1 Month and 15.5 Months

Hello Everyone, long time no write! It's been a bit more difficult to find the time to do a blog, understandably! Hands have been a bit more full this time. Currently everyone's still sleeping but about to wake up, so we'll see how much we get done!

Miriam has been growing so fast! At her first weigh in she was gaining half a pound a week, not bad for a teeny tiny baby - well not so teeny anymore. She's working very hard on outgrowing her outfits - not that she doesn't get to try them all on with how much she spits...

Miriam has been having a little bit of trouble with gas, she's working so hard on chowing down she forgets to let out some burps and such regularly so gets a bit fussy sometimes, but seems to be getting better with that.

She's also been working on sleeping well at night - successfully most of the time! She does sleep at night for the most part, granted she sleeps most of the day away anyhow. But generally not too tough to get her down, occassionally it takes an hour or two, but once she's down she'll last a few hours and then when she wakes up she'll go back down to sleep without too much difficulty. Last night she went to sleep for the first time shortly after her sister, so about 8pm, and got up 3 times at 9pm, 2:30am and 7:45am going back to sleep afterwards and is still snoozing as we speak...so not bad at all! Mommy and Daddy got to have a nice social evening with some friends, it was wonderful!

Naomi has been taking her role as big sister seriously and making sure to keep learning and growing as well. She's gotten up to 12 teeth now and her vocabularly is steadily increasing. Some new words are "Nanook", well "Nanoo" would be more accurate, but the dog still comes when called. Has been using "all done" regularly for various uses now, from finishing eating or having her bottle to being finished her nap and wanting out. She had up before and tries to use up when she means down, but if you correct her she says down, or "doo" rather. Anyhow, words have been cute!

She's also starting to use more of her toys in fun ways. Her ride on/walker toy car has has actually been used to walk behind and push, working on walking! Still thinks she can't do it by herself without a finger or some furniture though. She's also played pretend with a lunchbox we got pretending to take food out of the lunchbox and eat it and of course sharing it with others who also have to eat it. Super cute!

Well sounds like the little ones are waking up so should go for now, catch you again in a bit when I find another spare moment away from kids, laundry and house stuff!

Anna signing off while Adam, Miriam and Nanook catch a few last 'z's and Naomi starts singing in her crib...

5 days old and 1 week from 15 Months old

Hello again everyone, and Miriam says hello too! She's been exploring the big wide world the last few days. She's been from the hospital, to mom's office, off to church and bible study and of course spending lots of time at home. Most of her time is spent sleeping, otherwise she's likely eating, filling her tiny diapers or having another bout of the hiccups.

Her sleeping has been pretty good so far. She does spend most of the time sleeping as mentioned, but of course as soon as mom decides it's bed-time feeding goes into hyper-drive. So between about 9 and midnight she'll feed about 3 times before she finally will let us put her down in the play-pen to sleep. Once she gets really good at sleeping she can use her crib in her soon to be shared room with her sister, but for now she has a temporary spot in mommy & daddy's room. So once she's down she's been doing some pretty decent stretches of sleep, letting mom recover nicely.

One other thing that we've noticed is how much smaller she is right now than Naomi ever was. We had to invest in some smaller sleepers and onesies so she wasn't swimming in everything we put on her. But it's quite the adjustment now to go from nursing the little tiny baby to playing with Naomi as she climbs the stairs - she's made her big sister look so much bigger!!

Naomi has been being a great big sister. She has not appeared to be too jealous yet, not sure about sharing her receiving blankets though. She's been very curious about the new little addition that spends a lot of time on mommy's lap, only smacked her a couple times but not trying to hurt her, more exploring the new "toy". She has also definitely enjoyed having all the visitors around to play with her, she grabs their attention when they're not oogling over her new little sister.

Naomi has been learning lots of new things as well. From new words and expressions to exploring new things. She's learned more about "hello's", or cell phones as we call them, having fun with a couple fake/old ones of mommy & daddy's. Nanook and her have also become better friends, until she grabs her tail or foot. But enjoying chasing each other around.

Anyhow, that's all for now. Should probably go help deal with the two little ones instead of writing about them!

So Anna signing off to feed the littlest one while Grandpa gets ready to feed the older one and Gradma, Aunty Martha and daddy get some things done around the house.

