High Five for Friday

Last weekend I got to spend a good portion of Saturday with my cousin, Steph.  I'm so thankful for the friendship we share and for the time we're able to spend together every couple months.  Usually our time together involves getting a bite to eat, lots of chatting, and consignment shopping.  Last Saturday, we had an additional task, a HUGE task that is...sorting through pictures found through the years at our grandparent's farm house and, more recently, at Grandpa's apartment.  We sorted pictures for over two hours and set a plan in place to scan the pictures so we can share them with everyone in the family.  (We did get in a late lunch at The Loop and a quick trip to Refashion:))  The project will still take a lot of time to scan, but we've split up the work so we can chip away at the large task.

This month has been interesting with the flooring project at our house, but last weekend was the craziest when everything (except appliances) had to be moved out of our main floor and into the garage or basement and flooring was removed to prep for the new floors to be installed.  By Sunday we felt like hoarders living in our basement...not typically how we roll:)  We were SO grateful to get out of the house to spend the afternoon at Riggin's and to celebrate my Dad's birthday with a dinner at Outback.  Luke was also blessed with a sleepover at Papa and Grandma's and got to escape the chaos that was our house for another day:)  We are so grateful for wonderful friends and family who have helped through our project in so many ways!

I realized this week how very grateful I am to still be breastfeeding Nora and that it's still going great!  I only nursed Luke until he was six months old and by then my supply was waning.  No supply issues with Nora and she's still very interested in nursing.  I love the opportunity to nurse her, that it's gone SO well since birth, and that we can save $$ by not having to buy formula.

Nora and I got to spend the afternoon with my dear friend, Liz, and her son, Jack.  Liz has been in my life since high school and we have SO many memories together.  Mr. Jack is creeping up on his first birthday in March:)  I have to say, our lives sure have changed from when we were in high school and college:)  We had lunch at Applebee's and both Liz and I thought our waiter was in high school, then we remembered it was the middle of the day on a school day, so that wasn't possible.  Then we realized he was wearing a wedding ring....yeah...we're getting old;)  But, I wouldn't want to be getting older with anyone other than Lizzard:)

In the midst of a very busy week, I was able to stop at a couple stores to grab some clearance winter clothes for Luke for next winter.  I scored 3 pairs of sweat pants, 1 fleece, 1 hoodie, and 6 long sleeve shirts for $53.  Gotta love January clearance shopping (at Old Navy, Target, and Crazy 8)!

Six Month & A Half Month Stats

Baby girl had her six month doctor appointment today and we learned she is growing steadily and is very healthy!  

Weight

17 lbs 4 oz

67%

Length

26.6 inches

71%

Head Circumference

17.6 inches

92%

Learning to sit up on her own,
but still quite tipsy

Supported by her Boppy

She likes playing in her gym sitting up now
 and reaching for her toys

It may be a small, baby gym,
but big brother is always welcome:)

My sweethearts in their new hats
made by my lovely friend, Liz!

New Floors

We have new floors!  

(Well, all but in the entryway for now while we wait for more flooring that is on order:))

Check out our progress so far...

Hallway to bedrooms and bathroom

Nora's Room

Nora's Room

Bathroom tile with new floor.

Doesn't this just beckon you to take a nap???
It took everything in me today NOT to lay down!

Kitchen

Kitchen/Dining

Lots of shadows in this one

Living Room

Living/Dining Room

Master Bedroom
(Very happy we decided on wood in the bedrooms!)

Master Bedroom
(Refinishing the dresser is on my spring project list)

Master Bedroom

There you have it!  

We still have some more to bring back into the living room and we plan to get an area rug in the living room too.  Hopefully the rest of the floor and the correct trim will come in soon (we're planning on 10 days), so we can put this project behind us and simply enjoy:)

High Five for Friday

1. We have officially wrapped up the Christmas season with our final two holiday parties with Brent's work.  We enjoyed a night at his boss' house and dinner at Somerby last Friday and dinner at Osaka last night with Brent's entire department.  Brent's been at Think Mutual Bank now for two and a half years and it has been such a wonderful place to work and he is surrounded by great people daily!
2. During the parties mentioned in #1, Nora and Luke hung out with Brent's family.  One evening at Troy & Audra's house and the other at our house with Papa and Grandma.  We are forever grateful for the generosity of our families and the opportunity to live so close to see them often.  My official #2 is that Nora is no longer crying at the sight of her family!!!  We went through a stretch of a few months of her getting upset when she saw or was held by Brent's parents, Troy, Bridget, and my mom.  We felt horrible that she was so moody with family, but she seems to have turned a corner!  
3. We booked an Alaskan cruise for our 10 year anniversary! Our anniversary isn't until July, and the trip isn't until September, but we're VERY excited!!!
4. Luke had a fun-filled week at school with a movie/stuffed animal party Monday afternoon and a field trip to Quarry Hill Nature Center Tuesday afternoon.  I just love that our kids are growing up in the same city we did and that we can reminisce about our excitement when we took the same field trips Luke is now taking:)  I also love the weeks that I get to help out in Luke's class.  Now that Nora's a bit older, I've gotten on a schedule of 2-3 times a month.  I love seeing the kids and their teacher interact and watching/helping them learn. 
5. Nora is getting very good at eating baby food.  Her digestion didn't do well with rice cereal, so we have switched her to fruits and vegetables and she's doing much better.  She really likes bananas and applesauce so far.  She's also tried green beans which didn't go over well plain, but she took them better when mixed with applesauce.  I'm planning to add pumpkin, sweet potato, pears, and carrots in the coming weeks.    

