First Snow!

Nora {9 Months}

It's almost Christmas & we have a 9 month old cruiser on our hands.  (Crazy to think I was pregnant last Christmas & not ever wearing a coat) She is actually crawling everywhere! She has pretty much given up the army crawl for the full blown knees & hands crawl.  She now knows she can get places faster this way. She is still trying to conquer balance.  She has been walking behind her grocery cart for some time now, but often lets go and stands on her own for a few seconds before falling on her bottom.  It may be a while longer before she takes her first step alone, but she is brave and fast so when she does she'll be off causing trouble!

She talks ALOT, but primarily baby talk.  She says Da-da and has for a few months now.  She says Na-na-na-na...which I'm pretty sure she means Ma-ma.  She usually says it when shes crawling toward me or reaching for me. 

We are venturing off into the land of finger foods.  I was hesitant to start, but she is definitely ready and wants to feed herself.  She basically denies pureed foods-I haven't made any more baby food since the first time I did back in October.  Turkey, roast beef, carrots, peas, potatoes, green beans, apples, pears, Cheerios, and bananas are some of the foods she likes to pick up and eat.  I am still nursing her exclusively, but we've had to pull from the freezer a few times because she wanted more than I produced.  We have 3 more months to go & my goal of 1 year is complete & not as hard as I thought it would be. 

9 Month Well Check Stats:
-Weight: 18 lbs. 6 oz. (53%)
-Length: 28.5 inches (80%)
-Head Circumference: 17 3/4 (82%)

Her growth has slowed overall, but looking at the entire 9 months she has been riding the 50% line in length for weight.  Doctor says she was born a "BIG" baby, but she wasn't supposed to be a big baby!  Her cousin, Hunter, who is 7 months old is now longer than her & I think he weighs more than she does too. It didn't take too long for him to catch up.

Favorite Things this Month:
-pulling Mommy's glasses off
-cuddling stuffed animals or baby dolls
-waving "hi" to the mirror & pictures of herself throughout the house
-chewing on the TV remote
-feeding her self; she has denied pureed foods for the last few days.
-peek-a-boo
-bath time with toys
-singing with Mommy
-cinnamon on all foods
-giving Mommy kisses

Here are some (read ALOT) Mommarazzi pics of the past month:

New Tricks

With Jersey Girl

Helping Mom with the laundry

Seeing the horses at Papaws house for the first time with Daddy

Lovin on her baby dolls

Making cookies with Mom

Playing dress up

Waiting for Daddy to get home

Cousin Isabella came to visit

Side notes: I realize this is a little late...but better late than never.  Also, there is a trend in leg warmers this time of the year for a couple reasons 1) they are so darn cute & 2) Nora's pants might be a tad too short for her longer legs and it helps to do what they are meant to do...keep her legs warm!

How She Grows!

As we progress, it gets more difficult to get the month sign in the picture where she's sitting patiently, smiling, and not falling/crawling off the chair! These are our best efforts for capturing her growth.  She doesn't even look like the same baby in some of the pictures.  The 1 month picture looks most out of place, but she was so little.  I think her look is here to stay with minimal changes to come.

Hoarding...No! Pinterest Crafts...Yes!

This is what Pinterest has done to me! I'm saving all boxes, containers, etc. just in case I run across something I could use.  Yes that is a peanut butter jar & salsa jar, egg carton, diaper boxes, etc! Some of the things have crafts in place & some are just in case. Don't judge, we all have problems :)

Revival is Good!

Part of why I haven't had a chance to blog as much is because of all the things we have had on our schedule.  One of which included a 7 day Revival at our church.  I'll make this more brief than it really could be (ie...see last post!) It was a few weeks ago, but nonetheless one of the best weeks of our lives! We made the commitment to attend as many of the services as possible and by the end of the week were all 3 exhausted and sick since Nora was in the nursery (with lots of germ carriers!).  The services were on a variety of topics including, but not all, roles of husband and wife, forgiveness, parenting, trusting in the Lord, etc. 

Besides the great fellowship of many of our friends, new friends, and other church members we learned a lot about each other and what we were and were not doing to fulfill our God given roles.  Fast forward to the end of the Revival when people are sharing their testimonies....the visiting Pastor was inviting people to share, in front of the whole church congregation 700+ people, and mentioned that one way to know if God is working in you to share is that your heart will be beating faster than normal. 

