first night away from home

Well we survived our first night away from home. We went to Wolf Lodge with Joe's family. It's an indoor water park in Canada, so we took Zoey swimming for the first time. All in all it was a good trip, but it was a bit stressful for me. I was so nervous that I was going to forget something. You wouldn't believe how much stuff I brought for just one night away. So, we got there around 3ish on Friday, checked into our room and then headed into the water park. I was excited to try out Zoey's cute little bathing suit that I bought for her. She really loved the water - it was so cute! After a while, we decided that we wanted to try some of the waterslides, so we left Zoey with Joe's dad while we did that. It was kind of a pain though because the lines were long, and I felt a little bit uneasy leaving Zoey because she was getting passed around between the people that we were there with, and some of them were friends of Joe's dad that I don't really know that well. I know that she was fine and it's not like I don't trust them or anything. But still, the paranoid mama in me has a hard time leaving her with someone I don't know very well (even if it is just for 20 minutes so I can go on some waterslides).
So we had a good time, but once we tried to settle in for the night, things didn't work out so well. I got Zoey to sleep in the Pack N Play, but she woke up after only about 45 minutes and wouldn't go back to sleep. I nursed her some more until she settled back down and then put her in her carseat to sleep. Well, that lasted for maybe an hour or two until she woke up again. I think that she could sense that she was in an unfamiliar enviroment. So, I spent pretty much the whole night fighting with her to go to sleep. :( At around 6:00, I decided to put her in the stroller and walk the halls of the hotel. That put her right to sleep in about 15 minutes and then she slept until around 10:00. So, it wasn't too bad, but definitely not a great night's sleep.
So, we got up around 10:00 packed up and then went back to the water park for about another 2 hours before heading home. All in all, it was a good trip, but we were all very happy to come home.
Here are some pics from the trip:
All ready to head to the water park - I love this pic!
Modeling her bathing suit. (I didn't want to be in the pic -photos in a bathing suit = yuck!)
But I had to give up hiding from the camera - Joe is picture crazy, so here's one of me and Zoey.Zoey with Daddy Swimming! She loved it when I put her on her belly so she could move her arms around and kick her legs - she's definitely gonna be a little swimmer!
Playing in the pool with cousin Madalynn
After a while, she had enough and wanted to get out. (awww...doesn't that face break your heart?) After swimming Zoey was perfectly happy just to hang out with daddy. She is completely facinated by his facial hair so he has been keeping it long for her - she's spoiled by her daddy already! And lastly a view of the park. Not the greatest pic, but you get the idea.

First Thanksgiving

Zoey's first Thanksgiving was a good day. We went to my sister-in-law's house and had a very yummy meal and got to show off Zoey to some of Joe's relatives who hadn't met her yet. Zoey was very happy for the whole day and everyone just loved her. :) She sat happily in her bouncy seat while we ate dinner and everyone commented on what a good baby she is! She really is such a little angel - I am just so in love with our little girl!

Here are some pics from the day:

With Grandma and cousins Madalynn and Cole

Zoey loved getting kisses from Madalynn and Cole :)

An early Christmas celebration

We have had a busy week this week trying to get ready for Christmas even though it's not even Thanksgiving yet. Since my grandparents leave for Florida the first week of December, we got together the Sunday before thanksgiving to celebrate Christmas with them. It seems kind of crazy celebrating Christmas before it's even Thanksgiving, but we had a really nice time. Here are some pics:


Zoey opening up her first Christmas present ever - a Baby's first Christmas stocking from Great Grandma.

Four generation pic - my mom, me, sister Shannon, Grandma, and of course Zoey :)


All tired out from too much holiday fun!

Once she woke up again, we took a nice family photo
And another pic of mommy and Zoey just because I love those chubby cheeks

Zoey's 4th month October 11th-November 11th

4 month pic:

