Snow Day!

We got a big snowstorm last week - just under a foot of snow, and Daddy was out getting ready and then plowing for 25 hours straight! Nora had lots of fun playing in the snow. It was the first time it's snowed since she's been walking, so it was a new experience! She had a hard time walking in the fresh snow over her knees, but did fine once I tromped down a little path for her. Josie, as usual, slept through the excitement.

Unfortunately, the snow was followed a few days later by freezing rain, and now our yard is one huge sheet of ice. Much less fun to play in! I'm hoping for lots more snow so we can get outside to play again, and Nora can really test out her new snowboots (which arrived two days after this storm ended, of course).

In other news, Josie had a big growth spurt this week. On Monday, she wore a particular 0-3 month outfit, and when I tried to put the same outfit on her this morning, it was too small! She literally went to bed in jammies that fit, and woke up with them too small. How is that even possible?!? Most of her 3-6 month clothing is fitting now - baggy, but not too huge - and most of her 0-3 things are too short. I can't believe she is already growing up so fast!

Six weeks

At six weeks, Josie's starting to have much longer awake and alert periods, which is lots of fun. She turns her head to track objects in motion, and towards sounds. She still prefers sleeping on or next to someone, but she's starting to be more accepting of Daddy as that person (before, she would only sleep on me).

At her one month appointment, she was almost back up to her birthweight, and an inch longer! She was 8 lbs 15 oz (40th percentile) and 21.5" (75th percentile). So far, at least, she has the same body type as Nora, with their height tracking way above their weight. Nice and healthy!

She's just starting to grow out of a few things - mostly newborn size things that Nora never even wore! Two of my favorite rompers have been retired, as well as a couple of sleepers and several onesies. Like Nora, Josie seems to be outgrowing things for length before girth. Part of that is her cloth diapers, which add bulk and make her long torso even longer. Speaking of which, I moved her up from newborn sized diaper covers to size small yesterday. My dainty baby is growing up already!

Nineteen months

Ok, so I skipped Nora's 18 month update last month. We were a little busy! Her well-baby pediatrician visit was only last week, anyway. She's now 27 lbs, 6 oz (80th percentile) and 34.5" (still off the top of the charts). She's happy and healthy, and took her one vaccination shot calmly.

She had a slightly elevated blood lead level at her 12 month appointment, so they took more blood this time for a recheck. I don't have those results yet, but in combination with all the toy recalls lately, I'm getting more selective about what she plays with. At her age, and because she's teething on all four 2-yr molars, "plays with" still means "chews on." I'm pretty concerned about plastics too, so I'm trying to phase out all the things with BPA and phthalates in them, as well as lead. Both girls will be getting some safer toys for Christmas, but I'm also looking at this as an opportunity to focus on quality, not quantity. One website I've found helpful is The Consumer Action Guide to Toxic Chemicals in Toys, http://www.healthytoys.org/.

Nora's vocabulary is below (bold means new since I last listed it). She's talking and signing constantly these days - I'm not going to be able to keep track much longer! Her spoken vocab is starting to catch up with her signs, as you can see. It's still very much baby talk, and she usually needs me or Aaron to translate for others to understand.

Signs: more, all done, please, dog, hat, milk, food/eat, music, bed/nap, play, brush teeth, push (swing), hi/bye, airplane, Daddy, me, baby, napkin/wash face, hairbrush, banana, telephone, thank you, fly (the bug), Mama, apple, up, you're welcome, book, help, tissue, wind, wash hands, camera, water, shaker (maraca), rain, glasses, I love you (the handshape), Josie, bang, hurt, cheese, wash, waffle, hot, cold, nursies, bath.

Spoken words: yes, no, Mama, Daddy/Dada, switch (turn on the light or fan), fish, shoes, sock, dog, duck, now, tea, dump, chair, bang, up, Nora, Nana, belly button, baby, cat, bear, beep, yum, sister, Josie, clock, diaper, uh-oh, Auntie Emily, knee, Taylor, Sam, Papoose, whee, coaster, apple, ball, spoon, Mica, happy, banana, Abby (this is her friend Taylor's dog, but her perfect pronunciation bodes well for our Christmas visit with Aunt Abby!), nursies, ring, silly, Snappi, Santa, swing, soon, sure, shower. Lots of S words popped up this week!

