The Things You Do

Miss Noelle…

You have started to explore. And by explore I mean you get into everything you possibly can. ALL.THE.TIME.

It’s funny now, because you have to roll and rotate to get what you want… but I am sure you will become a handful when you can crawl. As Grandma Culp says, you are “always busy”.

Here are some of the latest adventures in the life of my favorite sweet baby girl….

1. The Dresser Challenge…

Those cedar balls must have looked REALLY yummy.

I love your “What?? What did I do??” face… stinker!

You were quite content to stay under there.. and not too happy when I pulled you out.

2. Splish Splash…

You finally learned that you can PLAY in the bathtub. You love to kick… and eat the soap.

This is FUN Mama!!

Bubbles… yum…

3. The Backyard

You love being outside. You love the wind, you love the trees..

…but you mostly want to eat the grass!

You also have a new “crinkle face” where you crinkle up your nose. It’s funny.. but not so cute.. :)

Perfect demonstration of your “crinkle face”.

I love you Noelle!

Love, Mama

Just For One Moment

We had family pictures taken today. This was the first time since you were born (well… since Mommy and Daddy’s wedding) that we actually had a family portrait taken.

I am big on pictures. I love them. I love scrapbooking, but the thing that I love the most about pictures is how they can capture a moment, a point in our lives, so perfectly. Daddy is always wanting you to have the “perfect” picture- without your hands in your mouth, without any other distractions. However, in my opinion, that would be taking YOU out of the picture.

In even a year from now you won’t always have your hands in your mouth. You won’t have your new crinkly face, you won’t have your mohawk (I hope!)… and you probably won’t have your WIDE OPEN mouth smile. I love that smile. I love when a photographer can capture you- how you are now. Just as you are.

You don’t have to have the perfect smile, or have your hand placed by your side… I want to remember what it was like now. I want to remember my precious first-born. My itty-bitty. My boogie. (Aren’t you going to love all these nicknames when you are older!)

The pictures turned out great. I love our little family. I want to continue getting these pictures taken each year… because you change so quickly. I don’t want these precious moments to go by without being frozen in time, if just for one moment.

I love you sweet baby girl.

Love,

Mama

Happy 6 Month Birthday!!

Happy 6 month Birthday Noelle!!

I can’t believe it has already been half-a-year since you were born. You have grown and changed so much. It’s hard to believe that you have been here so long, and yet it has gone so fast. I love you so much little girl. You are perfect, amazing, and beautiful. God must have spent a little extra time when he created you :)

This is how you smile… seriously :) You open your mouth open as WIDE as you can. I love it. Stay that way, for at least a little while longer.

I love you sweet princess!

Love, Mama

Sleepy Little Girl

Oh Noey… You are such a sleepy little girl. I hope you are growing up and not out :) You are already a little bit OUT! :)

This has been your sleep schedule over the past few days…

Wednesday Bed 8:30 p.m until…. Thursday 8:00 a.m. I had to wake you up!

Then you napped again from…

9:30 a.m.- 1:15 p.m.

3:45 p.m.- 6:25 p.m.

and went to bed at 9:30 p.m.

You slept until 10:10 a.m. this morning- Friday!!

And you napped today so far…

11:30 a.m.- 2:30 p.m.

4:00 p.m.- now (you are still sleeping)

I don’t get how you can possibly sleep this much. It’s CRAZY! But, I am glad that you are growing. You get so cranky, and then as soon as I put you down I put you are so happy and pass out right away. It’s nuts.

And just because you are cute.. and love to chew on tags..

I love you Noey!!

Love, Mama

Oh how you love your water bottles

Noelle Marie… oh how you love your water bottles. You love love love to chew on them!! You get so excited when you see a water bottle. You bounce up and down and cry when I take it away from you.

It is SO funny to watch. I don’t know why you are so obsessed with them.

Last night I took you to a MOYC meeting. You tried to suck on my Mike’s Lemonade bottle, and when I took it away from you, you screamed and then took Erin Martinez’s water bottle off of the table. Naughty little stinker :)

5 Month Photo Shoot!

We went and had your five month pictures taken. Yes, I know that you don’t normally get pictures taken when you are 5 months old, but I wanted them- and I thought we could give them as gifts--- so I had them taken.

You actually sat up for the first time when you had the pictures taken. You were so scared- you didn’t know what you were doing. I just got the pictures in and they look great! You are such a cute little girl! :)

“Super Baby” – The photographer was trying so hard to get you to rest on your hands and be all proper, but you weren’t having it at all. You have quite the personality already. You are going to definitely be a little spitfire.

You are still a little chunk. Okay, a big chunk, but that’s okay… more of you to love, right? Daddy doesn’t like these naked little baby pictures but I think they are oh so cute. And we can’t do them for long.

Oh how you GROW!

Sweet baby girl… you are already FIVE months old! I can hardly believe it. You are oh SO BIG! (Quite literally). I love you so much sweet princess.

Daddy thinks that you are getting spoiled, and it’s probably true, but I don’t care. It already makes me sad when you don’t want to cuddle. You are too busy exploring your world.

Things you love:

• Chewing- you are teething right now. You have two little buds on the bottom of your mouth that are waiting to come through. You eat EVERYTHING you can get your hands on. You are currently particularly fond of mama’s hands/fingers. Yum!
• Eating- Boy girl, you love you some food! You eat. A lot. All the time. We tried giving you rice cereal on August 1st, but that didn’t go too well. You gagged on it and looked at me like, “What is this CRAP you are trying to feed me??!” Needless to say, since then we haven’t tried and you are happy as a clam with your mommy milk.
• FP Jumperoo- You have finally figured out how to JUMP! I tell you “jump!jump!” and you do! You get a huge grin on your face as you are jumping. You love it so much, and it’s good exercise for you too.
• Waking up- You are the happiest baby in the world when you first wake up. Every time we go in to get you out of your crib you give us the biggest grins in the entire world- even at 4 in the morning… we need to work on that one :)
• Leaves- It sounds weird doesn’t it? You love leaves… like the leaves on a tree. When you hear them rustling in the wind you turn your head to look at them. You also love looking at the trees when we go on walks. Who knew they were that interesting??

You keep growing, and growing, and learning new skills. Yesterday you learned how to SIT on your own!! That’s right, my little 5 month old chunker can SIT!! :) So exciting! Granted, you tumble if you try to turn to look at something, but you are still doing it! We’ve only had two falling/crying incidents so far… not too bad. I think it scares you more than it hurts you when you fall, but you are crying real tears- and that makes Mama sad.