Baby Goslin

Fall Fun at the Pumkin Festival

2011-10-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

Got the boys dressed up in their Halloween best for a little pumpkin festival down in Half Moon Bay.

From Zacks perspective, as he said, "Dad, I had a really nice weekend"...well of course he did....lets see, he climbed a rock wall, jumped in 2 bouncy houses, went down a big slide, met some firemen and got to check out the drivers seat of a "really big fire truck", rode a pony and a train, and even got to eat a big chocolate covered doughnut.

From our perspective...$8 on parking, $5 on the rock wall, $5 on the jumpy houses, $1 on the slide, $6 for the pony, $5 for the train and $1 for the doughnut. Oh wait, forgot to mention, $20 on mimosas to make it all bearable. $51...not too bad for a sunday. HAHAHA!

Really, we went with very dear friends of ours and laughed alot...We had a wonderful time watching Zack enjoy himself and taking lots of pictures.

Zack and Baby Brody

A little kiss for Baby Brody because "mommy, he's starting to get fussy"

Hey look, a pirate pumpkin. Arrrggg!

"Cheese!!!"

Zack and the babies

The obligatory family photo at the pumpkin patch

Climbing the rock wall

Brody is 2 months old today!

2011-10-15T16:58:00.000-07:00

6 weeks old tomorrow

2011-09-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

First bath together.
Sweet Big Brother Zack insists on helping "wash Baby Brody".
He even wanted to share "Tommy Turtle" with Brody (this is a big deal!)

Clean Boys!

Brody and Mommy watching football together. Brody was mad the Jets lost because Daddy has their defense on his fantasy team.

Big Boy Outfit. Big outing today-Target and Costco! Hehehe!

Little Angels

2011-09-16T12:39:00.000-07:00

Do you like my police car Brody?

2011-09-15T19:03:00.000-07:00

Zack is so nicely sharing all of his cars and trucks with Brody...and usually we get no reaction from the little guy, but yesterday we got a smile...so sweet!

Not the best photo of Zack but look at little Brody in this one!

And then Zack had a little chat with him...

loving all of the precious family moments!

Brody-4 weeks old

2011-09-13T12:15:00.000-07:00

So what have we been up to?
Well, this was our first week of "tummy time".
Brody is NOT a fan. In fact, he has already taught himself to roll over just so that he doesn't have to be on his tummy, as you can see below.

We start like this....

and we end up like this!

What else? B went to his first Giants game last night. Always tough to get a good family photo these days, but here's one where Jeff and I are both smiling and have our eyes open....but Z isnt looking....oh well!

I took Brody to get weighed yesterday and was able to confirm that he is indeed a good eater. He weighed in at 9 lbs 13 oz! (At 2 weeks he was only 8 lbs) Woo hoo! Good job Brody (and Mommy too)! I am a firm believer that big well fed babies are happy babies, and tend to sleep better. In fact, last night, Brody slept from 930 to 230--a solid 5 hours! I went to bed at 10 so I was thrilled when I woke up "well rested" after 4.5 hours!

Everyone has been asking what do I do all day, and I think this is a great question. The reality is, I have no idea! Brody wakes up to eat around 530. We go back to sleep around 630, when Daddy is getting up and ready for work. Zack wakes up around 730 and comes in to "snuggle". We watch an episode of Diego (or Zack does and I continue to sleep) and then Zack and I get up to get dressed and have breakfast and let Brody sleep. Brody wakes up btwn 830 and 9 and I feed him while Zack watches another tv show, this morning it was Nihao Kilan. We leave for school some time around 930 or 10. Then B and I usually run 1 errand (yesterday doctor, today pharmacy, some days a quick walk in the park). We are home for Brody to eat again by noon. After this it it all a blur until 5 when we leave to go get Zack!

I am so excited for my 2 very good friends to have their babies this week so that in a month or so Brody and I will be able to schedule some "play dates" or walking/work out dates for Mommy. Kelly and Casey are going in on Thursday for a c section and Elaine and Dale are going in Thursday to be induced. So 2 new friends for Brody are coming very very soon! Yippee!

Baby B is 3 weeks old

2011-09-06T19:38:00.000-07:00

Baby love

2011-09-04T19:37:00.001-07:00

I just can't get enough of these photos.

2011-09-04T11:11:00.000-07:00

Came across this one on a friends old blog post.
I love it so had to share. Guess it goes with the whole perspective thing that's been on my mind lately. And in general, I am just feeling so thankful for this crazy life that I live with my awesome partner in crime husband and our two adorable little boys. Isn't this what life's all about?

Things to Be Thankful for - by Ann Landers:

Be thankful for the clothes that fit a little too snug, because it means you have enough to eat.

Be thankful for the mess you clean up after a party, because it means you have been surrounded by friends.

Be thankful for the taxes you pay, because it means you're employed.

Be thankful that your lawn needs mowing and your windows need fixing, because it means you have a home.

Be thankful for your heating bill, because it means you are warm.

Be thankful for the laundry, because it means you have clothes to wear.

Be thankful for the space you find at the far end of the parking lot, because it means you can walk.

Be thankful for the lady who sings off-key behind you in church, because it means you can hear.

Be thankful when people complain about the government, because it means we have freedom of speech.

Be thankful for the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours, because it means you're alive.

Happy Game Day

2011-09-03T16:31:00.000-07:00

We survived Jeff's first week back at work and are so excited for the long weekend...and college football!

GO GATORS!

Zack's game day get up...

Brody is now 19 days old, almost 3 weeks, and appears to be growing like a weed. Although we haven't been back to weigh him, he has mastered the art of eating, amusing us with his snorts and grunts! His NB clothes are getting snug, and today he wore his first 3 month outfit.

Zack enjoys his morning cuddles with Brody. Melts my heart.

And Brody doesn't seem to mind participating in dropping off and picking up Z from school. We just need to make sure we are quick, so we are home in time for his next eating session!

Today our friends Nadja and Eric came over with their daughter Sydney...remember her?
http://babygoslin.blogspot.com/2008/06/boys-night-in.html
Can't believe our babies are 3! Wow, how time flies!

Learning the true meaning of being flexible...and a little perspective

2011-08-30T19:28:00.000-07:00

FLEX.I.BLE
adjective
characterized by a ready capability to adapt to new, different, or changing requirements

After having Zack, I thought I had mastered the art of flexibility, something that was definitely new for me. Today I learned there is definitely room for improvement! (haha!)

Today was my first day with no help as a mother of 2. I know all you Moms out there are laughing at me but I just don't know how you do it?! Just tell me it gets easier! Today was a day of total chaos! Up and out of bed by 7:15 with Brody fed...and somehow we still didn't get out of the house until 9:15...And somewhere between a quick cup of coffee, getting Zack dressed, changing my shirt (spit up), and changing Brody (yup you guessed it, spit up), I apparently forgot to feed Zack breakfast. Mind you, I hadn't showered and was wondering if I had even brushed my teeth this morning (luckily remembered I had). We were rushing out of the house to make sure I would get home by 10, in time to feed Brody again....ummmm, FAIL!

Zack ate 2 granola bars on the way to school after so nicely reminding me "Hey Mom, we forgot to eat breakfast"...I am so thankful for the snack stash in the glove box! Once to school, Zack again reminded me "Hey Mom, wheres my lunch box??"....DOH! We left it in the car. Back down the elevator to the parking garage, to the car to get the lunch and then back upstairs again, yea, you get it.... Well after all that, I go to pay my parking ticket and the machine is broken. Another 5 minutes....
Tic Toc Tic Toc....10am....screaming hungry baby B is ready for some food...lovely car ride home...deep breaths Jess, deep breaths! Tomorrow's another day, and a chance to redeem ourselves!

Perspective: We get home and Trace Adkins is on the TV singing "You're gonna Miss This"...amazing timing, and oh so true! I know how fast the time flies with a little one and I know I am going to miss every second of having sweet little Baby Brody in my arms. And sadly proud Big Brother Zack wont stay 3 forever.

So, yes we are tired. And yes today was rough, but at the end of the day, my unshowered self wouldn't change it for the world!

Brodys first 2 weeks of life

2011-08-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

Friday, Aug 19th, 2011

Brody is 4 days old and Zack can't get enough of him. He loves using "the bacterial" (antibacterial hand wash) and holding his baby brother.

Brody in his car seat, out for a walk with the fam.

And of course Big Brother Zack insisted upon pushing the stroller.

On Friday, Jeff surprised Mommy by flying Nonnie and Grumpy out for her birthday. Although Zack did his best to ruin the surprise (secrets are not his strong suit), it was the best birthday surprise a gal could ask for. We had a low key but amazing weekend. And Zack was definitely spoiled...as usual.

Saturday, Aug 20th, 2011
Baby Brody is 5 days old and his jaundice is not getting better. He has a prescription for some vitamin D so we packed up and headed up to Sonoma for a perfect afternoon...sunshine, 85 degrees, and a patio lunch with live music followed by some ice cream and a walk in the park (read: Jess had to nurse the baby again! haha!). It really was a perfect afternoon.

Sunday, Aug 21, 2011
6 days old-just hanging around at the house recovering from our big Sonoma outing. Like I said, Z just cant get enough of Brody. It just melts my heart. These two boys are just the sweetest little guys.

Aug 23 - 8 days old-Mommy had a mini photo shoot with Baby B...

Saturday, Aug 27th, 2011

Another day trip for lunch in Sonoma. Did we mention how cold and foggy it is in the city this time of year? We just cant stand to be cooped up in the cold so off we went.

Sunday, Aug 28th, 2011
Brody is almost 2 weeks old and Mom is feeling pretty good so we went up to the trails on Mt Davidson for a family hike. Here's a cute pic of the boys.

Monday, Aug 29, 2011 - 2 weeks old
Today we had our 2 week check up.
Brody did very well...he is back up to 8 pounds and the doc said was as strong as a 6 week old. He was even trying to roll over for her (or to get away from her)...little over-achiever. We are so proud!

August 15, 2011 - Baby Brody is Born!

2011-08-28T14:25:00.000-07:00

After an 18 month hiatus, the Goslins are back to blogging.
We are proud to announce Baby Brody Thomas Goslin, born Monday August 15th, 2011
8 pounds 1 ounce
20.25 inches long

After what was surely the longest 39 weeks in history, little Brody entered the world via scheduled C-section. Mom was put on bed rest at 32 weeks with pre-term labor and we were thrilled that we made it to 39 weeks.
Below is a pic of Jess on August 12th, 3 days before Brody was born.
We had been joking she was "12 months pregnant" because she was definitely much bigger this time around.

On August 15th, Jeff and Jess headed to the hospital at 10am to "check in" to have a baby. Definitely a much more relaxed (and "civilized") way to have a baby, yet somewhat surreal. We had a mini photo shoot prior to heading inside!

At 1:23pm Little Brody was born! He came out kicking and punching the docs, and even peed on them...definitely a feisty little guy...thankfully he was born a healthy little guy! Jeff was an awesome partner during the surgery and even cut little Brody's cord when he came out. Such a different experience then when Zack was born (via emergency C-section after hours of pushing)

Zack couldn't be more excited and proud to have a baby brother. He is so cute with Brody and we feel so lucky. Jeff's parents came out to help and were very excited to meet their 4th grandson (4-for-4, they need to play the lottery)!

Here's Brody at 1 day old!

Zack and Brody on Tuesday

We were given the option to spend 3 nights in the hospital (like the last go round) or head home after 2 nights. Check please. We were waiting all morning to get sprung and finally got to check out and head home around noon. We got Brody dressed and ready to go and took the obligatory pictures before we went home again to try and figure this out for the second time.

Let the adventures (and fun) begin.

Winter Wonderland

2009-12-20T08:41:00.001-08:00

A trip to the Poconos with Gramma and Grampa, a walk down memory lane in Jeff's old neighborhood, and the first big snow of 2009....

The bridge near the mill in downtown Clinton, NJ-Zack and Gramma

Gramma and Grampa's house in the Poconos

SNOW!

Hope Santa brings me Handy Manny, Elmo, Trucks, Cars, and Trains...all of my favorite things!
Oooooooh, a new drill and a new tractor, with a dump cart too! Thanks Gramma and Grampa!

ELMO!!!!

New Tractor! Just like grampas!

Snow in Hoboken!

OES & ODS...It's On Again

2009-11-29T18:46:00.000-08:00

This year we decided that we would do Thanksgiving with just the 5 of us. No plane rides, no dog sitters, no stress of traveling. Plus, with Jess working for Macy*s we scored grandstand tickets for the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Cheesy though it is, we were real excited to take Zack to the parade...and see how long he would sit still. It seemed like a great day for a parade. It wasn't raining and it was warm (...enough to wear flops). However, we would soon come to realize how Macy*s would ruin the day. Long story short, they distributed/sold way too many tickets and mismanaged the admission process like all-stars, so we watched an hour of the parade from half an avenue away. Zack didn't care and was happy to run around and chase dogs (his lack of fear for the rot on the thick chain may not be a good thing).

