Wow! So much time has elapsed since I last had a moment to post in here. I'm sure you'll forgive me; life has been crazy to say the least! I now do truly understand when people say, "Amazing how time flies - they grow so fast!" No kidding.
Where did December go? Where did January go? And holy cow, it's almost March. March?! That means Norah's almost 6 months old.
And though we've nearly survived this first 6 months, it still seems surreal to have here her. Last year she was merely a bean and now she's our beautiful little baby girl, her personality blossoming each and every day.
How about an update? December was a great month for us. Norah was baptized with her newborn cousin, Shelby Lyn-Marie at our family church. It was wonderful to be surrounded by loved ones for their special day.
And...Norah got her ears pierced! (Yes, daddy approved).
Christmas was wonderful. Having a baby this year at Christmas time brought new meaning to the holiday season. The holidays are a lovely time, but it was even more beautiful this year because we got to see it through the eyes of a child. Of course Norah had no idea what was going on, but her mommy and daddy had fun capturing everything on film!
Oh, sorry to disappoint you. No pictures from New Year's Eve. I was tired. Rich was tired (and sick!). We were old party poopers this year (no table dancing for us) and tried to just stay up and watch the ball drop. And well...guess who else decided she couldn't miss out either! Yep. You guessed it. That sneaky turkey.
So January was the month of no sleep for us around here. Our 10+ hours of sleep-calgon-take-me-away-angel turned into waking 2, sometimes 3 times a night. This of course is lovely when her mommy has to work each day! After a couple of visits to the doctor, we realized that it was the teething realm that was to blame! Drool city around here. Now I know that teething can majorly throw off a baby's schedule. And I didn't like it one bit, but what can you do? Just hug and kiss her and comfort her as much as possible...(but oh, how I missed my bed!)
During the month of teething madness, the hand was ALWAYS in the mouth.
As many of you know, Valentine's Day was disasterous around here. Norah had no date. Neither did cousin, Shelby. Her mommy and I captured the moment perfectly.
Also February brought the exciting, but unknown. We finally got to break away as Rich and Stacy the couple and not parents for an evening out of town for a George Strait concert. Of course I was a basketcase leaving Norah overnight (it was inevitable) but all was well. We were sure upon our return that we definitely missed her more than she missed us!
So this brings us to March. We're so excited for the things to come. Easter! And she gets to go to her second wedding in April! And swim lessons! Every day something is new! Parenthood is just the BEST. There are no words. I don't even remember what life was like before I was a mother... (and respectively, Rich feels the same way)
Some of Norah's cool new things:
1. GROWLING. Yes. She growls. Beware. (I think she probably learned this from Rich. C'mon, you have to agree!)
2. BABY YOGA. As you'll see in the video, she loves her floor gym. In fact, she taught herself baby pilates. She's almost mastered the tree pose. As far as flipping, she never flipped either way for the longest time, but finally at 5 months old she flipped front to back AND back to front in the same day!
3. TEETH. The middle of January brought two teeth. (Thank God! Something to show for all of this teething agony!) They were juststartingtopeerthrough and bam. Now they're gone and have receeded. We're hoping they come back through soon. This teething stuff is the pits.
4. FOOD. The girl loves her food. I was really trying to wait a little longer to start solids, but a few weeks ago I knew it was time when the poor girl actually started watching my mother in law eat crackers. She'd watch them go from the bag to my mother in law's mouth. Also, she cried at my nephew's birthday party when she watched him sink his teeth into cake and she didn't get any. See the video below and you'll see. (Um. Leave it up to me to document my kid eating cereal for the first time and the tv talking about a sex tape. Niiiiiice.)
5. MOMMY! DADDY! Perhaps our favorite new thing. Everyone is right. She's getting to the stage where she doesn't just lay there and stuff (I loved that phase too, by the way) and with that comes fun opportunities to intereact more with the world around her. Something has clicked in her and a friend was right. There's nothing like going into her room in the morning, and from the moment she sees me, she begins kicking her legs and cooing and breaking out in this huge dimply smile. She knows who her mommy and daddy are and she lets us know! If that's not the most rewarding thing in the world, I don't know what is!
6. ALMOST SITTING UP! She doesn’t want to be on her back. I think it’s just a matter of days before she figures out how to do this on her own.
Attempt #2. I reallyreallyreally promise that I'll try to do better at this blogging thing. Aside from still learning the ropes at this parenting thing, I've got a couple of side jobs for the business right now and Rich is pulling some overtime shifts when possible. We're hanging in there...but incredibly blessed to have what we have.
Stay tuned!
