Hi – Hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving! We had a very busy and fun one, with lots of guests over at our place. On Wednesday night, my parents flew in from the east coast. The next day, my aunt and cousins came over for Thanksgiving dinner.

The day after, we had a crab feast dinner. My husband’s best friend and his extended family came over. They have a baby who’s 1.5 months younger than Zachary. He’s a really good baby – he rarely cries, naps and eats well, and plays by himself. Zach on the other hand…

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Zachary likes to eat sweet potatoes! He did not like the pomelo helmet, even after we heated it up in the microwave. I think it threw him off balance.

Saturday, my in-laws came over for lunch. When they left, we went shopping … I got a very comfortable pair of Clarks at Nordstorm Rack. They are totally mom-shoes … solid and not at all sexy!

On Sunday, my dad’s friend and her extended family came over for a casual lunch. Afterwards, we went to the symphony to hear her son played the piano. For dinner, we all went to a seafood restaurant in Sacramento. My sister lost $3 on a bet … but got to see our guest of honor eat the innards of a pigeon’s head.

Xiao Ding Dong (aka Zachary) scored a lot of loot – so many clothes, 2 stuffed animals, a stacking toy, and an instrument set. In terms of milestones, he’s learned to throw and pull himself up to a standing position. (So yes, he’ll pull himself up on a bookshelf or changing table and throw everything off!) And today, after my parents left, he walked while holding on to a coffee table.  He is growing up way too fast!

Goodbye, mom and dad – see you next year! (I’ll end this entry with some family pictures taken at the mall on Friday)

Zachary is getting super excited – his Grandparents are coming for Thanksgiving! All the way from the east coast. This week, Zachary stayed with a non-relative babysitter for the first time. A mom from my group took care of him while my husband and I attended a semi-formal Intel celebration dinner.

This last picture is what I love most about babies – when they are happy or excited … they totally let you know.

Mom & Dad: Have a safe trip and see you soon!

We had a nice relaxing week. We went to the park a few times, and of course we never miss the mom’s group luncheon.

I went to a second mom’s group this week – a more casual one with some friends I used to work with (now two of us are on maternity leave and one has quit permenantly!) Zachary just loved that car his friend’s older brother had.

I also went to a baby massage class – it was a class taught by someone trying to get certified, so it was free. The teacher is the sister-in-law of a mom in my group. Zachary cried and screamed the entire massage. He hated it – he would much rather play. As a side note, they need a class to teach babies/children to massage their mothers.

I know I just posted, but this has been bothering me for a long time. There was one very common comment made when Zachary was a newborn. That comment was “He looks JUST like you.” And I know most moms would take it as a compliment because they think their newborn is the cutest baby in the world. But I was under no such delusion – I will admit that I did not think Zachary was that cute when he was born. Anyway, in the past month or so, I’ve been getting two other comments from multiple people. One is “He is getting so much cuter.” The other is “He is starting to look like his dad.” Take those three sentences and what does it mean?

WEEK 2 – “Looks JUST like Mom”  vs. MONTH 7 – “Cuter” and “Starting to look like Dad”

AAAARRGGG! People are so cruel.  (I am only kidding. I find it funny – I’m not really offended.)

Zachary turned 7 months on November 6th. This week was pretty uneventful, which is why I have not been posting. I thought Zachary was sick, so we stayed at home most of the week. Plus, it has been raining. As it turns out, I don’t think he was sick. Some moms in my group say it is common for babies to cough when they are teething because they have not mastered how to swallow all that drool yet.

This past weekend, James’ friend came to visit with his son, Tristen. Zachary was playing with a toy car, when James said,”Whoa. Let me see that – is that a Transformer?” He pried it out of Zachary’s hand and replaced it with … a Thomas train that Tristen brought. I’m thinking that was a mistake. I’ve gone to people’s homes where they have literally hundreds of dollars worth of Thomas trains and tracks sprawled all over the floor. Where do you think it all starts? Yep, with one single Thomas train ….

Tristen accidently left his Thomas at out house. The collection has begun…

(As a side note, I must add that Zachary is already genetically predisposed to like trains. His grandparents – dad’s side – are very much into trains. Ugh…I am going back to work in January to support the toy train business.)

Hi everyone. Zachary is sick … twice so far this winter. He is coughing and sniffling. Despite his illness, he is moving around fast – we’ve got to get those stair gates up. Yesterday, I put him in the family room and went to the car to get the diaper bag. By the time I got back (10 seconds) he was gone! I did eventually find him … the raspy cough gave him away.

We went to 2 neighbor’s homes for trick-or-treating.  At one house, he got a teething biscuit. As a side note, I have a complaint – not sure if this is common, but literally 25-50% of the trick-or-treaters that came to our house did not wear a costume?! And some were adults (I don’t mean teenagers, but mid-20s and older). I told my husband not to give them candy, but he said that he’d rather just give them candy than deal with any “tricks.” I guess the type of adult that would go trick-or-treating without a costume would probably be the type to play a nasty trick. SHAMELESS!

Ah – and I finally got a diaper bag. An early Chirstmas present from my husband.  I needed a bigger one because I carry my camera and a bottle of lotion with me everywhere. Plus, I need to start carrying around his food and a jacket. It’s starting to get cold* and rainy here.

*California cold … which is around 50 degrees… Actually, 60 degrees today