The plus to all this is that we got on the road to Connecticut sooner. The dogs loved having a yard again and went nuts...and so did Zack. Zack and Sierra chased the ball while Foster staked his claim everywhere. When we made Zack come in he took to his normal roll of entertaining everyone. He's also very jealous of Gannie's wheelchair and seems to keep trying to figure out how he can borrow it. After stuffing his face with sweets all day we had a wild child with an upset stomach. He was bouncing off of walls and slept like crap.

Friday was a rainy day eliminating the temptation to do something healthy like go for a run during OES & ODS. Instead we found the local ice rink and decided to take Zack to open skate to test out his early X-mas present from Dad, size 7 Bauer ice skates (unfortunately CCM doesn't make skates so small). We knew he liked putting the skates on, and could stand on them, we just weren't sure how he would handle the ice. Would he get scurrrred? Would he freak out? Would he be able to stand? Would he prove to be a prodigy and start sprinting around the rink?

So how did it go? It was great. He doesn't seem to be a prodigy (yet), but he loved being on the ice. He was laughing and you could tell he just thought it was cool. And yes, Dad was even more excited about it than Zack. It was my proudest moment since the day he was born. 1st word? OK. Crawling? Ehhh. 1st step? Alright. 1st time kissing a chick? That was cool. 1st time skating? Awesome! After about 20 minutes on the ice, my back was killing me and we decided we should get on the road.

Today we went for a drive out to the country to go to the X-mas tree farm. Zack enjoyed walking around all the trees and of course the hay ride. He was very interested in what I was doing when I was cutting the tree down, but didn't help out. Helpful advice: cut straight so that you don't end up having to saw into the ground and bring up the roots too...or bring a chainsaw. Anyhow, our Charley Brown tree is up and has lights. Let's see how we prevent Zack and Foster from knocking it down again this year.

"Sure Mom, I'll help you make cupcakes. I'll clean this thing 1st."

"No, I haven't been sampling."

Shrek at the parade.

"Hey Lauren pass me some turkey."

If it looks like a sugar high is kicking in and Zack is turning into Baby Satan, it's because it was.

"Dessert time!"
Gannie & Pop Pop

Waiting for the Zamboni to get off the ice.

"I'm skating!"

"Weeeeeeeee!"

Family photo

Riding out to the trees with Dad.

"Whoa, look at all these trees."

"Got me a walkin' stick."
"Ooh, what's this? Candy cane?!?!"

"CANDY CANE!!!! Sugar."
"What are we looking at Dad?"

"What are you doing down there?"
"Hey, give me my hat back."

"We got us a tree."

"That was hard work...I need a drink."

Slackin' Again

2009-11-22T18:04:00.000-08:00

So we're slacking again and it's been a few weeks since we've updated the blog. It's tough to update the blog when we're out of town.

As usual, Zack's been a busy bee. Down to Florida for Halloween weekend, had another allergic reaction to Florida, hung out with Nonni and Grumpy for a week, back to NJ, for a few days, then down to Ole Miss for a weekend. Zack's actually been in town for a whole 7 days now and doesn't even have another plane trip planned this year. Amazing.

For Halloween Zack was supposed to be a duck but refused to wear the costume so he wore some Superman PJs. He also didn't really get the concept of trick or treating and instead of taking candy he proceeded to take everything from his basket and put it in the candy bowl. What can we say, he's good at sharing.

The trip to Ole Miss was a blast and Zack loved being the center of attention for all of the Emory friends. He especially loved the house we rented, because there were toys galore there, basketball hoops, Caterpillar trucks to ride, push toys, etc., etc., etc., and of course Coletrain to torment. We decided that chasing Zack around the Grove all day would be a bad idea and making him sit through another football game wouldn't be his idea of fun. He missed out. Incredible tailgating experience and getting to watch Tennessee get waxed again. Oh and if anyone is looking for advice, don't standby for a flight unless it is a sure thing, because spending 7 hours in the Memphis airport isn't fun. Then again, since Zack seems to be the best kid ever, he didn't care and just ran around the airport looking for people to amuse and play with.

The big news this week is that Zack has a girlfriend at school. After flirting with all of the girls in his class he finally picked one. When Jess picked him up Friday, she got the school gossip. When the kids were out for a ride, the teachers looked over and saw Cayla kissing Zack. For the rest of the day, the two of them walked around class hugging and kissing each other. Oh and for those that have long suspected he only likes Asian girls...guilty as charged. Let's see what happens this week with his little girlfriend.

Playing on the block...please ignore the shoes that Nonni insists upon torturing him with.

"You lookin' at me?"

Pushing Aunt Big around can work up a sweat.

"My chariot at the pumpkin patch."

Strong Baby contest - pumpkin lifting.

Checking out the diseased pumpkins.

Just relaxing and posing for my the paparazzi.

A bunch of shots of Zack on his favorite toy of all time...note the Havaianas too. Kid's got style.

Mom & Dad at the "quaint stadium."

Fall Harvest Festival

2009-10-24T16:34:00.000-07:00

Today was the Harvest Festival at Zack's school. We had a great time playing in the shredded paper (oops, I mean leaves), finding pumpkins and apples in the "urban pumpkin patch", painting with feathers, making farm animal pictures, watching a puppet show, and petting animals! We had such a busy day that Zack fell asleep on the couch at 5:45 tonight...tired lil guy!

Playing in the leaves with the big kids. Please note Zack wouldn't wear his costume today. He has perfected the word "NO" and was adamant about it!

Where's Zaaaaaaack....There he is!

Oooooooh, a Lizard!

And a snake...he feels weird!

Singing in "Music Together" with Daddy

Bye Bye, Time to go hooooome!

A Fall Trip to Connecticut!

2009-10-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

Fall is in the air and it is so pretty...a little too cold for my liking, but pretty nonetheless! We loved getting out of the city this weekend and taking in the change of season.

Happy 60th Anniversary to Ganny and Pop Pop! 60 years! Zack is so lucky to have such wonderful great grandparents in his life! This weekend we went up to Windsor Connecticut to celebrate their 60 years in marriage. What a great tome! Don't they look cute after 60 years together ;-)

Together Ganny and Pop Pop had 7 children (2 boys and 5 girls). Below are Denise, Brian, Mary, Annie, Kathy, Susie, and Tommy in spirit.....Uncle Tommy is missed everyday, but this weekend was especially tough without him.

Family photo by the CT River

On Saturday we had the opportunity to go to Northwest Park to play in the leaves and see the animals in the petting zoo. Here is Zack playing in the leaves for the very first time!

Here's Mommy and Zack with the goats. Zack thinks they are really funny, and kind of look like "dogs"

And here we are making friends with the donkey...Nonni the papparazzi in the background

It was a beautiful fall weekend, filled with lots of laughter and fun times with family. Life is just too good! We are so lucky!

Daddy Day Care Is Closed

2009-10-04T18:40:00.000-07:00

Daddy Day Care officially closed on Monday when I went back to work. I miss hanging out with Zack. Gone are the days of taking our time getting ready in the morning and taking up to a half hour to walk to the next building. Jess scored this week and got to stay home and play with Zack twice (Monday was one of the 20 annual holidays at our day care and we kept him home Wednesday, because of a scare about some virus with an "R"...he didn't have it).

This upcoming week is my reintroduction to consulting. Up at 4am for the 6:00 flight to Chicago. I know I've been away from Zack for longer, but this trip seems harder. Maybe because he's older and cooler now. He's not talking back to us too much, but he understands what we are saying to him (even if he deliberately disobeys at times). Maybe it's the thought that this may be the reality of my job every week, saying good night to Zack on Sunday and not seeing him again until Friday morning. It's probably also not being able to help Jess with Zack and the dogs. I know it will be tough on her, tough on me, but at least the dogs and Zack roll with the punches and probably won't miss a beat. Regardless, putting him to bed tonight was very sad and I can't wait to get back from Chicago.

Time to take a nap before I have to wake up. Here are some more pics of the little guy.

Zack out for a walk with his classmates. Note that he is hysterical...because he realized that the dogs and I were going for a run and not going to be walking with him."

Zack taking his Foster dog for a walk.

"Here Hot Dog. Want a Goldfish?"

"Dad, why are you making me sit here next to the Barry Bonds pumpkins?"

Trying to decide which pumpkin to throw next...

"Cheese!"

Here are some pics of the city from our apartment complex.

Babysitting Hot Dog

2009-09-27T15:51:00.000-07:00

This weekend Zack had the pleasure of babysitting his class pet, Hot Dog the Guinea Pig. Every weekend one of the students gets to take Hot Dog home and take care of him and this weekend we were the lucky ones! Zack LOVES him. Here are a few pics:

Cousin Chris was our resident rodent expert...He has a chinchilla, so we had him hold Hot Dog for Zack to play with.

Breakfast time-4carrots and a piece of lettuce. The thing can eat-we were impressed!

Here you go Hot Dog!

We were cleaning out Zack's drawers this weekend, king of getting ready for fall and Zack decided he wanted to wear his ill fitting winter hat from last year! Next he put on his new shoes and started jumping around the house...it was too cute even if the outfit is quite unfortunate! :-)

Gainesville Fun!

2009-09-20T18:44:00.002-07:00

We just got back from Gainesville for the Florida - Tennessee game. While the Gators were underwhelming at best, we had a great time taking Zack to his 1st football game and spending some time with the family at the lake and of course tailgating. Zack was great with his baby cousin, except that he really didn't want to share toys. He shared food with him, gave him hugs, crawled with him (since Spencer isn't walking yet), stole Spencer's sippy cup 999 times, and only swatted him once (Spencer hit back many more times though...he has just learned to hit/slap and is trying it out on everyone).

As we were getting ready to leave, we realized that a few bug bites Zack had were swelling and blistering. Yummy! At least we had a doctor at the lake to diagnose him, although Zack was not a fan of getting bandaged up to prevent him from scratching. Oh well, yet another reason we can't move to Florida...Sorry Jess.

Here are some pics from this weekend.

Hangin' with Cousin Spencer at the Lake House...This is when Mommy realized her baby isn't really a baby any more...He is soooo big when compared to Spencer (10 months). Also realized we should probably have another one sooner rather then later so Z-Man doesn't grow up to be a spoiled brat!

First time on skis...Dad, Gramma and Grandpa were very proud of Z-Man, but a lil bummed out that he wouldn't hold on with 2 hands...and of course his unwillingness to wear a life vest is really the only thing that is keeping him from getting pulled by the boat. Maybe he will ski for real at Thanksgiving?

Bath Time for the babies! (AKA - blackmail!)

Faux Hawks for the boys! The ladies just love it!

Tailgating is tough work...a little nap before kickoff.

Running to catch kickoff...just a standard 50 yard return.

First time in the SWAMP!!! This was a very monumental day for the fam!

"No really Mom & Dad, I'm sweating my ass off."

"Don't mind me, I found a better place to watch the game in the F Club. A/C, snacks, leather couch full of chicks. I'm good."

"I can even play with Mom and Nonni in the F Club."

Summer Pics

2009-09-17T20:01:00.000-07:00

Alright, here are the pics from this summer that we promised.

Look, I found a fun place to play.
Hanging out with distant relatives at the Cousins Weekend.

I got the stick.

Alright, I got up here, but not sure about getting down.

Just helping Noni clean up.

Corn is good.

Couch commander.

Even in this outfit, I'll smile!

Grumpy introduced me to my new favorite food...milkshakes.

Hanging with the big kids at the zoo.

Hey turtle, you look thirsty, have some juice.

Much better.

I want to drive Dad.

Hold on, what the heck is going on here.
I'm flying!

Being silly with Daddy at the lake.

Everybody look at me cause I'm sailin on a boat

Yeah, never thought I'd be on a boat
It's a big blue watery road

I got my swim trunks, and my flippie-floppies
I'm flippin burgers, you at Kinko's straight flippin copies

We're Back...

2009-09-13T16:16:00.000-07:00

It's been 3 months since we updated the blog. Ridiculous, I know. As usual, things have been crazy and it was just too easy to find reasons not to update the blog. Plus HP and Gateway computers suck and being computer-less for a few weeks didn't help our cause.

So what's Zack been up to? Zack has settled in to our new apartment across the river. The dogs are having a tougher adjustment to apartment living...and Mom and Dad are probably having the hardest time with it. Zack loved the pool at our apartment complex this summer, and since my schedule was pretty open, we would walk down the hall and go swimming most days. There are also a ton of playgrounds around and Zack really enjoys the slides, climbing, and finding places to hide. Of course though his favorite thing to do is show off for the Moms and flirt with the older girls.

Zack also seems to be checking off states on his been there list. Between road trips to Florida and Maine and a quick trip out to LA, Zack has been to 15 states this summer (CA, NY, NJ, CT, PA, WV, MD, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, MA, NH, and ME). All told he's up to 19 states now (NV, AZ, CO, and TX too).

