Nemi got a kazoo in her Jack in the Box kids meal today.  It took both Danny and I several hours but by the end of the night she was tooting along on her kazoo.  She also left a spit trail halfway across the house, but she's still a genius.

Nemi has started this wierd thing where she quickly blows slobber into her hand wipes it sideways then presents it to you!  Where in the world do they get these wierd ideas??? So gross.

Last night I was sitting on the couch with my legs crossed watching Nemi play.  She came up to me with her little pink mary jane shoe and tried to cram it on my foot.  I laughed and told her my foot was much to big.  She looked at the snoozing dog beside me, got a glint in her eye, and ran over to shove it on the dogs outstreched paw.  She then laughed maniacally and clapped her hands.  Gizmo was not amused.  She ran away soon after.  Minus the shoe. :) 

We recently had to put the doorknob covers on the bathroom and laundry room which houses the litter box.  You should hear the swearing that ensues when Danny needs to use the facilities and can't figure out how to use the knobs :P

I got back from painting the new house this evening and Dan told me that Gizmo had wanted attention and started licking him.  Well, Nemi saw this and decided she should be licking daddy too! I made the mistake of putting an open bag of sun chips on the countertop and turning my back.  Dan yelled, too late.  She'd emptied the entire contents onto the floor and was busily smashing them between her toes giggling.  Dan is now vacuuming the chips while yelling because Nemi keeps running in to stomp on the chips and spreading them all over the house!

Ever wonder where all of those mismatched socks end up?  In my house, if something is missing, you check the drawer under the stove.  It's the only place I couldn't put a baby lock.  I keep my cookie sheets in there.  Nemi loves pulling them out and sitting on them.  Guess what I found in there today?  Hangers.  

This little girl is getting into all kinds of trouble.  She learned how to open doorknobs and found the toilet and the litter box!

This week she also discovered she likes laying underneath the coffee table and swinging the baby gate open and shut. 

Nemi is really starting to get into helping dress herself.  She sits on the floor and tries to put her own shoes and socks on.  She's mastered putting her hats on, and she loves helping put her arms in sleeves.

Yesterday as we were renovating and switching off baby duty Nemi got into a little mischief!  We have the living room cordoned off as the safe and clean kids area with tv set and video games for my nephew and tons of toys for the girls.  I ran off to fix a toilet and left the kids with my brother in law.  When I came back he had stepped out to see where people had gone and in the meantime Nemi had crawled into the fireplace and proceeded to eat the ashes.  No harm done to her, but her clothes and white sox are no more.  A few hours later Nemi ran down the hallway and was silent.  I went after her and quickly realized that the bucket Dan had set up to hold up a barrier for the hallway had a big puddle of wet white paint on the lid.  Nemi also had realized this and was busily slapping her hands in it and fingerpainting.  When I obviously panicked and went rushing to her Dan and Matt popped their hands around just in time to see her raising those little paint coated hands to her mouth.  She ended up with a white face, but none actually got in her mouth!

Nemi's been having so much fun exploring the new house and running back and forth down the halls.  She discovered the broom and now drags it around trying to sweep the floor.  Yesterday she crawled into Rachael's swing and had a blast pushing it back and forth all by herself. 

We got some great demo done and bought some beautiful appliances.  I've started a blog just for the house.  http://ourbrickranch.blogspot.com/

We recieved the keys to our new home Friday afternoon!  Friday the entire close family gathered and had pizza on our new floor :)

Saturday morning demo started!  I will load pictures of progress soon.  We completely cleared all the appliances and cabinets in the kitchen.  We still need to scrape off the old linoleum and remove the wierd soffets.  Lennart and I also removed all of the old tile in the main bathroom and Landon removed the old sinks and toilet.  We also had our contractor come out Saturday morning and we ordered all of our new windows and doors!  he also said he'd refinish the wood floors for us.  Mom and I went shopping and bought lots and lots of tools, painting supplies, and food for everybody! 

We are soooo tired. But ecstatic!!!

I just added 8 new videos in the October folder and 2 new videos from today in the November folder.  Enjoy!

Tonight Nemi found Mommys shoes and scuffled all around the house for hours wearing them :)  Yes there are pictures.  I just finished uploading them and her in her ballerina outfit helping daddy carve his pumpkins.

This week Nemi learned how to twirl around in circles, and make fishy faces!

Today we spent a wonderful day with Danny's family.  They were celebrating, Danny, Uncle Garrett, and Grandma Kitty's birthdays!  Dan's cousins Luke and his wife Lisa, and Trisha and her son Cole were there also, as well as Dan's brother and his girlfriend and their kids, and of course Papa Roy.  We had some great food, and Luke and Lisa took some great photos that I just finished loading into the picture section, do check them out please.  Nemi was passed around to everybody at one point in the evening and ended up missing a nap, making her not so pleasing to be around :)  I have the teeth marks to prove it.  Ahhhh to be home, she is snugly tucked in her bed.  Such a sweet day.

The inspection went fairly well, just a bunch of small stuff that we were going to replace anyway, and the moisture barrier under the house which Dan can do.  The only largeish thing that came up is that the lot is flat so water is running under the house, so we have to put a french drain in which will be a slightly big project.  Other than that, no pests, no dryrot!  I can't believe this house is in such good condition!  YAY!  I'll add a house file in the pictures tab!

Just got the news, our offer was accepted and WE GOT THE HOUSE!!!!

Now we just have lots of paperwork and inspections to do. The inspection is Saturday morning!!! Then we are going to replace all the windows, redo the kitchen and one bathroom, and refinish the hardwood floors before we move in.  We are hoping to be in by Christmas!!!!

My mom's wedding photos all finally came in so if anybody wants to see, head over to their website and take a look, i'm in the process of loading them now!

http://lennartandgwendolyn.shutterfly.com/

Nemi learned to take the outlet protectors out today and tried relentlessly to stick her finger in the socket. I spent the entire day trying to distract her to no avail.  Now I have to find a better solution.

Today we spent the day at Seaside, OR on the beach.  Nemi absolutely loved it!  She rolled and rolled in the sand and dug and ate a little and just had a blast!  We went to the aquarium and she thought the seals looked cool and chuckled, then one barked at her and splashed her and she was terrified and screamed then just sobbed.  So we left :)  We had lots of fun with Papa Roy, Aunt Geri and Uncle Matt.  Robert was crazy and waded into the ocean and about froze himself to death  and little Rachael just gazed at everything.  On the way home we stopped and had a chat with Grandma Kitty.  Now we're all exhausted and sandy and ready for bed!

We went to the farmer's market today and Nemi and I shared a giant corndog and kettle corn.  I had to refill her snack cup 3 times she loved the popcorn sooo much!  Now she's all sugared up.  Tomorrow we're going to the beach with Papa Roy and Uncle Matt, Aunt Geri, and cousins Robert and Rachael!

Dan calls it her sit n spin.  She started it yesterday.   Nemi sits on the floor with her legs extended, then uses her feet on the hardwood floor to sping herself in circles while still sitting!  She's absolutely hilarious.  Sorry I didn't have the camera on hand to catch it this time!

4 new videos added!  2 of them are of the process of transporting the giant pumpkin.  Sorry, there may be a bad word or two... bad daddy.

