13 Months Old!

I haven't been very good about posting lately...my apologies.

Nora is 13 months old! She's not really walking, but I'll qualify that by saying she is taking a few steps here and there but nothing very consistently. She tends to stand up and then launch herself forward which throws her off balance and she topples over after a few steps. I've tried to capture it on video, but it hasn't worked because every time she sees the camera she speed crawls over to it. However, while she might not be walking yet, she has figured out how to CLIMB up onto the couch and Henry's bed (it's low enough for her to be successful).

Her hair is getting long! It curls a bit in the back, about the same as Henry's did but she has so much more hair than Henry did at this age. I hope hers stays curly longer than Henry's did...although I wonder if his might still be curly were it longer. She loves girly things, which is hilarious to me because I can't figure out where it comes from (certainly not me!). She loves to have her hair brushed, she requests bows and headbands (although she doesn't actually keep them in for very long, she puts on some necklaces she has ALL the time, she loves shoes and she's very sweet with her dolls and stuffed animals.

But don't let those traits fool you into thinking she's mild mannered and cautious...quite the opposite. She is a very mischievous and daring little kid. Here she is getting into Wilbur's food and water. And any chance she gets she tries to get into anything she knows she's not supposed to. Oh, and the climbing! With Henry we thought "oh, we should probably anchor all the dressers and bookshelves just to be safe...", but with Nora it is an imperative! She opens cupboards, tries to climb onto things and just generally creates havoc.

And she seems to have little to no fear, which is also very different than Henry who was much more cautious. She's very content to be left alone to explore (ha! that's code for she knows no one is looking and she can cause trouble!). And she's feisty! Unfortunately she's started to bite a little bit...I like to think it's because she has a molar coming in (poor baby - her gum is SO swollen) but I fear it's because she's "defending" herself the only way she can. She loves to dance, applaud anytime she hears other people clapping and/or saying "yay!," give kisses, say "hi!" to just about everyone she sees, talk on the phone (real or pretend) and is starting to blow kisses as well.

Here is just about the cutest video ever of her giving herself a kiss (oh, did I mention how enamored she is with her reflection? She loves mirrors!)

Here she is in Henry's towel from when he was a toddler. They look so much alike, but are also so different. It kind of makes me want to have 100 children just to see all the different permutations of gene expression. Ha ha ha!  I promise a post all about Henry soon! He is doing magnificently in kindergarten. I just chaperoned his class's first field trip and it was so much fun. 

Halloween Roundup

Our Halloween celebrating lasted almost a full week starting the Friday prior to Halloween. Henry's class had their Harvest party during the school day and then the entire school's Harvest Festival that evening. I volunteered to help out with the party and had a blast crafting Q-tip skeletons with all of the kiddos. They also made thumb print pumpkins, bats, and spiders; played a pumpkin toss game and enjoyed some fun snacks including mandarin oranges decorated to look like Jack-o-lanterns. The Harvest Festival was also a blast - the school did a great job with all the games and Henry liked the not-too-scary haunted house...plus, there was cotton candy!

Then, on Saturday, we braved the colder temperatures and headed to the zoo for their Halloween scavenger hunt. I talked Henry into wearing his AMAZING koala costume and it was a big hit at the zoo. Nora's bumble bee costume would have been all covered up since it was so chilly, so instead she just wore this monkey hat.

Next up, on Sunday, was the annual Halloween party with Brett's parents at the LO Country Club. It was so much fun! There were stations for pumpkin decorating, mask making, and decorating a cup to look like a mummy. Henry found a ninja and a storm trooper to play with and we barely saw him after that!

Of course we carved some pumpkins! Henry spent time drawing out designs for each of ours on paper first and then we helped him

transfer his ideas onto the pumpkins. I didn't take a picture of all of them together after they were done (I'll try to remember to do so!), but I did get this funny picture of Henry imitating his pumpkin's face - and that's Nora's tiny pumpkin next to him.

Finally it was time for the big day! We had pumpkin shaped pizza at Gigi's house and then headed out for some trick-or-treating. First, though, Gigi scared poor Nora to tears with her clown wig. Of course I had to take a picture. Here are the blue Power Ranger and the bumble bee ready to collect their treats! Don't they look happy?

Ha ha ha! I love this picture.
 Two last pictures from the big night - Henry trick-or-treating...and Nora, discovering the loot. :)

A year and a week old!

We've got a live one with Miss Nora! She loves to climb, crawl, explore...which is awesome...except when I'm trying to get anything done! She seems to have radar (or a magnetic attraction) for anything she's not supposed to have - something that keeps us all on our toes all the time.

Her vocabulary is rapidly expanding - in addition to the words she is already saying (mama, dadda, woof, dog, please...maybe others?) she is now saying teeth, keys, cat, shoes and probably more that are not coming to mind right now. Of course they are not super clear and might not even be understandable to people unless you know her, but she's trying. I think she has lots she wants to say and gets frustrated when she can't. She knows some routines - like brushing her teeth...she gets her toothbrush, holds it under the water, pretends to put toothpaste on it, brush her teeth then repeat the whole cycle over again. She knows that when I say it's time to put shoes on that she is to lift one foot up and then the other. She's also developed a funny habit of blowing on every bite of food before eating and, her latest habit, she likes to take her food and dip it in something before eating (especially water or milk).

Here we are enjoying the beautiful, warm fall weather at Gabriel Park. I tried to get a picture of Brett and the kids...they were not having it!

Nora's Birthday Party

I previously posted a bunch of pictures from Nora's birthday party on Facebook and then thought I had also done so here...but I guess not. So here's her birthday recap. 

