Today's picture is of Zac's birthday dinner this evening at Red Robin (yummmmm...to quote the jingle), which we were able to share with my mom and dad, who drove down from Custer, SD just for Zac's birthday. Woohoo! Red Robin was choice number three, which is perfect considering Zac is exactly that many years old today. The first two choices were closed due to bad weather here in Omaha. Closed! That's just crazy! Where do we live? Are we not hearty people? But I digress.
It was three years and one day ago today that I was shopping for parts for a networking job I was going to do to make some extra money. Three years and one day ago today that, while searching for those parts at an Ace Hardware store, Katy called to tell me the doctors had decided to deliver Zac the next day, February 1st, 2008, by emergency C-section due to Katy's preecclampsia. So Katy calls to share this news with me, which should not have been unexpected since she'd been in the hospital several days already, but I was in the middle of asking a clerk at the store where to find something. Distracted, I suppose, by that effort and by the situation we were in that week, my response to learning I was going to be a dad again was, "OK. Thanks for letting me know!"
Yes, that is what I said when finding out the delivery date of my son. Now that we've put that on the table, let me tell you a little bit about my son. Zac has a joy I constantly crave. I love it when he sits in my lap and cuddles while watching TV on Saturday morning or in the evenings perhaps before bed. I love playing cars with him on the living room floor and watching him be "all boy" as he rams things into one another. I love playing with his stuffed animals in his room while he lays on his bed, acting surprised every time I have the dinosaur come up over the edge and roar at him. I love that when I look at him, all I want to do is hold him, and hug him, and kiss him and tell him that I love him. I love the beautiful innocence in his eyes and the way he uses excellent manners when people say something nice, or provide him something to eat or drink, or do something for him. I love how he turns almost anything into a song, and how he can't go to sleep at night without asking Katy and me to sing to him, but especially Katy. I love how he wants to pray before he eats and how he calls macaroni and cheese, "mac cheese".
Zac is our miracle. The chances of Katy even getting pregnant were slim and we knew it, but chose to try anyway, realizing adoption might be our only chance eventually. Then, as Katy's health deteriorated, we had great doctors who knew what to do so Zac would best be prepared to enter this world early. Nine weeks is certainly early enough, and having to spend over five weeks in the NICU was hard, but his care was so great, the prayers he received so strong, and God's love so immense that he came through it all with flying colors. He's fully caught up to other kids his age in size and is showing the great intelligence we expect of him. My miracle son, Zac, is my favorite little boy in the whole world. I love him more than life, enough to know I'd give up my life for him if it was ever required. I love him unconditionally, just as God loves me and loves him. Thank you, Jesus, for this amazing gift, this amazing bundle of joy and energy and funny jokes and songs!
Well, we are finally getting our first big snow of the season, enough so that Interstate travel is not recommended and we couldn't make it to Lincoln today for work. Zac's daycare had already closed anyway, so here we are, watching a beautiful snowfall, though I have to say I literally hate snow and winter. I don't mind watching it fall, just so long as it doesn't accumulate. :)
Thanks to my snow blower deciding NOT to work again this year, I had to shovel our long driveway. As I finished that, Katy brought Zac out to enjoy the snow. Now, last year we brought him out and he was not crazy about it at all. But this year, he's already had some opportunity at daycare to play in the little bit we've had, and he was definitely into it this morning. He went right in, even helping me shovel for a bit! I've posted the pics in the album to the right, and also on Facebook, but here is a video to enjoy. A higher-quality version exists on the YouTube account. Just click the link to the right or go to YouTube and look for my channel, jewfrat1. :)
Zac is trying to wear the vest Gary & Nell got Claire for Christmas here and we were able to get a shot before he ran out of it. I think it's just a touch too big for him!
We have had an enjoyable couple of days with Claire up here from KC. She was supposed to be up on the 26th, but snowstorm after snowstorm really did a number on travel plans for many people and delayed my trip down to pick her up as well, so we came on the 29th.