It's my favorite season.  The air has turned crisp and the leaves are changing.  We went to the pumpkin patch today and bought an immense pumpkin.  Big enough to fit a couple of kids inside.  Video and pics to come later.  It took Dan and Matt both to haul it from our SUV to the stair rail, roll it down the railing, run for an office chair, then roll it to the door on the chair!  Yes, I video taped the process!  This will be the last year Nemi can fit into a pumpkin, sigh.  But it's sooo cute!

We also took time to pick fresh Dahlias while we were there, buy some fresh produce, check out the farm animals, and eat fresh corn on the cob.

Nemi loved the goats and chickens, but the cow put it's head up and stuck it's tongue out at Nemi and she screamed in terror.

We found a beautiful house that needs some updating.  We are making an offer tonight or tomorrow.  The realtor said we should know within 3-4 days if it's ours!

Here's a link to the house's listing

 

 

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/3211-Ne-62Nd-Ave_Vancouver_WA_98661_1113072510?mp=1

Last night I was standing in the kitchen and my baby girl walked up to me and held both of her hands in the air and said mama mama.  It melted my heart.  She's never held her arms up before to be picked up :)

I was chopping onions this afternoon and I must have dropped one because a few seconds later I saw Nemi stuff a piece in her mouth then give me the worst face I've ever seen.  She then stuck both hands in her mouth in an effort to shovel out the offending piece and presented it to me with a sour face.

We have one eye tooth below the surface!

It's my favorite time of year.  I can't believe fall is already here.  We have been looking at houses all week.  We found one we really love, but it's in the process of foreclosure and my realtor says there's always a 50% chance that the current owners will be able to bring their mortgage current and save the house.  So no idea if we'll be able to get it.  Sometimes shortsales take months to close.  So we are keeping our eye on it and moving on.  We've found 2 other houses that I'm absolutely in love with, but that need an immense ammount of work, one had a saggy ceiling over the kitchen, that also was the floor of the master bedroom.  The other one had a multitude of problems and just wasn't liveable until a lot of work was done, but it was a gorgeous old farmhouse.  I'm sure just around the corner we'll find the perfect home!

Nemi's 4th molar split the gums today!  She has 12 teeth now!

Nemi spends most of her day either looking into a big mirror we put down low, dancing, blowing kisses and being cute, or reading books!  I started bringing a few board books out to the play area and she just goes nuts, she loves turning the pages and looking at the pictures for hours, then she'll bring them to me to read. I'm so excited she already loves reading so much!

Stuck my finger in Nemi's mouth and found the tips of 3 molars just cut through today!  She has a total of 11 teeth now!  Isn't it silly how excited we get to count teeth?

Nemi was done eating so I took her tray off then put her down and she wandered off.  I came back in the room to catch her climbing the highchair!  She can step up on the footrest now and pull herself all the way into the seat!  I thought she was going to fall and split her head open!

What seems ironic to some, but typical to me.  Both of our cars went kaput in the same day!  Both of our new cars!  I tried to help a neighbor jump her car, then mine started billowing smoke and sparks started shooting out.  Then Dan got home minus the Volvo, said he got to work but coudn't get back.  Of course when he tried to start the Ford and see what went wrong, nothing went wrong.  So I'm too scared to drive it alone with the baby for fear I'll get stranded somwhere with a baby along, but it does run.  So maybe Dan at least can get to work in it.

Nemi is pushing a molar and has been having an extremely rough time this week.  She only wants to be held.  She cries if you aren't touching her all the time.  She's hardly eating because it hurts to chew.  My poor baby.  I hope it pops through soon!  We are off to the zoo with Grandpa Landon today!  Man I love this zoo membership, thanks Nana and Lennart!

Yesterday we spent the whole afternoon and evening with Matt, Geri, Robert and Rachael.  We all just hung out and talked and had fun.  Then later Papa Roy came over and we all had pizza. We had such a good time spending time with everybody and getting to know each other better.  Nemi is intrigued by the baby.  She kept trying to feed her cheerios! 

Today I watched Robert and Rachael while their parents ran some errands.  Robert mostly played the Wii as boys do.  Nemi was intrigued with Rachael and kept trying to crawl in my lap with her or bring her toys when she was trying to sleep.  It was very adorable, but I think Nemi started getting a little jealous when I was feeding Rachael.  She realized all of her snuggles were being diverted to another baby!  I can't imagine how mom's for centuries have been able to raise babies and toddlers and deal with it.  Trying to keep Nemi from crawling on top of the baby eating in my arms was almost impossible!

Today Nemi met her Uncle Matt for the first time.  She also met her two cousins Robert and tiny Rachael.  Robert and Nemi spent the day together with Grandma Kitty.

Nemi points to her ear now when you ask where it is.  She also knows where her tongue is and sticks it out at you.  I've been working on nose, but she just keeps pointing to my ear when I ask where her nose is.

Today we spent the day with Grandma Kitty.  Nemi was super good and played well for her while I did a little housework.  When we got home and of course after Daddy left for work I looked over at Nemi and she had her hands and feet on the floor when her legs spread and her butt up in the air and was looking at me upside down through her legs!  I got a ton of pics!!!  She kept cracking up, standing up, then bending over and sticking her head in between her legs again!

Nemi's really getting a personality.  She throws insane temper tantrums when you tell her no.  She also dances everytime she hears music, she throws her hands in the air and just starts flailing and bouncing up and down.  When she's done eating she says Daddy Down, and daddy takes her out of her highchair in the evenings.  In the bathtub she gets washed, then plays for a few minutes, then throws all her toys out of the tub one by one. When I try to pull her out she squeals and tries to run away from me before I can get her out.  She loves the tub!  She's always sticking her tongue out now.  Today I said where's your ear and she pointed to it!  She learned the word duck and goes around saying qack qack duck.  She's a total daredevil, always scaling the sofas and standing on her precariously perched toys to reach things she's not supposed to.  And she absolutely loves terrorizing the poor dog and crawling all over her.  The dog just lays there and grunts :)

Nemi recieved her 2nd set of vaccination redo's today.  She did very well, only cried for about 30 seconds then ran around the office with her new teddy bear for about 15 minutes.  After she got home she was an incredible grump for most of the evening, but I still think she did very well. 

When she is told no or to stay off the furniture she now tries to bite you.  Parenting is so inventive!  Any ideas???

Nemi got a new tooth!  She finally cut her fourth bottom tooth, so she now is nice and even.  Four on top, our on bottom!  She's working on a couple of molars at the moment.  It's been so much fun to live with her recently ;) Nemi realized she can run last night and she took off!  Now I'm going to spend a lot of time chasing her!

I added 7 new videos in the August folder.

Sad news, Dan redid our computer and copied over all of my videos and pictures, but somehow missed from May 2009 -July 2009.  The videos are still on this website and youtube, but I have lost my copies forever.

Check out Nana Gwen and Lennart's new site!

http://lennartandgwendolyn.shutterfly.com/

Nemi is all of the sudden getting very bright.  She can stack all of her stacking cups in order, put all her rings on the post in order, she's extremely excited by her duplo lego's and started building this week.  She also has stolen a purse of mine and carts it around her neck, then puts her stacking rings on her arms and wears them like bracelets and puts my shoes on her feet and tries to walk in them.  I've never worn bracelet's so i'm not sure how she learned that one, but she's all girlie girl and loves accesorizing!

Dan's boss called this morning and asked him to start work today!  YAY! 

 

Nemi's been climbing.  She climbs nonstop.  If you take one eye off of her she's over the back of the couch and standing on the window ledge precariously perched.  I can't do anything now.  I can't use the bathroom, or prepare food without her being on the top of the back of the couch or in the window!

