Christmas Time 2012

We went to your daddy's family this year for Christmas. ( We had Christmas with my side already... on Thanksgiving Break.) We also experienced your very first Snow Blizzard! While staying at your Nana and Papaw Latimer's, we got 10 inches of snow! You weren't sure what it was, but we sat you out in it for a little bit... in a warm blanket and basket. ;) You enjoyed seeing all of your cousins, too. Right before we came, you had your nine month check-up. You are 21 pounds and 27.5 inches tall. You still pull up on everything, sleep good (most of the time), and eat great. You crawl and follow me everywhere... you know your momma! You also high five daddy... it's cute. Here this week, you let go of things and stood there. You sat down when I gasped! You will be walking soon I believe! You haven't had the best of luck sleeping at a new place, but we are thinking it's partly because you are teething again, and we think you might have the second one coming in soon. Poor thing! It just stinks! Anyway, you had a great visit to Santa earlier this month, enjoyed your Christmas family time, and are blessed to have such great family on both sides. God has been good to us. We are lucky to have you, and are thankful for our families as well. Love you Punkin!

Thanksgiving/Christmas with the Henry Family

Here are a few pictures of your First Thanksgiving/ Christmas with your "Henry" grandparents, cousins, and great grands. ( My side of the family...)  You loved seeing them all, riding the swing and train at the park, and enjoying all of the noise from your cousins! We are going to your dad's side of the family for Christmas this year. We take turns, but no one wants to miss out on seeing you, so we took the chance to have "Christmas" with your mims and papa on Thanksgiving visit.

8 months!

I'm a little late getting this 8 month post up.. I will probably be posting the 9 month soon, too! Wow, how time has flown by! In the past while, we have had a lot happen. We had Zoe's baby dedication at church, Thanksgiving travels, and a lot of fun times with family!

For her baby dedication, we were able to join with other families at our church to celebrate the promise that we will raise our children in Christian homes to know who God is. We prayed for Zoe that we could be good examples as parents to her, and hope that she knows and follows Jesus. It was a sweet day, especially since most of our family was able to come up.

We also took Zoe on her first road trip to Texas! It was Chris' cousin Katy's wedding! We had a great time, and Zoe did a fabulous job on the road!

Then, along came Thanksgiving break. We ended up going to Ft. Smith to stay with my family. We were able to visit with my brother and his family, which we haven't seen since Zoe was born. It was so fun, but sad because she really warmed up to everything the day we all left! :( But, I am hopeful that it won't be so long until the next visit. We went ahead and did our Christmas celebrating then too... so, we had a lot to be Thankful for. It was just nice to have all of my family together, and all of our kids. It was a special time for me, and I know Zoe will have fun looking at all the goofy pictures someday!

Zoe, here are all of the fun things you are doing now...

- Still crawling.. but now it's like turbo baby crawling! You are fast!
-You are pulling up, and even letting go for a few seconds. You just stand there a bit before you fall.
-You love to stand up and go back and forth on the ottoman. I guess this is your walking practice.
-You are still a little stinker! You do something silly, cut your eyes at us, and laugh.
- You are picking up your food with your pointer and thumb, you have pretty good grasp these days.
-You gagged on mashed sweet potatoes, but you love them in the baby food jar... GO figure!
-You eat well... You love your veggies and fruits, and are actually trying to completely wean yourself from nursing, bottles, etc.
- You use a sippy cup well now. You still drink too much water at a time, and it runs all over your face.
-You give mommy kisses now.... a lot of open mouth kisses! I love them.
-You and your daddy do "high fives". You only do this with him! ;)
- You get really excited about things and flap your arms and screech... you get excited A LOT!
-You aren't a quiet laid back child.... you are definitely full of personality and are wild and loud! I love that you are a fun little thing, though... you definitely make people smile when they are around you.
- You love your toys now, but really love to explore the house... you get into everything. (sockets, etc!)
-You stand up in your crib and play until you give up and get yourself to sleep... we still rock you occasionally to wind you down, but you most always put yourself to sleep.
-You weigh about 20 pounds, maybe? I don't really know...
- You appear to have an "outie" belly button... but it might just be because your belly sticks straight out!
- You have a ton of hair and are able to have a mini pony on top.
-You are still my favorite shopping buddy, except you want to hold everything!
-You open your mouth wide when you want a bite of our food... you come up and stick your tongue out and open your mouth wide while tugging on our clothes...
- Still blue eyed....
- Still no teeth... poor child, you have been teething for months!
- In size 9 month clothing... 12 month jammies because of length

Zoe,
you are still a sweetheart! There hasn't been a person that hasn't loved seeing you smile and be silly! You are a very spunky little girl, and we are loving our lives with you! We love being your mommy and daddy.

Standing up to watch your cartoons. (  You love Baby Einstein, Mickey, and Chuggington!)

