Hi ya, don’t mind me, I’m fixing some bugs with Kerry’s theme and need to post some photos to test the CSS I’m tweaking.

Things might look a little skewampus for a bit. Sit tight, Kerry’ll be back soon…

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Testing centered photos:

Nora has changed so much this month. She is now mobile, and that has changed her and my life significantly. Now she is crawling all over the house and putting everything in her mouth. Today she got some leaves from one of the plants. Yesterday I found a sticker in her mouth. One of her favorite things to chew on is shoes! I have to watch her like a hawk. She is loving the mobility. She loves being able to move from room to room on her own.

Her personality is really starting to show, too. She is becoming more opinionated. I can tell that she is going to be just as stubborn and independent as her siblings She has started to really let me know when she wants something. She starts grunting and squealing and waving her arms around.

She has also really made a break through with eating. She has decided that she loves solid foods, but she doesn’t like baby food. She is just like Ian. Anything she can get in her mouth she loves–anything I put in her mouth she hates. I am struggling trying to get her to eat some healthy things. I have to remember to start planning ahead now when we are out–otherwise she ends up eating a steady diet of white bread pieces. She has been loving Cheerios and small bits of bread. I bought some freeze dried bananas, strawberries, and corn and she loves them all. One day this week, I left her sitting in her highchair after she ate. I wanted her to be contained while I went downstairs for a minute. I came back upstairs and she had fallen asleep in her high chair. It was adorable. I couldn’t help snapping some pictures.

Uh-Oh was Nora’s first real word and she said it this week. My mom has been working on it, and saying it too her over and over the last few weeks. This week, she had one particularly bad night. She woke up to nurse in the night and would not go back to sleep. I would get her to sleep, but every time I put her down she would cry. I brought her into our room. She still didn’t want to sleep. She was crawling all over us and she kept saying Uh-Oh. She says it so cute. It comes out sounding like UH-oooooh. I wanted her to sleep and she just wanted to keep saying Uh-Oh.

I can see her starting be less and less of a baby. It is bittersweet for me. I was happy for her, but I felt a pang of sadness the day that she started crawling. My little baby is slowly turning into a toddler, and before I know it she will be a little girl!

Today at Glenwild, when we went to meet my dad for lunch, they had a climbing wall. As we walked by the kids asked if they could do it. I said no at first, because I thought that they were too small, and I didn’t think they would want to do it. But, the people running it were really friendly and encouraged them to do it.

Ian wanted to do it first. Emma and I watched as he got all harnessed up. I kept thinking that he would get all ready and then he would be too scared to do it. But he got up there and started climbing right away. He climbed up a few feet, and then got scared and came down. He kept trying, and really enjoyed it. He never went up very high. Emma saw how much fun Ian was having, and she decided to give it a try too. I watched her climb up, and as soon as she got about as high as Scott’s head, I could see her get really nervous. She tried a few times and then we decided to call it quits.

We went and played in the bounce house and ate some lunch. Emma kept asking to got on the climbing wall again. I wasn’t sure when she would have another opportunity to do it, so I said she could do it again. We went out and they got all ready and away they went. Emma was so brave this time. She started climbing and got about half way up. I looked up at her, and told her that if she climbed up to the top she could ring a bell. I watched her face. She saw that button and she was set on it. She worked so hard, and climbed all the way to the top! I was so proud of her. She was scared at first, and then put her mind too it and climbed all the way up to the top. She was so proud of herself, and I was really proud of her too.

One of the girls that was helping with the wall got harnessed up, and helped Ian too. He got all the way to the top too. He was so happy. It was funny. He wasn’t heavy enough to repel down on his own. Someone had to pull him down. For a few seconds he was just hanging up there, and he had the biggest smile on his face!

We finally got to the beach in North Carolina! Last week we flew to Raleigh and spent the night at my parents house in Forest Creek. The next morning we drove to the beach. The drive flew by–2 hours seemed like nothing compared with all the hours we spent in the car on the way to Montana.

The beach was wonderful. It was a big wide sandy beach. The sand was so fine and soft. There were very few waves, and the water stayed shallow for a long way out. It was a perfect beach for kids. The first night we got there we spent the evening on the beach. The kids got there bathing suits on and splashed around in the water. We dug a hold, and Ian found a sand crab. He loved holding it and watching it crawl up his arms. It was fun to see him with it. It reminded me of being a kid and finding them in Beach Haven. Catching sand crabs was one of my favorite things, besides digging huge deep holes.

