Not much new...

Yesterday we went to swimming class. For some reason Zofia got cold really fast in the pool and started shivering about half way through. It didn't seem to bother her at all, though. She was giggling and splashing and kicking up a storm. Right after class (which only lasts 20 minutes) I got her warm and dressed and we went to the grocery store to play with the lemons.
Today we had Gymboree class. Zofia was really into all the other babies. She kept crawling over and playing with them. Lots of fun.

Happy Easter!

Zofia enjoyed her first Easter. We got all dressed up and went to church for services.

But first, an Easter egg hunt! Of course, Zof didn't really catch on that it was a hunt, but she did get a couple of eggs:

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Video
After the eggs, we went in to church. Zofia started out the service in my lap. She loves listening to the choir sing, especially since she can see Daddy from our usual pew, so she was fine during the beginning of services. When Father John started his sermon, she decided she had a lot to say also. She started babbling really loudly, so I took her to the nursery to play. You can see more pictures in the Yahoo photos folder.
After service we went out to lunch with a group of friends. Zof slept through most of it, but woke up in time for lunch and a taste of Mama's key lime pie.

Gymboree

I took Zofia to Gymboree today, and Roger surprised us by showing up just before the class started. I think Zof really enjoyed having Daddy there to play with her. Here is a picture, and you can find more if you click the Yahoo Photos link to the left.

Video, as promised

Here is the video of bath time. Actually this is video from two different baths: one from last night and one from the night before. Hope you like 'em!
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Video

This will be a long one...

The camera is back!!! I've been taking pictures all day long. First off, this morning we had playtime with Zofia's hippo toy:








Then, after lunch we went to the grocery store:

Whenever we go grocery shopping, the first thing I do is go get lemons. I put one or two lemons in the front of the basket and Zofia will be occupied for the entire trip. Today, I pulled the cart up next to the oranges and Zofia started helping herself! She was so funny. She would pick up an orange and start trying to put it in her mouth. Then she would notice that there was a whole bunch more oranges where that one came from and grab another one, but in the process of putting the new orange in her mouth she would drop the first one. Then she would notice the bin of oranges again and go for another one. She did this about five times while I took pictures of her. Then an employee of the store came over and told me that photographs were not allowed in the store. Good thing I got some great shots before we were spotted.
There are a few more in the series, which you can see by clicking on the link to the left called Yahoo Photos, and then selecting the Z 2005-3 folder.
Later this afternoon, Roger and I gave Zof her bath early, since we were going to be attending services later in the evening. She had such a good time, and we got some of it on video, which I hope to post tomorrow, if I have time to upload it.
Then we went to church, where we participated in a foot-washing ceremony, re-enacting Jesus' washing of the disciples feet at the last supper. Roger was one of the foot-washers. Zofia got her little tootsies washed also and seemed to really enjoy it.
We headed home just before nine pm and she was tired. She craned her neck around from the back seat to look at me and fell asleep before she had time to turn back:
She didn't even wake up when I transferred her to her crib. Tomorrow is another long day, with Good Friday services and maybe a trip to Sea World after.

No Sleep

Zofia still has her cold. It woke her up this morning at 5am. Yes, people, I said 5, read FIVE, AM! Then, she would only fall asleep if I was holding her, and woke up if I tried to put her down. I finally got her to nap WITH me for two hours at 4pm. Then we had a bible study at a friend's house and so she didn't get to sleep until almost 10. Hopefully she will sleep for a few hours now.

In the good news department. I finally got a charger for the camera. The battery is charging as I type, so hopefully I'll have new pictures posted tomorrow.
G'night!

And another little video

...shot a couple of weeks ago. I've been slacking on my videos.

A week in the life

So, Zofia is sick with a raging, snotty cold. She is mostly in a great mood, and then she gets really congested and whiny and cries bloody murder while I suction out the enormous quantity of green mucous from her tiny little achy nose. And then she sleeps. She has not eaten any solid food for two days now, which means that we are back on the newborn schedule of breastfeeding about every three to four hours. Poor little muffin! Right at this moment she is giggling at me from her crib, conveniently located right next to my computer desk. She is standing up in her crib peeking over the top rail and giggling madly. Thank God we lowered that mattress!
Here is a compilation video from the past week. She is crawling even better now than what is on the video. Very fast and steady. Anyhow, enjoy.

