Taking Steps

Noah took many steps yesterday. He started off early in the morning with a two stepper. Then later in the afternoon he took about 8 or 10 steps. I couldn't catch the excitement with a photo because my stinkin camera is broken and in need of repairs. I have to hold it a certain way in order for it to work. It was very exciting to watch, I don't think he knew what he was doing. He looked very excited to be doing, and may have actually just been falling forward and his feet happened to be in the right place.

He's also been trying to feed himself.It's kind of messy. He did this all to himself. I took no part in painting he face with food - fer rizzle.Also on the menu, a pair of socks.Fun in a bowl...whee!!!

Our baby

...won't go to sleep at night.

Maybe he just wants to keep on rocking in the free world.
Off to research how to make baby fall asleep.

Apron Swap

I received my beautiful apron today. I might have received it yesterday, but we were running here and there, so I did not check the mailbox.
It is everything I imagined it could be. Sarah drew me - she is one of the hostesses of the apron swap. She's got some skills. My apron sparkles, is blue, and has the neat snowflakes sewn in which make a happy tinkling sound. I also received a bag of gelt and homemade tea. Thanks Sarah!

I drew Melissa. This was my first apron to make. Rather than go with something simple - I decided to make a reversible apron. The pockets really tripped me up on the red side. I have learned and know better what to do for next time. I sent a bunch of goodies to Melissa - cookies, hot cocoa, a holiday coffee cup, some candle holders and candles, a toy for her doggie, pot holder, and dish towel. I think that was it. I went with a santa theme.
Can't wait for the next apron swap. This was fun. Maybe I should go into the professional package making business.

9 Months Old

Another doctor's visit, luckily no shots. But today was a yucky day, is there a full moon tonight? The day started out well. Then at noon it went into to super crap mode. I got another ticket, right outside my neighborhood, at the doctor Noah fell and cut his lip open (Kyle's fault - do have him tell the story), Kyle ate all this really good cheese I wanted to eat --- and well that's why my day was crappy. Okay, it wasn't so bad, but it sure felt that way.

9 month developments

• He will almost certainly be mobile one way or another by now; either crawling, bottom shuffling or pulling himself up on a firm object and ‘cruising’ - walking around hanging onto the furniture
• He will be able to pick up and put down toys at will, as his fingers are now a little more under his control
• Your baby will be able to help feed himself and will enjoy picking up finger foods
• If he is crawling he will want to explore everywhere
• He may become shy of strangers and people he does not see often
• Shape sorters: simple posting and sorting games which encourage him to match shapes or increase his dexterity
• Activity toys: toys with buttons to press or turn that make sounds so he can learn that doing one thing leads to another thing happening
• Bath toys: now he can sit unsupported he will enjoy filling and tipping water from a container and watching it splash

Gosh 9 months has gone by fast. I was reading someone else's random blog, and he has been equally alive inside and outside the womb - freakish. He's standing every now and then with out holding on to anything. He also really likes for us to chase him. He moves very fast, then he'll turn around to make sure we are still chasing him.

He does not go to bed on his own yet, which could become a problem- or I should just plan to continue rocking him to sleep at least until he goes to college. The nurse said we could start giving him more table food. Apparently by the time he is one we should start weening him off a bottle. I should read up more on this.

He's a lot of fun - busy body, strong, yeller, sweet smiles, happy, laughing, stubborn, persistent, charming, sooo curious --- and we love him so much!!!

Here is the fabric I bought for this apron swap I am doing. I ended up not using the decals. I'll probably just send them with the package. I hope my pal likes what I made, I'm nervous and in perfectionist mindset - even though I know what I made is not perfect ---which makes me even more anxious.

We been berry busy...

--Dressing up for Halloween.

--making baby Renaissance costumes.

--going to the Renaissance Festival

--walking for the cure.

--trying on more funny hats.

Enjoy the photos!

8 months old

and we partied in Port Aransas - too quickly went the time. But there was a lot of time for funny hats. More teeth are a coming in, 2 at one time, and there is lots of drool. Finally, the little guy is sleeping in the crib, not with us anymore. We had a cry over that. He was sooo warm and cuddly. But he'd also wake up at start scratching or slapping our faces.

