Isn't she just so cute??

This is the picture we used for her adoption announcement (to be sent out soon!) Isn't she beautiful? (I can brag 'cause I had nothing to do with her good looks :) ).


Eric put Zoe in her laundry hamper when we were folding her clothes. I love the look on her face...ah, melts my heart.

Just hanging out!

We had a great weekend. Eric's brother Corey was in town for the first time in a long time. We're so happy that he and his girlfriend were able to meet and spend some time with Zoe. We have more family coming in this weekend and my brother will be in town soon too. We know everyone is so excited to see Zoe and it's hard to keep reminding everyone that they can't hold her and cuddle her as long as they'd like because we're still working on attachment. Zoe is great, and will go everyone easily....but that's not necessarily a good thing because at this age she should be having some anxiety about people other than Eric and I. That said, she really does seem to know we're her parents and loves to have our undivided attention!


Zoe's crawling continues to get better and she's pulling up on the furniture a lot more. I'm not in any hurry for her to walk, I really love this stage and I don't want her to grow up too quickly! Everyone who knows me knows that I do not like, or really see the purpose in :), newborns. Floppy heads are not for me.....but after about 7 months.....it's just so fun! She had a few wonderful nights of sleep and then last night was bad again. We're not sure what's going on. She seems to have the jiggy legs and can't get comfortable when she tries to put herself back to sleep on her own (around 2amish). Sometimes I can hold her and she'll relax but other times, like last night, she just wants to play.

So I still haven't uploaded all of our pictures from China yet but I'm thinking about making a video/picture slideshow of our Metcha Day up until Zoe's first birthday. Does anyone have a suggestion on the software to use? I've heard about Nero 7 but wasn't sure if there was something easier (or cheaper) out there. I do want to use three songs for the background though ("Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World";"Lullaby" by Dixie Chicks; and Rascal Flats "My Wish".)

Yesterday I put a call into our early intervention program...just 'cause evaluations are what I do for a living and hey, it's free. I spoke with the coordinator and after talking about what Zoe is doing the coordinator essentially told me to not waste their time with an evaluation right now. That made me feel good :) Zoe finally put something other than a graham cracker in her mouth yesterday. She ate a Gerber wagon wheel all on her own. She's also been exploring a lot more with her mouth which has been wonderful to see. We think that either she didn't have the opportunity to, or was chastized for, putting things in her mouth in China. She also seems to have found her thumb, which is gross, but it's hard to reward her for putting one thing in her mouth and then tell her to take someting else out :)

Zoe in her room

Zoe showing me her puzzle box. She's taken a great interest in the pieces the past couple days

Read this one Mommy!


Her crib :) I put her on the horse the other day and she loved it! Her hands are still a little too tiny to hang on by herself.

By far her favorite toy. A day without piano is like a day without sunshine. She will play with this for at least a 1/2 hour very contently.

All done..... ;)

Video Attempt

My first attempt at posting a video. It's of Zoe crawling and Hermie giving her kisses :)

Welcoming Home New Friends

The first of our October 28th friends came home on Wednesday. Welcome Home Shawn, Karen, and little Ava! I think everyone else comes home today or tomorrow. We're so excited to meet all of the new additions to your families and hear about your adventures in China!

Zoe has had a great week. She's trying to pull up on things now, is crawling better, and is taking steps while holding on to our hands. We enrolled her in a Little Gym class for 10-18 month olds. Boy, some of those little ones can move quickly! While she's probably not getting much out of it motorically (although her crawling did get better after watching the other kids), and she's by far the smallest kiddo in class, she absolutely LOVES watching the other children. Speaking of being tiny, we finally moved her into 9 month Carter clothes this week! She's definitely been putting on weight.

I've been working on getting her to wave hello and goodbye. Last night she waved goodbye to her Pap Pap on her own Eric tells me. She also waved bye bye to Eric and said "b" as she did it as I took her up to bed...so cute! Her sleep is still hit or miss. Last night was good for her, bad for me. I get the bedtime to 5am shift with her. She was up a few times until 4ish but then slept in until 7am. She actually pushed the button on her Ocean Wonders mobile to play the lullaby song on her own at 4am. I worry about her if she's quiet for too long and I also have a hard time going back to sleep anticipating the next cry :) However, those days she is up at 5am I love giving her to Eric and sleeping in until 9. It's a trade off. There are no words that can make me love Eric more than when he says, "I've got her hon, go back to bed." I'm so lucky, make that we're so lucky, to have him.

Her cute dress on the 4th of July.

The obligatory bath photo. Protecting her modesty with a pelican

Thanks cousins Chris and Meghan for my adorable towel set!

This is what happens when daddy feeds me

10 Month Birthday/Together One Month

Wake me up when you're serving something good!

Looking cute at the zoo

Pandas without the 14 hour plane flight!

Mommy, Zoe, and the elephant

Look how happy I am watching Mickey Mouse!

I can't believe we've been with Zoe for a whole month. The time is passing so quickly. Having both Eric and I at home for the summer has been such a blessing...particularly with being able to switch off night/early morning duties. Yesterday we had a rare humidity free July day in DC so we took Zoe on her first zoo trip. She was more interested in people watching rather than looking at the animals, but Eric and I were able to see the baby panda (not such a baby anymore) for the first time. Who needs a 14 hour plane flight to see the pandas? :)

This weekend Zoe decided that it was time to find her voice. She only was saying a few sounds until Saturday when a bunch more just came spontaneously rolling off her tongue. It's so cute, it actually sounds like she's saying "blah, blah, blah". Of course she threw in the da and pa sounds just for Eric. She's also experimenting with volume now...she's only quiet when sleeping :) She also put a graham cracker to her mouth all by herself! She's not so good at taking a bite (can't get the angle), she's just gumming it, but a great step nonetheless. She's such a good natured baby, and it's so nice to be able to go out with her without her fussing too much. She also showed herself to be a true Holloway/Hockensmith at heart....we had the Mickey Mouse show on tv and she just went nuts for Mickey and Pluto. Maybe I can convince Eric to take a December trip to Disney after all? :)

Tomorrow is Zoe's first 4th of July. More pictures to follow.