Merry Christmas

As we celebrate Zoe's first Christmas we will be thinking of you and wishing that you could join us. We will see you soon! We hope that you have a blessed Christmas. This year we got a gift beyond our expectations!

Sunday December 16th

This week Zoe will be 12 weeks old. And next week she will be 3 months old! She's been such a cutie pie lately. She's begun making more new noises and has shown us HUGE smiles. She's holding her head up so well that we'll probably start letting her sit in her Bumbo seat soon. She still hates tummy time but she's pushing up off the ground much better. She went to daycare for the first time on Friday. I wanted to give her and Rita (her daycare provider) a chance to get to know each other before I return to work. And, this gives Mom a chance to learn how to drop her baby off without leaving with tears streaming down her face. I did cry on the drive away from the daycare but it wasn't too bad. She did great and really enjoyed watching the other little kids. The daycare provider I found is an older lady that watches kids in her home. She's liscensed and keeps the kids in the same age range so they can grow up together. Zoe is the youngest of her kids, they range from 6 months old to 13 months old. Zoe has developed the most beautiful eyelashes. Her dad also has long think lashes while her mom has puny sparse ones. There's no doubt who she got the eyelash gene from!

Zoe recently had her 2 month Well Baby appointment. She was 11 lbs 12 oz and measured 23 1/2 inches. The doctor was very pleased with her health and development. Zoe was given 4 shots at the end of the visit. She cried and cried after getting them. After a rough night of her being very fussy and crying, she woke upn a happy mood on Wednesday. I was able to get some video of her 'talking' to me and of her looking out the window cooing. My usual method of uploading videos isn't working so I'm trying youtube for the first time. Let me know if you have any problems viewing the video.

2 Months

Hope this picture of our cutie pie and her dimple make you smile! Zoe turned 2 months old last week! We can't believe our little baby is already 2 months old! She's getting so big! Both Mom and Dad have had the privledge of being shown beautiful smiles by Zoe. I think she's learning how to laugh as well. She's begun chewing on her hands at times when she's not hungry so I think that means she's learning to put things in her mouth. Oh no!!

We put up the Christmas tree today and she seems facinated by the lights. We'll get pictures of her in front of the lights soon. I'll have more pictures posted soon. I've got a bunch to upload when I have a few moments. She has her 2 month check-up on Tuesday and we have a photo session scheduled on Friday. It should be a busy week.

Here are some of Zoe's milestones as listed in the What to Expect The First Year Book: By two months, your baby..... should be able to: -smile in response to your smile yes -respond to a bell in some way, such as startling, crying, quieting yes .....will probably be able to: -vocalize in ways other than crying (e.g. cooing) yes -on stomach, lift head 45 degrees yes but it's a struggle .....may even be able to: -hold head steady when upright yes for short periods -on stomach, raise chest, supported by arms yes -roll over (one way) no -grsp a rattle held to backs or tips of fingers no -pay attention to an object as small as a raisin hard to tell -reach for an object no -say "Ah-goo" or similar vowel consonant combination no .....may possibly be able to: -smile spontaneously yes -bring both hands together no -on stomach, lift head 90 degrees no -laugh out loud no -squeal in delight no -follow an object held about 6 inches above baby's face and moved 180 degrees (from one side to the other), with baby watching all the way yes

November 24th

It's time for a new video of Zoe! This was recorded Thanksgiving morning. As you'll see, she loves taking baths! She alternates between relaxed floating and playful splashing.


Last weekend we drove down to Texas to visit my family. Zoe did pretty good on the drive down there but she was ready to get out of her car seat long before we got there. Aunt Leaf finally got to meet her little neice.

We had a nice lunch last Saturday and Zoe got to meet her Thomas Great-Grandparents.


After lunch, Mom and Dad went to Waco alone to watch OSU beat Baylor. Zoe stayed at Grandma's house and had a fun time with her Aunt Sharon, Aunt Leah and Grandma Mary.


We had a very nice Thanksgiving. We spent several hours at Zoe's Great-Grandparent's house. Good food and even better time spent visiting with family.
On Friday morning, the ladies all decided we would meet at 4 am to shop. Zoe did great bundled up in the wrap. Linda, Jennifer, and Brianna were fun shopping companions! We didn't take any pictures of our crazy selves. Here's a pic of Zoe and I on Thanksgiving morning. She truely is a blessing!

