Eating Success- Finally!

Nicole playing with her daddy.

The kid refuses to eat rice cereal. I tried it, it’s really not that bad. Not sure why she purses her lips and digs her chin in her chest to avoid it. She even tries to whine with her mouth closed as she knows I’ll fill it up with a spoon if she opens it.

Last night while I was at class Jim fed her pureed bananas and *BAM* that was it. Kid loves bananas. Down with veggies, give her the fruit. Jim was the sweetest husband ever and, knowing I’d be sad to have missed it, he videoed her eating. I was thrilled to watch as 1) I’ve never seen her so willing to eat solids and 2) she was already asleep by the time I got home from class. : (

Weekend of 1/18/08

I had a WONDERFUL weekend. Really, it couldn't have gotten much better. Here are the highlights:

• I decided to upgrade my wardrobe as it’s been a l-o-n-g time since I’ve bought some basics and some of my clothes have shown the wear and tear of years in the washing machine. I bought a pair of pants at LNY on clearance for $6. $6!! That’s amazing in and of itself. Icing on the cake – I can wear a size 6 now! It's been since sophomore year of UD since that happened!
• I picked up Nicole’s photos from JC Penney Portraits and they are better than I remembered!
• Taking Dave S’s suggestion Jim and I watched Superbad on Friday night. Very funny movie and gets a B+.
• Nicole was feeling sick and let us sleep in until about 8am on Saturday morning!
• Lindsay and Mike asked us to babysit Ryann (our niece) and Rambo (our nephew-dog) on Saturday night. She was so good and Rambo and I cuddled for hours. Only negative was that Ryann woke up at 12:30 and after some quality People Magazine reading she fell back asleep. When I moved her back to the pack-and-play she was drifting in and out of sleep. I just knew she’d get me by crying out when her parents walked through the door. She didn’t disappoint! It’s amazing how little kids know how to be so good then make you look bad just at the right moment.
• We had a walk-through on Saturday morning of the old house and … *DRUM ROLL* an offer on it by 4:00 that same afternoon. We negotiated back and forth 2X each and settled at 2:00 on Sunday afternoon. Papers were signed that same evening, the home inspection is going on right now, and we’re set to close on Valentine’s Day. HOORAY!!!!
• To celebrate the house closing Jim and I went to one of his favorite haunts, Red Lobster, where I had one of the best experiences there ever: blackened tilapia and crab legs!! I also splurged and ordered a Lava Flow (pina colada with strawberry) which brought back wonderful memories of my honeymoon.
• Once we were home from dinner and Nic was bathed and put to bed I took a luxurious bubble bath in my big tub and finished reading People. Doesn’t get much better than that unless it was candlelit.
  

I am SOOOOOO happy with life right now!!!

Nicole's Favorite Pasttime

Is being a KANGAROO!

Check out those cute baby thighs. :)

A rose by any other name

We picked Nicole’s name because it was “normal” but not too overused. Everyone knows how to pronounce “Nicole” when they see it. Further, we felt it left the door open for her to develop a personality of her own without her name directing her. She could be studious and still be a Nicole. She could be a cheerleader and still fit her name. Nice and versatile.

Karen on the other hand has never been a favorite name of mine. Because I think of it as kind of old fashioned and my personality isn’t quite as much, I don’t feel like a “Karen”. This will sound totally strange, but there are many times that I think of my name as just that – a word to help others recognize me when mentioned much like “car” or “shepherd”. Even when I sign things and try to write the word beautifully it really holds no meaning for me.

The alternative name for me when I was born was Christine. While this is way too formal, I think I would have enjoyed being a Chris or even a Chrissy. Of course through much of my childhood I claimed that I was going to promptly change my name to DiDi upon my 18th birthday. That’s why 9 year olds aren’t allowed to make legal decisions, thank God.

Some people I think do fit their name. I think of Viki as a Viki for example, however in my opinion she’s not a “Vickie” at all. I tried to think of what other name would fit Lisa but I'm at a mental block and Lisa is all I could come up with. Original, I know…

Way behind in blogging...

