life, sticking to the ground, swirling around snow. Since it was real snow it was also really freezing and obviously, I could not go out there - it was entirely too cold for me. So I sent Alex out with Zach to get some pictures. Oh and my dad who had to take the pictures. Each time I yelled for Alex that the snow was perfect and to get his coat, my dad would sigh and go get his parka and ear muffs. He is a good, good man, my dad.

After dark (not sure why then) Alex took Zach down the hill to try out the sled that my mom has had waiting 15 years for just such a moment. You can never be too prepared in her book. The sledding was a terrible idea, none of us but Alex thought it was a good one. But it was not as bad as the picture looks....seriously, it looks like one of those ads for the Army National Guard.

Party People

Zach's party really was only fun because of all the people who attended. How could I complain about having a ton of people in the house if no one showed up? What would I talk about then? Well, we all know I would complain about them NOT showing up. But that is really not as much fun. Not even close.

My sweet friend Sonia came with my buddy Hayden and his sister, the equally yummy Evelyn (and her husband Brian on the side). My playgroup showed up in force too, dragging their husbands along for the trip. I do love those girls. They have talked me through many a Kinsey emergency. (That would be something that has to be dealt with right this minute. Everyone stop what you are worrying about and tell me how to fix this!!)

My sister flew in from Dallas that morning. When I set the party date she made her flight arrangements within hours - leaving her sweet husband asking if he was invited. She just shrugged at him and said that someone had to watch the dogs. What would I do without that girl? She totally made the party possible. She is a supportive and loving cleaning machine. By 2 hours after everyone left you would not have even known a party happened except for the renegade confetti floating about (I do LOVE confetti).

Alex's 20-something work friends came. You could find them cowering in the kitchen at a safe distance from the children and married people - leaving only to grab a beer and a Chick-fil-a nugget then run back to the safety of the kitchen. All our friends from when Alex and I used to be fun were in attendance. I love friends that have made you get back in the car when you were sure your lipstick was totally fine (after being on the ground), did not let you sleep on their lawn when it was oh so comfy, discussed how much this boy (now husband) liked you - does he like me like me or just like me-want-to-make-out-with-me like me, and have stood by us through thick and thin (literally. I gained a LOT of weight while pregnant). They are a special group of people that our lives would not be the same without. And there would be puke in my hair.

My, my I feeling awfully sentimental this week aren't I? Must be something in the air, or all the drinking. Whatever it is I better be back to my snarky self soon or people are going to start getting concerned...

How many people were at YOUR first birthday?

Because there were 35 adults and 9 kids at Zachary's. A bit much you say? I would totally agree if this were not the norm for my life since marrying Alex Wall. That is how the Walls do it. If 6 people are good - 16 are better. Don't just have a small dinner party with your fine china when you could have a huge one using 3 full sets of china from your equally party crazy grandma.

But I digress...this is not about me. It is about my son, the very big, two teethed, scooting/slider who is now a whole year old. The party was a ton of fun - not so much for him, but for Alex and I it was great. As much as I complain and freak out about it, apparently I dig having big parties.

The problem for Zach was that when he went down for his afternoon nap there were 3 people here - me, Alex and my Godsend of a sister Lauren. When he awoke there were the above mentioned 35 people and 9 children. All staring at him and smiling. A bit daunting for anyone much less a groggy baby. But he rebounded in time for the scoot/slide competition and the judging of the "Future First that Zach has to Look Forward To" contest. Jennifer Prewitt won that one with the "First 'Hey' just like his dad".

Alex - always dressed up for the occasion. Zach - wondering what the H is going on here. Kinsey - sorority smile is always appropriate.

Some of the pictures of Zach's "Firsts" he did this year

Wanting nothing to do with his cupcake. Good thing I didn't kill myself making them, I let the good people at Randalls do that for me.

A Year in Time

A year ago I didn't know if the baby in my belly was Zachary or Caroline,

Now I feel like he was always Zachary.

A year ago I didn't know what type of mother I would be,

Now I am the type of mother who whispers in her baby's ear that she loves him, who kisses him constantly even when he is snotty and who lets him fall and then tells him he is fine. Because really, he is.

A year ago I didn't know what it was like to be totally exposed to an operating room full of people.

Now I know that next time I want Alex in there with me sooner than he was allowed this time. He was the only thing holding me together - not literally, that was Dr. Faro's job.

A year ago I didn't get to hold my baby,

Now I get to rock him each night and cuddle him as he falls asleep.

A year ago I was worried that Alex would be horrified by the changes in my body,

Now I know that I didn't give him enough credit.

