Let's Play Squash

One of Zoe's favorite foods is squash. She apparently likes to play in it too. She gets angry when I try to get her picture while she is eating, but doesn't every girl feel that way?

Zoe's First Friend

Zoe has her first friend. He is 10 days older than her and a whooping 7 pounds heavier than her. His name is Tyler and they hang out at daycare together all day.

Babies and Boxes

I am not sure why babies loves boxes so much. She discovered this box last night and kept trying to pull herself into it. I decided to just let her try it out this morning while I was getting us ready to leave for the day. I think she really likes it. She blows raspberries the whole time she is in there.

Rainy Day Sunday

I had planned to go to the pool today for Zoe's first visit, but it was so gross outside that I didn't dare venture. So we took a nice long nap together and then got up and played for a long time on the floor. Zoe got some cool new toys from Lucy this weekend and was more than content to sit amongst her booty and touch and drool on everything. Zoe never even missed the pool, c'est la vie, maybe next weekend.

Friday Night Fun

In an attempt to get some really pretty pictures of Zoe, I got out some fabric, the Boppy pillow, one of her cute summer dresses, and some imagination. They didn't come out as well as I had planned, but I think I may have gotten some even better ideas for next time.

The pictures I got turned out great, until the whole thing turned into a father daughter wrestling match!

Six Months Old

Zoe is 6 months old today. She can use a sippy cup, hold her own bottle, blow raspberries and entertain me for hours. I love her so much. I can't believe it has already been a half of a year. She is 183 days old today.

A Homemade Father's Day

It's no secret that things get a little tight when a new baby enters the picture, so I wanted to make Thomas's first Father's Day special without breaking our bank. I opted to have a homemade holiday.

My first idea was to have Wendy help me make t-shirts for my family. Zoe's shirt says "Daddy's Zoe" and his shirt says "Zoe's Daddy", we also made one for Thomas's father that says "Zoe's Grand Daddy".

My second idea was to make pajama bottoms for him with my sewing machine that he got me a few years ago. Things have been so hectic since we moved and I got pregnant that I have gotten a bit rusty. I had bought several yards of this fabric when I was pregnant with Zoe thinking that I would use it to make curtains for her room. I ended up using a different fabric for that though which left me with about four yards of this fabric just waiting for my brain to come up with an idea.

I worked on this for several days last week while Zoe was learning how to sleep in her own bed, but I just got more and more frustrated. Finally, I asked my favorite Sewing Mamas (Wendy and Shelly) for their opinions. I tried their advice and, remarkably, it worked, just in time for Father's Day! Once I got done with his pants, I realized that Zoe needed a pair of her own as well.

They both wore them to church today and the pastor had Thomas stand on a chair while holding Zoe so that everyone could see what he had gotten for Father's Day.

After church Thomas went to work and I prepared a feast of beef ribs (cooked at 250 degrees for 7 hours), crab legs, baked potato and baked beans. Thomas was delighted to come home to the smells of his favorite foods in the world.

Friday the Thriteenth

It was not that bad of a day actually, Erica, our daycare provider had the day off so I took the day as well to stay home with the munchkin. I finished off the rest of the project that I have been working on for Father's Day (more on that later) while Zoe took her morning nap.

Zoe had her 6 months checkup and shots yesterday afternoon. She now weighs 16 pounds, 5 ounces and is a whopping 27 inches long. She is perfect and right on target for her age. She can start having the gross jarred meat purree, if we want to give it to her (maybe not, who knows) and all of the stage 2 food. (Hooray!) No teeth yet, Dr. Jones said he will be surprised if she has them at the 9 month appointment. She is growing well, he says.

After that Zoe and I went to the store to pic up some groceries and got caught in a really bad rainstorm, I got soaked and, remarkably, she stayed pretty dry. When we got home she took her afternoon nap and I feeling rather creative, made her this night gown. It has several imperfections, but it fits and I think it is not half bad for something that I just imagined. (No patterns here.)

A New Attitude

And the shirt says it all. I have spoiled our baby. Not sure how or when, but if she does not get her way, she will throw the world's worst temper tantrum complete with flailing the legs and shaking her fists. I am going to be walking the world with a six year old balanced on my hip if I am not careful.

Sleeping in One's Own Bed

Zoe has reached the stage of her life that she needs to sleep in her own bed. I need to get some sleep at night and she likes to play for extended portions of the night when she is sleeping with me. Last night was her first night in her own room in her own bed. Here is how the night played out.

7:45 PM - Time for a bath. Zoe loves the bath and likes to splash and play in there.
8:00 PM - Into the rocker for some loving time with mommy. I read her a book and then nursed her.
8:28 PM - I laid her down in her bed, kissed her goodnight and turned on her monitor. It plays soft music and projects the moon and stars on the ceiling. I turned off all of the lights and closed the bedroom door almost all the way.

8:33 PM - The monitor has stopped playing music and the projector is no longer running. Now the screaming begins.
8:50 PM - The screaming has stopped, there is no sound. Is she okay? Should I go in there? I decide to stay grounded and wait.
8:56 PM - I can take it no longer and I rush in to make sure it is all okay. I snap a picture of my soundly sleeping baby and leave the room.

11:05 PM - I climb into bed as quietly as I can and pull the covers up over me.
11:06 PM - The screaming begins. I nurse her, lay her back down in her crib, and turn on the monitor again. She coos happily while the moon and stars dance across her ceiling, and then begins to cry again 5 minutes later when the monitor shuts off. I lay in my bed sobbing for the next fifteen minutes, knowing that I am the world's worst mother and I will never get the hang of this. Finally, she and I both cry ourselves to sleep.

5:30 AM - The alarm clock goes off signaling that it is time for us to start all over again. She woke up happy this morning.

North Carolina Trip

We headed north to North Carolina this weekend for Cousin Corey's wedding. It was a good weekend, but very very hot. At least they don't have the humidity that we have down here or we would have fried. The wedding was quite beautiful and it was a great chance for Zoe to meet all of the extended family that she hasn't met yet. Our girl does not like being confined for all that way though so there was some whining and our normal distractions did not work, although "Itsy Bitsy Spider" has turned into an all time favorite to get us through the grumpy pieces of the day.

Our Witching Hour

Does this look like sleep? The time stamp says that it is 12:48 AM. We stayed up for 3 more hours. Happy day.

Our Dedication

We believe that a child should not be baptized until they understand what it is to accept Jesus into their lives. Additionally, there is no account in the bible of a baby being baptized. That being said, our church offers baby dedications, where we dedicate ourselves to raising our child to be an authentic, follower of Christ in public as well as at home. By dedicating ourselves to her publicly, we are also asking our church community to rally behind us in support of raising our child in this way. Thomas and I believe that it takes a village to raise a child and we appreciate all of the help we get.

Grandma and I took Zoe shopping this weekend to get her some outfits for her dedication, Corey's wedding and our upcoming trip. Zoe was in a great mood all day and Grandma and I wore ourselves out at the mall.