Abbey and Jaden holding Baby Z when she was just barely 3 months. I held these sweet girls when they were less then a pound and now look at how beautiful they are! Pretty sweet.

Celebrating Grandma Zola's life!

In June we headed to Tonasket, WA to celebrate Grandma Zola's life. We had a community service at Eden Valley Guest Ranch. On Sunday we hiked Bonaparte Lake Trail with Al, Peggy, Elizabeth, Andrew, Aunt Nancy, Erin, Jon and Ali. We through Grandma's ashes over the top, it's a beautiful setting. We miss Grandma Zola but celebrate little Zola's life everyday!

Family Pic at the Beach!

We are forever trying to get a family pic with Zola and her sweet smile! This is pretty good! We can't wait for more moments that we manage to capture on film!

Cousins!

At the beach Zola played with her cousins who are so great at entertaining her! This Jonah (2), Zola (5m) and Eliza (5) laying on the couch being silly.

Cannon Beach in June

We went to the Beach with Eric's parents, brother Don E and his family. We had a great time despite the constant mist!! We went on a beautiful hike and took lots of walks on the h beach. Zola liked all of it! This is a pic of Zola in the ergo carrier with Daddy.

McKenzie River Camping

We attempted our first camping adventure on the McKenzie River. We did car camping, it was beautiful weather! Zola, Kate and I enjoyed a lazy day at the campground while the Mt. bikers took the trail on. The second day we soaked up the hot springs, it was fantastic. Zola was a super camper. This is the inside of our tent, we made use out of all the space of our family size tent! Good times!

Daddy bought Zola her first bike helmet!  It's a little big, but we are ready.  Currently, she loves her fingers and her tongue a lot of bubbling and spitting.  We suspect a tooth might be on the way!  We'll keep you posted!

Tummy Time!

This is my favorite pose!  Heads up checking things out!  It is too cute!  I can't believe how big little Z is getting.  She is so much fun and very smiley at 4 months!  

Wow!  Ridiculous!  It has been way to long since I have uploaded photos!  So, here is Zola's first easter basket.  She wore three easter dresses because one ripped, one she had a blow out in and the last is here in the photo!  She got to meet the easter bunny too!  We had a delicious dinner with Nana, Poppy, Gram, Pete, Kelly, Abbey, Maddie and Mikaela. 

1st Road Trip

We survived our first road trip and it was a long one! We made it all the way to the Utah cabin, Zola was super traveler! We enoyed the Mt. air and tons of snow. Zola got to meet her cousins, Boompa, Gaby and Ian. It was a great week. The last few weeks have been rough going back to work. Zola has done well and mommy is adjusting. We are thankful for our grandparents, Daddy, and Leslie who take care of Zola!

Hanging out!

Zola had her two month check up and her shots. The shots were very sad! She of course cried, and then was not her happy self for about 36 hours. It was rough! However, she did check out in the 80-90% for weight and height! We thankfully have a healthy little girl!

Getting Big!

We can hardly believe that Zola is approaching 3 months old! Yikes! She is smiling and interacting with us more which is of course a lot of fun. I am totally bummed to be going back to work, wish I could change that... I am already day dreaming of summer. We are headed out to Boise and Utah for Spring break. I am sure it will be a very interesting road trip with a baby, considering I go crazy after about 5 hours in the car..ugh! I love this picture with her cute little toes!

Getting so big!

Well, everyone tells you to cherish this time it goes by so fast! And yes, it certainly does, I think mainly due to sleep deprivation! However, the little gem you have is absoutley perfect and you wouldn't trade it for any other experience! This picture was supposed to capture her cute little pink shoes but it doesn't....can you believe she is 8 weeks old and her 3month old outfits already fit pretty well! I actually weighed her this morning and she is nearly 12lbs! Too cute! I love her so much, such a sweetie! I need to work on capturing a smile, she coos, and smiles quite a bit at us...Eric even saw her laugh the other night in her sleep...probably dreaming of nipples and milk! Anyway, we can't wait for her to laugh...any day now we think!

Baby Z's first bottle!

