Crawling

About a wek ago Zoe finally got how to crawl. She practiced chasing pieces of fluff on the floor (her favorite thing to eat), and then graduated to chasing Gramma and Papa John around downstairs. Today she chased one of her favorite boys - Ian. He had her cracking up again all night and she spent the rest of the time trying to grab him and kiss him (yeah, I know - bad sign!). She's getting really good at the crawling thing and I read somewhere that that is a big precurser to language. Coincidentally she has begun imitating sounds we make - and loves yelling so we will imitate her! We're so close to hearing those words!

Uncle Mom?

Uncle Dave is learning what it takes to take care of Zoe these days. He has even babysat a few times! Zoe is completely fascinated with him - they stare into each others eyes and always seem to have an inside joke. Whenever we all go anywhere, she always looks to him to see if whatever we are doing is OK. It's a very sweet connection and I hope it lasts forever! Zoe is lucky to have her Uncle around.

You just have to play!

No more are the days where Zoe will just sit quietly on your lap and look around. If you do get her to sit down - she wants to PLAY! You will need to be fun, entertaining, and silly or she will quickly move on to the next fun person! Gramma and Papa John do a very good job of remembering how to play and seem to have lots of fun doing it!

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Gramma is teaching Zoe the Itsy Bitsy Spider and Zoe is catching on quickly! She already knows to raise her hands to "up comes the sun". They have such fun singing together (as you can clearly see)!

Santa Came!

Keith and I started a family tradition of getting us all new PJs to wear for Christmas Eve. I love that we have our own special thing that we can do every year! Christmas morning we all got up with Zoe and opened our stockings. Hers was as big as she was and was filled with bubbles, toy cars, balls and other fun baby things! Yay for Santa!

Merry Christmas!

Zoe's Admirers

Zoe has some Big Love from some Big Boys who just can't get enough of her!

Santa's Helper

Zoe's first Christmas started on Christmas Eve ( one of my family's traditions) with a big dinner and opening presents. Zoe mostly loved chewing on the unwrapped packages and playing with a hanger that came with a christmas outfit. She got some great gifts, though, and we will all have fun teaching her how to play with the toys! Santa comes tonight and brings stocking gifts...

Nothing like the Present

Look what Santa brought us! Zoe loves it when Daddy drags her around the house in this gift bag... she would do it all day if he would let her.

Rules of the House

Ducky Bath

When Zoe was born Nana and Gramps gave her this Ducky Bath and I couldn't fathom the day that she could sit up in it all by herself. Well, the other day was the day! She loves to play in her new big girl tub and laughs when we squeeze the bill and make it quack.

Marathon

Zoe's new favorite activity is running laps in her crib. She holds onto the railing all the way around and just goes like the Energizer Bunny! She will stop halfway around and turn on and off her musical toy (she has learned to do this and takes great care to push the button with her index finger very deliberatley - so funny!). If you are lucky, she wll stop and give you a kiss on her way by. We had to lower her matteress because she was getting dangerously close to jumping ship! Now the railing comes up to her chest and , so far, we are pretty sure she can't climb out yet!

Playground Fun

How many germs can you catch at the playground? Zoe tried her best to lick everything she could to find out! Other than that she had a great time playing with Mommy and Daddy and watching all the other kids play. We had a great time !

The Brodogg Duo

Zoe loves it when Daddy plays the guitar for her. As many of you know, he has been doing that since before she was born. Now she likes to strum herself and sing along as well...I hope she gets his musical talent!

Christmas Tree

Yay! We finally got our Xmas Tree!!!! (It was even on sale - can't beat that:) We put up our family ornament too (the one that has a snow family labeled Mommy, Daddy, Zoe 2008). Zoe loves the lights on the tree and likes to feel the prickly needles (she seemed very surprised after her first touch of the tree - she had never felt anything like that before!). It was so exciting buying her first Christmas presents! Buying for kids is way more fun than buying for adults. I'm sure she'll like playing with the wrapping paper and empty boxes more than her presents, but it's still fun getting everything ready for Xmas morning. We even got her a huge red fuzzy stocking that will hopefully be hers until she goes off to college (and yes, we are putting that expectation out there, so hopefully that's what she'll want to do!).

Playdate

Zoe hung out with her friend Crosby the other day and had a great time! She was actually there because Mommy was taking Croby's Christmas pictures (see second pic). Zoe was a doll, just hanging out in his very cool walker while the photo shoot was going on (luckily she couldn't roll over grass in the thing, so she stayed on the sidewalk and didn't roll down the street!). Afterwards, the babies played nicely while the mommies chit-chatted and had lunch. It was like an honest to goodness playdate! Crosby's mom even makes her own organic baby food (yeah, I felt very sub par!) and Zoe chowed down. We talked Mom talk and the kids just hung out together very nicely. Zoe was a little "let me kiss you boy!" and Crosby was a little "get the heck off me girl!", but other than that they seemed to have a good time. Crosby has lots of very cool toys and Zoe was in awe...I guess I'm finally going to have to invest in those electronic noisy toys that I've been avoiding becasue she loves them!

Dear Santa,

Zoe met Santa today for the first time. I'll let you see from the look on her face how she felt about it. She had the matching outfit and everything! Maybe next year she won't be completely traumatized by the man in the red suit - for his sake I hope not! Don't worry though, after Mommy and Daddy were back in the picture again for a few minutes, everything was Happy Holidays again!

Momma and The Girl

Almost 9 months!

Uncle Davey and his Peanut

Beautiful Day

Zoe, Momma, Gramma, and Papa John went to the beach today - it was 60 degrees and sunny! Zoe had a great time walking barefoot - she loved the different feeling of the sand in her toes and stomped around as long as she could! She loved watching the waves, and especially the people. We even saw dolphins! Daddy and Uncle Dave stayed back at the house and took advantage of the nice day and got some major yard work/landscaping done (thanks guys!).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Zoe's first Thanksgiving was a happy one! We had Zoe, Mommy, Daddy, Gramma, Papa John, and Uncle David. It's been awhile since we had a good amount of family together for a holiday and we like it- everyone chipped in! My grandmother told me years ago that I needed to start my own legacy, and I am going to be sure that it is one filled with family, love and happiness for my little girl! I loved having lots of family around every holiday growing up and I want Zoe to have those memories as well. The more , the merrier, so maybe one year we ALL can get together! (And by the way, Zoe joined in on the yummy food - she had mashed potatoes, squash, cooked apples, and even a sip of soy eggnog) Hope everyone had a great day!

My big Girl!

Zoe can sit in a high chair all by herself! What a big girl! (did you check out those tights??!!)

Art for the Masses

I got to show my photography at an Art Show this weekend! It was so inspiring! I hope some day I'll do lots of shows and Zoe will come and help me (and maybe show her art, as well!). It was great and took lots of help from the whole family (especially Uncle Davey- Thanks, you are the best!). Zoe came to visit me and everyone was so in love with her! Can't wait to do it again soon. I'm really hoping I'll get some family portrait jobs out of it as well - that's what I really love to do!

The Family in November

I love cute family moments!

Dear God,

We went to church today. Keith and I really haven't been to church since we were in school. He was raised Catholic and I was raised Protestant. Before we had Zoe, we knew our biggest focus would be teaching her to be a good person. For some reason this Sunday, though, I felt the urge to take her to church. So we went with Gramma to a nice little church on the beach. Gramma even snuck in a splash of Holy water on Zoe on the way out!

Book Shelf

Zoe has a new hobby. She loves to stand by the book shelf and one by one, take off every book and drop it on the floor. Sometimes she'll take a break and sit and look at one of them with me, but then will get right back up and get back to work. She's very particular about the ones she chooses too!

Day at the Mall with Daddy and Mommy

We took Zoe to the mall today. We went on the carousel for the first time. It was fun, though Keith and I both got really dizzy and Zoe looked a little concerned. We picked out our first "family" Christmas ornament and got it personalized (We are forever immortalized now as not Tracy and Keith, but as Mommy and Daddy! So exciting!). We had lunch and then walked around with Zoe on Daddy's shoulders taking in the views. She loved all the holiday decorations and kids running around. It was a really nice day. Can't wait to take her to see Santa!

Finger Food

I wish I could eat mashed potatoes with my hands!

Wake up Daddy!

Zoe likes to wake up Daddy in the morning. Once she sees where he is under the covers she will grunt until he smiles at her! They have this ritual that starts with playing with his cell phone (he opens it, she closes it, he opens it, she closes it....and on and on...). When she was less mobile, she would be propped up against his legs and they would talk about the painting on the wall that we got on our honeymoon. Now that she is able to stand, she likes to hold on to the bed rail and look at the painting. Zoe is the only person that can get Daddy smiling and ready to go immediately when he wakes up in the morning! The rest of us have to wait at least a few minutes before we get that morning sunshine smile!

