Sitting

Baby girl does not like to be on her tummy or back. The happiness will only last a few minutes and then she is done.  The boys loved being on their tummies - probably why the crawled so early. I'm ok with her not crawling as soon.

 But she does love sitting up and has great head control

 This is what she loves to do when she isn't being held. Going by this picture I think she knows she's cute and has us wrapped around her fingers.  Cute baby girl.

Oh and she says mama.  Its usually when she crying -"mama-mama-mama" but she did say it at a baby shower without crying. So I do have witnesses over the age of 6! I don't think she knows what shes saying but its mama all the same :)

He loves her

3 months

 Norah is 3 months old now. Why does time have to go so fast. Norah is such a sweet baby. In the words of Marilla Cuthbert of Anne of Green Gables "every baby is the sweetest and the best" And I agree. All my babies have been the sweetest and the best. And Norah really does have a sweet personality.

  Norah is starting to suck on two of her fingers. She loves her pacifier but more and more is wanting her fingers. She also loves to hold onto her dresses and pull them up by her face.

   So far she is very laid back - just goes with the flow. Nothing really bothers her but when she does get upset she'll wimper and produce real tears (the boys never had tears at this age) and her wimpering will last a LONG time. I told Brent to be prepared for an emotional girl. One time Joel was trying to give Norah some of his drink and accidently spilled ice and water all over her. Poor Norah. She let us know that was no acceptable at all. She stopped crying right away but did her little wimpering for a while after.

 Love all her rolls. A few weeks ago she was just over 12lbs and just under 24 inches long.  She hasn't grown as much as I thought considering how big she was at birth. 

  Norah will generally talk and smile to anyone who she makes eye contact with. She loves to be snuggled and held for hours and hours. I love it. I know it wont last for very long so I'm enjoying it while I can. I would much rather hold a baby than clean my house anyday.  She is getting better at being on her tummy and back but prefers to be held sitting up or in her bumbo seat. At night I will nurse her on the couch and then just snuggle with her for a long time watching her sleep.

 She also loves to be tickled and has the cutest giggle. Colin can get the most giggles and coos out of her.

 She is our best sleeper by far. I used to be amazed and wonder what people did to get their kids to sleep through the night and never thought it was possible but she's great. Joel is getting up more than Norah.  She's pretty consitent at getting up at 5am - going down between 8 & 9 and will sometimes get up once in the middle.  AMAZING.  Keep it up baby girl. We love you.  Its hard to imagine what life was like without her.

we made it

 We now have a first grader.  Where did this past year go? I need to compare the above picture from the last day of school to his first day of school.  Its been much better than I imagined.  Colin has done so well and we really had a great year.  I didn't realize how much I liked the school until I helped last week at field day.  I stopped volunteering in Feb since I couldn't waddle down the halls very fast :)  I had so many people come up to me asking about the baby when I walked into the school.  The administration has made the school feel like family so hopefully they don't leave anytime soon.  He had a wonderful teacher and teachers assistant that clearly adored Colin.  (Always helps when they love your son!) Colin has gotten so confident and grown up so much this year. 

Homework was not fun for either of us most nights.  I'm hoping that changes before 1st grade but I think God knew I couldn't homeschool him his past year or we would be butting heads each day. I still don't want him gone from me all day - I wish all the grades were all half day - but I'm excited for first grade. He will get to do art class each week and PE which he's excited about.  Its been fun now seeing kids from his class at the pool and getting to meet their parents.  He had a great class this year - can't wait to see what next year brings. But for now I'm going to enjoy having all my kids home each day. 

 Going...

 Going...

 Going...

 Gone.

