That's a Breadstick?!

I told you she wanted breadsticks! She just can't eat them for a couple of years.

-Matt

Olive Garden Baby

Today we finally went back to Olive Garden! If you don't know the story, I will give you a brief synopsis.

What: Abbey's water breaks
When: Mothers Day, 2006 and Abbey's Graduation Day 2006
Where: Olive Garden, Champaign, IL
Why: Zoey wanted some breadsticks
How: All over the chair and floor
Interesting Points: The waiter in the picture thought Abbey peed her pants. He hugged Abbey. We never got to eat the food...tear.

We are dorks for doing this, but we flagged this guy down. We asked if he remembers us and he did. It took a little bit to get it out of him, but he remembered. What a good waiter! He apparently had been telling Abbey's story to all of his pregnant patrons. That's Hilarious by the way! He met Zoey. He gave her the name 'Olive Garden Baby.' He also apparently predicted that she would be a girl. I don't remember that, but we humored him. :) He let us take a picture with him. He also told us to send the picture to Olive Garden's headquarters. He said we might get in the Olive Garden news letter and/or get some kind of 'gift/promo' for telling our story. Cross your fingers!

On another note...before Olive Garden, we made a trip to Meijer. Now this wasn't an average trip to Meijer, this was a special trip. We entered Zoey in the Mix 94.5 'Babes of Summer' contest (a beauty contest for babies). I don't have all of the information yet, but her pictures will end up on www.mix945.com. People will vote online for the cutest babies. Then the babies with the most votes are chosen as semi-finalists and the winner will be chosen at the Urbana Sweet Corn Festival. So check out the Mix 94.5 website and vote for Zoey. I don't know when it will be up, but I will blog about it. So keep checking the blog to find out when you can vote!

Love you all!

-Matt

You Said What?!

This is a confused Zoey!

I was just looking through all of our pictures of her and I just had to put this one up. She makes the funniest faces. This picture is about two weeks old, but it still needs to be on this blog.

-Matt 

Zoey the Strong

So, if you can't tell by the picture, Zoey is frickin' strong. She can really hold her head up now. She doesn't have a six pack, but her abs are stronger than mine. :) Also, if she kicks you, it hurts! I think she is going to be an athlete of some kind.

I have heard that several of you are having trouble commenting to the blog. Well, I am here to solve all of your problems (computer problems at least). Originally, I had the comment thing setup wrong. You had to be logged in with a Blogger account. Now, all you have to do is click on Anonymous.

Brief synopsis of how to comment:
1) Click on '# Comment' (# being the number of comments for whatever post you are underneath).
2) Type in your comment. Don't forget to say your first name (no last names!) and your relationship to Abbey, Zoey, and I! :) Both sides of the family probably want to know who is commenting.
3) Click on Anonymous (if you don’t do this, you won’t be able to comment, unless you have a Blogger account, which 99% of you probably don’t).
4) Type in the funny looking text.
5) Click on Publish (I think it might say 'Login and Publish,' don’t worry about the login, you will be logging in as Anonymous).
6) You have just commented.

So, now that you all know how to comment, and there are no hang-ups. There should be no reason you all don't comment! :)

Back to Zoey...the reason you are all here...

Zoey isn't fighting us at night as much! She used to, and I mean last week used to scream and cry and fuss for 30 minutes up to 2 and sometimes 3 hours before she would go to sleep. Knock on wood, but for the past three evenings, she just fusses for 20-30 minutes and then is pretty much out for the night! Wahoo!

Remember when Zoey pooped on Abbey? Well, she did it again! Yesterday! I wasn't there but Stephanie and her two kids (Vincent and Ocean) witnessed the literally exploding diaper. It actually shot out of the diaper onto Abbey. Like I said the last time this happened, I will gladly take the spit up over the poop!

I would like to end the post with a special shout out to Deanie (Abbey's grandma) and Patti (my mom)! We know how much you two (and everyone else) love this blog. To tell you the truth, we just really appreciate you all taking the time to read it! :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

We love you all!

-Matt 

Zoey is sleeping?!

Zoey has started taking lengthy naps and on her own! I know, it's shocking! This past week she has taken 4 naps that have been 3-4 hours long! And I was able to lay her down after rocking her to sleep! I am baffled and SOOOO excited! She has also taken a pacifier a few times! She is really starting to enjoy her bouncy seat (thank you Landreth family!) and her activity mat. Looks like she's starting to get the hang of infant life!

Abbey 

Funny Picture and Holy Crap!

Yesterday, we had dinner with Glenn, Debbie and Audrey. It was yummy! Glenn decided to get right in Zoey's face and take this hilarious picture. She looks like a deer in headlights.

Also, you see what is behind her!!! She got her Social Security card last week! This is crazy! It seems like we just brought her home, but now she is part of the system! Holy crap! How can we slow this down? She is growing up too fast people! Help us! I have been getting flashes of her talking, walking, going to school and driving. I am happy and yet sad at the same time.

Well, I just wanted to get you all this update. Zoey is doing great actually! Abbey is gonna blog later. She'll let you know how great she is doing!

Peace out

-Matt

Zoey in the Snugli

I'm just needed to put this picture up. She just had the funniest face!

