Vacation Summary

OK, it's been five days of hanging out, eating and sleeping. Well, not just that either. The family has been plenty busy this entire time. Shannon and I accomplished many projects around the home, including clearing out the basement, working on the outdoor side of the property, creating crafts and spending quality time with Z. Now the five days are over and it will be back to the daily grind.

Some more Z news. She is fully operational on the potty. I think we can file poopy pants under "been there, done that". She is truly amazing in that she really does not like to poo in her pants any more and holds it until the assigned potty break time. Needless to say, we are loving the cleaner living. Peeing is still happening in the pants and that will come in time.

As shown in the video, Z has really taken to feeding herself. She usually insists that she do it, too. She will shake her head forcefully and try and take that spoon out of your hands. What a little stinker!

Speaking is an all day thing, especially in the morning. The girl starts at 6 AM and can take it for the length of the day. Of course, she pauses from time to time and will even take a short cat nap, but the mouth is in full effect.

Z prefers to stand now as well. While she still enjoys being on her behind and can move fairly well in that position, she likes to climb (usually on Daddy who is laying next to her when we play) and get in the standing position. We are mildly bummed she didn't take to crawling but it's all good. I think she will walk in a few more months. Right now it's just the beginning phases of cruising.

Once we get through this week, things start to happen quickly. In only nine days, we will have our first birthday! My mom is flying in Monday the 7th and the rest of the clan will be here for the weekend of the 12th when we celebrate. Needless to say, the blog will be in a celebratory mood and we hope to provide you with top to bottom coverage of the event. Until then, stay tuned for more Z news! Enjoy the pictures of her eating with mom and dad (finally a picture with some teeth in it! There are still only two but teething pains have been bothering her lately) and with the doll her great grandmother Elvira sent.

Saturday at the Park

Zahra and I got to spend some wonderful quality time on Saturday at the park. Here are some pictures that tell the tale.

Eating by Myself

Here is another little skill Z has picked up. Credit must go to mama for allowing her to try this. I was a bit anal about the mess at first but having seen the progress, I do declare, it is neat to be messy!

Thankful and Stuffed

Another Weekend

Wet and cold times here in the mountains. These are the days spent inside reading, relaxing and enjoying the quiet of the home. That's not exactly what we are doing. We are keeping up with a house that vomits up a mess seemingly every day and everywhere. It's amazing how one day you can have a completely clean and kept house, and then a filthy pigsty the very next. The daily grind of maintaining a house is grueling and constant. Ever since Z has come around, she has made it quite the mission to keep things in order around here. Not that we mind much. But when we sit around thinking about how the house gets so messy, we are clueless.

Fortunately the holidays are coming and we have decided, much to the chagrin of our families, that we are staying put for most of them. We will probably make a trip to see Grammy Lanie and Grandpa Larry in December but other than that, we are just taking it easy. We literally have thousands of projects and activities to get accomplished right here at home. It will be nice to stay home and have time on our hands to do stuff!

Now that I've angered some of our followers, let's share some highlights form this weekend. Perfect weather on Saturday allowed us to go and spend the day in downtown Asheville. The Holiday Parade came through town that day. Z loved it! She was soaking up the sun as well as the cheers and sights. We saw lots of good friends including the Strazzers and Essylstyns. It was nice to be out and about all day.

Z is also the master of the potty. She holds her poo until potty time. This makes wiping a cinch. I don't even remember the last time I had to wipe a dirty butt! She enjoys reading on her potty as well as making lots of noises and engaging in enthralling conversation.

Food has increasingly become as issue as she is getting more and more picky. Seems like we can never go through a day where she absolutely refuses a certain food item. It's interesting to see how her taste has changed. She used to devour anything, now it's a crap shoot to find something she will eat.

Soon Turkey Day will arrive and we'll have lots of info to share!

