Nora's Room

Here's Nora's room with her new comforter and paint job. Thanks again Papa!

Neat tool for blog junkies

For those of you that follow a lot of different blogs, I would like to make a recommendation. We use a program called Bloglines to keep track of all the different blogs we follow. The program allows you to subscribe to the sites you visit most often, and lights up when the content on that site is updated.

The blog idea seems to have spread to quite a few of our family and friends, so we use this tool to be sure we see the latest updates on all the sites. It sure beats thumbing through our bookmarks everyday. Check it out: http://www.bloglines.com.

Talking to Grandma and Grandpa

Here is a picture of Nora and April talking to Grandma and Grandpa on the webcam. Moving the computer into the kitchen has made it a lot easier to chat with friends!

New Favorite Food

Scallops!

Fun Saturday morning

After weeks upon weeks of crap weather and lack of sunlight, this morning served as an excellent reminder of why it is great to live in Seattle.

We headed out to the Pro Club in Redmond this morning so that I could work out (!) and Nora and April could go swimming. Nora had been talking non-stop about going back to the swimming pool since we first mentioned the idea to her last night, and she enjoyed herself immensely.

We emerged from the gym a little while later, turned our gaze skyward, and squinted. What was that strange, bright glow? Could it be...? YES! THE SUN! HOOOORAAAAY! The thermometer in the car read 66 degrees, and for the first time in recent memory there was hardly a cloud in the sky. Nora excitedly pointed to the sidewalk and said "Daddy! There's your shadow!"

Inspired by the beautiful weather, we then headed over the lake and into the city in pursuit of brunch.

There is an area on NE 45th St. in Wallingford that we had wanted to explore for a long time, so we spent a few minutes checking it out. The first jewel we uncovered was a little place called Juice Goddess where we got a smoothie. And this was no ordinary smoothie...in true Seattle style, the drink was made by taking heaps of different fruits and vegetables (organic, of course) and either squeezing them or blending them into a delicious concoction. The freshly-made carrot-ginger-apple juice was also fantastic. My favorite part was watching them decimate carrots one at a time in the gigantic industrial-grade blender.

A short walk further down 45th we encountered the second gem: a French bakery called La Boulangerie. It's a tiny little place run by a Vietnamese man who makes fantastic bread. And it's set up just like a place you would see anywhere in France, with the baguettes in a rack behind the counter. The smell of the place alone brought back a lot of great memories for April and I, so we decided to stay put and share a pain au chocolat with Nora. We also got a baguette to have with dinner tonight, although I could not resist nibbling off part of it on our way back to the car.

It was getting close to naptime, so we headed back over the lake. Once we got onto the bridge we were treated to an incredible view of the Cascades, which were visible in their entirety for the first time in weeks. We could even see plumes of snow blowing off the top of Mount Rainier.

Our last stop was the Uwajimaya Market in Bellevue where we stocked up on funky Asian groceries. It's great anytime they hand out samples in the grocery store...but here instead of frozen chicken nuggets and jalapeno poppers, they hand out samples of gyoza and shrimp. Yummy!

Now our culinary adventures have come to an end, and Nora tells me that it is now time to go ride her tricycle.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Thank you Grandma!!

This is the sun dress that Grandma sent Nora for Valentine's Day! THANK YOU! Notice all the chocolate on her face ;-)

ValentiMes

As we speak, Nora is on the floor 'signing' her name on her valentiMes to her friends at school. I love how she says the 'm' in valentimes. She and I folded all the Pooh cards in half and she put two stickers on the edges to keep them closed. She is very excited about giving them to her friends tomorrow.

I'm not so excited about the kids at school tomorrow and I'm sure Nora's daycare teachers are feeling the same. I can't wait to pick her up tomorrow afternoon on a roaring sugar high.

Nora can officially clothe herself! She is able to get her own pants, underwear, shirt, and socks on in the morning. In the evening, she is able to put on her pull-up and jammies! The best part of this is that she is able to put on and zip up her coat! She is SO proud of herself. She is wearing her coat around the house now most of the time. She walks around proclaiming, "I'm did it!"

About this time two years ago

Painting with Papa

Papa is here!

Papa arrived this morning, bearing gifts. Check out Nora's new Wisconsin wear!

Nora fashion show

Here is Nora wearing the new outfit that Nana gave her for Christmas...more to come...

On the Mend

Nora seems to be feeling much better. She hasn't had a fever since noon on Thursday when we visited the doctor. Although the doctor did scare the s#@* out of me when she mentioned that her ears were clear, urine and throat were also clear, so it might be pneumonia. WHA? "Yes, Mrs. Remfrey. If Nora's fever doesn't go down tomorrow, we'll have to take a chest x-ray." The whole time I'm thinking, "That's interesting, you said you didn't hear anything in her lungs...how could something magically appear tomorrow in a chest x-ray?"