Apparently he was a little terror in day care yesterday, scratched one baby's eyelid, pulled another's hair, and shook another one. I hope this doesn't become a habit.

What is it like to be 8 months old?

How I grow

• I crawl backwards and forwards on my stomach.
• I pull myself up by holding onto furniture, but it is hard for me to get back down. (He's good at getting back down)
  
• I can stand up if I lean against something.
• I can sit without support for several minutes (all the time)
  
• I reach for things and hold them with my thumb, index, and middle fingers.
• I hold onto a toy, like a rattle, for several minutes.
• I pick up small things like pieces of string or crumbs. (ewww, yes, today he was playing with a dead spider)
  

How I talk

• I let you know if l am happy, sad, or scared by the sounds that I make. (or grumpy)
  
• I still babble a lot and shout to get attention. (our little scream factory)
• I say two syllable sounds like ba-ba, da-da, and ma-ma. (he forgot how to say mama -bah!_
• I recognize some words. (working on No!_
• I watch and try to imitate your mouth movements. (oh yeah, that's funny, when I am chewing gum, then he starts chewing like he has gum)

How I respond

• I like to pat and kiss my reflection in the mirror.
• I turn and listen when I hear familiar sounds like the telephone or my name.
• I love to imitate people I know.

How I understand

• I am very curious and I want to explore everything.
• I know how to solve simple problems, such as making a toy bell ring.
• I understand the meaning of "in" and "out." ( I don't think he can do this)
  
• I remember things that just happened.

How I feel

• I'm often scared by new experiences and new people. (no fear here, a little too fearless if you ask me)
• I'm upset when you leave me, even for a short time. (not yet, maybe something still to come)
• I feel so relieved when you return.
• I'm upset when people make a lot of fuss over me. (no, I think he quite loves the attention - a little divo)
  
• I get frustrated or lose my temper if my toy rolls under the couch and I can't see it. (most times, but he is easily distracted by another toy)
  

pumpkin patch

We had a lot of fun this Saturday at the Elgin Pumpkin Patch. Noah didn't want to smile because the places to take pictures either had scratchy burlap or hay. We tried. We might have to do another photo shoot.
Take two, not too happy about these pumpkin photos.


There were hayrides, Elgin sausage and corn on the cob, a hay maze, and lots of other stuff for bigger kids - like pumpkin decorating, face painting.

Noah really liked the swing and seeing the dog. He sure smiled at those things.

The pumpkin patch made Kyle nostalgic for nuts from Berdoll's Pecan Farm in Bastrop. So we drove to Bastrop in search of chocolate cover pecans. In the process, we happened upon an art festival on the Bastrop bridge. We went ahead and stopped there to look at the art. Bastrop surely is a pretty, quaint town. We plan to go back to visit the old downtown area. We had such a pleasant day.

Apron Swap Meme

1. what kind of holiday party food do you like best? finger food buffet or sit down multi-course style?
Finger food buffet

2. do you make/use those little name cards for your table seating or is that just another little something that magazines are trying to add to our already long holiday to-do list?
In my ideal world, I'd like to make the name cards, have organized party. My organization skills need some polishing.

3. do you miss sitting at the "kid's table"?
Miss? I'm still treated like a kid, I guess because the couisins are all so much older than me, they still can't seem to grasp I'm an adult. Oh well, too bad for them, the kiddie table is FUN!

4. any particular holiday party traditions that you like to do every year?
no, just depends on what's going on that year.

5. Which is your favorite winter holiday?
New Year's Eve. Chaunnkah

6. do you make or have you tasted any good egg nog recipes...whether using it in a dish or as a drink? No, buy it already made. I saw a friend make it once, it took a long time.

7. fruit cake .... do you love it or think it should be used as a door stop?
Bleck! Does a good fruit cake exist? Bleck and barf!

8. What do you like to do to get yourself in the holiday sprit (ie. certain music, visiting certain seasonal sites, enjoying winter weather, ect.)
Enjoying the few cold days that occur, decorating with wintery things, seek fire places, hot chocolate

9. What is your favorite holiday song and who sings it best?
Don't have a favorite holiday song. Get rather tired of Christmas music at this time, as it is played everywhere to much.

