what we did in november

well hello and happy december!
want to know the happenin's of november?

this past month was SO RAINY here in san diego! pretty much every weekend brought torrents of rain, so our activities were limited to the indoorsy-types. that kind of sounds boring, but it was kind of relaxing.

one of these rainy weekends chris & i went on a fancy date to the prado in balboa park while my family watched little nora girl. neither of us had ever been to the prado, but had a gift certificate to use. it was very nice- including the wet, chilly stroll through the park that took us there. balboa park is rather whimsical at night in the rain. the restaurant itself is probably the most eclectic we'd ever been to-from the decor, all the way down to the dishes on the menu. chris found that relatively entertaining. definitely worth visiting, if you're ever in the area and up for it.

also mention-worthy for november is that we finally bought a house! closed escrow and got our keys the day before thanksgiving. after over 2 years of looking, we FINALLY found the perfect one. we're pretty excited about it. for more details go here.

and of COURSE, this november we had our first thanksgiving as a family of 3. :) we spent it with my family and a whole bunch of friends. it was a regular ol' party. nora even had some mashed potatoes and stuffing... turns out she actually likes to eat, she just doesn't like baby food (took us forever to figure that out. now she just needs teeth so she can eat big-people food better!). in any case, it was a very happy thanksgiving. hope you all had a happy one too! :)

8 months

little nora is growing up so fast! saturday was her 8 month birthday, and we've made significant progress this last month in regards to eating solid food and sleeping through the night! :) we're all happier campers these days.

nora girl's newest discovery is clapping, as of a few weeks ago. she is also experimenting with different syllables to babble in addition to the ol' "da-da" and "ma-ma". she's also getting pretty good at mimicking, as it's her favorite game. she especially likes to make clicking noises in attempt to get someone to click back at her. she's stolen her daddy's heart with that game. :)

we've been trying to get her to wave at us for the past couple months, but with inconsistent results. lately we've gotten to get her to wave back a couple times, but she still just prefers to clap whenever someone waves at her, 'cuz she's so excited. :) maybe we'll have some progress by next month.

nora's getting super good at pulling herself up onto stuff and balancing very well. she's definitely not a baby that's scared of falling down- she's learned how to do that without hurting herself, and is now as fearless as ever. the only time she ever really exercises any caution is when she hears the word "no" from mommy or daddy. once again, i am thoroughly surprised at how obedient my kid is- i figured any child coming from my gene pool would have difficulty with the concept. ;) no doubt i'll get what's coming later on.

last but not least: we STILL have a toothless baby! no teeth! not even a sign of them! i wonder if she'll get at least her two front teeth by christmas? (i'm not thinking so, but we'll still wait and see!)

posting a little late

i did not post a "month of september" review at the beginning of october because it would have essentially said:
"chris worked all the time, and i was sick as a dog."
that's pretty much how october went as well.
and i'll just say it here, because it's been said everywhere else already and will explain why i've been so sick:
we're expecting baby #2!
more details here.

so essentially, it's been all about survival, man. although chris was able to land a detail for the next whole year that will enable him to get weekends and holidays off- which means we're gonna pretend to be normal for the next 12 months! celebration, people. celebration.

also, nora turned 7 MONTHS OLD a couple weeks ago! the only thing i can really say that she does differently than last month is that she feeds herself now, and is starting to cruise. otherwise she's just gotten really adept at crawling and climbing. i think object permanence has set in, because she WILL follow me around a corner, crying if i need to put something away for a second... and i'm sure i already mentioned the separation anxiety. "no, mommy, don't leave me for one minute to go wash your hands! waaaah! worst thing ever!!!!" sometimes babies are silly. she has also learned the meaning of "no" and will obey 9 times out of 10. which is pretty impressive to me, because my teenage brothers have yet to do the same. ;)

nora girl still doesn't have teeth yet, and we've started feeding her formula because the mama cow is drying up. :) it's actually kind of convenient. chris and i were able to go out on a bona fide DATE the other day, thanks to my babysitter-siblings and wondrous formula. it was wonderful. :)

and that's all that's been happenin' around here for the past couple months!
perhaps next month's post will have pictures. stay tuned. ;)

nora's half birthday

a couple days ago nora turned 6 months old!

and of course, we had a doctor's visit and shots that day as well. she's still relatively tall for her age, but everything else is looking more average. i am pleased to announce that she handled her immunizations much better this time than any other time she got them.

look at the bandaids on my thighs! weee!

new developments for nora this month:

• crawling. she really gets around now.
• getting into a sitting position on her own, from laying down.
• pulling herself up to standing if she's near a sturdy enough object.

