Not for people

With respect to the salmon we had last night - Zoe took one look at it and said "This is not good for people!"

Update : we had trout tonight which she declared "This is not for children!"

I sense a theme...

Flying side kick

Gotta love the sleep poses children get in. I call this "crouching giraffe flying toddler" :)

Toddler Fevers and Rash

So this past week has been a nail biting adventure in toddler health issues.  First, the set up - 3 weeks ago, JJ was diagnosed with an ear infection.  Then Zoe got pink eye.  Then John got strep.  So, when Sunday rolled around, everyone was on some form of antibiotics, except for me (and Zoe who had just finished her eye drops).  Sunday afternoon, Zoe wakes up from her nap with a fever of 102.  Oh crap, here we go.

Monday morning Dr. visit: They examine her and she has a double ear infection.  Still running a fever of 100 even with ibuprofen and is generally miserable.  Prescribe antibiotics.

Tuesday afternoon: She breaks out in a rash all over.

Wednesday morning Dr. Visit: Still has rash and fever.  Dr. thinks it's probably viral, but she's also complaining of leg pain, neck pain, and the ibuprofen isn't helping the fever.  He sends her for blood and urine tests (she's also saying her tummy hurst right before she pees).  She is a total trooper and doesn't even flinch when they do the blood draw!

Wednesday night: Fever finally breaks.

Thursday morning: Still has rash all over.  It gets worse when she is hot - swells up slightly. Behavior continues to be somewhat subdued, but better than previous.

Friday-Sunday: Behavior is still subdued, but getting more normal. Still no fever.

Sunday night: While helping her wash her hands, I notice small red dots on the back of her hand:

I have been reading LOTS about rashes and recognize these as petechiae. This is the one type of rash to be really worried about.  So, we call the after hours nurse who tells us to take her to the ER.  

Turns out the petechiae, in this case, were caused by her blood draw on Wednesday. Thank goodness!  She is sent home and we are told to keep an eye on her for lethargy etc.

So, bottom line, nothing serious, but lots of stress for everyone involved because it kept looking like it might be something serious.  And the medical professional kept saying "It's good you brought her in" because a lot of what we saw *could* have been life threatening. Thank goodness it wasn't.

Wittle tiny...somethingorother

Zoe seems delighted (translation: obsessed) with smallish toys. At first, it was her "wittle tiny" elephant. Then the "wittle tiny" bear. Now, anything under 6 inches becomes her "wittle tiny" fill in the blank. And make no mistake - if it is wittle tiny, it is hers.

Sometimes, the 10 minute ride to work is just TOOO far

In the driveway at home....

In the parking garage at work...

Happy Birthday Zoe!

Hard to believe it's been 2 years already! Holy moly! To celebrate let's take a look at some her current "Zoe-isms":

- Spicy! I *like* it! (stated for anything she likes, not necessarily culinary in nature. For example shoes.)
- Look! It's a tiny wittle Kwisam Twee! (translation: it's a charmingly small Christmas tree)
- Poh poh! (translation chupo translation pacifier. Which she gave up a month ago. And by "give up" I mean "lost the last one and mommy and daddy aren't getting any more")
- Mr. Johnny John (her brother)
- I no like it. It's not my favorite.
- Bwuebewwies! (translation: Blueberries)



Favorite toys:
- Mamma Cheetah (a 16" plush cheetah)
- Baby Jaguar (any small spotted cat like toy that vaguely resembles Baby Jaguar from Diego)
- Bwakiosaurus (the hard plastic brachiosaurus that belongs to her brother)

Officially - she's walking!

She took her first few steps over Thanksgiving at Pappy and Pat's.... but now she's walkin, yes indeed she's talkin! What girl :) Go Zoe Go!

Happy Birthday Zoe!

So, in honor of her birthday, we took Miss Zoe's to get her picture taken. And, keeping with tradition (is it a tradition if you've only ever done it once?) we got a cheap Kroger birthday cake for her to smear all over herself for the pictures. Or, rather, not. We set her down in front of the cake with only her little pink diaper on. She leans forward. Interested. Interested. Very interested. She puts one chubby little hand in the cake, pulls back, looks at the icing covering her fingers in horror and immediately starts trying to wipe it off, crying her eyes out.

So - pristine photos.

That night, we had a few friends over for birthday dinner and a red velvet bakery cake from The Velvet Bake Shop (located in Plano, totally totally awesome!). I'm thinking "OK, well, we'll take a quick shot of her with her slice of cake, then I'll eat it since she doesn't like cake." I get the shot, leave the room to put down the camera, come back and she is totally going to town on the cake! Loved it and ate every last crumb. Well, every last crumb that wasn't adorning some part of her body anyway. It was a very red-velvety bath that night.

