9 Months

Nora turned 9 months old a few weeks ago which leads to a photo shoot and an appointment with the pediatrician. She doesn't have much of a chance for being petite with our genes and the Dr. says she is in the 98th percentile for height and 60th for weight. She didn't have to have any shots at the appointment so for the social butterfly that she is, it just seemed like a fun outing. Gone are the days when we could set her down and walk out of the room and know that she wouldn't get into trouble. As I'm writing this, she just dumped out a laundry basket of clothes that I folded. Guess I get to start again!

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.

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!