Saturday fun

Last Saturday my Dad took me, my sister, and our families to his club for some pool-fun!

Here is Zoe getting ready to go. Check out her new bikini and hair style. She can do two ponytails now...when she lets me, that is.



This is my Dad with Zoe's cousin Abby....She has my thighs.


This is the only picture of me in a bathing suit you are ever likely to see. Zoe is enjoying her floatie with another cousin, Georgia.


Jeff and Zoe....ahhhh, sweet picture.



This picture makes me laugh, because I think Zoe is singing a little LL Cool J. "Mama said knock you out.....I"m gonna knock you out."

It was a great day and we can't wait to do it again.

More tongue

Zoe has started sticking her tongue out all the time. I think (hope and pray) it has something to do with teething.

Beijing Olympics

The opening ceremonies were a surprise hit! She was glued to the TV until the parade of nations. She didn't really get that so much.

Because every sad post should be quickly followed by something fun.

Linda, Mom, Marmie, Nana

My mother passed away just over a week ago. Although she had been sick for a long time, her death was still unexpected. I miss her. I've tried to write about it over the past week, but nothing sounds right. I'm only putting this here now because I didn't feel right writing anything else until I addressed this giant hole in my heart.

Blog?....What blog?

Oh.....that's right. I have a blog! Almost forgot.

First of all, Zoe is sick again. 2 months in day care and so far 3 illnesses. This time seems like a bad cold. Fever, sore throat, coughing, general crankiness, lots of sleeping, lots of snot, and ballistic poo. The other day it went all the way up her back into her hair. Yesterday, it ended up on my rug, my hands and my forehead before I realized what had happened. Last night in bed (Zoe is still sleeping with us) I caught it before any damage was done, but if you ever hear gurgling coming from you baby's diaper, I suggest acting quickly.

As far as advancement... Still no walking or talking, but she pulls up on everything and can get anywhere she wants. She has figured out how to get back down from "pulled up" without just falling. She has discovered that she can spit food back out. (Fun!) And we have some serious big back teeth coming in, which probably isn't helping her feel any better. She laughs out loud at the "oops-I-dropped-it" game, and I happily oblige because it teaches cause and effect, and more importantly, it makes her happy. I could do it all day. Oh, she is also getting really good at feeding herself. She's tired of being fed, I think, and does much better with food she can pick up herself. This means much more to clean up, but the dog seems to like it. And she finally waves Bye-bye!! Yeah! It's the cute little finger crinkle, but we all know what it means.

I'll try to post more often, but life is awfully busy around here. After work, I want to do nothing but love on Zoe. I almost hope she wants a late afternoon nap, because she will do that in my arms. When she gets fussy, all I need is a warm bottle and up she crawls. It's wonderful sweetness at its best.

Here are some pictures...

Zoe watching "The Mandarin Wiggles"

Beautiful even with the runny nose

Not happy about Mommy messing with her hair

It looks like she's praying, but I think she's doing something else that begins with "p"

Happy Girl

Look how tall....31 inches of Fun!!

The car voice...

Zoe chatters in the car. The one particular noise she makes at the beginning of this clip is only ever made in the car. I'm not sure if its the car, or the radio, or Mommy singing with the radio, but she wants to sing along. Either way, I think its cutie-cutie.

The Pebble's Ponytail

It is time to baby proof.

I spoke too soon..

Did I say Zoe was healthy again? Silly me, and stupid day care!

My recent excuse for not blogging was Zoe's bout with hand, foot, and mouth disease. Ever heard of it? Me neither. It left her feeling miserable for a few days after the holiday and not wanting to eat or drink anything. It was no fun, but she is once again healthy.

The day care swears no other kids were sick, and Zoe probably got it from a shopping cart....mmmm...okay....if you say so...

And being the generous sort, Zoe shared her new immunity with her friend Olivia (We're still very sorry, Olivia!)

Sharing more than cheerios...

Finally catching up....oh, dear!

I would tell you about Jeff and I, but really....who cares! It's all about Zoe over here, and she's doing awesome!

