16 Weeks - Enjoying 2nd Trimester

Randomly wearing the same
shirt as last time at 16 weeks!

16 weeks, yahoo!

This has been a great week! I'm feeling good, I've had several nights of good sleep, and I'm enjoying more baby kicks.

Our Kansas weather has finally turned warm, and it's been life-changing! We've been outside every day going on walks, BBQing and hanging out on our deck, visiting with neighbors, and of course, going to the playground! Zoie loves being outside, and it's such a relief not to be cooped up inside anymore.

Zoie is growing into quite a decisive little toddler. Lately she's been very opinionated with little things like putting on shoes or a sweater, taking a bath (or being done with the bath), and brushing her teeth (or wanting to continue brushing forever). Little things can quickly become huge issues with big drama! It's kind of funny, but can be frustrating for us of course. We try to use humor and redirecting to keep the peace. She definitely doesn't want to listen to logic at this stage!

Zoie also started taunting our little dog. She'll take Brownie's toy and tease her with it, but she'll get mad if Brownie actually takes it. Sometimes Zoie gets a little rough with Brownie because she isn't playing the way Zoie wants her to play! I'm envisioning some big sister drama with her little sibling in the future... Oh well, one day at a time!

How far along are you? 16 weeks as of Friday.
 
How big is Baby? Baby #2 is about 4 1/2 inches long from head to rump, and weighs 3 1/2 ounces! About the size of an avocado.

Weight Gain? My weight fluctuates so much! I weigh half a pound less than last week. Total gain is 3.5 lb.

Gender? I seriously can't wait to find out! Our sonogram is scheduled for April 16th. We might possibly reschedule for a few days earlier, but it depends on James' schedule.

Maternity Clothes? Still wearing my looser jeans and regular shirts. The weather just turned warm, so I started wearing my favorite maternity cropped jeans. They slide down a bit a the moment, but they're so comfortable!

Sleep? Lately, Zoie has been sleeping really well most nights! Which means I've been sleeping much better too. Zoie has started waking up in the morning and playing by herself for 20 minutes before knocking on her door for me to come get her. I definitely enjoy the extra time for myself.

Movement? This week, I've noticed much more movement! This baby is getting strong. It won't be long before we'll be able to feel movement from outside my belly, which will be SO fun to share with James and Zoie!

Food Cravings? Not much has changed, and I'm enjoying most food right now. Even if I had cravings, I'm too busy with Zoie to think much about them. We don't eat a lot of grains in our family, but I have noticed that when I do eat them, I crave them even more! Gluten can be addicting. Most days I try to stay away.

Labor Signs? Nothing.

Symptoms? Is my skin glowing yet? I'm waiting.

What I miss? I would say alcohol, but I've been having a great time being the DD. This Saturday we went to our city's annual "Fake Patty's Day" celebration, a street party infused with drunken college kids and bars packed with DJs spinning Pitbull and Ludacris all afternoon long. It was really fun! My lemonade and orange juice drinks were fabulous. (FYI, Zoie was at home with her Papa!)

Best moment(s) of the week? James' parents watched Zoie for us a couple times so we could get out with our friends, and it was awesome to have some adult time! Ahhhhh it's refreshing to revisit our young pre-baby days.

What I am looking forward to? I'm looking forward to more warm weather this week! James is leaving soon for training, so we'll miss him for a while. Looking forward to spending as much time with him as I can this week!

Cheers,

Martha

15 Weeks - Starting to Prep for Baby #2!

A very comfy outfit!

15 weeks! Our little baby is developing taste buds right now!

Weeks seem to be flying by. I'm going to blink and all of a sudden I'll be 30-something weeks and nesting like crazy!

We're moving from Kansas to California in a few months, so most of our baby preparation will wait until we get to our new home. However, we did buy a double stroller a few weeks ago! After browsing Craigslist for a few weeks, I found a Phil and Ted's Vibe stroller! I bargained for a great deal, and we're pretty happy with our new stroller. It has big inflatable wheels that roll smoothly, and there are several seating configurations for two kids. The city we're moving to has a Stroller Strides fitness class, so I'm ready to be a fit mama! All we need is the newborn Cocoon attachment and we'll be set.

