Zoe is 4 and a half!

I cannot believe I am writing this update. I do not want to admit that Zoe is halfway to 5. But, I know that even if I am in denial, she is actually four and a half. She is just growing up way too fast and I really wish I could slow down time. Zoe has grown and changed so much the past 6 months. She’s had a lot of big firsts as well so it has been a busy 6 months for this little girl.

Zoe is now 41.25” tall. She is wearing mostly size 4T clothes. She can wear a few 5T tops but they are hand me downs so it is hard to know if they are actually true to size. She is wearing size 9 shoes. She is actually able to still wear a lot of the clothes she wore last fall. I even found a picture of her wearing a dress 2 falls ago that she was wearing just the other day. She is growing but is still so petite.

One big event that happened during the past 6 months was having her tooth pulled. The tooth she chipped back at the beginning of quarantine (right before her 3rd birthday) ended up getting infected. We think she hit it again when she and Ava were playing. She had been complaining about it hurting and thankfully had a dentist appointment coming up. The dentist noticed a bulge in her gums right above the tooth and said it was probably infected and needed to come out. We scheduled an appointment for that a few weeks later but 2 days later she started running a fever with no other symptoms. Thankfully, DJ had the thought that it could be the tooth, which it was. They put her on an antibiotic and moved her appointment up. The process of having the tooth pulled was very traumatic for DJ and I but Zoe doesn’t remember a thing. She was so out of it and doesn’t remember screaming (wanting to get out of the straps they had her in to keep her still). We are so thankful she doesn’t remember it! She looks super cute with her gap tooth smile too!

Another big event from the past 6 months was Zoe’s first dance recital. This happened just 2 days after she started the fever for the tooth. We were nervous she would have to miss the recital until we realized what was actually causing the fever. We were so thankful she didn't have to miss it because she had worked so hard all semester learning her dances and was super excited to perform. She got to perform with her hip hop class to “Party Rock Anthem'' and with her ballet class to “Tomorrow” from Annie. She was a little nervous the day of the performance but she did great! We were so proud of how well she did. Over the summer she did 2 different dance camps and we got to go watch her dance on the last day of each camp. Now this fall, she is still doing her hip hop class. She looks forward to hip hop every week. She loves the dancing but also loves the tumbling part of the class. She has really perfected her bridge and her forward roll. They are just now making plans and starting choreography for their Christmas recital and we can’t wait to watch her perform again.

And perhaps the biggest change in the past 6 months is that Zoe started preschool. She goes to preschool Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings. Those might be her favorite days of the week. She loves feeling like a big kid getting dropped off in car line and walking right into school. Zoe loves her teacher, Mrs. Sharpe. She is also making some sweet friends. I think her best friend is a little girl named Chloe. Every day she and Chloe play with either legos or baby dolls. Each week they have a different letter and different theme they are learning about. Zoe is getting really great at recognizing her letters. She is also really good at writing them. She is such a little perfectionist so when she wants to learn how to write a letter she will work on it over and over until she gets it right (and sometimes gets very frustrated when she can’t figure it out). This girl loves learning and was made for school!

One area that hasn’t changed a ton in the past 6 months is the food she’s eating. She still eats like a bird most meals but she appears to be full and she’s growing so we don’t push her to eat too much. A new favorite food is grits. She loves to eat grits with butter for lunch. For a couple of weeks that was pretty much all she ate for lunch. She still loves her carbs and prefers to just eat bread and plain pasta. She also still loves fruit and avocado. She’s been big into smoothies lately, which is a great way to get veggies in her diet. One of her favorite snacks is pretzels dipped in peanut butter. She still eats her yogurt and applesauce pouches every morning for breakfast. 

Zoe’s favorites in other areas haven’t changed a ton in the past 6 months either. She still loves music and prefers Disney music to anything else (especially Disney Jr music like Mira the Royal Detective). Speaking of Mira, that is one of her favorite TV shows now. She also still loves Vampirina, Yoohoo to the Rescue, Puppy Dog Pals, and Gabby’s Dollhouse. But, her all time favorite TV show right now is Cocomelon. If she has a chance to watch TV without Ava (like during hair time or when I need to get a little work done), she always chooses Cocomelon. She is beyond excited for some new episodes to come out this week (as are we since we are a little tired of hearing the same songs over and over). 

