One Step At A Time!

Naomi took ONE step last night (and promptly fell down)!!! She just did it again tonight!

"Go Naomi, Go! Go Naomi, Go!" (that's our encouragement chant, accompanied by enthusiastic clapping)

Walk Baby, Walk!

Tonight, just about 1 hour ago, Naomi took a few steps BY HERSELF behind her little walker toy that Susan gave us. I'm so proud! I'll have to get a picture of this. I can't believe how quickly she is growing from infant to TODDLER. And to think, less than a year ago I was still pregnant. Sheesh.

A Baby Free Weekend

This past weekend Adam and I spent our first weekend away from Naomi. Naomi came down with a cold on Thursday night (and we were up half the night with her) which almost put a kink in our plans. Thanks to my Grandma and two of my Aunts who were willing to watch a sick baby, we were still able to go! We missed her a lot, but it was a wonderful break and we had a great time. We went up to Adam's Aunt and Uncle's cottage. Their cottage is on a lake and is also right near some large sand dunes. It is such a relaxing and beautiful place to be.

We went with our good friends Rachel and Josh. On Friday we arrived around 2, unloaded the cars and climbed the dunes. This led to us walking all the way to Lake Michigan...by taking the road MUCH MUCH less traveled. We took the long scenic route shall we say, and wound up walking barefoot, through the woods following a deer trail. We kept thinking "Lake Michigan is just over this next hill," only to come to the top of the hill and see more trees and more hills! It was quite the little adventure.

Saturday Adam and I took engagement pictures for Josh and Rachel up on the dunes (they just recently got engaged, YEAH!). We had a lot of fun just wandering around, finding neat places for pictures, and having a friendly competition on who could capture "the" shot (I won, not that I care or anything :-).

Engagement Photos:

That night the guys built a fire; their 3rd and final attempt after we managed to finally purchase DRY wood (which shockingly burns so much easier, who knew?). We made s'mores and had some good conversation, then we climbed the dunes yet again to lay under the stars for a while. It was a gorgeous and peaceful night and it felt like we were the only four people up there!

Some random pictures from the weekend:

The aftermath of one of Adam's "ideas" (think The Cutting Edge, only he was swinging me around by my arms instead of my legs thankfully). We sure do have fun together!

Patty Cake

Grandma Dar patiently helped Naomi master the art of Patty Cake this past week. I love watching her try to clap, flapping her arms together wildly, and looking pleased as punch when her two hands actually meet, it is so cute!

Fighting Sleep

Ever since Naomi has been able to crawl and pull herself up in her crib to a standing position, her sleep routine has changed a bit. Often after we put her to bed, she will almost immediately roll over, crawl to the edge of her crib and stand up. Eventually she starts crying and after a little bit, I go back in her room and lay her down. Usually she will then go to sleep (okay, if I'm totally honest, sometimes I lay her back down 2-3 different times and THEN she goes to sleep...bad habit, I know). Tonight (literally about 5-10 minutes ago) I laid her back down and left her room again. Very shortly I heard her crying again. I waited...she was still fussing. I decided to go back into her room and lay her down again hoping that would be it for the night. I walked in to her room and found...

...Naomi standing up in the corner of her crib with her head laying on her arms. Her eyes were closed and she was still fussing! I laid her back down and she never even opened her eyes. I can't decide if she was extremely tired and crying, or SLEEPING and crying...

Look Ma, No Hands!

Adam timed Naomi standing up all by herself on Wednesday (2 days ago) for 25 seconds! She's really figuring out how to balance well. She pulls herself up to the couch, lets go with one hand...then lets go with her other hand, and eventually falls down on her little buttskis. She loves to do this over and over and over and over...

More Accomplishments

Naomi new accomplishments / interests:

1. She has officially mastered the art of crawling. She really figured it out on Kathryn's (our Nanny) last day with her on Sept 2 (she is back in school and can't watch her as often now). Naomi has not only mastered crawling, but she is now FAST.

2. Standing up against furniture, gathering her balance, and letting go. She can free-stand for a good 8 seconds or so sometimes! She does this over and over and over, until she gets tired and can't really maintain her balance for more than a second or two, but she keeps trying.

3. Eat cheerios (ie: has mastered her thumb and finger pincer grasp).

4. Understands the word "no", and sometimes obeys it (usually, she crabs though!).

5. She can also walk along furniture a little bit. She doesn't do it a whole lot yet though, or very far...

I'm sure there's more, but it's getting late, I'm tired, I have to work tomorrow, and my computer is running out of battery, so I think I'll sign off for now!