In early August, the 3 of us hopped in the car and drove to Florida to pick up the dogs. We learned a few things along the way:

Toddlers do not like to be in car seats for 20 hours...even if you split it up over the course of 3 days. Hence, I drove back with the dogs, while Jess and Zack flew. The trip was also significantly faster, 18 hours straight through the night.
If you let a toddler run around a hotel room with no diaper, he WILL violate the hotel room. Nothing like turning around and seeing that your son just took a dump on the hotel room floor...except watching him do it again the next morning, after he peed on the corner of the bed. All you can do is laugh. If anyone is planning on staying at the aloft in Charlotte, avoid room 818.
Toddlers don't realize that syrup is not a food group.
After a day of driving a swanky Thai restaurant is not the best choice for dinner. Mexican is better, but expect a fair amount of chips, guac, and rice to be flying.
Zack really missed his dogs and was so excited to see his best friends when we finally got to Palm Beach Gardens.
If you let your toddler son sleep in the bed and wake up in the morning and he is missing...look under the bed where you will certainly find a smiling kid that is very proud to have found such a good hiding spot.
After 3 months in Florida, never fail the day before we are leaving to come home, the dogs will be horse playing and Sierra will get injured and need an emergency vet trip

Maine was also a new adventure for Zack and he learned a few things.

Dad is a pushover and also a milkshake fan, so he scores on road trips without Mom. I mean who can turn down a Fribble or DQ? That's just stupid.
Lobsters are fun to play with (some may call it torture).
Wearing a life vest sucks, but the wind blowing in your face is a lot of fun.
Safety wasn't a concern when his Dad was his age. Zack used my highchair from when I was a baby and there was no straps or anything to hold him in place.
He's not so sure about amusement parks or water parks, but splashing in the water and flirting are fun.
Water gets deeper the further into a lake you walk, but people tend to grab you when you make it neck deep trying to follow your Dad swimming.
Stairs are fun...falling down stairs, not fun, but he'll get up and start climbing again.

In LA and Carlsbad, Zack learned a few more things.

If you let an 11 year old girl and her friend play with you, they will be obsessed and not leave the house, even if it drives Uncle Jim crazy on his birthday. They'll even babysit so Mom and Dad can go to the Hollywood Bowl, which is awesome!
Not all dogs like Zack. Some will snarl, growl, and nip. It seems that small dogs do not like it when you sneak up on them and grab them. However, a fat drooling bulldog will let you hug him and slobber on you.
Not all dogs will let you taunt them with your food or share nicely. Unlike Foster and Sierra, if you offer dogs a bite of your cookie, some of them will take the whole cookie, not just a bite.
Seriously, guacamole is awesome and no one seems to mind if a baby is double-dipping (or keeps dipping until the chip is totally waterlogged).
Dick's meatballs are still awesome!
Business Elite is the only way to travel. Dad expected the worst flying back to JFK from LAX, but aside from throwing some things around the cabin, trying to get our neighbor's attention, Zack was great. Something about the almost lay flat seats and being able to look out the window seems to help.

It seems that we were out of town more than we were in town this summer. In addition, we also had a couple of trips to SF without Zack, to get moved, see friends, and go to TK & Afrika's wedding in Napa. Salima and Matt's wedding down in the Dirty South. Then there were the bachelor parties and random other trips. Throw in a trip to CT for a family reunion where Zack ran wild the entire day and a trip to the Adirondacks with Cara and Chip, and we're exhausted and the Pathfinder has probably an extra 5,000+ miles on it.

The last thing...After a trip to the doctor last week, we're happy to report that Zack is not allergic to peanuts, after a couple scares. He broke out with hives in Florida and they flared up again. We put together than he had peanut butter before both episodes and as such he hasn't had peanut butter in a month. We have no idea what the real cause was, probably viral, but the allergy skin testing confirmed he can eat a jar of peanut butter...which he probably would if we let him. His only allergies seem to be grass, cats, and cockroaches (thanks Mom). Jess was devastated to hear about the cockroaches, because now Zack and I have a medical reason why we can't move to Florida. Sorry to kill your (pipe) dream Jess.

Alright, so this rambling novel kind of makes up for us being MIA for a few months. We'll get some pictures up in the next day or so and we will definitely be better about keeping everyone posted on Zack's crazy life...of course we'll be out of town next weekend (Gainesville for Zack's 1st football game and hopefully 1st time water skiing), so we'll post an update when we get home (errr, I mean back to our apartment).

City Boy

2009-06-13T14:51:00.001-07:00

It started raining walking Zack to school Friday. Even though Zack wouldn't have cared if he got rained on, I couldn't be the bad dad that allowed that. So we came up with a solution and he held his own umbrella for the whole walk.

It's Been a Month

2009-06-07T18:07:00.000-07:00

Yeah, legit, it's been a month since we updated this thing so we're probably overdue for an update.

So we're up in NY now for good. It's still not home, because the pups aren't here and we're in temp housing without all of our "stuff." Jess loves the lovely floral print furniture in our hotel though. Hey, at least we're getting Marriott point out of this thing.

Although Jess moved here a month ago, this was the 1st weekend we were actually in NY and it was gorgeous. This whole apartment hunt thing sucks, but Zack has been a trooper. We've walked all over the city and the little guy has behaved great, which is defined as running around bouncing off walls and making sure everyone pays attention to him. As opposed to the alternative of having a meltdown, we'll take it.

This morning, we began to realize we may be OK in this city this morning, even though there are still things we don't like. The odor of urine and trash makes the Tenderloin seem like a Glade air freshener and on the whole, the average New Yorker is an ass hole (case in point, Zack ditched a shoe going to daycare and not one person pointed it out to Jessie...probably the most obnoxious thing I've ever heard). We went for a family run and stopped at the Chelsea Waterfront playground to let Zack get out some energy and flirt with the little girls. A little 6-miler on the Westside Highway up to Riverside Park was the perfect start to the day. Of course we walked to look at apartments up there again in the afternoon, so we're getting plenty of exercise.

Zack has been busy as usual. After the sh*tshow that was me flying with him and the dogs to south Florida, he stayed with Cliffy and Mare for a week. He LOVED swimming every day...oh and he's a big fan of the lack of discipline with grandparents in general. Nap time, oh you don't want to nap...OK, no nap. Bed time, oh you don't want to sleep...OK, come watch TV. After a few days in NY, it was down to Atlanta for a wedding and staying with his other grandparents in the mansion. Zack was a big fan of the stairs, hiding things (a shoe got lost for 2 days), and tormenting Tripper. Last weekend was a trip to Baltimore, but now he's settling into NY life. He loves the subway (lots of people to pay attention to him). He likes to chase the winged rats, which he calls dog. Running up and down the hallway is fun and he's over his initial trepidation about getting in and out of the elevator. Oh and the lack of child-proof cabinets is his favorite.

Zack starts daycare tomorrow and we're certain he'll be happy to be playing with kids all day. We think he gets bored with us, especially if we make him sit in the stroller and look at apartments. Plus, maybe he won't learn so much. The kid is a sponge. He blew our mind today. So we live in a hotel and we have key cards to get in the room. He wanted out, so he grabbed a gift card, which we didn't realize he could get to, and went to the door with it. It took us a second to realize what he was doing, but that was the moment when we came to the realization, we have to be on our best behavior around him now. Damn!

Anyone that remembers Zack's days as a bulimic, when he couldn't gain weight would be happy to know he is a PIG! Feeding him is a 20-30 minute investment of time, because he keeps going. He has recently decided he likes bananas again and eats 2 a day. He's a big fan of spicy Mexican food. He's not much of a fan of Chinese food. He's a true southern boy and loves grits. He'd much prefer to drink from a water bottle or even a glass (need to stop leaving them on the coffee table) than a sippy cup. And of course he's still trying to steal my beers.

Alright, we'll try to be better about posting pictures, but here are some from Zack's Florida vacation.

Going for a run with the girls, but "seriously, why do grandmas dress babies so weird?"

"Silly Foster was scared of the pool. Sierra wouldn't get out."

"I know it's not a real sport, but I played basketball with my Grumpy."

"I'm on a boat! (And yes I got my flippy floppies)"

Me, Mom, and my aunts (by the way the word is NOT pronounced ANT)."

My 1st trip to the beach.

"This is fun!"

Zack didn't understand the concept of waves...or unexposed midriffs.

"I got Daddy's glasses."

Moving Day

2009-05-08T08:16:00.000-07:00

Zack is taking a morning nap, the pups are out playing, so I have a few free minutes. I still can't believe we're moving. It's been so hectic getting ready for it, that it hasn't totally sunk in. It definitely started to when we saw Jess off Monday. Picking Zack up at daycare yesterday also made it real, since the girls were about crying and I had to bring 2 bags with all of his stuff home. We're all packed up now and I'm taking Zack's highchair and stashing it, because when selling a house it can't look like anyone lives here...duh!

This flight is going to be a zoo. Literally. Actually, once we get checked in and through security, we'll be cool, but I'll probably need a shower and a drink to relax. Hopefully the pups fly as well as they did when they moved to SF.

Speaking of zoos. Dale and I took Zack to the zoo yesterday afternoon. By our count, we were paid $90 each to be at the zoo. Thank you unemployment. Anyway, here are some pics. Zack walked most of the time, and felt the need to pick up most leaves he'd come across, and true to form, all animals were "dahs" (AKA, dogs).

PS - Zack is up again and is sharing his snack (un-Saltines) with Foster. One bite for Zack, one bite for Foster. Also, not anything new.

"I'm not fat, I'm big boned...and cut me some slack I'm walking off the belly."

"Hey Zack, show us your trick."

"Haha, that joke is funny."

"Slow down Dad, I inherited your stubby little legs."

"I have a switch and I'm going to chase you."

"That dah looks like my Foster."

"Yeah, I still have a major drooling problem."

"These things are fun to pull on."

"What the hell is that?"

"This is the biggest dah I've ever seen."

Zack is 1!!!

2009-05-04T15:17:00.001-07:00

Here are some pics from his actual birthday (April 30th) and from his party (May 3rd). As you can see... Like Father, Like Son...Zack hates wearing a shirt!!!

His new favorite song is "Happy Birthday"...and he is a walking fool (running too)...his favorite word right now is still "ball" and he looooooooooooves throwing the ball to Sierra! Oh, and he doesn't like cake! He had it all over his face because we put it there, not because he ate it....we think that's a good thing! He is a meat and veggie lover (meatballs and sweet potatoes are his 2 faves!)

Sorry we are terrible bloggers...love to all! Enjoy the pics!

Decision Time

2009-04-09T12:03:00.000-07:00

We let Zack make the decision on moving. We were torn and really couldn't come to a decision, so we decided to let Zack decide. We took 5 pieces of paper and had SF, NY, or CLT on the (NY and SF got double weighting), put them on the floor and let Zack grab one. Watch to see if and where we are moving.

It's a Miracle

2009-04-08T21:13:00.000-07:00

So Zack finally got over his laziness and walked. We've been trying to get him to walk forever. He just pushed everything around the house, but refused to walk. FINALLY, he decided to stop being so lazy. His form is shaky and it's kind of a falling run, but we count it. Here's a video or you can peep them (and videos of him from when he was just pushing toys around the house) on DropShots (http://www.dropshots.com/jessgoz).

That was great, but something even cooler happened this week. So, I think a lot of people know that Zack has gotten several bad report cards at daycare for hitting or biting other kids. It's sucks to go look at his report card and see "Note on Back." Jess picked him up yesterday and Zack had a note. The story is that one of his friends decided he wanted Zack's toy and he hit Zack (gave him a little scratch below his eye). Usually the kid that gets beaten on, cries and hands the toy over. Zack made me proud though and fought back. My guess is he kicked that kids ass and chased him off. I'm thinking of sewing fighting straps onto his clothes to give him an advantage in scrapping. That's my boy!

Playing in the yard

2009-04-05T19:50:00.000-07:00

The weather was sooooo nice today so we all got to hang outside in the back yard and play. I love being dirty!!! Oh, and as far as development, I am doing a really weird running walk type thing now but I fall every single time.

A Morning in the Life of Zack

2009-03-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

Good Morning! Let's Play!

I bet you don't know where I am going....

My favorite spot! I don't think Im supposed to be here...

Looook at meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Splash Splash Splash!

Now lets go outside...The weather is gorgeous here!

Foster, Let's Play Ball!

Zack is growing so big! On Monday he will be 11 months old. As you can see, he is very active. He loves climbing on anything and everything....and he's really fast!!! In fact, last week he almost gave me a heart atack when I looked up to find him almost all the way to the top of the stairs!!!! Looks like we need to get a gate for the bottom of the stairs, not just for the top.

We are going to our fourth week of swimming lessons on Sunday and Zack LOVES it. He is such a water baby. He is not very good at listening and following directions, but he loves being in the water, splashing around, singing the songs, and seeing all of the other kids.

Lots of other things to update about but as usual we are running out the door. Headed to the farmers market to support our friend Bill in his man of the year campaign...www.billshen.com

Zack Invades Sonoma

2009-03-15T18:22:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since we let the little guy go up to wine country. Something about a fully mobile baby crawling around tasting rooms just doesn't sound like a good idea. With Abby and Curti in town, we had an excuse to go to wine country...again. So we did what any responsible parent would and looked up "family friendly wineries" on Google. Surprisingly, there seem to be a lot of options.

