Photos of Firsts

I know 5 months isn't really a milestone, but I can't help but feel nostalgic. I ran across pictures from when Zoey was first born and it feels like a million years ago; she doesn't even look like the same baby (but I hear that is normal).

So, without further ado, a picture montage (drink a lot, smoke a little, squint, and just pretend the pictures are moving to music) of Zoey's Firsts.

Taken by Daddy minutes after she was born.

Getting ready to go home in our very first outfit. It says, "Just Made."

As you can see, she was beyond thrilled.

Arriving at home for the first time. Louis, trying to figure out his place in this new situation. Five months later and he still hasn't figured it out.

First-time Daddy.

Her first Glamour. I submitted this picture to the magazine as part of the Where Has Your Glamour Been? column but it never got published. They did respond, though, and congratulated me on my beautiful new baby girl.

The first time she fell asleep in her bouncy chair. Now she is too big for it. But before moving to the crib, this was her napping chair.

The first time I put her on her tummy. She was not impressed. Even now she doesn't really like being on her tummy, but knows it's the only way she can get places on her own right now (once she learns how. Right now she is just beyond frustrated that she can't go anywhere; she so desperately wants to).

Zoey's first cold. And unfortunately it happened only a few days after she was born. Daddy developed a cold while I was in the hospital, which I eventually caught, and then so did Zoey. Jacob said to me one day, "I wish she would just have a giant sneeze one day to get it all out." About 20 later, she did!

Her first LBD (little black dress). She wore this the first time I took her to the office to meet everyone.

Her first shopping trip. We kept things mellow, going to the Target closest to our house that is very rarely ever filled with people. I was beyond scared to take her out in public - I still am - but the almost-empty store made it a little better.

Her first Louis-kiss. In her short life, she has received many - 100% of which Jacob and I were too slow to stop.

Her first time on her play mat on her tummy. Mere seconds after this pictures was taken, she was screaming. Now she loves to lay on her mat, although she rarely stays on it, deciding she'd rather be somewhere else and taking off rolling.

First time - outside of the Oven, at least - at Cooney Dam where we like to take the dogs to run, swim, and generally be dogs.

Jacob started working 8am-4pm about a month into my maternity leave, which was a Godsend! But before that happened, he was working 1pm-9pm. I liked to bring him dinner, especially if we didn't have a lot that he could take for lunch. So this is one of the first times Zoey and I brought Daddy lunch/dinner at work.

First Halloween. We didn't do much, and we didn't even get any trick-or-treaters. We did, however, in anticipating, turn all of the lights off and hung out in the "downstairs" portion of the house.

Durbin, starting his first shift as one of the keepers of Zoey.

For some reason, one day I decided to put her in her crib for a nap for the first time. All bundled in the afghan from her Great Aunt Karen, she slept relatively sound. At 3 weeks old, I moved her out of our bedroom and into her own; we all started sleeping much better. We've since removed all of the toys because now its her bed instead of a fancy storage container.

Our first walk around the neighborhood. Like most babies, she loved being in her carrier. We have a larger one that we're going to use next month when we visit Grandma and Grandpa in Tucson.

These last 2 aren't 'firsts' of any kind; I just think she looks adorable in her girly outfits!

Her first Christmas, and she received her first Elmo. It was love (and chew) at first site (and bite)!

The first morning she woke up and was all smiles all day. To start, she'd only have a few smiles for me in the morning. Then one day she woke up and decided she loved the world! She also might have been a little thrilled that she hung out in her Z pajamas all morning too.

Zoey's first time voting. We stood in line for over an hour, and although she was probably in need of several things, she was an absolute peach. She must have understood that we weren't leaving until we voted and voted Democrat.

Just after one of the first times she rolled over.

Her first bath without the newborn safety hammock thing. It was also her first bath with the rubber duckies she was gifted by a friend of mine at work. Now she can't take a bath without Mommy and baby ducky, even clinging to the mom with her feet as I lift her out of the tub.

And while I'm sad that her baby days are rapidly moving behind her, I'm excited for all of the new things yet to come (well, most new things)!

She Sits!

Zoey can't quite sit up on her own but it's not for the lack of trying!

Once she mastered holding her head up, she quickly moved on to working on sitting up. While on her back, she's focused on trying to hoist herself into the sitting position. Unfortunately, she hasn't yet gotten past doing anything more than a stomach crunch.

But when we sit her up against something, the first thing she does is work herself into sitting up straight. When we first get home in the evenings, I take her out of the carseat, take her into the bedroom so I can change out of my work clothes, and plop her down on our bed. And the first thing she does is sit up and grab for my Spongebob Squarepants blanket.

We're still a little wobbly, but ultimately we get there.

And once we do, we're so excited!!

Even after being distracted with Daddy coming in, she holds strong.

And we eventually lose it. But still always happy nonetheless.

I get so excited for every new thing she does, but a very large part of me wishes she would stay this cute, cuddly, fun baby forever.

Now I know how my parents feel. :-)

Oh, and P.S.....

Look who's an American Idol fan! 

Five Months, Going on 30 Years

The parental manta: man! Time flies so fast!

Pretty soon Zoey will be off to college. Shit, her first morning as a 5-month old and she's ready to face the world alone!

Jacob and I went to bed late last night so the last time I checked on her was around 12:30am. When we bought her Baby Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit, it was just a touch too big, but that was the point; she hadn't yet learned to soothe herself back to sleep and was still very prone to having her arms fly up and smack her in the face. It was the perfect transition from the Swaddle, of which bucking in her crib every 2 hours taught us she no longer needed. She's grown into the suit to the point where she can slink all of her appendages into the suit if she's chilly, or stick them all out if she's warm. When I went to check on her last night, she had pulled her left arm through the sleeve of the suit, then up through the neck-hole so she could suck her thumb. She was sleeping happily with her thumb in her mouth. I told Jacob what she looked like and said, "So we'll probably have to get up and fix that at some point during the night," since I figured she'd wake up and be ticked her arm was stuck.

