Merry Christmas. Some shots I took when Zach woke up Sunday morning, while Dad was still sleeping. I did nothing to make Zach laugh, somethimes he just starts laughing and can't stop, it starts to make everyone in the house laugh. The pictures of Zach in his T-Shirt were taken later in the day. Hope everyone has a WONDERFUL HOLIDAY SEASON. It is so nice to be home and not in the NICU this year. I think often about those families that are spending Christmas in there and I pray you are given the same strength that we found to get through it. And may you all be holding your baby in your arms at home next year. God Bless you all.

Last weekend we went to the Rock Financial Expo center in Novi, Michigan. They had a Christmas show, which when you think about it did not have to much at all to do with Christmas. A few Christmas Trees and Carolers, and a whole bunch of vendors selling stuff. We did buy one of those personalized CD's that is sung by Elmo, which repeats the child's name, did I say repeats your child's name, over and over and over again. Anyway Santa was there and Zack was so amused by his hairy appearance he did not even look at the camera. So the shots we got are just that, Zack checking out the old Dude with a hairy face. Tomorrow we will be going to see the Doc, for a few more shots. I am a little concerned about Zack's weight. As of his one year mark we switched him to Whole Milk. Gone is the formula. He eats well on most occasions, but he is a smaller guy. We will see tomorrow what Dr. Weinberg has to say. Another thing I find curious, Zack is getting his first tooth, an incisor tooth, you know the fang tooth, and only one. In all my experience with children I have never heard of this. So if anyone reading this has, Please clue me in. I don't believe we have "vampire" in our family history. And last but not forgotten.... I would like to say HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO MY SISTER IN LAW NANCY. Your the bestest.

If you were any part of the many many days in which Zach spent in the NICU, you will remember Terry working on a cross stitch. The project and I use this word lightly, began as a Cinderella, as we were told numerous times and have the video to prove it, that Zach was indeed a Tiffany. After the birth of Zach and the discovery that Tiffany was indeed a Zach, we changed the theme from Princess to Winnie the Pooh. Back to my explanation of the cross stitch, Terry finally finished it. It only took one year to do it. Ok, maybe the word "only" does not belong in this sentence. He promised to have it done before Zach turned 1, and this he accomplished. And here it is.

Zach's older brother Nick is determined to have Zach become the "World's Youngest Skateboarder". Zach on the other hand wants no part of it.

Happy 1st Birthday Zach!!!!!! November 21st, 2006

I reviewed some of the pictures we have taken recently and have found some of my favorites. Some are comical, one of them is a picture of Nicole the Big sister at 17 years old and Zach her little brother, one of them is Terry's grandma Vera who is a young 96, and some are just for fun. Pay no attention to the stains, we on occasion let Zach experiment with feeding himself and well, you know.........I hope they make you smile. I know today sucked at work and it was just what I needed.

If you look at the nurse's fingers in the second picture you can get a idea of how small Zach was.

Zach's birthday is coming up. We just found some pictures which are added for a time of REFLECTION. Some of them are blurry.

Zach's 1st Halloween. I can honestly say, I miss when my children, Nick and Nicole were small, and I am loving it all over again. Only difference is this time I have a wonderful supportive Husband. Last night we took Zach out trick or treating, what Fun !!!!!! Not to sound like I am bragging but at every house people thought Zach was sooooo Cute and you can just see his father gloating. Dad took Zach up to most of the houses and I watched, I think this gave me the biggest kick, just watching the two of them. After trick or treating, we went to the Brighton Fire House, every year they have games, pizza and treats for the children. Just like last time I went a few years back they had run out of pizza. So we just came home and ordered a pizza. It was a perfect Halloween. Today we had a meeting with Nick's teachers. They are so impressed with his improvement from the last few years, and we can not be more proud of him. Nick struggles every day with his schooling due to having ADHD. Nick also was a premature baby, however his coarse was not as bumpy as Zach's. He did have a touch and go with a minor operation and stopped breathing then was air flown to University of Michigan and spend a week on the vent, this after being born at 34 weeks. They say ADHD can be a result of being premature, we can deal with this, much worst could of happened and I thank god it didn't.