I've also been thinking a lot about sleeping arrangements and room-sharing. Our new baby will sleep in a mini crib by our bed for the first several months, but I think by 6 months we'll be ready to transition our baby to his/her own room. We had Zoie sleeping on her floor bed in her room at 6 months old, which worked out really well.

So I'm wondering, would it work to have two floor beds in a shared room? Would either kiddo interfere with the other's sleep? We could try a real crib for the second baby, but I'm not a huge fan. It's hard to carefully lower a sleeping baby deep into a crib when I'm only 5'2! And what about easy nighttime nursing laying down on the baby's bed?

Perhaps it would work if we elevated Zoie's mattress with a small bed or frame. At least then the new baby wouldn't be able to crawl up and climb on Zoie when they're both (supposed to be) sleeping.

Oh well, lots to think about! Here's this week's pregnancy update:

How far along are you? 15 weeks as of Friday.
 
How big is Baby? Our little baby is about 4 inches long, and weighs about 2.5 ounces. He/she is the size of an apple.

Weight Gain? 4 pounds so far.

Gender? We have to wait a few more weeks! Still predicting a boy. With Zoie we got to find out the gender at 18 weeks, but with this baby we'll have to wait until after 20 weeks.

Maternity Clothes? I've been wearing my slightly looser jeans and leggings and staying pretty comfortable. Tried on my Gap maternity jeans, definitely not big enough for those yet.

Sleep? Some nights I sleep deeply, other nights not as much. Still going to the bathroom at least twice per night! I definitely won't miss that about pregnancy.

Movement? I still don't notice the movement very often, but here and there I feel a little bit of pressure and pokes.

Food Cravings? I've re-discovered fried eggs. YUM! Other than that, there's not much I've craving or averse to. The taste of salt is pretty intense for me, so I've been avoiding really salty food. I often need James to taste whatever I'm cooking to make sure I've seasoned it enough. It's funny, my intense taste of salt is one of the first pregnancy signs I experienced! I knew I was pregnant even before my test read positive.

Labor Signs? Nope, nothing yet.

Symptoms? My emotions run all over the place. I can get upset about the dumbest things.

What I miss? I miss shopping for regular clothes. Since I'm not bumping out yet, it's easy to forget I'm pregnant and be tempted to buy cute clothes. But that seems a little pointless right now...

Best moment(s) of the week? My sister-in-law and her family visited for a few days this last week, and we had a lot of fun hanging out with them. Zoie loved having playdates with her cousins at the library, discovery center, and open gym! We all got to enjoy a few dinners together too. It was sad to say goodbye!

What I am looking forward to? After several inches of snow this weekend, we're getting warm weather next weekend. It's supposed to be in the mid-50's. Dog park, playground, and long walks here we come! Maybe even the zoo?

Cheers,

Martha

14 Weeks, Round Two!

Already one third of the way there!

Looks like I just ate 5 hamburgers.

I'm trying to enjoy being pregnant as much as I can, before the discomfort sets in. Right now life hasn't changed much, aside from not drinking alcohol and a few other activities.

My last pregnancy really was pretty easy, but the thought of becoming huge again is a little daunting. I appreciate being small so much! Life is so much better and easier. How am I supposed to carry Zoie when my belly is huge? How will I ever get comfortable sleeping? I won't be able to climb up on the counter anymore to reach high cupboards!

I'm really not looking forward to the mega-belly. But then again, the tummy-shifting baby kicks are pretty fun!

Things are going well and I'm feeling good, but I'm clearing up a bacterial infection right now. Apparently it's common in pregnancy for the bacteria in your vagina to get out of balance, especially since your body becomes more alkaline. I'm drinking two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar per day as a natural remedy to make my body more acidic and restore the balance of bacteria. Hopefully it works! Otherwise I'll take some antibiotics. I'm going to get re-tested in a few weeks. If this condition is left untreated, it can cause preterm labor later in pregnancy. We definitely don't want that!

Here we are, back to the pregnancy updates!

How far along are you? 14 weeks as of friday, welcome to 2nd trimester!
 
How big is Baby? Our baby #2 is about 3.4 inches long, and weighs around 1.5 oz. He/she is about the size of a lemon!

