6 Months WHAT??

Zoe Joy turned 6 months old on Saturday. I can't believe it!  She is incredibly precious, rolling over both ways, laughing a lot, working on her finer motor skills (she is AMAZING at pulling my hair: praying I go gray faster than I go bald =P), she is a great independent sitter but really doesn't like to be alone, she is working on crawling and can get herself on her knees and rocking instead of just baby push-ups (although she still does those), she loves the outdoors and her dada.

Can't tell which one I like better

She has started saying mama (sort of but I'm claiming it.) If she is asleep when dada gets home she wakes up at the sound of his voice.  So precious.  Shr's also been eating solid food for about 3 weeks now.  We DON'T like kiwi, Everything else has been acceptable.

Look at that wrinkled nose

Sometimes trying to crawl makes us mad.

LOL look at that face!

Happy half a year old birthday girl!!!

Playtime with Zoe

I know that I should probably make collages instead of sticking a zillion photos in a post, but that takes too long when I only have so much time when my little one is napping and before the electrician tells me to shut down the computer (I hope he doesn't but he's been here almost 4 hours now). 

Anyway, last week I took these pictures of Zoe when I introduced her to her lamb from Mongel.  This lamb has a tutu (my family is kinda convinced Zoe will be a dancer, I will laugh if she turns out to be a tomboy). 

Anyway it made for super cute photos. Prepare for the cuteness overload =D

That's one happy baby

Dat's soft!

My name is Zoe and if you come near my mouth I will eat you NOMNOMNOM

And I will be extremely happy about eating you!

I know this is totally blurry, but the smile, the smile, I can't help but love that smile

And then we finished up by reading!

It's hard to find ways to play with someone so little, but I cherish these times when I can cuddle her and teach her how to read and sit up and play. I know these times won't last forever so I will indulge in them now. 

How do you play with babies?

My smiley babyface

I am getting a new cell phone plan and so I'm not sure if I'll be getting a new phone or not but I spent last night saving my photos because often times, I'm too lazy to grab our real point & shoot. She does so many cute things but it takes too long to go grab the camera so I often would resort to my phone.  Here are some of my favorites.  Sorry for the poor quality.

This series are some of my favorite smiley photos of little Miss Zoe!

Love this little smiley face!

Gotta give her a pink headband so people don't say she's a boy. 

 She was supposed to be eating but kept doing this instead.  How could I help but take a picture of her?

 She loves to be naked :) We actually play a lot before changing her diaper.  She is so happy.

 My big little girl

 She loves to play with her little animal friends on her bouncy seat.

Look at that cute little tongue.

Epitome of joy

Do you see why her name, Zoe Joy is so fitting?  She brings so much joy to our lives! LOVE HER!

She loves him

I never realized how much my dad loved holding babies until I had my daughter.  

I think it's safe to say she loves him too!

Look at how cutely she put him to sleep!

Protective much??? (I think it's adorable by the way)

Back when she was only a week old. 

Staring at her

It's so cute how much PapPap loves his little girl!  

Turning 2 Months is fun!

Zoe turned 2 months old this week!  She has gotten so big and so much fun!  Just check out this video!  (feel free to ignore my voice.)

She also met her cousins for the first time this past weekend, as well as her great-grandpa & great-uncle.

At first Pap was a bit afraid of breaking Zoe.

Nan wasn't at all apprehensive.

Four Generations.  Great grampa held her but Pap was keeping his eye on her.

Great Uncle Chuck saw Zoe for the first time.

Cousin Colton loved holding Zoe.

The birthday boy held her too!

Even Tyler held her eventually.

Jacob gave her back right after this because she started fussing.

Happy 2 Months ZoZo!

P.S. We moved 2 weeks ago and aren't quite settled in yet, thus the lack of posting lately. 

I would never

Before I became pregnant with Zoe (well some of these I did start to consider after Aaron and I got married), there were things I thought I would never do:

1. Deliver my child outside of a hospital 

2. Use cloth diapers

3. Co-sleep

4. Nurse in public (I use a cover)

5. Think twice about letting a child cry it out.  

6. Give up my child easily (to allow others to hold)

7.  Have a midwife

8.  Desire a home birth

9. Have thought to use natural cleaning products

10. Have cared about whether products were free of harmful chemicals

11. I would never give my child a pacifier

12.  I would never have considered pulling into a parking lot to nurse (yup, it's happened)

Isn't it funny how we have these conceptions of how we will be as parents?

And then, everything changes. 

I never leave her to cry it out.  If she's crying it's because she needs something.  And even if I can't meet that need (because I can't figure it out), I'm at least going to let her know she is loved. 

I thought I'd be super possessive but because I get all day with Z, when others ask to hold her it's easier to concede.  

I'm sooooooooo happy we had a midwife and a "home" birth.  Someday I will write out our birth story.  It's not glamorous, but it was what we wanted!  And I hope to have all of our children at home.  It was so wonderful. 

I've learned that babies like to comfort nurse which isn't so comfortable to mom, so we now offer a pacifier.

Co-sleeping we've done since the day she was born and is a decision we've gotten much input on, but it's what works for us.  Nursing at night is so easy this way. *smile* And, waking up and seeing her face next to yours is so wonderful.  Thanks Casey for your awesome post that made me consider this option.  

What are some things you'd never do???

In all Things Praise Him

Two days ago was a great night!  Aaron found out that night he got a full-time teaching job for high school math. It's an innercity school and it's going to be rough and he knows that.  But we're praising God that Aaron can drop one of his part time jobs!  Which means he'll only have 2 14 hour days a week. Praise God!  We're so excited to have Daddy home more often. 

