Random Photos and Updates

Here are some random photos of Zoe and I taken in the past couple of months. She is a blast to be with. So interactive and hilarious! Her and I are little buddies. She goes where ever I go. Recently though she has started to get a little tired of her stroller, uh oh. Yeah, thats no good cause that is our transportation. So a funny story about Zoe, last weekend I decided to take her on an errand in the baby bjorn carrier instead of her stroller (she was sick of being in there), anyway she was right in front right below my chin. She was flaring her arms and kicking her legs in excitement. But the funny part was that she was literally yelling DA DA DA DA as we walked down the street! Everyone was staring at me and I just smiled! It was a short trip, I didn't want to draw too much attention to us, besides the fact that she was really heavy and my shoulders were killing me! But seriously, she is a chatter box! She has learned to say "HI," or sometimes "Hiya," to EVERYONE!! It is so cute. I taught her one day and she says it to everyone now! She is crawling all over the place now. She started crawling on March 26th when she was 10 months. She also is standing up on things and she pulls up on her knees and dances! It is hilarious. She also knows that we are in her same room, so Scott and I have relocated our bedroom to the living room for now, at least just to sleep in. I get much better sleep in a different room.

Update on her eyes: so she has been wearing her contact for about a month now, she is doing well with it. I have had to put it in and take it out. That is a very difficult process. Her eye always seems to be red around the edges from all the touching. It makes me feel sad, but I know it is for her own good. We go back to the doctor in May so we will see what he says. For now I am done dilating her good eye (to help her bad eye work harder), and so we will hope and pray that she uses both eyes.

No glasses!!

So after I took Zoe to the doctor for the first time about her eyes I just didn't feel settled about what they told me. As I talked to others who had the same problem as Zoe does, and did my own research, it just didn't seem right to just put glasses on her and call her good. How did that fix her eye that had gone a little lazy? I still had so many questions. So I took her to another eye doctor who could answer my questions as give me alternative options. Anyway the doctor I took her to was excellent. He told me that Zoe has 2 different size eyes she was born with and one of two things will happen. 1. She will grow and her eye balls will grow and she will grow out of it, she will no longer need glasses or have issues, but that is not anything that we did to help her, her eyes will just grow to the normal size. But we won't know if that will happen, that will take time. In the mean time we have to correct her vision. Option 2. We correct the vision problem in her right eye now by using a contact lens, instead of glasses. Then we put a patch or blurring drops in the good eye to teach her brain to use her right eye. We use the contact lens because it is easier on her and only one eye needs correction. SO probably no glasses.

Valentines day and more February Fun!

Whole bunch of stuff + Naples FL!

So I decided that I am going to be a better blogger for many reasons. I feel like I have to be better at keeping a record of all the cute things Zoe does on a daily basis, as well as express my thoughts as a mom living in New York City. So here I go.

First off, for those of you who don't know, I found out that Zoe has Amblyopia in her right eye. Which means she has to get glasses. This is a condition where the brain basically stops using one eye because it can't see as well as the other eye. Well in Zoe's case her left eye see's better than her right eye. I noticed it because when she would get tired, her right eye would go out slightly. This concerned me, so I did my own testing, I covered one eye and noticed that she focused on me with her left eye but when I did the same to her right, she just swiped my hand away and would not focus. I was really worried so I took her to a pediatric opthamoligist who told me that my sweet little 10 month old now has to wear glasses to correct her far sided eye sight in her right eye! I felt horrible. I know it may not be life threatening but, I still felt bad because you always want your baby to be just perfect. But I have come to terms with it and am convinced that her eye will get better, as the doctor said it could, and that she will be the cutest little girl in glasses. In all honesty though, I still feel really bad, I guess Zoe is not the only one who will have to get used to her wearing glasses! Anyway, the doctor said that she may have to wear her glasses up until her teens, but I feel that with many prayers, faith, and glasses maybe her eyes will correct the problem sooner. Amblyopia is often times genetic, which makes sense because I have an uncle that had the same problem. As well as a nephew with similar issues. But the good news is, according to my Mom, her brother only had to wear glasses as a young child and not as an adult, so the problem does get better!

