Twee!

We put the Christmas Tree up last weekend.  Zoe likes the lights and the ornaments hung up there just to tease her.  She did try pulling up on the tree but now just enjoys it.  Last year Grandma MJ gave Zoe a small tree.  It's so neat to set up a tree that is Zoe's.  When she first saw it lit, she got excited and started laughing.  I repeated "Tree" to her several times.  She's been calling it a Twee.   I finally got a new camera to replace my old one that was 4 years old with a broken LCD. I'm sure you will be happy to see all the fun pictures I've taken with the camera. Enjoy!

This last one is very large but I wanted to show off how great the camera is at accurately capturing her eye color.

Zoe's Christmas List

For those of you wanting Zoe Christmas ideas, here you go! Laugh & Learn Learning Home Playset

Fisher-Price Learning Kitchen  Little People: Animal Sounds Farm Baby Stella Doll Radio Flyer Wagon Playskool Clipo Table Little People: Lil Movers School Bus Little Tikes Swing Along Castle

Any Wooden puzzles with chunky pieces- Melissa & Doug is a great brand Footed Pajamas size 24 months.  (Zoe is already growing out of her 18 month pjs!)

Socks in size 18 month

Books: Gymboree 365 Activities You and Your Toddler Will Love: Fun Ideas for Your Toddler's Growing Mind!

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

Googly Boogly

Zoe is pulling up all the time and beginning to cruise now. She's into everything! Grandma Mary, Aunt Sharon and Aunt Leah came to visit last weekend. Aunt Sharon was eating some breakfast and she had 3 little beggers wanting a piece. Zoe also mimics almost everything she sees. In this picture Grandma Mary and Aunt Sharon were raising thier arms so Zoe joined. Thanksgiving Day was wonderful but the only pictures I have to show for it are these below. Zoe and Breanna were playing together for over an hour. They were playing on the couch going back and forth and laughing the entire time. We also were able to visit Baylie, Nathan, and Soni over Thanksgiving weekend. Zoe always enjoys spending time with baby Baylie Finally, enjoy the following video. Zoe will often start doing her "Googly Boogly" noises when she's happy. We don't know what it means but it's funny!

Wordless Wednesday

13 months

At her 12 month doctor appointment recently, Zoe weighed 20 lbs 15 oz (60%) and was 31 inches long (94%). Perfectly heathy in every way! She's crawling like a champ and pulling up all the time. I'm still not used to setting her down next to me and her disappearing around the corner chasing after Bella. She has this strange habit of carrying a sock around with her and chewing on it occassionally. Sometimes this means she pulls a sock off her feet to do this and other times she pulls a clean sock out of the laundry pile. She'll even crawl around with the sock from room to room. Here's some video of her crawling last time that Grandma Mary was here: And I wanted to share this pic of Zoe and Mommy. She fell asleep in my lap for the first time in months. She's getting so big! We went to the Pumpkin Patch when Grandma Mary was here also and we got a ton of great pictures... And finally, we'd like to wish Grandma Mary a very happy Birthday! We miss you and hope to see you again soon!

Texas Birthday Party

Zoe has been busy lately! We all went down to Texas for Aunt Leah's wedding. It was a lovely ceremony in the backyard at Grandma and Grandpa's house. During the ceremony and for most of the reception, Zoe was doing this... The day after the wedding, Aunt Sharon threw a Texas birthday party for her. It was jungle themed with a very cute Monkey cake. And animal masks that we all wore... And of course Zoe got to taste her first cake and icing! She also enjoyed opening and playing with the gifts: And finally, she enjoyed quality time with family. Thanks Aunt Sharon for such a great Texas party! Stay tuned for the Oklahoma party and a crawling update!