We also will be moving soon.  This news is causing us to move sooner!  Aaron starts on March 19th, so we are planning to hopefully be moved in and unpacked by then!  We will have our own washer and dryer!  So incredibly exciting after 3 years!!! Along with that we have been so blessed that Zoe won't really need clothes until she's about 2.  We've also not had to buy any diapers so far!  And when we move we're going to be doing cloth diapers. 

God is SOOOO Good!!!

Our precious 5 week old!

Then yesterday happened.  Most of the day was great, I packed 4 boxes, Aaron fixed our broken sink with some help, and my Mother-in-love and I took Zoe to do some errands.  We got to the parking lot, and the next thing I know, I start flying towards my little girl, and the jeep is turning.  Someone ran a stop sign and slammed into the door where I was sitting.  My first thought is I hope Zoe is ok.  The guy was going fast enough to spin us and send us up onto the sidewalk. Zoe was crying so I took her out to comfort her. Mom-in-love was on the phone calling in the incident.  She came around to check on Zoe and I the guy picked up his headlights and took off in those 5 seconds she was checking on us.  One witness tried to go after him but couldn't catch him.  Then the paramedics came.  They suggested sending Zoe to the hospital. So even though I thought she was ok we rode in the ambulance to the hospital.  She was examined and was fine.  Praise God.  I escaped with a few bumps and bruises but, nothing big and the same for Mom unit.  Unfortunately, we can't say the same for the jeep.  It's undriveable. We also have to get a new carseat but I have to call the company today.  The carseat is still in tact, but once in an accident, you're supposed to send it back.  

But, you know what??? In all of this God is still good!!!  We're so thankful to have this little girl safe.

And at 5 weeks she no longer fits in this outfit from Aunt Kristin, so when she starts playing with dolls, she can have a ballerina outfit for her doll :)

So thankful for God's protection!

Proverbs 19:23
The fear of the LORD leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.

One Month

Little Zoe turned a month old today!!! I can't believe she's been with us for a month and yet it feels like she's always been here.

Taken by her Grammie

This month has been a learning opportunity for both of us.
Zoe has learned to:
*Take a pacifier (mostly)
*Pull mommy's hair (not mommy's favorite)
*Feed very well (and we've finally learned to space this out more)
*Roll onto her side (she's been doing this since she was 2 weeks old)

*Flip herself onto her back during tummy time (it's happened twice already)
*Hold her head up (she rarely rests her head on our shoulders now)

Taken by Grammie

Mommy has learned:
*How to nurse more proficiently and more confidently (it was hard to do this around others before, but I've gotten better at using my nursing cover).
*Give Zoe smooches often (it's just a requirement)
*To type with one hand again
*To do most things one handed
*That sometimes it's ok to let her cry for 2 minutes while doing something that requires 2 hands (like slicing the homemade bread)
*That we have the best friends in the world who have been doing laundry for us since we don't have a washer and dryer right now. (hooray for no laundromat)
*To sit in the backseat of the car, hold the pacifier in with one finger and stroke Zoe's cheek with the other to get her to calm down. (this usually works, sometimes however, you just get to pull over and nurse in a parking lot.)
*To take off socks during diaper changes.

We've both done a lot of learning this month.  The biggest thing we've learned is that we love one another very much.  I can't believe she's only been here for a month and how much I love her.  I don't mind letting others hold her, but sometimes, after a while of not holding her myself I just think, "I want to hold her again, I miss her."  I'm sure this is even harder for daddy.  He makes sure to snuggle her other times though.  Last night he decided to let her fall asleep on his chest when we went to bed.  Such a special time for them both and for me so I could get some good sleep too.

So thankful for our little girl and the precious time we have with her right now.  I may be tired often, but it's totally worth it to take in this wonderful stage in her life.  We are so grateful to our wonderful Father who has given us this perfect little gift!  All almost 10 lbs of her!

although out of focus, one of my favorite photos!

Zoe 1 Week

Out little girl turned a week old on Saturday!  I can't believe she's been here for a week already and yet it feels like she's always been here.  This past Tuesday was rough for me because of hormones.  Every time I thought of  Aaron I cried.  He had to work all day that day.  Other than that though it has been a pretty great first week with our little girl.  She had one night where she was up 10x in 8 hours.  That was not fun, however, most nights I'm only up feeding her 2-3 times which is great.  She makes up for it during the day time though.  I think Zoe sees mama as an all you can eat buffet.  =P

Valerie, our midwife, and Zoe when she was born.  She looks so big!

Grammie and Zoe

Aunt Kristin and Zoe

Aunt Courtney & Zoe

Aunt Sarah & Zoe

PapPap and Zoe

Mongel and Zoe

Grandpa and Zoe

This one makes me almost cry, just love the expression on Daddy's face. 

My mom, Mongel, was with us from Tuesday - Saturday which was a huge help and we were so thankful for that!  Throughout the week we've had visits from Grammie, Grandpa, PapPap, Aunt Kristin, Aunt Courtney, Aunt Sarah & Trent, Aunt Eve & Uncle Cork, Nan, Uncle Buddy, Liz & Frank, and Sky & Andrew.  Sky and Andrew have been so awesome and are doing our laundry for us, such a blessing because we don't have a washer & dryer in our apartment.  Oh and they brought us a tasty dinner.

Zoe is so loved and she's only a week old.

Such a big yawn.

Our big one week old little girl:

(This was the best one I took.  I took about 50 and she was just not super cooperative.)