Kris and I can’t believe it. Zoe is only 9 months old and can now officially walk. I was made official today based on her ability to pretty much walk all the way to where she is going, including turning and changing direction. She has been able to take upwards of 24 steps before falling down.

I came home from work and watched her walk around the corner from her room, around the corner, to my room. I was amazed.

I put together a funny little video to commemorate this awesome day that came upon us too fast!

View the Video

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ANNOUNCEMENT:

Today at 3:41 PM Olivia Rose, 6lbs 14oz, 20 1/2″, was born at Chandler Regional Hospital. Zoe has been expecting her new playmate and is now happy to have her. She is cute as a button and, according to her new Grandmother Ellen, “has a normal size head.” I’m not one hundred percent but I think that was a stab at Zoe.Congrats to Jason and Celeste!

I have posted exclusive photos taken just minutes after Olivia’s birth HERE.

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Well, the day after my 37th birthday, Zoe turned 9 months old. Coincidentally it was also the day her mom came home from her 3 day trip to San Antonio, Texas to visit Kyle who just graduated from the Air Force basic military training. I�??m not sure which was more of an accomplishment, his completing basic or me taking care of Zoe for 3 days straight. I�??m also not sure who had things the worst, Kyle, Zoe or me. Actually, the three days went great. Zoe was a dream. I took her over to my friend Mike and Suzy�??s house on Saturday night. She had a blast and absolutely adores Suzy. She also pooped twice while there, which, as strange as it seems, means that she is very comfortable there. It�??s her way of showing it. Perhaps if I take her to your house, she might poop too! While at Mike and Suzy�??s we went to watch their daughter Allison�??s marching band dress rehearsal. Zoe was mesmerized by it. I looked around and several other babies were also quite entranced by the music and the movement and colors. I think I�??m gonna start marketing DVD videos called �??marching bands for babies�?� Wanna go in halves with me?

Anyway. this last month has been pretty much copasetic. Zoe has been great and is growing up fast. She is into 12 month clothes, but my cheap ass still stretches her into the 9 month stuff. Kris just went and got her some 18 month onsies ( ONE �??ZEES) today and they look like they will fit fine. Zoe is now taking steps and can walk down along the couch (while holding on) quite skillfully. Kris bought her a walker at my request and when Zoe got in it, she started walking backwards! Then she started fussing. When we took her out, she went right back to it and played with it. It is as if she is telling us �??I like the walker but I don�??t like being confined in it.�?�

Everything seems to be right on track.

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Eight months have come upon us faster than you can say �??Diaper Champ!�?� Zoe now has 6 teeth and a bite that rivals many great whites in the ocean. She can tear through waffles and magazines like a wood chipper. She is now able to crawl at full speed all the time, which keeps Kris and I on our toes. Zoe also pulls herself up to standing very easily and can glide, which means that she can walk along objects (couch, table, etc.) while holding on as takes steps. Momma speculates that she will be walking during her 9^th month.

This is all happening way too fast!!!

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What a fast 7 months this has been. Zoe turned 7 months yesterday and it is amazing. She is absolutely trucking down the hallways and from room to room crawling! She also gets some serious air in her little jumper that hangs in the doorway. Kyle cranked up the height in it so just her toes touch the floor when she is stationary. This causes her to do some wicked jumping. I laugh out loud watching her do it. Last night, I put her down on the floor in her room and walked to the kitchen to make up some bottles for her ( I curse and bless Nutramigen at the same time), I turned to get something from another cabinet and bumped into her on the floor, in the kitchen. Couldn�??t have been more than 2 minutes fro her to get from her room to my location. Amazing. Childproofing to commence immediately! When I picked her up from the tile floor, her outfit looked like a used up Swiffer, complete with macaroni, dog hair, and some cereal flakes. Soon I will figure out how to get her to cut the grass while she crawls! Her visible inquisitiveness is really, realty neat. When she picks things up, she analyzes them, turning them over and checking them out from all sides. All with a really neat look of wonderment in her eyes.

Let�??s talk about the word NO. Momma and I have started to use this word with her when she gets into things like her wastepaper basket and her nightlight and especially when she tries to roll over when we are trying to change her. Zoe�??s reactions are quite amusing and frustrating at the same time. After you utter the word, she looks at as if you just told her the formula to calculate wattage, then goes about doing exactly what she was doing before you bothered her with your non-sense.

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Jane! Stop this crazy thing called Zoe! You heard right, Bumper is now officially crawling. Once she figured out the order of movement, and she was able to go eight rotations before rest, it was official. As if sitting up didn�??t come fast enough (insert heavy sarcasm) now she is motoring across the house! She is my little explorer now. First she braved the threshold of her door, which goes from carpet to tile in the hallway. She paused initially to contemplate the change in texture by giving a few good open handed slaps to the tile. Now she pops over to the tile like nobody�??s business. It is exciting and scary. I told my buddy KJ at work that she was crawling now and he asked if I had child proofed the house yet. I told him not yet and another friend at work, Chris, commented �?? yeah, its only your daughter�??s life.�?� Thanks. That is on the first order of business, believe me.

I�??m scared. I�??m very scared. I sit quietly in her room watching one of my favorite shows �??How its Made” on the Discovery Channel after placing her on her little play mat. I�??m not halfway through the forging of steel balls that will be the backbone of the ball bearings they are making when I look up to see nothing but Zoe�??s torso in the door way, heading north. Just torso, legs and feet, then just legs and feet, then just toes, and then she�??s gone. Stealth is my main problem. I have a few ideas. One is to tie jingle bells to her feet, but I�??m sure my dumb ass will tune them out of the dogs will think she�??s a big pink play toy. Bad Idea. Wait, I have another. You know, keeping the tile floor clean and dog hair free can be tough with 3 dogs in the house. I am going to call Carter�??s (baby clothes) and Swiffer (floor cleaning tools) and have them develop an outfit for crawling babies that cleans as they crawl. She�??ll be like a little Roomba (unattended robot floor cleaner), She�??ll be my Zoe-oomba!