To pick up where we left off, Zoe has started day care. After her first week, she scared me by getting really, really sick. We spent a week between the Dr's office and the emergency room trying to find out what was wrong with her. Poor pumkin had some sort of miserable virus, and her teeny tiny veins required us to go to Scottish Rite to get blood from her. It was very hard on baby and Mommy, but all is well now. I got an extra week off of work right after returning. She's been back in day care for about 2 weeks now, and no more illnesses. Not even a sniffle.

She has started pulling up, and we expect walking will soon follow.

We don't have any words yet, but we are sure she is starting to understand us. If you ask her if she would like to "bouncy" , you had better have a knee ready for her! She loves chocolate, and the sound of a wrapper makes her head spin so fast I'm surprised she doesn't get dizzy.

She never cries when I drop her off at day care, but she smiles big and crawls to me when I pick her up.

This post doesn't really have "flow", but I'm sure you will forgive me. I'm scrambling while the babe sleeps.

Here are some recent pictures, which is what you're after anyway. Enjoy my beautiful girl...

She Crawls!!!

I've been so worried about my girl not crawling, but this morning....SHE DID!! I'm so happy. She's still awfully wobbly, and you have to have something she really wants, but she did it! Right now she is fighting a double ear infection and a beast of a fever, so she didn't do much more crawling after this morning's adventure. Most of the rest of the day was spent in Mommy's arms, which is apparently the only place she wants to be when she feels bad.

Here is a video from last week when she first learned how to sit up on her own. I think this was only the 5th time she ever did it.


And this is video of this morning's crawling excitement.



Finally, this is the view I have of my girl in my arms.

Quick post

Time is getting away from me ( and the blog ) so here is a quick summary of our goings-on so it all gets documented.

Zoe is getting into a sitting position on her own now! Yeah. She did it for the first time on Thursday, and now she does it all the time. Still no crawling, but she sits up, gets into a crawl position and then reaches until she lays down a bit further than before. She does sort of drag herself a little, too. Our new problem is that getting her to sleep (already difficult) is even more difficult now that she can sit up in her crib.

We recently started letting her cry it out in her crib. Don't flame me too badly, please. It became obvious she was manipulating us, and no one was sleeping, so we decided to try it about a week ago. The first night, she cried for a very, very long time. The next night was half that. Next night, 20 minutes. Then 9, then 4...then she learned to sit up. Now I go back in a little after she's been crying for awhile and started to get good and tired. I lay her back down and then quickly leave the room, hoping she stays down. Currently she is still awake in her crib. She's sitting up, not crying, but sort of swaying side to side. (We have a video monitor) I'm not sure what to do, really. If I lay her back down, the crying will start all over again. If I let her stay sitting up, will she eventually fall over, or lay herself back down? This parenting thing is tricky. I wish there were definitive answers.

I'm back to work now. There hasn't been much mail, so I've been able to get Zoe early in the day. She has almost no reaction at drop off or pick up. I get a small smile of recognition and that's about it. She falls asleep almost as soon as we get home, and her naps seem to be longer. I think day care really wears her out.

And finally, Jeff started his new job today. I'm ecstatic that he finally left his old job where he was really unhappy. The new one is very promising.

That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by. :-)

Zoe loves texture

She loves soft things, bumpy things, and fuzzy things. She likes our shaggy rug so much she's always rubbing her feet and strumming her fingers through it. Since the dog and cats also spend a good bit of time on that rug, we thought Zoe should have her own pet-free rug to play on. One night at Target, we pulled this pink one off the shelf and Zoe went crazy. She loves it just like the photos show.

Day Care update

I'll eventually stop crying at drop off and pick up, right?

Zoe did fine.

At home, I tried to nap, but you know I couldn't relax enough. I crawled in bed with my book and a sweet snack (my favorite way to nap), but I think I only got in about 10 minutes.

When I picked her up, all the babies were getting ready for the morning nap. Zoe was alone on the floor and watching the others. I felt kind of weird seeing her there alone, but she was totally fine.

