It was bound to happen...

What. A. Night.

I knew the day would come that I would have to deal with my sweet baby and my greatest fear. Well, last night was the night. Nola got the stomach flu...

It was a rough go - poor little thing. She woke up at about 11:40pm, crying in her crib. I went into her room, gave her her soother and I think it triggered her gag reflex 'cause she started vomiting. My poor little darling - she was so scared at first. We got her in the tub and cleaned her up (unfortunately, she was on her back when she threw-up, so she desperately needed a shampooing) then we snuggled with her. We put her in her swing to sleep with Toy Story 2 on the TV and she stayed quiet for a bit...but then came round 2. It just breaks my heart - she was so sick! After we cleaned her up again, she slept for a couple hours, and then she went for round 3. Luckily, third time is a charm, and that was the end of that.

We took her to the hospital in the morning, just to be sure she was ok, and of course, she was! She's just a little under the weather and needed to get all that bad stuff out.

As for me, I DID IT!!!!! I am so proud of myself. It is amazing how motherly instinct takes over, even when we are facing our greatest fears!

Now, on to the heaps of nasty laundry. Ewww...

Nola's new trick!

Here Nola, Nola, Nola!!

It seems we've traded in our sweet little baby for a sweet little puppy! Nola's new trick is to crawl around while holding her toys in her mouth. She started by packing around her stuffy, Mr. Bear. It is so cute! This afternoon, Mr. Bear was on the floor so she crawled over to him and instead of picking him up, she lowered her face to his, bit down on his nose and took him for a walk! So sweet!

Below are a few pic's and a video of Nola packing around her 'fart car' key ring. Its actually quite amazing - that toy is heavy!

PS These aren't very flattering pics of Nola. She kinda looks like a grumpy old man...

8 month stats!

Today, Nola is 8 months old!

She's getting so big! Here are her stats.

Weight: 17 lbs 7 oz

Clothing size: 3-6 month and some 6 month

Favourites:

Toy - light up story book, farting car

Food - peaches

Noise - yelling...she loves to yell

Song - "Good morning", "The wheels on the bus", "Smooth road"

Activity - crawling, the stairs, pulling herself to standing

Currently Learning:

- cruising

- feeding herself with the spoon

- pulling herself up on unsturdy objects

Dislikes:

- getting dressed

- long car rides

- being tired

Best part for Mommy:

- watching her learn

- hearing her voice, even though its yelling

- swaddling her to sleep

- feeding her new things

- her smiles and giggles

- her lizard tongue :)

The newest member of our family.

Let me start at the beginning.

A little less than 2 weeks ago, I drove our Kia and went for dinner with my friends in Lethbridge. When I was leaving the restaurant, it was giving me troubles, again!! The Kia had been in the shop multiple times last month and we put a decent chunk of money into getting it going. Needless to say, I was pretty choked when it was acting up again. My friend drove me home that night and we left the Kia in Lethbridge.

We went in the following day and brought it over to the shop to get checked out again and then Doug and I decided to go take a look at the dealerships for a newer vehicle. It was pretty overwhelming, so we just kinda glanced at what there was. Neither of us were really serious on getting something new - it was more of a hope than a reality.

Fast forward a couple days - the Kia is still in the shop and we had yet to hear what was wrong with it, but we still had our Alero, so we were still getting around. After the Trunk or Treat on Saturday, we were driving back to Coalhurst and Doug slows down and pulls over. I asked why he was slowing down....his response? "I'm not doing anything. The car is dying"

So yes, our Alero broke down on the side of the road. We couldn't get it to start at all. Of course, we were ill prepared and forgot our cell phones, so I got out and tried to wave a car down to help us. Much to my surprise, there were 4 cars that burned right past us - didn't even give us the time of day! Thankful, a man stopped with a suburban and then another couple, who happened to be in our ward. The couple who were in our ward lived less than a km away, so they "towed" our car to they property. The towing consisted of pulling the Alero with a rope tied under the hood. The other gentleman who stopped let Nola and I stay warm in his car and then drove us all back to Coalhurst once the Alero was safely off the road.

