Movin' On

Nicole is just facinating to watch. I know that I missed a lot of this with Natalie as I was working full time and just catching snatches. Nicole loves to roll instead of crawl but will crawl also. She can then pull herself into a sitting position if she finds something interesting. Or, lay back down to crawling and rolling. She also is starting to pull up. It's time to move the crib position down! I've already taken the change table out of her room. It was too much to try and change her on it safely anymore with all her strength! I change her on the floor, but of course she can be changed on the crib as well for people who don't like the back strain.

Right now, she is really struggling with teething it seems. She has a low fever, and I don't remember that with Natalie so she may be a little sick as well. But, she is definitely growing thanks to God! Solids aren't as much on the menu right now as they seem to be adding pressure to those sore gums. She is also a lot more clingy. I feel like I carry her around more than she rolls right now.

Natalie is such a doll around her and it is good to see her trying to interact as well. Nicole just loves to be around her.

Natalie Easter Eggs

I finally had the courage to tackle real Easter eggs with Natalie. She did a great job and loved it! Even if we did stay monochromatic this year!

Compare Pictures

The same dress! Natalie in it at 11 months old, Nicole at 8 months old!

First Tooth

Confirmed! I thought I felt something yesterday (Saturday), but now has been confirmed again and by Woody too. Nicole has a tooth! She has been acting like she was teething for a while, and now we finally see one! I know that each kid is different: Natalie had her first tooth at 5 months. Nicole has waited until 8 months. She'll probably make up for lost time now!

Natalie Picnic Cam

Here's pictures from Natalie's camera for the picnic. She's getting better!

I took this one...

Frisbee in flight!

Nicole 8 Month Birthday

Okay, it is tomorrow, but I had some time to post. Happy 8 Month Birthday, Nicole! She is on antibiotics but seems to be doing well. She has grown so much in the past month it is hard to remember everything.

She says and waves "Bye bye" now. The first person she waved to was Nancy about a couple of weeks ago. She has been doing it much more often now. She also says "Mama," usually when she is wanting food or attention.

She can turn on her toy aquarium in her crib by herself. She can put in her own pacifier also, which she has been doing for a while. However, she seems to forget these two things in the middle of the night and wants "Mama" to come and help her!

She sits up really well, rolls whereever she likes or crawls backwards. Not much forward crawling, but hey the other must be more fun.

Her pinch grip is really well developed. But, I am not feeding her much pick up food because she has an easy gag on things that she is unfamilar with eating. I'm still really cautious with the meltaway stars. She doesn't like the antibiotic, so that one has caused a little regurgitation as well. But, not in the past 2 days, PTL!

It's good to see her and Natalie interacting more. Natalie really is a good big sister. As long as Nicole does not put Natalie's stuff in her mouth! That's not sharing that Natalie likes to do.

Frisbee Picnic

We took a break during the 70 degree plus weather this weekend (it snowed and was 17 degrees about 4 days before!). We went on a quick picnic and had some fun throwing the frisbee with Natalie.

Natalie did pretty well. Although, it transformed into a tackle frisbee game with Natalie chasing after the frisbee and landing on it like a football! I had never played it that way before!

We enjoyed our picnic, and Nicole slept the entire time.

So, we had her out on the mat at home when we returned so she could have some outdoor activity. She ended up grabbing the grass and trying to eat it. Hey, that's more fun, right!?

No, that didn't help a bit

When Woody said that they pulled a shovel out of our septic tank, I had visions of a small plastic toy shovel. No, there was a full size metal shovel. How that got there, no one knows...

Snow and Blow

In the middle of the cleanup for the house, the best snow of the year appeared. Unfortunately for Natalie, we were mostly occupied with that. But, I took a few minutes to go outside with her, throw snowballs, make snow angels, and the world's smallest snowman. Woody made a better snowman with her later that day while I was running the water vacuum, but I didn't get a picture of it.

The world's smallest snowman--it didn't stick that morning well!

My angel in the snow!

After that, when the roads were better, Natalie, Nicole, and I ran to the safety of Grandma and Grandpa's house. Grandma wasn't feeling well (we're praying for you!), but we still enjoyed having more than 3 square feet of space in between all the furniture, rolled up carpet and pad. The bad thing is that the delay of waiting a little while made Nicole sick and she is on breathing treatments again. Any prayers are welcomed for healing! I have a call into the doctor today as the congestion is getting worse and she is choking on it. The nebulizer is coming in handy but I hate having to go through this all over again since December. Nicole is getting to hate the nasal aspirator too.

2 Hours from Disaster

I have thought of many titles for this blog entry. Everything from "It was the Best of Times, it was the worst of times," to an 80's song "How Bizarre." Because this captured a lot of emotion in the past two days. Everything from a high of having Nicole dedicated to the Lord. It was a special time with all of us on stage with the pastor. However, no shots taken because it was hard to get the lighting. Rushing home during the torrential rain, the thought was to get a picture of everyone together once we were home. But this was the only picture really taken:
Because, when we stepped in the door, we found the disaster. Somehow, a mixture of too much rain, a septic tank, a toilet that kept running all added up to a flood in our house. It was terrible. Unbelievable. But, not septic smelling water, mostly just the supply. Although, that didn't make it much better.

Grandma helped watch Natalie during this time. They decorated the cupcakes for the dinner that was supposed to happen after the dedication. We ended up having Josh, Janet, and Paul join us for dinner because we didn't have their updated cell number. But, it was a blessing to have their encouragement and love. As well as a great bunch of help from Grandma & Grandpa!

The dinner still was on, even in the midst of the chaos. We worked hard to suck up the water with shop vacs and a rented carpet cleaner.

However, the next morning, we found we were not out of the woods yet. Praise the Lord we still had power because the water flood turned into a snow storm. We tried continuing to suck up the water, but only had to end up pulling up carpet and the whole house was in shambles with all the rearranging to pull up the pad.

So, this is where we are now. I am way out of my comfort zone. I'm trying to apply the Philippians to be content in all circumstances. It is a little tough, though! But, it could be worse. God was gracious with power, with us being home after 2 hours instead of 2 days. Our house could have been burned down too. Praising in the overall view.