• I got a raise at XU – actually it was a good one of 25%. I'm really happy about it as I didn’t ask for it, the extra cash just showed up on my new contract for the spring. I felt the need to thank someone for the recognition but Jim said that wasn’t necessary and wasn’t even sure if it came from the dean or just the general HR office…. Haven’t seen the dean anyway to thank him in person.
• Class started last night. I have 32 students and 1 on the wait-list. I only have one repeat from past semesters so I have a LOT of new names to learn very very quickly. A few folks stayed after class let out to chit chat which was nice to see there are going to be some friendly people. Greg also had class last night (and Monday) as he’s started his MBA. He’ll be done in 2010 as he has a business undergrad and got waived out of the first third of the program.
• Saturday we threw a surprise party for my mom with 47 people in attendance. She was truly surprised which was exciting. There were a few little mis-haps: the meat lasagna didn’t cook fast enough to be done with the rest of the food, the coffee maker blew up, and the ice cream somehow melted in the freezer. All in all the party was great with the last people leaving around midnight. I got a lot of positive (obligatory?) feedback on the house, especially the pantry size, Nicole’s room and the kitchen curtains. Hopefully things will get even more “finished” for the house warming.
• We have another walk-through on the “old” house this afternoon which makes the 8th visitor since the new year. We found out that there is a furnace issue with some part that I'm unsure of. That may get expensive to replace but what can you do?
• I won a cruise from my company and we’re going to the Eastern Caribbean the first week of July. The whole company and spouses are invited to go with the only expense being extras like alcohol and excursions. CAN’T WAIT. I am sad that we’ll miss my parents July 4th party for the first time in about 10 years, but I think the reason is worth it!
• Nicole tried carrots for the first time two nights ago and at first was a fan but that enthusiasm waned to pursed lips after about 5 bites. Eating isn’t really her thing and she practically refuses to look at you if you try too hard. Further, if she sees a bottle game over. I got an ice cube’s worth in her on Monday and she pooped 7 times on Tuesday.
• Trying to be open-minded I attempted Laura’s feeding method of letting Nicole feed herself. I put the carrots on the tray and she proceeded to want to play with the highchair restraints instead of her food. Her reaching for the straps caused her sleeves to go through the food. She never did put any remotely near her mouth. She picked some up and then got distracted and dropped a huge glob on her bib which then rolled down to her pants and the chair cushion. Not really a success. Mirroring Ella’s gnawing on a carrot stick I gave Nic a slice of green pepper to see what she’d do with it. It did go in her mouth but then she crunched up her eyes, stuck out her tongue, and dropped it. Ah well. Tonight she’ll get carrots again (3 straight days) for one of her two “solid” meals (rice each morning) and tomorrow we’ll try avocado.
• When I came in to wake Nicole up this morning she was 1) already awake and 2) on her tummy. Not sure if she rolled while asleep or awake, but even still it was cute. She got her arm tangled up in her sleeve in such a way that her arm probably fell asleep if she was in that position for a while, but she didn't seem phased so it couldn't have been that way too long.

Happy Half Birthday, Nicole!

Nicole had her 6 month appointment today and all went well. Some highlights on her development:

• As of November 31 she can sit up by herself. The doctor was VERY impressed with her balance and posture
• They asked if she can roll over and I told them no as she tries to go from her back to her stomach but can’t get over that last hump of a shoulder to be all the way over. Wouldn’t you know it – the doctor puts Nicole on her stomach and darned if that girl didn’t roll right over to her back after about 10 seconds like she does it all the time. Makin’ a fool out of me she is.
• Her head is in the 45%, Length (25.5 inches) is in the 50%, and her weight (17lbs, 9oz) is in the 75%ile for her age group
• Four shots and an oral vaccine went in with only about 10 seconds of tears before she was back to crunching the paper table runner and oblivious to the whole thing (clearly she does NOT take after her father for bravery with needles!)
• To clear up a persistent bout of eczema on her back, Nicole has a new $27 (after insurance) pot of steroid cream for us to massage her with. Oh to be a baby!

Thursday 13

Thirteen awesome things I've done in my life:

1. Caught beads in a Marti Gras parade in New Orleans

2. Got drenched by Niagra Falls (on the Maid of the Mist boat)

3. Earned straight A’s

4. Been the person a friend turned to in a time of need

5. Cared for a baby

6. Been in love 3 times

7. Had art I created featured in a show

8. Gambled in Las Vegas

9. Toured Alcatraz

10. Kissed (many) strangers in NYC on New Year’s Eve

11. Went all out on my 21st birthday

12. Watched icebergs and glaciers move and crack

13. Participated in a luau

Weekend Highlights (& some random thoughts)

