candids of the monkey

With Eva...With Mommy...

With Tatyana...With Dada...
With food... (she just shoved an entire pretzel in her mouth here)

I finally got around to downloading the old pictures onto the computer. (Now I just have to do the new ones, ha ha!)

So, Zola is every day surprising us with new or advancing little skills and I feel like I can't keep up. She can really get around the room and we are NOT ready for that yet. As I type, I had to get up twice to set her away from the drawers with batteries in them that aren't child-locked yet. I know, I know. We're awful parents. Tell me about it.

Zola - 11 Months

It seems like she was born a few months ago, but she's just a few weeks shy of her first birthday. I can still remember the exact moment that the doctor placed her on my tummy for the first time and the bright, penetrating gaze that she gave me. It sends shivers down my spine. And today, she dropped her sippy cup and said, "Uh-Oh."

We were discussing how to describe becoming a parent, and came to the sad conclusion that all you can do is repeat the clichés. "They change your life" "They grow up so fast" "You never knew what it meant to love before this" and more. But, those statements don't carry any real meaning until that moment when they are your reality... and then the weight of those words is no longer empty and frivolous.

I've really enjoyed being a mom. It's so exhausting and rewarding and wonderful and awful all at the same time.

I'll post some candid pics from this month in a few days.