Week 12 - Headbands and Cowlicks

Here's our little sweetie all ready for church wearing her Mommy's outfit (that's right folks, this adorable little outfit will be 39 years old this month!)  Thank you Mamoo for keeping this and passing it on...

I couldn't decide on the red headband with the red bow (above) or with the white bow...

What a cute butt shot!  Check out that cowlick!  So glad her Aunt Hanna is a hairdresser extraordinaire because we're going to need her talent to get this thing under control when she gets older...

In honor of 9/11 we went patriotic with the red and blue bows...

Week 11 - Lots of Grins!

Our beautiful little girl is getting so fun...bright eyed, smiling and cooing all the time...

Ready for some fun in the sun...

Happy as happy can be...

Absolute doll baby with her adoring Daddy...

She just melts our hearts...

A Fun August!

Nathan started off August by getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar (or should I say in the Craisins bag)...

Who?  Me?  I'm innocent...

Ok, fine, you got me...

We spent a morning with Aunt Carrie, Sarah and Madi.  While Madi and Norah were napping, Aunt Carrie took Sarah and Nathan for a spin around the neighborhood.  Carrie said Nathan was giggling and really enjoyed his bike ride...

Our very big boy on his 26 month birthday...

We had a very fun visit with my friend Kim who came in from Kansas City for a few days.  Nathan has been around Kim quite a few times in his 2+ years of life but during this visit he was really taken with "Bim" as he calls her...

 Kim grabbed the camera and got a shot of me and the kiddos having fun in the backyard.  Nathan just loves chasing bubbles...

Dancing in his new jammies from Grandma...

So, I've got some very sweet stories to share about Nathan from this month!  First of all, I'm very happy to share that he now calls us Mommy and Daddy (most of the time...instead of Momma and Dadda) - we just love to hear him call us that!  

Our little Honey Bear has such a sweet, sensitive and caring heart which he shared a lot this month.  One evening Mommy had a melt down and when Nathan saw me crying he came over to me and said "Mommy?"  and I said, "What honey?" to which he replied ever so sweetly, "Hi!" and then he wrapped his arms around me, pat me on the back and said "Ok, Mommy, ok" which made me start crying even more because I was so overwhelmed by his tenderness.  Another day this month we were leaving the house and while I was trying to get the front door locked, the screen door smacked me in the ankle and I said "Ow!" and Nathan ran up on the porch, opened the screen door all the way and held it open while repeating, "Ok, Mommy, ok!" until I got the front door locked.  This is now a ritual every time we leave the house!  The other morning I dropped something out of the pantry and onto Baxter and I said, "Oh, sorry Baxter" and Nathan came running into the kitchen from the living room and started petting Baxter and saying "Ok, Baxter, ok!"

Some of the funny stories from this month include the time Nathan gave Baxter a Beggin Strip, chased him out of the kitchen and returned with some brown stuff on his lips; I asked him to open his mouth and sure enough, it smelled like Bacon!  He's also taken to snacking on Baxter's food (hey, Daddy ate dog biscuits when he was little and I was a big fan of Milk-Bones myself growing up)!  Oh, and one day I was in the living room feeding Norah and Nathan was a little too quiet for my taste so I popped Norah off and found Nathan in the kitchen - hanging over Baxter's water dish - with very full cheeks!  You got it...when I asked him to spit it out, he had a mouth full of Baxter's nasty, slobber laden water! Yuck!

And too cute...one evening when Norah was crying, Nathan came running up to me with Boppy in hand!  Speaking of the Boppy, one day when Nathan wanted to hold Norah I put the Boppy around his waist and nestled Norah in it next to him...and Nathan proceeded to lift his shirt and try to feed Norah.  Yes, he's definitely at that age where he likes to mimic what Mommy and Daddy say and do!

Ok, two more stories.  One day when I was sorting laundry Nathan came over and started pulling things out of the piles and putting them away (he put he place mat on the dining room table, his jammies in his dresser, etc.).  Such a big helper...more so if they had been clean!

