19 whole freakin' months

BEAN!

Sometimes I worry that these letters to you will all be basically the same - some variation of me saying, "God, Zoe, could you be any more awesome? This month you were awesome in ______ way and super awesome in _______ way. You are, in a word, awesome."

But who cares because at least it would be true.



This month your Dad and I took you to New York City to see Irene and FJ get married. You were quite skeptical of the whole affair, but I think that is because you finally realized that he was tying the knot and that you WEREN'T the bride. Ah, such is life. Still, you looked lovely. There were donuts instead of cake and pigs in blankets and your Grandma Patty and Aunt Jess were there doting on you.



You took NYC by storm - giving everyone, everywhere the stare of death. You would just stop in your tracks and stare at people in the most, dare I say, AWESOME way. It's like you're going to shoot lasers out of your eyes. Or like you're reading their thoughts and having to sift through a bunch of junk to get to the good stuff. Aunt Jess took you into a pizza parlor and the guy working there said, "Why is she doing that to me!? She's givin' me the business!" People say, "she's so serious!" which is kind of funny because geez, you're not serious. You just don't know why they exist and they need to get out of your way, clearly.



This month we also painted a wall in our house with chalkboard paint. It's really cool. Adds a lot of character to our very beige house. You love it and are always wanting people to "cogor!" (color) with you.





You're talking all the time, learning new words every single second and growing up right before my eyes. You have an awesome little sense of humor (you will say, "please, baby please!" and dance around when you're asking for something) and you smile big, huge smiles. Of course there are also times when you aren't getting what you want and you shriek like a mermaid and try and shatter all of the glass in the house. But, whatever.



In a few weeks we are leaving for Michigan for a whole month. You were there last summer but let's face it, you were a baby and spent most of your time just eating sand. Now you're a big girl and we're going to swim in the lake and walk on the beach and build sand castles and eat ice cream and wonder how Grandma Patty ended up having a giant dog living at her house. It's going to be great!

Ah, I love you sweet girl. Tons and tons and tons. You are EVERYTHING.

Love,
Mama

Dear 2nd time in New York before you're 1 Zoe by Aunt Jess

In this paragraph I compare you to Iron Man
OH. MAN. I mean, where do I even begin? You are by far the BEST person I have ever met and the crazy thing is, every time I see you, you become even MORE AWESOME. It's as if you have an awesome machine inside of you that just won't quit. You're like baby Iron Man (he has some weird thing in his chest) but you're way cooler and smarter and cuter. But you are definitely ALL POWERFUL with the awesome.



So you and your mom came to New York to cheer me up and it was quite possibly the best time ever. First you were a rascal on the plane (you were doing your mermaid screeching on the 2nd leg of the flight) and in the car on the way home from the airport you were just so fed up with being in that blasted car seat, you just started talking and talking and doing this totally cute thing that you do that sounds like "loooodloddodododododloododododdo". It made my heart swell to the size of a building. You are just so unbelievably cute in every way.

You are much more weary of strangers and people you haven't been around in a while (like me, you're best friend) that you were the last time I saw you. You have this hilarious stare, where you look at someone with the most serious face that has ever been worn by a human and what I think you are doing is....staring into people's souls.



You stared into my soul for about a minute and then you remembered that we are best friends and you were all "LET'S HIT THE TOWN BEST FRIEND". Phew, I was so glad that you remembered that we are soul mates and that we understand each other right down to the core. You especially like it when we dance around and slide from one end of the room to the other. You just laughed and laughed and it was indeed the best medicine for me in the whole wide world.



In this paragraph I compare you to a Baby Werewolf
I definitely concur with your mother, in that you have rightfully received the title of Baby Werewolf. You do all this super adorable growling and scratching and you get so excited when you "crash" things down with a sly attack. You're mom says "Crash them down Zoe!" and you squeal with delight as you knock over towers of tupperware. You are so excited in fact, that you shake your legs around and scream!!! I mean it is JUST SO MUCH FUN YOU CAN BARELY EVEN HANDLE IT!!! Everyone laughs and you laugh and then we set up the tupperware towers again and you get an amazing twinkle in your eye because you are so smart you know that you are going to knock them over again and THAT WILL SO TOTALLY RULE!







You also love the playground. You are definitely a woman on the go, and once out and about you are just so full of wonderment. It is such an amazing experience to watch how you take the world in, you are so curious about everything. It became quite chilly in NYC, so we had to buy you a little pink hat and it was so cute I thought my brain would explode. Seriously. Look.



In this paragraph I compare you to a mermaid
We were very busy here because you have TONS of fans in New York. We had visitors every single day! FJ had dinner with us twice. Well, he took you and he was kind enough let us tag along, he really only has eyes for you. You and Lynnel made fast friends and she took amazing photos of you (some are in this post). She calls you "little lady" and you were fast friends. She has a little nephew that she is organizing to be your husband because the cute overload of you together would solve world hunger and allow peace to prevail on earth. Irene came over and you played on the dishwasher with her for hours, I can tell that if she was around longer you two would have really broken life down for the rest of us. Roger came over and you gave him the soul stare and then you cried because a) you take longer to warm up to gentlemen (you like ladies better and who could blame you) and b) he tried to kiss your arm and you were all "dude, you have to work up to that" and started screaming like a mermaid. It was a lot of new people to meet at once and you are sooooooooooooooo in love with your momma that you barely have the patience for "your fans". Though you could do your mom a favor and let her sleep every now and then. Right now you wake up with your mermaid screeching and then put your head back down and go to sleep, then do it again and again and again. Then you wake up after about an hour thinking it's time for a new day filled with fun. You are so mad to find out, it is, in fact, still night that you screech. We think you are getting more teeth. Either that or you just have a lot of things to tell the mermaids about life "inland".



Oh Zoe, it was so amazing to have you here. The next time I see you will be at Christmas and I am pretty sure you will be winning a nobel prize by then. I look forward to meeting "Zoe at 1 year old". I really am just counting the days little girl....until we're best friends together again.




Much love,
Aunt Jess

athlete zoe

This photo cracks me up. It was taken in NYC - Jessie's roommate Lynnel took it while I was napping and she and Jess were playing dress up with Zoe B.

Pilot Zoe

In the minneapolis airport play area.

On the way home!

Eating a bagel at LGA

At the park down the street

We visited a nearby park today while Jess worked. Zoe loved it.

It's chilly in Brooklyn!

At Motorino with Aunt Jess

With my best friend

In my flight vest

On the plane to New York!

Home again, home again jiggety jig

We're home, but my sweet baby is sick with a cold. We are not sleeping well and are generally a little irritable. Bottom tooth still taking its sweet time to pop through.
Wah.

Headed back home

Basket o' baby

Last beach day with Aunt Jess

Tomorrow Aunt Jess leaves to go back to big yucky New York and Saturday we leave to go back to Kansas City. Here we are all windblown on the beach in Suttons Bay.

Greene family reunion

Today we had a great time with our peeps on my Dad's side out at Point Betsie. The water was ridiculously cold, but we had fun. It was great to introduce Zoe to her extended family.

Here she is with my cousin Steve: (We all agree he looks just like a younger version of my Dad.)


Here's where we spent the afternoon:



All the kids:

Bandana Party

Waiting for Jess and Grammy

Almost mobile.

Zoe is days away from crawling. Or moments really. Jessie is here and we think maybe she's held off crawling to learn it with her best friend.

She loves her Grammy P