Birthday Celebrations

Wow, it's hard to believe we have a 1 year old! Zach turned 1 on the 1st of July.

Since Zach didn't really know it was his birthday we kept things pretty simple. The night before we drove from Provo to stay the night at Derrick's parents' house. After spending some time with Grandpa Bowen and eating a huge breakfast we drove the rest of the way to my parents house. My mom's mom came with us from Utah.

After naptime and dinner we let Zach go swimming in his little pool.


Next we had him open presents. After opening the first one (a toy cell phone that lights up and makes noise) he wasn't interested in opening any more. He did have fun playing with his other toys later though the jack-in-the-box makes him cry.


Because of Zach's food allergies (no wheat, dairy, eggs, or peanuts) I had to get creative with his birthday cake and make him a Rice Krispy treat one. He had a hard time eating it since he couldn't really "dig in" but he did manage to get pretty messy.

Less than a month!

So it kinda blows my mind that Zach is now 11 months old. He'll be a year old in less than a month! Yikes!

One failed attempt at baby proofing. Zach likes to pull the mossy stuff up and try to eat it. He managed to get past these pillows without knocking any over. He looks pretty pleased.

Some other pictures just for fun:

Zach's first time riding in a baby swing. He liked it for a few seconds but it mostly scared him.

Already getting into the scriptures...

He's Walking!

Since we've moved to CO, Zach's been walking up a storm. He walks and crawls about evenly now. His favorite is holding onto something with one hand and walking around it. I got this video of him about a week ago.

First Steps!

So I was "skype-ing" with my parents this afternoon and to my surprise Zach randomly took a few steps! He was so fascinated by the video and tried to get closer. He moved just one foot a couple of times and then he managed to move one then the other before losing his balance. He hasn't made any other attempts to walk today but I can't believe how close he is!

Straws Are Exciting Things

Derrick and I got Jamba Juice today and while we were drinking it thought it'd be fun to see if Zach could figure out how to use a straw. This was his first time with a straw and he was pretty funny about the cold smoothie inside.

We Have an 8 Month Old!

It's crazy to think that Zach is 8 months months old now. He's only 1 month away from being out of me as long as he was in. 8 months old is such a fun age. Derrick and I love just watching and playing with Zach. Here are some of the updates and lots of pictures:

Derrick cut Zach's hair for the first time on 2/28. The hair by his ears was curling over them. (We figured the curls were part of the reason he'd been mistaken for a girl not long ago.) Zach's so wiggly that we had to get creative in order to keep him still. Once he started getting a little tired we put him in his booster seat and put it in front of the TV. We turned on Baby Signing Time which fascinates him every time. This plan worked great!


Started learning how to drink out of a sippy cup and small amounts of water from a regular cup. Obviously he's still in the learning process.


He's getting into everything - pulling things off the shelves and pans out of the cupboard - so we've had to do more baby proofing. He's starting to try to pull himself up on things so we'll soon have to find a new place for our DVD tower.


One of Zach's favorite games is to lift up the rugs and look under them. He'll pick up a corner, drop it, and repeat.


He crawls after us everywhere we go and tries to climb up us once he catches us. He loves attention and is always checking to see if we're watching him.


Zach has such a happy personality. He's laughing more all the time. Not too long ago he watched and laughed at me the entire time I was brushing my teeth.

It's fun to watch him as he explores everything in our apartment. He's so curious! The only problem is that he still hasn't learned cause and effect. He's constantly crawling headfirst into the chair legs and the futon. He gets upset but after we calm him down he heads straight for them again. We have pillows lining a lot of the gaps.


Zach's babbling sounds are increasing. The "ma" and "ba" sounds are his favorite.


We recently got a new vacuum which scared Zach. He was okay as long as he was in his walker. He did get back at the vacuum later by having a wrestling match with the hose.

Whenever we lay Zach on his back he flips over as fast as he can. This makes changing his diaper a battle every time. We have the changing pad on the floor and have to strap him down and distract him with toys. Even still, if we're not fast enough he manages to flip over and try to escape.

12 Weeks and rolling

Zach has been so much fun to watch and play with lately. His face is very expressive, he makes all kinds of noises, and he is starting to get a bit more mobile. Zach can now roll from his stomach to his back! (Baby steps right?) This video takes place yesterday, a couple minutes after he rolled for the first time. (Sorry about the VERY high pitched voice in the background :) )

Zach also kicks a lot while on his stomach and make some forward progress until his arm gets caught underneath him. We'll see how long it takes for him to figure out arm and leg coordination.

On another note, we moved Zach from the bassinet in our room to the crib in his room last Friday. We're still trying to convince him that he likes the crib.