Peek-A-Boo

Another animated gif for you!

My Sister Has a Name!!

Mommy and Daddy finally decided on Isa Serena. Isn't that beautiful? Many people asked if we would go with the XYZ initials theme, and if I were having a brother, his name would have been Xander Yates Zimmerman. That was actually my name until they found out I was a girl, you see. Mommy grew up with a younger sister and she feels sisters need to be unique and that a younger sister would NOT appreciate having the same initials as her older sister. Plus, there really aren't a lot of great female "X" names out there. So we decided to go with the 3-letter theme to narrow the HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of choices out there. In the end it boiled down to Isa (which is pronounces EEESA) or Tea (pronounced tayah).

Isa was the name of one of the Spanish Exchange students hosted by Mommy's good high school friend, so it came to mind. Daddy liked the sound of it and it's very easy for me to say. Mommy's first choice for a name for a girl was Serena, but Daddy wasn't real keen on that and then the whole 3-letter obsession set in, so that is now the middle name cause it goes great with Isa.

So what does it mean? Well, Isa is the short form of Isabel in Spanish or Isabella as we know it in the US. This has a hebrew origin meaning "My God is a vow". It's also a form of the name Elizabeth. Serena is from the Latin word serenus and means "composed, peaceful, cheerful" (one can only hope!). So we'll think of her as "the peaceful one who loves God".

In case you forget what my name means, here's an exerpt from a very early post explaining my whole name story:

"Xia is pronounced "Zee-ah" - at least that's the way Mommy and Daddy say it. It's actually a Chinese name and means "glow of the sunrise". Another pronounciation is "Shah", but I like "Zee-ah" better, it's more fun. Hey, it's also a dynasty in China's history, though some debate that fact. Yeriel is pronounced like the name Ariel (you know, the Little Mermaid - some old Disney movie way before my time) but you put a "Y" sound before it. It's a Hebrew name that means "founded by God". So this is cool, I am the glow of the sunrise founded by God - wow, I'm pretty amazing!"

We look forward to meeting you Isa!!!

A Picture of Mommy

I always ask Mommy to draw on my toy for me. On Saturday 12/27/08 she decided to draw some faces. The first thing you need to understand is that my Mommy IS NOT an artist, that title goes to Aunt Paula. After she drew this, I looked at it and said "Mommy" because I think it looks just like her, don't you? Note that I asked her to add the teeth in which sealed the deal. Mommy started laughing and Daddy came in to see what was so funny. When Mommy told him that I thought this looked just like her, he jumped for the camera, laughing all the way. What's so funny?...

Herbie is my Best Friend

Oh, what would I do without my pal Herbie. Here you can see just how much fun the two of us have EVERY day. These videos were taken on Friday 12/26/08. I'm sure Herbie would agree that it is all happy bliss playing with me...

Christmas Day 2008

What a wonderful Christmas Day we had. The day began with the traditional picture of me coming down the stairs (this tradition was started by Grandma when she used to take a yearly picture of my Mommy and Aunt Paula coming down the stairs when they were kids). I was still waking up as you can see:

First I opened a present from my God Family, a wonderful Seed Bible Stories book and a Dora Christmas book with flaps to discover hidden stuff (I love those kind of books):



Then I opened a little truck from Santa:

And a big Splish Splash Bath set of toys from Mommy and Daddy:

Here's a video where I thank Grandma for sending me such a nice gift:



Here I am with my ever-present Baby Doll (I think she needs a name...):


Then we all had some waffles for breakfast and got dressed for church. It was a wonderful service that began with Father Leo processing during the opening hymn with the Baby Jesus held high above his head. What a moving celebration of what this is all about, God coming down to earth in a baby to save us from ourselves!

After mass, we took some pictures of the beautifully decorated church. Here is the Advent Wreath all decked out with White Candles for Christmas Day and Baby Jesus in the center:

Next the Tabernacle:

Then the beautiful manger:

Mommy and I by the manger:

Daddy and I by the manger:

Me in my Christmas dress in front of the altar:

A shot of our lovely friends, the Quigleys. They had 9 if their 10 children with them that day. Their youngest, Maria, was born 1 month before me:

All set to go after mass:

Hey, it was a sunny Christmas day so I HAD to wear my shades:

We stopped at my God Family's house on the way home. Here I am with my God Father, Phil, Daddy, God Sister, Alison and Ellie the bunny:

All in all a most blessed and wonderful Christmas day. Hope yours was too!

Family Christmas Eve Gathering 2008

Grammy had her yearly Christmas Eve gathering at her house on Wednesday evening 12/24/08. Here I am at home getting ready to leave. I have on a pretty dress and my lovely dress coat (thanks Angela!):

Here are some family shots, first Aunt Kris:

Next Hans and Aunt Kathy:

Great GrandMom (aka MomMom), Uncle John and cousin Allie:

Here I am opening a gift from Grammy - a t-shirt with cool bugs all over it (Grammy does some part-time work at the North Museum):

I LOVED another gift from Grammy, a baby doll that laughs, coos, cries and all kinds of stuff. I kept giving her big hugs and kisses every time she cried. This will be good practice for my little sister to come:

We got my cousin Allie a fart machine for her gift. What every tween needs. Here I am playing with it:



I also enjoyed the Sock Monkey Jack-in-the-box my sister to be got from the Shirks. What's the harm in playing with it until she arrives?:



and they also got me a Mini Whinnies figurine/barn set. As you can see, my baby doll had to be quite involved in everything the rest of the evening:



Thanks Grammy, we had a WONDERFUL time with everyone!

Am I Ready for a Booster Seat?

Here I am on Tuesday 12/23/08 having lunch with Grammy. We tried out my booster seat and I think I did pretty well. Mommy is still not ready to go full time with it with some of the messier meals, but sandwiches work pretty well!

Merry Christmas!

From our home to yours - Merry Christmas!

Christmas Gathering at the Stauffer's

On Sunday afternoon/evening 12/21/08, we went over to my Great Aunt Martha's house to see her son Phillip and his new wife Betsy and stepson Denali. They came all the way from New Mexico for a Christmas visit. We got to see a lot of other family too. Unfortunately, when we arrived, Great Great Uncle Leroy was being taken by ambulance because he was having some heart and breathing problems. We are keeping him and his wife, Jean in our prayers and hope you will too!

After things settled down, I had a lot of fun playing with Denali. He is 5 and very sweet. He was so happy to have a younger playmate show up. Aunt Martha has a lot of cool stuff at her house from her years with her late husband, Ken (we sure miss him!) in the Peace Corps and other overseas work. Here I am sitting atop a carved elephant from Africa. It was awfully nice of her to let us play on it:

Here's Denali making a funny face as he sits on the elephant:

Then I found a cool woven basket with a lid that is just begging to be worn as a hat:

Denali agreed:

We ran around the house sporting our "hat":



The it was time for a photo op in the chair we were having way too much fun in. What do you expect, it swivels AND rocks:



We ended the fun visit with some photo ops - first, Phillip and Betsy and Denali (by the way, they are expecting a little sister the end of June!):

Next, Phillip's sister Stephanie with her husband Kelly (If you haven't put the family puzzle together yet, Phillip and Stephanie are my Daddy's cousins):

Then Great Aunt Martha looking very festive and pretty:

And lastly, Daddy and I by the beautiful Christmas tree (Denali would like to be in the photo too!):
We are so glad to get to see so much family in one day. Here's hoping you are also getting together with family this Christmas season!

Finally, A Good Recording of "ABC" and "Jingle Bells"!

Finally, on Sunday morning 12/21/08, Daddy got a good recording of my singing talents after breakfast. Have you had enough of these songs yet? Hey, just come on over to our house and you can hear them multiple, and I mean MULTIPLE time a day!

The Saturday before Christmas

Our Saturday was really packed on 12/20/08. I began the morning with a hearty breakfast and decided to create a train out of my clementines. Quite inventive don't you think?

Mommy makes another attempt to get a good recording of me singing during my morning diaper change/clean up - how nice of you Mommy (I usually do a lot of singing during this time, but really, how about some privacy!):



We did some grocery shopping and then home for lunch. We had just enough time before my nap to head out and see a real live reindeer, Santa and Mrs. Claus at a local store. I really enjoyed petting the nice reindeer. His fur was very soft...

I've decided that just staring at Santa is enough this year and have no desire to sit on his lap:

Mrs. Claus did her best trying to get me to sit on that big red knee, but I just continued to stare...

We came home and I took a nice nap. When I got up, Mommy and I made some Christmas cookies! She stirred up the Chocolate Chip batch while I worked on the Peanut Blossoms (those peanut butter cookies with Hershey Kisses in them):

I'm working hard and having a lot of fun:

Mommy loves to introduce me to new foods using all my senses, especially smell. I love smelling all the spices she uses when she cooks. Today we're sniffing Peter Pan Peanut Butter. I usually eat the natural stuff, but when it comes to cookies, why skimp on the sugar?



The cookies turned out really great. Here I am after dinner enjoying a chocolate chip one for desert:

To work off my sugar high, I played heartily with my silky pink blanket as the evening drew to a close. Here I am using it as a veil (hasn't every little girl done this!):

Then playing peek-a-boo with Daddy. Now you see me:

Now you don't:

And lastly, Daddy now tries again to get a good recording of my songs, but I prefer to just sing under the blanket:



Or with my back to him:



After I tired myself out, it was off to bed. What a fun Saturday!

Friday Night Movie Entertainment

Here are some movies from Friday evening 12/19/08. Daddy was trying to get me on video singing my two masterpieces of late "ABC" and "JINGLE BELLS" but I just didn't want to perform. So instead you get to hear an amazing version by Daddy and Mommy. Plus, as soon as I see the camera I just want to watch the videos on the little screen, which I guess is kind of hard to do when nothing has been recorded yet. The other 2 movies are just of me playing with my house and characters. Poor Gumby is a little too tall for the 2nd floor and has trouble staying upright. I'm a little wound up this evening. Aren't you jealous of the fun times that go on Friday nights at OUR house?!

A Morning at the Zimmerman Household

Just another Thursday morning before Mommy heads off to work (12/18/08). I like to have breakfast with her and here I am enjoying my clementines - so good this time of year. By the way, that's the journal to my baby sister that she's writing in...

And Herbie is in the background deciding if he should pounce at the tree or just stare at it in his crazed position - note the glowing eyes ...

Mommy's Favorite Christmas Videos

Mommy grew up in Western Pennsylvania and a TV channel there WJAC 6 always played these old Christmas videos during commercial time between shows. Here they are and they make Mommy very nostalgic. Heck, they were classics when SHE was a kid, so you know they're old! How many of you remember these?

Hardrock, Coco, and Joe



Suzy Snowflake



Frosty the Snowman

My Friend Bodi

Daddy's friend Brian has a little boy named Bodi who is just a few months younger than me. Daddy and Brian used to play in a band YEARS ago. Brian is in this great band called Green Eggs. He has a wonderful voice and the band is a lot of fun.

Bodi came over on Tuesday 12/16/08 for a play date at my house. Here we are:

And here's a video too:



I really have nice friends!

Playgroup at My House for Christmas Craft Fun

My playgroup came over to my house on Sunday 12/14/08 and I got to show off my new and improved playroom (Mommy worked hard on this over Thanksgiving). I love the stove from my cousins Kira and Marlon and so did my friends.

Here's a shot of the 3 girls, Ava and Alleha and Me. We were all born days apart. Ava was born 12/26/06, Alleha was born 1/3/07 and I was born 1/5/07 (guess I'm the youngest). The baby in the background is Alleha's new sister Analeigh (I'm sure the spelling is not right on these names, but you get the idea). Kaden didn't make it this time as he has a brand new sister at home right now who was born a few weeks ago. Poor Kaden, we need some more boys in the group!

I had some fun throwing a ball around while Ava was playing at the kitchen:



Here's Alleha playing with some dolls at the kitchen:

Cute Ava (she's tall like me):

Ava and I dancing to my little Dora fake CD player:



Huong with Analeigh (5 mos):

Then we started working on our little craft project. Mommy found a nice easy foam wreath project at a craft store. Everything you need in one box. Here I am sticking on the embellishments:



Here I am pulling off the embellishments:



And now I'm just sticking the embellishments on my nose!

I really DID end up with a completed wreath, luckily these pieces are REALLY sticky and Mommy finally got everything where it needed to be.

Lastly, we ended the day with a Ring Around the Rosie. I was the only one who "fell down" - what a fun day!

By the way, if you'd like to join this playgroup, we'd love to have you. Go to the Lancaster Working Parents webpage and click the Register link to sign up!