Seven Months and Swimming!

Zayden has hit the big SEVEN MONTHS!
Some stats: Zayden Maughan
Weight: 16 pounds 6.5 oz
Length: 26 1/2 inches
For his percentiles, he's in between 25% and 50%. Sadly, I think my little man is going to be my size. I was hoping Justin's genes would kick in and he would be a six-footer but I think he's going to be in the shorter side. He now has two teeth and is constantly chewing on his fingers. His favorite teething toy is a stress ball. One of those foam things you squeeze in your hands to work your hand muscles. Justin brought back one from his conference in the shape of the United States and Zayden has declared that his teether! He is rolling from back to front and front to back all over our living room! He'll wind up all the way across the floor if we don't watch him! It's pretty amazing to watch! He is sleeping all the way through the night. From 7 to 6ish, he'll nurse then go back to bed for another hour or two. It's fantastic! He is eating about 4-5 jars of baby food a day and loving it! This has been the most fun stage he's been at so far! I love my little Zayden.
Zayden loves it when Daddy plays airplane with him and Lexus thinks they are both playing with her! So in the end, they all end up smiling and laughing! I love Zayden's laugh. Sometimes in the morning, that's how he wakes up! We'll hear that little giggle from our bedroom and know he's awake! He's so fun at this age! We love our little man!
He is finally starting to look like he's filling up the high chair! He has gotten to the point when he gets put into the high chair, he knows food is coming! His pacifier get spit out and the screaming begins until food is in his mouth! This picture is how happy he is after he gets baby food! Look at that enormous smile!

Look at those long legs!

Since there was no February 30, his 7- month birthday was either on leap day or today, March 1st! For this exciting occasion we started a Mommy/Baby Swim class. Zayden and I hit the water running on Monday and Wednesday nights for the next month. 1 week down and boy was it a hit. Zayden though the water was fantastic!

It was Zayden's second time in the water so here is some of the pictures to compare from the first time he went swimming at 4 months old.We were at a hotel in Palmyra, New York and the water was a little cooler than I would have liked it to be. Zayden couldn't be in the water too long because he was shivering. He did like the water but wasn't sure about the temperature.

This time, the water was about 80 degrees and fun! There are four other moms in the class with me. Zayden is not the youngest but certainly the smallest and the most brave when it came to being in the water! We discovered that water is his element! He absolutely loves kicking his legs and being up to his neck in the water. He didn't like being dunked though!

The teacher gave us all a foam block for our kids to kick their legs and swim after. Once Zayden got it in his hands, it was hard to get it away from him

He enjoyed laying on my legs and kicking the water!

Look at those rings! He loved playing with that in the shallow end.

The teacher tied a noodle to him and he floated his away across the pool! I could hold his fingers and he would kick his way around the pool.

The noodle was definitely one of the highlights. Who woulda thunk?

I have no idea how many other kids have chewed on that foam block.But add Zayden and the rest of the kids in the class to that list!

He worked hard for that block and he was not letting that go! His prized possession.

He was a little speedboat kicking his legs while on his tummy. Some of the other babies were not so fond of the water but not Zayden! As soon as we put him on his tummy he knew what to do!

I think I was smiling in this one because he kept tooting bubbles in his swim trunks and he was completely unaware of it! It made me laugh though because I could see the bubbles!

He didn't like being on his back. He made a very concerned face whenever I flipped him to float on his back.

You can't see the foam block but that's where Zayden is headed! Kicking his legs with all his might to go get that block!

I put him on the side to see if he would fall into my arms and get in the water but he saw the rings and the noodles and decided those colorful toys were much more enticing than me.

The rest of the class!

Zayden found himself a little girlfriend. This little girl's name is Scarlett and is 6 months old and several pounds larger than Zayden. But they like to grab each other's faces!

Sorry for the picture dump! Ask any mom to try and choose which pictures she doesn't want to show off of her child. It's so hard to choose! Believe me, there were several I didn't put on! :) Oh and I am only bragging about Zayden with all those pictures, I'm not proud of myself in a swimsuit right now. Motherhood really does change your body! Enjoy!

Family & My Little Man

Family! This was our family picture at Christmas time with all of Justin's family before we all dispersed to different parts of the U.S. Of course, Zayden is the only one not looking at the camera! True western family with the Wrangler shirts! The gorgeous females of the family! Rachael, Elizabeth, Jennifer, moi, Momma, and Melissa!And the handsome studs of the Maughan Clan - Nathan, Chris, Aaron, Justin, Jeff, and Dad.

Zayden is almost 7 months old! He's growing a little mohawk and in my mind the cutest little man ever! Some stats - he's rolling all over the floor! Back to front, front to back all the way across the floor. If he was a dancer, he would get lots of points for making good use of space on the dance floor! I can put him down on his tummy and set a toy across the room and he will roll until he gets to it!

To his new milestone! Baby food! Three words to describe that, CAN'T GET ENOUGH!

This is his old high chair! The Bumbo chair! He loves his chair! He knew when he sat in it, it was dinner time! A big smile, spit out the pacifier, and some short excited screams later and his mouth would be full of sweet potatoes, apples, pears, prunes, etc! He loves it!

