Happy Birthday Zoë Maxine!

Our little girl is one year old!  We are so happy to say she is happy, healthy, and growing like crazy.  We celebrated over the weekend with two parties (inspired by a co-worker of mine to have a separate kid and adult party, which worked out GREAT!).  The kid party was great fun with a lot of Zoë's friends from VMC baby group.  They enjoyed the newly remodeled playroom (decorating still to come) and Zoë didn't melt until the very end of the party when she drank her bottle and napped until the adult party began.

Two of Zoë's many boyfriends.

 She's got her one year doctor appointment next Monday, but we weighed her at home and she weighs 18 pounds and is 2 ft. 2 inches tall.  I'm sure the doctor scale will be much more accurate.  She's walking with a walker toy like a champ, loves it and gets frustrated when she runs into the wall or a piece of furniture because she doesn't know how to turn it around yet.  She's figured out how to play peek-a-boo by holding up napkins, blankets, or whatever she gets her hands on over her eyes and quickly yanking it away while we say "peek-a-boo!"

With special guest Teta!

She eats anything she can get her hands on (and anything Chris and I are currently attempting to eat).  Pancakes are a favorite, puffs, and oh boy, the cake.  She pretty much devoured it (and made the biggest mess ever) on Saturday which was all that I hoped for.

Good sharing

After bathtime.

We had several people tell us that Zoë's first birthday is actually a celebration of Chris and I surviving the first year as parents.  It's hard to remember what life was like before her, really.  I think we've done a pretty darn good job this year, tempering an emergency early birth, some feeding issues, and all of the typical first year parent anxiety.  Chris is patient, as always, even when Zoë wakes up in the middle of the night crying and doesn't go back to sleep right away or when I bring her into our bed (because I am NOT patient) and she ends up wanting to play and crawl all over the bed at two in the morning.  It is so fun to hear him talking and playing with her from a different room, to watch her smile when he walks in the door.  I've learned that the saying "the days are long but the years are short" is the truest thing anyone has said to me so far about parenting.  The days where Zoë would lie in my arms and sleep and eat all day are long gone and while they wore on me back then I miss then already.  I love every milestone she hits but then I mourn the ones that we have passed.  I have learned that it doesn't matter when she hits the milestone because even if she can't walk with the toy today, she'll be doing it by the time the weekend is over.  I love her smile, her giggle, her head peeking up over the crib when I walk in and she's already awake.  I love her squirming chubby belly on the changing table and her splashing in the tub.

And, now she's waking up from her nap, so I've got to go get my hands on my baby.  Oops, my toddler!

Oh, and here are some shameless pictures of all of her birthday decor.  :)

Monthly monkey pictures from the past year.

Yes, I superglued a tutu to her high chair.  :)

Food!  And a Pinterest inspired backdrop.

Zoë stats.

The Cricut is an amazing thing.

My TA made some incredible snowflakes that were hanging in various places.  I told her I would hang them up in my classroom after I was done with them at home.  :)

So long 2013, welcome 2014!

I'm not really sure how we'll beat 2013...really.  Facebook says that my biggest moments for 2013 include Zoë's birth (duh), the day she left the hospital, various milestones along the way, a new job for Chris at the Seattle Fire Department, starting the school year back at McKnight for me, Kappa Alpha Theta's Centennial reunion, and my dad's amazing Hero in the Classroom award from the Seahawks.  Yep, those were some amazing highlights, but there are many that Facebook missed.  It was a year of good health (after a near-death experience for two of our three family members ), job opportunities (two new ones for Chris--he starts at the Tacoma Fire Department on January 6th-- and going back "home" for Emily), family (several visits from Angela and then Jed joined her at Christmas), Connor's college graduation filled with more family, two major room remodels in our house (Zoë's bedroom and her newly remodeled playroom...fabulous pictures to follow once we have some decorating done) and one more painted room (Happy Anniversary to us!).  We went to Sunriver in August, survived the quick four day trip with the sickest baby we'd had to date (of course!), also survived Zoë's start at daycare and have enjoyed watching her thrive under the care of Lesley and surrounded by all of the kids there.