Weight Gain? When I first found out I was pregnant, I weighed 126. This morning I weighed in at 128.6, so I've gained 2 and a half pounds.

Gender? Not sure yet, but I'm predicting a boy. It seems everyone around us is having girls, somebody needs to have a boy!

Maternity Clothes? Last night I grabbed my favorite jeans from the dryer, and realized they were really getting snug in the waist. I dug out my BeBand and wore it so I could sneakily keep my top button unfastened. Ahhhh so much better! Not to mention we were about to head out to a delicious Mexican restaurant, so I needed the extra room!

Sleep? I've come to terms with never having a full night of sleep. Zoie still wakes up sometimes, and we have to hold her or rock her back to sleep. Sometimes she'll just cry for a minute and fall back asleep, but it still wakes me up! Even on my own, I wake up because I'm thirsty or have to pee.

Movement? This pregnancy is different, because I'm already feeling movement! It's pretty awesome. I don't notice it very often, but when I'm still or relaxed sometimes I'll feel little pokes.

Food Cravings? I had a chicken aversion last month, but now I seem fine with most foods. Smells bother me more than actual food. I'm craving sweets, which is a problem. Girl Scout cookies didn't last long in our house. Sour things have been delicious too.

Labor Signs? Nada.

Belly Button in or out? In. I don't anticipate it going anywhere soon!

What I miss? Wine and margaritas. With this pregnancy, I'm feeling much more relaxed with the "rules." After living in Kansas for almost 2 years, we've been enjoying local raw honey and farm fresh eggs. I'm not going to stop using the raw honey, and I don't mind eating a little raw cookie dough. The risks are almost zero when you know and trust the source of your food.

Best moment(s) of the week? James had a 4-day weekend this last week, so the best part was spending extra time with him. On Valentine's Day, we left Zoie with her Papa and went out to dinner! It was so nice to focus on us for a bit and enjoy one of our favorite restaurants, So Long Saloon.

What I am looking forward to? My sister-in-law and her family are visiting next week! Zoie gets to play with her cousins, so we'll have lots of fun!

Cheers,

Martha

We have an announcement...

 

 We're pregnant with Baby Bowen #2!

It's such a blessing to have another little one on the way - we couldn't be more excited! Zoie is going to love being a big sister. I love thinking about our little family blossoming into a big bunch. We have a beautiful adventure ahead of us! The companionship, the chaos, the memories. 

Being pregnant this time around is a pretty different experience. I'm about 13 weeks along right now, so my due date is August 21st. My symptoms are pretty similar, but I keep forgetting I'm pregnant while I'm chasing Zoie around all day. There's no time to daydream about the tiny one inside me, or spend all my time researching the best baby products and planning the nursery. What if it's a girl? We won't need to prepare for much at all! I'm kind of hoping it's a boy, just so I can have some fun redesigning Zoie's room into a shared girl/boy toddler room/nursery.

We've narrowed potential names down to a couple that we love, but of course we're keeping it hush hush for another couple months. It was hard to find a girl name we loved as much as Zoie Elizabeth, but we did!

Zoie loves to point at my belly and say "baby!", and she loved seeing the baby during our 12-week ultrasound. Baby dolls are her favorite toy to play with, so I think she'll be quite pleased she's getting her very own brother or sister to spend time with. I love watching her play with her dolls and animals - she wraps them in blankets, sings and rocks them to sleep, and makes sure to offer them food and water. She even wrapped a banana in a blanket and pretended it was drinking from her water bottle, sound effects and everything!

She's almost 19 months now, and she's the most hilarious little person I've ever met. She comes up with the funniest ideas, and is such a joy to watch. Of course, she gets upset about equally hilarious things, and it takes quite a bit of effort to remember that her sad feelings are real for her! "You cut the peel on my banana? How could you!?" ... or "Why can't I play on my bouncy toy over the hard tile floor? I don't want to play on the carpet!" ...Usually some hugs and redirecting cheer her up.

I keep imagining life with a newborn and a toddler. Our baby carriers are going to get a workout! I love my soft Happy wrap and Maya sling for tiny babies. Zoie was held or worn most of the time when she was a newborn, so I'm pretty sure we'll be wearing our new baby most of the time while we chase Zoie! I LOVE babywearing - it's so nice to be hands-free while snuggling your baby. Not to mention keeping their temperature and body systems regulated by being close to you!