As far as cute new things Zoe does, she has started saying "hi" in a very high pitched tone, similar to how I say it to her. She also has started to mimic my sounds. For example, I will say mouth, and she will say mmm mamma, or bath and she will say bbb ba ba. So that is good, she is progressing in her language skills. I have just started to teach her to read. I know it sounds crazy but they say babies use most of their brain power from birth until around age 4 or 5 years, so this is actually a very good time to teach them as much as possible. We'll see how she does, I will give you up dates. For now we are working on recognizing body parts and small words. I am using "Your Baby Can Read" method so we will see how she does. So far, the studies behind the method are pretty convincing.

Zoe is getting around pretty good, still not fully crawling, but definitely getting around. She is getting lots of hair and smiles and laughs all the time. She crinckles her nose and smiles at everyone. Although, I have noticed she is bias to women, (probably because that is all she is around, with the mommy groups and all). She is rocking back and forth on her hands and knees and loves to do it in her crib, which is hilarious because she rocks the crib and then manages to get in the most inconspicuous positions in her mini crib. Which really surprises me some times when I walk in there and see the positions she sleeps in. She sure makes use of her tiny crib space! She loves dancing to music, especially music with a good beat. We dance every day with her and she just laughs and laughs. She likes to sit in her baby bath tub in the bathroom while I do my make up and play with toys in there. Obviously there is no water in it, but it is just so funny how she loves her tub so much. She has figured out how to pull the DVD's out of the baskets in our TV stand and is SUPER inquisitive always looking to touch and discover everything. She can move her self while sitting in her Bumbo seat, which is concerning because I keep it on the counter top. Unfortunately we don't have room for a high chair, so I just have to keep a close eye on her in her seat. She surprises me everyday of how much she changes and grows. She is SO much fun. I have to say every month gets more and more fun as she interacts with me and her personality comes out. I am glad that she occasionally sleeps through the night! If she did it every night, I would be SO happy. Scott and I are so grateful for little Zoe, she is a little angel!

So the other night we went to a movie that really got me thinking about our government and how messed up it is. Is there such thing as a honest politician???? Seriously, I feel like our government officials are out for themselves rather than the people that elect them. The sad thing is, is that they are the ones who make the rules, spend our money, and send our men and women off to war- some times to their death. I tend to be more conservative in my veiws but I feel that many of the conservatives and liberals for that matter are all about the motto " You scratch my back and I will scratch yours." When the motto they should be living by is "For the people by the people". Anyway enough of my rant, my hope is some day we have representatives and politicians that realize who votes them in.

Winter has been difficult for me, I have felt so cooped up, some days not able to leave the apartment. I have felt that winter has sucked the life out of me. However, Spring is on its way and I could not be happier. We recently took a trip down to Florida where the sun was shining almost everyday!! This was SO AWESOME, I love the sun! This trip was much needed to get us through the cold dark winter that New York harbors. We had SO much fun, one of the best parts was that I was able to hang out with one of my best friends Katie Wood! She came and hung out with us (now that she lives in FL), and it was just a blast. How fun was it to have my great buddy hanging out with Zoe and I all day!!! Such a treat! It also didn't hurt that we got to stay at a five star resort in Napels which was SO NICE!

SLEEP ???

Ok so last night Zoe slept from 6:30pm -8am!!! Not a peep from her! This hasn't happened in all of the 9.5 months of her life! Yes, it is a long time since I have had a good nights sleep. I guess that comes with being a mom. Now I wish I would have taken advantage of all the chances I had to sleep a full night! I have to say though, Zoe has been worth every bit of lost sleep. She gives me big smiles with her crinkled nose.

