Memorial Day 2011

Yesterday we went out to the lake. Dayna and Jacob had some friends over that have a little boy and girl, Miles and Mae. So we had 5 kiddos, Reed, Parker, Miles, Mae and Zoe. Needless to say, we had our hands full but it was pretty fun to see them all play together. Zoe was definitely the easiest of the bunch....having a toddler looks like a lot of work! Zoe had her 1st swim which was super fun. She seemed to like the baby pool - few more months and she'll be able to sit in it on her own!

Reed and Miles
Parker



chomp chomp!

my new favorite face!
This would be a lot easier if I could just sit up on my own!

There we go...thanks Mommy!

4 month update

Zoe turned 4 months old on Wednesday the 11th....cannot believe it! It feels like just yesterday we were in the hospital! I was in trial all week so Taylor took Zoe to her doctor's appt (I was very bitter I could not make it but I finally conceded and just sent him with my little cheat sheet of notes instead) They did great, except for the shots part, he said her little face was beyond sad and pathetic.

So it turns out we have a fatty boom ba latty on our hands.
Weight: 13 lbs, 14.5 oz (60%)
Length: 24 inches (40%)
Head: 41.2 cm (60%)
According to the doctor we need to even her out a little b/c her percentiles are supposed to be close together, so no rice or food needed for now. She's still on all breastmilk, which I'm super proud of myself for if I may say so! The whole working and pumping thing really hasn't been that bad, tedious at times, but I really enjoy nursing her so it's totally worth the extra effort. My initial goal has always been 6 months, but I think I might push it and try to go 9 mths or so....we'll see, but so far so good on that front.

As far as what Zoe's up to these days, you could basically sum it up with anything she sees she tries to chew on....don't know if that's teething or not, but she's graduated from her hands (even though those are probably still the favorites) and has moved on to toys and Sophie the giraffe. She can roll over from stomach to back if she really wants to, although it's still pretty rare. She normally just fusses until you flip her over yourself. She's still sleeping through the night, we put her down around 8:30 or so after she nurses and then I normally wake her up around 6:30 to eat before I get ready for work. So still extremely lucky on that end, although I think we owe a lot of it to the swaddle which she is quickly outgrowing. I think we'll have to give up the velcro ones soon and move on to the sleep sack so hopefully that won't mess her up b/c I really like my sleep!

She truly is such a little bundle of joy....we love her so much and she's just getting so damn cute, I mean look at that face!

Derby Day and my new favorite Holiday

What a great weekend! We decided to dress up for the Kentucky Derby and we had my folks and sister over to celebrate Mother's Day a day early. Made mint juleps (who knew they were basically just straight whiskey!) and even put Zoe in a hat...too cute!



this is her "why are you dressing me up like a doll?" face


yes, that's Taylor in seersucker...totally embraced the Derby wear!



For my 1st Mother's Day, Taylor took Zoe and I to the Fort Worth Club for this massive brunch. It was pretty awesome, and the hour nap I got to take to recover when we got home was even better.



I love being a new mommy....and I have to say, having a whole day dedicated to you isn't bad either! :)

Random photos from the weekend

finally caught a smile (sort of!) on camera

Easter 2011

Easter was a big success: we experienced a lot of firsts over the weekend.

1) Zoe went to Joe T's for the 1st time (the patio there is surprisingly very kid friendly...we were surrounded by little ones! And on a sidenote, it may be just me, but I now notice kids out wherever we go...and I take note of what stroller they're in, or what carseat, etc. There's just so many baby gadgets and accessories out there and you never know if you bought the right stuff or not. And then I wonder how old is that kid? And especially, how old is that kid b/c her mommy looks way skinny which means she's GOT to be older than Zoe b/c her mom looks way better than I do...she must be at least 6 months! This as you can see is a struggle for me, the whole mommy comparing thing...and I promised myself I wouldn't get caught up in the "my baby's doing this....what, yours isn't...oh it's ok, she'll get there" thing. But I digress, back to Easter stuff....