Welcome Miriam Gloria Violet

Wow, what an incredible day! First off I want to apologize both for the delay in getting this up, and for any bad grammatical mistakes! It has been a long 24 hours! As was mentioned in the previous post we looked like all was good to go, so we packed up, loaded up, and then sat around waiting! Anna was most frustrated at getting all excited, and then for everything to grind to a screeching halt! After a shopping trip, dinner and playing bathing Naomi still nothing was happening.

Off to bed we all went around 10:30 - 11:00. At around 11:30 Anna started to have contractions. Both Grandma and Daddy were passed out quite soundly. Around 12:45 Mommy got up to have a shower to see what it would to to the contractions which were coming strong and solid about 10 minutes apart. In the 12 minute shower she had 3 contractions! Apparently she explained what was going on prior to the shower, and I (Adam) was suppose to get up and talk to Grandma about the happenings. I have no recollection of that conversation! Imagine my surprise while I had been off in dreamland only to be woken by a screaming pregnant lady saying we need to go. NOW!

After a number of phone calls around (thanks to all those who answered the phone at 1am!) we very quickly made our way to the car, and then to the hospital. I will not mention how long it took here on the web as it may incriminate me! We arrived at the hospital a little before 2 am. It was funny, upon our arrival the fantastic labour and delivery staff did not seem to think things were that serious. After a closer exam they discovered that Mom was at about 5cm dilated. They started to take it a lot more seriously! Within an hour Mom progressed to 8cm! The doctor was called and made it just in time to start pushing!

Anna did a phenomenal job! After a few good pushes we were greeted by a absolutely beautiful baby girl. What a change from Naomi's birth! From the time we arrived at the hospital to the birth it was 2 hours, not 20! Miriam Gloria Violet Kouwenberg entered into this world at 3:50am. She was very kind to her mother, no stitches were required! Miriam tipped the scales at 7lbs even. Because the delivery was all natural with only some nitrous oxide to cut the pain (or make mom fly high as a kite) Miriam was incredibly awake and alert. She took to nursing like she had been doing it for years! What a relief!

By the time she was 6 hours old she had spent more than a third of her life eating! We hope this trend continues for a long time! Through out the rest of the day she was wonderful, sleeping great, eating great, and she even got to have her first bath!

It is now about the same time that we went to bed yesterday. Here is hoping that tonight will be less adventurous that the last!

A very proud and tired Mommy and Daddy going to try and get some rest in the hospital, a exhausted big sister and Grandma sleeping back home, and a beautiful baby girl sleeping like a log, saying a very good night to all!

Waiting to go to the hospital

So the thumb twiddling begins! Managed to get some decent sleep last night despite the odd contraction, slept from about 11pm until 5am and then rested between contractions that were about 10 minutes apart, but quite painful. Made arrangements for the day and plans to head to the hospital, got the car packed up and had a light breakfast then contractions stalled again. So now we're waiting for them to pick back up and we'll head in. At least it looks like we won't have to worry about morning rush hour traffic!

Anna signing off in hopes of a contraction soon, while Grandma makes some coffee, and dad plays with Naomi and Nanook

38.5 Weeks

Hello everyone! So things are finally progressing from waiting to pop to actually getting close to popping...sort of... Had a lot of trouble getting to sleep last night, heartburn galore. Ended up sleeping in the lazy-boy so I could be propped up to keep from getting heartburn, but that put more pressure on baby, so started getting minor contractions. Managed to doze off for 1/2 hour to an hour from 12:30-1:30 ish and then dozed off and on again until about 4:30 or so...got too uncomfortable so moved back to bed and didn't get any sleep after that, was having very regular contractions that wouldn't let me sleep. Adam fortunately was able to sleep eventhough I was not, so hopefully he can be strength for me!

I spent most of the day having contractions every half hour or so, depending on if I was trying to do anything or just relaxing. Some times the contractions were 5 minutes apart, some times 1 hour...but regular throughout the day. But thanks to Oma/my mom being around I was able to relax, fold laundry, and not have to have contractions while chasing around a 1 year old. :) Thanks!

Anyhow, just watching the biggest loser then heading off to bed with hopes of at least getting some sleep - we'll see what happens! But need to get some in so I have more that 3 hours sleep in 48...I know last time my lack of sleep was a huge problem, so hopefully we can change that this time! Anyhow here's hoping for a good night...

Anna signing off with hopes of lots of time to dream, Naomi hopefully dreaming away, Adam unpacking last minute baby purchases from Wal Mart and Nanook on hyper-protective alert status nearby...