So there we were, back home, with no car. Two cars dead within 4 days of each other! Whats the luck!! Doug has thought that the engine had seized, which was very bad. If the engine seizes, it is no good and needs to be completely replaced. Of course, he was very worried.

On Sunday, Doug and my Dad went out to check out the Alero again. My Dad is a mechanic, so he knew right away what had happened - the timing chain broke. This could b a good thing or a bad thing. If it was just the timing chain, we could replace it for about $1000.00, however due to the break, there could have been extensive damage internally, requiring detailed work or again, a new engine. All we could do was have it towed to the shop and have them do a diagnostic.

That evening, we went over to Clint and Nickie's for dinner and a visit. A few weekends prior, they had bought a new vehicle - a Dodge Journey. We went out with them for a cruise and we fell in love! It was just what we wanted - an SUV, seats up to 7, can pull a bike trailer, DVD player and reasonably priced!!

On Monday we went to the dealership and by Friday, this is what is sitting in our driveway...

What a beauty!! And she's ours!! Our 2010 Dodge Journey SXT!!

As for our other cars? The Kia had a cap that popped of in the transmission. Fortunately, it was only $50 to fix and she back and better than ever. As for the Alero...not so good. The engine needed to be replaced, so off the auto-wrecker she goes. You've been good to us, Betty. May you rest in peace.

Cousins make the world go 'round!

I love my cousin!!!

This week, my cousin Jodi, her husband Ryan, and their two sweet boys, Gabe (2 years) and Isaac (4 months) came for a visit! It was so wonderful!! I love them soo much, but they live in Golden, BC, so we don't get to see one another all that much. They had some Christmas shopping to do, which was a great excuse to come see us!

It sure was busy, but it was wonderful to have so many kids around! We did some shopping and just hung out around the house. The kids were so cute together!

Here are some pictures of the cute lil' cousins!!

Hopefully they will be as close Jodi and I!

Nola and Isaac reading a book. Ryan's favorite book, in fact. Haha!

Holding hands. Awww!!


Checkin' each other out!

Nola was jumping in her Jolly Jumper and Gabe thought it was the funniest thing! I caught this at the end, but he was still loving it. Everytime she would jump, he would laugh! It was awesome!!

Halloween!

I can't believe Halloween has come and gone. It s truly amazing how quickly time has been going by!

For Halloween this year, we went to our wards Trunk or Treat in Picture Butte. Because Halloween was on a Sunday, we had our party on Saturday evening. There were a bunch of fun activities for the kids, pizza for dinner and then the Trunk or Treat. For those who don't know what a Trunk or Treat is, we park our cars in the church parking lot and then the children go Trick or Treating from trunk to trunk. Its safe and tons of fun!

I am not really big into Halloween, so I didn't want to spend much on costumes. Doug went as a dirk biker (how original), I went as a Smurfette (I have had that costume for years and I wear it just about ever year) and Nola went as a Ladybug. I found her costume at Value Village for $6. Its a size 2T, so she'll be a Ladybug for a couple years, too!

Doug took Nola around to Trunk or Treat, but he got some funny looks. Haha, I am sure they all knew that the candy wasn't for Nola. We spent the majority of the evening in the gym where Nola crawled around. She loved her Trick or Treat bag, so Doug drug it around on the floor and she chased it. She is easily entertained!

Aside from our car breaking down (which is a whole other story in itself), Halloween was a blast!

Mama Smurf and her little bug.

Daddy and baby!


Our little bug!

Ain't she cute?

Haha, her costume is a little too big!

Happy girl!

Nola going for a cruise.

Who knew it would be her last time in this car......

I can stand on my own!!

Oh my word!!

Nola is growing up so quick! A few weeks ago, she started crawling. Only days later, she began climbing up the stairs! Now, she can pull herself up to standing!! Before you know it, this little girl is going to be running! She's not even 8 months old yet! Yikes!

Here she is!!