Half Birthday

Holy cow, how did 6 months go by so quickly?! Goodness gracious. Its one of those weird things where its hard to believe Zoe has been with us for half of a year, and yet at the same time its hard to remember life without her (sometimes its easier than others, haha). At this time last year we were still trying to wrap our minds around the idea of becoming parents, really having no clue what was in store for us. Its been 6 months of new challenges and new joys, new schedules and new priorities. Its not always fun but we are loving (almost) every minute of it :-)

The past month, Zoe has been mixing up her schedule and so there has been a lot of adjustments and flexibility. After sleeping 8-9 or more hours every night for months, she had a 3 week spell of waking up 1-2 times every night, hungry, which seems to be behind us now *knock on wood*. She switched her long nap from the morning to the afternoon and generally needs to go to bed by 8:30pm. She's on a 3.5 hr eating schedule and is now getting solid food 2x a day. She loves carrots and sweet potatoes and is not such a fan of mango. She is sitting on her own, but still learning about balance and usually topples over a few times a day. She is laughing more, though its hard work to get those giggles out of her. But totally worth it.

We can't imagine life without you, sweet girl. You brighten our days and we just love you to pieces!

Fourth of July

All decked out in her Stars and Stripes

 We joined several hundred (thousand?) other families at the Air Force Memorial to watch the D.C. fireworks. See the Washington Monument standing tall in the distance?

 It was fun to have my sister around for the holiday. She's currently living with us as she just started a job in the area and is searching for housing. I'm enjoying the extra sister time, and Zoe is loving having Tia for a roommate :)

 love these two!

 both enthralled with the fireworks

they were set off far enough away we didn't have to worry about the loud boom scaring Zoe

Happy Independence Day!