February

Nora loves her friends and thought it was fun to get to exchange Valentines at her daycare party. Too bad that Nora isn't able to eat any candy, but Mom and Dad took care of that for her.

Here are the big kids on a scavenger hunt...

This is Grady and Nora giving them helpful directions.

Valentines Day at our house usually gets combined with Justin's birthday on the 12th. This year we took our first family vacation to Minneapolis for the weekend. Justin loves the show Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel and we thought it would be fun to go to some of those places where those shows have been and there were 10 restaurants in Minneapolis. We had a lot of fun- it was kind of like a scavenger hunt but with food. All modesty aside, we really do have the best baby. She was a good sport through the driving, slept good at the hotel, and loves to people watch so she was in heaven being able to sit in her high chair and stare at everyone. As a birthday present for Justin, I bought Man vs. Food t-shirts for all of us. I'm not sure how cute it is for a baby girl to wear a t-shirt that says "Man vs. Food" but we thought it was funny even if she only wears it once. It was a little too embarrassing for us to all wear the same shirt in public so we staged it out over the weekend.

This was one really cool place we went. It was an old bowling alley that has been turned into a restaurant and they serve organic food. We had granola pancakes for breakfast- yum!

This is Nora loving the king size bed at the hotel. It seemed to put her crib to shame!

January

It has been a long time since I've posted anything so I'll give a brief overview of our most recent happenings. Nora now has 2 teeth on the bottom, can sit up on her own and is working hard to crawl. We treat her as if she is our puppy these days because we can entertain ourselves all day long getting her to do her tricks. She will clap and wave (not necessarily when you are coming or going) and if you ask her if she can dance she will wiggle back and forth. She is a lot of fun. I'll post a video clip of her clapping below.

Nora and I took a swimming class with Sarah and Kate at the YMCA on Monday nights during January. It was a small production getting her all bundled up before and afterwards and messing with dragging in her car seat but we both loved it once we got to the pool. Singing and splashing in the water is right up Nora's alley.

Justin and I took a ski trip to Copper Mountain, Colorado for a long weekend with Zach, Lindsay, Jill and Morgan. We had such a great time and absolutely loved being in the mountains. The weather was very cold but it made for good skiing conditions. I don't have any pictures of us actually skiing but you can use your imagination as you watch the Olympics and just picture us at the same caliber.

Nora had a little vacation of her own staying with Grandma Jean and Auntie Em. My anxiety level about leaving her for the first time heightened to a 10 when she started to show signs of getting sick the Monday before we left. I took her to the Dr and they told us that she had RSV. The kid has never even had a cold and so jumping right into RSV (baby form of bronchitis) was a lot to take. But those nebulizer breathing treatments work wonders and she was bouncing back by the time we left. A little extra TLC from Grandma Jean was all she needed to make her good as new by the time we got back and she is back to her normal happy, healthy self.