Thankfully, we didn't have to go down that path and Nora happily returned to daycare yesterday. She was all smiles as we pulled up. Upon entering the classroom, she turned to me and proclaimed, "Bye Mommy, GO!" I was actually happy to leave her. We had had our fill of each other over the past few days.

Tonight Nora is enjoying her second family (Kellie, Terry, Dyanna, Jillian, and Shannon) while Brian and I take the night off. It is so nice to have a wonderful family that begs to play with our daughter every once in a while! You know, we just have to keep them happy :-)

Fever

Crap. I got a phone call from daycare at 3:00 today saying that Nora had a 100 degree fever. Not that big of a deal. BUT as I was pulling into daycare at 4:00, they called back to say it was up to 102.5.

I've given her both Tylenol and Motrin and it is down. She doesn't seem that out of sorts, but she can't go back to school tomorrow. Brian is manning the home front for the morning and I'll take over in the afternoon. Hopefully she'll kick this one quickly.

The only nice thing about this one was that daycare actually informed me, in the middle of last week, that there was a virus going around. I'm telling you, this daycare is exactly what we were hoping for. Responsible, caring, they actually teach concepts, and they prepare all homemade meals. Pumpkin bars, blueberry muffins, and trail mix are some of their snack items. No sugar cookies for 10:00 am snack like I saw the last place giving. No wonder she was only napping for and hour or an hour and a half there towards the end. She was all jazzed up on sugar! Nasty.

That's what's going on here!

Weekend update: Dentists, eagles and salmon

This weekend was a busy one for Nora!

Saturday morning was Nora's first visit to the dentist. She sat on the chair while Mommy got her teeth cleaned, then took her turn. She did a great job at sitting still for the hygenists, and thought that the suction tool was the coolest thing ever. She even managed to score a helium smiley-face balloon!

Then, on Sunday, it was back to the mountains. We drove up Highway 9 to Rockport, a prime eagle-watching area along the Skagit river. Rockport is in the center of the North Cascades range and has some incredible scenery. This weekend was the first time in several weeks that the weather has been sunny, and the view of the mountains was spectacular.

The time from the end of December to the beginning of February is when the salmon swim upriver to spawn and die. This makes it prime feeding time for the bald eagles. We were not disappointed...with the help of one of the eagle watching guides we were easily able to spot a bald eagle roosting on one side of the river, and a Great Blue Heron on the other.

We drove a few miles further up the road and toured a salmon hatchery which has been operating in the area since the late 1940s. It was amazing to see the hundreds of thousands of baby salmon swimming in the tanks. We learned that this year would have been the best year in decades for the salmon population, but the flooding in the area over the past couple of months has wiped out a lot of the eggs that would normally be hatching now.

Tomorrow it's back to the new daycare for week 2. Nora's behavior has been great (no more biting!!) and she seems to be having a lot of fun. After seeing the difference between this new daycare and her old one, I think we definitely made the right decision. Now I just have to find a better way to get to work in the morning!

First day at the new daycare

This morning was Nora's first day at her new daycare, which seems to be a considerable improvement over the one she was attending before. We dropped her off this morning and she ran off to play with the other kids without a moment's hesitation. The location of this new place is not really convenient for either one of us but I have no doubt that the change will be worth the extra commute time.

There has also been some relief in the sleep department...Saturday night was the first night in recent memory that Nora slept all the way through the night in her own bed, without interruption.

Snowday: part 6

April's phone rang at 5:15 this morning. Guess what that means? Yep, another snowday!!!

Today marks the sixth day that school has been cancelled due to weather since the end of November. The entire region, once again, is freaking out over 2 inches of snow.

Weekend in the mountains

We spent the weekend with Auntie Pea at White Pass, a ski area in the middle of the Cascades. It was a lot of fun to get out and play in the snow, although it required some bundling up: the air temperature up in the mountains was only 5 degrees!

Nora seemed to especially enjoy eating the snow and making snow angels.

Chopsticks

One of the coolest presents Nora got for Christmas this year was a pair of chopstick holders, in the form of a little rubber girl with holes in her feet. They have come in quite handy given our family's penchant for dim sum.

We celebrated New Year's Day by going back to China Gate, our favorite dim sum place in the International District. Nora got to try out the chopstick holder for the first time, and within a couple of minutes she was making short work of her pork shu mai and sticky rice.

More snowdays!

The crazy weather here continues...yesterday we were pounded by another snowstorm, which threw the area into a panic once again. Streets are closed, and schools are not opening again until next Tuesday. This nice 5-day weekend means that the school year is going to extend to June 27th. In contrast to the last storm, we are not having any problems with the electricity.