Just like with Zoie, I'll be posting pregnancy updates and bump pictures every Friday! It'll be fun to compare week by week with last time.

Happy Valentine's Day and have a great weekend!

Cheers,

Martha

13 Months and becoming a Toddler!

Hey everyone!

Zoie flew past her 1st birthday, and is running full speed into toddlerhood. She started walking 2 weeks before she turned one, and got the hang of it pretty quickly. She loves to run, squat, spin, stomp, step backwards, bounce, and dance (sway side to side). She loves to climb, belly-flop onto her bed (especially the dog's bed), and shake things. She also LOVES water and splashing!

Towel snuggles from her Great Grandma!

This point in her babyhood/toddlerhood is so interesting, because observing Zoie is like looking into a mirror. She mimics everything we do! It makes us so aware of what we do (and what we shouldn't be doing). It's amazing how quickly she can learn a new "trick" we teach her.

Language

Each day I discover new words she understands. You never really know unless you ask her, right? "Zoie, point to the tiger!" And she does. WHAT? When did she start understanding that the picture of a tiger is called a tiger? I wonder how many repetitions of a word to object she needs before she remembers. Sometimes I feel like I don't spend enough time actively teaching her stuff, and then I sit back and realize how much she picks up!

We've been doing sign language with Zoie for a few months now, and just recently she has really shown interest in communicating her needs and interests with the signs we've taught her.

• "Fan" - she loves ceiling fans, so we taught her to point up and swirl her hand around in a circle. She'll point out the fans in a restaurant or shop when we're out and about, or she'll answer when we ask where the fan is.

• "Milk" - she signs the standard ASL opening/closing of her fist. She just started signing "milk" while she is nursing sometimes, or right before she latches on.

She's saying "woof"!

• "Potty" - the ASL sign is putting your thumb between your index and middle finger and shaking your fist back and forth, but Zoie pinches her thumb next to her index (like holding a piece of paper) and shakes her fist back and forth. Babies always invent their own versions of sign language! Today, she looked at me and clearly signed "potty" right after nursing, so I took her into the bathroom and she went #2! WIN!

• "Dog" - okay, this isn't sign language, but Zoie says "woof woof!" and "dog!" when she sees a dog, a photo/drawing of a dog, or hears a dog barking! It's so cute.

• "All Done" - this was Zoie's first sign she learned. She signs by flipping her hands palm-up and palm-down several times (standard ASL). She initiates it on her own sometimes when she's done with her meal, or done with a particular food I'm trying to get her to eat. She mostly signs when I ask her, "all done?" but it's hard to tell if she's just making the sign in reply, or if she's actually done.

• "Up" - Zoie says "up!" and throws her hands up. Sometimes she does it when she wants to be picked up, other times it's just for fun repeating us.

• "Sit on your bottom", "spin", "bounce", "clap", "roll the ball", "kick the ball", "high five", and "wave hi/bye" are all actions that she does when you ask her.  

I'm starting to teach her a string of choreographed moves... 3 bounces and a spin so far! We'll see how many moves she can memorize in sequence :)

Nursing

Nursing is still going strong! She's so busy during the day, so she really only nurses before/after naps, and maybe 1 or 2 more times during the day.  We just started another attempt at night-weaning though, so lately she's been nursing a little more during the day.

We gave up on night weaning a few months ago - we spent over a week staying up for hours in the middle of the night trying to sooth her back to sleep without nursing. NOT FUN! We finally gave up and gave in. Maybe she just wasn't ready?

Recently though, Zoie reached the point of wanting to nurse every 2 hours at night! Not okay anymore... This mama needs SLEEP! We're a few days into night weaning round 2, and it's going a lot better this time. It seems that she is beginning to understand that if she waits until her regular wakeup time at 7am, I'll bring her into my cozy bed and she can feast as much as she wants!

Sleep

Zoie has switched herself from two naps to one, which has been convenient for getting out of the house and doing things! It's usually a long nap, anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours.

Her nighttime sleep is a work-in-progress, as I mentioned the night weaning project. She goes to bed around 8pm, and wakes up around 7/7:30am (still with some waking up in the middle of the night).

