15, well 16 Months

Naomi turned 15 months old at the end of March.  Here it is the end of April and I'm just getting around to posting about her new skills, developments, and stats.  Part of the lateness is due to our move, but the real reason is that her 15 month check-up was just last Monday and I wanted to wait for her stats before I posted.

She is doing amazing and learning so much.  This stage is one of my favorites.  Here is what's been going on:

• She is walking and has recently mastered running.  She can climb up and down stairs with little difficulty.  She falls about 100 times a day, but just gets back up and keeps going.
• She is talking much more now.  She says Mama, Dodger (Dado), Papa, bye, Bubba, but she understands a plethora of words such as clean up, kisses, bath, Naomi, ear, drink, and so much more.  This helps in her communication with us.  Usually between talking and sign language we can figure out what she is trying to say.
• She uses signs often and know the signs for please and more.  She doesn't use the following too often, but understands the signs for eat, drink, help, and finished when we use them.
• She has just recently started enjoying watching a little TV when Levi watches it.  Like Levi, VeggieTales is among her favorites.
• She loves to play outside and dig in the dirt.  Probably her favorite thing to do.
• She sleeps 11-12 hours at night and takes at least 1 nap during the day (sometimes 2 depending on the day).
• She wears 18 month clothes and size 4 in shoes.
• She is a good eater and will try almost anything we put in front of her.  Chicken, waffles, cheese, pasta, potatoes, and yogurt are always a hit.  She uses a spoon and fork easily a mealtime, and always drinks for a sippy cup.
• Among her favorite toys are her bear, a scarf, baby doll, Tonka truck, and Levi's cars and dinosaurs.
• She is still in love with her paci.
• She has too many teeth to count.  I think the total may be about 12 - 4 which are molars.
• Even at her age she is pretty obedient and follows basic commands without hesitation.
• She is brave and fearless.  She will try anything and usually leads the way into new adventures where Levi is more timid.
• She loves music and dancing.  
• She has the best laugh and is super ticklish.
• She is such a girly girl and has even insisted on picking her own clothes once or twice (ridiculous I know), but has a tomboy streak in her and loves to get dirty just the same.
• She can identify her belly and nose, and we are working on learning her ears.
• She adores Aaron.  I definitely come second to him.

Stats:

Birth: 8 lbs. 15 oz., 20 1/4 in.
4 Days (1/4/11): 8 lbs. 5.5 oz., 20 1/4 in.
2 weeks (1/18/11): 9 lbs. 7.5 oz. (97%), 21 1/4 in. (90%)
2 months (3/3/11): 12 lbs. 15 oz. (95%), 23 1/2 in. (90%)
4 months (5/3/11): 15 lbs. 9 oz. (90%), 24 3/4 in. (75%)

6 months (7/6/11): 17 lbs. 13.5 oz. (85%), 28 in. (90-95%)

9 months (10/10/11): 19 lbs. 6 oz. (75%), 28 3/4 in. (85%)

12 months (1/17/12): 19 lbs. 12 oz. (30%), 30 in. (90%)

15 months (4/23/12): 21 lbs. 10 oz. (30%), 31 1/2 in. (90%)

Kayaks & Trees

We spent last weekend doing a little more exploring.  Aaron had a meeting on Friday in Atlanta so we all headed down.  The kids & I wasted time at the mall and met Lou Lou for lunch while Aaron was in his meeting.  On the way home we stopped by Tallulah Gorge and Goats on a Roof.  The kids loved both places, especially the goats.  A kind lady bought some feed and had Levi feed the goats with it.  He was super excited about the whole thing. 

Saturday we went to the Nantahala Outdoor Center and watched the freestyle kayak competition.  It is amazing what tricks they can do with them.  Levi fell in love and now wants his own kayak (which we now have)!  He has been asking to go back ever since.  After the competition we headed to Joyce Kilmer forest. The forest holds some of the biggest trees in the east.  If you've seen a redwood you may not be too impressed, but they were quite big trees.  There has been some bad weather around here in the last year or so and a tornado took out some of the trees.  When we were hiking the trails we came across several huge trees that had been ripped apart by the tornado.  Unfortunately, the biggest trees were the ones that suffered the most damage because they are so tall.  We still got to see some big trees and enjoyed the hike.  

Exploring

We have decided to make living in NC an experience not just a place to live while Aaron works.  That being said we are trying to do many things and enjoy all that the surrounding area has to offer.  Aaron & I love to explore - just ride in the car, enjoy the scenery and see what we find.  Anytime we are in a new place we always hop in the car and go exploring.  We have decided to make weekend our exploration time.  We plan to make it family time where we do just that - hop in the car and see what we find.  Our first weekend exploring has some great finds.  I'm not a photographer (even though I'd love to be) and have no fancy camera (even though I'd love one), but I tried to capture some of our finds.

We came across this old barn.  I LOVE the color and had to capture it.

 I loved this church atop the hill with the mountains.  Turns out its right next to our house.

 We found this "cave" that Levi feel in absolutely in love with.

This creek was right beside the cave and the kids loved playing in it.  Levi has been asking to go back ever since.

 Naomi was a huge fan of the creek!

 

Rental Sweet Rental

Our rental property is pretty awesome I have to admit.  We were on a deadline to find a place and found several shall we say rather interesting places, but this by far was the best.  We were pretty sure we wouldn't get it since we were only asking for a 6 month lease, but the owners agreed to it and we snagged our place.  Its a double wide, but pretty nice inside.  I haven't taken any pictures inside.  Guess I didn't see the point, but for those of you who have asked I did take some pictures of the house and property.  We have a creek in our backyard that follows around and joins the Tuckasegee River across the street in front of our house. There is a park across the street where you can play in the river, picnic, play basketball, volleyball, etc.  The kids have been enjoying going over and getting in the river.  Overall we are in love with the place, but we still miss our home in America as Levi calls it. 

