Nora Kay Love ~ 10 Months

Let's dub this month, the month the "Nornado" hit our home.  What's a Nornado you might ask?  It's the resulting disaster that occurs after Nora has been left to explore on her own for any length of time.  She's everywhere.  And she's seemingly everywhere all at the same time and moves from place to place in a flash.  

Weight/Height:  No official measurements this month.  She's still growing, but I feel like her face is slimming down and I know that the days are numbered for her precious, chunky thighs.  All this crawling and climbing and standing, and eventual walking means that we'll have to kiss most of her baby chub goodbye, and it makes me incredibly sad.  

Clothes:  We're still in size 3 diapers and wearing mostly 6-9 or 9-12 clothes.  She seems to be slightly more petite than Elyse, so we're able to ride out the 6-9 month size a little while longer.  I've packed up most of her summer stuff and aside from a few outfits that I'm keeping for her baby clothes quilt, we're planning to pass them on to little girls who can use them.  

Food: Nora still loves to eat & will basically sit in her high chair for as long as we're putting food in front of her.  I honestly can't think of anything that she doesn't love, except for when I try to feed her from a spoon.  Although that's not really true either because she loves yogurt and applesauce and ice cream!  I think it's just a matter of time before her nursing starts to take a backseat to the whole actual "eating" idea.  And while I love the fact that I've been able to nourish both of my babies for their first year...I'll be more than happy to get my body back and wear clothes that don't have to be hiked up or yanked down 4x a day!  

Sleep:  She's amazing.  She slept great during vacation & for the most part she sleeps great at night.  We have a difficult night every once in awhile, but I totally attribute it to teething. She's incredibly flexible and while the whole sleep-begets-sleep theory works with her...she also seems to adapt and she's just fine going to bed anytime between 7:15-8.  She typically sleeps until 6:30-7 and then takes 2, two hour naps each day.  There's seriously not hardly anything I can complain about when it comes to her sleeping habits!  

Activity:  Well, here's where that Nornado idea comes in.  She's everywhere and into everything.  Literally.  Dog food, dirty trash cans, toilet paper rolls, bookcases, there is no discrimination in Nora's eyes as to what she can or cannot get into.  We close doors and move things to high shelves, only to find that those shelves weren't quite high enough.  She's crawling across the house to reach the play room and pulling up on everything to reach just an inch or two further.  Once she pulls up, she can also easily squat down and pick something up as long as she holds on with one hand.  In order to keep her contained, she loves to swing and be pushed in the stroller...but inside the house it seems that all bets are off!

Personality: It seems the separation anxiety was short-lived, but I'm sure it will rear it's ugly head at a later date.  You seriously are the happiest baby, and people frequently ask if you ever cry.  The answer is simply yes.  But it only happens when you are finished being in your crib, you're over-tired,  or when you're hurt...which happens fairly frequently as you become increasingly more mobile.  You love to sing songs and dance and play peek-a-boo but you are also starting to learn the fun of reading which I'm very happy about.  You babble & You are just one of the happiest little girls that I've ever seen, and I honestly look forward to our time together because I just know that my heart will be overflowing with joy!

Elyse & Nora:  Elyse & Nora love each other, that's for sure.  But sometimes that love comes at a pretty hard price.  With Nora becoming so mobile, Elyse must think that Nora can handle anything because this has been a month of "hard" loving in our house.  Elyse wants to pick Nora up or crawl on top of her or hold her when Nora doesn't want to be held.  I know this will be shortlived because soon Nora will fight back...but for now we spend our time keeping an eye on Elyse and hoping that they're not both crying at the end of a play session!  However, it's seriously all out of love and Nora absolutely lights up when Elyse enters the room.  Elyse adores her little sister and Nora's the first one that she wants to see when she wakes up in the morning.  I can't hardly wait until Nora can join in on all the girly things along with Elyse!

Nora Bear, Sugar Booger, Squirt, Nora Kay...
Oh how we absolutely adore you and treasure the fact that God placed another sweet baby girl in our family.  As you continue to grow and develop, I am just filled with excitement at what the future is going to hold for you.  You are no longer an innocent baby, but are starting to develop an ornery streak which I honestly think makes us love you even more.  You are ready to jump in on the crazy antics of your Daddy & Sister, but are also more than happy to come to momma when you're hurt or tired or just wanting to snuggle for a bit.  We love you Nora Bear, but can you just stay little for awhile longer...I'm loving it sooo much!
Momma

This was about 2 seconds before you went headfirst into the nightstand...you definitely had a nice little boo boo on your lip.  All I know is that it most likely won't be the last of it's kind!  

Project 365 ~ September

And another month is in the books.  We're 3/4's of the way through the year and I can't believe that fall is officially upon us.  We had another pretty fabulous month with lots of time with family, lots of time with friends, and lots of time just enjoying our precious family of 4!  

