I'm back!

Old McNora had a farm E I E I O.

Finally back!  The fall semester started.  Things got crazy.  Things are crazy STILL, but the difference is now I don't workout in the evenings because I am the proud owner of a jogging stroller.  It is amazing -- I've never been much of a runner, but now I have every reason to be because I can get a good workout in the day!  I "inherited" an iPhone and bought a Nike GPS app that tracks the miles I run.  It keeps a nice history of my runs, which is nice because it lets me compete with myself.  I am a very competitive person, so this is a way for me to "compete".

Other news.

Nora started crawling during our visit to California this summer -- in July.  Recently, she has started signing back to us a few words: milk, more, all done, book.  It is very adorable to see her communicate with us even before her speech is developed.  All she can say is "mama" and "p".  She says the "p" sound a few times to refer to Alan.  She can identify some body parts.  Favorites include belly button, toes, teeth, nose.  She knows Gertrude's name (and that she is a dog).  Every day I can see that she understands more and more by the way she interacts with the world.  Lately she has taken to assisted walking.  She likes to walk holding onto our fingers.  I've taken her a few times to play on the grass on campus -- she absolutely loves it.  Today she found some little flowers while she was "walking" around and just needed to stop and investigate.

A Baylor Bear at the Burleson Quadrangle

Faux Hawk

It is about mid-term.  Hard to believe the semester is about half-way over?  I'm starting to think of Thanksgiving plans and what we'll do for Alan's and Nora's birthday (singular).  It's going to be challenging throwing a shindig the week of Thanksgiving, but that's what we got.

High Five & a Kiss

A few days ago (maybe 2) Alan asked Nora to give him a high five.  And she did... and continues to do.  This morning, as Alan was saying good morning to Nora, he asked for a high five.  She gave him one -- even though she was on her belly -- with a big, open-mouthed smile.

Today is Alan's last day of German class.  After class, he asked Nora for a kiss.  She leaned over and closed her mouth on his cheek (it was a gentle closing--not quite like eating, but definitely not your typical kiss).  To make sure this wasn't an accident, we asked for some more kisses.  She gave them to us, but after a couple she started crying.  She was very tired for a nap, but still -- it was funny to see her start crying after giving one of us a kiss.

Almost Crawling & a New Granny Square Quilt

Nora turned 7 months a few days ago.  June 23rd.  Coincidentally, it was also a year since one of my grandmothers passed away.  I thought about my grandma and I missed her -- but I am also looking forward to the day when I will see her again.

This baby has been scooting around on the floor for a few weeks now.  She'll roll, do a push-up and push herself backwards.  She has backed herself into a few interesting places in our living room.  Alan was studying German on the couch, looked up and found her underneath a footstool--with her little head popped out.  The past couple of days -- probably on/around the day she turned 7 months -- Nora has been able to right herself on her hands and knees, and then rock back and forth... like she's building up momentum to blast out of her stationary position.  Although I said that jokingly, it's rather true.  She IS going to take off and not be a little baby anymore.  Writing this and listening to Iron & Wine may not be such a great idea -- I'm probably feeling more sentimental than usual.  But it's true.  Babies grow up so fast.  So fast!

In other news: in my spare time I have been working on another granny square quilt.  I found the idea on Etsy and I am shamelessly copying the idea.  It looks beautiful and I just hope my attempt will turn out ok.

This is their picture, and here is a link to the Colorful Afghan Blanket that you can buy on etsy.

The past few days, Nora, Alan & I have been enjoying some (limited) time outdoors.  Today we grilled some hotdogs with some friends (rather they did the grilling).  Here's Nora and Dad:

I love this cute little dress -- we found it at a local used clothing shop for children's clothes. 

I love this little smile!  :-)

Daddy's Little Pavlovian Dog

It's really neat to see Nora prefer Alan to put her to bed.  It's a relief for me because I'm tired and it's refreshing for Alan because it is a special opportunity for him to feel special--to feel needed.  I tried to put Nora to bed and failed -- Alan came and saved the day today.  It didn't take him long to put her to bed.

When I was fixing Nora dinner, she started making sucking/slurping/smacking noises.  It was hilarious.  And oh so adorable.

I am starting to work on Christmas gifts... hopefully will knock some (most) out this summer before things pick up in the fall.

Also, I've been considering selling items on etsy.  I am a little intimidated by the prospect of being a seller, but intrigued as well.  It sounds like fun, but I am concerned that it will be more trouble than it's worth.  For me, my motivation would be that it's a fun thing to do -- not simply for the money.  If I need to make money, chances are this is not the efficient way to do it!

I've seen people selling paper flowers, and crocheted items.  I'm not an artist in the traditional sense, but I like doodling and some people like those.  Weirdos!

Here is one such doodle.  

Doodle is such a strange word.

