Happy 1st Birthday, Norah!

Dear Norah,

Oh sweet girl, how can it already be time to write this letter? I can't believe you are turning one today! This past year has flown by as we have gotten to know you and your sweet personality. Even though the year was filled with sleep deprivation, laundry, and diapers, I wouldn't change a minute of it because of the joy you have added to our lives.



How do I sum up how much you have changed in the year since you were born? You have gone from a tiny helpless baby to an energetic, spunky (almost) toddler. Forgive me, I can't yet wrap my brain around calling you a toddler. I think I'm going to be calling you a baby for quite a while!



You entered the world with blue eyes and sometime around three months they changed to an almost copper color. After that, they gradually darkened to a beautiful brown. When I look at your face, I'm drawn to your big, beautiful eyes. I love having a brown-eyed girl!



Right now you are a momma's girl. When I hold you and people talk to you I watch you smile and charm them. However, if they reach to try and hold you then you bury your head in my shoulder. I just smile and cuddle you closer--I'm happy when you make it so I don't have to share you!


Everywhere we go people love to stop and talk to you. I think it's a combination of your engaging eyes and pretty smile. Daddy likes to stand back at church and watch how everyone stops to greet you. Like I said before, you smile at people and charm them!



Daddy and I have decided that you are going to be full of mischief. When you reached a point where you could move around the room, you would crawl over to things that you were not supposed to touch. You would reach out, look at one of us, and say "what". Your favorite was the blinds. Now you are interested in cords, plugs, and any paper that we are not smart enough to put up high. We can see the mischief in your eyes and hear it in your little giggle!



One of my favorite things about you is how enamored you are with your brothers. You squeal when they walk into a room and you love it when they get down on the floor and play with you and your toys. They love to make you belly laugh--which you do when they throw things or themselves on the floor. I love to watch them do something over and over again simply because it makes you laugh. Right now they are trying to encourage you to walk. You took three steps last week so they like to stand you up and try to get you to walk more.



Over that last few months you have enjoyed the freedom that comes from crawling and you love to explore your toys. You will sit and flip through board books, push buttons over and over to hear music, and you love to hold your babies and pat them on the back while saying "awww". Daddy taught you to pile the rings on your stacker and you love to shake, shake, shake your rattles. We love to watch you do a "Norah dance" whenever you hear music. It's so silly!



I have loved listening to you find your voice. I miss the tiny baby babbles, but it's fun to hear you say "cah-cah" (for Micah), "bye-bye", "da", "ma", and "cra-cah" (cracker). Your other favorite words are "wow" and "what". Your first word was "uh-oh". We also think you say your own little version of "what's that", though I'm not sure how to type your version. You also love to use your ability to shake your head "no". One of my favorite ways to hear your little voice is when you mimic singing our "Bye-0-Bye" song.



My sweet girl, I'm looking forward to another year where I can watch you continue to grow and change. You have a darling personality that includes a wonderful mix of your dad and I. While I miss my tiny baby, I can't wait to see more of who you will be.


I love you, baby girl. Happy 1st Birthday.

Love,
Mommy

Goofy girl

Norah has developed a bit of a bad habit while she is in her high chair. I can't decide if she does it because she likes the noise or if its because she is bored. Whatever her reasoning, she is loud! She can even move the whole high chair when she does this. Such a goofy girl!

Untitled from Janna on Vimeo.

Summer Carnival

Here's a flashback to June because I'm still sorting through pictures...

I was able to take the kids to a summer carnival at our local library. There were all sorts of fun (free!) things for them to do. We started out at the balloon guy since we managed to get there before a huge line formed.

It was easy to wait patiently in line because we could watch them make balloon creations for the other kids. So cool!


I told the boys to stick close to each other since there were so many people. They obeyed...and were cute about it! Definitely something to record and remember!


Both of them chose to have a sword made. They weren't interested in any animals. They were thrilled with the end result.


Norah kindly held on to the balloon creations while her brothers toured the rest of the carnival.


Next we headed to the bounce house (again scoring a short line!) and they had fun jumping around.


After that we lined up for the goldfish race. This was so cute--each of them chose a fish and it was placed in a lane. Once the block was removed they had to blow on the fish to get it to swim to the finish line. Micah gave one little blow and his fish shot right to the end. Ethan kept blowing and blowing and his fish stayed right at the starting point. It was a fun little game!


We played a few other carnival games and they each took home a little bag of prizes. It was a great night!

So much to say

Norah is really starting to "talk" and coo a lot more. Sometimes she only has a few giggles or quiet coos. Other times, she really gets going and has quite a story to tell! We're thinking that once she learns how to talk she's going to be one talkative girl! Jason seems to think she gets that from me!

"Talking" from Janna on Vimeo.

Doesn't she have a sweet little voice?

Rolling over

Norah is growing so fast! It is so fun to watch her grow and learn how do to different things. She doesn't mind tummy time, so we put her on the floor on her tummy and she loves to look at the boys or mommy and daddy.

While we were at the pediatrician for her two month checkup, the doctor put her on her tummy as she was telling me about the importance of tummy time. Much to the surprise of the doctor, Norah rolled over! The doctor laughed and said, "well, I was going to tell you that usually happens around four months, but I guess not!". After the doctor's appointment we kept putting her on her tummy to see if the rolling over was just a too-heavy-baby-head fluke, but she kept doing it! Now, she's pretty good at rolling when she doesn't want to be on her tummy any more. We don't think it will be too long before she rolls from her back to her stomach either. She can already get herself on her side!

One day (a couple of weeks ago already!) while she was checking out the world from her stomach I grabbed the camera just in case she decided to perform. I was happy when she did! Enjoy my cute girl!