We decided to hit Cline (www.clinecellars.com) and Larson Family Winery (www.larsonfamilywinery.com). Cline was 1st and when we pulled up, we weren't sure what we got into. Definitely not the Ledson or Hall experience, and certainly not the debacle that our semi-annual Silver Oak release parties become. While everyone tasted, I took Zack around to see all the animals. After having a snack and bottle outside, we headed down the road to Larson.

We have a new favorite place to go. There were a bunch of other kids there, "Billy the Black Crab," "Henry the Hermit Crab," some beefy girl that Zack had to teach a lesson, and some infants too. Add to that the 3 labs on the property (they had the whole set of colors), toys, picnic tables, and yard, and the place is perfect for kids. For the adults, the wine is pretty decent, the staff is super friendly, and there's bocce. For any freaks out there, you can check out the pygmy goats.

Here are the pics of Zack in his new happy place.

"Are we there yet?"

Cline Cellars tasting room

"It seems old people celebrate some guy Patrick and get drunk. I don't get it."

"You guys keep drinking the wine, I'll just eat this crayon."

"Still wine tasting? I'll go play with this doggie."

"I like the grass."

"Oh, what's this?"

"I want to play with the car more."

"This chick is crazy if she thinks she's going to take my car. I don't care how old she is."

"She thinks my tractor's sexy."

"Yeah, you know it's true girls."

"John Deere ride for Daddy."

"Holy crap, what do you weigh Dad?"

"It's windy here. Give me that wine Mommy."

"Hold on, is this my Sierra?"

"I loved this place!"

...and in case anyone is wondering, yes, Zack is eating VERY well, as evidenced by his chins.

More NY Pics

2009-03-07T08:15:00.001-08:00

Daddy and Zack on the plane-Zack made BFFs with one of the male flight attendents from Brazil. He got to walk around the whole plane and hang out up in first class for a little while. Everyone on the plane was so impressed with his good behavior!

Zack sitting like a big boy in his very own seat!

YUMMMMM I love bananas!

And yogurt too!

This was Zacks make shift high chair in the hotel room

Back in NY

2009-03-04T18:09:00.000-08:00

Since it seems that we may be moving to NY, Zack and I decided we'd join Jess on her last Macy*s West trip for moral support. I also figured we'd relax and go for runs in the park, tool around town, etc. Yeah, that was before we knew that the highs would be in the 20's. Actually, I think tomorrow is set to be a real scorcher with a high of 41...watch out!

Our trip got off to a great start with a 5 hour flight delay. Our flight attendants had to wake up and get to the airport from the hotel. That took 3 hours...I'm not sure if they were staying in Tahoe or what. When they finally showed up ATC put a hold on all flights to JFK, so we sat on the plane for 2 more hours. Once we were on the way, Zack made sure everyone saw him on the plane, waving at everyone (waving is his new favorite thing) and giving them a huge smile when they waved back. When we finally got to JFK, we were greeted by snow and cold. Good thing I was wearing flops and a tee.

On Tuesday, Zack and I left the hotel twice (temp was in the high teens), lunch and dinner. Zack hates getting dressed to go outside (he hates wearing a heavy coat), but he seems to love the cold weather (he smiled so big and was trying to catch the wind in his mouth). Plus going out gives him a chance to flirt and get showered with attention. We went to a fancy dinner and we were definitely nervous about how he'd behave. He was great (of course)...happy and hungry. He got a little fussy as it got later, so we had to walk him around a bit. In reality, I think his real motivation was the tall, blond, Eastern European bartender (what can I say, I taught him well).

Today Zack and I went to the Museum of Natural Science...a little educational field trip. Zack was a big fan of the stegosaurus, fossilized eggs, and mammoths. His absolute favorite though was playing with other kids (some little girl fell in love) and of course waving at everyone. We went to the kids Discovery Room, but when Zack tried to put everything in his mouth, we realized that he may not be advanced enough for the 5+ years play area...oh well.

I'm not sure what we'll do tomorrow. I know we're going to see Zack's "gay uncles" Stevie and Mason tomorrow night, but we'll see what we can do based on the weather.

Here are some pics from last week and the museum...

Just ignore the drool on his shirt, but pay attention to the Havaianas (from Dad of course) and notice that Zack is eating VERY well (chubbers!)

Dad & Zack have matching flops

Zack has figured out how to crawl outside...and how to take off shoes and socks (where did your flop go buddy?)

"What the heck, will someone let me in?" (Notice Foster through the glass)

Zack's not a big fan of clothes or the gate (but we can't have the baby falling down the stairs...like Uncle Greg)

Yeah, King Kong really doesn't like the gate.

Zack checking out the scene at the Museum of Natural History

Playing with the dinosaurs in the background

Zack's favorite part of the museum...play time. This is where all the nannies were with the babies (plus 1 Dad). Zack decided to just lay down for this little girl and play hard to get.

Yeah, she loved him!!! I didn't get a picture, but she was kissing him too. What can we say, he's irresistible

Life is a Whirlwind

2009-02-15T13:30:00.000-08:00

So here we are on February 15th....hope you all had a great Valentine's Day! We certainly did.!Here are some pics of Zack's first Hallmark Holiday...

We have so much to update about.

Zack is still the happiest and most loving little boy around. We can't believe that he will be 10 months old in 2 weeks...I say this everytime I update the blog, but I am just not sure where the time goes. As you can see by the pics, he is pulling himself up on anything and everything he can. He loves pushing his toys (and the laundry basket) all around the living room. He stands up on his own, but hasn't quite figured out how to take a step yet. Apparently his Daddy didn't walk until he was 18 months old...so who knows what Zack will do.

He is such a boy, loves his cars and trucks and trains, especially crashing them into the walls! Add of course anything loud...He is still into the dogs, pulling and pushing on them and giving them "kisses" (aka drooling all over them) ... and he is eating us out of house and home! Sample dinner menu: Summer Vegetable baby food, cut up Mozzarella sting cheese (a whole stick), a handful of diced chicken breast, a handful of cheerios, Sweet potato baby food, and a few bites of banana...ARE YOU KIDDING ME ZACK?! I have girlfriends that don't eat that much in a day!!!!

We are currently suffering from yet another ear infection...truthfully, we aren't sure that the one from Christmas ever really fully went away. Luckily he isn't very fussy despite both ears being infected, a fever, and a runny nose...he is such a trooper! Good thing tomorrow is a holiday so Daddy will stay home with him so he has a full 2 days on antibiotics before going back to "school".

Now...to answer all the questions regarding my job a ]nd Macys and all of that other good stuff.... Last Monday, to our total complete surprise (we were shocked to say the least!) Macys announced that they are closing their San Francisco, Miami, and Atlanta offices and consolidating to New York. As such, they laid off 7,000 corporate emplyees, myself included. In the restructuring of the NY office, they will be hiring some of us, but we won't know who they want to interview until next week. If they offer you a job, you still have the chance to decline it and take your severence, so of course I have put my name in the pot as "relocatable" just to see what they will be offering. In the meantime, I would really prefer just to take my severence and get a new job. They are surprisngly giving us a pretty nice severence package that under ordinary "non recession" circumstances would afford me some time to stay home with little Z and enjoy some down time, but given the current state of the economy, and the difficult environemnt at Jeff's job, we feel like I need to really be looking to take a job right awway.

My last day at Macys is April 30th (I think)...and at this time it seems that we will have some really tough decisions to make in the next few weeks. Last week I was in NY interviewing with Ross Stores (yes, Ross Dress for Less--don't laugh, they have a really great reputation as a great place to work and are actually one of the few retailers makeing their #s and growing). Additionally, I am going to Chicago (ok outside of Chicago actually) to interview with Sears, and am trying to convince Jeff to let me talk to Belk in Charlotte, but he has veto'd that one already. I also have a couple of other things up my sleeve, but unfortunately none of them are here in SF...so true to form, the Goslin's may be moving again soon....Stay tuned....and please cross your fingers for us. We are so excited about what the future has in store...

Finally an Update

2009-01-25T17:30:00.000-08:00

So we're terrible about updating the blog. We need to work on it, but between chasing Zack around the house and trying to have lives, we just never seem to find the time. Zack is not quite walking yet, but he can stand on his own, but he isn't sure what to do when he's standing.

As you can see in the pictures, Zack is eating really well. He's a little butterball now. Foster also scores at meal time, as Zack likes to share his Cheerios. Zack's grandparents were here this weekend so that Jess and I could go on a date to Napa. They've been working on some of his eating skills and he really likes to hold his own fork and eat bananas.

Oh and the best news is that his sleeping is so much better than it used to be. He just wakes up a little early still (5:15 - 5:45 most every mornings).

Here are some pics to placate the angry masses (also known as our family, particularly the grandmothers).

Holidays are fun...Dad took me to the swing on his day off and I met a little girl named Julia...she wanted me.

I found a new hiding spot...

...and got pretty ticked off when I couldn't get out.

I got to help my Popski do some projects. Mom & Dad had him install locks so I can't open cabinets...bummer.

Bath time is so much fun. Now if only Aunt LRN would return my duckies that she stole.

Apple juice is my favorite!

Grandma and Popski took me to the swing again, but it was a lot colder.

We went to Home Depot and I got to ride in the race car.

...but I think my Popski had more fun than me.

Sierra and Foster took advantage of Dad not being around and broke the rules.

Single Dad Week

2009-01-12T22:34:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to say that I enjoy it when Jess is out of town, but, I really do enjoy the single Dad routine. We miss Mom, I'd like Zack to sleep in later than 5:15am, and I make mistakes...like tonight when I went and tried to put an extra blanket on Zack and he woke up. I hit the floor and tried to wait him out, only to have the dogs walk in the room and Zack stand up in his crib. I was on the floor laughing because I was hiding from my son. I finally got up (after maybe 10 minutes, enough time for Zack to take some more chunks out of the crib railing with his teeth), picked Zack up, got him a mini-bottle, and laid my boy back down to sleep.

Right now I'm in a living room littered with toys, but I couldn't be happier, because all I can see are the looks on Zack's face when he hits the baseball, pushes his cars, dials his cell phone, and stands with Sesame Street ("Eyes, they help you see our friends. Hello friend. Eyes, they help us see our friends. I see you. We have eyes and ear and a mouth and nose. Eyes, they help us see our friends" Yeah, I've heard it about 10 too many times).

All told though, I love Zack and I'd do anything for him. Caring for my baby boy is not easy, but it's also the best thing I've ever done. I'm so glad he loves going to school , because if he dreaded it I'm not sure I could leave him, but every day he is happy and playing when I leave him and so happy to see us when we pick him up.

Alright, Zack just woke up again, so upstairs I go...

More of Zack's Favorite X-mas Pics

2008-12-27T07:09:00.000-08:00

Me, Mom, Aunt Janet, and Cousin Spencer. "Seriously, why so many damn pictures? Enough already!"

Giving my little cousin a kiss. He's tiny.

Picture with the Grandparents...yeah, I look bored.

Now this is more fun. "I got you bear. Take that."

"Seriously, why am I riding an elephant?"

I was pretty proud of myself for knocking all my presents over.

"Why am I dressed as the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man?"

"Mom, I don't want to make a snow angel...I'll make some yellow snow though."

Dad and my uncles thought they were quite the fashionistas.

Mom and Dad went sledding in the snow...and the dark

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T15:00:00.000-08:00

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2009!

We are enjoying a beautiful snowy white Christmas in Aspen, Colorado.

We are so lucky to be surrounded by the family and friends in a gorgeous house right in Snowmass Village on the mountain. Zack has enjoyed opening presents every night since Monday. He doesn't really care what is in the package, but loves tearing off the wrapping paper, crunching it up, and then putting it in his mouth! He is just too cute for words in this phase...we are loving every minute of it. We say it all the time, but it is so amazing how Zack has grown so much over the last few months. He is such a big boy with such a zestful and happy personality...always making us laugh! Here are some pics ...more to come. There are some very cute ones of Zack with his new baby cousin Spencer (5 weeks old and cure as a button!) but they aren't on my camera.

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope everyone had a great, relaxing holiday! Zack spent his first Thanksgiving in Florida...he was thankful for many things...
*for all his family and friends who love him so much
*the gorgeous weather which allowed him spend lots of time outside
*his first trip to the park (he loved the big boy swing)
*for meeting his great-grandparents
*for chicken and rice baby food (much more filling then the usual fruits and veggies!)
*for the Gators killing the 'Noles on Saturday

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! YUMMY!

FAMILY PHOTO

FIRST SWING RIDE

MEGS, BRUNO, ABBY, AND Z (Bruno is his new bff)
GO GATORS!

Z and CHASE (new friends!)

