Zev and Fi: The Latest and Greatest!

So sorry about the lack of blogging lately; I have been wrapped up in a precious bundle of joy, who is, quite frankly, more fun to hang out with than sit in front of the computer! I have also been quite tired and trying to catch up on sleep (is that possible?!) and am behind on responding to emails and so forth...I hope that those of you who have emailed me understand. Time is so much more of a precious commodity with a newborn in the house! Life is going great though. It's official; Zev and I are in love with our little man. I am sure that every parent must think this, but we think that our baby is The Cutest Baby in the World. I am smiling as I write this! So, here is a recap of The Latest and Greatest in our lives lately.

We are LOVING the summertime and the fact that the days are long and the weather is great! Zachary and I have been rather busy with fun local events including Baby Garten (songs and rhymes with baby) on Tuesday mornings at the local library; Infant Massage with the local community council and we will be starting up with MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) through our church as well as baby swim lessons through the Y, in the fall. I love spreading the word about these great programs and it has been fun to meet up with Natalie and Megan, two fellow military wives who also had baby boys recently, at these events.

Speaking of Megan and Natalie, here we are with our precious boys (Megan with Brady and Natalie with James) at Shirley's house earlier this week. This was the first time we had met up since being pregnant!

Miss Shirley was so kind to host us for a delicious lunch at her house.

The three boys side by side...Our boys are only 11 days apart, with Zachary being the oldest and James (on the far left) being the youngest.

We went to the local annual Greek festival with friends a few weeks ago. It was so much fun! I loved the music and dancing; Zev not so much but we both enjoyed the food and the fellowship. I love summertime! So many fun, outdoor things to do!

Zachary wore a onesie that his Aunt Shirley had sent us. He IS a hug magnet, isn't he?

The local Greek Orthodox church community put on the festival. They had awesome food and the kids dancing traditional Greek dances were adorable!

Zachary and I also went to Fort Monroe to see the beautiful old tall ships sail by in the international "OpSail 2012" festival. Some of the tall ships had been featured in Hollywood movies such as Interview with a Vampire!

One of Zev's colleagues gave us this unique gift for Zachary. I love it so much, I am ordering one for a girlfriend who recently had a baby!

Our dear friend, Gena, who lives in Germany, stopped by our house this week for a visit. We had such a lovely time together. She was in the States to visit her Pop and of course had to come and meet Zachary. Zachary was a sweetheart and obligingly flirted with Gena! We miss you already, GG!!

Gena found us this cool "mummy" hand bag in Germany, where the child can hold onto mummy using the little strap at the bottom! I love German engineering...

Zachary has been growing well and getting cuter and smarter each day. He had his 2 month shots recently and he did fine. He is a healthy boy; he measured in the 93rd percentile for length; in the 94th percentile for head circumference (we know where he gets that from! My side of the family...) and in the 83rd percentile for weight. The doctor was impressed that he reached such high percentages and told me to "keep doing" what I was doing in the nursing department. So I am. He is one hungry little boy, I tell you. But we are so happy that he is healthy and growing. His latest achievements this week include: realizing that he has hands and feet; almost rolling over on his side; and sucking his thumb. He uses a pacifer but sucking his thumb is not a bad thing at 2am when he can't find his pacifier and wants mummy to put it back in his mouth! He is now sleeping in his nursery (I keep the monitor in our room) and is sleeping for 4 to 5 hours at nighttime.

We thank God every day for such a good, happy and mellow little baby boy. He really is a gift from above. Thank you, Lord!!! Can you see why we love our little man so much?