Zoe tries to move forward

Zoe was a little upset about not being able to move at all... if she would be strong enough she'd probably move around like crazy ;)

First bath

Finally I did it... I thought she hates it because the first times of washing her she was crying a lot. But then the last times washing her off she wasn't complaining anymore. So this morning I decided to give her a bath and oh well... she loves it :)... that was fun:
Fresh and clean we can now start the day :)
Yesterday we drove to Franziska and she also had Marilyn over with her almost 6 weeks old son Nicolas. That was pretty interesting to have two babies around in one place... we had a great time... I enjoyed it a lot and I drank one of Franziska's delicious Lattes and we had no issue afterwards with Zoe!!! Hhhmm... I might be able to drink coffee again :).

Zoe smiles

19 days young

Lots of snow overnight

Overnight we got lots of snow. I think they said in the news it's about 6 inches / 15cm and it's very heavy so no snow shoveling for me :(. And I guess my walk outside won't happen today either since they don't remove the snow in our neighborhood on the streets quickly. Well, we just gonna hang out inside and relax today. We're already starting to get everything toddler proofed :). Doug and Dana gave us these gates for Zoe when she starts walking/crawling around so she can't go up the stairs. We'll be using them already in a few days when Dana and Sophia will come and visit us. I can't wait for them to be here :). That'll be so much fun *YEAH*.

Sleepy Zoe:
Being funny in the morning. She's already getting more 'alive'. She's goofing around with me in the morning... look at the funny shots:
How she's using her eyebrows! It's so adorable! And I think you can already see a flying nose *lol*
She's such a cutie:
Done feeding and back to sleep again:
Today Zoe threw up for the first time :(... oh, that reminds me of moving my laundry into the dryer ;)... she's pretty mellow again and Frank knows exactly what she needs when she's in her gas pains. It's so cute to see the two hanging out together.

doc appt and first real walk

I just missed one day of posting and now I'm loaded with news for you :). Well... yesterday we had our 2 week baby doc appt. and again she's healthy as she can be. She didn't grow at all since birth but she gained back her birth weight plus a few extra ounces which is perfect. Now she's 7 lbs and 15 oz I think... which will be 3600 grams (good that I have the unit translator on my IPhone). I think 4 days after her birth she was down to 7 lbs and 6 oz (3300 grams). (Her birth weight was 7 lbs 13 oz (3500 grams)). All is good with her and her crying is simply gas in her stomach that gives her a lot of pain :(. Well I stopped drinking coffee as well and it seems to be much better since then *sad looking*.

And then when we were back home after lunch I went groceries shopping. I'm telling you... it's really a workout now with Zoe and she's not even running around by herself so I have to have my eyes on her all the time ;). Well... I managed everything perfectly, drove out to Costco (which is also 30 min away), ran through the store got everything we needed. First I had some space issues in the shopping cart. The baby seat incl. baby took up all the space in the shopping cart but then I found a good solution and had to watch where I was driving because the seat was right in front of my eyes! Well... I managed not to run anybody over *hihi*... I did do a second stop at another store and then Zoe was ready to wake up again. Perfect timing :). She loves riding in the car :).

Today is an easy going day for us and I took the chance to finally do a real walk outside, it's sunny and you can already hear the birds singing. It was soooo great to be out for a while and Zoe liked it as well. I had to give her the pacifier because her hands were all wrapped away (no thumb sucking possible) but she took it without issues and slept through the walk. But I was shocked in what shape I was!!! 2 weeks no walks and not in shape anymore? Hello? Unbelievable!!! That has to change. Well, I'm not allowed to do any other sports than taking walks. But I started lifting little weights for my arm muscles already... I need to get a start somehow. As soon as the doc gives me the 'ok' I'll start with pilates again. I have back pain already from breast feeding I guess and carrying Zoe around. Hope my back will be patient with me for another 3-4 weeks... Pilates will spice up my back again and everything else as well :).

Our lake is still half frozen:

It's interesting, isn't it? Does she look more like Frank or me? I don't even care whom she looks more alike she's sooo beautiful and perfect but I also see Frank more in her than myself. She's so cute in the mornings now when it's feeding time before we're getting up she's smiling around before she starts eating. That's such a great start into the day!

