For those of you who have not gotten enough video this weekend, we took 2 nice clips of Zoe playing this morning. Which one is cuter?

Jon Q

Zoe slept through the night for the first time yesterday! (She ate at 10 PM, went to sleep around 11, and didn’t eat again until 6:30 AM.) Although I don’t expect this to become an every-night thing, it was a pretty big step for Zoe. And for her parents, who got seven hours of (mostly) uninterrupted sleep!

-M

PS – While I’m here, I thought I’d post a few pictures from this morning. Some video will be posted later, also…

Now that Zoe is starting to smile, she really lets us know what she likes. Well, apparently she loves the bath. See her big grin picture and the fun video below…

Jon Q

 

I was playing with Zoe when Q came home from work tonight. He walked into the room and greeted the two of us – and Zoe, upon hearing his voice, broke into the biggest smile I’ve seen yet. Just the thought if makes me want to cry, still.

-M

There’s a Sex in the City episode where the main character, Carrie, talks about having a bad case of writer’s block. It’s gotten so bad, she tells her friends, that she’s considering writing her newspaper column on her sock drawer. I can totally relate to Carrie: although I don’t experience writer’s block terribly often (a good thing, considering my profession), I *have* recently struggled over what to discuss on this blog. I often start writing something here and then stop – either because it doesn’t sound good on paper or I’m convinced the topic is not at all interesting to anyone other than me. (Does anyone care, for example, that Zoe has had more than 300 meals at this point? I did the calculations when I couldn’t sleep last night.) Although Zoe is growing and changing at a relatively fast clip, the truth is that our days are filled with a certain amount of sameness – and there isn’t always a lot to say about her activities (which still consist primarily of sleeping, eating, going to the bathroom, and spitting up). I’m enjoying our time together these days, but I’m admittedly anxious for a few more “firsts” – so my days are a bit more exciting, and I have a few more things to write about here. After all, sock drawers ARE incredibly boring.

-M

 

For the past few days, Zoe has had a case of split personality. During one chunk of time, she is sweet and sleepy; during another she is crabby and practically inconsolable. Last night, for example, she slept for a six-hour stretch (!) and had no problem going back to sleep after a quick breakfast – but then she woke up and played the cry-so-hard-I-turn-purple game for a few hours. By the time her dad came home from work, though, she was back to her sweet-as-pie self (see pictures below for proof), and my headache finally started to slip away…

Countless friends have told us that the first few months with a baby can be tough, so I try to take these challenging days with a grain of salt. Lucky for us, we see Happy Zoe far more often than Crabby Zoe – and did I mention she slept last night for six hours?! There is nothing sweeter to a new mom than a nice, long stretch of sleep like that…

-M

 

 

As Q mentioned below, Zoe is getting really big! I’m posting another pic from this weekend, so you can see for yourself. The second pic is one I just came across from last weekend… Zoe obviously loves her bunny!

-M

PS- Pink is really Zoe’s color, isn’t it??

Today I got to take Zoe to another Doctor’s appointment – this time for her one-month checkup.  The good news is that she is a very healthy baby.  She is now a whopping 10 lb 14 oz and over 22 inches long!  The doctor said that both were normal, but that she was close to the 90th percentile in weight and 80th in height.  So if you couldn’t guess from her  tall parents, she is going to be big.  The Dr also said that although her eyes are currently blue, they could change up to 6 months (so don’t get too attached to them, Michelle).  Now for the bad news…she told us that Zoe will probably have to come back for one more blood test to make sure her platelets are staying high.  She will let us know today if we need to come back on Friday.  Looking on the bright side, at least this will be the last one!

Anyway, mostly good news, so her parents are very excited.  Let’s hope the rest of the new year comes with good news for everyone.  We will post more 2007 Zoe pictures soon…

Jon Q

Anyone who saw Brett Favre’s interview following Sunday’s Packers/Bears game knows that the legend QB will likely retire this year. I’m super sad about this, and I’m not the only one. Zoe’s a big Brett fan, too… Doesn’t she look a little bummed out here??

