A Day in the Life

Finally!!

2009-05-19T18:25:00.005-05:00

We got a new camera this weekend, so hopefully that will make both taking and sharing pictures easier! (Plus, it's pink. How cute am I?!?)

All ready for Stroller Strides. It was chilly on Monday morning!

Bundled up and ready to go.

Silly face at playgroup after class.

Josie, very focused on her snack.

Nora pushing a doll stroller, teaching her own Stroller Strides class.

More silly Josie faces...

Today was sunny and warm, and we played outside all afternoon.

Both girls were really focused on the bubbles in their laps.

Josie, discovering that perhaps bubble wands aren't the most tasty thing ever.

Nora, having just reached the same conclusion.

A silly pose. (Also, I think I like the new camera - it makes our yard look like a botanical garden or something!)

Josie heading over to get some more dirt out of the flowerpot.

Sunny day girl! We had just finished planting the vegetable garden, and there was some hose play afterwards, which is why they both have wet hair in these pics!

Josie Speaks!

2009-05-01T07:21:00.003-05:00

Josie turned 18 months yesterday, and to celebrate she asked me to write a list of all her words. So without further ado, here's her current vocabulary. Combining signs and spoken language, she has nearly 50 words!

Signs:
more
milk
all done
water
dog
Daddy
baby
phone
hi/bye
up
no
bird
ball
please
cheese
food/eat
shoes
sorry
thank you
cat

Spoken words (organized by initial sound, for my own amusement):
M words:
Mama
more
my/mine

D words:
Dada/Daddy
Ida (her baby doll)
doll
dog
done
diaper
down
beer
bra
boot
shoes
cheers

B words:
ball
balloon

W words:
wow
water
whee
flower

Vowel words (she basically just drops the first consonant in these):
Nora
Hi
Bye
uh oh
uh huh
yes

G words (these are all new in the last couple of days):
go
good
buckle
yogurt

N word:
banana

She makes the sounds of a cat (mowm), dog (woo woo), monkey (ahh ahh ahh), cow (oooooh), and car/truck/dinosaur/monster/bear (growl). She knows the motions for Head Shoulders Knees & Toes, Twinkle Twinkle, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and If You're Happy and You Know It.

Ok, so pictures. I know we sorely lacking in those around here lately! I am trying to figure out a way for my lazy self to get them up more easily. I am starting to use Flickr, so here's what would be perfect: if I could upload pics directly from my camera to Flickr, and then it would automatically post an update (here? on Facebook?) that I had done so. Anyone know if that's possible? Right now there are just too many steps for me to get the pics off the camera, onto the photo software on my computer, and uploaded to here or flickr or facebook. I just don't get that kind of computer time to myself, ever!

Silly girl

2009-03-23T15:14:00.001-05:00

100_1259, originally uploaded by sarahglor.

Josie's crazy face.....

Apple Spyglass

2009-03-23T15:13:00.001-05:00

apple spyglass, originally uploaded by sarahglor.

Nora enjoying a multi-purpose snack.

Mehwee Kissips!

2008-12-25T06:57:00.004-05:00

Wishing a very Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate!

We're anxiously awaiting news of the girls' new baby cousin Sprout soon, and thinking of Aunt Abby, who's working on getting him out into the world, and Aunt Sara, who's helping Aunt Abby with that little project! We hope he's a Christmas baby (or even a Christmas Eve baby, and I'll forgive you for not calling us in the middle of the night). We also can't wait to find out his real name! :)

And about Mehwee Kissips, yeah, I know it's obnoxious to keep typing out Nora-speak. But some of her pronounciations are so cute, and I want you all to experience them! And I'm definitely going to have to buy some batteries somewhere other than the dollar store if I ever want my camera to take a video again.

Kissips Tee!

2008-12-20T13:51:00.004-05:00

We got a tree from a farmstand this year for the first time, as both girls and Aaron have been pretty sick, and we didn't want them wandering around in the woods all afternoon to harvest one ourselves behind Meme's house, as we usually do. It's a lovely tree all the same, even if it's a lot more traditional than I'm used too. Apparently they don't sell wispy Charlie Brown white pines at tree farms! Who knew?!

The girls were very excited to bring it in the house - Josie did a dance, and Nora put a dish towel in it to be a bird's nest.

We got the tree a week ago, and set it up the same day. It's still undecorated, but the Kissips Elffs came one night after the girls were asleep and left Kissips lights on it, which are a big hit. Hopefully those elves will get to the decorating one of these nights soon, otherwise it's going to be a lit but undecorated tree on Christmas!

Snow!

2008-12-20T13:26:00.002-05:00

We got nearly a foot of snow over the last 24 hrs! Aaron's been out plowing for about 20 of those hours, but the girls and I have been hunkered down at home, baking Christmas cookies and reading stories. We ventured out to play for a while this morning. It took about 20 minutes to get all three of us geared up, we were outside for about half an hour, and it took 10 minutes to strip it all off afterwards. The whole adventure felt like a lot more than an hour, though!

The girls were pretty much immobilized by their winterwear, even in the living room. From the inside out, Nora's wearing: undies, socks, babylegs, tshirt, long sleeve shirt, sweatpants, bib snowpants, parka, snowboots, gloves, mittens, and a hat. Josie's in: diaper, tshirt, babylegs, socks, long sleeve onesie, fleece overalls, shearling lined soft sole boots, snowsuit, bootie things that attach to the snowsuit, mittens, and a hat.

Neither of them really got the concept of playing with the snow, and it is really powdery and not good snowman snow, but they were happy once I brushed off the slide and swings and they could use those. It was lots of fun - maybe once all the outwear has dried off, we'll venture out again this afternoon!

Pumpkintown USA

2008-12-04T07:28:00.002-05:00

Back in October, we made our annual trip to Pumpkintown.

Halloween

2008-12-04T07:23:00.001-05:00

Nora the dinosaur and Josie the kangaroo went trick or treating at both of our neighbor's houses. It was a epic journey! :)

Dressup

2008-12-04T07:19:00.000-05:00

Josie discovers the bin of (clean!) cleaning rags.

The difference 18 months makes....

2008-12-04T07:14:00.002-05:00

...When you're having blueberry oatmeal for breakfast:

Hope and Change

2008-11-06T16:16:00.003-05:00

Like many others of you, I am thrilled and relieved and proud and so, so happy with the results of this week's election. I was out with some mama-friends on Tuesday night, and watched some of the returns on CNN, and ended up sitting in my car in the driveway until nearly midnight in order to listen to Obama's acceptance speech, tears running down my face. I feel so lucky and proud that our country finally did something right in Washington!

I wish I'd thought to bring my camera to the polls on Tuesday, but instead I'll just have to tell them that they were both with me when I voted for the USA's first African-American president. It gives me hope that in their lifetime (hopefully in mine!) we'll have a female president, too. I've never felt so passionately about a political race before, and I hope that my enthusiasm for Obama is only increased as he begins his term. And with luck, he'll be the president until Nora's ten! (Not that I can imagine her as a ten-year-old - but I do know that at ten, she'll definitely be very aware of everything that's going on, and I want her to have leaders that she can believe in.)

Nora's been announcing to everyone that she wants "Rock-O-Mama" for president. She kind of thinks it's more of a title than a name, though, because she's also nominated "Rock-O-Daddy" and "Rock-O-Babchi" for the job. We're working on saying "President Obama" now!

p.s. More kiddo pictures coming soon. I promise!

p.p.s. Josie started walking on her birthday! She's such a big girl now! Someone asked me the other day about having two toddlers---how'd that happen?!?

Indian Summer

2008-10-10T20:54:00.004-05:00

It was a gorgeous, warm fall day today. The girls and I enjoyed a picnic lunch outside, followed by riding bikes in the driveway and playing on the new (to us!) swingset. Lots of fun!

You can see that Nora selects both of their outfits nearly every day, and often wants to match. Today they were both wearing pink dresses and stripey tights (for Nora) and babylegs (for Josie). Pretty cute, these girls!

The rule at our house is that you need to wear a helmet for anything pedal-powered, but not for foot-powered things. So don't worry, Josie's not breaking any rules here by "riding her bike" without a helmet!

We are going to put wood chips down under the playset, but haven't yet, so it's a bit of a dusty play place right now. All the more fun when you get to take a bath afterwards!

Yaaay, Josie!

2008-10-01T13:28:00.003-05:00

Josie graduated from Birth to Three (Connecticut's Early Intervention-type program) yesterday! Her physical therapist has no more concerns about her development, she's built up lots of strength in her core muscles, and she's meeting all of her gross motor and physical milestones right on target. She's cruising easily, walking while holding hands, and standing on her own! Pretty impressive for only six months of physical therapy and a baby who wasn't even bearing weight on her arms when on her tummy at 7 months.

To celebrate, last night I made Josie's favorite dinner (risotto and swiss chard) and maple cupcakes for dessert. (Thank you again, Abby and Sara, for the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World cookbook! It's AMAZING!) The girls and I had the last couple of cupcakes for afternoon snack today, and I actually managed to take pictures. Nora picked out both of their outfits today - can you tell?! :)

Wawee Hog!

2008-10-01T13:22:00.003-05:00

Posing with Wally the Frog, just like last year and the year before. You can see that someone gave him a fresh coat of paint this summer, but they forgot his nose!

August

2008-09-04T07:11:00.003-05:00

So we were in Maine for nearly two weeks, and took a picture per week. Here they both are!

Rainy day, playing in the cabin.
Sunny day, a walk around the boulevard can be exhausting!
Back home in Connecticut, running is serious business.
Watching Mica swim.
Also watching Mica, from a cozier vantage point!
He got the stick!
I'm pretty sure Aaron just wanted to have kids so he'd have an excuse to sit in every digger he came across.
Hard to tell who's enjoying it more! ;)
Josie's a big fan of snack time.

Nora seems like such a big girl - and then you see the 37,000 babies she needs to sleep with!

Early summer

2008-08-28T07:15:00.006-05:00

Here are pics from back in early June...

Road-testing a new wrap for the crunchy baby store: Nora on back.
And Josie on front!
Josie enjoying something... Peach, maybe? Melon?
The girls swinging together.

This time I can tell it's cantelope.

Nora with a popsicle.

Josie rolled entirely under the couch - and was very proud of herself!

Helping Daddy

2008-08-28T07:06:00.002-05:00

Back in June, Aaron built a couple of stone walls at the entrance to our driveway. Nora was a great helper! She's crazy strong, as evidenced by her wielding the hammer below.

Bad parents

2008-08-28T05:53:00.005-05:00

Yeah, we hardly ever take pictures anymore and never post them when we do. Too busy living life or something! In recent news: Nora decided she's a big girl who uses the potty! She asked for undies one morning when she woke up a few weeks ago, and hasn't looked back. She wears undies all day long, and a diaper for nighttime. Doing one baby's worth of diaper laundry feels like a vacation! She prefers to use the big toilet to the little potty, which makes the whole thing even easier for us. Yay for potty learning!

Josie's had a big month as well. Between 9 months and 9.5 months, she started crawling, pulling up to standing, saying Mama and Dadda, waving, clapping, giving high fives, giving kisses, and signing more, milk, and all done. She's working on another couple of teeth in her spare time these days. Whew! I don't know how she fits it all in.

