I’m not sure if Keith has ever changed a diaper, but 4th of July weekend was as good a time as any to give it a shot. We set him up though……..we didn’t tell him it was a #2 diaper……….here he is innocently changing a diaper…….
………here he is starting to figure it out………
……………and here’s the money shot…………….he figured it out and Corey and Danielle were hiding and watching too – Keith grabbed me and threw me into Zach so he wouldn’t have to change him……….Keith………..you crack me up…………
There are no pictures in this post. That’s out of the norm for me. However, Mark and I decided this weekend that we are McAmish (McDermott and Amish). We helped Don and Amy work on their new house on Saturday (so did Corey, Danielle and Zach). We think that’s how life should be – just like the Amish – people helping people with no thought of getting anything in return. Sure, the Amish get paid for whatever they do by way of jobs – some work in factories, or handcraft furniture, or sell their produce……….but…………..as a community, they help each other.
Why can’t everybody just help everybody and not expect something in return, like when the Amish help each other with a barn raising, for instance. Wouldn’t this world rock more than it already does?
Just thinking…………
Zach spent his first night at our house on our 27th anniversary. He doesn’t look happy in this pic but that was just one moment in time. Check out his sleeper. That’s the sleeper Corey wore home from the hospital when he was born almost twenty-five years ago. Danielle sent two sleepers and I asked Mark which one we should put on him after his bath and Mark said “Corey’s”, so Corey’s sleeper it was.
We had a great night other than he likes to be held instead of sleeping in his bed. That’s fine – I told Danielle we need to stop saying he’s spoiled (even though he totally is) and from now on we say he’s just very loved. Nothing wrong with that.
He had mirror time in the bathroom with Grandpa Mark………..
He had a bath in the big boy bathtub…………
He had cuddle time with Grandma Teri…………
Great Grandma Carol came over in the morning to visit and brought him a teddy bear as big as he is………….
Great Grandma Carol had the teddy bear watch over Zach as he slept – sweetness………..
Here are pics of just a few of my favorite people in the world, showing Zach some baby love………
Uncle Keith……….
Julie………….
Uncle Justin……………………
Great Grandma Carol………….
Cousin Amy…………..
Great Grandpa Albert………..
Twenty-six years ago, my grandfather built my first-born, Keith, a cradle. It was the most beautiful piece of woodwork I had ever seen. I loved watching my baby sleep in that cradle. I kept it in the living room window so during the day, I could watch him sleep…………
I did the same for my second-born, Corey……………
Now it is Zach’s turn. Danielle and I cleaned up the cradle and made all new bedclothes and bumper pads for it. We spent a day sewing those things and making burp cloths and receiving blankets. That little outfit in the cradle says “I make mud look good”. Here is the updated cradle the day we made the new bedding……..
As a point of reference, and just as a sweet look back, here is Keith and Mark when Keith was born, weighing 8 lbs. 13 oz………………
That was a big baby, I thought, until I had Corey, who weighed 10 lbs. 9 oz. Zach weighed 5 lbs. 11 oz. when he was born (almost half of Corey’s birth weight) and as of his doctor visit today, he weighs exactly ten pounds today. He measured in at 21 inches today. Keith and Corey were both 21 inches when they were born. Keith was ten days early. Corey was six weeks late. Zach was six weeks early. Zach will be nine weeks old tomorrow and still doesn’t weigh what Corey weighed when he was born. Here’ a pic of Corey and me when Corey was born……..
The pain told me he was big when I had him (natural child birth – ouch), but dang he looks bigger than it seemed at the time.
We all watched Zach fight for his sweet little life. Zach was in three hospitals in a very short period of time, the last of which being Riley Hospital in Indianapolis, where he was airlifted about twelve hours after he was born.
There was nothing fun or funny in the first week or two. At some point, we found a ray of light and below are some pictures of happy moments from then up until now, in no particular order.
This is Corey peeking over the wall while Zach was in the NICU at Riley……….
This is Keith and Justin doing push-ups in the waiting room at Riley……….
This is the most handsome little baby boy, Zach, at home………………
Zach having tummy time on his star blanket………I’m not sure what his daddy stood on to take this pic (CORRECTION: Danielle says that’s just how tall my son is – he wasn’t standing on anything – he IS a tall drink of water), but I dig it………….
Zach wearing glasses, at home………………
Danielle wanted to hold Zach but Corey didn’t want to share…………..
………….so he allowed her to kiss him………..how freaking sweet………….
Zach at Riley…………put me back…………it’s too bright in here…….
Corey and Danielle, aka Lady and the Tramp, when Danielle’s Mom took them out to dinner for Danielle’s birthday while Zach was at Riley………
Mark and Corey goofing with statues at Riley………………..
Mark enjoying some private time with Ronald McDonald at the McDonald’s restaurant in Riley Hospital…………
LIFE IS GRAND!!!! I love my family!!!!
Danielle made Keith a gay pride cake for his birthday. How freaking sweet is she? Check out how much time and effort she put into this cake.
And……………here’s Molly……………representin’………..under the gay pride flag in Keith’s office.
This picture is Corey and Danielle on Easter, opening Corey’s baby box. I saved some of his shoes, his books, a file folders full of things from preschool and school, a calendar from the year he was born, the first outfit he wore (he wore it home from the hospital), his favorite pajamas and bathrobe when he was a boy, some of the little crafty things he made – just lots of the special things from when he was little.
Here is Zach wearing the outfit that Corey wore home from the hospital nearly twenty-five years ago. So sweet.
This is a sticker that my son (and many many many more Americans) put on their census envelope.
I dig the message – I don’t dig that it has to be this way.
