Zoe Crawls

Zoe started crawling today. I guess now that she's mobile this is how my attempts to photograph her will be. I went shopping with my Mother-in-law last week and she bought this outfit for Zoe, so I thought it would be nice to get a picture. I got pictures, but they were all of Zoe heading for the rocking chair. As you can see, she finally achieved her goal.

Blessings

Lately I've been challenged to be thankful and count my blessings even when I'm feeling blue, sleep-deprived, and/or overwhelmed. Here are just some of the ways we are so blessed and how God has so graciously provided for us.

• A nice home/shelter and plenty to eat
• Access to good medical care
• Jobs and good health to be able to work
• A job where I can stay at home with Zoe
• Reliable transportation
• Protection in our daily activities (like at 2:30 this morning when I woke up and realized Zoe was next to me in bed, but I couldn't remember putting her there.)
• Zoe's first cold is not too bad and we have a helpful doctor's office
• Salvation and eternal life in Heaven
• We are not persecuted for having the Word of God and we can worship freely

These are just a few of the ways that we are so blessed and there are so many more I could add. We were challenged recently in a sermon to thank God first and then bring our requests to Him. This has helped me to put my requests in perspective and what I'm really asking for. Its also helped me focus on God's continuing work in my life and made me so thankful for what He has done.

7 Months Old

Its hard to believe that Zoe is seven months old today. She finally figured out how to get on her hands and knees in the last day or so, but her mode of transportation so far has been to roll everywhere. I also caught her trying to pull herself up on her jungle gym today. She had her feet under her, but she couldn't quite get up.

I have also started giving her rice cereal. After we got the allergies resolved around 4 months I held off on starting solids at the doctor's recommendation. The only drawback to not giving her cereal sooner was that she needed a feeding in the middle of the night. We now are giving her approximately 1 tablespoon of cereal twice a day which is about all she will eat. I've tried giving her applesauce and sweet potatoes, but her tummy didn't handle those foods very well. So I am gradually slipping in a few bites here and there. She also does not have any teeth yet.

We started putting her in the nursery at church. The first Sunday she played and had fun, but we forgot to clip on her normal binky on last Sunday and it made a very unhappy little girl. Thankfully I had a spare in the diaper bag. She is also starting to recognize people and gets scared if she hasn't seen someone for a while. Surprisingly she hasn't cried about being left at the nursery yet. She loves other kids though, so I think having 15 - 20 others to play with helps a lot. Its so cute when we go to the grocery store (which she loves). When she sees another kid, she will start smiling.

Being outside is her other big thrill. She will sit outside in her stroller while I do yard work and just play. One evening when she had been extremely cranky all day, I decided to do something therapeutic and work in the flower beds. She calmed right down outside and both of us felt better.

She is becoming a very sweet little girl (no longer a baby). We are working on teaching her no (especially when she pulls hair) and that she will not die if she does not get something right now. This makes the parenting quite interesting, but a joy nonetheless. We count our blessings every day and thank God that we have the opportunity to have this little girl in our lives.

My First Cereal

Not sure what to do with this

Fun with my toys

Ready to go!

I'm so cute!

F.Y.I.

Zoe got this pacifier at the hospital when she was born and she really likes it. It is soft and does not leave marks on her face. However, the one she has is getting very disgusting, so I started looking at getting another one. I found them at www.gumdroppacifiers.com. They are only $2.25 for each one plus shipping. They come in a vanilla scent or natural. You can also get preemie ones. I think they are definitely worth it.

Happy Birthday Mom

My Mom's birthday was on Sunday and I got a few pictures of Zoe "helping" her with the card she gave her. Zoe decided she would rather eat it than let her Grandma have it! Of course her Grandma gave it to her--so much for me trying to teach her no! :-)

Final Florida

Just briefly for the end of our vacation in FL--the company Paul was working for did not have everything ready for him and it delayed him by about a day. We were hoping he would be finished on Thursday, but it took him until Friday afternoon to finish everything. We went to Universal Citywalk Friday evening and had dinner at Margaritaville. They had a Cheeseburger in Paradise on the menu and that's what Paul was hungry for. Our server was very helpful and made sure none of my food had any dairy products.
Saturday we spent at a small zoo. It was not the greatest zoo and Zoe was not the least bit interested (she went to sleep), but it was fun. We wanted to do a river cruise, but that didn't work out.
We started driving home on Sunday hoping to make it all the way, but after about 6 hours Zoe reached her limit. Since we still had another 5 -6 hours we decided to stop. All in all it was a very nice getaway!