Thanksgiving with Gramps

Christmas card preview

2008-11-16T17:37:00.000-08:00

Updates

2008-11-14T21:57:00.000-08:00

Since Zack is our first baby and we don't have many friends with kids out here in SF, we don't really have anyone to compare Zack to in regards to his temperment and his development. We rely heavily on guidance from our pediatrician and from the emails from Babycenter.com. Everyone always tells us "wow, he's so mellow" or "wow, he's so strong" or "oh my, he's crawling already?" and we just smile politely and say thank you. Then this week a few things happened that made us realize Zack might be little bit ahead of the gang ...disclaimer (straight from babycenter website)...

Remember, your baby is an individual. All babies are unique and meet milestones at their own pace. Developmental guidelines simply show what your baby has the potential to accomplish — if not right now, then soon.

Having said that, here are the week's funnies:

*Lucas's Mom saw Zack crawling at daycare and was shocked that he was only 6 months old, because Lucas is 1 and just started crawling.

* the Babycenter email I received today said " Your baby can now roll over from his tummy to his back and vice versa." ... meanwhile Zack has just crawled over to his exersaucer and pulled himself up and is standing there looking at me while I read this email

*Pam, the daycare director said "We call Zack Hercules" and I chuckled a little bit, and she said "no, Im serious, he is really strong and pulling himself up on anything he can".

Jeff is so proud! He wants to enter him into a Strongest Baby contest...um, okay Jeff!

Other random pieces on info:
Thanksgiving is coming up so soon...when did it become mid November? Now I know what people mean when they say time flies....I can't even believe we have a 6 month old and that the holidays are fast approaching! We are headed to Florida on the 22nd for a week...can't wait!

Florida is in the SEC championship in Atlanta Dec 6th and we just bought plane tickets to Atlanta for the weekend! We are hoping to find some affordable tickets to the game in the next couple of weeks so we don't have to scalp them the day of. But, we are thrilled to be headed that way to cheer on our team!

On Halloween weekend, I ran a half marathon. It was a goal I had set prior to having Zack to try to lose some baby weight and to get back into the whole running thing. Well, the training was next to impossible with a new baby and a demanding job, but I did the run and it was amazing! I have never done a run and felt so great about it. When I was getting ready to cross the golden gate bridge, around mile 5, I looked up and there was a beautiful rainbow up in the sky overhead...to me it was just a sign of how great our life is and how lucky we are! As the run got tough, I was able to reflect on the last year of my life and think about how amazing life is now that we Zack is a part of it! I didn't break any records, that's for sure, but I jogged the whole thing, and when I got to the last quarter mile towards the finish, I looked up to see my amazing husband, my adorable little boy, and about 9 other friends standing there cheering for me...I have never felt better...so loved, I seriously smiled so big, and was overwhelmed with tears of joy. I wish I had blogged that weekend when it was still fresh in my mind, but as usual our busy life got in the way, and then I was off to NY but that was a very special day for me so I wanted to share it with all of you!

Here's our crew of runners after the race and the best cheerleader ever, Zack!

And here we are on Union Street after celebrating with a couple of mimosas (notice the happy napping baby!)

The Quintessential City Mom

2008-11-11T14:54:00.000-08:00

Maclaren stroller-check
Designer clutch inside designer diaper bag-check
Designer jeans-check
Designer sunglasses-check
Banana Republic Shopping bag hanging over stroller-check
Starbucks iced soy latte in hand-check
Old Navy white tee covered in baby spit up and nothing to change into-triple check!!!

hahaha...thought that was good for a giggle or two...reminds me of a card lauren and greg gave me right after zack was born...gotta laugh!!! i know abby is cracking up right now!!!

YouTube Sucks!

2008-11-10T23:41:00.001-08:00

So Zack is totally mobile and now we have videos to prove it. We figured we'd upload them to YouTube and then post them to the blog. Sounded like a great idea. I mean, how can you go wrong with the web site that made the Star Wars kid, the Numa Numa chunkster, the Chocolate Rain geek, and so many others with no talent famous?

Here's how you can go wrong...it's not as easy as you'd think to upload videos. It's a total process and takes forever! So we decided to post to another site because it was far easier.

Saturday morning I took a few videos of Zack's crawl. Let's just say he has a unique style and it's really all upper body. We also took a video of Zack playing King of the Foster and have the videos from the 1st time we fed him "real food".

It's pretty obvious that he wasn't a fan of the rice cereal at 1st, but tonight, he had about 4.5 tablespoons of rice cereal. Zack is turning into a regular Porky Pig. In fact, today I got another amusing status report from daycare. Zack finished his lunch, started screaming, and then started trying to grab the other kids' food. I figure we may need to send him with bigger lunches.

So here's the link to Zack's videos. Hopefully it works. Enjoy and try not to buckle over laughing.

http://www.dropshots.com/jessgoz

The Difference Between Mom & Dad

2008-11-04T15:04:00.000-08:00

I'm sure we'll have plenty of other disagreements over how Zack should behave or what he should do, but this was the 1st time we didn't see eye-to-eye.

So every day when we pick Zack up from daycare he has a report card of sorts that says what he did. Yesterdays report was normal, "talking" to the care givers, playing with toys, liked his stroller ride, smiling...and then I saw the last comment. "Zack kept taking the toys away from the other kids." Of course we had also watched him the night before grab Sydney...and he had done it that morning at daycare too.

I sent Jess a text and let her know that our son was a bully. So here's where we have differences. Jess was all worried and asking what we should do because he can't behave that way. My reaction...I laughed. I'm totally cool with him being a bully. Seriously, I think it comes from his curiousness and being aggressive will just help him get what he wants.

Aside from that, with Jess NY for work, we miss her, but at the same time, I am really enjoying the single dad routine. So Zack stays up later than normal. And Zack was probably the only baby at Jillians watching the election results (but we had to meet up with Matty Cakes). But I really enjoy getting him ready for school, taking him, picking him up, feeding him, and hanging out before bed time. It's probably the most responsibility I've ever had...and I was nervous, but this week has been great (although it is only 2 days in).

Happy Halloween and Happy 6 Month Day Zack!

2008-10-31T21:38:00.000-07:00

Zack had a big day today. His 6 month check up and his 1st Halloween.

First a few other updates that Jess didn't mention before.

* Zack spoke...or at least Jessie and Meghan claim he did. His 1st word was "Whoa!" He hasn't said anything since though.

* Great news...I'm fairly certain Zack is left handed. He reaches primarily with his left and throws things with his left. I'll just have to keep training him to be a leftie.

* There is a toddler at daycare that has a massive crush on "Baby Zack." At a daycare party, she sat down next to him and started petting him and then upped the ante to kissing him on the cheek a few times.

*Sadly, we are going to have to part with the snap 'n go stroller and the bucket carseat very soon as he is just getting too big for them both. The "big boy" carseat and stroller arrived today.

Alright, so back to today. Zack is recovering fine from bronchiolitis and had his 6 month check up. He's healthy, strong, tall, and skinny. He fought the nurses any time they tried to get him to do anything and he's 75th percentile on height (27 inches) and 45th percentile on weight (17 lb 4 oz). I guess this is a good sign that he won't be a midget like his dad.

He had fun at the doctor (tearing up the paper and crawling on the exam table) until he got 4 shots. I wouldn't let him watch (and I couldn't either), but he sure screamed. He has a short term memory though, as a minute later he was smiling and flirting with a nurse.

In all reality he handled his shots better than I handled my flu vaccine today. So I'm petrified of needles and pulled away from the nurse 3 times when she was about to stab me, before I finally manned up. In my defense, I think if I wasn't holding Zack and he could have gotten away, he would have.

After the doctor, Zack got to help celebrate his 1st Halloween and up to his billing as our little monkey. Here are some pics...

"Ooh-ooh, ah-ah!!!"

"What's this? A tail? Yummy!"

"Alright, let me try this crawling again."

"How the heck do I open this thing? I'm hungry."

"Alright, I'll eat my foot now." (Why are the feet on this costume so big?)

"Now I have to exercise too?"

"If only I had teeth."

"Seriously, you guys have to be kidding me. What the heck did you dress me in? Do you really find this amusing? Oh, I just went boom-boom in my diaper. Let's see how funny you think that is."

Bad Blogger

2008-10-26T20:54:00.000-07:00

I admit it, I have become a total slacker with the blog...and I am very sorry to my loyal readers who have called me out on it! Our camera broke and for some reason I just can't seem to bring myself to blog when I don't have pics...have no fear, we will have a new one by Halloween so we can take pics of our little monkey (yes, he will be a monkey for Halloween and we are so excited)!

There are a few things to update about...
Our little guy has two little bottom teeth now, sharp as can be! And he has a third one coming in on his top right side.
He loves eating rice cereal (plain or with bananas), yogurt, and sweet potatoes.
He has become pretty efficient at crawling backwards, but has not yet started crawling forward (he does, however have a pretty mean rocking stance and can scoot pretty much anywhere he wants to go!)
He still LOVES his dogs and will follow them around the room and put their ears, paws etc in his mouth (gross, yes I know, but kind of amusing too!)
He is sleeping in his crib now, not sure I ever mentioned that. It was a process to get him out of our room...first moving the pack and play to his room and then eventually getting him in the crib after he got used to his room.
He still goes to be at 6:30 despite our many attempts to keep him up later than that...and thus he still wakes up between 3:45 and 4:45. Some mornings he will go back to sleep and other morning we are just SOL! hahahaha :-) We are still trying to move his bedtime back but have not really had any luck ie: tonight we had him in the high chair while we were eating dinner and all of the sudden at 6:30 he was dead asleep in his high chair (music on, lights blinking, and toys everywhere!)

Last week, Jeff and I had our first encounter with "life would be easier if we had a nanny (or a grandma in town"...Zack got bronchiolitis (not to be confused with bronchitis, bronchiolitis is a virus that tends to occur in babies under 2). The good news is that he is building up his immune system, the bad news is that he had a nasty cough and runny nose, and was contagious, so he had to stay home from day care for the whole week. It was very difficult to juggle work and taking care of our little guy. Although we both love being home with him, it is pretty much impossible to get any quality work done during the day... it was rough. I stayed home 2.5 days and Jeff stayed home 2.5 days. We would put him to bed at night and then the person that stayed home would hop on the computer and work until late to play catch up. On Friday night, I think we went to bed at 10pm..we were so exhausted! The lesson learned is...Staying home is fine, working is fine, but staying home and working, not so fine!

We are looking forward to the week ahead...Zack has his 6 month check up on Friday morning and then we hope to hit some Halloween parades in the afternoon.

A Trip to The Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-05T20:16:00.000-07:00

Zack's first trip to the Pumpkin Patch was definitely more fun for Mom and Dad than it was for Zack but he was a sport and let us take a few cute pics that we wanted to share.

The Fam (Dad just got back from Vegas, but he was a trooper since he knew Mom really wanted to go and he didn't want the wrath! :-))

Some pics of me amongst the pumpkins

Me and my girlfriend Sydney (She is still bigger than me but I am catching up!)
Me and Mom

Happy 5 month day Zack!

2008-09-30T20:21:00.000-07:00

Dear Zack,
Mom and Dad love you so much! We can't even believe you are already 5 months old...where does the time go?! You are currently teething and drooling like a champ...today the daycare even asked us to supply our own bibs because they can't keep up with you!
This week we started feeding you yogurt for breakfast and you seem to be enjoying it much better than the rice cereal we give you at night. Bedtime has become much less of a chore...you always seem to be tired and "ready" for bed at 6:30 (we really wish it was a little bit later but you get a little cranky if we keep you up much later than that)...You are still a very very happy, smiley, laid back, and mellow baby! You LOVE people, "talking", playing in the exersaucer or your new car, or just rolling around on the ground! You love laughing at your doggies and grabbing for their ear and you are really trying to crawl but just haven't figured out that your knees need to be on the ground, not up in a downward dog yoga pose! Oh well...You are going to be sitting up and mobile before we know it!
You are truly our little angel and we enjoy every second that we spend with you!!!!
Love Mom and Dad

Fun weekend Pics!

2008-09-29T21:27:00.000-07:00

I love playing in my new car! Thanks Aunt Diane and Uncle Tommy!

Sitting up in my rocking chair

Back to School...

2008-09-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

In the immortal words of Billy Madison, "Back to school. Back to school. To prove to Dad I'm not a fool." After cutting class most all of last week to hang out with his grandparents, Zack was back at daycare Monday and very excited. When I dropped him off he went back to his staring at a baby crawling and proceeded to start his "swimming" (attempting to crawl, but with his legs and arms in the air).

It does suck to drop him off in the morning. I don't cry like Jess did...not even close, but it's awkward. "Alright, bye little buddy. Be a good boy Zack."

Picking him up at night is just as bad and maybe worse. When I walked in today, he looked over at me and went back to what he was doing. He could really give a crap that I was there.

The good news is that Zack seems to be getting back on a schedule. After daycare, he comes home and we feed him rice cereal and a bottle and he crashes. The past 2 nights he has been out like a light...he didn't even fight it. Now we just need consistency on sleeping through the night. I guess we're already "those parents" pushing him for more. Oh well.

Real Food

2008-09-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

So Zack had a doctor's appointment Friday and he's chubbing up well. He seems to have gotten his February Fat a bit early, because he's up to 16 pounds. He's gone from being in the 16th percentile on weight to 56th. At this rate, he'll be sumo class by his 1st birthday.