14 Months in 1 Week and 35 Weeks

Talk about a busy few weeks, wow! For mommy, pumpkin and of course Naomi and Daddy. The biggest adjustment has been since mid-week last week. Mommy was put on "bed-rest" (not super strict but told to take it easy and not over-exert herself) and of course this all happens during the busiest month of the year for Daddy. Mom's being doing well, taking it easy thanks to a very amazing Grandma that has come to spend time with us for a little bit to help. Our house went quickly from chaos to organized - thanks!

Naomi has been rapidly working on expanding her vocabulary. She is excellent at mimicking and can repeat many words, not knowing what much of it means, but happily repeats. She has said things from kitten to turtle. Ones that have stuck though that she seems to be using correctly are "up" (as she starts to motor up the stairs) or "baby" as she taps Mommy's tummy. Who knows if she realizes she's referring to a baby inside or just a large tummy!

Her pulling herself up and small movement has turned into full on furniture walking - with confidence! There's been a couple times she'll be up and not really holding on. One time it looked like she was going to walk away from something but then realized it and sat down. So almost took a real step by herself - scary! She can take her time with that, her crawling is getting fast enough! But the coffee table has been essentially fully emptied and the plant/fish that used to live there has relocated...

Pumkin continues to grow! Mommy as always is wondering how her tummy could possibly get any larger and how in the world there is space for all the acrobatic and karate that Pumkin is practicing...every time we read the updates on the "baby centre" website it says that the baby should be running out of room and start moving less...we've yet to see that happen! And of course Pumkin has a different sleep schedule than Mommy - napping is near impossible now. Oh well.

Anyhow, that's all for this edition, hopefully we'll get one more in before the baby comes - and hopefully that gives us 5 weeks in which to do that!

Mommy signing off to help with dinner as Grandma and Naomi get some vegtables ready, Daddy tidys up the backyard and Nanook happily observes.

1 Year 16 Days and 30 Weeks

So Naomi is growing in so many ways! She's already blown past her 1 year mark - which mom and dad can't believe has come and gone already. She's very slowly starting to talk (slow as in amount of words - not quantity in which they're used!), she's gotten about 5 words under her belt now. The standard "Mama" and "Dada", "Wow" has shown here and there, she's learned the "uh-oh" game and also just likes the word randomly for fun, and her newest one is "hi". "Hi" was practiced very much on Monday when she went shopping at Costco with mom and Grandpapa - she said "hi" to anyone and almost everyone! Very cute.

Naomi has also progressed from pulling herself up on furniture to doing it with confidence on walls, furniture, pretty much any time she's in her playpen...all the time. After just standing in place all day on Tuesday as soon as Dad came home and mom went to do a couple of things around the house she decided it was time to start moving while up. She walked from one end of the table to the other! When mom came back she just smiled and moved on over to show off more - but dad still saw it first!

Pumpkin has been growing tons - despite mom not really gaining much weight lately. Mom's been snacking like crazy, but not according to the scale! The tummy's doing all the growing and apparently taking from other areas. Mom's definetly feeling the bulge though. Gravity has really been obvious lately. Never thought I'd say it, but I think I actually miss my support belt that I had last time. I've had to start doing my exercises from last time too...the pelvic pain is starting to rear it's head again, oh well.

The doctor was happy at our appointment yesterday with more than just mom's weight. Pumpkin has gone to the head down position and is a great size. If Pumpkin is on track then Pumpkin should weigh about 2.5 pounds right now and be about 15 inches long. But, all this growing is really being felt on Mommy! Cramping has been a daily discomfort and add to that the kicks and stretches, wow. Some times the movement is fun, hiccups make me laugh, but there are some time when it just hurts.

Anyhow, that's about all the new stuff for now...my brain has fallen asleep anyhow, so we'll sign off for now...

Anna signing off to head to bed, Nanook already catching some "z's" in her chair, Adam plunking away on his computer, Naomi well into dreamland and Pumkin just keeps dancing...

12 Months in 3 days and 27 Weeks

Hello again everyone! I always feel like it hasn't been that long since I've written, but oh well! A busy few weeks to say the least! Family visiting from out of town for my dad's wedding, back at work still of course, and all kinds of fun stuff. And Naomi's been having a blast with it all! Everyone loved her dress she got to wear to Grandpapa and Grandmama's wedding - she was our blue puff-ball princess!

