A Blessed Mess

Zoe is One Year Old!

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Zoe has turned one year old. If you like to be more proper, she turned 12 months. Her shirt will say 12 months in the picture. She also had a one year shirt for her first birthday party. Zoe's first birthday party was a hit. As most of you know, the first birthday party is not really for kids, but for the adults. I think there were a total of 2 other children that attended her party. We had a popcorn bar, a cake, a smash cake, many balloons and yummy cheese dip. I made it through her birthday party and through her first birthday without crying. I think it's because I don't cry at the proper times, I was cool as a cucumber at my wedding. You give me a TV commercial with dogs and famous beer horses and I am a mess. Anyway, Zoe is growing up to be a fascinating little girl. About a week after her birthday, she started walking. She isn't very fast yet, but she is working on it. She has really small terribly cute feet, that I think heed her walking abilities. Seriously though, she has the cutest feet I have ever seen. I love them.

Zoe loves:

Her Family
Walking!
Violet, her talking and singing dog
Let's Make Music (Sesame Street DVD)
Music
Babies
Whole Milk
Beef
Blueberries
Yogurt
When daddy comes home
All dogs
Cats
Crawling away from mommy
Shaking her head when I say no (She's mocking me.)
The ladybug rocking chair/horse

Zoe doesn't like:

When mommy takes away her cheerios
Getting her face wiped off
Diaper Rash
Hair Dryer
Vacuum Cleaner

Zoe is undecided on:

Mini food processor
Her new car seat

What people say about Zoe:

"Is she walking yet?"

"Her eyes are so beautiful!"

Mommy and Daddy's Nicknames for Zoe:

Too Many to name
We started calling her by her name, so she can learn it....oops

Here are some pics from her party:

Hanging out with Grandma Lorenz!

Popcorn Bar!

Birthday Girl!

Her throne!

Tia G and ZoZo

We love Mrs. St. Clair!

So excited!

Dancing!

All ready!

Her smash cake was a icing Pinterest Fail

Where is my cake?

What am I supposed to do with this?

Oh, I get it.

I think I like it.

With Mommy and Daddy

Get your paws off my cake!

I wasn't eating any cake. I don't know what you're talking about.

Hey Collin!

Jamie and Alan

Panda!

Her very first pinata! Thanks Tio Alan and Tia Gina!

Here are her 12 month pics!

Let me clean your ears out.

He's mine.

Hugs!

So big!

Here are some of her professional One-Year-Old Pictures by Shanice Bailey Photography!

What a great year! I can't wait to see her in action for many more years! We are so blessed to have her.

God is good. That's all for now.

Mom Tears (Originally: When Moms Can't Sleep)

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

WARNING: THIS IS A SAPPY MOM POST!!

When it comes to experience, I consider myself a new mom. Yes, Zoe has been around for almost a year, but, I consider her "new" still, so I'm a new mom. Before I had the Zo, when I couldn't sleep my mind raced, like any other woman's mind raced. Work, chores and other things that didn't matter in the grand scheme of life. Now, it races with all kinds of other things. Zoe, chores, Zoe's eating habits, dinner, Zoe's pooping habits, tutoring, Zoe's teeth, church, Zoe's kidney condition, the time, Zoe's ability to almost walk, and so much more.

Oh and we can't forget the all so embarrassing, touching and uncontrollable crying when you can't sleep. Now, I am a crier. When my emotions get high in any form, sadness, anger or happiness, I cry. It's embarrassing. I have never in my life cried so much because I was filled with so much love for one person. When Zoe was little I would cry because I couldn't sleep and because I loved her so much. I get a little more sleep now. Zoe is going to grow up and make us so proud. Also, I love her something fierce. She is also going to meet all of the struggles and challenges this world has to offer. I cry for her for that. She will have to deal with most of it on her own, even though I will want to come in and kick some serious, let's say, butt, for her. Those tears I cry, are mom tears.

Mom tears are complicated, mom tears have so much meaning in every drop. They sneak up on you like a ninja. They have no warning. You could be anywhere, BAM, mom tears. You hear a song in the car, you watch a movie (that was mine tonight), you hold your baby in any setting, you see your parents holding your baby, watching any father/daughter dance. Mom tears can be such jerks, they know your weaknesses. They can be the elegant single-tear type or the ugly, gasping-for-air type. Most of the time it's the latter for me, again they are jerks. Stinking hormones.

Mom tears are something I wish I would have understood a long time ago. I think I would have hugged my mama a little tighter when I saw hers flow. There is no way to begin to understand them until you experience them for the first time. Like many, mine flowed he first time I saw my baby girl, and then I looked at her daddy and saw dad tears. I couldn't begin to explain dad tears. I imagine they are like mom tears, but no group of people is as complicated as mothers are, so I imagine that they are far more straight-forward.

Since I am a new mom, I don't claim to know everything about mom tears. I haven't cried the graduation or the marriage tears, they will come and I will learn. Until then, I cry new mom tears, the kind that see a little baby ready to take on the world.

Look at that face. How could she not conquer the world?

I didn't intend for this post to be about crying. I intended it to be about my current insomnia. What are we going to eat for dinner tomorrow night? Can Zoe eat try it, too? So it continues...

That's all for now. God is good.

Zoe is Eleven Months!

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Zoe is 11 months! WHAT?!? That isn't possible, she is my little baby! It's happening people. She grows everyday! She can almost walk. People always tell me, just wait until she can walk. I think we all know that the real danger lies when she begins to talk. What goes around comes around. It will come around hard. Watch out Daddy!. Last night we were in the restaurant, which happens to be a place where you say, "thank you", a good deal of times in a short amount of time. I said please and thank you several times. By the end of the night, Zoe was saying, "Daint Do". It took me a few minutes and then I realized that she was saying what I was saying. And so it begins...

Zoe loves: