a few pictures

New pjs

Ziva's Thanksgiving feast at school. She was putting food in her mouth every time I took a picture, so this one was as good as any

Mmmmmm, peas :)

What was the pee pee thinking?!

This was Ziva's opening line today, to tell me there was a mess in the bathroom.

"Mom, what was the pee pee thinking?! I went potty. I went potty and now the pee pee is all over outside the toilet! What was it thinking?"

She's been doing great on going potty, but sometimes, even if she's ON the toilet, it doesn't all make it IN. That was the case today, since her potty seat wasn't on. :)

5 months and some picture updates!

Zoe is 5 months old now! The time is just flying :) She's rolling around more and more (which makes for more waking up in the night, but oh well!). She's reaching for toys and people more and more (right now she's a bit of a mama's girl, which is fine by me, since Ziva's always been a bit more of a daddy's girl!) And she's really starting to get her knees up under her and scoot around, so we're hoping to see some crawling soon!

I've probbaly said it before, but Zoe LOVES her big sister. She just watches and watches her, whatever it is she's doing....and occasionally we get a belly laugh if Ziva's really being silly.

They love playing together! We have to remind Ziva to be gentle, but Zoe seems pretty resilient.

And here's something new....Ziva is old enough to start helping out, and she absolutely loves feeding Zoe. It's messy, yes, but it is when I feed her too! So this week while Ziva was feeding Zoe, I actually got a few dishes washed...before the girls were in bed!! It felt a little surreal, but it opens up a whole new horizon of life with more littler helpers!

And Monday night we took Ziva trick-or-treating for the first time. It was kind of a last-minute decision, so we dressed her up in her Rapunzel play dress that she's had for a while, and it worked great. She had so much fun. When we got home and I put her to bed, she said, "Mom, trick-or-treating was awesome! I loved it and I love you!"

firsts, revised

Adding to the list of recent firsts, Zoe has moved into the world of "solid" food! She had her 4 month check up last week, and the doctor gave us the green light to start her out on solids. Last Sunday was our first try, and she got mad pretty quickly, but she's done better every day, and today she finished the whole 1/4 cup or so I prepared for her! Her 4 month stats look like this: 25.25 inches long (74%), 14 lb 13.5 oz (64%). She is still just as chill and smiley as always, and she's really getting the hang of reaching for things she wants and grabbing on.

And now an update on Ziva's field trip--it didn't happen. Well, the field trip happened, but Ziva did not go. Last week was one of those parenting-well-really-stinks-sometimes kind of weeks! A couple weeks ago Ziva started having some potty issues again, and she was pooping in her pants at school. (When the preschool director asked her why she was doing that, Ziva informed her it was "Poop In Your Panties Day") After several days in a row, we told her if she did it again she wouldn't be able to go on the field trip. She had several good days with no accidents, but wouldn't you know it, the day before the trip, she pooped. And she's smart, and she remembered what we said, and boy, she would have known and rememberd FOREVER if we backed down. So as much as we hated for her to miss the trip, we followed through. We took her up to the school to watch the rest of the kids load the bus, which sort of backfired because we parked where we couldn't really see and then they all came out so fast we missed it completely. But the backfire turned out to work even better, because she had wanted to see her friends get on the bus, and not seeing them, plus seeing the bus leave and us not follow, truly made for a lesson learned. After we left the school, we went to the library and got the book "Everyone Poops." And guess what? Since last Thursday, she's had no accidents. I think there's another field trip in the spring....

Last weekend was Rejoice's Eagle Fest (fall festival). Ziva had a blast with Daddy, Mimi, Papa, and lots of friends.

a whole host of firsts

It's been a busy month around here! School is going full swing, and we've pretty much settled into our routine. We love hearing about all the things Ziva is learning, and she has become the world's greatest expert on the letter Z. Anytime, and I mean ANY time, she sees one, she gets so excited and points out "her letter" to us. And of course she's learning other letters and lots of songs and prayers. One big first for her this week is her first field trip. She will get to ride on the school bus (oh, the wonder of it!) and go to a pumpkin patch. I'm going with her (can't imagine why they need parents to come with a bunch of 3-year-olds on an outing, can you??) and we're hoping Vince will be able to come too. Should be lots of fun!