Last Sunday we celebrated Nora's first birthday. She is either teething or had a slight cold (perhaps both) and had a rough night the night before and wasn't feeling 100%. Nonetheless, surrounded by family and friends had a fantastic time opening presents and eating her cake. 

The word got around that her favorite things right now are stuffed animals and dolls as she received some wonderful new playthings in addition to a book, a beautiful raincoat and a bike seat and helmet. 

Here she is with some of her new toys and wearing her bike helmet. The green thing she's sitting in is her new bike seat which we took out for our first ride today (lots of fun!!). Henry was an amazing big brother and took his job as official present opener very seriously. 

After presents it was time for cake!

A beautiful sparklely, pink and white cake made my Gigi in the shape of a number one. We'd been practicing blowing out candles, but when the time came all she wanted to do was grab them instead. Brett tried to help, but, as this picture showed, the flame was a little too close to her face and it just freaked her out!

The weather was absolutely beautiful, so we got to celebrate outside in the backyard. A fabulous day all around!

Happy Birthday, Nora!

Happy first birthday, little Nora Lennon!!

 One year old!

 Six months old!

Less than one day old!

Sweetest story :  Yesterday, on the eve of her first birthday, Nora started saying the word "please." She's been signing it for a few weeks now, but just added the word yesterday. After Henry gave her a goodnight kiss she signed and said please and moved toward him with her mouth open...asking him for another kiss.

Getting Caught Up

Camera charger and card reader found! We're back in business! It's been a busy couple of weeks with the move but we are more or less settled in. Of course the garage is still piled high with as-of-yet unpacked boxes, but the essentials are unpacked. Henry started Tae Kwan Do last week and so far (after just one class) loves it. He is also loving the backyard here at the new house - he spends some time out there every day; playing golf, decorating with chalk, playing Brett's old trumpet! He is continuing to love kindergarten and has made lots of friends. Both Brett and I have gone and had lunch with him which is quite the experience. It's kind of amazing that the kids are able to eat anything - it's pure chaos in there. He's getting excited for Halloween and we ordered him the Blue Power Rangers costume. He's very much into Power Rangers right now...along with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Luckily one of the rules of Tae Kwan Do is no practicing your moves outside of class - so far he's stuck to that (other than when we allowed him to with his punching bag). But he is loving all things ninja related right now.

I let Henry pick out Nora's Halloween costume. Here's a preview of our little bumblebee. After I nixed the farmer outfit (told Henry it wasn't in her size) it was between the bee and a sunflower. He chose the bee - so cute!

We went to Lee Farms on Saturday, taking advantage of the beautiful weather. We all had a great time...except for poor Nora who was bitten by a mean donkey. Luckily it turned out to not be too serious, but she has one heck of a bruise:

When Brett first pulled her sleeve up so we could see the damage all I could see was some broken skin and I got really worried he'd bitten through into her arm, but it turns out it was more like a scrape and didn't actually puncture her arm. After lots of ice and some doughnuts she recovered and even went on to ride a pony, so I guess she didn't make any kind of negative association with equines.

I thought the pumpkin patch would be a good opportunity for a photo shoot...however, the kids apparently felt otherwise and the above pictures were as good as it got. Oh well!

On Saturday we also participated in the national Star Wars Read Aloud day by going to a celebration at our library. It was a great event with Star Wars themed crafts, games and trivia. And, Henry got to meet this guy:

So he was thrilled!

 Finally, ending with two of my favorite pictures from the last week. Above, Nora is helping decorate the table with chalk...except she's trying to eat it instead and giving herself a purple goatee in the process. And, below, Henry inside a tractor wheel at Lee Farms.

50 Weeks Old / New House

We moved this week so it's been hectic (to say the least). I couldn't even begin to guess where my camera is at this point, so the only picture I am going to post is one Mom took of the kids last Friday at Henry's school.
Although moving is never easy, our new house is fantastic. It's a one level, ranch style house in the Garden Home/Ash Creek neighborhood near where we used to live. We're still fairly close to Henry's school, which was the key factor I was hoping to find in a new place. It's slightly smaller than the old house, but a much better floor plan so, other than the kitchen being tiny, I barely notice the loss of space. Henry's room in particular is awesome - a whole wall of built in shelves...he can have his very own library. So far he's slept every night in there (by himself!) on the top bunk of his bunkbeds. I think it helps that he is absolutely exhausted from school each night...poor guy. The yard is any kid's dream - huge with lots of fun play areas including trees that can be climbed, a sandbox and a "playhouse" (which I think was actually intended as a greenhouse). The decor needs some work...but we'll manage.
Nora is two weeks away from turning one! Amazing! She is definitely starting to talk although not super clearly. She says mama, dada, cat, dog, woof, baby, ball and I think also Gigi and hi (but I can't say for certain those last two). She loves dolls, stuffed animals, dogs, cats, balls and anything that Henry is playing with. She absolutely ADORES Henry - he makes her laugh and laugh and laugh. She's trying to walk, but not quite ready to do so yet...she's such a speed demon when it comes to crawling though. And a little terror around the house - pulling things off shelves, tables, opening cupboards, unrolling toilet paper, etc., etc. Now that we've moved and she'll be turning a year old, I am hoping to transition her to a crib (fingers crossed). To maintain a good nursing relationship, it isn't recommended to nightwean prior to a year old but once she hits that milestone I'd like to see how it goes with her sleeping in a crib. So we shall see...
More next week (with pictures, hopefully!).