It has been a bit of a sparse Christmas compared to what we're used to, but I have to say it's been nice to be forced to focus on the things much more important than how many gifts I can buy my children and my lovely wife. When you love someone, I think it's alright to want to shower them with gifts, just as God has done for us, although I'm speaking more monetarily. It's also great, though, to take a step back and realize the gifts of family and love and life are even more exciting than all the things I wanted to buy. Hey, I can provide these gifts year round and, when funds allow, I can still buy the other things for those I love. It doesn't all have to be at Christmas or about Christmas just because it's the season set aside for those things. :)
Zac's Aunt Mickie & Nana took him and his cousins to get their pictures taken last week. This is the one we received a copy of. It sat nicely on the dining room table, underneath another piece of paper...right up until the cats decided they had to play with it. This is not the first time something like this has happened. It's almost like the smell of the picture, somehow, is attractive to them. At any rate, I pulled the picture in and edited it, touching up the areas they bent, which just happened to be over Zac's hair and the right side of his face. Hopefully I did well enough to make it somewhat hard to notice.
So it's October 21st, and so far no more snow of any consequence since the last post. Just a few flakes here and there, and those are mostly inside our house. :) Zac will be dressing up for Halloween as a cowboy and get to experience the fun of getting candy for the first time. Last year he was that cute tiger, which I posted on here. Gotta say, this is one cute kid.
Well it's October 10th here in Omaha and we're receiving our first snow of the year. Ummm......WHAT?????? I know, I know. Some of you are thinking, "We've been having snow for a few weeks now; what's the big deal?" Yeah, I don't care. This is Omaha, and while we occasionally receive some flurries in October and, about every 10 years or so we get a blizzard in October...wait...it's been 12 years since the last big October snowfall. OK, but that was around Halloween. We just BEGAN October! Not cool.
Know who else thinks it's not cool? Zac, apparently. We took the opportunity to let him walk around in the snow a bit. His excitement may have been tempered by a desire to go back to bed, or that I wouldn't let him hold his pig initially, but either way, he was not a fan. But, just to prove to him years down the road that he at one time did not like snow, here are a few pics for us to enjoy the morning by, as well as his Ed Grimley/Alfalfa pic from this past week. :)
Have a few pics to share today. Yesterday, we took my Mom and Dad down to Hot Springs to visit the Mammoth Site. It was pretty interesting, though Zac did not share any enthusiasm for it whatsoever. However, we still enjoyed it and it was a beautiful day. It was 70 degrees down in Hot Springs while only 57 up in Custer (about 35 minutes away). Google Map it if you are uncertain of the geography, but the altitudes are a bit different.
At any rate, today, the day before we are set to leave, it was a bit chillier, mostly in the 40s and edging up into the 50s a bit until this evening, when it decided to begin snowing again. Yes, more snow. On April 30th. I know, I know. We've seen this before, just last year at this time, right? But still, it does throw you when it happens because we don't live in an area where this is a fairly common occurrence.
So tonight we took a drive, going up part of Needles Highway and then back down into Custer State Park and finally back to our motel. We took a few pics along the way and wanted to share them with everyone. Headed back to Omaha in the morning and then it's time to unpack! So excited...
We have successfully made it to Custer to return Dan and Stacy and are now enjoying a few days of rest before worrying about heading back down to Omaha. As you can see by the first picture I've attached today, we had a bit of a repeat of last May's trip to Custer. Yes, that means snow. Our trip up on Saturday was uneventful until just before Hot Springs when we hit rain. By the time we were north of Hot Springs, and going through Wind Cave National Park, the snow was strong enough to where we could see maybe 500 feet in front of us. We had several lines of buffalo cross in front of us, forcing a wait three times.
We also didn't get to enjoy church Sunday morning as Dan had to cancel due to the heavy snow. This next picture gives you a pretty good indication of just how much we received. This was outside our motel room. We're staying at The Bavarian Inn this week.
Hopefully, by the end of the week, Zac will have caught up on sleep enough to not be tired all the time and falling asleep on Katy, as he did yesterday.