Naomi has gone from pro crawler, yes, still an "army" style crawl mostly, to pulling herself up to stand. She has yet to take any steps with her feet while standing but she can get up. She has found a whole new world of stuff on the coffee table, entertainment unit, and that sort of thing. And she loves the view from standing in her playpen! Of course there's a whole bunch more messes she can now make, but that's okay, mom and dad will clean it up right? And our Lily in a betta bowl may have a couple bent leaves from being tugged at...

Other than mobility Naomi has also been working on getting her vocabulary and sounds up. She can say 4 "words" now, still using, but more correctly, mama and dada but has added "wow", and "uh-oh". Very cute of course. She's loving it! She's made a few different sounds too, starting to do and "s" sound, "t" sounds, and a few other letters are starting to get in there too. Very proud of her progress!

Now the other little one...growing leaps and bounds all the time! According to the website we're subscribed to pumpkin is about 2 pounds and 14 inches long - wow! And we can definitely tell it's growing by looking at mommy's tummy! The tummy's moving around a lot more now too, pumpkin is definitely practicing acrobatics in there frequently. Still very much seeming like an easier pregnancy than Naomi, but of course Naomi also keeps mom from having time to think about it, so that may help! Although could pass on the extreme heat of the last week, that's been a bit much. Mid twenties is better than high thirties, that's for sure.

Anyhow, that's how we're all doing for now. As always, hope to write again sooner than last time!

Anna signing off as Adam tinkers with a computer, Nanook enjoys the finally cooling house and Naomi snoozes away...and Pumkin kicks/punches away!

11 months in 5 days and 22 weeks

Hello again! Well, we may have had a ton of fun taking pictures of Naomi's first time on grass...it was so cute and so hilarious! I will probably have to post one of her videos of being on the grass as it was so priceless. She was very unsure of the feel of the grass, initially any time her hand or foot touched she'd whimper/cry. We have one video where she was sitting on her aunty Martha's lap and Martha was gently touching her feet to the grass and she'd whimper as soon as she touched, once she pulled her back off, she was happy. Back and forth a few times with the same result. We ended up sitting her on it and she figured it out eventually and started crawling around. But a very entertaining experience, and MANY cute photos!

Naomi's been having fun eating new foods as well. She's having more "grown-up" food lately. She had pancakes the other day, some corn chip pieces, and every now and then samples a treat from mommy and daddy of a cookie or cake they might be eating. She's tried and liked banana bread a few times. So it's been fun watching her try new things.

Pumpkin, her sibling on the way, has been changing too. Mommy is starting to get very large and thus very uncomfortable. I never thought I'd say it but I think I actually miss the belt that I had to wear last time because of the pelvic problems, the extra support was very nice! But oh well, I'll take the extra weight in exchange for the lack of problems with the pelvis, thanks!

Daddy got to feel pumpkin moving around the other day too, that was very nice. Pumpkin's been doing lots of moving the last couple of weeks, it's been nice to feel. Although, right at this moment I must be getting too tired, some sounds and smells are just making me feel aweful at the moment...

But that's all for now, I will sign off to get ready for bed in hopes of feeling better...

Anna signing off as Nanook falls asleep on the bed, Naomi sleeps away, Dad enjoys his parents hot tub and Pumpkin tries to get comfy...

10 months and 2 weeks

So daycare has finally become a fun place to go! We were nervous there for a couple of weeks, her first few days were very "fussy". At home she happily plays on the floor, entertaining herself with her toys and chasing Nanook or picking Nanook fluff off the floor...but at daycare she seemed to not like being "alone" at all. Not that one can be alone when there are 7 other babies walking around you all day, but whenever one of the daycare workers walked away she would cry like she was in pain. No tears, just complaining about being alone. But Friday, Wednesday and today she was great. Socializing with the other babies, smiling at anyone that came in the room, crawling all over the room instead of sitting in one place and was apparently trying to share her food today.

At home she's been great too. Happily downs her dinner at night then goes to bed without much fuss and sleeps until we wake her up in the morning, unless it's a day when she doesn't go to daycare then we let her sleep in a bit.

It was funny getting her to bed tonight though, I went downstairs and did a couple things then sat on the couch watching tv/listening to the monitor and it sounded like she'd gotten something hard and was running it along the bars of her crib. I gave it a couple minutes, partially thinking of what the heck should could reach from her crib, and after it not stopping I went upstairs. Sure enough, there's the monitor receiver hanging from it's cord down between her dresser and her crib. She had grabbed it by reaching over her bumper pads, through the crib bars and up on the dresser. Fortunately we had made it so the cord was nice and short, it would only move a few inches so she couldn't do much with it. Anyhow, it's safely tucked out of sight on the dresser now, hopefully "out of sight, out of mind"...I guess we'll see tomorrow!

