Zoe is 7 months plus change

I can't believe Zoe is seven months old already. We've had so much fun with her in the last month. She's been sitting up real well for about a month (now she never tips). She reaches out to touch everything in sight. She's been barreling around the house in her walker. We try to limit the walker time, but she loves it. She flies around at the speed of sound chasing the cat. She cries when the cat (Neeka) escapes down the "kitty-hole" to the basement. She moved on to the next level of foods. Which includes horrible meat flavorings (horrible judging by her reaction to them). Last tuesday, she had her flu shot. I took the day off with her just for fun. We had a great time together. After her appointment, I took her to the mall. The mall was open, but the stores weren't. I stumbled on a secret society of women!! There were probably 30-40 women with their babies taking walks around the mall with their babies in strollers. Apparently, that's where the moms go to get out of the house early in the morning. Since I was a dude, and there was plenty of room in the mall. I went around the circle in the opposite direction. The babies waved hi to Zoe, and Zoe just analyzed them. Eventually, Zoe fell asleep and I got a bit drowsy myself. That's when I decided to have a healthy snack (Cinnabon and a large coke). I bombed myself with sugar. Then I just took Zoe home and we played. It was a great day. I can always get her to laugh with either 1) a raspberry on the belly, 2) a 321 getcha getcha getcha countdown. She's a sweetheart.
It's worth noting that my absolute favorite time with Zoe is when she falls asleep when I'm holding her. My second favorite is taking her to the pool. Another thing I love to do, is take her picture.


She's my sweetie. Jess and I are having such a great time with lil' Z. We have two nicknames for her 1) Captain Tuddlesworth and 2) Little Z.

Zoe's First Christmas

Blink! Tomorrow becomes yesterday.

Zoe's first Christmas is over. It was a great experience. Jess' parents came out from the 19th to the 24th. They played with Zoe, and Zoe was able to play back. She's such a unique little spirit. She's got a classic doughbaby smile. She's got pink cheeks, and wide-open blue eyes. Just holding her in my hands makes me feel impossibly gifted. The ridiculous reality of it is, she's there every morning! I wake up to her grins, her coos, her happenstance calls to the air in general. Someone always rises to answer her calls. She's got a trust in the world that only a child can securely adopt. I love her. I love trying to relate to her view.
She had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa. We took her for her first trip to the pool. She cautiously dipped her feet in the water. Her eyes were unafraid. I expected reluctance. Instead, I witnessed her unique personal replacement, studiousness. She studied the water matter-of-factly. She watched it ripple. When it splashed her mouth, she extended her tongue to explore it. She continued licking her bottom lip until she felt she understood the sensation. Then, she came alive. She kicked. She grinned. She was passed from grandma to grandpa to mom to dad around in a circle. It was a great time. Here's a picture:



She had many great experiences with Grandma and Grandpa. She is able to sit up by herself. And that offered her many new opportunities to play original games. She could play with her Christmas gifts all by herself. Sitting up, shed pick up her blocks, or her rattling-toys and wave them around. She was having a ball.

The day before Jess' parents left, my sister Molly and her husband Jason came into town from San Antonio. Molly was so excited to see Zoe. She wouldn't let her go. She wanted to hold Zoe, change her diaper, give her a bath, play with her, feed her bottles, feed her solids. She crammed six months worth of babysitting into 4 days. Zoe loved her time with Aunt Molly. She had seen Molly before, but she was pretty young, barely even able to smile. Now, she was really interacting and laughing and tickling and cuddling with her auntie. Here's a picture:



What a joy! 2007 was a great year. I sit here enraptured by nostalgia. And maybe my emotions overtake me. But I have to declare 2007 my best year ever!! I can only hope that 2008 will be as great.

Happy New Year to all!

