Monday, February 25, 2013

Week 8- Family Fun

This week, we got to visit with some of the Pratt side of the family who we rarely see! Dan and Jenni were in town from Texas with their boys, Caleb and Caden. Penny held an "Open House", and many of the extended Pratt family stopped by, including Clint and Amanda and their boys, Conrad and Cooper. Nora had fun being the one "delicate flower" among her 4 very active 2nd cousins, ages 2-5!

Before heading to the festivities, though, I had to wake Nora from her nap, which is never a fun task. She looked so sweet and peaceful!


She did not react well to being woken from her sweet slumber, and to keep her calm for the car ride over, I had to sing her lullabyes the whole way there. Some day she will realize that my singing voice is not exactly a wonder to behold.

Once we got to Penny's, she slowly warmed up and began playing. First, she tried to help herself to the treehouse.


Then we went inside so she could get a snack. While inside, she and Caden played sweetly together.  Caden is just a few weeks older than Nora.


Then the kids headed back outside. Nora mostly hung out on the ground, yelling "Whoa!" and "Yay!" as the boys flew down the slide, but she did take a couple of turns down the slide herself with her Daddy's help.


Nora has a ton of boy cousins in her age range. She doesn't get to see them often, but I hope as she grows, she can look forward to seeing them at these little get togethers.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Week 7- Can You Feel The Love?

This week, we celebrated a low-key Valentine's Day. Brad and I ordered take-out from Chop House. He sent flowers to me at school, and I brought home some chocolate covered strawberries.

Nora celebrated at day care and came home with candy, cards, and a big heart-shaped balloon from Ms. Tracy. When I stopped by to pick her up that afternoon, I wanted to get some cute pics of her and her friends, but Nora wasn't in the mood for a photo op.


And just like last year, her Daddy made sure she knew just how special and loved she is by bringing her a red rose and a sweet card.


In other news, Little Miss has been a bit of a picky eater lately. I'm having a hard time getting veggies and protein into her. That is, except for on taco night. I know I can always count on her to eat taco meat, so I pack it with corn and beans for a little extra punch. Since she was about 10 months old, this has been one of her favorites.

 
She's just as messy as ever!

Keeping with the "love" theme, Nora has been a little snuggle bug lately. She loves snuggling up and reading a good book. I got some cute pictures of her and her Daddy reading together before bedtime earlier this week.


No shocker, they're reading Go Dog, Go. I read this to her 3 times alone just today.

And finally, who doesn't LOVE this giant, cheesy smile???


Yep, this week, I definitely feel the love.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Week 6- 22 Months Old

Earlier this week, Nora turned 22 months old. She is so close to turning 2, and it breaks my heart a little bit to see her growing up so quickly. I remember feeling this way last year, too, but then once her birthday came, I was fine with it. So, hopefully these sad feelings and longing for my baby to stay a baby a little longer will fade a bit in the excitement of celebrating her big day.

Here she is sweetly smiling for her monthly pictures.


For maybe the first time in 22 months, when I took Dolly away from the chair, Nora reached for her. I know that Dolly would eventually win her over.

Here are some more random shots of Nora being cute both at home and while visiting Dede and Grandpa.


We celebrated Grandpa's birthday this week. Nora has taken to calling him Papa, which kind of melts my heart since that's what I used to call my grandfather. I don't know where she came up with it, but I am hesitant to correct her because it is just so sweet. Plus, Grandpa doesn't seem to mind!

Anyway, we had fun celebrating his 74th birthday over dinner at Bo and Lea's. I had intended to take some family pictures, but there was so much going on, that I didn't get around to it. Nora had lots of fun playing with her cousins, though. They let her sit on their laps and play with their phones. They figured out their way to her heart quickly, and so Nora was happy to hang out with them, even without Brad or me anywhere in sight.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Week 5- Growing Up

Every day, it seems like Nora is growing by leaps and bounds.

I received several picture texts from Tracy this week updating me on Nora's new adventures. On Monday, I got one telling me that Nora's buddy, Dontae, was visiting! Dontae was Nora's first day care friend, but several months ago, his family moved. However, twice this week, he was there for a "drop in", and apparently, he and Nora were "partners in crime".

 
They got so rowdy on Friday, that Ms. Tracy had to put these 2 little cherubs in "time out".
 
Another message I got this week was that Nora has "graduated" from napping in her playpen- the one she has been in since she was 4 months old- to one of the "big kid mats" on the floor! When Tracy told me she was going to make this transition, I wished her luck and told her I was glad it was her instead of me. However, on Tuesday at exactly 1:04 p.m, this picture came through on my phone.
 
 
1:04 is four minutes after nap time begins. Tracy is magical. This would never happen at home. NEVER!
 
Another change this week is that Nora has started drinking out of non-sippy cups.
 

 
 
So far, no big spills. She looks pretty pleased with herself, I think! (For some reason, I can not enlarge this picture, and it is making me crazy!)
 
This weekend has been low key, as usual. Nora took a big interest in some ABC flash cards I found in the dollar bin at Target. She's been really "into" letters in general for quite some time. I suppose that's not terribly surprising. Here are a few things you can find in her bedroom...
 
 
So, I guess it's a no-brainer that identifying her ABCs is something she's picked up on fairly easily.
 
 
It's a lot of fun listening to her sing her alphabet and yell out letters at random when she notices them in print. She's a smart little cookie. We're pretty proud of her.
 
I realize that this is supposed to be more of a family blog and not entirely about Nora, so here are a a couple of highlights:
 
- I had my first 5 day school week since returning in January. We'd had a couple of snow days and the MLK holiday. This was the first week with nothing, and so it made for kind of a long week. I know, wah wah wah!
 
- Brad had an interview for a new position within his same department at UT. He's kept pretty hush hush on this because we really have no idea if he'll get the job or not (even though he's obviously the best candidate for the job!) Hopefully we'll have some good news about this in the next couple of weeks.
 
So, 5 weeks in the books. I can't believe it's February already.