8 months

Ah!  I'm super late this month.  Can't imagine why.....

We just about have a crawler.  Turk is able to get up on his hands and one knee but can't quite get the second knee under him.

He's a pro at eating now.  For a while I was holding his hands down while he ate- he likes to "help"- but now I don't have to.  I actually think it conditioned him to keep his hands down, they barely move while I feed him!  He's done quite a few vegetables and some fruit.  He loves it all.

He still only has one tooth on the bottom but I think he'll be getting more soon.  We are having to really teach Nola not to leave small things around where he can get them.  When she leaves something and we have to remind her that Turk could choke on it, she is very apologetic.  She loves him so much!!!

These pictures kill me...

We got a toilet in the bathroom (more on that later) and had to take advantage of the photo op before we filled it.  Nola on the left in the sink during our first bathroom reno, and Turk on the right.

He's still napping and snuggling.  Nola's been napping too (thank you pre-k)!!  He's sleeping at night MUCH better!  About a week before school started I decided it was time to figure this out.  I tried letting him "cry it out" and lasted about an hour (I checked on him every 10 minutes) until I picked him up.  It was terrible, but the next night he slept all night!  Maybe he's a quick learner?  I don't know and I don't care- sleeping for 8 hours straight is GLORIOUS!!!

He is still the cutest.  So so smiley. 

We love you Turkey!

10 years!

I am proud of my husband for so many things, but the way he has succeeded in business is at the top.  This August marks 10 years!  He started Open Doors Computer Services before we met.  He worked as a manager at Menards for several years to save up money and when he was 22 he took a leap of faith.  His knowledge in business and computers have been factors to his success, but I think the biggest factor has been the way he connects with people.  Robert is an honest and caring man who  continues to have repeat customers because of the time he spends with them.

Thankfully, those customers came out to celebrate a few weeks ago!  We threw a big party!!  The theme was "10" and I did the decorations.

Robert had some koozies made (twice thanks to a spelling error :) and we set up some tents outside of the office. 

Robert was worried that no one would come, but we had a steady flow of people all day.  We estimated about 200 came throughout the day to celebrate the milestone.

Robert works for a few restaurants and they were nice enough to donate food during the day.  We also grilled out!  Totally unrelated- does anyone need 60 hotdogs??

Nola got ahold of the camera at some point and took some artistic pictures.  I really like the Hershey kiss picture, put I'm not sure who thought it was a good idea to put them on the tables- they were pretty melted once the sun came out.  

My parents even made the trip!  Look how cute my mom is!!

 

Do you think we look alike? 

 We got some shirts made.  I love this picture.  There are so many people behind the scenes of a small business.  Everyone in this picture has been a huge help in the last 10 years, especially Robert's family.

It was a fun day celebrating an amazing business man!  Here's to 10 more years!!!

Girl's Day

I read a lot about having a second child and how it was important to do things one-on-one with the oldest kid once the baby comes.  With that in mind, as well as  an invitation to the zoo, I thought I would have a girl's day with Nola!  

She threw a fit when I told her Turk wasn't coming.  Now I know who she likes better.

After she came to terms with the fact that it was just going to be the two of us, we packed up the car and headed to the Omaha zoo!  A friend was celebrating a birthday there so we met up with them. 

It was crazy busy (I had to make my own parking spot) and just hot enough to be kind of miserable, but we ran into Nola's daycare provider and her family.  Nola was very shy and told me later that she didn't talk to her because she didn't think it was the real Michelle. 

We got to see the monkeys, the new elephants and the giraffes along with other zoo animals.  We only stayed a few hours then headed to the main event....

Build-a-bear!!!

I don't know why she's so obsessed.  She has told me on several occasions that her life goal is to work at Build-a-bear.  We have been doing a behavior chart with her and the big prize was a trip to her future employer, so she already had an animal picked out.  

We ended our outing with a stop at the Cheesecake Factory.  Nola tried her cheesecake and then puked it up on her cheesecake right next to the couple that was having a romantic date.  Ummm, sorry?!?  But mostly I'm sorry that I couldn't finish her cake.  Because of the puke on it.  Kids.