Hats and apples

Taken just a few minutes ago...what a little cutie pie. She, of course, found this hat all on her own. The girl's got style.

2nd trimester

We're into the 2nd trimester tomorrow (Monday) and I'm feeling great (except for the ongoing tiredness). I've felt a few questionable flutters that could be little b moving around or could be a displacement of intestines...it's 50/50 I think. Either way, it's exciting to be getting into the stage of pregnancy where I'll start getting bigger and will feel the baby move more and more. I really loved that last time and am curious to see how different, or not, it will be this time around.

Nora is as cute as ever these days. She's talking up a storm and learning new words all the time. It's really fun to watch. Here are some recent pictures, a few of which show clear hair growth!

Daddy and Nora playing with hats:


G'ma and G'pa B sat for Nora yesterday while Chris and I went looking at cars (ugh) and to see the new Harry Potter movie. Here's Nora climbing up Mount B:


And, just looking cute...



These are from last week - G'ma B came to our house for their usual Thursday together and Nora seemed to be on cuteness alert the whole day.



More later on our weekend in MI for the Pontius family reunion - Nora had a fanclub made up of pre-adolescent girls who LOVED her! It was adorable.

Welcome Sylvie!

As mentioned in a previous post, one of my oldest friends, Hilary, gave birth to her daughter on July 10th! I'm a few weeks late (2 + 1 day, to be exact) with the pictures, but they're still just as cute. Sylvie is absolutely adorable and her parents, Hilary and Ryan, are doing fantastic. The whole Bongorno threesome (almost foursome!) headed back down to visit them this past weekend. Nora loved holding her and was very gentle and sweet - she didn't even get jealous when Chris and I held her! Here are the pictures (and a video) to prove it:

Daddy B's 20+ Month Retort

I have to follow up Naomi's post with this a video that represents one of the cuter moments of the past month or so. It's proof that her angel tendencies are far stronger than her monster tendencies!



And another one from the same night. I've never seen a kid do this before and it melts (no pun intended) my heart every time:



I absolutely love the picture of Nora on top of Naomi's head from Parade the Circle (see Naomi's last post). It's one of my favorites in recent months, which says a lot! She was a very good girl that day, which made me happy, since I was very busy and couldn't really help Mama out a whole lot.

Some other notes from Daddy B:

• Nora likes to pretend that she isn't glad to see me sometimes (even moreso recently), but I know (because a little birdie tells me) that she misses me when I'm not here.
• She is very helpful with yard work. Sometimes even a little too helpful... she loves weeding and watering the gardens, but sometimes she decides that she's going to pull leaves off of anything that crosses her path. Watering usually ends up in Daddy & Nora getting their feet fully drenched!
• Nora has a sandbox, a slide and a pool. She's not a fan of the pool yet, but she loves the slide and the sandbox!
• Her drawings are getting more and more elaborate, with Deetz, Bull, Mimi, Retz, B, Mama, and Dada still making cameos on every page. She can identify each of these individuals in photographs (can you guess who's who?) and even has Matz (the dog version) down!
• She's started saying her friends' names too: Wiw (Will), Mae, Awta (Alta), Sowee (Zoli) and continues to sign Carol, Graham, and Baxter. If she has the boob (mumps) in her mouth, she'll do her sign for Daddy as I'm leaving the room at bedtime.
• And lastly, she's adamant about kicking me out of bed when it's time to go to sleep. I'll get her dressed and read with her, but as soon as Mommy shows up, she starts pushing me out of the bed, saying "pease, pease (please)" until I'm off. At least she's got manners!

That's all for now. We love you Nora. You're going to be a fantastic big sister!

Holy Catch Up, Batman!

It's been a crazy month+ and I've been having a tough time keeping up with the blog b/c of it. Luckily, most of the craziness has been a result of wonderful things!

First, we found out we're expecting baby b #2 sometime in late January 2010! I've been incredibly tired, spaced out and had a month or so of all day sickness (morning, pah!) that I wasn't at all expecting. But, I'm 11 weeks now and starting to feel more like myself again, plus a few pounds. I feel like I'm as big now as I was at our wedding, when I was nearly 18 weeks preggo w/ Nora. That uterus really does grow faster the 2nd time around! Anyway, we're very excited and a little freaked out about having 2 kiddos! Mostly, I feel secure that Nora has taught us well to take things one day at a time and enjoy every stage, even the tough ones, so think we'll be able to roll with it when there are 2. :)

Second, Nora and I rushed down to YS/Cincinnati this past Thursday b/c my dear friend Hilary was giving birth to her daughter, Sylvie! I walked into the room literally minutes after Sylvie had made her grand appearance. Hilary did an amazing job, with a fabulous support team (led by her husband, Ryan) and her labor was just too quick for me to get there! What a good problem to have, huh?! Side note: Hilary was at Nora's birth (she took all the pictures!) and stayed with us for a few days afterward, which was amazing. Thursday, I got to spend the rest of the day with the new family and it was amazing to see my oldest friend become a mother in a manner of minutes - she's a natural, of course, and Sylvie is adorable. Congrats to the Peirson's!

Third, Nora has hit a very challenging stage the past few weeks and trying to come up with ways to accomplish simple tasks w/out major breakdowns (such as getting in the car, going for a walk, eating lunch, getting dressed, changing a diaper...you get the picture) is zapping most of my creativity!

It's like she's going along on her day being the cute, fun and happy girl we know and love and then - bam! - she's taken over by a little monster for 10 minutes! The monster yells "NO!" at anyone who tries to talk to her; arches her back and screams when we try to put her in her carseat or stroller; throws various objects while staring right at us; loses the ability to reason (when give the choice between this and that, she always goes for those); and melts into the floor with dispair at the mere mention of the word "no".

Luckily, the cute/fun/happy girl far outweighs (in strength and attendance) the monster, but man alive is that monster exhausting. I think I've hit a new level of zen trying to remain calm while she screams and random strangers stare at me like I'm the monster! Ah, motherhood.

On the cute/fun/happy side:

• She's started to say a lot of two word combos, such as "happy Dada", "uh oh Mama/Baby", and "loud bus". She learns a handful of new words a day, some of which I've taught her and some that I have no idea where she heard them! No curse words yet, but if our basketball playing neighbors have anything to say about it she'll be talking like a trucker by fall.
  
• She pooped in her potty a week or so ago! It was somewhat by accident and she was shell-shocked for about 1/2 an hour, but still. Pretty funny.
  
• She fully night weaned almost a month ago (we used the "mums are sleeping" technique) and has been sleeping pretty consistently until 4 to 5am in her bed before coming into ours. Next up: moving her into her own room (that could take awhile)!
• She can identify the letter "B" (she often yells it out in the car when we pass a Burger King and this morning she said it when she saw Barack Obama's book by the bed), and she knows the number 2 (how many hands do you have? 2! how many feet? 2! how many cookies did you eat? 2! etc...).
• She's definitely getting hair! It's blond and straight, so far.
  

As a reward for reading through this super long post, here are some recent pictures!

At Parade the Circle last month:




On Chris's Birthday (the 1st!), we rode our bikes to dinner and to the Ice Cream Social at Fairview Park!