2) First Colonial easter egg hunt experience (it lasted all of 5 minutes and Reed was over it with a whopping 3 eggs in his basket...they did however have an adorable petting zoo with baby piglets and ducklings and the works- let's hope Zoe is into animals b/c I'm already planning the photo op next year!)

3) First time Zoe went to church (and she sat through the whole service minus the last 5 minutes!)

4)Zoe wore her 1st smocked dress and she looked like Little Miss Fancy Pants....I have to admit, I used to be skeptical of all the frilly dresses and bows and whatnot, but now that I have a little girl of my own, they are just so fun to dress up! Although I do think they should be reserved for special occasions (I mean, I can't really drop her off at daycare in a dress that is just going to get drooled on and potentially pooped on). And you should have heard the pep talk I had with Zoe before we left for church....it went something like, "please please girl whatever you do, do not have a blowout in your new fancy dress! Just hold it girl, for me, you can do it!"

So lots of dragging Zoe all over town again...this is becoming quite the norm as far as our weekends go. But she seems to enjoy it!

Happy Earth Day!

So last year we had a momma bird build a nest in the corner of our column on our front porch. We watched the eggs hatch and the little birds beg for food last spring as the mommy and daddy bird came and fed each little guy. Well, guess who returned this year??? Check out Mommy Bird and her little ones. I don't know if it's the same mother or not, but I like to think it is. Every day as we walk out our front door we get to see this cute little family, pretty awesome huh?



And just for good measure, here's a pic of our blooming little flower :)

Guest Post: Watching The Godfather with Dawn

My name is Taylor Ferguson and I am both Dawn's husband and Zoe's dad. Dawn has been asking me to write something on this blog ever since she created it, but I really didn't have a topic to write about... until now. Dawn recently got on this classic movie kick and has been wanting to watch some older, great movies. Now about three years ago I decided to watch every movie on the AFI top 100 list and Dawn watched most of them with me, but there were some movies on the list that I had already seen so we didn't watch them. (And as a side note, we watched Gone with the Wind back then, but apparently it didn't take. Now she is waltzing around this house like it is Tara and threatening to leave me for Rhett Butler, who I keep reminding her is a fictional character.) Despite me lobbying for our first trip into movie classics being Star Wars, Dawn decided she wanted to watch all three Godfathers. So I figured I would give a review of this classic.

All in all Dawn did a good job watching the movie. She had already seen Good Fellas, so I think she was expecting a little more of an up-tempo movie, but I explained to her that while Good Fellas follows one character's rise from street hoodlum to a member of the mob, the Godfather tackles a different era and viewpoint of the Mafia, how the familes gained and maintained power. What I love most about this movie is how it hides the plot until the last 15 minutes. When the movie starts it has a 30 minute scene covering the wedding of the daughter of the Don, Vito Corleone. It is an incredible scene that sets the tone for the importance of family in the Mafia, but also lays out the framework for the level of respect the Don commands. In my opinion this scene right here makes this movie a classic, because Hollywood will not allow movies to do this anymore. (If this scene were done in a movie today it would have been 8 minutes tops).

Now after this scene the stage is set for what you think will be the story of Vito Corleone, and this is where the movie fools you. It fooled Dawn, because I kept having to stop the movie to explain what was going on. In her defense the movie can be confusing and hard to follow. What I found funny was I kept telling Dawn "pay attention to this scene, this scene is important" to the point that she said "you keep saying every scene is important."

That is what is so great, because the plot of this movie is not the importance of Vito, but rather transformation of Michael from war hero to ruthless Don. All along the way, the movie gives you signs and sets things up, (the scene in Vegas with Mo Greene is a perfect example of this) but doesn't really pay out until the end with the final scene between Michael and his wife where he lies right to her face. In fact, the most entertaining part of watching the movie was watching Dawn finally realize this, when she turned to me and said "I thought Michael was a good guy, but he is cold-blooded." All I could say to that was it's not personal, it's strictly business.