Cheese Please

I am a huge milk lover. Well perhaps not in its true form but all other forms it comes from. For years now I have eaten yogurt everyday. I have not been able to find a better snack, protein, calcium, low in calories...comes in so many flavors of pure joy. I've come to mix in some plan cereal to give it a little crunch. And cheese, don't get me started on cheese! Do you realize how many things contain cheese? Well, I never thought of it until motherhood.

After a couple of painful months after Zoe was born (for all of us in our household), we finally figured out why my little fragile girl was ALWAYS screaming (and I could tell she was in pain). She was allergic to dairy, which she was receiving second head from nursing. While I tired to look on the bright side of things (hey surely this will cause me to loose the baby weight sooner if I cut out all dairy from my diet, right?), I was very much not enjoying having to now scrutinize my entire diet.

What do I even eat now? I truly had no idea. Which lead to carb overload for awhile. I felt as if I had to reevaluate my whole eating life, that on top of life as a new mom. Alas, pizza, macaroni and cheese, casseroles, etc. must wait. I did find that I could have goat cheese, which after finding a cheaper Publix brand became my new BFF. But how I looked forward to the day when things would go back to normal...

And the day is here!!!! To celebrate I bought (without a coupon, which is a huge deal to me) a Greek yogurt to be enjoyed in it's full glory. We made it, welcome back dairy, how you were missed!

Zoe's Harley Shot

So in that my in-laws are big Harley fans and gave her much such gear; we decided to have a photo shoot so Zoe could model the goods. Not to bad for a Christmas present!

I even thought theses would make great cards (which we made some)...but don't know many other Harley fans that would be interested.

Although I do find them very cute...I must say the time for topless poses is getting shorter.

Snow Days

Most people looked at their snowcation as a time to play and rest. Which would have been great had I: a)liked being cold b) had children old enough to be able to play in the snow and/or c) didn't have a lot of things to catch up on in the house. So when the biggest snowfall ever hit Columbia and I didn't have to do work for almost week (besides the one day in the middle of the week our boss mistakenly made us come to work and then to leave early because she would be "liable" if we fell) our purging on our house began. Now don't get me wrong I had a cringe on sadness in seeing everyone else's snow playing pictures and the cabin fever did hit at one point, with the tears to follow, but all in all it was great.

In moving so quickly from our old house last year (it was only up on the market for a little over a week), we had a lot of rush packing to do. Being very pregnant at the time, we ended up just packing pretty much everything instead of going through the things thoroughly and deciding if really wanted to keep everything. Well, we've been in our new house for several months but having a newborn and working did not lend to much free time. We have been slowly chipping away at it but this week a big chunk of the unpacking got taken down. Beach unpacked almost all of the basement boxes and we have been going through our clothes. Much of this needed to be done before our next exciting stage in life and it seems like it is a lot closer now. It's so freeing being able to release....more needs to be done though.

However, just to prove that I didn't not totally neglect giving my child a snow experience, I did allow her to see such in MI when we went up to visit last month. It seems to be on the ground all winter! She likes to point and touch everything with her little finger.

Her grandmother even provided her with a full on snow suit that was hilariously too big.

I mean really.....how funny is that!

She was fine siting in it until she touched it with her bear hand. Then it was another story.

Perhaps we should have taken a family picture before she felt how cold it was! :-)

Well, there you have it.... the next snow experience, I'm sure, will involve much more playing!

Baby's first Christmas

Since we have been married, Beach and I have alternated spending Christmas with all my family in Florida or his in Michigan. This year, for Zoe's first, we were headed up North! Beach wanted to drive, much to my disdain. He felt that the flying with a baby was not a good idea (especially with how much stuff they need). So I tried not to pull my hair out during our journey but it was challenge as Zoe began crying right when we got on the interstate (that would be less than 10 minutes from our house). However, it was well worth it (although I'm not sure if I can ever do that again)!

