Eight Months

Dear Zoey,

Pause. Pause, pause, pause! You are growing up so quickly, Love! You seem to think you're one of the big kids now and don't have any patience anymore for this whole babyhood thing that Mommy cherishes so much. I adore you, little bug! 

Eating: Exhibit A of your lack of patience with babyhood: You refuse to be spoon fed. REFUSE. Will not even open your mouth. Any pureed or mashed up food of any kind has absolutely no chance and ultimately just ends up being thrown away. I finally gave up and decided to give you table food. The same types of foods you'd been eating before... just in a completely solid form and not mashed up. I figured if you could eat the lasagna, brownies, and chips Lauren has been feeding you, eating small baby bites of a whole fruit or vegetable should be okay. And now... you love bananas! And avocados! You just wanted the whole banana, not the smashed stuff I'd been feeding you. 

Learning and Growing: For about a month now you've been army crawling all over the house! You got faster and more sure of yourself every day, and now just in the last few days you're up on your hands and knees! You can pull yourself to a stand using just about anything, and will take several steps while holding onto my hands. I think if we worked with you more on it, you'd be walking within the next couple weeks. I haven't pushed you to walk though. You will when you want to :)

 I love you, Zoey! I love watching you grow and learn new things! And I love when you decide you want to be a baby again, and fall asleep cuddling in my arms.

Love you always,
Mama 

9 Months

Dear Zoey,

Learning: This past month has been crazy in terms of how fast you are learning and changing. The month started with you crawling all over the place, and has ended with you practically walking. I say practically because you haven't realized you can do it yet. You'll walk (or even run, silly girl!) anywhere as long as you're holding on to someones hand with just one of your hands. And I've seen you take as much as two steps in a row! At that point you just stopped and then crouched down and continued on your way crawling. As though you realized crawling was so much faster right now and you didn't want to waste your time, lol. You're not just walking though, baby, you're CLIMBING things. You love to climb onto Lauren's bed and you think its especially funny if you can manage to climb onto the couch. You're so mischievous and have an adorable sense of humor. I think your giggle may just be one of my favorite things in the whole world. 

Your Favorites: The last few weeks you've discovered a new love: DANCING. You love it when I hold you and dance around, but you especially love to dance on your own. You'll bounce to the music or wave your arms and clap your hands. And of course your great love is still Teddy. It's more than just your eyes that light up when you see him- you get this huge smile and you stretch your arms out and give him the sweetest baby kisses and hugs- as though just his being there to play with you has made your whole day. 

TALKING: I love your words! You say Dada, Mama, and bye-bye! You love to wave at Daddy or I when we leave for work. And you've started signing too! You sign "all done" about 10 seconds after I put you into your high chair because you hate being contained in anything, lol. 

Teething: You have two adorable little teeth on the bottom! It was a long and painful process getting those two in, little bug, but you did it! YAY!! 

Eating: Once those teeth came in you became interested in eating again! Your favorites are scrambled eggs, spaghetti, peas, and green beans. And you're still completed uninterested in anything that has to be fed to you with a spoon. 

Sleeping: It's kind of amazing that you have the kind of energy you do with how little you sleep! You don't nap unless Lauren does- which is really hit or miss these days. And at night you wake up, well.... a lot. You're a very light sleeper and if Daddy so much as takes a deep breath or I roll over, you're up. Sorry, baby. 

I love you so much, Zoey! 

Love, Mama 

Love.

Just a little bit of lately, featuring my very favorite people!

This was taken moments before I turned around for 3 seconds and Lauren fed Zoey her first French fry- or 3 seconds before I realized I truly have no control whatsoever, sometimes L and Z just let me think I do. 

The first time Lauren let us push her on the swings :) 

One of my favorite smiles in the world. 

Bedtime stories and milk- my favorite part of the day (um, if no one is screaming, lol)

Hey sexy ;) 

Dear Lauren

Dear Lauren,

I love you, sweet girl. You are incredible, and you amaze me every day. You are one of the most loving and sweet people I know. You are such a wonderful sister. I love your creativity and your adventurous heart. I love your silliness. I love your independence and your cuddles. I love how much you love your teddy bear and your blankie. I love your curiosity and intelligence. I love how you love to do science, play dress up, run outside, hug trees, paint your nails, learn, and bake cookies.  I love that you're mine.  I am so lucky that I get to be your mommy!

I love you, Lauren!

Love,
Mommy

Seven Months

Zoey,

I never understood how quickly time goes until I became a mother. You change every day! I love everything you've been, and every new thing I learn about you. It's just so hard to believe how much can change in such a short time. You're seven months old now, baby! Here is a little bit about wonderful, 7 month old you: 

Learning, Growing, Playing: Um, oh my goodness are you mobile. Not just mobile, but FAST. You army crawl all over the house. You'll be playing on the floor in the living room, I'll turn around for a second, turn back, and you're down the hall crawling into another room.  You can easily get onto your hands and knees (or hands and feet occassionally), and crawl a few inches that way, but the army crawl is so much faster so you usually opt for that instead. Your fine motor skills are improving daily, which means I'm vaccuuming about ten times a day because you're trying to pick up teeny tiny little specks on the carpet and eat them. You're constantly exploring and I love seeing this little adventurous side of you coming out. Sitting up is not even a big thing for you anymore, you're on to trying to stand! You can pull yourself to a kneeling position using the slats of your crib or someones leg or the  couch or something. And when holding someone's hands you'll even take several steps!! 

Eating: You're starting to (kinda) like food (I think)! You don't make faces at me anymore and you even smile while you're eating sometimes! Faves so far are definitely avocados! You don't hate bananas anymore and you'll tolerate oatmeal, apples, and sweet potatos! 

Communication: You've said your first word!!! Your first word was Dada! And yes, you really meant Dada and it was not just babbling. When Daddy walks in the room you're suddenly, "Dada! Dada! Dada!" You did say Mama a few times a couple weeks ago too, but you haven't said it again yet so I'm not sure if it counts yet, lol. We've started signing to you, and I think you're starting to associate the sign "more" with its meaning. So proud of you, my love! 

Likes and Dislikes: You love cuddling, toys, exploring the house, and being outside. You do NOT love having things taken away from you. Sometimes your sister takes your toy or Daddy and I have to take away something you found during your exploration of the house, and oh my goodness do you get mad. 

Sleeping: Still a work in progress. I have hope that things are improving a little. Daddy and I FINALLY figured out you prefer complete and total silence while you're sleeping. We always had some kind of white noise or soft music playing, and you were waking up hourly some nights. I would try singing to your or humming and shhhhing and none of it ever worked. Finally we realized, you just want it to be quiet :) You still get up about 2 times every night, but it's better than it was! I love rocking you to sleep at night. Cuddling with my Zoey is one of my very favorite things. There have been a few nights though that you have been such a grown up girl and fallen asleep in your crib on your own!  

I love you, Zoey Bug!! 

Six Month Photo Shoot

All pictures by my amazing sister Emily!

Six Months Old!

Happy 1/2 birthday, Zoey! You're 6 months old! Seriously, where did the last six months go? This is just crazy how fast you're growing up! You are the sweetest, happiest, cuddliest baby ever and I adore every second of being your mommy!

Sleeping: We're working on it, and no two nights are ever the same. Sometimes you'll wake up only once, other times you're up at least once an hour. I know why you're waking up so often, but that doesn't help with finding a solution to help you sleep in the slightest.... you wake up because you are extremely mobile! You move around in your sleep a LOT. Sometimes rolling over wakes you up and scares you (like on nights when you're up once or twice an hour), other nights I listen to you roll around in your crib for a couple of minutes before you get upset- these are the times I generally find you stuck in a corner of your crib.  Napping doesn't usually happen because you like it at least kind of quiet and dark while you sleep, and as hard as I try it's kind of impossible to keep our house quiet during the day. Lauren wakes you up every time. I suppose you get her back every morning when you wake her up as well, lol. But you will sleep wonderfully in the car, so occasionally I purposefully plan errands and car trips for right when I know you'll be tired so that you can get your nap!

Lauren wanted to help and handed you your bowl of oatmeal.
OATMEAL. EVERYWHERE. 