• I know this is dumb, but when I read the list of the top 100 names of 2007 I let out a “ohhhhhh” of disappointment when I read that the name Nicole is out of the list. Ironically one of the reasons I like the name is that it’s “common” in that everyone knows of it but I haven’t met a Nicole since high school so it’s not overused.
• Nicole was FANTASTIC for her six month pictures at JC Penney on Saturday. She smiled, she coo’ed, she ate the rubber duck they gave her for her staged “tub” shots. They’re so good that I'm frustrated that I can’t get them immediately and have to wait until 1/18/08. I don’t even have a proof to show you! : (
• Just when I was disappointed that Jim didn’t get me any of “my” yogurt (pina colada, orangesicle, berry…) I find the pint of Breyers Mint Chocolate Chip he bought especially for me. Then he tops it off with a case of A&W. He’s so great.
• We attended a 90th birthday party for my great uncle Ed. He was playing competitive tennis within the decade. If I was in his kind of shape (using a cane but still getting around) I'm pretty sure I’d want to live until I'm 90 too. I know I wouldn’t feel the same though if Jim died before me and I wasn’t in a new relationship or in a kick-ass nursing home.
• Speaking of nursing homes, when I think of my time in one I picture myself around age 75 and living down the hall from Lisa, Viki, Sarah, Sarah, etc. Basically the same as if we were still 19 years old living in a dorm but now we’re great-grandparents and fabulously wealthy, obviously still smokin’ hot, and very life-experienced. I still expect we’d sit around in the common areas and gossip about Gloria’s bad hair or whether or not Jeff can still get it up. Please note that in this fantasy the nursing home is in Cincinnati.
• I went with mom to my very first starving artist art show in NKY on Sunday. Mom was very blasé about what to expect. She kept mentioning paintings about fruit so I was a bit nervous I was wasting my time. Turns out that there were a lot of pictures I really liked, only a few with fruit (sporting the required translucent grapes in a bowl of course), and I bought 3 paintings. In hindsight there was one more I should have picked up but oh well. I clearly determined that while my mother is a very strong influencer in my life and her opinion is very highly regarded, she and I do not have the same taste in art at all. I like bright colors and busy designs/scenes. She likes muted colors and simple layouts. What she was drawn to I’d smirk at and what I liked she raised her eyebrows at. I concluded that my taste in art mirrors how I [try to] live my life: bold and busy.

2007 Review

Following tradition from the past 3 years, here’s this past year’s recap.

Age: 28
Weight: 140
Height 5’6”
Hair: Blonde

NYE Activities: We turned down 4 invites to go out but ended up hitting up one party (Sean & Anne Murphy’s) for about an hour and a half. We were home by 9 however to put Nicole to bed as near to her normal bedtime as possible. The rest of the night we watched the last two episodes of The Sopranos with a short intermission for the ball drop and required kiss.

Best Of…
Movie: uhhhh… this year we were sorely lacking in this department and I can hardly remember what I saw at all! Wild Hogs was good, I recall that…
Song: So Small by Carrie Underwood
Friend of the year: The Sturgises. We hung out with both couples (Tom/Meghan and Dave/Rachel) so much more this year than ever before. I'm REALLY glad we’ve gotten to know them better and hope it continues through ’08!

Most fun thing of 2007: Watching Nicole do cute things like wiggle her whole body in excitement when she sees us for the first time in the morning.
Most disappointing thing of 2007: Not selling our house – 2 mortgage payments SUCK
Most Impressive: How many weddings we attended! Dave/Rachel, Mike/Lindsay, Geoff/Roswitha, Dave/Carole, Sarah/Brian, etc.- we already have 3 lined up for the first four months of ‘08

Looking to 2008…
Most Anticipated Thing: Selling the Fairfield house so we can buy a new car
Most Nervous About: Not so much nervous, more anxious…. The concept of stopping nursing Nicole, having only a few months off, and starting this whole baby thing all over again in the fall
Goal: To make the house nearly all decorated by the end of the year

Resolution: To continue to put Nicole and Jim first. Nicole: Leaving work on time, insisting on naps at daycare so I can play with her in the evenings, to continue to help her learn and develop. Jim: to go on dates, remind him how much I love him on a daily basis, not nag

Recap in pictures

Nicole and her great-Grandpa after Christmas Dinner reading a book

Greg & Grandma T approve of dinner.


Mom and Dad are happy to not host 2 days in a row!

Our house.... what a white Christmas!

Nicole's first attempt at solids- a success!

Nic wearing her first pair of blue jeans!