And another cool thing I'm very proud of :)... I lost already about 25 lbs since I gave birth :). I only have another 6 lbs (3kgs) left until I'm back to my 'prior to pregnancy' weight!!! That's such a morning boost as well :).

Well... I go and get the little one changed now. She's finally done with the painful pooping and is sleeping again.

Zoe is having a rough time

Hhhmm, first I thought that she might just eat too much and is having a rough time getting it all worked through her body... but now I'm thinking that I might eat something wrong that she can't digest right. Since yesterday night Zoe is having a tough time... she's crying all the time and needs to be hold. She even cries so hard that she sweats :(. Poor girl... all I can do is hold her and be there for her. Singing to her helps too ;)... but all I can remember is: 'Alle meine Entchen'. I need to work on my song list!!!

Today she only slept for one hour during lunch. Which was very good because I had a friend over for lunch :). That was so good...

I tried to take a walk with Zoe in the morning but she was in pain that I just held her and walked through the house a lot... well, that's a way to get a workout too *lol*. Good that our house is big enough and downstairs we can walk in a circle through the rooms.

I watch what I eat since she's born even though the babies start noticing the bad stuff when they become 2 weeks old (which is today by the way, can't believe she's already 2 weeks old). And I don't eat anything that should bother her. Maybe she just misses her daddy. I can't wait for him to be back home. We miss him terribly!

Here some pics from this morning when it was time for feeding, she is so much fun :)

"Well, are we done shooting pics now? I'm hungry!!!"
Look what she's doing with her finger!!! It almost seems that she's poking her eye out! I think that she won't do it if it would hurt but it looks very scary and she has a good grip, I'm telling you!
Yes, here in the USA the normal baby stroller how we know them from Germany are very expensive. We looked into it but we didn't want to spend 700$ for a stroller! Zoe is lying down on the floor and in her bassinet all day long so I think it's ok for her to be in the stroller for a couple of minutes a day. I'm more worried about the baby car seat. She's all curled up in there and her head hangs down when she sleeps :(... I'm not very happy about that at all.

Oooohhhh, just got a text from Frank, he got on an earlier flight. He'll be home 3 hrs earlier than planned! *YEAH*... how cool is that?

@Meike, bist Du die anonyme Schreiberin? ;) Habe mich schon gewundert wer das wohl ist. Das Kommentar ueber den Kinderwagen kommt bestimmt von Dir ;). Habe das noch im Kopf von damals mit Sophia, deswegen wollte ich auch unbedingt einen normalen Kinderwagen, aber 700$ war uns ein wenig zuviel fuer einen Kinderwagen.

an awesome day

Today was a very good day. I finally got out of the house *YEAH*. We took our time in the morning, got ready and packed the car and drove up to Franziska (she lives about an hour north/ east from us). Zoe was sooo good as always. She was sleeping throughout the whole ride and slept for a few hours when we were at Franziska's. When it was time for feeding I breast fed her and during that time Franziska cooked a delicious lunch for us. Her friend Dani from Germany was there as well. Oh, it was sooo great :). I really enjoyed hanging out with the girls. Zoe slept until we were back home and then it was time for feeding again.

Here some pics from the morning:

Zoe at Franziska's:
And YES... we took our first little walk. Zoe probably thought that I was nuts... she was so wrapped up in her snow suit, two hats and a blanket! I only walked up and down the street to get her used to it slowly. The stroller is pretty cool... very easy rolling and I loved being outside taking a little walk again, even if it was just a tiny walk. At least we start getting out... it felt soooo good.
"Mommy, are you serious??? Do you maybe wanna put another blanket on top of this?"

a little bored

I know, I have to enjoy my time 'off' but I'm already getting bored. Yesterday I spent all day relaxing and today I basically did the same. Did some little things here and there in the house but that's about it. Haven't left the house at all :(...

Tomorrow that's gonna change! I'm gonna drive out to Rochester and visit Franziska and her friend. I look forward to that a lot... can't wait to leave the house for a while :). On Thursday I'm gonna have a friend over for lunch that will also mix up my day and on FR we'll have our next doc visit for Zoe again. She's already 2 weeks in two days! Wow...

If I could just get out and take a walk with her... but everybody is saying that it's too cold for Zoe! I have to wait until spring :(... that's not cool!