We learned that we couldn't keep his hands out of his mouth and then we couldn't keep his hands off his pants so we had to strip him down to a onesie to get the least amount of clothing soiled!







Look at that big smile! Even with carrots all over his face, he's still adorable!

Introducing the new high chair! The other night after dinner, I was wiping off his face and hands, then took his bowl and spoon over to the sink to do the dishes and I had made some chocolate covered strawberries. I realized I had left them within arm's reach of Zayden and became worried that he would grab one and either throw it or start to gnaw on it. Well, I turned around to see what he was doing and he had turned the opposite direction and was reaching for a new toy Daddy had brought home! He tried so hard that he flipped himself out of the bumbo and landed on the table and started sliding for the floor! It scared me to death and I screamed and ran over to catch him! I caught him in time and is more scared him than did any physical damage! I started to cry and yelled to Justin who was in the other room, "That's it! We're buying a high chair! It scared me so badly and cried because I felt like a horrible mother! And I was so worried about my strawberries! Teach me to get my priorities straight!
So the next day I went out to a baby store and bought our brand new high chair that I love! It's perfect for small apartments. It folds up very small and doesn't take up one of our few chairs to our table. We can put it away after each feeding and he loves the height and sitting in it! Easy to clean, easy to adjust, very comfy and very affordable! We love the Chicco brand! That's practically everything we own. The infant carseat, the pack and play, and now a high chair! Love it! Speaking of Chicco, this is his little room! It's all the room we have for anything right now. We are in a two-bedroom so Zayden's room is his room/office/sewing room/guest room/whatever else we need it to be! So he gets a little corner of it right now! Most of his stuff we have to keep in boxes because there is no room! How sad!Also in an earlier post I said Justin built some shelves in the room to hold all our boxes that hold stuff we need, just not stuff we need everyday. Here's a piece of his craftsmanship! I finally caught "The Pout" on camera! That's his "Mommy, I want some attention or can I please get some nummy food in my belly" face! It melts me! Day After Valentine's Day Festivities! I decorated our room with balloons to surprise Justin when he came back from his conference and Zayden decided that balloons are AWESOME! He found every balloon and got tangled up in every string! He would tug on them and watch the balloons bounce! It was his first exposure to balloons and I would say they were a hit! He is always so happy! He has his not so fun faces when he's hungry or his teeth hurt, but overall he is a very happy baby!And that is my little adventure for this past week! A little bit of picture bragging! I guess that's a must for everyone who likes to see my little man, or maybe it's just a proud mommy. Who knows what this next week will bring!

Love is...

When you find yourself without your sweetheart on Valentine's Day, it makes you reflect on everything you have experienced together. From the moment you set eyes on each other, to that first kiss, to the image of looking into the mirrors symbolizing eternity, to that moment where you have your first child and tears are streaming down both sets of eyes. You realize that this is the person that you chose to spend your happy moments with, your sad moments, your trying moments, and all those in between moments that come into daily life. I realized that when I prayed 4 years ago if he was the right man for me, that when my answer came, I never had to question my answer again. I knew with that assurance that I had made at least 1 perfect decision in my whole life. That has been a comfort for me all these years, that I may regret or ask "what if" to other previous actions, but this one decision I could have peace about.

I decided today since it's just Zayden and I at home that I could go through some of our pictures and find out what Love really is to me. I found pictures I loved taking and looking at over and over again. This is our history, the love of the Maughansters.


Love is spending an entire day snowshoeing, building a snow cave, and because your sweethear got cold, you build a bonfire to warm her up.Love is scaring your darling half to death on a 4-wheeler and then grabbing her tightly to let you know that you care and you will always be there to protect her.
Love is attending your girlfriend's church functions even when you have your own to go to.Love is finding that one person who will work beside you throughout your lives together. That person will teach you and guide you to become the best person possible.Love is not being afraid to look grungy and dirty with the one person you are always trying to impress.Love is searching the world for that little oasis of happiness.Love is finding the man that will lift you up and never let you fall!Love is finding your soul mate and never letting him go!Love is finding the person that you fit perfectly in their arms.Love is finding True Love's Kiss that will melt any pain, mend any hurt, and make every fairy tale love end with a Happily Ever After.Love is stopping time and everything disappears except for you and the one you are meant to spend eternity with.Love is binding yourself to your spouse in the temple of the Lord where you know because you made that choice, you will be with each other for eternity, not just "til death do us part".Love is spending the rest of your lives together legally and lawfully wed bound together as husband and wife.Love is finding that a year after you were married, you still look and feel like newlyweds.Love is finding joy in the journey and loving all of God's creations.Love is finding that dance partner who will dance the last dance with you every time.For those of you who know the story of how Lexus became a part of our family, Love is finding a way to make a terrible loss bearable and a stepping stone to better times.Love is having a baby growing inside of you and knowing that your spouse will be there through it all and you will not have to go through anything alone.Love is that first moment when you hold your child and realize that Love means more than anything you ever imagined. Love is a four letter word that means so much.Love is being with every member of your small family and realizing there is nothing else you need.Love is at home at the Maughan's.