Merry Christmas-Happy Birthday Jesus



snuggles with aunt lizzie and uncle rich



smiles for aunt paula

hugs from the g-rents

making aunt chenai smile

Dada excited about all day basketball

Loved this movie!!!

yummy dinner

homemade cinnamon rolls

Luke 2:9-12 (NLT)
Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them. They were terrified, [10] but the angel reassured them. "Don't be afraid!" he said. "I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. [11] The Savior-yes, the Messiah, the Lord-has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! [12] And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger."
So your first Christmas came and went and it was delightful experiencing Christmas with the best  Christmas gift dada and I could ask for. You got to catch up with your aunt Lizzie and uncle Rich, aunt Paula, aunt Kaneeka and cousin Kelis, and your grandparents. Christmas eve wore you out with all the driving, receiving your gifts and socializing. I think you only got 3 hours of sleep during the day and basically plonked out while I held you at 10pm that night.
On Christmas day after your morning nap aunt Chenai and I left you with dada watching basketball to watch the movie Sherlock Holmes. You were supposed to fall back asleep soon enough. Supposed to!! We had a delightful time watching an awesome movie but poor dada. Apparently you cried 75% of the time we were gone, dada looked like a train had hit him:(. After a couple of minutes of mama and feed time you were back to normal, and aunt Chenai started on making a yummy dinner of Mac and cheese( with turkey bacon bits and artichoke) and a creamy chicken pot pie. Finished off with cinnamon rolls I made and an assortment of lemon, strawberry and red velvet cupcakes aunt Chenai baked.. Yes we had a glorious time. With all the excitement during the  last couple of days you were out by 6:30pm.

I made sure to not over plan or set any expectations for your first Christmas and just enjoy Jesus' birthday with our little family and aunt Chenai- and it turned out quite lovely. Just another opportunity to be thankful for the people God has put in our and now your life.

Merry Christmas baby girl

Happy birthday uncle Shingi aka bhudhi-Tinki-Godfather.

His laugh comes from the depth of his gut.
He loves to entertain with his stories and comedy even if it's a little flavored with "additions".
He's passionate about his politics as only a Muchemwa man would be
He's our only brother and it's obvious he grew up amongst women :) His sisters love him and we can't wait to him say " the Lord laid it on my heart" just embrace the truth brother:)
He's an awesome husband and father to the cutest little mini-me's and step dad to two pre-teens-God's grace upon you brother
And your Godfather.
We love you bhudhi-uncle Tinki and wish you the very best birthday.

Christmas experiences

So today you got to meet Santa at your Pediatricians office. I'm mentally able to call him Santa now. See back in Zim and other countries across the pond he's called Father Christmas. Cool right? We were in line for almost 45mins and the whole time you were playing smiley baby and coo games with mama while you were in your stroller and social baby when you weren't as you smiled at everyone who said hello to you. I was a super proud and happy mama. 

I was more excited than I thought i would be. I am trying to make sure you experience things more organically and not checking off the expected baby milestones just because. But I figured you need at least a memory of meeting Santa. I have some of meeting Father Christmas a couple of times, so why should you not. It wasn't a yearly ritual for our family. You see until i was in my early teens we more often than not went to mama's grandparents homestead in the village grandpa grew up in for a week or two. Sometimes we'd go to grandma's parents but their village was only an hour away so it was more of a day visit. The "long" 5hr trip to grandpa's parents was more exciting when I was younger as we ( my siblings, cousins and an uncle/aunt or two) were packed like sardines in canopy covered pick up trucks while the older adults rode in the sedans. We'd often make a gobble stop at a layaway to devour the goodies all the moms made in their respective homes. Before reaching the homestead and turn into the dirt road that led to it we'd stop and stock up on goodies that were to most of our cousins in the village more luxuries than staples. Think sugar, tubs of butter( not too much since there was no electricity therefore no fridge), tea, bags of a dozen loaves of bread, cans of jam spread, biscuits( cookies in America), potato chips ...yes we  literally got enough food to feed a village. On top of that they'd always be a fattened cow that was picked from the krall to feed the masses expected. Not all of our village neighbors had city relatives like our family did so they'd stop by, most of them  on Christmas day to join in devouring the Christmas luxuries. I remember the overwhelming feeling of family and community,  and it didn't matter who lived in the city or the village we were all just people celebrating family. Obviously as I got older I preferred the Christmas at home with your grandparents because they felt more normal. Yiu know the tree the gifts ( that we shopped for that week) under the tree Christmas morning etc. But now I'm glad I experienced Christmas time so colorfully. My hope is that you have your own unique experiences in life especially during times like the Christmas season. That you'll one day have your own unique stories to tell. 

