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