Zaleeya the Walking Queen!

So it's happened. Zaleeya has finally chosen walking as her primary mode of transportation. She actually can walk, turn, walk again, fumble, stand back up, walk again, turn, fall, and get up to walk again. She can also get up on the couch, pat her belly attempting to get Ziggy to "come", and put legos together. Here's a fun video for you to enjoy!

As for the holidays, they were super nice. We went to a fun party on the 23rd with a bunch of my friends from elementary, junior and high school. There were 7 children all under the age of 2.5!! BYOB (Bring your own baby) The house it was hosted in was baby proofed complete with high chair and dino chicken nuggets. It was the most fun I've had since being home. I finally fit in!!

On the 24th we also went to a party where Zaleeya charmed everyone, and she actually had the best night of sleep since she has been home (1 wake up). Her sleeping made Christmas amazing as we visited both sets of parents, napped, ate well and opened a ton of presents (these pics are with Cousin Kaden). However the high from the holidays ended when she came down with ANOTHER cold and passed it on the mom AGAIN! Now we all smell like Vicks.

I must be honest when I say that Zaleeya is doing much better than mom and dad. We still are both suffering a bit from the loss of our old lives. This past weekend we gave each other a chance to get out for a few hours, but when do we get to go out TOGETHER!!?? Some nights I look into my future and all I see is laundry, cooking, cleaning, warding off snot and poop. Maybe it's the post adoption blues, but sometimes I think I wasn't "made" to be a mom. I wonder what hormones I might have missed in the pregnancy process. The domestic gene never really hit me and this transition has been tough.

It doesn't mean we don't love Zaleeya to pieces; she's a pretty amazing little kiddie and fits our family perfectly! Anyhow, I promised to be honest in this blog, so there it is.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Our Version of a Baby Book

So everyone keeps saying, "you should put that in your baby book!". Well honestly, I am not crafty and barely have photo albums, so this blog is going to have to suffice. I figured it will have everything Zaleeya needs someday minus the strip of hair and first tooth. I can actually do video here, so I would say that a blog is better!

So in the spirit of her baby book, today's post is just a quick relay of her current major accomplishments. Still hesitant in walking, she is quite capable but still hasn't quite decided yet that she WANTS to walk as her primary mode transportation. She is finally settled into a schedule of one nap a day averaging 1.5 hours (though today she went 2.5 hours!!) and nightime continues to get better with usually only 1 to 2 wake ups. Mom is still quite tired (yes this is a quite appropriate picture of how daddy finds her most evenings).

She stills babbles a whole lot with her only intelligible word being "Giggy" (for Ziggy). She is starting to understand phrases such as "stand up" and "put your foot down" (when she's at the dinner table- her foot makes a constant apprearance). She likes to play with legos and tupperware and cups and anything she can chew up and spit out. She is teething big time; contantly drooling, fussy, chewing on things and drooling some more. She LOVES the bath and would spend hours there if allowed. And she still tolerates the stroller long enough for mom to get exercise.

There she is in a nutshell! We are venturing out more often now so we even have a picture with SANTA! She was quite facinated by the big white man with funny fur on his face. :)

Blogging during NAP TIME!

Sorry it's been forever since we've blogged. I can't believe the holidays are here and it's been chaotic!

We went to Vancouver 2 weeks ago for the Thanksgiving Holiday! Yes we braved another plane flight but luckily this one was less than 3 hours and a piece of cake. Zaleeya continues to grow developmentally and has even gained a whole pound since she's been home! Her new favorite developmental exploration is placing objects "inside" each other. I giggle all time as she's fascinated with putting things down and inside her top. Not funny though when attempting to change a diaper and finding graham cracker crumbs!


Vancouver was probably premature but it was good timing to meet a whole slew of family at once due to our Imam's visit there (visit http://www.canadanews.net/story/432326 for more info on this). She slept pretty well and ate decently but did end up catching a cold from the chilly weather. :( Aspirating a runny toddlers nose is NO FUN!


She's getting closer and closer to walking. We posted a video below so you can see a few of her first unsupported steps. Daddy is a good walking teacher. I can't wait to see how it goes when he teaches her to DRIVE!



We opted for a small tabletop tree after much contemplation this year to avoid having to stop her from eating the tree all the time. I am happy we have a tree and daddy is happy it's small enough to toss in the trash can at the end of the season. Zaleeya didn't even notice the tree's existence.


Anyhow this will be a short but sweet entry for now since her naptime is almost over! I will be better about posting in the coming weeks...

Online OCRegister Link

Here is the online link to Baby Z's Newspaper Debut!

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/zaleeya-day-sleep-2248197-few-children

The hard copy has about 4 pictures as well as a teaser picture on the FRONT page of the newspaper! Enjoy...

OC Register on December 8th!

Hello to all our blog readers! If you are LOCAL to Orange County make sure you pick up a copy of the OCRegister on December 8th and check out the LIFE section. Our blog and Zaleeya's story will be featured. Fun!