7 months... and a half

Turkey! You're 7 and a half months old!

You can;
feed yourself most things
crawl like a champ
kneel by yourself
laugh almost as if on cue at the mere sight of your sister
babble 'Dadadada!'. a LOT.
Sometimes put yourself to sleep.
Can find your pacifier and put it back in most mornings to give me a few extra minutes to pry my eyes open.

This past month you've grown a lot. You learned to sit up in your cradle two days before you officially turned 7 months so we had to scramble to get your crib painted and ready. It made me sad to see that cradle get tucked away so soon but you've got big plans apparently and need to be super mobile to do them!

The first time i put you in your crib my heart jumped a bit. It reminded me that even though you outgrew the use of your cradle, you are still so little. I just sometimes wish YOU would remember you're still little. You're in an awful rush little lady. 

You love your high chair. And i love to see you in it. Especially when you're using your chubby little hands to feed yourself. You love love love to eat whatever anyone else is. We tried avocado again and you loved it so much you yelled in anger when you had eaten it all. 

 

Ever since you were a newborn you have liked to kick and rub your feet together when you're really concentrating on something or super mad. You still do it. It drives both me and your dad crazy. 

Because you've finally gotten the whole crawling thing down you, my darling, are like a Visa card. You're everywhere i want to be. Underfoot constantly. You just need to know where i am at all times or you get so so sad. You never take long to find me in the kitchen and your favorite thing to do is to try to eat my legs while i'm cooking or washing dishes. It's a good thing we have a tiny kitchen or you'd get accidentally trampled! 

 

Did i forget to mention you have two tiny razor like teeth now? They're still growing in but they're certainly there. And you don't let me forget it! Luckily you haven't really bitten me while nursing yet. Mostly because you're so busy looking around these days you can't be bothered to slow down for a full nursing session without you being super duper starving. Those big eyes of yours get the best of you! 

If i open the vertical blinds in the kitchen you crawl back and forth along the length of the slider observing the outdoors like a caged lion. You're pacing just waiting for the day that you get to explore the outdoors and try some of that tasty looking grass. (We both know you're going to try to eat some. Every kid does at least a few times) 

You've also just become so so much fun lately. You're happy and smiley at strangers and at night before you nurse for the last time you get so so giddy that nearly anything will have you in stitches. My favorite moment of the day is when Noella notices you're giggly and makes funny noises and faces at you just to make you laugh. You love love love it. Then you try to pull her hair and she runs away. Which makes you laugh again.


We're so delighted and joyed by you little turkey. We can't wait to see what the next month will bring.

We all love you.

First haircut

Noella has had haircuts before. I trimmed her bangs up when she was about 18 months old and I've barely trimmed the ends to get rid of some of the split ends and even things up the tiniest bit. But I knew she was REALLY growing up the day she came to me and asked for a haircut in a SALON and NOT at home. 

Being the frugal mama i am, i called a few places around town. Most places charge an arm and a leg for haircuts even for little kids and i was worried that Noella, being only four, wouldn't have the patience to sit in the salon chair for two hours and i certainly didn't want to pay $30 for a first haircut. Sorry babe, but it's true.

Luckily there's a hair school right down the road so if she wanted to bail partway through, i wouldn't be out that much money.  I made an appointment and Noella was unbelievably excited.

She was pretty patient while we figured out what to do with her hair. I had initially wanted to cut it into a chin length bob but Noella was adamant that she wanted to keep her "Rapunzel hair" so we compromised with two inches off and some layers added in. 

Getting through the hairwashing was a bit of a struggle. Noella was unsure of leaning back into the bowl but finally relaxed once the water started to stream through her hair. 

It was hard for me to see her in that chair because my little mama heart knew she's just getting that much bigger. She's too cool for me to cut her hair now. She's too grown up and sophisticated. 

Watching her in that chair was a funny transition for me. She instantly went from my toddler into a pre-schooler. I've known for a long time that she hasn't been a toddler but there was something that just clicked for me when i saw her sitting up there in a 'real salon' chair. She just suddenly LOOKED so grown up and just... BIG. 

Noella was pretty enthralled with the big mirror in front of her. It was pretty funny to watch her watch herself.  She kept pulling finny faces and then laughing at herself. 

In the end, it wasn't a dramatic change but she looks just so darn grown up to me. But perhaps it is a case of mama-goggles. 

She sure has come a long way from her first trim in her high chair so so long ago. 

This babe

This babe will be 3 years old in 8...erm... 7 days. (I say 7 because I'm writing this at 11pm and an hour doesn't count as a whole day. two hours, maybe) Can you believe it? I certainly can't. She rarely lets me photograph her lately with any semblance of eye contact so this was all I could get to commemorate this momentous occasion. (And it cost me 3 marshmallows.)

