Keeping Up With The Turner's

Zoe loves her mobile.


I put Zoe's mobile back on her crib. I had taken it down and put it on her pack and play because it was too distracting when she was trying to sleep. She has been sleeping so well that I decided to test her out with distractions in her crib. She has proven herself to be a good sleeper even with toys in her crib! Every morning she looks in the mirror then I push her over on her back so she can watch her mobile. She's getting used to flipping over now and doesn't cry when it happens.
I moved the crib mirror so Zoe could do tummy time in her crib and look at herself.
Can you tell Zoe likes to pose for pictures?



Zoe Kae still enjoys siting in her bouncer chair. If I can't get her to take her bottle while I'm holding her, all I have to do is put her in her chair and she will drink her bottle. She is very particular about how she likes her bottles and where. She is a very opinionated 4 month old!!!

Calvin found a way to make Zoe laugh tonight. We were getting her ready for her bath and Calvin squished her thighs and that made her laugh so hard. It was so cute!! We kept squishing her thighs and she would laugh and we would crack up. It was so much fun! I think we were doing that for 15 minutes. Towards the end of it we realized we should get out the camera so we were able to record her laughing. It was the tail end of it so she wasn't laughing as hard. I know she's our baby but she is just SO CUTE!!! She is down for the night and she didn't even cry tonight. I guess she is worn out from all her crying at the Dr's office.

Zoe has grown so much! She weighed 13 lbs 9 ounces putting her in the 50th percentile for weight and was 25 inches tall which puts her in the 75th percentile for height. I don't know where she is getting her height from since Calvin and I are both on the short side. She got 3 shots on her leg which made her very very mad. She was in a good mood when her pediatrician came in to see her but then she started to scream and cry. Her Dr. was amazed at how she could go from happy to upset in a split second! The girl can cry!!!

Calvin was on call this weekend so he had to spend the night at the hospital. We went to keep him company for a few hours. Zoe still LOVES to put her fingers in her mouth along with everything else she can grab hold of.
Zoe likes to try and hold the bottle and bring it up to her mouth. She was good and slept in her carrier while she was at the hospital.
Zoe doesn't look too comfy on her knees like that.

Tummy time on the hospital bed.

Zoe woke up from a 3 and 1/2 hour nap and was in the best mood ever. Actually, I had to wake her up. I just turned the lights on and moved her a bit and let her wake up on her own 15 minutes later. She had just enough time to play a bit, eat, bathe, then go down for the night. You don't want to be around Zoe if she hasn't had her beauty sleep. She was one grumpy girl earlier today. It's amazing she can still sleep another 12 hours at bedtime! She better wake up in a great mood tomorrow morning.

Calvin said she woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. Yesterday I put her head by the crib mirror and it messed up her entire day and I think she is still trying to catch up on her sleep. The girl can't have any distractions in her crib when she is trying to sleep. I already had to take off her mobile because it was distracting her too much. I have to put her head on the other end with no mirror. She struggled to fall asleep for her third nap of the day but I think it will be a good one. Today is her 4 month birthday so hopefully she will be in a better mood when she wakes up. I weighed her today and she weighed exactly 14 pounds. I'm not sure how tall she is but she fits 6 month clothes lengthwise so I guess she is tall enough. She's been sleeping for almost an hour. I hope she naps at least another hour so I can get some work done around the house.

Zoe likes to put Lily the leap frog's hand in her mouth.

Calvin and Zoe were watching a Baby Einstein DVD on his computer. Zoe was really happy sitting on Daddy's lap and watching her show with him.

Today is day 27 of Zoe's sleep training. She is doing so much better the last 2 days. Her naps were kind of a mess because they were dwindling down to just half an hour to 45 minutes about 3 or 4 times a day. I wasn't sure what had happened to her naps but since she slept so well at night I didn't think it really mattered. I met a girl from Zoe's infant playgroup who is also sleep training her daughter. She told me to just leave Zoe in her crib if she wakes up after 30 minutes. She told me that if she hasn't slept enough, she will most likely go back to sleep. I tried it yesterday and it worked. She napped for an hour and half yesterday. I actually had to wake her up at 5:30pm so that her bedtime wouldn't be messed up. I never ever wake Zoe up when she is sleeping so it was strange to wake her up when she looked so peaceful. When I woke her up she was groggy but she ate, bathed and then was back in bed at 7pm until 7am this morning. She napped for almost 2 hours this morning. I did the same thing my friend told me to do. When Zoe woke up after 30 minutes, she looked wide awake and was cooing. I just left her there and she fussed for a minute and then sucked her thumb and fell back asleep. She woke up again after 15 minutes and started to fuss and looked really grumpy. She finally got her thumb again after 2 minutes and was back asleep. I guess I was just getting her out of her crib too soon when she really needed to sleep. Calvin texted me earlier saying that he was going to sleep train me because I am not getting enough sleep. He said that I needed to nap because I keep falling asleep at 8pm when we are trying to watch TV. I'm supposed to be napping right now while Zoe is napping but I got distracted and here I am posting a blog! Anyway, who has time to nap? There are just too many things to do around the house.