 This is your adorable little smile in your Thanksgiving Dress.

 Your Baby Dedication at Church

 This is you with your Texas Family!

This is your first pony! :) 

7 months of fun!

Wow,
Even looking back at the post a couple of weeks ago, there is already a TON of changes! Here is the list of things that Zoe does now... at 7 months old. ( I realize that I am two weeks late, but hey.. I'm a little busy these days!)

Zoe.... here is what you do these days:

-Sit up... all by yourself. You are getting to be a pro at popping right up on your booty.
-Crawling. Although you have done this for a while now, you are officially getting to be "good".
  you zoom all over the house now. In fact, you are pretty darn fast!
-Eat. Wow, do you eat! Last night we laughed because we are pretty sure you are having a growth spurt. You drank your bottle, ate a whole jar of sweet potatoes, some baby oatmeal, and some baby applesauce. Your belly was about to pop.. but you even wanted more. I stopped you. :)
- You love to pull up on things now. This really just started about a week or so ago. We caught you standing up in your crib.... YES, standing! Oh dear... you are definitely going to wear us out earlier than we expected!
- You love to drink out of cups... for whatever reason, you are not a huge fan of your sippy cup. You chew it, but prefer a straw/cup better.
- You had your first halloween dress up experience. I was proud to show you off as a piggy, and a lion. you cheesed it up!
-You LOVE shopping with mommy. When we are at the grocery store you just "talk" and wave to everyone. You sit in the big girl seats now, and have done this for a little while. This is nice because I don't have to carry your car seat in anywhere, anymore.
-You like to try all kinds of foods. At first I thought you were picky, but now that your tastebuds have tried new things, you will mostly eat all baby foods... and people foods if we let you.
- You are most happy when around people, especially kids. I am pretty sure you try to play with anything your size.... puppies, kids, etc. You are for sure a little social bug.
- You love hide and seek. :) You are never scared when we pop out to "boo" you, but you giggle. You also like to crawl around the corner and "boo" us. Here lately, you love to be tickled on your belly and will laugh and giggle like crazy!
- Your first " official" word, other than when you said bye once, is now DADDA! I wouldn't have believed it, but you say it every time your daddy comes in the room. Grrrr....... :)
-You had your first little "bump and bruise" the other night. You were trying to stand up using your baby einstein playgym and you accidentally ended up knocking it over on your head. You fell backwards, bumped the  back of your head, and the gym fell on the front of your head. :( You cried for a few minutes, but then went on playing!
-You still love going to your babysitters three days a week. When I say, are you ready for " Mrs. Julie's" you get excited. :) This makes it much better for mommy to leave you!
-You love your mommy and daddy! You know us now, and even know our sounds and faces.
- Your mimms comes and keeps you a lot on Fridays. You love to play with her!
-You are about 18 pounds, but I bet you will stay the same, or lose since you are super active.
- You are a little ham. You cheese it up for pictures, and are about the happiest baby I truly have ever seen. I am not saying this because you are mine, but I am really thankful for your fun personality! We love you!
-You have gotten your crib fixed where you can't crawl over! Daddy went to home depot and got your crib "Zoe" proofed.

I am sure that there are many things I am forgetting, but mostly... we love you! We are having such a fun time with you each and every day. Here are some pictures!

All kinds of changes...

As a little update, I have to blog about the new things Zoe has been up to. First off, FOOD. Let me just mention that I had no idea how picky my little cutie was until this happened: She was exclusively breastfed with my breast milk until 6 months... which was my goal. However, I guess I never thought of the fact that this was all she was used to, and anything else... such as formula, would be horrifying to her! lol. The first taste of it was spit out all over the place! Honestly, I can't really blame her. Have you smelled that stuff or even tasted it! YUCK! Anyway, because I made it to 6 months and would be introducing all different first stage foods, I decided to start adding in a little formula to her bottles for a little " extra". It's just nice to know that she will take formula and it takes the pressure off of me to pump at work if I can't get the time. I'm still nursing and hope it  finally stays easy as we continue on.  Anyway, after a quick decision, I started adding an ounce to each of the pumped bottles. This gave her a little taste and helped her not think it was too gross each time. :) Thankfully, she now is fine with the mixture of half and half and it's not a big deal when she has to have it. Phew! Then, we started the cereal. I started cereal before adding formula actually. I forgot that. But, she started with rice, and then we did oatmeal. She was pretty good with both. In fact, we feed her with the spoon, and she LOVES it. She is definitely a " I want to feed myself" kind of gal. She wants to hold the spoon by herself.. which obviously is a big fat mess. ( But I let her sometimes because it's pretty funny to watch!) We started with sweet potatoes, then squash, then carrots, and then apples. She made about the funniest face with squash. And she simply spit the carrots. SO, we will keep working on it. :) I mix applesauce with her oatmeal in the mornings and she likes it a lot. But, sadly, the new phase of eating has caused a new phase of poop.... POOP stinks!

