Travelin' Man

We had a very busy and fun Memorial Day weekend and Zander had a lot of first experiences.  We made the trip to Cincinnati to meet up with our friends, Dan and Becky, and catch a Cubs game. Even though Zander made it down to the Cubs home opener, he has not yet been inside Wrigley field so his first baseball game was at Great American Ballpark. We also went to the Cincinnati Zoo (we love Zoos!) and although he slept through a lot of it,  enjoyed being outside and looking around at all the excitement. We hung out with friends and little Willa was entertained by Zander and all the noises he makes. After making the trip back to Chicago on Sunday, we got up Monday morning and drove to Milwaukee to pick up Parker and hang out with my sister and her fiancé. Zander did well with all the traveling as he sleeps well in the car and is more attentive these days when he is up and likes to look around his environment. The Gilliam's are a busy family and Zander is a busy little guy! Now we're looking forward to a relaxing week at home.

We'll add Cincinnati to the list of Zoo's we have visited and had fun hanging out with Zander there

 

Zander and Willa (10 months old) hanging out at the zoo

Dan, Becky and their daughter, Willa were great hosts
We were happy to visit with our friends as we miss having them in Chicago

We had a good time at Zander's first game (he didn't sleep through the whole thing - he did wake up a few times to see what was going on), We didn't have a lot of sun, but it was a nice day to watch a baseball game (unfortunately a Cubs loss) and we had great seats just a few rows up from the field which was a great place to watch his first game

 

Zeb hanging out with his running buddy, Dan who invited us to join their family for a fun filled Memorial Day weekend

Abbie and Garrett kept Parker over the weekend so he didn't have to make the trip with us. We drove to Milwaukee on Memorial Day Monday to pick him up - unfortunately a rainy day ruined our grilling out plans, but we still had a good time hanging out. Parker had such a good weekend hanging out with their dog Kiki (and probably being spoiled) he didn't want to leave 
 

Star attraction

We have been busy over the last two weekends with an open house at our place in Chicago and a welcoming party at Jazzie's parents house in Wisconsin. We had so many of our family and friends stop by to show their support and meet baby Zander. He was a trooper through the whole thing and liked all the attention he got. He is one loved little boy and has been welcomed with open arms by so many. We have had so much encouragement throughout the entire adoption process it was great to celebrate his arrival with everyone  - Thanks to everyone who was able to celebrate with us!

Chicago Party 

 Many of our friends from Chicago stopped by to meet Zander

 

Cousin Tim and his fiancée Jackie were in town and stopped in to meet Zander

 

Shullsburg Party

 Cousin Elizabeth getting some practice before here little one arrives

 

 Dad's sister, Sandy came to meet Zander and his brother Bill and my aunt Pat were also there

 Zander's second cousins Claire and Caiden were excited to meet the baby and even brought some of their old books to share with him - more cool kids for Zander to look up to

 

 Cousin David and my aunt Sue admiring baby Zander

 my best friend, Katie and one of her boys hanging out - her little ones aren't so little anymore and she loved hanging out with a little boy who isn't so active yet!

 I was also able to celebrate my first Mother's Day with my own mom - I am learning from one of the best!

 

Two Months

Zander celebrated his two month birthday last week. It has been amazing to see how much he has grown over the last month (he weighed in today at a whopping 10# 9 oz!! and has grown over an inch!) He is also spending more time awake and is generally a happy baby, although he is starting to let you know when there is something he doesn't like!

2 month photo shoot

Still working on my photography skills (it's getting better)

Here are some of Zander's accomplishments over the last month......

Check out that ATNR (this one is for all my therapy friends!) He is meeting all his milestones and it is very fun to see all the new things he is doing and how he is gaining control of his movements and beginning to discover his hands

Zander is starting to grab toys, although it is still pretty random. He will look at them when he is awake, but prefers to look at us and he really likes to look out the windows of our condo or watch the ceiling fan. He does well with tummy time and is really working on his head control and can hold his head up for about 30 seconds on his own

 

Pooping! I wasn't going to show a picture of this one, but if you wonder why he has such a big smile in this picture....it's because he pooped, and it was awesome. You might not think this is an accomplishment that is worthy of a blog post, but for Zander it is an event...every time it happens. His biggest accomplishments  were going through 4 outfits in 1 morning and on more than one occasion has lead to not only his wardrobe change, but that of the parent holding him (pants and shirt and even sometimes socks)