19 months, and Cape Cod!

The absolute highlight of Naomi's 19th month was our long-anticipated trip back east. We took a multi-family trip to Cape Cod with my roommates from college and all of our families. 10 adults and 6 kids, plus 2 more buns in the oven - talk about a full house!

This was the first time we have all been able to get together in 3 years. It was also the first time we have gotten all the kids in our extended family together. As you can see from the pics below, it was a BLAST for them! Naomi still asks for her new friends from the trip.

Photos: Kim Praast Photography

It was all a wonderful, stress-relieving blur and we agreed that a week was just not enough time to enjoy each other. Next time, maybe two... now we just need to decide where we are going to go!

A big thank you to my girls, their others, and their kids for being... just fantastic. 

This was the perfect vacation. We love and miss you all. 

XOXO

The Vogan-Holmes Family: Karen, Josh, Erica Lily and baby Sawyer

The Oliver-Carr Family: Jeannette, Mark, Abigail and Samantha (+1 coming soon!)

The Maggart-Cranmer Family: Lindsay, Jason and Tristan

The Praast-Reber Family: Kim and Jeff - the coolest aunty and uncle a bunch of crazy kids could ask for!

Today was a good day...

Not only did Naomi get to eat chicken nuggets for the first time, but she also got to see the little person she'll be big sister to in about 7 months via ultrasound.

Yes, you read that right! We're due September 16.

The eighth month...

August flew, plain and simple. Jam packed, full of travels and visits and fun and work and... teeth.

The three of us took a long weekend in San Francisco August 8-10, coinciding with the SF International Gift Fair. Business is always a good reason to travel, and why not make it a family affair! We had a fantastic time exploring the city, eating scrumptious food (read: foie gras sushi that was to DIE for, our first experience with In-n-Out Burger, and casual tasties from Taylor's Automatic Refresher). I think Naomi was hungry to enjoy the grastronomical side of San Fran, too, as that is where she cut her first tooth! For the record, that was August 10th, and it was the bottom-middle-left.

The bottom-middle-right came on August 18.

Another big event happened the beginning of August. Naomi met her maternal grandma! My mom came out for a visit and got to spend some long overdue time with Naomi. During her visit we took a trip out to the the beautiful San Juan islands and spent the day at Friday Harbor. It was here that Grandma picked up this sweet hat, perfect to keep our little nymph warm all winter!


Naomi also got to meet some of her island O'hana! We were able to catch up with our friend Tamar (in San Francisco) and Tamar's mom, Judy (on a trip to Tacoma). Tamar and Judy are also Aunty and Granny to Naomi's far-away friend Kilinoe, and Sister and Mom to MY faraway friend Tina.*

Our friends Scott and Jarvalen, and their little one, Brennan, were also in town for a wedding in August and made some time to stop by for lunch and a playdate!


August is also a lovely time in Tacoma - the weather is perfect (but a bit hot this year), the days are long (daylight 'til 10pm!) and the vibe is just relaxed and fun. One of my favorite things about summer is being able to walk down the street to the farmer's market. On one particular trip we were able to spend time with my friend Jennifer and her kids, Opal (3) and Ellis (newborn). Opal is the cutest - she just LOVES Naomi, and Naomi just loves to watch Opal do her thing and learn how big girls play. This particular photo amuses me, though, so I thought I would share! (Note the sign in the background and Naomi illustrating the point...)


Mid August also marked Naomi's first National Park visit. Mount Rainier towered over us in all it's glory. Just stunning...


I told you August was busy. There was also probably a barbeque somewhere in there, a few trips up to Lake Stevens to visit Aunty Em and Uncle Chad, a heat wave... we'll be looking forward to a slower, cooler fall.

*HEY TINA - don't you think it's time for you and Kili to take a trip up North to finally meet Naomi?

7 months

Naomi's July was a busy one! The two biggest developments were a) sitting on her own (even in a grocery cart!), and b) the extent to which she is babbling now.

It is clear that we have a chatter on our hands. She is an expert in B's, M's, and D's (think in a string of "mamamama babababababa dadadadadadadada" followed by a squeal or making a raspberry sound with her lips. It is particularly cute, I must say, when she is moving her lips, practicing how to form her mouth for a particular sound, but not making any. Then, a minute later, she will give us a confident BABABABABA if that is the sound we asked for. Having an exchange with Naomi is lovely.

Even better is that it is clear now that she is understanding more and more of what we say. Among her favorite phrases to hear are "Jersey Puppy" "Who's that pretty baby" (when looking in the mirror), and "You want some num-nums?" (Num-nums being food).

Naomi also has favorite songs. She has for a while, but a particular few calm her down when needed. First best is Apples and Bananas. Runner up is Itsy Bitsy Spider. We do a lot of singing in the car these days...



The biggest event in July, of course, was the visit of Grandma (Jim's mom) and 12 year old cousin Trellany! Making the trip from Alabama to visit Naomi for the first time, Rhonda and Trellany were able to spend 10 days with us. Most of it was spent relaxing and allowing our visitors time to spend with Naomi. We did take a trip to Snoqualmie Falls on one day, caught a Mariner's game on another - always a favorite thing to do in Seattle! - and even walked in the CCFA 5k! Come back and visit again soon!

