A happy fall day

Well, it's been another week since I last posted here, apologies for that. Work has been hectic to say the least (read: hellish), and I just haven't been able to muster the energy or motivation to get back on the computer in the evenings. I think it has something to do with feeling the suction back towards work vs. a battle for balance, but I could be wrong. I guess I'm still reconciling what it means to be a working mom.

Which is why I'm glad that I still have today, and another few Fridays off, left. I have long successfully separated myself from the pull towards work on Fridays. Good for me. That being said, Zoe and I might make a trip over there today, just to show her face, but we'll see. I'm happy right now just hanging at home, catching some naps and enjoying the gray weather with my happy and boisterous baby.

Zoe in the latest fall fashions (thanks for the monkey hat, auntie Becky & uncle Tim!):



Zoe's growing, growing, growing. We think she's revving up to start the commando crawl (when they pull themselves along by the arms, legs dragging behind), but she's also been bending a knee now and again, so who knows what's next. All I know is that if I look away for a minute, she's likely to be in a different spot on her play mat (or off altogether) when I look back. We finally got around to getting a baby gate for the family room, deciding that while eventually it will be fun to let her have the run of the house, for now, and in this house, we'll try to keep her contained to the hub of activity.

That, and we've finally moved her up into the convertible car seat. I guess we could have done that months ago but perhaps that was just us holding on to her tininess? Regardless, she sure looks tiny in her new big seat. It's kind of like she's Charlie from Charlie's Angels sitting with her back to us in there. Thanks to the little mirror Nana let us borrow, we can still take peeks at her, though.

Clothing has been another interesting change. I have a pile of sleepers that I thought she'd be wearing this fall but she's barely fitting in them NOW!!



Thank goodness she can still sport the cute duds that Grandma gave her:



In other growing news, the past couple of weeks have brought a host of new foods to Zoe's menu. Now, in addition to breastfeeding (yep, still at it - just another 4 months to go till we hit the 1-year goal), she's eating bananas and applesauce with whole grain rice cereal in the morning (you should see the pucker face we sometimes get in reaction to the apples!), squash and green beans with cereal for lunch and then chicken (boiled and pureed - yum!) and peas for dinner. We finally got our hands on the 'Super Baby Food' book that we learned about from my sis-in-law, Amy...What a great resource that is!!! It might just become part of my collection of 'must have gifts for new moms' (we still know of a few coming up here on the horizon). So, thanks to that and to Dave's excellent cooking (he does baby cuisine, too!) we'll certainly keep adding new and exciting items to Zoe's meals.

Oh! and we've just started introducing her to the sippy cup! She does pretty well at it with some guidance from us, but if we're not helping to hold the cup with the sippy end to her mouth, it's pretty much just another thing to chew and suck on, without reason. But man, she looks grown up with that thing in her hands! Sob!



Finally, we think she's still working on a new tooth. It's been a while in the making and we still don't see any white yet but that seems about right for as long as it took the first two to pop. This one's on the top left and man, can she bite with it! She's likely going to be learning what 'gentle' means sooner than later....I hope! ;)