Quality Fun

Zoe and Mommy have been spending real quality time together lately. We are always together anyway , but I usually have a million other things going on and even when we are home I am dragging her from one thing to the next. This past week was different - we have been playing together all morning after breakfast until nap time. Then for the rest of the day, most of it was spent playing, as well. We have played a lot over the past few months, but this week was different for some reason. I let Zoe lead the way and these are the things she really wanted to focus on, in no particular order:
standing up while holding on to the foot stool
standing up while holding onto the crib and working her way along the railings
standing up while holding onto the couch
standing up while holding onto my fingers
eating hangers
eating tags on everything
eating paper torn from magazines
grabbing at the art work in her room
grabbing at the locks on the doors
grabbing at my necklaces
grabbing the cats tails
biting fingers (whoever's were near her mouth)
biting noses
biting other things (think feeding time!ug!)
As you can see there are certain themes!
I hope we can keep up this quality Zoe time as I jump back into work and new endevours (from home still) ...hopefully I/we can manage it all!

Sleeping Beauty

There really is something completely peaceful about watching a baby sleep. Zoe's night sleep schedule is about from 630pm till 630am. Her nap sleep schedule is not very consistent, though. I might get a 45 min nap out of her in the morning and an hour or two in the afternoon if I'm lucky. And people wonder why I can't get much done in the course of the day! There definitely are no more "sleep when she sleeps" for me anymore. It's more like, run-around-like-a-crazy-person-doing-all-the-things-you-can-until-the -baby-wakes-up scenario. But I really am so glad to be able to stay home with her. I don't miss anything! I can't imagine dropping her off at daycare for 9 hours a day. I know some people have to do that and it must be so hard. I certainly like my hour or two in the week when i get a break, but I wouldn't trade my special time with Zoe for the world!

Rock the Vote!

Zoe and I voted today! Yay! Hopefully this next president, whoever it is, will be able to help this country and ALL of it's people get on track to the good life. I come from a long line of political involvement in my family and I plan to show Zoe that it DOES matter. Daddy has a different view because of the electoral college issues, but hopefully he will show Zoe that if you think something should be changed, you can work for it!

Uncle Davey!

Uncle Davey is here and is Zoe in love! She gets the biggest grin on her face when she sees him and just reaches out for him right away! I think the feeling is mutual...Uncle David seems to love her just as much right back and gets the same goofy grin on his face! It's so sweet!

Trick or Treat!

Zoe went Trick or Treating tonight with some neighbors. She was very excited to see the other children, but not very excited to wear her piggie hat. After a while, the hat became acceptable and it was just fun for her to watch the kids running around. It was past her bedtime and with no afternoon nap today, we made a short trip of it. We did our rounds of cuteness earlier today and visited Daddy at work in her costume - she was a hit! (of course!)

Don't tell Mommy

It's a conspiracy! Daddy and Gramma keep peer pressuring Momma into feeding Zoe "big girl" food! Ice cream, banana puffs (a weird toddler food), and now baby cookies! I'm officially out numbered. I am serious people - This baby WILL BE healthy! Well, at least mostly! Until she starts eating at other people's houses! At least let's stick to organic junk food....:)

Fashionista

Sometimes we get lucky and get to go to a Baby's-R-Us and pick out some really cute baby clothes! Thanks Papa John!

Family Visit

We had some unexpected guests yesterday! Auntie Edie, Cousin Patty, and her friend Sheila stopped by on their way back north. It was SO great to see them! With the exception of my wedding, I hadn't seen Aunt Edie (Zoe's great great aunt!) or Patty (my Mom's cousin) for about 15 years! The afternoon was like old times - easy conversations, funny stories, and the feel of love in the room. It was a great feeling! Times like these I realize how much I miss being around real family and how important that is for Zoe. There is nothing like family so we are going to make a better effort to stay close with the family that we have left!

Baby It's Cold Outside

We have to break out the winter gear, it 60 degrees! OK, maybe our blood has gotten a little thin these past few years, but the mornings are starting to get a chill. Granted the days are still 70-80, the evenings and mornings can be pretty cold! So that means bundling Zoe up for our morning walks and getting good use out of all the winter hats and sweaters that loving relatives have knitted for us and vests and jackets that friends have handed down. I won't hold my breathe for snow here...but maybe we'll get a New England Christmas sometime in the next few years!

Cheeky Monkey