Josie's 9 month well-baby visit was this week (she'll be 10 months on Saturday, but that's how doctor's office scheduling seems to work). She weighed in at 28.25" (65th%) and 19lb 10oz (50th%). I'm entertained that she's so "average" sized, since people can't get over her adorable little chub rolls, and we get comments all the time about how big she is. She's developing perfectly, and is happy and healthy.

Here are some pictures from mid-July:

Matching outfits and matching watermelon!
Bubble bath!
Now that Josie can sit up reliably on her own, the girls can bathe together. Fun times!
Sleepy baby on a hot day.
Josie's such a sweetiepie!
One of our playgroups took a fieldtrip to a local creamery with sunflower fields. Nora thought it was the best playdate ever! She had her own dish of peach icecream, and ate the whole thing sitting on a wall with the sunflowers behind her.

Josie in her jammies, enjoying some rare sister-free time one morning before Nora woke up.

Win diapers!

2008-07-17T13:03:00.004-05:00

I just entered this contest - and I know there are at least a few of you out there who could use it too!

Win a Bum Genius 3.0 Starter Kit from Nature's Child - Wholesome Goods for Mothers and Babies

Yeah, I know, more actual pictures of my kids are to come. Uncle Paul took some awesome ones at the Mattpoisett Band Concert last week, so I should be able to post those soonish!

Trying to beat the heat!

2008-06-09T18:06:00.002-05:00

We're all doing our best to stay cool today! It's a hot, hot, sweaty day. :P

Mmm, celery!

2008-06-09T17:59:00.003-05:00

So far Josie's explorations into solid food have had mixed reactions. She's not a big fan of soft, mushy foods, or anything on a spoon. So banana, sweet potato chunks, and rice cereal have not been particularly popular, although she does like to play with banana and sweet potato with her hands, so long as they don't get near her mouth. Sticks that she can gum/gnaw/suck, though, are very popular. So far, she likes carrots, celery, and asparagus in that form. She's not actually getting much, if anything at all, into her stomach, but food is just for playing and learning until a baby is one, anyway. She's definitely learning about different textures and flavors right now!

Josie in May

2008-06-03T15:09:00.005-05:00

Just a few Josie updates, since I don't have a baby book...

First tooth, bottom left: May 19th, lunchtime. Second tooth, bottom right: May 19th, evening. First solid food, banana: May 23. Rolls from back to front (easily and regularly): May 15. Rolls from front to back (occasionally, or with help): May 31.

She's still not sitting up or pushing up on hands and knees, and has recently started getting physical therapy for her mildly low muscle tone. Her PT is pretty great - she showed us some tricks for helping Josie roll front to back, and she was doing it herself only two days later! (Well, Josie's pretty great herself, too!)

Oh, and I should add that she's actually really mobile the last week or so! She's really got the hang of pivoting on her belly, and has just started scootching backwards as well. We've found her most of the way under the couch more than once lately!

The rest of May!

2008-06-03T14:46:00.004-05:00

We went to Boston to visit Aunt Abby and Aunt Sara, and rode on a city bus. Given Nora's transportation-obsession, I expected it to be a big hit! Instead, of course, it was pretty much terrifying. Maybe next year.

When Josie turned 7 months old, it occured to us that we really should give her something to eat other than nursies. Here's her first foray into the wonderful world of solid food!

Ok, I'm ready for whatever you've got!

Hm, a banana is a pretty cool, squishy toy!
I'll try putting it in my mouth, I guess...
Aggghh! Disgusting! Why would you do that to me????

Nora called to me from the living room the other morning that she was eating ice cream. Curious, since I don't usually dole out ice cream for morning snack, I investigated. Her apple fit perfectly in a yellow funnel she found, and the whole shebang did look remarkably like an ice cream cone!

My girls, hanging out.

Happy Birthday, Nora!!

2008-06-03T14:40:00.003-05:00

Nora had a wonderful birthday party (and now she is Oh So Two). We didn't get many pictures - too busy having fun - but Nana did pick up my camera for a while as Nora opened her gifts.

Finally getting the hang of a party blower thingy from Emma.
Look, Ma! Baby, hands free! (Yeah, I'm not sure what I was doing here!)
Nora, in awe at the first sight of her inchworm.
Emma and Daddy watch as Sammy helps Nora open a set of cooking tub toys.
Sammy, Daddy, Nora, and Taylor.

Oh, and Nora's friend Savannah's mama took a few more pictures, and posted them on her blog.

Backing up a few months...

2008-06-03T14:07:00.008-05:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah, these are from April. What of it?

Josie fell asleep on the changing table.

One of those not quite warm, but gorgeous and sunny spring days!

This is actually a different day, several weeks later, despite the fact that Nora's wearing the same outfit! She really likes those overalls that Nana made her...

And the same overalls again, on yet another day!

(I just noticed that she's wearing those same overalls in the newspaper photo from Mother's Day, in the post below, too!)

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-12T07:35:00.002-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers and mothers-to-be out there! I hope you all had a lovely day, as I did. Here's a picture of me and the girls that was in our local paper (I can't seem to find it on their website, and then our neighbor gave me his copy, but Josie spit up all over it and it dried a bit wrinkly, so it's kind of a poor scan!). I originally said that I had everything I wanted for Mother's Day with my wonderful girls, but they pushed me to say something else! The other mom and son pictured are my friend Holly and Nora's friend Sammy.

We're still having trouble getting pictures off the camera onto the computer (and thus onto the blog), but now it's due to a certain girl who's two years old today (!) absconding with the cord that connects the two. As soon as we locate that, we'll have a bunch of pictures from the last few weeks, as well as from Nora's birthday party on Saturday.

All together now

2008-04-03T14:29:00.002-05:00

Hanging out on the floor together.
I love the size difference in this picture.
They have exactly the same expression here!
Can't take many pictures without the Camera Face showing up.
Josie showing off her mad locomoting skillz. She's not rolling yet, but she started off about 10 minutes before I took this picture with her head where the burp cloth is (in the front middle of the blanket)! She does a lot of scootching on her back by pushing with her feet, and lots of pivoting around as well.

Little sister

2008-04-03T14:15:00.002-05:00

After Nora goes to bed, Josie occasionally perks up for some alone-with-parents time.

I have a picture of me at about 5 months (with my mom [aka N&J's Nana], my Nana, and her mom) that I really need to scan. The resemblance to Josie here is amazing! All the people who say she looks like Aaron may have to reevaluate...
Although, there is definitely some resemblance there. :)
Such cuties!
And she looks kinda like her big sister at this age, too.

Big sister

2008-04-03T14:01:00.004-05:00

The many faces of a toddler eating dinner.

Reaching up hiiiiiiiiigh to put on the top of a block tower.
A girl and her tower.And we all fall down.

Funny girls!

2008-03-28T06:23:00.001-05:00

The other night at dinner, Josie was cracking up at everything Nora did. Of course, that encouraged Nora to ham it up even more. They were both pretty much hysterical by the time we got out the camera!

Hunting for eggs

2008-03-28T06:06:00.002-05:00

Nora searches for (and finds!) Easter eggs.

It's Magic!

2008-03-28T06:02:00.003-05:00

Nora's big into magic tricks lately. She particularly likes to make a coaster disappear while we're eating a meal. Where will it appear? Behind her ear? In her eye? Who knows?!?

Odds and Ends

2008-03-27T15:28:00.006-05:00

May as well get all the pictures we have up here now, because who knows when I'll update again!
Mama got a new wrap! It's very soft and cuddly. Josie's a fan!
She's also a fan of the doorway jumper, which I pulled out of the closet yesterday.
Nora prefers to eat her bananas "monkey-style" (in the skin) lately.

Happy Easter!

2008-03-27T15:05:00.007-05:00

Nora on Easter morning: modeling her Easter dress, drinking her morning milk, and pretty happy about the raisins the Easter Bunny left in her basket.

Mmmm, raisie! (Most words end with a -y sound around here these days.)
I found an egg!!

It is So. Cool.
Josie enjoying her Easter teething elf.
And modeling her amber teething necklace (a natural analgesic and traditional teething remedy). Hmm, the Easter Bunny had a theme for Josie's basket!
I just loved the light here and the look on her face.
The teething elf is almost as cute as the elf who is teething! Traditional Blachly Easter baskets - real grass and real dyed eggs.
Josie in her Easter sweatsuit. Hee hee!
The girls (and no, this is nowhere near all the pictures we took in this pose, which didn't even start out as an intentional photo shoot!).

Wait, you didn't all cap off your Easter celebrations with the ceremonial Trimming of the Bangs?!?

Pictures!

2008-03-27T08:44:00.003-05:00

We've been having trouble getting pictures off of the camera lately! But finally, it worked this morning. Whew!

Drippy nosed Nora Olive Fingers.
When Nora's sick, the only place she wants to nap is with Daddy on the couch.
Checking out a real firetruck!
Getting ready to do some firefighting.
Checking a teddy's vital signs in an ambulance. This is the only way I ever want to see my daughter in an ambulance!
Nana and Babchi are going to bee school right now. We're pretty sure that this is the mortarboard look they'll be sporting when they graduate! (As modeled here by non-bee-school-graduates.)
Nora wants to try it on for size too.
Josie is a very happy girl!
But take enough pictures, and even she'll get fed up. :)
Nora wearing Baby Doll on her back, the same way that she and Josie ride on Mama!
Friends are the best! Nora's sharing her chair with Taylor, and Paige is in the foreground.
Taylor's camera face is a lot, um, friendlier than Nora's is.

Coming soon...

2008-03-05T16:49:00.004-05:00

Yeah, just try and hold me to it! ;) On deck we have several videos of both girls, Nora's updated (and crazy long) vocabulary list, and hopefully some more pictures!

I'll do my best to stay a little better about keeping up with things around here...

P.S. All those of you who have been giving me a hard time (directly and indirectly) about not updating here (and there are a LOT of you!), you know who you are: leave us a comment sometime! Let us know you like to see pictures! Tell us who's the cutest (even though we already know the answer: it's a tie between N and J)! Seriously, leave a comment now and then, so I know that someone's appreciating this. :)

February

2008-03-05T16:40:00.004-05:00

One day Nora emerged from her room after her nap, having scavenged through her drawers, wearing four more shirts that she went to sleep in!
She was pretty proud of that one.

Josie's a smiley girl!
I have no idea why we put a diaper cover on our daughters' heads.
Seriously, what sort of parent would do that? And during dinner, no less. ;)

Josie LOVES her anteater. She's an anteater eater.See what I mean? Smiley!

I guess we didn't take that many pictures in February.

