Mama

Nina recently went from saying 'Mama' just a few times a day to quite frequently. She's been talking to Mama all day and calling out to her during our walk, while eating, and throughout the diaper changes. The whole family is happy to get outside for walks again, and while walking around the lake, Nina tries to talk to each dog she sees. We can't tell if she's trying to say 'woof' or if she's just saying 'oooooooh.' We're going to need to start putting up the gates as Nina climbed 9 steps tonight (with dad behind her) while looking for Mama.

Silly girl

Nina is crawling and climbing on everything lately. She's smiling a lot, although she has started to hear the word 'no' a few times and doesn't seem to be a fan of it (See photo below). She's gotten pretty good at giving kisses, some of them with more slobber than others. Her new word is "Mama" and we're trying to get some footage of it.

Nina also has a few new hobbies. She plays a game with Dada; she yells and tries to startle him, cracking up every time. She also likes dancing to music when she hears it, often waving her hands, bouncing, or just rocking back and forth. Sometimes she tries to trick Mama by pretending she's too big for a pacifier, spitting it out immediately. So silly!

New skills

Nina and Dada had a great spring break. Nearly all of the snow has melted from the rooftops and there has been plenty of sunshine -- a sure sign that the first day of spring and the first day of baseball season are just days away.

Nina's newest skills include clapping and feeding herself cheerio puffs. She's also been making new sounds as she babbles and continues to enjoy crawling and initiating peek-a-boo.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Nina has been enjoying spring break with Dad, but all the running around has her a bit under the weather. After trying out the jogging stroller, going to the zoo, and running errands earlier in the week, we decided to take the day easy and watch March Madness. Nina got her basketball out and played too. When dad went to get a bottle, Nina decided her nose was runny and she should take out ALL the kleenex. The first of many "shouldn't have left you for 10 seconds" moments.

Spring Break!

Spring Break got started with a fun trip to Nebraska. Nina loved her time with Nana and Papa and going to Ella's baptism. We saw many fun people, played a lot of games, and got plenty of laughs. We even got a chance to skype with Uncle Jake and Aunt Kelsey. Nina did a great job in the car, sleeping 9 out of the 12 hours. We made a quick stop in Owatonna for more cards, fun, and skyping. Hopefully the weather warms up in Minnesota for a springier spring break.

8 Months

Nina is now eight months old and it appears she is too big for the block pictures anymore. We managed to get only one picture in before she started crawling, grabbing and throwing the blocks one by one. She thought it was pretty funny.

Ottoman photo shoot

Nina has been crawling all over the house this last week and found all sorts of new toys, like the doorstopper, shelves, and all of mom's baskets. She laughs when mom and dad chase her around and thinks she's pretty cool. She's now trying to pull herself up onto the couch and ottoman.

Cleaning up the fuzz-------------Showing off some new top teeth