Zoey @ 5 Months

My baby girl had an interesting month. She turned 5 months old on April 28. 5 months already! Hard to fathom! On her 5 month birthday, we took Zoey to have her splints readjusted again.  She was nicknamed "Houdini" because it took 3 hours to adjust these splints and she still found a way back out of them.  Zoey is starting to stay awake more in the car.  The next day, after a big nap at mamaw's with mommy, Zoey stayed awake in the backseat the etnire way home.  She was so good and just amused herself.

The next day, Granny and Pa came to visit from Louisville.  We had a great tiem talkingn with them. On this night, Zoey started sucking her lip for the very first time.  It was so adorable!  The next day, granny and pa left to head back to Louisville and I called them to come back after calling Mike to see if he wanted to go there for a visit.  Zoey and I travelled with them to Luoisville for her 2nd trip.  Later on in the evening, Aunt Carrie came over and she and I went to the health food store and bought organic polish to do Zoey's toes.  Soo Zoey had her first pedicure on May 1.  This was also the very first time that I had ever left her for a few hours with her Louisville family.  (Can you tell I hate leaving my baby girl?  It has nothing to do with me trusting my family here or in Louisville... I just really like to have her with me : )

Since I had planned this trip on the spur of the moment, we had to ride home in daddy's yellow GTO instead of the Navigator.  The GTO is not really the friendliest car for a baby but we made it work.  Zoey was all cozy but mommy didn't love climbing in and out of a 2 door sports car from the backseat.  This was, however, Zoey's first ride in the GTO.  She was tuckered out from playing with her cousins Lea and Alec that day so she slept well the whole way home.

The next day, Zoey and I were both worn out.  We hung out at mamaw's house all evening, which we do a lot, after I got off work.  We did the same thing on May 4 and even took a short nap after I got home from my annual CATS training at work.  During this week, Zoey found her toes with her fingers for the first time. 

Not long until she'll have them to her mouth.  On May 5, Zoey and I were so tuckered out that we both went to bed at 7:30 pm.  It was nice to get some extra rest.  The next day, we went to Uncle Billy's awards ceremony at SECC.  It was really nice for me to take my girl with me to SECC because I absolutely loved my time there.  So many folks diss this college but I loved it and there are some good, informative, even hard classes there just like anywhere else.  Ok... I will come down from my soapbox now... hmm ok... so since I had gotten Zoey up at 3:30am (she went right back to sleep) to change her diaper (because we had went to bed so early the night before) she was a little tired.  She got super sleepy in the ceremony so I ended up pacing the campus of SECC until the ceremony was almost over.  My former professor told me I needed to go back in and winked, meaning my brother was up next.  I was glad I did.  He won the final award of the night, Freshman of the Year!  I was so proud of him.  I had gotten Sophmore of the Year there when they first started giving those awards!  He's such a good guy!  Tonight, Zoey had also met her cousins Michelle, John, and Tyler for the very first time along with Ms. Miracle, Georgenia, Mr. Simpson, and a few others from my college years.

Thank God for Fridays!  This Friday we spent doing retakes at Carolyn Davis' studio.  Zoey had thrown a fit (tired and teething but still no teeth!) the time before for her 5 month photos and so we were trying to get some more this time.  It was great!  She did so well and I was so glad because I was exhausted from CATS kickoff at my work that day.  We took 21 awesome photos and I narrowed them down to 16.  Saturday the 8th, we spent the day shopping in Corbin with mamaw.  We bought Zoey a new bathing suit, 2 new sunhats, an umbrella stroller, seat cover, etc.  I was glad to get some of those things out of the way.

These first 3 were taken the first time we attempted her 5 month pics.  Can you tell she wasn't very happy?  

The next day was my very first Mother's Day with my daughter actually in my arms.  You can read all about it in my previous blog post about it.  Click here!

Zoey got new splints on Monday the 10th of May and still managed to get out of them.  What to do, what to do!  I spent all morning Tuesday on the phone for an insurance audit in my state trying to get a copy of Zoey's birth certificate to prove she's mine.  Forty-five dollars and 4 hours later, the certificate was on it's way.  Meanwhile, Zoey spent the day swinging in her new swing at mamaw and papaw's house.  Now she gets to swing at home and there!  Zoey loves to swing!

Zoey and I came home at 6:30pm on the 13th to hang out with daddy.  I was glad to have time to catch up that day as well and managed to do 3 loads of laundry, bottles, and shower!  I had an appointment at 3pm the next day and then I went back to my mom's house where Zoey and I napped.  I am so blessed to have such a good sleeper!  I spent the evening looking at the baby food someone had given me.  Not much longer til Zoey gets to start eating it!