-nora has also developed separation/stranger anxiety. it's kind of obnoxious.
-she STILL doesn't like food, but we're making her eat it anyways.
-but she does like drinking water out of a regular cup. isn't that funny?
-nora still doesn't have teeth. there are absolutely NO signs of anything popping through those gums. which is fine by me. i'm actually hoping she remains toothless until i wean her. i would prefer not to deal with breastfeeding a piranha baby.

daddy got her ready for church.
-incidentally-
 this is the position i usually find her in when she wakes up in the morning.
standing up, holding onto the crib rail.
and she's usually crying.

happy half-birthday to our little nora-girl!

september already?

holy smokes. i swear it just turned august last week.
anyways, we have not done very much as a family this last month, because mister christopher has been working 6 day weeks, thus decreasing the amount of "weekends" we had at our disposal.

it was also a hundred degrees out most of the month, so the only family outing we had (besides costco and such) was a brief weekend at the beach.

it was very nice though. that's the beauty of san diego- when things get a little too toasty inland we can always count on perfect weather at the beach. almost makes up for the cost of living, doesn't it? ;)

happy 5 month birthday!!!

like, last week. but better late than never.

she's getting so big!

i kind of lose track of nora's achievements as they happen. just because they happen so quickly and then she's onto the next thing.

for instance. nora started sitting up on her own- as in for real and not toppling over 5 seconds after we sat her up- and then suddenly it was the only thing she wanted to do. and then she started scooting around on her bum a few days later. i'd set her up on her blanket, leave her for a minute and come back, and she'd sitting up in the middle of the living room, a few feet from where she started. it totally surprised me the first time she did that.

she will pick up EVERYTHING. and she WILL gnaw on it. and when she's not mouthing it, she's passing it from hand to hand and waving it around.  we gotta be careful, because when we eat dinner with her the first thing she tries for is a handful of food. and we don't let her have that yet.

she rolls over both ways. but she doesn't really like rolling from her stomach to her back. it scares her. so she prefers to cry to be picked up instead, when she gets stuck on her tummy.

she recognizes her name. it's so cute.

she's started babbling and mimicking us when we talk to her. her favorite is "dada" which i can't quite understand- i've been promoting "mama", but she doesn't seem to like it quite as much.

she makes the chewbacca noise. i believe she got that from her father.

she's started reaching for mama when she's tired of being held by daddy. ;)

first time in the pool with uncle brad-o. she liked it.

and the most celebrated achievement of all: we have successfully established a consistent bedtime for nora. cheers all around for sanity!

joo-lye

right now it's august. which means that i should probably post about all the stuff we did last month.

july seemed pretty busy, but really, we only did a few things. maybe having a kid just makes us feel like busy all the time. :)

the #1 cool thing of the month: chris is no longer on the night shift. thank. heavens.

chris had the 4th off so we could celebrate together. we went to my grandparents for a BBQ, and nora was a monster the entire day. hence, no pictures, and no fireworks. when we got home and she fell asleep, and we were so grateful for the reprieve, we did too.

we also took a trip over to maine this month from the 6th to the 12th for chris's sister's wedding. it's nice in maine this time of year. we stayed with chris's parents in a cabin on the shore in lamoine. flying with an infant is probably the most stressful thing ever- i will never judge the parents of a screaming infant on a flight ever again. you can hop on over to my other blog for more stories and pictures about the trip. there are a lot. seriously.

at chris's sister's wedding:

picture courtesy of Michael Gerardi

that's it for this month! cheers.