11 months!

How can Timothy be 11 months old already? What fun it has been to watch him grow. He is so curious about everything and now that he is crawling, he can explore even more. Yes that means I have made some changes in our cupboard arrangements. The rarely used, unbreakable things are now in the bottom cupboards. Timothy's favorite things to pull out are the measuring cups, and the drip tray and spatula from the George Foreman Grill. Timothy takes a bite of his measuring cup!

Another new trick he's learned is to look under things. He drops on his belly to see what is under the couch (usually some sort of toy), or under his changing table (more toys). He has yet to develop the coordination to gracefully reach things under the couch. He just swipes his hand at things blindly hoping to grab it knocking it farther away in the process.

To celebrate Timothy's 11 months (and a friend's 30 years) we went to the water park in Grand Forks. Timothy loved it! He went down two water slides and the lazy river with Troy. He jumped around in the little swings. And he tried so hard to grab the water shooting up from the ground. He doesn't mind water in his face and was often the one splashing himself.

11 wonderful months...we are blessed. (Even if he doesn't want to have his picture taken.) In the picture below he is mad because I would not let him have the camera!

It is cold!

Okay, so everyone who told us it would be cold in North Dakota...you were right! It is cold here. I think it was the sudden change from 60 degree days to 30 degree days that caught me off guard. And then you add in the wind, and I think it might be a long winter! We have not had any measurable snow, but there are flurries every day it seems. Sometimes the flurries are pretty, other times they are just a reminder of what is ahead! And the cold also means bundling Timothy up in a hat and mittens. Even though that does not sound like a lot of work, getting out the door these days takes a lot longer. At least Timothy has stopped crying every time I put the hat on him. I think he was happier when I started wearing my hat so he was not the only one with a silly looking thing on his head!

On a positive note, the cold here causes people to put up there outdoor Christmas lights early. When I go to the gym in the morning there is something fun about seeing houses lit up already. You may wonder if our house is one of the ones already lit up. Well I would like to say that we hold strong to the after Thanksgiving decorating rule. Or that Troy is a true North Dakotan who is not bothered by cold and can wait yet before decorating. But neither would be completely true. Our house remains dark because life is busy and we just have not gotten to it. We do have some new net lights ready to try. You will have to stay tuned to see if they make it out of the box!

And one more plus of North Dakota...people here actually know what lefse is. It is sold in the stores and half the people you meet have probably made lefse themselves or at least know someone who has. And if you are wondering what lefse is, you are missing out on something good! (Timothy had his first taste this past week and he liked it!!)

On a side note, I have tried to snap a few new pictures of Timothy, but none have been worth posting. Now that he is crawling, it is slightly harder to get a cute shot. When he sees the camera, he starts crawling to it. So my pictures show a blurry baby, a head right up close, or a hand reaching to grab the camera. I'll keep trying!

Changing seasons

I added a winter picture to the top of our blog. It seems a bit early, but I was feeling in a winter mood. (Troy jokingly asked if we really needed that picture so soon!) The weather forecast for the weekend was for snow and the temps are now in the 30s--seems winter to me. Although we actually did not get the predicted snow. It stayed west of Grand Forks, but I am keeping my winter picture nevertheless.

Since winter has yet to show up, I thought I should show a couple of fall pictures. Here are some pictures of Timothy buried in the leaves and a gorgeous sunset from the other night.

On the move!

Timothy has finally figured out how to crawl at 10 1/2 months!! It is still very new to him, but he is getting the hang of it. A tried to get a little video. So far I have not gotten much, but below is at least a glimpse of our little guy on the move.