January

2008-03-05T16:09:00.004-05:00

Nora and Josie hanging with Daddy on the couch.
Camera face!
Poor Josie, with no recourse against what she's subjected to! Modeling the hood from Nora's winter jacket. Who knows why?!
J-for-Josie pants!
Nora wearing three coats at once.
Post-bath in the big tub!
What's my big sister doing?
She's still in the bath!
Hanging on the floor.
Their outfits were so coincidentally cute and coordinated, I thought I'd take pictures for Valentine's! (Yeah, you can all guess exactly how far that project went.) Camera hands!
Matching tummies.
Ok, everybody, feet in the air!
Josie was much, much smaller than the roses left over from our neighbors' wedding.
It's a little intimidating to be next to flowers that big! Nora sleeps in Big Girl Bunk Beds now!
These are from the day we set up the new bed, before putting the sheets on. Nora discovered they're great for jumping!
PJ's in the morning.
Sister love!
Sometimes Nora insists on sitting in Mama's chair to eat breakfast... Daddy and his girls.

One day when Operation Big Girl Bed malfunctioned at naptime: Nora got out of bed to play before napping, as she often does. But this time, she forgot to climb back into bed before falling asleep!

Twenty months

2008-01-14T09:16:00.000-05:00

At 20 months, Nora's spoken vocabulary has nearly doubled! She's voicing a lot of the words she also signs now too. A lot of kids tend to stop signing at this point, since they can communicate much more reliably with their voices than before, but of course we're going to continue signing with Nora. Many (but not all) of her spoken words still need translation. Good thing I speak Nora! ;)

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, snow, bird, orange, cracker, toast, full, cry, ice cream, sticker, hold, fish.

Spoken words: yes, no, Mama, Daddy/Dada, switch, 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, nursies, ring, silly, Snappi, Santa, swing, soon, sure, shower, oops, wow, yuck, yay, spin, night-night, more, bowl, help, zipper, Zoe, cheers (complete with clinking glasses!), oh man, no way, snap, help, cracker, sorry, so big, fruit, tunnel, back, lucky, whole, home, velcro, water, bib, hold, hippo, earring, balloon, wrap, ice (cream), cry, mine, markers, color, step, shelf, sticker, raisin.

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, Santa-ho ho ho, bird-caw caw, cat-mememeoww.

She's been singing The Wheels on the Bus a LOT lately, and she even knows the tune - she'll sing each of the motions ("round and round," "beep beep beep," etc.) with just the right timing and melody! It's very cute.

Nora's starting to show some definite two-year-old behaviors. Lately a lot of things are MINE MINE MINE, and she's also started running into her room and slamming the door! Mostly she just does that when she's trying to escape a diaper change or wants to play peek a boo through the window between her room and the study.

Another milestone: she just had a real conversation on the phone! It's snowing here today, and Daddy's been out plowing since 4:15 this morning, so he wasn't home when Nora woke up. She was looking for him, and I said we could call to say hi. Usually she just listens to whoever is talking on the phone to her, and nods or smiles in response. This time, she held the phone herself, and this is the conversation:

Daddy - Hi Nora!
Nora - Hi Daddy!
Daddy - Did you have breakfast?
Nora - Yeah.
Daddy - What did you have?
Nora - (signed) Waffle. (I voiced it for her.)
Daddy - Sounds good!
Nora - Yeah.
Daddy - Ok, I have to go work.
Nora - Bye!
Daddy - Bye Nora!
Nora - Bye Daddy!

I was impressed!

Here are a couple of pictures from the other morning. You can tell Nora's concentrating on something when she sticks her tongue out a little bit!

Christmas hilarity

2008-01-08T21:44:00.000-05:00

Nora got a small flashlight in her Christmas stocking, and as soon as she pulled out and turned it on, we all remembered how much fun it is to watch your critters chase a beam of light. Nora cracked herself up, Mica wore himself out trying to catch the light, and good times were had by all!

Josie smiles and laughs!

2008-01-08T20:29:00.000-05:00

Josie had her two month well baby visit last week, and did great (as usual!). She weighed in at 11 lbs 8 oz and 23.5 inches long, putting her in roughly the 50th and 75th percentiles, respectively. She's developing right on track, and she's happy and healthy. As if to prove her happiness, she started laughing at us on her two month birthday!

Nora being silly

2008-01-08T20:28:00.001-05:00

I was very impressed with Nora's stacking abilities - she was mixing up the different size rings and then stacking them biggest to smallest and then smallest to biggest - so Aaron tried to film it. Of course, then she was more into the camera than stacking!

Cookie baking

2008-01-08T16:15:00.000-05:00

These are from a very fun cookie baking session at Nonny and Babchi's house about a month ago, but I just found the pictures.

Yeah, yeah, it's been a while.

2008-01-08T15:46:00.000-05:00

But new pictures make it all ok, right?!

Nora decides she's the baby, and sits in Josie's bouncy chair, bringing it about parallel to the floor.

Silly toddler with creepy Baby Doll!
Big and Little do tummy time together.
Story time with Daddy.
Christmas Eve at Mem and Grandpa's house: Nora opens her new Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls.

Opening gifts with Mem. Opening her new baby doll, Zoe.
Yay! Zoe is far less creepy than Baby Doll! Mama is very relieved.Santa came!!!! At home on Christmas morning.
Nora gets the hang of opening her stocking quickly.
Nora's "Oh, Wow!" face. Animal crackers for Christmas breakfast with Mama and Josie.
Continuing breakfast at her new table from Santa.
Christmas afternoon at Nonny and Babchi's house: keeping an eye on new arrivals with Molly.
Josie modeling her stylish new hat from Aunt Emily.
Nora going in for a hug while Aunt Abby holds Josie.

I can't remember what she was eating here, but clearly it was delish!

Snow Day!

2007-12-20T15:26:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-12T15:32:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-12T14:52:00.000-05:00

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...

2007-12-10T14:28:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-10T09:56:00.000-05:00

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!

Lots of pictures

2007-11-14T13:53:00.000-05:00

Here are lots of pictures from the last week or so!

Mama and Nora, wearing our matching slings (both sans bebe).

Josie hanging out and modeling her first BabyLegs.
Cheeks!
We've found a new way to save money on laundry - vacuum the kids clean! ;)
Nora is thrilled to be wearing Daddy's work hat and glove.
Nora shares another of Daddy's hats with her friend Ziggy.

Josie nursing. We call this her "angry tortuga" face because she looks like a crabby little old turtle.
Whee! Going for a bike ride.
I just adore this picture.
Pretty much all of my pictures of Josie are of her in the Boppy, because that's the only place she'll tolerate being out of someone's arms. She's not a big fan of the swing or the bouncy seat yet.
Hi Mama! (Josie style.)

Nora gives Daddy a kiss.
Hi Mama! (Nora style.)
Doing the Hokey-Pokey, Nora's new favorite song and dance.
Baby Doll in Nora's sling.
Josie in Mama's sling (and an attempt at self-portraiture).
Snuggling down in the Boppy.
Nora eating, I mean kissing, Josie.
My girls have big eyes!
Nora, thrilled that the camera's out. Her sign for camera is always accompanied by this expression.

Sisters

2007-11-06T08:50:00.001-05:00

Nora adores her baby sister. I think Josie has gotten more kisses from Nora in her first week of life than from everyone else put together! It's wonderful.

It's hard to see in this picture, but Nora's wearing one of her dolls, Lovey, in her fleece sling that matches the one Mama wears Josie in.

Welcome to the World, Baby Josie!

2007-11-03T19:27:00.000-05:00

We're thrilled to announce the arrival of Josefina True Blachly Brassard! Josie was born on Tuesday, October 30, at 5:41 pm. She weighed 9 lbs, 1 oz, and was 20.5 inches long - exactly a pound and a half and two inches smaller than Nora was at birth. For a "big" baby, she seems like a wee little pixie to us! Mama and Josie came home from the hospital on Thursday to a very happy big sister Nora and her daddy. We're all doing well and enjoying Daddy's time off from work as a family together.

Mama and Josie, 2 hrs old.Josie started nursing within about five minutes of birth!

Celebrating Halloween, one day old. Mama and her girls, headed home.

Seventeen Months

2007-10-25T13:33:00.000-05:00

Ok, ok, she's about seventeen and a half months now, but still. I've got a lot going on here, give me a break! ;) Here are some cute pictures from the last few days, and some vocabulary updates.

Maybe Baby Doll's shirt would fit me.

Well, it makes a good hat!
Nora cooking, with all her tupperware taken out of the kitchen drawer to line up in the living room.
Scooping something delicious out of the ice cube tray.
Crazy girl! And a big grin.
If we don't push the chairs all the way into the table, Nora can now climb up on them herself. This was a preliminary step to getting on top of the table, which I opted to remove her from instead of photographing it!

(My friend Virginia took these last three pictures.) Nora and lots of her friends at a surprise baby shower that their mamas threw for me! It was lovely. l-r: Sebastian, Arlo, Taylor, Madden (top), Ziggy, Nora, Luke. Everyone is Nora's age, except Ziggy's big brother Arlo, who is 4.

Nora and Taylor both love playing in the car.Nora and Ziggy share a hug.
And on to vocabulary - bold means that the words are new in the last month or so since I posted the list last time.

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.

Spoken words: yes, no, Mama, Daddy/Dada, switch (turn on the light or fan), fish, shoes, sock, dog, duck, now (only in the context of telling Mica to go somewhere else NOW), tea, dump (to my chagrin, this means poop - we empty her diaper into the toilet before putting it in the pail, and usually tell her it's time to "dump out the poop," but she's only picked up on the first part of that phrase so far, and announces "dump dump dump" whenever she has a dirty dipe), chair.

Sounds: a cow-mmmmooo, a dog-woo woo, and a truck-rrrrrrrrrrarrrrrr, occasionally a motorboat-phhbbt, a bee-bzzzzzzz, a train-chooo.

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

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, and others. She'll ask us to sing a specific song by signing "music please," and then starting into the motions for one of the songs. It's super cute!

Walking Weekend!

2007-10-14T20:37:00.000-05:00

This weekend and last were the Last Green Valley's annual Walking Weekends, and though we didn't make it to any walks last weekend while Daddy was in Maine, the whole family attended three walks yesterday and today. Plus, it's finally cooling off and crisping up, and feeling like fall around here. Yay for fall!

A little ragamuffin hanging out around the house.

She prefers to put her hats on herself, which explains why it's a little lopsided!
Our first walk, on Saturday, was a tour of Graywall Farm in Lebanon. We got to walk in the fields where they grow the hay and corn to feed the cows, tour the barns and milking parlor, and even see a baby calf being born!
Nora picks some of the cows' lush clover.
Enjoying the talks.
Nora moos at a brandnew baby calf, who chooses that moment to find his voice for the first time. Yes, she taught him how to moo!
This calf was about one hour old. Because he was a boy, he was going to be sold at an auction on Monday - he can't stay to live on the dairy farm.
This is the baby cow we watched being born. The farmer isn't pulling her out, just supporting her weight while the mama cow pushes. It was amazing to watch! This one turned out to be a girl, so she gets to stay on the farm. They named her Evelyn!
Today we went on two more walks. The first was at Lapsley Orchard in Pomfret. Nora liked all the pumpkins and squash, and particularly enjoyed sampling lots of apples!
There was another little girl on the walk who was about six months older than Nora, and the two of them enjoyed running around together and picking dandelions and clover. Her mama even had her in a ring sling just like Nora's!
The last walk we went on was this afternoon at the Agricultural Extension Center in Brooklyn. This one was a walk through their sustainably managed forest, and a talk about forest management. It was really interesting, but we didn't get any pictures - Nora was on my back in the wrap most of the time while I tried unsuccessfully to get her to nap. Too much conversation going on for that, though! She made it until we got home, and took a nice nap in her crib instead. After our busy weekend, we're looking forward to a nice peaceful week full of our usual activities just to relax!