So the last week or so has been pretty quiet. Zoe's reflux is much better and she's rarely in pain from it. She still spits up all the time but as I've said before, we can deal with increased loads of laundry. On Friday of last week, Grandma Linda was kind enough to drive us to the hair salon so Mom could get a trim. Mom's last hair appointment was scheduled for September 26th. She was a little busy that day and didn't get her hair cut! Grandma Linda took Zoe and Mom to Hideaway Pizza. Although it was very noisy in the restaurant, Zoe slept the entire time. While they were waiting on Mom to have my hair cut finished, Grandma Linda and Zoe had time to snuggle in the waiting room. Then, on Sunday, Grandma Linda and Grandpa Gary were privledged to watch Zoe while Mom and Dad went out alone on date! Grandpa Gary and Grandma Linda said she did great while Mom and Dad were out. There aren't any scars or broken bones so I guess they did a good job! :)

Here are some pics from tonight. Her little feet are finally large enough that the cute little lamb slippers that Grandma Mary bought her will stay on for at least a few minutes. The look she has on her face is what Dad calls her Elvis look.


This next pic was taken just after Bella started barking at the cats. The barking noise scared Zoe and she did her little startle. She 'startled' so hard that her right little lamb became turned sideways!


And this last picture was taken as she was cooing. She was saying, "Gaaaaaaaaa"

Last week Zoe had her 1 month check up. She weighed 9 lbs 4 oz and was 21 3/4 inches long!! The doctor said she was in perfect health with the exception of her reflux. She got one shot but she hardly noticed being stuck with the needle. She goes back in another month and will have to get 4 shots!

She's finally in a nighttime routine that Mom and Dad can handle. She usually goes to sleep between 11:00 pm and 12:00 am and will sleep until 5:30 am or 6:00 am. Daytime naps are a challenge now-she'll only sleep if she's in my arms if she sleeps during the day at all.


She's begun cooing a little bit recently. Mom and Dad are very excited to hear our little girl make noises other than screaming and crying. She's still not really smiling but she'll get there soon enough. Her poor face has broken out in newborn acne. The acne should disappear in a few weeks.

Happy Halloween!

I'm hoping Zoe is going through a growth spurt right now because the past few days she's been very fussy. We are all very thankful that the medicine has really helped her reflux. Now if we could just get her happy awake mood back, we'd be in business! She has her one month appointment with the pediatrician tomorrow. I think she has to get a shot or two! We had a very nice weekend. Grandpa Ray came to visit and got to spend some time with his granddaughter. She was a little fussy at times so he tried different ways of carrying her to see if it would make her happy. Here's a pic of him with her while she's trying to eat his fingers.

On Sunday Grandma Linda and Grandpa Gary came over and we all had a nice brunch then headed to the Pumpkin Patch for a nice day out. Here's a pic of Grandma Linda and Zoe after brunch.


And she'll never remember it but Zoe went through a corn maze and then was posed on a big pile of pumpkins because there weren't any really big pumpkins around. All the pumpkins were bigger than little Zoe!

A month old already!

We can't believe Zoe has been in our lives for a month already! We can't imagine life without her.

Zoe went to the pediatrician yesterday because she's been having a lot of pain and spit-up after eating. She was diagnosed with reflux (GER). Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) occurs when stomach contents reflux, or back up, into the esophagus during or after a meal. The esophagus is the tube that connects the mouth to the stomach. A ring of muscle at the bottom of the esophagus opens and closes to allow food to enter the stomach. This ring of muscle is called the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). The LES normally opens to release gas after meals. With infants, when the LES opens, stomach contents often reflux into the esophagus and out the mouth, resulting in regurgitation, or spitting up, and vomiting. GER can also occur when babies cough, cry, or strain. The good news is that there's medicine she can take to neutralize the acid that backs up in her throat. We can tell she;s hurting less already!

We also got to weigh her and she's up to 8 lbs 9 oz! Just short of 2 lb gain in a month! Please excuse the short post and any spelling errors as I'm typing one handed. Miss Zoe wants to be held all day today. Enjoy the video.

Tuesday October 23rd

Life with Zoe is great! She is still learning what day and night mean for her sleeping habits but we had 2 nights where she slept 4+ hours at a time! We felt spoiled with so much uninterrupted sleep. She's also begun looking in our direction when we talk to her. Little milestones!

Sunday night Zoe took a bath with Mom. She loved floating in the warm water while I supported her head. Just look at this picture of her loving the bath.

Zoe- 3 weeks 1 day

Can you believe that Zoe is already 3 weeks old? Time really is flying by! We are still trying to figure out a good sleeping routine. We are now trying to give her a warm bath at night then have Daddy give her a bottle while Mom takes a much deserved shower then Zoe gets tightly swaddled and rocked to sleep. It worked like a charm last night and hopefully it will work again tonight.
In more exciting news... Zoe smiled at me for the first time today!! I went to pick her up to feed her and she looked at me and gave me a little smile! Then she turned her head and had a bashful look on her face. I guess she's not confident in her smile power yet. It was a beautiful moment and hopefully we'll see many more smiles in the future.
Here's a picture of her in her swing yesterday. She was looking at the fish on the mobile above the swing. It's so neat to watch her look around at the world!!