I don't even think that we had to explain to the doctor how Porky is always hungry and wants to eat, as I think he went after her hand. She thought maybe it was time to give our little butterball some real food. Since I'm still getting overruled on steaks, Zack got rice cereal. Saturday morning he was in for a surprise and I'm not so sure he was a big fan. 2 days in, he's still not sure what to think and he probably spits out as much as he swallows, but he's getting better at eating real food. Here are the pics of his 1st adventure in eating food.

1st Bite...Open Up!

"What the hell are you guys doing to me?"
"Not another bite!"

"Stop it already."
"Ha, I have the container, no more of this crap for me."

GO GATORS!!!!

2008-09-21T09:07:00.000-07:00

Pics from Connecticut

2008-09-17T19:36:00.000-07:00

We had a blast in Connecticut! Zack got to meet his great-grandparents, Ganny and Pop-Pop, and lots of my Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins! I wish we took more pictures, but here are a few...

In the meantime, I am getting very behind in my personal life as Zack and work are taking first priority...I am sure with some time, I will learn how all of the working moms in the world learn to juggle their family, friends, career, social life etc...In the meantime, bare with us as we adjust to our new schedule!

In his new "outfit" from his Daddy..."why in the world am I dressed like a bear?!"

With Ganny
With Cousin Christen

Party Time Is Over

2008-09-13T09:31:00.000-07:00

For our last full day in New York I wanted to take Zack to the Financial District and we had to do some shopping. Getting him in the cab, diaper bag off the BOB, and the BOB in the trunk was a bit stressful. We walked around SoHo and finally found onesies for Zack from a street vendor, Beastie Boys, Metallica, and Che (to match his Dad). Then we walked south to the Financial District.

I realized earlier in the morning that heading down there on 9/11 may not be the best thing to do...not for fear of something happening, but it's just a wierd day and it was. We walked past the WTC site, checked out the NYSE, walked through the 9/11 memorial, saw the Statue of Liberty, and then went to see the Bull before heading back to the hotel. We probably walked 10 miles in flip-flops. I think Zack was sick of his seat, but he had a pretty good life in there. He had his seat, toys, he could look at Dad, take naps, he got his bottles in there. I envy his life.

We had to wrap up our shopping and get back to the hotel to meet Zack's babysitter, because Mama and Daddy were going out. We met up with Kelly and a couple vendors for a great dinner and then went out to get nutty. Stop 1 was a Japanese place for a couple drinks so we could come up with a game plan. From there, we went to Hogs & Heffers and where things got out of control, although we had to cut things short to get back to Zack. We ended up in a towncar, because we couldn't find a cab, argued over the price, got dropped off 5 blocks from our hotel...yeah, we were in great shape. We had a great time though.

Yesterday, when we finally woke up...Are you sure you don't want to sleep in Zack? We were dragging ass and finally got our rental car at about 3pm...not quite noon as planned. They were out of compact cars and asked if we'd be alright with an upgrade to an SUV...seriously lady, we almost needed 2 cabs just to schlep all our crap over here, do you think that we'd object to a bigger car? (We still filled the Jeep to max capacity.) Traffic sucked and our 2 hour trip to Connecticut took 4+ hours, but we made it and Zack was ready to show off and get attention from more family.

More pics...

Zack at Uni Qlo with the robot (and some troll like woman in the background)

NYSE
Father and Son at the Statue of Liberty (OK, I think something is wrong with our camera. Every pic in the day is overexposed...if someone knows how to fix this on a Canon SD750, please let us know.)
Zack wanted to ride the bull, but I knew I'd get in trouble from the wife for that...and maybe arrested too.
Dinner...when the wine started flowing

Hogs & Heffers...woo-hoo it's a party!

Mr. Mom

2008-09-10T07:36:00.000-07:00

Appologies in advance...long post, but I'm trying to cram several into 1, because I was slacking.

Friday, Jess went back to work and I worked from home in the morning, before dropping Zack at daycare so I could go to the office. After work, I picked Zack up to go find trouble...trouble being pick up our Masshole friend from UF, Doogie (AKA Willie). Saturday Doogie had to head out early so we had a chance to pack for New York and get Zack ready to watch his 1st Gators game. Unfortunately someone had refused to take naps so he only watched about the 1st quarter of the game and got put to sleep.

At 4am we got up to head to the airport (Zack was anxious and got up at 12:30am and 2am also...thanks buddy). Getting to the plane was a debacle (car service got a flat, Zack wasn't on my ticket, and we looked like Sherpas with all our luggage), but we got upgraded to 1st Class, which took the edge off. Zack must have liked it because he was "talking" away the whole way to New York. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of the little guy living it up in his seat, but maybe we'll score upgrades on the way home too.

This is our 3rd day in NY and it wouldn't be us if we weren't super busy and active. We wanted to keep Zack on West Coast time, but he's been alternating between the EDT and PDT. Basically, Mr. Mom just lets him make his own schedule. Jess asks when he ate and my answer is when he was hungry. What about naps? He'll only sleep when we're out walking/running. I've been having a blast with him though, just hanging out and being silly. I could get into this Mr. Mom gig, so I guess Jess needs to get some BIG raises.

Here are some of the things we've been doing here:

- Dinner with Zack's "Gay Uncles" Stevie and Mason
- Jogging in the park
- Being tourists & doing some light shopping
- Vendor lunches with all the ladies (Zack was a big fan since he is a ladies man)
- Vendor dinner last night
- We're still looking for the "I HEART MODELS" onesy for Zack since it's Fashion Week and the shows are a block away. I figure we get him that shirt and he can find some arm candy.

Some development/personality updates on Zack:

- There are 4 ways to get him to stop screaming. 1) bottle, 2) throw him up in the air repeatedly, 3) help him stand up, and 4) let him look at himself in the mirror (he may be a bit of a narcissist)
- Zack is teething and wants to eat real food, so let him gum bread to death (which he seems to prefer over tortillas covered in hot sauce)
- Zack is still obsessed with boobs -- how come when he stares at girls boobs it's funny, but if I do it, it's pervy?
- Zack flirts non-stop with Jess's vendors and then plays coy with them too (just working on his game)
- Zack has mastered the art of spitting up on his Mom's outfits (she needed to change on the plane and he got her last night on the way to dinner too)
- Zack is holding his own bottle now and even more impressive he palmed it yesterday and held it out to the side with only 1 hand...so cool

Alright, we need to get ready for another vendor lunch and then a run. Here are some pics of Zack in NY. In our next post I'll explain why most New Yorkers are a** holes ("most" of the ones we know though are in the minority). -Jeff

Zack hits Times Square...and the lighting couldn't be worse for a picture
Sleepy and confused baby on his run in the park (at the Jackie O Resevoir)
"Where's my damn bottle?"
Yup, this is where Zack prefers to sleep.

Harder than childbirth...

2008-09-04T20:50:00.000-07:00

In my opinion, dropping your baby off at Day Care for the first time is harder than giving birth. ..no joke! A different kind of hard, but hard nonetheless. I had no idea of, and could not have prepared for the mental and emotional breakdown I had when I left Zack today at his new day care.

From Zack's perspective:
It was business as usual this morning...a bottle with Dad and playtime in the crib but Mom was acting a little strange, she didn't give me my morning cuddle time, instead she was on the treadmill, showering, and getting dressed up. It was fine with me, gave me more time to talk to my toys in the crib. But, before I knew it, we were in the car and off to somewhere new. This place was AMAZING. There were 4 girls there that wanted to talk to me, play with me, hold me, and teach me new things. I didn't even notice when mom left me there...she tried to say good-bye but I wasn't paying attention. I had already found a firetruck that I could honk the horn on! The day was great...I have never played with so many toys. I ate well, smiled lots and giggled for the girls. We took a walk, I took a couple of naps (one in the stroller and one in the swing) and I got to play with 4 other little kids like me. Some were crawling and I thought that was really cool. I spent alot of time watching the other kids and taking it all in. I was having such a good time but then Mom came and took me awy from my new friends. I hope I can go back tomorrow!

From my perspective:
OMG, that's the alarm, here we go! Bottles are ready (check!), Zack is fed (check), Zack is dressed (check), 2 extra outfits packed for my little drooler (check!), quick workout, shower, dressed, coffee, and out the door. Thoughts on the way to the daycare: This isn't that bad...we can totally do this! Zack is going to love his new daycare. It's so nice that he gets to socialize with other kids...And then we got there....I LOST IT like you would not believe. Zack went into the playroom with the biggest smile on his face. I watched him giggling as he was honking the horn on the firetruck and I STILL LOST IT! I knew he was in good hands, I knew he was going to have fun, I knew he would be FINE... He is the happiest and most social child I know...but I just felt so sad and so empty as I walked away. I surely hope it gets easier because if every morning is like this, we will definitely need stock in kleenex and waterproof mascara... :-(

Tomorrow is another day...wish us luck!

Happy 4 months Zack!!!

2008-09-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

I am few days late as we were celebrating the day of Labor in Lake Tahoe, but Happy 4 month Day Zack! You have no idea how much we love you!!!!

Here's our little buddy in his new favorite toy--the Exersaucer!

Growth update and a first!

2008-08-27T21:41:00.000-07:00

We had our 4 month check up today and we are proud to say:
Weight: 14 pounds 4 ounces--41st percentile
Height: 24 3/4 inches--49th percentile
Go Zack!!

Zack also had his second round of immunizations (yes, we believe in immunizing our child, if you don't, that is your thing, but please keep your comments to yourself) and he did great! He cried a little bit but was back to his happy hungry self shortly there after!

Tonight we had a first...Zack ate rice cereal for dinner with his bottle! He loved it and scarfed it down! He had an 8 ounce bottle (1 tsp rice cereal for every 2 ounces of formula) and then fell soundly to sleep (not in his crib, but that's another story for later!)...and we have officially switched over to 100% formula feeding. My body just couldn't keep up with the Little Porker's nutritional demands! It is kind of sad because BF is such a bonding experience between a Mother and her child, but at the same time, Zack is becoming a big boy and this is just one of the many steps in growing up/letting go ... again, sniff sniff, sob sob!!!! :-( I now realize why people start trying for #2 so soon...you just miss that little infant of yours!

Vacation Pics

2008-08-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

Wanted to add a few more pics of our vacation to Scottsdale. We ended up having a really great time, and laughed alot about how life has changed for us. Our days were spent tag teaming who stayed in with the baby while the other went to the gym and/ sat outside in the sun/ took a trip down the lazy river. In the afternoons, we could all hang out on the balcony and read, relax, listen to music etc, as it was shaded. Every night we hit the complimentary happy hour for mommys 2 glasses of chard and daddys 2 pints of beer. Zack was a pro at hanging out in his stroller for that hour and a half while we watched the sunset and listened to the bag-piper....I think that was my favorite time of day. The resort is beautiful at night and the weather is really nice once the sun sets. We can't wait to go back when Zack is 4 so he can go play in the kids club. The kids appeared to be having a GREAT time, playing in the water park, waterballoon contests, egg tossing contests etc.

Zack slept in the Westin supplied crib, not quite the Heavenly Bed that Mom and Dad slept in, but comfy enough to do the trick...I don't want to jinx it, but he did very well and we are looking forward to his first night in the crib tonight...wish us luck!

Oh, and I had an amazing birthday! I worked out, was pampered at the spa, hung by the pool with a frozen vodka lemonade (while Jeff and Zack hung out on the balcony just above, it was quite funny!!), and after Z went to sleep we had an amazing filet and lobster dinner with gorgonzola mac n cheese and a bottle of Cakebread Cab...delish!!!!

The view from our balcony

Sunset over the golfcourse at happy hour
Z on the balcony in his favorite chair. He has gotten quite stubborn lately and wants to hold his own bottle but doesn't do so well so Jeff put the pillow there to assistMet up with Skip, an old friend from high school. He didn't win the award for most awkward...in fact he did quite well
An old friend from Atlanta, Misty at her house in Phoenix

Misty made me the BEST home made birthday cake I have ever tasted (sorry Mom)...we celebrated with them on Saturday afternoon poolside with beer back chickens on the grill...yummy!!!!
Jason (Misty's hubby) trying to teach Z the difference between his bottle and a beer can

Hello from Scottsdale, AZ

2008-08-21T16:52:00.000-07:00

We are on our first family vacation and it took all of maybe an hour before we realized that perhaps Scottsdale and 105 degree weather was a bad idea for Zack. The resort is great and we got upgraded to essentially a studio apartment right by the pool. However, the highlights of the Westin Kierland are the golf course and the pools, but we don't have clubs and Zack isn't quite the sun worshiper his parents are (yet). We took him to the pool, but had to find seats in the shade, sitting in the water was too bright (even with new sunglasses and a hat on), and worst of all, Mom was too overprotective and wouldn't let Zack ride on the Lazy River...Boo!