And another cute one...Nathan loves to play music on my phone and one day he tried playing music but my phone was connected to my blue tooth which was in on the dining room table.  He heard the music but wasn't sure where it was coming from (since it clearly wasn't coming through the phone) so he wandered around the house yelling, "Music...where are you?"  This little boy constantly has me in stitches - he is so much fun and SUCH AN ABSOLUTE JOY!!!  Thank you Lord for the privilege of raising this little miracle!

Week 10 - Bumbo and Bows

We tried Norah out in her Bumbo seat this week and she really enjoys it (and sure does look adorable sitting up in it)...

We had a special visit this week from Mommy's friend, Kim, from Kansas City...

Such a beautiful little girl...

Week 9 - Norah turns 2 months!!

Check out our 2-month old mastering tummy time and focusing on the sun.  She had her 2 month check up this week and weighed 9 lbs. 8.2 oz. (11th percentile) and was 22 1/4 inches long (41st percentile)

Just when I thought it wasn't possible for our sweet girl to get any more beautiful, she went ahead and did just that...

Such a cute outfit with matching ballet socks and all...

Mommy and her girl...

As you can see, Norah is quite the good little eater...and sleeper too!  She started sleeping through the night this week, from 6:30pm - 6:30am - praise God!

Week 8 - House hunting and thumb sucking

Here's our doll baby with our realtor, Kimberly.  I think most of you know that God blessed us abundantly on June 18th not only with the birth of our beautiful and healthy little Norah but He sold our house that same day (which, by the way, was off the market but we even got more than asking price - wow God is SO GOOD and true to His Word that He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine)!  So, we've been spending our weekends house hunting as we need to be out of our home by the end of October (which, by the way, is a testament to God's perfect timing because that gives us plenty of time to get into a routine with Norah, find our new house and not have to rush to pack up and move) - thank you Lord!!!

Norah and Hobbes have one thing in common...napping...A LOT!

Snuggled up in her towel after her bath.  Speaking of baths, Norah is all girl and simply adores her bath - she just grins from ear to ear the entire time and loves to have warm water poured all over her!  While I was drying her off from this particular bath we had our first, real, extensive conversation which was just music to my ears...

Yikes - now that's some serious bed head!

Oh yeah - the thumb...Norah's new best friend.  As most of you know, Nathan sucks on his two fingers and so when he sees Norah sucking on her thumb he tries to teach her "the right way" by removing her thumb and inserting her fingers.  She doesn't go for it - she's all about the thumb...

Our little love...

This week brought some special out-of-town visitors...Uncle Jeff, Aunt Jenny and cousin Lauren...

  

Norah and Lauren seemed to hit it off right from the start...

All dolled up... 

Sitting tall next to her teddy...

Week 7 - Stick out that tongue!

Here's our smiley girl...

Aunt Hanna came over on one of her days off and was working with Norah to stick her tongue out...

And she worked really hard at it...

Oh no!  Norah didn't seem to enjoy it when she flipped herself from her tummy, to her right side and onto her back while on her tummy mat...

So peaceful napping on her boppy...

Here's our little one sporting quite the milk gut...

Fun in the July heat!

 Bubble bath!  Not sure why we never introduced Nathan to bubble baths until now, but he just loves them...

Nathan and Grandpa watching the hummingbirds...

Lounging around watching tv...

Happy 4th of July!  Nathan is so in love with his little sister!  He can't seem to kiss and hug her enough!  He's always wanting to help out too - cover her with a blanket, put her socks on, whatever he can think of - it's so fun to see him in his new role of Big Brother - and he's quite good at it!

 

Nathan got a boo-boo at the park but he handled it just fine knowing that he would be able to pick out a band aid when we got home.  Not surprisingly, he picked "Melmo"...

Nathan had some fun with his Sesame Street stickers - he enjoyed putting them all over himself rather than on paper...

Mommy and Daddy went out to dinner to celebrate their 7th wedding anniversary so Grandma and Pa Pa babysat both kids for the first time... 

Nathan has a ball wearing Mr. Potato Head's glasses...upside down of course, because it's just more fun that way...

