The Land of Enchantment

This is the only time she held her backpack during the entire trip.

Leaving last Saturday for Albuquerque could not have been a smoother first plane ride for Zoë.  She slept for the first two hours of the three hour flight and then was pretty content eating snacks for the last hour or so.  Angela and Jed picked us up from the airport and took us to their home, which was a new one for me to see as they moved since I was last in town.  They live in the west-most house in Albuquerque and face the desert, which is pretty and they have a great view of the sunset every day.

Waiting for our plane to leave Seattle.

Easter goodies from Teta.

Zoë warmed up to Jax AND Uncle Jed throughout the trip.  :)

Crazy after-flight hair.

We spent a couple of mornings at the park in their development and Zoë fell in love with the swings, which was surprising because two weeks ago in Pullman she refused to stay in the swing very long.  She also figured out how to launch herself down the slide by scooting herself forward.  I guess I know how we're going to be spending our summer vacation.

Swings are so fun!

Learning how to slide on her own.

Zoë practiced walking every day a lot (for fruit snacks, of course) and I think we can officially say that she's a walker now!  It was AMAZING how fast she caught on and now she's walking on her own around the house.  She also started pointing to things and grunting as if she's asking what it is that she's pointing at.  She has been chattering like crazy and eating like a champ (she chowed down on the tuna and pulled pork Teta served one day, which was a hit).  It's crazy, but I feel like she changed from a baby to a toddler in the five days we were gone, and this realization makes me really sad when I take the time to think about it.  She's no longer a baby!  She's a communicating, walking, curious toddler who gives great kisses and hugs, and I can't believe it.

Walking down the street with Dad...I'm cool.

Angela and Jed took us to the aquarium one day, which was beautiful and pretty impressive for ABQ.  Zoë loved the fish, as usual.

Checking out the rays.

We spent a wonderful afternoon with Jed's parents, Kate and Steve, at their house, and then headed up to the Sandia Crest to enjoy a great view of Albuquerque and beyond.

Lunch at Kate and Steve's house.

Uncle Jed is so FUN!

Sisters

The view at Sandia Crest

More practicing of walking.

With Teta, too!

Finally, the day we left, we went to Santa Fe for lunch and walking around.  Zoë did a great job of napping on the car on the way there and back, which made us think that the plane ride home at 7:30pm, right at her normal bedtime, would be easy but...she fought sleep for the first two hours of the flight and insisted in being handed back and forth between me and Chris the entire time.  It was rough.

Playing with the fountains in Santa Fe

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But, we had a wonderful trip and I miss my sister already.  I'm so glad that she and Jed got to spend time with Zoë and we have such great pictures and videos to share with her when she's older of her first trip to Albuquerque.

Playing hooky

We started out last week with a personal day for me and a fun day for both Zoë and myself.  We ended up hitting a couple of consignment stores on a really fun sunny afternoon and then met auntie Dianna for coffee.  It was great!  And then...

...Zoë was sick for a couple of days starting out with a fun puking spell at daycare on Tuesday.  I told some of my coworkers that I feel like I earned a new Motherhood Badge having to leave work early to go be with my sick daughter.  Chris went and picked her up from daycare and I came home to be with her.  The next day she was also not herself, so I stayed home another day (working only 2.5 days during the week isn't so bad...just so you know).  While she was sick she wasn't eating or drinking anything really, which made me really neurotic and worried all of the time.  I think Zoë caught on to my despair and desperation to get her to eat and drink because she threw me this awesome glare when I was hovering.

We are working on walking by offering fruit snacks again.  She started walking towards me when I was in the other room one day and I came around the corner to see her five steps away from the couch and still walking my way.  I was shocked!  So, we working on longer distances and she does seem to be getting more confident, but slowly.  She has an OT/PT appointment on Wednesday and I'm sure they'll have suggestions for us to encourage her to keep practicing!  She has a new pair of tennies that are awfully adorable on her feet, but she refuses to move when she's got them on.  It's hilarious!

Her new obsession is taking things out of containers and putting things into containers.  It really doesn't matter what it is, but she does it with everything.  Yesterday I kept her busy for a HALF HOUR with four pretzels split up into thirds and a small tupperware container sitting on the floor of the kitchen.  She does it with food during a meal, even if the container is just the palm of one of our hands.  I'm planning on taking the same small tupperware and some beans on the airplane with us on Saturday to keep her busy.  

We're heading to Albuquerque on Saturday to visit Angela and Jed and I'm looking forward to it immensely!  I'm glad Zoë's going to get some good quality time with her aunt and uncle, and me too!  I feel like the airplane ride will be many times easier than the car ride to Pullman last weekend, plus her own small backpack is already packed with yummy snacks and new toys to keep her busy.  The iPad also has some new apps on it for her.  Four more wake-ups until Spring Break!

Spring has sprung

Enjoying some oatmeal.