Month 4- October 11th - November 11th
Things continue to go well with little Zoey. I love being a mom so much and I’m so happy that I have this whole year off and don’t have to go back to work until September. I have even started to have the itch to have another baby! It’s a really strong itch too. If it weren’t for the fact that it wouldn’t really work out financially, I’d want to get pregnant again right away. And surprisingly enough, Joe feels the same way. We don’t talk about it all the time, but he has made comments here and there about wanting to have another one fairly soon. We’ll see though…I really don’t think that we should start trying until Zoey is around a year old because that way I would be able to work and hopefully save money up to be able to stay home for a while with baby #2!
Okay, before I get ahead of myself talking about baby # 2, back to Zoey. One big thing that has happened is that she has started to laugh a little bit. I didn’t really recognize that it was a laugh at first because it sounds more like a squeak - so cute though! She will open up her mouth really wide and smile and sometimes make this little squeaking sound. Not your typical laugh, but it’s adorable. She will laugh when I hold her on my lap under her arms and bounce her up and down. She loves it!
Also, she discovered her hands this month and is all about them. She really wants to be able to suck her thumb, but hasn’t quite mastered it yet. She pretty much sticks her whole hand into her mouth and will suck on whatever finger she gets hold of. Sometimes it’s her thumb, sometimes her pointer, sometimes it’s a few fingers at a time.
As far as sleep goes, she seems to have digressed a little bit. She isn’t sleeping through the night quite as consistently. Sometimes she wakes up around 3 or so to eat. She’s still sleeping in the cradle in our room and I really feel like we should move her to the crib because she is starting to be more sensitive to noises like us getting into bed or the dog making noises. We tried one night to put her in her own room - I had her all settled in and asleep (in the cradle, but in her own room) and then I said to Joe that it felt weird having her in there and he said he thinks that she should still sleep in our room. I never expected for him to be that way, but he said that he would feel more comfortable leaving her in with us for a while longer. So we did But now I am feeling like we really need to make the transition sometime soon before she gets too used to sleeping in the same room with us and it’s hard to get her into the crib. But it makes me really sad to think about not having her in the same room with us. It’s not like her room is very far away - it’s so close that we probably wouldn’t even need to use the monitor to hear her. But, I really like being able to wake up and see her sleeping there next to me. We’ll see…Joe says that he wants to keep her in the room with us for another two months. I’m not really sure what he’s basing that on, but he says that he likes having her there with us. I think it’s cute :)
Hmm…what else? She’s still not rolling over, although she will tolerate being on her tummy for longer periods of time now. She loves to lay on the little rainforest play mat that she has and kick her legs like crazy. She will kind of roll onto her side in order to be able to see her toys, but she isn’t rolling onto her tummy yet.
Oh and one last thing, it was Zoey’s first Halloween. She had a little pumpkin costume that I thought was really adorable. We didn’t do anything much, just went to my sister’s house and my parents and grandparents came over to see her in her costume.
I think that’s about it for her 4th month…Oh she had her 4 month appt today (11-11) and she weighs about 15 lbs and is about 25 inches. 87th percentile for her height and 90th for her weight. All looks good. The doctor said that she seems very strong for her age with holding her head up and pulling herself up to standing when you hold her hands. He called her “strong as an ox”. He said that we can start to think about giving her cereal sometime soon, definitely by six months. So I’m not sure when we will decide to introduce it to her. It seems crazy that she is almost already ready to start eating!

A year ago today...

I found out that I was pregnant! It's hard to believe that a year went by so quickly, and our lives are so completely different now. We are so happy and I can't imagine life without our "little bean" (as Daddy likes to call her).
So...is it crazy that I took a pregnancy test this morning?! Of course it was negative. There is almost no chance that I would be pregnant, but it is pretty nerve-wracking not getting your period for months at a time. I never really realized that was a side effect of breastfeeding. It's nice not to have to worry about that, but at the same time it makse me nervous that I could get pregnant and not know it and assume that I'm just not getting my period because of the breasfeeding. So, I still have some internet cheapie tests laying around the house and I have a feeling I will be taking one every month just to put my mind at ease!

Happy Halloween

Here are some pics of our little pumkin. She looked so cute in her costume! :)

First playdate

Zoey had her first playdate today. I got together with two of my friends from work, and their little guys Evan (born in August), and Brady (born in September). We got them all together on the couch to take a pic - it was so cute. And in the middle of the "photo shoot", we noticed that Zoey and Evan were holding hands - SO adorable!! :) Zoey's first boyfriend. Daddy was not happy about that one - haha!

First trip to Letchworth

Today was Zoey's first trip to Letchworth. It was quite hectic though since there was a craft fair going on the park was SO busy! We had to wait on the road just to get into the park for like 20 minutes. And then once we were in, it was impossible to get to any of the places that we wanted to see. There was no way that we were going to be able to get to the Glen Iris/Middle falls area because traffic was at a stand still. So, we just parked at one of the overlooks and walked around for a bit and Joe took lots of pictures. I wish that we would have been able to see more of the park, but it was still a beautiful day for a drive. We stopped for ice cream on the way home. It was a great day!

