First Christmas

This Christmas has been memorable for Justin and I as our very first with little Nora. We are having such a great time watching her grow up and learn more every day. We love this little girl so much!!

Talking...

...and more talking... 

...and more talking... 

...and even more...

...talking to mommy... 

...WAIT! I see my feet. 

 Oh yes, I was saying...

White Christmas

It has been so nice lately - some cold days, but mostly some pretty mild weather. But the weatherman predicted some winter precipitation on Christmas day and guess what... IT SNOWED!!!

And not the just-a-little-bit-of-snow-mixed-with-sleet-that-immediately-melts-or-turns-to-icky-slush-and-ice-on-the-road kind of snow that we usually get in Texas. It was real-life, actual snow-flake snow that ended up sticking and making things look like winter!

It was beautiful (okay, the traffic on the roads was pretty ugly) and we went out for a sweet picture to commemorate Nora's first white Christmas!

The three of us in the SNOW! 

She is so stinkin' cute with that hat and mittens on! 

Krista & Collin

Christmas Season

We hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!!

We've been busy celebrating the season with family & friends!

We did Christmas Eve Eve brunch with the Peiperts, Amy & Hunter, and Kim & Marie. 

Nora fell asleep holding Grandpa's hand at brunch. 

We got together on Christmas Eve with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Josie. Nora was a good little girl! Then, we went to my favorite church service of the whole year... Christmas Eve by candle light! Nora looked darling but I didn't take any pictures. 

Nora loved her new toy/seat from Grandma & Grandpa! 

She's checking out that little bug... 

Fun with Grandma on Christmas Eve.

We all put on our Christmas pajamas and went to bed so Santa would come... Then woke up and opened gifts on Christmas morning!

Nora and mommy on Christmas morning! 

Gotta kiss those cheeks... 

Nora & daddy with a little bit of Ford, too! 

Nora's Christmas pajamas! 

Thanks, Santa! 

Nora loved her headband from Laine!

We went over to see Drew, Leslie & Griffin for Christmas breakfast & then got ready to head over to Mimi & Pops' house. We are so blessed to be surrounded by loving family & friends. Christmas truly is the most wonderful time of the year!!

We are looking forward to seeing Gr3 & the rest of our Illinois/Indiana family in a week or so!!

Seeing Santa

One more day until Christmas vacation!

I. can. not. wait.

No, I don't have my gifts wrapped. In fact, I don't even have gifts. But, I am looking forward to spending two straight weeks home with Nora & seeing family!

The way my break works out this year, we don't have a lot of time before Christmas once school gets out. But, I was determined to take Nora to see Santa!

So, after school this week I packed her up and we headed to Dallas because apparently North Park has THE BEST Santa. Nothing but the best for miss Nora Lane! We picked up Krista, parked the car, and headed towards the Santa house.

Along with a-zillion other people.

It came down to this: Do I wait in line for 2 more hours, past her bed time, to take a picture with Santa and a sleeping baby or a cranky baby OR do I leave and figure out a new plan.

New plan it was!

So the next day I rushed over to The Owl's Nest at 5:00 pm (I had an appointment at 4:00 and he was leaving at 6:00) and I walked in and started looking for the line. There was no line! The pictures were free! I got to take as many as I wanted! And it was super close! It was amazing.

Nora loved Santa, especially his beard. She even gave him a few smiles!

Meeting Santa.

Hmmm... I can pull this... 

I would like toys and diapers and a high chair and of course, headbands.

 Santa is so funny!

Baby girl and St. Nick!

Three Months

It is amazing how fast Nora develops & grows! I just went back to read my post from her two month birthday and cannot believe all that has changed in such a short amount of time! Just a week ago she was looking at her feet and now she grabs and holds them.

We don't visit the doctor this month, so I am not entirely sure how much she weighs, but I think she's been picking up some steam in that area. Maybe it's just her normal growing or maybe it's that she takes more formula now that I am back at work, but she seems so much bigger now! If I had to guess, I'd put her at 12-ish pounds.

Sweet baby girl...