Baby number 2 is getting more active all the time. Much time has been spent kicking/punching mommy's tummy lately; I've really been feeling it the last few days. I'll move around and do a few things at work, then when I sit down at my desk baby starts moving all over the place. It's generally really neat to feel, but every now and then it can make me feel quite nauseous...but more fun that bad.

Anyhow, it's getting late for someone that has to get up at 5am for work, so I should sign off for now....

Anna signing off while Naomi catches some z's, Nanook lounges on the patio and pumpkin is rolling around trying to get comfy...

Baby Kouwenberg #2

Hello everyone and say hello to baby kouwenberg #2! This little one will be joining it's sibling in the real world in about 21 weeks - right around hallowween and thus has been dubbed "pumpkin".

This pregnancy has been NIGHT AND DAY different from Naomi. Last time mommy felt sick for about 9 months, this time it seems to have kept itself to the first trimester other than heartburn. Heartburn had essentially stopped, but the last few days it has come back with a vengance. Pretty much since the end of last month baby started moving around enough that mommy can feel it and that's when the heartburn kicked back in again.

Sleep has not been a problem yet which has been nice. The pelvic problem has not presented itself again too much this go around which was the biggest problem last time for sleep. I get the occasional "crack" (like when you crack your knuckles or when you crouch down and your knees crack" when rolling over or before getting out of bed, but that's pretty much it - I'm loving that! I definitely do NOT miss doing excercises every night before bed!

Can't say much else right now really, also probably shouldn't, with being back at work so I can be back off on mat leave in a few months I've been waking up VERY early! 5am seems really early to me...but with that I only have to do 4 days a week instead of 5, so that works out nicely for cheaper daycare!

So yes, signing off for now, enjoy the pictures and write again soon - hopefully with belly shots!

Anna signing off while Naomi rolls over in her sleep and Nanook waits out on the porch for daddy to get home from work

10 Months in 2 days

Hello everyone! Wow, we've been so busy! Mom's getting ready to go back to work tomorrow, and we're getting ready for Naomi to start daycare on Wednesday. So far the introduction to daycare is going great, mom left her there for an hour after spending some time with her and apparently she was an angel. So that's great.

At daycare she should be able to keep up with the other kids a bit, she doesn't walk like all of them do yet, but she can finally crawl! I would probably say that her first official day of crawling was the 14th of May. It's still mostly an army crawl/slither but every now and then her knees really get in on the action. But the big goal, moving forward towards an object has been met. No more going backwards and getting frustrated! Now she's starting to pick up speed to, so that's great...well great that she's mobile, but now we've really got to watch her!

She's finally really figured out finger food. For a while she could only do it if she was holding something long like a cut pepper or, for special treats only, a french fry. But once she got to her hand she couldn't figure out what to do with it. But the other day she had cheerios and ate a whole bunch of them all by herself, she thought it was great. Dad had to show her how to do it, but one demonstration and she had it.

Anyhow, that's all for now. Oh, and we've started another photo album on facebook, so if you want to see pictures check it out, if you're not on facebook try this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=93346&id=722860770&l=11099906dd

Anna signing off for now while Naomi squeals with delight in her jumperoo and Nanook suns herself on the patio...

Aunty Liz and Naomi chilling in a hammock

9 Months and 2 days

Hello everyone! We're growing so fast, mom and dad can't believe it! SOOOO close to crawling! She's trying to push off of her toes instead of her knees...but then she tries her knees but only gets one forward then kinda lunges forward. So close! Progress!

We're also getting more hair! No more miniscule peach fuzz, real hair is coming in, it's quite cute. The longer parts are getting a bit curly, and the more she grows, the blonder it looks. She's going to be a blondie just like mom and dad were when they were little.

Teeth are really coming in too, we have 4 teeth, and REALLY have 4 teeth. It's funny, people keep thinking her 3rd and 4th teeth are her first ones because they're so much larger, but overall just really cute. You can see the top two teeth in the picture below.

So mom can't believe it's already over 9 months - "real life" of work and such are getting so close! Mom will be back at work in less than a month, scary! But it will be nice to have a bit of a change of scenery for a few months...

