Zachary Turns 1

Hi all thought I'd send an update now that Zachary is 1 yr old.

We had his birthday on November 1st at 12pm. Grandma Nancy and Cheryl were there, Amanda, Chris and Cohen and Jaime, Melanie with their son Oliver were also there. We decided to go with pizza for ease of food etc. We made some sherbert punch and had an HEB chocolate cake yuuuum. Zach didn't really seem to know why everyone was fussing over him but he seemed to enjoy the gifts and cake. Did I say cake.. yes he ate an entire piece of cake and enjoyed slamming his hand into it and shoving the food in his mouth lol. I have some photos to upload but need to install the updated versions of photoshop etc since I have Windows 7 now have to reinstall everything.

Zach really loves all his new toys and I've taken to rotating them out since there's so many now this will keep him from getting too bored. We had our 1 yr checkup with the doctor and the doctor was clearly impressed with Zach. So much so we don't need to go back for another checkup until February woot! He did get labs taken and 4 shots when he was at the doctors Friday. Thankfully, he really didn't seem to have any issues with the MMR I was really worried as I remember Alexis having problems with it. They did confirm for me that the MMR (from their office at least) does not contain Thermerisol woot. I tell you that stuff is bad any shot anyone in my family has gotten with Thermerisol in it has made them violently ill. Zach did fine on Friday after the 4 shots + lab blood taken. Usually, he'd be pretty ill like after his first flu shot last month. Thankfully, he was fine I was surprised. I declined to get the chicken pox vaccine and the 2nd round of flu shot. The flu shot was because 1 he was so sick from the first dose and 2 they didn't have any of the thermerisol free version left. The chicken pox vaccine I staunchly don't believe in. I believe in kids getting the disease and getting the anti-viral to clear it up fast. At least you know the immunity lasts longer when they have the disease and don't have to get the backup vaccine several times throughout their life with a possiblity of contracting chicken pox as an adult which is deadly. ... Forget that imo.

We got to go to Zach's friend's birthday party today and he really enjoyed all the food and attention :). There was no lack of either at Oliver's party. He passed out near the end and we had to go since he wasn't waking back up lol.

As of this week he started getting up into a sitting position from crawling, started to climb up on things to try to maybe stand (looks that way), he finally takes steps when you hold his hands and tried to walk across the room and clearly trying to use his hands more to communicate. We've been working with him on baby sign language and I think he's finally starting to get the idea of it. He's also starting to do hi/bye with his hands although crude atm I'll take it. So in the span of a week he's really started to do a lot of amazing things that just 1-2 weeks ago we never saw him even try or attempt to do.

This week he'll start work with the developmental specialist and PT. We've been working with an OT for about 7 months so the other 2 specialist should help him even more. We may not need PT forever but I figure due to some of his stiffness we should have the PT look at him just in case. It's included in the Early Childhood Intervention costs (most of which insurance pays) so I figure why not.. get my money's worth :). If anything the PT may have more ideas besides just massage etc to help loosen him up on especially his right side.

Anyhew we're really happy with Zach's progress the doctor said he's up to 17 lbs 3 ounces. He's been eating up a storm sometimes devouring more food than his 12 almost 13 yr old sister. Hard to believe but he out eats her no joke. He's thinned up a lot so he must have one hell of a metabolism and be growing like mad. I'd kill for that kind of metabolism :P His height is finally well into the full-term growth chart, his head and weight are touching but still right at 1% ish or so. I'm just glad he's on the chart many preemies especially those at his early birth don't even start touching the full-term chart till they're 2+ yrs. I thought for sure his head would be farther up there becuase his head is getting huge hehe. Nice thing is though you look at his growth curve and he's got a perfectly stable curve no spikes/dips etc it's a perfect curve. So even if he stays down at the bottom they say it's not really good to have large spikes off his growth curve as that can be a sign of issues. So I'll take slow and steady :).

Hope you all have a great November and I'll try to get some more updates as the month goes on or any interesting developments come about.

Sarah