At Zoë's last weight check a couple of weeks ago, she weighed 18 pounds 8 ounces and officially can be taken off formula.  We're finishing the cans we had already purchased (you would too if you had spent the amount of money a can of formula costs!), but generally we send one bottle to daycare with her and that's the only one she has all day.  On the weekends she doesn't have any.

Which means, she's a water and milk drinking fool.  Her eating habits, well, they vary.  We're struggling to get her to eat vegetables, though she'll suck them down out of those pureed vegetable packages.  Dinner is usually very short and she rarely eats much of anything.  I'm glad she's eating for Lesley at breakfast and lunch, maybe dinner time is just not her favorite meal.  We'll see.  I've learned enough by now to know that we should just give it a couple of weeks and she'll probably swing the other direction.

 I will eat my veggies out of this package.

Dr. Moore told us that he was going to call the Valley Children's Therapists to find out about the swallow study, but he'd recommend that we don't do one because she seems to be doing just fine with drinking without the thickener (she doesn't cough or sputter EVER any more).  She does have another therapy appointment at the beginning of April, so I guess we'll see what they say then.

Helping around the house.

She's learned a few new things that are super fun and hilarious.  She definitely knows how to shake her head 'no' now and uses it often.  Even when we say "Zoë..." when she's about to get into something she shouldn't be, she'll turn around and start shaking her head.  It's very hard to take her seriously and not crack a smile.

Spring is here!

It's also very difficult to take her seriously when she starts to throw a tantrum.  That's right, folks, we've got pouting leading to wailing, leading to back arching and rubber legs, and finally laying on the floor kicking.  It is HILARIOUS.  Now, I say this knowing that, 1) she hasn't done it in public yet and 2) she is still little enough to pick up and distract with another toy.  So, at least you know I'm not completely naive.  :)

She is thrilled with fruit snacks, they're her new favorite, and she'll practice walking for them forever.  She still won't walk much on her own, but she'll go back and forth between the two of us and her balance and distance is getting better and farther.  She will also just stand for real when she's busy doing something (playing with a fork, for instance, which is her new favorite very sharp toy).

Baba and Dedo took me to McDonald's.  Yum!

She can clap with regularity and make my day by laying a big, open mouthed smack on my lips when I say "gimme a kiss", which is, by far, my favorite thing ever.

With Baba at the Aquarium.

We are heading to Pullman this weekend for Chris' annual Crew Alumni weekend.  I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a Peanut Butter Frost and taking some fun pictures of Zoë in one of my favorite places in the world.  And, in just two and a half weeks we'll be heading to Albuquerque to visit Angela and Jed and get a good dose of sunshine.

Dedo teaching me about fish!

Will Walk for Fruit Snacks

Not much new to report here, a few fun milestones met (but still not the elusive 'first steps' milestone, argh!).  

Zoë took her first steps tonight!!!  We've been practicing for about the last month every other night or so after dinner, propping her up either against the couch or between the two of us and enticing her with a toy, or piece of paper, or a book.  Tonight was no different except I had a bag of her new favorite (as of this afternoon): fruit snacks.  And she started inching forward so I yelled for Chris in the kitchen to grab the video camera and he captured it.  Woo hoo!  We made sure to FaceTime our families so they could see her first steps, too, which was fun.

Practicing reading upside down so that her students can see the pictures while she reads.

Watching Dad leave the house.

Whew.  Well, everything else I was going to write about seems not as exciting now.  I feel like I took my first steps tonight, I'm exhausted and oh-so-excited for tomorrow!





In food news, Zoë has now had peanut butter (loves it!, licks it off whatever vehicle it's attached to).  She's been slowing down in the eating department, though, definitely showing that she prefers certain foods (pancakes, banana, yogurt is still on the good to go list) and refuses to eat a lot of vegetables, which is our daily challenge of finding what we can trick her into eating.  :)  She showed us today that she CAN hold her own bottle.  Sheesh, 13 months later...

She's a champ at chugging water and milk (LOVES both) from sippy cups she holds herself, and she has even mastered a straw.  It's sure made going out for a meal or even an afternoon of errands knowing we can just bring some snacks with us or order something at a restaurant that we're pretty sure she'll attempt to eat and drink at least.

And finally, she learned how to clap this weekend!  One of my favorite new tricks in addition to a vehement shaking of her head as if she really knows what it means.  She usually shakes it when we say "no, no" in our sing-song voice, but sometimes she does it when she doesn't want something to eat or when Fiona takes her toy.  It's pretty darn cute (until she learns how to say the word 'no' to accompany it, of course).

Lunch with Dad during mid-winter break.

I love string cheese!

