Hyper Libby

Why is it that as Libby gets more tired (take in church for example) she gets MORE HYPER? I watch all the other babies settling down in their mommy's arms, cuddling and going to sleep. Libby, on the other hand, is making me crazy: trying to crawl away, banging on chairs, yelling, trying to tear the hymn book, etc. I am sure it has nothing to do with the energy level of her parents...

It's A...

nother GIRL! Yep. I went to Pregnancy Journey today to have another ultrasound. It is pretty slam dunk. This time for my $75.00 I got to know the gender and I got a DVD and a bunch of pictures. You are seeing a couple of the 4-D pictures. I will spare you the pictures of the gender identification parts ;) I am going out (when Derek gets back from wrestling camp) to buy patio furniture to celebrate how much cheaper this baby will be since it is a girl :)

Here are some names I am liking...your feedback solicited!

Hannah Norton..but what is the nickname, hannie?

Rebecca Norton..Becca for short

Abigail Norton...but then Libby and Abby?

And what for middle names? Hmm...

Our Garden!

This week the garden was our big project. We cleared this plot of land in our backyard. It was the easiest to clear, and it gets the best sun! It was a flowerbed, so we moved some bulbs of some kind, two lilac bushes (all Derek), and two other bushes. I did some serious weeding. Then, we planted! It is a bit late, but in WA this summer, it has been cold up until now, so hopefully it will be okay. We got our plants at 50% off too! We planted tomatoes (roma and beefsteak), beans, corn, cucumbers, zuchinni, squash, one potato, and a bunch of herbs. I am so excited to watch the stuff grow!

Also, I planted a couple of flowers. I am so my mother's daughter. Petunias :) And this sunflowerish looking flower like she plants, but I can't remember the name.

Cool Tubbin It

Yesterday was a perfect day for the "cool tub". Emmi bought the fun floaties on her way over. Both kids really enjoyed splashing around in them. Emmi and I got to relax a bit and chat. It was a blast.

Maren's Surprise

We had a dinner with Grandpa Don on Sunday that was also a surprise birthday party for Aunt Maren. Libby enjoyed herself throughly, especially ripping up Grammy's newspapers. She tried new foods, LOVED the beans hawaiian, and this ice cream cone.

She also enjoyed sitting on Grandpa Don's lap for a minute. She really wanted to get back to those newspapers.

What Libby Doesn't Love

Grandma Susie pointed out the other day that I write a lot about what Libby loves...so I promised her an entry about what Libby doesn't love.
-bananas
-grass on her knees
-trying to sleep without a binkie
-leavning her binkie in bed after a nap
-having her diaper changed (or staying still for longer than 2 seconds in general)
-dresses (since they trip her up when crawling)
-when I stop her from playing with the toilet :)

Ivar's Adventure

Last night we picked up Libby's Great-Grandpa Don from the Edmonds Train Station and took him to Ivar's for dinner. Ivar's has great fish and chips. In our quest to get Libby to eat more to help her sleep better at night, we let her eat fries and fish. She didn't swallow any fish, I don't think, but she sure had fun putting it in her mouth and letting it slip out.
ps. Thanks for the amazing books, Grandpa Don. The Little Red Hen is one of my favorite books EVER!

Freemont Fair

So for those who aren't from Seattle, Freemont is a free thinking part of Seattle. Today was the beginning of their fair, which kicks off with a NAKED bike ride. Most of the cyclists are painted with body paint, but yes, some are completely nude. Anyway, Derek was working the fair today, and since it was our fifth anniversary, I decided to take Libby down to see him. Maren and Clark joined us. Clark gave Libby the stroller ride of her life! I thought we would be missing the naked people by going after the parade, but we sure saw a few. Crazy. Anyway, Libby enjoyed her first corndog. She attacked it actually. She started trying to take bites of it while we were still looking for somewhere to sit down.

Tribute to Daddy

Libby found her dad's police hat (which was ridiculously expensive and he never wears, btw). I didn't let her eat it, but tried to get a shot of her wearing it. It was so funny. Since it is the week of Father's Day, I just have to say that Libby has a great daddy! He wears lots of hats, police officer, wrestling coach, manual laborer (today he is painting), daddy, and husband. He does them all really well.

"Cool Tubbing" It

Reid, Emmi, Libby, and I had a good time in the "cool" tub on Monday. It was such a beautiful day! I got sunburned a bit and have been suffering! But thankfully Libby had enough sunscreen on. Our backyard is so fun!

Libby Explores

We moved from a basement apartment, and now we have a huge picture window in our living room that is just the right height for her to look out of. She loves it!

She also loves the long hallway. She can crawl down it in about 2 seconds flat, especially if I have left the bathroom door open, and she thinks she can get to the toilet before I can stop her.

She likes being outside, but doesn't like the deck texture. She does the bear crawl to avoid touching her knees down.

Our House...

Here are some more house pics. I finished the family room pictures today. Family pictures in the family room. Another decorating trait I got from my mom :)

If you look closely you can see that Libby started crying just as I took this picture, and you can see one of her new favorite pasttimes, pulling down DVDs from the shelf.

