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.

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.

Thorpe – what’s not to love? I love this pattern and I love this yarn. This is my second Thorpe – this one is for Justin for his birthday. He picked out the yarn at Joann’s (on sale 2/$5.00 – nice!). The yarn is Deborah Norville Serenity Chunky and the color is Seven Seas. Gorgeous. The pattern doesn’t call for a ball on the top but we all decided we like the ball. I added a ball to mine also. Danielle is getting a Thorpe for her birthday too – hers is nearly done.

This is a little of what we did on Justin’s birthday party weekend. We all went shopping and ended up in the baby clothes department at Meijer. Fun fun. Here’s Keith and Corey looking for baby clothes for Zachary.

And here are Corey and Danielle picking out some outfits.

Last night, Danielle had an ultrasound.  Here’s the excited couple in the waiting room before the ultrasound.

HE is a beautiful baby boy (no more wondering what to call “it”).  He has a skull and a brain – we saw that.

He currently weighs 12 oz. and Danielle is twenty weeks along – same as the original estimate.  Sue (Danielle’s mom) and I both got to go in with Corey and Danielle during the ultrasound.  It was very special.  Neither of us had ultrasounds for our babies so it was nice to see our grandson.

Here’s a picture of the happy family…Mommy, Daddy and their son…..

Click here Baby’s heartbeat – 12_15_09 for audio of his heartbeat at Danielle’s doctor appointment in December.

These socks were made for Danielle for Christmas.  I really am not fond of this yarn.  Sadly, the two skeins were slightly different so they don’t match perfectly color-wise.  I didn’t enjoy working with the yarn.  Unfortunately, I have more of it but socks are grand so I’m sure they’ll be fine.  Danielle likes them and again………that’s all that really matters.

**Paton’s Kroy – Fern Rose Jacquard**

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…….Corey’s sleeping….and so is Chloe.  This was a beautiful New Year’s Eve.  Corey and Danielle came and we had pizza and Corey and I made chocolate crinkle cookies (Keith’s favorite – sorry you missed it Keith).  Corey fell asleep pretty early but Mark, Danielle and I stayed up till 12:30 or 1:00 and then they spent the night.  This picture of our sleepy boy was taken at 11:56 p.m.

Danielle and I knitted and crocheted.  Danielle finished her first baby afghan at 11:58 p.m.  I told her to hurry and weave the ends in before midnight so she could say she made three scarves and one baby blanket in 2009.  She did with Mark supplying a little pressure while she weaved in the ends.  Here’s the blanket – I think it’s Bernat boucle.  We’ve since decided that in order to fix one of the wonky corners and make the blanket a little bigger, Danielle is going to learn how to make a border.  So technically, it’s not finished but here it is……..

I should have used the digital camera instead of my iPhone because the lighting wasn’t so great and a flash would have really helped – but here’s a shot of all five of our gingerbread houses……

…..and here’s Keith with his…..

…..and Justin…..

….and Corey and Danielle, who chose to put their little picture that was at their table-setting instead of their sweet faces…..

…..and this reject is the one Mark and I made.  We made a very pretty one last year so gosh only knows what happened here.