Sounds: a cow-mmmmooo, a dog-woo woo, and a truck-rrrrrrrrrrarrrrrr, occasionally a motorboat-phhbbt, a bee-bzzzzzzz, a train-chooo, a cat-meeemow, a chicken-cock cock cock, a rooster-cock cock ooooooo. Sometimes she'll tell you that Santa says ho ho ho, but not reliably.

She can identify her (and your!) foot, bellybutton, tummy, eyes, nose, hair, toes, mouth, ears, chin, knees, shoulders, fingers.

She knows the motions to a bunch of songs, including The Wheels on the Bus, When You're Happy and You Know It, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Pat A Cake, Twinkle Twinkle, The Hokey Pokey, Open Shut Them, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes.

The artist on break...

I was trying to get a video of Nora painting, but she kept stopping her work as soon as she saw the camera. So instead here's a video of her chatting and singing while she takes a break from painting!

Highlights

Maybe this is the way it's going to be around here for a while: no posts for a couple of weeks, then a big picture post when I finally have a moment on the computer! Enjoy it while it lasts...

We're all doing really well. The reason for the scarcity of posts lately is because Josie seems to have some sort of magical sixth sense for knowing when we're trying to use the computer. She can be sound asleep in the wrap, but the second you sit down at the computer - or heaven forbid, try to type! - she wakes up and starts fussing. It's not the sitting upright position, because she'll happily sleep through me sitting at the kitchen table, it's something about the computer. Silly baby. Doesn't she know Mama needs her computer time?!

Anyway, since my last post, we've had lots of fun times. Highlights included a wonderful and peaceful Thanksgiving dinner at Mem and Grandpa's house (after which Nora walked 1.5 miles around the block on her own!), cutting a Christmas tree out behind Meme's house on a very cold day (it's set up in our dining room now, but still not decorated - things like that take a LOT of time with a toddler and a baby around), and making and decorating Christmas cookies at Nana and Babchi's house. Lots of fun!

Nora painted a big Welcome Home banner for our neighbors Simon, Ming, and Nuobei, who were returning from China. We had lots of fun feeding their fish while they were gone for a month!

The artist at work. Coming soon: a video of the artist on break! (She stopped painting when I started the video, but it's still a cute little movie of her chatting.)
Snack time.
Maybe that snack was a little tart! I don't remember what she was eating here.
A rare (and brief) not-on-Mama nap.
Feeding Baby Doll. Sometimes she gets a bottle, and sometimes Nora nurses her, which is super cute.

Daddy, Nora, and Baby Doll.
I was changing Josie's diaper one morning, and came back into the living room to find Nora had climbed up on the couch with a photo album to look at, all on her own.
Mmmm, an apple nearly as big as my head!
Uncle Ben and Aunt Aimee came to meet Josie the weekend after Thanksgiving. Here's a picture of Ben and his newest neice.
Nora modeling the latest in Daddy work-wear.
A kind of creepy picture of Josie and Baby Doll, hangin' on the couch together.
Nora's excited about going to find a Christmas tree!
Nora and Daddy looking for the perfect tree.
Sitting down to watch Daddy cut down the final selection.

The girls and the tree! Josie is zipped inside my jacket in a wrap, with her cozy fleece snowsuit on. It was a really cold day, and I think she was the warmest of all of us! Nora and I have matching jackets, but it's not on purpose - Nana picked out her jacket, and didn't know that mine was the same color!
Happy Nora and Mama.
While I was posting all these pictures, Nora set herself up outside the door of the study. She brought over a box to sit in, a blanket for her lap, a book (about being a big sister), and Baby Doll. So cute!

When I next have a moment, I'll upload the video of Nora (not) painting, and I'll post a new list of her vocabulary. She's got lots of new words and signs since I last listed them!