Back to School and Solid Food

We are getting busier and busier these days as most families do this time of year. School is starting which means everything starts up again.

A local mom's group started up again after summer break and Zoe and I were invited to attend by another mom, Amanda Brown. We had a great time meeting new people, eating breakfast and doing crafts. It is so nice to be able to talk to other moms and get out of the house. 

One of the things that I love about staying at home, among many, is watching "Live with Kelly and Michael". It is one of my favorite shows. One morning, Michael and Kelly were interviewing the actor, Jonah Hill. Jonah told a story about how he was attacked buy a bird once and now doesn't like birds. I have also been attacked by a bird and therefore really dislike birds.You can read about my bird attack in this blog post from 2010: http://nateandkatewollenberg.blogspot.com/2010_12_01_archive.html. Sometimes Michael and Kelly will read viewer tweets on their show, so I decided that I would tweet to them about my bird attack. I GOT RETWEETED BY KELLY AND MICHAEL. Now, I know that it wasn't actually Michael and Kelly who retweeted my tweet, but it is still pretty cool. You can see the screenshot below.



We have reintroduced solid foods into Zoe's diet this week. We tried rice cereal a few weeks ago and clogged her plumbing. I decided to let her tummy mature and rest and then we would try more food. Now, I love to research everything to death before I go ahead with a purchase or a decision. This may mean spending hours on the computer picking out the best colander. I know this sounds crazy but I love a good deal and I want to make sure that I know everything before I invest time or money. I think Nate would agree that the worst was my search for the best stroller. I made him watch promotional videos and I read Amazon reviews out loud. He's a good man. Anyway, a good deal of research told me that it is okay to skip the cereals and go straight to veggies and fruits. We started with avocado this week. She seems to really like it and it doesn't seem to clog her pipes. 




I have been making her baby food because it is cheaper and I like to cook. It is a good excuse to break out all of my kitchen gadgets that were neglected when I was teaching and pregnant, not having enough time to cook for fun. My Ninja is finally getting good use. Avocado was so easy to make. I just plopped that in the Ninja with some water and blended it. Tonight, I made squash. The squash was a little more labor intensive, but not bad at all. I make far more complicated dinners. The squash I cooked in the oven and then scraped out of the skin and blended. I made a fantastic mess. 


The Aftermath



Ready for freezing.

This Wednesday was the first day of school at St. Paul. Zoe and I attended the opening chapel to participate while Nate lead chapel and see the kids. The kids always love to see Zoe. I miss the kids but I love staying at home with Zoe more than anything in the world. 



After chapel, Zoe and I took a trip to our favorite store, Sam's. On the way to Sam's we passed this truck that said "HEB baby" and "Little Texans Tour". HEB is a grocery store chain in Texas. I thought to myself, "That truck screams free stuff." I pulled over and Googled, "Little Texans Tour." Sure enough, they were going to have a little baby fair at HEB that afternoon. ZoZo and I went that afternoon and got a bunch of great coupons and samples. I was wearing her in the baby carrier, so one of the people working the fair took our picture holding one of the samples. It was such a nice thing to have for new moms. I'm so glad that I could attend.




Many of you are aware of "Throwback Thursdays" on Facebook. People post old pictures on Thursdays of themselves and others. Well, I was thinking that Zoe is going to need to see a lot of great movies from the past, so I have started Throwback Thursday: Movie Edition. Right now, this is just for me because she isn't really watching, but when she is older there is going to be a whole lot of movies Disney movies that I watched on VHS tapes hitting the Wollenberg household. 

Our first Throwback Thursday movie was Grease. Now, the more I watch Grease in my adult life, the more I realize how naive I was. Holy cow is this movie raunchy! I am so glad that I was so innocent because it is such a great movie and it was fun to watch when I was younger and let go way over my head. Everyone has to love a musical. One of the things that Nate and I have been doing if by chance we have a night to relax together is watch The West Wing on Netflix. The West Wing was a show that aired in the late nineties and into the early two-thousands. Stockard Channing plays the role of the first lady. We also know that in Grease she plays the Rizzo. I found myself sitting there thinking, "Wow, it's nice that the once misguided Rizzo grew up to be a talented doctor and loving wife to President Josiah Bartlet." I also always love seeing John Travolta and pre-"Let's Get Physical" Olivia Newton John fly off into the sky at the end of the movie in the car built by teenagers. Classic.