Six Months Old

Today is Zoe's sixth month birthday. Naturally we decided to "celebrate" by taking her to the doctor for her 6th month checkup and shots. Actually she did pretty well. She wasn't quite as enthused about the doctor poking and prodding, but she didn't cry too much after her shots. I think it helped that her daddy was there. She now weighs 14 lbs. 9 oz. and is 25 1/8" long. I think we will be starting her on table food soon. However we may continue to nurse a little longer since she has the dairy/soy allergies. She is definitely eyeing our food though when we eat. She is rolling over, sitting up, and starting to creep just a little. She does very well at sitting in her Pack & Play or on the floor playing with her toys. The biggest thing is that she has trouble going to sleep on her own and only naps about 30 minutes in her crib. I'm probably too soft and have trouble letting her cry it out. Actually I did discuss this with the doctor today and she thinks Zoe's sleep problems may still be reflux-related and she also suggested getting an egg-crate mattress to make her crib softer. We are going to continue giving her Mylicon gas drops since they seem to settle her down and help her sleep before we start medication for the reflux again (which created its own round of problems). She will go to sleep on her own sometimes, but often she kicks and fusses and won't settle down until I give her gas drops. I wasn't sure if she just didn't want to settle down or if something was really wrong, so it was helpful to talk to the pediatrician. I didn't realize Zoe's reflux was that severe, but the doctor said today we are fortunate she continued to gain weight and thrive. We have a lot to be thankful for. She also recommended getting a baby food cookbook since I plan to make my own baby food. If any of you have suggestions on a good one, I'd love to hear it. I love cookbooks anyway so it gives me an excuse to get one. :-) I'd also welcome any tips. It will be a little more challenging since Zoe can't have any dairy or soy items. The doctor suggested waiting until she is 12 - 15 months before we introduce dairy. I will have to get really creative for the cake and frosting on her first birthday! Well that's all for this post. I will put up more pictures of FL in the near future.

Waving Hi to everyone!

This chair is so interesting!

Pictures of Zoe

Zoe was given lots of cute little dresses for this age, but its been too cold to wear them at home. I decided to bring them to Florida since it has been in the 80's here. I have started taking her picture each morning because I think she looks so cute and grown up. And if she continues her growth rate, she will be too big for them by the time the weather at home warms up. Anyway I thought I would put a few of the pics here. She is really becoming a little ham! I barely had to coax her to smile today-guess she thinks its part of her routine now.

Its not a dress, but I couldn't resist

Happy Anniversary Paul

Today is our 10th wedding anniversary and I've been thinking a lot about our wedding and the commitment we made that day. Our wedding was very simple and pretty traditional to the Mennonite church we attended. We walked down the aisle together right at the beginning of the service and the congregation sang 2 hymns, "Father We Come" and "Holy Holy Holy". The associate pastor made a few announcements and had a short devotional. Then the congregation sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing".
One of my Mom's cousins who is a pastor gave our wedding message on Petals of Love. In a Mennonite wedding flowers are not generally permitted during the ceremony. However the pastor brought 2 flower vases with 2 roses each. He referred to the vase as our marriage and each of us as a rose. He demonstrated how we could destroy each other by pulling off petals and cutting up one of the roses. He then brought out a hammer and illustrated how the vase would be destroyed if he smashed it with the hammer (although he didn't actually break the vase). In the same way, we could destroy our marriage. He then referred to the other vase and gave us some Petals of Love: kindness, consideration for each other, gentleness, faithfulness, etc.
My uncle (also the senior pastor) married us and we walked down the aisle while the congregation sang "Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us".
There is traditionally a sit-down meal afterwards and my Mom and her sisters fixed all the food the day before the wedding. We had a Ham & Potato casserole, green beans, a jello salad, and dinner rolls along with cake, ice cream, iced tea and coffee.
At the reception we had 2 singing groups and an open microphone for anyone who wanted to share. Then my Dad gave a little speech and closed with prayer.
Some of the memories are my little brother William serving us dessert, getting up early to take pictures before the ceremony, Paul being more nervous than I was, and forgetting to give all the instructions to the reception moderator (thankfully this didn't create any food-serving problems).
The emphasis that we wanted at our wedding was that the focus be on God. The hymns we chose and the way we planned the ceremony was to draw the attention to God as the center of our lives. This is still our goal that Christ be at the center of our home.
The other focus today are the vows we made to each other 10 years ago. My desire even more today is to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do us part. The theme at our wedding was 1 Cor. 13. "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things; love never fails." Our relationship has grown deeper and richer and our commitment greater. Paul has truly been my provider, my companion, my beloved and my friend. These 10 years have gone by so quickly and have involved medical treatments, career changes and the birth of Zoe. But through it all we have been together. I thank God for leading us together and these years He has given us. I look forward to the next 10 years!

