Seriously...I'm 16 months old.

I am 16 months old today. No, I'm not joking. It's true. I love wearing my sunglasses and I love scooping wood chips into my bucket at the park. I love being outside, too. I can climb up the slide all by myself. But don't worry, my Daddy stands right by my side the entire time. I can sign 15 words and I can say 7 words. I know where my eyes, my ears, my hair, my tongue, my teeth, my toes, my feet, my belly-button and my nose are. I have 11 teeth. I love strawberries, milk, cheese, yogurt, green beans, peas, turkey, chicken, bananas, pears, peaches, oatmeal, gold fish crackers, cheerios, bread, spaghetti, rice, blueberry pancakes and black beans. My favorite things to do are read books, open things, hide toys, look out the window, climb on the couch, chit-chat, take baths, give hugs & smooches and play outside. I can bark like a dog and roar like a lion and I'm ticklish everywhere. Some of my favorite people are DADDY, Mama, Papa, Grammy, Aunt Rika, Unka Rone, Mr Greg(Sunday School Teacher), Adan, Eli & Ty. I also love to wave at everybody that I can see. I still do not like to have my hands and face wiped but I don't mind having my nose wiped...go figure. I do not like sitting in my car-seat for very long and I don't like playing in my pack-n-play by myself. I love to be with people and I love to have an audience when I perform. I'm going to the doctor on Wednesday for my check-up. My Mama can't wait to see how much I weigh and how tall I am. I'll let you know all the details on Wednesday. Talk to you then.

Love, Zoey

The Cruise of 2008

Last week Dave, Josh, Erika and I went on a 7 day, Royal Caribbean cruise. We really never thought the timing would work out for all of us to be able to do something like this. Between everyone's jobs, babies, and pregnancies it was truly a miracle that our schedules opened up. Zoey stayed with my parents and we literally had to pry her out of their hands at the end of the week. She had a fantastic time and misses her grammy and papa very much. We had the best time and I thought I would share some of our adventures with you.

Here we are on Day 3 of the cruise. It was our first stop and we did a tubing excursion in Jamaica.

Here we are relaxing on the catamaran that took us to two different snorkeling sites while we were in Grand Cayman.

Dave and me in Grand Cayman.

Josh & Erika in Cozumel.

Josh & Erika sun bathing in Cozumel on our beach break excursion.

Erika and me sipping virgin strawberry daiquiris.

Dave & me enjoying the last sunset of our cruise.

Josh & Erika all dressed up for one of the formal dinners.

The cruise was such a wonderful time to relax and catch up on sleep & hang out time. Those are some things that have been lacking in our lives since becoming parents. And since Josh and Erika are expecting a baby boy at the end of August, I know they appreciated this down time before the craziness of being new parents begins. We are so thankful to the Lord for a safe vacation and for allowing us this rare opportunity to spend quality time with Josh and Erika. We are also so grateful for my parents for taking care of our little Zoey. What peace of mind we had knowing that she was being cared for by two people who love her so much.

To see all of the cruise pictures, visit our flickr account.

Flat Tire? No Problem.

This morning, Zoey and I were heading out to the garage to get in the car and I noticed our Honda CRV tilting a little to one side. As I walked around to the passenger side, I saw the reason why it was leaning. A flat tire.

Bummer.

Shock and panic set in. I was supposed to meet my friend in 20 minutes to pick up her baby and watch him for the morning. After I called her and let her know about my situation, I weighed my options...call Dave and have him come home on his conference period to change it or call a tow service...and I decided to go with secret option three.

I will change it myself.

Now, I am the daughter of Anthony Leo. He taught my sister and me many things about our cars. He showed us how to change the oil, how to check the fluids, and of course, how to change a tire. I've helped change tires before but I had never taken on this task by myself...and with a toddler in tow. My first step was to set up the pack & play in the garage for my Zoey. Aaahhh, man she loves being in her pack & play. She loves it so much she "screams" for more. (did you sense the sarcasm?)

So, with the added challenge of a screaming 15-month-old, I found the jack and started loosening the lug-nuts. The scene from my garage must have cried out, "Help Me", because it wasn't long before the garbage truck went by and Romero, the driver of the truck, asked if I needed help. I told him I was pretty sure I could do it by myself. A few minutes later I hear the "beep-beep" of a large truck backing up. It was my good pal Romero wanting to double check and see if I needed help. I told him I really wanted to try to change the tire on my own, but if he had time to swing by in a few minutes, I might need help tightening the lug-nuts. He said no problem and I continued...all the while singing songs to Zoey.

The hardest part, for me, was putting the new tire back on the....the thing where the tire goes. It was really heavy and difficult to line up the holes with the screws. After five or six tries, I got it. Then I tightened everything I was supposed to tighten and I lowered the jack and put everything away.

A few minutes later, Romero came back and made sure the lug-nuts were on securely. He mentioned that he was worried about me driving on the highway with a baby and a loose tire. Very fatherly. He said I did a great job. Yea!!!

I did it! And by myself. Needless to say, Dave...and my dad...were so proud.