Happy Halloween!

 

Nora is SO BIG on Halloween Morning

 

Third night in a row

Nora is officially putting herself to sleep. Last night was the third night in a row that she put herself to sleep in less than 5 minutes and slept until 7:00 am! We are thrilled! Hopefully we are officially passed the difficult sleep pattern and can now look forward to the next one ;-)

Sleeping through the night!

In an amazing transformation, Nora slept all the way through the night AGAIN last night. We put her in her crib, awake, at 7:30. She cried for 5 minutes, then fell asleep by herself. She woke up again at 6 AM.

We were expecting a repeat of the Oscar-worthy performance we saw the previous night. What a huge improvement.

I love playing with you, Mommy

 

Playing Row Row Row Your Boat

 

Big Steps in the Remfrey House

Nora slept from 8:30 pm to 7:00 am for the first time in over a month! It was a challenging listening to her scream for 45 minutes before she put herself to sleep, but it was well worth the wait. Brian tapped me around 7:00 the morning and said, "It's 7:00 and we're still in our bed and Nora's still in her bed!" It was a huge milestone for us!

The second big event of the day was Nora taking her first three steps! I set her down in the standing position at daycare this morning to show the ladies and Nora decided to make her walking debut. She took one step toward Miss Lachelle and then clapped for herself and repeated this performance three times. It was very exciting! We are going to try to replicate the show tonight at home.

I have no doubt that sleeping through the night had something to do with the walking. I haven't been functioning very well lately because of waking up two or three times a night, so I can't imagine how she was handling it!

Nora got to go to the Children's Museum this weekend when Grandpa, Grandma, and Auntie Pea were here. She obviously had a good time!

The horsey is always one of her favorites

"OOO, I love this slide!"

What was so funny over there?

Riding on the cart with Auntie Pea

Mommy and Daddy got to enjoy a little R & R in Napa Valley this past week while Grandpa, Grandma, and Auntie Pea took care of Nora. THANK YOU!

A picture of the three couples lucky enough to spend a week in Napa to go to Brad and Susanne's wedding!

This past week, Brian and I traveled to Napa Valley to witness the marriage of our friends Brad and Susanne. It was an amazing wedding set right in the middle of a vineyard!

Look at me! Nora gave us her first 'standing alone' show tonight! She stood without any assistance for about 30 seconds a few different times this evening. She wasn't quite ready for steps.

This is Nora's new favorite thing. She loves to walk behind her walker. Hopefully she'll figure out how to turn around by herself in a few days...for now she just gets frustrated once she walks into the wall!

Back to normal

The spots and the fever are gone, and yesterday Nora was taken in once again for her 1-year checkup. 4 immunization shots and a blood test later, she was released back into the wild with a clean bill of health. She is even sleeping through the night now, which is something she hasn't done regularly for almost a month. We are very relieved to have all of this behind us.

Nora's new obsession is walking behind her little push-car toy. We had her walk up and down the hallway with it. She gets the biggest smile on her face and is so proud of her new-found mobility!

Just when we thought it was over...

We woke up this morning to another nasty surprise. Nora has a rash all over her body, which we have now found out is the calling card of a viral infection called roseola. With all of the visits this month, I think we are going to qualify for VIP status at the pediatrician's office.

Playing with Ethan, Logan, and Ana

What a party!

We just wrapped up the festivities. Nora's first birthday was quite an event, and we were so happy to see so many of you come out to help us celebrate!

Before the beginning of the event we were a bit apprehensive as Nora seems to be struggling with an ear infection that landed us back at Children's Hospital again on Friday. It has been a rough weekend for her and we were a bit worried that she would not feel up to doing much celebrating today.

But it all worked out for the best. Nora had lots of fun playing with all the other kids, not to mention hanging out with friends and relatives who came from far and wide. She had a huge smile on her face when she attacked her birthday cake (pictures are below) and after a couple of handfuls of frosting, I think she was feeling better than she has in a long time.

THANK YOU to everyone for all the great presents, and for making the trip out to celebate with us. It's been a great year!!

Nora dives into her birthday cake with reckless abandon!

Where did the flame go, mommy?

Here's Nora with her first birthday cake...a butterfly cake made by her mommy. Nora plunged right in with no hesitation at all, smearing frosting all over the place!

Happy 1st Birthday Nora!

This was one of the first pictures taken of Nora just a couple of minutes after she was born, a year ago today! Looking at these pictures it is incredible to see how much she has grown. Let's take a look to see how much things have changed:

Weight (then): 5 lbs., 3 oz. (2.35 kg)
Weight (now): 20 lbs., 4 oz. (9.19 kg)

Height (then): 18" (46 cm)
Height (now): 29" (74 cm)

Vocabulary (then): crying and drooling, occasional grunts
Vocabulary (now): "baa" "daa" "maa" "pfffffff" and the occasional rasberry

Favorite activities (then): sleeping, pooping, metabolizing biliruben.
Favorite activities (now): giggling, chasing after the cat, swinging, watching Sesame Street, going out for coffee with Daddy on Saturday mornings

Favorite foods (then) - breastmilk, formula
Favorite foods (now) - cow milk, pasta, peas, watermelon, cat food, lasagna

Happy 1st birthday Nora! Updates on the celebration will be posted soon!