Spinach Lover

And tonight, Zoë scarfed down some cooked spinach.  To be fair, Chris says even I would have probably eaten the spinach with as much butter as it was cooked in, but Zoë really seemed to enjoy it.  Chris made stuffed peppers for dinner and she really enjoyed that, too.  Tonight was the first time that it seemed like she ATE a meal to eat it, not just to play.  We love the sounds she makes while she eats, too.  It sounds like "num num num" and is pretty freakin' adorable.  I'll teach her later that generally these are not sounds we make constantly while we are eating.  ;)

We went to a playspace in the Supermall (excuse me, Outlet Collection) the other night and Zoë loved playing on the fun things there.  She particularly liked the train that went around a small track and was dressed the part, too, in her overalls.  I think she'll enjoy spaces like this even more when she can run around.

We're going to enjoy lots of time together over mid-winter break, and Chris had both today (President's Day) and Friday (regular every other Friday off) off.  We're going to go have lunch with him and see his new workplace on Wednesday, and then hit up trivia night while we're down in Tacoma.

No walking yet, but our record for standing is now 12+ seconds!  :)

No, Zoë! And other new developments.

Zoë knows now what the word "no" means, and she doesn't like it.  At all.  We've used it to let her know that standing in the tub is not ok, and when she starts eyeing cords, or the soles of our shoes get a little too close to her mouth.  She stops what she's doing, and then does the most adorable slow pout that erupts into dramatic tears.  It is hilarious and hard to keep a straight face.  We follow it up with a lot of reassurance that she's not in trouble, she just needs to not do it.  Ugh.  It both makes me laugh and makes me feel terrible.  It makes me feel a little bit better that she responds in the same way when Chris tells her no.  :)

Also, she's climbing EVERYTHING.  Today she mastered climbing the stairs (not going back down consistently, or safely, though).  She climbs people, pillows, the couch cushions, everything!  And she's busy.  Moving constantly, chasing Dad down the hallway, running away from anyone who will chase her.  Loving bath time again (we went through a period where it was a little touch and go).  She is eating like a champ and breakfast is probably her favorite meal.  I think bananas are now on the top of the favorite foods list.  Followed by anything we're eating (pretzels are a new addition).  She LOVES milk, too, which is great!  She's been practicing holding the cup by herself.  She can hold it, it's the tipping back that's a challenge, but she's definitely getting better.

We also have the record of seven seconds of standing on her own.  Just the last day or so she's gotten more bold with her trust falls, glancing at whomever is closest as if she's challenging us to a standing contest.  She still doesn't take any steps when Chris and I sit a few feet away from each other with her in between, but she'll just lunge towards someone with a big grin on her face.

Baby's first snowman!

 Zoë had her first experience with snow today, which she is still undecided about.  Sadly, it was almost naptime, so I think a lot of her displeasure came from the fact that she was tired.  We wish she was walking because that would really change her experience, too.  Next time!

What IS this stuff?

Dad's more pleased than Zoë is.

And, eating the twigs...scene.

Super Bowl Champs

Playing with new play food in the playroom.

Nothing much new in Zoë land, though we did go on Monday for her 12 month doctor's appointment.  She weighs 17 pounds 2 ounces (only the 3rd percentile, now) and is 27 inches tall.  We got the go-ahead to whittle down her formula intake and make sure she's eating 3 meals a day.  Which is scary!  What do you MEAN just feed her until she's full?!  Half of what she puts in her mouth she spits back out again!  How can I QUANTIFY what she's eating?  Ahhhhhhhhhh!  Dr. Moore basically told me to take a chill pill and that she'll be fine.  We're going to take her in again in about a month for a weight check.  She's going to start drinking SOME milk (1-2 ounces at a time).  She'll go in again for her swallow study in early March and hopefully won't have any more problems, otherwise they're going to need to do an endoscopy to find out what the heck is going on with her swallowing.

She's started doing what Chris refers to it as the "trust fall".  She lets go of the couch or our hands or whatever she's holding on to, hovers for a moment, and then falls down.  I think she's figured out that she doesn't have to crawl everywhere, but she can't quite figure out to move her legs to get to whatever she wants to get to unless she's cruising along the couch or holding onto her alligator walker.

Mom's little piano prodigy.

She was super sick last week with a fever over 100 for five days.  It was a rough week.  :(  She was really clingy and whiney and regressed quite a bit in the eating department.  I'm happy to report that I think she's getting back on track after watching her chow down on some pasta tonight at dinner (she loved the garlic bread, too, she must be our daughter).

Baby's first pigtails!

We had some family pictures taken of us this weekend, which I'm really excited about.  Zoë did very well and we already got sneak peak of a few of the pictures.  Our friend Karah is amazing and we're really glad she was willing to take pictures of us...even when it was cold and yucky out!
























And, of course, today we celebrated a great Super Bowl.  Go Hawks!

Eating a delicious Devil on Horseback appetizer.  It was a hit with Zoë.

Celebrating some touchdown or another.  Hard to tell, there was lots to celebrate!