High Five for Friday!

I know, I'm a day late, but I wanted to get back to my High Fives!

• Luke started Champion Basketball last Saturday and he is very excited to be playing on a team again this year. The kids get shorts, jerseys, and t-shirts through the league, and Luke felt pretty official having a full "uniform" to wear:)  He's also excited to play on a team with his friend Evan this year. 
• We have new floors ordered for our main floor with delivery and installation dates on the calendar!!!  Pergo Sugar House Maple floors will be delivered this week and installed next week!  We cannot wait, even though it will be a lot of work moving furniture and removing old flooring.  Here is a sneak peak at the floors we've chosen:

• We got to share some lovely times with friends this past week celebrating a birthday with one, enjoying dinner with another, and celebrating the joys of pregnancy of another couple.  I just love sharing life with the special people in our lives:)
• I tried my hand at making baby food for Nora for the first time, it turned out great, and Nora loved it! I've made bananas and apples so far and plan to start on some vegetables soon.  
• Brent and I have been working out details on the year ahead and the fun plans we're trying to bring to fruition.  We don't typically travel much, but this year we have lots of fun planned!  He and I will be taking a trip to celebrate our 10 year anniversary, we plan to attend family camp at Pine Haven, my sister, mom, and I are planning a long weekend in Chicago, and more!   

Six Months Old

At six months, you are...

• Giggling more often, usually at your brother.  You love watching him run around playing football, basketball, or whatever imaginary game he's playing at the moment.  You particularly love it when we carry you around and chase or play with Luke.  You want SO badly to get in on the action of life!  You were practically jumping from my arms while watching Luke at basketball practice today:)  
• Starting to making more sounds and practicing them a lot.  Daddy particularly loves your "da, da, das".  I haven't seen him get so excited in quite a while:)  You also like to make a growling noise.
• Eating baby food a couple times a day.  We started with rice cereal around Christmas, which didn't go over very well with your digestion.  At the recommendation of some MOPS moms, we tried some bananas and apples and your digestion seems to be straightening out in just a couple days!  You love eating and are already doing very well with swallowing and eating from a spoon.  You're still VERY interested in everything we eat, so we'll see how long the baby food phase lasts.
• Growing quickly.  You weighed about 16 lbs the week of Christmas when we saw the doctor for your ears.  (This visit included your first prescription for an ear infection.)  You still have petite feet and hands, which we find adorable:)
• Wearing size 6-9 month and 9 month clothes and just started wearing size 3 diapers.
• Getting over your "stranger anxiety" and are much more receptive to others.  You also spent your first MOPS morning in the nursery and did very well.  We'll have to try the nursery on Sundays at church next.
• Rolling both directions now and have been preferring to sleep on your stomach now that you can get into that position yourself.
• Sucking your bottom lip is a favorite pastime.
• SO very kissable!  I cannot seem to kiss your adorable cheeks enough!

Nora has done LOTS of growing in the past 5 months!

Close up to show how she was grabbing at,
drooling on, and trying to eat her
sticker this month:)

Busy getting her sticker

Every January

Every January for the past six years, reality has sunk in....my baby will soon be another year older.  Luke's February birthday looms on the horizon.   He's excited to plan a birthday party, decide who to invite, and to be a year older.  I, on the other hand, am sad to know that another year of my boy's young life has flown by right in front of my eyes. 

As if it hasn't been hard enough on me knowing that my baby is turning seven, Luke has gone to bed by himself the past two nights.  Usually he wants both Brent and I to come down to his room, tuck him in, and then he asks one of us to stay downstairs until he falls asleep.  But, the past two nights, he has told us that he wants to get ready for bed himself, then we can come down to say goodnight once he's in bed.  *Sigh*...he's growing up before our eyes.   It makes me think of the book, Let Me Hold You Longer, by Karen Kingsbury, that talks about the "last times" of parenting (i.e. the last time your child sits on your lap, etc) and how easily they go unnoticed. 

There has been one silver lining to Luke's independence in putting himself to bed...both nights that I have come into his room to say goodnight, Luke has forgotten to take off his glasses when he laid down in bed.  I guess he does still need his Mommy more than he realizes;)