Braden Comes to Town

We got baby sit Baby Braden today! Marvin and Susan's bundle of joy stopped in for an impromptu visit. Shan and I got to experience a smidgen of life with two little ones. Let me tell you, it's not for the feint of heart. You got one sleeping in your arms, the other one wanting attention. Then as you're cleaning one, the other is getting messy. And this was just about an hour's worth of double trouble! Braden was fine though. It's amazing how big he's gotten. Z was ok too, she just gets in her mood late in the afternoon. But Shannon and I were definitely reminded that one for now is plenty for us.

Z Being Loud

Arts Day!

Today we went to the River Arts District Gallery Walk. It was a day full of beautiful works of art and lovely weather. We met up with our friend Diane, who took us on the tour. The River Arts area is booming area here in Asheville. It is the home of several art galleries and studios. It is also becoming another hot spot for food and drink.

Z had a lot of fun checking out the art. She did sleep for most of the tour though. We finished up the day with lunch at 12 Bones, one of the best bbq places in town. Our president even stopped there when he came through Asheville.

Our daughter has been exploring the world of climbing more. Just today she climbed all over her Mommy. She also is practicing walking with Daddy. I'll hold her hands while she takes awkward steps. It's more smiles and laughing than movement. Z has made more strides in movement in the last two weeks than she had in the previous month. She has mastered turning and moving around on her bottom. Pretty soon our little girl will be moving around like a pro. Until then, we will savor our remaining days not having to worry about her getting lost.

Picky Eater

First, Shannon is feeling fine now. Scratchy throat but otherwise OK. I stayed home today for Veteran's Day so I was on baby duty all day. I am bushed to say the least.

We are facing a major crisis though. The picky eater. Zahra has gone from a voracious eater without any hesitation to try foods to a child that now only really wants a few items. What has happened over the course of the past month or so has been devastating to Shannon, who has been such a trooper to make all of Z's food only to see it go uneaten by the stubborn little monster. I mean, she only eats her oatmeal, yogurt, some fruits and snacks. That's it. For a while we went to commercial foods and that worked but now she doesn't even like that! What the heck do we do? Recently we've been giving her some of our food or at least the stuff she can eat and that works well but most of the time she can't eat what we have yet just because she's too little and doesn't have enough teeth. Talk about a dilemma!

Ida Pours On

Even though we are in mid November, we are still catching leftovers from tropical storms. Ida is dumping a ton of rain up here and we are trapped in our home.

Shannon is feeling poopy so we are in a bit of a rut. Daddy and Mommy were scheduled to go out on a date night but that's over now. So while Z is getting ready for sleep, we are ordering in.

This past weekend we had a great time. We walked the new Greenway that connects the entire French Broad River to the Carrier Park area. This is awesome because we live really close to it and it's an amazing hike within the city. The weather over the weekend was phenomenal. Low 70's with sunny cloudless skies. Zahra loved the sites and activities on the hike. She is particularly attracted to dogs. The little daredevil also loves swinging. It's going to be awesome when she is walking and running around the playground. For now, we settle for the backwards crawl and the shimmy on her bottom. She is slowly starting to grasp her way towards things so it's just a wait and see until she is moving all over the place. Enjoy the pictures of this past weekend and I'll keep you updated on our status.

Shannon has become lord of the crafts at home. She is creating birthday banners, Christmas stockings and even toys for our beloved Z. Here is some footage of the little rascal playing with her Octopus, reading her favorite book and even doing a little more moving around.

Observations

Zahra lays in bed with a Teddy bear! She coos at it and talks to it before she falls asleep with it.

Zahra played the tamborine today with me. She grabbed it from my hands and smacked it like a pro.

Zahra is talking much more now. She was imitating me when I was saying "wow wow" (the Cuban way my mom used to say dog to me).

Zahra is moving more and more each day. She can crawl in circles and scooch on her bottom every which way.

Zahra can brush her hair now. She can even brush yours, too.

Zahra is leaving her poo in the potty way more often than not. It's almost as if she waits for us to place her on the green throne to deliver her poopies.

Zahra, after depositing some fresh poo, attempted to put her little pants back on while still seated on the toilet.

Zahra continues to be the most precious thing in our lives.