Naomi & Trellany at Qwest Field

Grandma & Trellany at Snoqualmie Falls

The CCFA 5k (Bree & Metztli joined us, too!)

6 months old!

Today marks Naomi's half birthday. Man, this goes quick! What is Naomi up to these days?

Naomi now sits on her own unassisted. I love that! She is just looking like such a big girl now.

She still plays with everything with her feet, like a little monkey. It's pretty hysterical, actually. I'm not sure I've ever seen another baby handle things with their feet the way Naomi does. It is almost as much as she uses her hands!

While rolling from back to front is her favorite past time, she is still refusing to go form belly to back. She knows how. She has done it, but we think she is just lazy. She would prefer to whine until one of us flips her over. We figure this can't last forever. Come her crawling which is sure to be just around the corner seeing how she handles herself from the sit position, she's going to have get over it and do it eventually.

She does squirm and get whatever she wants to get wherever it happens to be. It is not uncommon now for me to turn around for two minutes and she is in the complete opposite direction from where I left her. She also wakes up from her naps sideways in her bed and has taken to sleeping on her side lately. I am grateful for this because it is allowing the hair on the back of her head to grow in!

Solid foods. ACK! What a mess! so far her favorite is bananas mixed in oatmeal. I laugh because this is my father's favorite breakfast, too. Two peas in a pod, those two.

Still no teeth. I'm waiting for that terror. She is teething and everything she picks up goes directly into her mouth but I feel for teeth every day and nothing yet. She will occassionally wake up crying late at night because her gums hurt. I know they are coming in soon.

Naomi's current favorite toy is a Little Tikes piano Judy Hassing gave us a long time ago. She just loves to sit on the couch and bang on that thing. And she thinks it is hysterical when I try to sing the notes she plays. (Why does everyone laugh when I sing?)

In other friend-based news...

Naomi and her friend, Metztli had their first playdate recently! The girls are just SO cute together. Metztli is so gentle with Naomi, shares her toys, and even gives her sweet little besos! Ah! So much fun! It is also nice for me to be able to visit with Metztli's mama, Bree.

Metztli and Naomi

A new friend for Naomi has been born! Making his debut on June 21st was Eliot. A BOYFRIEND! He's pretty darn cute, too. We can't wait until Eliot is grown up a little bit and the kids can play together. Congratulations mama KC and daddy Jac!

Elllllliiiiooooot (*ET Voice)

There is another new friend on the way, too. We're not yet sure whether it will be a boy or a girl, but we do know that whatever it is, that baby is LATE! Good luck Jennifer and Kelly and big sister Opal!

Cute picture of KC (left) and Jennifer at Kc's baby shower! (Belly Buttons!)

And that's it, I think. It's been a really busy month for mommy with work so, again, apologies for my lack of posting. I'll keep trying to work on that!

Fetal high-five!

I just love hearing baby news from friends... it means Lemon is going to have a new future friend! We are thrilled that our friends, kc and jac, are expecting! Their little one will arrive in late June/early July... we're so thrilled we can hardly contain ourselves.

They sent over 12 week ultrasound pics this evening and baby already has thumb-in-mouth. Very advanced, practically genius. It seems surreal how far they come in just 12 weeks. And then just see how big they (and you) get in another 26. This whole process is just trippy!

CONGRATULATIONS mommy & daddy-to-be!

SO, when's the blog going up?

Diggin' Out

If I had to guess, I'd say we have about 10-12" of snow on the ground - this is a rare event for the Puget Sound - especially as far south as we are. And for those of you who aren't familiar with our set-up, we park our cars in the back of our house at the end of a long alley that is really only used by us. To boot, the top of the alley sports a steep hill. No traffic means snow build-up that we need to get through to get anywhere. Besides Jim needing to get work, we need a car handy in case Lemon decides to put me in labor. So this morning has been consumed with diggin' out - thus far, using only a super-heavy garden shovel. We rarely get snow in these parts so we have procrastinated in buying a snow shovel for 2 years now. Silly us.

Jim tried to get the Prius out but with its super-fancy traction detection system he couldn't even rock it out of the spot in our backyard (in this case, the car is too good). So plan B, the Celica (which happens to be the scariest car to drive in these weather conditions due to almost NO traction), is in effect. We managed to get it to the end of the alley but could not get it up the hill. After about 8 attempts at backing it up then trying again, we keep slipping back into the same spot without success...

A neighbor just came to our rescue with a real snow shovel to borrow (thanks, Sara!) so hopefully the next couple hours will be more fruitful than the last couple, spent with Jim shoveling and pushing, and me squeezing behind the wheel of the car trying to rock us out of the jam we're in...

Otherwise, Jim will need to burn a vacation day meant for after the baby is born. Bummer.

Note to self: Next year get a shovel, have salt and kitty litter on hand, and some chains might be nice.

UPDATE (12pm)
Another great neighbor, Neil, came to our ultimate rescue with a big truck and tow strap. We had never met this neighbor before so we are happy to have made a new friend! We have success and the car is out... Jim gets to go to work today.