Indiana Portraits

Lake Portraits

We had a couple little photo-shoots while we were at the lake. It was sorta wedding-ish with a list of what pictures needed to be taken and who was in each: Myers Great-grand kids, Myers Great-grand kids + Gracie, 4 generation with Zoe, Shaffer grand-kids, Missey family, and some Grammy swing shots. The kids all did great sitting in their chairs and almost looking and smiling in the same direction at the same time. Close enough that we were able to get a couple super cute ones out of it. There's even a little video of the kids posing. I guess I should have pointed the camera at the chaotic parents instead, but seeing the kids reactions is pretty funny as well.

Summertime at Lake Tippy

A big part of our trip back to the midwest was spending several days up at Grammy and Grandpa's lake cabin at Lake Tippy. Katie grew up spending all her summers there, so it's been hard for her to only be there once every couple years (it had been 3 since her last visit). This was also Zoe's first visit to the cabin, so it was kinda a big deal.

The Royle's made a special 11 hour trip from Philly just to see us and the Plymates delayed their Michigan trip by a day to spend more time at the lake as well. I'm sure it reminded all the grandparents of their days growing up at the cabin, with kids running all over the place and people crammed into every which corner for sleeping.

Outside of the stifling 100 degree heat that caused Dad to have a couple meltdowns (I can officially say I'm California soft now), the lake was awesome!! Zoe had a blast as you can see from all the pictures. She was having so much fun that each day typically consisted of 2 snuggle naps with someone rocking her and staying up to party until 8:30 or 9:00. She loved chasing all the big kids around, especially William. The Cabin being the complete opposite of kid-proof meant it was a like a candy shop for them, so Zoe's little monkey hands were in everything. She really loved the pool, but the lake was more hit or miss. It was most fun if Grammy was the one swimming with her. We tried a boat ride twice, but those lasted about 2 minutes. She really didn't like the life vest. We did manage one picture with Dad before the tears started.

The cabin is a really great place to spend the summer days. We wish it was at Lake Tahoe now instead of Lake Tippy, but that just means we'll have to plan some more summer trips to the midwest. Mommy can't wait until Zoe is old enough to start water skiing!

1 Year and 100th Post

When we got back from the midwest, we headed out to Rancho San Antonio for a 1 year photoshoot for Zoe. The photos turned out beautiful and you can tell our little peanut is not camera shy! Big thanks to Meghan of Meghan MacAskill Photography for all the wonderful shots. Here are some of our favorites.

Zoe's 1 Year Visit

On Monday we took Zoe in for her first year visit. She was 30 inches long and 20 lbs. 9 oz. Zoe has shot up in height but her weight gain has tapered off. Could it be all the walking she is doing? She eats a ton!
:-)

New moves: Yesterday a box of diapers arrived and Zoe tried and would have succeeded climbing on top. She was climbing the stairs at Grammy and Grandpa's house. Over the weekend, Zoe watched Grace, Lily and Violet jumping on their bed and started stomping her feet. I think she is trying to jump.

Words: mama and dada
Signs: more, all done, dog, cheese, baby and we are working on hat, book, ball and telephone

Teeth: 9 - all 8 in front. Plus the first molar finally came in last week and she is starting to work on the 2nd one!

We started introducing whole milk last week, so far no luck. Zoe just doesn't like it. Brian says it's like "Green Eggs and Ham." Not on cereal, not in oatmeal, not in a cup, not through a straw, and not mixed with breast milk. I made a ground turkey, banana and whole milk puree for her last night and she ate it! We will keep trying!

Cody Boy

Kate's family recently had to say goodbye to their cocker spaniel Cody. He was off to doggy heaven the day after we left to return home. It was sad to see him deteriorate so fast each time we came home for a visit. We were lucky to have an opportunity to give him a big hug before we left and say bye. The Govert Family has a nice post on Cody's spot in the family (Kate wouldn't be able to see the monitor if she tried to write something). It was especially hard for Grammy - first she had to say bye to her son going off to Florida for rotations, then she had to say bye to her granddaughter going back to California, and to top it off, she had to say bye to her walking partner all within a span of 2 days.

Fittingly, Zoe just started to learn the sign for puppy (panting with her tongue stuck out). She loves her baby signs book and will turn to the page of the doggy and pant, giggling and smiling and very proud of herself. So when we arrived in New Castle, she was super excited to have the real thing! Cody (and Tilly and Hoosier) were great sports, letting her chase them around and pet them. We were really happy that Zoe got to play with him once more and that we were able to capture some of it on video. We love you Codes!

Indy Days

MeMaw and PawPaw came to visit for 4 days when we first arrived. I would say they came to see all of us, but I think we could have sent Zoe by herself and they would have been happy. Though the pictures don't really show it, MeMaw did a very good job of sharing while they were in. We did, however, find the exception to her grandkid craze...newborns take precedence over kin. She did in fact choose to hold baby Grace a couple times over Zoe. :)

Aunt Nats, Uncle Bret, and Evan stayed in New Castle on Saturday and Sunday as well. So it was a super fun time for Zoe. She loved chasing Evan and having a big kid around to show her the ropes. The adults had a great time as well playing Wii frisbee golf, drinking, playing Trivial Pursuit, and drinking some more. We spent some time at a park on Sunday before the heat did us all in and then we snuck in a zoo trip on Monday morning that was just long enough to enjoy it and not be miserable under the sun. Zoe loved all of it!

Birthday Video

Here's some video from Zoe's party.

More from Zoe's First Birthday

We're back home and getting adjusted to the cool weather and 3 hour time difference. The trip back was a bit better than the trip there, but we were still 'those people' on the plane. Zoe decided she only wanted to sleep about 1.5 hours of the 6+ hour flights, so that didn't help a ton. It took several days, and an awesome 2.5 hour nap today to finally feel fully adjusted and somewhat rested.

I'm trying to pour through the nearly 800+ pictures we took on the trip along with some videos. We'll start with some more from Zoe's birthday party. She loves to carry Bitty Baby around our apartment in the morning and she's looking super cute in all her new clothes. It's still really hard to believe she's over 1 now. We'll still continue to call her our little baby girl though...