Holiday Cheer and Aftermath...

I'm sitting on hold in my office on my day off. What a way to spend a Thursday.

The Christmas holiday was great – gifts galore (diamonds, clothes, coffee cup warmer, personalized book, etc. for me; a gobload of power tools for Jim; clothes, toys, shoes, and games for Nic), a lot of family time, and the first holiday hosted at our new house was a success on Tuesday. Nicole wore her red corduroy dress Grandma (my mom) made her with little embroidered sheep at the bottom. She was adorable. I bought about $50 worth of Christmas stuff 75% off on my way in today. WaHoo!

I took off through next Tuesday and I'm enjoying the time off. I have a TON of stuff to do around the house and being here at work is not helping me accomplish any of it. My goal is to get one room painted and art hung up in the house before I start the new year. We’ll see….

The Holidays & Cold

I think I might have a cold. At first I was convinced it was just allergies – sneezing, congestion, itchy eyes. Now I’ve graduated into a totally blocked left side of my nose that I can get NO air through (yet somehow it still manages to drip??) and a phlegmmy cough. I'm super tired but I think that’s equally due to being slammed at work only to be slammed at home and never getting more than about 6.5 hours of sleep when I really need/want 8.5.

I'm WAY behind on my Christmas shopping. Fortunately my brother Mike and I determined we’d exchange restaurant gift cards and babysitting offers so I picked up his and Lindsay’s about 3 weeks ago. I’ve known what I want to give Ryann for about a month now but haven’t had the time to actually go and get it. My parents are mostly done but I feel like I need just one thing each more… but I don’t know what. Greg is almost done for Christmas but he hasn’t decided what he wants for his birthday (12/26/07) other than a new car (ha). Same for Mom whose birthday is 1/15/08. Just seems like people don’t actually need anything anymore…

I made a photobook at Shutterfly for Jim’s parents- it’s all about Nicole. I put some pictures from it below – if you click on them you can enlarge it and actually read the text. We gave it to them last night at Outback - they really liked it which made the effort worth it. : )

Happy Birthday, Jenny!!!

Enjoy your 20's while they last!

Weekend of 12/14/07

Another long weekend. Here are the [what turned out to be extended] notes!
Watched Déjà Vu this weekend (Denzel Washington) – it was by the director of the Minority Report and had the same type of feel. Good flick – A.

Jim turned 31 on Saturday! I’ve only seen a few (ie 5) gray hairs on his head and I suspect that even when they start coming in more (ie when Nicole is a teenager- ha!) he’ll make a good-looking salt and pepper guy. He got a miter saw from my parents, Mike, Lindsay and RyRy as well as a deck building how-to book. He’s going to be picking out new bowling shoes from Nicole and I some time soon.

Saturday was also my last day of teaching – went really well and the students all bid their farewells. I had one actually use the words “this class empowered me at my job”. Guess where she works? The only place where people sincerely use phrases like that in “real” conversation – Procter & Gamble. J Still, it was quite a compliment.

We’re making house progress – the mattress was delivered for the new bed, we’ll sleep there for the first time on Thursday when Sarah F comes to take over the guest room we’re currently residing in (the comforter is at the drycleaners). We also moved in the dining room table into the dining room and loaded up the china cabinet with china. The entertainment center was delivered and is MASSIVE but beautiful.