Sleep & a Granny Square Blanket

We have had a much easier time putting Babycakes to sleep the past few days -- thank you God!  It has been such a blessing only spending half an hour putting her to sleep (approximately) compared to one and a half hours -- or as much as three!  I guess that means she is adapting and becoming comfortable with Dad putting her to bed.  Once again.  AWESOME.

I've been staying up pretty late the past few days.  I think it's caught up with me as I've had a scratchy throat today (usually a sign of stress and/or the beginning of a cold).  I hope it's not anything.  Need to get to sleep at a decent hour to feel better tomorrow.

In other news, I finished -- that's right -- FINISHED Alan's Christmas gift.  Well, it was supposed to be his Christmas gift.  Better late than never?  Let's just say it is even if it is the middle of June.  I guess at this point I could just say I'm early for Christmas 2010.  But whatever.

This is my first granny square crochet blanket.  I made it using Hobby Lobby's brand of yarn: "I Love This Yarn!"  My personal opinion is that's it's ok and pretty good for the price.  Three colors of blue: sky blue, cornflower blue and dark blue and white with black as the joining yarn.

The whole blanket.  Long enough to cover Alan's toes.

Close-up.

It was fun, but I'm happy to be finished with it!  Trying to think of what I'd like to work on next...  HMMM.

In other news, I bought this amazing custom-made valance on etsy which I absolutely love!

It really complements our kitchen table & hutches and brightens the kitchen.  Exactly what we wanted it to do.

Midnight.  Should go to bed.

Crocheted Elephant

I finished Nora's crocheted elephant today!  Here he is:

I decided to wait -- perhaps until her first birthday (?) to give it to her to make it special.

Bedtime...

Yesterday, the combined efforts of Alan and I took us... about 3 hours to put Nora to bed.  I keep reminding myself that this is a growing experience.  It will get better!

In better news, Nora played by herself for a long time yesterday.  It was amazing!  I almost finished her elephant.  Pictures to come...

Independent Play

The impossible has happened.  Little N played by herself for more than 30 seconds!  She actually played on a blanket in the living room for about an hour and then after a little break spent an hour in her Pack-N-Play for about an hour.  I really didn't know what to do with myself.  But I could definitely get used to this!  :) :) :)

Baby Sleep & Nose Tasting

Going to sleep -- what a peaceful blissful idea... as an adult!  For babies, sleep must be the most terrifying thing ever.  I s'pose that's one of my parental duties: to help her understand that sleep is a good thing.

That is much, much, MUCH more easily said than done!  

I think we waited a bit too long to move Nora out of our room.  We moved her crib into the second bedroom when she was almost 6 months.  This was a consequence of both Alan's and my workload this past spring semester.  

Tonight Nora screamed for -- what was it, an hour?  On and off, she screamed until snot ran from her nose and she gurgled and coughed with sweet little baby tears and saliva.  It really breaks my heart to see her so upset -- but the baby cannot live her life falling asleep nursing and she despises a pacifier.  What else can we do?  

She is a sweet girl, despite her aversion to falling asleep.  Today I feel like she made her first "joke" -- in a sense.  Nora and I were playing and laughing/smiling about something, and I picked her up.  She looked at me, leaned forward and inserted my nose in her open mouth.  She didn't nibble, she just put my nose in her mouth and smiled with the corners of her mouth.  The first time she did it, it was kind of an accident -- we were playing together on the bed and (if I remember correctly) I was trying to tickle her by pressing my nose on her neck and making "om nom nom" noises.  Somehow her mouth landed on my nose and I laughed and laughed and laughed.  I guess she learned then that I thought it was funny -- so today she made her "joke" to make me laugh again.  And I was eager to comply.  

Also -- on a much lighter note -- today I noticed that Nora Joy can be abbreviated N. Joy (pronounced "enjoy").  How cool is that?  It's almost like I planned it, but I totally didn't.

N-Joy living up to her Texas heritage.

Nora's Birth Story

Written November 28, 2009 -- While still in the hospital.


I'm not a very good story-teller, but I'm sure many of you are interested in hearing the general story of how Nora entered the "outside" world. I say general story, because I will spare you--the general audience--any details you may not want to know.

During church on Sunday I was feeling slight contractions, but this wasn't anything worth noting because the whole 9th month has consisted of these pre-labor contractions. Later that afternoon, Alan and I decide to go on a walk together. As I was getting ready to go, I noticed "something" so we called the hospital and asked if we should go in. We were told to go immediately, so we went. I think this was about 5 o'clock. I was hooked up to a bunch of machines and monitored for about an hour to determine if there was anything going on to be concerned about. I was having contractions regularly, but they weren't painful, and I was still 2cm dilated (no change from my last doctor's exam). So they sent us home. I believe it was around 7 now.