That was it, convicted on the spot & then he throws out that there is no such thing as delayed obedience. You either do it when you are called to or you are being disobedient-double convicted! So I sat and deliberated on whether or not I had the courage to get up in front of the whole church to share-thinking there is no way I'm sharing! Little did I know in 5 minutes I was convicted of 3 huge things: not wanting to share how God has worked in my life in front of the whole church, being obedient & being prideful.  So, I started to take notes on a scrap piece of paper and 5 minutes after (as the Pastor was still calling people to share) I saw Jake starting to take notes...at that moment I knew we could do it together.  I didn't feel comfortable going by myself, but if he was going with me I was OK with it! So, we walked down from our seats in the balcony and waited for our turn. 

Sobbing as the brokenness had gotten to both of us, we shared how the Revival had worked and changed our perspective & lives...in front of the whole church.  Not as bad as I thought it was going to be & we both felt much better after.  We are forever grateful for the Life Action Ministries Revival team that helped us to get on track in all aspects of our lives.  If the chance arises, don't let it pass you up-it just might be one of the best things that could ever happen to you too!

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.  Matthew 5:6

Later after the service it hit me when I was introducing Jake to one of the moms from the moms & tots group at church that I didn't actually have to introduce him-we had already done that earlier. 

Our Lil Reindeer

The Most Random Blog Ever

Usually I think about what I'm going to post about before typing away, but this time I decided to just type as I think. It will probably be the most random bits of stuff you have ever heard and some that you don't care about, but that's the way my brain does it ALL of the time...I just usually organize it! {side note: I just had to mute the TV so I could think! Who's ever heard of Xia Xia pets? Creepy!}

I feel like the last few days have actually been an entire month.  I was talking to Jake last night about how before Nora I thought I never had time for anything and now I really feel like that, but I've been very good at managing my time.  I'm quick and efficient with a list to keep me on track or else nothing gets accomplished. 

I've been working on the whole list thing with Jake and I finally have him understanding the importance.  Last Sunday, we hosted Thanksgiving at our house for my brother, Beth, my mom, Alan, & my sister and the kids.  He had a list (in his head) of things he needed to get from the grocery on Saturday to be ready for Sunday.  He ended up forgetting 1 or 2 of the less than 5 thing list and decided it was a good idea to be a list maker.  I mentioned its a good thing we live 5 minutes from the grocery!

TV time has been cut drastically. The only shows I watch are Survivor & Pan Am and Greys, but only if its a new episode.  I've also come across 2 30 minute shows that with DVR are only 20 minutes: Mad Fashion & Fashion Hunters.  We have pretty much decided that our time is used wisely with out the function of a TV so when our "deal" is up in March we are ousting the cable & being more productive.  I say all that and then mention that Jake went out to get us smart phones-apparently we were part of 4% of people w/o them (phew, glad to be out of that category {sarcasm})-on Black Friday.  We have been filling a good amount of time learning about them, playing games (side note: if only Scrabble was titled "Words with Friends"...I bet they would have more business), etc on them.  Did I mention we have Angry Birds? Jackie & Al I bet you guys are proud right about now! Anyway, the best part about the phones for me is I can take pictures and videos of Nora & send to Jake when hes working. 

Speaking of Nora, who is so graciously napping, she is all over the place!  We have had a few more bumps, bruises, and scratches here lately due to her daring moves (aka reaching for other objects clearly out of reach and falling).  I squint when I see it from a distance & hope she doesn't cry.  I've been better about following her around and make sure shes OK. Jake tells me she has to learn somehow.  Last night Jake was working out and I was putting her to bed.  5 minutes after I laid her down she started screaming, so I went in, held her (come on just for a minute), laid her down & 5 minutes later she was "talking" and laughing so I went in again. There she was standing with a grip on her crib, bouncing up and down laughing & smiling so big! And there was the death grip on my heart, so we played for a while.  We played a game I made up called "No, No!".  Basically, she reaches for me and I say "No, no!" and she laughs. Or I hide and pop up and say "No, no" and she laughs! Trust me its more fun than you think! So we played for a while (more like 45 minutes) and then went to bed. 

One thing all new moms should know-if you don't already know it...the cute little $1 socks from Target Circo Brand are a waste, they don't stay on & only drive you nuts.  I've found that the Wal-Mart Faded Glory six pack are amazing & never fall off.  Of course this doesn't mean anything to you warmer weather friends, but up here its cold & toes get like popsicles!

