update

The last few weeks have been interesting around our household. Hazel has been putting her foot down in several areas.

Nursing has become such a task. She's super resistant so I've had to make some changes in the way I nurse. We now nurse in a pitch black room with only a fan making noise. I lie down on the guest bed with her and she nurses that way. She does better nursing now than a week ago - she had been pulling off and pushing away and thrashing and arching her back. I'm not sure what's going on; could be she's growing or finally teething. We'll see.

Also, we moved her naps from our bed to her crib. Yes, that's been interesting. She had been napping two to three times a day for two to three hours at a time, and it was wonderful! Well, she didn't like the transition to her crib. She began napping once maybe twice a day for an average of 30-45 minutes at a time. Yuck. Today is the first time she slept for two hours during one of her naps in the crib. I think, I think, she may be coming around to seeing things our way!

Nate and I have continued to set up house, and boy does it feel good! We went several months letting things just sit right where they were at, mid-progress toward being settled. This last weekend we worked on organizing the basement, and then we hung shades and curtains in our room. It's like it's done or something...there's nothing left for me to do to our bedroom. Huh. Weird.

I'll post some pictures of our house next and give you a virtual tour.

lost in her cheeks

A couple seven month self-portraits. This girl is getting so big.

Oh the zoo, the zoo...

Love the zoo, just love it. It's never a bad day to go to the zoo.

Except, of course, when there's an ungodly number of school children screaming and running in circles like wild beasts.

We went for mom's birthday last week and I snapped a couple pictures with my phone. Of course they're of Hazel. I always think she's cute and a good subject for picture taking.

Biking at the Beach

I dropped in on Rae Ann and Mom when they were camping at Nehalem Bay a couple weeks ago. Rae Ann and the girls decided to nap so Mom and I went for a bike ride with Hazel. Man, it was a hoot. The helmet was too big for Hazel's head, no matter how many times Rae Ann sized down the helmet for her. Mom took these pictures during the ride...



Hazel kept leaning forward and stroking my behind as we rode along. She's a very textile girl, but I think she was trying to keep her hands on me to know where I was. It's pretty obvious that she couldn't see much. Even though the helmet kept slipping down to cover her eyes, I never heard a peep from her! She never complained once. She had been crying like crazy before the ride, and I thought biking might calm her down - which it did, even though she couldn't see much.

What a trooper.

Hazel and her friend, Lucy.

Lucy was born two days after Hazel, right next door to us. I've been friends with Lucy's mom, Linsea, since we were 10, so this is a long relationship. I nearly died watching Hazel and Lucy together the other day. Their development is on totally different planes (blame it on the torticollis) so it was interesting watching the two move around at different paces, but they're still both six and a half months old, and that involves every equally squeally, drippy, and drooly thing that means "infant."

Hazel kept grabbing onto Lucy's shirt to bring her within reach, and then she would touch Lucy all over her head and face (Hazel is very tactile - if you've ever held her, you know what I'm talking about). Lucy would then suck on Hazel's fingers and hands. They were pretty content. Here's another poor quality video to give you a glimpse...



Up next: Beach trip to visit Mom and Rae Ann and the girls in Nehalem.

I was trying to organize all the videos I got off my phone yesterday and became distracted by old videos buried in my files. This first one is of Stella. She's fun to tease, let's just say. I call this one, "It's Mine," otherwise known as "Drop It Like It's Hot."


This next one is from a party at Hangar 52...Can't remember what it was for, though. Mom's birthday, I think. What sticks out most clearly in my memory is that this was the first time I really saw Ivy walking. Rae Ann and I had a conversation about this the other day, so this is for you, Rae Ann. I just kept thinking, "E.T., E.T." every time she walked without aid. I call this one, "Stella (& IVY'S!) Trike."


And here's Rameus on the beach at the Nehalem campground. Goodness, I miss him. He was a great dog. This one is, "Windblown Rameus."


And here's another dog video, this time of a super eager Dakota. Also on the beach at Nehalem campground. I present to you, "Dakota in the Surf." Thrilling title, eh?


So that's it for now. More to come. Promise.

this is going to be long. buckle down.

So I just spent like an hour sending myself all sorts of pictures off of my phone. Of course they're mostly of Hazel, with the token one or two of other things, like my house. I'm going to just slap them up on here with little captions - have fun browsing.


My little hoodlum.




At the zoo with Rae Ann and the girls.



My favorite zoo picture. Too cute.





At the beach! Her first time swinging alone. I could have spent all day watching her and snapping pictures - she cracked us up. She kept kicking out her little legs, dancing in her seat. She's been in a swing on my lap before, but this was a totally different experience - she was gleeful!



If you know us at all, you know that we're huge fans of coffee. And the beach. Put the two together, you often find us at Bella Espresso in Cannon Beach. Oh, but we've found even better coffee. Bella has disappointed us our last few trips so we thought we'd find a new coffee joint to try. Head south through Cannon Beach to the second turn-off to 101 (by Doogers) and you'll find this little coffee roaster and storefront called the Sleepy Monk. Yum in the extreme. So good this Starbucks girl even bought a pound of their Fiddler's Fusion (Nate, an even bigger coffee critic than me, was ecstatic). Oh, and they make really good buttermilk doughnuts. So this picture is from their little cafe. And here's a shocker: They're only open Friday-Sunday. Stop in, though - it's worth it!



If you've ever been to my parents' house, you might recognize this picture as their driveway - then again, you might not. I was shocked to drive down it the other day and find that the construction crew from across the street had ripped down about a third of the trees lining their driveway. I guess a cul-de-sac is going in.



This is the field next to our house that I've kinda been posting about. It's been totally cleared now. There are no more trees, shrubs, or blackberry bushes, and it's been raked flat. Grass is going in next...and soon.


I suddenly can't find a picture I took of my garden. I'll have to find that and post it - or just take another one. Yes, that would be easier. I'll do that. I'm sure lazy today! And I'm quickly running out of time. Hazel is in the third hour of her nap so my minutes are limited. It's been wonderful to get this done, though - I'm sitting in my nice clean kitchen at my nook table (one of my favorite pieces of furniture), staring at a vase full of peonies from the local farmer's market and drinking coffee with hazelnut creamer out of my favorite mug. And it's cool and slightly rainy outside, with occasional breaks of blue sky. Mmm. Perfection.

Now I'm going to post several videos. I'm really not sure what kind of quality they'll be - they're from my phone also. They've all been taken in the last few months, so they're not incredibly recent. Although the one with my dad holding Hazel at the picnic table is from this past weekend. Enjoy!