Nora went out to play in the snow this afternoon, sporting her new pink snowpants which were originally purchased for our upcoming trip to the mountains this weekend. Little did we know they would come in quite handy this whole week!

In other news, we found out today that we must have been torturing Nora with shoes that were too small...we had her feet measured today and she has gone from a size 6 to a size 8 1/2 in a matter of months. Unfortunately her new shoes are not nearly as cool as her cousins' as there are no sound effects or blinking lights.

Daycare Change...thank goodness

I've finally had enough of Nora's daycare. Nora was sent home from school at 10:00 last Tuesday because she had bit a child three times. Nice, huh? Don't you think after the first time you'd...there's no need to rant right now.

I took off the next morning to go in and chat with the director about her thoughts on why she thought all of this was happening and make the recommendation that she be put with the older group. When I arrived at 8:30, the director was 'out' and the teacher for the room Nora was supposed to move into had not yet arrived. Nora and I went into her new room and I showed her around. We looked at all the new toys and friends that she was going to get to make. By 9:30, the director had not returned and the classroom teacher was not there. Nora's group of 2-3 year olds were grouped with the 4 year olds as well. There were two teachers in the room with 20 students. They were well over the 7 to 1 ratio that is mandated by law. I was not a happy camper.

When the director returned, I gave her a few minutes to get settled and went into her office. She was having a personal conversation on the telephone when Iwalked in. She said to her friend, "Just a minute," put the phone on her lap and asked, "I only have second." What? A second to discuss how to help my baby? You've got to be kidding me.

I left Nora's daycare (reluctantly) at 10:00 and went to observe two other centers. I was very impressed with one place and put Nora's name on the waiting list. I was told there would be about a one month waiting list. Not the best scenario, but the best we could do on such short notice.

On Friday, I found out that the eldest of the family that watches Nora is off from her normal nanny job until the end of the month! I was so excited that I called that daycare to confirm that Nora would be able to be in there by the end of the month. To make a long story short, Nora is starting at Kid's Country in Woodinville on January 22nd, and Dyanna is going to be watching Nora, in our home, until then! I couldn't be happier! I think Nora needs a little time by herself, and then she'll be entering a wonderful environment that has a REAL teacher (and has stayed in her job for 6 years!) and real curriculum.

We're finally back on the right track.

Hanging out in Milwaukee

Nora hanging out with Auntie Nessa

Opening presents is so much fun! Especially when Santa follows me from one state to the next!


Showing off dance moves to Louise


With Angie and Ava at the Milwaukee Children's Museum

Tackle!

Highlights from Wisconsin

Nora had lots of fun playing with her cousins Ethan and Logan last week. It was amazing to see how much the boys had grown even since we last saw them in August.

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year everyone!


We arrived safe and sound in Seattle last night, shortly before the turn of the New Year in the Pacific time zone. The journey home took us a little over 18 hours, and we were all very happy to get some sleep. Our thanks go out to Grandpa and Grandma, who braved the 6-hour roundtrip through a snowstorm to get us to the airport on time!

Getting ready for Christmas

Speech

Nora came into our room this morning, nudged me and said, "Daddy, wake up, Grandpa made pancakes and bacon with syrup on it."

Every single word was perfectly clear. Every week her speech is improving by leaps and bounds. We just hope she doesn't pick up *every* word that Mommy and Daddy say :)

Science is FUN

We arrived safe and sound in Iowa yesterday. Nora is having a blast playing around with Grandpa and Grandma, and gosh it sure is nice to have electricity.

This afternoon we checked out the Imaginarium at the Grout Museum in Cedar Falls. It's the kind of place where school kids can go to learn about science. We had a really good time playing around with all of the exhibits and seeing Fluffy, the huge Burmese python. I think Nora's favorite was the gyroscope exhibit, which required her to stand on a platform and spin around and around and around. Despite being unable to walk in a straight line for several minutes afterwards, she pleaded with us to put her back on the spinner for another round.

Big Girl Bed

Nora's 'big girl' bed is being delivered tomorrow! We (Brian) have taken apart the crib and changing table to make room for the big switch. Nora has been sleeping in 'Grandpa's' room (the guest room) for the past week or so. She has been putting her foot up on the side of the crib and all around feeling trapped. I don't want to wait until she falls on her head to make the change!

Yesterday, after her nap, Nora came walking into the kitchen saying, "Hi Mommy!". She didn't have to scream for someone to come and get her which puts her in a terrible mood.

It was recommended that we leave the bed on the floor for the first couple of months until she gets used to the width of the bed. We got a half-size box spring so it won't be as high as a normal bed too. I can't wait to be able to crawl in next to her to read books before going to sleep!

