I vow to help you love life, to always hold you with tenderness and to have the patience that love demands, to speak when words are needed and to share the silence when they are not and to live within the warmth of your heart and always call it home.

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Norah June: Halfway to Two

Norah June is 1.5 years old!  


I just can't believe it.  I feel like she's always been with us, but yet it really feels like we've only been parents for 6 months!  This time last year she was so small!







Now I feel like she's light years away from that pudgy little thing that only just sat there and smiled!  Norah is doing so many fun and new things it's really hard to keep track of them all.  She can run and jump!  She throws balls and toys only with her left hand.  She still loves peekaboo and tag.  She loves to race and will say, "Ready, set, go!"

Speaking of words, she's up to about 30 now.  A few of her favorites are "cracker, Bubba, outside, ball and thank you."  She has about 30 signs (baby sign language) that she utilizes too.  I thought it wouldn't catch on since she's at daycare 5 days a week where they don't use sign language, but I was wrong.  She must know when to use it because when she's home she communicates SO well (verbal and sign).  The signs have really saved us from many huge temper tantrums and frustrations.  She can actually let us know what she wants/needs and it makes meeting those so much more simpler.  She's less frustrated as are we!  The signs she uses the most are, "Outside, Food, Hot, Water, Down, Bath Time, Diaper Change, Milk and More."




She copies absolutely everything we do.  She sees it once and she'll catch on. She uses her chapstick like Nana, combs her hair, puts on a tie like Daddy, puts make up on like Mama and will meow like the cats.  She really cracks us up.  Sometimes when I'm in rare form and actually doing my hair and make up Norah will stand in the bathroom doorway and just watch me so intently.  Then try to grab something I'm using to mock my exact motions.  She really just amazes me.  I wonder already what memories she's forming of her Mama in that little brain of hers.




She can identify her nose, eyes, ears, mouth, toes and elbow! Elbow?  Yes, elbow.  She's a weird one. She finally started getting loads of teeth!  We don't know exactly how many because she's got jaws like a pitbull, but when she laughs we get sneak peeks.  She's 25lbs and 78cm tall!  She's wearing 18-2T clothes and in a 4 shoe and diaper.




As for things Miss Norah June loves...outside.  She asks to go outside constantly.  We plan our weekends around outdoor activities to do because she just loves it so, and honestly so do we.  We are hardly inside an entire weekend.  She never has had a favorite toy or blanket, but she does love a good ball to throw.  Her taste constantly changes as well.  Consistently she loves bananas, oatmeal, eggs, yogurt, cheese and peas.


We are still breastfeeding!  She signs for it mostly in the morning and before bed.  I can't believe we've made it 1.5 years!





We're enjoying SO MUCH being first time parents to Norah.  All the milestones she hits are new to all three of us, and it's just incredible to see this tiny human develop each day.  We're in awe of the new things she does and we love finally being able to watch her grow together.  Hear new words she says in person, and see new skills she masters on something other than FaceTime or videos.  She's so incredible and loved by us.  She's by far the best parts of both of us, and we couldn't be more in love.


Sunday, November 6, 2016

Halloween 2016

First of the holidays are past, I can’t believe it!  Every year it feels as if it takes forever for Halloween to arrive, but then once it does it feels like Thanksgiving and Christmas that follow just zoom on by.  This Halloween was SO special to us this year.  Finally, our FIRST as a family!!  Last year Norah and I had to celebrate alone, but we made the best of it!  She sure made the cutest little mermaid anyone ever has seen!



This year we didn’t have a lot of money to spend on costumes, which definitely made choosing a bit more tricky.  We finally settled on a Harry Potter theme!  Ties from Amazon $10, and the cutest knitted Dobby hat/ears from Etsy and WaLa!  We had everything else to complete our getups.  My husband isn’t the most festive man you’ll find, but he definitely doesn’t want to be left out so he participated!  Even let me draw on Harry’s lightning bolt.  He sure made one handsome Harry.  As for myself, I LOVE Halloween.  I love dressing up, and since we became a family of three it’s really just become so much better.  I love figuring out each year our “family theme”, and I’ll be a little sad when Norah doesn’t want to match us anymore!  Luckily we have a few more years to go I think.
First we celebrated with her school fall carnival!  Dad had his night school, so it was just Norah and I.  She loved playing the games each room had set up, and LOVED her first sucker.





We of course had to paint our pumpkins this year.  I love that she’s old enough to do this.  She really was good with it, which leads me to believe she definitely has painted before at school!  She was patient and so delicate with it.







We went to Sand Springs downtown scare on the square and loved watching the costume contest.  Gave us great ideas for next year.  We got so many compliments and everyone loved our little “Dobby”.





Dobby loves suckers!

Harry freed Dobby!



Finally came Halloween night!  We didn’t dress up for that, and we thought no one would get Norah’s costume if we weren’t dressed up, so she wore her dress up princess clothes for trick or treating.  She made the cutest purple princess!

Trick or treat??

Needed a rest!

Treating at susnet



We’re so thankful to be celebrating this all together this year.  No long flights and short weekends.  We are loving the holiday season thus far!  Bring on Thanksgiving!!





Happy Halloween!  Love ALL the McVays!