And here's a video of her earlier today telling me that she was hungry-NOW! Mean old Mom decided to record a few seconds of her crying instead of immediately feeding her. And she let me know that she was not happy about the short delay!

To play the video, just press the play button below. You may want to turn your speaker volume down!

Reposted with working video: And finally a video of her looking around at the world. She's been very alert the past few days and really looking around to take in what's around her.

Sunday October 14th

Yesterday while holding Zoe, I held a red washcloth about 6 inches in front of her and moved it back and forth. She actually tracked it with her eyes for several minutes! My little girl is already growing up and learning new things! And then tonight she actually looked into my eyes. Previously she hasn't really focused on my face, just glanced at it and looked away. However tonight she was really looking intently in my eyes and at my mouth. It was so neat!!

Here are some pictures from this weekend. The first is one of my favorite pictures of her so far. The second pic is one of us during the OSU game (sorry it's so blurry. Zoe wouldn't sit still!) and another of her in her swing. She doesn't really seem to like her swing too much yet but I think she may still be a little bit too small to fit comfortably in the chair.

Thursday October 11

Zoe is 2 weeks old already! I can't believe it! The new things she's done lately are: - We swear she's practicing her laugh. When we leave her in the bassinet or the pack and play, she begins to wake up and make noise after an hour or so. She's started to make this little chuckle noise that sounds just like a laugh! Who knows if it actually is or not but it's too cute. I'm trying to catch it in a video but have been unsuccessful so far. - She's shown Mom not once, not twice, not three times but FOUR times how fast she can pee when she doesn't have a diaper on! Mom just doesn't move fast enough sometimes to replace the old diaper with a new one and bam! She's laying in a little pool. This of course just means she gets a bath which makes her smell like heaven. Mom is trying to figure it out and it's been 2 days now since the last Zoe pee accident. - She's starting to make more baby noises when she's alert. This is so cute to hear but a little alarming when Mom is sleeping and suddenly hears her making noises. We had a really rough night Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Miss Zoe did not sleep from 11:45 pm until 5:30 am. This was of course the night before Dad had to return to work. He got to experience his first day back a bit sleep deprived. But last night (Wed night/Thurs morning), Zoe did great! She woke every 2-3 hours to eat, would spend 10 to 15 minutes eating and went right back to sleep. We can do this!! Now I'm going to share a video I took this morning of her hiccuping. Enjoy!

Tuesday October 9th

Today was Zoe's 2 week appointment with the pediatrican. It went great!! Her doctor was very happy with her growth and the progress she's made in fighting the jaundice. She weighed 7 pounds even today and measured 20 1/2 inches long! The doctor gave us some advice about feeding. In the first few days, Zoe wasn't eating enough. Now, she's eating too much! The impulse that tells her when she's full isn't developed yet so she over eats which causes her to spit up and have hiccups. So, we've got new tips on how to tell when she's full. We also got the okay to give her a pacifer. As you know, she loves to have her hand in her mouth so she's a sucker! She did pretty good last night once we got her to go to sleep. Daddy took her so I could sleep early and she kept him on his toes. He changed 2 dirty diapers and let him know how upset she was. It took another feeding and rocking by Mom to calm her down. Once she got to sleep though, she slept over 3 hours!

October 7th 2nd Post

Okay, I'm trying to post video for the first time. I don't know how to edit the video so you are getting a raw feed here! This was taken earlier this afternoon after Zoe's nap. It was the first time we've tried tummy time to get her to work on building up those neck muscles!

Sunday October 7th

So far Zoe has had a quiet day. Daddy changed her first dirty diaper and she let him know how unhappy she was that he was taking a little longer than she wanted. He did a great job and she snuggled with him afterwards. She did better last night at falling asleep after eating but she likes to take her time during the 2am to 4am feeding. I was able to calm her back to sleep without Daddy's help so we can try to get in a routine that will allow him to sleep somewhat un-interrupted so he can go back to work tomorrow. She had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa W last night. Grandma pointed out that Zoe looks alot like me. I pulled out my baby book and compared pics of me as a newborn and Zoe. There are a lot of comparisons! She's got Daddy's coloring but my facial features so far. Grandpa W brought over our new changing table and seemed a little grumpy at first. After holding sweet Zoe, he seemed much more calm and happy. Who wouldn't be after holding such a beautiful baby?