  Views of the creek behind our house.

 Headed into town.  These are some of the views we see everyday...

 Driving into Sylva from our house.  

Hunger Games

This post is mainly for Beth because I am sure she will fall dead when she finds out that I read The Hunger Games in a week and a half (probably would have had it read quicker than that if we weren't moving that week as well).  My last book (a loner from her) took me nearly 7 maybe more months to get through.  I'm not a reader by nature like my mother and sister, but I really wish I was.  I love a good book and I'm trying to make the effort to read more, especially while we are in NC with no TV.  Let's just say The Hunger Games Trilogy has captivated me.  I'm already to Part II in the second book, Catching Fire.  I am absolutely loving the story line and can't wait to see where the rest of the story takes me.  I haven't seen the movie yet, but am making plans to see it this weekend.  If you are looking for a good read join me in my obsession.

Happy Easter!

I know this is a ton of pictures for one post, but with strict orders from grandparents to have "lots of pictures" I forced to obliged.  You might as well get used to it.  

Easter this year was slightly different that usual with us being gone and not being here long enough to make any friends to spend the time with.  However we had a wonderful weekend.  Before we moved our church back home had an egg hunt so the kids were able to join in the fun there before we headed to NC.  We decided to do our own egg hunt with the eggs Bay & Lou sent in our care package.  The kids loved it and had so much fun searching for eggs in the yard.  Levi even helped hide the ones for Naomi.  From the look of the pictures you can tell that Naomi had more fun putting her bucket on her head than putting eggs in them.  Sunday morning we visited a nearby church and they had an egg hunt that they invited us to so our kids did get to hunt a few eggs then as well.  My favorite part of the day was Naomi's dress.  Vain in know, but it was a crocheted dress that Moo had made for my sisters and I when we were Naomi's age.  We all wore it and for my daughter to wear it was really special to me.  She was not as cooperative as I would have like in getting her picture, but I was able to get a few good shots.  Maybe I can dress her up again for some better pics.  After church we grabbed some lunch and spent the rest of the day exploring our new town.

The best part of the weekend was sharing the story of Easter with our kids.  The previous Sunday the kids went to church with Aaron's parents.  Levi has been talking about Palm Sunday ever since and goes around the house yelling "Hosanna to our King!"  It has been a great privilege to teach my children about our Savior and Lord.  For them to learn not just about Easter, but that Easter could not have happened without Good Friday.  It has been a good reminder for myself as well.  I'll end with this thought.  I read/heard somewhere that many people died on a cross, but only one died for our sins and rose again.  Hallelujah!  I rose and my eternity is sealed forever!

Week 1

We've been in NC for a week now.  The transition has smoother than expected.  Both the kids made the move easier than expected, especially Levi who does not handle change very well.  I was amazed at how excited he was and how much he has loved being here already.  The other day we had the following conversation:

Levi: "I never want to leave the mountains."

Me: "You don't ever want to go back home to visit?"

Levi: "What is visit?"

Me:  "Go back to see everybody we love.  Go see Gramps, Mema, Grandmama, Grandaddy, Bay, Lou, your friends, like Malia & Javier."

Levi:  "I just want them to come visit us."

Guess he is set for life here and some of you better start planning trips to come up here to visit him.  We've gotten the yard cut and the weather has been super nice so we've enjoyed a day at the park and a walk down our road.  The kids love being outside so our yard is perfect for them to play in.  

The view is simply amazing and I'm not sure I'll ever get used to it.  One spot in particular on our way to town is breath-taking.  I'll be sure to grab a picture next time we head that way.  I told Aaron the other day that I am a horrible driver here because all I want to do is look at the scenery instead of the road.  You'd be the same way if you were here.  Trust me.

All our boxes are unpacked with the exception of about 2 that hold some books and office supplies we haven't needed yet.  At the moment it is just easier to leave them in the corner than to try to find a place for them in the house.  Our rental is just that, a rental.  Even with all of our stuff it still doesn't feel like home.  Not yet anyway.  I'm sure once we get in the groove of everything that will change.  We finally have enough groceries and such that I think I went one day this week without having to go to Wal-Mart for something.  

There are some really great things about being here.  The first is that we are less than 10 minutes from town so a trip to Wal-Mart or the grocery store is not an inconvience.  This is a great improvement from home where is was about a 25 minute trip.  I was able to go to town, buy groceries, and return within an hour yesterday.  It was a small victory for me.  We found a gym that is 5 minutes away that is a lot like the YMCA at home where we were going.  This was an unexpected find since we had looked online and hadn't found anything.  I was super excited and will hopefully be joining next week.  

We haven't traveled and explored much this week since we've been getting settled, but that will change soon I'm sure.  We did travel to Asheville to pick up an AC unit for the house.  It was a beautiful drive and we even picked up some Chick-fil-A at the mall there since there isn't one in Sylva.  

It has been a bit lonely here since we know no one and haven't really met anyone in just a week.  I like to go out and do things so being home for most of the day is starting to drain on me, but I'm hoping that once we find a church and get a bit more settled that will all change.  The gym should help with that and I'm hoping to find some things through the library to do as well.  

Aaron decided we should live like mountain people while we are here.  This was dinner the first night.

Levi has been a super hero most of the week.

 This rock is 5 minutes from the house.  It has Cherokee writings that are 1000 years old.

 We got a special and unexpected package in the mail yesterday.  Bay & Lou were so sweet and sent us our first care package!  Levi & Naomi loved it!

 Until next time...