RACHEL LYNN IS HERE !!!!!!

Rachel Lynn Zook was born today, August 10, 2010 at 9:31am! She got here very quickly. (Erica and I got to the hospital at 6:45!) Rachel is 7 lbs. 5 oz. and 19 3/4 " long. Here's all the pics and vids :)






Natalie and Grandma Zook came to visit later in the afternoon. Natalie LOVES her baby sister!! :)

Getting Ready for the Hospital!

I was packing my bag for the hospital and Natalie decided I had missed a very important item - HER!!!!

My Little Big Girl

Last week, one of the boys at school had his 4th birthday party and the mom provided pink t-shirts for the girls and green t-shirts for the boys so they could do a dinosaur craft. When I picked Natalie up from school that day, she was wearing her pink dinosaur shirt (over her shorts) and had been given a ballon to bring home. The shirt was a 2T (the smallest size available) but it covered up everything including and looked more like a dress. She also decided that her shoes were no good and that she had to wear mine. When Matt came home, he cracked up at how little and silly she looked.

She was also VERY thirsty and there are no pictures of her without a cup.

Counter Elf

Natalie likes to sit on the counter when I'm in the kitchen cooking and I tell her what I'm doing and alot of times I'll let her "help" me cook. Matt calls her the little counter elf.

She is especially good at helping me pour the ingredients for pancakes (our Saturday morning ritual). Some mornings, she just likes to sit up there so she can be next to me before we all go to work / school. Looking at this picture, she may be practicing her gangsta signs as well. :-)

DRESS-UP DIVA !!!

No, Not Me! - HER!

Anyway...over the past month Natalie (who is not even 2 yet) has taken an adventure into the world of high toddler fashion. This girl LOVES to dress up! Here's a step-by-step illustrated guide for all you ladies out there. (warning: 12-step program ahead).

1.Dress up Daddy first to test out your ideas.


2. Keep your eye on the ball. Literally.


3. Take all the good stuff back from Daddy and FLAUNT IT! Why carry only one shoulder bag when God gave you TWO perfectly good shoulders?


4. Take the time to freshen up if you need to.


5. On second thought, bags are lame. Ditch the bags. Get a Tutu! (headband forecast: yellow is out, red is in!)


6. Tutus make you smile. You should just go with that.


7. If you see something inspiring, stand perfectly still like a deer in headlights. Don't move! Then, when the time is right, go and get it!


8. Read all the latest international fashion magazines and gossip rags to see what's hot and what's not! If none of these are available, however, resort to Donald Duck books. Never match your shoes.


9. The Disney books said to go with this look instead. Who can argue with Disney? Ditch the Tutu, grab the bags, sport the hat. Always match your shoes.


10. The HECK with Disney....I LOVE MY TUTU !!!!!


11. SUCCESS!!! Take all the mirror time you need to enjoy the fact that your outfit is composed of 100% awesome.


12. Take a break :)
(we found her like this at about 10:00 p.m. She had crawled out of bed, put the red shoes on, and passed out. We had told her "you can't wear your shoes in bed". This was her solution.)

More Bouncing!

We had to strip Natalie's big-girl bed and wash the sheets the other day. She thought that the bare mattress was a trampoline! But, it was the most fun when it was a Daddy-powered trampoline.

Natalie Gettin' All Nostalgic

Well,the date is set! It looks like the new little Zook baby, Rachel, will be here on August 16th (if not before). We are so excited! We've been getting all the newborn clothes out and buying the last minute things on our list.

One of these things was a baby swing. It was setting in the office, ready for me to assemble, when Nats saw it. She pretty much leapt on it, with no regard for the fact that it wasn't set up and working yet. I guess she remembers loving her some Fischer-Price swing, back in her younger and more care-free days! Ahem....
I love it that half the time my daughter bashes her head into something (like in this first video) she just laughs it off anymore.

But, she's not invincible......sometimes she gets stuck.

Anyhow, all's well that ends well. Natalie eventually managed to escape the swing. And, later that night, she found a newborn onesie and managed to sport it as a hat. Great success!

Busy Day!

So today was filled with lots of activities for the Zooks. We went to church, picked up lunch, went to a baby shower (for me and Rachel!) and then small group tonight. Natalie didn't go to bed until 10pm!! yikes. Anyway, here are a few pictures from today.

Baby Shower pics (for Rachel!) This cake was sooooo yummy!

Small Group - kid chaos. There were 8? kids ages 2-5 running around like nuts during our small group tonight. Natalie had a blast playing with everyone AND dressing up. She also enjoyed Toy Story and riding on a tricycle.

Bounce! Bounce! Bounce!

Natalie wore Daddy out this weekend as they bounced in the living room! Also, we've noticed that she's been chubbing up alittle and seems to be going thru a growth spurt. We weighted her today and she hit the 26lb mark. She's still wearing size 18 but her feet are growing and she's moving into the size 24 month clothing now. I'll post more when she has her 2 year check up next month.