We had some pretty great days at home with tea parties, Disney Palace pets, juice boxes, and our very own tornado named Nora!  

Nora turned 9 months old, and learned to officially crawl.  Babyproofing has yet to occur, we're just running around the house keeping her out of all the things she thinks would be so fun...electrical outlets, trash cans, toilets, etc. 

Daddy took his own selfies, with his very own mini-me's!

 We went to princess night at the Springfield Cardinals game and met up with cousin Harper.  Both of my princesses enjoyed the outing...except for when Spiderman and Batman appeared.  My oldest princess is NOT A FAN.  

Papa & Gigi got in some quality time with their three granddaughters before the first grandson arrives in a few weeks!  These three girls are pretty spoiled to have these two as grandparents.  

We ate the last "special" popsicle of the season...until next year...

We managed to plan a trip to Dogwood Canyon with Nick's family.  We biked the trails and got caught in a total downpour which meant we were all SOAKED.  But such a fun family adventure!

We praised God for his protection as Nora had her 9 month blood work and her platelet count was at 453,000!

My dad did something unprecedented and we surprised our staff by closing the office for the afternoon as a staff appreciation event.  The girls went to a fancy lunch and then to a spa for pedicures and massages...and the boys went to Top of the Rock for some golf!  

Nora kept growing those stinkin' teeth so we tried to soothe her with an ice cream outing!

We spent evenings with friends, and realized that sometimes our "threenager" doesn't really adapt to a change in plans very well.  

Our church celebrated 10 years and I couldn't have been more grateful for the people God has brought into our life because of this body of believers.  

A great college friend recently moved back to the area from DC after 12 years...and we met up with another dear friend for dinner.  I can't wait to spend LOTS more time with these two!

We marked the one-year anniversary since my Granny went to be with Jesus...and we all still miss her so incredibly much!  

I tried to get pictures of Nora's teeth...but this is the best I could do with the little squirmer! 

I took a break from social media posting as we spent a week in Destin, FL with my parents.  More to come in a separate post...

Nora mastered her crawling even more while we were on vacation and learned to climb up 1-2 steps.  Lord help us all!  

Hubby & I put the girls to bed and took a selfie.  With the SuperMoon.  And a streetlight. 

We fall-ified our front porch...I can't believe it's time for pumpkins, mums, and haybales!  

Elyse played even more with her Princess Palace Pets...all 43 of them.  

And this little ornery stinker kept us all on our toes...she's pulling up and crawling over to and making a royal mess of everything....

But, we're loving every single second of it!  

Elyse Goes to School!

It'd be a big fat momma failure if I didn't document one of the biggest changes in Elyse's short little life.  Back in August, she started 2x a week preschool and is absolutely loving it! 

 

We started off the week before with another big first...her first haircut!  Her hair is super fine, and she doesn't have a lot of it so I'd never even trimmed it.  But I knew it was time for just a quick cleanup of the ends and she did so well! 

I couldn't believe how big she looked once they curled her hair!

And then the Thursday before school started, we had open house at the school.  She's going to preschool at a Baptist church here in the area and the program comes very highly recommended from some of our good friends.  She knows a few of the kids, but there will also be plenty of new faces for her to call new friends.  The open house went extremely well and she jumped right in to play with the other children & also encouraged some of the more timid kids to play with her.  It gave me so much confidence as the first day of school came around. 

The night before I packed her backpack and also this cute little free printable for her to hold. 

 

We first attempted pictures outside, but she wasn't having it.  After Momma begged her to take some pictures and Daddy said pretty please...she quickly obliged for a few photos! 

 

We dropped Nora off with my mom, and Elyse was so excited she didn't even want to get out of the car to say hi to Gigi...and that's saying something! 

 

Hubby & I both walked her in, and she acted completely confident the entire way.  I did incredibly well the entire time, except for when I went to leave.  It wasn't so much sadness that caused the tears, but just pride and excitement over what is to come for her.  I gave her a hug, and reassured her that we'd be there to pick her up in time for lunch.  I practically sprinted out of the room, so she wouldn't see the tears start to flow. 

We still don't hear a lot of daily details, as she prefers to tell us..."I'll tell you later." But we get just enough to know that she's having a great time, learning lots, and is making lots of new friends.  We've also had a few "learning lessons" when she becomes the teacher & Hubby & I are the students.  We learn lots this way about how her class works and the routines they go through each day.  She's even got the teacher book hold down as she reads us stories just like Ms. Bailey does.   

Overall I'm just so excited that we decided to send her this year.  This will give her two years of preschool before Kindergarten and it's also giving my mom some one-on-one time with Nora while Elyse goes to school.  And honestly...Momma isn't losing any time with her because she's going to preschool while I'm at work.  I just hope she loves to learn as much as I did...but regardless I know she's going to leave her loving, encouraging mark on so many new friends! 

