13 Months & Baby #2!

Well, this month just flew by and I have a feeling the rest of the year is going to be the same. It is amazing how busy weekends get when you have a baby. There are all sort of baby related things to do: play dates, play groups, gatherings, park time, blogging, scrap booking... it just goes on and on. Here are a few of the things we have been up to this month.



A play date with Yael. This kid is smart! She knows a billion words and at 20 months has already started potty training. If only we can get so lucky with Norah.


Look at that face. Yael and Norah sitting on Alana's lap. Yael was naming all of Norah's body parts. Norah did not know what to make of it. Norah is still only saying a few things in the midst of her gibberish. Mama, Dada, Baba, Hi, Bye bye, uh-oh and every now and then we think we hear other words like Aiden (cat and cousin), Elmo and we swear she said macaroni this week.

Then she gestured back? Maybe?
Cute girls.
Then on the 8th Norah and I got to spend the day together. She had a follow-up for her hand surgery at Shriner's. Everything went perfectly and they said scarring is minimal. Her second hand surgery is scheduled for Nov. 13th. After the appt. we stopped by Panera and got a chocolate chip bagel. It is sad but Norah now knows the BAG that the bagels come in. She begs immediately and starts shrieking. She LOVES bagels. Now if we could just get her to eat meat...

Please feed me?

After a little bagel she was being super cute.

Then we had some playtime with daddy outside while enjoying a break from the rail brought in by hurricane Ike. This was just a really windy day.
Playing with grass and leaves.
She LOVES her slide. There is that tongue again.
Weeeeeeeeeeeee....

Not willing to part with the leaf.

Testing the wind with her tongue?

Later that week we had another parents as teachers appt. They were asking all of the things she can do so that they can plot her on a graph. She performs to a T during these appointments doing things we did not even know she can do. Then there is the list of things we tell her that she isn't doing yet and lo and behold she does them the next day. On the 13th Norah took her first tentative step. She is now up to 5 or 6 steps at a time and only between us. When she gets towards the end she LUNGES forward and laughs. You have to catch her quick or she will fall on her face. She walks like mini Frankenstein. Super cute. My guess is that in this time next month she will be walking all over the place. Get ready Granny Janny and Papa NeNe!!

On the 14th we attended a subdivision picnic and met several nice families with small children in the neighborhood including a girl that I graduated high school with. Small world!

Outside the picnic playing with flowers.
And trying to eat them.
With Dada.

Playing peek-a-boo.

Mama telling Norah secrets.
Trying to get her to smell the flowers.
So other than that, Norah's car seat is now turned around forward facing and I finally started scrap booking which is very time consuming. I was up until 11:15pm last night messing around with it. Norah went to the doctor on Thursday for 3 more shots and screamed bloody murder until they gave her 2 cookies. That stopped the tears immediately. She is now 19 lbs 13 oz (20%tile), 29 1/4 in (30%tile) and her head circumference is 45 cm (45%tile).

And in other news we have officially began our 2nd adoption. We switched agencies and are updating our home study docs. We will be going to Ethiopia this time and have requested another infant girl. I have not given up my dream of having a little boy, it is just temporarily on hold. We feel that having the 2 girls closer together in age will be easier as far as shared space, activities, toys, friends etc. Someday they will have a little brother and then our family will be complete!

Behind again... beware 10,000 pics ahead

So here we are almost a month later as I am behind again. There just is never enough hours in the day to do everything I want or need to do and spending quality time with Norah surmounts all. So in the last month Norah has cut another tooth, is standing on her own and THIS close to walking. I almost had her taking a few steps on her own today. It won't be long now. She is yaking up a storm and talking back to me constantly. She is screeching and shrieking, wonderful habits she picked up from the other kids at daycare. She is still only saying a few words; mama, dada, uh-oh, hi and bye (on occasion) and yes or yeah. She has not started with the NOs yet, thank god. She is eating mostly table food now and is obsessed with mac'n cheese. I tried explaining that they do not eat mac'n cheese in Viet Nam so she should try other things but she won't listen to me. Pretty much all pasta is a safe bet, including rice noodles but not rice, that she spits out. Along with meat 99% of the time unless it is freshly grilled steak, no leftovers! Her school swears she eats the lunches there but won't ever touch the same things at home so who knows. Since she has not been to the doctor since the end of July we are guessing she is around 19.5-20 lbs. We would really like to know because it would be nice to turn her car seats around so we can see her. =)

So I am going to start with the most recent pics we have and move backwards to the end of July. Yes, that is bad. I didn't post pics of her actual birthday spaghetti dinner and several people asked about them. So here goes..

