Mommy's New Man

Today, it's Zayden's turn for the spotlight. Zayden Penn Nazworth, who was born on April 17, 2007, is officially five-months-old. This happy little boy makes my heart glad. As far as babies go, he is mellow and laid back, a sure sign that he and his daddy share more than just their good looks. He's also a very routine and predictable baby. When he was born more than three-weeks before his due date many people joked that he would be a handful, but so far he's proving that old wives' tale false. On most mornings, he wakes up with smiles, giggles, and hearty coos. Our little Z-man, as daddy likes to call him, has not yet mastered sleeping through the night. So our biggest family conflict is the fact that he and Xylie now share a room. Xylie loves no one more than Zayden and is a fantastic big sister, but she's been very upset about him waking her up at night. And really, who can blame her? So, we're trying out many different ideas to come up with a solution. However, last night, Zayden slept from 9 p.m to 7 a.m., so perhaps we've turned a corner?

A few of his favorite things - As most five-month-old babies are Zayden is easily impressed. He loves playing with his feet and the toys in his bouncy seat. And, of course, he ADORES his big sister. He loves to roll, and is trying his best to sit up on his own. He's even attempted crawling. Yeah, I know what you're thinking...he might prove that old wives' tale true after all once he's mobile.

Zayden had his first bites of rice cereal earlier this week. He isn't quite sure what to think about it and with each bite, he sticks his bib in his mouth. Once he turns six-months-old, I will start making homemade rice porridge for him. If any of you have babies, I highly recommend Super Baby Foods by Ruth Yaron. It's a fantastic book filled with ideas and simple recipes to help parents prepare and know when to serve the healthiest foods for their babies. We followed this book for Xylie and she's a fairly healthy/balanced eater today. We allow just about everything in moderation so she loves ice-cream, but she'll also eat all her peas. We hope Zayden will be like this too, but something tells me that he'll be our picky eater.

Stats - Then and Now - It's amazing how much babies change. At birth, Zayden weighed 6 lbs 4 oz and measured just 19 inches long. He also had a head full of hair (which he lost a month ago--I've never seen a baby go completely bald like Zayden did!). At his 2 month appointment, he weighed 9 lbs and measured 21 inches. The doctor told me that he was in the 5th and 10th percentiles for height and weight and that it was nothing to worry about. As you can tell from the photos, he didn't stay at those percentiles for long. In just two months Zayden grew and grew and grew. He now weighs 14 lbs 8 oz and measures 25 inches long! What a major growth spurt. And it looked to us as if it happened over night. One evening he went to sleep all cute and scrawny with a head full of dark hair and by the next evening, he was plump and bald. Napp jokingly asked me if I switched babies!

What's in a name?
I get lot's of comments and questions about Zayden's name. Like Xylie it is a made up name. Although I cannot take credit for making up Xylie's name. When thinking of boy names, Napp and I wanted a name that was unusual, but not too out there. We also wanted a name that would fit with the name Xylie. I really liked popular names like Aiden, Kaden, etc., but they didn't work for us. But then I thought, why not add a Z and name him Zayden. We loved it. The runner-up names were Lex and Jax. But Jax started to become the celebrity "it" name, so we crossed it off our list. We decided that if he was born bald and screaming, he'd be our Lex and if he was born with lots of hair and was more reserved he'd be our Zayden. Zayden fits him perfectly, even with his current bald head. Penn is a tribute to my family in Pennsylvania. There is a tradition in Napp's family that the middle name should honor family. With Xylie, we chose Holloway, which is Napp's mother's maiden name. For Zayden, we wanted to honor my family, but since I come from predominately "Pennsylvania Dutch" stock, we didn't have a lot of options...bold last names like Fulkroad, Schwartz, and Bohner, just don't make good middle names. So we decided on Penn to cover everyone! Of course, the little peanut is not without some nicknames. I often refer to him as ZaydenPenn or Zaypenn. Napp calls him Z-man, and Xylie...she likes to call him Pickle! While I was pregnant with him, we made sure to let Xylie look at all the sonogram pictures. One evening during dinner, we asked her what names she liked for her baby brother. "Pickle," she replied. "Pickle," I questioned with a laugh. "Why Pickle?" "Because, he looks like a pickle, " she said as if it should have been obvious. I have to admit, in the 11 week sono pic, he did resemble a pickle!