Sunday, April 28, 2013

Week 17- Good Fun

Nora had some good fun this week. On Monday afternoon, she came home to find THIS in her livingroom.


She was even able to drag Daddy into the tent to play, though he doesn't really fit all that well.


There are some little mesh windows on the roof, and she loved walking around and peeking at her Daddy through them, as you can see.

This week, I also started stocking up on some summer clothes for Nora, as we don't have many summer hand-me-downs in her current size. She was very excited to try on some of her new clothes. She's getting rather good at dressing herself.


On Saturday, we had some more good fun at Ella's 2nd birthday party. All morning, Nora kept telling me "Ella house!" and "happy cake!" so I guess she had a pretty good understanding of where we were going.


Happy cake, indeed!


Sunday, April 21, 2013

Week 16- Outside

"Outside" is one of Nora's top 5 favorite words right now, I think. It comes after "crackers", "Elmo", and "no". This week was a perfect week to spend time outside.

Even though we had a rainy day or two, we also had several days of sunshine. Brad took advantage of the nice weather, and mowed our yard. He was pretty proud of his accomplishment, so he took some pictures to commemorate our neatly manicured lawn.


 Nora got to enjoy the freshly cut grass, too. She loves hanging out in her lawn chair and chasing her ball around the yard.

I get it! I get it!
Got it!

Sometimes, though, I think she gets tired of having her picture taken. Check out this dirty look.


We decided that while our yard was nice and all, the Northwest/Victor Ashe Greenway was calling our names. Nora grabbed her favorite Dora hat and her baby doll, and we headed out for a leisurely stroll.


Nora's has two things that she loves about this walk. First, she loves to point and yell "water" as we walk along a small stream that runs for a good length of the greenway. The second thing is the horses (and the donkey) that live in a yard that backs up to the walk way.

Bye bye, Horses!
By the time we were done, Nora had walked a whole mile without being carried at all!

Monday, April 15, 2013

Week 15- Can You Tell Me How To Get...?

We were so excited this week to be able to take Nora to Charlotte, North Carolina, to see Sesame Street Live! I got the idea from some mommy friends of mine a couple of months ago, and Brad and I decided to make it Nora's "big" birthday gift. We checked with Allison and Hugh to see if they wanted to take Amelia, and a plan was made. This would be Nora's first out of state roadtrip!

We decided we'd make a whole weekend of it. On Friday, we arrived in Charlotte early-mid afternoon, and we went straight to a Children's Museum where Nora and Amelia ran around checking out all of the displays set up to encourage "imaginative play".

 
 
When we left the museum, we stopped by Target for a few things and then for dinner at Outback. We checked into the hotel just in time to get Nora a bath and to bed. I shared a bed with Nora, and she was so excited that it took her over an hour to get settled and fall asleep, but I have to admit, I rather enjoyed waking up to Nora using my face as her own personal pillow.

On Saturday, we got up, took advantage of the delicious and FREE breakfast in our hotel lobby, and then we met up with the Jarnagins to head to the big show. Nora and Amelia were adorable in their matching outfits. I love this picture because Amelia is giving Nora the stink eye.


Once the show got started, there are only 2 words I can think of to describe Nora's reaction to seeing her favorite furry friends up close.

Incredulous:


And awe-struck.


As the show was coming to a close, Nora was getting super sleepy.


She fell asleep in the car before we could even get to lunch.


We had hoped to go to a birthday party of a sweet little girl who lives in the Charlotte area. Her Mom is a mommy-friend of mine who I met online back when we were pregnant with our girls. Unfortunately, Nora woke up from this car nap with a bee in her bonnet, so to speak, and we just couldn't get our act together in time to make it to the party. That was my only disappointment of the whole weekend.

I'm so glad we made the trip. While Nora might not remember her first big concert event, seeing her enjoy herself in the moment made it time and money well spent.

Our next big road trip? New Jersey/Philadelphia in July! Maybe we'll find our way back to Nora's Sesame Street friends while we are up that way.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Week 14- Happy Birthday, Nora!

Week 14 of 2013 was a wonderful one, for sure. One thing stands out among all of the others, though, and that is Nora's 2nd birthday. My beautiful baby girl (wasn't she just born a few months ago??) turned 2 years old, and I could not be prouder of her.

Last week, we took her to get pictures taken for Easter and her birthday. I shared the Easter pictures last week, but her birthday pictures turned out adorably as well!

Have you ever seen more beautiful brown eyes?

On Nora's actual birthday, I took her to her 2 year check-up at Dr. Joe's office, and though Nora was not in a very good mood, she got a clean bill of health. She weighs in at 29 lbs 12.5 oz (75th%ile) and 35.75" (90-95th%ile). If Nora's height follows the "double at 2" rule, she will grow to be between 5'9 and 5'10! Thinking about 5'10 future-Nora makes my heart burst and ache at the same time.

The rest of her actual birthday was kind of quiet, which was probably a good thing.

Saturday was Nora's birthday party. It was scheduled from 11-1 because nap time is around 1:00, and Nora is always at her best pre-nap. I decorated the living room the night before, falling into bed finally just after midnight. Nora was very excited to wake up to a living room covered in Sesame Street characters. Around 10:15 I got her into her party dress, and at 10:30, Jessica showed up with the most awesome cupcakes I have ever seen.


At precisely 11:00 the guests started arriving, just as I was tying Nora's balloons to our lamp post.


Nora's guests included her friends Amelia and Ella, as well as Jessica, Jason, Madison, Caitlyn, Nhyle, Amelia's momma, Allison, and Ella's grandmother, Donna. As well, Dede and Grandpa stopped in for a little while.


Nora and her friends had so much fun running around the back yard and playing with Nora's new water table. They also did a great job eating their lunch nicely at the table outside and digging into their cupcakes later on. Notice the wardrobe change once we moved in side. This is because Nora got drenched while playing with the water table purposely pouring water all over herself.


Nora was very thankful for the presents her friends brought for her. As you can see, in this house, Elmo never gets old.


 Later, some of us "struck a pose" for the camera.


After her friends left, it wasn't too long before Nora was fast asleep in her crib for a nice long afternoon nap. Allison says Amelia fell asleep before they even left our drive way! Those girls wore themselves out! When Nora woke up, we took her picture in her chair with her Dolly, just for old time's sake. When I asked her if she wanted to get her picture taken with her Dolly, she yelled "OK!" and ran to her room to get Dolly and to climb into the chair. Dolly looks so small next to Nora these days.


We ended our birthday fun outside with balloons. Is there any other way?


I read a quote recently that really resonated with me because it says a lot about my relationship with Nora- what it is and what I hope it will become: “She discovered with great delight that one does not love one's children just because they are one's children but because of the friendship formed while raising them.”


Nora, your Mommy and Daddy love you so much, and while we will always be your parents first and foremost, I hope that one day, you will also consider us very treasured friends.