ONE year of life!

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Zoe, happy birthday to you! You had just about the coolest birthday ever! Mommy made you a cake in the shape of Mickey Mouse (including milk free cake mix and frosting, as we didn't know how much you would eat and if your belly would agree with milk based food). I must say, it came out pretty good for a cake novice. You got to celebrate at Animal Kingdom with mommy and daddy! They gave you a pin and everywhere we went, people said HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZOE!

The majority of your birthday month, your nose dripped, and dripped and dripped. Honestly, I don't think it ever bothered you. Teething? A cold? Who knows. I think the only thing that bothered you was everyone wiping your nose CONSTANTLY!

Despite us living hours from family, we managed to see so many people this month. Grandma and Grandpa helped watch you when we mommy and daddy had to attend conferences. They even took you to meet Mickey at Magic Kingdom! Wow! Auntie Julie and cousin Hailey taught you all about Belle, Sleeping Beauty, etc. We got to see them twice! Bubu, Papi and Tia Lauren came to visit as well when we had our Thanksgiving (thank you Wegman's) dinner. You are quite the lucky girl.

You started to cruise on furniture before we left for Orlando. Bets were that you would watch your cousin and start running! Well, I think you were observing closely and taking notes...you seriously went from taking 2 steps to nearly running in just a few days. Your balance is improving daily but you are certainly realizing that you can get places faster walking than crawling (despite being able to bring home an Olympic medal in speed crawling).

I knew it would happen, but walking makes you look less baby and more toddler. You are also letting mommy make a little ponytail (letting means you twist and turn and I see how fast I can wrap a mini elastic around 4 pieces of hair in .02 seconds!).

You still want to do everything on your time. We know you can do "so big" with your arms and can point to the ball in the red sox book (and say ball I think) and clap. You flap your arm to wave, occasionally. You giggle when I say "tickle, tickle" without me touching you...and I swear you say tickle too! You can put the plastic rings on the cone easily now! Today you learned how to sit in your PBK Anywhere chair. SMARTIE!

We made the big leap to cows milk. No more breastfeeding. No more formula. The real deal. Well, almost. We are starting with lactose-free whole milk. Given her milk based issues with formula and our lactose intolerance, it seemed the way to go. She seems to like it and not care that it is a "new" milk. She has one issue. It must be warm. DUH. Back to the bottle warmer (it is one of the few items I actually bought, and geez, we have certainly gotten our moneys worth)...wish it came with a weaning guide. See has used a Nuk sippy cup since 11 months with ease (when lying on the floor). DUH. She still has no clue to tip it. Things we need to figure out :) We will tempt fate and see how regular milk works probably next week. Cross your fingers!

I think more teeth are on there way. Auntie informs us that we may soon loose count...oh gosh, another reason why she looks less baby!

Every day it seems the UPS, Fed Ex and postman give me a package....almost all of them...for Zoe! This girl has every toy in the world....but I guess not! Her Hanukah palm tree grows by the day!

Mommy seems to have some insomnia these days...probably because naps are once, occasionally twice daily, and for an hour or so. Zoe for the most part is calmer these days and fusses mainly if she can't play with electronics (hello 2010 baby). Mommy can't quite figure out how to do her stuff while playing with Zoe without her feeling ignored. Or perhaps an early night cap is just to smart...mommy is getting things done...while Zoe sleeps!

Oh and we are now going to gymnastics class to get out and about! Perfect for my 19 lb, 8 oz monkey.

Well, that about sums it up!