Emma and Nana were experts at dribble castles by the end of the trip. Ian spent a lot of time running after birds. He chased one so far down the beach. He was swinging his arms with his elbows out and running after the bird. He had half of the beach in stitches.

My mom and dad and Nora and I took a 2 hour walk on the beach every day. I took Nora in the sling, and that was one of her nap times. It was a great workout for me! I can walk forever on the beach. I love looking at the sights, and just talking. The time flew by.

Nora got her first real taste of the beach. I sat her in the sand on the edge of the water and she loved it. She loved the feeling of the sand in her hands. She kept grabbing handfuls and squeezing it. Of course, then she tried to eat it too.

It was a great few days at the beach!

We are on a weekend trip to Big Sky Montana, for our friends wedding. The drive up was really nice. It was so beautiful! We took a bit of a detour and went to Yellowstone. It was such a trip down memory lane for me. I kept thinking about my childhood and the summers that I spent there with the Evers family. I explained what a gyser was to Emma and Ian, and they were so excited to see one. We got to see Old Faithful go off. It wasn’t as big as I remember, but maybe that is because I was smaller last time I saw it.

I have been kind of dreading this trip, though. It is a trip of all couples–some married some not–but none of them have kids. Bryan rented a 10 bedroom house and that is where most of our friends are staying. After being in the car for nearly 10 hours, we finally got the kids to bed at about 9:00pm. Nora was terrible going to sleep. She cried a lot. As soon as they got to sleep Scott wanted to leave to go over to Bryan’s house. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to go, mostly because I was thinking about all my other responsibilities. If I go, I will still have to get up early with the kids. Nora will still wake up at night and I will have to get up with her. And, I felt bad just leaving Sarah the first night here. I decided to stay home.

This morning I am totally beat! Nora was awake crying until about 3:30am. She would only sleep in my bed with me. Scott came home about 3:30am, after I finally called him and told him to come home. The kids got up at about 6:30am and came in and woke me up. I really felt like Scott should have gotten up, but he just rolled over and went back to sleep. Sarah got up and stayed with Emma and Ian, after I got them cereal. I tried to go back to sleep, but Nora just wouldn’t let me.

I haven’t been a very good blogger lately!

Nora turned 8 months a few weeks ago. She is still the happiest baby. I keep expecting to wake up one day and have her personality completely change, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn’t happen.

Some days Nora still seems like a baby to me, and other days she seems so big. She still isn’t crawling, so she seems more like a baby. But, she is rocking back and forth on all fours, so I know that it won’t be long! She can sit and amuse herself with toys for such a long time. I think this is one of the best times. She is so happy and smiley, but she can’t get anywhere yet to get into mischief. I feel like this is the calm before the storm. Life feels so easy lately, but I know that Nora is gearing up to crawl and walk, and then I will be chasing her like crazy.

Nora’s vocabulary has blossomed this month. She started signing “milk’. She also babbles mama a lot, and it seems to be specific to me. She has started to show a preference for me–it feels nice since this is the first baby that has really preferred me She is totally happy with anyone, or just sitting playing with toys, until she spots me. Then she wants nothing but me.

She has started doing the cutest little things. She points with her index finger. I watch her look at something new and touch it with her index finger.

She still isn’t too interested in food. I am feeding her about 1 jar of baby food a day. Some days veggies and some days fruit. I think her favorite is still sweet potatoes. I tried Cheerios a few times, but she always gags, so I am holding off on those for a while. I am really not in any hurry. I know that food is just for experimentation right now, and her nutrition comes from breast milk.

Last weekend Scott and I went on a trip to California, and we only took Nora. It was so much fun. It was nice to devote all our attention to her, and I think she enjoyed it too. Tomorrow we are off to Montana for another wedding.

Another month has gone by Nora is entering her seventh month. I had pictures taken again at Peekaboo Photos. As soon as I get them back I will post my favorite.

This month Nora has gotten a lot more verbal. She is constantly babbling. The other morning we were all in our bed. Nora was babbling all kinds of sounds. I started saying ma-ma-ma-ma to her. She was watching me, and she copied me. Then I said da-da-da-da, and she copied me again. So we started saying em-a-em-a and she even copied that. It was so cute! I know it was just a fluke, but she was practicing her early language skills.

