Weeks 6 & 7

The past week and a half have been very busy. We have had some special guests and Miss Zoey has been growing and changing so much. Today is Wednesday, October 21st and my little Peanut is 7 weeks old today. She is getting so big. The last time we were at the doctor was a few weeks ago and she weighed 7 lbs 6 ounces. I was curious, so we got on the scale together today and then I got on by myself. I won't tell you what the exact numbers were :-), but I will say that it looks like she weighs a hair over 9 lbs! In the past week she has gotten much more interactive. She is cooing and smiling more during her awake time and she is getting so strong. She can push up with her arms briefly to lift her head up now and she has the strongest legs, she can really push off with those. She is also getting really long. I haven't taken that measurement yet, but judging by the fact her sleepers are quickly getting too short, I would say she is definitely getting longer. She is even getting close to growing out of her Pampers newborns! It seemed like we were never going to be able to use the huggies newborns because they were so big and now I am hoping we make it through all of them before she grows out of them.

Our little girl is stil having some tummy troubles, she will kill me one day for documenting this, but she still has lots of gas and she crys when she passes it. She also seems to be spitting up more this week, so we are going to drop the Soy formula and try some Enfamil for sensitive tummies. Hopefully that helps because next stop is the really expensive stuff! I just want my baby girl's tummy to feel better, it is so pitiful when she cries while she is eating. Not to mention it is no fun when we have the marathon of fussiness between 3am and 6am. Mommy likes her sleep too.

So, on to the fun stuff, pictures!

While Nannie was here she would feed Zoey and then take her to the guest bedroom and surround her with her little toys and they would have some really fun playtime together. You can tell Zoey is enjoying herself.

Nannie looks pretty happy too!

Pop Pop was so excited by all the fun, that he just couldn't hang on anymore :-) So Miss Zoey kept a watchful eye out.

Zoey hasn't been much for the swing thus far, maybe when she gets a little bigger, but she does seem to enjoy her little Rainforest bouncer seat, with all the lights and sound. Thanks for this one Grammy, it has been a real lifesaver.

Another feeding time with Nannie, modeling my first sundress. Another one of the sweet newborn outfits that Aunt Lynn sent me.

My mom even managed coordinating socks. She may not be a girlie girl, but mom is trying to make me look like a girl!

Aww, Mommy and her baby girl. We were hanging outside with Daddy and Pop pop while they grilled us a yummy dinner.

Daddy takes a break from grilling for a family photo. Finally a break in the yucky Texas weather so we could enjoy our patio. Zoey loves all the sights and sounds out there.

Nannie is still spoiling me! I am all dressed in my sleeper, ready for snuggles and bed!

I just love these two photos. After Zoey gets her bath, she quickly gets wrapped in one of her little bath towels, here are a few shots of her in her Pooh bath towel. How sweet is that face!

Hamming it up for the camera, while snuggling with Nannie.

Pop pop is sneaking some hands on time as well. Zoey's new thing is that she is mesmorized by ceiling fans and lights. So it is really hard to get her to look toward the camera. The lights and dark contrasting colors are really entertaining to her now. She is also getting much better at tracking objects. If I walk by she will actually move her head and watch me now.

Nannie and Pop pop are both loving on Miss Zoey and planning how they can sneak her into their carry on and take her back to PA with them.

Daddy just got home from work and is reading the "counting animals" book to Miss Zoey. Trying to keep her awake until time for her next nap.

I am not sure he was being so successful, she looks pretty comatose :-)

Another sweet bath photo! We get a bath every other day. I should also point out that in the past 2 weeks Zoey has also discovered her thumb and will suck on it from time to time, it is really sweet.

We were showing Daddy how sweet Miss Zoey looked in her Pooh towel. You can also see daddy's good friend Aaron in the background. He was visiting for the night from Colorado.

Aaron enjoying some Peet's coffee.

Mommy and Daddy decided to try out Zoey's Bumbo seat. She is still a bit small for it and you can tell from the look on her face that she is undecided as to whether she likes it or not. This is one of my favorite photos. It looks like her and her daddy are having a little conversation and she looks so serious as always. I guess she gets that from her mom.

Mommy is trying out the Baby Bjorn. Zoey really enjoys being all snuggled up next to her Mommy!

Daddy and Zoey are having their nightly story time. This week we are working on the original Pooh stories and we also read "Larry gets lost in Seattle", a special book from Aunt Krissy.

She may be the smallest NC State fan and also the only Happy NC State fan this season.

Sunday Mommy and Daddy took Zoey to her first pumpkin patch. We picked out 1 big pumpkin and 3 little ones for our Peanuts first Halloween! So of course she had to pose with the pumpkins.

I love this one, it looks like she is jumping out from behind the pumpkin with a big Boo face or something.

Just some Wednesday morning photos of our little girl. I can never take enough photos of that sweet face and those big eyes, especially when she is smiling. Her eyes are still blue/grey, but I am guessing that since there are no blue eyes on my side of the family, that eventually hers will turn some version of brown, green or a combination of the two.

I love my boppy. I can prop up in it and look at mom and talk to her while I just go crazy
with my arms and legs. She is so active now, she loves to just wiggle! She is definitely an athlete in training. She is also Mommy's little training partner, she goes with me in the jogging stroller for a run almost every morning.

