Thankful Indeed

I have plenty to be thankful for this year. Plenty. But what I'm especially thankful for this year is my beautiful daughter. I'm so blessed to be her mommy.

Zoe's New Discovery

While Trevor was doing dishes one day and holding Zoe in the Mo.by wrap, Zoe discovered her Daddy's chest hair. It was quite hilarious (to me) and painful (for Trevor).

To distract Zoe from her new discovery, we added some protection for Trevor. Look close. It didn't quite work out, but we tried. Ha!

In a League of His Own

**Apologies for the awful format...Blogger is giving me editing blues**

Where did the time go?! Trevor took three months off to stay home with Zoe upon my return to work. I'm so thankful that between the two of us we were able to provide for Zoe's care for nine months. What a blessing!

Trevor did a fantastic job with Zoe! It was beautiful to watch the two of them bond in a special way, especially since he spends a lot of time on the road when he works.

From a personal perspective, having Trevor home my first three months back to work was great. In the early days, particularly when I was extremely emotional about leaving Zoe to return to work, Trevor's presence was a saving grace. He brought Zoe downtown to have lunch frequently, and when I got home from work each night, he took care of dinner so I could be completely engaged with Zoe and reconnect with her. That meant so much to me. He's amazing! And added bonus was getting three months of living like a normal family. Again, because of the Trevor's job, he's on the road a lot, so it was great to live like "normal" families do.

In terms of Zoe's day-to-day care, Trevor picked up where I left off with the good and the bad. Unfortunately, I was extremely unsuccessful in getting Zoe on a schedule while I was on maternity leave, so Trevor inherited days full of erratic sleeping. I was also bad about introducing Zoe to the bottle, so the first several days (okay, all three months actually) were a transition as Trevor tried to get Zoe used to the bottle after she had exclusively nursed, with a few limited exceptions, for 6 months. He handled it like a trooper!

Trevor faithfully took Zoe to her weekly Gy.mb.oree play classes even though he was usually the only daddy there. I think I was the envy of all the women, and in some respects I think Trevor was the envy of a lot of the dads. One of the moms, whom I befriended while I was on maternity leave, e-mailed me once to rave about how lucky I was to have such an involved husband. I couldn't agree more. Trevor was also diligent about doing educational/developmental things with Zoe such as her color, first words and shapes flash cards and reading books to her.

Most notably, Trevor accepted one of the Gy.mb.oree moms' invitations to go on a "play date." It was pretty hilarious, but in the end he enjoyed it. They went to the Dal.las Arb.oretum, which I hear is beautiful...I can't wait to go with Trevor and Zoe one day.

During their time together, Trevor subjected Zoe to lots of sports programming! He's convinced that she loves golf and football now. I cringe at the thought. :-)

Trevor, thank you for being such a fabulous husband and daddy. Zoe and I are extremely blessed to have you in our lives; we're lucky to be your girls.

We love you!

On Their Playdate (and yes, Trevor put the bow in Zoe's hair!)

Watching College Football (yawn!)

Celebrating Climbing Up the Stairs (Daddy thought this was a good idea...)

9 months

***This post is very late coming, so I'm posting it for the benefit of family and friends. 10 month post coming very soon...before Zoe turns 11 months. Novel idea, huh?***

**Sorry about the bad formatting and spacing. Blogger isn't working for me tonight.**

Dear Zoe,

You're 9 months old, pumpkin! 9 months...wow!!! You've officially been in our arms just as long as you were in Mommy's belly. I can't believe it. After I gave birth to you, I really missed having you in my belly. While I don't miss it quite as much anymore, there's still part of me that wishes I could turn back the hands of time even if for a minute because I've almost forgotten what it felt like when you used to kick me or twist and turn inside of me. Those were some precious moments between the two of us. But there's nothing like holding and kissing you now, hearing your sweet little giggles or being greeted by your excited and loving smile. Both experiences (then and now) are equally amazing; I'm so blessed.

The big event this month is that you're officially standing on your own while holding on to things!! Yay Zoe!!! This development was so exciting for you that you practiced it at bedtime for about two weeks. It used to be that when Mommy laid you down in your crib you would roll over to your tummy and sleep. Not this month. Instead, you would roll to your tummy, which apparently triggered something in your brain to then sit up, which in turn triggered an impulse to stand. And once you were standing you didn't want to be in your crib anymore which led to whining and crying. Some nights we "fought" for over an hour. Whew!

To Mommy and Daddy's dismay, you learned to pinch this month. OUCH! You love pinching us and you have a knack for finding the most tender spots to pinch such as our faces, our arms and Mommy's breasts (for you, the closer to the nipple the better....oh my). I hope you outgrow this soon. You also discovered Daddy's chest hair this month and you love to pull it with all your might.

You've started making lots of silly noises. The newest, which is pretty funny, involves you clicking your tongue on the roof of your mouth. You love doing this.

Mommy and Daddy are still making your food. This month we introduced pumpkin, asparagus and bananas. Bananas have proven to be quite the adventure because even one tablespoon constipates you. And I'm talking bad constipation. One morning you grunted so hard and for so long that you couldn't even sleep and all the grunting made you weak and fussy. Mommy and Daddy felt so badly for you that we called your pediatrician for help. After loading you up with a lot of fruit you finally had a good poo, but it took some time. We have decided to remove bananas from your diet.

We started giving you real baths this month. After graduating from your portable baby tub, Mommy and Daddy started showering with you. You love, love, love showers with Mommy and Daddy, and we love them, too. However, we don't want to rob you of the childhood fun of baths, plus we think allowing you to sit alone in the tub will help you get used to water for purposes of your swim classes. So far so good. You seem to enjoy your baths. Mommy and Daddy try to make it a lot of fun for you. You're such a big girl!

This month you've developed full-blown stranger anxiety. You do not enjoy meeting new people, no matter who they are. We spent a lot of time with Nana this month after her surgery and you would not go to her for quite some time. You have to warm up to people before you'll allow them to hold you. Mommy and Daddy have mixed feelings about this stage. Although we don't want you to have a terrifying fear of new people, especially family and friends, we do want you to have a healthy fear of strangers for your own protection. It will be interesting to see how this all develops. For now Mommy and Daddy take your anxiety seriously and respect it, thus we do not force you into uncomfortable situations. If you're not comfortable, we just hold you and reassure you; that's what Mommy's and Daddy's do. We love you, pumpkin. Just take your time.

You're very playful, Zoe. You absolutely love playing peek-a-boo. You just love it! You also enjoy when we ask you to find Mommy/Daddy. It's so touching to know that you definitely know who we are; we love seeing you search for us when prompted to do so. You love clapping hands, but not your own. Rather, when asked to do so, you will clap Mommy's or Daddy's hands. It's so cute and you love doing it. Nowadays your favorite toys aren't toys at all. Instead, you love playing with the dishwasher when we have it open (you love to unload it as we're loading it), you love door stoppers (you love hearing the springing noise they making), you literally attack our laptops (which is one of the reasons I'm so behind on blogging...we can't use our laptops in your presence), and you love exploring closets (you especially love playing with Daddy's shoes).

Zoe, every month with you has been and continues to be magical. Mommy and Daddy love you with everything we have!

Love you to pieces,

Mommy

9 month photo

Zoe's Favorite Toy

Zoe's Other Favorite "Toy"

I LOVE THIS GIRL!