I finished packing, doing laundry, and bathed Zoey on Friday the 14th for a trip to Muffresboro, Tn with Mike and Zoey.  My husband had earned a trip to Nashville's Opryland Hotel, which was flooded by this time, and it had been moved to the outskirts of Nashville.  We were to stay in the Embassy Suites (nice!) and attend a nice, ballroom dinner (brought back memories *sigh* my days of representing in college) and get to use Clayton dollars to bid at an auction.  Zoey enjoyed the nice king sized bed and pillows.  She and I laid there for a bit before getting ready for the party.  We also jumped around on the bed for awhile, which she loved!  We had a good time and my husband won a trip to drive a NASCAR and won a camera for me!  I was glad because I had broken my other one. All in all, Zoey attended her first dinner party, first road trip, first hotel stay, first trip with just mommy and daddy, etc.!

1sts:  hotel stay, trip with just mommy and daddy, time wearing shorts, dinner party, "jumping" on the bed....

The 15th was also a big day for me as it was the day that I finally turned my rented breast pump back in.  Now my girl had been getting formula for awhile but I was still giving her every drop of breast milk that I could, which wasn't much at this point and finally I decided that since it took all day to make 1 decent bottle, it was time to hang it up.  I cried as I fed her the final bottle of my milk that morning but I felt awesome knowing that I had stuck with it that long and had helped her so much!  Thanks be to God for taking the little I made and making much of it for her.  It was neat to see the NICU when I turned it back in at UT because that's where I had to return it to. 

We spent the next day shopping at Target (I love Target!) and some shops at The Avenue.  We drove back to Knoxville and stopped at my hubby's favorite place, Mr. Gatti's to eat.  As we left, it began to pour the rain and it did so the entire way to our exit for home.  I got drenched when we stopped to go to the bathroom right outside of Knoxville.  Zoey looked adorable.  It was her first time wearing shorts!

I went to work the next day and then rested with Zoey at mom's house.  It was mom's first time seeing Zoey after going 48+ hours without seeing her (other than her Lville times).  I was off on the 17th and so we went to Lexington with mom for a pre-op visit.  It was a cold and a stressful day for me.  So much to do and so little time to do it all to get ready for mom's surgery.  Zoey bonked her head on her swing and got her first little tiny bruise (you could barely see it).  My poor little girl is a wiggly worm!  We were suppose to head back to Lexington on Wednesday but mom decided that she would rather just get up early and head down the morning of her surgery (hysterectomy ... she'd had a partial before but was having her ovaries removed this time due to the cancer history and connection to ovarian cancer with my aunt and great grandmother).  So we spent Wednesday evening hanging around mom's (as usual) and got some surprise visitors.  Our dear firends Tina and Kim stopped by to meet Zoey.  It was so nice for them to finally get to meet my girl and to talk with us.  Zoey felt bad but enjoyed seeing them.

We headed to Lexington the next day for the surgery.  It made for a really lonnnng day.  What was suppose to be an outpatient surgery ended up becoming a full blown operation that took 4.5 hours instead of 1.5.  I was so sick to my stomach while waiting.  Zoey did well.  We sat in the very back waiting room with my aunt, dad, and brother.  Zoey enjoyed the fish aquarium and getting passed from each one of us.  We went up to see mom after the surgery in room 5229 and Zoey didn't know what to think.  She is not use to seeing mamaw laying around.  My mom can't sit still because she aches all the time.  She was this time due to her major surgery, soreness, and 20 staples plus incisions from the laproscopic part that the surgery started out being.  Since she was spending the night, Zoey and I stayed at my aunt's house while my brother stayed at the hospital assuming my usual role of caretaker for my mom.  Zoey enjoyed seeing Aunt Sandy and Uncle Craig along with all the furry felines (though she only saw them from momma's arms).

The next day we picked mom up from the hospital (the doctor actually let her leave) and headed to fill prescriptions and have lunch before heading home.  Zoey and I ended up spending the night and the next night with mom in order to help her out.  She began chilling the night we got her home so I gave her meds and covered her up.  She had overdone it.  Zoey was tired, too, so after her bath she went to sleep as well.  We came home for a few hours on Saturday the 22nd to see daddy before heading back to mom's.  I worked on bottles while Zoey hung out with her daddy.  We spent the whole day Sunday at mom's house as well just helping her out with laundry, helping her get bandages off, get a shower, dry her hair, etc.  Zoey enjoyed playing with papaw aka pappy while mommy helped mamaw with all this.

The next day I headed back to work for the first time since before mom's surgery.  I was exhausted and had a tummy ache.  Zoey spent the day with Uncle Billy who would be babysitting her for the next two weeks.  She had a blast.  That night, I read Zoey one of the two books we had gotten as a baby gift that day from a friend.  She enjoyed them thoroughly.  Tuesday the 25th of May, Zoey and I took a nap at mamaw's and I gave Zoey a bath there as well.  We headed to Lexington the next day for mom's follow-up appointment.  She was doing well but in pain.  We ate in the car, since she was still aching from having the staples out, and Zoey enjoyed some sleep.  I pulled over about 40 minutes from home and had to change a lovely diaper and then mom and Zoey hung out in the car while I picked up a few groceries at Wal-Mart.  We came home from mom's house at 8pm that evening.

Zoey's last day as a 5 month old was pretty uneventful.  She hung out with me at mamaw's after work while I did laundry and dishes for mom.  We came home and I read  one of her gifts "Are You My Mother?" to her and we were both fast asleep.  I can't believe my little baby is growing up so fast!  

