Zara says Happy Memorial Day everyone!

She is excited because she heard that Greg & Renee were coming for the big cookout and that it was going to be a beautiful sunny and warm day! YIPEE

Zara is so particular and HAS OPINIONS Already...help

Here is Zara eating "yummy" winter squash, i got two bites in and although she must have been hungry- turned her head and laughed at me when i tried to serve her more!

Then i switched foods and she knew it was what she wanted ...she must be memorizing the look of her favourite containers. you can see her change of "attitude" below.

Mary Rose having choir practice with Zara

While visiting Godmother Mary Rose in Hagerstown, the "singing" began!??

Event after event for Zara

Zara had great fun with her cousins (Eileen and Tom's boyz). They came down to DC for Police Week and caused quite a ruckus! Here Zara is holding down her far more powerful opponent-- cousin Jack!

Zara was kindly invited to Nooka's one year birthday event at the Mohican pool! Zara, thus far, does not seem to be good at "sharing"- particularly with the birthday girl- as shown above!

DaDA and the munch at the pool!!

At Karina ( nooka's) First birthday party! I have more pics to come from the birthday!

Plus I have a great video from our visit with Tommy, Tommy, Jack and Eileen who came down for National Police Week here in DC! pls "bear" with me! Off to Gymboree class tomorrow; first one ever- and Zara said she wants to wear her cool shades everywhere!!

My last night at the Palm was just one month ago..

Here is Zara' s Mommy and Zara's Granny in front of Alton Place circa 1972.
I was a very speedy runner even with those hip tights on! The only thing i can admit is that there is no way i can do the deep knee bend that my mom did with me back then, good job Granny!
here's a snap of Megan with Zara; she came to visit all the way from Providence!
devilish grin,
"hey, where is my halo"?
Markus came from Brussels, Belgium to visit Alton Place (his old home) and Zara was still awake to greet him!

Zara STOMPS on her new shades

With a great deal of concern for baby Zara out on daily walks, Daddy bought her some wonderfully and hip shades to wear!

However, evidently, Zara is unimpressed and shows us exactly what she thinks of them! Apparently, mommy and daddy did not do a good job in the purchasing of protective eyewear department afterall!

Megan came from Rhode Island to visit for Mother's Day!

We did a huge tourist-y day on the National Mall and visited all the DC sites! We power walked the length of the mall and back to the harbor in less than 3 hours! Zara slep two of those 3 hours

Then we stopped by Granny Zarr's for a little R & R and diaper change! Zara is so funny with music; she sways whenever she hears a beat and tonight learned how to clap!
Zara also waved whenever she sees anyone and calls out to people .. by making a growling noise; i think she thinks she is saying"Hi".
She only wants to stand and never practices crawling at all.
I was thankful to have Megan here to give me some good ideas to get her to eat more! I really feel under pressure to get her to fatten up, her Doc kinda gave me the "eye" and put her on vitamins! ouch! It's been tough because she is very wary of food and has to study it before she puts anything in her mouth and often times will make her lips all pouty and refuse-- i guess she really just isn't hungry?- this seems hard for me to relate to since i am ALWAYS hungry!?
more news later ;=)

Zara and Greg having a love fest!

Zara just loves policeman Uncle Greg when he visits her as seen above

out and about

this was Zara wishing that her daddy does well at the craps tables in Atlantic City!!!
In fact, the munch and the mommy would like to take this moment to thank Matt's friend JP for being a great wingman this past weekend while we were in Arizona!

the neighborhood!

Greg visiting Zara while working

Ofc Greg has stopped by 3 days in a row to see Zara; today he got her up from a nap! zara was very rasta/reggae today as you can see!

here are my first seconds in El Mirage AZ

We JUST arrived and got out of the car; it was so great seeing everyone come out of the house to greet us! We felt SO welcomed; and after the tough flight; it was really nice! You can see the Weiss's home and neighborhood! It was so nice there; and almost gave me feelings of Haiti- breezy and super hot sun!

Zara in PHX visiting the Weiss Family!

Here is a quickie video of Zara's great grandmother's sister- Evey, reading to Zara the day we arrived. Zara had a fabulous time and even though she never actually went swimming in their awesome pool; loved every minute with Holly, Evey, Steve and Elisabeth!!!! Zara was smiley with everyone and growled in delight at the 2 little toy doggies that kept coming up to her to sniff her at random moments!

Holly's very nice boyfriend, Dharmesh, born and raised in Tanzania- and now studying in Phoenix, was a HUGE hit with Zara too! We all had loads of fun and we even went to a Diamond Backs baseball game against the NY Mets! The stadium was fully airconditioned since it was 94 degrees out! Holly bought Zara DBack's baseball cap and i will try and show a video of the scene there! Being inside the dome was cool although felt weird to be watching baseball inside! The stadium has a pool in the stands where kids are able to go swim for free and watch the game!

I will upload a few more videos without wearing you all out! XXXOo love jocelyn

Zara styling & chillin'

poolside!

El Frio Street! in El Mirage Arizona!

