ROCK CHALK

At our house we only talk Jayhawks. Thankfully the little lady caught on early that no other teams will be acceptable, espeically the purple team that some of her favorite people root for!!!

Picure compliments of http://www.karimackphotography.com/

Kindermusik

Today was Nora's first Kindermusik class. The theme of the class is Up, Up, Choo Choo, Away We Go! Needless to say, she LOVED it! The pictures below are right after we came home from the class. Nora could not wait to get out of the car to show her Daddy her choo choo. As soon as we walked in the door she went straight to him and showed him. She was one proud girl!

Natkin

It seems as though overnight my baby has turned into a big girl. Everytime I turn around she is doing something new and different. Over the past few weeks she has begged EVERY.SINGLE.MEAL. to set at the table to eat rather than her highchair. Today I sat her down for lunch, gave her her food and she asked me for a natkin. Yep you heard me right, a napkin. She is sooo silly. Best part is is that she uses it throughout her meal and keeps herself pretty tidy! Ahhh I love this little stinker =0)

Daddy's Girl

Anybody that knows Ryan knows that when he was little he loved trains. Apparently Nora is truly his daughter because this weekend we took her to Fritz's Train restaurant and she went CRAZY. I had no idea that she even knew what a train was but as soon as we walked in the door she froze and would not stop talking about the "choo choos". Every single time the train came around to deliver the food she would follow it with her eyes until it went back to the kitchen. I guess we will be returning there soon. Maybe next time we will have to take our choo choo loving friend, Aiden =0)

NnnnOOO!

How can such a sweet little girl have nothing to say but NnnnOOOOO. If I could only tell you how many times in one day I hear this word, I might gain my sanity back. I ask Nora if she wants to go bye bye her answer, NnnnOOOO. Ask her if she wants to eat, her answer, NnnOOO. Ask her if she wants to read books, her answer NnnOOO. Ugh. This word definately needs to go BYE BYE!

Quite possibly my new favorite picture

All sweet and innocent... and then the orneriness came out!

CHEESE!!!

Nora LOVES the camera. Every time she sees me with my camera she automatically starts saying CHEESE. You would think I was one of those crazy mamma's who doesnt leave their home without their camera or something! =0)

Decorating dilemna

Here is one of the mantles in my house:

Nice, huh? Problem is it is bare and I have NO idea what to do with it. It is MASSIVE (measures 10.5 FEET by 11 inches) This is where your help would come in very nicely. Any suggestions? I know you've got em!
So far, this is what I have. Any suggestions for these?!?!

Thanks!

Conversations with Nora

Nora did not wake up happy this morning. Instead she was REALLY grouchy and would NOT quit crying. After trying everything to determine the cause and having no luck, I finally said, "Nora, we are all done. You know your words and I need you to use them. What do you want?" Nora responded "a cookie". Thats my girl. 7:45 am and she is already wanting cookies! Did she get one? No.However, I am sure she will ask again later!

Our day in pictures...Ryan wins the daddy of the year award!!!

Mmm Mmm Good

I made chocolate chip pancakes this morning for breakfast. Somebody at our house really liked them. You might also notice that that certain somebody is NOT sitting in her highchair. She refuses to do so. At this point I cannot decide if it is a battle worth fighting or if its a good thing to say adios to the oversized space taker. Did I mention she also will not sit in a booster seat? Once again this is yet another thing she is doing  "I -self". Gotta love a little lady with a need for independence!

Bye bye Binky...

I cannot believe the day has come. We no longer have a binky, or "this" as Nora called it. My baby is GONE. I have to be honest and say that I am certain Nora probably could have given it up days or even months ago if I would have tried, but I just couldnt do it. Deep down I thought I would break her heart, but really I think I didnt want to come to terms with the fact that my "baby" really has nothing left that makes her a baby. She is my big girl and I guess I will have to come to terms with that!
Like everything else, getting rid of it came pretty easily. In fact, it just kind of happened. One night we had went upstairs and forgotten it downstairs so I decided I would just see what happened. I laid Nora down, she said "night night" and went right to sleep. Next night, same thing. I thought for sure that naps would be difficult, but I was wrong. Gosh I love how easy my baby little girl has made things! Now if I could just convince her to QUIT growing her Mamma's heart might quit breaking!

My little Mule...

I have decided Nora's new nickname has changed. She is no longer "Noodle" she is "Mule"... ya know... like stubborn as a mule... Why you may ask?!? Here is an example:
Yesterday Nora was on day four of refusing to take a nap. Normally I am the mean Mommy who makes her stay in her crib and cry until eventually she falls asleep, however, since she had just gotten over the flu I was fearful she might get sick and I wouldnt know it, so after not being quiet I went up there to check on her. Right before I had taken her up to nap she had been talking about cookies and I had told her no cookies now, its time for a nap... Desperate for some alone time I thought maybe I could bribe her into taking a nap by offering a cookie after she went night night. I fully expected her to not understand the concept and to end up walking down the stairs with a little lady and no nap.
Heres how it went:
Nora: In bed screaming bloody murder
Me: "Nora, if you lay down and go night night you can have a cookie after your nap"
Nora: Lays down, sticks her little butt up in the air, blows kisses and says "bye bye, see-ya"
Two hours pass andNora wakes up.
I enter her room and say : "Hi, did you have a good nap"?
Nora: "Cookie"?

What a stinker... and to think she is ONLY seventeen months old!!!