Dan's boss called this morning and says he has a couple weeks of work!!!  So he starts back on the 16th.  Thanks for everybody's prayers!

Mom and Lennart both emailed from Helsinki.  Here's what they said.

 

we'll be here in Helsinki until Monday, when we take the overnight boat/floating hotel to Stockholm. We still have only a vague idea of what we'll be doing there, but I'm sure we'll figure out some fun stuff while we're there.

We are having a great time. Wed we walked and walked and walked!!! The architecture here is wonderful. So much detail. In Helsinki, no building is allowed to be more than six stories high, so all of them are six stories high. Lennart calls them Legos. All blocks. We got to see the oldest stone building in Helsinki which was done in the mid 1700s. Older than the US.

We have gone to some wonderful restaurants. Went to one that was based on the old finnish logging camps. Real basic food, but yummy! I had reindeer steak and elk sausage skewers. So good!

Thursday we took a tour bus around for 1 ½ hours. Saw a real neat church that is carved out of the stone. Got pictures and a brochure. Went shopping down at the harbor. Tent town like Saturday market and Farmers market all rolled into one. Very cool. Got something for you and David. Have no clue what to get Danny and Landon. Maybe something in Stockholm.

Last night went to the opera. Had dinner at Lennart's mom's first. Great food. Lennart got a veal recipe from her that I can't wait to try. The opera was wonderful. Wish you could have been there. Funny! Mozart had a real sense of humor. Every one in "love" with everyone else. Everyone playing tricks on everyone else. The music wasn't bad either.

Today we are off to the country to visit Lennart's cousin Veronica. We are going by train so will get to see some of the country side.

Gotta run,

Hugs,
Mom

Just got an email from Nana, Here's what she said about Finland!

 

First impressions:  Pink Granite!  As we were coming from
the airport I noticed that the hills that were cut away for
the road were made mostly of pink granite.  When we got to
the hotel, the sidewalks are made of pink granite
cobblestones.  Pink granite is ground up and put in the
asphalt for the roads.  We pay a fortune for pink granite

and here they line the streets with it!'

 Helsinki is built on hills like Portland but a lot of
 things are just older.  It is a very neat city with parks
 and little plazas here and there and lots of nooks and
 crannies to go exploring.  

 I'm going to go do laundry by hand now.  They don't
 have a washer and dryer we can use, and having their laundry
 service do it is ridiculously expensive.  A pair of socks
 costs 4€ (over $8) to wash.  Fortunately they have a
 laundry line in the bath tub area, so I can at least get our
 underware clean. 

 

 

She also said she's having difficulty with an old keyboard that the space bar doesn't hardly work on, and has all kinds of extra characters getting in her way! 
 
 

We are home at last.  Nemi screamed at the top of her lungs and wailed for most of our 3 1/2 hour flight.  We finally settled her and she slept for the last hour.  We are all exhausted and happy to be in our own home.  Nemi saw her toys and ran to them and squealed.  Then she saw the cat and squealed, then the dog and squealed.  She's now chasing them both around the living room. 

Day 10

Woke up at a reasonable time and joined the whole family for brunch at 11am at Tippecanoes Restaurant in South Bend Indiana.  We then had a tour of the building and took family photos on the grand staircase and outside on the front entrance which was all stonework and had huge arches that all the kids could climb into.  They even made me climb up it for the photos since I was a grandkid.... I am not so fit anymore.

After everybody went back to the Grands, Dan and I took Nemi back to Oma and Opa's for a goodbye evening.  Dan helped Opa a little with his computer which did not end up very fruitful.  But we had a nice visit and left fairly early to start packing.  On the way back we stopped at my cousin Christine's house and she wasn't there so we jotted around the corner to her dad's house and found Christine, her sister Lori, and their brother Harold all mowing their dad's lawn.  So we got a good farewell and were glad we decided to stop.

We then came back to the Furst home and I did all of our laundry and packed all up.  Am exhausted and have to get up at 5am to be on a plane by 9am. 

Tomorrow.... HOME!

Day 9

We went to the All Nations Seventh Day Adventist Church with Grandma and Grandpa Furst.  I had to sit in the mommy's room with a very squirmy Nemi.  The church members called them up and honored them for their 50th Anniversary. Afterward we all came back to the Grands and were also joined by Great Uncle Joe and his wife Karen, Great Aunt Ruby, My mom's cousin Barb and her husband, and of course all of my aunts and uncle and all the cousins.  We had a huge meal and had lots of fun watching the kids run around and be silly and get reaquainted with everybody else.  Everybody stayed most of the evening to have leftovers and all headed home or to their respective hotels.

 

Tomorrow.... Brunch at Tippecanoes!

Day 8

We had a lazy start to the morning and were just moping about the house.  My cousin Indy had spent the night and her and David had stayed up all night chattering.  Then my Aunt Janelle surprised us with a visit and she and I caught up for a few hours.  We then packed up the car and my Uncle Russell and his wife Julie and one of their sons Trevor, Aunt Janelle and her two daughters Chloe and Indy, Grandma Grandpa David Nemi and I, and headed out to lunch.  When we got back everybody else headed over to Russell's house while The Grands David Chloe Nemi and I waited for my mom, Lennart and Dan to arrive.  They finally did and we also headed over to Russell's for a great bbq out in the driveway.  We also spent some time ogling his marine tank and oohing over his gorgeous coral while the kids all massed around the goldfish pond outside and caught frogs.  We've seen a ton of different varieties of frogs here as it's been raining most nights.  Finally we all said goodbye and headed back to the Grands house for some cleaning up and getting ready for tomorrow.

Tomorrow.... Church then a big dinner and Grandma and Grandpa's!

Day 7

Nemi and I got up early... at her request. ;)  We had some breakfast then headed over to pick Oma Lynn up and all headed out to Apple Valley Market to see how much it had changed.  It looked very much the same as we remembered.  We then made our way to the Christian Book store which had changed and expanded and was quite impressive.  Then we headed back to Oma and Opa's where we hung out all day smelling the aroma's from Oma's kitchen.  She told us we couldn't touch or taste for another 4 hours and as our tummy's grumbled and we salivated over all of the sights sounds and smells.  The hour finally came and all of the Riess' started showing up.  First were Uncle Philip and Aunt Nancy.  Then Lori and Christine and Jeff and Michael and one of their friends showed up.  Last Harold and Tammy.  Everybody had a great time, ate way too much and told me repeatedly how nice Nemi was and how much like me she was.  They especially made sure to tell me that she was such a quiet and sweet baby just like I had been.  She was such a good girl and allowed everybody to pick her up and pass her around and play with her.  Nancy brought her the softest stuffed leopard and Nemi absolutely adored it and kept hugging it and carting it around all night.  She also gave Nemi two new outfits that are so cute!  We had a great time and stayed way to late.  I'm off to bed.

Tomorrow.... My husband will finally be here!!!  In the evening, off to Uncle Russell's for some fun with the Furst clan.