On Sunday we went to a cookie exchange for the neighborhood over at the model house. We got to meet the neighbors who will be moving in next door to us – an AA couple who’re retired and empty-nesters. He told Nicole she could play in his grass which I thought was a good sign. I raised an eyebrow though when he later stated that he didn’t want “any of those Springbrooks moving in next door”. A Springbrook is the ranch-style house and his reasoning is that he doesn’t want a little house next to his big Courtland. Yeahhhh…. Anyway, Nicole pooped through her outfit so we had to head home early but Jim stuck around for some more partying and found out the following:
* There are 10 houses sold in our neighborhood including 3 yet to be built
* 3 more lots are “on hold”
* There are 3 more hot prospects looking that will probably make a decision in the Spring leading our new sales rep to state that she’s “running out of lots”
* There was a meeting to officially discuss the lot behind us (the one we just want to take over) and the developer is looking for an offer that he can counter-offer to buy it. We have to discuss this more thoroughly as the value we’d place on it is certain to be MUCH less than what he wants…
* Lots of conversation on the options that people got in their houses. For reference, one couple started with a Courtland model (base price $210,000) and upgraded it to the final price of $480,000+. Once conversation started we found out about more options (ie a fireplace blower) that we didn’t even know existed!
* OK, a little bragging… What was surprising to me was that it was OUR house that dominated the conversation- people liked how far back it was set from the street, how large it was, the fact that it’s an Avalon model and we drive an Avalon car, our retaining wall, etc. I had no idea that people were actually sincere about how great our house was- I thought that it was mostly politeness of “oh you have a nice house” but these people were really impressed. Now when our house finally lists on the auditor page they’ll go “oh, they must not have gotten many upgrades” (which we did- 3 pages of them)– we have the second largest house in the neighborhood and according to the online records paid the second least amount of money for the house. The lack of a finished basement, granite countertops and deck lead to that lower cost. In the end our final money spent total will get jacked up when we add those items on ourselves, but the cost isn’t reflected in our buying price.
* I got a little chiding about looking a little unwelcoming (my words, not theirs) as we don’t leave our outside lights on and are rarely seen. The sales agent explained to them that we work a lot which isn’t true but apparently worked as far as an excuse. Really it’s that we forget to turn on the lights and our living rooms are in the back of the house so you can’t see that the interior lights are on and we’re home by looking at the front. I’ll have to work on that as that reputation is the antithesis of the image I want to portray to my neighbors.

We wrapped up the night with attending Ronny’s wake (babysitter’s husband) which was a LONG line (1 hour +). Nicole lit up like a light when Andrea picked her up. She was all smiles and coo’s, as was Andrea. Further evidence that we have loving daycare. I understood why the line was so long – Andrea didn’t want to let Nicky go and we delayed things They’re going to start taking kids back tomorrow which I thought was quick but Jim agreed with.

Lastly, we caught Dave and Carole’s Christmas concert at their church which we attend every year. Beautiful music and my mother-in-law loved the whole thing. Job well-done!! Nicole was exhausted from a full day of people-seeing so we had to leave quickly afterwards to get her to bed.

I CAN NOT WAIT until I'm off for a full week at Christmas!!!!! I have so much to do!!!

Nicole Update

I think the romance novels are helping – yesterday when Jim was playing with Nicole she kept making faces. Suddenly when she started making noises he figured out what she was trying to do – pronounce consonant sounds!! She said “baa” today which was the first non-“ahhhh” sound I’ve heard her deliberately make in a while. I teased her that she’s a sheep and tickled her tummy in reward.

Yesterday was much better with the grandparents – a 4 hour nap in the morning and no crying in the 4 hours she was alone with them after until I got home from work (took a late lunch).

Nicole's Day and Evening

About two weeks ago my babysitter’s husband, Ronny, had a heart attack. His recovery unfortunately did not mirror my father in law’s and last night he passed away. This has been terribly hard on the family as you can imagine. Nicole stayed with her grandma and grandpa for half a day on Tuesday and all day yesterday. I was hoping that being in her home environment that this arrangement would work well, but apparently she screamed, not cried, all afternoon. I'm shaking my head as I'm still unsure why, after about 2 months Nicole has still not warmed up to them. They couldn't love her more, but she’s very temperamental.

I suspect yesterday perhaps a few things played in:
1) I didn’t come to see her at lunch as I normally do
2) She misses her routine of being at Marsha’s
3) Our house isn’t as interesting as Marsha’s – no little kiddies running around to watch
4) She isn’t Grandma’s biggest fan. Many people have suggested scent as the issue… only thing that I can think of there is the smoke residue as she’s not around anyone else who smokes.

Well, as a result of being upset all day she wanted Jim or I in eyeshot all evening, got tired early, and slept ALL NIGHT (8:30pm – 7:00am). If today is a repeat of yesterday I think I’ll ask Lindsay to watch her until Marsha’s back in action…

On a fun note, when Nicole eats her last meal before bed I’ve started reading aloud to her. She’s getting sex-ed early though she doesn’t know it. I'm reading my novel, Love Slave (a book Lisa and Kendall gave me when Nicole was born), and we’re starting to hit the juicy parts. What’s the plot? According to the back of the book:

It is no act of love that Regan experiences the night she takes her sister's place in the marriage bed, a counterfeit bride to sate the lust of her twin's new husband. Come morning, her sister, carrying another man's child, resumes her place and Regan is spirited away to a nunnery.
But a more exotic fate awaits the fiery Celtic beauty: Regan is sold to a slave trader. It will be her destiny to come under the tutelage of Karim al Malina, master of the erotic arts, who will mold Regan -- now renamed Zaynab, the beautiful one -- into a Love Slave fit for a Moorish king, though the pair break the first rule of teacher and pupil . . . they fall in love.
But Zaynab is not Karim's to keep. She is given to the Caliph of Cordoba, who vows to love her . . . and pleasure her as no younger man can. Yet Regan still longs for her one true love, Karim al Malina, and vows that, somehow, their fates must be reunited . . . .

