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.