A year ago that same man who also doesn't like to talk about anything related to my lady parts helped prop me up to pump milk for our baby in the NICU, advised me on which side was still producing, then hustled it down to the NICU, every 3 hours.

Now I know that my husband would do anything for us.

A year ago I lay (in my drugged out stupor) looking at my It's A Boy sign and thought "it's not a boy - it's Zachary",

Now I can't believe how Zachary is turning into a little boy.

A year ago I told my son that we were going to have soooo much fun together,

Now I know that being with him is (almost) always fun. Watching him change and grow; discover new things and new sounds; and become more independent each day makes my days fun.

A year ago I saw entirely too much of my in-laws.

Now I would not make it without their (welcome) interference.

A year ago I didn't have any clue what a gift I was about to receive.

Now I realize that though that gift is often messy, boring, gross and tedious, I don't ever want to be without it.

A year ago I wanted a picture of my baby with his eyes open,

Now I want a picture of my baby asleep, as that is the only time he still looks like a baby.

A year ago I thought it was OK that I live 4 hours from my parents,

Now I want them to move closer. And to take my dog. (Sorry, Norman)

A year ago I couldn't imagine how my life was going to change overnight.

Now I have a hard time remembering life before him. Well, sleep I remember. And staying out late without wanting to put your head down on the bar. And being able to drink more than 2 glasses of wine without feeling tipsy. Maybe I do remember....

A year ago I thought that moms who cried on their kids birthday's were sappy and silly.

Now I just want to bury my head in the covers because my baby is a whole year old. At the same time I want to rush out to play with him because he is a year old! He can do so much and is getting more, and more, and more fun by the day.

A year ago I thought mothers of boys were lying when they said they didn't mind not having a girl,

Now I know I was an idiot.

Music Time!

Each week at Zach's school, Mrs. Terry comes to host music class for Zach's class. We often get notes about how much he enjoys music class and especially enjoys shaking eggs (plastic ones filled with rice) to the beat. Alex and I do swear that he can clap to the beat and always does start moving and clapping when he hears music. Even just us singing - which can only questionably be called music.
Here are some pictures of Zach and the rest of the Sweet Peas enjoying music time!

Please notice how his hands are blurred his is constantly moving them. That is his little friend Abby next to him. We also get notes about how he likes to play with her.

Loving his teacher Ms. Michelle

Much to be Thankful for

Zach spent his first Thanksgiving in St. Louis visiting the extended Wall family. Vince's brother and sister live there and many of his nieces and nephews stayed in the Lou. Zach got to meet 18 2nd and 3rd cousins. They all just went crazy for him. I don't think Alex or I held him more than 5 minutes at a time before someone swooped him out of our arms and hurried off to do something else. He was in hog heaven with all that attention! They loved to watch him scoot/slide around and really loved to pinch his cheeks (which is a common occurrence for any child that gets within 2 feet of Zach).

Thanksgiving dinner with over 50 Walls
First stop in St. Louis at Steak n' Shake with only 25 Walls

Snow!

I am sure everyone has heard about the snow we had in Houston over the weekend. It really was pretty amazing. There was more snow than I ever thought possible in our southern city. My parents were home with Zach and by the time he was up from his nap the snow had stopped. So we just hustled him outside to sit on a plastic bag and take some pictures. Keep in mind we are all about 20 feet from him, on the sidewalk telling him to smile and making funny nosies. Zach mainly wanted to know why he was by himself on this trash bag, and our neighbors wanted to know how we lost our minds.

Zach and his Granny Marsh & Papa Wayne

It's the Holiday Season

Zach's first Christmas tree is up! It is also filled with my lovely gold balls, baubles and stars, all of which are breakable and not for touching - by anyone (that includes you Alex). During the aforementioned photo session Zach decided that shiny glass ball would be fabulous to hold on to. Luckily my mom snatched him away just in time. Phew! What did he think this ways, a child's holiday?? Good thing the tree is in a room that he is not in very often. It is for looking at only - no touching. Ahhh the holidays.

Not my vision

This weekend my parents came to help us get ready for Christmas. We put up the tree, got the wreath on the front of the house and took a family picture of our first Christmas. Needless to say getting 2 adults, 1 baby and 1 dog to all look at the camera (eyes open) and smile was really, really hard. Especially given Zachary's new fondness for not smiling and just staring at the camera. I think we got one that was OK - not great, not terrible, just OK.

This one is NOT that picture and is totally not my vision for our little family...but more like the reality that it is.