NAPPING

Zofia took, like, 5 naps today. She was really tired, owing to the fact that her parents dragged her out to dinner with a bunch of their friends and kept her up until 10:30 at night. She woke up at 6:30 this morning, partied until 9, then fell asleep again until 11. Then she napped again at 1, 3 and 5. OK, I guess that is only 4 naps, but still; it's double the usual amount. She also seems to be getting a mild cold. Perpetually runny nose for the last three or four days. The beastly parents were going to leave her with the babysitters at church for "babies night out" tonight and go out to a movie, but we decided to let her go to bed at a decent hour. Maybe we'll go to a movie next month.

Random Ramblings

Here are a few things:
-Zofia fell off the bed yesterday. The days of napping on mama & daddy's bed are over. We had her all blocked in with pillows, but it looks like that is no longer enough. She is fine. She had a bad scare and cried for a while but she is fine. Of course I died from the guilt about fifteen times. -We finally lowered the crib matress last night. Z doesn't seem to mind it a bit, but she is already starting to try to pull herself up to standing.
-It's March madness - so Zofia is watching a little b-ball with Daddy. She really seems to get into it.
- The crawling is getting better and better.
- I finally found and ordered a charger for the camera, so I should be putting new pix up next week!
- Zofia has an adorable new habit where she touches everything with her index finger very thoughtfully. I'll try to get a picture soon!

Lesson Learned

Do not leave cassette tapes in the boom box which lives on the floor if you wish to ever listen to them again.

You learn something new every day!

And if you are 8+ months old, probably more than one thing.
Busy day for Zofia today. She was so busy playing this morning that she skipped her nap, so at lunchtime, she only managed to get a few bites down before her eyes started to close. She fought it valiantly for a while, but after the third or fourth time that her eyes closed between bites, mama whisked her to bed for a nice long nap.
After her nap she resumed playing and was really trying to perfect her crab crawl. For the first time today she got some real mobility:

Roger keeps teasing me for wanting carpet in the living room on the grounds that "it will be softer for the baby". As you can see, she prefers the tile.
Then, just a little while ago, Roger was leaving the house and waved "bye-bye" like he always does at the door. Well, Zof waved back and said "BAH BAH BAH BAH!"

You could have knocked us over with a feather! I mean, she has waved before, and she has said bah bah bah bah, but not together in that particular way, and not as an answer to Daddy. So I guess her official first word, spoken on Tuesday, March 15th 2005 is "bye bye". Not bad. At least it avoids the inevitable jealousy experienced by Mommy or Daddy when they don't get their name as the first word.
Later tonight, "Uncle Nacho", our fabulous handyman extraordinaire is coming over to install the baby gate at the top of the stairs and lower the mattress in the baby's crib.
Look out world, here she comes!

Bathtime

Roger called me at work tonight and asked me if I wanted the good news or the bad news...The good news is that Zofia stood up tonight for the first time! The bad news is that she did it IN THE BATH TUB!!! :-o

Note: this picture is from a bath sometime last week, not tonight's standing up bath.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

This morning we had a cleaning lady come to clean the house. When she arrived Zofia was happily playing on the living room floor. As soon as Adriana came in Z started crying! I picked her up but she wouldn't stop crying until Adriana left the room. She kept crying every time Adriana came anywhere near her. I guess she is getting into that "fear of strangers" phase...

The first post

Since the recent demise of Zofia's adorable website, I've been waiting in vain for word that it has been moved to a new server. It's been a while and I give up. I decided to start a family blog instead. That way I can keep y'all posted on Zofia's daily new accomplishments and adventures.
Today Z woke up in a fantastic mood, and stayed that way all day. She and I went to church early so I could do some work. The nursery is right next door to my office and is divided by a partition rather than a wall, so I could hear her in there with the nursery ladies having a gala of a time. Heather, one of the ladies was telling Marisa, who is new, that this is the Church Baby and they love her to pieces.
After church, we went to Chili's and had their wonderful Carribean chicken salad, among other things. Zofia sat in a booster seat all by herself! This was the third time she had done this, but she did have a first during this meal. She drank from a straw! Now some of you may be saying, "but she's done that before..." Well, yes, she has technically used a straw to consume water, but only by opening her mouth while some adult person used the straw to dribble water into her waiting mouth. But that is not what I mean. I mean she actually drank from a straw the same way you and I do. The waiter brought her her very own kid's cup with a lid and a straw and she got the hang of it on the first try. We were very excited, even though she did try to eat the crayons that the waiter also brought her.
On the way home she fell asleep in the car, and didn't even stir when I transfered her to our bed for the rest of her nap:






Then when I stepped onto the bed to try to get a better angle, she woke up of course and looked at me like this:

Then at bath time I sat her adorable naked heinie right in the tub without her usual baby bath seat. She sat there in about 3 inches of water and just splashed her little heart out.
Sundays are long, happy and exhausting days for Zofia.