Left: Rizzo Right: Mrs. Abby Bartlet



The second Throwback Thursday selection we made was the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie released in 1990. Now, I LOVED TMNT and the original TMNT movie series. My sister and I could quote them by heart. The fact that they remade these movies makes me so sad. Anyway, I am so glad that we popped this one in. Just seeing all of the old product logos in this movie make it worth watching. It is also set in the grungy pre-Rudy Giuliani New York City. New York clearly needed the Turtles to help out the NYPD. While watching this movie I was reminded of the sad, sad fashion of the late eighties and nineties. Why were shoulder pads ever a thing? I definitely want my shoulders to look like those of general in his dress uniform when when I go out to a nice dinner. The villlian, Shredder, has the best shoulder pads of all because he looks like he could open several cans of soup all at once with the blades. Skateboards were totally cool in this movie as well as boom boxes and high-top tennis shoes. We all are touched by the love and wisdom of a giant mutant rat named, Splinter. If I met any other rat, normal or mutant I don't think I would be pleased, but this rat, he is special to every nineties kid out there. I have a feeling you will be hearing about the next two movies from the series in the future.




Look at those shoulders.


Pure wisdom.

Now, to end with some cuteness. Zoe discovered her toes quite some time ago, but has taken a special interest in them this week. She has been playing with them all the time and now has even figured out that she can get them in her mouth. Now, I will say, "We don't need to eat our toes." She will then look back at me with the, "Why can't I eat my toes, when you nibble on them all the time, Mommy?" Well played, Zobug. Well played.





Well, that's all for now. God is good!

Zoe swims!

This has been a pretty eventful couple of weeks. Zoe turned five months old and had her first swim.

Lately, Zoe has been the queen of play dates. She has a weekly play date with her friend Collin, who was featured in a previous post. She has also had several play dates with Titus Drefs. Matt and Katie Drefs both work at St. Paul with Nate. Katie is the music teacher in the school and Matt is the youth director. They are good friends of ours. One day, Katie needed someone to watch Titus during a faculty meeting, so I volunteered. The babies did well. Titus is a year old so he is very mobile, but he was really sleepy. I got him to come sit on the couch with me and within 10 minutes I had both babies asleep. There are certain days that make me feel like I have succeeded with this mom thing. This was one of those days.






This is how Nate found me. 

Zoe has become a belly sleeper. She had been pretty content on her back until now. Since she learned how to roll both back to front and front to back she is waking up on her belly. Nate and I are both belly sleepers, so this doesn't surprise me.



Speaking of Zoe rolling. We have finally reached the days where now when I want to take a bathroom break or grab something from another room, I can't just leave her on the floor for a second. When she should only roll from back to front she couldn't make it that far. Now I put her on the floor and she rolls across the room. I have to strap her into something now. I can never be out of the room for more than 1 minute when we are home alone because she notices and starts yelling. Sometimes she won't even be facing me and I leave the room and she automatically knows. I think she's the one who has eyes in the back of her head.

Nate and I went on an official date a couple of weeks ago without the Bug. Pastor and Stephanie Lorenz were kind enough to watch Zoe for us. A date for us usually means going to P.F. Chang's and maybe an activity of some sort. We love P.F. Chang's way too much. We are too cheap to eat there all the time so we only go there for special occasions. It is usually our anniversary spot. This time I had a coupon, so we went there for this date. If you have never been to P.F. Chang's, stop what you are doing and go now. I don't care if it is closed. Leave your house and sit outside until they open. You will want the first table they have. Okay, that may have been an overreaction, but it is seriously good food.

After dinner, we were going to attend the play "Pippin", that one of the youth from church was in. We had some extra time so we stopped by the new Wal-Mart marketplace to pick up a few things and see what it was all about. Now, when new stores open there is usually something that they do that is unique to commemorate their "Grand Opening". When you live 10 miles from Mexico, the clear choice is to higher a Mariachi band. Bucket List: See Mariachi band play in Wal-Mart. Man, I'm glad I got that one out of the way. I was really worried I wouldn't get to see that. We went to the play, it was very nice. Then, we went home to our lovely little Bug. I missed her so.



This past Sunday, Matt and Katie Drefs invited us over to swim. We had a lovely evening with the Drefs and our friends Alan and Gina. The Drefs barbecued and Zoe swam for the first time! I had gone on a quest the week before to get her all of the swimming equipment she may need. I scoured eBay for great prices on swim diapers and swim shirts. I went to different Targets in McAllen looking for clearance swim items. I ended up getting some great deals with the help of eBay, Target clearance racks and the Target Cartwheel app. Thanks to Cartwheel I saved $6 on her raft with the canopy. I love a good deal. So, it was finally time for her to give swimming a try. We waited until it was about 6:30 at night so the sun wasn't quite as strong. It was great! I don't think Zoe knew what to think about it, but she didn't cry. Her hat made her look so stinking cute. I couldn't even handle it. Thanks to our friends Alan and Gina, we got some great pics!








Bonus Picture! Below is a picture of me as a baby and her side by side. I think we look at least a little be alike.



That's all for now! God is good!



Zoe is five months old!

Zoe is now five old months! She's so big? Where does the time go? Soon I'll be sitting at home watching "Live! with Kelly and Michael", sobbing because she went off to Preschool. Can you imagine how many pictures are going to be taken on that day? I already rival the paparazzi when it comes to taking photos of her. You will think Beyonce just walked into the school with her. We love her so.

Zoe loves:
  • Jesus
  • Mommy and Daddy
  • Her grandparents
  • Snuggling with Aunt Victoria
  • Her Uncle Andrew and Uncle Alex
  • Her Godmother, Katie Lane
  • Mommy and Daddy's friends
  • Snuggling
  • Hamming it up with anyone who smiles at her
  • Those Blankets with a Stuffed Animal Attached (I think they are called Lovies.)
  • Soft Lighting at Night
  • Ceiling Fans
  • Yelling when she is hungry (not crying or screaming, yelling)
  • Chewing on many assorted things
  • Billy Joel Tunes
  • Cat naps
  • Pulling mommy’s hair
  • Yelling until mommy or daddy walks around with her
  • Formula
  • Her teddy bear
  • The Rock N Play
  • Blankets
  • To smile
  • To chat with Mommy
  • Cherry medicine
  • The color yellow
  • Her pacifier
  • Laying on Mommy and Daddy's bed
  • Waking up at 5am just to say "Hi" and fall back to sleep after 20 minutes of talking and rolling in her bed
  • Rolling over
  • Sitting outside in the shade when it's not blazing hot
  • Play dates with her buddies Collin and Titus
  • Hamming it up for all of the church ladies
  • Watching plants blow in the wind
  • Her bouncer
  • Sucking on her fingers
  • Rolling over both from her tummy to back and back to tummy.
  • Popular Songs that Mommy and Daddy insert her name into for example:
    • Millions of Zoes for Peaches by the Presidents of the United States of America
    • The Zoe-Bug Talk Show for The Barry Gibb Talk Show which is a Saturday Night Live skit that uses the theme of Nights on Broadway by the BeeGees


Zoe doesn't like:
  • Long Naps
  • When people aren't paying attention to her
  • Being hungry (just like her mommy)
  • Wet diapers
  • The Ice Machine
  • Laying on her tummy for a long time
  • Grape medicine



Zoe is undecided on:
  • Sandals
  • Sofie the Giraffe
  • The Exersaucer
  • Diaper Changes
  • Bath time
  • Rice Cereal


What people say about Zoe:

“She looks so much like her daddy.”

“She looks so much like her mommy.”

"She's a good mix of the two of you."

"She's so quiet." - Come spend a day with me. She loves to yell.

“She’s such a good baby.”

“She’s (insert synonym for cute here).”

"What pretty blue eyes!"

"What's the price to take her home?"

"(Insert a bunch of things people say to her in Spanish that I don't understand.)"

“Oooo chiquita!!”


Mommy and Daddy's Nicknames for Zoe:
  • Zobug
  • Bug
  • Baby Bug
  • Bugaboo
  • Little Bug
  • Little Baby
  • Mommy's Girl
  • Daddy's Girl
  • Little Snuggler
  • ZoZoBee
  • Buggy
  • Buggily
  • Little Mama
  • Baby Girl
  • Sweet Pea
  • Buglet
  • Bugsy Malone
  • ZoZo
  • Zo





Getting so big!



"Hey Mama. this is my friend Bear."



"Wait, I think he has something on his face."


 "What did you say, mama? 


"Check out my foot! It's small and adorable." 




She's getting so big!

We love her. We are so blessed.

That's all for now. God is good!