We had to be prepared for the cold! Which Zo didn't seem to mind.

Zoe got to meet her new family.

Including her great grandmother.

Her great aunt & uncle (and children).

Her only cousins (for now :-)... Who she loved!

Girl Shot

Brother love

Late night games with Donald (who else enjoys such with wine and sardines?)

Beach's classic, "I love meat!"

Zoe's favorite activity (as of the last three months)

Love from my Grandpa!

Grandma cooking up the good stuff with her new apron!

Fun gifts and boxes!

She was a fan...

Until it was time for her nap...

Oh, yes, and more walking!

Her first Harley, that Grandpa refurbished and she is ready to roll. I love the look on her face in this...many fun captions could apply.

Later dude!

The New Years LBS!

I must say that I enjoyed last year's holiday eating much more than I ever have. How wonderful it was to be pregnant and get to eat with no guilt!! Well this year....since I'm not pregnant.....not so much of the freedom from guilt. So upon getting back home from the "almost no fruits and veggs"(or anything else healthy) visit with the in-laws, the scale stared me down. How I hate it and the fact that my clothes don't fit the way they should.

So New Years, new start right? Beach wants to shed a few pounds, too, and with a day that is supposed to get close to 70 I thought going for a run would be a great family activity. Got to try out the new (new to us) jogging stroller and to see how my body would take it, since I have yet to really run post baby. So I know Zoe was still wearing her PJs but we ran out of time!

Well....theses are some of the fun comments from the Lovelands on that lovely run:

"My fat hurts from jiggling so much."

"I'm really out of shape."

"I can't run down hills."

"I can't run up or down hills and not pee on myself."

"Now my fat hurts and itches."

"I almost remember what it was like to be in shape."

"I should follow you guys, as you brought me luck." (ok this was from the golfer that we were around as we decided to jog some on the golf course).

"I told you we should have turned back (as the rain began to pour and we were a good 25 jogging minutes from home)."

"Zoe likes the ran (as she kicked her legs at it repeatedly)."

"Now that my whole body is wet you can't tell that I need to do more kagels."

Over 45 minutes later of jogging (and some walking in between) we made it back home. In time for a quick clean up before we head to my parents for our belated Christmas celebration! Good thing I burned a couple of calories before another feast was to be had!

So my confidence in my body's ability to do such actions is not very high, and my knees hurt for days afterwords but we agree that we had a good time with our jog in the rain! Now if we can keep it going?????

It's the little things

Here I lay

So due to the lovely pain in my stomach, I was laying in my bed hoping the pain would soon fade. Beach had to run out to the store so Zoe played next to me and I just hoped she would be content in doing such. In order to keep her entertained I started naming the things on her face: eyes, ears, noise, mouth. In getting to her mouth, she of course began sucking my finger. To my surprise, I felt a sharp pain.....could it be....I mean she is 8 months already.....yes, yes it is, her first tooth coming in. In the next few moments my pain seemed to disappear, a smiled widened my face and joy filled my heart as I realized my little daughter had reached another milestone.

This was one I was not looking forward too, with still breast feeding and all. I have had several chump downs with her being teeth-less for me to be not to thrilled at the fact that her weapons could become even more advanced! Yet none of this seemed to matter as I watched her grin up at me. She was becoming older, her hands not so tiny, her personality developing. Yet until I start ovulating again, she will be my only baby.

I couldn't capture a picture of this cuteness as of yet, for when she smiles her lips still hide them. With in the week, another tooth popped up. At least I can take a picture of her enjoying her teething carrot (Doc recommended it!).

Do I have to get up?

I usually end up nursing Zoe in bed each morning (who doesn't love breakfast in bed). Beach is awesome to always be willing to get her and bring her to me. Sometimes this gets me in trouble of never wanting to get up though. How I wish I could just stay there a bit longer with her. I just love to gaze at her face whether in sweet bliss of sleep or with her bright eyes shinning at me. It still hard to believe that she is mine at times.