Here Comes A New Shelmet

We have been trying more and more to get Zoe to start eating solid foods. On the weekends we'll mix up a little oatmeal with some baby food and she has been really good at eating it. This week Cheryl was experimenting with giving her bits of food. First, there was the apple, which went over well... for the most part. She does really well at picking stuff up and, since everything she picks up goes into her mouth, eating was the next natural step. After the apple came the banana. For that Zoe had more of an audience. What a little monster.She didn't eat the whole thing, but she did take a big bite that made Cheryl and Mimi nervous. Expect a lot more where this came from and you can find them all in Zoe's set on Flickr.

So anyone who has seen some of the things that Cheryl and I did before Zoe was born will know that we are all about costumes. That being said, it should come as no surprise that shortly after Zoe was born I purchased a few costumes and had tried some of them out here and there. Well, today was no different. The dragon/Godzilla costume came out while Cheryl was out shopping and I took a few pictures. Here is the mayhem that Zoe-zilla unleashed on her unsuspecting duck and doll. No one is safe! You can witness all of this carnage, and more, in Zoe's set on Flickr. Later in the day, without the costume, Zoe was doing some serious damage to Sophie, her lovable, squeaky giraffe. I'm not sure what got into her, but she just kept chomping and smacking the poor thing. At the time I found this to be quite hysterical, but you can judge for yourself. I think that about does it for today. It was a very full weekend and hopefully Cheryl and Zoe enjoyed it as much as I did.

The plan today was to head up to Joe and Riley's house to spend some time with all the kids. They say in war that no battle strategy survives contact with the enemy. The same could be said for any plans we make and Zoe's cooperation. We were supposed to leave by 1:00pm, but little miss didn't want to nap until after that. At least it was bright enough in her room, and she was still out of it, so we could take some pictures. Once she was up, we packed the car and were on our way. It was a great day filled with grandparents, babies and grilled meats. Hank's not even a week old and already he's hung out with his cousins twice! Here's just a few of the pictures. I'm still not sure why Harlie was looking at me like that. I wasn't the one who farted. Anyway, like most posts, I'll end by saying that you can check out all of these, and more not only in Zoe's set on Flickr, but Harlie's and Hank's as well. It's really ju...

Weighing in at 6 lbs. 15 ozs and measuring 20 inches long, Henry "Hank" Andrew Shelmet was born. Now Zoe has two cousins, a boy and a girl, that I hope will be like best friends as they grow up. Before we left for the day, Cheryl and I tried to take some more 6 month pictures of Zoe. As she gets older, she becomes more mobile, which equates to being far more difficult to photograph. With the aid of her stuffed duck, we were able to get a few good shots from her. After that, we packed up into the car to head up to see Hank. Zoe had the chance to check out both of her cousins, as well as a number of other folks. Of course, it all ended with a nap on mom. So many new babies this weekend! Needless to say, Zoe was very tired and we're all happy that she'll be home with the nanny starting this week. As always, Zoe's set has all of these pictures and more.

Zoe turned 6 months old today. Like I have said before, it is hard to believe that so much time has passed. As Cheryl and I have said to one another on many occasions, the time seems to have flown by, but it took forever. So after a visit from Uncle Joe this morning, the family went to meet Orly for lunch. While we were there, we took some pictures on Zoe's first half birthday. She seemed to enjoy herself. For anyone who has seen Zoe with inanimate objects, she has a 2 phase plan for dealing with all of them. Phase 1 - Grab the object. Phase 2 - Pu that object in her mouth. Well, when the bread came, I took a roll and held it in my hand. She would only gently caress it let alone pick it up and put it in her mouth. So I set it on the table to see if there would be a different reaction, but I just got more of the same. Here she is, just hovering her hand over the roll. After that, we made a trip to Gigi's to see Lilly. We arrived just in time to join them for her firs...