Day 6

 

Today Nemi and I woke up and headed over to Oma and Opa's to meet Oma Lynn!  Nemi had such a great time getting to know her.  They played for quite a long time together, had lunch, thhen we headed out to go see Margie, a good friend of my father's and Lynn's.  We had a great visit and when we were through we went to the fair to find a cinnamon roll vendor we used to visit every year together when I was a kid.  Well, we found that the old vendor had long stopped baking and there was a new guy there instead.   The cinnamon rolls were not as good, but the nostalgia was still there.  After all of this we headed out to the cemetary to visit my dad and my great grandparents.  They were still in the same place and seemed to be well tended.  Finally we made our way back to Oma and Opa's for a quick dinner of leftover goulash and creamed spinach with rice.  Nemi was having a teething breakdown so I was just getting ready to head out when Oma got a call from my Opa's sister.  She said her and her husband were on their way to visit.  Nemi and I decided to stay for a little bit longer.  They showed up with their tiny toy poodle who terrified Nemi until I got on the floor and petted him for a long time.  We had a fun visit and My great Aunt left a gift for Nemi.  Now we are back at Grandma and Grandpa Furst's and Nemi is bathed and in bed.

 

Tomorrow...  Apple Valley Market, then plum dumplings and meeting all the Wutzke's and Riess' together!

Day 5

Today was gorgeous so we decided to do the fair intead of the beach.  Grandma and I took Nemi and David out and walked all over the fairgrounds checking out all the booths and animals.  We met up with my Aunt Julie and she showed us all of the items her 2 sons had entered into the fair.  One of her sons took first and second place for the photography section.  We had a great time.  When we went to see the livestock I pushed Nemi's stroller close to a goat pen and the goat leaned over to sniff her and she screamed, terrified and tried to jump away and started crying so hard.  I couldn't help it, i cracked up laughing while trying to console her but it was just hilarious!  we got some food at the fair and continued walking and I met some folks I remember from when i was a kid, I just can't remember why I know them!  But they remembered me and my Dad so i talked and gave hugs and then left.  I have no idea who they are still but that's okay!  I'm sure it won't be the last time this trip!

Day 4

Woke up this morning and it was pouring down the biggest raindrops I'd ever seen.  So... we didn't go to the fair.  Instead I called up Oma and Opa and Nemi and I spent the day with them.  Oma made us some yummy dumplings and beef and played with Nemi for a long time.  Nemi was resisting any ideas of a nap so we strapped her in her stroller and went to walk her around the property.  She conked right out.  Opa then took me around the grounds and showed me how he'd set up a walking course for himself with stakes in the ground at certain intervals.  it weaves all through the trees he's planted and makes up a 1/3 of a mile.  So if he walks it 3 times he's done a mile!  Then he showed me where he sorts and packages all of his donations for his non-profit.  I was so impressed to see how much his organization has grown!  Nemi has had so much fun getting to know her Oma and Opa.  We can't wait to meet Oma Lynn in 2 days!!!!

Tomorrow.... if it's not raining, Silver Beach and the lighthouse!!!!!!

Day 3

We woke up at 8am had breakfast and hit the road for Lansing Mi.  We got to the zoo about an hour ahead of time and got to meet Jenn and her son Caden in the parking lot.  A little later on Michelle and Derrik met us with their son Drayven.  The kids had a lot of fun looking at all of the animals and I had such a great time getting to know the other parents.  I can't believe I got to meet 4 momma's and 1 daddy all in one weekend!  I've been waiting for this for almost 2 years and it was so worth it!

We got back to the Furst's home around 6pm and had dinner and let Nemi get some wiggles out before tubby time and then off to bed!

 

Tomorrow..... The Youth Fair!!!

We flew in around 4:45 pm last night to South Bend Indiana.  Nemi handled the flights like a champ.  She slept most of the time, but did have a little sicky accident at the Chicago airport... well 3 times she got sick.  Then she was alright and slept on the next flight.

When we arrived Grandpa Furst suprised us at the airport and it's a good thing because he was able to help me straighten out issues with my car rental and help carry some baggage!  We went back to the Furst's house and had some dinner, then rushed to Oma and Opa's for a quick visit.  Oma brought out lots of toys and Opa played his accordian and sang lots of songs to Nemi.  We had a great time!

 

Day 2

Woke up 7am.  Left around 10am to go to fellow July08 Momma Crystal's wedding!  Got lost and wandered for about an hour. Finally made it there and met two amazing women that I've had the blessing to get to know for the last 21 months.  They were everything I hoped for and more and their two little boys were so much fun to meet.  Drove another 3 1/2 hours back to the grands, arrived around 10:30pm just in time for Nemi to get some wiggles out and go to bed! 

 

Tomorrow... off to the Lansing Zoo to meet 2 more mommies, Jenn and Michelle and their sons Caden and Drayven!

A couple of weeks ago we got a letter from our pediatrician stating that their refrigerated vaccine storage system was found to be inadequate making all vaccines possibly bad from that unit and that all of Nemi's 3 rounds of vaccines were in the affected category. 

So today we started her vaccine schedule all over.  She took the 5 vaccines like a trooper and only cried for a couple of minutes.  The nurse gave her a pink bunny beanie baby and she was happy again.  We weighed her at 19lbs and 3 ozs.

We are getting ready for our Michigan trip!  Nemi and I are very excited to be meeting everybody.  We have a very full schedule that includes a lot of friends new and old and tons of family members.  I just hope I don't forget something!

We officially have a toddler!  She's very timid about it still but she's walking!  She stands up all the time in the middle of the floor not holding onto anything.  Sometimes she'll pick up a toy and walk 5 or so steps before she falls over.  She loves walking to mommy or daddy and throwing her arms around our legs and giving us hugs.  And she's so incredibly proud of herself when she gets to her destination she just beams up at us.  I'm so excited to be going home to visit and have everybody see her walk!

Today Poppa Roy, Daddy, Mommy, and Nemi drove up to Great Grandma Kitty's and were able to also visit with Cousin Tricia, her son Cole, and her father Great Uncle Garrett.  They also brought some neat gifts for Nemi including the coolest inflatable penguin that has balls in it and makes noises and music when you bob it back and forth.  There was also a really neat winnie the pooh rattle and another contraption that had a ton of little activities on it.  I don't really know what to call it.  But we want to say thank you so very much to all of you and we really appreciated getting to visit with you!  Nemi had so much fun trying to crawl all over Cole and play with him.  She even decided at one point that she just wanted to lay on his chest and snuggle.  It was sooo cute!

Today Nemi was busy trying to snatch the cats tail when he decided he'd had enough and jumped off of the desk to hide somewhere else.  Nemi got this wide eyed look and announced.  Cat Down? 

Nemi has her friend Kaleah over to play today and they are having a blast.  Today Nemi is trying more and more to walk.  She will now stand up holding a toy all over the house and try to take a step and topple over.  I think she'll be toddling by the end of the week!

Today Nemi walked several steps back and forth between Dan and I.  She's getting a little braver but doesn't show any want to walk on her own.  She is lightning fast crawling, I don't blame her!

Today we spent the day at Great Grandma Kitty's house.  Nemi spent a lot of time pushing a  chair around the carport and got very muddy crawling through the grass and across the sidewalk.  She had a blast visiting.  While we were there some good family friends came with their granddaughter and great grandson who had some fun playing with Nemi.  We ate pizza and had an all around good time.

We took Nemi's 1 year photos today.  So in about 2 weeks be expecting something in the mail all you grandparents and aunts and uncles! 

 

Nemi is talking up a storm now, she babbles nonstop.  She loves climbing anything, and especially likes taking out all of the baking sheets from the drawer under the oven and sitting either in the drawer or on the cookie sheets.

Today was Nemi's Birthday party. We had a lot of fun finger foods and a beautiful white cake with whipped cream frosting and fresh strawberries put in the layers.  It was so yummy!