So we need to figure out how to vacation without laying out at the pool beer in hand all day trying to see who can get the better tan. The saloon here has shufflepuck, which was fun. We went for a walk to grab lunch today. We alternated who sat on the patio tanning while the other played with Zack in the room. Needless to say, we're grasping at straws for what to do without overheating the little guy. We got brochures for the botanical gardens, zoo, American Indian museum, and Frank Lloyd Wrights home, so I figure over the next few days we'll hit a couple of them. The woman also recommended a bunch of malls, so I hid that info from Jess just to be safe.

Anyway, here are some pics.

Sometimes it's just too hot to wear clothes.
Zack's jail...I mean crib
"Shine...we've got a shine problem here. Someone get this kid some powder."
Why is Mommy still taking pictures of me?
Seriously, I have to wear all this crap just to go outside?!?!

The latest happenings with the West Coast Goslin's

2008-08-17T19:38:00.000-07:00

Just thought I should post for our few loyal fans, as it has been a week! :-)

We had a fabulous quiet weekend! It was our first weekend without guests in about a month...we have loved having the company, but it was nice to have our house to ourselves. We thought we were in for a nice, lazy relaxing weekend, but who are we talking about here people...we don't sit still! We got a wii on Friday...and boy is that thing dangerous...we've owned it for 3 days and I think we are officially addicted! We didn't leave the house at all on Saturday...we played tennis, golf, bowling, yoga, hula hoop, running, etc...you name it, we played it. Then suddenly it was 8pm and we realized we had nothing prepared for dinner ...hahaha! So our Sat. night din din consisted of take out burritos and a bottle of cheap red wine...classy!

Today, in our never ending quest for warmth and sunshine, we left the city and went out to the 'burbs for The Bay Area BBQ Cook Off...the food was amazing and the weather was just how we like it...HOT! To continue the classy theme, we immersed ourselves in the suburban CA BBQ lovin' culture...jean shorts, cut off shorts, Nascar hats, 24oz beers etc. I was definitely overdressed in the below dress and flip flops...hahahaha!

Dale is getting a little more comfortable around Zack...today he held him for a whole 4 minutes! Good job Dale!

Zack's latest: Zack is just growing up so fast! We stare at him and just can't believe he is already almost 4 months old. It is for sure the fastest 4 months of our lives. Tonight Jeff and I were reminiscing about middle of the night wake ups, nursing every 2 hours, and all of the napping Zack used to do. It seems so long ago!
These days our little guy eats about every 3 hours during the day, hates napping, but luckily for us sleeps through the night most of the time (from 7 or 8pm to 5:30 or 6am). It is amazing how rested I feel after 5-6 hours of sleep in a row!!! We'll see if these good sleep patterns continue when we start crib training him next week.

What else? Oh, the talking and cooing and giggling is just amazing and melts our hearts. He is so silly, and curious and just really animated these days. He likes to grab for anything and everything, and if he can hold onto it, it goes straight into his mouth. He loves watching the dogs and laughing when they come close to him. He is definitely a chatter box like his Mommy!

Yes, the sun and the moon revolve around little Zack in our household and we think that's just fine! Motherhood is all that everyone said it would be and more...and everyone is right, you can't really explain it until you are in it. Suddenly the things that used to be so important to us just aren't as important anymore. It sounds cheesy but life has more meaning for us now. I have become much more mellow, and much more flexible in my day to day life as a Mom. Not sure how I got off on that tangent, but it's true. Life is really great for us right now and we feel really lucky to have you all as a part of it!

Life is good--almost 3.5 months old

2008-08-10T19:08:00.000-07:00

Uncle Gary and Aunt Laura came to visit this weekend. We are so glad they could make it out here to meet Zack...they have spent the last 3 months living in Germany and I am sure they are really excited to get home and get back to their normal lives.

We had another weekend of San Francisco fun! Zack is such an awesome baby and just loves being out and about! Saturday we went to Napa (yes folks, Zack's 3rd time!). It was the perfect day to get out of the city as it was cold and foggy here, but sunny and 80s out there. We went to Cosentino, Rutherford Hill, and Sullivan and had an excellent time!

Gary and Zack before Napa

Family photo at Cosentino--and yes, I chopped off my hair! I now have the full "Mom look"

Z enjoying his bottle while we enjoy our wine

Father and Son enjoying a burger at Taylor's--poor Zack is soaked!

Laura and Gary giving Zack a bottle at Sullivan--it was gorgeous there--and yes, Zack is in outfit #2 Jeff and Zack on the swing at Sullivan

Today we had gorgeous summer weather in the city so of course we went outside to enjoy the day! Gary and Laura went to the Giants/Dodgers game (notice stadium in the background) while Jeff, Zachary and I took a nice long walk and then relaxed in the park...a perfect summerday!

Jeff and Zack in the park--in the one shady spot we could find

Zack hanging out on his blankey--a smileand a close up

A quick note regarding bedtime using Jeff's "The Goslin Method"...it didn't work so well tonight! There was a little fussiness and crying tonight. That's okay...we'll try again tomorrow! I don't want to say it out loud to jynx us, but if Zack's only cying and crankiness is when we try to put him to sleep at night, we aren't doing so bad!!!

Sheer Genious!

2008-08-10T00:19:00.000-07:00

Alright, so Jess has been giving me hell for not blogging in forever. I really didn't have any great stories to tell that she wasn't though. Now I've got one. We've talked to everyone about how Zack refuses to go to sleep and that we dread bedtime. We've argued over whether to let him "Cry It Out" or coddle him, but nothing seemed to work on our little social butterfly. I know it really upset Jess, because we were trying to get him in a routine and she has been so patient with him (beyond what either of us thought was possible), but nothing worked.

Last night Jess went to the spa for a massage and facial and when she got home she was ticked off that Zack was still awake. His bed time is 8pm and it was 7:40pm, which I pointed out. I was scolded because "his bedtime routine takes at least an hour." I protested that we were just relaxing and I'd put him to sleep. Lil' guy was down and out for the count within 10 minutes, which includes changing him and getting him ready for bed.

I was totally psyched and ready to trademark "The Goslin Method." Jess told me not to get ahead of myself thinking it was just a fluke. Then tonight after a great day up in Napa, The Goslin Method worked again! Seriously, I think I need to quit my job and write a book on this. Who would have ever thunk that ESPN, formula, and Dad were the perfect combo to get this little guy to sleep.

Now it just has to last and I need to find a publisher to give me a fat advance on the book. Send us any leads on that one.

My Girlfriend

2008-08-07T13:10:00.000-07:00

Mom took me to see my girlfriend Sydney today. She is 2 weeks older then me and sits up a little bit better than I do, but we had lots of fun. Mom doesn't take pictures fast enough though...she was too slow to catch a single smile! Here we are hanging out on the couch in our "big kid pose".

Tummy Time

2008-08-05T15:24:00.000-07:00

Mommy makes me do Tummy Time and I hate it!

We start off doing really well and then little by little lay down and roll over....oh well!

We'll try again tomorrow!

So Lucky!!!

2008-08-01T16:13:00.000-07:00

So I have officially declared Jeff and I the luckiest people in the world!
We got into Daycare!!!!
Yay!!!! We applied way back in November and were told that we probably wouldn't get in as there is a very long wait list and they give priority to siblings yadda yadda yadda...then I called back in June just to confirm that we were still on the waitlist and to let them know Zack's birth date etc....the woman in charge told me once again not to get my hopes up, that there is very high demand for infant child care in the city bla bla bla...but low and behold, today she called and said they had an unexpected opening because one of their families is moving so they have one spot open. They wanted a baby born in April (mind you Zack is April 30th, so we JUST made it). She offered us the spot, and asked me to please let her know by Monday as there were 11 other families waiting for the spot after us!!! Can you believe it?! We are celebrating tonight! Do you know how much money that will save us every month...not to mention the benefits to Zack for being in an organized care situation...He will get to meet other children, practice socialization, participate in constructive activities for his development, and will be prepared for pre-school.

Of couse the ideal situation would be for me or Jeff, or one of our family members to care for Zack, but since that isn't an option, we are trting to get excited for this one. Of course I know the cons of a day care as well, but I have talked myself into thinking this is a good thing for us to try, at least for a few months, especially since we have money going into a flexible spending account for child care that we would lose if we hired an illegal nanny. I know it will be a pain in the butt to get out of the house every morning, and it will be tough to pick him up by 5:50 every afternoon, and he has the potential to get sick more often etc etc but we are so lucky to have gotten in that

we just need to take the opportunity and roll with it. There are, afterall disadvantages to having a nanny as well.

Big Z-3 months old!

2008-07-31T10:48:00.000-07:00

Big Z was 3 months old on Wednesday! I would like someone to tell me where the time goes?! I really just can't believe it! He is just getting so big everyday...makes me sad and proud all at the same time. He is really strong, and so curious, just loves looking around and taking everything in. He holds his head up so well that we are facing out in the bjorn now (or the turtle pack as Uncle Greg describes it) so he can see the world from Mommy and Daddy's perspective, rather than staring at our chests! He loves reaching for toys on his playmat, especially the ones that light up and play music! He has developed quite the personality!

Here is Aunt Janet with Zack on his "3 month day"!

Janet, Jeff's sister, is 25 weeks preggo, expecting a little boy in November. We are so excited to meet little Spencer (that's his name for now) and for Zack to have a cousin so close in age. Janet's visit was good "practice" as our little guy was not his usual happy self. He was, in fact, quite needy and quite fussy! We took his temperature twice while she was here, just making sure he didn't have a fever...that's how out of sorts he seemed. We think he had a little something going on with his tummy...he vomited a couple of times and was a bit constipated but have no fear...when he decided to finally go, we have a great story! I went to go change his diaper, and apparently we wasn't done going...yup, I totally got pooped on! All over the changing table and his cute little Calvin Klein outfit (damnit!)...so at this point Janet is already laughing at me. I was pretty calm considering...cleaned it all up, and was getting ready to put his new diaper on when, yup, you got it, he Peed EVERYWHERE...on his tummy, his face, everywhere! And then he giggled!!! So glad you find that amusing Zachary! So at this point we were 2 for 2, can't get any better right? WRONG! I get him all ready for his bath and he pukes all over! So we were 3 for 3. Welcome to motherhood Janet!!!! She did great with him and got to see that not all days are as easy as maybe my blog makes them seem. On a positive note, he is back to his happy, smiley self! He didn't cry at all yesterday until we put him down to bed (as per usual!)...

Here is Janet's little baby bump!

We are still on the hunt for a nanny. Interviewed 1 yesterday (ella no comprendo o habla englis, es muy dificul a entientamos)...I think I said she doesn't speak or understand english so it was very difficult for us to understand each other. I think it is safe to say she is out...although Zack and the dogs seemed to like her very much, so you never know. I guess the most important thing is that they love, love, love your baby...but it sure would be nice to have one that also could communicate to me what they did everyday! UGH! We are interviewing 2 tonight...one comes with very high references from a single Dad, which I am taking very seriously. I swear I get more and more picky with the more people I talk to. Cross your fingers one of the women tonight wins our hearts!

Weekend Update-12 weeks old

2008-07-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

Uncle Greg and Aunt Lauren came to visit this weekend from Atlanta. We had a fabulous time, and Zack was a trooper. He did his usual "I don't want to take a nap and miss out on anything" on Friday but was really good while we toured around the city, visited the seals at Pier 39, had lunch at Park Chalet, and a walked to see the Bison in Golden Gate Park. He really loved visiting with his Aunt and Uncle. He was so good that he even allowed us to go a baseball game on Friday night even though it was past his bedtime. A big Thank you to Zack for being so good and to Greg and Lauren for being so flexible with scheduling things so we could see how The Boss Zack was going to act! ;-)

Saturday we went to Wine Country and I think Zack was a little bored, it was, afterall his third time up there. We had a blast at Ledson (Z slept most of the time-making up for Friday's lack of naps!)...Greg showed everyone how to "chug" a $68/bottle glass of wine filled to the top! Silly Uncle Greg, always entertaining! We took it easy Saturday night so Zack could make his regular bedtime. And then today we picked up Aunt Janet from the airport, and spent the afternoon visiting with her at the house. Another fun weekend for the Goslin's! Life is good, can't complain...that's for sure!

Janet, Greg, and Jeff with Zack

Love my carseat!

Hello!

With Aunt Lauren and Uncle Greg

Family photo at Ledson

Say Cheese!

The boys at the game-Greg, Zack, Jeff

Outside the Park

Hiking behind the house

Here are some pics to remind me why we live in this beautiful city.

The Golden Gate Bridge

Sailboats at the Embarcadero

The Ballfield

The windmill at Golden Gate Park

Florida

2008-07-21T15:24:00.000-07:00

Having a fabulous time in Florida with Zack's grandparents and Aunties! Aunt Abby from Atlanta even came down to surprise us and meet her new nephew. Zack has been pretty good, but really hates taking naps and missing out on anything so evenings have been fussy time. We are so sad to have to go back to cold San Francisco but are so excited that Uncle Greg and Aunt Lauren are coming out visit this weekend. The summer of fun continues! I have taken a million pictures and will upload them to ofoto soon...here are a few...

