As we quickly approach Zac's 1st birthday, it's time to start thinking about "life after formula" and see what we can do to minimize our specialized baby food purchases moving forward. Toward that end, and because we're low on formula and don't have enough to get him through until Sunday, tonight we made the decision to start working toward this new goal.
Katy decided to let him try a scrambled egg and we bought some whole milk for him to begin drinking. So that was the first portion of his dinner tonight and the pictures I've included here are the result of this experiment. I'd say it worked out well, wouldn't you? :) He also seems very proud of the food...enough to show everyone.
Yesterday we submitted a picture to channel 6 in Omaha, WOWT, for airing on their "First Birthdays" segment. We've got people set to record it whichever day the segment airs, or we can pay some company $40 for the video. Ummm, with me not working at the moment, we'll hope for the family recordings. :) The station asks you to describe your child's favorite things. We told them to say that Zac "loves to laugh, chase the cats and see just how many cowlicks he can get to show at once", or something along those lines. It's funny to me how which cowlick or cowlicks choose to show on any one day change and there is no rhyme or reason.
On a completely different note, for some time now Katy and I have wondered, often aloud, as to the relative lack of "cat-like" qualities are cats seem afflicted with. I've had cats ever since I was young, and I don't know if there is a difference between male and female cats or not, but all my previous cats were males. These two, The Ocho and Millie, are both females. So, possibly, there is some scientific evidence that might back up the following observations.
For one, let's start with The Ocho, or "Ocho" as we call her for short. Seemingly brilliant at the start, able to catch a mini football in her paws at good speeds and at good distance, we thought we'd found a genius cat. Aside from her initial issues at jumping face first into the arm of the couch when trying to cover the distance between that and the chair, she's shown no penchant for stupidity overall. But she has her peculiarities. For one, I know all cats prefer running water, but the whining and complaining I hear when I don't leave some water running for her is really something. She has a completely full water bowl right next to the sink of the mini bar where their food is kept, and she'll still complain if I don't turn on the faucet. She has also never quite overcome her clumsy ways. About 6 weeks ago, Katy and I were awakened in the middle of the night by the cats chasing each other. I looked up long enough to see Ocho trying to traverse the railing of our loft, drop off and then hear her crash into something in the living room. I mean, it's only about 16 feet down, but still, cats are supposed to be nimble, aren't they?
What about Millie? Well, poor Millie. Seemingly lacking even the miniscule amount of intelligence Ocho has, Millie moves through the days seemingly content to meow at absolutely nothing, chase Ocho around, run into things occasionally and, when called, ignore us completely. While Ocho definitely knows her name, Millie either has absolutely no concept of the idea or is just really good at not listening. Equally as clumsy as Ocho, maybe more so, Millie has also fallen off the loft railing at least once that we know of, crashing into the sewing machine below the spot she fell. This is the same cat who jumped off a shelf about 8 feet up in our basement in Omaha only to end up with what can only be described as a club foot, which cost us a pretty penny at the vet's office to get her fixed up.
Millie also has a real issue with what I call "spatial awareness". Now, every cat I've ever had liked to walk along with you or sometimes sit right behind you and be seemingly under foot. However, not a one of them would walk directly in front of you completely oblivious to the fact you were there. Millie has an uncanny ability to find a way to be 100% in the way at all times. I've stepped on both the cats, but Millie much more often. The other day, she decided that as I was headed upstairs, she had to race me up there. She was two steps past me when she slammed, head first, into one of the steps, shook her head, wobbled a bit, then raced on up. Sheesh.
Thought I'd get something new up here for everyone. I took this last week but never got around to pulling it off my phone so I could put it up here. I apologize for the quality. The cell phone is great for getting video without a time limit and that takes up very little space, but the quality isn't as good as Katy's digital camera can do. This is a good representation of Zac every day. Laughs a lot and gets a kick out of most anything.
When Katy and I moved down here, we committed ourselves to spending at least one weekend in Copperas Cove, which is a little west of I-35, an hour or so north of Austin. Needing something positive, we chose to go this past weekend. While there, we had opportunity to visit the parents of Zac's babysitter along with some family friends Katy has known since she was very young. The two house pictures here are the ones we could find of the three she lived in while they were in Copperas Cove over two separate stays. Just for good measure, I tossed in a pic of Zac this morning trying to watch TV.