Wheels!

2007-10-05T15:16:00.000-05:00

Nora got a fabulous present from her friends Elise and Jack last week. They've outgrown their Cozy Coupe, so they passed it along to Nora, who is in loooove with her new car.

It's a good place for snacking...
And driving.
She spends a lot of time getting in and out, opening and closing the door each time.
Quick break for some driveway art. (And don't you love her sporty new sneakers? I think they're the cutest thing ever!)
Got to check the gas (and fill it up with rocks). Getting dark out, but still enough light for DANCING!
Back inside for some quiet reading time.I don't know that anyone except for Aunt Abby and Nana will fully appreciate this, but WOW! I found the same bedroom lamp/nightlight that we used to have when we were little at a yard sale for $2. You can have either the balloons on or the small box nightlight on, or both. I was so excited to find it!

Cornstarch Paste

2007-09-27T10:12:00.000-05:00

I heard back from the art teacher while I was writing the last post! This is via the Growing Artists class at Papoose.

Homemade Cornstarch Paste

Mix 1 cup cornstarch and 3 cups cold water in a saucepan. Add 2 T sugar and 1 T vinegar. Stirring constantly, heat the mixture on low heat until it clears and thickens and looks like paste. Cool before using. Will keep in a tightly sealed container in the fridge for several weeks. It drys clear, forms a strong bond, and washes out of clothing.

If you want to make a bigger batch, use the same amount of sugar and vinegar, but increase the cornstarch and water, keeping the same 1:3 ratio.

A week in the life...

2007-09-27T09:40:00.000-05:00

I've been having trouble getting pictures off the camera lately, but it finally worked this morning! So here's the last week or so.

Thumbs up, Mama! Nora decided to take Mica for a walk by herself.

Eating an apple at the Common Ground Fair. We had so much fun in Maine! It's hard to believe this was our last trip to Brightwater as a family of three.
On our way back to the car Nora covered herself up with the wrap and laid down for a rest in the wagon. She wasn't letting go of her free toothpaste sample, though!
Back at the cabin, wearing two pairs of jammies and a fun hat to make loud music in the kitchen.
Going for a walk down to the water to throw sticks for Mica, still in jammies!
Daddy and Nora checking out the cool rocks with lots of mica sparkles. Rocks are So. Cool.
Hm, I think I'll go mountain climbing.
On our last morning in Brightwater, Daddy took Nora for a walk around the Boulevard while Mama got everything cleaned up and packed to go home. Nora walked on her own for a while, then got tired, so she laid herself down in the wagon again, and this time fell asleep!
She napped in the wagon in the driveway for two hours after they got back from the walk. She LOVES her wagon.
There's been an onion on the counter for a few days, and Nora really wanted it. I kept telling her no, but last night Daddy decided if she really wanted to try it, she could.
Sadly, it was not as tasty as she had imagined.
After her bath last night, wearing her dog towel that's the same color as Mica!
Hanging out in the basket after I folded laundry this morning, eating an apple.

I will post the cornstarch paste recipe soon! One of the measurements turned out to be missing from the copy the teacher handed out to us, so I've emailed her for clarification, and I'll let you know when I hear back.

Animals and artwork

2007-09-18T12:43:00.000-05:00

Daddy had a whole day off last weekend, yay! He and Nora enjoyed their morning beverages together on the couch.

While I was in the kitchen making dinner on Sunday, I noticed that it was suspiciously quiet in the living room, where Nora had been playing. I went looking for her, and found that she'd transferred all her dirty laundry into one of her dresser drawers, pulled the laundry basket into the middle of her room, and was sitting in it eating some O's.
She brought her little red bag too, of course.
This morning we went to the Ray of Light farm with Nora's friends Luke, Taylor, Sebastian, Ziggy, and Arlo (and their mamas). We'd all been once before, but it was before the kiddos were walking - it was a whole different experience this time!

Nora checking out the rear end of Bullwinkle the mule.
Hey turkeys, come over here and see me!
I like the farm! Trying to reach up high enough to pet a sheep.
Convincing Taylor to try petting the sheep.
And finally, Nora's masterpieces from her first two weeks of art class. Week one was collage (with nontoxic, edible cornstarch paste - I got the recipe!). This was actually a little more involved before it came home - some of the more interesting bits got picked off while it was hanging down low on the fridge.
Week two: painting. This work features a combination of fingerpainting, brush work, and other objects (brush handles, sponges) in the paint. Nora's done a bunch of fingerpainting before, but she's never tried a brush. She really liked it! Before moving onto the actual paint, the kids painted with lots of different brushes and sponges with water on huge sheets of paper taped to a wall, and I think that was Nora's favorite part of class. She and the other two older kids in the class got a little confused about the whole "brush" terminology, though - Nora thought the wet paintbrush was for brushing her hair, and two others thought it was for brushing their teeth! It's really interesting to watch them make connections to what they know when they're learning new things.

Nora also has one more sign that I didn't list the other day - yesterday morning she came into the kitchen and very clearly signed, "banana please." I had no idea she knew the sign for banana! I gave her one, of course. :)

Fall!

2007-09-15T13:41:00.000-05:00

Oops, two weeks since the last post! This is going to be a long one, because there's lots going on here with the beginning of fall. The weather has cooled off, and we're starting to get that nice crisp crunch in the air that I love. Fall is such a lovely time of year!

Nora's taking an art class through our local crunchy baby store, Papoose. (Crunchy baby store meaning not that you can buy crunchy babies there, but that you can get accessories for your crunchy baby. And classes! And hang out with other mamas who don't think that breastfeeding and babywearing are slightly nuts! I like it there.) The art class is very process-orientated, and we spent most of the first class mushing up paste and smearing it around. Lots of fun! Future classes are supposed to focus on painting, printmaking, puppets, and some other things. We can't wait!

September also means that all our library programs are starting up again, so we have one storytime with the same group of friends that we had storytime with last year, as well as a big playtime/storytime at the big fancy library, and our local library is trying out a toddler storytime as well. We're going to be busy! We probably won't make it to every one every week, but it's nice to have options, especially once it starts getting too chilly to spend the whole day outside.

We're heading up to Maine next weekend for the Common Ground Fair, which we're really looking forward to. That'll be our last visit with only one kiddo in tow, too! Aaron will make one more trip later in the fall to close up the cabin, but this is usually our last family visit until spring.

In other news, Nora's latest quirk is that she really likes to be buckled into things. Weird baby, I know! This is totally opposite from her previous behavior in all ways... We got a new lightweight stroller recently (thank you so much to Mem and Grandpa's generous gift - we also got the new carseat for the little nugget when she arrives!), and as soon as I took it out of the box, Nora insisted that I set it up in the living room so she could sit in it, fully buckled, with her books, water cup, and Baby. Putting Baby's sock onto her hand...
Nora's never been a big fan of a stroller, though she'll tolerate the jogger for walks (and really liked it back before I was pregnant again and actually took her jogging!). She hated the little umbrella stroller we had, as did I, because it was impossible to steer and the handles were too short and killed my back. But I have a feeling that there may be times in our near future where I'll be out with both kids, be wearing the little nugget, and Nora will get too tired to walk! So I really wanted a nice, lightweight, tall-handled stroller. We've only used it a couple of times so far, but it seems to fit the bill. Comfy for both of us, cool looking, and very light! We got a lot of compliments on the snazzy orange 'n' silver color at the OB office last week. Other things that Nora really likes being buckled into lately: her carseat and her booster seat. I think that's all the things we have that buckle, otherwise I'm sure she'd have other favorites too!

Nora's vocabulary continues to grow. This is what she says (bold is new at 16 months - the rest she's had down since sometime before 15 months): 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 (signs); yes, no, Mama, Daddy/Dada, switch (turn on the light or fan), fish, shoes, sock, dog (words). She also makes the sounds for a cow-mmmmooo, a dog-woo woo, and a truck-rrrrrrrrrrarrrrrr, and occasionally a motorboat-phhbbt. She's signing two word phrases pretty regularly, usually either more something or please something, and occasionally the all important three word phrase, "please more food!" She also mixes sign and spoken language when she knows a word in one but not the other, like to say "fish please" when we're about to go into the library to visit the fish. She's very good at expressing herself, and her increased language and communication ability is helping (most of the time) to curtail her whining. Yay for that! She's also really lovey lately, with hugs and kisses for nearly everyone she sees. If you ask where her baby sister is, she'll pull up my shirt and kiss my belly! So cute...

Some cute pictures from a few days ago...

Dancing.

Looking out the window at the rainy day.
Ok, all done on the couch.
Time for a bike ride!
And a backwards bike walk!

Why yes, I was taking pictures for a contest featuring Babylegs, you could tell? ;) This is the one I ended up entering - I'll let you know if she wins! She still loves both chairs and books. Just like Mama!
Nora loooooves Daddy's safety glasses. She used to ask for us to put them on her, but now she can do it herself.

Ok, last thing today (I promise!). I recently got a free issue of Brain, Child magazine, which bills itself as "the magazine for thinking mothers." Since I like to consider myself one of those, I was really looking forward to checking it out, and it didn't disappoint. It's basically a collection of essays, all related to parenting/motherhood in some way, as well as some book reviews, humor, and fiction. The debate section in the Fall '07 issue was about Juliet Schor's book on kids and consumer culture, and I found myself agreeing and disagreeing with points in both the pro and con essays (which focused on kids and TV, specifically) - which definitely means they were well written and well argued, because before reading them I would have fallen in one particular camp without much consideration.

Other essays include the story of two lesbian moms and their struggle with the decision to circumcise their son and the story of a mom raising a child totally into sports, when she's more comfortable with books, as well as a bunch of others. Then there are reviews of "knit lit," (like chick lit, but for knitters!) and books on assisted reproductive technologies, and a feature on the place of mothers in the political scene with regards to the 2008 presidential election. All in all, the magazine was great, and I'm definitely going to be subscribing. It kind of reminds me of Utne Reader for moms. It does have the same problem that nearly all parenting magazines seem to have - exclusion of dads. But it's definitely a good read, anyway. Gave me lots to think about!

Well child visit

2007-09-01T12:27:00.001-05:00

Nora's 15 month well child pediatrician visit was earlier this week. As always, she's doing great! She weighs 25 lbs 11 oz, which is 85th percentile, and she's 33.5" tall, which is way off the tops of the charts. She's a tall girl! Her head is 48 cm, which is 95th percentile. She is right on track with average development for all of her physical, gross motor, and fine motor milestones. She's 6-9 months ahead with communication and language, social, and emotional development. The nurse practicioner said she's perfect, which is always nice to hear! Nora's allergic to soy, and since she's essentially vegetarian (we eat vegetarian at home, and don't go out very often, and when we do go out and Daddy orders meat, it's not always get something good for her to share) we're searching for alternate protein sources. She loves hummus, and we introduced peanut butter this week, so there are a couple of things we can turn to now.

