Lately she seemed bored with her chair that we usually put her in to play.  She wants to sit up and interact more with her toys so we pulled out the stand up toy center our friends gave to us before Zelda was even here.  She LOVES this thing.  Right now her favorite toy is the ball she can bat about and make spin, but she does check out the other toys and will engage with them when we swivel her around in the seat.    

Also I think she likes to be able to bounce on her feet and kick them while she's playing.  After a few minutes standing to play the other night she unfurled her toes and seemed to enjoy scrunching them back and forth on the rug in her room. 

PS - Bear with me as I'm trying to take better pictures with Zach's camera instead of just relying on the iPhone for the blog.  I'm still learning how to use it.  Its so fancy.  Of course, I take hundres of pictures of Zelda on my phone and its always with me so there will still be some of those photos.  Plus I can blog directly from my phone, which comes in handy especially when we're travelling. 

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Purple is the color of love,
Purple is the color I dream of.
Purple is the color of passion,
Purple is the latest fashion.
Purple is the color of glad,
Purple is the best color they had.
Purple is the color of laughs,
Purple is what he said on my behalf.
Purple is the color of me,
Purple is the best, you see. 

 By Luna Moon

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Zelda has been pulling her head and shoulders forward (pictured above, but hard to catch with a photo) trying to sit up in her chair, so we gave it a try.

She can sit up for about 15 seconds by herself with some bobbing and weaving of her head (hence the blurry pictures, well that and doing the snapping one handed to have the other free to catch her).

I managed to get a short video of her sitting on the bed this afternoon.

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I think she'll have this sitting up thing down in no time, which will give us lots of time to work on rolling over and crawling.

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Temperatures all month have been cold, really cold.  That's severely curtailed Zelda and I getting out to ski.  We generally won't take her out for prolonged periods of time unless its at least ten degrees above zero.

So yesterday I was able to get some mama time in and go for a snow bike ride with Kelly while the hubbies watched kids and worked on a house project. 

The trails were great, a byproduct of super cold tempertures.  Also the sun was shining.  It was a lot of fun and I was glad to be outside again.

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Taken by her papa yesterday morning:

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A great photo taken during our trip to Iowa in mid-December.  Zelda has changed so much in the short time since then.

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That's what I've been having the past couple of weeks, making little odds and ends for Zelda.  I'm obsessed with making baby shoes.  They are so easy and quick and look so darn cute.  Plus they help hold her socks on when her legs are kickin' up a storm, which is often these days.

The new bibs are made of oil cloth for easy washing after Zelda's had some solid food.  I just love oil cloth, especially these bright patterns.  I've put pockets on the front of some of the bibs to catch bits and pieces of food when she graduates to eating non-pureed solids.

I also used oil cloth to make Zelda a larger dirty diaper dry sack, instead of having two small ones constantly full.  Again, I love the pattern on this oil cloth.  Since its in her changing area, she gets to look at it while her diaper gets changed and she seems to really like the pattern.

I took about five minutes today to make Zelda this headband.  For the most part I've decided not to make hair bows, but the headband was super easy and just took a scrap of fabric and a touch of elastic.  I like how its wider than her other headbands which seem to get lost in her hair.

I've also made her a new car seat blanket as the other one was getting a lot of action and I'm afraid it will fall apart from so many washings.  I love this blue and green color combination.

I made her this little shirt awhile ago, but needed Zach to lend me a hand with getting the snap on it.  It's hard to see under the bib, but the green print material is flannel and the yoke is made of some men's brown striped suiting I had in my stash.  The suiting is super soft and stretchy, which makes it perfect to be around her little chin and also helps in getting the shirt over her head. Unfortuantely, I think since it took me so long to finish it may only get worn once or twice by her before its passed on to another little one.

And finally, Zach and I have been working on a quilt for Zelda.  Below is a picture of one of the log cabin blocks.  I'm finishing up the handtying and we hope to bind it this weekend.  I'm very excited about how this quilt is turning out as its only my second attempt at making a quilt and the first left a lot of room for improvement.  I think Zach doing the cutting helped immensely as he's much more precise than I am.  Once it's bound, we'll post a picture.

As always, there are more sewing projects on the horizon, but I'm trying not to start anything new until after we finish the quilt.

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We've always been a food centric family, but with Zelda starting solid foods, its perhaps magnified a little as we decide which foods to have her try.  I really enjoying making baby food and its super easy and quick.  Zelda likes to watch and seems really interested when we cook. Her foods to date have been avacado, sweet potato and roasted squash.  She seems to like everything so far.  This weekend we'll give pears and apples a try.  I love the action shots Zach has been able to get of Zelda eating.

These are some random food related photos I snapped over the last couple of nights as I practice using Zach's camera.  I'd like to take more pictures with something other than just my iPhone. 

What's on your menu for this evening?  We have a wonderful eggplant rollatini planned to take over to some friends' house and as a bonus we get to meet their brand new daughter.  I can't wait!

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Story time last night:

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I head back to work tomorrow part time, so maybe, just maybe, Zach will be posting more regularly on the blog now that he'll be home with Zelda about 2 days per week.  Wouldn't you all love a blog post about his first trip to baby yoga with Zelda on Wednesday?  I know I would!  Nothing like a little cyber-peer pressure to perhaps make that a reality. ;)

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Waiting to take the first bite.

The first bite.

The food really did end up inside her mouth.

"Gimme that spoon!" ~ Zelda

Yesterday we decided to give solid food a go.  Zelda has been eyeing the food we eat and watching us closely for a couple of weeks now.  I think all that close studying paid off.  We decided to start her off with some homemade avocado baby food.  Basically, an avocado smashed up with a little formula until silky smooth.  She really seemed to like it and by the end was trying to control the spoon.  I think we'll try sweet potatoes next.

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Well, technically 17 and a half weeks, yesterday at her check-up.

Length: 24.5 inches, 50th percentile
Weight: 14 lbs. 1oz., 50th percentile
Head: 50th percentile

Zelda is a perfectly developing baby with just a little dry skin. We'll take that kind of report from the doctor any day!

Another milestone, we're cleared to give solid food a try, but will probably wait until Saturday unless Zelda manages to actually nab some food while she grabs at our plates in the meantime.

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As my family leave draws to an end with only a week left to go, I decided I'd keep track of what Zelda and I did today. The good news is that Zach and I've decided I will only go back to work part-time. So, today is probably a good indication of what our life will be like while I am trying to work part-time and care for Zelda. I get to start out gently though with Zach staying home about 2 days per week working from home so that I can work at the office part-time without Zelda for a couple of months. Of course, once his leave is over, we'll have to go to the office more, but those days aren't that different than today, just a different location.

My morning started at 8am with the coffee Zach left for me on the dresser (the most awesome wedding vow ever!) and work and personal emails. I also managed to get some travel plans finalized for a trip we'll be taking in March. I was able to work until a little after 9 when both the dogs and Zelda demanded their breakfasts.

After Zelda was fed, changed and in clothes for the day, we played. Zelda spent a lot of time today exploring some of her toys mainly with her mouth and working on her coordination, grabbing the toys and getting them to her mouth herself.

Afterwards, I snuck in some tummy time for Zelda while she was facinated by the good looking baby in the mirror. She's not always so happy about tummy time, but if she's distracted she doesn't seem to mind as much.

After all that playing Zelda was ready for another bottle. Lucky for mama, after her second bottle of the day, Zelda is ready for a nap. 

That means brunch for me about 11:30 and finishing up whatever work tasks I still have pending from the morning. I'm finding brunch isn't just for the weekend anymore and neither is bacon.

I also manage to get some clothes other than pajama pants on.  On snowy days like today, I shovel the drive. Armed with the appropriate gear, including a baby monitor, I headed outside.

Just as I finished and made it back inside about 40 miutes later, Zelda was back up and ready for more play. She sat in her bouncy chair while I told her stories and stuffed diapers.

Next it was time for a book and more toys and tummy time and finally her third bottle of the day.

Then time for another nap for Zelda. This one was short, less than an hour, enough time for me to do a load of laundry and finish up work for the day.

When Zelda got up from her nap, we look at options for dinner and then learned that papa would be home early and able to go to the store on his way home. That meant dinner was decided and it was time to play some more.

When Zach came home he took over primary care of Zelda (and my picture taking tapered off severely), while I got to make sweet potato brown butter roles and granola. 

Zelda's eyes grew heavy and she snoozed again for a while. Just enough time for us to make dinner.

Up from her nap in time to join us while we ate and to have a bottle herself. After dinner her evening was full of play with her papa, sitting in her bumbo, exploring more toys and some more tummy time while I shoveled out a path to the chicken coop to check on the ladies. Then it was time for pjs and off to bed about 8:30pm for Zelda.

Zach and I will wrap up the evening blogging, doing dishes and maybe having a nightcap before seeing how long each of us can stare at our books (our excuse for reading these days) before nodding off for the evening.

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Last night Zach had a meeting to go to, so Zelda and I decided after some crafty time with Auntie Karen that we'd relax with a nice bath.  Zelda really enjoyed being in the big tub and playing with, er eating, her rubber duckies.

The one in the pictures below lights up when its on the water.  Zelda spent a lot of time tracking it down until she got a hand on it and then bringing it up to her mouth to give it a taste.

Afterwards, Zelda spent some time chilling out in her super comfy pink giraffe towel.

And finally, feeling refreshed by the bath, decided to dance a bit before getting her pjs on.

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Continuing to work on grasping and grabbing, Zelda really seems to like playing with her rattle and seeing if she can get it to go in her mouth.

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Zelda has really taken to this monkey and she is also now picking up her burp rags and putting them in her mouth.

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Twas the night before the night before Christmas,

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2011 was a big year for our family with the addition of Zelda in September.  After an initial trip to Dallas in August to meet our birth mom and test whether we could survive the Texas heat, we headed south again over Labor Day weekend and then awaited her arrival.  She showed up right on time and we spent the next couple of weeks getting to know each other before we all returned to Alaska as a family of three.

Of course with the addition of a baby, our fall and winter have been filled with firsts for Zelda.  Her first Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  

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Unfortunately, with the addition, there was also a loss.  We lost one of our chickens and the egg production seems to have tapered a bit as a result.

Before the arrival of Zelda, Zach and I had a busy first 8 months of the year.  We undertook many house projects, including painting the exterior of our house from yellow to blue, a garden and a new hive of bees.

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The summer wedding season also found us busy.  We made pies for our friends Kim and Andy's wedding at the end of June and the next weekend, I decorated a wedding cake and Zach officiated the marriage ceremony of our friends Kelly and Forrest.

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See the full gallery on Posterous

Overall we had a pretty awesome year and we look forward to what 2012 has in store for us. Happy New Year!

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