Baby Blue Eyes!

SO CUTE! SO KISSABLE! SO ZOE!

Here are some more pics that Caroline took. I love the last one! This age is SO fun!

Zoe Kate!

These pictures were all taken by my friend Caroline her company is Caroline Rebecca Photography- there is a link to her photography blog under Caroline Simmons. SHE IS AMAZING!!! It also helped cause Zoe was in a really good mood!

8.5 months!

Personality!!

Zoe is 8 in a half months old! I can't believe it! She is hilarious! She loves music, she will dance and get so excited when I dance for her (looking ridiculous of course, mmm maybe that is why she laughs!) She is scooting on the ground now, picking up food and putting it in her mouth, and always being a little sweet heart. She just got her bottom two teeth and can't stop touching them with her tongue.

Christmas Vacation

Christmas Vacation

So we got to go to Salt Lake for Christmas and the New Year and it SO good to see everyone however we had a whole bunch of sickness! About 3 days into our stay, Zoe got really sick with a double ear infection and a respiratory virus. We visited the doctors office as well as the emergency on Christmas Day. She had a temp of 105 and was very lethargic, this was terrifying. This lasted for about a week in a half but soon after she started feeling better I got a cold and then Scott ended up with the flu for his final days in Salt Lake. Needless to say, this trip was full of sickness.

So why is it that every time we come to SL we always get sick?? I don't know but I will tell you this, I am sure sick of it! We are seriously considering making our Christmas visit in the summer!

The time we were able to spend with family and friends we had a great time. So thank you all for making the time to hang out with us!

I will post some pictures but we didn't take too many because Zoe was sick.

Back in NYC now. Sorta of a bummer to be away from family and friends but good to be back in my own pad. Hopefully this new year will bring a whole bunch of change for us like 2009 did. Looking back on 2009 we definitely had some highlights. Some of which include:

• March- Trip to Europe: Italy, France, Spain- with our great friends Travis, Melanie, Katie and Jeff
• May: Zoe Kate's birth: May 12th 2009
• July: Kristina and Katie's trip to NYC
• Aug: Zoe's first trip to SLC
• September: MaryLynn is a full time mom!- WHAT A CHANGE!!!
• October- Zoe's first Halloween- Zoe's picture in the Daily News
• November- creation of the non-profit organization Team Taji- School supplies for Iraqi kids
• December- Trip to Salt Lake to see family

I am sure grateful for my little family, nothing makes me happier than being with them! I hope this year brings more happiness as 2009 did. Now I just gotta get on my goals!!!

CHECK IT OUT www.teamtaji.org/ny

SO it is finally here, our OFFICIAL TEAM TAJI WEBSITE!!!

WWW.TEAMTAJI.ORG/NY

Thanks to my partner and Co-founder Connie Pankratz.

Please check out the sight. It will tell you more about what is Team Taji NY and how you can be a part of it and donate to improve Iraqi children's lives.

THANKS to my awesome friends who donated kits:

Marianne Brown

Keri Cannon

YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!!

If you want to donate a school kit:

Go to our website www.teamtaji.org/ny

click on "Make a Donation"

What is Team Taji???

Tis the season to help the children =TEAM TAJI

SO I FOUND THE COOLEST SERVICE PROJECT!!! My brother Jeff lives at Camp Taji in Iraq, he is an attorney for the Army. He was deployed last summer from Ft. Hood, yes this is the same base where the shootings took place. As you know Iraq is a war torn country, the soldiers saw that the Iraqi children didn't have much, especially in the way of school supplies. So, some of the soldiers on the base in their spare time started a service project to help impoverished Iraqi children get school supplies, it is called Team Taji: OPERATION BACK TO SCHOOL.

