thesterners.org

1 and counting!

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 12:12:26 GMT

Oh the Weather Outside is not so frightful redux!

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:41:59 GMT

December 2011

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:12:25 GMT

Déjà vu

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:12:14 GMT

Thanksgiving 2011

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:12:24 GMT

Happy Day!

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 00:47:09 GMT

Papa's Wedding

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 02:37:03 GMT

Easter 2011

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 02:13:07 GMT

Happy Day

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 18:20:27 GMT

What a Happy Day indeed. I’ll keep this brief except to point out that there’s a new gallery up with some new photos that you might be looking for :-D

Everyone is doing well here, happy, healthy and loving our newest family member, Lydia. Nora gave her a thorough checkup at the hospital — all ten toes are there!

Enjoy the pictures!

Not So Terrible Twos

Fri, 24 Dec 2010 19:50:36 GMT

Nora's 2nd Birthday

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 02:12:34 GMT

Someone's Getting Big

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 15:04:05 GMT

Annnnnnnnnd We're Back :-D

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 14:16:23 GMT

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. Not to worry, we’re doing well, quite well! Apologies for the service interruption — but c’mon, we bought a house and lots of other fun stuff!

The Good Stuff

Enough excuses, on to the good stuff. And there’s a LOT of good stuff! As usual, Nora’s constantly keeping us on our toes. Whether it’s coloring with crayons on things that she shouldn’t be coloring on (more on this later) or jumping on her trampoline (yes, we have a trampoline now) while clutching to her piggie asking for big jumps there’s never a dull moment in our lives.

This is Nora’s first time behind the wheel of a fire truck! She got right down to business hitting switches and trying to beep beep the horn.

What’s New

Firstly, Nora talks. A lot. It’s still a surprise to hear her repeat something I haven’t said in a month. Instead of sitting in the back of the car flipping through a book and occasionally making a peep she’ll often point out the buses on the road and the planes and helicopters in the sky and the puppies walking down the sidewalk and the stars on the Star Market signs. There’s actual conversation, too. Talking about what we just did, what we did last week, what we’re going to do when we get home. It’s not just reactive, either. She’ll often suggest, “How about…milky?!” (often said as I handed her a sippy cup full of water and as she and Mimi started to leave the park one day). She’s starting to be able to tell us what’s bothering her now, a nice change of pace from simply whining ;-) “I helpa you, okay!” (actually her asking US for help). Oi — so much fun!

Nora DOES a lot. She, among other things, sings, draws and jumps on trampolines. She bakes cookies (pretend cookies, of course). She goes down slides like it’s something she’s always done. She shares, she plays with blocks, she reads, she cracks up at funny situations in movies or cartoons. We build spooky houses, draw happies, suns, trees, kitties and fishies. Suffice to say that she’s full of ideas for things to do inside on a rainy day.

Intrsts

For better or for worse Nora’s been watching a handful of movies including Finding Nemo and a few others. I’m not exaggerating when I say that we could probably quote nearly the entire movie. Like most intrsts, though, it waxes and wanes as time ticks on. These days she’s more likely to happily coax me to come play in the kitchen (her word for the play room) where we’ll read books or jump on the trampoline or play with piranhas. Yes, real piranhas. Real piranhas that have been stuffed inside of a marble ;-)

Speaking of books, she’s still quite the reader. It’s interesting to observe the pattern of books that become favorites for a while and then slowly fade from intrst. I can’t think of a better way to spend my weekend mornings than reading to her, but what’s even more fun is watching Nora decide what book we’re going to read next. It’s fascinating to watch the decision making process! For the parents, the icing on the cake will always be the fond memories we have of sitting there with her on the floor as she turns the pages like a big girl and, occasionally, helps us read a sentence or two.

Noraffiti

Enough said. Keep your colorable valuables off of the floor and, preferably, out of Nora’s reach. Nothing is safe.

On The Horizon

It still sounds surreal — pre-school! Nora’s now officially registered to start next Fall. Admittedly, we were on the fence about it. In the end we decided that it’s going to be better for her to start then rather than wait a full year and be nearly 4 years old. That’s all we have to say about it as we’re still dealing with the enormity of our little baby girl going to school :-(

Walk in the woods!