Nora Kay Love ~ 9 Months

Wow.  I have a 9 month old.  An active 9 month old.  We're practically already to toddler-hood, and while I love watching my girls grow up and experience new things, I also certainly have some bittersweet feelings about the babyness going away all too quickly. 

 

One newsworthy event from Nora's 9 month appt...her platelet count is now at 453,000!  Praise God!  We've definitely come a long way from the count of 7,000 we had just 6 months ago! 

 

Weight/Height: 18.4 lbs and 27" long.  She's actually smaller than Elyse was at this age, and I've certainly noticed that some of the baby chunk is starting to fall away with her being so mobile.  I also think that baby led weaning is causing her not to gain quite so much weight since she's not truly eating everything that's in front of her. 

Clothes:  She's wearing size 3 diapers and I literally have 4-5 huge totes currently in my house as we are in the process of transitioning from one size/season of clothes into another.  As we leave for Florida, she's still able to wear quite a bit of 3-6 month stuff and also her 6-9 month stuff...but as we come back most all of her fall clothes will be 9-12 month.  She seems to be just a little more petite than Elyse so some of the larger stuff may have to wait until she grows just a bit more.  I'm ok with that, it gives me an excuse to buy her a few new things! 

Food:  I honestly don't know if I've ever seen anyone enjoy food as much as Nora.  She is perfectly content to sit in her high chair for nearly 30 minutes as long as she has food on her tray.  She has many favorites including peaches, tomatoes, grapes, yellow squash, zucchini, green beans, apples, french fries, noodles, peanut butter & jelly toast, berries, pizza, etc.  I honestly can't think of a single thing that she won't eat and that makes me so happy...of course even with Baby Led Weaning, I know that these moments are fleeting.  I just hope that BLW will help us transition out of the picky toddler stage sooner rather than later. 

Sleep:  We had to do a little bit of sleep training this month, the 9 month sleep regression was fairly short lived as she had to figure out how to lay back down since she was sitting up in her sleep.  She's also still fighting some new teeth which results in some minor crying during the night, but she quickly settles herself back down and sleeps mainly from 7:30-7 am.  She's also still taking 2 great naps during the day which allows me some momma time and also some quality time with Elyse.  Elyse slept HORRIBLY during this stage, so I'm hoping that we'll skip right over that with Nora. 

Activity:  So you know that momma paranoia about Nora not crawling yet?!?  Yeah, that's gone.  We are definitely a mover.  She officially started crawling on all fours a few days before she turned 9 months old...and hasn't looked back since.  She crawls from room to room and can be in a different place in a flash.  You don't enjoy rocking much anymore and this makes me incredibly sad, preferring to just be quickly laid down in your crib when it's time for nap/bedtime (which by the way, we've now moved your crib all the way to the floor--we don't want a repeat of what happened with your sister at this age)! We laugh that with Elyse we baby-proofed because we should, because that's just what you do with your first baby.  But with Nora?  Yeah, we're babyproofing because we have to. Silly girl, she's going to give us a run for our money!  She's into EVERYTHING! 

Personality:  With turning 9 months old came just a little bit of separation anxiety.  She doesn't mind to be left with others, but if Momma is around she wants to be with me most of the time.  Her sister hated men, but she loves to smile and wink and flirt with all of them!  I'm definitely going to have to keep an eye on her when she gets older.  We have people frequently ask if she's always this happy or this laid back and the answer is...yes.  Being the second child she's so great at just going with the flow and adapting, which I am so super thankful for!  She loves when we sing or play games and just gets the giggles almost anytime her sister is around.  She's starting to give some open mouth kisses and I just love her absolutely to pieces. 

Elyse & Nora:  Now that Nora is mobile, we've had a few additional issues as Nora really just wants to play with whatever Elyse is playing with.  However, thanks to the advice of a friend, we play this game that "Giant Baby Nora" is coming so we've made it a keep-away game of sorts if Nora gets too close to anything too precious to Elyse.  They still absolutely love each other, Elyse misses her dearly when she's at school and I know that Nora was definitely a little confused the first few days that Elyse wasn't around.  I'm excited for the coming months as they begin to play more & more together...right now the sisterly bond is pretty incredible to witness. 

 

Nora Bear, Sugar Booger, Nors, Squirt...

Oh how you are loved.  Loved, loved, loved.  You have come into our family & filled this perfect little Nora-sized hole that we didn't really even know existed.  Unlike with your sister, this time around I've been able to be so much more relaxed and I even find myself wanting you to wake up just so I can play with you or spend more time with you.  As your personality continues to blossom, it's so exciting to see how you are similar to your sister in looks but you are definitely your own little person who certainly will have your own ideas & dreams & passions.  God certainly knew what he was doing (as he always does) when he made me a girl mom for the second time and I wouldn't change it for the world.  We love you squirt...forever & always. 

Momma