Adentures in da U.P., eh?

This weekend my Mom, Naomi and I ventured up to the gorgeous Upper Penninsula of Michigan. We drove a ridiculous amount of time and miles to go to an art fair so I could get some of my favorite pottery from a lady who is retiring at the end of the year. Plus, it was a great excuse just to get away for a ladies weekend! We had a really nice time, even in the midst of rain (including a torrential downpour WHILE we were at the art fair, during which my Mom and I huddled under a large tree and an incredibly small umbrella. I was wishing I could crawl into the stroller with Naomi pretty badly as water was running off of the umbrella and pouring down my back...).

Friday night after we got to Marquette, we were relaxing in the room. Naomi was sitting on the floor playing with some toys and she started to get fussy. My mom picked her up and said "you probably just want to be by your mama," as she laid her on the bed by me. I grabbed her leg to pull her closer and OH. MY. WORD. POOP. EVERYWHERE. She was fussing because she had to poo I guess, and boy did she ever. It GUSHED out of her diaper, leaving a mess on the hotel bedspread which I promptly (and of course unknowingly) dragged her through!!! Here is the aftermath (**warning, do not look at these pictures if you are eating Grey Poupon mustard or ever want to eat Grey Poupon mustard again.**)

I suppose she thought this was funny. This isn't even the HALF of it.

Here's the full effect. Notice the back of her head.
There is poop matted in her HAIR!

We took Naomi in the pool, at first she wasn't so sure about that business, but then a little girl doing handstands and other "tricks" nearby caught her attention! The little girl was so sweet and kept doing handstands to entertain Naomi, who remained intrigued for quite some time.

Post pool bath.

The weekend went way too quickly. I'm sad it's over already. Maybe that's why I am still up blogging about it even though it is after midnight.

Naomi sitting on the luggage cart,

staring in the mirror:

"Who is that cute baby?""I better take a closer look."

Packed up and ready to go.

On the way home, we stopped for a couple of photo ops. First there was a kiddie train. Kinda corny...but we had fun. Grandma was acutally crouching on the floor of the train car holding Naomi up. She had white pants on and it was raining, so she couldn't kneel. She was hunched way over, balancing Naomi above her head, thinking I was getting some good pictures when all of the sudden she felt this little hand delicately touching her hair. I hadn't been taking pictures b/c Naomi was looking DOWN at her! I'm sure this is one of those "you had to be there" stories, but we had a good laugh about the ridiculousness of the situation (and we provided a giggle or two to the lady nearby who witnessed the whole scene).

"All aboard!"

Once we got to St. Ignace, we decided we had better stop to get a picture of Naomi by the Mackinaw Bridge. It was still raining, so we had to wait for a bit until it let up enough to snap a few shots. It let up to a light sprinkle, we dashed out of the van, plopped Naomi down on her changing pad in the grass, and snapped away. It was quite the joint effort; Grandma hooting, hollering, clapping, blowing raspberries, waving flowers, etc. to get Naomi's attention, and me taking pictures.

Teething Biscuits...

...Make a HUGE mess!

Open Mouth, Insert Hosta

Naomi likes to put everything and anything into her mouth now. It's been going on for a while, but the trend seems to be growing in frequency! Gotta watch that little bugger!

Today, someone (who shall remain nameless) was being a good parent and put her in the shade under our tree in the front yard. Well, little did that someone know that she was within arms reach of a tasty hosta plant! Yup, she ate it.

Someone called someone else to make sure that said plant is not in fact poisonous...(which someone else had a small panic attack about until they found out online at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's website that hostas are non-toxic). Problem solved. Lesson learned (by both someones).

4th of July - Additional Pictures

I just got a few more 4th of July pictures from Grandma's camera...
(I am actually posting this on 7/25/2009, but I am back dating it so the pictures will be by the 4th of July post).

I'm sure you can guess that this picture is of Grandma and Grandpa's behinds sticking out of our car after we first arrived at the A-frame! I wonder what (or whom) could be so intriguing in that car?

Naomi thinks toes are yummy.

Sleepy Girl

Patriotic Apparel

Naomi had an audience and once she figured out that simply hanging her mouth open and looking around the crowd got her some big laughs, she continued putting on quite the show!

4th of July Festivities

For the 4th of July this year, Adam, Naomi and I headed up to the A-frame (my Grandma's cottage) to celebrate and relax with family. The A-frame is located in a really small farming community, and they have a pig roast, singing and fireworks event every 4th of July. I went last year for the first time and LOVED it. I love the small town feel. I love the relaxing atmosphere. And there is something really neat about an entire town gathering on the river bank together to eat, visit, sing some good old hymns together and reflect on the values this great nation was founded upon.