-M

 

 

New Year resolutions have always struck me as sort of silly and difficult to stick to – so I’ve never made them. But this year, in light of everything that has happened in our lives, I decided it was important to reflect on the coming year and outline some goals and hopes. My wishes – or resolutions, if you will – are actually quite simple: stress less, savor life’s little, happy moments (and count my blessings) as much as possible, and help make life as happy and easy as possible for Zoe and Q. I hope I can stick to these!

Happy New Year, everyone…

-M

PS – I’m posting a few fave pics from yesterday, including a family one taken at midnight!

Since I haven’t posted in a few days, I thought I’d share some random thoughts/observations.

1- For two nights now, Zoe has slept 5-6 hours per stretch. This has been fabulous for me (and Q), of course, and it makes me wonder: can we be that far off from a 8-hour night??

2- Zoe’s eyelashes and eyebrows, once so pale they were almost white, are getting darker (which is something I noticed the other day). I wonder what this means for the future color of her hair?? On a related note, her doctor recently commented that she thinks Zoe’s eyes will stay blue. I’m not sure what she is basing this opinion on, but I’m super anxious to see if she is right!

3- Zoe’s next doctor’s appointment is Tuesday, and I can’t wait to see what she weighs. She’s getting to be a very big girl – she’s got to be way over 10 lbs by this point.

4- As Q just posted, we got great news about Zoe’s platelets on Friday. I’m happy about the news, but I’m SO SICK of platelets. I really hope Zoe’s done with all the blood draws at this point. (Her mom is another story, but I’m used to that!)

5- Most importantly, I’m happy to report that Zoe smiled at me for the first time yesterday! She has been smiling at her dad for awhile now, and I was starting to get a little down about it (does she like her dad better than me, I couldn’t help but wonder) – but, then, she rewarded me with a nice, toothless grin. I hope there is more where that came from!!

-M

 

We see her every day, so we know how big Zoe is getting.  But when I look at her picture, I realize just how small she really is.  Check her out on a King sized bed…

Jon Q

Well, yesterday I got the pleasure of escorting Zoe to UCSF for another blood draw.  She was very good and ran around the hospital with me trying to find someone to register us (that is a whole other story). When we finally got to the place to get her blood taken, the same lady as last time was there.  She said Zoe was very good, and the whole ordeal only took about 5 minutes from when we were called to when we got to leave.  The even better news is that Zoe’s platelets were up to 402K!  That is the highest they have been since we have gotten them checked, and we are crossing our fingers that this was the last test!  The little one has had more blood drawn in 5 weeks than her daddy has his entire life!

Here she is on her way back from the hospital… 

Jon Q

My best friend growing up was my cousin Aimee; about a jillion of my childhood memories have her in them, and we were in one other’s weddings. I’m sure you can imagine how thrilled we were when we discovered last spring that we were both pregnant – and expecting wtihin weeks of one another! As it turned out, Aimee had Baby Tanner just five days after I had Zoe. Tanner and Zoe haven’t met yet, but I’m confident they will be close friends. And there might even be some family resemblance – what do you think??

-M

When I was pregnant, Q and I took several baby preparation classes. They were fairly helpful – especially for me, who had little experience with children – and I was pretty intent on using all the information once Zoe arrived. In fact, one day during my maternity leave (geek alert!) I actually typed up all my notes – with the intention of referring to them when the baby was here. The truth is that I haven’t referred to those notes once, and I have found the whole taking-care-of-baby thing pretty instinct-based. People warned me this would happen, and they were correct: you just sort of learn as you go along. It quickly becomes clear what is “normal” and what is not (it becomes unnecessary, for example, to count dirty diapers or track the amount of sleep your baby gets), and you quickly learn your baby’s likes and dislikes. I suppose parenthood is this way for a reason – after all, I doubt baby preparation classes were available hundreds or thousands of years ago – but I’m still amazed (and pleased) by how it’s all played out for us.

-M