 

Nana and Lennart gave Nemi some cute new clothes, a xylophone to play with at their house, and a membership to the zoo!  Thank you Nana and Lennart!

Grandpa Landon got Nemi a huge bag of girly colored Mega Blox that Nemi instantly went crazy for.  Thank you Grandpa Landon!

Mommy and Daddy got Nemi a new outfit.

Tante Estie and Uncle Bob, Nathan and Hunter sent a great box full of goodies, including some new clothes, and some great stacking cups that Nemi carries around everywhere.  Thank you Penn family! 

Pop Roy gave Nemi an adorable Hello Kitty doll.

 

Thank you to everybody who sent the nice cards and gifts in the mail!!!  All cash gifts were put into Nemi's education fund.  The gift of an education is one we find the most important of all so we thank everybody so much for contributing!  The Beals family were a huge contributor this year, as well as the Fursts, Wutzke's and Oma Wutzke.

Today was Nemi's 1st birthday.  We spent the whole day with her having fun.  I also made a birthday banner for her to use every year.  Her birthday party will be at Nana and Lennart's house on Saturday.  Dan has been refinishing an antique rocking horse for her.  I can't wait to paint it!

Nemi learned tonight to climb the couch.  She can now climb all the way over the sofa and try to fling herself over the back, which means all of my babyproofing is now null and void...  I can't leave her for 2 seconds before she starts climbing up the couch!  I have to re babyproof my entire house!  She can't even walk yet!

Nemi's 7th tooth just made it's appearance.  Now she has 4 on the bottom and 3 on top!  She also learned this week how to put the shapes in their color coated wholes on her new toy.  I think she's a genius!

Nemi's started saying no... which is not as cute as it sounds!  She also is starting to sign more when she wants more food.  And she's started saying down or done when she wants down from her highchair.  I'm not sure if it's supposed to be down or done.. it could be either! :P

Nemi took her first 3 steps last night between Dan and I!  We bribed her with the wii remote and she walked for it!  Then fell over :P

David picked up Nemi about 5 minutes ago and she smiled and yelled Uncle!  He's so happy, he's been working on that word for months!  Yay!  And then she started clapping!!!  I've been trying to get her to do that for months too and yesterday she was playing with her new friend Olina and I guess she taught her how to clap!

Up above I've changed the photos to the day she was born, 1 month old, 6 months old, and 11 months old.  I can't believe it's almost been a year!

I keep getting asked what we need for Nemi's birthday.  We don't need anything, but would appreciate everything :)

If you buy clothes please buy 18 months and up.  Size 3 or bigger shoe.

Any cash gifts will go straight into her school fund which is rapidly growing!  We already have her first year of grade school tuition! 

What we would really love is a membership to the zoo or OMSI or the childrens museum.  Since Dan isn't working at the moment we have all this time to actually use the membership and it'd be the perfect time for it.  Nemi loves animals!

 

Oh, Nemi learned the word Ball yesterday and has been calling everything ball now.

I'm starting to get questions as to which books Nemi has.... she has tons!!! So here are pictures of how many books she has to prove I'm not going crazy when I say I had to buy a new bookshelf to fit them all on!

Nemi learned to climb stairs this weekend!  Dan turned around and up she started going so he stood behind her and she climbed all the way up Nana's two flights of stairs and into the office to come see me, she did it 5 more times the next day!  Boy did she sleep well last night.

We have a 1st birthday quickly approaching!  I'll post a list of her needs/wants and sizes very soon.

Alrighty, I'm in the process of uploading some new videos.  Actually some of them are from last month.  Then I dropped the camera.... well Dan got it to work ... some of the time.  So I took a video today entitled wave.  And I'm going to post it, but apologize because it's obvious the camera is now toast and you can hardly make out the video.  So, no more video until I can get a new camera, sorry!

2 days until the grands, 4 days until the wedding!

Nemi's figured out how to push the wipee box button and pull all the wipes out!  It's her favorite new way to make her mother go nuts! 

3 days until the Furst grands get here!  5 days until Nana Gwen's wedding!  Everything is set, I finished Nemi's dress, and I've been busy all week talking with caterers, bakers, florists, and relatives.  We're getting so excited!

Well, it's been a busy week helping plan Nana's upcoming wedding. Nemi still has no urge to walk, she wants to be standing at all times, but crawls quickly everywhere.  You try to walk her with your fingers and she just dangles and bounces from your fingers!  She'll get it eventually.  Her favorite toys are ones that make noise, or the cloth diaper bin by the couch.  As soon as I pick them all out, she's over there pulling all the diapers off the shelves!  Nemi and I are getting very excited to see Great Grandma and Grandpa next week, then off to Michigan to visit again in August!  Daddy is working out of town near Astoria this week.  It's a week long job that will help us out a little, but no news of any work after this one.  So Nemi and I are a little lonely but getting lots of mommy and baby time in.

Nemi learned how to slurp with a straw this weekend.  We thought it was great... until Dan went to grab something and came back and Nemi was slurping my coffee through the straws!  Now our baby is wired!

We went to the farmer's market yesterday and had a lot of fun looking at all the booths.  We bought some fresh honey, then some kettle corn and corndogs and lemonade and sat in the shade at the park listening to live music and letting Nemi explore.  She hates the grass touching her skin. She's so funny she won't crawl in it!

We bought Nemi her first pool today!  She had so much fun splashing and giggling until she was chattering and her lips were turning blue! 

I forgot to say, last night when we were at the park, Nemi was standing up holding onto me.  Then she just let go and was standing all by herself for several seconds!  She did it a few times over the course of the evening.  yay!  Her first time standing alone!

It's been a while since I updated, Sorry!  Nemi's decided she's a big girl now and doesn't want to eat that sloppy baby food anymore.  So I've had to bite my tongue and get over the fact that she'll make a mess.  I let her start feeding herself.  The dog thinks it's wonderful because she sits directly under the highchair and gets to clean up the flung food.  Nemi loves pancakes and eggs for breakfast.  She had peaches this morning too!  We tried Spagetti, and then had to give a bath to her, the highchair, and mop the floor!  We got her a new toy that's on legs so she has to stand to play with it.  It also has wheels and she walks it around the room.  She's getting so close to walking!

This week Nemi learned the V sound and she's been va vvva va va all over the house :)   She also has learned how to stand up behind her little car Tante Estie gave us and she'll push it a few steps and actually walk a few steps before she falls over!  The new glasses have been interesting.  For the most part she leaves them alone, then she gets bored and pulls them down into her mouth, they already have teeth marks all around the edges.  But she seems to see much better now and she immediately grabbed my hair and cracked up laughing and running her fingers through all the ends.  I think she could finally see individual hairs, it was really neat.

Nemi got her first glasses today and they look ridiculous.  Pictures!

Nemi had her 2nd haircut today.  It was hanging in her eyes so it had to go.  chop chop... I'm loading pictures now!

New videos!

Nemi's new word is DOG. She says dog everytime she sees the dog or the cat.

She learned how to wave this week, but almost always does it when somebody isn't looking and when you try to get her to do it she just grins at you :)  But she's on her way!  She wants to be standing at  all times.  If you walk away from her she's crawling so fast now she's instantly on your heels!

