First Chanukkah

Continuing on with the "First" themes...I guess this will get repetitive for the first few years....

This week marked the start of The Festival of Lights, or Chanukkah. Little Z Man loves lighting the candles or to be more precise, he wants to eat the candles and that's when they are lit! We're teaching him that this isn't such a good idea....

Things I like to do

With all the music in Little Z man's past -- Grandma Barbara plays the piano and write songs as did her father. Papa Jeff plays guitar and was in a band growing up, his Aunt Nicole Boxer sings, writes songs and plays guitar and piano and his cousin Big Z plays the piano and his mommy has music on all the time-- it's no wonder he likes the piano.

Here he is tickling the black and white ivories with his cousin Zach and his Aunt Nicole for the first time.

Who Do I Look Like Now?

Believe it or not, the jury is still out as to who the Z man looks like now. When he was first born everyone said he looked just like Daddy. A few weeks later, it was Grandpa Stew. Now most people say he looks like Mommy. We need to find a few pictures of Papa Jeff when he was a baby, because I think that may be the winner.

Here are a couple of great shots from over Thanksgiving. We will let you be the judge of who he looks like now. We welcome comments via email and on the blog...

If you notice a trend in the photos, you are right. We have very few pictures of the three of us together! We'll fix that over the Christmas Holiday as Grandma Barbara and Grandpa Stewart and Papa Jeff and Nana Donna will be with us to snap away.

A Week In The Life

Many people have asked about Zain's daily activities, so we thought it would be appropriate to highlight some of his everyday adventures (as opposed to monumental achievements such as getting both of his hands in his mouth at one time). His usual schedule is Monday and Wednesday with his sweet nanny Ashley; Tuesday at Welcome Home in the office with Mommy; Thursday at home play day with Mommy; Friday at home play day with Daddy. Saturday and Sunday he usually gets to play with Mommy & Daddy and has regular visits from Nana and Papa, Grandma Barbara and Grandpa Stewart (and a round of visitors from Aunt(s) Nicole, Uncle Kevin, Marc, Aunt Maureen, Cousin Adi, Aunt Dottie, and many friends).

One thing is for sure.... there is no shortage of people around Zain that care about him and love to spend time with him. In this series of pictures (taken between Aug and Nov), we have highlighted his days in the office at Welcome Home. He plays with Jesus, the warehouse manager, hangs in the kangaroo sling and works on the computer with Aunt Tanya, writes up orders with our office manager Nancy, and used to sleep under Mommy or Nana's desk! He is already known as Chairman Of The Board.

A Boy Named Ziv

On the 18th, many of Zain's family members gathered to participate in his naming ceremony.

About the naming tradition:

It is customary for Jewish parents to give their children two names. A secular name for use in the gentile world, and a Hebrew name for religious purposes. Hebrew names are used for calling men and women to the Torah. Certain prayers, such as the memorial prayer or the prayer for the sick, also use the Hebrew name. Legal documents, such as the marriage contract or ketubah, use the Hebrew name. Today, many American Jews give their children both English and Hebrew names. Often the two names start with the same letter. Judaism places great importance on the naming of each new child. In the Hebrew Bible in particular and in Jewish tradition generally, a person's name reflects his or her character. It is also believed that the name of a person or thing is closely related to its essence. In the act of naming, parents connect their children to the traditions of the past and previous generations, and in so doing, literally bring those traditions to life. In the act of naming, the parents are also making a statement about the future and express their hope for what their child will become.

Zain was named after Amy’s great grandmother, Zina, who was tough as nails and sweet as sugar. Ian, after Doug’s maternal grandfather Ira, who was a hardworking immigrant who had a special impact on Doug’s life.

We gave Zain the Hebrew name "Ziv" which means radiance or brilliance.

During the ceremony, Aunt Nikki presented the Whiting family quilts. Grandma Reta's cousin Annie made Zain an amazing colorful quilt that Zain plays on everyday. Gradma Reta's sister Dottie and cousins Ila, Lynnette, and Connie remade a red and white quilt that Zain's Great Great Grandmother made for his Great Grandmother Rieta. It was very touching.

Teething Anyone???????

What can I say, other than my little teethums are hurting SO bad!!!!! My gums are aching and I just want to bite down on everything. Mommy's nipples are dreading the day that they actually appear, but they are coming and it is quite an experience!!!

Gives Peas a Chance

Life is moving fast in Zain's life these days! His primary diet still consists of all breast milk, but he has just started his first solid foods. By his second bowl of rice cereal, he decided he was big enough of a boy that he should feed himself. He really is pretty good at it, he just nails his nose a lot and nearly takes out his eye every other bite. We decided to let him have some peas the other night and here are the results...

Once he nails peas, it's on to turkey!