Caught in the act!

Lately, Nora has been trying to get toys in her mouth. Usually I have to help her because she doesn't have very good hand eye coordination. Below is a picture of her getting a toy into her mouth all by herself though.

I've also been putting her in her play pen for about 10 minutes a day with a few toys. I "leave her alone" during that time. Usually, I'm right around the corner and out of her sight not making any noise. I love this because when she senses that nobody is around she starts doing things she's never done before. For instance, I've never seen her pull herself to her side before. Also, we were playing together with this giraffe the night before. Then during her playpen time

Thankgiving Weekend

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend at Justin's parent's house. This year lots of family was elsewhere so the company was small, still the food was great and it was fun to have Nora around for her first holiday.

Here Grandpa Jeff is giving Nora a turkey leg!
Later in the weekend, we drove down to Milwaukee for Nora to meet her Uncle Sam, great-grandparents and more Brown family. Her Great-Grandma Kay is holding Nora Kay. I'm glad Nora finally got to meet the person that her middle name comes from.

Nora 3 1/2 Months

Nora seems to be growing very slowly at times. She is now 3 1/2 months but still fits into a lot of her 0-3 month clothes. In fact, I have a 3-6 month snowsuit but had to buy this 0-3 month suit to fit her for now. It's pretty cute huh? The weather has turned very cold and she definitely needs it! Here Grandma Sue was holding her before we left to visit Great Grandma Barb last weekend. I can't wait to jump to the next size because I have about 3 wardrobes of 3-6 month girl's clothes.

At the same time, Nora seems to be growing so quickly. She's starting to grab at things and bring them to her mouth. She is also rolling over more frequently and is much more vocal lately. It's so exciting to see all these changes in her and to know much more are coming.

Oregon Family Visit

Here are Justin, Nora, my sister Sydney, my Dad, Grace and me at a Packer party last Sunday in the game against the Vikings. Unfortunately, the Vikings won;-(. Good thing the Packer killed the Bears 37-3 yesterday!!! We really enjoyed our family's visit. We ate a lot and played many games. There was a lot of laughing and teasing about the election resluts.

My dad also treated Nora to a little concert on the guitar. Cute!

Nora Kay and Emma Kae

When Nora first saw Megan and Ben's baby, Emma, she didn't know what to think.

Then, we explained to her that Emma is a new girlfriend that she will grow up with. Their next meeting went a lot better!
Emma Kae Holmen was born on Election Day and weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz.

Packer Game and Hula

Here is Nora in her Hula Girl Halloween costume.

She is also deep in thought during a Packer Game.

Bumbo and family visit

My Uncle Ed and Aunt Jackie swept into town for a quick visit to see family in the midwest. They currently live in Spokane, Washington. They are not the only west coast family to visit. On Friday, my dad, Grace and sister Sydney will be coming into town for a long weekend with us.

Here is Nora, trying out her Bumbo baby sitter-a present from Justin's cousin Jordan and his wife. She seemed to like it, but can't totally hold her head up yet. More pictures coming soon, including Nora's Halloween costume and her newest friend. My dear friend Megan who is due on election day is already in the hospital having contractions.

Smiles from Nora

I have finally captured some of Nora's beautiful smiles on camera. It takes a lot of energy to get a baby to smile at the exact second you're taking a picture!

As you can see, she can't sit up yet so this is how my attempts to prop her up ended.

We do all sort of silly things to coax smiles from Nora-she will usually smile at lip smacking, kissing her face, all kinds of crazy noises from Justin, sticking out your tongue, goofy singing, and some of her toys. Tomorrow, Nora will be 10 weeks old. She has slept through the night 3 times now (for about 8 hours each time). Justin and I are very glad about this.

Nora Two Months

In this picture, Nora was playing on the floor with Justin.

This was Nora today at 8 weeks old-look how high she can lift her head!!! She is really getting strong neck muscles. She can only hold her head up this high for a few seconds right now, but I can really see the time spent on her tummy paying off. She's such a cutie! She's really been cooing and gurgling more in the last few weeks, and is even smiling (sometimes) when we play peek-a -boo with her. It's moments like these that make the uncertainty of parenting and all the tears worthwhile. She is mainly only crying in the evening now, so that's an improvement.

Nora 1/12 Months

Weeks 5 and 6 with Nora have been fun. As you can see above, we have started giving her an occasional bottle so that we can go on dates. Isn't Justin the sweetest daddy! Grandpa Jeff and Grandma Sue came up for a quick visit Sunday and watched her while Justin and I went to the apple orchard. Our good friends Megan and Ben are watching her next Thursday, while we go out to dinner.

The other picture is of me and Nora with my friend Molly and her daugter, Ella. We are in a young and married couples bible study with Molly and her husband Kyle on Tuesdays. We hope the girls will be good friends soon, but for now they just lay there and make noises. Ella is 5 months old. It's hard to imagine that Nora will be that size around Christmas.

Nora-One Month Old

This weekend, Nora took her first trip. We went to Wautoma with Uncle Jake to visit family there.

Nora got to meet Great Grandma Wise and Great Grandpa Weckwerth.

Here's Nora in a 4 generation picture and sporting her Packer Pride during the Packers vs. Lions game which the Packers so beautifully won. We raise our fans young here-though she slept through most of her first Packer party. Since she sleeps so much, we call her Snora.

