what a great weekend!

We ran errands. Visited with family. Planted a garden. Relaxed. And of course, played with Zoe. It was awesome! The only bummer is that Jeff has to go to work tonight, but other than that. Every weekend should be this great.

No Need for Words

Forever Family Day

Yesterday was our Forever Family Day, and here is a little clip of the moment that changed my life.

March 16, 2008
Jin Feng Hotel
Nanchang, China

My Gorgeous Girl in the Sunshine

We've been enjoying the wonderful weather lately. Zoe loves being outside!!

Zoe Points!!

Zoe has actually "pointed" for some time. She points at nearly every picture in a book and says, "deesh" We hear that word all the time. Deesh. Deesh. Deesh. I think at her school, they must point at pictures in books and say, "THIS is a ...." This = Deesh.

But today was the first time Jeff said, "Zoe, where's your milk?" and she pointed at her milk!

He said, "Zoe, where's the dog?? and she pointed at the dog.

Then she said, "Zoe, where's mama?? ... and she pointed at the dog again. Oh well!

She's getting it and thats what is important. Zoe's biggest delay has been speech, so I am beyond thrilled when she shows us she at least understands what we are saying.

A few other words we might be hearing are:

Uh-buh = up
dah = dog
Ah-dah = Da da

We meet with the Audiologist and ENT next week to evaluate her hearing again and make sure the tubes are fine.

The Zoe Catapult

I filmed this clip a while ago, but didn't post it because...
1. It's not that exciting.
2. I'm not sure I want everyone knowing how we entertain ourselves here.
3. I didn't want anyone calling DFCS.

In the end, I decided to put it up because...
1. I've been getting threatened for something new on the blog.
and
2. She kisses me at the end, and it's the sweetest thing ever. She was big on kisses for awhile, but seems too busy for them now. sniff...sniff.

My Girl on her Favorite Toy

Match Day Anniversary

One year ago today, I saw this face for the first time.



This morning I saw this face. She was eating breakfast while watching the Wiggles and was in no mood for a photo shoot. Still....amazingly gorgeous.

A daredevil, she is not!

Here's a little video clip that shows how cautious my girl is. Maybe this explains why she was such a late walker. On the flip side...she rarely falls.

Some Pictures...at least

****I notice that in nearly all of Zoe's pictures she has food or some other thing streaking her face. I used to look at those crusty children and think, "Why don't their Moms clean them up?!" Now I know...Zoe HATES having her face wiped. It is a battle. She knows when you are coming at her with a tissue or a wipey, and she darts in the other direction. She screams while you're doing at and for some time afterwards. I choose to let her win this battle most of the time. It's easier.

A bloggie request

We've had a request for updated remodel pictures. Heeeeere ya go!





We hope they will be done in another week. It will be the third deadline, so.....here's hoping!

Zoe in the car...eating toes and watching the Wiggles

Doing our part to help the Economy

Here is our big news..... We're remodeling! You thought our news would be about Zoe, didn't you? Sorry to disappoint.

But now that we're spending more time with Zoe in the house, it was starting to feel a bit cramped. Claustrophobic, even. We always knew we were eventually going to update our circa 1982 kitchen with its two-toned cabinets, first generation Corian, and oh-so-stylin' linoleum, but once the contracter-dude got here, I asked, "how hard would it be to take out these walls?"

And so it began...

Before...4 distinct rooms: formal living, dining, family room, and kitchen.


After day 1


Currently... One big room



It's kind of nightmare right now. We live in our bedroom and the basement. We eat out a lot. Zoe has breakfast on the counter before the workers get here, because we have no table. Hopefully, everything will be done by Christmas so we can celebrate the day surrounded by our Christmas presents. Jeff is getting refinished cabinets, I'm getting granite counter tops, and Zoe is getting hardwood floors. Merry Christmas, y'all.

We interrupt this blogging silence to tell you...

The most amazing thing happened today. I came at Zoe with a diaper, and she actually laid down for it. WOW!!! This from my squirmy, squiggly, "oh, no, not clothes!!" girl.

I promise something else on the blog soon. We have big things going on.....and pictures to prove it!

Story Time!!!

Today was Veteran's day and that means me and my co-workers get the day off. Whoopeee!! Because it was Tuesday, that means I could take Zoe to story time!

The snacks were a big hit, although when hers were gone, she tried taking everyone else's. (That's my girl!)


Most of the time, she just hung out with me and wasn't really interested in the singing and dancing.


But during the last song, she got into it and took off. I could believe she got that far away from me. (pink sweater, black pants)


Oh my gosh, She is so beautiful.

Halloween photos

A friend e-mailed me some pictures she took of us at our neighborhood Halloween party. Zoe's costume was really just a hat, but she's still awfully cute!! We have the rest of the costume, but she just wasn't feelin' it that day.