Rather than taking a full week off work as paternity leave, Daddy took every Friday and Monday off for the entire month of July.  On one of Daddy's days off we all went to the zoo.  It was really funny because I sat on a bench to nurse Norah and after I took her out of the hooter hider I just had her sitting on my lap and so many people walking by were more interested in her than in the giraffes.  They were pointing at her, oohing and aahing about the tiny baby.  I never thought that my daughter would make a good zoo exhibit but apparently I was wrong!

On another day we went to Suson Park to play at their playground and check out the animals.  Lately, Nathan is obsessed with driving - whether it be a shopping cart, stroller, sitting in the front seat of the car or turning the wheel at the playground...

Whee...

Feeding the ducks with Daddy...

Neigh!

Happy Thanksgiving...

Our little farmer...

Enjoying his first taste of corn on the cob...

Loving on baby...

Our big boy had his 2 year pediatrician's appointment this month and he's weighing 25 lbs. 10.5 oz. (19th percentile) and 35 1/4 inches long (68th percentile)!

On another one of Daddy's days off we went back to the zoo.  Nathan really enjoyed petting the goats...

And, of course, driving the jeep...

Elephants - Nathan's favorite...

Handling corn on the cob all by himself...

Well, it is called a SIT and spin...

Enjoying a drive-in movie at Grandma and Pa Pa's...

A fun play date with Nolan and Spencer...

Whoa - although it may look like bed head, Nathan decided to use his popsicle juice as hair gel...

Cooling off on a nice hot July day.  You can see that Norah took part in the fun by taking a nap in the shade while relaxing in her bouncy seat...

Lately, when I've been dusting, Nathan has been very interested in the Pledge...

So, meet Duster - Nathan's new dust rag (aka one of Daddy's old socks)...

Which, surprisingly, he is eager to use - and often!  Mommy's little helper...

Hanging out at Grandma and Pa Pa's to celebrate Aunt Hanna's birthday.  Nathan learned how to sing the Happy Birthday song this month for Aunt Hanna (who got to hear it in person) and Uncle Jason (who got to hear it over the phone).  Although you could really only make out "to you!" it was so sweet...

Aunt Hanna introduced Nathan to sidewalk chalk and he really had fun with it (as did she and Uncle Steve)...

Our two little Junebugs...

I'll tell you what, Nathan turned 2 last month and has made some big strides this month!  He is quite the little jumping bean now!  When he used to try to jump, only one foot would leave the ground but now he is getting both feet high off the ground and he just loves to jump jump jump all the time!  He'll often just jump around the house - from one end to the other!

He's also really started using his imagination!  We were playing with leggos one day and he built something and said "birthday cake!" and blew out the imaginary candle.  He built something else and said "Ark!" (he's really into reading the story of Noah's Ark).  Also, on one of Daddy's days off we went hiking in a nature park and Nathan picked up a big long branch and used it as a walking stick!  As an aside, while we were on our hike, we saw a butterfly flying around and land on a branch right in front of us - Nathan was in awe watching it and when it fluttered away he said "again!"  He didn't understand that we couldn't make the butterfly come back.  It was just one of those sweet moments that a mom likes to remember.   One of the cutest things was one day when I was in the kitchen cleaning up I heard a "vmmm...vmmm" sound and when I walked into Nathan's room, he was flying his Little People plane around his bedroom and making the airplane sound - it just warmed my heart to stand there and watch him play like that. 

Nathan has also learned by leaps and bounds this month!  He can count out items up to 10, he knows the alphabet really well and he knows colors outside of just the primary colors (he likes purple, pink and orange!)  Also, he can now spell his name!  We've been practicing with him every afternoon before his nap and every night before bed - spelling out his name that's above his crib.  Speaking of naptime, when he's told it's naptime and he doesn't want to go down he will lay down wherever he is and act like he's asleep (snoring included) - what a ham!

He also likes to sing and do the hand motions to "The Wise Man Built His House Upon The Rock" which is so adorable!  I would always sing this along with the CD and do the hand motions and was so excited to see that he was actually listening and paying attention!