Starting with Norah @ 13 months

Norah can comb and/or brush her hair! She also likes to chew on her comb and the Balmex. She does this excitedly while hopping up and down on her butt.
She still loves daddy the most although mommy gets a day every now and then. We had a good day this past Monday together, that reminds me, there are MORE pictures on the camera. Ugh.
When she is happy she always sticks her tongue out. Always.
Here she is practicing standing. In the past week she has gone from only doing it a few times a day unassisted to doing it a TON. She really likes the Baby Einstein Movin' and Shakin' video we got from the Powers family for her birthday!
We can stand and clap too. Or stand an shred anytime of paper produce as there are 2 finely shredded napkins all over my floor right now.
She is clapping a ton as always and now initiating peek-a-boo.

Oh, and this lovely picture was her after she took some smashed potatoes and clapped and then flung them about. It is amazing how something can be so delicious one night and like poison the next.
Last Saturday we took Norah for her first haircut. It was getting quite long and unruly. It was also growing faster on the sides than in the middle of the back of her head. So away with the mullet and back to the baby doo. I sure hope the little curl she had is not gone forever.
She had just fallen asleep in the car when we arrived at The Hairy Hippo and was not thrilled to be set down in the Jeep, until ELMO was put on. Then she completely zoned out for the entire haircut. She loves ELMO.
How much nicer is this than trying to hold down a screaming baby?

Whatever you do, do not block ELMO.
All done, driving the Jeep. Norah had never been in a small car with a wheel before and she wanted to drive! It was so cute. I had no idea she would do that or even be interested in doing that.
Elmo was still on. And that adorable lady bug clip they put in her hair lasted all of 5 seconds.
All done. Norah is checking herself out in the mirror. And... there goes the clip.
Then we went out for Thai food which she devoured. It was then that she used a straw for the first time. As strange as it is, I was more proud of that than the hair cut! Then we went to the grocery store for some shopping. Since she had such a good time in the Jeep we put her in the big kids cart. It looked kind of funny but she had a blast. She loved facing forward in the cart. She also loved shaking this box of mac'n cheese.
Then I took it away to snap a pic of her in the cart and this is the nasty look she gave me. HEY!!!
So she got her box back. Geez already.

She is so tiny in the cart.
And of course it was such a nice day that later on we all played outside.
There is that tongue!
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee..... Hi mama.

Look I opened the door....
And escaped after dada...
She looks so tiny and cute in her jeans.... geez.

I see you rabbit.
Peek-a-boo.

Now we are going back in time a month to 8/5/08, Norah's first Birthday. She was in a great mood that morning. Eating her comb.

And happy in the evening.
Cheeeeese!
OMG, what the heck is this? So, I know it looks like a ton of spaghetti but I figured it would go all over the place and I wanted her to have a decent amount to actually eat. Now I know.
Uuuuhhhhhh.....
Tentatively tasting..,

Umm.
See that right hand about to drop a fist full on the floor?
And she knew how to suck the pasta in which was too cute. Look at those tired eyes.
Norah does not know that it isn't polite to talk with food in her mouth!
So we tried to have so chocolate ice cream for dessert. That was a no go. She screamed bloody murder and spit it out all over. What kid doesn't like chocolate ice cream?

Happy again in her spaghetti bath. I love this picture.
Clapping and splashing.

After we put her to bed with lots of hugs and kisses we went downstairs and watched the storm come in. It was very cool that evening.
Now, back in time once more to 7-29-09, MY birthday! We went to Outback and it was the best birthday ever because I finally had my baby! It was a great night. She was in a good mood and ate a whole loaf of beer bread, some steak and mashed potatoes. The waitress even saw how much she loved the bread and sent 2 whole loaves home with us!

She was being super cute all through dinner.
This smile was for Papa Nene.
The weekend between our birthday's we went out for Vietnamese food at Monsoon Bistro. That was when the raspberries started.

Then she went to the mall for the first time. She was lovin' on mom that night.
Weeeeeeeeeee.....
Chees'n again the next morning.
Big time.

Playing in bed with daddy.
I love these pictures. Look at Barn's face as she bangs on his head. =)
LOL.
And that is it. My husband is mad at me now because I just spent 3 hours editing the 10,000 pictures and getting them ready and up on the blog. I should go rotate laundry, do dishes, prep dinner, vacuume, clean the shreaded napkin, get clothes ready for charity, dust.... yeah, you get the picture!