More from week 5

I didn't do the best job when I was taking this photo, but I loved the smiles. Miss Zoey finally grew into some of her Newborn clothes this week, so here she is in her first little skirt. This was one of the sweet outfits sent to us by her Aunt Lynn. I think she takes after her mom because in this photo she seems to be saying, OK, enough with the dress already, can we change into sweats or a nice track suit :-)

More sweet baby smiles. This is another outift Aunt Lynn sent for Zoey's first Halloween. Mommy was trying it out and having fun snapping some photos. I am still not sure how Julie does it.

A nice close up of her BIG eyes. Ignore the dry baby skin, I am not good enough with all of this stuff yet to photo shop it out and I don't think Z will mind.

TRICK OR TREAT...she is definitely a treat!!

5 weeks Old

Wednesday, October 7th little Zoey was 5 weeks old. It is all going by so fast, she is changing so much each and every week, so I will continue to update the blog weekly to share her journey with all of you!

This week was a big week for little Zoey. We had our first Mommy and Baby lunch. The ladies from small group came over and brought all of their little ones, along with lunch. It was a nice visit and so great to see everyone again.

Here is Meagan and little Clark, he was the quiet one, just taking it all in...

Here is Miss Amanda loving on little Zoey

Mary and Caleb joined us as well. Caleb is the mellow guy, just smiling at everyone, quite the little ham, especially with all the ladies...

Here is Rachel and Charlotte "Charlie". She is the aggresor of the bunch, don't let the dress fool you.

Shellie got a little lovey time with Miss Zoey as well, she even took a diaper change for Mommy!

Charlie was making her move, trying to plant a kiss on little Clark.

Ryleigh had just had her shots, but she still made it to the party...how cute is her little bow and dress :-)

So the ladies lunch was on Thursday and on Friday we had some more, very special visitors. Jay's parents (known as Nannie and Poppop to Zoey's cousins) are here for a little over a week. But they are already well on their way to spoiling their newest grandbaby!

Nannie getting to hold Miss Zoey for the first time.

So, it was Saturday and game day. Mommy worked hard to help daddy get the Computer all hooked up to the TV so that he could watch the game on ESPN360.com and see it on the big screen. Mommy even put little Zoey in her Hokies T-shirt from Aunt Lori and Uncle Jeremy. It was painful, but we thought we would give daddy's team a little support. So here Daddy is showing her off, her shirt says "They Raised me the Right Way" and it has a picture of a Hokie Bird...

Later that night we put her NC State Onesie on her to sleep in, but before Mommy could get a photo she went to sleep. Getting her to sleep at night is no easy task these days, so I didn't want to wake her with the flash. Then her dad strategically let her pee on the NCSU onesie when he was changing her over night before I could take a photo, but we will make up for it next weekend!! Here is a photo of my bright eyed girl when Pop Pop finally got a chance for some Zoey time.

Mommy had just gotten back from a belated Anniversary dinner with Daddy and was making up for lost time and loving on her little peanut!

I should also point out that I ran for the first time this week...which was no easy task after 6 weeks of bed rest and 4 weeks of restricted activity. But we did have some nice weather this weekend and I worked up to running 15-20 minutes at a shot. Baby steps I guess.

4 Weeks Old

This week our little girl turned 4 weeks old. It was her second week home with mom and we had some more very special visitors!! Since Zoey's umbilical cord has fallen off she can take a real bath, not just a sponge bath...and much to our surprise she really seems to like them. Here she is in her warm bath covered with her fish towel.

So Zoey's favorite pose for photos lately is totally cute, she loves to do "The Heisman"! Maybe she is a future Princess Quarterback :-) From this photo you can also see how long she is getting. We didn't measure her this week, but she did have a trip to the doctor for some bad diaper rash and she is up to 7 lbs and 6 ounces in weight, she is growing so fast. She almost fits in her newborn clothes now.

A close up of The Heisman pose and those great big eyes!

When daddy comes home from work at night he and Zoey have their daddy-daughter play time.

Trying out the swing we borrowed from the Crown-Lacey twins...

Daddy cuddling with me after a feeding before putting me to bed.

What a cutie!

So, the special visitors this week were Aunt Lori and Uncle Jeremy. They actually got to come and spend 3 whole days with us. They helped me out by watching little Zoey so I could get some naps and showers, it was great. We also went and tried out a little place on the beach to eat called Pirate's Alley and enjoyed the cool day sitting at Surside beach for a bit.

I think Uncle Jeremy was a bit smitten with his new niece. He enjoyed cuddling her to sleep which gave Aunt Lori some time to help mommy in the kitchen. We made homemade calzones one night and the next night daddy made shrimp, steak, grilled veggies and steelhead trout. We even got to sit out on the patio and eat. It was a great visit.

I also noticed that Zoey is much more alert this week, making lots of eye contact, spending more time awake and playing and watching some of her toys. She also seems to enjoy the music on some of her toys and watching them. She is very alert and happy in the morning, but turns into het alter ego after dinner and gets cranked up!

She developed a little baby acne this week and seems to have quite a bit of gas that makes her fussy at mealtime, but mommy and daddy are getting better at dealing with it and hopefully it is making little Zoey feel better! The next challenge is getting her to go down for a nap peacefully...easier said than done I am realizing. That's all until next week...