Daddy and Nora recently went for a super fun walk in the woods! We didn’t see the diverse array of wildlife that had been promised, but we did get some fresh air, some good exercise and an appreciation for just how big (read: heavy) Nora is these days. We didn’t go it alone, we had great company in the Sherson family (sans matriarch) including the Emma, the dog. Nora seems to long for her time spent in the wilderness recalling, “Oooooh a walk in the wooooodsss”. Needless to say I think (hope) we’ll be spending more time in the woods!

I’ll Leave You With One Thought

That’s right, Nora dressed up as Princess Leia for Halloween this year :-D

It's All Starting To Make Sense

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:25:53 GMT

Nora’s biggest fans know all too well just how normal it is for her to ramble on and on about waffles and airplanes and matters of fact (bonus points if you can place that quote). It’s happened for months now, and quite frankly we’ve loved every second of it. Lately things have started to change; our little Miss is starting to string words together like it’s her job! “Dadda eats suh cheese” (as Daddy takes a bite of his grilled cheese), “Momma Dadda ree booka siiit” (as we sit down to read some books before nun-ites). It’s all starting to make sense!

Along with her constantly increasing vocabulary Nora’s getting more and more able bodied every day. She doesn’t want to be carried up and down stairs, she wants to walk up and down them on her own. She might not want you to read that book, akshully, she’ll sit and read it on her own. She easily climbs up on the couch and sits down on her own, no assistance required. At the park she can make her way up the steps, across the bouncy bridge and down the slide all on her own. On the one hand it makes me happy to see her taking these baby steps (tee-hee) toward independence. On the other hand, STOP GROWING UP SO FAST!!!!

Nora’s found arts & crafts to be a fantastic activity for a few months. She’s been honing her Play doh skills, her drawing skills, her coloring skills and her stickering skills nearly every day. It’s only a matter of time (probably shortly after she stops trying to eat the Play doh and coloring on the walls!!) before her pieces start showing in the trendiest galleries across the globe.

The dog days of summer have treated us well. Nora’s been getting plenty of time in the water, it’s both practical and recreational. She’s actually putting her face under water on her own! She has a blast being towed around her cousins’ pool in her tiny little tug boat. As you can see she’s also gaining some crucial ocean experience. First lesson: incoming waves can topple you :-D Second lesson: salt water is salty, she was constantly licking her lips tasting the ocean. Cute, but a little gross if you ask me.

York Beach

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 15:04:06 GMT

One Point Five Five

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 13:55:40 GMT

1 + (202 / 365) = 1.55 years (and counting!)

We recently attended a birthday party for Izabelle (Trish’s college roommate’s daughter). We had a blast! They’re about an hour away from us in New Hampshire, it was the perfect distance for a quick cat nap on the way up and back. While we were there Nora became very familiar (eventually) with their dog Jillean — it never ceases to amaze me how obsessed Nora can be with dogs in books and pictures yet be so skittish with them in person. She eventually warmed up after a delicious lunch with Jackson:

It’s a monkey!

We knew very well that Nora had been listening to us and understanding most of what we say for months now. She’s the proverbial sponge soaking up the entire world around her from the second she wakes up from the second just before she falls asleep every day of the week. I won’t bother to list off all of the ridiculously incredible things coming out of Nora’s mouth, but suffice to say that she’s literally saying new things every day. The usual flow of conversation involves her asking “What’s that?!”, we say what it is and she tries to repeat us. You can almost see the wheels turning inside her head as she listens to us and tries repeat it.

We’ve just entered into the climbing phase, apparently — anything above floor level is fair game. Things that help you reach even higher things earn bonus points! We’re having to resort to timeouts here and there that ultimately end up amusing her more than anything else. Count to ten, right?! Right. As I mentioned, she lloves climbing up on things that let her reach other things — sometimes, though, she just sits and reads her books :-D

Nora + water == fun. She’s developing a rapport with water that we hope will last a life time. She loves tubby time, especially since we’ve stopped using the baby tubby. There’s so much more room, so many more toys to play with! We recently picked up a little backyard inflatable pool that’s been a big hit. Nora had her first underwater experience on Father’s Day at Uncle Brian and Aunt Christie’s pool. A puff of air to the face, a dunk from Daddy and few seconds later it was all over. She handled it all like a champ. We keep practicing in the tubby with putting our faces in the water and blowing out air, too. We can’t wait to play a game or two of Marco Polo! (Or get her into a kayak :-D)

Things really couldn’t be better. We’re all happy, healthy and enjoying the great weather. I know this is a recurring theme, but expect more frequent updates at a Sterner family blog near you ;-)

Baby's Got New Shoes

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:07:34 GMT

California Knows How To Party

Mon, 10 May 2010 01:30:07 GMT

Sweet Sixteen (Months)

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 19:37:02 GMT

As we go for walks around the town I see couple after couple toting around a baby younger than Nora and all I can think is “where did our little one go?!”. She’s right there with us of course, usually holding on to someone’s finger as we walk along the sidewalk to the park or the pond.