Give A Give A Give A Garmin

Remember the commercial for a Garmin GPS at Christmas? Well Paul has been wanting one since he travels a lot to different customer sites both locally and out-of-town (and gets lost occasionally), but decided not to get one since I am staying at home with Zoe. Recently he got lost on his way to a company convention in Richmond (Mapquest was wrong again) and jokingly told his manager if he had a Garmin he wouldn't have gotten lost. He got an email later that morning telling him to consider it done. It was another answer to prayer.

Since I am usually the navigator when we travel I was curious how it would work. It is pretty cool to have this little machine tell you which way to go and where to turn, etc. It also tracks drive time and stop time, fastest speed, average speed, and arrival time. It is definitely worth it if you travel a lot, so I'm very thankful God used Paul's company to provide one.

Hanging Out

Its been a relaxing few days in FL. Paul has been working in the day, but we go out at night. We drove to some outlets in Orlando on Monday evening and ate dinner out. Last night we strolled around the mall right across the street a little, then took a picnic supper down to a park on Lake Monroe. It was mostly pleasant except for the guy who walked by with his pit bulls. I was very nervous when they got close to Zoe. I am not normally afraid of dogs, but neither the guy nor his dogs looked friendly. It did not help my impression when this gentleman's friend squealed tires and spun his car around in the street near where there were lots of people and kids. Thankfully both soon left.
New Tribes Mission headquarters is located right on Lake Monroe. It is a very nice location on the lake. I did not realize their headquarters were here until we drove around on our last visit.
Zoe is almost sitting up by herself and I think she rolled from her back to her tummy today. She is having lots of fun here--probably getting spoiled. She also has been sleeping very well at naptime. I'm not sure why, but I hope it continues when we get home.
That about sums up our last two days. Paul will probably be onsite late tonight and hopefully finish tomorrow and we may be able to get in some sightseeing.

Lake Monroe

New Tribes Mission Headquarters

Then and Now

Florida Here We Come

I hopefully will be able to catch up on blogging this week. In between working from home, getting our tax info together, and taking care of Zoe I haven't been able to post for awhile. Back in October when Zoe was 4 weeks old, Paul had to go to Florida for an install and planned to be gone a week. I was still recuperating and not able to do a lot at home yet (and I was not looking forward to staying by myself for a week), so at the last minute I decided to come down with Paul. We cancelled his flight and drove down with Zoe. It went pretty smoothly especially for an 11 hour drive. We arrived on Saturday evening, went to Daytona Beach on Sunday, and started driving back home on Monday. When Paul got to the job site, they did not have the phone line installed so there was nothing he could do. At that time, I was planning to return to work, so I was really disappointed that we could not stay the whole week and have some vacation time. But God had another plan (besides answering my prayer to be a stay-at-home mom). Our 10th anniversary is this month and I had been praying we would be able to go somewhere. And guess where I am? Florida. It took the company over 3 months to get the phone line installed. An added bonus is that Paul's company is paying for our hotel for a week even if the job is completed sooner. And our travel and most of our food will be covered since this is a business trip. It is such a blessing to see how God works.
The room we have is a spacious two room suite. There is a wet bar area with a microwave and refrigerator. Since eating out is difficult with Zoe's food allergies, we picked up a few groceries at Wal-mart. Also Paul is close enough to the hotel that he can come here at lunch. We tried to get the hotel we stayed in last time, but they were booked. That was somewhat disappointing, but we actually got a better rate and bigger room at this hotel. One again, it is such a blessing how God has worked this out.
Outside the sun is shining and it is nice and warm. Paul doesn't have to stay onsite late today so we are going to visit an outlet someone told him about. And with the early Daylight Savings Time, it will be light longer. It is such a blessing knowing that God is in control and that He does everything in His time. Maybe that should be the title of this post. :-)

Five Months

i'm five months old today. i weigh about 15 lbs. now and i think i'm a big girl. i started rolling over last week, but i still don't like being on my tummy unless i can see what is happening. i've figured out how to put my binky in although its usually upside down. i love to try to sit up. i have learned to recognize people now. i am very interested in mommy & daddy's food. daddy squeezed some bean juice in my mouth the other day and mommy let me taste applesauce. my favorite is still the fruit bars daddy shares with me. my tummy seems to be doing better and i play a lot more although i don't sleep nearly as much as mommy would like. but i might miss out if i sleep longer than 30 minutes. well, i am hungry now so i am going to eat. i will fill you in on my progress next month.