Here's a quick picture catch up before I head to bed:

Nothing says "good morning Daddy" like a little spit up in the hair!
(Adam won't be happy I put this on here, but c'mon
honey, this is funny stuff!)

Naomi's 8 Month picture
(It was waaay harder to get her to sit still for these pictures!
She kept wanting to stand up on the chair and look out the window)

Just thought this one was cute!

Love the bunny slippers!

In Molly's swimming pool

Baby Buddies

Molly Pants and Namie Pants, Best Baby Buddies.

About the "pants" thing. When we first hung out with Wayne and Emily, we noticed that they called their dog Lula, "Lula Pants". We thought that was CRAZY since we call our kitty cat Sela, "Sela Pants". No reason, just completely random. It just popped out of my mouth one day and stuck. Anyways, not very interesting, but that's the story.

So now, we have daughters, Molly Pants and Namie Pants (Naomi has umpteen nicknames: Nomi, Namie, Noie, Nae...I wonder which one might stick...).

"Garage Sale-ing" with our girls!

Pool Time at Molly's House

Naomi sleeping after a walk
Namie Pants and Lula Pants
(Naomi has enough hair to wear a barrette!)

Naomi's First Visit to the Beach!

I have been very excited to take Naomi to the beach for the first time. This past Saturday, we finally (now that it is SEPTEMBER) did so.We went with our friends Wayne and Emily and their daughter Molly who is 5 weeks younger than Naomi. Adam, Wayne, and Rich (a co-worker of Wayne's) rode their bikes to the beach (approx. a 40 mile ride). They headed out around 9:50 am. Emily and I left around 11:30am or 12pm...can't remember exactly since our leaving time included a quick trip to the grocery store for beach snacks... Either way, we literally PASSED THE GUYS on the last 100 yards of the trip, RIGHT BEFORE the entrance to the beach! Crazy timing if you ask me. At the beach we met up with Rich's wife and daughter as well.

Overall, Naomi's first visit to the beach left a little something to be desired...I think 8 months old just isn't really a good "enjoy the beach" age...

...and here's why:

First of all, I packed 100 lbs. of crap to haul to the beach...a mini tent (yes, a TENT, for the babies to nap in), a cooler, a blanket, beach towels, 6 (yes SIX) swimmy diapers (in case she took 6, yes SIX poops in just a few hours...hey, it could happen people!), a sun umbrella, baby toys, about 6 outfits (in case it was hot, in case it was cold, in case she dirtied one...or two...or three of the outfits, in case I decided she should wear blue instead of purple, in case our friend needed to borrow one...you name it, I had a reason)...I also talked Emily into bringing an inflateable pool because the lake was only around 50 degrees and our babies HAD to swim on their first visit to the beach!!! Even funnier, I packed all of this into a really large hiking backpack. The "serious hiker" hiking backpacks that people trek through the wilderness with for weeks at a time...that was my beach bag. Wow, typing all of that makes me realize how absolutely ridiculous that all was.

Ok, on to second of all.

Second of all, Naomi only got a mini nap in on the way to the beach...maybe a 40 minute nap if I were giving it a generous guesstimate (normally she gets a 2 hour morning nap).

Third of all, I got sunscreen in poor little Naomi's eyes! (BAD MOMMY!). I felt horrible. She cried and cried, and whined and whined.

Notice Naomi's red, swollen eyes and the splotchy skin around her eyes
(and yessss, I did give her a mohawk...I couldn't resist, the
greasy sunscreen just held the style so well!)

Fourth of all, it was really really challening to breast feed her discreetly on the beach, so I don't think she got a good meal in...

Fifth of all, she only got about a 40 minute afternoon nap (she usually gets another 2 hour nap in the afternoon). The beach was just too loud, the tent too hot, etc. Not a good napping environment.

Sixth of all, when she took her dip in the pool it was #1. too cold, and #2. when her hair got wet, more sunscreen ran into her eyes. The poor little pickle could barely open her eyes, she just kept whining, crying, blinking, closing her eyes for extended periods of time...it was bumming me out. I felt so terrible.

Naomi's Face of the Day

So, my hope is that NEXT year, the beach will be a much more enjoyable experience. Here are some pointers for my future beach mommy self:

1. Pack simply. Less is more. Food. Swimsuit. Towel. Sun Umbrella. THE END.
2. Convince Johnson and Johnson to incorporate their "No More Tears" secret ingredient into a sunscreen product.
3. Bring aforementioned "No More Tears" Sunscreen Product.
4. Leave at a more appropriate time regarding naps / feeding time / etc. to avoid as many meltdowns as possible.