Blue Patrol

Zach loves to hang out with his Auntie Tami and Uncle Dave. They sweetly came over and took Zach out for lunch and with them on some errands to give me a break one Saturday. Dami (a fabulous nickname I came up with for them) were both wearing baby blue as was Zach. The looked like a perfect little family. I was glad for their perfectness to get out of my house and let me go back to eating Cheez-its on the couch in my un-matching exercise clothes.

But I digress...

One thing I love/hate about Tami, is that she is the only person who can wipe Zach's face after a meal without him rapidly turning his head away and squealing like a little piglet. The second I approach him with a wet towel he starts to shriek and squirm like I am trying to - well like I am trying to do anything but what he wants me to do. But for Tami he just gazes up at her angelically as she gently wipes his face.

But really, that is how I gaze at her as well.

Big A little Z

Only one boy was sick in my house this past week and it was little Z. We have been through a few bouts of sickness recently, from an ear infection, to a stomach virus and now bronchitis - followed up by double ear infections again. I am just about tired of seeing my doctor and the Walgreen's pharmacists.

What struck me was the medicine that Zach's doc gave him as a "just in case" with the bronchitis breathing treatments. It looked very, very similar to one that his father was given with his last sickness....sigh. Foreshadowing anyone?

Full View

Guten Tag! I am so cute that I might dance a little jig!

High and Tight

This Saturday my sister and I took Zach to get his first haircut. Why did he need one you ask? Just check out the mop top below.

Anyway, so I made an appointment at a place that only does kids haircuts and off we went. Zach did a lot of staring when we arrived, naturally. There were walls of mirrors, strange chairs, screaming children and people wanting to talk to him. He only started smiling when his hairdresser (yes, hairdresser) started using the silent trimmers. Literally, they made no sound, but apparently tickled as he just giggled and giggled, ducking his head away.

The only problem of the day was not the baby in the chair, but his ill prepared mother. When she asked if I wanted her to "blend the top in with the sides" I'm pretty sure my face had a full Jim Halpert expression. I said "I dunno" or something equally eloquent, looked at my sister and we both shrugged. The only thing I know about boy's hair is that I don't like high and tight cuts. That is what Alex always gets and it is way to short all around. Again, I really don't know what that means, but surely it made me sound somewhat knowledgeable right? Apparently not as Zach looks even more like Alex - both with their high and tight's.

Bright, bright sun with his Auntie Lauren

Speed Scooter

I just could not leave this racing inspired pajama set in the store when I spotted it. Zach really enjoys the fact that the polyester is nice and slick so he can slide across the floor via his scoot/slide.

Best Dressed at the Wurstfest

Finally, finally - pictures of Zach in his lederhosen! He had such a good time on Halloween weekend dancing with his Papa Wayne, chewing on his mini-beer stein and eating gumbo at Wurstfest in New Branfels. Both Alex and I were so excited to see him in the lederhosen since we searched all over Salsburg, Austria for the smallest pair we could find. At the time Alex said he would never have thought, if someone had told him, that he would be dragged by his crazed-preggers wife in and out of lederhosen stores (yes, stores, plural) searching for the perfect pair for their baby that was yet to be born. But it was all worth it I say, totally worth it!

Zach and his Auntie Lauren
Smiling with his beer stein at Mommy

Me in my shirt from Germany too

A Boy and His (doubtful) Dog

One of Zach's favorite things to do now is scoot on over to the window, pull himself up and begin pounding on the window while "talking" to Norman. Or just "talking" to the outside if Norm is not available.
As I might have mentioned before, Norman was really not a big fan of Zachary (or any other baby) when he arrived at the house. My sweet sister worked with him and worked with him to get him comfy with this squirming, screeching ball of baby. And he did great. However, with each stage Zach goes into - moving his arms and legs, turning over, pulling up and now scooting across the floor - Norman regresses a little and seems to wonder what in the world this little blob is now doing.
The same goes for the window scene. Norman really wants to be inside, and Zach really wants to be anywhere Norman is. Norman is not really OK with Zach standing and moving so they tend to stare at each other until Norman blinks, which he always does.

Pop Goes the Suck-up

A few weeks ago Alex and I went to Zach's school for his parent teacher conference (I am just going to push right past the fact that both of us were late to work to hear how our 9 month old was doing in daycare) and I felt the need to take something for the teachers. My lofty idea was to take Apple Cake pops that I saw on Bakerella. They are so freakin' cute and would be perfect! However, I talked myself down realizing that I was not only slightly crazy but also, the pops are really time consuming. I ended up settling for blueberry pie pops. They were DARLING and only a little bit out of control.