I mentioned being busy, but I didn't mention with what. Outside of 3 Thanksgivings we've had a laundry list of appointments, tasks, get together planned and coming up.  I went up to Lafayette to get the oil changed in the Audi (cheaper than taking it to the North side and they give us a loaner so I don't have to sit around the dealership...totally worth it).  The check engine light was also on-it needs a new thermostat and temperature sender...all I see are $$.  Yesterday I had to work, then at 1pm we closed on our refinance.  In my eyes we pretty much paid 9 years of mortgage payments in 1 day lowering our mortgage to a 20 year at 4 1/8%.  That's a savings of over $76,000! Tonight Jake and I are going out for the first time (I know, give me a break, I have more separation anxiety than Nora does) with out Nora to Ruth Chris for dinner.  Tomorrow we have our Christmas party with our LifeGroup from Church. Yesterday I made cake balls for the first time to take to it....if the spoon was any indication of the actual cake ball I'm excited! Next week at Moms & Tots, we are having a Christmas cookie exchange so I plan on making Snickers surprise cookies for that on Sunday. Then next Saturday is our Thanks-Mas (Thanksgiving & Christmas) with my moms extended family.  Phew! That's enough about that already...

I'm in the process of getting our Christmas cards together. This year we will have 3 designs-not on accident, but to get rid of some of the ones we haven't used in the past.  Some will be cards with pictures in them that are not attached or in the card (for family to keep the picture), some will be cards that have an opening for the picture that is not attached to fit in and show from the front, and some that are made from Nora's Christmas pictures we had taken last week.  They will all have pictures just different.  We have already gotten our first 2 Christmas cards and we are excited to get more.  We love and keep them, especially if there are pictures! So sad to say that Jersey did not make the Christmas card this year, not intentional, she was just not present for family pictures, but we still love her & she finally is back to her old self again. She's such a good dog!

Christmas shopping is wrapping up (hah-no pun intended!), we don't have much more to get.  We discussed gifts for Nora and decided to keep them to a minimum, but when I got to the store all I kept thinking was aww, she needs this, oh, look at that, she would love that!...cut it with the nonsense Roxanne she doesn't need all those!! I'm sure it won't get any easier as she gets older. 

Holy smokes, just realized I wrote a book not a blog post! If you are still reading this you must be either really bored or really interested.  More updates to come and I promise no more random blogs for a while, but now my mind is clear!

Nora {8 months} Movin' & Shakin'

We have entered a new phase at the Standeford house...baby on the move! We are still in the process of baby proofing some major areas, but we already have plug covers, gates, and locks for the kitchen cabinets.  In the very near future we will be getting something soft & cushy to put on the corners of the TV stand (see picture below).  As of right now, we are practicing some much needed pack 'n play time! She is so fast and goes for all things dangerous ie. cords, heavy items, pointy corners, you name it she's got it. 

She is chugging right a long in the food department as we are now starting to really introduce pre-finger foods like pieces of bananas, etc so she can learn "self-feeding".  She loves self-feeding and drinking from her sippy cup way more than I do...all I see is a mess, wet clothes that need changed and a lot more work for me! What can I say I do it because I can get stuff done around the kitchen even if she is a hot mess.  I'm expecting way worse when she gets older!  Lord willing I will continue nursing her until 12 months and slowly wean after having mastitis 3 times already. 

Foods she doesn't care for (but we will keep trying anyway):

-peas

-mangoes (but only made from frozen)

-carrots (must mix with sweet potatoes and bam! it goes down smooth

Foods she loves and might be favorites in the future:

-peaches

-broccoli & asparagus

-chicken (only because I give her drinks in between bites to help her swallow because of the pasty consistency)

-blueberries

Things she likes to do now:
-throw all of her pacifiers (she might have 3 in there) out of her crib in the morning
-stand and chew on the crib (must get crib rail cover quick since it will be her big girl bed too!)
-stand on ottoman and grab/play with remotes
-play in the bath with toys
-walk behind her grocery cart
-reading books during the day and before bed time
-playing with the kids in the nursery at church
-watching a bit of cartoons in the morning (her..ah em, I mean my favorite is Bubble Guppies)
-laughing at daddy while he makes silly faces & does silly movements
-trying to get Jersey while she tries to hide in her cage from Nora
-napping/sleeping with blankie (I had to get her attached. I mean if it were age appropriate I would still sleep with mine!)
-playing with her blocks

Here are a few pictures from the past month:

Nora's first doll!




Pushing my craft container around the living room



Standing up to everything!

Here, she just found the TV stand...with sharp corners

Playing with her toys...and of course standing to pull them out!

"Look, I'm 8 months old & I'm big!"

 

It's Gym Time

After 8 long months of not having a gym membership we finally broke down this week to get one.  Our last one ended in late March and was only for the previous year of which I was pregnant 9 months out of the membership and was used less than I would have liked because of that! Fast forward to now...freezing cold and windy and not good weather for walks outside like we did all summer.  That and the few bike rides were the only things that kept us somewhat "in shape".  We have all the P90x DVDs, but after a long day at work, cleaning or chasing the little booger around it's hard to get motivated to pop one in and get our work out on.

