Boat Baby

learning all about the water from great grandma

Lots of lovin from her great-aunts

Zoe's first boat ride

happy water baby

 One of our adventures this summer was a family get-together at my (Danielle's) aunt's boat in Maryland. My grandparents had a boat when I was born and throughout my childhood, so lots of summer days were spent on the water. Sitting on a boat on the bay is my happy place, and I take pretty much any chance I get to spend on the water. I was excited to introduce Zoe to the water, too. We'd love to eventually someday have a boat, so we figure we better get her started on those sea legs :) I was so excited that she enjoyed her first boat ride! It was great spending the day with family, enjoying good food and making new memories.

Seven Months

 Our little girl is seven months old. One of her favorite things is looking at pictures or video of herself- she finds herself quite amusing! Zoe sits very well on her own now which makes it more enjoyable for her to have some independent play. She also poked thru her first tooth on her 7th month birthday (its a slow process coming thru though and I blame some of her crankiness on it). Zoe continues to enjoy eating solid food and has a wide variety of food she likes. She's starting to drink water from a sippy cup and also loves trying to drink from mommy's water bottle. She often makes a certain noise when she spies my water bottle that I pretend is a cue for water... maybe I'm making that up or maybe she is communicating with me, I'm not sure. 
This past month has also brought an increase in fussiness and a glimpse at temper tantrums. Its amazing how a 6 month old child can be so strong willed and throw a tantrum when she does not get something she wants! Lord help us, I think we're in for trouble. Amazing how early our sinful natures make an appearance, isn't it?! Zoe is more clingy and less easy going than she had been, and also has been randomly waking up at night, several times sometimes. I dont know if this is due to her teething or just a phase, but we're trying to roll with it. It makes it harder to get things done some days, but I need to remind myself that that's ok. She is more important than doing dishes or laundry or getting all my errands run. And thankfully her daddy is super understanding and helpful!
We've had lots of adventures lately and many more planned, so its been a full but fun summer. Hopefully I will get some posts up about those happenings soon!
In other news, there is the faint hint of fall in the air and I am soooo excited! Enjoy your day!

Taking Flight

July and August have been busy months, with no promise of things slowing down anytime soon. I think that each year I'm more amazed at how quickly time flies by, but since Zoe has arrived it seems like time took on extra warp speed!

One of the highlights of July was taking Zoe to Wisconsin to see Geoff's family. I admit I was nervous about her first flight, but God was good to us and she did quite well both ways. We were also magically able to pack everything for the 3 of us in carry-on bags! We took Zoe's stroller and car seat with us to be checked at the gate and it was so nice to have it in the terminal with us, to push her around so she could take a nap before the flight got underway. We've done well with training her to go to sleep on her own, that being rocked or held to go to sleep just doesn't work which is nice most of the time but there are those moments (like being on a plane during nap time) when it would be nice! Oh well. We all managed :)

Geoff's parents and brother had come in March to meet Zoe, but some family had not met her yet. Here she is getting to know her great-grandma. Zoe got to spend time with her each day and they took quite well to each other :)

Zoe got her first Disney toy from Great-Aunt Linda

 Singing with great- great Tante. We went to an event at her retirement home and Zoe was the biggest hit!

 She got lots of play time with Uncle Jordan and of course cuddles and songs and general lovin' from her Oma and Opa! I think we went at the perfect age when she wasn't afraid yet of strangers. We try to skype weekly with Geoff's parents but its hard to tell whether she recognized them from that or not, though I think she probably did. She was a happy traveler and it was great as usual to spend time with family. Looking forward to our next trip to see them, which is planned for Thanksgiving. Hard to imagine what she'll be doing by then! 

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!