It's been nice and warm this week, but cooler in the mornings. Clearly, the weather calls for both a sweater and a sunhat!

The expression on her face in this picture reminds me of her friend Elise.
We rearranged the kitchen a little, so we now have a cart forming a center island. At one end is a stepstool, which Nora has decided makes an excellent snack table with built-in bench!
She loves to use a napkin to wipe her face during meals. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean she likes getting her face washed afterwards, but it's a start!

We had a fun playdate at Nora's friend Savannah's house earlier this week, along with their other friends Taylor and Luke. I didn't bring my camera, but Savannah's mommy Carrie took a bunch of pictures and posted them on her blog. The one captioned, "Nora patiently waits for her turn," cracks me up! I would have captioned it something more like, "Nora is about to use the drill on Taylor's arm if she doesn't get a turn right now." ;)

Party videos

2007-08-26T20:56:00.000-05:00

Nora riding Sunny the pony.

Nora hitting the pinata - she watched all the big kids take turns, then after the candy came out and they lost interest, she found the bat and started taking her own turn!

Party time!

2007-08-26T18:06:00.000-05:00

Whew, what a busy weekend! Friday evening, we went to the Brooklyn Fair (the oldest agricultural fair in the country!) with Mem and Meme. Then we spent Saturday at Nana's house playing croquet with Aunt Abby, Aunt Sara, their friend Emily, Great uncle David, Great uncle Paul, and cousins Ruth Ellen and Melinda (and Nana, of course). Lots of fun!

Then today, we had a lovely time at a birthday party for our friends Jack and Elise. Jack is 6, and Elise is 4! The day held many firsts for Nora, including her first bouncy castle (big, big hit), her first pony ride (ok, but the bouncy castle was better), and her first pinata (fun stuff! She really liked the tissue paper streamers that fell off, and was convinced that was what all the big kids were scrambling for).

Enjoying the bouncy castle, with birthday girl Elise in pink.
Daddy says this is a rock star pose!
Time to play ball!
Ok, time for lunch. This is the sign for eat!
Watermelon makes a lovely appetizer, especially in a Nora-sized chair. She probably ate six slices of watermelon today! Nora adores toddler scale chairs. She has an armchair and a beach chair that she sits in all the time, and she seeks out chairs her size wherever we go. We went to a children's museum last week, and it took 15 minutes for her to get past the toddler sized chairs at the entrance, even with all the enticing new exhibits and toys just inside! Shh, don't tell - she's getting a table and chairs set for Christmas. :)
Hanging out with Mama, waiting our turn to ride on the pony, Sunny.
Sitting in the Jeep (don't worry, no batteries!) with Elise.
And solo!

Coming soon: videos of Nora riding Sunny the pony and playing with the pinata.

Popham Beach

2007-08-16T14:20:00.000-05:00

Nora loves playing in the sand at Popham Beach. It's a little tricky walking on such sloping, uneven terrain, though!

Maine pictures

2007-08-16T13:54:00.000-05:00

We all had a lovely and relaxing vacation at Brightwater last week, despite the fact that most of the time that Nora and I were there solo it rained. (Or rather, it rained nearly every morning, and then cleared up just as Nora fell asleep for her long afternoon nap. Oh well.) We had a grand time anyway!

Relaxing at Popham Beach with Daddy.

Actually, sand doesn't taste all that great. Why didn't anyone tell me?
Nora loves digging in the sand, and was particularly enamoured of the area near the water's edge where you can dig a hole and it fills with water from underneath. Mama and Daddy don't have beach chairs, but Nora does!
Back home at the cabin, the papasan has been renamed the "Nora Nest." She loved to pile up a bunch of books in it, climb in, and read for a while.
Even better if you've got milk, too! This is my favorite picture from the week. You can see all the vacation essentials: scraped up nose because we're having too much fun to cut fingernails, mosquito bites all over her face, blueberry residue smeared all over her cheeks, crazy ragamuffin hair that hasn't seen a bath in a week, and two new bottom canine teeth!
Yay! Daddy came back for the second long weekend!!

Drama queen... Moon-toe! This is one of her yoga moves from the class we took last spring.
Baby in a basket!
Daddy getting all artistic with the camera...
One more farewell picture with Wally the Frog. Look how much Nora's grown up since last year!

We're all looking forward to our next trip to Brightwater for the Common Ground Fair in September, but of course it's nice to be home for now. Nora was so excited the evening we got home - she kept running around finding her toys and stuff, thrilled to be back amongst her familiar things. It was really cute!

Busy summer!

2007-07-31T18:39:00.000-05:00

Whew, this is turning out to be a busy summer! We've had something going on nearly every weekend since the weather turned warm, and there's no end to that in sight. Everything is lots of fun, but the cumulative effect is kind of exhausting! (Perhaps that also has something to do with being six months pregnant while chasing this toddler around...)

Nora tries to put on Daddy's safety glasses that got left on the floor on accident.

We went to a church rummage sale last week, and scored this toddler-sized lawn chair with astronauts...
...and a cow...
...who mooooooos!
Mama and Nora spent the weekend in Boston with Aunt Abby and Aunt Sara. We had a fabulous time. On Saturday evening, we went to a LibraryThing party where Nora promptly commandeered another baby's hat.
Nora was still exhausted from the partying on Sunday morning! She fell asleep on my back on the way back from breakfast, and slept through a grocery store visit on the walk home as well.

On Sunday, we went to a Baby Loves Disco party. Unfortunately, it wasn't the best photography environment, but we had lots of fun! Nora particularly loved the balloons.
Dancing is serious business!
She was pretty excited about all the dancing accessories, especially the toddler-sized hula hoops and the egg shakers (she didn't quite get the idea of scarves). She went entirely inside the mesh bin that was full of egg shakers at one point, and started handing them out behind her to the other waiting babies!
One of the most exciting things about visiting her city aunties is the fact that you can look out the window and see cars! Right there going by us!
When we got home, Nora had figured out how to climb up on couches. She spent most of the morning today clambering up on the couch with her magazine, flopping down on her back, and flipping through looking for interesting articles. ;)
She really likes this magazine, Wild Animal Baby. Thank you again, Nana and Babchi!

We're off to Brightwater on Thursday for a long vacation - Nora and I will be there for almost two weeks, and Daddy will be coming up for two long weekends with us. I'll make sure to pack the camera and battery charger and take lots of pictures, but I probably won't be able to post again until we're home. So we'll see you all mid-August!

Random cuteness

2007-07-26T09:21:00.000-05:00

Some particularly messy breakfast aftermath earlier this week (blueberry pancakes and yogurt!).
And a cute (but long) video of her playing with her Little People and her truck.

Mmmm, watermelon!

2007-07-22T18:30:00.000-05:00

Nora had a great time at her second cousins Alex and Max's birthday party at Amos Lake this afternoon. She played in the water for nearly an hour, and dug in the sand for a while before that! All that effort necessitated some watermelon refreshment with Mem.

Um, I've only had two pieces. Definitely, MORE!!
Mmm, I love watermelon!
Hey, is that a camera I spy? Let me just check that out...
Playing in her tunnel (thank you again, Aunt Abby and Aunt Sara!). Nora's friend Savannah came over for a playdate on Friday, and the girls had a great time playing and snacking together while the mamas chatted! I didn't get many good pictures, but Savannah's mama Carrie did - you can see them on her blog here.

After we got home from the party at the lake today, we had a visit with Nora's other second cousins, Ruth Ellen and Melinda, and her great-uncle Paul. It was so nice to see them, since it's been since Christmas. Nora's a totally different girl than she was at 7 months old!

Millinerily Inclined

2007-07-20T10:22:00.000-05:00

Nora loves wearing hats. This is very convenient when we're out in the sun and she actually wants to keep her sunhat on, and quite entertaining (and cute!) indoors the rest of the time. This morning she spotted a cute bucket hat, a handmedown from her friend Emma, and put it on as soon as she woke up.

Here she is asking for the ceiling fan in the kitchen to be turned on.

Just because I'm still in my pj's doesn't mean I don't need a hat!
This is her mooing face. She is convinced that all animals, not just cows, moo. She does a pretty convincing moo! (She's answering the question, "What does a panda say?" here.)
Giving her panda bear a kiss.
She had to wear the hat for breakfast...
...And once she got dressed too!

Back again!

2007-07-18T09:26:00.000-05:00

Whew - mere hours after my last post, all three of us came down with horrible food poisoning, and we were totally out of commission for days! Thankfully, we're all feeling much better now, and have had a chance to take a few more pictures.

Here's Nora modeling a Tshirt that her Mem brought back from Finland last year. It's too small for Daddy and too big for Mama, but it fits her just right, huh? I think she looks like she's wearing some sort of wizard robe in this one. Or maybe it's just the Harry Potter madness in the air!

Bathtime is Good Times for Mama and Nora both. :)

Fun stuff

2007-07-11T15:35:00.000-05:00

One of Mama's imaginary friends* made Nora this super cool fishy shirt!

It's still really hot and humid (hello, it's July!), and Nora's bangs are too long again. I decided that a hot, sweaty, cranky, teething toddler is not the best haircut candidate, so today we experimented with pigtails.
Not content with walking, she's started running! Nora and her little sister. :)

*imaginary friend = someone Mama only knows online, not in person. But she must actually exist in order to have made and sent us this shirt!

She walks!

2007-07-07T08:08:00.000-05:00

A month to the day after she took her first steps, Nora took off walking this morning! Suddenly, walking is her default mode of transportation. It's crazy! She still tumbles down fairly frequently, but gets right back up and starts walking again instead of reverting to crawling. Such a big girl! At the end of this video you can also see her adoration for Baby (and her black eye from the bug bites nearly a week ago).

Last week

2007-07-05T08:30:00.000-05:00

Here are a few more pictures from last week that I didn't have time to post before we left for Maine.

I found a bunch of new toys for Nora at some yardsales last weekend. One of her favorites is Baby, whom she absolutely adores. She has lots of stuffed animals, and a few stuffed dolls, but this is her first more realistic doll. She carries him around the house, gives him rides in her cart and on her bike, and hugs and kisses him constantly.

Concentrating at her activity table.
Teething face.

Riding her new yardsale truck.

Playing in the whale pool.

In other exciting news last week, we found out that Nora's going to have a little sister! That's right, the Little Nugget is a girl. We're so excited to be having two sisters so close together!

Brightwater!

2007-07-05T07:20:00.000-05:00

We're back from a lovely vacation at Brightwater! Nora really seemed to enjoy the change in surroundings this year (since last time we were there she was only 4 months old, she wasn't really taking in the differences between Maine and Connecticut!), and we all had a fabulous time.

The day before we left, Nora saw Mama packing her clothes, so she decided to help by donning her sunhat and putting every single article of clothing in her bottom drawer into the basket.

Playing with Daddy. Nora got these neat links from her Auntie Em for her birthday, and she really likes them. Her favorite game is for you to link them all together and she'll take them apart, but she's starting to figure out how to link them together on her own as well.

