Friday, May 29, 2009

ELEVEN Months Old!

I am so not ready for Norah to be one! Every day she loses more and more of her babyness (is that even a word?), and more little girl qualities start to emerge. She is so on the verge of walking. She loves to stand up in the middle of the room, pick stuff up, and throw it. We think she may be a professional wrestler. Her other move is to stand up, lift one leg off of the ground, put it down and then lift the other. Our friend Megan says this move happens right before real walking. We think she looks like a dog at a fire hydrant.

She has mastered the art of pulling things out of boxes, drawers, cabinets, and baskets. She has no interest in putting them back. I am done buying toys, as her favorite things to play with are furniture and other household objects. A Netflix envelope keeps her entertained for at least 20 minutes. She still loves her books and now will hand them to me when she wants to read. The ones with texture are far and away her favorite. We are still doing our music class and now she actually plays with the musical instruments instead of just licking them.

She still loves the snail rocker and can climb on and off by herself (she can also turn on the music by herself--it drives me nuts). She's really into dancing and she and BVZ dance to the Grateful Dead every morning when they wake up. Which is at 6:00 am. Speaking of sleeping, for the most part, she now sleeps all night in her crib. Once or twice a week she sneaks into our bed by screaming at 1:00 am, but more often than not, she makes it until morning on her own.

She is eating more and more real food every day. She's particularly into tofu and grean peas. She's also a total carboholic and loves any kind of pasta or bread product. She's crazy for any kind of cheese. I think our days of being able to give her purees are numbered, as she has been turning up her nose at anything offered on a spoon. She is obsessed with her straw sippy cup. She's got mad bottle skillz, and our days of fighting the formula battle are over. Of course, this happens three weeks before we transition to something new (whole milk), so our battle may start all over again. When she drinks her bottle she likes to shove a hand down my shirt. I think it's a comfort thing.

I think she is starting to recognize the other babies that we play with and is genuinely excited to see her friends. She takes toys from other kids and has toys taken from her. Sometimes she will offer one to someone else. It is really sweet to watch. She has also started to show and seek out affection. She gives hugs and can wrap her arms around your neck. Her kisses still involve a lot of slobber and teeth, but she's getting better. One of her top teeth has finally broken through, although beyond that it hasn't made much progress. She loves to walk around the house and look at pictures of everyone. She always laughs and smiles especially big when she sees the pictures of her cousins. She takes great pleasure in turning the hall light switch on and off.

She is a non-stop talker these days. We've got mama, dada, quack, and Ri Ri (Amy and Mark's dog). Otherwise, it is babble, babble, babble, all day long. She also likes to just randomly yell and then laugh. She cracks herself up multiple times a day. We play lots of peek-a-boo, hide and seek (which is basically me running into the garage to do laundry while she waits for me in the living room and laughs), and fort. She thinks if her face is hidden than the rest of her is too. She waves and claps and points. We are amazed by every little thing she does.

Every single day I am reminded just how lucky we are to have such a happy and healthy girl. I appreciate every moment we have with her and thank the universe that she is ours.














Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Norah's Fake First Birthday

Before I go back to work in July, Norah and I wanted to take advantage of the chance to spend some time in Austin. Even though she was only 10.5 months old, her awesome aunties and Grammy took advantage of the chance to throw her a first birthday party.

Everyone gave me a hard time for not wanting to let her eat sugar, but Aunt Stephanie went above and beyond the call of duty and made Norah a sugar free, all natural, organic cake. And she decorated it with dinosaurs.

Here's the guest of honor decked out in her dinosaur gear (Megan picked out her adorable outfit).


With Auntie Sarah (our sister from another mister).

Joe learns that babies aren't all that scary. They don't explode when you touch them.

Trevor and Megan prepare for the festivities.

Auntie Amy found a dinosaur pinata that was Norah-sized and stuffed it with fruit snacks and cheerios. Isn't their backyard awesome?

She then crowned Norah queen for the day.

The babies got to whack the pinata with a little hammer. Norah was into the pinata. She was not, however, into how the grass felt on her bare feet.

Our good friend Wyatt had a little better luck with the hammer.

Uncle Mark stood watch.

The lovely Jocelyn also got a try.

Once the little kids had a shot, Trevor brought out the big guns. No little hammer could satisfy him. He needed the stick.

Joe and Laura watch the hilarity.

As do Grammy and Aunt Kristin.

I thought for sure he would take poor dino down, but luckily the pinata was still intact by the time it was Megan's turn.


I even took a swing (I will save the shame and humiliation of the pictures).

The Bernfelds and Riley watch the action. I don't think they ate any of the Cheerios or fruit snacks.

The Lusks watch as well. I bet they had some fruit snacks.

The Bunker-Hendersons. I bet Wyatt got some Cheerios.

The carnage. It doesn't really look that bad considering the beating it took....

Riley the wonder dog. As a quick aside...Riley and I are not the best of friends. For a dog I suppose he is okay, but he's still, well. A dog. It was just my luck then that Norah would fall madly in love with him. She said her second word while in Austin--'Ri Ri'. She would scream with delight every time she saw him and spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out how to get her hands on him.

The cake is ready for action.

(It was a little windy).


You never would know it was healthy by the way Norah dug into that cake. Everyone else tore off a little piece as well (and admitted it was quite tasty).









Trevor helped the clean up effort.

Norah received incredibly thoughtful and generous gifts. She loves (okay, I love) all of her books, puzzles, clothes, and toys.





It was a great fake first birthday. Huge thanks to everyone for celebrating with us, and gigantic hugs and kisses to all those who made it possible.