Hose

 If a little is good

A lot must be better

Swim Team

Colin is on the swim team this year. He was so excited for months.  And loves practices. Never complains - always wants to go - with tball and soccer he would complain about practice and only want to do the games.  He is a "guppy" which is for the little kids who haven't been on the team.  They practice in the shallow end 3 days a week.  After the first two days of practice they moved him up into the regular lane. And I wasn't surprised. He is one of the best guppies there.  Colin was so excited to be in his friend Austin's lane that all day he couldn't wait.  They hadn't had practice for a few days due to rain. Then when it came time to practice I've never seen a more terrified look on his face.  We kept him in the whole time and he was just as good as the other kids in that lane but would just cling to the rope or wall when he needed to breathe. He was afraid to go over the deep end.  And he was trying to do everything the coach said.  It is so hard for me - especially after being a swim coach - to not force him to swim or do what I want. Part of me wanted to keep him in that lane since I know he could do it but I took him out of the lane and put him back in guppies.  And he's much happier.  I would LOVE for him to be in the lane and swimming all the meets but I want him to love swimming. He is actually learning all the techniques in the guppies - like what a streamline is and tips like dolphin kick when your coming off the wall for backstroke.  So that part I really like.  We just came back from time trials.  Poor thing - first day of summer vacation and everyone was sound asleep and I had to wake him up - or really poor mommy :)  He didn't want to swim but he got an idea of what a meet looks like. So maybe one meet this year - they only have 4 which is crazy to me but now he has a goal to work on in practice. And I must say I love going in to kiss him at night after he's asleep and smelling the chlorine on him. Baths are now optional now that the pool is open :)

Fashion

 Don't you wish you had Joel's fashion sense.

Random

 I thought I'd share some random pictures that I took the past few weeks. Just a little more into our day to day lives.

Joel put Norah in Jail.

 Joel falls asleep randomly late in the afternoon some days but still refuses to nap.  Colin loves holding Norah any chance he gets

I love walking into the room and seeing Colin and Norah talking. The other day while Norah was "talking" to Colin I overheard him telling her "Norah Jesus made everyone different. We all have different voices. Jesus made them just for us - even if they aren't very pretty..." haha made me laugh.  Wonder whose voice isn't pretty to Colin :)

Colin playing soldiers - I think this was the Alamo he was recreating

Sleepy girl - love how she sometimes puts her arm up. With her its usually just one arm.  Colin used to sleep with both arms up.

Norah loves having her hands up by her chest.  She sleeps like this and lately has been pulling on her dress with her arms and bringing it up.  My favorite thing she does is grip onto my fingers with each hand and then bring it close. Usually when she does that she will fall fast asleep. 

A ball of yarn can give the boys hours of entertainment. This day they made a spider web and it caught Colin in it. I think Joel was the spider coming to eat Colin but I'm not really sure.  They had a lot of fun though getting all tangled.

Joel loves to hug and kiss (suck norah's face off) She's not usually as thrilled

 When you refuse to nap you fall asleep on the floor a lot.  I usually just leave him there and we step around him.

 This picture makes me laugh. Must have been one of those afternoons

I was inside and the boys were outside playing and Colin told me to come look. He had filled the wheelbarrow with water and was just sitting in there. He stayed out there for at least an hour just sitting there relaxing.

Bubba

Bubba is a very funny guy

Goldfish?

 Joel is great at entertaining himself. I love just watching his mind work.  And now that I'm sitting and feeding Norah a lot these days he has gotten even more creative. 

 Take for instance how he decided to eat his snack one day

 Yummy

Just dont eat our goldfish crackers.  Some might have gotten put back in the box :)

 Maymont park - we love going there and I think go almost every time we go visit Ant Ant

 And I think its always the hottest day when we go - didnt seem to mind the kids

Afterwards we met some dear friends who just moved to Richmond.  Colin was excited all week to introduce them to his Ant Ant so they can become friends. We hope so too.

Pool

Our first time in the pool this summer was at Ant Ant's pool last weekend.

Love how cute Joel looks in his goggles

Ant Ant and her boys

 After Norah woke up from her lounging Ant Ant took her in the pool

 She does not like cold water.  Takes after her mom

 Maybe it wasn't so bad

 Oh look - I have feet

 The lounging part of the pool seems to be what Norah likes best

Can't wait for more pool time this summer