My Son, Give Me Thine Heart

The pastor at church used this verse yesterday as his text and we were really challenged. He has been preaching a series on family relationships and yesterday he spoke about parenting. He emphasized how parenting is building a relationship with your child, not just addressing behaviors. If you have your child's heart, the behavior issues fall into place. Even when your child disobeys, he/she knows he can trust that you will be there for him/her. One illustration he gave of a father who was not there for his child. He encouraged his daughter to jump in the water over her head and assured her he would catch her. However when she finally jumped, he moved and she went down spluttering and coughing. This and other such actions had a major impact on her that by the time she reached high school she could not trust him. Our children are our greatest assets. The encouragement to us was to build a relationship of trust with Zoe so that she will want to give us her heart. We were challenged to let her know we have her best interests at heart and will always take care of her to the best of our ability. The lesson was to put our own agendas aside and put our child first. His last illustration really drove this point home. A father wrote of how he constantly got impatient with his son, even getting irritated when he had to put down his paper as his son kissed him goodnight. Standing at his son's bedside that night, he realized that he had corrected and humiliated his son, but had not shown him any love or affection. His resolve was to make a difference in his relationship with his son. As new parents, this sermon has challenged us in raising Zoe and given us goals to strive for.

Happy Valentines Day!

Today is somewhat of a nostalgic day for us. 12 years ago today we had our first date. We went to a place called Three Ships Inn. There were fireplaces in every room and the only lighting was candles on each table and the glow from the fireplace. The funniest thing was that it was so dark we could barely read the menu. We always said we'd go back, but they went out of business soon after. Its special look back and see how much our relationship has changed and grown since then.

First Real Food

Here are a few pictures of Zoe eating her first food. She has become more interested in what we are eating and Paul decided to share his natural fruit bar with her. Hopefully she'll eat her vegetables just as well.

Four Month Checkup

Zoe's checkup went very well today, except for the shots :-(. Even with the allergy issues her weight is normal. I had observed some blood in her diaper though this week and the doctor was going to have me put her on a special formula for a week and check her next week. However when they tested the diaper it was negative, even though I had seen blood in it. It seems we keep having more than one issue with the same symptoms. This time the blood is from a little tear, so Vaseline and a stool softener were prescribed. The blessing is that I can keep nursing her since the diet has helped the allergies. I am so thankful! Nursing is also so convenient. Zoe is feverish tonight and cries when we touch her legs from her vaccinations, so I am keeping her dosed on Tylenol. We are so thankful for a healthy child and that she continues to thrive.

Train up a child

Zoe had her four month checkup and shots today so we spent our morning at the doctor's office. I think we have been there at least once a week for the past month with the allergy thing. I usually watch the other kids and without fail there is always one who controls the parent. Most of these parents let the child do what they want so hopefully the child won't throw a fit. Also I read some of the comments posted online about the couple who was thrown off the plane because their 3 year old had a temper tantrum about sitting in her seat. Most of the comments pointed out that the child was controlling the parents and the parents should be embarrassed to admit on TV that they could not control their child. Some comments also suggested the parents should work on discipline instead of blaming AirTran or the child's behavior would be worse later. It seems to me that the younger the training is started, the more behaved the child is when he/she is older. Also I read an article about spanking and it mentioned a lot of parents spank out of anger. I think discipline/training should be consistent on the part of the parent at all times, not just when the situation gets uncontrollable. This takes a disciplined parents, but I think the child learns by observing his parents also. These are a few observations I have, but I would welcome suggestions from the experienced parents. Child training in theory is a lot easier than putting it into practice.

4 months old

Zoe is four months old today. Last year around this time we were just finding out about her, but it seems like she has always been with us. Nothing can prepare you for the joy a child brings--the little hand that clutches yours, the smiles because she knows you are there, and the trust that you love her and will take care of her. At the risk of being redundant, Zoe has brought so much joy to us and we are truly blessed. We are so thankful God has given her to us and its been a wonderful four months.