Nora is 9 Months!

Here, Nora is playing with one of her girlfriends, Ella, on a play date. The age that Nora is at is so much fun for us! She is beginning to understand more. We know that she for sure understands the words "no" and also "dog". Our landlords have 2 dogs that bark often. Whenever they do, she looks toward that direction. Sometimes we go in the back yard to visit them. If they do not see her and come over right away, she will yell out to them and they come running over. She always laughs at any dog she sees or even if we just say/sign it. Yelling out is another thing she does frequently now. She is starting to love other older kids and as they walk by her, she will call out to them in her baby babble. This is mostly cute and funny, but the other day she was

calling out to another kid while we were out to eat at TGI Fridays. This was then embarrassing. No amount of toys or finger foods could distract her until she got the boy's attention. Nora is also starting to shake her little booty when music comes on. That is just adorable. The best development though is her smile. We used to have to really coax smiles and laughs from her by making silly noises or faces (which we still do quite often). Now, she will sometimes just look over at us and we simply smile at her and she smiles back, like regular adults would do with each other. It is so sweet. Also, sometimes Justin will be teasing me in a silly voice, with no intention of making Nora laugh, but she will. Justin is very glad to now have an audience of 2 to laugh at the silly things he says and does.

In other news, Justin is continuing to move forward in the hiring process with Edward Jones! He has a final face to face interview on May 26th in the Twin Cities. Sometime after that he will either be offered the job in the La Crosse area or not. Hopefully, the former and not the latter!

Moving Along

Nora is progressing more and more toward free standing. She almost always crawls to objects and pulls herself up on them. She even attempts moving from one object to the other-like from this coffee table to the couch-while still holding on with one hand.

Here Nora is satisfying her car seat fetish, her most favorite "toy" right now. It can be ours or any other baby's, but she loves inspecting all the buckles and straps.

The other day I was opening mail at the kitchen table and taking with Nora who was in the adjacent room. I heard her, but when I looked around the corner I didn't see her at first. Then I spotted two feet sticking out from the end of our futon. Nora had discovered a new world behind the futon, I had no idea she could even fit back there. As I attempted to pull her out, she moved further and further into the crevice. I had the move the futon out to get her.

In other news, as many of you family and friends know we are planning on moving to La Crosse to help start a new church that our current church is starting. The target time to move has been determined for next spring/summer. Our pastor who is leading the team advised us to start looking for jobs now and if we get one before the target to move down early. We weren't planning on looking for new jobs for Justin until early next year, but over this past month an opportunity has fallen into our lap with Edward Jones. Justin is now in the hiring process for that position, he has had a informal and formal face to face interview and had a phone interview this morning that went well. He has another phone interview scheduled for next Monday morning. I guess the company is very selective in who they hire, so there are many interviews before they offer a job. We are praying about this daily and asking God to open this door wider or close it. We would be happy to stay in Eau Claire until the last possible minute, but are willing to move sooner if we feel that is where God is leading us. We take solace that there is another couple already moving down in August because the husband got a teaching job for next school year. We wouldn't be completely alone. We are excited about Justin possibly getting a job but very sad about the thought of leaving Eau Claire earlier than expected. We have many people we have been very close with here for almost 8 years, and I have already cried tears over leaving this place. Yet, it is such an adventure and we're excited for all the new and exciting things that will happen over the next 2-3 years. So we are a mixture of emotions right now, depending on the moment.

Bath Time

Nora has really been enjoying her baths lately. She likes to grab toys and chew on them. She also like her little bath robe, when baths are over.

Despite some recent mystery sickness or possible teething that just won't kick, I am hopelessly falling in love with Nora. The first 5 months were really hard for me. Even the last 2 had rough patches. But now, I am feeling like Nora and I are really bonding. I'm getting to know her little personality as it develops and she seems to be understanding some of the things I say. I am teaching her sign language and just talking a lot with her. I am so excited for the days when we can talk back and forth and really start to understand each other. She laughs a lot now and is starting to wave sometimes-not on command-but just whenever she wants to.

Nora 7 Months

Hey guys, Nora is 7 months now and into lots of things. She is able to move forward and getting quicker by the day. She learned last week how to get herself up on the coffee table, motivated by the picture albums underneath that we don't let her touch. I went in the kitchen to get something and found her like this when I came around the corner. It all happen in a few seconds. Very naughty!Just a couple days ago she started pulling herself up on different items. The side of the chair, our T.V. stand, my knees, etc. Well, today I went in to get her from her nap and look how I found her! I couldn't believe she could pull herself up in her crib. We are going to have to lower it tonight. I just can't believe how quickly she learned that.

Nora the Explorer

Nora has become way more curious in the last few weeks. She loves to roll to things and pat them. Above, she got into her basket of toys and dumped them all out. The basket fell on her head but she didn't even care and played for about 5 minutes until it fell off. I was laughing!

She also likes to roll under the seat of this toy and play with the buckles and seat fabric. Surprisingly, this holds her attention for 10 minutes sometime.

Finally, we broke outside to talk a walk on Thursday and Friday this week. I decided mid-forties was warm enough and we both just needed some fresh air. I was getting cabin fever. She loved the walks, so I can't wait until they can be a part of every day. For now, the weather is supposed to take another dip.

Other updates since that last post: Nora has cut her first two teeth. They are the two front bottom teeth and are so cute! She also started eating cheerios. In fact in the short time since we've introduced them she has become a demanding cheerio monster. She is very good at getting them in her mouth and chewing them. She's changing so fast, I can hardly keep up!

Nora-6 1/2 Months

Hey all, I thoroughly apologize for not updating the last 2 months. Nora has grown up quite a bit since then. She had her 6 month check up today and she's looking good. She weighs 14 lbs. 7 oz. (25th percentile) and she dropped in height from 10th percentile last time to 5th percentile this time-so quite the shorty. No wonder she can still fit in some of her 0-3 month clothes!

Unfortunately, we are both sick. This is Nora's 2nd cold and I am much less nervous this time around. She also might be teething. The nurse who gave her shots today told me her bottom gums look like they're bumpy-the way her sons looked before he got his teeth in.

Nora has become quite the little mover-rolling everywhere and starting to get up on her hands and knees. If we put her in a sitting position, she can sit for 10 seconds to a few minutes before toppling over. Not a proficient, but she's working on it.

She started solids in late January and we're going to try some finger foods soon. Surprisingly, Nora prefers vegetables to fruit. She's tried apples and bananas and we've got some unpleasant faces from her. By far, her favorite food is green beans.

My mom got to come and visit a few weeks ago, so it was nice for Nora to see her Nana again. She took Nora on a little shopping spree to get some bigger outfits and books. My mom even babysat on Valentine's Day so Justin and I could go out!

The Joys of Christmas

After a busy Christmas season, we are glad to have a quiet January ahead of us. Here's a recap of our first Christmas with Nora. Below, Nora shows shock after she gets a stocking full of gifts. The stocking was homemade by Grandma Sue.

Nora, getting into Christmas morning with her Santa hat!

And here's Nora using the only way she knows how to open her present!