Zack in his camo

Zack as Superman

In his usual "sit like a big boy" pose

relaxing on a towel

Sitting with grandma and grandpa (name still TBD)

Hanging with 'Ris
With Uncle Chuck and Aunt Cathy
With Daddy for my first swim (and by swim we mean enough time for a picture)
With Aunt Abby
Taking a nap with Wyatt (8 mos. old) And lastly, Jeff and Jess on their big night out...flip cup at the bar with the young'ins...we did quite well...don't make fun!

3 in one day

2008-07-13T17:09:00.000-07:00

yes folks that's right. together jeff and i have posted3 times today! i guess we are making up for slacking off last week! here are some pics from today (10.5 weeks old)...

why does dale look so scared?

Tummy Time
Cuddle time with Foster

Mom with the boys

Zack's Photo Shoot

2008-07-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

We had some professional photos taken of Zack on June 29th. He was 8 weeks old...here are a few...enjoy!

Where'd He Get That From?

2008-07-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

So Zack does a lot of things, some cute, some ugly, some make us laugh, some annoying. We've been trying to identify where he inherited the traits from. Of course some are from me and some are from Jess, but we noticed something odd...a number of things he does are a spitting image of Greg. If he was out here last August, I think I'd have some questions for him...

Expressions & Mannerisms

Grin, which has been described as "sh*t eating" "lady killing" and "mischievous" all at once -- Got that from Daddy & Uncle Greg
Terrible, I'm pathetic and going to cry face (the one he was doing even in his ultrasound) -- 100% Mommy
Pensive Look -- I guess Daddy
Confused Look -- Daddy
Sucking His Hand -- Uncle Greg (and let's hope this one doesn't develop into finger sucking until the 8th grade!!!)
Arm Up Over His Head -- Daddy (I never realized that I did this, but sure enough if I'm pissed off, I will literally get up in arms - happens at hockey games; also I've noticed that I will sometimes sleep like this)
Demanding -- Mommy and to a lesser extend, Daddy
Stubbornness -- Mommy & Daddy
Morning Person -- Definitely NOT Mommy!
Ability to Fall Asleep Anywhere -- Daddy & Uncle Greg
Clumsy (Zack flails and often punches himself) -- Uncle Greg & Mommy

Food

Overeating -- Uncle Greg (or me at a churascarria/lobster bake)
Eating So Fast He Forgets to Breathe -- Greg
Comfort Eating -- Uncle Greg
Messy Eater -- Mommy & Uncle Greg
Picky Eater (only using certain bottles) -- Mommy & Daddy

Features

Mouth -- Mommy
Nose -- Daddy
Eyes -- Mommy & Daddy (but only when I was a baby with blue eyes)
Chin -- Daddy
Neck -- Foster (yeah, he's chubby and totally has Foster neck

Hobbies (things that really amuse Zack)

Farting -- In order, Uncle Greg, Daddy, & Mommy
Peeing on Mommy -- No comment
Peeing on Himself -- ???
Boobs -- No comment
Bath Time -- Daddy (he'll be SCUBA diving in no time)
Staring at the Fish (above his swing) -- Daddy and Mommy
Being Nekkid -- Definitely Daddy
Licks from Foster -- Not Daddy, so it must be Mommy

Other

Refusing to Take Naps -- Daddy
Being a Total Attention Whore -- Mostly Foster
Headbutting -- Daddy (Greg should remember me using this one on him when we fought as kids. If only I knew wrestling wasn't real and that would hurt me as much as him)
Explosive Diarrhea (a recent issue we've been dealing with) -- Uncle Greg

Little Porker!

2008-07-02T12:48:00.001-07:00

Took little chubbers to his 2 month old check up yesterday and he is doing so well! Big and strong at 22.5 inches long and 11 pounds 6 ounces! Go Zack!

He was showing off for the Doc and actually rolled over onto his back from his little cobra "tummy time" position!!! She was so impressed, and of course Jeff and I were so proud, and excited to be there together for this little milestone!

Interviewed a nanny today...anyone need a job? The going rate is $16 to $18 an hour! Very competitive...2 weeks paid vacay, 5 sick days, and you even get paid when we are on vacation!!! I don't go back to work until Sept but we are already interviewing since we really want to find just the perfect person to watch Zack while we are at work....and the good ones go fast, very fast!

That's the update...off for a walk!

Muir Woods With Cara

2008-06-28T11:36:00.001-07:00

Zack was 8 weeks old this past Wednesday!!! Time is just flying by! Cara and I took him on a walk in Muir woods to see the Redwood trees. Was a great hike and the trees are just amazing however, for a Wednesday there were way too many people there (tourists) and Zack slept the whole time...oh well!

Zack's usual pose on the couch with his favorite blanket

Cara amongst the trees

Redwoods

Sonoma

2008-06-24T17:22:00.000-07:00

Cara arrived Sunday to come meet nephew Zack...so what better way to spend her first day here, than wine tasting in Sonoma. Jeff took the day off work, and true to form had a perfect day set up for us. We hit 2 wineries, Fisher and Ledson, both were private tastings, and both were fabulous. Can't believe that at 7.5 weeks old, it was Zack's 2nd trip to wine country (when my parents were here we hit Napa)....

Family Photo

Zack-enjoying the warmer weather in Sonoma(54 degrees in SF)

Sisters minus Abby, tasting a little vino at Ledson

Zack and the girls

Kisses from his Aunties

Father and Son

With Auntie Cara

Zack's 1st Race!

2008-06-23T09:34:00.000-07:00

So before we head up to Sonoma today, figured we post some pics from the weekend.

So there was a massive heat wave that finally broke yesterday and made sleeping very uncomfortable, except Zack who didn't seem to care. I actually think he enjoyed sleeping in a diaper and pretty much being mostly nekkid for a few days.

Saturday we got up way too early and drove way out to the burbs for a trail run and hike at Lynch Canyon (http://www.lynchcanyontrailrun.blogspot.com/). I did the run with TK and Philipious. Jess and Zack did the hike with chicks (Malee, Yobin, etc.). It was too early for Nanny Meghan to get up though. It was at least 90-degrees when we started at 8am. The run was a 10k and the guys thought it would be easy...WRONG! It was a bitch! 1400 foot vertical gain and it hurt us all, but the views were great. I think the cows thought we were crazy (which was definitely the case for the fools that got suckered into the half marathon). Ironically, the chicks complained that the hike was too easy. Anyway, here are the pics. Off to Sonoma!

Zack, getting ready for his run. He brought G2, to stay hydrated.
Did we fail to mention that there were cows grazing where we were running? They were on the trail, but they were fairly courteous and stayed out of the way. A bull decided to put on a show for the hikers though when he mounted a cow right in front of them.
Jess and Zack making a push for the lead going up the hills.
Jeff going full tilt down the hill to the finish (and really trying to make sure I didn't fall).

Weekend Funnies

2008-06-16T06:57:00.000-07:00

I'm in a car on my way to SFO now for a quick trip to Minneapolis for work and remembered a few funny things this weekend that I had to post. I'll be back tomorrow night, but this is the 1st night I'll have spent away from Zack and Jess since he was born.

1) That's my boy! On Friday, I got up and fed Zack a 4oz bottle. Then I put him in the co-sleeper with Jess and hopped in the shower. She came in with him breast feeding 5 minutes later to ask if I had fed him (it seemed like she thought I hadn't and was kind of pissed). So he got his bottle and got back in bed and manipulated Jess into feeding him again. My boy's a genius...and a pig!

2) When I found out I had this trip, I told Zack he was going to be the man of the house and he got a massive grin and started laughing. I guess that's excitement.

3) At the BBQ yesterday, I was in the kitchen making Zack a bottle. That's when I started thinking to myself, "things have changed...I'm at a party mixing a drink and it's formula, not a flaming Dr. Pepper, not a girlie drink to get Jess hammered, not shots, nope, formula for the baby." This point was further reinforced a bit later when someone mixed up a watermelon drink with tequila in it.

Alright, time to go get my inspection for Clear (www.flyclear.com). I have my passport, I know there is fingerprinting and iris scanning involved too. I'm just hoping that the whole body cavity search thing was a joke.

Happy Father's Day

2008-06-15T21:16:00.000-07:00

Another weekend...more running around. Summer in SF is all about 2 things: 1) cool, foggy weather and 2) festivals. This weekend was North Beach Festival. Jessie made us wake up early to go get breakfast and then beat the crowds. So much for mine and Zack's plan to go back to sleep after the 7am feeding...and so much for Meghan's normal routine of sleeping in until noon.

After breakfast at Stacks (so good!) and a present from the a-hole meeter maids, we headed to North Beach. We were close to the 1st people there. We hung out for a little bit and grabbed a beer. Zack also got denied admission to the beer garden, because he's underage. Watch out for those 6 week olds, trying to sneak beers.

North Beach festival was lame and had about nothing going on, so we headed to 'Philipious' and Malee's for a little house party (we were early...everyone else was casually late). Unlike Union Street, this was actually a "little" house party and it was nice to know most everyone there. Of course, Zack stole the show (what's new), followed (not so closely) by Rock Band on the PS3. Philipious and Malee definitely had skillz, while I battled Grant for the worst drummer ever. We also saw Austin, the Forbush girls' cousin, who was up from LA with his girlfriend, Katie. Austin was petrified to hold Zack and won the award for holding him the farthest from his body (took that from Nate).

This morning the Drill Sargent was all over us to do stuff around the house. So much for a relaxing Father's Day. We had some laughs too about last night's middle of the night feeding, where I had a bit of a problem waking up and then tuning into reality. I must have been having a nightmare about work (no seriously I was).

Late in the afternoon we headed out to Tiburon for a BBQ at Katie's folks' place. We took the whole family out there...Jeff, Jess, Zack, Megs, Sierra, and Foster. They had the whole set of labs (black, chocolate, and yellow) so our pups fit in fine. Eventually there were 7 dogs there and ours were relatively well behaved. Relatively...Foster immediately ran onto the pool tarp. Sierra chased a ball over the hedges, which was a 4 foot drop into more bushes, then another 4 feet. Maybe that will teach her not to be obsessed with balls, but I doubt it since she immediately found another ball.

Of course Zack was the main attraction. Katie's Mom ate him up. I think Austin and Katie will be getting pressure for a grandbaby immediately...even if they aren't married yet. Her grandfather asked if he could take him home. Luckily we escaped with Zack and got him home just in time to put him down for the night. The dogs are beat too! Anyways, here are some pics (yeah, the views were amazing).

6 weeks old and a smile caught on camera!

2008-06-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

Oh the little milestones...I am just in love with this picture! Zack is such a cutie at 6 weeks...and still eating lots and gaining weight just fine. We went for a weigh in on Tuesday and he was 9 pounds 12 ounces...10 pounds is right around the corner!

I personally had an annoying week...3 days in a row at the Doctor's office...
tues: 6 week check up went fine...weird comment from the doc "well Jessica, you are cleared for sex and exercise"...um ok, thanks doc, thanks, i'll get right on that...
ironically, that night, Zack had his most fussy night ever...cried from 3-4:30 (he has never ever done that!)
wed: different doctor tells me my sinus infection is "really bad and you waited a little too long to come see me" ... sorry doc, i have a 6 week old at home, and I am just not the priority right now..when has anyone ever heard me say that??? Reality check that life really does revolve around little Zack, and I am totally OK with that! Who would've thought?
thurs: 2nd most painful thing to happen to me in the past couple of months...IUD...that's all I have to say. I hear that they are great but let me tell you, insertion, not so fun! Probably TMI for most of you, but oh well, my life is an open book these days!

Our Little Stud Muffin!

2008-06-07T15:08:00.000-07:00

I am totally obsessed with pics I know but check this little guy out! Is he a stud or what!?

More pics from our outing to sushi with Nate last night and some from our mellow morning....

Boys Night In....

2008-06-06T11:03:00.001-07:00

Boys Night In, aka Girls Night Out was a big success and I will definitely want to do it again! Jeff, Meghan, Zack and I all went over to Eric, Nadja, and Sydney's for dinner and then the girls went out to have some wine (OK alot of wine!) and see Sex and the City and the Boys stayed in to babysit Zack and Sydney (Sydney was born April 14th so is about 2 weeks and 4 pounds older than Zack)....The report from the boys was that the babies were great! Our little porker decided he wants to get as big as Sydney and ate 8 ounces of formula while I was gone (that is ALOT of formula considering he usually only has 2-4 oz!). Here are some pics....

Me and Zack and Nadja and Sydney (yes, i know i look sleepy!!!!! oh well!)

Nadja and Sydney

Tummy Time

Zacks first hockey game

2008-06-04T18:35:00.000-07:00

We made it to Jeff's hockey game last night and they won 7-4 yaaaaayyyy!!!! Jeff played really well too so we were so glad to be there to cheer him on!

Here's the fam after the game...Dad was nice and sweaty (and stinky too!)

Jeff...ready for some ice time...
Father and Son
Mommy and Baby

Uh oh...Jeff's in the penalty box...BS call ref!! :-)