Extras:  including .... still getting baby gifts, Zoey's hula gal outfit, bath time, Zoey's bathing suit from before momma knew she was a girl, bathing suit bought at Target in Mufreesboro, Tn, 1st time in purple jacket, playing under jungle gym at mamaw and papaw's (she loves this!), one of Zoey's last times being swaddled (in TN).

My First Mother's Day! (Well technically 2nd)

Happy 1st Mother's Day to me and all the new mommies out there!  I feel so blessed to be able to hold my precious baby girl in my arms this Mother's Day and feel the joy that she brings into my life!  There is nothing like her and I can't remember what I did before her.  The picture above is our tradition.  Zoey and I have shared Eskimo kisses since she was in the NICU and they are so special to me.  It's hard to keep her still long enough to get a few now but I still manage to : )  Some of our best times are those when we are just hanging around the house. We have the best time playing, reading books, watching Care Bears, etc.  She is the sweetest child ever : )

I spent my first Mother's day in church last year as a newly pregnant gal.  No Zoey wasn't born but yes I was still a mother.  I had waited for that day for years and it was finally a reality.  I didn't go up with the rest of the mothers in church because still a lot of people didn't really know and I figured I'd wait until I had Zoey to take up with me this year.  This year was my first actual Mother's Day with Zoey in my arms!  It was great!  She looked so pretty.

We got up and got ready for church that morning.  Daddy took a couple of pictures and we were on our way.  At church we had to walk up front with all the other mom's (including my momma) and receive a book about being a Christian mother.  It was such a sweet gift from our church.  Zoey then got a bit restless because she was so sleepy but she is so nosey that she wanted to look around to see what was going on in church.  I ended up taking her out for about 15 minutes into a dark Sunday school room to get her to sleep and then we went back in so I could hear the sermon.

As we were leaving church, a middle-aged couple behind us were telling us how pretty Zoey is.  The lady said, "My husband said that she is so pretty that she looks like she's been bought in the toys at Toys' R' Us.  She looks like a Cabbage Patch doll or something.  I wish our son would have us a grandbaby and that it would look just like her!"  It was so sweet!  Later the next day my cousin made a similar comment and hadn't even heard the story of what these folks had said.  We took the Cabbage Patch thing as a compliment because I loved my CPK dolls when I was a kid and it's cool to think I have a live one!  HAHA

We went to Ryan's steakhouse after church and enjoyed dinner.  It was SOOO crowded and of course it would be because of Mother's day.  Zoey tried some mashed potatoes and gravy and a taste or two of chocolate ice cream.  She likes food.  So far all she's had a taste of is mashed potatoes, chocolate/vanilla ice cream, fudgesicle, sherbert, and pizza sauce.  lol  That last one is my idea.  Not a really spice sauce I promise!  But she has enjoyed it all and only had just barely a few little, tiny tastes of each.

Anyway... after dinner we came home with every intention of going back to church that night.  We didn't make it because she and I fell asleep and slept all evening.  It was very relaxing though.  I seem to be dragging a whole lot now that it's the end of the school year.  I just stay so tired from being on the go so much.

I sat here and looked at her and was just amazed that she is my baby.  She came from my body.  She has my family and my husband's family in her.  I remember everything about her growing inside and I remember what it felt like to have her and to hold her the first time.  I am not crazy.  Obviously I have known the whole time that she is my baby but it's like it hit me again that she is my little baby.  The little baby that I have wanted for so long!  And I felt even more blessed all over again.

I also feel very blessed that God has given me such an awesome mom myself.  I have learned all my tricks from her.  She is the best mom in the world and if I can just be half the Christian mom that she has been, I will feel like I'm doing ok.  She is STILL there for me when I need anything.  She loves my girl and me so much.  I wish I'd have gotten a picture of us all 3 on Mother's day but it got so busy that I didn't but we are having some done in a few weeks so I'll post those when we get them.  Praise God for my precious momma and Praise God for my precious daughter!

Also on my mind that day was my dear friends who are still going through infertility.  I want each of you to know that I Pray for you and think of you often.  I know that God answers Prayer and I am still holding on to those Prayers for you.  Keep holding on even though it is so hard all the time!  I will never forget that longing nor will I forget the walk! 

Zoey and I waiting in the well-baby room at the doctor before her 4 month shots : (

Zoey and momma hanging out at home on our bed.

Zoey with her fav person... her bff Mamaw!

My girl asleep under one of her "I love Mommy!" blankets!

Ps.  I forgot to mention my gifts from my family.  My mom wanted to order my something special and she did so in this locket!  It is beautiful!  It has Zoey's birthstone, Zoey's full name, a place for her pictures, and it's in the beautiful key shape (which I love)! 

My mother's day gift from my wonderful mom! 

My mother's day gift from my hubby!  He actually used his Clayton Bucks on it for me!  I have the red with a spiffy camera bag, extra memory card, mini tripod and software.  I had broken my previous camera and could never find another on HSN.