I love watching her grow and seeing her discover new things every day (or so it seems). Even the things that I was SO happy & proud of at two months have become so routine and have evolved...

find her mouth with her hands Now this happens ALL the time... it seems as if she puts everything in her mouth! My hair, her toys, my scarf, her fingers, my necklace, her blanket, my arm, her burp cloth...

bring her hands together She not only brings them together, she brings them wherever she wants! Including to those feet. I think it will just be a matter of time before her feet get into her mouth!

talk/play with her "friends" She LOVES toys now. In fact, she doesn't really want to lay down anymore while she is awake unless she has a toy to play with. She is loving her activity mat. She kicks at the toys, grabs at the toys, looks at the toys, talks to the toys... 

lift/hold her head up with some bobbles This is another area where she has grown lots! She holds her head up very well and wants to sit up to look around & check things out. She tries REALLY hard and grunts to get herself up to a sitting position with some help. We even put her in her bumbo chair a couple of times! Another thing she loves to do is "stand". She bends her knees, then straightens them so that she does this little bouncy dance.

sleep through the night!  This is still going really well (yesssss! knock on wood...) Since going back to work, I have been waking her up at 6:00 so that she can nurse & we can get out the door and to Grandma's house by 7:00. She sleeps in a little later on the weekends, though. So, her last feeding is at 10:00 and she goes 8-10 hours after that, depending on the day of the week! 

look at dangly things (fan, mobile, chandelier)  She still loves looking at those far away dangly things and since her vision has improved, now she checks out other interesting things like... the TV and the Christmas tree!

recognize faces to smile at This has got to be one of my favorite things about her... she smiles ALL the time. She is one happy little baby! I swear she is going to start laughing any day now.

sleep in her CRIB at night and for naps Still going well, though nap time is a little unpredictable. Somewhere between 30-45 minutes is pretty normal and she takes 4 naps a day. 

not cry during or after bath time (usually) Nora is loving bath time (I think)... I'm pretty sure she just likes wearing her birthday suit! She kicks in the water and sometimes will play with bath toys that I give her. 

There she is, grabbing those feet!

I've read that three months is a big "milestone" and I'd have to say that I agree... She is accustomed to the world around her, highly interactive, far more predictable, and very happy. She is such an amazing little thing!

Talking... 

...making noises... 

...and smiling! Smiling's my favorite!

The things Nora does at three months old:

"scrunchy-nosed" smile

silent laughing

grab her feet with her hands

drools (all. the. time.)

holds toys & other things

squeals

rolls on her side from her back but not all the way over...

grabs for things (everything and anything)

"stands" with help

holds up her head

sits with help (Bumbo!)

talks... lots of talking...

complains (when she's tired!!)

Oh, there has to be more. It's exponential growth, people. But that's a good little snapshot.

 I could just kiss those cheeks! Oh wait, I do.

I took a couple videos on her birthday which show some of the things that she does a lot of now... talk, drool, and work out (her neck, tummy, & back). If you listen you can hear her panting a little!

Now, I'm going to bundle up in bed since it's going to get down to freezing tonight!

Thanksgiving

I love having a week off for Thanksgiving. {sigh}

We have had quite the productive week... Justin took off work this week, too so we have been hanging around the house together and taking care of business!

1. We rearranged some furniture in the house.

2. Justin worked on a couple of projects that would have taken me forever to complete. I bought this desk on Craigslist forever ago and had big plans to update it. Hadn't happened... until this week! Also, a little Pinterest art project that required wood cutting, white washing, and screwing/nailing boards together... coming along! I will have to share pictures once I get to finishing decorating them...

3. I put out (most) of the Christmas decorations. I really had quite the internal struggle going on since it is STILL November and it is ridiculously EARLY (seriously, you don't have to tell me...) BUT if I do not do it now, I do not know when it will happen. And I LOVE Christmas. And Christmas decorations. They make me super happy and I wish they could stay up all year. (I know they can't, you don't have to tell me that, either!) I would like to put the lights up outside, but that hasn't happened yet and it's not high on my priority list. And for the record... we would be the 5th house on the street to have their lights out if I did it today.

4. I made LOTS of food. Green bean bundles, two pumpkin pies, chocolate chip cheesecake cookies, stuffing, cranberry apple crisp, and a green bean casserole. Plus, I managed to get the kitchen cleaned up entirely. You should see it... you would never know that I was a baking/cooking fiend this week. 

5. We had Thanksgiving on Thursday with Justin's family. Josie is back in town from Savannah, so it was good to see her for the first time in awhile! 

6. We had Thanksgiving with my family on Friday. One reason I did so much cooking was because we threw this together kind of last minute. My dad had eye surgery last week and couldn't travel (as they planned on doing over the week). He's doing better and recovering well, it seems! He still has at least until Wednesday of "face-down" time...

