Zoe's Life

There are days when I am so amazed by the life of my little girl.  I weep over the things I know she's missing in the States around family and close friends, but yet what an amazing experience she will have growing up overseas, in a culture all of her own.  Yesterday we went to the park (as is our custom in the evenings), there were three Yemeni ladies there sitting on a bench together.  Yemeni ladies usually wear a full burqa and niqaab (they are dressed in complete black except for their eyes showing), and these ladies were no different.

(I did not take this picture, but simply googled one off the internet, but it was taken in our park)

Zoe has seen ladies dressed like this, but she has not had much close interaction with them before.  Zoe also can be a little stand-offish with everyone till she gets comfortable around them.  So, there we are sitting in the park, these ladies sitting across from us.  At first Zoe gives them a good stare, then she starts smiling and waving.  The ladies loved it.  Andrew took Zoe away for a few minutes to visit one of his friends.  While they were gone, one of the Yemeni ladies got up enough courage to come over and ask me if when they returned, they could take a picture of Zoe.  Of course I didn't care, as this is quite a common thing, people taking pictures of Zoe.  So, when they returned, I got Zoe and took her over to see the ladies.  One of them immediately jumped up and grabbed Zoe.  I was a little worried because usually when someone she doesn't know holds her she cries, but she didn't this time.  She wasn't extremely happy, but she looked at the camera and let them all hold her and kiss her.  I was definitely a proud mama.

On our way home from the park, we stopped by the fruit stand.

Just about every time we go, they give Zoe a banana.  Usually she plays shy and won't take the banana out of their hand (although she really wants it) so they end up just giving it to me, but yesterday she finally took it from them herself.  So, we finished our walk home, Zoe feeding herself a banana.

9 Months and 10 Months

Nine Months

At nine months, Zoe finally mastered the normal crawl on her hands and knees.  Previously, she was quite at efficient at the "Army Man" crawl.  She was super fast sliding around our tile floors with her arms and leg on her stomach.  She is quite the inquisitive little girl and loves to get into anything and everything, especially those things she's not supposed to get into.  At the same time Zoe began to crawl on her hands and knees, she also began pulling up and standing while holding on to things.

Ten Months

At ten months old, Zoe is still getting into everything she can.  She particularly loves to go outside and visit with the cats.  Her favorite food is now the peach.  She has grown much more confident in standing, pulling up on non-sturdy, moveable objects.  She moves from object to object, holding on and taking steps, but she still has not stood on her own without holding anything.  She also will only stand up by herself.  If you try to hold her hands or stand her up, she'll have no part of it.  She wants to do it on her own.  Independence has been the theme this past month.

Seven Months!

Our little Zoe is seven months old now!  Oh how time flies!  She is growing so quickly these days.  She started eating solid food at 6 months and has loved it.  So far her favorite is Sweet Potatoes, followed by Avocado and Banana.  She is learning new things everyday.  She has favorite toys, and has now entered the stage of crying as loud as she can if you take that toy away or if you don't give it to her quick enough.  I think in the next few weeks, she will really become more mobile.  Right now, she sits up really well, she will reach for toys out of her reach and go to her belly then immediately roll to her back or side.  She hates being on her stomach, so she doesn't roll from back to belly very often, and when we put her on her stomach, she just rolls right over.  But she is getting so much stronger, and I think she will begin crawling from the sitting position rather than from laying on her belly.

She is a really great night time sleeper, but has recently been fighting nap time to the extreme.  She sleeps on her side with her arm up covering her head/eyes.  It's pretty cute :)

Well, here she is, our little 7 month old!

6 Month Old Zoe!

5 Months

Just realized that I'm a little bit behind on these...sorry!

3 Months

4 Months

Our 5 month old little Zoe!

She is getting so big and so smart.  She rolls over from belly to back all the time.  She is so close to sitting up by herself.  She sleeps well at night although naptime is a different story, but recently she has been napping much better.  She is so talkative, loves being around people, laughing and smiling :)

Picture With Santa

2 Months

I'm a little bit late getting this up, but better late than never!  Today our little girl is 10 weeks old!  I can't believe how fast the time has flown!  I am pretty sure we have been blessed with the best baby ever.  She is amazing and sleeps like a champ which we are pretty excited about :)  She is such a happy baby, loves giving us big smiles and cooing and singing along with us.  She continues to amaze us!

Newborn Portraits

Here are a few of Zoe's newborn portraits taken at 3 weeks old, thanks to LightlyFocused Photography

One Month

Zoe Phyllis

Zoe Phyllis was born on September 27, 2012 at 9:45 in the evening.  She weighed 7 lbs and 10 oz and was 19.5 in long.  Hopefully within the next few days I will be able to post a little more about her birth and the past week and a half with a newborn.

The first time I got to hold her, it went by way to quickly

After letting me hold her for a minute (they didn't even really want to do that but Andrew insisted) they whisked her away to the NICU to monitor her breathing.

After monitoring her for a few hours, they finally returned her to us!

Sweet little Zoe all bundled up (definitely more to come on this)

At home, 3 days old

I believe this is on day 6

1 week old, Daddy cutting her little fingernails as she sleeps

Wheat Family Visit

Sorry it has been so long since my last post.  Things have been so busy here, so I'll be posting several posts over the next few days to catch everything up.  The first of the posts will be the Wheat Family Visit.

Andrew's parents were able to come visit us for a couple of weeks.  We got to enjoy Thanksgiving with them, as well as travel around this area of the world.  Here are a few photos from our journeys:

Andrew's Family Arriving

Our Thanksgiving Feast! (Completely GF)

Overlooking the Sea of Galilee

Boat ride on the Sea of Galilee

Having to say "Good-Bye" to Andrew's family.  We are so glad that ya'll got to come out!  Had a great time and can't wait to see ya'll again!

Next up: The Move

Mothers and Olives

Well, since my last post about how much I look like my mother, I have accumulated a few more photos as proof.

This is my Mom, my Grandma and my Aunt Sharon

I look exactly like my Mom and my cousin Laura looks exactly like my Aunt Sharon!  What do you guys think?

On a different note:  I visited Andrew's friend's mom tonight.  We usually get together once a week.  I learned tonight that even though I have been here for almost a year and have gone on many visits in that time, I am still surprised by some of the things that happen on those visits.  This is my surprise from tonight:

That's right, a jinormous jar of olives!  I don't know how I end up bringing things like this home with me, but I do know that Andrew and I will be eating olives everyday for the next month :)