Ziva update

This year brought a lot of changes for Ziva....lots of growing up for our little peanut! I have to be honest, sometimes it was hard to see her growing up so much, so fast, but I know that's a part of the deal. :) Some big firsts for Ziva this year: becoming a big sister, moving to her very own house, starting pre-school, mastering potty training (hallelujah to that one!), and meeting Uncle Ross and Aunt Amber.

It's so much fun to watch her little personality continue to blossom. She definitely has an inquisitive mind, and a growing interest in and openness to spiritual things. She typically sees things in black and white and is quick to tell whoever is listening the way of things. She loves ballerinas and anything to do with dancing, so we're thinking about the future...dance may be an option soon, although we also think she would benefit from a team sport. Her 2nd quarter report card came back with lots of positive growth, but also some room for improvement on those developing social skills. The queen bee has to learn to relate to the little guys, you know :) Ziva is always a joy and a blessing, even in the challenging moments, and she is growing into a fun, funny, sweet sister and daughter. Can't wait to see what the next year holds for her!

Ziva's first Christmas program at school. It was super cute! She's in the middle row, right in the middle of the shot by the microphone stand.

Another first....going to see The Nutcracker! This was a special time just for Ziva, Mommy, and Daddy....Zoe will get to come one day when she's bigger. We ended up on the very front row on the end, which turned out to be GREAT seats for a 3 year old! She stood on her booster seat and looked down into the pit almost as much as she watched the dancers....it was a big success, and we plan to make it a new tradition!

Christmas 2011

2011 ended sweetly for our little family. We missed Ross and Amber after thinking they'd be here for Christmas, but it was still a wonderful first Christmas for Zoe and for all of us in our new home. We grilled the traditional Christmas Eve burgers and I made a pretty tasty batch of homemade fries (my first time!), and there was some pretty mean cookie decorating going down. Next year I will be better stocked with proper cookie decorating supplies, but we improvised pretty well, I think. Sadly, my cookie picture seems to have been deleted accidentally. But this one's much more fun....these girls are definitely their Dad's, trying to sneak a peek at what's under the tree:

Opening stockings Christmas morning :)

Both girls in their matching Christmas dresses...

odds and ends

Zoe had her 6 month check up on Monday, and she's a picture of health....I sure am thankful for healthy, happy children. She weighs 16 lb 12 oz (63 %) and she's 26 in. long (57 %). She has her two bottom teeth now; both came in pretty close together about a week before Thanksgiving. I think she's working on another one, but I can't see it coming yet. She's been more cranky than usual lately (which still isn't much), and I think maybe her immunizations have been tough on her this time, too. She's starting solids, and I know she's mine and Vince's for sure, because she does not like green beans!

We put up our Christmas tree two weeks ago, and it is so much fun decorating for Christmas in our own home for the first time! Our tree looks great and Ziva still has fun rearranging the ornaments at least once a day. Some of them she even sleeps with! She's been singing lots of Christmas music lately, in preparation for her pre-3 Christmas program next week. I can't wait to see it!

Zoe is getting to be pretty solid at sitting on her own now, and she's SO close to crawling. I think technically we still have to call it creeping, but she's getting around pretty good, and she's getting those knees up under her too. Just yesterday she started rolling over from her back to her stomach with a lot more ease, so she's practically independent! Her favorite things to play with right now are the remote control, Vince's phone, her pacifier, and her monkey ring. But mainly the remote control. I'm thinking about just getting an extra one for her for Christmas!

Zoe at 6 months

Can you believe how much she's grown?

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.