Zoe seemed to enjoy tummy time a lot more today. She stayed on her tummy for a little over 10 minutes and did not cry. She hasn't rolled over ever since we were at the photographers studio. Every time something new happens, it seems to happen once and then we have to wait a while for her to do it again.

Everything goes into Zoe's mouth. We were outside watching Calvin chop off some hedges behind our garage. Zoe doesn't enjoy being in her carrier for very long. This time she managed to stay in it for half an hour without fussing too much.

Zoe Kae and Mimi. Look how well 6 month old clothes fit her.
Smiling for the camera.
Hmmmm.....I wonder if Zoe likes progressive trance music like Calvin does.
This is one of the many outfits MiMi bought Zoe Kae. She looks best in this baby pink color.

Calvin's mom came up on Valentine's day so we were able to have a date night. We went to dinner at Hibiscus and then came home. It was nice being able to relax and actually enjoy our meal. We usually have to eat really fast and one of us have baby duty while the other scarfs down the food.

I've been trying to get Hans used to seeing Zoe on the ground. I'm hoping this will help Hans feel more comfortable when Zoe starts to crawl around the house.

Hans checking on Zoe.

Officer Hans is making sure Zoe is playing safely in her pack and play. We call him officer Hans because he enforces the house rules to Lucy. If Lucy gets on the sofa and we yell at her to get off, Hans starts to bark at her until she gets off. He is a very good officer and keeps Lucy in line.

She fell asleep at 5:30 pm last night and then cried because she was hungry at 4:15 am and then went right back to sleep after she ate. She then woke up at 8 am. You would think that I would be well rested but I'm more tired today. I kept thinking she was going to wake up at any minute and didn't really get much rest. I kept checking on her on the monitor to make sure she was ok. I wonder what she will do tonight. I would like for her to fall asleep at 8 pm so that she can spend some time with Calvin but I guess the girl is tired.

I thought I put Zoe down for a short nap at 5:30 pm but she is still sleeping and it is 7:45 pm. It is now past her bedtime so she better sleep for the night. She usually wakes up somewhere between 7 and 8 am. I wonder if she'll sleep until her usual wake time. According to the sleep training book I'm reading, babies like to wake up around the same time no matter what time they go to bed. I kind of doubt she can sleep 13 1/2 hours but I guess I will find out tomorrow morning. I didn't even change her into her pajamas, and she did not eat enough today. She didn't even get her bedtime dose of her reflux medicine. I have a feeling I might be up at 3 am doing baby duty. I guess trying to show off in front of the photographer really wore her out today!

I took Zoe to have some pictures taken and she was so good in front of the camera. I couldn't believe how good she was. She even loved being on her tummy. She actually rolled over onto her back today at the studio. Of course it startled her and she started to cry. I told our photographer that Zoe was showing off in front of her. She took pictures for 45 minutes in many different poses. Some in the nude and some with her pretty blue dress on. I really think Zoe enjoyed it and she seemed to be posing for the camera. I know I enjoyed it. It was like a workout for me. I was all over the place with a little toy making noises trying to get her to smile. The photographer said that some moms just sit in the chair and don't get into it. That definitely was not me today because I broke out into a sweat trying to get her to look and smile! We'll be going back for more pictures when she is 6, 9 and 12 months and all the pictures will be made into a coffee table book. I can't wait for her pictures to be ready.

I gave Zoe the doll her MiMi bought her and she really seemed to enjoy the doll. It is one of the Taggies toys which is perfect for Zoe since she likes to shove everything into her mouth. It was so funny seeing her trying to put the doll in her mouth. Here are some of the pictures of her trying to eat her doll.

This doll is yummy!

Those taggies sure feel nice on my gums.

I love you baby doll!

Hi baby doll! Will you be my friend?