Zara in the morning! She let me share the sofa bed and we've been good sleepers except she still wakes up at 4am thinking it's 7am!

Zara in Arizona!!

Holly and Zara after her big 5 hours plane ride!

At breakfast this morning! Zara is infatuated with Evey!
The plane ride was good, but unfortunately it was a full flight and someone paid a woman 50$ to trade seats with her-- guess she didn't want to sit near the baby- ouch! To be honest, the flight attendants said it was a record for the number of babies on the flight!
So we ended up with tight row; the man on the end was very nice and even held the Zara for me and Zara was definitely thought he was fun! He kept offering to get up and get things out of the diaper bag from the overhead compartment; (I was in the window- he was the aisle) At any rate, we did pretty well; she only slept about 45 minutes and that happened about 4 hours into the flight-- so there was a lot of playing and repetitive story telling!
Holly, Evey, Elisabeth and Steve live in a great neighborhood and have a lovely salt water pool! i'm ready to jump in now!

Zara's NINE month DOCTOR VISIT

Zara had a descent showing at the Pediatric Village today!

the 30th is Zara's 9 month birthday exactly actually!

She is 28 inches long/tall; putting her in good positioning for the

75th percentile for height.

However she weighed in at 15lbs and 4 ounces, dropping her ranking to only 10th percentile of the national average.

Doc said, "Sorry Zara, you're not making the cut!" (naa she didn't)

tough break kid!

So, the momma- that's me- is putting her on a new weight gain program indulging in high protein fatty foods- like yummy avocados etc...

Tomorrow, we fly to Phoenix, Arizona to see Great Aunt Evey!

(Zara's great grandmother's (Lilian's sister actually)

She will be travelling as my "lap baby" for the 4 hour 20 mins flight; i wonder how much of that will she be able to handle in my lap!!!?? aaaghh let you know... we fly home on eileen's and sammy's bday- 5th of may!!

Zara touring the neighborhood in Hagerstown

Zara loves rollerblading! Megan did a great job keeping the munch "rolling". Grandma Rock took us on a great walk through their neigborhood streets; really lush& nice area-- as you can see!

Zara with a new Toy

Zara drove out to hagerstown to see grandma rock and ALL the rocks! Megan & Mary Rose had fun with her too; in fact Megan pushed her in her carriage on roller blades aroung the neighborhood! Zara was winking at grandpa rock all dinner long; making quite a scene!

Grandma rock and i picked out a new muscial toy for Zara and here she is playing it with Mary Rose!

Decision 2008; which bathing suit to take to Arizona??

Zara likes to share...grrrrrrrr

ever since i found myself so hungry and begging Zara for food last week; her new thing is to share her food; she gets such a kick out of it!

You will see that she also like to "growl" (or perhaps i should say "purr") when she is excited and pleased with herself! grrrrr....

Zara rides like a dolly!

Char char (charlotte) was just so desperate to have Zara go in her dolly stroller and Zara sort of fit! In fact; it almost makes Zara look all tubby like!

picnic time with bella & charchar

on the front lawn playing with zara, the girls were such sweethearts with her!

zara at the Baltimore Inner Harbor with Cooey!

zara (the munch) and i drove up to baltimore and visit the harbor and have lunch with the Cooey! Then we 3 drove to see Charlotte, bella and mom and dad Easter on their beautiful farm! We stayed the night and had a blast; i will try and upload some video in a while! Cathy, Teddy and girls were so happy and sweet to have Zara over for a slumber party!

hair pulling and giggling!

Zara suprises Granny and Grandpa Zarr at the Airport

We arrived just in time to catch the returning Grandparents at the International arrivals area at Dulles! Zara's grandparents were returning from their cruise and travels to Qatar; Oman and the UK!

zara around town and her friends!

Zara and Lia on Alton Place

with Max!!!!
After Costco sitting on the lawn watching Mom lugging the groceries in the house!

Here is Zara at 5 and a half months

this is my first attempt at uploading video.. hope you can view it easily!

Dining al fresco!

our first Nats game at the new stadium!

mommy's day off from work; playtime with zara!

This morning, we rallied and went to Costco; you know...for the experience...and for purchasing massive quanities of food items that will most probably hit their expiration dates before we ever even finish eating them! sheesh! How big does the bottle of carrot juice need to be? i mean does any one person need 84 fluid ounces of any liquid?

Then it was suprisingly sunny in the afternoon and we ventured out into the garden! Tomorrow, Daddy says he will take Zara to the baseball game and see the brand new DC stadium! Go Nationals!

the munch with daddy

here she is with the easter basket the daddy made for her (which the mommy promptly emptied.. in my tummy! oh yea baby!)

Whilst riding the metro, Zara studied the map and decided upon the best route to take for optimum cherry blossom viewing!

Cherry Blossoms & Zara

The Munch took the metro today to visit her first Cherry Blossom festival here in DC! Besides smiling at every cute boy she saw, she was extremely well-behaved and enjoyed herself throughly! It was very sunny but not above 58 degrees so a bit chilly! She was a trooper and posed for her paparazzi!