Since we're night-weaning, we've been trying everything else to sooth her back to sleep. Holding her and walking, rocking, bouncing, snuggling in the rocking chair, humming, shushing... you get the idea. Once she is night-weaned, step #2 will be keeping Zoie on her bed while rubbing her back or just being with her while she learns to fall back asleep herself.

Eating

"Get this food AWAY!"

We seem to be entering the picky toddler phase. Zoie has learned that food is something she can control, and she loves to be in the driver's seat! I have to keep reminding myself to let her eat what/how she wants to eat. We do not want to make food into a battle!

It's fun giving Zoie all different foods to try. It's surprising what she likes, and what she doesn't like. A delicious cheesy quiche? GET IT AWAY! Raw tomato? YUM NOMNOMNOM! Sweet juicy peach? THROW IT ON THE GROUND! ... It's a bit of a trying process, but it's fun.

Zoie mainly eats food that we eat - we skipped purees entirely. I have a few special toddler snacks for her, like freeze-dried fruits and bite-sized yogurt snacks and peanut butter crackers. I'm always on the lookout for nutritious ready-to-go food, and I keep homemade turkey meatballs and mini egg & cheese omelets in the freezer for quick meals.

Sometimes she scarfs food, other times she hardly eats even though I think she's hungry. At least she still nurses, so I'm at ease with her nutritional intake. She also likes cow's milk! She'll drink about half a cup in the morning, and half a cup in the evening.

Relaxing for a moment with her milk and monkey.

Each day is new and interesting with a baby-becoming-a-toddler. Such an incredible experience to watch a person develop! Step by step, you watch this little person discover the world and test her abilities. She learns that she has control over herself, and can communicate her wants and needs. What an amazing realization for a kid! We all take self-expression for granted - but man, what a gift!

Cheers,

Martha

Happy 11 months, Zoie!

So much learning!

Now that our girl Zoie is 11 months old, she is exploding with knowledge! I swear, it happens overnight. Suddenly, she understands words! And more words! Now we're challenged to keep pace with teaching her new words, gestures, and sign language.

Things really got rolling last month when my grandma played patty-cake with Zoie several times over our weekend visit to Chicago. I didn't think much of it, and James and I found ourselves singing the nursery rhyme once we got back home in Kansas. Suddenly, Zoie lifted up her arms to "throw the cake in the oven"! She remembered the motions that her great grandma taught her!

Since then, Zoie has [finally] learned how to clap her hands together, and will promptly do so if you ask her. She also claps if I tell her "good job!" - which always cracks me up.

Baby sign language hasn't been a huge priority for us, but Zoie just recently started signing "all done" sometimes when I ask her! It's so encouraging when you get a response - We'll definitely keep up with teaching her more baby signs.

Zoie's little hi/bye wave has become completely adorable - on the plane to Seattle, she greeted every single passenger with a smile and a wave! If she gets shy from the attention she creates, she starts playing peekaboo and hiding around my shoulder.

Using the Potty.

Potty training a baby? What? YES! But it's not really training. 

I started the process by creating a cue word when Zoie was 4-5 months old. Every time I caught her in mid-pee, I would say "psssss!" This usually happened when I was changing her diaper and the fresh cool air against her skin would make her pee.

Who knows if the cue word was really necessary, but the first time I balanced her over the little potty chair and said "psssss," she peed! I was impressed. And she did it again and again! Depending on how many times we offered the potty during the day, we'd catch at least a few pees each day. Definitely saves money on disposable diapers and cloth laundry.

When we're not at home, Zoie happily uses a regular toilet. It requires a little more involvement to hold her body weight over the big potty, but it works!

In fact, Zoie just learned to poop in the toilet during our Seattle trip two weeks ago! Every morning after we nursed, I took her to the toilet and she did her business. It was like she suddenly discovered that a toilet was MUCH easier for elimination than struggling to push into a diaper. I was SO excited the first time she #2'ed in the toilet that I snapped a photo and texted it to my husband. Is that weird? Being a parent is such a strange experience :)

We're lucky that Zoie is pretty consistent with her once-a-day poop. If she doesn't go in the morning, I just watch for signs of "pushing" and quickly offer the potty. I've only had to clean up TWO dirty diapers in the last several weeks! HAPPY MAMA!!