When she saw me, she didn't jump up and down and laugh like when Daddy comes home at the end of the day, but there was a little smile of recognition.

And when we got home, I sat with her on the sofa with her cheerios and juice. She took the bottle, leaned into me, put her hand on my belly, her head on my chest and fell asleep. She slept for almost an hour that way. My arm was falling asleep....tingling until I thought it would fall off, but there was no way I was about to move.

Tomorrow, I'll leave her through the morning nap...maybe through lunch.

Zoe's first day of school

Today is Zoe's practice run at day care. I dropped her off a little while ago and will go get her in a few hours. We'll practice again tomorrow and then Monday we all start our normal back-to-work schedule. I've said it already, but I feel good about the place we've chosen to put her. She will be fine. I will be fine. Does it sound like I'm talking myself into it?

I know why we decided to do this and it is the right decision for us. I know that, but it doesn't make today any easier.

I have more to blog about. Zoe is getting into a sitting position all on her own now. I'm going back to work Saturday. Jeff has some exciting news. And we've started doing something new at bed time that is improving sleep around here. I'll blog about them soon, but I feel like I should really take advantage of this quiet time for a little nap.

Night, night.

Memorial Day weekend...a bit late, I know.

We spent Memorial Day weekend in Florida introducing Zoe to Jeff's parents. I took a shameful lack of pictures, but here are the good ones I did get.

My little traveller kickin' back in the stroller waiting for our flight. For the record, we are totally spoiled now that we have flown to Florida. Driving will be torturous next time now knowing what a one hour flight feels like.


Zoe and her Granddaddy. I don't know how I didn't get any with her Grandma (known as Neese on that side of the family)


Cousins Brian, Audrey and baby Elijah. Zoe is intrigued with the baby.


And thanks to an empty flight on the way home, Zoe had her own seat like a big girl.


An arial view of Melbourne during take off. Its a little disturbing how they take off and land from Melbourne. They come and go over the ocean with a great big U-turn. I've never been on a flight that banked that sharply.



Now we are home and resuming normal life.

Lazy blogger...

Zoe at her physical therapy evaluation. This is the first time she was ever in a crawl position without crying....yeah!!! Now it happens regularly. No actual crawling, but we're getting there!

Zoe has been feeding herself large things for awhile, but this was her first time to pick up her banana. They're slippery, you know.

Here she is completely exhausted! We set her down and down she went!
I looooove the close ups. Look at that sweet girl. Love of my life.

The Daycare Quest

Yesterday, I finally signed the papers and committed ourselves to a daycare. I pretty much knew which one we were going to use from the beginning because of the daycare's location. Oh, wait....excuse me...it's not a daycare, it's a "learning center". They even corrected me when I used the horrible word, "daycare".

I visited the one we eventually chose a couple times already, and then just to be sure, I visited another. The other daycare made me feel soooo much better about our first choice. As I was leaving choice #2, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to cry or throw up. I'm sure it was fine, but it made me realize how much better my first choice was.

Before signing the papers and handing over the big check, they let me hang out in the baby room for awhile. I stayed for about an hour and visited with the ladies who will be taking care of Zoe for me in the day time. I also got to meet Zoe's new friends and one of the other mothers. After that, I feel so, so, sooo much better about leaving her there. The ladies are all older, loving, and very attentive. The other mother raved about the place, and the babies are all cute, active, and seem to be happy. Even Zoe had a good time hanging out in there with the babies.

My only problem (other than the fact that she has to go there at all) is what they feed these kids. In the baby room, I can take whatever I want her to eat, but in the young toddler room (where she will go when she can walk and use a sippy cup) she has to eat what they provide. The menu is full of fried meat, canned veggies (high sodium), and canned fruit (high fructose corn syrup). For snacks they even eat sugary or salty things. I know they have to go the cheap route, but the least they could do is let me bring in a lunch. I do have the option of choosing a vegetarian menu, which I may do. It's not much better, but at least it's not hamburger/chicken nuggets/fish sticks/ or fried beef sticks. What the heck are fried beef sticks anyway????