Licking the Wind

Whenever Zoe cries now, we usually can get her to stop by letting the wind blow on her face. It worked at the beach today. It also works in the car- I just roll the windows down, let the wind blow in her hair, and she calms right down. By the way, this is one of my favorite outfits on her!

Birth Mark

This is Gramma feeding Zoe at the beach today. Her little heart birth mark matches her hat! The doctor says it's the kind that will get bigger till she's about 4 and then go away. It just gives us more of her to love right now!

Baby girl

Sometimes she's just cute and I don't need a reason to take a picture!

Doggie Daycare

The dogs have been pretty good about Zoe. Our mellow girl Maggie just likes to look at her and lays outside the nursery whenever I am feeding Zoe. We often need to sheild Zoe from Boston's (the big rambunctious dog) huge wagging tail as he runs past her when she's in the swing or sitting in her little rocking chair. He also likes to lick her feet and smell her diaper...I guess those things are harmless enough - though kind of weird! The first time we brought Zoe home and she cried, Boston would bark and Maggie would whine, but they soon got used to it. Overall, they really don't pay that much attention to her, though I think the dogs know she is special. When she was only a few weeks old, she was sleeping in her bassinet and everyone else was in the living room. We heard a really weird cry and I ran to the room. The dogs ran with me and we found Zoe literally choking on her spit up. We were all very freaked out so it took a while for us to realize that the animals knew right away that something was wrong - before we did. The had heard her cry a million times and never cared until that moment when she needed help. It's nice to know we've got some extra help in the baby protection department!

Little Dolly

I love all the cute dresses they have for little girls. I'm so excited that they have bright colors to choose now, and not just pastel pink. Though, she does look awfully cute in pink , too! The shoes are actually socks that look like shoes - my absolute favorite baby accessory!

Sittin' Pretty

Zoe is really loving sitting and is learning to hold herself upright. She can do it if we hold her hands and let her pull herself up. Sometimes she'll just sit in a lap and look around for a long time. She loves it!

Daddy's 1st Bath

Daddy gave a bath to Zoe tonight all by himself (well, almost:) for the first time. Of course Zoe loved it! Keith has the "fun daddy time" down, now it's great to have him help out more with the "caretaking" part of babyhood - it's a nice break for Momma and Zoe gets special time in the process!

Chew toys

Zoe has begun trying to put everything in her mouth. She doesn't have the fine motor skills yet to actually hold on to anything for any length of time, but if she can grab it, it goes straight to the mouth! I guess I better start getting over my germaphobia.....

12 weeks

Zoe is 12 weeks old now! I say that equals three months, but Keith says that would only be 28 days and therefore actually only three februarys, not three full months. Whatever - you decide:)
All I know is my baby is growing up!

Fingers

Zoe finally can manage to get her hand to her mouth, keep it there, and suck, all at the same time! She has been working on that for three months now and finally has it down. She sucks so loud you can actually hear her across the house...Maybe this means that she'll figure out the pacifier next?

Beach Day

After surviving the craziness of finding parking at the beach on Memorial Day Weekend, we finally got to set up camp and relax. Zoe loved the breeze on her face and sat in everybody's lap looking around. We managed to change her diaper, feed her, and entertain her throughout even without losing her in a sandcastle:). We scoped out the other families' cool baby gear and figured out what we'll need (and not need) for the next trip. Soon enough we'll be professional beach bums again!

Zoe at the beach

So far this has been Zoe at all of her beach visits...ZZZZZZZZ! We'll try again tomorrow and see if she'll join us in the fun!

Papa John and Zoe

Papa John came down for the weekend and is getting to spend some quality time with Zoe! They play early in the morning, chit chat through the arts and crafts show, and hang out at the beach. He's even babysitting tonight - though he didn't take that babysitting class yet that I require of all my sitters:). Zoe loves her some Papa John and the feeling is obviously mutual!

Trouble's a brewin'...

They both look like they are up to something...hmmm....I have a feeling I'll be seeing those looks a lot in the future....

Tiny Toes

Such cute little piggies!

Momma and Baby

I love the snuggle time I get when Zoe just is waking up from a nap!

Outside with Daddy

Sleepy time

Zoe is kind of getting a sleeping schedule. Though I sincerely hesitate to say that because as soon as I do I'm sure it will change...
She goes to bed between 8-9pm and sleeps until 12 or 1am. She usually sleeps again until 530am, then till 630-7, and sometimes if I'm lucky, again till 8-9. Her daytime nap schedule is random because for some reason during the day she is a very light sleeper. And of course I never get a nap because I'm running around trying to get stuff done or not being able to even take a cat nap because I keep thinking she will wake up any second:)
Oh - and yes, Momma got a major haircut - don't ask:( ! At least Zoe doesn't seem to care!