Nope.

She woke up at 5:30am - which she does quite frequently - and jabbered to herself in her crib. At around 5:45am she had been silent for a few minutes so I went in to check on her. She had her left arm back through the sleeve like normal, with her thumb in her mouth and her eyes wide open. She turned her head to look up at me but kept her thumb in her mouth. I just turned and walked out and she slept for another hour. "Hey mom. Yeah, I'm cool, I don't need anything."

Before going to bed we were taking pictures of Zoey on the floor. She'd move around and giggle but as soon as Jacob pressed the shutter, she'd freeze and be in instant pose-mode. I think we have a diva on our hands....

Her moody pose.

As Tyra would say, "She's smiling with her eyes; she smizing."

Sitting up by herself, sans diaper. It's just a much easier way to do things.

Jacob and I can't believe she is 5-months old, and how much she is capable of. She is an extremely strong girl whose favorite thing to do besides hang out in her ExerSaucer is fly around the air and play Superbaby with Daddy.

She loves being on Daddy's shoulder's too, which I am also partial to her doing. The last time Daddy hoisted her up there, she grabbed on to his long hair like horse reins then threw up all over him, prompting him to bust out the razor right then and there. But to curb any chance of Zoey not recognizing him post haircut, we took her into the bathroom where all 3 of us (and including the dogs once in awhile) watched Daddy shave his head.

She is fascinated with the television remote and knows exactly when it's being used, even if we've hidden it. When things start to change on the TV, she looks around for the remote, not giving two craps about any of the toys she might have in her lap. She's too smart for our own good; we'll have to pen her up soon. It must have been all of that health food I ate while I was pregnant.

Speaking of, thanks to the health kick Zoey insisted I go on when I was pregnant with her, I now have a very low tolerance for anything that doesn't already exist in nature. So between eating like a rabbit, taking care of Zoey, cleaning, doing laundry, and joining my friend, Mer, at the gym every week (albeit only once every week; I'm so hard-core) I'm undoubtedly too skinny and require a brand new wardrobe. I know, such a shame.

Tonight is a gym-night, which we use primarily to gossip and catch up on regular life. That might also be why I'm so skinny; neither of us shuts up while on the elliptical. So Daddy and Zoey will spend some quality time together watching Top Gear on the BBC (if she winds up with a British accent, I'm going to be pissed).

It's pretty cold here - -16-degrees with windchill. Tonight it's supposed to be even colder so at least we have each other to snuggle up to!

The Obligatory First Post Post

Well, considering Zoey will be 5-months old tomorrow, we're a little late to this game. Whoopsie.

As I write, Zoey is being babysat by her Aunt Rachael (Jacob's sister). Jacob and I are so thankful she is being taken care of by family and we don't have to put her in daycare. Even after being back to work since the beginning of December, I still don't think I could handle it. But I don't think it ever gets easier. I swear, after we get home each day, she's bigger than she was that morning.

I found this onesie at Target one day, on sale. I figured Rachael would think it was cool so I bought it and packed it in the diaper bag I send with her every day. When Zoey got home, she was wearing it and I said, "I knew your auntie would find that!" Jacob said, "Yeah, it really made Rachael happy. She took a bunch of pictures." So here is one!

For Christmas, Aunt Rachael also got her some real Montana-lookin' boots. But in pink, naturally! For the most part, Zoey is a very happy baby, but when we put the boots on her, she was instantly in model-mode!

Zoey will go to the doctor next month - a new pediatrician whom I ADORE! Our first doctor was a bit of a dink, taking time from our appointment to google the meaning and origin of Zoey's name. Interesting, yes. Helpful and what he's getting paid for, no. I just happened to find her because I didn't want a doctor with any specialty, just general pediatrics. And I really lucked out.

Next month Zoey will also start solid foods. We've begun with baby oatmeal (more nutritional value than rice cereal) but she hasn't quite got the hang of the spoon. Guiltily, though, we haven't been working with her much on the usage of utensils, so Jacob and I have to mimic the motion of eating in order to get her to open her mouth wide enough for the baby spoon. She is very interested in the cereal, always grabbing at the bowl and wanting more. But when it gets into her mouth, she just looks confused and 90% of it winds up on her chin, cheeks, chest, and any and all clothing. We've given her a few taste of mashed potatoes and banana, which she seemed to really like. But that could also be because she was sucking on our fingers, leading to...

Drumroll please.....

Her first tooth!

Such a trooper, Jacob and I had no idea she was about to break her first tooth; one day Rachael just happened to notice it. *crossing fingers this trend lasts through all of the teeth she breaks*

She is the 95th percentile for height (thank you, Donahue side of the family) and 75th for weight; so even though she's got some chunky-monkey thighs, she's well on her way to becoming a supermodel! She already has the puking-after-she-eats thing down.

Lest we forget, her parents, we spend most of our time thinking about Zoey, talking about Zoey, playing with Zoey, looking at Zoey, looking at pictures of Zoey, and checking on Zoey. No, we do make time for ourselves but, obviously, after Zoey has gone to bed and we're not required to be "on." And now my brain has completely frozen because I've moved on to discussing something other than Zoey.

So I guess it's time for me to call it a day, finish up at work, and head home so Zoey can do more fun, fabulous things that I can share.