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.

Christmas

Hope 2010 has started off well for everyone! Here are a few pictures from our Christmas. That's right, Nora got baby food and sippy cups in her stocking, but we'll be cooler parents next year. We were disappointed that the weather kept us from celebrating at Aunt Rosie and Uncle Roger's house on Christmas day but that is to be expected when living in Iowa. We still were able to have plenty of celebration for Nora's first Christmas.

Pre-Xmas

We've had a lot of excitement in our house the past few weeks as we approach Christmas. As of Tuesday evening, I am an official MBA gradutate! It has been a little crazy being a full-time working Mom and part-time student so I'm thrilled to have this accomplishment under my belt and drop the part-time student role.
Now for the picture worthy events...
Nora was a very wiggly Baby Jesus in the Christmas program at church last Sunday, which means Justin and I were Mary and Joseph. It was hard to take each other seriously in our costumes but it made for a fun memory. Baby Jesus performed pretty well, mainly because she loved being front and center stage!











We took Nora to see Santa Claus at church a few weeks ago. She wasn't so sure about him at first but liked that his outfit felt like a kitty so it ended up being okay.

Thanksgiving

Nora didn't get to feast on the wonderful food that we did, but she is thankful for her family who passed her around and played with her!

6 Months

It is hard for us to believe but Nora turned 6 months old last week. She now weighs 17 lbs 7 oz (I promised her I'll stop publishing her weight soon) and is 27 inches tall- which the Dr tells us is about the size of an 8 month old. We are so thankful for our hearty baby girl! She hasn't quite mastered sitting up on her own yet, but she rolls over all the time and then looks up at you to make sure you get really excited about it. It worked out well that her 6 month photo shoot could also double as Christmas pictures so here are some of the shots. My friend, Marji, took them for us as she does an awesome job in her "mini" studio!

Halloween

We've had a lot of fun celebrating Halloween this year. Here is Nora as a puppy when we went to a pumpkin farm a few weeks ago. What a cool place that is! Next year we're sure she will love it, but this year she just went along for the ride while we did the corn maze and the hayrack ride.

Since we knew we were expecting a baby at Halloween last year, Justin had the idea that he wanted to have our baby dress as a football so that he could wear a jersey and carry the baby around as he handed out candy to trick or treaters. Even though we had a girl he still wanted to have her dress like a football. So here is my attempt at a costume for her. She wore it for Beggars Night and to "Trunk or Treat" at our church and I can proudly say that people were able to positively identify her as being a football.

Nora is like her parents and doesn't like to miss the opportunity for a party- and her daycare provider, Amy, is known for throwing great parties! The two other babies were chickens, and a puppy with two chickens just sounds like a recipe for disaster, but how cute are they?!

And just because it makes for a funny picture... we've got a cereal eater on our hands now. We're pretty sure it would be just as effective to throw the cereal directly onto her bib but the stuff looks and smells like wallpaper paste so we can't really blame her for not loving it.

Photo Shoot

Here are some of the pictures we had taken at Mom's a few weeks ago...