Exciting news-Nora only woke up once (not twice or more) last night!!!

Nora-Week 2 and 3

Nora has been doing well the last few weeks. As you can see from the pictures, she sleeps a lot. She usually sleeps 15-18 hours a day in 1-2 hours chunks. She is getting up twice in the night which I am getting used to.

She is so cute. We love to see her when she's awake. Here she is on her stomach for tummy time, with Nana Terri wearing a cowgirl bib (appropriate since my mom lives in Montana) and asleep on "Auntie Megan".

Nora is starting to smile more, but it is still involuntary-though we like to think we're funny enough to make her smile. She is starting to make a few cute baby sounds and hold her head up a little more.

Nora Kay Wise is here!

Hello everyone. Sorry it has taken us so long to post pictures of Nora. We have been very sleepy parents with our little rooster in the house. Nora was born one week ago on August 15th at 12:30 p.m. She was 6 lbs. 14 oz. at birth. She is a very sweet baby. She naps and nurses well-mostly-but also does her fair share of crying. This weekend Justin's parents came to visit us in the hospital and then Sue (Justin's mom) stayed with us a few extra days to help us acclimate to this new life. She was so great, I hardly even walked in my kitchen for 3 days. We are excited for my mom to make a visit in one week.

Nora got to try out her new stroller, swing, and bath tub this week. Unfortunately, when we were trying to get pictures of her after her bath in her cute ducky towel she started peeing on me so maybe next time we'll get a bathtime picture on here.

Here is Nora asleep in Grandpa Jeff's arms, trying out her new swing and with us in the hospital.

T-6 days and counting

Well, we are finally getting close to my due date. I am getting very excited to give birth although I know it won't be pleasant at the time. I've been trying to fit some last things in before the baby comes. I've gone on some dates with Justin, had coffee with friends, am attempting to make Artisan bread tomorrow, and doing water aerobics. I've also been passing the time watching the Olympics. I am feeling well, maybe a little more tired, but still pretty good. Justin plays in a softball tournament this week. He has games tonight and Tuesday and more if his team wins one or both of those games. He's been playing on this team since May with several other friends from our church. We're hoping he'll make it to all of the games. Our ideal date to go into labor is the 15th, Friday, or my actual due date the 16th. We of course, know it could happen at any time. Hopefully, our next post will include pictures of Baby Wise.

Catching Up

We apologize for the long break in updating. We are officially due in less than a month! Ahhh! I am 36 weeks along and feeling very big. I still have lots of energy but my ribs are pretty achy from the baby taking up so much room. We are feeling the baby move a lot. He or she especially likes to move at trips to the pool and before bedtime. We have a few childbirth classes left to attend in July, our 2 year anniversary next week and the end my summer school August 1st coming up. I am looking forward to "retiring" from the career world for a long time to be home with this little one and any more that come our way. I am so excited to be an at home mom. We are both very excited to see and hold the baby. We can't wait to know what gender the baby will be. I now think it's a boy and Justin thinks it's a girl. We are getting the nursery ready. We moved our desk into our bedroom and Justin's painting some furniture this weekend.

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks. Here we are at a friend's wedding. The other pictures are from our recent trip to Oregon to visit my family. We spent 3 nights at a beach house on the Oregon coast. Our trip was very relaxing. We read, walked on the beach and did a puzzle. I will try to update at least once more before the baby comes so stay tuned...

First Baby Pictures

Here are 2 of our better pictures from the ultrasound. The top one is more of an up close profile of the baby's head, shoulders and body. The head is on the right. You can see the nose and mouth if you look closely. The bottom picture, the baby is on it's back with it's legs over it's head. The doctor said it looks like the baby is doing a pilates or yoga move. We had a lot of fun seeing the baby and now are excited that it is less than 4 months until we get to hold him or her!

Wise Family Christmas on Easter

Last year, we started the tradition of taking a family picture at christmas time. This year however, our annual picture was impossible because Justin's brother, Jon, was flying. Jon had recently got a job with Mesaba, an extension of Northwest Airlines. Since Jeff and Sue still had their christmas decorations up on Easter weekend, we took the picture then. There was even still snow on the ground. From left to right: Julie, Justin, Jake, Boone, Jon, Sue, and Jeff.

The baby is kicking!

Well, I am now 22 weeks along-a little over halfway-and feeling great. Here are some pictures of me and my ever-growing tummy. We plan to take some pictures every month now, so those of you who live far away can "see" me while I'm pregnant.

My regular shirts are fitting very snugly now and I am completely wearing maternity pants. It was a bit humbling to buy pants with elastic waist bands, but I am much more comfortable in them. The baby is kicking a little every day now. It is especially active whenever I eat a meal. We've decided that banana bread and mexican are the baby's favorite foods because it was moving like crazy when eating those.

I am looking forward to my birthday on April 18th. My ultrasound is scheduled for that morning. It will be such a special birthday treat to see our baby for the first time. I will also be 25 years old-goodness my mid-twenties already.

Justin's job is going great! This year, he got a truck for work-a company vehicle. He used to have a loud, clanky van with the words ECOLAB written very largly on the sides, so he is very glad to have a new vehicle.

Expect another post after the 18th with our ultrasound pictures!