"No, Mommy, I can do it myself!"

Walking has opened up a whole new world for Zoe. She has become Miss Independent and is able to do all sorts of stuff by herself. Yesterday, we allowed her to hold a spoon for the first time to get the feel for having that kind of utensil in her hand. Much to our surprise, she had the right idea from first touch. With a gentle guiding of her hand, she moved her hand towards her mouth and ate from her spoon. Today,she didn't need much guidance. She'd reach for the spoon herself and take it from there. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised. She's been fed enough by us, but lately, she's been able to eat just about everything with her hands. We have yet to get the hang of scooping food up and then eating, but we're making progress.

The Eezy Peezy Swingset

One of Zoe's new birthday gifts was from an indoor swingset from her Great-Granny. Too cute! I knew she's enjoy it, but she spends much of her day on...especially the slide. It took one step at a time, but we've gone from teaching her where to clime to how to slide on her own, and finally how to sit down before sliding. With careful observation, she's doing the whole process on her own. Thanks Granny!

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Already trying to climb up the wrong way.

Crawling? What's that?

You remember, I'm sure, how excited I was the day Zoe figured out how to walk more than 5 steps at a time? And then how baffled I was by the fact that she didn't even attempt to do it again for over a week? Well, she's finally decided that crawling is a thing of the past. Yay for me??? Ask me in a couple of weeks. On her birthday, as we were making preparations for her party the next day, we moved our furniture back and out of the way to leave room for games. In the process, the coffee table that she used to lap around dozens of times a day was taken out of the way as well. That's when it was decided...no more crawling. She took off across the encouraged her on a little bit by making the "yay's" and "there she goes" every couple of seconds. She was so proud of herself. After a few laps across the room, she decided to test hereslf on turning around. That's when I got the video camera to get a shot of her "turnarounds". I'm thankful she decided to be done with crawling, b/c the next day at her party we had about 25 people there. She'd have been run over by all the other toddling one year olds and running, over-excited kiddos. Although she did, in her inexperience, get bumped down a few times...all part of the game of learning to walk.

Excuse the trashbag and seemingly out of place toys. We were preparing for taking outgrown toys to storage. Remember, you can stop the music to hear the video...the music player is on the right hand side of the page.

Par-tay!

Whew...one birthday party under the belt. The house was bursting out the seams with people..particularly kids and babies. The good thing about doing something huge like this for the first time is that you don't have a clue what you're doing or what to expect. So anything that happens makes for a good party. This one, however, was a lot of fun. Kids are quite humorous when you get them all together. And, we managed to get through the night with nothing broken (materials or bones). :-) That always makes for a good ending. Thankfully, Zoe decided she was too big for crawling yesterday. She is like her mommy...once she decides to do something, she does it all the way. So she spent most of the afternoon yesterday walking from one room to the next and testing out her new abilities. Now...back to tonight's party. Had she still been crawling, I think she would have been run over with all of the people there.
My birthday girl!

This first group of photos is just some pictures of some of the guests.
The Big Kids
The bigger kids (part 1)
The bigger kids (part 2)
Hmm...yeah
Shelby and Annabelle
The Baby Clan
"Happy Birthday!"
One year old wrestling match...

Darin and I decided to play some games at the party...even with the adults.

Frog Jumping
Yes, he's changing a diaper on a stuffed animal - Diaper relay
And now the adults take a stab at leap frog

Time for presents....




CAKE TIME! This one almost deserved a post by itself. You can see the progression. Let me tell you...this child devoured her cake. It didn't take her long to figure out that it was good stuff. I figured she would pick at it for a minute or so...but look at the picture with the candle. She had her hand already in it before the candle was blown out.

Birthday girl ready for cake...
Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday...........
Yummm...this is good!


Yummy...
Want some? I'll share with you...
This is all that remained

End of party...end of first birthday...sniff sniff...
No...don't leave!!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Zoe!!!

One year old!!!! My once totally dependent 7 pound baby is now an independent 20 pound weeble wobble toddler. What an amazing first year. As I began weeding through the hundreds and hundreds (not kidding) of pictures on our computer, I shed a few tears at the thought that the baby stage is now a thing of the past. One year ago today (July 17th), I was in the middle of a 20 hour labor...with the eppy of course. I was, with my husband by my side, anxiously but not so patiently awaiting our precious bundle of joy. The moment she was put into my arms was one that will be etched into my memory forever...mainly because I was a little grossed out that they put a baby covered in goo on my chest with no warning. Thought I was going to get sappy there didn't you? :-) The moment after that (following Zoe being cleaned up a bit and swaddled in a blanket) where a tiny body with big brown eyes was handed to me is one that I will cherish. I love that I was given the chance to be her mother...love that I was able to be a full time stay at home mommy to her...love that I was able to spend every day watching her grow into a beautiful girl. I never knew how much you could actually love such a small being...never realized that the love for a child is such a different kind of love, and that you can't possibly experience that until you have a child of your own. If the last year is even just a glimpse of what a joy having a daughter will be, we're in for a good ride!

Below are 13 pictures. One at birth and one representing each month of her life so far.

The pitter patter of little feet

The milestone has finally been reached. 11 and a half months old, and she finally decided it was time. This happened while we were in Illinois last Tuesday. Of course she decided the rest of the week that she didn't want to try again. She didn't even try again until last night. Go figure.

Buscher Reunion

Well, ok, I don't guess you'd actually call it a reunion, but the number of people present makes it feel like one. Just in the last year, three new babies have been added to the Buscher mix - one in the last month. It's so good to see everyone since we don't get to see all of the family but twice a year. So you're probably wondering who all is present at this and just how many people there are. Well, there are Darin's parents, his three brothers (who are hilarious when they all get together) and their wives, and 10 kiddos ranging from age 19 to 3 weeks and spread out over four families. So 20 in all each time we get together. This year was even more special then most. Bruce, Darin's older brother was back from serving for a year in Iraq, for the second (in this war), and hopefully the last time. We haven't seen him or his family for a year and a half, so it was good to spend some time with them. The following pictures are just various pictures of some of the kids, brothers, and one big one of the family. We had a blast as you'll be able to see, I'm sure. The boys from front to back (youngest to oldest) - Elijah, Isaac, Jonah, Caleb, Noah, and Luke All ten of the grandkids - only two girls in the mix. From left to right: Caleb holding Silas, Elizabeth, Noah holding Benjamin, Isaac holding Zoe, Luke, Jonah, Elijah The little red wagon was great fun for everyone...of all ages. Many hours were spent circling the driveway over and over....and over. Elizabeth and Zoe I imagine sayings going along with this one. Silas - "Woah, what's going on?" Zoe - "He's squishing me!" Elizabeth - "Cheese!" Silas and Zoe This would be the "of all ages" included above. Jonah pulling Zoe

It seems that we all regress a bit in age when we're there. Maybe a bit too much at times!

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Jumping off a "ramp", and landing his trick quite well.

Next are just a few random shots.

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Chasing bubbles Grandpa with the two youngest Silas and Zoe Elizabeth and Zoe Uncle Bruce and Zoe

And last but not least are the funny moments caught in action. Not intended for camera shots, I'm sure, but they made good ones. Jonah skipping?? Elijah "being shot" Elizabeth giving a wet willie to Bruce. That one was classic. Still dying... Isaac eating an snow cone

Noah and Caleb "roughing it", as Grandpa called it, in the backyard

"Look, my tongue is pinker than yours".