Well, it's here. I am officially 1 month away from having a 1 year old, and a 4 year old. How is that even possible?
We are still trying to figure out how to survive each day with Nornado running around the house...but we're having a blast as her personality continues to just explode. Oh she's ornery, but she's oh so loveable at the same time!
Weight/Height: My poor second child. I have no clue. I guess we'll find out at your 1- year well check in a few weeks. All I know is that you're still growing and eating like crazy...so we must be doing something right!
Clothes: We have boxed up all of your summer clothes which means we're full into 9-12 & even some 12-18. I remember this transition phase being difficult with Elyse because she was so long and lean. I'm so thankful that we have boxes of clothes from Elyse that Nora can wear, but I'm also definitely wanting to dress Nora in her own style...so you can bet there'll be some new outfits showing up for birthdays & the holiday season!
Food; Nora has 8 teeth, which means she enhales most things that we put in front of her. She's not a huge bread fan or plain cheese fan, but most anything else she will eat & go back to time & again. She eats everything that we eat at meals and she's definitely starting to express her desire for certain items (berries, Veggie Straws, berries, green beans, berries, noodles, berries...she's gonna be a berry lover just like her sister!) She has this adorable little grunt that she uses when she's not getting exactly what she wants. She has learned the importance of a snack cup, and even if it's empty, you can typically find her with a snack catcher not far out of arm's reach. Cheerios have become a normal decoration & the crunch of them under feet doesn't even surprise me anymore. She is still nursing 4x a day, but she's taking less & less at each feeding which I'm hoping means that weaning will be a quick & easy process. (another post for another day).
Sleep: We've been fighting a family cold the past couple of weeks so sleep has been a little more difficult, but she still loves her sleep. She goes down anytime between 7:30-8 and sleeps until 6:30-7 and also has 2, 2ish hour naps during the day. She's incredibly flexible though and seems to handle things ok if she has a later nap or goes to be later than normal. In true 2nd kid fashion, she has quickly learned to go with the flow and I'm so thankful for that.
Activity: All the time. This girl doesn't hardly stop moving except for when she's eating or sleeping. She's always on the move and is FAST. She can pull up literally on anything and while I'm not sure if she'll be walking by her first birthday, I know that when she starts it will be straight from crawling to running! Unlike Elyse, it seems that she doesn't want ANYTHING to be in it's rightful place. Her favorite past time is to remove everything from the shelves in the playroom and throw it all on the floor. Any stack of blocks will only last as long as it takes for her to realize it exists before she knocks it over. Elyse was never a climber, but I think we're going to have one with Nora. Almost anytime she pulls up to something, she hikes up one leg as if she wishes she could just get a little bit higher up...life may get really interesting when she can actually walk!
Personality: This has completely blossomed in the past few weeks. She is starting to show a little bit more of her independence and also her displeasure if we take something away from her. She is still the happiest baby in the world, but is quick to show her frustration if things don't go perfectly her way. She seem to always have this ornery little sparkle in her eyes, which keeps us on our toes at all times. She is starting to respect the word NO (or at least at times), but the first time we use it...she crinkles her little nose and gives us this adorable ornery grin. Other times, NO doesn't cut it and I've actually had to gently slap her hand a few times. She puckers out her bottom lip as far as she possibly can and I end up turning my head away because I'm about to laugh hysterically at how cute it is. It won't always be cute...but for now, it's adorable to watch her be pouty!
Elyse & Nora: These two are best friends. Seriously. Nora typically wakes up from her afternoon nap before Elyse & always starts saying "Eese! Eese!" to try and find her. Other times Nora crawls into Elyse's room before I have a chance to shut the door just so she can wake up her playmate! There are plenty of times that they aggravate each other as well...Nora really just wants to play with whatever Elyse is playing with, and that typically doesn't go over very well. However, we are working on sharing & playing together and Elyse is learning that Nora is really only interested in something for about 2 seconds. I love to watch them both just LOVE on each other, even if it is a pretty wild, crazy, and hard crashing love most of the time!
Nora Kay, Snuggle Bunny, Sugar Booger, Little Squirt, Noisy Nora,
Oh my baby girl how I love you. You truly are able to brighten up most anyone's day with that ornery grin of yours and as you continue to grow & develop I am just in awe of what God is going to do with you. You might be a girl, and you might be born in the month of December but I can already tell that you & Elyse are going to be so different but yet love each other so hard. And it makes my heart burst with joy that both of you call me momma. You are such an incredible little person, and I know that God has big plans for you. It's my prayer that your daddy & I would be able to shepherd you & your heart in ways that would lead you towards Jesus. We love you sweet girl, thank you for being our one & only Nornado!
Momma