Yay Santa or Father Christmas.

happy birthday cousin Ari Vama

Today is cousin Ari's birthday and he's a big 5 year old boy. According to uncle Tinki he's been super duper excited to turn 5.
We're excited for you too Ari and wish you so many more. And now we count down until you meet him.. See you soon Ari, we love you:)

clemence vama a.k.a baba parp mudhara

had a conversation with  my brother shingi the other day that brought to light the concept of what a good father is. in the midst of it we agreed that yes these days men are called a good dad just for physically being there but not completely engaged with their kids. (P.S shingi i still think you're an awesome dad). i think the reason we have a hard time understanding this "present" dad concept is because parp was such a force in our lives. when he was with you he was fully with you. parp lived for mother and us, we were the loves of his life and there was never a doubt. he lived to give us the best and pushed us (sometimes shoved us) to be the best. but in the pushing he allowed us to push back with our version of what was our best. that's a good father. he may not be here anymore and this week has been particularly sad but he's "presence" is always felt. he is not physically here but he's strong sometimes, especially during the teen years, overbearingly loving presence is felt and remembered all the time. i love my father with a depth i can't explain. he taught me how to love my family and friends as much as i do, by how deeply he loved me no matter what continent i was on. i didn't always understand his methods but i always knew why. i didn't understand why it was so important that he name me after his own mother until i had my own child and made sure she had his name. we will keep you alive through the stories you told and the stories we now have to tell. your name will live in Ari Vama and Zoe Clementine, your drive and passion will live in all your kids and grand kids. and even though Zoe never met you, when you met again one day i pray she'll feel like she's known you forever.

Loss

Psalm 4:8 (NLT)
In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.

For those who have lost a loved one we see love in a different way
For those who have lost we cherish each day. Each day is a gift becomes more than just a saying
For those who have lost songs that play make our hearts remember more poignantly
For those who have lost every smile and gesture in your child is a reminder of what they're missing or how you see them in her
For those who have lost crying while smiling just means we feel them more that day
For those who have lost family mean
more each day
For those who've lost, your heart breaks more deeply when more are lost..

RIP

Cousin Tapiwa 1974-September 4th 2011
Cousin Enesia 1990- December 2nd 2011.

Cousin Edwin 1970-December 9th 2011
For those who have lost memories are all we have, so you don't stop talking about them
For those who have lost we still talk about him as if he were still here
For those that lost we vow to never lose that way again, saying I love you every chance we get
For those who have lost we listen more attentively and act more willingly when God reminds us to call someone just tell them you love them
For those who have lost there are lessons learnt in death that life can never teach.
For those who have lost God's grace gets us through each day

We love you Parp

October 8th 1945-December 10th 2010

parp with Texas kids and grand kids

Phil's BBQ-"For this i'll come back to America for"
classic parp

limo ride baller status-he loved it

family wedding pic





oh how you've grown

You had your two month check up today and oh boy oh boy!! For a second i worried if i had been feeding you too much until the doctor assured us you were..her words " a perfect baby in all her growth categories". You are now 12.5lbs and 23inches!! I'm storing the dumbbells i have a my own self-made weights. We are so happy and proud of you! Trust me it's relief to hear since i vowed not to be that first time mom who called her pediatrician every time you cried 5 minutes more than usual or spit up two more times than yesterday. Instead I'm the new mom that gets on her phone to google what ails her baby at 2am or 5am in the morning when you sniffled more than usual or you poop looked a little off twice in a row. The pediatrician was actually impressed by how much i knew and my solutions to perceived 911 situations that i handled so well, thanks to google of course. Yay iPhone!!

The worst part was watching get your shots though. It started off cute when you got your oral vaccination. You kept smiling at the nurse and stubbornly spitting some of it out the smiling again. It was adorable. Then we had to lay you down for the sucky part. I sang to you before and during the process and told you i loved you while dada was told to hold your little chubby legs down:( I know he didn't like it at all, it was cute how he hummed along as i sang "this light of mine" to you as you screamed with each needle shot. I have to say it wasn't as painful for me as i thought it would be. You were  obviously distressed but i just held you and talked to you as we walked out and by the time we got to the store ( doctor's office is two doors down from the store..thank you Jesus) you fed and went to sleep. That's my Zoe:)

Now lets see what the next two months before your next check up have in store for us

Smiles for Dr Fresno

two months of pure pleasure

you are two months old today and we can't believe how fast it's gone by and how now compared to the "skinny" baby we met two months ago you're what dada calls "beefy"..We love our beefy baby.