Nora's latest trick is to smack herself on the head or face if you say, "Oh, man! I can't believe we did that!" It's extremely cute.
We went to the beach for a picnic on a windy, cloudy day...
But then it started raining, so we had to finish our lunch in the car!
After lunch, the rain stopped, so we went for a walk around Fort Popham at the end of the beach. In this picture, Nora and Mama are standing in front of the rocks where Mama and Daddy got engaged, almost 3 years ago!
We went out for breakfast at our new favorite place, the Starlight Cafe in Bath. They had the coolest highchair ever for Nora to sit in! (You can kind of see in this picture how, on our second night at Brightwater, Nora got three mosquito bites around and below her right eye. It was so swollen up that when she woke up we thought she had a black eye! Poor baby - she has such sensitive skin that only one bug bite causes quite a bump, so three in the same sensitive area was pretty bad.)
Have lunchbag, will travel! Nora quickly figured out how to open the screen door on the porch and get out onto the (no railings, up over rocks) deck. I think she really looks a lot like her second cousin Max in this picture.
She was none too pleased when she realized we'd latched the door to keep her inside!We forgot to bring our camera on our second trip to the beach, but let it suffice to say that this girl is definitely a water baby! She crawled straight into the freezing ocean, and was only deterred by the 4th or 5th wave that crashed up into her face. When we got home, she had a refreshing sunshower to get rid of the massive quantities of sand all over her body.
Her hair is getting too long to dry by rubbing a towel over it, baby style!
Our only (minor!) complaint about the vacation is that since all four of us were sleeping in the same room, when Mica woke up to go outside early every morning, Nora would wake up too. At home, since she's in her own room, Daddy can get up and take the dog out without disturbing her. At Brightwater, 5:15 was the latest we ever got to sleep! Since that's an hour earlier than Daddy usually gets up, and two hours earlier than Mama and Nora usually get up, we were all pretty tired those mornings.

Another (unphotodocumented) highlight of our trip was a free Dan Zanes (kid's music) concert in Freeport with some new friends. Nora really loved meeting Ingrid, who is the same age, and Bridget and Moriah, who are almost 3. Mama had fun talking to their mamas! Then we all went out to dinner with even more friends. It was a great time!

We're already looking forward to next month, when we'll be at Brightwater for a week and a half. Can't wait!

Summer fun

2007-06-26T06:27:00.000-05:00

Nora and I had a fun playdate at Luke's house yesterday. The babies' new friend Sebastian was there too, but he was napping in his stroller while Nora and Luke played, so he's not in these pictures.

Nora really likes Luke's little playhouse.
Her favorite thing to do is to open the door, go in, close the door, wave, open the door, go out, close the door.....
Nora and Luke had a great time playing in the baby pool together! The sides are low enough that they can climb in and out easily by themselves, which makes for a lot of grass in the water, but they love it!
Nora also really enjoyed the cool Dr. Seuss-ian sprinkler. That water was COLD, straight from the hose, but she stood under it until her lips were shivering, loving the water coming down on her head.
Once her sunhat got wet, it was so droopy she could barely see! Luckily it was very warm yesterday, and her hat dried off immediately. We didn't even bring a towel to the playdate, and she was totally dry by the time I changed her out of her swimsuit for the ride home.

Hipster in aviator glasses

2007-06-24T12:25:00.001-05:00

Nora's Auntie Em and Uncle Ben came for a sleepover last night! We all had fun, especially when Nora and Ben got to jump on the air mattress this morning. Here Nora is enjoying Uncle Ben's sunglasses!
One more thing I forgot to add to the baby book list: Nora's started blowing kisses. The funny thing is that I don't know where she got it from, since I didn't teach her and it's not something I do myself! I think maybe she picked it up from her friend Taylor. Very cute!

Splashy girl!

2007-06-24T09:38:00.000-05:00

Nora splashing in the pool with Daddy last night, fully dressed. It was really hard to get her pants off afterwards, since her diaper was so swollen up and full of water!

Baby book...

2007-06-24T09:18:00.000-05:00

We've been having some camera/battery issues lately, and so haven't been taking a lot of pictures. We've got it figured out now though, I think, so hopefully I'll remember to post more often!

We went to Block Island for the weekend with Mem, Grandpa, Meme, and Aunt Claire a week ago - and the only picture we took was on the ferry before we even left the dock to head over there!

While I was checking my email a few nights ago, Nora climbed into a box on the floor, took every single book off the shelf next to her, and proceeded to flip through them all. Notice she cleaned out the shelf of fluffy beach reads and chick lit, but left the shelf right below it, all social science books, alone.
Then she proceeded to perform all her tricks: clapping...
And sooooooo big!
While playing in the yard with Daddy last night, Nora climbed into her whale pool, fully dressed. It was cold, but she was having a great time splashing around!

Since my baby book for Nora was for her first year, I keep meaning to record a few things here for posterity, because otherwise I know I'll never remember when these happened.

On June 6, Nora nursed for the last time. She'd been down to once a day for several weeks, and since I got pregnant again my milk supply had diminished greatly, but the morning of June 7 was the first time she refused to nurse at all. I was really sad, but I'm glad that she got to wean on her own terms, and also glad that I'll have a little break for a few months before the new little nugget comes along for it's own nursies!
On June 7, she took her first steps! In the last two weeks she's kept up the routine of 3-4 steps at a time, particularly when encouraged. Yesterday morning she set a record of 12 steps across the kitchen, and in the evening she walked totally unprompted about 6 steps across the living room to get to her bike. She's still a very fast crawler, though, and uses that when she's tired, excited, or wants to get somewhere fast. But I think real walking in definitely in sight in the next few weeks.
She started clapping about 2 weeks ago, and does it whenever she's proud of herself, whenever you say, "Yay!" and at the end of every song you sing with her.
Speaking of singing, she knows and does the hand motions to The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Pat-a-Cake, and Ring Around the Yogi (a song we learned in yoga class this spring).
She started pointing about a week ago, and points with her index finger isolated both at specific things in books and at things far away that she wants us to look at. And at herself in the mirror - and then she claps for herself! It's very cute.
New spoken words: shoe, no (so far, just on the changing table, and then it's, "nooooooooonoooooooonooooooooooooonoooooooooooooo").
New signs: dog/Mica, please (I think this is what she's doing - she doesn't quite get how it's supposed to go with another word, though, so she uses it by itself and it generally means "I want").

Still loving her bike...

2007-06-11T11:20:00.000-05:00

I guess we need to work on those drinking and driving lessons...

Nora tests out her new biodegradable, flushable gDiapers - we're going to use them instead of our regular cloth dipes when we're travelling, particularly when we're at Brightwater this summer with no running water and we can just toss the used liners into the outhouse, instead of worrying about getting to a laundromat with dirty cloth diapers or throwing away lots of disposables. I love the bright orange cover! (She has a red cover too.)

This scrunched up nose and mouth look is one we've been getting a lot lately. It makes us laugh, so she keeps doing it!

Yay, Auntie Em came to visit for the weekend! Nora wanted to wake her up first thing on Sunday morning to share her milk. Who wouldn't want a sippy cup of warm whole milk immediately upon being woken up?!

Nora helps out

2007-06-10T07:02:00.000-05:00

Nora loves to help with everything we do. One of the more useful ways she helps is by assisting in emptying the dishwasher - she particularly likes to take out all the silverware and hand it up to be put in the drawer. Daddy happened to have the camera out at the right moment to capture it yesterday! (She loves to wear hats, which is great when we're out in the sun, and entertaining when we're inside.)

Snapshots from this week

2007-05-31T09:12:00.000-05:00

Amazingly, this is the 100th post on Nora's blog. Wow, not only is she a year old, but she's in the triple digits for blog posts as well! :)

Nora adores her bike from Nana and Babchi. She rides it all around the house, and has totally figured out steering and getting herself out of corners by backing up!

Yes, she has to go for a ride before she even gets out of her PJs in the morning.
She can even mount and dismount by herself! It helps to have something to hold onto so the bike doesn't go sliding out from under her.
We had some very hot days last week, which always make for a sweaty, sleepy baby.
She was so sacked out during her nap one day that she didn't even wake up when I came into her room, so I took some pictures. She always prefers to sleep on top of her blankets, which makes sense when it's hot, but not when it's cold and she still does it!
All ready to set off for the Memorial Day parade, snacks, sunhat, and all.Waiting for the parade to start, Nora and Daddy both look pretty skeptical at some people who were trying to give us money on behalf of Christianity and then interview us about how God must exist because there are Coke cans in the world (at least, that seemed to be the gist of their argument). They seemed to know better than to talk to Mama - they must have known I would have told them what I really thought and not been as polite as Daddy was!
Nora looking all grown up in some cute pink pants that were a Valentine's Day gift from Uncle Ben and Aimee and her new big girl sneakers. She's grown out of her leather moccasins, and I spent ages looking for a pair of shoes that would suit her for the summer as she learns to walk. The key for a new walker is that they need really flexible soles, so that they can learn how to balance. She'll still be barefoot most of the time, but she does need some sort of shoes for outdoor situations when it wouldn't be safe to go without shoes. My main obstacle to finding an appropriate pair of shoes is that I'm really cheap, and wasn't going to spend $30 on the really nice ones... I finally found these at Target, and they're cheap and cute and very bendy, so hopefully they'll work. We tried them on around the house this morning to see how they felt.
Hm, what sort of mischief can I get into up here?
Yay for being a big girl!
Nora's been having a language explosion recently. A week and a half ago, she had three words: Mama, Dada, and (sign) hi/bye, all of which she's had for months. Now this is her vocabulary:
Spoken: Mama, Dada, Daddy, hi, byebye, yes.
Sign: hi/bye, more, milk, food/eat, all done, Daddy (occasionally).
Who knows, when she gets up from her morning nap today she may have even more words! She also repeats what we say a lot, but I only put the things she does without prompting on this list. Her most common repetitions are all done (ah da!) and shoe (shooo). It's super cute! She also started clapping yesterday for the first time.

Big girl!

2007-05-24T08:11:00.000-05:00

Nora's been going crazy with the learning new things lately! After starting to sign "more" on Monday, she's already extended the meaning to "more" of anything she wants, not just food - so now she uses it for more food, more stories read to her, more pushes on the swing, more toys please because I threw all the ones I had out of my carseat and I can't reach them... Yesterday, she said what sounded suspiciously like "bye bye," in the appropriate context, three times (and then no one else was leaving, so I couldn't get her to do it again!). Also yesterday, at story hour, she started standing on her own for long periods of time, like over a minute - much longer than she's stood without holding on ever before. Then, when we got home from the library, she stood up by herself in the middle of the floor without anything to pull up on! I think she was inspired by Caitlyn, a 14 month old girl at the library who was busy running around everywhere. I can't wait to see what Nora learns how to do today. :)

I took this picture because I was impressed she was doing such a good down dog (which we do in yoga class every week) on her own. Little did I know that this was actually the beginning of the standing on her own process! I was so flabbergasted that somehow I didn't take a picture of her standing up. The adorable strawberry dress she's wearing (though this may not be the most flattering angle to see just how cute it is) was another birthday gift from Alyssa and Dan.