Nemi saw her Opthamologist today.  He said she definately has a lazy eye on her right side.  He recommended glasses and then a checkup in 3 months, if it hasn't corrected by then we'll do an eye patch for a while.  He also said she's definately farsighted so she'll probably need to always wear glasses.  Then we found out our coverage didn't cover the eye doctor.  So that's fun news and a new bill to look forward to!  I have NO idea how i'm going to keep glasses on an infant!  Especially one who detests anything on her face or head.  She screams if I just try to wipe the food off her mouth!

We had Sorme for dinner and it was great!  I had to call Oma half way through cooking for help but it turned out great!  My Spaetzle was great tasting, however it kinda all clumped together so it was more like dumplings than noodles.  But nobody complained.  That's the good part about having a family that's never had it before :P  They have no idea you've messed it up! 

Today is beautiful and we snapped some new photos outside with Nemi, check them out!

We tried Rewlesupp today and it turned out so yummy!  Nemi thought so too, she kept bouncing up and down until I'd give her another bite.  I think I over fried the dumplings though because the supp was rather thin, but yummy!  It's been so beautiful outside the last few days we've been taking Nemi to the park every day and sticking her in the swing.  Yesterday I took her to her Uncles and put her bouncy seat on the patio and she played there in the shade while I dug up his garden.  I planted a blueberry bush.  We also have Rosemary, Dill, Parsley, Basil, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Cantelope, Eggplant, and lots of flower seeds to start!  Oh and strawberries already growing.

Nemi loves Palatschinken!  Tante Estie sent us a family recipe book that she and Uncle David put together with beautiful family photos.  I've started trying some of the recipes.  The goulash turned out pretty wierd, i was able to save it so we could eat it, but it definately didn't taste like goulash!  We went to the zoo this week and I of course forgot the camera.  I do have some new videos and photos I'm uploading now of her swinging at the park and her visit last night with Papa Roy. 

Nemi had her checkup this morning.  The Dr. is very happy with her progress.  She's lost some weight but the Dr said that's fine as she's very active and she's really eating very well.  She's still in the normal range.  She's pretty tall at 27.5 inches.  Pretty much on track with her genetics!  We have been keeping close attention to her eyes which seem to be getting more crossed, the Dr decided we need to see an opthamologist to see what's going on.  Other than that she's the healthiest baby ever!

We moved Uncle David into his first apartment today.  As we speak he's setting up his kitchen, unpacking his boxes, and moving into a whole new chapter of his life.  It's kind of surreal.  I changed his diapers!  And now he lives next door to me!  :)  I'm so happy to see him out on his own, even if it's super close to me so he's not completely on his own.

Today we bought a couple of baby learning DVD's.  We watched the first words one. It has really simplistic animation and a soothing female voice narates. Nemi was paying very close attention.  The lady said Cup. This is my first cup.  This is my favorite cup.  I said something to Dan then jumped as Nemi said CUP!  very clearly CUP!  Of course she won't do it again!  My baby is a genius!!! LOL

Nemi cut her third tooth!  Her top front right tooth!  I really hope that means all the screming this week is over!!!!!

We bought 2 new cars today.  An 89 Volvo 740 Wagon in dark blue, and a 95 Ford Explorer SUV in white.  Yay!  Cars that run!  Now we just have to dump our old two at the auction and we're set!

Our poor little old kitty Sorcha left us today.  Her kidneys just couldn't hold out.  We at least were able to comfort her in her last few months.  The vet told us at her last checkup what signs to look for.  At that point she wasn't showing any.  This last week she declined rapidly and this morning we had to put her to sleep.  She was a wonderful kitty who hunted runaway socks out of the laundry and loved chasing the rings around the milk lid all over the house.  She was so gentle and soft.  We will miss her so very much.

Nemi's put herself to sleep now for 4 days!  I put her in her crib fully awake with her dolly and she talks away for half an hour or so, then she conks out :)  I'm so proud!  Except at night, she still screams nonstop whether your holding her or walking or rocking, she does not want to go to bed!

 

Thanks to so many prayers, my friend Ashley is on the road to recovery.  Her cramping and bleeding stopped, she has a nail through her leg bones holding them together, a metal plate holding her collarbone together, and the puncture in her lung was small enough they've been letting it heal on it's own with frequent xrays.  Her baby's heartbeat is strong and healthy sounding.  They say she probably can go home this week!  I'm sure she won't be walking anytime soon, and they want her on complete bedrest anyway so that'll help her stay down I suppose.  But she's healing, and her baby is fine.  I am so thankful!

My poor friend Ashley lost her baby when he was 6 months old.  She found out she was pregnant again about a month after her son died.  We were all so happy for her.  Then she found out she had placenta previa and that there were complications that would make her pregnancy very painful and possibly on bedrest for most of the duration.  We got an email today that she had been in a severe car accident and has 4 broken ribs, one punctured a hole in her lung, and she broke her collarbone.  Both bones in one of her legs are also broken.  She's enduring all of this without taking pain medication hoping to keep her unborn child healthy.  My heart is breaking for her family.  They have her hooked up to a fetal monitor and she has been bleeding and cramping while they try to keep her baby alive.  Please keep her in your prayers.

A while back we were visiting a friend with keyboard and Nemi had a great time pounding on it.  So I looked forever and finally found the cutest tiny keyboard.  She LOVES it!  Pictures!

OMG so Dan was an angel and went out and brought me back a reeces cup mocha mmmm, then I'm playing on the floor with Nemi and stupid me I put my mocha on the floor by the couch, I get up to grab some new batteries for her toy, when I come back she's playing in a 16 oz puddle of mocha on the floor splashing around and sucking it off her fingers... wow I'm intellegent.. LOL then she starts screaming cuz she wants to crawl to me but the floor is all slippery... so she got another bath! LOL and now I have to mop ugh.

Dan's friend Fasty brought his daughter Molly over for a playdate tonight!  Nemi and Molly had a ton of fun!

Nemi pulled herself up on her bouncy seat today and started creeping around the edge of it!  I'm so scared at how close to walking she is!!!  She's just about to get into everything!!!  We bought a new lightweight stroller today that we all love and are donating the old one and her matching old carseat to our neighbors who just had their fifth baby.  They have been so amazing to us and given us so many hand me down clothes and nice cloth diapers from their last baby that we were so happy to be able to help them out in some way!  I added 3 new videos today of Nemi crawling!

Well Nemi is pulling up all over the house.  She quickly realized that while she is standing in her playpen she can reach things out of the pen!  I keep forgetting to pull the pen into the middle of the room, and I'll come back  from switching the laundry and she'll have opened all the drawers on my little desk!!!

 

Dan shaved his beard off yesterday.  Nemi FLIPPE OUT!  She screamed nonstop every time he tried to touch her. It took about an hour to calm her down and for her to realize it was still daddy!

Well my hair finally got too long, and I donated it all to locks of love!  I cut off 11 inches. So hopefully some little girl out there will get a gorgeous new wig.  I hope she's happy with it!  I'm glad Nemi doesn't get to hang from it anymore!

Well it's become pretty obvious that Nemi is getting bored with her baby toys!  She's started ignoring them.  She loves banging on things now instead!  She also has moved onto her stacking rings tower and her magnetic toy tower.  She is trying so hard to stack the rings already!  And she loves eating them :P  I think I need to buy some bongo drums and a xylophone!  If anybody else with kids has any suggestions email me!  I have no idea what I'm doing!!!  We went to the park yesterday with Grandpa Landon and Uncle David and Nemi slept through the whole thing!  We wandered around downtown Vancouver, got some food and Starbucks.  We had a lot of fun!  New pics!