Theo and Zoe

Theo's mom has been trying to arrange a marriage for these two before Zoe was born! When I told her what names we were considering when I was pregnant, she was pairing them with Theo's last name to make sure they sounded OK together:) Who knows - Keith says we'll have to see what kind of dowry Theo has when he gets older - I had to explain to him it's the girl that's supposed to have the dowry. Poor Zoe - her "dowry" is looking pretty pathetic...do they have dowry scholarships these days??!!

Saving the world, one diaper at a time!

Zoe is trying out cloth diapers. Since each baby that wears disposable diapers adds one ton of trash to the landfills in their babyhood (not to mention the toxic chemicals in the absorbant parts), I decided to try to use cloth diapers on Zoe. It will also save us about $2,000 which is nice. We'll give it a good try - the cloth diapers out these days aren't like the old ones - they are easy, velcro, and cute! Wish us luck!

Photo girl

I made a collage of pics of Zoe and she was smiling away at them. So funny! Guess she thinks she's as cute as we think she is!

Outdoor girl

Zoe loves being outside! She loves to have the sun on her face and the wind in her hair like in this pic. It's so cute when the wind blows - she squints her eyes and sticks out her tongue like she is trying to taste the air. Today we went to the park to meet up with a Mommy's group. All the other Mom's had toddlers - very snotty toddlers at that!:), and they were all very nice. Zoe hung out and looked around while I chatted. It was pretty windy and she just loved it!

So strong

Zoe is practicing her "tummy time". Each day her head gets higher and higher for longer periods of time. Though she doesn't love it because it's hard for her. She rolled over a few times accidentally and seemed very surprised and delighted when it happened:). Don't we all!

Happy Mother's Day!

My first mother's day - wow! It's a really big deal to me - not because of what Hallmark has made it, but because of what it means to me. It was just me and Zoe all day....very mellow. She even got me a card:) Here's to the years when she can make me her own card all by herself! Can't wait to see what she'll be like...

Zoe's new friend

This is a pic from a visit last week when we met Crosby. Crosby was born about a month after Zoe and is a sweetie. Me, Zoe, Crosby, and his Mom went to lunch today. It was so nice to hang with another mom and talk about baby things,... and husband things,... and family things,... and friend things, etc. Yes, there was a lot of talking - so much so the waitress practically dragged us to our cars two hours later! It was so nice. And the best part was that Zoe was awake for almost the whole time and was fine! She ate, looked around, smiled at everyone, and just sat in my lap like she was an old pro at all of it! This was the first time during an outing she didn't just cry or sleep the whole time. Yay to the blooming social butterfly!

Breastfeeding

So this was the first time I breastfed in public. It was not planned and there were a thousand people all around and nowhere to hide. But apparently Zoe didn't care. For those of you who don't know, I chose to breast feed Zoe because of the amazing health benefits for her. At first it was hard figuring it out, but we've got it down - AT HOME. Out in public is rough. But I'm going to do it. I know there are people that will stare and be disgusted and unfortunately that makes me feel uncomfortable. But it is a completely natural thing to do - something we are supposed to do - and the "public" really should get over it. The first time was kind of a comedy of errors though:)
The lady on the bench wouldn't go away or stop talking to me, there was a creepy guy staring at me, Keith and Holly had to take turns holding up the blanket so I wouldn't expose myself, Zoe wouldn't stop squirming, my nose was itching, and on and on! But we survived and each time I try makes it easier. Do me a favor though, the next time you see someone breastfeeding just give them a supportive smile and keep walking. Know that they are doing the best for their baby!

Baby Mohawk

I guess she didn't like her new hairstyle!

Baby's first jeans

I originally took this picture to get her cuteness in jeans, but I got a great surprise with this killer smile!

Tired Daddy

Poor Keith has been busting his you know what with the school and work thing, but he survived! Just had two finals this week and is finally done for the semester. He did great (of course) and has to start all over again in a week for summer classes. We are so proud and thankful for all his hard work! And Zoe doesn't mind at all when he naps with her!

Compare me to March 5th!

This is Zoe at two months old. If you go to the entry of March 5th, you can see her in the same chair at 4 days old. What a difference! She is getting so big - already over 9 pounds. At day 4 she was only 5 pounds! She's starting to look like an honest to goodness baby!

@#&* Batteries!

So for all you digital people out there - RECHARGABLE BATTERIES DON'T WORK FOR LONG TERM DIGITAL CAMERA USE! I thought we were being so economical and earth friendly by getting rechargable batteries for our camera (and everything else in the house), but they only work in our camera for a short amount of time. Can't tell you how many kodak moments I've missed in the past two weeks because the camera went dead and I had to wait for the next batch of batteries to charge up. So from now on only lithium batteries for this camera dependent family! I'll get some today so there should be some new posts soon! (Don't worry - we'll still using the rechargable batteries for the rest of the house!)

Like mother, like daughter

Is it me or do we have the exact same expression?