Almost walking!

Movin and Dancin!

Zoe's First Birthday Cake!

Zoe had a little Lamb cake to go along with her Barn Yard Birthday Party at Wheeler Farm. There were little pig cupcakes to accompany the lamb. SO cute, thanks for helping me mom!

Happy Birthday Zoe!

Zoe's Birthday Party at Wheeler Farm in Salt Lake City. The top picture she is with her Aunts Katie and Kimberly and cousins. The second picture she is with her Aunt Kristina and cousin Brooklyn. The other picture is her in her birthday out fit for her first birthday party. (Needless to say, I have fun dressing her), pretty in pink, she is very girly!

In the beginning!

Zoe is 1 year old today! WOW how time flies. Seriously, I can not believe it. This time last year I was amazed at how such a small little being could change my life so much. I felt so inept though I had read so many baby books, but was amazed at how much of the nurturing just came natural. I felt a love so powerful and so real, it confirmed my testimony of God's love for us. Everyday I was amazed at how this little tiny person added such a huge spirit to our home, in fact so much so, when we had to take her back to the hospital for light therapy, both Scott and I felt a huge void in our home, and she had only been with us a couple of days. In the beginning it was an emotional roller coaster which, I am beginning to realize never really ends!

One year later, I am understanding the meaning of true JOY! I feel a little more confident about being a parent at least for now, and I am loving every minute I get to spend with my sweet Zoe. She is truly a gift from God. I love her more than words can speak and only want the best for her. The cool thing is now, I can tell she loves me too!

Zoe's personality is starting to come out. I can already tell she loves to be around people. She is very social, she will say "hi" perfectly to people in the elevator as we ride up to our 27th floor apartment! It will actually throw people off. She is curious about her surroundings and life in general, always asking me "whaz sdat?" as she points to things around us. In fact, that is the first thing she says when she wakes up from her naps, she points to some thing and says "whaz sdat?" She loves to crawl really fast and then stand up on everything! She has discovered that the shelfs and cupboards have interesting things in them to play with. She loves crawling from our living room back to the bathroom while I get ready in the morning and exploring on the way.

Zoe had four birthday parties to celebrate her first year of life. The first was in Salt Lake City with all her cousins at Wheeler Farm. That was so fun. She had a lamb cake and pig cupcakes and fun gift bags with animal noses in them. She loved seeing the animals, it was her first time seeing pigs, cows and turkeys. The second party was with her grandma and grandpa Thomas. We sang happy birthday to her and she had fun opening her presents with her little cousins. The third party was here in New York with all her New Yorker buddies. We had a combined party with her friend Ben (who was turning 2). We had lots of balloons, pizza, and cupcakes! All the kids came and she had fun exploring my friend's out door terrace, with a sand box and play ground! The last party was just with the three of us. Scott came home early (which was such a treat for Zoe and me), as soon as she saw him she started to flare her arms and scream in delight! Daddy means FUN to Zoe. She was so excited to see him I put her down and the second I did, she was racing off towards the door to greet him! Zoe loves her daddy!! She played with us and we sang happy birthday to her. What fun couple of days!

Wow what a year, I have learned SO much about so many things. Life has taken on another meaning to me. I feel I am better in so many ways since Zoe was born. She has taught me so much! I couldn't be more grateful for the first year we were able to spend with each other. It was hard and enjoyable at the same time. It was a really great learning experience, one I will always cherish.

Friends in Central Park

These pictures were taking in April with my friends and their little girls. From left to right, Kelli & Kenzie, myself and Zoe, Marne and Aubrey. We had the little photo shoot in the center of the Mall in Central Park. What a great back drop for pictures! It was so green and still is.

Easter and Central Park

These pics are a little old, they are from Easter morning and then Central Park. Easter was fun, I did an Easter basket for Zoe and Scott. I got Zoe some cute baby animal books and then I got scott his favorite limited edition coconut m&m's. I actually went looking all over the city for those M&M's. Even the M&M store didn't have them. I had to go to each little Candy kiosk on the street to find them. Once I did, I bought the whole box! The things you do for your loved ones!! We celebrated with our friends Scott and Lindsey. It was fun to hang out with them.

Later, that month my friends and I went to the park, we took pictures in the Mall area. They turned out cute. It was a little early for Zoe but it was a great day to take pics.

Zoe is crawling and talking a little bit now, she is so much fun.

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