Nora's Two Loves

Nora has decided that there are two things that she loves more than anything. One is her little sister.

Ellie is starting to interact much more, with gummy grins and silly looks. She also is starting to get upset if she's left alone, but she calms right down when Nora comes over to talk and sing to her, which Nora is always happy to do. She has an uncanny sense of what Ellie needs and she truly wants to make her sister happy. It's pretty sweet.

The other thing Nora loves? This guy:

That is Cotton, the Silkie bantam hen that we adopted. Unfortunately, she and the other bantam, Valerie, have had some trouble integrating into the flock. Like, I keep having to pull Valerie out of holes she has dug herself into to get away from the big chickens. So, we starting putting them in the basement in the brooder to give them some time away.

Last night, Nora insisted on crawling into the brooder with them (Thanks for making it strong, Eric!). She was feeding them little pieces of bagel while we talked about her day at school. Then came the best moment of the night.

Nora: I love you.

Me: I love you, too, kiddo.

Nora: I was talking to the chicken, Mommy.

Yeah, you thought I was kidding about that whole "two things Nora loves" thing, didn't you?

Let's end with the more endearing snuggle.

What's that I see, Mom?

It's not shots, is it?

Unfortunately, yes. Yes, it is. Ellie got her first set of baby shots this morning. It turns out that'll piss off a baby.

We also got to hear that Miss Evelyn is growing nicely. She is 12 pounds, 15 ounces and 23.5 inches long. That's in the 90th percentile for both height and weight (which makes her 50th percentile for height to weight ratio). That translates into her being a perfectly normal 3 and 1/2 month old. Except that she's only 2 months. She's also ahead on her milestones, especially gross motor skills. All of this has been referred to by our friends as "Lauering up." It's like she was restricted by my mere human womb and now has to explode out of it to achieve her true size and potential.

You go for it, kid. I'll try to keep up.

Some cuties I know

We got some good family time over the weekend, down in the Twin Cities. And I got to take some pictures of some cousin cuteness.

Mary and Larry Lauer, surrounded by their grandkids.

Clockwise from top: Sara, Isabella, Nora Lee and Katelyn (holding Ellie)

Kate's father wants it to be known that that is not her baby.

Bella and Nora Lee trying to not look cute at a pumpkin patch.

They are not succeeding.

Family Picture Time!

Hey, want to see what we look like?

No? Too bad. Here it is.

In other news, today is the last day of my full time maternity leave. I can't believe that 8 weeks are over already. I started the day by snuggling my baby until I had to leave the bed to palliate my caffeine withdrawal. Then, I paid lots of bills, paid off some credit cards and slogged through finances. Then, I ate the last potatoes from the garden for lunch. Is the phrase "win/fail" a thing? Can I coin it? There have been few days in my life as bittersweet as this one.

Nice to Meet You...Um, Do You Shake Hands?

Nora woke me up at 7:00 today, fully dressed and raring to go. This left us with two hours before she needed to be at preschool, so we have been playing. First, we learned about mail. I have been writing thank you notes for baby gifts, so she helped me put on return address labels and stamps and to lick envelopes. This lead inevitably to her wanting to write a letter of her own. I swear, I encouraged her to write to someone far away. I did. Instead, she chose to draw an elaborate picture of our neighbors with a chipmunk, peanuts and polka dots. And to mail it to them.

She's tickled and is now planning her future correspondence.

Then, we watered plants. Nora was asking the names of the plants and I told her that this is a jade plant:

Now, we know a young lady named Jade. Which goes quite a long way to explaining how these next two plants ended up named.

I would like to introduce you to....

Cindy the aloe

Aaaaaand Carl the Rubber tree.

This is why we have kids.

Pop Quiz

What happens when you take a fussy baby into the bathtub at 2AM?

Well, joy and hilarity ensue. But also, Hipster Hair!

That's right. My baby's stylin'. It's like me and Angelina Jolie are on a total wavelength or....oh my god, I need to get some sleep.