Zoe’s favorite toys these days are anything she can build with. She has become obsessed with magnatiles. She will spend so much time building different houses/structures for her Little People princesses. She also loves to build with the waffle blocks and mega blocks. Like I said before, she says almost every day after school that she played with Legos. It is fun to watch her little engineering brain work as she creates these buildings. Maybe she will be an architect when she grows up! She also still loves her baby dolls. She went through a phase of not really playing with them but recently has been playing with them almost daily. She is a sweet little mama to her babies. But, the toy she is still completely attached to is Eeyore. She carries him everywhere, changes his clothes daily and sleeps with him every night. 

Zoe still loves to read books and loves to go to the library to pick out new books. Some new favorites from the library are the Click, Clack, Moo books. She loves these and thinks they are so funny. She also still loves any book about Winnie the Pooh (and of course Eeyore). Some other series she likes are Clifford, Angelina Ballerina, Fancy Nancy and any Disney princess books. She really loves any books with animals or babies in them and that is what she tries to find when we go to the library.

Zoe is still our little social butterfly. She is so happy now that we feel more comfortable going out and being around people (COVID has been hard for her little extroverted self). She loves going to church to see her friends and play on the new playground. She loves being with her dance friends. And she especially loves being at school and being around people. She gets so keyed up when we are around people and usually gets super silly. Sometimes it seems like she might be a little nervous around a crowd so she gets extra silly with one of us. But then she settles down and runs off to play. Speaking of silly, she still loves to make us laugh and is always trying to be funny (as you can see in some of these pictures). She makes us smile all the time with her smile that lights up the room. She does still have her attitude and gets very frustrated (especially when things don’t work the way she wants them to) but can usually calm down easily and use her words.

Zoe is still just such a joy to us and our family. We love her so much and are so thankful to have the privilege of watching her grow. But, as I’ve said before, we know someone very special is missing out on that privilege every day and we know how hard that is for her. We do not take any of this lightly and we think about Zoe’s birth mama all the time. We are so blessed to have her as part of our lives!

Happy half birthday, Zoe girl!! We love you to the moon and back!!

Recital Photos

We got back the professional photos from Zoe’s recital and the photographer got some amazing shots of Zoe and her dance friends!

Zoe’s First Day of 4K

The day has finally come for Zoe to have her very first day of school! She was beyond excited about starting school this year and was pretty much counting down the days. Her teacher gave her a sweet little note and a cut out heart to put under her pillow the night before school to help her get a good night’s sleep. Zoe had such a good first day. She loved every minute of it and said over and over again how much fun she had. I think her favorite part was being able to take Eeyore for show and tell. She had been so worried about not being able to have him at school so having him the first day helped settle the nerves a little.

Unfortunately, due to a summer cold (that we all passed around) and waiting on COVID test results for Ava (negative, thankfully), Zoe missed the next 2 days of school. But, she cannot wait to start back again! We are so thankful she gets to go to school this year and cannot wait to see all she learns and all the friends she makes.

Zoe’s First Day of Dance Fall 2021

Zoe’s next semester of dance started the first week of August. This semester she is just doing her tot hop and tumble class. This is the class that combines hip hop and tumbling. Because of preschool, we told her she needed to pick just one dance class this semester and she picked this class. She loves the beat of the music and the extra movement. This semester she has a new teacher, Miss Gabrielle and she loves her already. Zoe is the oldest in the class this semester instead of one of the youngest and it is fun to see how much she has improved! We can’t wait to see all she learns this semester!

Summer Camps 2021

This summer was our first summer venturing into summer camps. Both girls did 2 camps each over the summer. Both of their camps were local, no overnights yet, and they both had a blast.

Ava did 2 different art camps at Christ Church Episcopal School. The first one was a beach themed art camp and the second one was a magic themed art camp. She loved her camps and came home with lots of really awesome crafts. We were super proud of her for going to a brand new school where she didn’t know anyone and being super brave. She even made friends each week and loved it. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of her time at camp.

Zoe did 2 different dance camps at her dance studio. The first one was a Princess themed camp and the second one was a Moana themed camp. At the end of each camp, they did little performances for the parents and she did great. They danced every day and made fun crafts but Zoe’s favorite part was snack time. This was Zoe’s first time being away from us for 3 hours (other than with a grandmother babysitter) and she did so well! I do have some pictures from Zoe’s camps, thanks to the studio, so you can see our cute little dancer!