So - I am left to conclude that Zoe just doesn't like cheap cake. That's my foodie girl :)

On the road with the Zoers

Girl's Road Trip!

The annual girl's road trip took us to Galveston with Auntie Angela and Auntie Joy (with a special guest appearance by Aunt Sharon). Zoe thoroughly enjoyed her first girl's road trip, and was a VERY good travel companion. She sampled the local cuisine (or at least as much of it as mommy would allow), made everyone adore her (I thought I might have to get physical to remove her from the Houston Museum of Natural Science she had so many adoring fans), and all in all had a great time. Auntie Joy was especially in favor because of her Sally's Spa iPhone App, which Zoe adored. And then there was the amazingly gorgeous fake fur white tiger coat from Aunt Sharon - pictures to follow very soon (she looks FABULOUS in it!)

Thanks to all the girl's that made the trip so fun :)

I'm not lion

JJ picked out his and Zoe's outfits this year. I gotta say - the kid has good taste :)

Save the date

Just got the Save the Date for Uncle Charles and Auntie Allison's wedding - Zoe is stoked!

Houston, we have teeth

Two, to be precise. Miss Zoe is now the proud owner of 2 teeth (on the bottom). And Uncle Charles and Pappy were here to see them too! Well done Zoe!

And she's off!

Zoe is officially crawling. Friday she started doing the army-man crawl. I figured it would be a while before we saw an actual up on the knees crawl - WRONG! Sunday night she popped up on her knees and got moving. No rocking back and forth. No hesitation. Just not moving one minute and halfway across the floor the next.

This kid is amazing.

I've never seen a baby deliberately practice how to do things. It's like she has an instinctive understanding on how to refine physical skills. She will pull herself up to standing, lower herself back down then pull back up just to refine her standing skill. She's cruising easily now. I'm kind of surprised she bothered with crawling - I'm sure she's going to start walking soon. What an incredible kid!

Pulling up

She did it - last night she pulled herself up to standing on my arm. I was reaching for something and she just latched on and the next thing I knew she was standing. WOW. Cruising won't be far behind! Go Zozo!

Up on her knees - uh oh!

So, as solids have been progressing, I knew that it wouldn't be long before we started seeing signs of Zoe wanting to crawl. She's all over the rolling thing - she can get just about anywhere she wants to get rolling. In fact, we've entered the WWF-stage of diaper changes (you'd think doing a take down and pin on a 6.5 month old would be fairly easy - guess I need to start hitting the gym!)

But today she actually got up on her knees for a minute. Oh dear....crawling won't be far behind.

PLLLLLBBBBB

Zoe has discovered the joy of blowing raspberries. A lot. So much so, that playing with her has turned into a first-five-rows-at-Sea-World event. Somebody hand me a towel.

Chatty chatty chatty

I should've known when Grandma got her a toy cell phone, that it wouldn't be long before she started talking our ears off. And, true to form, we've got dada as one of our first words :) Ah Zoe, such a daddy's girl! Of course it's all part of the whole ga ga ba baba ga eeeeeeeeeeee! at the loudest possible volume that she graces us with, but it's in there nonetheless.

What big lungs you have...

One of the little girls at daycare was looking at Zoe in her sundress. Pointing to the rolls of baby fat on her chest she says "Zoe has big lungs, just like her mommy!"
Now, I wonder how she knew I have big lungs....LOL!

Easter Hats Rock!

Gerber baby, eat your heart out!

What a day...

Up this morning and off to the Farmer's Market - Zoe's first since her arrival. Lots of fun stuff to see as it turns out because it is a Civil War reenactment weekend! JJ got to see his first spinning wheel in action (very cool). Then this afternoon we went to a friend's child's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. This was the first time JJ or I (or Zoe, for that matter) had been to a Chuck E Cheese. Oh my. I can't believe people actually pay to go to those things - it was insane! The noise alone was enough to make me want to run. JJ handled it ok, but was definitely ready to go within 30 minutes. We decided we were all too stressed out to cook dinner, so we stopped at Pho Mac on the way home for yummy cha gio (Vietnamese egg rolls). JJ, who turns up his nose at anything but macaroni and cheese these days, ate an entire egg roll and some rice noodles. Yeah! Then, during tummy time, Zoe turned over for the first time. WOW! what a day...