His conference went great, they said he was hitting all his marks and doing wonderfully. They were not the least bit concerned with his scoot/crawl move and said they would like more babies like him. And this was before I whipped out the pie pops so they had to be speaking the truth.

This is not a Rainbow

There was some serious confusion about Zach's (one of two) Halloween costume. I could not leave this inchworm costume in the store...but perhaps should have as everyone seemed to think he was a Rainbow. While I love rainbows as much as the next gal, that is not what he was supposed to be. You can see the legs on the costume in the 2nd pic and the pissed off look on his face when he realized he could not scoot/crawl away from our overgrown bushes and towards Norman in it.
As a side note, I am not the only person who thought this was a darling costume....but turns out that it works better on a baby that can't sit up.

Grumpy Longhorn

Zach was given this towel as a gift before he was born, and I love to put him in it after his bath. He, however, really would prefer to NOT have it on his head. I don't care as it is freakin' darling and he is wearing it until his head gets too big for me to shove in there. Which actually might be soon. No worries, I have a giraffe towel waiting in the wings.

Bully Baby

Seriously, I think Zach may be the schoolyard bully. And why does this not disturb me? Those of you with psychology degrees, get to thinking about that while I explain.

This weekend at the wedding in Austin Zach and his friend Tyler were put down on the floor together to "play". Now, Zach's teachers have explained to me that at this age they really don't play together. They are just starting to figure out that each other is there and usually just play with toys in the vicinity of each other. However, my child seems to have figured out that Tyler is there and that he has stuff that Zach wants. This is not the first incident of Zach stealing things from Tyler, and I assume it will not be the last. This time it was Tyler's blanket. Zach repeatedly stole it from Tyler, the held it out of his reach! Poor Tyler is not used to these shenanigans and was not the least bit pleased, which is understandable!

Two weeks ago at school we got a note saying the following: "Zach really enjoyed playing with the Fill It bucket (dumping things out and putting them back in) and when his little friends came over to "help" he squealed as if to say "I can do it myself!". Why do I think that he was really squealing "Back OFF this is MINE!"

My mother always said that I would have a child like myself as payback and I thought that since Zach is a happy baby (unlike me) that she was wrong and I had foiled the system. As usual, she is right, just in a different way. Have I mentioned that I HATE to share? That I steal things from my little sister even now? That when Alex asks me for 2 Cheez-its I scowl at him like he is asking for blood? Darn, I think we are in trouble.

So innocent, just looking at his friend

Going for the blanket

Tyler trying to get over to the blanket and Zach having none of that

First Wedding

This weekend Zach attended (uninvited) his first wedding. We drove to Austin on Saturday and then out to the wedding in Driftwood, which is 30 minutes outside of Austin. He really did great, which was shocking to all concerned considering we didn't leave the wedding until 9pm. That is 2.5 hours past his bedtime if you are counting. It was highly helpful that there were plenty of people to talk too, glasses to grab and grandparents to carry him around the entire evening. I am sure the bride was glad we left as Zach and his friend Tyler were a big draw - and you know I dislike anyone, even my own child, stealing any bride's thunder.

Keep Him Off the Pole

One of my favorite Chris Rock lines goes something like this "If you have a daughter, as her father your only goal is to keep her off the pole." I love it, and am really glad that I don't have to worry about Zach pursuing that line of busines....at least I thought I didn't have too until I saw how he really took to this pole at a resturant. He wrapped those chubby hands and legs around the pole and attempted to shimmy on up. This could be a bad sign.

Big Stander

Oh those chubby thighs, how I just love them! Alex and his dad lowered Zach's crib from the current position (seen above) upon the insistence of my pediatrician. She said that he would begin pulling up when we did not expect it and could flip himself out of the crib. I (of course) thought she was possibly insane as my child had not indicated any desire to stand up, much less flip himself anywhere. And (of course) I was wrong. Not one week after we lowered his crib, he started pulling up on anything and everything - including his crib walls. It was a slow process with his feet getting trapped under him, and him toppling over, but now he is quite the pro. He likes to stand in his crib and holler at me when I put him down for his nap and stand clinging to the dog gate and holler at Norman. Norman does not really appreciate this, but just seems relived that Zach is not on the same side as him.

Walk for the Cure

Alex, Zach and I walked with Liv and some other friends, two weekends ago in the Komen Race for the Cure. We attempted to do the Family Walk, but somehow missed it in the hords of people lining up for the 5K. So we walked a bit of the 5K until Zach had his fill and we took him home to nap. He really was more pleased than he looks in these pictures.

Oh and his shirt has the pink ribbon and says "A Cause I Can Latch On To"...I thought it was very, very clever.