What A Bright, Bright Sunshiny Day!!

Today was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Something about sunshine just completely changes my mood. I LOVE summer. I love spending time in the sun and doing ANYTHING outdoors. The higher the temperature, the happier I am. Today I was HAPPY. Happier than I have been in a LONG time. Happy to finally get a good glimpse of Spring without snow in the future forecast. My little girl was happy too. She let me know several times. We took advantage of this day. I skipped work (I will pay for it later when I try to do two days work in one) and we played, and played and played. We started the morning shopping, then met Daddy for a picnic at the park, came home for a nap, went and visited Great Grandma and Great Becky, came home, made dinner, played basketball, went for a walk, played some more basketball and then called it a night. There was nothing about today that wasn't perfect. I sure hope we can have more days like this!

Boy or Girl?

I do not recall time going so slowly when I was pregnant with Nora. It seemed like one day I found out I was pregnant, the next we found out she was a girl and then before we knew it she was here. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy being pregnant. I really do. It just seems like this time it is CREEPING by. I am also DYING to know what the sex of this baby is. With Nora I just knew she was a girl. With this one, I honestly have NO idea but hope that with the extreme differences in the pregancy that it can only mean it is a boy. I know, I know... supposibly the sex is not supposed to make your pregancy any different, but I can hope right?!?
Honestly I can't say I want one sex or the other. I really do not care. I just WANT to know. I want to know rather or not I get the luxury of having TWO female teenagers in the home at once, or if we might get a break and have one of each. I want to know if Nora is going to remain our little girl, or if we are going to have to spread this title onto another little one. I want to know for the silly reasons. You know the materialistic ones.... decorating the room, buying "stuff", etc.,etc.
I guess for now I will just have to be patient. But surely 20 weeks will be here soon, right?!?!

Easter Egg Hunt

Yesterday we went to my friend Kari's house for an Easter Party. The kiddos hunted eggs and Nora was a pro. I had made her a little Easter bag to put her eggs in with the thought that she might collect just a few. Man was I wrong. She was an egg hunting fool! She was hilarious. She filled her bag completely, realized she didnt have any more room, dumped it out onto my lap to make more room and then kept on hunting. Once she had collected a majority of the eggs on one floor of Kari's house she went to the second floor where she exclaimed it was a "mess" and began picking up all the eggs. After all the eggs were collected and the candy was all dumped out, she then took it upon herself to go through the bucket and attempt to put all 90 some eggs (plastic ones) back together again! I guess having a natural instinct to be tidy comes in handy when it comes to hunting eggs! The girl has enough candy to last her a year!

Too Cute to Pass Up...

Although the KU basketball season ended a bit too soon this year, I thought these pictures were too cute to pass up.

Names, names, names....

Anybody have any suggestions for a girl name? I like the cute vintagey names. Remember Nora's real name is Eleanor, so I want something that somewhat goes with that....
We have a boy name. It is a secret =0)

Mittens. Are you??

The other day Nora and I were getting ready to leave for the St. Patricks Day parade. It was COLD outside so I told her we had to find her mittens before we could leave. Her response to this statement?  "Mittens. Are you? Mittens"? As though the mittens were going to come jumping out of the bag and right onto her hands. Since then everything is "Are you". Dadda are you? Mamma are you? Petey, Casey are you? This afternoon after I told her we had no cookies she said "cookies are you"? Oh this silly girl. I LOVE listening to her learn to talk! It seems so unreal that she really is old enough to be saying so much!

Hat

Today when I took Nora up for her nap she insisted on wearing her Daddy's Jayhawk hat. She had been wearing it all morning and was not about to give it up to go to sleep. We got  upstairs and she insisted on keeping it. I tried to get her to go to sleep without it, but she refused. When I finally gave in she put it on her head, laid right down and went night night. Silly silly girl.

I'm Not Listening....

The orneriness of my little girl gets me every time. I am amazed how at such a young age they can be sooo stinking ornery. Tonight Nora was touching a plant that she knows she is not supposed to touch. I told her to stop touching the plant and instead she started touching the plant more. I continued to tell her to stop touching the plant and her response was to cover her ears and look straight at me! Needless to say she earned a direct trip to time out, but it was funny nonetheless!

Miss Manners

Last night was ROUGH at our house. The little lady slept little AND kept the big people up as well. Up until last night I had never used a stern voice during sleep difficulties but enough was enough and I finally just told her that it was night time, Mamma was sleeping, Dadda was sleeping, that she was fine and nobody would be coming in to get her no matter what she did. After a few more minutes of crying she laid down and went back to sleep. This morning she came into our room, pretended to go "night night" and repeatedly was telling me she was sorry. I have no way to prove for certain that this was what she was sorry for, but I am thinking she knew she was a naughty girl during the night.

On another note, earlier today I was doing some work on my computer and sneezed. Next thing I knew Nora came running in from the other room to tell me "bless you".

Although Nora has definetely been challenging us these past few months, knowing that she is developing compassion for others makes all the rough times even better. After all, who can't love a little girl saying "sorry"?

I Love You Mamma

Nora is cracking us up and providing us with plenty of smiles lately. Yesterday I had quite possibly the WORST day ever since working at CLO. I came home completely emotionally exhausted sat down at the table where Nora was having a snack and for the first time ever she independently said I love you Mamma. It broke my heart and made my day at the same time. It was as though she knew she is the sunshine of my life and could change my mood when it needed changed the most. It honestly was one of the most touching experiences I have had since becoming her Mamma.

Hold on to your horses. We have a big one in our house!

HA! HA! Quite honestly we have a shrimp in our house! Today Nora and I made our first visit to her new doctor. We went mainly for her 18 month well child check, but also because of some concerns we (and several others) had about Nora's legs and feet. As a result of this visit we accomplished many things. First of all we finally got an idea of how "big" our little girl is. Needless to say, big just might not describe her... maybe not even kinda =0) ! I know it might be hard but hold on to your ropes because the following may be more than you can handle... We FINALLY broke 20 lbs!! Thats right. She weighs in at a whopping 20.9 lbs (this is the 10th percentile). Her head, on the other head definately could be described as big. It is 19 inches (same length as her whole body was when she was born and in the 95th percentile). Last but not least, her heigth. She is 33 3/4 inches tall (that is in the 75th percentile). So there you have it folks, one long, lean lady. Now lets just hope that she doesnt follow in her Mamma's footsteps later in life and "fill out" =0)