Sometimes in the midst of the hectic day-to-day it's hard to realize how very lucky we are as a family.  We are surrounded by people who love us, have a warm home to come home to, and a healthy and fantastically happy daughter who delights us with each new milestone.

Here's hoping that 2014 will come CLOSE to the joy we've experienced in 2013 and we're hoping the very same for you and your family!

Merry Christmas

We had such a nice Christmas for Zoë's first!  We started a new tradition of only traveling to one set of grandparents during the two day stint and hosting the other family at our house.  It was great!  The Seamans came over on Christmas Eve, Chris made a roast goose ("Doesn't that sound Christmas-ey?"-Chris), and we had a great day together.

Chris and his goose.

Vicki making my favorite...cubed yams.  Yum!

Uncle Connor is so funny!

Grandpa and Uncle Connor

Zoë enjoyed the ribbon.

A lot.

Christmas Eve Dinner

Probably Zoë's favorite gift this year, My Pal Violet, from Joselyn (and Lesley and Ipo!).  We programmed her to say Zoë's name.  The glee on her face when we opened that package was perfect.

After Zoë went to bed (we read The Grinch!), Santa laid out the presents.  Chris and I opened the gifts we gave to each other and we started the Christmas tradition of a friendly game of RISK (we had to play twice because I lost so quickly the first one...).

Christmas morning started early (6:45!).  Someone must have known Santa had been here!  Zoë opened her presents and we ate madelines that Chris made.  Yum!  Many of the presents Zoë got from us this year were from a consignment sale, which I'm pretty proud of.  I made sure to wipe everything down well, but they're in great shape and we didn't have to pay full price.  Nice.

Mom was really excited about the jingle bell instrument.

 On Christmas day we went to the Kolczynski house in the afternoon.  It was a fun afternoon playing and eating and opening stockings and presents.  Zoë didn't nap well but did really well (except at dinner time, of course).

Loves playing with Dedo.

Christmas dinner

Checking out her new cell phone from Teta and Uncle Jed.

Jerseys around this Christmas!

We are so lucky to be surrounded by such amazing family!  How fun to be able to see EVERYONE for Zoë's first Christmas.  We hope you enjoyed your holiday with your family!

Eleven Months!

Ah!  Eleven months and Christmastime.

On the move!

I mean, on the run!

What a great month!  We've got a mover on our hands.  She does not. sit. still.  She wants to pull herself up on everything (including Fiona, Mom, Dad, and the toilet, ewwwww).  Other tricks include a semi-wave that she uses at random times (it's not assigned to hello or goodbye yet), pulling herself up in her crib and crying when she doesn't want to nap, making a bee-line for the dog's water dish, and she is a constant talker.  It's incoherent, of course, but it's like she's having a mini conversation with herself at all times.  She's finally crawling on her hands and knees the majority of the time instead of the army crawl she's been doing for two months and she LOVES to walk when someone's holding her hands.  She can cruise around holding onto the furniture, too.

Her favorite foods of the month include eggs, cheese, chips (I mean, who doesn't LOVE chips?), yogurt, and satsumas.  She is doing far less gagging on food and can make a good amount of the food actually in her mouth and leave it there.

The last couple of days she's become pretty clingy and a bit more fussy for her normal temperament.  Maybe she's getting some more teeth?  We can't feel anything, but I'm hoping that's the reason for her out-of-sorts behavior the last couple of days.  One of the other reasons she's a bit off is because TETA AND UNCLE JED ARE HERE!!!  Naps?  Who needs 'em?  On their first day in town yesterday she napped for a total of 30 minutes all day.  Sheesh.