We stopped by Jack-in-the-Box to buy Alan some dinner, and went home. I ate some black bean soup and we finished watching a Gary Cooper film that we had started a couple of days ago. As we were preparing to watch another movie and wind down (or play a game), my water broke (8pm)--a very weird sensation by the way. Alan called the hospital and asked if we should go back, and when the nurse told him that we should, he asked if we should go right away or if we could wait at home for a bit. She said come right away, so Alan took a shower. My contractions suddenly became unavoidable. Not wretchedly painful, but substantial enough that I couldn't just ignore them. We hadn't packed our hospital bags, so we threw some things together and left. As we arrived at the hospital, I got out of the car to find that there was more amniotic fluid. So I waddled up to labor and delivery trying to hide by wet backside. I don't think I fooled anybody, though. Too bad that was the only pair of pants I brought to the hospital! What was I thinking?

We were admitted to the labor room at about 9, and by this time the contractions were pretty intense. The nurses hooked me up to a several machines (to monitor my heart rate, Nora's heart rate, and my contractions), gave me an IV for fluids, and evaluated where I was at: 3cm. Alan did a great job of talking to me as I went through the contractions--it was very comforting to hear his voice and assurance that it was only something to be endured for a short while. When it would end, we would have a little Nora (and I would not be pregnant! Added bonus!). I focused on relaxing my uterus so that I would not be fighting my body, but allowing it to work more efficiently. I think around 11:30 our nurse checked me and saw that I was now 8cm dilated. Alan told me to slow down so that Nora could be born on his birthday! I think that made me smile. It was definitely encouraging. About half an hour later, we reached the 10cm mark and began pushing.

Pushing was a lot more challenging for me. We were blessed with an amazing nurse (Jessica) to help us--particularly at this stage. On arrival, she asked me what kind of pain management I would like to use. I let her know that we wanted to try natural childbirth, and she was on board with what we wanted to do. She suggested several positions for me to try during this stage and coached. I'll spare you the details, but with Jessica and Alan's help, after 2.5 hours of pushing we had a little Nora. This part was really hard work. At the end I was so exhausted I was shaking. I definitely think working out regularly helped me endure this--mentally as well as physically--because I am used to disciplining my body and mind to push and exert effort even when you feel like you have nothing left to give.

There you have it. Eleanor Joy entered the outside at 2:32am after about 6.5 hours of labor on 11/23/09 (just shy of 39 weeks pregnant btw), and Alan got his wish of sharing his birthday with her. She weighed 9 lbs 5 oz and was 22 in long at the time of her birth. Her Apgar score was a whopping 9.9! The kid's already getting As!

Having her makes everyday like Christmas. I am so thankful.

Holding Nora for the first time.  <3

Nora moments after being born.  

I Love my Husband

Summer session I started this week.  Alan is taking a 4-week course in German for his Ph.D.  Obviously he has his hands full and is very busy attending class and studying after class.

The spring semester was so busy that I was not able to hit the gym like I wanted to, so I have been having dreams of having more opportunities to go this summer.  Thankfully, Alan is being a dear and taking time out of his very busy day to take care of Nora so that I can go have fun.  The past couple of days he has been putting her to bed -- which is no easy task and is more easily said than done.

Nora has been very emotionally needy lately -- likely compounded by the pain she feels from little teeth making their way up to the surface.

Unrelated -- I bought a season pass to the Mayborn Museum so that we can have an air-conditioned place to go for fun (trying not to go window shopping for fun).  So we've gone a couple of times already.  There's a lot to look at.

Avocado

Nora was reluctant to start solids.  We tried to get her interested in food at 4 months, then at 5 months... then finally when she was about to turn 6 months Nora was introduced to Avocado and the rest is history.

Gertrude supervising.

What can I say?  The kid has got skill.

Nora Meets Frank Capra (February 13, 2010)

I thought I would be the last person to hop on the blog bandwagon, but I’ve recently changed my mind.  We’ll see if I will be diligent to keep this up, though.  Teaching 2 classes at the university, along with trying to be a good wife and mom is a little challenging.  Let’s just say that the dishes are not always done at the end of the day, and the “day” ends at midnight. This is usually the time where I do house chores or grading or lesson plans, etc.

So, enough of the boring stuff.  The past day or two Nora has really changed.  She is suddenly very interested in what is going on around her; not as quick to get upset and burst into tears (which Alan appreciates).  She is still going to bed around 7pm every night and sleeping through the night (save a few feedings) until 7 or so the next morning.  She started this on her own accord around the 2 month mark… possibly a little before now that I think about it.  Last night, however, she stayed up a little later than usual and watched an old Frank Capra film (sadly, it wasn’t too good) with us.  It really tickled us to have her propped up between us on the couch just sitting and watching.  She was very interested.  And we spent most of the movie just looking over at her and getting a kick out of how adult-like she was acting.

Well, it’s nearly midnight.  Bed time for me!