The Big Zoe Update

Okay...let's face it...I'm not the best blogger anymore. It is what it it is. No more apologies. Its the best I can do right now.

So to catch you up on Zoe stuff, I present..."The Big Zoe Update" ...what I hope will be a lengthy, thorough, reporting on everything Zoe.

Ready?....Let's go!

THE STATS
Age: 19 months
Time with us: 7 months
Height: 32 inches
Weight: 26 lbs
Teeth: 12 and one more poking through

PERSONALITY
Of course, its hard to capture her personality in a paragraph, but if I had to pick one word, I would go with" laid back" Okay, fine, that's 2 words. For the most part, she is a good baby who is content to play somewhere near Mommy. She loves to interact with people. She is not shy around strangers, in fact she crawls up to people in waiting rooms and asks to be picked up. I am the obnoxious Mom who lets her do it because I think everyone must appreciate her cuteness. For the most part, she picks older ladies who seem thrilled.

She is curious. She is focused. She is loving. She loves to cuddle and hug. She can be whiney, and she has a bit of a temper. I was surprised when she started to seem strong willed. When we first came home from China, she was extremely mild. She would just hang out and watch the world go on around her. Since then, she has come into her own. Even though she doesn't have any words, she has no trouble expressing her likes and dislikes.

LIKES
Bouncing! She loves to bounce. We have a little trampoline and a bouncy ball, and she laughs out loud every time you bounce her. At night, in bed, she will bounce herself on her knees.

Playing with my hands. She sits on my belly and turns my hands this way and that. She likes to make me clap.

The Wiggles. Man, she can't get enough. At night, she regularly wakes up into this half-awake, half-asleep state. She'll cry forever until you actually wake her up, before putting her back down. We tried everything to snap her out of it, but nothing works better than turning on the Wiggles really loud. When a familiar song comes on, it finally seems to grab her attention, so you can settle her down.

Crinkly paper. From the very beginning, this has been a favorite. This is where the "focused" part comes in. We keep a stack of magazines that she likes to "read". In the car on the way home from day care, I let her play with her daily report. It's made on a nice noisy paper.

Food. My girl loves to eat. Especially fruit. Bananas, grapes, and mandarin oranges are particular favorites. She loves yogurt, green beans, and bread. The only thing I know she doesn't like is spinach. She is getting to where she prefers to feed herself, so we're steering towards finger foods. She wants to take spoons from me and poke them around on her tray, but when she does that (aside from the mess) the eating usually stops.

DISLIKES
Cribs...not just her own
Getting her face/nose wiped. I know every baby hates this, but Zoe is something special.
Getting her hair washed
Can't think of anything else. She's pretty agreeable.

Day Care
We are very lucky that she took to day care very well. I think the fact that she always arrives during breakfast helps. She is always glad to see me pick her up, too, though. Because she has been delayed walking, she is still officially in the baby room. After talking to the director, they are now transitioning her to the toddler room a little early. She is now going over to hang out with the toddlers for a few hours a day. I think it was a great decision and has really helped with her development. Speaking of...

Mobility
She can walk!!! She has been taking steps for over 2 months and I was starting to get really worried because she never took to it. Over the last two weeks she is turning into a full time walker! It's so cute. She's still unsteady, and she looks like she's doing the "cabbage patch" to keep her balance. She crawls if she had to get anywhere fast, but is choosing to walk more and more. She just learned how to get up from the middle of the room the other day. I was sooooo excited!! My little girl is growing up. I suspect the toddler room has a good deal to do with this, but also, she had tube surgery recently which may have helped her balance.

Other developments
Zoe is becoming more manually dexterous. Is that how you say it? She is getting that fine motor stuff down. Her index finger is her latest discovery. She pokes everything now. And all small holes must be explored with her index finger. She still picks cheerios up by the handful, but she can pick them up one by one.

Language
Like I said, we still have no words. No Mama. No Dada. And that is hard. The audiologist suspects her hearing was spotty or muffled before the tube surgery. If she has only had good consistent hearing for the past month, I can hardly expect much word-wise from her, but she is obviously understanding us more and more. She can sign a few words, but we have been really inconsistent in this department, so the fact that she can do anything is amazing.

And now for the thing you really care about.....PICTURES








AND VIDEO OF MY WALKER

Last weekend

We celebrated cousin Jeffrey's birthday.

Zoe and the birthday boy!

Cousin Abby and her gorgeous hair (done by Aunt Georgia)

Two weekends ago...

We travelled to South Georgia for Jeff's family reunion.

Zoe did great in the car. (3.5 hours each way)


Zoe and her Grandaddy.

Zoe and her Neese.

Napping on Aunty Audrey


Howdy, y'all!

Crawling...schmawling!

This is how Zoe's cousin Abby gets around.