Fifteen!

My Baby Girl is 15 today!  15?  15 is halfway to 30, a year away from driving, and the age I was when I met Mr. Level-Headed; my Baby Girl can't be 15 already!

To celebrate Zoe's birthday, I am going to devote the entire week to sharing old photos and stories about Zoe.  I know she will kill me for this, but after the 36 hours I spent trying to get her into this world, I think she can allow me this one indulgence on her behalf.

Let's begin!

Zoe's First Year in Numbers
(This is fitting because Zoe is a HUGE math geek . . . Miss 103% in Grade 9 math)

Zoe was born on January 14, 1998 at 8:29 pm.  She weighed 8lbs 6oz and was 21 inches long.  She was unable to see her mama for the first 12 hours of her life because her mama, whose body went into shock after a gruelling 36 hours of labour, was "put-out" and did not come to until the next morning.  Zoe spent 5 days in the hospital waiting for her mama's milk supply to come in.  Zoe and her mama had a really rough go in the beginning, but thankfully, life together has only gotten easier.

Zoe and her Grammie

This was Zoe's first professional photo shoot.  She was only 2 weeks old, and many people marvelled at how alert she was for this age, but that was not news to Mr. Level-Headed or I because that girl was awake 24/7.  I am sure she never slept!

Who would want to sleep when you could nurse, and nurse, and nurse.  In fact, that pretty much sums up the first 4 months of Zoe's life.  She nursed every 2 hours for 20 minute stretches during those first few months and was not fully weaned until she was 2 1/4 years old.  

When Zoe was 6 months old, we introduced solids.  Zoe NEVER ate baby cereal or pureed foods.  You would swear I was killing her when I tried to put them in her mouth. Only solids for this girl.

Zoe's 1st love was her daddy!  Although I was the one who she spent every waking moment with and I was the one with the life-sustaining boobies, Zoe always loved to snuggle with her daddy.

I don't know who looks more like a baby in this photo: Mr. Level-Headed or Zoe

She and her daddy even shared a favourite number: 11!

Here is Zoe in her 1st pair of Osh Kosh overalls and her 1st crazy sun hat:

Zoe's 1st boyfriend was Caleb Doyle.  It was a love affair that began when she was only 3 months old, and thankfully, he loved big girls at that time.

In fact, he was the first boy she bathed with!  Scandalous!!

Zoe is the left bum. :)

Since, Zoe nursed all the time, her mommy and daddy had to take her everywhere.  Here she is on her 1st mini-putt excursion.  She looks so impressed!

Zoe has had 3 dogs in her life.  Meet Chili.  He was her 1st puppy and he happened to also be her first word.  She loved stuffing his mouth with toys and screaming at him "CH-EEEE!"

Before she crawled at 8 months, Zoe rolled and slithered everywhere!  

On Zoe's 1st  Halloween, her mama dressed her up like a lady bug, but she preferred her Uncle John's Darth Vader hat and light saber.

She also preferred to eat the Jack O' Lantern rather than the 849 pieces of candy in front of her.

Zoe had 1 mohawk in her life, and I pray that this is the only one she ever has:

Zoe's toy box consisted of approximately 1 million toys and about a gazillion books.

Zoe loved to practise walking with her daddy, but she spent 30 days before her 1st birthday practising in secret.  I would peek around the corner and see her toddle a step or two, but whenever I entered the room, she would plop down on her bum and act like nothing was going on.  Then on her first birthday, she "surprised" us all by taking her 1st steps.  That girl has always loved to shine!

Zoe's 1st snowstorm.  She spent all of 20 seconds outside in that fluffy, cold stuff.

On her 1st Christmas Eve, Zoe came down with her 1st case of  the Norwalk virus.  She threw up every 20 minutes for the first 3 hours and felt miserable for an entire 24 hours.  On Christmas morning, she woke up feeling great, but unfortunately, she had infected 4 more people with it: her mama, her daddy, her aunt Emily, and her uncle John.  Poor Grammie spent that entire Christmas doing laundry.  

Christmas Eve . . . this is too sad!

Sometime between her 1st Christmas and her 1st birthday, Zoe had her 1st beer.  We'll blame this one on her daddy. Oh, and she didn't actually drink any; it was empty. 

And finally, we have arrived at Zoe's 1st birthday!  I would like to say this was her 1st taste of cake, but it wasn't.  Her Grammie was notorious for slipping her chocolates and other tasty treats ever since she turned 6 months old.

Her 1st baby stroller:

And even more toys!  

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!  It's impossible to imagine but I love you even more today than I did 5479 days ago when I first laid on eyes on you.  (and yes, that number even accounts for the four leap years in your lifetime . . . tee hee!)