Charleston - Day 4

We ended our beach vacation on Ava’s birthday. Unfortunately, most of her birthday was spent in the car riding home. But, we made the most of our chances to celebrate her that day. We started with a special breakfast in downtown Charleston. Ava got to enjoy some yummy pancakes for her birthday. Then, we walked a different route back to the battery and got to see some more amazing houses. We walked back along the water and said our goodbyes to this gorgeous city. Once we got home, we celebrated the birthday girl with her presents. It was such a special trip to FINALLY be back at the beach as a family, to let Zoe FINALLY see the ocean and collect as many shells as she wanted and to celebrate our big 9 year old!

Charleston - Day 3

Our 3rd day in Charleston was very similar to the day before. We spent the morning at the beach. It wasn’t as hot this morning so it was very nice! The girls played in the sand and built sand castles. Zoe was very meticulous in arranging the sea shells on her castle and making sure every inch was covered. Zoe didn’t venture out into the waves this day but Ava did and she loved every minute of it! You can see the pure joy in her face!

That afternoon, we headed back into downtown Charleston. We took the girls to a bakery in town to get special treats for Ava’s birthday (a day early since we would be traveling on her actual birthday). Ava got a strawberry shortcake cupcake and Zoe got chocolate gelato. Then, we let them walk off the sugar by walking past Rainbow Row (picking out a house for each of us) and then all the way to battery park. It was hot but it was worth the walk to see the battery and gorgeous houses. Then, we made the trek back to the heart of downtown for supper.

After supper, we headed back to the beach for one last walk on the beach before heading home the next day. After this last walk, we had 2 trash bags full of shells to bring home! The girls were super excited to find their sand castles still in tact! Both girls couldn’t help but dance along the beach as we said goodbye to the beach.

Charleston - Day 2

Our 2nd day in Charleston involved a morning spent at the beach and an afternoon spent in downtown Charleston. The girls played in the sand and water and hunted for shells for hours! Ava couldn’t wait to splash in the waves. Zoe was a little hesitant but finally came out and loved it! That is, until we took her out a little farther and she had a wave crash in her face. She was done with the water after that. But, walking along the beach collecting as many shells as she wanted was a huge hit!

After we cleaned up at the hotel, we headed into downtown Charleston. We walked to the pineapple fountain park and then to the market. It was definitely a different experience going to the market with the girls and explaining the history to them. Zoe isn’t old enough to understand the significance of the Market but Ava does. It is eye opening to look at that historical place through the eyes of a brown skinned person and realize how significant it is to her history. The girls loved shopping in the market and checking out all the amazing items. Of course, they each left with a sweetgrass rose…can’t go to Charleston without getting one of those. It was a fun day together!

Charleston - Day 1

We FINALLY made it to the beach!! Zoe’s dream of seeing the beach finally came true this summer! I realized after the fact, that the last time we were at the beach was the first week of April 2017…when Zoe was born and we didn’t even know it! We spent 4 days in Charleston/Mt. Pleasant/Isle of Palms in July. We timed this trip to be there for Ava’s birthday, which ended up being a super fun way to celebrate her birthday.

They were calling for rain the day we were arriving (thanks to Hurricane Elsa) so we made plans to head straight to the aquarium. The girls really enjoyed the aquarium and seeing the sea turtle hospital. Once we finished there, we headed to our hotel to check in and eat supper. After supper, we surprised the girls and headed to the beach to walk around and let Zoe see the ocean for the very first time. We thought we’d just walk along the sand and put our toes in the water…but as you can see from the pictures the girls (especially Zoe) had different ideas. Zoe ended up completely soaked but it was worth it to see the joy on her face!

Dancing at the Drive Game

Zoe was invited to be part of a special event at a Greenville Drive baseball game. Her dance studio was hosting a princess night at the game and was going to be dancing on the field between one of the inning breaks. They invited the studio regulars who took part in their Princess Dance Camp this summer to do the dance. We agreed to let Zoe do it as part of a fun way to start our family vacation (we were heading to the beach the very next day). It was such a fun night! They hosted a special princess party before the game with 5 princesses. Then, after a rain delay, the girls danced with Mrs. Molly and Mrs. Beth to their Princess Tea Party dance after the first inning. We stayed for a few more innings to let the girls watch their very first baseball game. We had a great time and Zoe did such a great job dancing with Mrs. Beth (although, she was NOT a fan of Reedy, the mascot)! Again, we can’t say enough how much we love our dance studio!!