Family Snushi Dinner

We went out for a family sushi dinner a few weeks ago to a local restaurant japanese joint! Mommy and Daddy took care of the raw fish while Nora polished off a California roll (light on the soy sauce/wasabi) all by herself. Well, almost all by herself. She got to try some miso soup and vegetable tempura, too. She loved the sweet potato tempura, crunchy + sweet and mushy = yum. This was the first of what will be many visits, I think. I hope.

We don’t really worry as much about little things like “is she going to see that big crack in the sidewalk?”, our worries are more like “where did she go?!”. Seriously. Nora moves with the grace of a baby elephant yet remains nearly silent. She confounds our sneaky baby detection systems. She can make it from the kitchen to the office in 13.7 seconds flat. It’s funny how that’s both amazing and, at the same time, terrifying.

Communication used to be somewhat difficult with the little peanut, that’s all changing. She probably understands more than 90% of what we say to her (and in her presence, yikes :-/), it makes things like cleaning up pretty nice akshully. If asked to help pick up the destruction she causes she usually obliges for at least a few minutes. That’s usually followed up by MOAR DEMOLITION!!

Nora, where’s your belly?!

There it is!

When she’s not busy unstacking books or chasing the kitty around so she can give her kisses Nora can still usually be found with her face in a book. Her new most favorite makeshift-toy-in-the-kitchen is a Ziploc bag of bottle caps that Daddy uses for home brewing. Sometimes they come out individually or in small groups, sometimes the bag is shaken about like she’s some maniacal maracas player with bottle caps soaring through the air and ricocheting off of walls, cabinets, whatever is in their way. It’s quite an event but rather difficult to get on film due to its short life and spontaneous nature. Speaking of Ziploc bags.

Nora’s figured out how to open zippers (she actually got this months ago), Ziploc bags, boxes of cereal, screw-off tops and, last but not least, doors. Yes, that’s right. Nora opened her first door last night. It was the door to her closet so she could get her tub out. Why her tub? We don’t know, we were both awestruck at what we’d just seen.

When it comes to talking Nora’s never been a slouch. I know that she understands about 90% of what we’re saying, the flip side is that we are starting to understand her about 10% of the time. I imagine we’ll understand 100% of what she says by the time she’s 14 or so. Get it?! Get it?! Her vocabulary consists of words like, “Teddy!”, “kitty!”, “what’s that?!”, the sometimes awkward “who’s that?!”, “cookie” (followed by her infamous cookie monster impersonation), “chicken”, “truck”, “GRRRRR” (a bear/tiger), “snort wheeze snort wheeze” (someone/something sleeping), the list goes on and on.

Last but not least, Happy Easter!

Fourteen Month Check-In

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:31:36 GMT

“She’ll grow up so fast.” “Don’t blink or she’ll be leaving for college before you know it.” Sadly, it’s true:-(

The Silent Sprinter

I won’t go making any predictions here, but it’s crazy to me just how fast that little peanut is! She’s twice as quiet as she is fast, too. Nora’s making excellent use of her more stable mobility using it to bring destruction and disorder to any clean, orderly room in the house. One of these days I’m going to let her romp around and follow her with the video camera just so you all can see what it’s like! Alas, who can stay mad at that face?

But seriously, Nora’s sneaky! She can reach door handles around our apartment and in a few fractions of an inch will probably be able to turn them. This is scary stuff, people. Scary! Before we know it she’ll be getting up on weekend mornings and making herself breakfast while Mom and Dad sleep in. Wait a second — that doesn’t sound so bad! We can wait for that, for now just stay little Nora!

Her Things

This should come as no surprise, but Nora is all about her things. Spatulas, an empty cereal box, a wooden spoon — no matter what it is her things will come with her as she makes her way around the house. Sometimes she’ll leave things behind in other things (her favorite is to hide Mommy’s cell phone inside of our mini-crockpot). She’s getting quite skilled at getting on all fours and looking under furniture for her things, too, at first I thought she was giving the ground hugs :-)

Bwweeeeeeeeeeee

Enough said :-D

Happy Birthday

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:40:03 GMT

Merry Christmas

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:07:34 GMT

Did She Just Do That?