 She's crazy smart for her age and so SO tall. It's hard to believe she started out as 7lbs 3ozs of baby. I'm excited for this next year. She's learning so much and so eager to learn! She knows her ABC's and all of her shapes and colors. She's working on learning to write. She knows a bunch about the animals at Seaworld because it's her favorite place in the whole wide world. She knows how to negotiate and will wear you down until she thinks she's getting a fair deal. She's got her own ideas about EVERYTHING and oh, what a chatterbox! Every single time the phone rings she thinks it's for her. She calls her Gams at least twice a week to inform her on her daily life. (It gives me about 20-30 minutes to fold laundry or wash dishes so I don't mind too much.) She loves to make her toys talk and will persistently hand you a toy until you give it a voice. Her imagination grows by leaps and bounds each day.

(This one is my favorite) 

She continues to light up our lives with her determination, loving spirit and zest for life and learning. She is a fighter, this one. Mighty, mighty things are in store for her. 

We have some fun adventures coming up for her birthday so stay tuned for more! 

New Hampshire trip- Part 4

Have you read the other three posts about our trip? No? Well here they are! Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. Enjoy!


Well, since we were home for a short time we also decided it was the perfect time to visit my Mema. She lives wayyyyy up north in Dalton (soon to be Lancaster) and she's only seen Noella once (for her first birthday) so naturally, we took advantage of her extra bedroom and had a little sleepover.

Goodness gracious was it marvelous to sit and chat with her! We went for walks around her little neighborhood. It brought back so many memories of taking off on a long walk with her as a little girl. We would go for hours and I'd be happy as a clam. Noella loved the adventure too but had to stop and splash in every single puddle we came across. She's such a funny little girl.

Do you see how independent that child is? Walking in the middle of the road, no hand to be held leading the way. She was in heaven. 

We also found lots of big rocks to climb on. And dandelions to blow. Or "fuzzies" as Noella called them. 

Noella really really loved her time with Mema. It was relaxing and fun. We went to a lovely park in Lancaster near the house she's renovating with friends. Mema got in on the fun too. It reminded me so much of my childhood and visiting Mema in Bridgewater, CT. There was an AWESOME wooden playground near her house there too. 

Noella of course had to try out every single swing in the park. She likes the swings much more than the slides. Just like her mama.

What I find amazing is Noella's ability to just fall into step with family she hasn't seen literally in a year. It's like there's no time lost for her. She took to Mema (or "gree-ma" as she called her) right away. 

Ir rained quite a bit of the 10 days we were in NH and the three days with Mema were no exception. The Miss was a little stir crazy. 

Mema's friends in Lancaster have a little grandson who wasn't around to play during our visit but Noella sure did make herself at home playing with his toys. We even got to borrow his bike. She was thrilled. 

We still need to work on the concept of her using her feet on the pedals but that will come in time I suppose.

Here's some random happy pictures from our time with Mema. 

Being up in the mountains was so refreshing. It reminded me why I love New England. The small towns and lush scenery, flowers and trees. It made me even more homesick knowing I'd soon return to Florida but after 10 days of being apart from my Mister and knowing he was miserable without us, I was happy to return. 

Biscuits

There's been a lot of naked biscuits around lately.

I don't particularly mind though because they are awfully cute.

That's right. My babe is out of diapers. Kind of. She uses one at night and one for naptime. Woohoo!

It's been a long process and we still aren't finished because she wants to take her time and some days she just doesn't wanna. but I'm trying to be flexible and supportive of her choices.

Flexible and supportive means that she gets a day in diapers if she asks for it because to be honest, those are the days that she woke up cranky and isn't showing any signs of changing her attitude any time soon.

Flexible and supportive means that if she doesn't want to use the big potty right now I let her do her business in her little pink potty and dutifully clean it after every use.

Flexible and supportive means that some days she has accidents and I don't make a big deal about it but make sure to thank her for letting me know she's peed on the carpet in her room because she couldn't get to her potty fast enough.

Flexible and supportive also means that she gets to be bare buns because she can't pull her underwear down fast enough nor does she have the patience to let me do it before she needs to potty.

We have only tried one outing without a diaper on. Noella made it almost the whole time dry. She asked for the potty while we were in the frozen food section and with the 200ft dash from there to the bathroom, there was no way she was going to make it. It was a good thing I had thought to bring extra clothes. We will have to try again some time soon. I think she will do better if I can get her to use the big potty on a regular basis without bribes. That's something to work on! 

But seriously. I'm excited you guys. I'm only having to deal with two diapers a day and we've only had 4 accidents in the past month. She's getting to be such a big big girl.