-Matt 

Zoey's First Trip to the Pool

Here is a picture of Zoey on 7-3-2006. This was her first trip to the pool! Doesn't she look adorable! Well you have probably seen this one already, but I thought that it needs to be here. :)

-Matt

Family Get Together

From left to right, this is: Kevin (Abbey's Cousin), Kelli (Another Cousin), Mark (The Unusual Cousin :) ), Jessica and Donovan (Mark's Kids), Me (Matt), Zoey, Abbey, and Audrey (Abbey's Sister).

Don't we all look happy!

A little bit before this picture was taken, Abbey, Audrey and I kicked butt in a game of Crainum. Which, by the way, I recommend to all. It is fun! Even though Kelli and Mark won the second game, it doesn't count. Why? Because I say so.

Peace out.

-Matt 

Worst Poop Ever!

Folks, there is no way I am putting a picture of this nasty poop or should I say poops! But here's a cute picture of her today anyway.

So...

She had two huge poops this morning. One when woke up and one just now.

Why am I blogging about a poop...well this was a special poop. Why is it special you ask? Well, Zoey pooped on Abbey!!!

Yes that is right! Zoey had so much poop, that it leaked...no, squirted out of the diaper right onto Abbey's pants, the boppy, and my Time magazine!

This isnt the first time that she has exploded out of the diaper, but its the first time any of it landed on one of us!

Abbey and I are even now. Zoey has spit up on me many many more times than Abbey. Zoey has peed on me, like soak my shirt peed. Now she has pooped on Abbey. I dont know if that is really even, but I am just glad it wasnt me.

Have a great weekend!

-Matt

Zoey Turns 2 Months

Yo, everybody, Zoey is two months old today! Can you believe that.

She had here first bath without crying a few days ago. It was very surprising.

We knew that Zoey liked being outside to see all of the stuff, but we didn't find out until this week that she LOVES being outside. (We don't think she likes the trailer) We have been taking walks with her in the Snugli (back-or-front-pack carrier) and she loves them. Its great because we don't have to hold her the whole time and she gets to observe and listen. She drools all over the front of the Snugli. When we are done with the walks, its soaked.

She finally found her hands. She knows how to use them now. She has taken to sucking on her index fingers. And when she is in her bouncy seat she can grab on to the toys that hang on the arch over the bouncy seat. She just kinda flailed her arms about before.

In addition to drooling all over the Snugli, she drools all the time. She is sticking her tongue in and out pretty much all day long. It hilarious!

Abbey had a fun experience with Zoey at Meijer this week (Monday). We needed some groceries. So Zoey does her usual crying on the way down just to then fall asleep halfway there. So they get into the store and Zoey is fine for about 10 mins and then she gets hungry and cries. So Abbey feeds her. After eating, there was 3 minutes of peace. Then the bloody-murder screaming starts. She wouldn't calm down. Abbey tried holding her and bouncing her, but she just wanted to cry. Well that lasted all the way to the car for a total time of about 40 mins! Poor Zoey, and poor Abbey. That check out line was horrible for her. With everyone staring. Then she fell asleep in the car.

She had a great afternoon yesterday. She was talking and smiling at Abbey the whole time. We don't get too many 'Good' times. HaHaHa! So we try to enjoy them as much as we can.

That is all.

-Matt

Our First Blog Post

Dear family, friends, strangers, pets, and whatever else is in front of the computer screen:

Welcome to our daily jo...no that's not right...

Welcome to our weekly journ...what!...who am I kidding here...

Welcome to our 'whenver she lets us' journal, blog, diary of our attempts to raise a child in this crazy world! Abbey and I thought that this would be a great way for people who aren't in contact with her or even us on a daily, weekly, or even monthly basis to see her. We want everyone to know how she is changing and what funny and not-so-funny things she is doing. We also want you to give us feedback on how you think we are doing, what do you suggest, and tell us how cute Zoey is! We also want you to share you baby/childhood stories with us. There are also lessons we have learned in these first couple of months. I am sure you all learned lessons, share them with us! So COMMENT people!

Here are the ground rules for commenting: No last names. No addresses. No email addresses. No phone numbers. No personal information what-so-ever. There are a lot of trolls out there looking for anyway to exploit you. So lets not help them. :)

On a lighter note...: Here is a quick synopsis of Zoey's first 8 weeks. Can you believe that she is 8 weeks old!

-Abbey had just graduated from the U of I Social Work program. Then her water broke literally hours after walking the stage while at the celebration dinner. We sill have not been to Olive Garden since that night. Although, my parents (this is Matt speaking/typing if you hadn't figured that out yet) did bring us salad and breadstuffs one weekend.

-The labor was quick, comparatively speaking. Abbey did a wonderful job!

-Breastfeeding got off to a rocky start, but the the Heavens opened up and we found the nipple shield!

-We are doing cloth diapers. They are working out pretty well, but she sleep better in the disposable............tear.

-Zoey grows fast. She was 9 lbs 14 ozs. at birth. We weighed her yesterday. She weighed 13 lbs. 4 ozs.

-She can hold her head up pretty much by herself.

-She tries her darndest to talk to you. Her coos are adorable!

-She fights sleep like there is no tomorrow! However, when she does finally fall asleep she sleeps pretty much through the night.

-She doesn't really like her car seat, but she will fall asleep in it occasionally.

-She loves being held. Dont ever try to put her down! She has got some set of lungs! I think they can hear her in Canada...or at least the neighbors can and they have let us know about it. :)

-Now she is a pain in the ass 8-week old. No I am just kidding. We cant remember what we did without her.

Well, that is all I have for now. Its late. Remember to comment!

-Matt