My brother Jeff, emailed his friends and family to see if we could help collect any school supplies. I immediately wanted to help. Having been to third world countries, I have seen first hand how little children have, yet they always seem to be smiling some how. It is amazing how MUCH we have here in America, and where much is given much is expected. Plus having my own little child, it has made me so much more compassionate for the little ones where ever they are. But even more than that aspect, I really wanted to support my brother and the troops. This was such a neat thing they were doing and I wanted to help them to do it.

** Side note**

These soldiers sacrifice SO SO MUCH to serve our country. I never really realized it until I saw it first hand with my brother. He left a wife and 6 little kids at home to serve to keep us safe. All soldiers put their OWN lives at stake to protect us, EVERY DAY. Such a selfless act, and they are very proud to do it.

So about a month ago I took on the project. I knew it would take a great deal of time and effort, but I was willing to give it a go. I started to walk around to the businesses around my apartment to see if I could get any of them to donate. I wanted to get as many school supplies as possible, and I was all fired up after hearing about how cool the project was. The soldiers outlined what school supplies each child needed and called it a school kit. My initial efforts with the businesses were a little demotivating. All of them said no, except two, who gave me random pencil boxes and folders, which I was grateful. I decided I needed to recruite some help. I told the idea to my Relieve Society presidency and they loved it, so we decided to make it an enrichment program. One sister, Connie was super passionate about the project because her father had served in the first Iraqi war and she had lived on Ft. Hood! She jumped on board and we became partners and started our own Team Taji NY.

I realized some thing about this project as I was preparing to present it to my relief society. I learned that this simple service project is SO much more than giving kids school supplies, it is an opportunity to support our American troops, as well as help the Iraqi soldiers serve thier country as well. Jeff said that the US and Iraqi armies were giving out the school kits together, this was SO important for the Iraqi army to do because for SO long they have oppressed thier people instead of serving them. This project helps the Iraqi civilians to TRUST thier army rather than fear them, and intern as they trust thier army, it makes for a more stable Iraq. An Iraq where other countries do not need to be there helping out, including our precious soldiers. SO, as you can see, this service project is SO AWESOME on so many levels.

Anyway, after many late nights of putting together my presentation with pictures and all (thanks Jeff), it was ready. I gave the presentation to the sisters and it went really well, my brother Jeff even Skyed in to tell the ladies more about the project and give them his first hand expereince! That was the BEST part! After he spoke to us, we sang him a Christmas song and we were all moved by tears.

The next day Dec. 9th, Connie and got to work,

• we started a non-profit organization so that people who donate could get a tax write off,
• we started a website www.teamtaji.org
• email address teamtajiny@gmail.com
• Facebook- "Operation Back to School-team Taji"

We wanted to give people more information about the project and try to get as many school kits as possible. If you are reading this and want more info, click on the link above to see a video of the project. Jeff was able to deliver some kits already! Also email us at teamtaji@gmail.com or go to our website. You can see more pictures on Facebook too.

I know most of the people that read my blog are my friends and family, if you want to help, I would LOVE your support, here is how you can help:

• Donate a school kit, Kits are $10- make your check out to "Team Taji" send it to:
• Team Taji
• 211 West 56th st. #27H
• NY, NY 10019
• Send ideas on how to get more kits to: teamtajiny@gmail.com

More info:

Watch video

http://www.96thsbde.com/

Go to: Galleries> Video> Deadeye min 7

Merry Christmas!!

Zoe is wearing her Christmas dress next to the beautiful bouquet Scott gave me for my birthday

Happy Thanksgiving from St. Martin!!

We went to St. Martin for Thanksgiving, just the three of us! It was so fun! We got up super early with Zoe every morning and hit the beach. Since we had been there last year, we knew the best beaches and we were glad we did because it cut out the exploration time.