You know it’s a good life when your main source of income is to be an “erotic arts” teacher. Ha!

Weekend of 12/7/07

We’re becoming our old selves again- party central. We had a few months of “off” time with Nicole and the new house – hadn’t gone to my parents to play cards in literally 6 months (something we had done 1-2X a month before) and haven’t had the many times/month dinner parties either. With the holidays approaching and the subsequent plethora of holiday parties to attend, our weekends are now jam-packed again.

Nicole met Santa on Saturday morning at the local grade school. She looks a bit skeptical of his brown mustache though! To prove her suspicions she left with a big handful of white beard.

Friday night I had a cookie exchange to attend with Nicole. Jim went for a guy’s night with Sean G. so he conveniently missed out on the niceties. My MIL made the 12 dozen cookies required and I brought home 11 dozen in exchange for them. Worked out great as Jim and I attended a different cookie exchange/holiday party at Tom/Meghan’s the following evening. Tom called Jim a few week ago to book the 8th with us and it was good he did – we had a total of 3 Christmas parties that evening and an invitation with an overlapping time to their party came in about 6 hours after their conversation! Following Meghan’s party (great time, great people!) we headed over to Jim’s boss’s boss’s house for a work party. AMAZING catered food (crab cakes, fruit, shrimp cocktail, etc.) and lots of laughs with Jim’s co-workers. We didn’t pick Nicole up from my aunt and uncle’s until 11:20 that night!

Sunday was another full day – we hosted friends for lunch that afternoon and they stayed until 4 when we left to continue our quest for the perfect mattress and bowl-out. Why are we bowling out? Because David Polley & crew have a Christmas concert that we attend every year when we’d normally bowl. If you would like to join us for some Christmas music next Sunday, 12/16/07, the concert is at 7:00 (see flyer for more details).

I have to start Christmas shopping… I feel out of the loop as I haven’t engaged in the mall rush even once yet this year!

Always behind...

Last night after dinner Nicole and I played with her toys. She's much more interactive now, even more so since she can sit and more easily reach them compared to when she was laying on her back. This unit is one she borrowed from her friend Ryan Childers who was generous enough to share with her! :)

After Nic went to bed I cooked for an hour and a half for my day of the office "Food Bonanza". We're having make your own tacos/nachos and enchiladas (chicken and cheese). All was going well until Jim asked me to lay down with him while the final cooking was wrapping up. Yeah, fell asleep. I woke up at 11:45 and flew out of bed. I'm praying that the enchiladas taste good and they aren't too dry from 25 minutes of overcooking. They look okay but you never can tell.... I'll be ticked off if all that effort was for naught.

This morning there was 2" of snow and these idiots in Cincinnati mistaked it for 2 feet apparently. I had to take Nicole to daycare this morning as Jim's getting the oil changed in the Avalon. After a 30 minute trip when i wasn't' even half way there (normally 16 total minutes) it dawned on me that Jim loaded the crock pot shell, but not the bowl that the taco meat was in. He's nice enough to bring it to me here at work on his way into the office. Otherwise the tacos would be missing a very key component which I'm not willing to have in light of my enchilada concern.

And the day started well, I fit into my skinny jeans!

The Firsts are coming fast and furious

Nicole was really fidgety when I tried to feed her last night so rather than frustrate both of us Jim made her a bottle. I'm so glad he did- we got to experience another first!

That makes 5 firsts in the last week and a half- first snowfall, finding her feet, sleeping 11 straight hours, sitting up, now holding her own bottle! awwwww! She's getting more and more independant- I'm mixed between excited and wanting to help her keep learning and being sad and wanting her needing me to last longer. :( Don't get much of a choice though!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Yeah, Laura's daughter Ella is sporting a bathing suit for her new pool adventures. Nicole is dawning her new snow suit from Aunt Mary Ann. It's in the 40's here!

She's sitting up BY HERSELF! Officially recorded for the first time on 12/1/07 at 4 1/2 months!