Z is for Zoey

1 month old Zoey has been keeping me busy. I meant to post her 1 month update a week ago but better late than never. She is starting to outgrow 1-3 month clothes and starting to fit into 3 month clothes. She is smiling and is more alert. She will start daycare in 2 weeks. Happy dream Trying to wear boots but they kept falling off Tummy time  Hanging with big brother

At 3 weeks old, Zoey is our little pacifier snob. She only likes a certain type of pacifier and even one type that appears to be ever so slightly different will not satisfy her, even for a moment. She only likes the pink and purple bear ear soothies. How dare we try to offer her a green soothie without bear ears. At least when it comes to bottles, she will drink from pink, purple, green, or any other color or type of bottle we've offered her. Here are some pictures from this week. The only time she's worn short sleeves. She actually posed nicely for me. Brother and sister hanging out together Taken by her daddy Another cute pose for her daddy

The first night in the hospital Bonding with her Daddy Awake time  Teeny tiny feet Burrito time Sleepy time It's all coming back to us now... life with a newborn. I've been on the 3 a.m. shift for feedings so that's fun... not. It's fine when she's cooperative and falls right back to sleep. I hope that happens tonight! Anyway, Zoey is doing well. She is supposed to go 3 hours between feedings but often is starved at 2.5 hours so we feed her early. She's mellow when held and calmer with feedings than her brother was. Zack loves being a big brother so far. He adores his little sister and wants her to be awake more often so he can interact with her. He especially loves tummy time and getting grossed out by seeing her diapers. I said "Zoey has a special treat for you..." and he came over and looked and saw the dirty diaper- yuck!

We are thrilled to have baby sister in the house now. She is so loved. Born on Wednesday, November 8, shortly before noon, she weighed in at 7 pounds, 13 ounces, and was 19 inches long. More pictures to come!

After trying several things to get Zoey to flip out of breech position, efforts were ultimately unsuccessful, and as a result, I have a C section scheduled for November 8, two weeks from today. I am wrapping things up at work this week and next and we are doing some final things around the house to get ready. There are a few things left on the to-do list and then I will feel content that we are as prepared as we can be to welcome a newborn into the house. As much as I would like to stay active now, anticipating a slow recovery from surgery, it's not easy. I've had to take it easy and limit outings as walking feels great, but standing and sitting for long periods of time do not. This is no time to be adventurous; I wouldn't want to wind up going into labor or having any other issues needing an emergency C section. Hopefully my next update will be a birth announcement!

Baby Zoey and I were treated to a baby sprinkle hosted by a good friend in the neighborhood. This lucky girl is going to be very well dressed and accessorized thanks to our family and friends and their generous gifts. I joke that any outfit can be a girl outfit if you pair it with a matching headband and skirt, but Zoey has so many new girly onesies and outfits, she'll barely wind up wearing any hand-me-downs from Zack.   Zack helped with the party decorations. He did a great job coloring in the lines and I framed his pictures.  Zack has also been helpful in other ways. He helped build and put together his sister's dresser last night. Now the nursery is coming along nicely and is substantially ready. I have been having some medical issues including a scary trip to the hospital for early contractions, which wound up being a result of an infection. There are only a few weeks left and I'm definitely not going to be doing any more traveling too far from our hom...

We finally decided on a middle name, after much deliberation. She will be Zoey Renee. No dots or accents, however if you did them it would look like this emoji: :/ which I think is funny. It feels like major progress to have the middle name now.  I signed up for 2 sets of exercise classes. The first set is a prenatal cardio class that has to be taken before 32 weeks. I will be finishing it just under the wire. After that I will take a more relaxed prenatal yoga class that will go all the way until the week before my due date. I took a prenatal yoga class when I was pregnant with Zack but I took it much earlier in the pregnancy. By the end of the pregnancy I believe it will be valuable, particularly when I'm not sure how much stretching and exercise I can do safely on my own. Clearly I will no longer be swimming by fall, although the weather will be more pleasant for walking. I'm trying to do a day or two a week of lunch exercise with coworkers too. I am definitely feeling lim...

We are slowly getting ready for Zoey. I have been getting daily comments about how surprisingly large my bump is considering how far along I am. These come in the form of "August?", "Are you sure it's not twins?", and when I tell them my due date I hear a lot of surprised"Wow, you've still got a ways to go".  Yes, I will be enormous  by the time the fall rolls around. For now I'm just rather large... and definitely it is the first thing out of people's mouths when they see me. The castle for the princess  With one small exception, things are looking good with baby's development. The umbilical cord is attached marginally to the placenta but the doctors think it's going to be fine; they are just keeping an eye on it. She has 10 fingers and 10 toes, in case you were wondering. 20 week U/S I wasn't expecting to get to see this. I thought her head was shaped more like a dinosaur's, bumpy, and irregular, but the actual...

I've decided to rejoin the blogging world to share news and pictures as it relates to our growing family. I started the ZisforZack blog to share all about our son when he was an infant and toddler. Now he's five and about to start Kindergarten in the fall! Taken during baseball photo day A few weeks ago we told Zack that he was going to be a big brother. With such early gender findings these days, we were actually able to share the news at the very same time that he was going to have a little sister. He is really excited as are we.  The due date is November 12 but of course that's going to be give or take. I'm about 16 weeks along and I'd like to say that everything has been just peachy, but pregnancy has been a bit rougher this time around. 12 weeks I've been feeling okay most days but it is in the afternoons and evenings when I'm at my worst. It wasn't until the past week or so when I started having the energy to exercise again. I...