You "talking" like crazy and smiling constantly which makes us burst into laughter delighted by that sweet smile. The best is when you wake up each morning and you look up and see my face and you give me this huge grin, how does one have a bad day when it starts like that. When dada takes you to play in the morning we love watching you play the roll off dada game. he holds you you move your little body like you're running on your belly and at just the right time launch yourself back on the bed. it's hilarious especially since dada does it over and over again.

You watch our mouths when we talk or sing to you and "repeat" what we say, i don't know how many times i think if someone was to see and hear us all "talking" they'd think we were a crazy family. And yes we are, CRAZY IN LOVE with our Zoe.

Happy Two Months Sweetheart!!!

thanksgiving week

cuddles with dada

thanksgiving storytime

kisses from mama

hugs from aunt chenai

mama and dada date night

birthday balloons are cool

I call it your first thanksgiving week not day because i felt particularly thankful this week. It also felt like the fun began when your aunt Chenai got here Tuesday, which we were thankful for.  Especially  since it took her almost 5hrs to get here with the holiday traffic and within 30mins of getting here she was babysitting you as I had to make a last minute doctors appointment that I made that morning just to make sure my c-section incision wasn't acting up. There was thankfully no crisis just part of the healing process.

To top it all off that morning we got news your aunt Kaneeka was in labor and your cousin Kelis was on her way. So yes it was an eventful day and by 8:13pm your cousin was born and we made our way to Anaheim to see her. It was a long almost 4hr drive there and back and you were such a good baby. You let aunt Chenai entertain you in between snoozes and you fed as she and I took turns going upstairs to see Kelis. As always when we got back home at 1am I said my thank yous for being so good for mama. And even though your night was off schedule you slept like a baby( ha ha). I had to wake you to feed you:)

On Wednesday even after an eventful night together with your aunt we strolled to and from the store-pre thanksgiving calorie burn-it was no joke it was about 2hours. Mama's after baby body was screaming in places I'd forgotten I had. It was fun and when we got home we started, well aunt Chenai started prepping for Thursday's meal. We went less dishes less food coma potential this year so no turkey. Your dada is the only one who eats it and it would be an absolute waste. Our thanksgiving wasn't going to be typical in any way. On Thursday the thought of having football on all day as the choice of entertainment was too much for me and heaven for dada. So to keep all happy, your aunt and I went and watched the latest Twilight movie. We were delighted!! And you got to spend dada and Zoe football time. With an oxtail with rice dinner and cupcakes mama made from scratch for dessert, Thanksgiving in our home was a success! We were thankful to be together happy and healthy with our new favorite baby. Once we went to bed, your aunt who thinks we go to bed too early now:) stayed up and cleaned up and we woke up to a almost spotless kitchen and living area. Thank you aunt Chenai!!

Friday night your aunt volunteered to watch you while your dada and I went watch a movie for first time since we had you. The movie we wanted to watch showed too early so instead we relieved our first date at the Barnes and Noble cafe over tea just like the day we first met. It was really nice to just catch up and we had to avoid the baby stores so we wouldn't end up making it a baby shopping trip. Yes we never stop thinking about you:) We didn't do a dinner date since your aunt was making yet another extended Thanksgiving meal. Delightful!

As if we hadn't had enough adventures your aunt drove us down to Vista for Jackson's 5th birthday party!! It was your first party and you were the baby of the five babies there and you were delightful as always:)
Sunday aunt Chenai left and dada went to help uncle David move. For you and I it was a quiet Sunday to relax and be thankful for our family friends and the extras God blesses is with!'
Happy First Thanksgiving baby girl

you are my sunshine

i sing the song "you are my sunshine" to you pretty much on a daily basis, first thing in the morning and then whenever you seem like you need a reminder that you light up my life. today when dada and i got to see all the pictures your aunt Heidi blessed us with the song was playing again in my heart, as i choked on tears of ...i can't even describe the feeling.
thank you aunt Heidi for the wonderful forever gift that captures the song of my heart,  Zoe is "my sunshine"

aunt jenni obsesses

Pink roses

vintage white ruffles

kisses

So one thing about your aunt Jenni which you'll soon figure out on your own is she can tend to obsess over something and will do so until it's in her eyes "perfect". After years of trying to reason with her I've given up and now i just nod my head smile and wait. So that's what i did when she kept telling me she wanted me to know she was going to buy you an outfit but wanted to make sure the first purchase was "perfect" for you. I tried to insist it really was okay, whatever she got would be loved and appreciated. Waste of my breath. She as you guessed insisted.

