We have a bit of a debate going on in the house right now. We have seen evidence of possible chicken pox on Zac, but it's not really spreading or turning into more if indeed that is what it is. The other possibility is that he has little hives from the clothing he's worn the past 3 days, which were given to us by his babysitter and which I hadn't washed on my own. However, this seems to be an unlikely source if only because he's worn other clothes she'd given him before I washed them and had no issues at all.
Again, though, no real spreading of anything or other signs, though he has had a fever off and on for a few days. Other than this, he is in great spirits, as you can see from this picture I took yesterday. I also just uploaded a new video on the YouTube site, so that should show shortly, or you can click on the link to the right lower down that says "Family Videos on YouTube" and see all the videos uploaded there. Enjoy the weekend everyone!
We don't take pictures of the most distressing times for our children. That would only add insult to injury, and since Zac had a distressing afternoon anyway, let's post a fun hair picture. I think this particular one reminds me of the professor in the Back To The Future movies. Or, same guy, whatever character it was he played in the TV series, Taxi. Anyway, Zac's hair has been a constant source of fun and a few days ago when I took this it was no different.
So, the needle, you ask. Well, you may recall an earlier post where I lamented the fact he couldn't get his one-year-old shots even a day early from the pediatrician here. Since we don't currently have insurance for Zac or me, this left only the option of taking him to the city health clinic for his needed shots. Now, getting one shot is bad enough, but when you get four, and the needles seem to be longer than the depth of your leg, it can be a rough time.
Poor little man was already super tired as he'd been up since a little after 10 this morning and we'd waited an hour to get in for the shots around 2:15. So, innocently sitting in my lap and fairly calm, he was startled by the immediate pain of the first shot in his right leg, then one in his left, then another in his right, then another in his left. This might be only the first or second time he's had that cry kids get where it starts, then all you hear is silence while you await the big payoff. Fortunately, the very nice nurse handed him a candy cane to look at and that seemed new and exciting and served to distract him from his pain.
So, a rough afternoon for my little dude, but I'm sure he'll forget all about it by the time he wakes up from his nap. :) Claire told me this afternoon she's so happy she gets shots in her arm now because she remembers how much they hurt in her leg before. I have to admit I'm a big pansy when it comes to needles anyway, so I never look and don't have any desire to. Good thing others don't mind so they can help keep us healthy!
This past Saturday, February 7th, marked the first time Zac pulled himself up to a standing position in his crib. Did we capture this event in picture? Of course not! Did we capture it the next time or the next day? Of course not! That would've made too much sense.
So instead, today I give you a picture of Zac taken this week when he trapped himself underneath a chair in the dining room. Look for some new videos to post on the right side sometime today as well once I get them converted to a smaller size and upload them to YouTube.
Zac is pulling himself to a standing position on everything now, and working at taking steps side to side to move along. He'll go back and forth between objects, but making an actual move hasn't yet happened, though he does keep lifting a leg up as though he intends to take a step. And now that he's conquered getting back to the floor, we figure it won't be but another few days before he's moving along and then we can attack balance and taking his first steps.
This week we have to get his first year shots as well. Since the pediatrician here refused to see him before his first birthday (while he still had insurance through me), I'll run him off to a clinic run by the county this week for those necessary shots. Hopefully it won't be too traumatic for him. Nobody likes getting shots. :)
So Zac turned one year old today. We're very excited that our little "miracle baby" has made it through his first year! He had a very fun birthday party yesterday afternoon, as Katy's parents, a couple from our Bible study group, one of Katy's co-workers and two of Zac's babysitters were able to make it. With several small children in the mix, Zac had a blast watching and playing with them, and enjoyed his cupcake and ice cream very much!
I've uploaded all the pics to the slideshow on the right, and uploaded two videos to YouTube, but if you'd rather gain direct access, click here and you'll have access to my Public folder on SkyDrive. There you will see the two zipped folders that have the pics and videos. Enjoy!
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.
We have a bit of a debate going on in the house right now. We have seen evidence of possible chicken pox on Zac, but it's not really spreading or turning into more if indeed that is what it is. The other possibility is that he has little hives from the clothing he's worn the past 3 days, which were given to us by his babysitter and which I hadn't washed on my own. However, this seems to be an unlikely source if only because he's worn other clothes she'd given him before I washed them and had no issues at all.
