Zoe - ready to rock

and ROLL!!! Zoe rolled at home on Saturday, but we were told she rolled at daycare on Friday, too. She is getting pretty good at front to back rolls, though she hasn't been caught on tape yet.

She is spending a good deal of time up on her hands and knees, however.
Here's a short video of her. Notice that she follows Quinlan wherever he goes.

A beautiful smiling girl

Proud brother and a happy sister

Mommy and Q at the splash park spending quality time before school started back--this was taken after they went down the "big slide". Q didn't really like it.

Zoe in her fancy bathing suit and hat combo

Quinlan jumping into the pool.
He loves swimming and
is getting to be quite a little water bug.

Q and Z visit Pennsylvania

The Stevenson/Riedlinger clan made a successful trek north to visit family in Pennsylvania. Zoe followed her big brother's lead, and they both traveled well on the plane.

We were able to visit with many different relatives:

Great-Grandma Mammy

Cousin Jillian represented her generation of the Care crew.

Great-Uncle Stan, showing he has the skills to be a granddad, too.

Mossil (Jared's Mom), the proud grandmother of her first female descendant.

Paging Dr. Stevenson!

Zoe getting held by her great-grandmother, Mom-Mom.

Q sharing his snacks with his great grandparents.

Pop, sharing his fruit with Q.

Fossil, hanging with his granddaughter. Zoe loved his attention.

Singing the hammock song, on the hammock

The Stevenson girls

Q creating with Play-Doh.

Making puzzles, a newer passion for Q
He is extremely proficient at the 48 piece ones, and we are ready for the next challenge. It won't be long until he and his mom are tackling giant puzzles together.

Watching Eric Herman videos on YouTube
(The Elephant Song and Blackbeard, Bluebeard and Redbeard - A Pirate Story-- those are almost as good as The Duck Song-- almost.)
Not sure who likes them more.

Uncle Jason (and Aunt Elena in the background) spending some quality time with Zoe.

Pops (Jared's Dad) reading Q's new book from Minnesota (Thanks Aunt Meg!).

Mossil and the swing
All three of them would spend the night there if they didn't think they would be eaten alive by mosquitoes.

Then we returned to Dallas. We were able to visit with Katharine's parents a bit before and after our time in PA.

Grandpa Roy, trying not to be chewed on by Zoe, who is known to put anything within reach in her mouth.

We don't have photos of everyone we saw. Notably missing are Katharine's Aunt Meg, who was able to stop by and see us, and Q's Auntie Kie, who is always full of excitement and fun. I'm sure there are pics of Grandma MJ, too, but most likely on her camera.
It was wonderful to see everyone, and now we're gearing up for our first school year with two small ones. There's never a dull moment!

Z's 3rd Month

On July 8th, we celebrated 3 months with Zoe. I was ready to make a post, but then we went out of town and now I have several posts that need to be made.

After her 3rd month, Zoe weighed 14 lbs and 7 ounces as she still stretched 24.5 inches long. Her current hobbies include eating, standing up while holding hands with someone, eating, sleeping, eating, eating, and laughing at her brother.

A happy smiling little girl

Another blue-eyed babe, perhaps? Odd recessive genes . . .

Look how big I am!

Inquisitive? Contemplative? Looking for her next meal?

A loving brother, who always has kisses for his sister.

Photos from our trip north to come . . .

Rocking Out

My son, the heavy metal rocker, singing his favorite lullaby.

Overwhelmed - in a good way

The grass needs to be cut, the pool needs to be cleaned, and there are plenty of other chores that are waiting to be started and/or finished. That being said, I played several rounds of Hi-Ho-Cherry-O and Candyland today with Q and spent time bouncing Zoe, trying to burp her. That was only after I got home around 5:30; Katharine spent a good deal of the day in the same activity schedule.

We are now sitting and watching TV, with two sleeping children. It is a beautiful thing, and they are beautiful. As much as we love spending time with them, it is nice when everyone gets the sleep they need to.

In a much needed update - here are some photos (the top pictures are more recent).

Big brother taking care of Zoe

Just hanging out in my monkey pjs

Checking out the mobile in the big crib
She still sleeps in the cradle, but hangs in the crib in Q's room some of the time, too.

Grandma MJ and Zoe

Hanging out together on Q's bed

Grandpa Roy can find Goldbug. Why can't I?

Pops holds Zoe out by the pool.


Zoe at one month

Zoe at two months

Quite a crew

Q in his first bounce house--he loved it!

Momma and Zoe

Smiling at Auntie Jenni

Still smiling

Q carefully getting past Zoe in the tunnel.

Mossil and Q

Q wants to know why Zoe won't stop yelling while he is trying to watch his show.

Q dying Easter eggs.
He ended up getting sick and not doing a hunt, but he loved picking out the color of the egg to eat out of the refrigerator.

Grandma MJ and Zoe, both looking very fashionable

The little one

I'll try not to let two months go by without another post, but I do need to mow the lawn before it gets too tall. We are all happy and enjoying spending time together.

Zoe's bath and the slower blogs

It has been an eventful few weeks in Casa Stevenson-Riedlinger, where we had several firsts. Activities started with Q helping to feed Zoe her first bottle.

You can see him concentrating to make sure it stays in just the right place.

We also found that Zoe is a very happy side sleeper. Q always did better on his stomach, and it seems like his sister takes after him. She works her legs and hips until she is able to get over, which is very funny to watch.

Our little side-sleeper

Zoe has also had a few baths at home since the umbical stump fell off. The first one was quite exciting, with Q helping, water on the floor, and then, after we got her all cleaned up she decided to spit up and (stop here and skip past the picture if you prefer to not hear about some of the grosser things babies do) squirt poo right at her mom. I had stepped out of the bathroom for a minute and missed the full action, but it required washing a rug and Katharine changing her clothing. She's pretty amazing for such a small one.

I'm all cleaned up.

Many people have noticed the lack of posts recently. Part of that is just balancing time between Q and Zoe and sleep, and part of it is the beginning of a slow transition, with the fact that eventually, we will stop posting pictures of Q online. It is a difficult decision, and the plan is not to stop immediately, but over the next year or so.

Until then, we still have many happy moments to share - like Q was dancing last week - and he didn't seem to care that I started filming (check out the one minute mark!) he is really great fun.



Easter pics and more to come soon.