9 months

• Crawling backwards (she sorta hops forwards on both knees but not too successfully)  
• Picking up cheerios on her own
• 2 naps a day/ 12 hrs at night
• Real giggles
• Enjoying books beyond putting them in her mouth
• Play, play, play
• Clapping
• High fives
• 2 bottom teeth
• First international vacation to Mexico
• Staring~ this girl is enthralled with faces.

These are some of the things that define Zoe’s life at 9 months old. She’s much less content to sit and play with what’s in front of her, and wants to explore instead, particularly those things she isn’t supposed to have. She continues to be most happy when we’re sitting there with her and doesn’t enjoy being left alone too much. She’s still afraid of the vacuum cleaner (I carry her while I push) and is only okay with the hair dryer if she is safely sitting on my bed and can see my face. She is constantly trying to pull herself up and tries to use us as leverage to get to things (cell phones, the remote, etc.). She loves being around other kids, and really seems to enjoy people in general. I’m guessing she’s going to be an extrovert like her daddy. It’s amazing to see her personality begin to show through!

We can’t imagine life without you little one. You bring us so much joy.

Pick a Peck of Apples

Its beginning to feel like Fall around here and as loud protestors of the summer heat, we're pretty excited. Fall is by far my favorite season: the beautiful colors of the changing leaves, sweaters and scarves, open windows and burning candles, and a desire to fire up the oven again, which of course involves a myriad of apple desserts! 

Last weekend we went apple picking in Lancaster and spent the day with my family. Zoe even got in on the action... she mostly liked pulling at and trying to eat the leaves. It was a gorgeous day to be outside and we were all full on apples by the time we were done picking (you're allowed to sample the different varieties to make sure you like what you're picking)! Between the 6 of us, we picked about 130lbs of apples. Yeah, we've got plenty. So far we've made an apple pie, apple crisp, and applesauce... not positive whats on the agenda next but possibly cake, dumplings, cobbler... so many possibilities!

8 Months

Every month I say this, and every month its more true -- time is flying by! How in the world is our little girl 8 months old already?! Sheesh! This parenting thing is a constant learning, growing experience, and while it has its difficult moments we are just loving it. Zoe is a bigger blessing than we could have asked for or imagined and we're looking forward to each and every day we get to enjoy this gift.

Some things I'm loving at this stage:
~ She sleeps on her side now, often with her legs sticking thru the crib slats and her thumb or ducky in her mouth. Its so cute I have to stop myself from kissing her.
~ She's so animated and talkative. I like to imagine what it is she is trying to say. Probably things like "thanks, mommy, you are the best..." :)
~ How she lights up when Geoff or I come home or enter a room. Nothing beats her smile.
~ 4hour stretches between meals and typically at least 1 long (1.5-2.5 hr) nap each day
~ She's working on crawling but not there yet so I'm clinging to these last days of putting her down somewhere and finding her in the same spot :)
~ Watching her play- I think she is going to have a great imagination.
~ She responds to her name - when she wants to :)

The harder-to-love things at this stage:
~ teething. She still just has part of her first tooth sticking thru but the drool and crankiness and waking up at night promise to bring more (come quickly please!)
~ She's much more clingy this past month or so. I like the holding her part, its the not getting much else done part that is challenging. Trying to enjoy these moments, though!
~ solid foods. She loves yogurt, sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas and did I mention yogurt? Its fun watching this development as she's beginning to eat more solid-consistency foods and learning to pick up puffs on her own. The thing I don't like about it is the preparation, the planning, and remembering to do it when we're out and about! I haven't done as well with making my own food as I had hoped, and its just so easy to buy it when I'm at Target... but I want to get better at this.

We love you, our little Zo, Zoobs, Pookie, Pumpkin, Zoe girl...You light up our days!

Hitched

 

Zoe attended her first wedding over Labor Day weekend. One of our good friends from college, Trevor, married a sweet girl named Julie at a farm outside Pittsburgh, PA. Zoe isn't much of a car traveling fan, but she did pretty great on the 5 hour trip and we were super thankful. She did not do too well napping in the hotel~ she was plenty aware that it was NOT her bedroom and she didn't like that one bit. She usually cried ( ok, screamed) herself to sleep and only slept for 30-40 minutes which just doesn't cut it. But, we made do and she slept well during the night so for that we were extremely thankful!

 My good-looking family, how lucky am I?!

 One of the best parts of the wedding was catching up with other close college friends. Zoe enjoyed the extra attention and can't wait to hang out with these guys again. Here she is with Uncle Dave, who also needs credit for some of these photos. Thanks, Dave!

Zoe and I left the reception early so she could go to bed but we did manage to get in a family photo before our night was over.

Congratulations, Trevor & Julie. It was a blessing to be there to celebrate your love and the beginning of this new chapter in your lives. We love you!

A few of her favorite things

These stacking cups provide hours of entertainment. Several minutes at a time, of course. She seems to favor the big blue one especially. Because it's mommy's favorite colors? Perhaps :) They are numbered 1-8 with the corresponding number of holes in the bottom of each cup. I'm envisioning lots of water play with these in the next few months.

The ducky on her lap is what she sleeps with everyday. Typically one thumb in her mouth and the other hand clutching ducky over her head is how we find her in her crib.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Zoe loves looking at herself. She finds all faces pretty fascinating right now, but something about looking at herself in the mirror gets her going like nothing else. Side note: she still hates tummy time.