Anyhow, she's saying it's time for bed now, so I should go help Dad get her to sleep...

Anna signing off while Naomi squirms and squeaks away on Daddy's lap and Nanook lazes on the floor.

8 Months and 3 weeks

Hello again! So we've been having lots of fun the last few weeks. Had the Kouwenberg clan over for dinner so Naomi got to visit all her relatives all at the same time. It was a bit much, she wasn't sure about having that many people she loved in the same place. A little overwhelmed but she stayed pretty happy. So a fun night. And the bonus was that Grandpa and Grandma even stayed for a couple days so she got to see them even longer - and with their assistance she how has a much needed baby gate installed and beautiful curtains for her bedroom. Both of which sound easier then they were...

Anyhow, Naomi still has not figured out how to crawl, she can push herself backwards with her hands very well, but now crawling. Yesterday at mom and tot group she even raced another 8.5 month old backwards - both getting equally frustrated that they kept sliding backwards and not going forward. A truly hilarous sight though, I must say. I think it will probably be sooner than later that she figures out that she needs to push with her knees and just move her hands forward...but we'll see!

Food is going great too. Solids are getting less pureed and more mashed - progress to "normal" food! She even had a rasin this morning when dad was adding rasins to his oatmeal. Granted it took her a few minutes to notice it was on her tray, never figured out herself that it was food, dad put it in her mouth, and then it took her about, oh, 10 minutes or so to eat it. The most solid thing she's ever eaten though, and we're pretty sure she ate it, either that or Nanook now knows what rasins taste like... We'll probably start meat again too, things seem to be working out better on the other end now. So she'll probably be happy with that, she liked the meat before. Oh, and she's had a baby biscuit too, had a bit of one the other day (as above), it was hilarious!

Anyhow that's all for now, waiting for her to crawl...we'll see how that goes!

Anna signing off with Nanook taking an inventory of her toys making sure Naomi hasn't hidden any, and Naomi and dad having a quick cuddle before her dinner...

8 Months in 1 day

Hello everyone! We didn't realize how long we had left the blog...oops! Part of the reason was that she really hasn't done anything super new, just LOTS and LOTS of what she was doing before.

Rolling is now her main form of transportation as crawling hasn't quite started yet. She's SO close, but so far all it has seemed to do is slowly push her backwards, which of course she finds incredibly frustrating. Somewhat of a "Mom, how come the toy keeps getting farther away??" but I'm sure she'll get there very soon...but hopefully after we get the baby gate installed!

Solid foods (well, still pureed of course) are definitely going well too. She gets a lunch of 4 ounces of veggies, followed by whatever fruit we're working on - currently she's happily downing half a banana and half a kiwi. Dinner is another 4 ounces of veggies, some prunes, and a bit of cereal for dessert and iron. We had been doing meat, which she LOVED, but doctor has suggested a bit of a break till some things at the other end regulate a bit more...hopefully that will be soon, as much as she likes her prunes!

Mom is also realizing that Naomi's getting old because it's back to work soon! Only two more months and back to work. June is when Mom's going back to work so Naomi's all signed up for daycare. *sigh* Back to the daily grind! It will be a bit of an adjustment from spending all my time with a cute little baby to being back in the office and dealing with the CRA all the time - I will say baby beats CRA hands down, MUCH more predictable, which doesn't say much for the CRA, but it will be nice to have a different challenge again.

So that's all for now, more updates to come soon, probably after Easter when all the family visiting is done.

Anna signing off to get off to sleep, as Naomi dreams away, Nanook debates continuing sleeping on the floor by mom or going up to bed, and Adam gets ready for bed...

7 Months and 2 Days

Well hello once again! We've been up to a lot the last little while! Teething is moving along, we're on our second tooth now and with how she's drooling and starting to complain a bit I'm sure another will follow soon.

Feeding has taken a bit of a shift...apparently we've been enjoying our meat TOO much! It's making things on the other end a bit difficult so the doctor has decided she shouldn't have meat for a bit until that sorts itself out, then we'll work it in every other day or so, we'll see.

Swimming has been going great, as you can see, she's gone from hating it her first lesson to absolutely eating it up! A video from her 5th lesson is below, she's had a couple more since then so more videos to come - but mom wanted to be in a video this time! She loves floating around, kicking and is actually really enjoying the underwater "dives".

