Already 9 Months

I cannot believe our Nora has been with us for 3/4's of a year already. Time flies. She sure has changed our lives...and we wouldn't have it any other way. We are beginning to try some finger foods. So far we have had bananas, green beans, and a baby biscuit (the COOKIE). We're having fun with it and I think she is enjoying it too. It is just hard to tell sometimes since the double ear infection, new teeth, and general discomfort seems to be winning over eating these past few days.




She is also starting to creep a little bit. She has been a star at moving in circles and backwards. Yes, I said circles...must be her daddy in her...hee hee. BUT we have finally starting moving forward. Nothing like a crawl, but she pulls herself along with her arms. She is going to have quite a set of biceps on her at this rate!

By the way, Little Bit's stats came in at 19lbs, 10oz and 28 1/2 inches (the 50-75 percentiles). Her size is very deceiving...you would think she was bigger when you check out her cheeks and thighs!

Christmas - Just a Few More

More Christmas - The Pictures Say It All

Christmas Fun

The big day finally arrived. I hated being away from "home"...I think this was only the second or third Christmas I've spent away from my family. I wish we could have been with everyone in Croghan, but we will be soon enough. Enough of that...being with Nora and George made everything just perfect...just a new kind of special Christmas. George and I dined on steak, crab legs and lobster (are you jealous yet?) for our Christmas Eve treat and Nora had her first taste of real banana's as finger food (again...jealous?). We both loved the eating...how can one not love the eating?

And then there was the presents. Nora did great! The perfect mix of actually enjoying the present as well as the boxes they came in! We have a new face we make quite often. It is very misleading since she pulls this one out when she is excited, bored, happy and ticked off. Whatever the reason it tickles George and I pink to see it.

Santa

We finally made time for Santa. Next year we definitely WON'T wait until 2 days before Christmas to make the annual trip. After standing in line for almost 2 hours, we got our minute and a half with the big man himself. Nora wasn't so amused with the whole process. No tears...believe it or not. Although if you look close it looks like there was...she has been feeling a bit sicky again...her cold is settling in her eyes...pink eye perhaps...I have no friggin' idea. What I do know is that I didn't pick out an outfit fitting for seeing Santa. I think he is going to bring my darling daughter some trucks for Christmas. Oh well, I guess we can say that she is the cutest little boy to visit Santa this year. It is still a pretty cute picture though.

My Favorite

well...at least one of them!

The Real Christmas Card

We had the most difficult time narrowing the pictures down. George had his favorites, I had mine...phew...what a decision. Not to brag, but the all the pictures turned out great. I could thank my Christmas present...a new camera...but I really think it was the subject! She was such a trooper humoring me and my picture obsession!!!

Anyway, these two pictures were the two we decided to include on this years Christmas card. Of course since we sent pictures to a ton of folks (thanks to my really BIG family), some got picture one and some got picture two. But now you can see both!

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas.

The Final Christmas Card Picture

well, probably not, but this one is pretty funny! As one of my friends said...Senior Yearbook good! And just think...I still have 17+ more years to add to that list!

Little Miss Claus

Ho Ho Ho...I had a few minutes this morning so threw on her Santa hat and snapped some pictures. She wasn't nearly as amused as I was, but I got a couple good pics regardless. I cannot wait to get some of her in just her diaper and Santa hat...good blackmail stuff for the future!!!

Christmas Pictures

We attempted to get some Christmas pictures this weekend. We got some really great shots, but from the looks of it Miss N got bored very quickly.

But sorry all, you'll have to wait until you get your Christmas cards to see the final product!

Family Time

Mommom and Papa came to visit me again. I just love it when they visit...I have all these people who just wait for my next move!

Nora's First Christmas Present

Nora didn't mind one bit that her first Christmas present was a month early...in fact she really seemed to like it.

I was quite surprised at how well she did...and that she actually liked the book better than the paper! .

Thanks Aunt Heather, Uncle Mike, & cousins Kelsey, Derek and Evan.

And a little note to add to first time aunts and uncles...be nice, be very very nice at what presents you buy you niece or nephew because paybacks are generally a LOT worse! This present may appear to be a simple book, but in fact it has a button that makes this really loud laughing noise for a really long time.