Stand Up & Wave

The lastest little tid bits for Naomi are that she can:

1. Pull herself up to a standing position.

2. Wave back at you when you wave at her (it's more of a "full arm" motion than a hand wave, she's very enthusiastic about it).

3. Army crawl. She still hasn't mastered the art of crawling (and she gets really frustrated with it), plus she is waaay more interested in standing and "dancing" (she wiggles her hips forward and backward when she's standing. We often prompt her by cheering "Dancy Dance! Dancy Dance!")

Re-visit

Naomi and I packed up and headed back to A-town, two weekends after the first visit. On the way into town on Thursday night, we stopped out at Gma and Gpa H.'s to say hello.

My good friends Kyla and Cristie were in town and we got together for a LONG overdue girls night. I miss those girls (and the fun we used to have together) so much! Growing up and moving away definitely has it's disadvantages. It was so good to see them though and we had a great time. I'm already looking forward to the next opportunity for us to get together (hopefully it doesn't take us quite so long to make it happen next time...I want to say it's been at least a good 3 years in coming).

My mom and I also went out to visit Kyla and her mom Belinda at their house. Naomi really liked B's puppy, Kosa, and Kosa seemed to like her quite a bit too! She especially liked to sneak away some of Naomi's toys...she was a quick little bugger!

I took Naomi to the Farmer's Market again to see the fruit (and veggies) of Grandpa Jim's labor. It's amazing how many more vegetables were ripe (Do veggies get ripe? I'm not sure on the terminology there...I think the term might be "ready") since our visit 2 weeks prior. What a difference just two weeks can make in a garden!

Gma & Gpa H.

Hometown Proud

After spending the weekend in the U.P. with my mom, Naomi and I spent a week in mine and Adam's hometown (which I will affectionately refer to as "A-town"). It was Naomi's first visit there and we had such a nice relaxing time visiting family and introducing her to friends. It was a week of respite and it was so nice. I only wish Adam could've come with us!

While in A-town, Naomi and I spent some time out at Grandma Jane and Grandpa Jim's house looking at all the beautiful flowers, fruits, and vegetables.

Grandpa Jim picking raspberries.

At my parent's house, I spent time just relaxing, enjoying my week off, and enjoying the help with Naomi. During the week, some of Grandma Dar's friends came over to meet Naomi. Grandpa Rick would come home from work in the evening and say, "WHERE'S THE BABY!?" Boy does Naomi know his voice! Especially when he says that. Funny.





While in town, we also had the wonderful opportunity to get some really neat pictures of Naomi. A good friend of the family offered to take some photos for us. She got some amazing shots and I am SO EXCITED about them. I have a slight addiction to photography, especially when the subject is my child!

Love the red wagon!

This is one of my all time favorites. I love this picture.

Grandpa's glasses!!

Snacking on my nose.

Love those baby buns!

After church Therese took more pictures since Adam was in town now too. She got some great family pictures for us. The dress Naomi is wearing was mine when I was her age! I love that dress. I would also like to mention that this is the same spot Adam and I had some of our wedding pictures taken 6 years ago!

Chubby (kissable) cheeks!

Notice my jazz hands in the corner (actually, more like "freaking out mom" hands).

Naomi LOVES this trick...almost as much as her daddy.

Another one of my all time favorites!

Adam came up at the end of the week so he and I could go to a Surprise 30th Birthday Party for our really good friend, Josh R. on Saturday evening. Saturday morning we went to visit Grandpa Jim at the Farmer's Market downtown. Then, Saturday evening, we headed out to the B-day Bash. It was really nice to have a night out just the two of us. Visiting our hometown with two sets of Grandparents definitely has it's perks (childcare!!!)...oh, and of course seeing our beloved parents!

The party was out at Josh's parents farm, and it was a lot of fun. Josh was sucessfully surprised and everyone had a really good time visiting with friends, both old and new. The day was beautiful. It started out raining, but just in time, the sun fought it's way through the clouds and the evening cleared up. After dinner and (gag) gifts, we went on a good old fashioned hay ride to the R. Family Blueberry Patch. Josh' parents started their blueberry patch over 17 years ago, and only recently has it begun to produce for them. The blueberry bushes are gorgeous and FULL of plump clusters of sweet blueberries. YUMMY! We all wandered around the field talking and snacking on blueberries. Later, back at the farm, the guys started a fire...which was promptly doused out by a thunderstorm that rolled through 45 minutes later! The party quickly moved into the house where we all sat around visiting and telling stories.