Let's see, how should I sum up the past 10 months...

The things that stick out the most - 

Big trip to Hawaii in April to watch Aunt Kelsey get married. What a journey. Seriously. The kids were so good on the plane, we made it and had an awesome time. Hawaii is paradise to Brian and I. We stayed on Oahu, went swimming in the pools and ocean, visited botanical gardens, drank mai tais, visited the North Shore and Waikiki. So grateful that Norah was able to get the salt spray on her face from the ocean. Our goal is to come back to Hawaii when our kids are older (high school/middle school) age, rent a beach house for 2 weeks, and enjoy life.

Norah turns one year old! What a milestone, we had a nice family/friends party at our house in Ankeny. Grilled some of Norah's favorite foods and had an Elmo cake. I'm not one for tutus, but I did put her in one for her party. This summer she started to get into playing in the pool but mommy was always nervous! The sand and water table was also a big hit. This is by far the best time of the year to have children and makes me wish I was a teacher. 

Norah and Will...these two have really discovered each other. This summer, Rachael Jack and Will came down several times to play. I remember sitting in the backyard and watching them chase each other back and forth. Will is so loving to Norah, always watching out for her, reassuring her, giving her things to play with, talking to her in his own words. Norah looks to Will for guidance, she watches him to see how to do things, prefers to take the reins and boss him around a bit, and likes to read books on my lap with Will. He will be a great big brother to his little sister, Blair in February 2012. 

We took our first overnight trip without Norah over Labor Day. It was hard! But we don't ever get out on our own much. Grandma Edgar was brave enough to come to Ankeny and spend time with Norah while Brian and I went to Colorado to visit my sister Kelsey and brother-in-law Jake. We had a great time; saw a few concerts and did some alpine camping/hiking. Brian and I both feel like Colorado owns our hearts and souls, someday we will make the move home. 

Fall brought apple orchards, leaves, Halloween and Thanksgiving! Norah's favorite thing is to take walks outside. She likes to point out things on the pavement, name them, pick them up and hand them to me as presents. According to her "apples" are everywhere - choke cherries from our tree, tomatoes from our garden, seeds from the Hackberry tree. She enjoyed gathering her "apples" and putting them into her pail. Thanksgiving this year was so mild that we actually had the windows open during dinner! Never in my life have we experienced that. Norah and Will had a great time playing ring around the rosie in Gram's kitchen. 

I can't believe Christmas is here. Norah is beginning to develop an attention span so we have been doing crafts on the weekends. We even made it through an hour and ten minutes of Toy Story 3 last weekend! Brian and I billed it as "movie night" and made a fire (which Norah isn't so sure of). Her favorite time is wrestling after dinner during the week. Brian and I lay on the floor and let her tickle and flop on us. It a great way for us to wind down too after busy work days. 

 

I promise to update more often now. I got an iPhone 4S a month ago, there's an app for blogging :) 

Merry Christmas, cheers! 

Ode to Brian...

One memory sticks out at me that I feel I need to share…Over Christmas time, we were getting ready to leave my parents’ house after staying for several days. I was busy gathering and packing stuff into the car. Brian was changing Norah’s diaper and getting her dressed. Mom says to me “You know, Brian is such a great Dad. He does things that dads typically don’t do very often or hate doing (like dirty diapers, etc.)” I responded something like this - ”Yeah, well he has no choice. I have to work full time, so he can’t sit back and watch me do everything for Norah. He needs to help out because I’m not there all the time.” I have struggled with becoming the kind of mom I always thought I would be and the reality of having to work full time. I have good days and bad days; obviously when I made this comment, it was a bad day.

 

Brian doesn’t change dirty diapers, give baths, feed bottles, clean up puke just because I’m not there all the time. He does it because he wants to, because he takes his role of being a Dad seriously and loves every minute of it. I rarely have to ask him to do something for Norah because he’s already done it. Brian knows what she eats for breakfast, lunch dinner, her favorite books/toys/games, how to play with her, give her a bath, when she needs a nap…everything. Watching Brian become a father has made me fall in love with him all over again. Mushy, I know…but it is Valentine’s Day after all. :) 

long overdue update...

When I watch that video below, I realize how many things have changed since November! Norah’s development is so incredible to watch. She went from scooting in November, crawling/pulling up at Christmas time, cruising on furniture/using a walker toy in January, and so far in February she is working on her walking skills. We have always known that she would be a fast learner when it comes to walking and I’m sure she will be taking her first steps well before her 1^st birthday. When I watch Norah playing with toys and book, I notice that she is transitioning from a baby to a toddler. The way she uses her pointer finger for everything (she loves to point at dad), figuring out how to actually push a ball through a toy to make noise, or tossing a toy around the slippery wood floors in our kitchen and “fetching” it. Sometimes the dog gets it before she does! Her vocab is expanding and is filled with long sentences of baby talk. Sadly, we stopped breastfeeding in January. It was a sad day for me, but Norah didn’t seem to mind and that’s what matters most. It’s extremely hard to be a full-time working mom and breastfeeding, so I’m proud that I was able to make it last as long as I did. One more month of formula, then we can start introducing whole milk! My baby is definitely becoming a little girl.

Brian and I have been busy balancing our time between work and home life. The winter is technically our “off season” at both our jobs and that has given us more time to find our hobbies again. Brian has resumed brewing beer…yum! His first batch - an American Pale Ale, should be ready by St. Patty’s Day. I have been reading more and training for a few 5k run races in the summer. 

We need to start childproofing...

Norah turned 7 months old this week. To celebrate, she has gotten closer to actual cross-crawling. One of our favorite games is to bait her with toys and Moseley (dog) to get her to try and crawl. She's getting pretty good!

My Favorite

So, I wanted to start this blog off with a bang and choose a photo of Norah. That is easier said than done because I have probably taken hundreds of photos. This is my favorite photo. At this point, she is only a week old and somehow it has captured her personality to this day - happy, easy-going, curious, and fearless.  


I figured a blog would be a nice way of keeping in touch with everyone who doesn't have a facebook account or who has one but hates signing on (Mom). This should be fun, hope you enjoy our stories :)