Biting

Nora has been written up three times for biting in the last two days. Mommy and Daddy were not happy campers. Two of the instances were provoked, but one time she just bit out of no where.

The perception of the teachers in her room is that she is frustrated that the others in the room can't talk to her like she expects. She is not the oldest in the room, but her language skills are a bit higher than anyone else's'. She knows that when she speaks to most people they respond and she may not understand why her friends can't.

What ever the reason for the biting, I'm told it's normal. I don't really care if it is normal, it's my kid doing it and I want her to stop. Thankfully, she only has seven more days of daycare before we leave for our trip to the Midwest. Hopefully she'll forget about this attention seeking behavior during our three weeks away from school. We are looking forward to our trip immensely (especially Nana, Papa, Grandma, and Grandpa!)

Auntie Pea arrives for her holiday break on Tuesday. We are going to have a blast cooking and doing Auntie and Niece things. Nora is really into helping with the measuring and pouring during a recipe. That will make holiday baking even more fun.

Nora's painting project

Nora's painting project
Originally uploaded by binmke.

The Poop Position

Yes, Nora has a poop position. While Nora is sitting on the toilet, I usually sit right in front of her on the step stool. Recently, she has made me lean in to her and she puts her head on my left shoulder and I put mine on her left shoulder. Then she says, "Put your arms around me." This must give her comfort while doing the deed because not seconds after the position is assumed, the poop drops out of her!

Strange but true. The things a mommy will do to get her child to poop on the potty!

Newest find

Nora has a birthmark! It is a small little brown circle right behind her right ear. Cutest little thing I've ever seen.

Stacking Blocks at Macy's

Enjoying Macy's

Riding the Carousel downtown Seattle

Thanksgiving Dinner with Nora's new friend, Cynthia

Fun with Auntie Pea's Scarf

Rolls rising and the turkey staying warm

Reading Curious George while waiting for the turkey to cook

Big girl underwear!

Putting up the lights

A walk to the neighborhood park

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving in our new house this week with Dwayne, Rachel, Amber and Cynthia, one of Amber's housemates who is from Kenya.

Nora wasn't too fond of the turkey, and ended up reading a book during dinner. She is definitely enjoying having so many people around to play with and being the center of attention. We made lots of play-doh snowmen together over the past couple of days.

On Friday we put up our Christmas tree, and Nora enjoyed helping Mommy and Auntie Pea put up the lights. She did not quite understand the concept of leaving the ornaments on the tree, and for every one that we put on, she would hand one back to us.

Enjoy the pictures!

Better Late than Never

  

It's a Success!

Nora has made it through three days of daycare with only one accident! She has been doing quite well at home as well, but last night we got both a pee pee and poopieccident. The best accident so far has been the poopie in the bath tub. I heard a shout from Nora's bathroom from Brian the other night, "Your turn!" Brian cleaned up the last bathtub poo, but it was delagated to me this time. The tub and warm water must be the best place to poo if you know you can't do it in your new Elmo underwear!

I'm really proud of her that she is holding it on the new and improved 30-45 minute car ride to and from daycare every day. The teachers put a sticker on her chart every time she goes on the potty at school. For the first time, I walk into daycare and look to see if she has on the same clothes. It takes on a whole new meaning now!

Raking the backyard

Raking the backyard
Originally uploaded by binmke.

We moved into the new house this weekend. April and Nora got to work right away cleaning up the leaves in the backyard.

UNDERWEAR!!!

Nora made it through her first weekend of a diaper free butt! I thought it would be the perfect time to transition while all the transitions were happening at once.

So far, we've had only one accident (the poop sensation seems to be much harder than the other).

She's on a one hour schedule and daycare is taking care of it while she's there. She was so freaking proud to show her teachers her Elmo underwear this morning!

I just picked up two children's books (one by Fred Rogers) about going pee-pee (as we call it) on the potty. Anything with Mr. Rogers on the front will be loved by Nora and her daddy :-)

Stay posted for further updates.

Nora joins our demolition crew

We finally got the keys to our new house this week, and we are having the floors re-done. We spent most of the weekend tearing up the old "1970's casino floor"-style carpet and the engineered wood floors in the kitchen in order to make way for the new oak flooring.

It's not our usual idea of family fun on the weekends, but we all had a great time.

Nora helped by drawing all over the floors with markers. We explained to her that this was the ONLY time in her life that she would be able to do that...so she enjoyed it!

I started tearing away at the carpeting and old engineered floor. I never knew how theraputic crowbars, hammers and big scary-looking utility knives could be. The destruction continued well into the evening hours.

April spent most of the day keeping Nora away from the aforementioned crowbars, hammers and big scary-looking utility knives. Here is a picture of her with the hammer...she wanted to "go boom boom boom like Daddy".