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!