So six weeks after your birth she delivered her precious confections for her, as she calls you          "Zoe girl". And i have to say she did a great job, the outfits are absolutely gorgeous and feel so soft and i love them for you. I promised her you would know how much thought and love went into getting them. Who knows you might see them and think "those were my favorite outfits when i was 3-6mos old". It could happen! We'll make sure to take lots of pictures when you wear them for the first time.
Thank you aunt Jenni.

half the battle is showing up

A year ago today mama and dada embarked on the adventure that is running Marc and Mimi, and this weekend we got to put on a celebration event for day by day showing up, sowing the seed and making it work.

It went really well it left us humbled by how God always shows up..cue music..He's an on time God yes He is.
We had the best cupcakes I've had in forever, face-painting and it was mommy's first full work day. It was like riding a bicycle. The best part was all the customers who showered me with hugs and were so excited to hear that you were here and healthy. It was like an awesome homecoming.

Tomorrow is the beginning of year two and with God's grace we pray for a fruitful harvest.

big deal shopping trip

So these days what used to be everyday occurrences are now a big deal when you're involved. Tonight we had our first shopping trip as a family to Target!! I know, really I'm excited about Target??!! You better believe it!!
You were asleep the whole time but our little family was experiencing a first and of course we had to buy you one or two cute things:) My excitement is just really a reflection of how much joy you and dada bring to my life. I love my little family and feel like I'm living in a constant state of blessed existence. Thank you God for everything.Amen.

P.S what do you know dada took pictures without me asking or my knowledge.. You've changed the man.

your dada

Sunday Football with dada

bible reading time on iphone with dada

chillin'

I'll just be direct- you have the best dada!!

One day you'll get to tell him yourself but in the meantime I'll tell him for you.
Since before you were born he's always made an effort to be "involved" and super "helpful". He missed one doctors appointment and only because it was last minute and he had to man the store.

Now that you're here it's been amazing watching him get so much joy from being your dad. Sometimes I can be psycho anal mom and he's been more patient with my tendency to "manage" than ever before. And yes I have apologized when I catch myself. My favorite is when I need a little extra sleep or like today need a little more assistance cause I don't feel 100%. When I come back downstairs he always asks if I slept enough and I tell him not as much because I felt bad about leaving him alone with you. He likes to remind me "honey I'm her dad, it's my job too, it's not like I'm her uncle" -the uncle part is lol. And no matter how fussy you get he doesn't immediately hand you over. He's a little more subtle by saying "she stops crying when you hold her". Good one dada.

He doesn't complain or grumble about feeding and changing your diaper at 2am and 7am in the morning, and when you get fussy at night as we go to bed he'll get up and "sleep" walk you around the room until you sleep.
He likes to cuddle you close in our bed as he reads the bible to start our day in the morning and then kiss you and play with you until his bath time.

On your bath days he gets your tub and bath essentials ready for us and gets in the way by smothering you with endless kisses as I try to bathe and clothe you. When he gets home from work he has more kisses and likes to take short videos of you while at play.

 He loves the sound of your farts and hearing you poop, and for some weird reason smiles with pride and then laughs that laugh that he reserves for a touchdown or Lakers win. Very bizarre, but that's dada. On his days off he changes most if not all your diapers.

All this in your first month, I can't wait to see what more he'll come up with to, as he likes to say very seriously "know that she is loved".

prayer for zoe

My prayer for my Zoe, as i look at you and see nothing but peace and
contentment on your beautiful little face. I pray as you grow up you
may have that peace that surpasses understanding through Christ who
strengthens us. Love you my angel.