A Shiny White Pearl

Zoe has a tooth! On our recent trip to Colorado, one morning she woke up and I noticed a shiny white tooth peeking out of her gums. Maybe the higher elevation made it easier for the tooth to break through? Whatever the reason, she's enjoying having a tooth and learning how to 'bite' things. We've been feeding her more table food that she can 'chew'; mostly soft fruits and veggies. Still no crawling but she is...so...close! She can take about 1 or 2 steps with her arms and legs and then she collapses. Many bangs to her face and nose later and she's frustrated but each day she gets stronger and stronger. She did wonderful on our trip to Colorado. 33 hours in the car over 5 days while teething and just a tiny bit of fussing. We drove to the top of Pike's Peak because that's what Mommy and Daddy do in Colorado Springs. We hadn't been back to the top since Daddy proposed 4 years ago. We stopped at the lake about halfway up to have a picnic. We kept driving after eating and made it to the top. Daddy did a great job driving up and then Mommy and Daddy froze since we didn't pack jackets. Zoe had 2 jackets and a sweater but she didn't like the wind. This is *NOT* a flattering picture of either of us but proof we made it to the top: I'm hoping to have pictures of the wedding soon. I neglected to take pictures of Daddy, Mommy and Zoe dressed up for the wedding but there were lots of pictures taken by other people. We also had lots of time with family. Zoe did great and really enjoyed watching her cousin Ewan crawl around like crazy! She also loved watching Sam do Sam things. Finally, tomorrow is Daddy's birthday. Happy Birthday Daddy! Zoe and Mommy love you!

Na Na Na Na

Zoe went to the doctor yesterday for her 10 month check-up. She weighed 19 lbs 3 oz (58%) and is 30 inches long (97%). She's in perfect health. We got the okay to begin introducing all kinds of food to her now. She's still not crawling but she's sooooo close. She gets in the crawling position and even gets her belly off the ground but she keeps her head on the ground kind of like a bull about to charge. As soon as she figures out how to pick her head up, life as we know it will change! She's also got 4 teeth (2 bottom and 2 top) that want to peek through and give her grief every day but so far she's still our gummy girl. Zoe's new word sound is Na. She usually says Na Na or even Na Na Na Na. It's so close to Ma Ma which I would love to hear. Today she was very messy with her lunch. She had spaghetti which wasn't too messy but then I gave her some cheese crackers (similar to organic goldfish but in animal shapes). She decided that a cheese facial mask was the thing to do today. And here are a few favorite pictures from the past few days: Our sleeping angel Zoe napping in Grandma Mary's lap Taking a bath in Aunt Sharon's sink

Swings and Baby Dolls

Before our trip to Texas for the West Family Summer Christmas and Grandma Thomas' 80th Birthday party; Jeremy and I took Zoe to the park to play. It was hot and sunny but we still had a fun time. I held Zoe in my lap while we swung back and forth. Each time we would swing forward, Zoe would laugh and giggle. I guess from the air rushing past her. I have a video but I'm having all kinds of problems getting it to load on youtube. Here are some pictures and you'll have to imagine her laughing. And the last one makes me laugh. The expression on her face is so funny! We then put her in the baby swings (which are still a bit big for her) and she enjoyed swinging in those as well. Then I decided we had to try the slide. Zoe was so not impressed with the slide. It could've been that she was getting sleepy but the slide was a non-event to her. I realize I'm too big for the slides now. I then wanted to get some cute Mommy and Baby shots but she wasn't having it. And the trees all had "T" painted on them for some reason. I'm guessing it stands for Tree but no idea why it would need to be painted? I have no idea what was going on in this picture but at least both of us have strange expressions. I really wish Zoe was looking at the camera in this picture because the lighting is great and for once my camera shot a clear picture. And the T Tree picture I was able to finally get one video to load. (Before you read this please ignore the mess in the background. This was taken the day Zoe and I got back to Oklahoma and everything exploded in the living room. You've been warned. Back to the video...) Zoe's Greatgrandmother West got Zoe her first baby doll for her summer Christmas present. After Zoe's lunch, I took the doll out of the box and showed it to her. Her reaction to the doll is too cute...