Checked Up!

The one year old check up is in the books! Weighing in at 22lbs (80%) and measuring 29.5 inches (70%) Nora got a clean bill of health and full on permission to eat whatever foods she wants to eat in the world. She had to get 2 shots today and we played with her lights & music toy while she sat on my lap during them then followed up immediately with a squeeze, kiss & her issie and no tears! We make a pretty awesome team! As you can see she was clearly no worse for the wear just minutes after as we were getting ready to leave. Nothing like a game of peek-a-boo to end a doctor's visit on! We do have to go back for blood work at some point because the lab tech wasn't there and she never had it done at her 9 month appointment. More pokes=more distraction practice!

Birthday Boy!

Cort is 6 years old!! We celebrated today by taking him for a verrrry long hike and with cake of course! Jessica and Maya joined me, Cort and Nora on the trails at a nature preserve about 40 minutes away to let Cort (and Maya) run and play in the gorgeous weather. We hiked for 3.5 hours, enough to tucker Cort out for the afternoon and evening and result in a 2.5 hour nap for Nora when we got home. All that walking with a Nora on my back tired me out too! Thankfully Jessica lugged her for part of the hike or else I probably wouldn't be able to move tonight. After a family dinner this evening Cort inhaled his cake and headed back to his bed. Looks like we've had two successful birthday celebrations this week!!

Keep and Eye Out!

First and foremost, congratulations to LJ and Mike on the long awaited arrival of their baby Anderson James today!! Yay! So exciting! In other news, apparently Nora and Cort aren't the only two partners in crime around here! We noticed these two hanging out keeping a close watch for potential prey in our backyard. This isn't the first time we've had hawks hanging out but today they waited very patiently watching from various vantage points...I can only imagine what we have living back there that has them so enticed! Other than watching these two watch the yard today was a domestic kind of day. I did some sewing, Kyle did some finish work on the doors and we all spent a lot longer in pajamas than is socially acceptable!

It's Fun to be One!

We had such a fun day today I couldn't pick just one picture! We started off with a good morning balloon drop then had a tasty pancake breakfast. After some playing with her balloon and a nap we got ready, Nora helped pick out her outfit and we spent the afternoon at the Orlando Science Center watching fish, playing in water, digging for dinosaur bones and experiencing an earthquake! After we came home we helped her open some presents, had dinner and then came the cake! Yeah, big build up, not a lot of excitement over the cake. After we did our best to get her to destroy her beach ball cake we all snuggled down in "the big bed" to watch Lady and the Tramp and eat some ice cream. That was probably Nora's favorite part of the day and when the sugar kicked in. She didn't last very long before making it clear she was done partying and ready to retire to her own bed. All and all I think it was a pretty simple and successful first birthday! We love her so much and we're so happy she joined our family a year ago! Happy Birthday Nora Nora!!!!!

1 Down!

1 YEAR! It feels like so long ago and yesterday all at the same time! Crazy! Nora has been hard at work this month...she is officially a walker who can stand up on her own when she topples over, she uses her signs to communicate and she does some talking. Her words include hi, hello, shoe, pu(ff), baby, tickle and bubble. Even with her ability to let us know what she wants she's still a hot head, especially if she wakes up at night! She remains a social butterfly happy to meet new people and loves meeting, playing with and watching other little kids. Another new favorite is talking on the remote (phone) and collecting things and puts them in containers and takes them out. She remains a water baby loving bath time and any water play and has been enjoying bike rides and visits to the playground along with our weekly hikes. It's been a fantastic year of firsts and fun, hard to believe we're onto year number 2!!!
Just for fun...

52 Pairs of Pajamas

I don't know what is more impressive - that we made it through 52 weeks of pictures or that Nora wore a different pair of pajamas in each one. Either way, we've reached the end of our year of weekly pictures of Nora and Marvin. I know they'll remain friends, and I'm sure we'll periodically check in on the two of them from time to time but 52 weeks and a lot of inches and milestones later, we're closing out this weekly tradition. As much as it was an after thought on some Friday nights, I'm so glad we did it, it's been so fun to see all the changes she's made week to week and how much she's grown and changed in the last year. It was as if she knew tonight was the last one, she was RILED up! If you want to check out our year of outtakes you can find those here.

So Long Sweet Shoes

Kyle played kickball tonight with the Central Florida Buckeyes. While the team fought to a 7-7 draw, Kyle's beloved turf shoes fell apart mid-game. Apparently this is a big deal, he says these shoes have been a part of some good times over the past 14 years. Even though I haven't seen him wear them in the past 3 or so years, Kyle felt that he can't continue on in the season without them, so a replacement pair is on order. Hopefully they'll be delivered before next week's game.
*Kyle submitted the idea for this post and wrote it, as me...