The weekend trip was good for us, as we had a chance to get away, focus our energies on positive things and it's possible we even made some good job contacts for me. But regardless, it was fun and relaxing. Aside from my very unfortunate episode Friday night in which my supper from Burger King decided it needed to come back up for a visit, we had a good visit.
Please continue to pray with us that we won't be distracted by our own desires as God moves us once again. While we are confident we are moving out of this particular area, we don't yet know for certain where we are going. Is it back to Nebraska? Is it to central or eastern Texas? We're fairly confident it's one of those options and just need to be sure we are open to His bidding.
Hey everyone. Well, as if the 11-month job search last year wasn't enough fun, we get to do it all over again. My company let me go yesterday in what could best be described as a short-term cost-cutting measure. What's crazy about it is that about 4 months from now the site expects to have enough agents to again justify my position. But, that's what you get sometimes in the corporate world and that's just how life goes! :)
Please pray with us that God will direct us and guide us quickly to the next step. We can't afford to go through another spell without income so it's critical that I find something right away. I have quite a few irons in the fire, but again am doing a long-distance job search, so that always makes things a bit more difficult. We have no doubts, however, that God is good and is taking care of us. We just can't see His plan yet. :)
We've learned a couple of things about Zac as he's been crawling and climbing around so much lately. One, he shares his Dad's love of electronics. For some reason, and I have to believe it's just instinct, whenever he has the opportunity Zac will head straight for the electronic components. I may have mentioned that before. But another thing we've noticed is how flexible he is. A few times he's come back down from a standing position only to end up in the splits, or some other position far beyond anything Katy or I can do.
Right now, we're waiting for him to figure out he can pull himself up on just about anything rather than just shorter boxes and to begin walking alongside things like his cousins do. We enjoy each step forward he makes in anything and in the fact he loves to laugh so much and has so much fun in everything he does. From here at the house to when he's with his sitter to all the people at church, he just smiles and laughs and has a great time.
Today is the 11th, and in just 3 weeks, Zac turns 1 on, yes, Super Bowl Sunday. Last year, with Katy still recovering and Zac of course in the NICU, we watched part of the game in Katy's room and the second half entirely in Zac's room on a tiny LCD TV they have in the NICU rooms. It was still fun! Our question as his birthday looms is, "how much of his first birthday cupcake and ice cream will he actually eat and what will we be left to clean up when he's done?" And no, I didn't mean off the floor. :)
Ah, what a cute picture, right? Zac standing up (I put him in that position, but he can do it on his own now), all happy, having just watched Ocho over near the window...right before he fell onto a toy you don't see in the foreground of this picture, but which is now out on the slideshow. Oh well, happiness comes and goes quickly with young children. :)
Happy New Year everyone! To celebrate, I just uploaded 85 new pictures to the slide show on the right. Many are of Zac, with a few others tossed in. This covers our time up in Omaha and Zac's first Christmas, along with his big sister Claire, and also some time in the snow. :) That picture of us in the snow is just an example of how tough Nebraskans really are. And that thing Zac is sitting on? We call that a Frisbee in Nebraska. Not sure what everyone else calls it...a saucer sled, maybe?
We have one here of Zac and big sister enjoying some time in the basement at Gary and Nell's house. :)
Also, I've got one here of Zac and his cousins...this was as close as we could get to all 3 looking anywhere near cameras at the same time.
And then last, Zac started pulling himself up on things today for the first time. He's 11 months old today, so that seems a good milestone for him to hit. I am told that on Tuesday at his sitter's house, he climbed the stair between their entry and the living room and was up and down all day. That, too, is a new development. Take care all!
As we quickly approach Zac's 1st birthday, it's time to start thinking about "life after formula" and see what we can do to minimize our specialized baby food purchases moving forward. Toward that end, and because we're low on formula and don't have enough to get him through until Sunday, tonight we made the decision to start working toward this new goal.
Katy decided to let him try a scrambled egg and we bought some whole milk for him to begin drinking. So that was the first portion of his dinner tonight and the pictures I've included here are the result of this experiment. I'd say it worked out well, wouldn't you? :) He also seems very proud of the food...enough to show everyone.
