Tar Hollow weekend

This is almost two weeks old already! Sheesh. But, the pics are too cute to ignore.

So, click here to see pictures from our weekend (May 16-18) with friends in Tar Hollow State Park. Many of us went every year as kids/teenagers, so it was great to meet up there as adults with our own kids!

Enjoy!

7 months!

Happy 7 month birthday to Nora! As cliche as it is, I can't believe how quickly these 7 months have gone...I feel SO lucky to have such a wonderful daughter. She just gets better every day!

At 7 months Nora is still a complete joy. She has such a laid back, peaceful presence and seems to just take in the moment and analyze everything. Here are some highlights:

• She's still awaiting her first tooth, although she's been teething for a while now - it seems relatively imminent.
  
• She sits up like a champ and rolls over easily from belly to back - she's still working on rolling from back to belly. She picks up her butt and rocks a little when she's on her tummy and leans over almost onto all fours when sitting up.
  
• She smiles easily and has a hilarious laugh.
  
• She's babbling a lot (baba, gaga, HA!, mamamama, etc.) and squeals with delight often.
  
• She's started to show some sass and will yell or pout when we take something from her w/out replacing it with something else...especially cell phones!
  
• She can stand up with support and has started to raise her arms up to us when she wants to be picked up.
  
• She smiles with her entire body and has started to show her happiness when Chris comes home from work and when I pick her up - heartmelting.
• She loves peek a boo, the Itsy Bitsy Spider, Zippity Doo Da, The Ants Go Marching, Old McDonald, and, recently, the Across the Universe soundtrack (especially the Mr. Kite song).
  
• She understands, or seems to, the sign for milk - when I make the sign she'll nose dive for my breast if she's hungry.
• She still nurses a lot (probably 6-10 times a day and twice at night) and also likes bananas, avocados, homemade applesauce, brown rice cereal, and - our newest discovery - gnawing on cold celery (it's great for teethers w/out any teeth yet). Next up: cooked carrots and peas.
  
• She loves watching other kids & toddlers...they make her laugh easily...and she looks worried whenever anyone cries, reaching out to touch their face if she can.
• She squeals whenever Sadie, the dog, or either of our cats comes anywhere near her! Of course, the yelling usually makes them run the other direction and she looks confused.
  

There's so much more, but I'll go on for pages if I don't stop! All in all, she's an amazing girl. I learn something new from her every day! We love you Nora!

Stay tuned for pictures from last weekend's Tar Hollow camping trip! As a teaser, here are a few videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZvjqFuJfGM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQKuGiX3u4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWtgFUT4amw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eVCuLVlU-w

The Com-Post

As Mama B mentioned in her last post, the Bongorno estate is long overdue for a compost bin. We bought the lumber a couple weeks back and with Joel's help, hauled it back to the neighborhood for fabrication and installation. With our frequent weekend travel and the poor weather we've had lately, the project has gone on longer than expected. We started on Mothers Day (at Naomi's request!) and made a good bit of progress. Naomi picked up an did a bit more during the week before we left town for another weekend away. Next up... this weekend, we finish!

Here's the sorry heap before we started construction

The lumber, sitting in the garage (the former owner left us a lot of junk!)

Naomi & Nora saddled up and got ready for the heavy labor

Surveying the scene

Nora points out a slight miscalculation that could've cost Mommy some valuable time!

It's business time...

...and Nora is spent!


We'll share more with you as this major public works project takes shape! I project a completion date of Spring '09!

Birthday & Mothers Day

For some reason blogspot wouldn't let me upload pictures for a few days, so this post has been waiting for a while! Stay tuned soon for pictures from our weekend in Tar Hollow!

Here's the long overdue Mother's Day/Sofia's Bday post:

We had an exciting weekend full of neighborhood fun. Friday night we went to Ashley & Damon's new house for an Open House / party. The house looked great (they did A LOT of work) and it was fun to see everyone.

On Saturday we went to Joe & Norma's for Sofia's 2nd Birthday party! It was a beautiful day and it was fun to see all the toddlers enjoying their nice big backyard.

Sunday was my first Mothers Day, which was fun. Chris's parents came over and we went for brunch at Luxe, which was delicious. Then we came home and started to build our new compost bin! I can't wait until it's done.

Here are the pictures!

Joel, Mae, Chris and Nora at Ashley & Damon's:


Daddy & Nora:


Sofia, the Birthday girl, with her Elmo pinata:


Norma & Sofia:


Nora & Mommy:


This is one of my favorite pictures EVER:



Sofia is very helpful when we change Nora's diaper. I didn't get a good angle, but she was patting Nora's head the whole time and laughing...so cute.


Sofia with Joe and little sister, Fiona:



Chris going in for a dunk!


With Ellen (a few weeks younger than Nora):


Flying Sofia!


On Mother's Day:

Videos galore

Here's a cute cute video of Nora and Daddy playing their favorite game...Chris gets to see this happy and excited face every time he comes home these days!



And here's one of Nora with Uncle Steve (he came up to Cleveland for a few days to be Nora's manny!) - this is a new noise/face for her...



Finally, Nora was talking to the adorable baby in the mirror until we started filming her, but the video is still awfully cute!

YS & Cincinnati weekend

Last weekend we were in YS and Cincinnati briefly to say hi to family and attend Jake & Sarah's baby shower! Nora didn't love all the driving, but she loved seeing everyone.

With G'pa G:



We met up with Hilary and Ryan in Hyde Park for lunch:



Sporting her booster seat cover (a gift from Alyson!):


Jake and Sarah getting ready to open presents on a beautiful Sunday:


Hangin' with Caroline:


Sarah, looking beautiful - baby Steamboat is due in late June:


Showers are tiring...


We had to take a little pit stop on the way home to let Nora out of her carseat...she took the opportunity to practice her driving skills:


Back at home, Nora enjoyed some time playing with her toys...

I have to get these in...

We have so many cute pictures from this weekend (YS and Cincinatti), but I had to post some of my favorites from the last couple of weeks before moving forward. Here you go:

Kisses for Daddy...


so cute...



in her new bikini...