Somehow this month she has moved into her own room, and I have stopped swaddling her. It was bittersweet for me. I felt sad that she was going to be in her own room so far away from me. I would have liked to keep her in the bassinet, but it just isn’t safe anymore. Since she can roll and sit up, it was time to move her out of there. I thought about moving the crib into my room, but I decided it would probably be better for her to just go into her room. The first few nights were rough on me. She had a terrible rash all over her, that we think was a reaction to laundry detergent. It was really messing with her sleep. I think she was waking up itchy. But after the rash calmed down, she settled back in to her pattern of one night waking. She usually wakes around 4:00am, eats and goes right back to sleep.

No crawling yet, but she is really starting to move when she is on her tummy. I think she can roll from her tummy to back now, but not consistently. She can get up on her hands and knees, so she could be crawling before we know it. I am enjoying this time. I know how lucky I am that she can sit on a blanket and play with toys, and she can’t go anywhere I have started working on the child proofing. I found gates for our stairs. I got a few new safety latches for the kitchen cabinets. I just need to install them. I am the most worried about her getting a hold of one of Emma or Ian’s small toys and choking. I am not sure how to deal with those…..

Every month I complain about how fast it is going. I know it is getting old, but I can’t help it I was holding her this week and just looking at her. I started thinking about how it won’t be long before I won’t have a baby anymore. It is hard to imagine that there won’t be anymore babies in my life, and that Nora will be a kid. I don’t want it to happen, and I am savoring every moment.

Mom and Dad bought a house in North Carolina! I am really excited about it. It has been nice that they have rented a house for the last few years, but it will be so nice to have a house of our own. It is brand new, and will be totally decorated and furnished to suit us! I can’t wait to have a king comfortable bed But, now the work begins. My dad put me in charge of all the decorating and projects. I spent the last week of my trip doing projects–I met with closet companies, blind people, and garage floor people. As soon as the house closes, we will be ready to move forward with the closet and blind installations. Before I left mom and I went to a wholesale rug store in North Carolina. We bought the most beautiful rugs for the new house! I think they are really going to make the place look spectacular.

On our trip home last week we got to fly on a private plane! The kids were so excited. Emma kept telling everyone we met “Tomorrow I am going to fly on Grandpa’s plane!” It was so cute, and my dad just swelled up with pride It was awesome! We left our house and were off the ground within 30 minutes. Leaving from the Pinehurst airport was so great. We made one stop in Kansas, and then on to SLC. We left Pinehurst at 8:30, and landed in SLC at 12:30. It was great. I better watch out or we are going to be spolied

Next week I am going to to NC for 3 days with Nora. Scott is going to watch the kids at home. My mom and I are planning a trip to Furniture Land South. It is the largest furniture store in the US–1 million square feet. It should be fantastic!

Nora has some what of a routine but definitely no schedule[:p] Some days the whole thing goes out the window because we have things to do around town with Emma and Ian. Nora wakes up about 7:30am I nurse her, and then we get up. Then she goes back down around 9:30 or 10:00am for an hour or more. Then she is up for 2-3 hours, then back to sleep for 1-2 hours. She usually goes down for the night at about 7:30pm. She sleeps in a bassinet in our room, but I am starting to transition her into her crib in her own room downstairs. I have been putting her there for naps during the day. To get Nora to sleep I swaddle her–still[bl][;)]–then lay her down. I give her a pacifier, but she mostly chews on it. I also give her a little security blanky that she is starting to like. Usually she just sucks her thumb until she falls asleep.

We are still struggling a bit at night. She had been such a good sleeper at night, but for the last few weeks she has been waking up at least 2-3 times. She just nurses and goes back to sleep. I have tried giving he the pacifier, or just patting her, but it hasn’t worked. She just ends up crying and getting more upset. If I just nurse her she instantly calms down and goes back to sleep. It has been hard for me–I am so tired–but I think that is what she needs right now[;)]

Nora is starting to sit really well. She can sit unassisted for a long time now. I just have to watch because sometimes she still falls backwards[:(]Last night I sat her on a blanket on the floor. I put a few toys in front of her, and I just sat behind her. She played with her toys for the longest time. Her balance is getting better. I see her start to fall over, and then she recovers. No teeth yet, and not crawling. She moves around quite a bit when she is laying on her tummy, but no crawling yet.