Daily Darling 7/15

Don't be fooled... She may look like a sweet, innocent, adorable little girl, but she is really an evil little troll, hell-bent on driving her mother, father, and both of her brothers off the deep end.

Zoe cries in the car. No matter what. We've tried everything. Toys. Singing. Sitting next to her in the back. Only driving when it's her nap time. Only driving when she's had a good nap. Stopping every 15 minutes to nurse her. Feeding her bottles of breastmilk in her carseat. Feeding her strained peas in her carseat. Begging. Bribery. NOTHING works.

Prior to our recent vacation to Kennebunk, ME, the longest Zoe had cried in the car is an hour, which was broken up by a pit-stop or two to nurse her, change her diaper, and make other vain attempts at making her ride a joyful experience. As we prepared for our vacation, I thought "Surely she can't cry the ENTIRE way there. Surely she will eventually get the idea that we can't take her out of her carseat, and just fall asleep". On the way there we got lucky- she only cried for two and a half hours straight. Yay.

No such luck on the way back. She cried AAAAALLLLLL the way home- 4.5 hours, with a nurse/change pit-stop in the middle. And the crazy thing is, the second she sees your face and realizes you are about to take her out, the horrible, strangled sounding, cry-til-you-puke screaming stops instantly. All she wants is to be held. On one hand it makes me feel better that she is not crying because she is hungry or uncomfortable, but on the other hand, it makes me feel awful. The poor little baby, I mean, um, evil troll, just wants a cuddle.

Daily Darling 7/13

Sorry I've been neglecting the blog, everyone! We've been on vacation in Kennebunk, Maine. Here is little Ms. Zoe on Mother's Beach in what I refer to as her "mermaid bikini". She had so much fun today. We filled a huge beach bucket with sea water and a little sand so she could sit there and splash while the boys built a sand castle. I also have a really nice mesh water sling that I wear her in, and I think it really helps make her feel secure during her first experiences in the water. Plus, it keeps the sun off her liitle body, and dries super quick, too.

Daily Darling 7/7

Cute baby, nasty bug-bite. Yup, right there on the right side of her forehead. The kids were playing out in the yard yesterday, and let's just say our property is very much...um... ALIVE this time of year. Landscaped it is not. Rainforest-like, it is. I thought she got away without any of those nasty bugs biting her, but I guess not.

The heat wave continues here in CT, but since we left the house today, I actually had to put clothes on her. This skimpy little Life Is Good "Sweet Pea" outfit is as close to naked as we could get today. But it doesn't matter, because most of the day she spent in her bathing suit in my sister's pool. Hallelujah!

SOOO BIIIG!

Zoe is growing up so fast.. too fast for my last baby:( She is six months old today! Yesterday she tried solids or the very first time (to my knowledge, god only knows what the boys give her when my back is turned, lol). I will post a link to the video as soon as I figure out how to upload it. She didn't take to it like Max did, but she wasn't totally opposed to it either, the way Elliott was. She greeted the home-pureed organic bananas with a mixture of confusion hesitancy, and curious delight. It's so much fun seeing her try solid food, especially for her Daddy, because he's never gotten to feed her before! Changing her diapers now that she's no longer exclusively breastfed, however, (sniffle) is NOT going to be fun.

She reached another big milestone today- sitting up all by herself! Okay, so it was just for a few seconds, but still, she did it! Of course, I caught it on camera:

Daily Darling 7/6

More like Lazy Darling today! I think this 100 degree heat wave we're in is making her sleepy, and it's DEFINITELY making her cranky!. She took a 2 and a half hour nap this morning, and a 40 minute nap around 4 o'clock. Totally normal for most 6-month-olds, totally out of the ordinary for mine.

Sooo... she spent a portion of the day like this:


And most of the day like this:

Daily Darling 7/4

My little firecracker! I loved how she looked in this tutu as much as she loved wearing it. She thought the tulle was so fun to crinkle and pull on, and as soon as I put it on her, she started pumping her chubby legs like a little ballerina. I spent hours tying the tulle to an elastic to make the tutu, and in reality, she only wore it for the minutes during which this photo was taken. Okay, so maybe a tutu is not the most practical outfit for a 6-month-old to wear to a water park. I had planned for her to wear it for the fireworks tonight, but all my kids were passed out LONG before the 9:15 start time. But the hours of tulle-tying were absolutely worth it for this one adorable picture.

Daily Darling 7/2

See? Big flower bow= happy Zoe. She likes to be fancy. I love this outfit- I call it her florida retiree outfit, lol. I don't know how she can be so chubby and round, and still have those teeny arms and shoulders. This outfit is size 0-3, and the straps still slip off of that bitty little frame!

Daily Darling 7/1

Where the f*ck is my bow, Mom? Yes, Zoe is pretty perturbed, here. I was wearing her on my back while the boys and I were weeding the yard today (20 square feet down, only a million square feet to go!). When I took her out after an hour or so for a nursing/diaper/change break, she was BOW-LESS! I looked and looked, but alas, her pretty light pink crochet band with the turquoise peony is missing. Oh well, she still looks pretty darn cute with her "sausage-fit" pink capris and "Ray Of Sunshine" onesie. But she misses her headpiece- a mother just knows these things;)