Teeth

You can finally see some teethies in there! We have the bottom 2 front teeth...I guess she can no longer ask for those for Christmas!

Rocking Chair

This rocking chair has quite the history. It has been waiting for Nora for 15 years. It was kind of wondering if it was ever going to be used!

The rocking chair has never been used but came into being when my sister has her first baby (Kelsey). My parents saw this and had to get one for her. They quickly decided to get one for my kids. So it has sat and sat and sat in the garage rafters since that day. The box was never opened and had gathered lots of dust, but finally 7 and 1/2 months ago that same rocking chair saw the light of day. And on Friday finally sat the little person it was purchased for so long ago.

The Tongue

Constantly Learning

Can you image what we, as adults, could do/be/know/etc. if we learned a quarter as much as kids do each day? So many times in the last seven months I have had to look at George and asked if he has seen that face or heard that sound before.

We have found our tongue again. The first time it was just a realization that it was there and could stick out of the lips. Next it was a tool for purging all nasty gross cereal from the mouth (usually involving some sort of spitting also). And now...now she thinks she is a puppy dog. The tongue just hangs out there like a dog enjoying a lazy day in the sun. It is also used for kisses. And although a little sloppy, these kisses are always welcome! Of course it still comes in handy to block the unwanted guest that may enter into the mouth...like medicine or mommy's finger trying to check out the new bling she has in her mouth (that would be a tooth).

We have also acquired the knowledge of squealing. High pitch bursts of noise coming out of her mouth. This is good so the cats can hear her coming at all frequencies so they can take cover if need be. She also makes some kind of panting noise (typically accompanied by the tongue hanging out of the mouth syndrome mentioned earlier).

We know roll both ways...although she held off as long as she could, she finally realized the advantages of rolling onto her tummy. And quickly with this knowledge she is beginning to learn to scoot to get what she wants. Long gone are the days with an immobile child. Yes, although this just started this weekend, mom and dad are already longing for the days of knowing Nora was going to be were we put her if we turned our backs for 10 seconds! Tag Team is now mommy and daddy's (m&d) favorite evening game to play!

And finally, we have standing. We LOVE to stand...it makes us happy. Sitting is no longer good enough if m&d are around...we must stand. I have to admit it is pretty cute when we put her in her crib and she hold onto the side. She has just the biggest smile...she is so proud of herself. And this, my friends, is when I get the BEST of the puppy dog tongue kisses!

Happy Halloween!

Boo! More firsts...Halloween & wardrobe changes. She had a baby's first t-shirt but we also had to get her a costume...hence the two outfits in one day. I also got her first pair of "fun" socks but I will have to get a picture of those later...she wasn't ready to have those on yet.

Anyway, Halloween is barely set to begin and we've already had a very full day. Miss Nora Bug went with "80's" Mommy to work since it pretty much closes down for Halloween. Nora was totally intrigued with all the funny looking people. She did great as always, but once I realized there was no way she was going to nap we broke down and went to Ms. Hope's house for the rest of the day. Them mommy had a little freedom and some jell-o shots to go with that freedom! Go mommy!!!

We got home and took some pictures with the pumpkins (as you can see) Mom & Dad designed. And now we are waiting for our first trick-or-treaters ever in our house. Should be a fun night...hope we have enough candy!

The Pink Converse

sneakers return. They made their first appearance almost a year ago and finally came out of the closet for the first time yesterday! They are a little big, but I just couldn't resist any longer.

What a difference a year makes! And believe it or not, my Little Bit is going to be 7 months tomorrow.

Blustery Day

Ah...our first blustery day of the season was yesterday. Mommy was in heaven! And FINALLY, we got to pull out the cuddly outfits for baby!! Some apple cider and fry cakes and life would be about perfect!

Pumpkin Patch

Nora and pumpkins are not friends...they don't even pretend to like each other. Or maybe it was the scarecrow. Whatever the reason, Little Bit was a long way from enjoying her first outing to buy some pumpkins. Dang girl practically learned how to jump that day...jump into her daddy or my arms to be "safe" and then she was still skeptical.