Zoey's third month September 11th - October 11th

Here is the three month pic

And month three in review:
Month 3 - Sept 11th- October 11th
Wow, 3 months! Crazy how fast time is flying by. The major accomplishment for month 3 is that I actually left Zoey. The first time was Sept 14th (Joe’s birthday). I had to run to Walgreens for birthday candles since we were having our families over to celebrate Joe and his mom’s birthday. She was sleeping in her swing so I told Joe that I was going to leave her with him while I ran to the store. I was only gone for about 10 minutes but I was nervous the whole time. Of course she was fine, she was still sleeping when I got home. So, I’ve started with baby steps. Every now and then I’ll leave her with Joe while I run to the store, sometimes even when she is awake! J And I left her for the first time with my mom on Oct 4th (12 weeks 1 day), so that I could go get my hair done. I was gone for a few hours which was a little bit nerve wracking, but I didn’t cry at all so I did well. We also left her with Joe’s mom for about an hour the following Wed so that we could go to the guitar store to finally buy Joe his new guitar for his b-day gift, and I left her with my mom again that Thursday and went out to dinner with some of my friends.
So, I am finally at the point where I feel okay being away from her, but it’s never been for more than about 2-3 hours. I know I would be a wreck if I had to go back to work and be away for 8 hours + and take her to daycare where she wouldn’t be with family. So, I am so thankful that I am able to take the whole year off with her. I feel so lucky to be able to be with her every day and I know that it’s going to be really hard to go back in
September. I have already started to look into daycare centers. Sara came with me and I checked out a few places. So far, I like the place that she takes Hailey, and another one that we looked at that is in the Green Acres building over by KenEast. It’s nice that I have time to look around and choose a place that I feel comfortable with, rather than having to rush the decision. I’m hoping that I will not have to send her full time, and maybe do a few half days, or at least have one day a week where she doesn’t have to go. My sister has already said that she could help me out with Mondays or Wednesdays since she is off, Sara said she would be willing to help, depending on what her schedule is like at that time, and my grandma has also offered. And I’m not sure what Joe’s work schedule will be like when the time comes, but we have talked about the possibility of him only working part time once I am back to work. So we will see what happens.
Let’s see, what else can I say about month 3? Zoey is getting to be so interactive and fun - smiling, cooing, “talking” back to us, etc. She also is happy to be by herself for longer periods of time - in the bouncy seat, swing, playmat, etc. So I don’t have to be constantly holding her all day long. Also
she continues to sleep really well at night. I will swaddle her, nurse her to sleep, and then, I try to put her down around 8 or 9, she will sleep for about 7 or 8 hours, before getting up to eat, and then if I’m lucky she will go back to sleep again for another hour or two after her first AM feeding. So I’m able to get a full night’s sleep and don’t get out of bed until around 8:00, or sometimes even 9:00. It’s heaven! Our big struggle right now is naptime. I can not just lay her down for a nap, she will just cry shortly after putting her down. Most of her naps have been in the carseat or stroller. She will fall asleep when we are out and about and then I will just let her keep sleeping. I’ve been trying more recently to look for her tired cues (yawning, rubbing eyes, pink eyelids), and then put her down for a nap when she is still awake. But so far she still won’t fall asleep if I lay her down in the cradle or crib, but she will go to sleep in the swing. But it’s not consistent what time she will nap or for how long. Sometimes she will wake up in 25 mins and sometimes she will nap for as long as 4 hours. I’d really like to try to get her into some sort of schedule or routine, but so far no luck. I can’t complain though, I would much rather have to struggle to get her to nap and have her sleeping through the night than the other way around.
Lastly, I’m happy to report that breastfeeding is still going really well. It’s just so easy and natural now, and all the problems that we had in the beginning are just a blur. I am so happy that I stuck with it. I never really expected to enjoy it as much as I do. The whole time I was pg, I always said that I would do it since I know that it is good for the baby (and to save money - lol!), but I really didn’t expect to like it as much as I do. I guess it’s one of those things that you can’t really explain or understand until you have done it. And I have mastered the art of nursing laying down (when we both got a cold and I didn’t want to get out of bed) It is awesome because when she wakes up early in the morning, I just bring her into bed with me and then go back to sleep. That morning snuggly time has turned into one of my favorite parts of the day.
No other major milestones to report. She hasn’t rolled over again yet (that one time must have just been a fluke!). I’m still waiting for her to laugh out loud, I have a feeling that will be any day now. Can’t wait to see what month 4 will bring!

Our little guitar hero!

Tonight we went out and got Joe his new guitar for his birthday. His mom babysat for the first time and of course was thrilled even though we were only gone for about 45 minutes. So when we got home, Joe decided that he wanted to show the guitar to Zoey. She loved it! Now he's convinced she's going to be a musician! I think we still have a ways to go though...