I just started teaching her the sign for potty (make a fist with your thumb tucked between your index and middle fingers and shake your fist back and forth) - as soon as she can TELL me when she needs to potty, there is nothing holding us back from becoming diaper-free in the near future!

Getting closer to walking!

Zoie absolutely loves to move. She wants to walk [run] so badly! Her favorite thing to do is to grab onto our fingers and take us on a walk. If you pick up the pace and guide her along fast, she'll shriek with delight and her little legs will run to keep up!

She's not quite balanced enough to walk on her own, but she is just starting to take a few independent steps! I'm mentally preparing for chasing this girl once she starts walking. She will be everywhere! 

Adventures in eating real food!

For the most part, Zoie is a pretty adventurous eater. She'll eat almost anything if she's hungry for food. She especially loves berries, fruit, avocados, eggs, chicken, ground beef, cheese, yogurt, crackers, hummus, steamed veggies, and beans. 

Dog's gotta eat too, right?

However, there are days when all she wants to do is nurse! This is mostly when she's sick, or when teething is painful. Other days, she refuses to nurse until bedtime and only wants real food and water.

Breastfeeding... and night weaning.

Nursing is still going strong. She likes to nurse in the morning, before and after naps, and before bedtime. Sometimes a few extra times during the day too, and several times at night. I don't think Zoie is going to give up nursing any time soon!

However, we're finally at a point where I feel okay about night weaning. Zoie is eating solids really well, she's not sick, and she's not struggling with teething at the moment. My goal is to secure a good 6-hour stretch where she doesn't nurse, so I've chosen 11pm-5am to "close Mom's diner". Let me tell you, it is NOT easy! I mean, nobody likes to see the closed sign when they pull up for a meal!

Once Zoie gets used to falling back asleep without milk (I'm offering a sippy-cup with warm water instead!), I'm hoping she'll start sleeping through the night a little better.

This all takes a huge amount of patience - Night #1, Zoie was up for 3 hours telling me JUST how much she liked my new nursing plan! After three hours of rocking, singing, swaying, shushing, she finally fell back asleep without nursing. Success!

Last night (Night #2) actually went really well! Instead of 3 hours, it only took me 20 minutes to rock Zoie back to sleep without nursing. Second time she woke up was at 4:30am, so I went ahead and nursed her. Close enough :-)

Hopefully this good momentum continues tonight!!

First birthday is right around the corner!

Hard to believe our little Zoie girl is almost 1 year old! My parents are flying out to celebrate with us. What a wonderful year this has been! It's been such a joy to watch this girl grow. Time drifted by pretty slowly while James spent 5 months in Afghanistan, but these past few months together have flown by!

Cheers,

Martha

Family of three! Yipeeee!

It's about time! We're all together again!

Finally, our lives have returned to normal! It's been so awesome to have the three of us together again. James returned from his deployment in Afghanistan mid-January, and it's been such a luxury to relax and settle in to the comforts of family life.

Five months as a solo-mama was an interesting challenge. Thank goodness Zoie is such an easygoing baby, otherwise I can't imagine the difficulties we would've faced! We had lots of support from my parents, James' parents, and our friends. I also made new mommy friends with babies, and having regular playgroups kept the days zooming by!

Nights were always the loneliest, but luckily I got to talk to James almost every evening. Skype and FaceTime made it feel like he really wasn't so far away. We'd share stories, swap pictures, discuss problems, plan goals for the future... just like like we were hanging out face-to-face. James even "helped" me unbox our new iMac and set it up while we were video-chatting! He also participated in our big family white elephant swap during Christmas via Skype (although he had to wake up before dawn to chat with us, haha!). And of course, Zoie had plenty of video daddy-time, so he saw her growing and developing over the 5 months. 

What an amazing day when James finally returned safely to the US! Although we live in Kansas, James flew into Seattle, WA because he had orders to spend a few weeks training the next group deploying to Afghanistan at Fort Lewis before he returned home. But hey, what luck! I'm from Seattle! So of course, Zoie and I hopped on a plane (her 5th trip in her 6 months of life!) and met up with our beloved soldier.