But I got a picture of her when she stood up herself this morning! Doesn't she look proud of herself? I love her bedhead when she first wakes up.
In the bottom right of that picture you can see a red and yellow drum, which is filled with other instruments. This was a birthday present from Nora's friends Jack and Elise and their parents, and it may be her very favorite gift! She loves all of the instruments, and can entertain herself for ages playing music. Her favorite is the ladybug-shaped xylophone bells, with an accompanying mallet for banging. Lots of fun!

In other news, Nora's 12 month well-baby pediatrician visit was earlier this week. As expected, she's healthy and happy, and doing great. She's only gained 1 lb in the last three months, dropping her weight to to the 85th percentile, but that's perfectly fine. She grew 2.5 inches in that same three months! She's still in the 95th percentile for both height and head size. She's definitely getting taller and leaner - a few months ago, we couldn't use the tray on her booster seat because it was too tight on her belly, but now it fits her fine again!

Yay!

2007-05-22T08:58:00.000-05:00

Nora loves to play outside! We've had some gorgeous days interspersed with some not-so-lovely ones lately, so we're making the most of the nice weather when we've got it. Here she is picking dandelions in her sporty new dandelion-colored shorts outfit, a birthday gift from Alyssa and Dan.
Crawling on grass feels so neat on your hands and feet! Right after this picture was taken, we got attacked by a swarm of gnat-like bugs, and Nora got a big bite on her forehead...
...As seen in this picture, where she's also modeling her new baseball cap from Savannah! (And her mouth is full of Cheerio's, which is why she has such a funny smile.) Poor baby - the red bump from the bug bite is still around today, six days after the bite. She has super sensitive skin.
In other exciting news, Nora did her first real sign yesterday! She signed "more" first thing in the morning when she wanted more nursies, and continued doing it throughout the day and today. She's doing a self-modified version (it looks like clapping with one open hand and one fist, basically), but it's very clear what she means, and that she knows what she means. She gets this big proud grin on her face and signs very deliberately until she gets whatever she wanted more of! So far, she's only using it for food, but that's when we model it the most, so that makes sense. She did it at all of her meals yesterday, and again today! I think she'll probably expand it to other uses as well, and I hope more signs follow soon! Now she can really talk to Aunt Emily!

Happy Birthday to Nora!!

2007-05-14T09:47:00.000-05:00

Whew, what a busy weekend! First of all, here's the article about Nora's yoga class. That was our excitement for Friday.

Saturday, of course, was Nora's first birthday! We had a really wonderful time with lots of family and friends. I know a lot of people took some great pictures, and I'd love it if you could email them to me when you get a chance!

Nora got to open her presents from Mama and Daddy before she even got dressed in the morning! You can see just how excited she was.

Nora really really likes balloons.
Yay for my very own balloon!
Checking out one of her birthday books.

The scene, all ready for the celebration!

Nana and Nora getting ready to party.

All dressed up and ready to go!
Nana and Babchi gave Nora a bike!
Nora's very proud of herself.
We set up our little camping tent, and filled it with balls to play with!
Neat shadows...
Daddy presents... The birthday girl!!

Cupcakes!

Wow, this is for me?!?
Um, how do I get into it?
Ohh, now I see. Cream cheese frosting is really good!
I like ice cream too!

Nora shares her cupcake with her friend Savannah, while her friend Taylor plays in the tent behind them.

Nora's friends Elise and Jack help her open some presents.

Savannah tries out Nora's new rocking horse. It's really fun!

Nora was very focused on unwrapping gifts.

Peeking in her wagon to see what else awaits her!

Ok, time for a ride.
Hey, pull me faster!
Mem and Grandpa gave Nora a swing - it's a big hit!

Sunday was Mother's Day, and we celebrated by eating out for both breakfast and dinner, and going for a hike (where we found our first letterbox) and some ice cream in between. It was a fun and food filled day! I am so lucky to have such a strong and special and sweet and brave little girl, and I feel so blessed to be her mother.

Pictures and News

2007-05-09T10:23:00.000-05:00

A long time since the last update here - sorry! But lots has been going on... Here are some cute pictures of Nora, of course, to start off.

Hanging out in her chair, getting ready for lunch.
Eating a cracker before lunch.
Here, I picked a dandelion for you!
It's really, really, really interesting.
Daddy just finished landscaping around the new stairs he built in the side yard.
There are rocks!! Hurray! Nora loves rocks.
I mean, she really loves rocks!

Before: getting ready for Nora's first real haircut. (I trimmed her bangs in February, but this is the whole thing.)

Before from the back: you can see all the long wisps making up the coveted baby mullet!
After: she's suddenly a toddler! (I evened up her bangs a little more after this picture.)
After from the back: no more mullet!
Nora likes both her new haircut and her supper.

In other exciting news, Nora and Mama have been taking an Itsy Bitsy Yoga class together for the last few weeks. A photographer from the local paper was there this morning, and there may be a story in the paper on Mother's Day this Sunday featuring the class! I hope some of the pictures he took of Nora get in the paper - she was having a really good time this morning, and looking super cute (as always).

Also exciting news is that we're getting ready for Nora's first birthday this coming Saturday. She's having a party with her family and friends - I'm sure lots of pictures will follow! She's also getting ready for a special Mother's Day on Sunday, which should be a bit more relaxing than Mother's Day last year, when we brought her home from the hospital.

And finally, the most exciting news of all is that Nora's going to be a big sister this fall! Her new baby sibling (we don't know yet if it's a boy or a girl, but we'll find out next month) is due on Halloween, so they'll have a space of just under a year and a half between them. We're all thrilled, and can't wait to meet the new baby!

Baby food

2007-04-23T19:16:00.000-05:00

A bunch of people have asked me lately what Nora eats, now that she's a big girl. Since she never really ate baby food (either jarred baby food or homemade purees), she's been eating big people food for a long time now. But here's what she had today - it was pretty typical.

Breakfast:

~1/2 cup peach yogurt (plain full-fat yogurt mixed with pureed peaches that we picked and froze last summer, and a dash of cinnamon)
2 mini carrot muffins
a ripe pear, sliced but not peeled

Lunch (a picnic at the park with three friends and their mamas!):

1/4 of a whole wheat bagel
~1/2 an avocado, chunked up
~2 oz sharp cheddar cheese, cut into fingers
close to half a cantaloupe, chunked up. Mama stole a few bites, but Nora ate most of it!

Snack:

another 1/4 whole wheat bagel

Dinner:

1/2 a very large zucchini, corn, and black bean enchilada (yum!)
~1/4 cup plain rice

She drank about 12 oz of water throughout the day, and nursed twice, and also drank about 3 oz of pumped breastmilk. She's a great eater - she rarely rejects anything outright, though she does have definite preferences, and she loves vegetables and fruit. Hopefully she doesn't get too picky as she gets older!

Cube!

2007-04-22T19:07:00.000-05:00

Mem and Grandpa came by with a fabulous gift for Nora this afternoon - a climbing cube, complete with slide! We put it together in the yard, and Nora explored. We're the third lucky family to enjoy this, so it's getting plenty of use! Nora's wearing a shirt that used to be Mama's today. We like the retro look!

Peeking at Grandpa.

Nora through the window.

Yay!

You can see one of Nora's shiny new bottom molars in this picture, if you look closely.

Not super sure about the slide - we think she'll like it better with more practice!

Hurray for Spring!

2007-04-21T06:39:00.000-05:00

It was sunny and in the sixties yesterday (and the same is forecast for the next few days), Nora has two new sunhats, it's warm enough to dry dipes and other laundry on the line, we harve a playdate planned at the park for Monday, and Nora has another new tooth (making 11 total). Life is good!

Easter, and movies!

2007-04-15T19:13:00.000-05:00

We had a lovely Easter morning at home, and then went to Mem and Grandpa's house for dinner with Daddy's extended family. It was lots of fun! I don't have any pictures from the dinner, but I know that Mem and cousin Alex both took a bunch, so if any get emailed to me I'll be sure to post them...

Nora opening her Easter present from Nana and Babchi.
She loved the googly-eye froggy card!
Wow, the Easter bunny brough Nora lots of fun things! Her baskets are filled with real grass, grown as per Mama's family traditions.
Um, the quacking duck is a little disturbing.
Nora and Daddy share an early morning story.

Here are several videos of Nora from the last week! I'm having trouble uploading them to this site, so these are links to Google Video. From any of these pages, if you click on "from user" on the right side of the screen, it will give you a list of all the Nora videos we've uploaded, if you're looking for a little nostalgic viewing from six months ago. :)

Nora climbed the couch today to look out the window.

Nora plays around this afternoon.

Nora checks out what the bunny left in her baskets on Easter morning.

We try to get Nora to demonstrate her So Big trick - she holds out.

Toddlerhood: The Early Days

2007-04-05T09:20:00.000-05:00

So Nora's not walking on her own yet, but in all other regards she's certainly acting like a toddler! Proof: today some of her friends are coming over for a playdate. Nora was playing happily in the kitchen while I vacuumed the living room. I looked over to check on her, and she wasn't there anymore... She'd snuck through the living room behind me, down the hall, and into the bathroom, where I found the classic toddler scene of carnage. Behold!

Then she came back into the living room and helped with the basket of clean laundry that I hadn't brought into her room yet. (I can see a little thought bubble above Mica's head here saying, "It wasn't me... It wasn't me... It wasn't me...")
Clearly, she feels no regrets about any of this mess!

Pants and dipes and messy heads!

2007-04-02T12:20:00.000-05:00

Some of you may have noticed that Nora rarely wears pants, and when she does, they're leggings or other very stretchy pants, not jeans. Partly that's just because I like the way overalls and dresses look on babies, but also it's because of her diapers! Most structured baby pants just aren't cut to allow bulky cloth diapers, since disposables are much trimmer. For an idea of just how bulky we're talking, here are a couple of pictures of Nora playing with her new block activity table the other morning.

And here is a picture of her wearing jeans anyway. :) She actually does pretty well in pants one size up from the rest of her clothes, which means these are 2T jeans already. Note the rolled cuffs!

Nora has a new trick - she knows the answer to the question, "How big is Nora?" It's, "Sooooooo Big!" of course! She puts her hands up in the air all the time and keeps them there until we say it back to her. And she does it in response to the question too! It's very cute. And, as you can see, results in a messy head when done during a meal!
Who, me? Bagel on my head? Not a problem!

Ok, ok, two weeks in the life...

2007-03-22T20:03:00.000-05:00

Oops, a long time since posting again! Nora's so active and mobile and into everything these days that it's become very difficult to get a chance to get online when she's awake! And I always seem to have 100 other things to do when she's napping... Excuses, excuses. On to the pictures!

