Nighttime Wiggles

After Noel's 2nd nap today, she was already rubbing her eyes, so we knew it was going to be a long evening! We went walking to try to soothe her a little bit...which actually worked, but we still had 30 minutes before her "bedtime" could commence.

So she was fussy...fussy...fussy...then all of the sudden she became a little tazmanian devil doing this split/jump/bottom bump dance that we'd never seen before. Then she'd wiggglle and do it again. We couldn't stop laughing at her! She's such a trip!

In other news, I found out from one of the employers I interviewed with that I was NOT selected for the position. And for the other one, I'm still waiting. I have 2 months left until my unemployment insurance runs out, and I admit, I'm getting anxious.

I'm considering a drastic career change, which would include me going back to school. I think we're going to plan on following through with that, as a precaution. I think if I just got another type of job until a GIS job opened up, I'd be out of the "loop" for so long that it'd be difficult for me to find anyone to hire me. GIS jobs are few and far between anyway, then you add in there that the economy isn't doing very well, and they are SUPER competitive. And to be honest, I haven't been very happy in the past few years with my career choice! I guess now is as good a time as any!

Sarah & Crafton come bearing gifts

Sarah and Crafton stopped by yesterday on their way from Roanoke to Richmond. They live in upstate New York, so visits are few and far between (unfortunately :o( ) We hadn't seen them since Christmas!

They came bearing gifts. Lots and LOTS of birthday gifts! They brought her a bunch of clothes, a GIANT caterpillar, and a classic Fisher Price "phone".

She loves her caterpillar - she gives him kisses over and over, which I honestly hadn't seen her do to a toy before!



We hung out at the house for awhile - I made some Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies, which I admit is NOT on my diet, but I made an exception ;o) I didn't take any pictures because I was busy catching up with them, and I figured I had the whole day - which I'm kicking myself for now because I forgot the SD card in our computer!! Uggghghgh...

Anyway, Sarah and I headed out to Short Pump for some shopping and dinner. We've always had a tradition of going out for Thai food and mojitos. We haven't had any mojitos in quite awhile, but we still kept with the tradition and had Tom Yum soup and Pad Thai. MmmmMmmMMmm...

We tried on some clothes, played with Noel, walked around, and just had fun. It's a shame that we don't get to hang out more often - I wish they could move closer to home!! Maybe in a few years?? I'm holding out hope ;-)

Keeps on growin

At 6 months I posted a couple of pictures of Noel in her carseat, one at birth, and one at 6 months.

Even though this is a tad premature, I thought I'd post a comparison between 6 and 11/12 months. I took it this morning, and I can't believe how mature she looks!

Birth

6 months

11 months

Playground fun

Yesterday Tim and I took Noel to the playground for the first time (well, here anyway). We swang on the swings, went down the slide, and pretty much tried out everything else that we could. Noel wasn't too thrilled this time. I think it was partly due to an upset stomach, and also the fact that it was so hot yesterday!

I've been busy around the house this week, trying to reorganize our clothes, and throwing out some stuff too! I FINALLY got around to hanging some of our photos around the house (only took me a year!) and putting up our full-length mirror in our bedroom.

Here are some pictures from this week

HEY! What are you doing, Mommy?

I'm so cute I have to give myself kisses!

Uhh....I don't know about this.

I like this one!

Weeeee!

Party planning

I have been busy trying to plan a birthday party for Noel these past few days. We decided on a "Dr Seuss" Theme since those are the only books she'll sit semi-still for.

I have to say I'm not a huge fan of "Cat in the Hat" but my favorite book as a child was "Fox in Socks". I finished designing the invitation yesterday and should receive them in the mail about a week from now (ugh!).

The trickiest part of the invitations was trying to take some cute pictures of Noel. I used to set up a white sheet and take pictures of her in front of it...but it became really difficult once she was mobile...and now, she's walking, so taking a picture is sooo difficult! I have a completely new respect for those photographers at Sears! I don't think I got too many cute ones, but here are a few that are "Okay". It didn't help that the sun wasn't shining that afternoon, like it usually is. Poor lighting!

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I call this one her "Mater" face because she looks so much like
Mater from the movie "Cars"

I've called a cake-maker that is here in our neighborhood and explained to her what I wanted the cake to look like, which admittedly, is pretty elaborate and detailed. But I don't know...to me, the cake is the centerpiece of the party. It sets the theme. And I'm not spending a lot of money on other decorations, so it was my big splurge.

But when I got the quote for the cake, I was a bit surprised. It was $80. Considering the level of detail, the size, and the "extras" like free delivery, candle, and smash cake...I think it's well worth it. However, I don't think I can justify spending so much on a cake right now. I emailed the lady back and asked if we could simplify the cake but still keep it Dr Suess-ish. I hope to hear back from her soon!

Mom and Dad are coming up to bring a bunch of furniture. I hope we have enough space to accomodate it all!

New toys!

Today we headed to Charlottesville to buy some new toys for Noel! Seeing her play with Ronan's new toys made me see that she was ready for some more advanced toys (more advanced than say teething rings and rattles).

So we decided upon an "Alphabet Train" that teaches the alphabet, numbers, and colors, plays music, and can also be used as a walker and a scooter. We figured it would last a couple of years and it would really be more like an investment! She absolutely LOVES it and I hope she enjoys it for years to come. I think we'll consider this part of her birthday present, even though it's a couple of months early. I think her "big" gift will be a little play kitchen...but we're still trying to decide!

She has been walking a LOT lately - I'd say she probably walks about half of the time, which just blows my mind. She just took her first step a couple of weeks ago, and she's been getting better everyday. Here is a video of one of her walking stints - this was taken this evening nearing her bedtime, so she was getting fussy! And yea, the house was a wreck. She pulls out any and everything so every night after her bedtime we have to go through and straighten up!

She's also gotten to a point where she's started sharing everything with us. Her food. One of her toys. Her bottles. Her sippy cups. It's really sweet! Sometimes she doesn't understand that you have to let go of it though. In this next video she shares one of her alphabet blocks with me :o)

Happy Birthday, Ronan!

Today Noel and I headed to Richmond for Ronan's first birthday party!

Allison did a great job decorating the house - I think I'm going to steal a couple of her ideas actually ;-)

Noel and Ronan both went without a nap for the majority of the day, but they both fared pretty well, surprisingly! Ronan has SO MANY toys it makes Noel's pale in comparison! She had a BLAST with all of the activity, toys, and BABIES!

She gave kisses to just about every child she could find. Ronan still didn't enjoy it much, as you can see in the pictures!

We had a GREAT time - hopefully we'll see them again soon!

Allison made this cake herself!

Hey Ronan...look at me!

Ronan, Noel, and Luke

First Birthday cake!

Ronan, I pine for you!