Zoe is doing great. All she does is sleeping, pooping and eating ;). Tonight she's gonna get washed off again, she hates that! I kind of hope that she likes taking a bath. Maybe we're going to start giving her a bath on the weekend. We had to wait until the rest of the cord fell off and we decided to wait a little longer until everything is healed.

Guten Morgen

Today is our first day at home by ourselves... Frank needed to go back to work and Zoe and I are just having a relaxed day. It's a little different now to do things, you always have to have an eye on Zoe... just in case! First thing I did today was setting up the baby monitor. It's pretty cool, you can 'hear' and also 'see' if the baby makes noises because of some red dots that show up if the monitor senses a cry or anything else.

Well yesterday I was sooo exhausted... I didn't even hear the alarm that wakes me up for the night feeding!!! That is very weird, that never happened to me. Didn't they say that when you're a mom you hear every tiny noise? I guess I was sooo out... I woke up an hour after the alarm went off, so it's not too bad.

Zoe is doing very well today... very calm and sleeps a lot. Yesterday she was just eating like nuts! Frank and I were worried that she might not get enough milk... well this morning I read in our breast feeding booklet about 'grow spurts' which happen in certain days of babies' life. First 'grow spurts' happens at day 10 of their lifes!!! Well... hello... there is our answer ;). Babies seem to just eat and eat and eat on these days. Next one is at 3 weeks...

Here a picture from this morning after feeding... our happy camper:

10 days young

Yesterday Norma went back home again and we're getting used to our family life alone. It was really nice to have Norma here.

After we dropped Norma off at the airport we went to Costco and had our first 'groceries' shopping with Zoe which went very well. But she didn't want to go to Walmart afterwards... so we just went home and I went to Walmart later on. We needed more newborn clothes for her because everything is way too big (0-3 months)...

First Day to Work ;)

Today we went to work with the whole family and showed off little Zoe :). Everybody was thrilled to see us and especially to meet Zoe.

Here some pics of her today in her 'prison outfit' *lol*... waking up, look at all the wrinkles on her forehead... too funny:
Well... I've decided to stop using cloth diapers... such a mess... she's always in wet clothes and I have to change her whole outfit many times a day because it all goes through! Not cool. At least we tried it one day. Very sad that it is not working out for us...
And today we also took some family pictures in a few different variations: Grandma Norma with her grandchild
Daddy and daughter:
... sooo cute :)
Well... she knows where her food comes from... 'HEY!!! It's picture time... you just had your food'
Grandma, Mommy and Zoe
Our little family:

and now with Grandma:

By the way, when the pics are not so good in quality, I've taken them with my IPhone ;)... just the moments are too nice so I have to capture the moment quickly...

Official first Day of using Cloth Diapers and Water Problem

Ui... you think nothing is happening here but somehow lots of things happening! Crazy, crazy! So today we officially started using the cloth diapers. Got everything setup and the first diaper has been dirtied already and I have to say it's so easy and great. Now I don't have to worry anymore to 'waste' a diaper... just wash it :). We're getting into a great routine here.

This morning started very nice and very stupid at the same time! Very nice was that we didn't set the alarm and I got an extra hour of sleep. I have to say I love the setup with getting woken up by the alarm to feed her around 430AM... again this night she worked great with the waking up , getting fed and going back to sleep. We're so lucky to have such a calm and easy baby! It's wonderful. So after I fed her this morning around 8 again I spent some cuddle time with her in bed and around 10AM Frank told me that we have a water problem in kitchen... but he took care of everything already, took it all apart, cleaned it and put it back together. Now everything is back up and running and it never sounded better :). It was just clogged up and the water went into the dishwasher instead out of the house. And Frank always says that he's not a handyman! YEAH, right! He's doing such a great job doing all that handyman stuff in the house. If stuff is broken or something needs to be assembled he's on it and everything is perfect and fixed in the end. I DO have a great handyman at home :).

Zoe is doing great... she's a wonderful baby. And again she slept in her bassinet without any complaints at all. Here are some pics that I've taken since the last post... enjoy:
And this weekend February, 13th comes up already! WOW... for those who don't know... that day last year it all started :). This amazing moment between Frank and I that changed everything in our lives. It took us a while (ok, only 1.5 months) to actually start dating but since then we've went through an amazingly, crazy journey of many great changes and we couldn't be happier how it all went and turned out. It was supposed to be :)...