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Bumper, our nickname for Zoe, has starting eating some small finger foods following the timely appearance of her two bottom teeth. Particularly, she has started eating these little fruit puffs by Geber called, obviously enough �??Finger Foods. These look like little cereal puffs with one minor difference: they dissolve in your mouth when you eat them. Bumper loves them and eats them now quite enjoyably. She does however, have a small dexterity issue, negotiating the puffs from her finger to her mouth. She almost looks like a magician performing slight of hand with the little puffs.

It�??s hysterical to see her try to put them in her mouth and lose them, only to be found in her lap or, my favorite, in the palm of her hand. I had her at my Dad�??s last night and my step mom�??s friend was holding Zoe in her lap at the table. Zoe was trying to eat these little puffs and looked like a drunken lady eating popcorn!

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The day before we left for Carlsbad, Kris noted to me that Zoe was not fully able to keep herself completely steady while sitting up. She could sit up but only between our legs and would fall any direction except forward if not closely supported. Kris was upset because she was hoping that – by this time – Zoe would be able to, allowing us to sit her in the sand to play and what not.

The night we arrived in Carlsbad (1:00 AM) Zoe was already awake and wanted to stay that way for an hour or so. I went right to sleep but Grandmas Bud and Shirley, along with Kris stayed up with her. It was during this magical hour that Zoe finally got her balance and was able to keep herself seated on her own. Naturally, I was a bit upset to hear the news in the morning and was anxious to see.

When I did see this feat of amazement, I had what Kris calls �??another Daddy moment�?� when I was overcome with both joy and sadness to see this development in my little girl. It screws me up emotionally for a few minutes, this struggle between the happiness of watching my baby develop and the pain of how it�??s coming so fast.

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* WPG2 CANNOT LOCATE GALLERY2 ITEM ID 1991 *Ok, Zoe had her very first swimming lesson today. Mind you this was not her first time in a pool by a stretch, she has spent time in Great Aunt Ellen�??s and Her Grandma and Grandpa�??s pool as well. She loves the water.

Anyway, I took her to her first lesson because Momma was at work, bummer for her and me as it turns out. Grandma and Grandpa also showed up and took some really good pics you can see here.

Momma was nice enough to lay out Zoe�??s suit, swimmy (a small diaper made for swimming that doesn�??t fill up with water like a traditional disposable diaper) and a towel for her and I. I got home from work to find it. I got to the class early as instructed by the ways and means committee. Upon arrival, I realized that the class was outside and Zoe had not been sun-blocked. I obliged. Class started with a meeting from the Lead Instructor who went over some house rules. 1. Apply sun block at least 30 minutes before class, not 3 minutes before like I had so brilliantly done, so it can soak in. Fine, whatever. 2. No disposable swimmies, just like the one Zoe had on. Crap. No literally crap, that�??s why, so it wont seep out. Fine.

On to class flow as pointed out by Instructor Happy Face. Singing and lots of it. At least 3 songs 3 times each song. WTF?? I didn�??t sign up for this. Momma never told me this. Crap! What if I don�??t know the lyrics, I�??ll be a laughing stock. Fine, I�??ll muddle my way through, Splashing also, lots of it, and floating and what not.

Zoe was having a ball splashing and playing in the water more than any of the kids, honestly. It was cool. I think because she had prior pool time. Now for the singing, crap, crap, crap. First song �?? Ring around the rosy. OK. I know this one, we all sing together. Made it. What a breeze, what was I worried about? Fun too. Daddy dint have such luck with the second song. Its called �??Twinkle Twinkle Little Star�?� that goes like this:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.

Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

Easy right? Heres my version as it went during class:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.

Something Something blah blah blah,
Hum hum la la la, the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

I felt like an ass especially with the 17 year old training assistant watching me botch the lyrics. She looked at me like I was a bad person for not knowing them. I felt like a guy in church singing a hymn when I lost my spot on the page. This sucks.

Third song – ABC’s. Nailed it. Thank you very much.

Bottom Line:

Class was short and my kid was the best swimmer. The End.

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Wow! 6 months already�?� Already flying by. Anyway, sorry again for lack of posts. AS Zoe gets older, her need to be watched more diligently increase along with her head size (that joke is for Great Aunt Ellen). Seriously, check up the other day went well (she was 90% in both height and weight), except for the three shots she got which have given her a slight fever for the past few days accompanied by a visit from her alter ego �?? The Fussington General. I was actually up at 1 AM with her today and stayed up all night and went to work today so I�??m a bit punchy at best. I was able to get her to sleep by taking her to fill up both cars with gas at 3:45 AM but of course as soon as we got home, she was up and a bottle put her out by 4:15 AM. I have to get up at 5:00AM on workdays so I was stuck awake and running I.V. lines of coffee to stay conscious.

We head out for our annual week long vacation to Carlsbad, CA tomorrow night. This will be the first trip there with Zoe and we are looking forward to it. We are driving there and leaving at about 7:30 PM so (hopefully) she sleeps most of the 6 hours. Our biggest concern right now is how we are going to fit all her stuff in the car. I may be reduced to bringing one shirt, one pair of shorts and one sandal just to make room for Zoe�??s equipment.

I plan on doing a video and slide show to capture the journey, I�??ll keep you posted.

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