On the Move

For those of you who didn't know Sena as a baby.. she didn't really ever crawl. We tried everything to encourage her to move, but she really wasn't interested. It wasn't until around 13 months old that she really started moving. Her sister on the other hand started crawling at 8 1/2 months and is now so proficient that she can get around the house at warp speed, meaning mama can hardly get started on anything without having to go find her daughter with her hand in the water bowl, with a clump of dog hair stuck to her lip, or playing with the vents. We have toys all over this house, but none of them peak her interest for longer than a few minutes.

The funny thing is that Steven and I are so enthralled by her crawling because Sena never really did it. By the time Sena was moving she was able to communicate (or at least that's how we remember it).. So watching Noa as she squeals with delight when she gets to her goal and then claps for herself, makes us smile too. Now, if I could just figure out how to make dinner.

{this moment}

-Noa is into EVERYTHING! As witnessed here.
-Sena bathing in the kitchen sink. Yep, she still fits!

{this moment}

{this moment}

letter to Noa month 8

Dear Noa,

Clearly, the two child thing keeps me busy... but in a good way. So years from now, when you look at your not-quite-full baby book, or scrapbook with letters that are a little more than a month apart, I do hope you'll forgive me and remember that we were busy in a good way.

Each day I wake and feel so incredibly blessed. You are such a happy child and seem to delight in nearly everything around you. You are very different from your sister in your determination. Sena is determined, but more in a book-ish way. (She's right, I'm wrong, etc.) And while you will probably have the same feelings but can't verbalize them yet, right now you express your determination in your desire to try to do everything yourself. Yep, at 8 months. Whereas your sister crawled at 13+ months and then walked, you are about to crawl.. and pull yourself up.. and you think you should feed yourself too. I imagine you just want to keep up with Sena. Yesterday the two of you actually played together. (Or at least with the same toy.) And I had this little glimpse into what our future might hold (without any bickering, too!?) You smile frequently and really just glow with happiness.

As my last posts have shown, we tried to take you on a family vacation, and although you were really a trooper, we canned the vacation after one night due to lack of sleep. We'll try again in a month or so, and we really hope that family vacations are on the horizon.

I came across this quote this morning that felt perfect for where I'm at right now, and also for where I'm at..
"So there are weeds in the garden and bills paid online last minute and many other things that fall through the cracks. That's alright. I've stepped into the river, and allowed the life force, the wonderous current, to pull me along, As a mother, I've learned to just enjoy the journey and trust that the destination is exactly where I should end up."

I love you honey,
love
mama

Love

a few pictures from last week.. sena's first dance/gymnastics combo class and Noa just sporting her summer hat.

Summer is Here

The weather is warming (probably too quickly) and the girls' are enjoying their time outside.. and I'm enjoying the fact that I have two girls that Steven says I play dress-up with. Might as well. In not too many years they will both protest when I try to fix their hair or adjust their clothes, so I'm running with it. How cute is this jumper?!