Baby Girls and Bows

So Aunt Mandy has been after me to put a bow in my little girls hair. "She needs a bow in hair."

Well, she has a bow, now what? Will you stay in Tallahassee and not leave us?

Goodbye Aunt Mandy

My friend Amanda from work has decided to leave us for South Florida. Amanda is one of the most awesome people I know and has been a great shoulder for me to lean on in the last few months.

Tonight was her going away party for Homes.com at Ray's Steel City Saloon. Emily (Wendy's daughter) really wanted to hold Zoe, but as you can see Zoe proved to be a little too much to hold on to.

Zoe did great and fell asleep at the party. She was the center of attention the whole time that she was there (which she just adores).

Night Night Sweetheart

Zoe has a really good nightime routine. She is afraid of the dark so my mother got her a seahorse that plays music and the tummy lights up. She knows that bedtime is coming when the seahorse comes out.

6:00 PM - Mommy and Zoe arrive home after a long day away
6:30 PM - Mommy goes in the kitchen to cook dinner, Zoe goes in the high
chair and Daddy gives her cereal
7:00 PM - Zoe sits in the bouncy chair while Mommy and Daddy eat
7:30 PM - Bathtime!
7:50 PM - Nursing and a Book (Daddy leaves for work)
8:00 PM - Sound asleep

I lay her in the playpen in the living room and do chores or crochet until 11:00 PM. Then she wakes up and I take her into bed with me. She sleeps with me until Thomas comes home from work and then I get up (she is usually still asleep) and take my shower and do what I have to (pack the diaper bag, wash bottles, get the wipes and a clean diaper ready, pick out her outfit, etc., etc.) in the morning before I wake her up.

Time for a New Tub

I think that Zoe might be getting a little too big for her bathtub, time for more shopping. Let me know if you have seen any cool new bath gadgets

A New Toy

I received an Exersaucer at the baby shower from Hunter and Alfonso but Zoe has been too small for it, so it has been stored away waiting for the day that she would be old enough and big enough to play. Today I pulled it out and assembled it so that Zoe could take it for a test drive. I am pretty sure she likes it, what do you think?

This is My Foot!

Zoe has now started to realize what the camera is and smiles when I pull it out. She also wants to hold it herself. She really likes when I review the pictures and she sees the pictures of the baby. She is such a big girl!

She and I went shopping with Jolene and Alex today. She did so well, just wide-eyed and curious in all the stores and of course all of the clerks had to remark about the "pretty baby".

4 Month Appointment and Shots

Zoe had another round of shots today. She got a little feverish from them but that's normal. She slept for a huge chunk of the day so I am sure we will have an early start tomorrow morning.

Other notable things from the appointment: she is now 15 pounds, 25 inches long and doing everything that a 4 month old is supposed to do (she's perfect!). She can now really start the solid foods, we will keep with the rice cereal next week and then we will head to the apples! Yummy!

4 Months Old!

Zoe is 4 months old today. She has her 4 month checkup tomorrow (more shots). I will get her weight and length then.

Joy!

This picture was just the picture of joy so I thought I would share it.

Fun in the Kitchen with Mommy

I decided to bake a Coca Cola Cake for Wendy while I was cooking dinner tonight so we put Zoe in her high chair so that she could hang out with me. If you have never heard of Coca Cola cake or think you might like to try one you can get the recipe here. She was making so much noise with her raspberries and squeals that Thomas decided to shoot a little video. She is getting really talented, isn't she? She was sopping wet by the end of it, good thing that Sundays are bath nights!

First Solid Food

Zoe has been so interested in what we have been eating and mimicking us chewing lately, we decided to give her her first taste of cereal. She got antsy pretty quickly, apparently eating by spoon is not as fast as she likes it but she ate all of it before deciding that she wanted to nurse.

Raspberries, Squeals and Reaching for Mommy

Zoe has all new tricks this week. She has started doing raspberries on command, so if you do it to her, she responds back. It started with spitting but now it is a true raspberry:"Phhhhbbbttt".

She also has all of these new squeals for anger and happiness. They are extremely high pitched and loud but the happy ones are very cute. The angry ones are frustrating because she straightens her whole body and becomes very rigid.

She has also started reaching for me when she wants out of the playpen or high chair. She is getting to be such a big girl now.

Our Crazy Weekend

This weekend was crazy and hectic for the Bush family. First we went to Jolene's house to get Alex's old high chair so that Zoe can keep me company when I cook and clean. She has bouncy seats and swings but they are all right down on the floor and don't move very well. This way she will be able to see me better and it has wheels so she can be moved out of the way pretty easily.

The Hoffler family came to town for a visit and to celebrate Melissa's 30th birthday. Her mom made an awesome seafood boil with new potatoes (Thomas's favorite) corn on the cob (my favorite) and lots of shrimp and sausage.

At church on Sunday we had a huge barbecue and people brought in all kinds of yummy food. We made a crab and pasta salad that got all eaten up.

When I had to come to work for about 5 hours, she and Thomas trolled the mall for a couple of hours and then they came back up to the office where Thomas fell asleep on the floor.

Zoe was great all weekend. Happy and smiley around all of the strangers. She is such a good baby. She is getting so headstrong and independent, she pulls her own pacifier out of her mouth and puts it in when she wants it there. I wonder if this independent streak is going to be one of her traits.

I'll keep you all updated...