Life and Death

A year ago today, was Good Friday and after three positive pregnancy tests in the morning, it was confirmed Zander was on his way into the world. I had taken off work and we were planning to visit my cousin Ginny over at the beach. On the drive over we were coming up with all kinds of names for this new life and contemplating whether we would tell Ginny when we visited her. As we turned street names into baby names we basked in the exciting and unreal news, we were going to be parents. We called my cousin several times on the drive over and she never answered the phone. So we stopped by to visit my grandparents and dropped in at a few stores and then decided to drive back home. Ginny hadn't been feeling well and she was pretty finicky about people just dropping in on her. So after a dozen or so unanswered calls we decided to go home. After returning to the house late that night we received a call that Ginny was in the hospital and not expected to make it through the night. I collapsed in heartache as I heard the message and we made the decision to drive back over to say our goodbyes. As we prayed at her bedside, Evan told her the news. I don't know if she could comprehend anything being said, but I like to think that she heard. So we started out the morning with the amazing news that we were having a baby and ended the night at the bedside of my cousin who meant a lot to us both. She let us have our wedding at the clubhouse of her condo, helped me plan all the details and pretty much cooked the entire meal. I always appreciated how she took such an interest in Evan and me - and always told me how I picked a great man to marry. She would defend Evan over me most of the time, even though he spent most of his time trying to get her riled up. She taught me everything I know about cooking and entertaining. She was fiesty and caring - funny and dramatic. I'm sad she never had a chance to meet Zander, I know she would have loved him and he would have loved her.

First Shuttle Launch

This post comes without a picture, but last night we went out onto the back patio to watch Zander's first shuttle launch, Discovery. It was a nice twilight launch with a pretty trail in the sky. Z watched with wonder.

Rockin and Rollin

We took Z to his 4 month appt on Friday. He came in at 17.2lbs. He's been extra fun the last few days. He has been lifting his head up really high while he is on his stomach waiting for mom and dad to give him encouragement, smiling ear to ear. And he loves when we cheer him on when he flips from his stomach to his back. He started doing this multiple times on Friday morning. We took him shopping for a few clothes for the first time yesterday at Old Navy, he did a real good job staying calm while his papa just walked him around the store. Things have been extra hectic, so posting has become very hard to make time for, hopefully we'll have more time soon.

Play Time

Things have been really busy over here and I haven't had as much time to post pictures. Evan and Zander play on a regular basis. Evan likes to help him build endurance through tummy time and a new trick where Zander pulls himself up as shown. He smiles and laughs along the way. He is getting funner everyday. He's been sleeping pretty good now, generally 5-6 hour stretches at some point throughout the night. I say that like it's been months, meanwhile it's probably been a whole 5 or 6 days. It's amazing what 5 straight hours will do for you when you've gone without it for so long.