Zoe was such a little angel! On the way there the people in front of us didn't even know we had a baby. She just slept the whole time. It was really hot and humid in St. Martin but we were prepared. We went crazy buying sunblock, baby beach tent, tube sun shade, baby swim shirts fully sunblocked, baby sun glasses, sun hats, beach toys and of course plenty of sunblock. We did go a little over board but we were glad we did because we used almost all of the things we bought. Every morning we would hit the beach around 8am and Scott would set up the tent next to our sun chairs and umbrella while I waited in the air conditioned car with Zoe. Once he had everything all set up, Zoe and I would join Scott on the beautiful beach.

Zoe would play in her little tent with her toys, we would pour ocean water on her to keep her cool. At first she didn't like going into the water but once she saw Scott and I going in and out after a few days she warmed up to it and absolutely loved it! She loved to be in her tube and just float around. The water was clear Caribbean blue, SO PRETTY! We had so much fun with her in the water. I do have to say though, this vacation was not as relaxing as our last, but super fun.

We discovered some things about Zoe on this trip. The first was that she is very social. If there is anything else going on around her she just has the hardest time taking her naps. She has to be in all the action. She would finally fall asleep in her little tent for about 45 minutes and that was it for a naps. The second thing we learned about Zoe was that when she gets tired she gets super giggly, almost like she is drunk! It is hilarious. So of course she got pretty tired after very short naps, so she was pretty giggly! One day we decided to go home early to let her take a good nap and she slept from 2pm to 6am!!! Yeah, we definitely wore her out!!! We put her to bed really early hoping to make up for her lack of good naps.

We just had a ball with Zoe she was super pleasant, at one point Scott and I looked at each other and said, where did we get this little girl, she is just a little angel. I am pretty sure I was not good when I was a baby and neither was Scott, but we are convinced we have it coming for us with the next kid, that is for SURE.

On the way home we got lucky and got an extra seat so Zoe sat on her own seat and played and then fell asleep so we got to watch a movie! All in all we had a great time and would definitely go again.

Bath Time

Zoe hair has started to come in a ton lately and it seems to have grown mostly on one side! We had to stick it out in this picture to show how much hair she has gotten. The new things that Zoe is doing, eating all three meals in solids: breakfast lunch and dinner! She loves to sit up and play with her stackable cups. We found out that her favorite color is green because she always goes for the green cup, even if we hide it! She loves it when I sing Christmas songs to her, she gets SO excited and waves her arms. She also loves her new Sophie the Giraffe chew toy, she chews and chews and chews on it! It sqeaks so I always know when she is chewing on it. She loves shopping and running erins with me. When we are in the stores she just hangs out and looks around at all the new things to see. She LOVES talking and smiling at people in the elevator! If someone will say hi to her, she will smile at them. She likes people that have funny accents. The other day I was in the elevator with a Jewish woman who had a very thick New Jersey accent and Zoe just started laughing out loud, it was hilarious. Then the other day she did it again with another lady who was talking to me who had an accent too. She cracks me up.

She has started to laugh really hard. I take her to swing on the swings in the park and she just laughs. I sing to her and she just laughs too. I think she knows what a fool I am making of my self!We have found that when she gets super sleepy, she just giggles and giggles almost like she had a little too much of the bubbly! She loves any thing that is in reachable distance to her. She is constantly reaching for something. She is like Scott in that way, she always needs to be discovering something new. She has started to shake her head back and forth like she is saying no. But it is not no to her, we think it is a sign for Scott because he has been practicing it with her and when he is gone she will look around and do the head shake like "where is daddy?"

She has been a really good eater and sleeper, she will eat pretty much what ever I make for her. She sleeps well, she still wakes up once a night to feed but I don't mind it she goes right back to sleep. I could probably get her to sleep through the night if she had her own room. But for now I don't mind. We usually put her to bed at 6pm and she is up by 6:30 or 7am everyday. She is really happy in the morning, this is the only time Scott gets to see her. He gets up early so he can play with her before work.

Everyday I feel SO blessed to be Zoe's mom. She is truly an angel sent from God to us. Her sweet personality just lights up my days. I am so grateful that I can be home with her and see her grow.