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:57:12 GMT

I hope it’s obvious why it’s been such a long time since an update — we’ve clearly been busy chasing Nora around the house! It boggles my mind to think back to one year ago today. Our evenings were spent bouncing with an unhappy baby for hours and hours wondering when she’d settle down so we could try to get some sleep. Trish was waking up every couple of hours to feed Nora and, sometimes, change a diaper (or two!). Again I sit here with the monitor quietly humming interrupted occasionally by the rustle of blankets in Nora’s crib appreciating how far we’ve all come — mostly Nora :-)

She’s on the go

For starters, let’s talk about just how we’re chasing her. It all started out with Nora lying on her belly flailing her arms and legs upset about her predicament. One day a little light bulb went off and instead of flailing, the limbs started being used for crawling.

It’s hard to picture her on the floor flailing now as I chase after (on my hands and knees of course, it’s only fair) around our apartment. It’s a multi-stage event with stops at every drawer (that she’s allowed to go into). She empties each drawer of most, if not all, of its contents. There’s Daddy’s shirt drawer, there’s her linen drawer, there’s her junk drawer in the kitchen (filled with tupperware (for chewing), ginger bread cookie cutters (also for chewing) and various wooden kitchen utensils). One complete lap takes around 20 minutes if we don’t also hit the books on her toy chest in her room. Did I mention that she’s walking?

It all happened so quickly Trish and I weren’t even sure it actually happened. Daddy was lying on the floor in the kitchen while Nora played with her the things in her junk drawer. Mommy gave her a piece of dried mango to munch on as a little snack. Eventually Nora got bored with the junk drawer and wanted to move along to the next station of destruction but she faced a perplexing situation: her hands were full yet she wanted to move. In hindsight I think I remember seeing it click in her head — "Oh yeah!", followed by about a half dozen little baby steps. It was incredible.

She’s got pipes

Nora has always been fond of her voice, particularly the high (and loud) notes. Not much has changed, except for the sweet, sweet ballads she belts out. Words are getting more and more elaborate, the sentences more deliberate. Something is trying to be said, it’s a complete mystery to us what we’re missing. One thing is clear, she’s listening to us (scary :-/), she’s trying to talk to us and she’s understanding us. If we’re all done emptying out her clothes drawer and we ask her to “please help put the clothes back in”, she’ll usually oblige with a few of her clothes and help put them back in the drawer. Now let’s just get that going for her toys before nap time and we’ll be all set!

Most of you know about Nora’s relationship with our resident feline, Sophie. As Nora’s grown and become more mobile and interactive Sophie hasn’t missed a beat. She still follows Nora around the house from time to time looking for attention and, sometimes, abuse. It was a bumpy ride but Nora is gentler than ever with Sophie. It’s an every day occurrence for Nora to crawl/walk over to Sophie and rest her head on her (hugging) or go nose-to-nose with her (kissing). One of these days the camera will magically appear for that.

Happy Holidays!

As I finish this post it’s Christmas Eve. Nora’s sleeping soundly in her crib, the kitty’s curled up next to me. Mommy just finished up baking some delicious Christmas cookies. My how things change! We couldn’t be happier — we hope you all are, too. Happy Holidays, see you again in the New Year!

Movin' on up.

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:03:26 GMT

Pictures from 9-12 months, this is really starting to get interesting!

And She's Off!

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:13:20 GMT

As I sat down to begin writing this post I started to reflect on the last ten months of our lives. Ten months ago today Trish had been admitted into Birthing Room 2. I had just arrived at the hospital after a quick trip home to get some final things for the few days we’d be spending in the hospital. Trish’s labor was just starting to get…interesting. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the net effect on chronological memory – transforming perfectly clear, sound memories into a blurry mess – was just starting.

Here I sit in our office with the baby monitor quietly humming and popping, ever vigilant. “Baby’s Clothes Dryer” plays on repeat in Nora’s bedroom as she naps, face down, in her crib clutching on to her blankie and snuggling with her teddy. Sophie, who loves Nora, is curled up in a ball on the couch grabbing her undisturbed Z’s while she can.