Philippians 4:6-8,11-13 (NLT)
Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God
what you need, and thank him for all he has done. [7] Then you will
experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His
peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
[8] And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your
thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and
lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and
worthy of praise. [11] Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned
how to be content with whatever I have. [12] I know how to live on
almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living
in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with
plenty or little. [13] For I can do everything through Christ, who
gives me strength.

oh so glorious day

pie filling and cupcakes yum yum

With the help of my little sweet cupcake

sleeping baby

Family Stroll

watching football with dada

Today mama is super happy. Since you were born we have had so much going on we haven't had a whole day to just be a family and today it finally happened! I'm in heaven.
We had no big plans just soak in our blessings and no matter what mama and dada weren't allowed to even have the tiniest disagreement. Today was going to be a good day.. And it was.
After having been a mama/Martha Stewart and having baked a meat pie and cupcakes while dada worked and had to go to Aunt Kaneeka's shower I was ready for a good night sleep Saturday night and maybe sleep in Sunday morning. The best part was that you were so good, you judt watched me cook, bake and do dishes. My "perfect" baby and i regular Martha Stewart I am.. Yeah right!!
Sleep in?? Apparently that's now a thing of the past, by 8:30am dada was washing breakfast dishes. OMG there's a new regime in the Lashley house. It didn't matter though cause we were together.. Yay. We had a family stroll planned cause mama and dada used to have Sunday morning walks before church and it was time to get back to that with our bundle of joy. It used to take us 10minutes to get from our bed to the door, now, well like I said there's a new regime in town:))
After a nice hour long walk that felt like going up cowles mountain for mama's new body I got to finally.. this is a place of truth so here goes..wash my hair since before you were born. Yucky mama. I know It's terrible but my shower time has been cut down, unless dada is still in the building, bathroom breaks are few and far between and mealtimes, those happen when, well whenever I can get a bite in. Hair washing honestly didn't even cross my mind until this oh so glorious day!! And to top it off I took a looong three hour nap while you and dada watched football-still digesting your apparent love of football-while dada fed, changed and loved you.
did I mention....OH SO GLORIOUS DAY!!

My Love

I'm completely and totally in love with you my baby. I love the sound and smell of your breath, the way your little hands lay on my chest like you're holding on for dear life. The way you curl up on me to get a good nap going, and the soft feel of your baby hair on my chin.

I love the how when you sit on my lap you tilt your head back so can stare at me as I talk or sing to you. The way you move your eyes away when you're done staring and take in what else is going on that your little eyes can capture. It's the look I like to call the
"and moving on" look:)

I love watching you get chubbier and your new double chin and seeing you 'neckin' coming in. Everyday you make me feel so blessed and so joyful just because of you. Being a mommy is a 24/7 gig with no pay, lots of poop, feeding, burping, throw up, no scheduled ten minute breaks or meal times, scheduled quick showers in between feedings.. The list is endless yet for the life of me I love this more than anything I ever done in my life.

You are the biggest accomplishment in our lives. Now back to snuggle time( where I tell you how much I love you a thousand times just in case you didn't hear me the first hundred)

Dada's Big 3-0!!

Dada loves Zoe

Yum Yum Dinner and Dessert

Happy Birthday Dada!! Hope you enjoyed your day of surf, me, yummy chicken pot pie and chocolate coffee cake mommy made from scratch....Love Zoe

P.S Great job on passing your test. You've made three of your dreams come true before you turned 30
Daddy/Retailer/Realtor..Way to go Dada:)

Two Weeks Ago...

mom rocking the fabulous hospital gown..shut it down

Saturday night October 1st  around 6:30pm mommy and daddy called the doctor cause something wasn't right, four hours later they said mommy seemed fine, but needed to spend the night in triage to be on the safe side. Sunday morning doctor said it was time to work on getting you out, because guess what mommy was only .5cm dilated. And at noon we were officially admitted and started waiting on something to happen.



Aunt Jenni telling you to come out already

 Monday morning, afternoon we were still waiting, progressing but waiting. By 5pm mommy was at 9cm but you were not happy. your heart rate was going down every time mommy had a contraction so the doctor decided that it was time to do a c-section. mommy and daddy were super nervous but both prayed as we waited for the procedure to start. And here's a shocker daddy talked about the Lakers and Kobe possibly going to play...etc i can't even get into it again.                  

Daddy and Zoe bonding

At 6:40pm you came out, you had a double cord around your neck and had poop in the amniotic fluid, so we were happy you were okay after they checked you and they took you and dada to the recovery room while mommy was being closed up.

Aunt Chenai Adores Baby Zoe!!





Aunt Jenni changing you in the hospital

Aunt Paula!!

Picture from shoot done by hospital

Another hospital shot

Aunt Glo visits

Dada loves his time with ZOE

Aunt Heather visits



Aunt Lizzie and Zoe in LA

You had your first road trip to LA this past weekend, and you were an amazing baby, you slept the whole way there and most of the way back home. You got to spend time with aunt lizzie and aunt chenai and got to finally meet uncle rich. Your first slumber party at the Millards was a success!

Aunt Lizzie's awesome muffins

Someone is super excited to see you again.