Zoe at four months

Zoe has had a lot of firsts lately, too. We reported last that she had rolled from her stomach to her back, and about two and a half weeks ago she rolled from her back to her stomach. She doesn't do that as often, but it's still a pretty big milestone! Zoe also had her first ear infection last week. :( We actually haven't been in for her 4 month check up yet, because the doctor told us to just wait until her two week ear follow up, and she'd combine the appointments. So we'll go back Wednesday or Thursday for that. She's starting to talk a lot again, after going through a pretty quiet phase. This girl LOVES her sister. If Ziva is in sight, Zoe just watches her every move, smiling and laughing. It is so sweet to see.

Looks just like Ziva, but we think she's going to keep those blue eyes!

Sweet sisters. Ziva looks soooo much like Vince in this one!

Another fun first for Zoe was meeting Uncle Ross and Auntie Amber. Ross graduated from officer training school a little over a week ago, and they got to stop for a night on their way to El Paso where he's stationed now (woo-hoo, so much closer than Hawaii!). So glad they didn't have to wait until Zoe is 3 like they did for Ziva. We're excited to have them a little bit closer. Ziva loved playing **bossy**princess with Amber :)

Rollin', rollin', rollin'!

We had another milestone this weekend--Zoe rolled over from her stomach to her back! I heard her start crying as she woke up from a nap Saturday, and when I didn't go in right away she stopped. When I did go in to get her, she was on her back, looking up at me! I think she surprised herself enough that she stopped crying, plus she had a much better view of her room that way. She can get pretty far over on her side when she's lying on her back, too, so rolling the other way may be in the near future. I can hardly believe she's already so old and growing so much! I know it's cliche, but the time sure does fly.

Our other news this week is that Ziva got her first bladder infection. Not so exciting, I know. But it was almost a relief to me to at least figure it out. Starting the Friday before last, she started wetting her pants again every day, sometimes multiple times a day, and I was at my wit's end trying to figure out what could be causing it. Every one had their opinion--regressing is normal, she's doing it for attention, adjusting to school has been hard--none of which seemed to fit Ziva in our current circumstances. She wasn't trained until AFTER Zoe was born, she's been to school already for three years and acts like she owns the place (seriously, oh my!), and she still gets plenty of attention, or at least I think so. So when her teacher said she thought it might be an infection, I asked Ziva if it hurt to go potty and she said yes, so I scheduled a doctor appointment. Let me tell you, Ziva is one tough cookie. If "handling pain" were an Olympic sport, she would be a gold medalist. She hadn't complained about anything hurting until I asked her, and maybe it had been getting slowly worse, I don't know, but when we were at the doctor, she finally broke and was screaming just in dread of having to go, and refusing to drink water because she knew what would follow. So the sweet doctor determined she had all the other signs and we didn't need a urine sample, and prescribed antibiotics. And we are back in business. Ziva was allowed to wear a pull-up to school Friday, which she kept dry all day, and we had no accidents over the weekend, but did a little potty-training refresher course anyway. And she stayed dry all day today, at school and home...victory! I'm proud of her two-fold...I know how much those bladder infections can hurt so I'm pretty stinkin' impressed with her lack of complaining. And I'm proud she's using the potty again. It's the little things, right? :)

First day of school and 3 months

As if I weren't bad enough about blogging when I'm home for the summer, I'm sure you can tell that school has started from my silence. Yep, we're back at it, and it's going well. Ziva LOVES preschool, and came home the first two days spouting off verbatim what she'd learned. I'm so thankful she's already been at Rejoice for three years...it made this year an easy transition, which I realize and appreciate all the more when I hear there is still one little boy who cries all the time at school.

Zoe is also "at school" in the staff baby room. That baby room and the teachers, Donna and Angie (we miss Angie this year but it sounds like she's loving K4), have been one of the biggest blessings of all during my time at Rejoice so far. Zoe does great and is getting herself on a pretty good schedule. Donna reports just about every day that Zoe is happy all the time. She is just a joy!

Ziva's all ready for her first day of preschool!

September 1, 2011...Zoe is 3 months old, and that little lamb is looking smaller and smaller!

Hmm, another failed picture rotation....but still, check out that grin!

Are these girls sisters or what? It's Ziva and her mini-me!

Apparently I need to practice rotating pictures....I really do rotate them the right way before I put them on the blog, but I must be missing some secret step :)