When Nora wakes up I’ll surely be greeted by her happy, glowing face standing up and beating on the side of her crib. (UPDATE: I’m finishing this post-nap and I was, in fact, greeted by a happy, glowing face ready to give me hugs and kisses) It’s become commonplace, so much so that I really try hard not to take it for granted. We are so lucky.

We like to call it, affectionately, the gimp crawl. Nora scampers around the floor like a crazy lady, only it’s not your traditional crawl. Think of the right leg as a permanent support beam and the left being the engines, the propeller. She’s surprisingly quick. I remember everyone’s foreboding about just how fast she would eventually be. “They’re crazy”, I thought. Crazy. Right.

As she crawls she speaks! Nora’s language skills are being exercised well, sometimes too much. She seems to have her Dad’s propensity for volume. Decibels, that is. I can hear her all the way down the street as I walk toward the house from work. It doesn’t take much to bring out the noise, most of the time it’s just because she’s enjoying the exploration of making sounds – the louder the better.

Nora is in to everything. It seems like she knows exactly what would be the worst possible thing to go for. We’ve got most of the house under lock and key these days save for one drawer in the kitchen. It’s her special drawer that has no locks and is filled with empty tupperware and random kitchen utensils. Oh stop it, you’re jealous. Gone are the days when we were able to look away for five seconds while Nora played happily in the living room emptying her toy baskets while blabbing away to herself.

We had a wonderful family vacation (our first one!) to Western Mass. I (Daddy) paddled in The Great Josh Billings RunAground Triathlon with my pals Andrew and Greg. We did really well for a group of guys who cared more about the beer that was waiting for them at the finish line than anything else! The night before the race Nora got to hang out in the pool, she even got to sleep for some of the night on our huuuuuuuuuge King size bed.

To sum things up – we’re talking, we’re crawling, we’re growing hair and teeth are coming out – we’re nearly walking! We’re learning about gravity, the hard way. We’re still working on the “gentle” thing, and we’re extremely grateful for our infinitely tolerant kitty who takes all the abuse and, no joke, comes back for more. (We secretly think she’s trying to be a Mommy to Nora, such a good kitty) We’re eating more and more things. We don’t like being fed pureed foods, we prefer to pick up food from our tray and put it in our own mouths! We’re kissing and we’re hugging people, pictures of people, our dollies and our books. The next time you come to visit, ask for a kiss or a hug and you might just get it!

Happy Half Birthday!

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:27:46 GMT

Nobody Told Her That Pointing Isn't Polite

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:39:30 GMT

Phew! Eight and a half months down. I could write a daily post and ramble on and on about all of the cool things that Nora’s doing on a daily basis. Lucky for you, my memory is good and stuff.

Feeling things with one finger is better than feeling things with four. Amirite? Nora’s figured this out, too. I’ve seen her do it to little animals in books, to the tiny wings of a dragonfly on her chew toys, to Mommy’s cheeks and to Sophie-cat’s nose. I didn’t really get it until I tried it for myself, it works! Try it right now for yourself. Brilliant!

Beware, the claw!!! I mean the pincer attack. No need to worry unless you’re a rice puff, of course. Nora can feed herself! Wow. I well up inside as she grabs each individual little piece of food and carefully puts it into her mouth. Sure, some of it ends up in her nose. A lot of it ends up in the pouch on her bib. Most of it, though, ends up in her mouth. It’s a far cry from this helpless little baby who could barely hold her head up eight months ago. Speaking of the pincer attack, Nora is stunningly adept with her sippy cup. She holds it up on her own now, it makes me smile every time she grabs the cup and takes a drink.

Keeping with her social butterfly ways, Nora’s starting to wave hello and bye bye. We’re also seeing some odd deviations to the signs that we’ve been using with her during dinner, too. It seems that banging on the table in Nora’s sign language means “more” in American sign language. Lucky for her hungry belly that one’s pretty hard to miss.

Man, let’s talk about mobility. We, as adults, generally prefer to walk places. When we’re in water, we swim. Nora’s not quite there yet, but she’s making some serious progress. She sits up like a champ now, she’s getting more and more brave with trying new things. She’ll regularly lean forward propped by both of her arms and be balancing on her knee on one leg and the ball of her foot with the other leg. Sure, there have been face plants (I have one on video, actually – oops) and some tumbles (another bonus is that Nora is keeping her head up avoiding it slamming into the ground).