When James stepped off the plane at the airport, Zoie and I were waiting at the gate along with my mom and dad. I couldn't believe he was finally here!! We tossed aside the Welcome Back sign we made and all hugged him. Zoie didn't even seem hesitant, she definitely knew her daddy. It was so sweet to watch the two of them together! James spent time taking her on escalator rides and showing her all the visitor brochures while we were waiting at the baggage claim. I think my heart melted just a bit :)

We got to spend three weeks in the Northwest with James, my family, and our wonderful Washington friends. It was awesome, having James return AND getting a vacation! We enjoyed some good seafood, explored Pike Place Market, visited the aquarium, and ate at our favorite restaurants. Also during our visit, the Seattle Seahawks WON the 2014 SUPER BOWL!!! The entire city was wrapped up in bright green and dark blue, it was an awesome time to be in Seattle!

Back to Kansas - there's no place like home.

At last, we've settled back into a routine together at home. Babies really do thrive with consistency, Zoie has been a happy baby! It's been such a joy to see her bonding with James again. She loves playtime with her daddy, being tipped upside down and zooming around the room like an airplane! Zoie also loves sleeping on James' chest. Much better than sleeping on mama's chest - the milk is too distracting!

We took Zoie sledding for the first time!

This girl has been busy growing. She is now 15 pounds, and measures 25 inches from head to heel. Still a shorty, but she's steady on her own growth curve. Hard to believe she'll be 8 months old in a week!

Yum, food!

Food has been a fun adventure. I was all excited about starting Baby-Led Weaning and going straight to food Zoie could pick up and feed herself, but it was not working so well. She gagged on everything! It was hard to watch. So we started spoon-feeding, but letting her help hold the spoon. She still gagged on pureed food! But after a week or two, she became comfortable with texture and swallowing food. She enjoyed applesauce, yogurt, mashed avocado, sweet potato, egg yolk, and sauce from dinners we cooked. 

And then we got bold and started giving her chunks of fruit to gnaw on. And it worked! She didn't gag or choke, and she loved holding the food herself! Now that we've overcome that hurdle, Zoie doesn't love spoon. She would much rather attack a whole strawberry or chew on a piece of cheese. It gets pretty messy... but that's okay. We've had lots of laughs and some great photos!

Sleep... or lack thereof.

It's kind of funny, the most common question I get when strangers ask about our daughter is, "does she sleep through the night?" - I'm not sure what they're expecting, but the answer is always no. I'm sure she will one day! I usually get up 3 times/night to feed her. We just started feeding her greek yogurt about 30 minutes before bedtime, and it seems to keep her tummy full for longer so she doesn't wake up to nurse so often. I'm optimistic that sleep will continue to improve, but for now waking up a few times isn't that big of a deal.

Speaking of sleep, I love her little floor bed! Having her sleep on a twin mattress on the floor instead of a crib makes it so easy to nurse her at night - I just lay down next to her! She crawls off occasionally, when she's looking for me (well, my boob more specifically) in the night, but it's not an issue. Her whole room is baby-friendly with a gate in her doorway.

New developments!

• Sitting - she can sit independently.
• Standing - she just started pulling herself up to stand (without help!), and will take steps if you guide her along.
• Crawling - still not a full crawl, but she can get places quickly with her inchworm-crawl. She also scoots upside down backwards on her head (it's pretty weird!)
• Teeth - Zoie has her first two bottom teeth.
• Bath time - she loves to splash and play in the bathtub! Definitely a favorite activity.
• Imitating - if you click your tongue at her, she quickly replies with her own tongue clicks.
• Playing with the dog - our dog Brownie is the best form of entertainment for Zoie! She'll just watch her and laugh. She especially loves to be held while we chase Brownie!
• Potty - we've introduced a tiny potty chair for Zoie. We offer the potty (balancing her on the seat) right after naps, and whenever her diaper has seemed dry for a little while. So far she pees in it 1-2 times a day!

Zoie's signature "upside down head-scoot"
- a surprisingly effective mode of transportation!

So happy for BATH TIME!

I love each stage as Zoie develops, it's such a joy to watch her grow! We're really getting to know her little [big] personality and see glimpses of what she'll be like as an older child. I feel so honored to be her mama! She brings so much happiness to our lives, and to those all around us.

Cheers,

Martha