Eating: You've started eating solid foods! You're still a little undecided I think about how you feel about that. You have one solid food every day, and you always eat while we have dinner together. You love that part! You love getting to sit in your high chair and eat like everybody else does! You don't always love what you're eating, at least so far. The very first thing you had was bananas, and you were not a fan. Then was oatmeal + bananas, and you didn't seem to hate that as much. Apples you're a little indifferent to so far. And while you still didn't seem very excited about it, I suppose we could say your "favorite" so far has been sweet potatoes!

Teething: Thankfully your little teeth seem to have given you a break for a moment. The drooling and discomfort seems to have backed way off the last couple of weeks. Still no teeth yet!

Learning, Growing, Playing: Oh my goodness! You are one advanced little girl! Even a week ago I was calling you "unintentionally mobile" in that you roll all over the place, you just aren't doing it to get anywhere intentionally. That is no longer true. You put several rolls together today to get to Daddy. You roll all over the place in your bed and seem to love to be on your tummy now because you can push yourself up on your hands and look around. You can sit up for as long as you want to, and even go from a sitting up to a laying down on your tummy position without difficulty. There was one night you had been sleeping and we heard you get fussy after much rolling, and found you sitting up in your crib! So although we haven't seen it happen and have no idea how you did it, we know you can get yourself to a sitting position all on your own! So grown up! Your favorite toys are ones that light up or make loud noises when you shake them.

Random things: You are my little Mama's Girl and I love it sooooooo much!

What did I start?

About two weeks ago this horrible stomach bug went through Lauren, me, and Robbie. It. Was. Awful. None of us had any energy, so we spent several days doing this:

Lots of Sesame Street and Pedialyte. But thankfully my silly, fun-loving Lauren bounced back pretty quickly! The funniest thing is now, even a couple weeks later, if Lauren asks to watch TV and we need to do something else, the conversation goes like this:

Lauren: Elmo!!
Me: No honey, we're doing [insert whatever activity, chore, errand] right now.
Lauren: *with sad puppy eyes and rubbing her tummy* "Sick."
- She then runs and jumps up on the couch, lays down, and says "Sick. Elmo."

Great, my two year old is making up symptoms in an effort to watch TV. What have I done? lol

5 Months Old

Dear Zoey,

You're 5 months old, little love! I know I sound like a broken record, but you're growing and changing so quickly, it's hard to believe sometimes. Some of the things you're doing are quite honestly amazing. I love watching your personality come out more and more as you grow into yourself. You're starting to discover yourself and your world and it is so much fun to see. I love every moment of being your mom!

Sleeping: You are still a wonderful little sleeper, sleeping 10-12 hours every night. Just this past weekend you started sleeping in your crib! You had been sleeping in this little sleeper next to our bed, but you've outgrown that so we made the big move to the crib! I initially had planned to have you sleep in bed with me and Daddy, but honestly you seem to sleep better on your own, my little independent girl. Even sleeping in my arms you get a little fussy and want more space after a little while. Your first night in your crib was shocking to me. Daddy laid you down and you slept for the next 10 hours. You didn't seem to have any concerns about the adjustment at all. Since that night, however, you've been trying to get used to all the space and I think you're still a little uncomfortable with it. I've watched you sleep and you'll start to wake up just a little and suddenly throw your little arms out to the side and get so upset. I think you're just not feeling completely secure with it yet. I immediately pick you up and you instantly calm down and fall right back to sleep. I think sometimes you just need to know that we're there. Once you do, you sleep great! 

Teething: I'm sorry sweetheart. I know teething is hard. You're still working on that first tooth. No teeth yet, but I can tell from all your baby drool and how much you chew on your hands, toes, toys, etc, that they are definitely on their way! 

Learning and Playing: Watching you discover the world and learn new things about yourself is so much fun. You can sit up on your own now! It lasts about 30 seconds and then you kind of tip over, but you're doing it! You can completely support your own weight, and love to stand just holding onto someone's fingers or your exersaucer for balance. Although with the exersaucer you tend to get a little excited and try to let go to grab the toys, which makes you then fall over :( But you're doing it! Seriously watching you stand on your own with your exersaucer is both amazing and terrifying to me. Amazing because I'm so proud of you and love to watch you learn, and terrifying because this growing up thing is happening a little too fast for me. You love to touch people's faces and will grab my face with both hands and give your sweet little baby kisses. Another big girl thing you're doing now is taking baths in the big tub! You've officially graduated from baths in the sink and you think it's about the funnest thing ever. You love to splash and kick and I love seeing you so excited. 