Hooray!

Today we have several things to celebrate.
1. It is Derek's first real father's day, and I got him a sweet bonus pack :)
2. Libby is HEALTHY again. Pretty much. She is still coughing, but she is eating and the food seems to be flowing more regularly through her system. I wasn't remembering wrong, she really is sweet and independent when she isn't sick.
3. I PASSED my BodyPump certification. (You may recall I had to send in a video for them to see me teaching to make sure I could really do it...well, the video reviewer gave me the thumbs up!)
4. It is sunny! For those who don't know, this has been the coldest June EVER in recorded history in Seattle. Just when we got a back yard of our own, we have been shivering inside. But today we will be outside for our Father's Day celebration. I made one batch of homemade ice cream last night, and I am making another today. We will actually enjoy the cool treat!
Isn't life good? On top of that, it is Sunday.

Appreciating Health

There is nothing like being sick to make you appreciate your health, right? Well, this is true for your kids too I am finding. Libby has had a variety of mystery ailments right on top of each other. What started as a cough then led to a fever (with fever rash), diaper rash, then barfing and diarreha. The grumpiness comes and goes, but it is tough! We finally went to the doctor yesterday and her ears, nose, and throat all look good. I am just struggling with watching her not eat very much. One day she refused formula most of the day, yesterday, she refused solids. It is just hard when she doesn't feel good. My mom used to always say she would rather be sick than have us feel sick. I didn't believe her then, but I understand completely now!

Libby Talks! sort of...

I am now convinced that Libby knows who dada is. When he calls I always put him on speaker phone. Now she always says, "dada!" when she hears his voice. So cute. I also think she is actually saying "bye bye" sometimes when she waves. Hmmm. How much of this is just my motherly desire to hear her talking? I don't know.

Libby's New Toys

Her favorite new toys are the screwdrivers Derek leaves laying around. She dropped the one she had been eating when I tried to take this picture, but you can see it under her. She also loves sucking on the drill box.

My bathroom

Here is the excuse for not blogging over the weekend while Derek was gone. I worked on the bathroom. I painted the white walls a fresh coat of white and touched up the blue. Yesterday I found the perfect rugs, towels, and clock. It is the first room I feel is "done" so it gets to have the first picture on the blog. Libby was also not doing a lot of cute things over the weekend because she wasn't feeling so hot. She did a lot of clinging and crying :( Yesterday she was doing much better, but today she is grumpy again. She had a fever, now she has a major diaper rash, and she still hasn't been able to shake the cough that is making her crazy.

Thank Yous!

I feel that I have been negligent in thanking those who helped make the move possible. I may miss someone, but here are some serious shout outs!
Emmi, Dan, and Reid Fillmore did some awesome painting--several times. Also Emmi pretty much single handedly scraped all the wall paper while I held up the steamer.
The Rathburns, Susie for babysitting and Ray for letting us borrow innumerable tools.
The Norton Grandparents for babysitting and Grandma Norton for mowing the lawn.
Derek's squadmates and buddies for helping us to move.
My best friend Mike (from Logan days) and his wife taking time out of their vacation to help us move.
Brett for his tools.
Connie for her Home Depot gift card that paid for our baseboards.
Maren and Clark for their moving help.
Grandpa Randall for his assistance :)
Wow. Lots of people helped make this possible.

Libby Loves the House!

Here are some shots of the Libster enjoying the moving in process. She was helping me organize my tupperware :) Then she was loving the compressor we borrowed from Brett (Derek's bro-in-law) to power the nail gun (which we also borrowed from Brett) to put up new baseboards.

We've Finally Moved!

So if you are familiar with the 7 Habits of Highly Effective people, you will understand when I say that for the last week I have been operating in "the urgent". I tried to plan ahead so I could still do the important things, like updating the blog, but in the madness of packing, painting, and moving (along with Body Pump launch prep and my MAD COLD) it was all I could do to survive. But, we made it! We got all our painting done before the new carpet went in. We moved in on schedule on Saturday.

I didn't even have time to take pictures while we were getting everything done. Sad, but true.

Our new house is so amazing. We can't believe it is ours. Libby is in absolute heaven. She has so much more space to crawl around. She loves going in to her room to play with her books and toys.

We went to our new ward today. I have never had so many people come up to us and say hi and seriously get to know us. It was amazing. Derek is being heavily recruited for choir.

Libby is cutting two more teeth. That makes a total of 6! She is also starting to try to let go while standing up. She can balance for a second or two. She is very good at high-5, clapping, and waving.

This will be another intense week as tomorrow we are going to do baseboards, shop for a washer and dryer (at a scratch and dent place....we haven't yet done our duty to "stimulate the economy"), and I am getting ready for the Body Pump launch the week at Harbor Square. Derek is heading off for California on Thursday for Adam Hansen's wedding. (Adam is the first member of our wedding party to get married! Crazy since we got married almost 5 years ago!)

Anyway, we are so excited to be in our new HOUSE. It is unbelievable but true!

Memorial Day Trip to Utah

We had a great time celebrating Emily's graduation, Derek's birthday, and Memorial day. Libby had some fun experiences!