Time will tell, but Trish and I both think that Nora’s going to be a swimmer. She’s always loved being in water, tubby time used to calm her down when she was a newborn. Now it’s mostly an opportunity for playing, splashing and screeching. And cleaning, of course. Nora’s been spending plenty of time at her aunt and uncle’s pool, there’s been no shortage of water in this girl’s life.

Let’s talk about sounds and syllables and words. It’s obvious that Nora knows quite a few words: puffs (we’ve been reduced to saying p-u-f-f-s, these are her favorite finger food), prunes, tubby and kitty are a small handful. She stands up and sits down when we play stand up, sit down. She shakes rattles when we play shakey shake-a shake! It’s probably a matter of days before she’s playing pat-a-cake. Communication is starting to come from the other direction, too. We’re getting obvious mama’s and dada’s. Sophie is even getting a legitimate ‘kitty’! I guess it’s time to really start watching what we say around her, we’re the ones looking for blackmail material here :-)

OMG, A TOOTH! It works, too. It’s still surprising to hear a tiny ‘tick tick tick’ as she bites on anything she has in her hands/mouth. Yes, anything in her hands is in her mouth, obviously.

Kisses :-)

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:29:58 GMT

I undeniably received my first kiss by request yesterday. Drool and all! It was almost as awesome as this:

It's Been A Long While!

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:14:05 GMT

Why hello there everybody! We hope that you’ve all been well. We’re doing great, we’ve been busy going for walks to the pond and watching the ducks, swans and other little kids playing at the park. Nora plays, too, mostly just swinging on the swings. But that’s not all that she’s been up to.

I don’t know who she gets it from, but Nora has a razor sharp focus when it comes to anything tangible. She picks up her toys and studies them with intense scrutiny, like that of a seasoned research scientist. Sometimes they get shaken around in the air, sometimes they’re banged off of the ground for a bit. The one guarantee is that they’ll eventually end up in her mouth being chomped on by a toothless pair of gums.

Speaking of gums, there’s been so much droolage lately that there’s no way that there aren’t any teeth on their way. One of her favorite things to do is to grab Daddy by his ears, pull his nose into her mouth and chomp, chomp, chomp. It’s cute right now, but I know it’s going to hurt once there are some teefus.

Nora’s diet is rather impressive, in my opinion. It’s more diverse than mine has ever been – avocados, mangoes, peaches, carrots, summer squash, plums, pears, apples, bananas, zucchini, apricots, oatmeal, apple juice and rice cereal. She’s generally quite the eater as some pictures suggest. It’s not all business at the dinner table. On the contrary, we’ve been coming up with fun games to play when Nora isn’t interested in finishing all of her breakfast, lunch or dinner. Behold, the Prunestache:

Nora’s becoming quite the gymnast. Sort of. She’ll jump into the wheelbarrow position if you lift her legs in the air! I suspect that crawling will come shortly, but I’m hesitant to wager a guess as to when that will be. She’s still been getting a lot of use out of her jumper, she’s developing some Olympic Jumper legs. She’s sitting up like it’s yesterday’s news, too. We still put pillows around her as a buffer, they come in handy when her balance occasionally falters. When it’s time for R & R, Nora does it right.

She sleeps like – well, like a baby :-D In the beginning things were a little shaky when bed time came around. There was usually a good amount of bouncing, a lot of singing and some rocking back and forth and back and forth. Now we’re able to put her down with little to no complaining. Best of all, when she wakes up she fills the room with the sweet sound of happy screeching, baby babbling and foot munching.

Nora’s awfully social, I think that we’re going to have a social butterfly on our hands. Nora and her Mommy have been going to a guided play group, Nora goes ballistic with the other babies. They exchange screeches, laughs, giggles and sometimes even a little bit of hair. Nora and her Mommy also have some friends in some nursing homes around the Boston area. Nora loves to go and visit with the residents. She generally makes her way around the room screeching as she goes making everyone smile!

Last but not least, this is a sample of some excellent photos taken by our friend Steph Stevens. She’s working in the Boston area by day as a corporate photographer, but she’s starting to branch out and do more fun photo shoots, too! We had her come to visit us in our back yard where we took some shots of Nora, her Mommy and Daddy. We’ll probably post a separate gallery soon, keep an eye out for it :-)

We couldn’t have asked for a better 7 months! We hope you’ve enjoyed the pictures :-D Until next month, stay screeching and stay bouncing!

Our Wedding

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:27:48 GMT

December 8, 2007 - Newburyport, MA