Merry Christmas!

Avoidance is where I have been with not posting to my blog in a while. The past few months have been tough and I really have not been ready to deal or talk/type about anything. On October 26th my grandmother, Way, (Dad's mom) passed away at the age of 77. Then on November 21st my Papa Bear (Mom's dad) passed away at the age of 75. I spent. I'm tired and emotionally drained beyond belief. I miss them both. Thanksgiving was different since we buried my Papa 2 days before. Christmas will be different. It would have been my Papa and Memaw's 54th Anniversary on Christmas Day. My child is too young to understand. She doesn't know that everytime she sees a man with a long beard and calls him Papa that it rips my heart out! How I long to sit and talk to my Papa. He was such a wonderful man and he loved to have one on one conversations with me or anyone for that matter. But they are both happy, healthy with no more pain or sorrow. It's nice to know that they are both worshiping Our King of Kings today.

I have a new niece, Temperance Marie Shaddix. She was born on October 30th. She looks just like my brother.

Zoë is a talking machine. If you don't want something repeated then you better not say it b/c she is a copycat. She repeats EVERYTHING!

Our big news = we are selling our house and moving to Ragland next month. I have a new job and we are moving in with my parents in mid January until our house sells!

Genia, Misha and Zoë
Zoë and Temperance

Zoë

Genia, Misha, Zoë, Daniel, Tempy, and Haleigh

Wide Open at 15 months

Wide open is definately how to describe Zoë these days! She loves to run...especially in WalMart. She does not like being confined or trapped especially in WalMart. Do you see a trend? She loves to explore WalMart and run up and down the aisles. She doesn't seem to mind when mommy or Gigi chase her just as long as we don't catch her!

At her 15 months check up she was 341/4 inches long and weighed 22 pounds.

She is right on target for all of her mildstones.

Zoë loves to talk. She can say so many things that I can't keep up with it anymore. She still signs well, but she can say all that she can sign except eat or cup.

I have already corrupted her. She LOVES football. She gets so excited when she sees it on TV, no matter the setting. We went out to eat last Thurday and when she saw a ballgame on TV at the resturant she yelled "bootball" and "touchdown" as loud as she could with her hands up in sign of a touchdown. Of course everyone turned and looked and thought it was precious especially since it was a baseball game on the TV. She's usually pretty good at getting it right.

Zoë also loves books. She loves looking at them and reading "babbling" to herself while pointing at the pictures.

She also likes the potty...surprise...surprise. She likes sitting on it but not for long and she has yet to do any "business" on it.

She will also let you know when she is tired of the carseat. On the way to and home from my mom and dad's last weekend she signed and said "all done" while crying trying to undo the chest strap.

She loves visiting my parents and saying "ride BeeBee" which means she is ready for another trip around the block in her stroller pushed by my dad which he does about 15 times a day each visit. No wonder his legs hurt after we visit.

Zoë also loves her hair bows and looking pretty and she gets so excited about new clothes and shoes....she definately knows they are for her and she looks at them and plays with them. She is definately my mother's grandchild!

Happy smile

Look at all of those teeth = 14 and counting

Eating ice with GiGi

Thinking Gramme is CRAZY!

Fun Uncle Dan

Around the House Pics

This the the closet under our steps. In July, Genia and I cleaned it out and painted it to make Zoë a little play hide away down stairs full of her toys. She loves playing in here.

How many kids will fit under the steps? Apparently 5 - Baylee, Dakoda, Zoë, Matterson, and Corey Jr.
Matt and Zoë playing

They have been blanket riding!

Picking flowers

14 Months Old with an ATTITUDE!

Last night Matterson was at the house as he is 2 nights a week now while his mommy is at school. He was trying to open a door to the laundry room and Zoë looked at him and said "No No Matt" while pointing her finger at him! We are raising a little mother hen. Zoë is very bossy and if she doesn't get her way then she'll just show you a little attitude and maybe a little hitting! Oh My Gosh, what are we going to do? Tuesday night she and MattMatt were playing. He had a little talking cookie jar. Zoë picked up the top to it. Matt pushed her, she pushed back, he grabbed the top, and Zoë slapped him and told him No!No! Needless to say they both got in trouble and the cookie jar was taken away from them both. PLEASE somebody tell me this is a STAGE!

I know I'm contradicting myself, but she is a sweet and loving child. She unfortunately has inherited the SHADDIX TEMPER! There is no denying that she is my daughter and that she has my temper. Who else am I going to blame it on? Genia? We all know my temper, but I can control mine (most of the time).