Well it's been an exciting week.  Everybody has had a cold. Uncle Rex ended up in the ER with bronchial troubles. Aunt Charlotte later ended up in the ER with Pneumonia!  So needless to say they didn't get as much one on one time with Nemi as we had all hoped!  Cousin Luke announced his engagement to his old flame Lisa, who was incredibly sweet and beautiful!  We are so happy for them!  Congrats!!! This morning we had breakfast with Rex and Charlotte before they took off and we with them a safe trip home!

On Saturday we went to Great Grandma Kitty's and Great Great Uncle Rex and Aunt Charlotte had drove up from Kansas!  Nemi had a great time getting to know them.  And she even stood up in her playpen for Uncle Rex!  We are off today to see them again before they leave!

The last two days Nemi's been extremely congested and can't sleep.  Today I think  is the worst day, she's super grumpy and wants to sleep all the time, but the congestion has cleared and has been replaced by tons and tons of snot and runny nose and drool.  So I'm hopeful that it's working it's way through and by tomorrow she'll feel a bit better.  I've had the same thing for 3 days also.  Of course Dan is just fine :)

Today Nemi was crawling around on her foam pads on the floor, she grabbed the side of her jumper seat and pulled up!  First time she's pulled to standing on her own!  Yay!  She's getting so big :( 

Nemi has her first cold. Poor baby.  She's all stuffed up.  I've updated some new pictures.  Including ones of her new big girl cushy carseat! I wish I had one!  It looks comfy!  I see 2 new teeth popping in on the bottom row ! 

I added videos of Nemi crawling!

Yup.. it's official!  Nemi's crawling!  We did some tummy time on the mats when Daddy got home and she took off.  She's still very wobbly, but she's much better now than even that morning. I got video, but I'm too lazy to post it at the moment.  I'll do it soon!

Nemi crawled!  Okay... kinda?  She definately was crawling, but very slowly she would put up one knee then waggle it in the air and teeter totter sideways before pulling forward, then she'd do the other one, she got all the way across the floor to her destination though!  Pretty soon I won't know what to do!  I need to get baby gates ASAP!

 

Sorry everybody for the website problems.  I am aware and have reported the pictures next buttons are not working all the time, and they updated our Journal so I can't make the font bigger or colorful on the main screen for some reason, when you expand the section it does make the words bigger.

I've updated the videos. I created it's own section and took out some of the older dark ones, then added a bunch of new ones.  Check it out!

For the last 5 days we've been visiting Grandma Kitty.  Nemi's had a lot of fun talking and getting to know her great-grandma.  We went for a walk by the river and watched the ducks, then stopped by the coffee stand and played with the owner's granddaughter who was enthralled with Nemi.  Nemi also got a chance to babble with our family friends the Schwarze's.

Well my little angel inspired me. I'd been sewing clothes for her, and all my other momma friends wanted some too so I've been making a little spare change sewing custom baby clothes for them and shipping them all over the US.  So I finally just started my own site.  www.heidestitch.etsy.com

Yay me!  I'm a seller now!

Last night Nemi rolled over then sat up!  I thought it was a fluke, then this morning when I went in her room she was sitting up again!  She did it about 5 times in a row when I wasn't looking.  I kept trying to get video of it but she wouldn't perform until I turned around.  Not long before she's all over the house!  I need to get some baby gates!

Danny is going back to work Feb 28th. It's a short job, but it's 7 twelve hour days in a row so it'll help.  Thanks to everybody who kept us in their thoughts and prayers :)  Nemi has started making a new sound.  It's sort of like an extremely high decibal ear shattering squeal that she makes every time the dog or cat walks by!  I think it's time to go to the zoo!  She's sooo interested in animals!  Her favorite toys right now are her stuffed Tigger and stuffed Eyore.

It's official, We have tickets and a car reserved!  Watch out relatives Nemi's coming!

Nemi and I, and David are planning a trip to Berrien Springs MI August 14-24th.  We will be in Indianapolis on the 15th for a friends wedding, and then the 16th-the 21st is up for grabs for the Fursts, Wutzke's and Riess's.  So.  If you are a member of one of these families :)  We'd love to see you and let you meet little Nemi.  Since there is limited time I'll leave it up to all the grandparents to come up with a plan whether we do a group thing with everybody there, or if they want to be selfish and keep the time all for themselves ;)  Although we would love to see all of the cousins again, we understand if Oma and Opa and Grandma and Grandpa want to snuggle Nemi alone the whole time.  Grandma and Grandpa Furst are having their 50th wedding anniversary the weekend of the 24th so we will be occupied that last weekend with that whole family so I guess it's up to the Wutzke's and Riess's to come up with a plan and if they want pictures of the whole family or all of the cousins to try and work something out!  We plan to stay with the Furst's and we will be renting a car so we will be mobile!

Nemi is now wearing 6-9 month clothes and growing like mad.  Unfortunately we don't have any clothes in the next size!  We need 9-12 Month clothes and 12-18 Month clothes.  So if anybody has any hand me downs or an inclination to shop we'd be so happy to recieve some clothing!  Her socks are even bigger she's wearing 12 month socks now.  She also needs hats and we love Luvease all in one cloth diapers.  Especially the lace bum diapers!  You can find them at www.luvease.com  Nemi is still trying desperately to crawl, and we're trying desperately to childproof the house before she does.  She's turned into quite the chatterbox.  I've been so busy planning my mom's wedding that I haven't had time to load any new videos.  I promise I'll get to them soon.  Expect new pictures in the mail soon!

Nemi sat up on her own and we caught it on video!  It's in the video section.  I also just downloaded about 30 new videos and am steadily adding them in so check them out!  I had to make more space for them!  Nemi is now saying Dada and Daddy nonstop and has forgotten that she could ever say Mama.  I say MAMA and she smiles  and says... Dada!

First haircut... Nemi's hair was almost touching her nose it was so long and Dan has been bugging me for weeks to trim it, so I finally did it... sniff... And I did a horrible crooked job... and I hate it.  But there are pictures.

On Tuesday the 13th Nemi said Mama for the first time, and she's been babbling it ever since.  Dan tried to comfort her one night to give me a rest and she started screaming at the top of her lungs mama mama until I came running then she smiled and went back to sleep!  I think she knows what it means!  She said Dada on friday for the first time but she has only repeated it 3 or 4 times since.  There is a new video of her saying Mama on the Pictures page!

Nemi loves having her teeth brushed!  She smiles and tries to suck on the brush.  She even lets us brush her tongue! 

Her newest thing is Tags.  She finds the tags on all of her stuffed animals, toys, clothes, blankets and sits there playing with them, analyzing the tag, then ends up sucking on it!  Dan says it's her thirst for knowledge, she wants to read so badly she sucks the words up!  :-D

Nemi's growing has slowed a little but she's still 50th percentile for everything so it's fine!
26" long
16.3 lbs
16.5" head

I was a little worried she was crosseyed and the doc said it's fine but since I mentioned eye problems she referred me to a baby Ophthalmologist who has better testing equipment and can reassure me.  Dr was very happy with her growth, and with her milestones.  The only thing she hasn't hit is sitting up, which is fine.  She's standing very well and she was impressed with her smile!

NEMI CUT HER 2ND TOOTH!!!!!