Rolling over from Janna on Vimeo.

Fancy dresses

Jason sometimes reminds me that Norah is not a doll. He says that when I bring out a new outfit to try on her--but mostly he says it when I bring out another new dress for her! Two of the dresses that she's worn my sisters and I wore when we were babies. Our grandmother gave the dresses to my sisters and I, so when my mom pulled them out I was excited to try them on Norah. Absolutely adorable!

This white dress is one from my grandmother. My mom had to tell me that it's a dotted swiss pattern. I wasn't sure what that was until I saw it, but I figured out it's delicate and beautiful! This dress was so tiny in the neck and sleeves that Norah could only wear it for two weeks. She did kind of look like a doll in it!


Once she grew out of the white dress, I pulled out the next one in line. This cute dress is also one from my grandmother. It had intricate smocking on it and ruffles and lace. While she was wearing this dress, Jason commented that it is much more difficult to hook her into her car seat than it was with the boys. All the ruffles and lace get in the way of the buckles!


Since Norah keeps growing, we recently moved to a new dress. This one Jason's mom picked out for her. I've decided that yellow is great on her! I love the big flower on the front of this dress and it has an adorable bow on the back.


It's fun to dress her up! We'll see if she continues to like dresses as she grows. For now, I'll keep having fun with them!

Lovin' for their sister

There is no shortage of people to love on Norah. It helps that she's absolutely adorable and sweet and cute. Her big brothers have days/times where they are indifferent to her presence. Other times we have to practically peel them away from her. I often remind them (especially Micah) that she can see them a whole lot better if they are not two centimeters from her face. When they are kissing on her and cuddling her, it's so sweet that I can't help but grab the camera.



These pictures are from June, but things haven't changed much. They still love talking to her and kissing her and hugging her!



I love how Micah is checking out her dimpled chin in this one. He must be trying to figure out why his mother is always kissing her chin. :)



I believe Miss Norah is not going to be lacking in protectors as she grows. Future boyfriends don't have a chance. :)

Summer Fun

I need to catch up on some posting! I'm hoping to do a few posts over the next couple of days about all the fun we've been having this summer. Since I was on maternity leave for a good portion of summer we had lots of lazy days and did all sorts of activities! I decided to go through my pictures and post, post, post!

At the beginning of June we took the kids to a local parade. As always, the boys got tons of candy (which their mother happily enjoys with them!).


Waiting for the parade to start while hanging out with Charlie. The boys were excited when one of the motorcycle police officers stopped and talked with them. They were really excited when the officer gave them each a sheriff tattoo (when I put them on for the boys, Micah wanted his on his chest. It was pretty funny!).


Micah getting ready to wave at everyone. Nothing like a goofy smile!


Seriously, this child is growing so fast! Well, all my children are growing fast--Ethan just keeps looking older and older!


As you can see, Norah thoroughly enjoyed her first parade. She didn't even flinch when all the fire trucks went by with sirens blaring!


I love parades and my kids do, too! Watching this one made me really look forward to the Fourth of July!

Sleepy Norah

One of my favorite things to do is watch Norah sleep. She sleeps pretty well for a little baby and I love to take her picture while she's sleeping. While she has a number of positions that she sleeps in, her favorite way is to sleep with both arms above her head. We know that she is in a really deep sleep when she is like that--she won't wake up to eat and she'll sleep through a lot of noise. I thought I would post pictures of how cute she is in her sleep.

An arms up deep sleep position--with an open hands variation.

Another arms up, this time with tight little fists.


A unique on the side "because my parents have been bothering me and and I'm trying to get them to leave me alone" position.


Deep "who needs a pacifier" sleep.


Slumped in the bouncy seat position.


Finally, the "I don't want any blankets" position,

Norah generally sleeps the best when she's cuddled with someone (and I have a hard time resisting that!). However, when we want her to sleep on her own we swaddle her with a blanket. She sleeps great that way and usually doesn't kick out of the blankets until she wakes up hungry. Such a cute baby girl!

Norah Elizabeth

Dear Norah,

We have been praying for you and dreaming about you for many days and months. While you were in mommy's tummy we didn't know if you were a boy or a girl and we were very anxious to find out! You were a busy girl in my tummy--always moving around! Your favorite position was often one where a little foot or elbow was in my rib cage. Your brothers thought it was "unusual" when they watched my stomach move as you moved around.


We were so excited to finally meet you, one week before your due date, on May 17, 2010. You entered this world at 1:44 p.m. and once the doctor set you on my stomach your daddy was able to declare "it's a girl!". You weighed 8 lbs 3 oz and were 19 inches long. I was surprised at how big you were--bigger than both of your brothers when they were born! Your daddy also noticed right away that you have the same dimple in your chin as he does. It's adorable!



We picked the your name, Norah, simply because we loved the name. Your middle name, Elizabeth, is the same as mine. We thought they sounded beautiful together.



Your daddy and I spent a lot of time holding you and cuddling you and getting to know you. Not only did we notice the dimple in your chin, but we loved it when we noticed the way your chin would periodically quiver.


After a while we called your grandparents, aunts, and uncles to share our good news. There were many happy exclamations as we said again and again "it's a girl!". We had a room full of people when everyone came to the hospital to meet you!


Daddy picked your brothers up and brought them to the hospital to meet you. They were happy to see you and carefully checked you out. They were each excited to hold you and I loved how proud they were as they held you.

Your dad and I are so thankful that you have joined our family. God has blessed us with another wonderful child and we love you very much. We can't wait to watch you grow and change.


With love to my baby girl,

Mom