10. Any ideas for interesting holiday themed parties? (Even if it's really out there -- like renting a snow machine and having everyone build snowmen if you live in a no-snow areas!)
Cookie baking, blue and white, ice sculptures, wear the tackiest sweater you can find party

This week

Find the Noah...

I thought Noah was teething before. Now he's really teething and he's a mess, drooling, fever, pain, pain, pain...poor thing. And when he's in pain, well, so are we. As far as, we don't sleep as much, the stress levels are a little high with all the crying and not knowing how to make it better.

Luckily, I have a long weekend - to take a semi break. I can almost smell Thanksgiving a coming this way too, which is always nice.

We went winter shopping last weekend for Noah. Picked up this cute lion outfit which he wore for Yom Kippur eve. I love this outfit - finally some cute boy clothes. Perhaps I'll have to design a clothing line.
And all Noah wants to do is stand, and he keeps falling and hurting himself.
I mean how dangerous does that look, but he's cries if we don't let him stand up and do his dare devil tricks. Eeeeholee!
My sweetie surprised me with flowers in the mail this week. Aren't they gorgeous and doesn't he deserve a husband of the millineum award?

We are almost done watching the HBO Rome - which is fabulous and quite educational. Caesar was a bad ass.

Check out some of my scrapping recipes work. I'm part of this yahoo groups that swaps scrapbooked recipe cards. It's fun. These we some of the ones posted as examples of good work. Yay me!

Check out my button-->>>

I figured out how to do it. I looked at the html of someone else's blog and figured out how to add my team Michael button. Pretty cooooollllll!!!! Now I'm going to have to add more buttons. It is so satisfing to figure something out without out too much frustration.

Sorry to all those I have not called back recently. My old school is in the process of moving to the new school and life has been wiggedy wack. One more week of this chaos, living out of boxes, kids thinking its the end of the school year because everything is packed up.

This week:

-Noah's bottom right tooth in front (what's it called - incisor?) finally started poking through just barely, not enough to get a good picture of yet. We felt it Friday, in the middle of dinner - sharp little tooth.
-little boy is dragging himself around and trying to stand up everywhere. The only thing is that he is pretty wobbly and has face planted on the floor (and into my lip - ouch - he cut it open)

The room was actually dark - he's been caught trying to make a crib break a couple of times this week instead of going to SLEEP!!!
-he's also getting excellent at moving from his tummy to sitting up, as this series of pictures displays.

Heave---Whop!Should I smile?

Laters peeps!

7 months old

Wow does time fly. The little man is 7 months old today. He is working on trying to crawl, he is getting real good at dragging him self across the room, army style. He was doing well sleeping through the night, except for the past two nights, he has been a little sick, allergies or something. He is doing fantastic at sitting up. According to his daycare workers he learned to say something new, but they wouldn't tell and I'm crossing my fingers that it is "ma-ma."

6am this morning
Yesterday's funny big pants

Amazing Kid

Too cool for school

I wish we weren't so busy, and that groceries and dinner would magically appear in our house. Working is very time consuming and then I'm drained by the time I get home. The bed time routine is about all I've got left in me and some tv watching. That requires so little energy. I've been kinda of watching Dancing with the Stars. I wanted to see how Springer would do. And well, I've grown up with Joey Lawrence - whoa! I also have been religiously watching Project Runway - that show is fun and I've even got Kyle hooked. Then there is the new Aaron Sorkin tv show (creator of the West Wing), Studio 60 - so I had to check that out. And of course I gotta watch Rachel Ray.

Well, the kid is still sleeping in our bed, it's kinda hard to kick him out. He's soo cuddly.

What your baby can do:

	Not wobble when you hold her upright as she is able to put weight on her legs now (yes he's a superstar at sitting up)
	Sit unaided for quite some time
	May start crawling and if she hasn't yet, she will be getting ready for it by pushing herself forward in some way or the other (not quite crawling, but doing the pushing and can go quite fast when he does that.)
	Show preference for left or right handedness (looks like a right hander)
	Continue babbling, repeating sounds over and over again, especially the gurgling ones (yes, loves to blow rasberries - why are they called rasberries?)
	Feed herself with finger foods (not quite - we'd like for him to have teeth first)
	Look for a dropped object but forgets about it when she can't see it