We're so glad to have them in town and spend time with us and Zoë.  She's such a lucky girl to have a Teta like Angela and I have.  :)

Zoë warmed up to Uncle Jed right away

Zzzzzzzzz with Teta

The next few days are crazy busy, but I'm looking forward to all of the festivities.  Tomorrow is the Seahawks game where my Dad is going to be recognized for earning the Heroes in the Classroom award, Monday is breakfast with Chris' grandma and family, and then Christmas Eve and Christmas are big family days.  I'm looking forward to hosting the Seaman family on Christmas Eve for our first hosting job on a holiday.  Chris is REALLY excited for the Christmas goose we are making for the occasion (I've never had goose, have you?!).  Christmas day will bring our trip to the Kolczynski family house later in the afternoon.  It's important to us that we have some of our own little family time in the evening on Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning, so this new tradition of hosting one day and only traveling to one house on the other will be nice.

More pictures to come from Zoë's first Christmas later this week!  Merry Christmas to all of you.  :)  We hope you enjoy a week full of family, good food, and lots of tradition (that's my favorite!).

The Changing Table Olympics, and Other Fun Games

Zoë is no longer sitting still.  No, really, not at all.  She moves everywhere!  She crawls wherever she has access to in the house, squirms on the changing table making it impossible to change her diaper let along get her into any clothes.  We've taken to giving her a toy while she's being changed to hopefully distract her for the 30 seconds we need to get the job done.  She's learned how to pull herself up on the couch from her tummy to a standing position.  She's only fallen backwards and bonked her head once, but I'm sure this is going to happen more and more.  She has no fear, really.  She's gotten a lot more clingy, too, especially when she's tired, though she has also been reluctant to leave daycare when either of us go to pick her up.  I thought that wasn't supposed to happen until she was older and wanting to stay to play, but apparently I was mistaken.

Her new favorite thing is to shake everything she comes across to see if it makes any noise.  She's got a fun jingle bell toy in her stocking that we're dying to give her but "it's a Christmas present!", so it has to wait.  I think there may be some other musical instruments in her future for Christmas, so she'll LOVE exploring those.

We've been keeping up with the holiday traditions we've been keeping for the past few years and adding a few more.  Zoë saw Santa without any tears and after standing in line for only an hour.  We asked the photographer what we should do with her and she said, "Just back her up to Santa so she can't see him, set her on his lap and back away so she doesn't even know he's there".  And it worked!
























We went and got a Christmas tree, decorated the house, and have done some baking to make baskets for our neighbors.  Stockings were purchased that match like a good family's should.  Zoë is even drinking from a bottle with Santa on it.  :)

Tonight we went to Snowflake Lane in Bellevue.  Zoë slept for 14 (!) hours last night, so we were a little nervous about how today was going to go anyway, but adding in a drum show with loud music and crowds just at her bedtime and we thought we would be playing with fire.  We bundled her up for the 27 degree weather and she watched the show wide-eyed but with no tears.  Next year it'll be more fun, but I'm glad we went because I love the show!  If that doesn't put someone in the holiday spirit, I'm not sure what would.

All bundled up!

Chris has been working non stop on the playroom down in the basement (with his deadline of the beginning of January so I can furnish and decorate it by Zoë's birthday party).  So far he has ripped up all of the carpet, knocked out a wall to gain us some floor space, installed can lights, put up the drywall, mudded and taped, and now textured the walls to prepare them for painting.  Now, all that will be left is painting and installing the floor (and the trim, and fixing the door that the thieves kicked in a couple of months ago, etc.).  I'm sure he's looking forward to the job being done, he's working so hard all of the time.  I'm looking forward to the toys and supplies being contained in one place in the house.  :)

In addition to participating in all of the holiday fun, I've been doing more planning for Zoë's birthday party.  I can't wait!  It's going to be so much fun and we're looking forward to spending time with our friends (because, let's be honest, this party is more for us than for her!).

Birthday party invitation photo shoot.