NEMI CUT HER FIRST TOOTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well it's been a little while since I posted!  Nemi will be 6 months old on Friday!  Her newest thing is reaching out and grabbing your cheeks with both of her hands then quickly shoving your nose into her mouth with a deathgrip around your head, sometimes she misses and gets your eyeball.  We call her a little canibal.  She wants to eat your nose!  She never bites down or sucks, she just sticks it in her mouth and leaves a slobber trail!  Who knows....

Today we found out our dear friend Ashley lost her baby boy Jack.  Jack was born 16 days before Nemi and was a beautiful happy baby boy.  We are so hurt and sorrowed by Ashley and Taylor's loss.  We have you in our prayers.

We spent New Years Eve at Nana Gwen's house.  On New Years Day we went back and did a late Christmas celebration with the whole family.  The pictures are in the new January folder!  Uncle David got Nemi some very cool new toys.  One is a vibrating teether!  She loves it!  Thanks Uncle David!

Merry Christmas Family and Friends!  Thank you Tante Estie for the Mozart Musical Cube!!! 

I hope this holiday season finds everybody warm in their homes close to their loved ones.  This year has been a very hard one for us, but it has taught me the value of family.  The first Christmas after all was the celebration of the birth of a child.  And here I am.  On Christmas morning, thanking God all over again for the birth of a beautiful child.

Another very generous friend sent us a package today!  Nemi got a full set of dishes with lids and sippy cups and utensils.  She also sent us a book on 100 baby foods to make and these neat little gadgets that you put food into that baby can suck through the mesh to keep from eating the stringy bits and choke. I've deleted the things we've already recieved from her christmas list! 

A very generous friend sent us a beautiful exersaucer for Nemi and she absolutely loves it!  I'm uploading pictures and a video now!

Babies first snow pictures in the December folder!!! I am SOOO excited about these that I limped through the ice to get them taken!  And now I need a nap!

Thank you Oma and Opa for your nice cards and gifts!  And thanks to Tante Estie for her package!  Nemi was sure to tell me that she can't wait to open her wrapped present under the tree!  We have decided to open a money market investment account with all of Nemi's birthday and holiday money.  That way when she's older it will have grown and she can chose to spend it on college or a car or a house payment or whatever she needs.  I thought it would be the most useful thing to do with the little bits of money here and there.  After all it is her money, why not let her spend it?!

Well nemi Did green beans last week and she seemed to like them alright!  We started sweet potatoes yesterday and at first she grinned and grinned.  Then she just started spraying Dan with the remnants, so we're not sure if she likes them or not!

 

So most of you probably heard that I had to have surgery wednesday to remove my gallbladder.  I want everybody to know I'm doing well.  I'm obviously in some pain but I can notice a difference in the pain level from yesterday and today.  The Dr says it'll only take a week to get back to feeling like myself again!

Nemi rolled from her back to her front for the first time today!!!  She has always rolled from her front to back up until now!  Yay Nemi!  New videos coming in a few minutes, Check them out, there is one of Dan making funny noises at Nemi and one of him singing a silly song, both of them she is cracking up laughing!

We started summer squash yesterday and Nemi made a wierd face, then swallowed the first couple of spoon fulls.  Then she started spitting every spoonful out at me!  She did the same thing today.  So I'm not sure if she likes it or not!

Nemi says Happy Thanksgiving to all you turkey lovers, and Tofurkey lovers as well. 

I posted our new holiday pictures in the November folder! Her Onesie says Baby's first Thanksgiving!

We had Nemi's Christmas photos taken yesterday!  They are listed in the November folder!

Nemi found her feet yesterday and has desperately been trying to stick them in her mouth since!

Last night I got up to feed Nemi and I pulled back her blankie, she was sleeping on her tummy and she just plopped right over!!! First time rolling over!  Then I came over 2 hours later and she was rolled over again.

Nemi had her checkup today and got her vaccines and was not happy about it.  Her head is 16", she is 14.6 pounds and 24" tall! She's almost 50th percentile for height and a little over 50th percentile for weight. Her head went from 5th percentile at her last checkup to almost 50th percentile!  She is an average girl.  Dr Lang said we can start solids whenever we want but we'll probably stick to nursing for a while longer.

Mommy made Nemi a new pink dress and hand embroidered pink flower's all over it and it's super cute!  Nemi's turns 4 months tomorrow!  And she has her next checkup on Nov 18th!  I'll post all her stats then! I added a bunch of new videos in the pictures tab!

Well she hasn't done it yet, but she's trying so hard!  She'll be grunting and pushing her bottom in the air and trying to roll over and she'll get frustrated and talk really loudly while she's doing it!  It's super cute.  By the way Nemi wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS to Nana Gwen And her soon to be new Grandpa Lennart!!!

Last night Nemi started having giggling fits, I would talk to her while standing her up in my lap and she just kept laughing and laughing!  She also started holding on to her rattle this week and she gets so excited when I shake it at her she'll start kicking her legs like mad, then she'll grab it and just shake it like crazy!  We're having some problems with sleep now, she's decided she doesn't want to be swaddled anymore, but she won't sleep on her back with out it.  I let her nap on her tummy but I'm still a little nervous about letting her sleep through the night on her tummy because she scoots all around the crib that way and I'm worried she'll scoot into the bar or her covers.

We weighed Anemonae on Saturday and she was exactly 15 pounds!  She is now wearing her 3-6 month clothes and will be needing 6-9 and 9-12 month clothes pretty soon.  Her closet is getting bare.  I can't believe she's gone through all of those clothes already!!!  We've been giving them to a friend who found out they are having a little girl soon too!

We had a great time at a friends halloween party.  We went as Mario, Princess peach and Toadette.  Everybody loved our matching costumes and Nemi got a lot of attention!  There were a lot of fun activities like Karaoke, bobbing for apples, the mummy wrapping contest and lots of yummy treats!

I was feeding Nemi from a bottle today and she reached up and started holding it all by herself!  I quickly took pictures, there's one at the bottom of this page and 4 new ones in the pictures page!

Well I guess it's a right of passage!  Nemi pooped in the tub and it got all over me tonight!

We took pumpkin pictures today!  Nemi did not want to cooperate and was a little upset at being stuffed in a pumpkin.. but she is a cutie pie!!!

Well Anemonae is going through a growth spurt.  We just started her in 0-3 month clothes 2 weeks ago and she's already through them and has about 20 outfits she never got to wear! :(  She's starting her 3-6 month clothes now!

There are new photos in the October Album.  We decided our picture lady was very over priced and tried doing them ourselves this time.. well... they didn't turn out too bad!  She's almost getting too big to do the one in our hands!

Well.. Tears... Nemi turned 3 months yesterday and I decided she needs to move into her own room.  Until now she's been sleeping in her playpen next to our bed.  So I just moved all of her stuff into her own room and my rocking chair so she can be fed in there.  I'm sure she'll do fine, but I'll probably have a nervous breakdown and want to check her every 15 minutes :-D  We have a small baby monitor, but it doesn't work that well so we'll see how it goes!

By popular demand :-D  I have started a folder on this page titled Nemi sleeping on Daddy.  I have had so many comments that people love these pics that I decided to make a folder just of them.  Dan hates that I'm displaying them because he says he looks lazy!  I think it's ultra cute!  Whenever we can't get Nemi down she can sleep on Daddy, they'll sleep like that for hours!  And when I pick her up she's all sweaty and warm from daddy!

This is Nemi's new website.  I don't like it as much as the old one, but it does allow us to post a lot more pictures.  Leave comments on the right side!