Want Leche?

So, Nora and I ran some errands this afternoon and came home to an adorable little black kitten hopping through the grass toward us. I took him inside and tried to figure out what to do with him. After a bit we decided to take him to a local shelter, so we packed up again and headed out. Unfortunately, the shelter is overrun with stray cats (over 500!) and they couldn't guarantee that they wouldn't have to send the little guy to the pound (where he would probably be euthanized). That was obviously not an option, so I had them test him for FIV and feline leukemia (negative for both) and give him his shots and a flea treatment and back home we went!

He's SO cute - I've been calling him Leche b/c he has a little white milk mustache. :) I've fallen in love with the little furball (and Nora REALLY wants to eat him up - literally), but we can't keep him. So, please contact us if you would like to adopt Leche! We need to find him a home this week!!!

Here are some pictures of him sleeping in his new bed:

8 months

Nora is 8 months as of Monday...craziness!

She's as cute as ever and is showing increasing signs of imminent mobility. So far, she can scoot backwards on her belly (she tries to scoot forwards but still moves backward...frustrating, I'm sure), gets solidly onto all fours and rocks back and forth and now can pull herself to standing (with some help) and stand on her own holding onto something (see below)!

I can't remember if I ever posted on here that she's been making the sign (ASL) for milk - that started about 3 weeks ago. It's really adorable...I'll have to try to get it on video. Now we're working on the signs for food, book and more. And, as of Weds., she waves hello and bye bye!

Speaking of books, this month Nora has really started to enjoy reading, which is a real joy for us. She always liked books, but was more interested in eating them than reading them - now she'll look at and touch the pictures and loves to turn the pages. It's really cute.


This one is blurry, but you can still make out that dimple!

Yummy blueberries...

So strong

First, a big congratulations to Julie & George on the birth of their baby girl, Susanna Helen, on June 9th (see Baby Zaharatos blog, linked on the right)! We love you already and can't wait to meet you, Susanna!

Second, our own baby girl is getting so so strong these days! She's rolling both ways now (video coming soon) and can push herself up to hands and knees from her belly and lean over onto all fours from sitting (oftentimes ending up in a slow motion face plant). She even managed to go from belly to sitting once by sticking her butt way up in the air until momentum get her up...hard to envision, but it worked for her!

Gone are the days when I could put her on a blanket and walk to the kitchen feeling confident that she'd be in the same place when I got back. I guess this means we're going to have to mop our floors, huh? Anyway, here are some pics of her new found skills:

From a week and a bit ago - pulling herself up with Daddy as spotter:



This is from last night - jamming with her friends Alta (5 1/2 months) and Mae (4 months):



Video of some developing standing skills:



And these are just cute, so I thought I'd add them in:

Obama '08!

'Nuff said...

Mabababa

This was taken on May 23rd, Nora's 7 month Bday. SO cute.

Good weekend

We had a wonderful weekend! The weather was beautiful and we were very productive. Here's a breakdown of the activities:

• Saturday morning I headed to the Nature Center to help in the construction of our new strawbale/cob building. It was a lot of muddy fun and I met some cool people!
• Saturday afternoon Chris surprised me with an appointment to get my hair cut, which I've been wanting for awhile now...it was at the salon where we all got fancied up before the wedding. After the salon, we all walked around downtown and took some pics (see below). Very sweet.
• Saturday evening we went out to dinner at a nice place with a great patio near our house. Yummy. Nora slept on Chris's chest while we ate. Very cute.
• Sunday we worked around the house, finishing the compost bin (yeah!) and doing lots of weeding and laundry and general tidying up.

All in all, a great weekend! Nora's not feeling her best (she got her first shot - Hib - on Weds, and she's teething, and she has a cold), but she still managed to dig deep and be her happy self. What a great kid. Here's some pics to prove it:


How do you like the cut? In front of Browns stadium...


The Science Center's windmill is in the background...


Funny face...


Checking out the fountain...


I had to put in these two funny Nora faces:



Finally, go compost!