On to new developments:
1. Climbing onto the sofa, chairs, and tables (even when she's not suppose to)
2. Throwing away anything especially her diapers
3. Loves to dust and now has her own swiffer duster
4. Love putting clothes in the dryer
5. Climbs up steps - more like crawls up them in the speed of light
6. Comes down steps bouncing on her butt
7. Loves opening all cabinets - we are installing the tab things this weekend
8. Still takes a bottle (my fault, but she's still MY BABY)
9. Runs everywhere
10. Loves to ride the golf cart at Gramme and BeeBee's house
11. Knows too many parts of her body to name - her new favorite song is "Head, Shoulder, Knees and Toes"
12. Says War Eagle while doing the touchdown sign!

New Words/Phrases:
1. No No Matt
2. Sit down
3. War Eagle - sounds like OR EAGLE
4. Mine (she knows this one too well)
5. Trash
6. All done
7. Bye Bye Mama
8. Fly
9. Ear
10. Teeth
11. Nose

Those are all I can think of right now, but there are so many more!

Fav phrase "Oh wee how pretty!"

To update you all on my talkative little girl...

She now weighs 22 pounds and she is 32 inches long. We went to the allergist today because of Zoë's chronic uticaria (hives). We now know after 15 skin test pricks (with needles) on her back that she does not have any food allergies!!!!! What we don't know is the cause of her breakouts! Just pray we never have to use the ever present epipen jr.

Zoë is really enjoying her time at home with GiGi/Mimi. Zoë still hasn't made up her mind what she will call Genia. She hasn't started calling my mom, Gramme, any particular name consistently. This is frustrating for both of them. She definately has Mommy and BeeBee down pat! Yesterday I came home to beautiful hand and footprint artwork Zoë and Genia did for me!

So now for the list update
Signs: Eat, Milk, Bath, All Done, Please, More, Cup
Gross Motor Skills: trying to run, kicks a stationary ball
Fine Motor Skills: putting in and taking objects out of containers, tries to sort shapes but wrong more often than correct, throws with her left arm more often than her right, blows kisses,waves hi and bye, and Lord help me she can climb stairs! She also loves to brush her hair and brush her teeth.

Now to her vocabulary, she talks and talks and talks. Zoë is her mom and BeeBee's little girl b/c she loves to talk just as much as we do! She is one of those kids you may hate to see coming b/c she will talk your ear off whether you can understand her or not, she just keeps talking. She talks to us, the tv, her toys, her babies, her bath toys, her food, do you see a pattern here?Words: (Genia let me know if I forget any)
1. Mama
2. Mommy
3. Gigi
4. Mimi
5. BeeBee
6. Hite (not consistent for Gramme)
7. Bebbie (Aunt Debbie)
8. Matt
9. Bye
10. Hi
11. Hey
12. EIEIO
13. Issy (itsy bitsy spider)
14. No
15. Nite Nite
16. Bankie (blankie)
17. tractor
18. dog (she also will bark like a dog)
19. doggie
20. Moo
21. Quack quack
23. thank you
24. thanks
25.whoa
26. oh wee
27. how pretty
28. good job
29. Getcha
30. Eyes
31. Nose
32. Lug you (love you)
33. I'll do it
34. All done
35. Uh Oh
36. Kiss
Her favorite thing to say by far is: "Oh wee how pretty"

13 Months

Zoë is now 13 months old and changing so much everyday. She loves to talk. She jabbers all of the time, and there are new words constantly:

1. How pretty (she enunciates very well)
2. Dog
3. Eyes
4. Nose

She is walking, climbing steps, climbing....climbing...climbing. She also is learning what she is allowed to do and what she is not allowed to do. She has a very "big" temper that we are ignoring to try to break her small tantrums.

Family Beach Trip

We had a great time on our beach trip to Alligator Pointe, FL with my parents, AKA Bee Bee and Gramme, Uncle Daniel and Aunt Haleigh. Everyone I've talked to asks me "Where's that?" Well, it's a part of the coast that is "old Florida". No hotels, no condos, only beach houses. We had the best time swimming, reading, playing in the sand, taking naps, strolling on the beach, fishing, shooting pool, and playing cards on our one rainy day. Zoë really blossomed in walking while we were there. She is walking EVERYWHERE! She hates to be told No No! She repeats no no and if we've gotten onto her for getting into something she knows she's not suppose to, she looks at you and says no no. She loves playing peak a boo! She now loves the itsy bitsy spider almost as much as Old McDonald, which is her favorite. She rarely takes a bottle now, all on her own. We really haven't had to try to wean her from it, she's doing it herself. She would much prefer to have a cup unless she's really sleepy, so the night time bottle is still a must but she rarely takes half the bottle.

New Words:

No No

Mimi

Nite Nite

Skills:

Walking