Here's Zoe in her Daddy's chair. Calvin was still sleeping which is why the seat was empty. As soon as he wakes up, he will be sitting in front of the computer. Calvin likes this picture since she has on some purple and is in front of the computer.

Zoe is constantly putting her fingers in her mouth and sucking her thumb. Now her little thumb is all red at the tip. I put this ring in her hand and she grips it tight and then tries to put her hand in her mouth. She hasn't figured out that she needs to let go of it if she wants her thumb. Sometimes she can still manage to suck her thumb while she holds the ring but not that well. I have to think of something else soon because she will probably figure it out soon.

Lucy, our dalmatian, was in front of Zoe. Zoe loves to look at Lucy. Lucy is not as interested in Zoe as our other dog Hans. Since Hans is a dobermann and all black, Zoe doesn't seem to enjoy looking at him as much. Hans loves Zoe and continues to lick her all the time.

Look how big she looks in big girl clothes. I put her on our sofa but she just kept sliding down.

So she really laughed today. She had been shrieking when she got excited and was also doing a lot of silent laughing but never REALLY laughed. I had my hair wrapped up in a towel. One of those special towels for your hair. Well, Zoe kept looking at my head when she was in her bouncer chair. I put my head down on her lap so she could feel my towel. I felt her put her hands on my head. I picked up my head and looked at her and she thought that was the funniest thing ever. I guess she thought I looked really silly with a white turban like thing on my head. Anyway, her laugh was kind of like a low chuckle. It was so funny and cute. It was a lot of fun. She did it again and again so I had a blast.

Today is day 12 of sleep training. It went really well. She hardly cried for her 4 naps today. She only cried a total of 18-19 minutes today trying to fall asleep and that was pretty much all at bedtime. I am still keeping track of her crying if you couldn't tell. I must sound crazy but I write down how many seconds she's been crying. Maybe I just have too much time on my hands?

Please get me out of here! Mommy thinks a picture of me in the laundry basket is cute. Please help her before she gets carried away with the camera and thinks of something else. Amen. Love Zoe.

Zoe is getting stronger and is almost ready to roll over. She's been close a few times but no luck yet. I just can't wait until she can roll over. She is going to be really surprised. I hope I have a camera handy to capture her surprised look on her face.

So today is day 9 of her sleep training. Zoe has been sleeping 12 hours a night for the last 2 nights without having to wake up and eat. It's wonderful! Her naps seem more regular too. She's taking her second nap right now. It's just amazing how she can fall asleep on her own now. I'm still keeping track of her sleep patterns and crying time. She's up to 15 1/2 hours of sleep (bedtime and 3 naps) and somewhere around 30 minutes to an hour of crying for the whole day.

We both love DJ Turner!

Zoe loves her Daddy AKA "DJ Turner". Calvin likes to play with Zoe and pretend that she is spinning some records and listening to her headphones. It's really funny! Zoe likes it and smiles and silent laughs.

Zoe gained a lot of weight this week. Her face is really filling out and she has a tummy and big thighs with lots of rolls. It is so cute. I just want to squish her all the time!

Zoe is a thumb sucker and I've lost my mind! She learned how to suck on her thumb last night during one of her naps. When I got her up, she was sucking her thumb and her pointer finger was in her eye. Not just near it, I mean in her eye. Her eyelid was over her finger. It totally freaked me out and I was panic stricken. I had Calvin hold her while I quickly made a little glove out of one of her socks with a cutout for her thumb. I put the glove on her but the threads from the sock were coming out and getting in her mouth. I was now frantically trying to get the sock fibers out of her mouth. I then started to sew the edges of the sock so that the thread would not come apart on the sock. When I put it on her, she was not happy but it made me feel better. I was worried that her fingers would poke her eye and scratch her cornea and also impair her vision and maybe go blind. Calvin thinks I lost my sanity when I had Zoe because I worry about everything. I was still really worried and really wanted to call the pediatrician's office but I knew I would sound crazy. Calvin could tell that I was completely stressed out so he told me to get it over with and to call the office. He knew that it would be a very long night of me worrying if I didn't call. I called the office and the nurse said Zoe would be fine. She said that if it hurt, she won't do it again. She got a good laugh out of my craziness. I told her about the sock I put on her hand and she giggled and said other moms do that too. I told her I made a cutout for her thumb and sewed the sock so the threads would not get in Zoe's mouth and she really laughed. I think I made her night. Calvin said that it is mother's like me that freak out over everything that brings in business for the pediatricians. Oh well, peace of mind is worth the $25 copay!

Happy 100th day birthday Zoe!