The Zostress, 1/2 a year old

DANG! Half a year old already. I can't believe it. Zoe is really something. She's really a little personality now. She grins and giggles, gets frustrated, pitches fits, eats everything she can grab, grabs everything in her reach, and much more. She's a funny one. We had a great time with her today. We had an appointment at Target to take her to have her pictures taken. After trying every trick in the book, we finally got some good shots. We ordered a ridiculous amount of photographs. It was a special day.

Jess' parents are in town. So we've had a lot of fun taking turns playing with Zoe. It has really been fun to witness many of the family specific traditions that they bring. I'm not talking about ceremonial traditions. I'm talking about babygames and phrases, styles of babytalk, methods of raspberry delivery, tickle attack rules of engagement, etc. All the small things. Jess' parents literally shipped 4 large boxes of presents for Zoe. Each box contained roughly 6-10 presents. Jess and I also got Zoe five or six presents. So Zoe is pretty much set for life. When she grows up, we'll pretty much be equipped to start our own toy museum. It's a time of absurd plenitude in our household. (I just learned that plenitude isn't spelled plentitude).

We saw things today. We learned things today. We changed things today.
I even learned that most people don't like baked potato chips. I personally love them.

Anyway, if you're reading this. WRITE A BLOG NOW!! Don't just read, WRITE!!

Zoe, getting close to 6 months.

Wow, Zoe is getting older and wiser by the second. Her personality is really starting to shine. She smiles almost all day, and laughs several times a day. She's starting to really understand more of her world. She reaches for things she wants. And she responds unhappily to having objects taken away (such as a bottle). She's had this behavior in primitive form for a while, but you can tell, she is processing the information in a much more mature manner. Her two lower teeth have taken their pretty little time coming in. It's been over a month and they're still not all the way in. Only partially, probably 1/2-3/4 done, although it can be hard to tell how deep they go.

Zoe is really fun to be around. She's changing daily. She can now stand up as long as she has a basket or coffee-table or mommy-daddy to hold on to. She has to be really closely chaperoned in such cases, as she can instantly fall forward or backward or sideways. Of course, she's not even close to being able to walk, or even stand by herself. Those milestones are another 4-6months away. She can sit up by herself for 30 seconds or so IF she's playing with a stuffed animal or ball, and has it in her lap. It helps her counterweight as well as stops her from shifting to the side. If she has nothing in her hands, she pretty much flops sideways instantly. Jess is pretty excited about her abilities in this area (because Jess couldn't sit up until 8 months or so).

Zoe's favorite activities are 1) kicking and rolling the ball, 2) playing with her stuffed animals, and 3) laying on her back and holding her feet. I tried activity number 3 myself today, and hated it. It hurt my stomach muscles and also felt somewhat offputting and unsanitary holding on to my feet.

A few things about Zoe have reminded me of when I was a child. My memories are when I was a bit older 3-5 or something, however, I still can remember what these things feel like. 1) Having a wet collar from chewing or druelling on my shirt collar. 2) Being carried up to bed when half-asleep. 3) the feeling of wearing pajamas with feet. I even remember that as you outgrow the pajamas, you can feel them pulling against your shoulders and your feet. I remember that feeling.

Anyway, Zoe has had an amazing month, and a surprising week. She changes so fast. Christmastime is going to be amazing. Jess' mom and dad are coming out the 19th-24th. And my sister and brother in law are coming out for the 23rd to 27th. Zoe is gonna be spoiled crazy. Oh, I also have our company Christmas party as well as our personal Christmas open house coming up. We're gonna have an amazing and crazy Christmastime.

Anyway, I better get to bed for work tomorrow.
-Rapper

Zoe Playing with Mom

Zoe's First Time Eating Solid Food

Zoe and the Tooth

BREAKING NEWS: ZOE HAS A TOOTH

Believe it or not, it finally busted through. It's been over a month that she's been teething. She has been drooling profusely for a long time. But now, it's finally happened. A little tooth has broken through. It's her right front bottom tooth. Soon, she'll be biting and drawing blood. We're really excited to see her take this important step towards adulthood. What a special little girl.