So this is baby Z's first bottle! It was early enough in the morning that she was so delirous she did not know it was a bottle. She took to it for about 2 minutes. We thought that introducing her to the bottle was going to be a piece of cake! However, we were wrong! She soon discovered it was not the precious breast and was done with it! We spent the next two weeks trying out all the bottles and nipples possible...turns out she likes the cheap $3 bottle and nuk nipple...go figure! So, we are sticking to it for right now! I just wanted her to take something so she is familiar with the bottle when I go to work. It's hard to watch your baby fuss when you can so easily fix the problem for her...everyone fails to tell you all these challenges..seriously? Anyway, the caretakers will have an interesting bout trying to get her to eat more than an ounce when I go back to work! I feel for them and will be glad I won't hear her crying it will break my heart! I figure I have 2 1/2 months to tough it out and then I have all summer with Z, and probably I will be unemployed the way things are going with schools and budget!

Celebrating Erika's 30th Birthday!

Look at us! We are all dressed up for a night on the town. We got to celebrate Miss Erika's 30th birthday at Tabla. It was absolutely delish! We had a good time socializing and Zola was an absolute angel, she slept the whole time! Happy Birthday Erika!

Pink Girl

What do you expect when you have a baby girl? Hopefully, a lot of pink! She has a lot of really cute clothes and of course a lot of them are pink! This cute blanket was given to her by her Uncle Jon and Aunt Erika! Pretty soft and cuddly!

Bonnet Girl

To may faithful blog followers: I apologize for taking so long to get any pics or update. I am not quite sure what happened in the last few weeks...mainly sleeping, eating, changing and playing with Zola. I believe I am in a little bit of the baby blues/post partum phase...I can't get over how tired I feel, it's like having a hang over for 5 weeks...unbelievable. However, despite all the crazy feelings and being tired..as one of my friends said, there are very few people you would do this for and miss Zola Gabrielle is definitley one I will do this for!

Sweet Baby Girl

We are officially adjusting to life at home. Zola is a really great baby...I hate to say it but I never would have guessed this whole parenting thing could be so easy! But it's all due to Zola and her easy nature. This last weekend she started sleeping for 5 and 6 hour stretches so it is a total treat to get some extra sleep. Eric is a great Daddy...he enjoys cuddling her, bathing her and showing her off to our familiy and friends. We have been on lots of walks testing out the chariot and the ergo carrier. We have totally appreciated all of our visitors and especially all of the meals, people have been so generous and kind. I can't believe how fun it is to get the mail after you have a baby! There is always a cute card or two! My mom has been a lot of help, she helps with meals, laundry and cleaning and of course watching Zola so Eric and I can slip out for a few errands or two. Nana and Poppy have been up to visit several times and snuggle with Zola.

Getting ready to go home..

We got our baby girl all dressed to go home. I was excited to sleep in my own bed and start "playing house" However, I have never been so tired. But I got lucky, Zola is such an easy baby..she sleeps well, eats well...stays awake and keeps us company during the day...a really great baby!

The stats..

Labor officially started at 2:30 in the morning..on Jan. 5th. About 12:30 contractions started getting strong...At 7-8cm I had an epidural...ahhh the relief was incredible. At 7:20 I pushed..at 8:02 Zola was born. It took me 25 minutes to birth the placenta...She had quite the cone head at birth but I wasn't suprised after how low I carried her for so long! She weighed 7lbs 8oz.. 13cm head, 20" long.

Meet Zola Gabrielle

Our precious baby girl finally made her appearance on January 5th at 8:02. I broke my water unknowingly during the night...I thought I was just "peeing" myself because there was no "gush" Little did I know that it didn't have to be a gush. I went to work and about half way through my first class I figured out what was going on. Low "period like" cramps...coming and going and continued water loss...little did I know I was in for the best surprise of my life! We named our baby girl after my Grandmother Zola who passed away on Christmas 2008. Gabrielle, her middle name is named after Eric's Aunt Gaby.

Babywatch Update #1

To all waiting for the great arrival of our little lady...we are still patiently waiting..sometimes more patient than others! Today is our official "due date" even though we have had a lot of indicators that I was a good candidate to go early. As of last tuesday the 30th, I was 90% effaced and 3 cm dialated. Baby girl is head down and low in the pelvis...she is just waiting to make her entrance. She did not want to compete with holidays or anyone else's birthday apparently! So far she still needs to avoid the 9th, Donnie's b-day (Eric's brother) or the 15th, Heather's b-day (my sister). However, I don't think any of us would mind!

Grass or Tree?

Eric was expereimenting with his camera abilities. We through our tree out in the yard two days after Christmas...and believe it or not it snowed again! Eric chopped up the tree and put it in our compost...this was the design left in the snow...a grass shaped tree!

Surviving the Arctic blast!

The two week arctic blast was a little trying on my patience.... This is pretty much what it resorted too..a lot of napping...

Let's just say I don't miss the snow!