9 month check-up

We went to the pediatrician yesterday and Zoe is healthy and on-track. She seems to be doing everything that a baby her age should do. She is bound to be an early walker [in the next 4 weeks] as she is already walking along the furniture. She now weighs 19 pounds + 4 ounces and is 28 inches tall. She is little, only in the 50th percentile, but growing just fine according to her birth size. She eats just about everything that we give her [vegetables, potatoes, egg whites, fruit, cereal, cheese]. She is learning how to drink from a cup and take dry cereal out of a bowl with her fingers.

can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?

This video isn't terribly exciting, but I love the look on her face. She hardly ever pays any attention to the tv - usually just when there is a sing-songy commercial or little kids talking. This was the first time that I have turned Sesame Street on; how is it so magical? It happened to be Elmo singing with his monster-friend Zoe about sharing. Sweet!

cuddle monkey

This is the monkey that Aunt Tammy bought Zoe. It came with a special code that we can use online to name a star for Zoe. I'm still working on that part, the website is a little...irksome. The monkey, however, is fantastic. Zoe always has it in her crib and she always plays with him in the morning when she wakes up. She fell asleep with him in her stroller at the mall.

on the porch

in this last shot you can see her two tiny "tooths" on the bottom.

in other news

Maybe it was the fall weather or my sweet tooth, but I needed to make some cookies! I made shortbread, russian tea cakes & crispy molasses-ginger cookies. They're all delicious. I have a few more recipes on my list that I would like to try but I have to find someone to eat these first.

sears slideshow

I uploaded all of the photos from the Sears portrait session. There are a few that I have played with in Photoshop. I took the bruise off of her forehead in this one and did some color alteration. This wasn't really posed, Pete was just trying to keep her in front of the camera, but it looks really sweet. I like the shots where you can see her little feet! If there is one in particular that you really like, let me know so I can send you a copy when we get "real" photos. A lot of them look good in black & white and/or this pink-bronze tone. I can do this if you prefer and have one printed like that. Click here to see the slideshow:

http://picasaweb.google.com/zoezah/Sears#

no hands!

So we went to the Sears Portrait Studio for official baby photos. It was okay, I think some of the shots turned out nice. I spent most of the time trying to get Zoe to sit still or look up at the camera or smile or something. I'm not sure we'll do this very often, maybe once a year. I do really appreciate this photo. Zoe took her hands off the little table just long enough to stand there on her own. She has been practicing this as she is very anxious to be walking around. I am going to upload all of the photos when I get a chance so you can see the slideshow. Also, we ordered several 5x7 & 8x10's to send to people but they won't be ready for a couple of weeks.
On Tuesday I went with my friend Jen & her baby Rowan to a movie. A neighborhood theatre has "cry baby Tuesdays" before 6pm and we thought we'd try it out. Neither of them cried but they did spend some time giggling and shrieking at each other. Rowan fell asleep and Zoe insisted on crawling around on the floor attempting to put crusty Junior Mints in her mouth. I thought it was all okay until a very mean woman yelled at us on her way out about how "disrespectful" it was to bring babies to a movie. Jen explained that it was Tuesday, but she didn't care. The poor movie theatre owner got yelled at, too. He was just trying to do something nice for moms. Yucky mean woman!

It's cold and gray here today. We've been sunny and hot for so many weeks, it didn't feel like Seattle in September at all. I think I can pick another bowl of blackberries today. There's probably room for a few more in the freezer.

zoo & flamingos

On Sunday my friend Constance went to the Woodland Park Zoo with me & Zoe. We went specifically to see the flamingos. They are from Chile and like the sunshine. It was the best day to go to the zoo because the weather was superb and there were a lot of other things going on in Seattle, like a Seahawks game that afternoon, so the zoo was pretty empty when we got there. We also walked through the butterfly garden, saw a bear sloth, some tiny horses, gryfalcons... we didn't exactly see the whole zoo.

Same swing, different day

Babysaurus

Turn the volume up and listen to Zoe's babysaurus sounds! She likes to growl and make weird raspy noises. Also, a little crawling action toward our potted tree. She did have a dress on but it kept making her cry because she kept getting her knees caught up in it.

big helper

I changed the settings on the blog so that "anyone" can leave comments. So if you have wanted to leave a comment but were required to log into something or have a certain kind of email address, it shouldn't be that way anymore. Happy commenting!

Sunshine and grass

Chin Food

I bought these baby finger foods that are sweet potato puffs. They taste like Lucky Charms cereal to me and dissolve pretty fast when you suck on them. Zoe likes to hold them in her hand and pick them up off the floor but isn't too interested in eating them yet. If you put one in her mouth it comes right back out and always sticks to her chin - which provides me with an endless amount of entertainment.

At the park

This afternoon we took a walk to the neighborhood park. I picked some blackberries along the way [should have brought the BIG bowl this time!] I put Zoe in the baby swing and she probably could have stayed there all day. But there was only one swing and some other parents with babies kind of waiting around. After the swinging we sat on a blanket in the grass and enjoyed some sunshine.

sleepy

We had a delicious labor day breakfast this morning at the Maltby Cafe. It's in an old school house. We had to wait about an hour for a table but it was SO worth it! It was too long of a morning for our sweet girl and she gave up as we were finishing our eggs.

So much to do!