Nora - Crawling!

At just over 9.5 months Nora has officially started crawling! She's been close for a while, reaching as far as she could and practicing getting on one knee then back to sitting. Over the weekend we travelled to Hermiston to visit Grandma Ramona and Nora was SO close to crawling! We returned home Sunday and on Monday it happened! I spent my lunch break at Nora's daycare and caught her in action. Just three days later she is truckin' all over the place - especially if a toy of big sister's is in her sights.  We have caught Nora trying to pull herself up on furniture and toys and she's made her way over to the door stop to fling it - she's gotten pretty good at entertaining herself! 

A catch up

Keeping up is getting away from me, so here's a quick update and a promise to try to do better!  (I'm pretty sure I've typed those words on this blog before...)

Nora - Cute as a button, still a snuggle bug.  Holding firm on the two bottom teeth so far, but chewing on everything so top teeth may sprout any time.  Trying different foods but not as interested in fruits as she has been in veggies - peas are a favorite!  Making sounds like Ba and Ma and squeaky shrieks. After her 4th cold about 6 weeks ago Nora decided she liked all of the extra snuggles she got overnight while she was sick and decided to wake up multiple times a night after sleeping between 45-75 minutes...needless to say Mama was exhausted!  So we started sleep training late February and have had sleep times of 3-5.5 hours.  Ahhhhh.  Nora has ridden in a shopping cart, sat in a restaurant high chair, been to her first OSU Gymnastics meet and Women's Basketball game (OSU dominated both!), had her first ride in a park swing, and spent time at the beach on a beautiful weekend.  

Wren - Our little dancing, silly girl!  Wren has taken to running up and down the halls, dancing ballet, dressing in crazy outfits (which is a very welcome change from daily fights to wear anything but pajamas!!), expanding her already amazing vocabulary, playing pretend games, making wonderful cards/collages/paintings, and negotiating the release of "jailed" toys ("I think you can take my baby stroller back so I can have my play kitchen now").  She tries to be the boss of most situations and we are working on impulse control (we've had some crazy fits but seems o be over the hump...for now).

Us - We keep keepin' on!  Work and a little play and a little sleep.  A weekend away to the beach rejuvenated us for the time being. After almost a whole year in our new house we finally started using our dishwasher - welcome to modern living!  Old habits die hard.  

Tiny Teeth!!!

This little cutie's bottom two teeth poked through last week, two days apart! At almost 7 months she keeps getting cuter!! 

Art by Wren

"Daddy"

I don't know about you, but we are pretty impressed. Wren has gone from drawing scribbles to a face in no time. How else do you capture a magnificent beard like Daddy's?!

Nora - 4 months!

Now that she's 4 months old Nora has added Hood River and Portland to her list of places traveled.  She accompanied us to a conference I had in Hood River for 3 days. Nora isn't a fan of the car seat and travel is a bit rough on her sleeping.  Jay is super Daddy, taking care of her at home and away.  

Nora can often be found with her hands in her mouth or trying to "chew" on whatever is nearby.  She has been testing out her vocal range with shrieks and squeals and can really get going sometimes! Nora has been going to campus with Jay fairly regularly, even in the rain, and really likes to be outside seeing the world.  I have been having better luck carrying her in the Ergo carrier while Jay prefers the Baby Bjorn.  Nora has started trying to hold her bottle and will hold on to easy items for short periods.  Still no pacifier though it is offered periodically - she loves the thumb!  Next week I return to work on Mondays and we are tossing around the idea of starting part time daycare near my work to ease her into daycare instead of an abrupt change to 5 days a week in January.  Looking for daycare is quite a chore!  Big Sister Wren seems to really like having a baby of her own - she loves to  give Nora hugs and get her toys. In return Nora has big smiles for her sister and really likes watching Wren run around.  

At her 4 month checkup today Nora was 14 pounds, 6 ounces (53rd percentile) and 25.25" tall (81st). Healthy girl!  She had 3 shots and one oral vaccination.  She was grumpy afterward, understandably, but has been resting comfortably now for a while.  

Wren is 3!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our sweet, funny, fiery, adventurous, silly, witty, intelligent and amazing Wrengirl is 3!!!
To celebrate her big day Wren had a pool party a week early at the local Aquatic Center with a few of her friends.  After many months of talking about a pool party it was pretty exciting to reach party day!  The kids swam for an hour then gathered in an activity room for snacks and homemade chocolate cupcakes (treats had to happen first in order for the kids to focus on anything!!) and crafts.  Each child decorated contact paper to make a crown - they had tons of fun being creative!
On her actual birthday Wren took doughnuts to share at daycare and got to wear a crown and cape during her birthday tea party.  That afternoon we had visits from family and later went bike helmet shopping and had diner at the "dinosaur restaurant".  For months and months Wren had said she wanted light up shoes and a new bike helmet for her birthday- she got both!  When we returned home we enjoyed dessert and presents.  Wren had a great birthday!  Happy Birthday to our grown up girl!

Ta da! Wren picked every piece of flair out herself!

Birthday night treats picked out while getting doughnuts to share at daycare

Special treatment at daycare!

Picking out a new bike helmet for her birthday and getting photobombed by Nora!

Special spiderweb cupcake for the 3 year old

Portland Children's Museum

Taking care of the babies at Portland Children's Museum

Our little girl then and big girl now

Toddlerhood in her favorite swing!

Almost 3!