7. I went Black Friday shopping. With Nora. Okay... this wasn't as big of a deal as it might sound. We went to Target, Bath and Body Works, and Old Navy and it was at 1:00 in the afternoon. Old Navy was a ZOO so we didn't stay long but other than that, it was pretty mild and I got some good deals!

8. I took Ford to the vet. Again. Good grief little dog. Long story short... he is still itching. This time it's not cancer. Or fleas. Or allergies. Or a skin infection. It's dry skin and we just can't seem to get it un-dry. I just feel as if we need to keep making sure it is not something from the list above, which it has been at one time or another in the last 3 months. Ugh.

9. I went to work & got everything situated for next week! I am very thankful that I had the time to get up there this week and take care of that.

We will probably just relax and enjoy the next few days with Nora before we both have to go back to work on Monday.

Here are some pictures of Nora in the cute little onesie that I am glad I decided to make and not spend $20 on since all she did was eat it. I thought I could get two days out of it but that surely didn't happen. I could hardly stand two hours of her wearing it!!

 That is the smiley little face I look forward to seeing every day!!

My love.

Too funny not to post!

There's Nora, licking her turkey. 

What mom? You got a problem with me eating this thing?

Yumm!

And lastly, here is a little video I took when Nora was being talkative. The first few seconds are the best. The rest just ended up being me talking to her, but enjoy the first little bit! She's such a cutie, if I do say so myself!! 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! 

Working Mom

As of last Monday, I am officially a WORKING MOMMY!!

I planned out my maternity leave to start the week before Thanksgiving break giving myself somewhat of a transition back into things. I knew I would work a week, be off a week, work a few more, then be off a couple after that (Christmas) and then it would be January! Just like that... Anyways, I knew that I just had to make it through one week. For now.

Well, I am SUPER glad we practiced a few days before last week. I think that made it quite a bit easier leaving Nora all day, and all in all, I did pretty well. I say that because I didn't really worry about Nora or Grandma as much as just me. I just worry about the things that I won't get to see every day...

So on Monday night when I got home I was all ready to see the happy baby I dropped off at Grandma's house, but by the time we got home she was just cranky. And then after I fed her, she was still cranky, so it was time for bath time, pajamas, and rock-a-bye and there was no smiling, laughing, playing, cooing, or talking for me to enjoy.

So... Tuesday was much harder. She must have adjusted a little to the early wake up call, because Tuesday evening she was much more playful and happy and I didn't feel as if I was going to miss out on seeing Nora all week long. As much...

It did get easier as the week went on. Honestly, I didn't have a lot of time to think about much of anything. Being at school keeps me quite busy but it was busy at home, too. Plus, with Justin traveling, I have the whole workload for myself.

Basically, Sunday-Thursday nights, I have about 2 1/2 hours from the time Nora falls asleep until the time she eats last at night to myself. And I learned last week that it is not really "me" time as I spent the entirety of it every night cleaning bottles, making new bottles, pumping, cleaning the house, doing the laundry, completing school work, packing my lunch, showering (don't have time in the mornings anymore...), feeding the dog, getting the diaper bag ready and oh yeah, eating. (SHOUT OUT to my AWESOME TEAM who made me dinner to bring home Monday night... it saved me!!)

I know that there is never an easy, calm and "normal" week to come back to kindergarten (we get excited for just about anything!!!) but I have to say the week I chose was particularly busy. Or at least that is what I am trying to convince myself. I am hoping every week won't be like that!!

Now it's Saturday and this time I go back it won't just be one week. It will be four. And I don't have lesson plans already laid out for me. And I won't have a week in between to get the room and materials ready for the next week at work. Wish me luck... advice and words of assurance are welcome at any time!!

Shots & Tears

Today was THE day - baby girl's two month appointment.

I got myself all prepared to go: change of clothes, diapers, wipes, bottle for later, pacifier, baby tylenol and my brave face.

Thank goodness Krista was with me because it was like she knew it was coming. Nora started getting upset right before we went in to the doctor's office and for no apparent reason. It is pretty hard to fill out paperwork while trying to rock & soothe a crying baby!

I had her all calmed down and she was having a great time when our sweet nurse brought this PLATTER of shots in the room and proceeded to give Nora four immunizations in three different shots.

Boy did that start the screaming. And the tears...

All I will say is that I THOUGHT I had it together, but I surely did not. I cried.