Rolling is apparently a great form of transportation...she's getting all over the living room with her rolling now! I guess she decided that she wanted to see what her swing looked like from underneath! It's been fun seeing her get around but also mom's realizing that we can't just leave her lying on the floor for too long with her back turned.

Well that's all for now, Anna signing off as Naomi gets tired of rolling around, Nanook keeps bugging dad for attention, and Dad keeps trying to distract her...

6 Months and 17 Days

Well Naomi's a seasoned swimmer now, she's had 3 lessons and has her 4th today. These shots are from her second lesson, Mom and dad were both in the pool for the second one and probably will be for the fourth as well, but it's been a blast! Lots of fun seeing Naomi have fun in the water.

Last lesson we even got to take advantage of having both parents in the water. When she was doing her underwater swimming we got to do a pass while underwater - so she "swam" between mom and dad - they call it the "torpedo". I made sure Adam was on the catching end though!

She's been devouring her food that we've given her, loving pretty much anything we put in her mouth. There's some combinations she's not as thrilled about, but so far eats anything, it's great! Unfortunately since being a bit sick with a runny nose and congestions as well as dealing with a new tooth that's coming in we've not been nursing quite as well so not gaining weight really. Since her doctor's appointment about half a month ago she's only put on a couple ounces, so we're hoping that picks up soon! And mom is also hoping that Naomi stops biting so hard before she gets MORE teeth...

So that's all for now, not too much "new", just LOTS and LOTS of what she's been up to already!

Anna signing off while Naomi starts singing in her swing and Nanook is somewhere investigating something...

6 Months and 10 days

So Naomi has now had her first swim lesson! On Wednesday Adam and I went to the mall to run a couple errands and when we were there we bought her the cutest little bathing suit and put her in it later in the day for a cute, but fussy, swim lesson. She had unfortunately been having a bit of a grumpy day so was not quite in the best mood for it, but Mom and Dad had a blast! Dad was in the water with the little one and mom happily sat in the viewing area with the camera. We're doing our best to get her into a better mood for her second lesson today, we'll see how that goes!

Naomi has been quite the trooper on the solid food front. So far anything we put in her mouth she will swallow with little complaint. The worst we've gotten so far is some absolutely hilarous faces something to the effect of "yuck! Mom, that's NOT my yummy cereal!" and one or twice it's taken almost an hour to feed her two ounces of food. We're getting smarter about it though and today lunch took about 5 minutes, so much better! We'll probably have to up the quantity if she keeps that up! Hopefully she will, a few weeks ago she had a huge weight gain, but last week was only a couple of ounces, so eat baby eat!

She's also finally rolled over her right arm! It started out that she would only roll over her left arm, which was fine with Mom and Dad, can't really get too far if you roll there and back, there and back...but the other day she finally did it. She was very frustrated trying to roll back over the arm, probably didn't have it in a great spot and kind of hurt a little bit, so mom helped her get back but oh well, progress is progress!

Well that's all for now, enjoy the swim video!

Anna signing off to get some work done while Naomi and Nanook nap after a nice walk.

6 months and 4 days

Naomi is learning so many things!  As I write this she trying to use a sippy cup for some water for the first time!  Wow.  She's now already tried 5 foods (well, 6 if you count cereal), yams, squash, peas, chicken and pork.  So far everything goes down and doesn't get spit out, but some are welcomed easier than others though.  Squash seems to be the favorite, but perhaps because it looks a lot like rice cereal?  Who knows!

She's also been growing like a weed!  The week up to her 6 month birthday she gained over 1/2 a pound when she usually does under a 1/4 of a pound...but she was back to the 1/4 of a pound last week when we went to the doctor.  We'll see how she does this week, may not gain much.  Dad got the flu and it seems to be passing along to mommy and baby now.  Mom's starting to feel gross and Naomi's nose is running pretty good and she sounds congested.  Oh well, we'll see how we do.

Rolling over is old news now!  Rolling is now super easy for her, but so far only can roll over her left arm so can't get too far yet.  Hasn't figured out the keep rolling in the same direction yet to really cover some ground.  So it's a lot of squirming and rolling there and back to maneuver to get toys, but doesn't usually get off of her blanket.

Well that's all for now, catch you all soon.

Anna signing off to go check the slow cooker with Naomi's chicken in it and Naomi squealing with delight as Nanook licks her hand for the tenth time...and Daddy laughs... :)

5 1/2 Months - BONUS POST :)

Just a quick note to say that yesterday she rolled from her back to her tummy again, then she rolled from her tummy to her back! So she's done it!! So REALLY cannot leave her just anywhere now...

