I haven't updated this blog in awhile, but I keep meaning to. It just seems that so much is happening that I don't know where to start with an update. Nicole is 11 months today and I'm anxiously planning her birthday. We are going to have a party here at the house. I'd love it if all her family and our friends could be here to celebrate, but it is impossible to get everyone together from all over the place. I haven't lived near all of my family since I was five, so I'm pretty used to being away from them, but I hate that Nicole won't grow up close to her cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents. Oh well, it is what it is and we will make the best of it. This party is going to be lots of fun. I have her birthday pictures scheduled in a couple weeks, so that we will have the pictures in time for the party. I got her the cutest little birthday outfit. I can't wait for everyone to see it.
Nicole is such a little monkey. We have jokingly called her that for awhile, but now that she is really on the move, she is really earning the nickname. She isn't walking just yet on her own, but she wants to walk everywhere she goes. She just has to hold our hands. She is getting a little better at standing on her own for longer, but when she realizes she is doing it, she drops down to her knees. She climbs everything! EVERYTHING! We were looking out the back door yesterday waiting for Roxy and she starting "walking" up the door. She climbs all over us when we sit on the floor with her. She tries to climb in and out of the bathtub on her own. She has so much energy. I remember the first time we saw her in an ultrasound, we said she was "dancing." I don't think she has really stopped moving since.
The weather is starting to get warmer here and it is really beautiful! We went out and got a bike trailer that we can pull behind our bike. She LOVED it!! When we put her in, she just kept making this silly face. Once we started moving, she just looked around at everything and then started to make sounds with her mouth. As we were going over the bumps, she liked the way it sounded. I don't think she stopped making those noises until we were done. I can't wait to get her out on more rides. We've also dusted off the jogging stroller and we took her out for a 4-mile walk last weekend. It was such a nice day and she just passed out almost as soon as we started. The more I look at the picture, I wish somebody would push me around in stroller on a nice day, so I can take a nice long nap.
Nicole still isn't doing well with her sleep. She still needs Mommy to put her to sleep and she still wakes up a few times throughout the night to either eat or make sure I'm still there. I've been reading all the sleep books and I'm finally ready to start doing some sleep training. I'd like to have her falling asleep on her own by her birthday. Then I will finally get a good nights rest (at least I'm hoping I will).
I think this is a good update for now, hopefully I'll find more time to do this again soon.
I'll post pictures from my phone in a second blog post.