Well, she calmed down after mommy held her and rocked her for a good while and then she promptly passed out. We could hardly get her to wake up to eat for her next feeding. Poor baby girl!

The GOOD news is that she is growing and healthy!

WEIGHT: 10 pounds, 12 ounces

HEIGHT: 23 inches

Nora Videos

This is my last week with sweet Nora at home before I have to go back to work. It's a good thing Thanksgiving and Christmas break are coming up so that I will be able to ease my way back into it.

It will definitely be an adjustment, but I have been able to leave Nora with a babysitter (grandparents!) a few times and Grandma and Nora (and I) even had two days of practice for next Monday! This has helped me out a lot since I now feel more comfortable leaving her, plus I'll be super busy with my kindergarteners all day!

I've been taking some videos of her throughout the last few weeks and just now have uploaded and looked through them. I know I post a lot of pictures, but it is fun to look at the videos since you can see more of what she is actually like when she is awake, sleeping, playing, etc.

This video was taken when Nora was about 2 1/2 weeks old. She was just starting to be awake more often, but was not interactive at all and couldn't hold her head up well! Sorry, it's sideways...

This video is from when Nora was 5 weeks old. She was beginning to develop a routine and stayed awake after eating. Sometimes she would smile, but not too often quite yet. She mostly just cooed and checked things out. And as you can see, she was beginning to use her hands a little better and also make some funny little faces!

Also from around 5 weeks, here is Nora with the pesky hiccups! She gets them after she eats, usually at least once a day!

Starting around six weeks, we started seeing smiles a lot more often. Awake time became a little less "check out the world around us" time and more PLAY time! Here are some of the sweet smiles we got around six weeks...

And the smiles just kept coming! This video from 7 weeks includes some SUPER cute smiles. And for the record, I usually dress my baby but she happened to spit up alllll over her onesie and was totally content with wearing just her diaper so we just went for it. At the end I had to put in a clip I took of her falling asleep... she fights it!

And lastly, I caught Nora talking to her birdies on her bouncer recently... I took the video from across the room so that I wouldn't distract her. You can see how she and Ford hang out in their little corner of the room together!

Phew! :)

Two Months

Today is Nora Lane's two month birthday! We go to the doctor on Friday, so I won't have stats on her growth until then.

Our pretty girl!

Over the past two months Nora has changed SO much! When we brought her home from the hospital she was wearing teeny tiny clothes and diapers, sleeping when she wasn't eating, and was just a little skinny thing. Now, she stays awake for about half of the day, smiles and "talks", and needs bigger clothes and diapers to cover the huge belly she has going on! Just some of the things that she can do:

find her mouth with her hands

bring her hands together

talk/play with her "friends"

lift/hold her head up with some bobbles

sleep through the night!

look at dangly things (fan, mobile, chandelier)

recognize faces to smile at

sleep in her CRIB at night and for naps

not cry during or after bath time (usually)

Fascinated by the camera...

 I was trying to get some good smiles out of her!

When we go out, everyone comments on how small she is though to me she looks so big! Here are some previous pictures for comparison...

Nora at one week, one month, and two months

We just love this little girl!!!

And I took a video, too! Just a snapshot of sweet Nora at two months...

Happy Halloween

We had a busy day on Nora's very first Halloween! She is exactly eight weeks old today and we couldn't ask for things to be going more smoothly. Now, on to the holiday festivities!

We took it easy most of the morning, but we had big plans for the afternoon and evening...

We started off by going to my school's annual book parade. We got to see lots of my current and former students dressed up and talk with some friends! Nora slept until the marching band woke her up, but then she just hung out until she got hungry.

 Happy on Halloween!

 Getting the most out of our pumpkin onesie... 

Such a pretty girl!

We stopped by to see Mimi on the way home. Then, it was time to get ready for trick or treating! I made her a little owl costume for her first Halloween. It was pretty easy to do and it was nice that it didn't cost me more than a couple of dollars since it was only worn for a little while.

 Our little owl!

Happy girl

We went with our friends & neighbors Leslie & Griffin to trick or treat to all of their grandparents. It was quite the task getting in and out of the car with TWO babies, but we did it!!

 Nora and Griffin

Getting sleepy? 

Nora & mommy!

After we'd made all our stops we came home to see daddy, who just got in from Houston. It was definitely bedtime, so Nora went to sleep and we all watched Hocus Pocus!!

All in all, Nora's first Halloween was a success (though she didn't really know the difference)! I hope you all had a fun Halloween, too!