18 months old...sigh

Our little Zoey is 18 months old today. She has been jabbering all the time, lately. She has so much to say about everything. There is always a running commentary at mealtime, bathtime and playtime. She has also learned to combine several of her signs. She will now sign, "more...milk...please." She also tries to say the words as she signs them, but usually she can only make out the first or last consonants. This week, Katie taught Zoey how to sigh. It's just about the cutest thing, so we ask her to sigh all the time...as you can see from this video clip. Zoey has also been working on eating with a fork. She has finally figured out how to hold the fork so she can stab her food. She successfully uses her fork to bring food to her mouth about 50% of the time. I am so proud of her because she doesn't get frustrated when working on her fork skills. If she can't do it, she makes the sign for help and hands me the fork to load it for her. Then I pass the fork back to her and she feeds herself. It's a great system.

new pics posted on flickr

water baby

We've been trying to take Zoey to the pool more often. Lately, the weather has been pretty chilly in the evenings and mornings so the pool water is still rather cool. We don't stay in very long because Zoey's little chin starts quivering...it's pretty cute. When we first get in the pool she is very clingy and gives lots of hugs...which, of course, we hate. But after a few minutes she starts to relax a bit and have some fun. She likes to bounce and kick her legs and she even tries to blow bubbles. We dunk her once or twice just so she gets used to having water on her face. She doesn't love it but tolerates it well. Maybe by the end of the summer, she'll want to go down the water slide. Yeah, right. new pics posted on flickr

a day in the life of fish-face

9:00AM Wake up...actually we have to wake her up
9:30AM Breakfast in the dinning hall...baby oatmeal, banana and milk
10:00AM Back to the cabin to brush teeth and put on lotion...aka sunscreen
10:15AM Play with Miss Katie...click here to see all that they do
11:45AM Meet up with Mama to cool off before lunch
12:15PM Lunch in the dinning hall..peas, black beans, turkey, cheese, strawberries
1:15PM Back to the cabin for naptime
4:00PM Wake her up from naptime...she plays hard and sleeps hard at kamp
4:30PM Snack time in the cabin...yogurt, blueberries, cheese, ritz crackers/goldfish
5:00PM More playtime...either with Mama, Daddy or Miss Katie
6:50PM Dinnertime in the dinning hall...who knows what's for dinner
7:40PM Back to the cabin for bathtime and get ready for bed
8:00PM Read books, nite-nite

favorite things to do at kamp

Our wonderful kamp babysitter, Katie, takes little video clips of Zoey's adventures around kamp. Here is one of her favorite pastimes...drinking/playing in the water fountains.

Another one of Zoey's favorite places to hang out is the trampolines. She loves to be held and bounced and she loves rolling the basketball back and forth. Miss Katie is absolutely fabulous with Zoey and they both love each other so much.

Here's one of Zoey and Dave hanging out on the tramp. I love her in these shorts...oh, those cute legs. And I love those pigtails.

Miss Katie and I took lots of pictures of Zoey and her friends at kamp. Check out our flickr site to see them all.

an overdue update

I am so sorry that I haven' t had a chance to update all of you on the status of our miscarriage. We are on our first 24 (two-four) of the summer so I finally have some time to type. Here is a brief timeline of what's been going on...

May 11th we found out we were pregnant (mother's day)
May 17th left for kamp
May 26th 6 weeks pregnant
May 27th told our leadership team at kamp we were prego, started bleeding that afternoon; Dave had to head home to finish the school year, he HATED leaving me
May 28th tried to get into see an OBGYN somewhere in the area...no one would see me; went to the ER (with my friend, Ellen) and was diagnosed with a Threatened Miscarriage...which means my hormone levels were lower than where they should have been and the baby was measuring 4 weeks, 6 days instead of 6 weeks, 1 day.
May 29th Was supposed to follow up with an OBGYN in a couple of days, but no one would see me
May 30th Dave came to kamp for the weekend.
June 2nd Randomly called an office on my Insurance and they agreed to see me the next day...Praise the Lord (thank you all for praying); Dave headed home to give finals.

June 3rd Saw the doctor, they drew blood, I'm supposed to call for my results the next day

June 4th My hormone levels went from 943 to 61. In a normal pregnancy, they double every other day. So, it was clear to the doctor that, not only did I miscarry but I had completed my miscarriage. I'm so thankful it's finally over.

I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am for your prayers, your phone calls and your emails. Being at kamp is tough. Being at kamp without Dave is even tougher. But being at kamp without Dave and going through a miscarriage should have been unbearable. But it wasn't. Never before have I felt such peace. I never had any physical pain, praise the Lord. I was able to care for Zoey with the help of my kamp family and our wonderful babysitters, praise the Lord. And I was able to do my job at kamp, praise the Lord. I am so thankful the miscarriage happened when it did...at 6 weeks...and there was no infection or need for surgery. I can rest in the fact that the Lord is in control of everything and that He knew the number of days our little baby would live. I have the greatest peace knowing that I will meet my two babies in heaven someday. Yes, I have hard days and moments when all I want to do is lay in bed and cry. I wouldn't be human if I didn't. But than I choose to remember who is in control and I look at my Davey and my Zoey and I am so thankful of the blessings in my life.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read through what's been going on in our lives. If you would like to read more about our first miscarriage, click here.

what Zoey thinks of kamp

Zoey is loving kamp. We had a couple of rough days, but now that kamp is in full swing and we've wondered into a routine, she is doing so well. Here are a couple of video clips of her dancing in the dinning hall during an all girls breakfast. While she was sitting in her booster chair eating, she kept her fist in the air the whole time. She loves watching the kids and she seems to really enjoy the loud, crazy noises. She just squeals with delight. Lots of new pics posted on flickr.