Growing Girl!

So, Momma Erin put Momma Karrie in charge of updating the blog for Nora's 2nd year...we can see how far that got us...no updates for months!
Oh well...Momma Erin is back in the driver's seat today and preparing an update.

Nora has such a fun personality. She likes shoes and brings them to us when we are just sitting without them on. She likes to lick the frosting off of sugar cookies. She likes to color. She likes candy corn. Nora loves to dance. Anytime she hears music on the tv or when we sing to her, she nods and bobs her little head to the beat. Nora is walking all over the place and even starting to run a little. She leads with her belly which makes it all even cuter! She does call us both Momma, but Karrie gets it a little more than I do. Nora is getting very good at giving leg hugs. She tries to climb up on things by just lifting her leg up...when that doesn't get her very far, she waits for us to help her up. Nora loves hugging and kissing her babies. She loves to cuddle her blankies. She loves making fake food in her kitchen in the toy room and then bringing the wooden spoon to us to "taste" in the living room.

Our little Nora has now had a few minutes of fame as well. We went to a pancake breakfast a few weeks ago and her picture was taken to be in the Des Moines Register. I've included the picture that was in there.

Nora is so excited to be a jack o'lantern for Halloween this year. She had a little Halloween party for some of her friends. We bobbed for apples, colored, decorated cookies, made mummies, went ghost bowling, and played a candy corn toss. Nora loved it all!

She is such a sweet girl. Very loving and cuddly. But when she wants something, we all hear about it! :) She loves playing on the porch and climbing into her rocking chair.

First Birthday Fun!!!

Well, it officially happened...Nora Christine is now 1 year old!!! That flew by, didn't it? Nora's mommies both took the day off of work to be with her to celebrate. We started the morning with a chocolate chip pancake topped with whipped cream. She loved it!



Then we went to the neighbor's house for morning coffee. Nora had a lot of fun with the group there. Then we headed out for lunch at the Pizza Hut buffett. Nora really enjoyed the pasta, of course! After that, we headed to Cold Stone Creamery and enjoyed some special birthday ice cream. Nora loved that too!



Then it was time to head home and get ready for swimming!!! Nora is turning into quite the little water bug!!



Then it was naptime! Nora was pooped!
In the evening, Nora's Jill and Darcie came over to have dinner and open presents. Nora didn't really understand the paper ripping yet, but she sure had fun with the new stuff.



And, who could forget the cake smashing?



Overall, we think she really enjoyed her first birthday! She got to extend it a little to celebrate on Saturday with the family too! She had lots of fun with grandma's, grandpa's, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends!!!

What a mess!?!

Good morning!
So, it's been a while since Momma Erin has worked on the blog again...it's been a crazy few weeks. Since the last post, we've had some interesting moments. One day after picking Nora up from school, we got home and found a mess. Someone had entered our home and made a huge mess...also while helping themselves to our belongings. Luckily, they didn't take too many of Nora's things. They did get her pretty, pink iPod and it's dock, and her baby monitor...but the biggest of all was her wagon! Her Momma's are missing countless other items as well, but now we're all just trying to move on. Our home is more secure and we feel a little safer again every day.
Momma Erin has had a weird eye thing going on too. We think it started out as an infection, then it shifted to an allergic reaction to the medicine the doctor gave her. They're still not 100% "normal" yet, but getting better every day!
Nora has also found a new fun thing to do...she loves going to the wading pool at the park! She's very brave and likes to crawl in until it gets so deep that her face is in the water. She's pretty darn cute in that swimming suit too!
Nora loved the parade in Belmond on the 4th of July! Every time candy was thrown down in front of her, she yelled, "Uh Ohhhhh"!! It was pretty darn cute!
Now she just loves being ornery and throws her food on the floor during meal time. We still need to figure out how to break that habit!
The other thing that Nora loves to do right now is give kisses and throw kisses...but not when you want her to. She sees Momma Erin's old teddy bear and attacks him with kisses, then sits up and starts throwing them randomly around the room. We haven't had the opportunity to get this on video yet because every time she sees a "piece of technology" come out, she needs to investigate and stops doing whatever it was that she was doing.
Now we're just looking forward to Nora's 1st birthday in August!

Growing little nugget

Nora is starting to get a fun little personality! She tries to mock faces that we make, or even just does her own so we will laugh. She still buzzes her lips, but not as often. Nora loves to make messes for her mommas to clean up...how thoughtful! She has her own shelf in the living room that holds her books. She pulls them all down so she can read them. Its really funny. The only problem is that she has learned how to grab and crumple. So, the paper books don't sit down there anymore, we save those for mommas to read to her.
The Norster is also walking around with help from the mommas. She's not to sure on her fet yet, but every day gets a little better.
Nora does not like getting buckled into her car seat and she isn't afraid to tell us! Once she's in and secured, she doesn't usually seem to mind.
In the last couple of days, she has started giving hugs and making that "mmmmmm" sound like she's squeezing too. She's just a growing barrel of fun!

10 months old today!

Nora is growing like a weed and the time is just flying by! She still isn't crawling, but is very mobile. She has ben getting up on her knees more and more, but still can't figure it all out yet. Nora loves to dance to the music on Momma Erin's phone, she has started reading to herself too. It's pretty cute...at least to us Momma's. :)
Here is a picture of Nora from this
morning and a picture of her in her guitar jammies...