This happy girl is who greets us, standing up in her crib, each morning and after naptime. We lowered her mattress a couple of weeks ago, when it seemed like pulling up was imminent, and it's a good thing we did, because otherwise she'd be flipping right over the edge!
Early last week, before the snow and ice storm (bleh.), it was 60 degrees out and we went outside on the porch to play. It was a gorgeous, bright, sunny day, and we discovered that none of Nora's sunhats from last summer fit anymore! She kept her hoodie hood on for a little while, but we did have to plan a shopping expedition to find a new hat.
She's actually in the process of trying to take her hood off here, not contemplating her hand thoughtfully, as it appears.
Nora reading cookbooks. She's responsible for cooking us dinner one night a week. (Well, maybe in a few more years!)
Daddy was working at a home show on Sunday, and Mama and Nora went to visit him. The highlight of the trip for Nora was the balloon she got! She absolutely loved it, and spent at least 30 minutes after we got home hanging onto the string and hauling it around with her. It wasn't even tied to her wrist here, she was just holding on tight. You can see in this picture that the balloon made her hair very staticky.
Having finished her raspberry course, Nora attacks the bagel portion of her breakfast.
Yes, of course you need a spoon to eat a bagel! Why wouldn't you?
Nora helps Mama do the laundry. Clean diapers are way more fun than dirty ones!

Such a long time... So many pictures!

2007-03-11T15:22:00.000-05:00

I don't really have a good excuse for the long hiatus since Nora's blog has been updated - just that we're a busy family these days! To make up for it, here are a bunch of pictures from the last few weeks.

Every morning, Daddy gets Nora when she wakes up, changes her diaper, and brings her into bed with Mama for her first morning nursies. After that, Nora likes to crawl around and see what mischief she can get into on the bed! She's learned how to pull herself up, and now our morning routine includes pulling up on the windowsill and checking out what's going on outside. Another new Nora trick is the newfound ability to get from her tummy or a crawling position to sitting up. The other day I came into the kitchen to find that Nora had made her way from the living room rug where I had left her over to the shelves on the far side of the kitchen where we keep some photo albums. She sat herself up, pulled an album of her baby pictures off the shelf, and was flipping through it! Very, very, very cute.

Nora still gets most of her crawling mileage in on her belly and forearms, doing a combat crawl maneuvor. But she can do a traditional hands and knees crawl when she wants to, which is usually on the bed or somewhere else soft. I think our hardwood floors aren't cozy enough on her knees to encourage her to do it all the time! But her latest trick is putting her hands on something that she can then push around while she crawls, like her mixing bowl in the next picture and her red toy box in the pictures after that.

Yesterday, we went to the annual Maple Festival in Hebron, a nearby town. Here's a shot of Nora enjoying her first helium balloon and Mama enjoying her (not first) maple cotton candy. Mmmmmmmmmm.
Nora and Mama are on the couch watching a squirrel outside on the porch. He hung out there for quite a while!
Here are some really cute sunlit picture of Nora enjoying a magnet that came free stuck to a bottle of salad dressing. Her favorite toys are always the free ones!

Pulling up on her chair.
We got Nora a push wagon toy at IKEA last week, and she loves to walk behind. It's a little fast for her to drive on her own, and would definitely result in a faceplant that way, so it's used with parental supervision only right now!
And she doesn't only like pushing it.... Riding's fun too!

Snuggling with Mama.

Bangs...

2007-02-26T17:16:00.000-05:00

We had a lovely weekend at Nana and Babchi's house celebrating Aunt Emily's birthday with a surprise party! It was lots of fun for everyone, and Nora was thrilled to see all of her aunts in one place. While we were in Massachusetts, Nora cut her eighth tooth! Now she has all four top incisors and all four bottom incisors. Next up are the one year molars, I believe. None of us are really looking forward to those...

As you can see from the last few weeks of pictures of Nora, her hair has been getting longer and longer, especially the part in front that goes right into her eyes. She's had a lingering runny nose for the last two weeks, and the hair getting tangled up in her snotty nose was starting to get pretty gross. So, today was Baby's First Haircut! One snip of Mama's scissors later, and Nora's got bangs like the British Invasion. Actually, it's really cute. See:

She has two more new accomplishments, too. Nora can now give high fives and kisses! Both are adorable, particularly the sloppy, openmouth cheek kisses.

Snow Day!

2007-02-23T09:44:00.000-05:00

It's a snowy morning here today! Nora celebrated by having a blueberry/banana/yogurt smoothie for breakfast. These pictures are after she drank it with a straw!

Daddy got home from plowing the snow just in time to help with the smoothie-baby cleanup.

Then Nora hung out in her doorway Jolly Jumper while everyone else in the house got to work cleaning up the rest of the smoothie mess!

Uncle Ben! Doctor visit! Food!

2007-02-19T19:16:00.000-05:00

Nora's Uncle Ben came to visit on Saturday, and we all had a fun afternoon hanging out and playing with baby toys. Here is a picture of Nora and Uncle Ben having a blast bouncing around! She's wearing a cute outfit here that was a Christmas present from Uncle Ben and Aimee. I think the little cardigan is so sweet! And I think we all know how I feel about stripes for babies. :)

Nora's nine month well-baby visit was on Friday, and as usual she's doing great. (Except that it was technically not a well-baby visit, since she still has a little cold, but oh well.) Her stats are 22 lbs 6 oz and 28 inches, which brings her down to the 95th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height, from well over 100th for both. Though this means she's not keeping up with her previous growth curves, it's a normal time for a drop, as babies become more mobile. Also, since she's eating three meals a day of solid foods now, and nursing only 5-6 times a day, her body is trying to figure out how to process all those different sorts of nutrients. It's a whole different ball game now from the newborn days of lying around like a little half-baked muffin and nursing 14 times a day!

A bunch of folks have asked me about Nora's diet lately. She eats pretty much regular people food, with some baby delicacies thrown in for good measure. (Teething biscuit, anyone?) She started refusing to be spoon fed about 3 weeks after we started solids, and has exclusively fed herself ever since. A couple of days ago, though, I thought to try some organic maple-sweetened whole milk yogurt, and she'll usually let me feed her a little of that with a spoon, if she's got something else to focus on at the same time, like a ricecake or a bagel. We'd tried plain whole milk yogurt before, but it was emphatically not a hit. Looks like she's got her Mama's taste for maple already! Must be the gallons of it I consumed while she was in utero. :)

Here's what Nora had to eat today:

Breakfast: 1/4 of a fresh cantaloupe, 1 multigrain ricecake, ~2 oz maple yogurt, a couple baby handfuls of generic Cheerios.

Lunch: more Cheerios, about 1/2 cup of steamed broccoli florets, 4 dried apricots. I also offered her some chickpeas and some pasta, but she didn't want any of those.

Supper: a couple of handfuls of Veggie Booty, a spinach pancake, about 1/4 cup of baked beans, 3 dried prunes, and a teething biscuit.

She drinks water from her straw sippy with all her meals, and nursed 6 times today in addition to this food. She's a healthy little eater, and really enjoys the process - as evidenced by the shower that was necessary after her spinach pancake and baked beans for supper!

And finally, last but certainly not least,
Happy Birthday Aunt Emily!!!!
Nora can't imagine what it'll be like to be 22 (well, she can't imagine being 2 either). She can't wait to hear all about it when you come to visit next month!

My Funny Valentine

2007-02-15T08:35:00.000-05:00

Here are a few pictures of Nora hanging out yesterday, playing with her animal tails stacking rings (which she loves! Thanks again, Babchi and Nana!). She's wearing her Valentine's Day tee shirt from Jeanna and Mike, and she really had some crazy hair going on!

In that last picture, she's standing up holding onto one of my hands. This is her very favorite thing to do now - if you're anywhere near her on the floor, she'll come over and grab your hands to pull herself up and then hang out standing. She can't quite do it on furniture yet, but I don't think that's too far away. It takes her two hands to get up, and then she'll let go with one hand and find something to chew on!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2007-02-14T14:48:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone has a peaceful and calm Valentine's Day surrounded by the people you love. We're having a low-key day here - Nora's got a bit of a cold, and Daddy's been out plowing and sanding the snow and ice since 4 am, so we're not doing much in the way of fancy celebrations. But thank you very much to those of you who sent Nora Valentines! She loves getting her own mail.

We do have pictures from yesterday's field trip in honor of Nora's 9 month out-as-long-as-in birthday! Nora was born at Backus Hospital, very near our house, and we had a really wonderful experience there in the Frederick S. Eadie Birthing Center. Shortly after her birth, we received some information on a fundraiser called "A Star is Born at Backus." Basically, in exchange for a donation to the Birthing Center, they engrave your child's name and birthday on a star and post it on a mural in the Birthing Center waiting room. Since we were so happy with the time we spent there, we thought this would be a good way to say thanks, and to get a fun thing that we could visit with Nora to boot. Anyway, we donated, and got a confirmation that Nora's star had been installed way back in August or so. And we finally got around to taking Nora to see it yesterday!

Nora checking out the wall of stars.
A mostly unsucessful picture of Nora with her star - she's the one diagonally off the bottom right corner of the fire alarm.
Nora's a star!
The whole wall.

Edited to replace the star with Nora's full name with the blurry one, thanks to Aunt Abby. Thank you!!

She waves!!

2007-02-12T21:19:00.000-05:00

Nora waves for the first time, while eating her first omlette. Coincidence? I think not!

She continues waving while finishing off the rest of her supper, pasta and peas.

And now I am nine (months)

2007-02-12T20:03:00.000-05:00

Shockingly, Nora's nine months old today! I can't believe it - everyone said that it would go so fast, but it really, really does. I mean, it really does. Not kidding here. :) Nine months feels like such a huge milestone to me, bigger than any of the other month "birthdays" we've passed already. Symbolically, anyway, it means that from here on out, Nora's been out in the world for longer than she was inside me. I'm blown away every day by how much she's grown and changed in the last nine months. She truly is the most amazing addition to our lives.

To celebrate her nine month birthday, we have a special field trip planned for tomorrow (you'll find out about it then!). After she went to bed tonight, we also opened a bottle of Nora wine (Aunt Abby and Aunt Sara and our friends Mike and Jeanna both found this wine for us!), which was delicious.

Nora gave us two gifts, too! First off, she slept through the night last night, for only the second time in her life. Hopefully she's decided that 9-month olds sleep through, and she'll continue in this vein! Presumably someday I won't be able to keep track of the number of times she's slept through on one hand, right?

Second, she started waving at supper tonight! We've kind of been going crazy modeling waving for her the last few weeks, but she hadn't shown much inclination to do it herself. Even this afternoon at swim class, her teacher Laura waved at her as we were leaving the pool, and Nora just looked at her like she was from another planet. Then, while eating an egg yolk and cheddar omlette (yum!) for supper, she just started waving like crazy at Daddy! She spent the rest of the evening waving - at Daddy, Mama, her sippy cup, her toothbrush, the mobile over her changing table, as she was nursing... It's sooooooooooo cute it kind of hurts. :) Lucky for you, we took a couple of videos during supper, which I'll post as soon as Google Video finishes processing them.

In the meantime, here are a couple of pics of Nora hanging out her her cave - the space under her exersaucer. This is now one of her favorite places to play! She's sporting the new barrette I just made her for Valentine's Day in these. Oh, and her funny faces are due to the fact that she's teething, and just doesn't know what to do with her mouth while that's going on. Poor little muffin.

Here's a still photo of the wave - not quite as exciting as the videos will be, I promise. :)