21 months

Well I skipped 20 months altogether. Oops. I feel like Zoe has grown and changed so much just in the past few weeks it's hard to keep track of what happened when. I am realizing just how easy it is to forget the details over time so I know I will appreciate these little snippets as the years go by- and if you do, too, then that's a bonus. 

- Zoe is so very vocal right now! She's starting to have conversations with her animals or dolly and while I don't understand any of it, it melts my little mom heart. She says juice, here (sounds like chee), more, mama, dada, potty, draw, no, yeah, ball, shoes, see, done... And probably others that I can't think of right now

- she can sometimes put her shoes on by herself, and already has a love for shoes in general. She hardly ever has her shoes and socks still on when we get to our destination, but whatever makes the car ride bearable...

- Zoe loves playing outside, is getting pretty good at running, is much more opinionated about what we're doing and let's you know it, loves being chased or hide&seek, and continues to have an unfortunate obsession with electronics

- Zoe enjoys looking at books herself and having them read to her, has started "counting" her fingers, toes, cars as we go by... But each one is "two"; she started talking to herself at night when we put her to bed and could happily chatter away for an hour before falling asleep; she wakes up happy, jumping in her crib and plays games and babbles with Geoff when he goes in to get her

I'm sure there is more that I'm missing, but in general we are just having a lot of fun watching her grow and develop so quickly before our eyes. She can be very sweet at times and very naughty at others. Testing limits and running away when we say "come here" are some of the things we are working through right now. Parenthood is such a blessing and a challenge and we are enjoying it all. And we can't wait to add baby #2 to the mix in just 11 weeks!!

Big Apple Escape

Last weekend we left Zoe with my parents and spent most of the weekend in NYC, just the mister and me. It was wonderful. It's the longest I've been away from Zoe and while I wondered about her at times, I was having too much fun to worry :) 

We parked at our hotel in NJ and took the bus into the city, then caught the subway up to Yankee stadium for the afternoon game. The weather was perfect and we had an exciting game! The Yankees lost unfortunately but it was fun all the same. My favorite player, Derek Jeter, has struggled with injury all season and hasn't played much at all. I did get to see him play on Saturday before he injured himself in the 6th inning and will be out for the rest of the season!

After the game, we met up with friends from church who moved to the City almost 2 years ago after getting married. It was so nice to spend time with them, seeing where they live and hearing about life in the big city :) They took us out for dinner to this great new place in their neighborhood. The food and atmosphere were great- it's probably one of my favorite restaurants ever! We remarked with glee at 8pm that we hadn't even ordered dinner yet-- it's the little things when your schedule is usually dictated by kids bedtimes!! We enjoyed a great night and went to bed late without dreading an early morning wake-up cry. 

Sunday we manged to sleep in a little and then walked down the street for breakfast at Starbucks. We took our time getting packed up and leisurely went on our way to pick up Zoe. Of course she was napping when we arrived at my parents house (she slept so well in their basement we're figuring our how to install one at our place...), so we were able to chat a bit before getting on the road home. It was a relaxing, rejuvenating and entirely enjoyable weekend. Thanks to my parents for taking such good care of our little girl, and for offering to do it again :) 

(Our memento mug from the trip-- possibly my new favorite)

A few winning recipes

Hello! I always love getting new recipes recommended to me. Trying a new recipe that sounds great but doesn't taste great is such a bummer. We've tried a few new winning recipes recently so I thought I'd share them with you in case you are up to trying something new this week!  {I got these all via Pinterest}

Last night we tried these Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. Oh my goodness. They contain no eggs or dairy and are gluten free as well. I made them with natural Peanut Butter, and I omitted the maple syrup. They didn't need any additional sweetness, in fact I might reduce the sugar a bit next time I bake them. And yes, that will be very soon. I tripled the recipe and got about 2 dozen cookies. Don't store them directly on top of each other, they stick.

For last night's dinner, we had this Crockpot beef stew. I love a good crockpot recipe, and since I'm so anxious for fall I've been dreaming of stews and soups all week. I got a good deal on stew meat at Costco so I knew this meal was going to find its way into our kitchen this week. It smelled heavenly all day long (I cooked it about 7 hours) and I loved the addition of mushrooms to this recipe. Besides the chopping of the veggies, its super simple and since all that can be done ahead of time its really an easy meal. Give it a try!

Ok lastly is a recipe for pancakes. We had them for dinner, but I ate the leftovers for both breakfast and lunch so its an all-around good recipe :) This was recommended by a friend on Facebook and the idea of Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes just couldn't be ignored, plus I was trying to pull dinner together without having to go to the grocery store. They were delicious and I had all the ingredients, so it was a double win! I might cut back just a bit on the chocolate chips next time to make them a little less desserty... but they were so, so good. Zoe's chocolate covered face was a ringing endorsement, and they will be made again soon.

Well, there are a few kitchen ideas for you, friends! Enjoy! Have any great recipes you've tried lately that you'd like to share?