9 month check in

It's hard to believe it, but the Norster is 9 months old now. She had her first pancake last weekend and loved it! She also had her first rice krispy treat too! She's allowed to eat meat now, but Momma Erin isn't looking forward to that!
Nora isn't quite crawling yet, but she sure knows how to get somewhere. It's kind of a half army crawl. She pulls herself along with her left elbow, and shoves herself with her right foot...all while dragging her left leg along. It's pretty darn funny.
Momma Erin is currently updating this from her phone, so there aren't too many pictures...but more will follow.

Bad Momma Erin!

So, I am terrible! I haven't updated this blog in roughly a month. Our little nugget has had a busy month too! She got a flu shot and didn't cry, she went to the St. Patrick's Day parade downtown and didn't cry with all of the loud noises and hub-bub, she went to a Barnstormers (arena football team) game and didn't cry, she switched from an infant carrier to a big girl seat and didn't cry...she is just a super trooper and handles pretty much everything well...except for her first sampling of peas. She gagged and dry heaved the first time she tried them. We did take a video of the event, but I can't find the flip video recorder at the moment. As soon as I find it, I'll post it...its really funny. :)
In other news...Nora now eats cheerio's and puffs. She is very good at it too...she only makes a mess every time she eats them! :)
I'll post pictures later because its her bed time...and mine too. So...good night!


Nora in her baptism dress

Nora's first boyfriend...

So we recently found out that Nora holds hands with a boy at school...his name is Mason, and he's almost two months younger than Nora. I only bring him up now because we found out today that Mason is moving. Poor little Nora will go thru her first break up in less than two weeks. We're going to send a camera with her to school so we can get a picture of the hand holding for her. Stay tuned for that...

In the mean time...enjoy these random pictures of the norster...

Warm enough for a stroller ride!

Nora had her 6 month checkup earlier this week. She is growing like a weed! She is in the 75th percentile for height and weight, while that melon of hers is off the charts. She even took her shots like a champ.

Yesterday was warm enough for us to get outside and enjoy a little fresh air. Nora can't wait to take more stroller rides when it warms up a little more!

Enjoying her carseat

Nora was so tired at the basketball game last night! She couldn't even hold her head up!

Smiles, virus, and rolls...

So last weekend Nora got a new car. She really needed one for the sake of our sanity. She sat patiently all day while we shopped for the right car. The next morning she woke up at 5am with a tummy ache. She didn't actually say that she had a tummy ache but it was pretty easy to figure out when she puked up Momma Erin's nose! She ran a temp for a few days, but was able to get back to school by Thursday.
Over the weekend we hung out, went to a basketball game and watched the Super Bowl! She watched from the floor while she was just rolling around like crazy! It was kinda funny to watch!

I think we can safely say that Nora is back to her ol' self again!

Sick Nora on the couch

Nora on her way to school this morning!

Cereal, Green Beans, and Ear Infection...

Ok, so several people have pointed out that it has been 3 weeks since my last update. My apologies to all of you...I guess sometimes life just happens...

Anyway, I can't remember if I mentioned in past updates that Nora has been eating cereal! She really seems to like it...its super funny when she decides to blow on the spoon and the cereal goes everywhere. Usually though, she opens her mouth really wide for a bite.

She got her first ear infection about a week and a half ago. When I was a kid, I loved the "bubble gum" medicine. But, Nora absolutely despises it! She has to be pinned down in order to get that syringe in her mouth. I feel awful every time I have to give it to her. But, she's only got 2 days left of it and then its over!

Nora decided the other day that she would like to try some of Aunt Kellie's fresh from the garden canned green beans. We really expected that she would make some weird face for her first bite, but it never happened. She just eats them like nothing is different. I'd post the video, but seriously, it is the most boring video of a kid eating!

Anyway, despite the lack of posts for the last 3 weeks, we really are a boring group. In fact, Momma Karrie and the Norster are napping on the couch right now.


Nora loves playing in her fishin' hole!


All bundled up to head out to church


Too cool for cereal before school


Raise your hand if you...


Chillin with Mr. P

Happy Holidays!

Nora had a very busy holiday season! We headed to Belmond to spend Christmas Eve with Grandma Rita and Papa Ron. Nora had so much fun with her cousin's and learned how to unwrap presents! She had a lot of fun playing with everything! Because of the weather, Santa found her in Belmond on Christmas morning! She loved her brand new dolly from her momma's, and the stuffed elephant from Santa. We took pictures of Nora with all of her Christmas gifts (see below). We spent Christmas day (lunchtime) in Pomeroy with the Long's, and then headed to Fonda Christmas day evening to spend with the Schachtner's. Nora had a lot of fun meeting everyone! We spent the next couple of days in Belmond while we caught up on sleep and relaxing. It was fun! Momma Erin and Momma Karrie took the week off between Christmas and New Year's so we could spend some time with Nora. But, we did take one day to see a couple of movies in the theaters. We all had a great time hanging out and spending family time together. We spent New Year's Eve at home watching movies and hanging out. Nora did wake up just to see the ball drop in New York City. After that, we all went to bed. On Sunday, Papa Bob and Grandma Dottie brought Chloe to have Christmas with Nora. Nora had a lot of fun hanging out with Chloe and opening even more presents. We watched a movie with them, and then they had to head off. Overall, we had a great holiday season and really enjoyed spending so much time with Nora. It'll be really hard to send her off to school again tomorrow!


Our family on Christmas Eve


Nora learning how to open presents all by herself


Nora just opened her first dolly...and loves it!


Playing during her 5 month photo shoot


First decent pic of her first 2 teeth


All but 1 of Nora's Christmas presents (the wagon is still in Belmond for now)