Some long overdue updates! Here are some new pictures as well. The first one is of Zach and his new activity gym. He likes it sometimes, and other times, he hates it. Just depends on his mood at the moment. (Yes he has a temper). And the other four are with Zach and the process of getting him ready to go outside in the cold. Which we don't like doing now, with it now being RSV season. Zachary has a birthday coming up, he will 1 years old. Wow, where has the time went. I remember when Jill and I brought Zachary home, I was so scared to take care of this little man who had wires hooked up to him and a tube down his nose. Afterall, the NICU took care of him for 3 months, and now it was our turn. Well, I am so happy to be able to stay home with him, because he brightens my day. All he has to do is smile, and he does that a lot. Anyhow, he is almost 11 months old (8 months adjusted), and he can sit up on his own, crawl, stand with support (on one of us, or on his own by holding on to something), and he has also started to shuffle along the couch standing up. It won't be long now until he will be walking. (That's when the fun starts for me). But what baffles me, is he still has no teeth. Hopefully they will come soon. He says da-da, na-na (which I take to be ma-ma), and a few other distinguishing babbles. The doctor's at St. Joseph say he is progressing nicely. We had an 8 month (adjusted) developmental clinic appointment on Saturday October 7th. And the developmental nurse told us he is doing great. She said he is actually ahead developmentally by a little over a month. Jill and I were happy to hear this. The only thing is, he is a little underweight. He should be around 18 pounds, but he only weighs around 16 pounds. So we had to bulk up his formula to 24 calories instead of 22 calories. Normal formula is 20 calories, so you can see, he needs to put some lbs. on. I thought he was heavy as it is, but then again, he does get heavy when I carry him and his carseat around. I thinkhe has gained a little since the clinic, because of the increased calorie intake. We also got him some fast flow nipples which seem to help (he doesn't suck as hard now and get tired out.) We'll see when he goes in for his flu vaccine this Saturday. Next month he gets 4 or 5 shots, he's not going to be a happy camper that day. The following day on Sunday, we went to the NICU annual reunion. It was their 4th annual, but the first for Zachary. We saw some parents and their children that were there when Zach was in the hospital for those 78 days. We also saw a couple of Zach's Neonatologist doctors, including Dr. Ivacko, who was there in the delivery room to help deliver him. And we saw some of the nurses and RT's who helped keep Zach alive during his trying and troubling times in the NICU. Zach seemed to like the bubble machine, once he got used to it, and he crawled around on the floor with a little girl who will remain nameless (actually we don't know her name). All in all it was a good time. And then our journey took us back to the NICU where Zach was for 78 days, not actually the same NICU, they moved since we were there, but it still keeps the same nurses there. We saw some nurses that weren't at the reunion, and they were happy to see Zach. What a busy day, the same day Zach got his new activity gym. What a lucky little man, but he is ours and I wouldn't give him up for anything!!!!!!!!!! And the last piece of information I have for you all, is Zach's baptism. He was baptized, Sunday, September 24, 2006 at St. Patrick's church in Brighton, by Father Karl Pung, in front of the whole congregation. Wow, that was awesome. When the whole congregation clapped and welcomed Zachary to the fellowship, I welled up a little with tears. It was a great feeling. Besides Zach, Jill and myself, Zach's older brother Nick, Zach's Godmother Denene, and her youngest daughter Sara were there. I would say it was an experience I will never forget. I'm just sorry that Zachary will not remember it. Well, I guess that's all for now. As we speek, Zachary is crawling around back and forth and saying da-da, da-da, da-da, so I better put the pen down. Thank-you to everyone who reads our blog about our precious little man Zachary, and thank-you for leaving a comment, Jill and I love to hear your thoughts.