We looked at the YMCA in Avon. It just opened in August so we took a tour discovered it was awesome with super sweet resistance training machines that track your weight and reps, TV screens in all cardio equipment, group fitness classes in with the membership, and the cherry on the top you ask?...childcare!  Sweet deal right? That's what we thought...we could still work out together minimizing the time away from each other if the gym didn't have childcare, however the brakes were on when we saw $79/month-Yikes! Do the math and that's over $900/year! Holy smokes-hard to choke that number down especially when Jake has been working out for free for practically his whole life. Thus, we visited Planet Fitness.

Known for it's "no judgement free zone" which I think is hilarious, it was a measly $10/person per month. Affordable and acceptable, but lacking childcare and group fitness classes & the high tech-ness of the Y.  Oh well, you can't have it all.  So, now we face the scheduling demons to decide who goes in the morning before work and who goes later OR that we won't really see each other much if we both decide to go after dinner.  I guess that's the price we will pay for health.

Speaking of working out, my abs are torn up from the ab coaster-it's that burn that feels good and keeps you going back for more...or staying in bed for a while longer in the morning because of the soreness!

Gotta go, Nora isn't having a nap this afternoon!

Pfff...Why Crawl When I Can Walk?!

First Pig Tails

Adorable if I do say so myself!

Taste the Rainbow

Last week I was a baby-food-makin-fool! I spent most all of my "free" time to make sure we had a freezer full so I wouldn't have to buy or make any for a while.  It was much easier than I thought it was going to be.  I either roasted in the oven (squash, butternut squash) or boiled (any whole fruits, frozen fruits, etc) or steamed (any vegetable that came in a steam bag with no salt or sugar added) then pureed either in our food processor or our magic bullet knock off, "the rocket".  Then I froze it all in ice cube trays for nice portions & put in a quart sized bag once they were frozen.  The part that made the process take longer was freezing.  I gave most of our ice cube trays away because we have an ice maker-so I only had 2 to work with.  Another part that took a while was running the pureed food through a wire sieve-for broccoli and asparagus and anything else that had seeds, strings, or clumps. 

The extra work pays off in money spent especially when a bag of frozen peas cost $0.98 and makes an ice cube tray worth which is more than triple what you can buy in the store! Just another way to save so I can stay home part time and so far it's been worth all the extra work. 

Nora's food so she can taste the rainbow: peas, carrots, peaches, pears, blueberries, squash, green beans, asparagus, sweet potato, butternut squash, broccoli, apples, and mangoes

The day before I set some out in the fridge to thaw for the next meals to come...here are peaches for tomorrow morning-One of her favorites!

Now if only I could get through her eating it all! She has learned to spit and blow raspberries when she has food in her mouth (aka: me covered in spattered food!).  We stopped & started 'meal time' 3 times the other day because she was spitting her food out everywhere.  She was definitely hungry, but apparently didn't like the carrots & chicken she was getting for dinner.  Yesterday she had the same thing & ate it all.  I guess she's learning that she has 'options' already at 7 1/2 months! She already has a mind of her own.

We Love Out of Town Visitors

Especially the Allisons! They were in town for a week & we were lucky enough to catch up with those crazy-busy people.  We fit nicely in on Sunday evening enjoying Arni's pizza, good company, and bid euchre.  Noah & Nora were pleased to play with each other, but wow is it definitely apparent that he is a BOY! His mommy says hes 'all boy' and he truly is.  Watching him vs. Nora showed it all, but he is so handsome!  Only 1 month older than Nora, but seems so much bigger & crawls quickly like a salamander...wiggling his way fast throughout the house.  We hope to be able to see them in December on their next visit home from Austin.

Noah "the Ham" Allison

Nora: "Mom, he's getting me!"
Noah: "I just want to taste you, c'mon"

Nora: "He's silly, what's he doing"
Noah: "What girl, you ain't never seen a boy before?"

They had so much fun together & were a blast to watch, but they are growing up too fast!

Happy Halloween 2011

The Family: Pirates, Strawberry & Bumble Bee

Handing out candy...we ran out!

Jersey as a Bumble Bee

Visiting Daddy's work on Halloween

Nora "Strawberry" watching the Trick or Treaters from her jumper-Best idea ever if I do say so myself

Nora & Hunter in the outfits I bought on clearance last year when they were still cooking! They look great & both fit well. So cute together-already best buds.