Party Swimmers

Zeke and Nora's cousin had a pool party for her birthday last week. Nora had never been swimming, but she loves water and the pool was a big hit. I can't get enough of our bathing beauty in her adorable pink swimsuit.

Zeke wasn't interested in eating, so he spent most of the party either playing with the balloons or splashing in the puddles made by people had already been in in the pool.

After lunch and gifts we went into the water. Nora was tired so she was pretty mellow, but she enjoyed it thoroughly. We moved around the leisure pool checking things out and letting her get used to all the noises that she couldn't trace back to the source. We also spent some time in the very shallow water with cousins around her age and their moms. Zeke went down the waterslide with Aaron as many times as he could and also realized her could splash big by kicking his legs and by throwing water at people. Fun for all!

Growing By Leaps and Bounds

I'm not sure I noticed a get-taller growth spurt at 6 months (although I feel like I'm still constantly needing to find her some bigger pajamas), but behaviorally Nora has grown up tremendously in the past month or so. I am in a state of wonder as to how my baby can be doing all of these things so soon.

*Hello mobility! Nora crawls, albeit slowly and carefully, and it's already an upgrade from her sit-scoot-reach approach of the past few weeks. Just like sitting, she gets better at it daily. She also is becoming my little shadow and will come find me if I disappear for very long.

*Exploring. Being mobile has taken Nora to new places, like under the desk, and new things, like the floor-length blinds and heater vents. I'm realizing there are places I have not set her down before, and she is checking them out.

*No, Nora. Exploring has necessitated some gentle guidance, particularly when she tries to chew on something she shouldn't (papers, puzzle pieces, and cords come to mind). She also is fascinated by the bathroom trash can.

*Pulling up. Nora pulls herself up at every opportunity and is very happy to stand. And is so proud of herself too. Pulling up happened a couple of days after she started crawling, so not as far apart as I expected.

*Sleeping. We were done with the swing about 2 months ago, and she sleeps beautifully in her crib at naptime. Sometimes lately as I rock her she won't really settle until I put her in her bed, which is huge for a little angel who has historically required to eat to deep sleep before being put down.

*Refereeing. I was hoping to avoid this milestone for a while, but I definitely am having to keep the peace between Zeke and Nora. Mainly enforcing turn-taking, as both want to be in the middle of whatever the other is doing.

*Babble, babble. The other night Nora got stuck standing and cried for help. She was looking across the room at me saying 'mam-mam-mam-mam' until she saw Aaron coming to rescue her, then it became 'da-da-da-da'. Melted my heart!

Backwards Scooting

I have been worried that I wouldn't get this post up before Nora started to crawl, because she's ready to go for it any minute now. It's been that way for a couple of weeks. No real crawling yet, although she's for sure mobile with a combination of reaches, lunges, scooting (backwards on belly, forward on bum), rolling, and getting herself from sitting to tummy and back again.

Nora scooting around backwards on her tummy is one of the cutest things ever. From what I can tell, she isn't going after any particular item, she just does it because she can. That is, until she runs into a wall or gets under the furniture and can't move anymore. Then she gets quite frustrated and demands to be rescued.

Her frustrations have gone down a bit starting about 2 weeks ago when she learned how to put herself back into a sitting position. Now she flops onto her belly, scoots around, and sits back up when she finds something interesting to play with.

Hill Air Force Base Museum

On our way home from the train festival we stopped at the museum on Hill Air Force Base. Our main objective was to take some pictures of the paint scheme of this T-28 Trojan so Aaron can re-create it on a model.

We did a short walk through to see the other planes and helicopters.

There was an Air Force retirement ceremony going on in one of the galleries, which was fun. We didn't observe for long, because the kids weren't being quiet, but it was really interesting for the little bit we were able to hear.

And then outside to walk through the planes and helicopters on the grounds. This was lots of fun for all of us because Zeke could run a little more and it was good to take a walk outside. Nora got awfully heavy though, after a day of carrying her around!

Model Railroad Festival

We took some time this weekend to go to the Model Railroad Festival at Union Station in Ogden. We saw model trains of all sizes in different layouts, plus lots of vendors selling train cars in all price ranges. We didn't realize it was such a great shopping opportunity and are hoping next year to go planning to purchase.

Zeke was thrilled to see that Thomas made it to the show.

One of our favorite displays was Lego trains. There were 7 or 8 neighboring layouts.

There is a train museum at Union Station too that we we took a walk through.

Nora had lunch on top of a locomotive in the kids play area while Zeke played at the train table.

After we had our fill of crowded spaces and model trains, we headed outside to a display area with lots of full-size trains that you can get right up next to. Zeke loved running up and down the sidewalk between huge engines and cabooses and boxcars.

Asleep on the Pillow

Zeke is getting so grown up. It's even more apparent when I see him next to Nora because it's obvious how baby-like he isn't. But every now and then there is a moment that melts my heart just because he's still so darn cute, like this one yesterday.

February Wrap-Up

February disappeared on me somewhere. Our calendar says we didn't have that many commitments, but that's not to say we weren't busy. I have decided that although working and taking care of the kids is more than enough to do, I'm happier when I make time to get the toys put away and keep up with the dishes, among other things. So Aaron and I have both been working on getting our space organized so we can maintain it that way.

Aaron has been digitizing our DVDs, and Zeke has been working on memorizing them almost as fast as Aaron can get the files ready. Zeke is so fast at learning lines and songs and he loves to sing. He's starting to get spring fever. At least that's what I assume is causing him to tear the house apart and climb the furniture like never before in the past few days.

Nora turned 6 months in February and is exploring the world with her mouth. If it gets too quiet, I know she is trying to eat something she shouldn't, usually an important paper. She rolls and scoots around backwards on her tummy to get around, although she is trying her best to crawl. She is also trying to pull up to stand but that's a little further away than crawling.