Natalie is also becoming a very girly-girl. I think it's time to start investing in dress up clothes. Her favorite right now is her yellow Belle princess shoes. She also tries to put her red Snow White shoes on mommy and daddy (with no luck I might add). And, her favorite book right now is Cinderalla.

July 4th Weekend

So our July 4th weekend started off on a sad note because this was my last weekend to fly and we had made plans to fly to Birmingham, rent a car and see my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. I was sooooooo excited because it had been almost a year since I had seen many of them (if not longer!). Unfortunately, once we got to the airport, it was obvious that we were not going to make the original flight due to all of the holiday travel and there were very limited options to get there and back to Dallas. In the end, we decided to not go. I was SOOOOOOOOOOOO very bummed out. So, after a morning of crying my eyes out, we decided we needed to make the best of the weekend and just "spoil" ourselves. So that's what we did.
On Saturday afternoon, the three of us went to Going Bonkers in Lewisville. This is where we are planning on having Natalie's 2nd birthday party and we were curious to see if she would enjoy it more than last time. Good news! she really enjoyed it, actually she LOVED it! Daddy played with her almost the whole time and I took pictures. At one point, Daddy had to rest so I played with her in the toddler area and Rachel and I climbed around with her.

After that, we ended up going out to eat mexican food. It was so nice not having to cook anything. I wish every night was "going out to eat" night! We also rented Hot Tub Time Machine, Shutter Island, etc...(we don't watch movies often so it was a treat for us).
On Sunday, we went to church, did some grocery shopping and came home for lunch and naps. I watched a girlie movie while Nat took her nap and Matt did yard work. After that, we went swimming in the pool and had alot of fun.
On Monday, we went to the Dallas Zoo to see the new exhibit (Savannah). It was designed by Jack Hanna and was very pretty. It reminded me of being back in Kenya. Natalie had so much fun running around everywhere and Matt was such a trouper keeping up with her. They have a nice kids area that has a wading pool, horse rides, etc.. and Matt and Natalie enjoyed cooling down in the water. It was hot and we were ready to go home after around 3 hours.

Once we got home, we took naps and then headed back outside for more pool fun. Since we had planned on being out of town, we didn't have anyone over this year for a pool party but the three of us had fun anyway. We ended our weekend with watching Shutter Island once Natalie had gone to bed - it's a good movie worth renting (and not too scarey either).

Chillin at home

Now that mommy is waaaaaaaaaay pregnant - I spend alot of time on the couch instead of down on the floor playing with Natalie. Tonight, she decided to join me on the couch and I LOVED it.

Later, Matt got a cute shot of Natalie walking around in her princess shoes. Mimi bought her a red pair (snow white) and a yellow pair (belle) BUT Natalie thinks it's way better to wear one of each instead. Also, he got her on camera doing the Hot Dog dance (she LOVES!!!!!!! Mickey Mouse Clubhouse). I just wish that there was better lighting to see her do the Hot Dog dance in all it's glory.

A Pink Hat

SUCCESS!!!

It's been one week now since we switched Natalie to her Big Girl room and queen size bed and I'm very pleased to tell everyone that it has been such a successful week!!! Although she did not take any naps last weekend, she did really well at night and hasn't been a problem at all. Here's a picture of what we've seen each night this week.

She's been staying in her bed until today - so that is such a win. Today however was the first time she took a nap in her room. I am just so proud of her. So I went in to check on her because I had originally laid down with her (cause momma was tired!) and slept some, she had just played and talked. Did I mention she talks a lot when she's trying to unwind? well, she does. anyway, i actually took a nap, she was still talking and playing (which is what woke me up) and i told her that mommy was leaving. She got sad and cried but that only lasted for a few minutes. We always close our doors when we sleep and since she doesn't know how to open them yet, I heard her wiggled the handle for awhile. then there was silence.

I decided to peak in on her and this is how I found her. Too cute! It's a good thing i didn't try and open the hall door - I'm really glad we have the bathroom door too.

Father's Day Weekend - Part 2 (Aquarium)

On Saturday morning, we all went to the Dallas World Aquarium (it's was Natalie's first time to go) and we had alot of fun. Natalie was a little scared at first, especially with the little birds (reminds me of her mom) but she gradually warmed up and had fun. Matt and I took advantage of this and gave her lots of cuddles and hugs which or course we hated (he! he!).
The jaguar was very polite to pose with Natalie and Daddy. Why is it that she is scared of little birds but this giant "cat" was no threat? Maybe it is the cheerois - or maybe it's because Daddy is soooooooooo serious.

Natalie LOVED the pink flamingos - she was cracking us up because she kept calling them PINKO's and didn't want to leave the exhibit.

Some cool pictures with mom in the tunnel: