Zach Looking Cute

Playdoh

Mommy:

"Avery, don't eat that. Avery, don't eat that!"

Daddy:

"It's not toxic, and he's going to get it in his mouth eventually, so lets just see what he does."

Avery:

(thinking) "Mmmm... what's this? Wow it smells pretty nice.. kinda lemony How does it taste? Hmm.. not nearly as good as it smells."

Wrestlemania

Avery begins his career as a wrestler by putting cousin Sam in a choke-hold. This move was developed after much practice on the cat and various visiting dogs.

Ride 'em, Cowpoke!

After Zach's birth, Sara's folks came over to help watch Avery. They brought Nicky along to spend time with our rambunctious toddler. He has obviously learned patience at the hands of the cousins (Gabrielle, Genevieve, Madison, Sam).

Baby Bathtime

This is Zach's first bath. Note his expression of glee. Not visible: peeing in first bath, crying after first bath.



For comparison purposes, check out one of Avery's first baths. Thank you to squirting frog for keeping the picture clean.

Mom and the Boys

Mommy has been spending time recuperating on the sofa with her boys. Healing, nursing, and watching two babies is tough work!

Breakfast Break

In the hospital, Zachary routinely slept 5, 6, even 7 hours between feedings. This gave us great hope that maybe he would keep it up! Sadly, he is now averaging something more like 2-3 hours at a time. Here's Avery watching over one tired Daddy.

Wheeeee!

Zachary doesn't have too many of his own toys yet, but even the ones meant for him have been appropriated by Avery. We'll just have to hope that the allure wears off before he exceeds this swing's weight limit!

Avery Meets Zachary

This is a precarious situation. Touching is fun, but poking and prodding is much more fun. Avery got to appreciate his new brother up close for a few carefully supervised moments, but it will be a long time before we can leave them alone together.

-Eli

The New Crew

Here we are, all together for the first time. It's still sinking in that our family has increased by 1/3 (and about 1/30th by weight...)

Avery doesn't quite "get" why mommy is in bed, or why it hurts to kick her cesarean incision, so this pose lasted for about 15 seconds before he was relieved of his bed pass.

Delivery Room Photos

Here are some glamor shots from Zachary's first few moments in the OR. Check out those goopy eyes!

Newborns are immediately popped under the infrared warmer to be cleaned off and have tests administered. Then they get bundled up and handed off to the parents for a couple of minutes of cooing and wonderment (the "OMG what have we gotten ourselves into?" comes later).

Happy Birthday

Zachary Warren Burke was born on Feb 17th just before 8:30 AM. Baby and mother are both doing great. Unlike his brother, Zach took right to eating and has been pretty easy going (which is a good thing, because as repeat parents, we don't get seem to get quite the same level of hands-on attention from the hospital staff).

Welcome!

Welcome to the first post of our Baby Burkes blog. Our second son is due to arrive any day now, and we can't wait to share him with all of you. Hopefully we will manage to keep this blog updated regularly and give you a peek into the lives of our kids.

-Eli and Sara