Although Zoe slept in her crib in our room ( her bassinet pack n play) for almost 6 months, she is officially in her own room across the house. :( This was for sure a decision by mom and dad rather than her. I am sure she would have been fine sooner, but since I still nursed and get up early for work, it was just easiest to keep her across the room instead of across the house! But, she is so funny to watch now, and she puts herself to sleep after about 10 minutes of playing, talking, and rolling back and forth in her crib until she is probably dizzy! She also keeps trying to have a play date at 1 a.m. each morning... but this must stop! ;) We let her talk and whine last night for about an hour to realize that she had dropped her paci behind the crib and couldn't get it! ha! If only we have know about 59 minutes earlier!

Things are going by SO SO fast, and it makes me sad. She  tries to sit up mostly by herself, but still will roll over occasionally. She has started the teething from about 3 months, but no tooth yet. She started scooting and crawling backwards, but hasn't gotten the forwards completely down yet. She rolls everywhere! She jumps forwards on all fours though... oh, and she is a QUEEN at pushups. This will be a memory we will always remember! She was destined to be a fan of cardio and aerobics I think!

"Zoe, you are about the silliest and most joyful baby I know! I love that you have a sassy personality already and you have a smile that lights up the room! We love you SO very much. I can't imagine what we would do everyday now. We spend our nights laughing at you being silly or learning something new, or how cute you look in the  crazy outfits we get you, etc, etc. It's fun..... and we are soaking it all up! God knew exactly what he was doing when he blessed us with you! We love you, Zoe Kate!"  Mommy and Daddy

"Half" glass FULL!!! Zoe Kate is 6 months!

The title of the posting is completely accurate! Zoe is "Half" way to one year! And, she has done nothing but make our lives half glass "FULL"! Every day is new and fun, and this little girl is one FUN wild thing! There is no doubt in my mind that she will be an outgoing lil lady! 

Here are the latest things that Zoe is doing:

-Sitting up with little assistance... she can sit alone in bumbo seat, chairs with backs,etc. But, freestyle sitting on the floor still is a little wobbly at times.
-She holds her head up completely, great neck control, and moves her head all around.
-She loves to ROLL! Rolls all over the place now. Here lately, she does complete "pushups". We are pretty sure crawling is coming up fast. 
-She is still teething, but this week has been better with pain. Still no actual tooth though!
-She loves to play "peek a boo", "run up to me and say boo", and other silly games.
-She made it to 6 months with nothing but breast milk...... yay!!!... But, she just started baby rice cereal . So far, she likes it! I am not sure if its the cereal or the fact that she loves the spoon!?
-She talks and talks and talks and talks.... :) She's definitely taking after her momma!
-She giggles and laughs a lot now... we LOVE this!
-She is very aware of everything around her, and she really loves people. We notice this more and more when we are out and about. She isn't shy...
-She eats well, but these days she is definitely not as interested in eating when things are going on around her. 
-She is a fluffy little chunky monkey! We love it this way! She was 14 pounds at her four month, but I am almost positive this latest growth spurt has put her to about 17-18 pounds. We will find out for sure at the doctor next week.
-She sleeps much better now, but still does a "habit" wake up around 2 or 3 am. She wakes up talking up a storm! Her sleep varies, but she mostly does great nap times. She usually does a two hour nap in the morning, a mini mid day nap, and a two hour nap in the late afternoon. Then, she goes to bed around 8:30-9 and gets up for the day at 6 a.m. Again, this varies, and doesn't always work out perfect, but I'm loving that she isn't waking much anymore! (I'm not gonna lie and say that I don't enjoy the talking and mini cuddle time when she does... but we don't want it to become a habit!)
-She loves to take off her clothes.... specifically socks and anything that she can grab and pull. 
- She wears size three diapers now, but really she is in a two... the threes just help the blowouts from happening! lol.
- Still loves her paci, but loves her little fingers too!
-Has good lungs, so when she wants your attention... you will know!
-Your little nicknames are Punkin, Pinky, and Punky.... and always Darlin from daddy.


Zoe, 
You are a little wild thing! You keep changing SO much! You are growing like a weed,and meeting all kinds of milestones. We love watching you grow each week. Our glasses truly are FULL with you. We enjoy you so much, and love taking care of you. Besides being our little cutie pie, you are our blessing! I'm not going to lie and say it's been perfect and always easy... but I would do it over 100 times! We love you so much! Happy 6 month Punkin!!! 

 Update: September 19, 2012: We went to the doctor today and Zoe got her 6 month shots. She weighs 17lbs and a little over 25 inches long. :) She's a growing gal!