Naomi did great all weekend. She had plenty of family to entertain her: Her Great-Grandma, Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Kyle, Great-Aunts and Uncles, and second cousins. The child was FAR from starved for attention and love! She also enjoyed her first ever fireworks show. She did this really cute squinty-blink with her eyes every time a loud firework went off, but as soon as her eyes opened, she was locked in, watching the colorful display in the sky. She didn't even actually jump or flinch once (other than with her eyes). We were really glad she did so well! I think I had more fun watching Naomi watch the fireworks, than watch the actual fireworks myself! The whole family was watching Naomi for her reaction too! Adam and I would look up to see family turned around in their chairs to watch her response. It was quite fun!

Hanging out by the river with Daddy

Naomi's Makeshift Do0 Rag (a.k.a. Mommy's Shirt)

Uncle Kyle and Naomi

Watching Fireworks

Sunday after church, we stopped by a farm with a bunch baby cows and let Naomi say hello. One of the calves kept LICKING and LICKING Naomi's hand until it was covered in SLOBBER (gross!). It even tried to eat her dress. They were cute little buggers and Naomi seemed to enjoy them.

Saying hi to Michael the cow

Meeting Lou

Later on Sunday afternoon, we packed up to head home. On our way home, we swung over to Adam's Aunt Dee and Uncle Tom's cottage to say hi to them as well as his cousin Lauren, her husband Rick, and their twin girls who were up for a visit. It was really good to see them again. We all went out on the boat for a bit. I thought Naomi would like that, but she couldn't get over having to wear a life jacket and ended up fussing almost the entire time. Poor little peanut, it made me claustrophobic just looking at her in that thing! She couldn't even reach her face / mouth because it was so big around on her. It was pretty comical.

Love this picture!
This one too.

Pregnancy Journal: The Big Day

Excerpt from my journal dated 4/24/2008:

"So yesterday was the big day. I took a pregnancy test in the morning before work, fully expecting it to be negative...well that little stick slowly turned positive! Crazy."

________________________________________

Leaving out some of the too-much-information details

________________________________________

"I took a second test about 45 min later. That one turned positive almost instantly. Wow."

"Well then Adam woke up and came downstairs to get ready. I frantically hid the tests trying to determine how to tell him...not when he was all sleepy and had just woken up!  Then I thought to myself, 

'I should take a picture of the tests!' 

I went and got my camera and brought it to the bathroom (where Adam was now in the shower).  I took a couple of pictures, but they were too dark so I turned on the flash and took one more picture. Adam saw the flash and was INSTANTLY furious. 

'Did you just take a picture of me naked?!' 

'Well if you didn't take a picture of me then what were you taking a picture of?!'

After trying to cool him down and put out that fire I thought there was no way I was going to tell him now that he was all mad!"

"Then I had to leave for work and I didn't want to tell him as I was running out the door. So I had all day to figure out how to tell him. I looked up tons of ideas online, but they were all so cheesy I couldn't even stand it. Finally, after much thought, I figured it out!"

"When Adam got home around 8pm I handed him a card (upstairs just outside our bedroom). The card had a picture of eggs and sausage in the shape of a smiley face on the front of it. Inside it said something like, 

'You're my favorite way to start the day.' 

Then I added, 

'Why else would I want to take naked pictures of you in the shower?!  In light of this morning's episode I thought you might want to see the picture I took of you.'

I was standing right there as he read this holding the picture of the pregnancy tests behind my back & handed it to him. He lit up in a HUGE excited smile and said, 

'No way! Really?!'

Then he gave me a huge hug and kiss. It was really quite fun!

I've got to say, it was kind of fun being the only one who knew for an entire day. I was the only person in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD who knew we were having a baby. 

I am between 5-6 weeks along and will be due between December 13 and Dec 21 (my birthday!)."

________________________________________

Rambling on about stuff...

________________________________________

"Now I need to make an OB appointment. Talk about a reality check, calling to make an appointment and having to say WHY I am making the appointment.

A couple of good things about being pregnant:

1. I no longer have to paint

2. I no longer have to scoop the cat litter

A couple of bad (but totally worth it) things:

1. No sushi, lunch meat, or soft cheese

2. No wine or fun drinks"

Teeth!

We have been saying Naomi is teething for the past few months. She has been acting like she is teething off and on since she was about 3+ months old. Excessive amounts of drool, constantly chewing on her fists & toys, intermittent fussiness, etc. Yesterday Adam called me at work to announce she is cutting her first two (bottom) teeth! (Actually, he called me and I heard him saying to Naomi, "Tell Mama what you've got!" Then to me, "Guess what she has." I of course had no idea and was trying to think what possible mischief a 6 month old who doesn't crawl yet could have POSSIBLY gotten herself into!)

So, she is cutting teeth, the poor little cookie. She is a fussier than normal, more needy, wants to cuddle more (that part is really nice!) and is napping more during the day. She is also eating less and spitting up more...but overall she is doing quite well and slept really good last night (phew!).

I'll be sure to post pictures once her little toofers are out far enough. Those little buggers are SHARP by the way. OUCH!