Favorites: Lauren continues to be your favorite person in the world, and you're her favorite person too! You love to play together. She'll grab your hands and you'll "dance" together and you both love it so much. I love how happy you make each other. Favorite toys are still your blue elephant, your teddy bear, your TOES, and pretty much anything else you can chew on. 

I love you so much, Zoey! 

We Heart the Park :)

Earlier this week we had a brief window of wonderful weather! The second the temperature was just high enough that I felt comfortable taking Zoey outside, we got in the car and headed for our favorite park! I love going to the park just the four of us. It makes my heart so happy to see Lauren having so much fun. It has been a long winter cooped up inside, and this girl was so excited to run and climb and swing! Her little adventurous heart just needs to get out and run and be free sometimes :) And this was officially Zoey's very first outing in public. Having babies in the fall, I am super protective of them all winter long. But anyway, Zoey was so excited to be outside in the Baby Bjorn carrier with Mommy, just taking it all in :) 

4 Months Old

Dear Zoey,

Hello, my love! Another month has flown by and you are now four months old. I love things about every baby stage, but I have to say I LOVE the stage you're in right now. You are so loving, sweet, and happy! Your beautiful little personality is already so strong. You have very clear likes and dislikes and favorite things. You're so happy just to talk to me or play with your toes. And I can still soak up hours and hours of precious Zoey cuddles. Love. This. Stage!

Sleeping: I want to do some kind of celebratory dance! You sleep, on average, 10-12 hours every night. Occasionally you wake up once during the night for a bottle and cuddles, but that's the exception. And then you're right back to sleep. I think we're going to start transitioning you out of the sleeper you've been in and probably into bed with me and Daddy soon. You sleep great in it, but you're growing so quickly and I know the day is fast approaching that you'll have outgrown it.

Playing: You love to play! You LOVE toys! You love playing in your little baby exersaucer and you really do play with the toys on it. You also love to play on your baby play mat with the toys that go overhead. Your blue elephant is still #1 though! I love how your whole face lights up when you see it. It goes with us everywhere because goodness does it make you happy.

Learning and Growing: You amaze me, little bug! You're ALMOST sitting up on your own. You can do it if you're just holding on to my finger with one hand. If I let go you stay upright for a few seconds before tipping over in any direction. You've been rolling over for awhile now, and don't quite hate tummy time as much as you used to. You LOVE to talk and we can just sit there and talk to each other forever. As far as growing, you have a doctor appointment next week and we'll see just how big you've gotten!

Favorites: Your favorite person in the whole world is Lauren! You love it when she talks to you or when you play together. You both seem so excited that you're starting to do more things together now. You took a bath together the other day and you and Lauren both loved it. And we've started having family story time before bedtime lately. You and Lauren both get ready for bed, and then you both lay down in Lauren's bed and Daddy and I each read you a story. It's so sweet to watch you hold hands and lay next to each other while we read. It's my very favorite part of the day. We've had days where all you want is to watch Lauren be silly and she loves to entertain you. You watch her and giggle and laugh and it makes my heart so happy. And on those days, boy are you mad when Lauren takes a nap, lol. Another favorite of yours is still the Baby Bjorn baby carrier. You get to be close to me and go everywhere I go and you love it :) We took your first trip to the park the other day (the weather was nice and we just HAD to get out of the house!) I kept you in the baby carrier and you loved it!

Teething: Teething is rough. I know there's no avoiding it and it's something every baby has to go through, but it sucks and I feel so bad. We give you tylenol if we can tell you're hurting. Teething toys or chewing on your hands or toes seems to help quite a bit though too :) Still no teeth, but when you chomp down on my hand I can feel how hard your gums are so I know we're getting closer!

I love you so much, Zoey. You are so wonderful! It is such a blessing to be your mommy!