New Years Survey 2009

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
- Celebrated MY child's first birthday.
- Went to California
- Moved to Johnson County


2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I'm not a big resolution person, but it is likely that I said I wanted to lose all 60 pounds I gained while pregnant and if so, then I am no where near meeting that goal!! This year I'm not so certain that its a new years resolution but I am REALLY trying to lose weight. Hopefully it will happen.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? YES!!! After years of saying my childrent would be like the second wave of grandkids for my parents BOTH of my sisters had girls within 9 months of Nora being born.

4. Did anyone close to you die? Yes, both my Aunt Sue and Ryan's Grandpa Bukaty.
5. What countries did you visit? None

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
You mean you are asking me to plan?!? Hmm that ones tough! I would like to feel like I am more settled and content with my new life here in Joco. Right now I feel like all I have is a home, no friends and definetely NO life (other than that that I left behind in Lawrence).
7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? August 8th, 2009. It was Nora's first birthday. My last day at our old house. The feeling I had when I left my sisters the last day she watched Nora broke my heart in ways I havent felt before. Before this move, I had no idea that moving could be so tough. You would think that I had moved across the country. I guess the old saying "you never know what you have until it's gone" is SOOOO true!
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Honestly I havent felt like I have made major accomplishments in quite some time, but I guess if you really get down to it the one that I think was the toughest for me to overcome was hiring and accepting that somebody other than a family member would be caring for Nora. Thankfully we met Miss Patty and this transition has been pretty smooth.
-Also I would say finally making the commitment (after 5 years) to move to Johnson County. Waiting paid off and I was able to keep the same job but transfer to the Lenexa office.

9. What was your biggest failure? Letting anxiety and stress get to me and not taking things with a grain of salt.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nope I have pretty darn healthy for several years now. I guess I got all the nasties out of the way in my younger years.
11. What was the best thing you bought? I guess you could say our new house. It is SOOO nice to have more than enough room and a place to put EVERYTHING!!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Hmmm, not so sure on this one... I cant think of anybody around me that made any major accomplishments, or did anything out of the ordinary.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I think this one needs to be kept to myself. I don't like to hurt others feelings and I often question rather that person was wrong or if it was me. Only God knows and I guess we will keep it that way.
14. Where did most of your money go?
One word: Nora. Nora's clothes, Nora's diapers, fun things to do with Nora, etc. etc. Guess what though? I am PERFECTLY okay with this! Afterall I LOVE this little squirt!

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Honestly, I try not to get too excited about things because I don't want to be dissapointed when they are not all cracked up to what I thought they would be, but, I did get pretty excited about Nora's birthday AND I thought it was pretty darn fun!
16. What song will always remind you of 2009? 
Gosh, I dont know for certain but I always can relate to the song "It Won't Be Like This For Long" by Darius Rucker
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?
-Sadder, I dont think I could ever go back to being as happy as I was during the time immediately following Nora's birth. I LOVED everything about her being a bitty baby and all that went with it. Also, I was just getting to know a lot of new people and that was exciting. This time last year I started to really feel settled in life and that made me very comfortable.

b) thinner or fatter?
-Thinner.

 c) richer or poorer?
I have nothing to do with the finances in our home, so I will have to defer on this one. I am guessing that since our house payment and childcare expenses have went up, that we are likely poorer, though I have no idea what my husband's income has done so I could be wrong.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Realized that it was okay to have "me" time.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Worry about the move over here. Everything worked out just fine.

20. How did you spend Christmas? This Christmas we spent the morning at home and then went over to Ryan's parents for the afternoon. We were supposed to go to my sister, Amy's house the following day but the weather made us have to postpone that to the next weekend.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
I fall in love all over again each day when I see Nora. This little girl is the GREATEST thing that could have ever happened. Although things can be hard at times, she is such a sweet, caring, ornery little girl who does nothing but bring smiles to my face each and every day!
22. What was your favorite TV program? 
Do I really have to admit this? About the only thing I watch (besides Barney and Sesame Street) is HGTV.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Um. Hate? No. Too strong of word.

24. What was the best book you read? I dont know that I have read a book this past year. Sad, I know.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Im not sure I have one. I listen to pretty much the same things I always ahve.

26. What did you want and get? My OWN laptop. Not one owned by CLO.

27. What did you want and not get? A DSLR camera. Something tells me I have a waaaayyyysss to go before I convince my husband that I NEED this!

28. What was your favorite film of this year? Hands down: Blindside. Im not a huge movie watcher but I LOVED this one.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? Went to eat at a restaurant that went out of business two weeks later (yeah it was gross) and then came home. We also celebrated my birthday with Ryan's family a few weeks later and had a yummy dinner that made up for the nasty one we had on my birthday.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Quitting my job.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? FRUMPY... hence the need to lose weight. I feel like NOTHING fits, no matter what size I buy.

32. What kept you sane? Having a fabulous nanny who I know loves and cares for my daughter just the way I would expect her to.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I have nothing to do with celebrities, etc. I don't watch TV

34. What political issue stirred you the most? Well the most recent 10 percent Medicaid cut hit a little too close to home. Because of it I now have THIRTY THREE people on my caseload instead of 26 and the agency I work for has had to do several other things in order to continue providing services to the folks we serve without having a significant impact on their day to day lives

35. Who did you miss? My friends in Lawrence and Lawrence in general. I didnt realize how much that place truly was my home!

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Hmmm who have I met this year?!?! I dont recall anybody who has made a huge impact.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.
Dont take the things you have for granted. Appreciate all that you have because someday you may no longer have them and you will miss them when they are gone!

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. We'll just do a whole song. It Won't be like this for long by Darius Rucker

Christmas in pictures: Round One