a week prior to turning 1

Nevi spends a lot of time talking on the phone already. She holds any object, like a phone, a remote control, or a toy behind her head and starts talkin. It's hilarious! Nevi words thus far are, 'Da, Doo, DaDoo, Doh'. You can see her teeth coming in on the picture of her laughing below. She has 5 now and more pushing through... We're getting ready to travel to Indiana next weekend to celebrate her 1st Birthday with Nana and Pop Pop. Then, my mom and Aunt Lynn are coming out the following weekend for a celebration here in Colorado. Ready or not!

Neviah Dancin'!

Grandma Mom & Jim Pa visit

We had an awesome weekend with GrandmaMom and Jimpa! Nevi is a lucky little girl to have grandparents who love her this much. I really can't wait for her to understand how very unique and interesting everyone in this family is. At this point, she much prefers mom and dad to anyone, which is perfectly natural, but of course I'm looking forward to her developing real relationships and close ties with her extended family, too. Thanks, family, for being so supportive and involved even though we live hundreds or thousands of miles from you all. Our cup runneth over.

11 1/2 months

Our little cookie monster (hehe)... though she's never eaten a cookie, yet. I imagine she'll love them when she finally tries one. We have yet to see her turn away any food item thus far, actually. She eats anything we offer her and seems to enjoy it all, mostly fruits, vegetables, grains, lentils, chicken, yogurt, cheese and of course, Cheerios and other oatmeal/rice like cereals. Healthy eater!

We also get down to the play ground quite frequently. She walks there and loves to play in the mulch! Much like her mother, outside time seems to be her favorite time.

latest

It's so interesting watching Nevi 'just be Nevi' day to day. She'll look the same for a period of time, then out of nowhere, she'll wake up one morning and look different. Something about her has changed. The shape of her face will have changed or her hair will be go wild (which is becoming the common theme), or her eyes will darken. Some days she looks slender and other days she chubs out!

Her personality changes too, and she'll sway from clingy and teary and whiney to fun and independent and outgoing. She gives lots of hugs everyday. It's great! She even hugged our little baby friend, Teddy when we saw him a few weeks ago. Her hugs are magical and make you melt.

I notice that she sleeps more when peaking a developmental milestone of sorts. She still naps twice a day. We made a recent, gradual attempt to get to one longer nap daily but it was a bust (the books say to start doing this and she was showing signs of needing less daytime sleep but when we started the change, she let us know that she's not ready yet). OK by us. Nevi still really likes her morning snooze and we want her to be comfortable and happy.

She now has two bottom teeth coming in and her top 2 teeth also just broke the skin....must be catching up.

Most days out here in Colorado are pretty nice so we make sure we get outside time when ever we can; we play in the grass, with the leaves and rocks and Nevi really likes to go down to the park. She has an absolute giggle-fest when she sits on my lap on the swings. We also use the stroller several times per week so I can get some exercise and she can get some fresh air and change of scenery. Win win.

Tomorrow, Nevi will be 11 months old. Unreal.

walking

Nevi's walking EVERYWHERE now and not just a couple step here and there. Robb took her outside for a stroll down to the playground for her first 'outside walk' and she does lap after lap around our home. She's becoming a pro and is more balanced and confident everyday. Pretty cool...

last couple a weeks

Busy busy busy, these last couple a weeks have been. Robb's birthday was tons of fun (I think he'll vouch for that as well)... We went to a barbershop banquet on the eve of his b-day. Nevi and I stayed out past our bedtime to enjoy the wonderful music and company. Robb stayed even later, hitching a ride home the director of his chorus; the two of them (and me) continued to celebrate at our home into the wee hours. The night AFTER his birthday, Robb and I tested out a new babysitter for Nevi and went on a wine tasting in Lyons, CO. The new babysitter was a hit and we are grateful to have yet another kind soul in our life that appreciates and enjoys a good kiddo like Nevi. Marie is her name and she not only works with me at Home Instead, she also lives right in our neighborhood! A keeper.

The beautiful couple below are friends of ours that we visited with just this afternoon. They are expecting their first baby in June! Happy to have another 'Nevi friend' on the way...

Lastly, this first pix is of Nevi doing her 'homework' from GrandmaMom. She just bought us a program called, 'My Baby Can Read' and it comes with DVDs and Flashcards. It's actually a lot of fun and Nevi can make it through 1/2 to 2/3rds of the way through a video before turning her attention elsewhere and really likes the flashcards. We do these almost daily and it seems to offer yet another way to stimulate and 'play' with Nevi. She still isn't 'talking' per say but she definitely recognizes certain words and seems to absorb info much more quickly now.