Also, she had REAL solid foods for the first time today! She's had cereal for a couple of months, but today she had some pureed yams. Tried just the yams pureed with some water but she didn't like that too much, started gagging a little and spitting it out. Added some of her cereal to it and she stopped spitting it out! She was gagging a little bit, but been told that's normal when trying new textures. By the end she wasn't gagging at all. So she did about a tablespoon and a half her first try, not bad at all!

Anyhow, that's it for now...

Anna signing off with both Naomi and Nanook having a nap...and off to clean up the leftover yams...

5 1/2 Months

She did it!! She's been trying so hard for about a month now, but she finally rolled over! She was lying on her back on the blanket and I was working away on the computer and I looked over and she was happily singing away on her tummy! She probably thought I was crazy because I jumped over there and started saying how amazing she was...but she knew she did something good because she started smiling and laughing. She couldn't quite figure out how to get back onto her back, but it's a start. So my days of just lying her down on a blanket on the floor while I get things done around the house are officially over, she's now mobile! Oh well, worth the trade off that's for sure!

We have also learned that the voice that she had before was just a small fraction of what she was able to do...she has been babbling, squeaking and screeching away for the last few days. One time she had been in bed for half an hour or so then decided that she didn't want to sleep yet so started singing away in her crib until we went and got her then when we had her on her blanket downstairs she started screeching and screaming with delight - she had found her voice and wanted to use it! I'm sure our neighbours were not super thrilled that she decided to do this a midnight, but there wasn't much we could do about it! Hopefully they were all upstairs in their bedrooms and the sound didn't travel up and then through the walls to easily...

Other than that we're hoping to get her eating things other than cereal soon, she's got the cereal down pat! Gave her a serving that I thought was huge yesterday only to have her want more as soon as she was done...so she got more and ate it all happily. So we'll have to get her onto some other foods.

She has stepped back a bit for another thing. She's started waking up at night about every other day for the past couple of weeks. Our best guess as to why is that she's learning so many things she just gets excited and wants to keep practicing them. But fortunately she's been falling back asleep decently well after a quick snack each time...hopefully that will stay like that! We're also trying different napping times and seeing if that does anything, we'll find out I guess.

We did have a nice visit with a couple of my cousins as well. Saturday was my Aunt and Uncle's 5th wedding anniversary so we took their 2 1/2 month old and 3 year old for a night. It was quite an experience to have 2 young babies and one toddler for about 24 hours, having just Naomi seems so much easier after that! But it was really a blast and we all had a great time. I think Dania, the 3 year old, had a great sleep Saturday night when she got home after 2 days of non-stop play! And Leyla just napped the time away. :) A cute picture of Leyla and Naomi from a visit a few days before their stay is below.

That's all for now...Anna signing off with Nanook keeping watch at the window and Naomi swinging away for her afternoon nap...

5 Months and 1 day

It's been a little bit since writing, but not too much "new" stuff. We've been spending a lot of time with family for Christmas functions and such and she's had fun showing off, meeting new people and just being her usual cute self.

Her interest in food has not slown down. She's really figured out the whole cereal thing and instead of encouraging her to open her mouth each time so we can quickly shove the spoon in it's been a willing wide open mouth for each spoonful - even when there's none left! She has more than once requested a second helping of cereal...when Mom's said "All done!" she responded with a whining cry so we made her more and she downed it. So she's been pretty hungry, almost every night now she wants it.

She still hasn't rolled over, but trying harder and harder. She has come super close so many times but just misses that last little "oomf" to finish it off. Still not huge on her tummy time has slown down the rolling over as well...but she loves lying on her blanket with all her toys!

A new toy that she's gotten that she's been enjoying is her Jumperoo. Grandpapa got that for her for Christmas and she's had a blast. Still has not completely figured out the jumping part yet, more just playing with the toys on it...but every now and then you hear the music that plays when she starts jumping.

That's all for now I guess, we're still looking forward to going to the Mom and Tot's group again soon to see how much weight she's gained in the last month - it's been about a month since the last time that we went so we're all curious to see how much she's gained, we suspect a decent amount.

Anna signing off with Adam snoring in the chair next to me, Naomi having yet another nap in the swing and Nanook and the rest of the Kouwenberg's here in Sooke hanging out somewhere else in the house...