Norah is 10 Months Old!

Our little Miss is 10 months old as of December 5th!  I cannot believe that in 2 very quick months she will be 1!!!  Norah is extremely mobile now and into EVERYTHING.  She crawls only on all fours now and it is a rare occasion that you see her using her army crawl.  She has become very fast crawling on all fours, and it is funny to watch her speed away from you. :)  Norah also now goes form crawling back to sitting all the time.  You don't see her laying on her belly playing with anything anymore because she will just sit and play with it instead.  Norah also pulls herself up on everything and is very daring doing it.  She will pull herself up using my pants, all furniture, the vacuum, the stove, the wall, anything that looks remotely sturdy.  She is also now good at getting herself down from standing.  She no longer whines when she wants down, she lowers herself down and goes on her way.  Norah can walk between and along things very easily.  She is also very daring when walking between things.  Just today she had pulled herself up on a cupboard.  The vacuum was a little bit away from the cupboard, but Norah managed to walk between the cupboard over to the vacuum so she was just hanging on to the vacuum.  Another place Norah is often found is under the table walking in between the chairs. :)  She also will just hang on with one hand and has been seen standing not holding on with either hand and just leaning against the item she is next to.  Norah has also master stair climbing this month.  I now have to watch her because if I leave the room, I have come back in and found her half way up the stairs! :)  I guess it's time to get out the gate!  Norah also started clapping this month too.  It's so funny because if she sees you clapping she will sit and start clapping too. :)

Norah loves to feed herself.  Her meals usually consist of about 1/2 finger food and 1/2 baby food.  Most of the baby food is stuff that is mixed together, like "Turkey noodle dinner" or "apple cinnamon oatmeal". If it's straight veggies or fruit, she easily feeds those to herself and it also keeps her busy during meal time so that I can eat. :)  Norah eats so many things now, fruits, veggies, crackers, bread, noodles, cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc.  We have tried a sippy cup, but all she wants to do is chew on it and not drink anything out of it.  Norah is down to just about 4 feedings a day and has been since right after 9 months.  It was a BIG fight to get her to eat around the time when she was going to eat "normal" food, so I quit fighting with her and just cut out those feedings.  She just nurses when she gets up in the morning, after her afternoon nap, before she goes to bed, and maybe once in the night.

Norah's personality is starting to show more and more.  She is a very determined little girl and gets mad when you try to stop her from doing something she wants to do.  She LOVES to unplug the Christmas tree right now and then chew on the chord...good thing right?!? :)  She gets VERY angry when I pull her away and get her something else to play with.  And then about 30 seconds later, she is back over there trying to do it again.  This process repeats about 4 or 5 times until she finally realizes that I will win! :)  That is until she wants to do it again later in the day or the next day.  Yesterday I even put a chair in front of the outlet, but that didn't work either because she just went around the chair.... :)  Sneaky girl!!  Norah is also starting to get very mad when Kyler takes something away from her that she is playing with.  Up until now, she didn't really care and just had this look like, hey....what are you doing? and then got something else.  But now she is starting to let out this high pitched squeal and get very mad at him.  I'm sure this is just the beginning of their sibling love!! :)   Here are some pictures of our 10 month old!!

10 Months Old! (and loving the Christmas tree chord!)

Norah can now reach the piano if she stand on her tiptoes :)

Hanging out in our newly finished kitchen cupboard! (Yes, this is about 5 feet off the ground) :)

Under the table!

Happy Girl

I'm going to get you!

Hi Mom!

Playing with all of Kyler's nicely lined up cars... :)

Loves the musical table!

Thanksgiving 2011

We had a great Thanksgiving celebrating with our families and enjoying lots of good food!  Our Thanksgiving celebration started on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, when we headed over to Ashley's parent's house to have Thanksgiving with Ashley's Mom's side of the family.  We had a big lunch around 12:30 of turkey, potatoes, corn, salad, bread, and stuffing.  After we ate, the kids napped and we all just hung out and chatted and watched football.  After naps, Kyler played with his cousins and Norah hung out and explored the house.  We had some dessert after our food had settled a little bit and then some leftovers for a light dinner.  We then hung out and enjoyed each other's company a little more, before everyone started heading home around 7:00.

Norah enjoying her 1st Thanksgiving!

Kyler enjoying his older cousins!

The "grown-up" table :)

Friday Erik had to work, so my mom and I took Kyler and Norah shopping for a bit in the morning.  Don't worry, we didn't do anything crazy, just hit up Younkers and Target starting around 9:00--about as crazy as it gets with a 2 1/2 yr old and a 9 month old! :)  Then Friday night we headed downtown for the Holiday Hoopla on Main Street.  We had gone down last year, but it was so cold, we ended up leaving before Santa even arrived.  This year was much better!  Kyler was older so he was excited and knew what was going on and it was a lot warmer!  Kyler loved listening to the music downtown and then when Santa came on a helicopter, that was even more exciting for him!  Then one of the highlights of his night was definitely the fire works.  I thought back and I don't think Kyler has ever seen fireworks before because we have always been in Minnesota over the 4th of July and when you are that far north, during that time of year, it doesn't get dark until like 10:00, so the fireworks are always too late to stay up and watch.  But, Kyler LOVED the fireworks and has been talking about them ever since!


Then on Saturday we headed to Dows to Erik's Grandparent's house to celebrate Thanksgiving with his mom's side of the family.  We got there around noon and enjoyed a big meal of turkey, ham balls, potatoes, salad, corn, and bread.  After lunch the kids napped, and we hung out and watched more football and chatted.  After the kids got up, they played for a bit and then we headed home.


On Sunday, we got up, went to early church, and then came home to get ready to go get our Christmas tree!  We went to church early so that Norah could get a little later nap and that we could eat lunch before Erik got home from church.  As soon as Erik was home, changed his clothes, and ate lunch, we loaded up in the truck and headed up to the Volga Valley Conservation Tree farm just east of Sumner to get our Christmas tree.  I have said this before, but this is the place where I have always gone to cut down a tree ever since I was little.  My parents went with us, as they went to get their tree too.  It didn't take us long to find a nice, skinny (because we don't have a lot of space) :) tree for our house.  Kyler was so excited he loved running around looking at all the different trees and then helping Erik cut down our tree.  He even helped carry the saw back to the truck. :)  After we had loaded up our tree and my parent's tree in our truck, Kyler told us he wanted to go get another tree!  We said he'd have to wait until next year!  Here are some pictures from our Christmas tree hunting!

Looking for the perfect one!

Norah and Mommy on the hunt

"I like this one!"

Norah and Mommy by our tree!

Helping Grandma find her tree

Our family with our tree!

Helping Daddy cut our tree down

Carrying the saw back to the truck

There goes our tree!

All loaded! :)

Norah's 9 Month Pictures

Here are a few of Norah's 9 month pictures. Enjoy!!

Norah is 9 Months Old!

Norah turned 9 months old on November 5th!  She had A LOT of firsts this month and is now extremely mobile.  Norah has figured out how to crawl on all fours!!  She is using her army crawl less and less, I would say she is about 50/50 right now in terms of crawling on all fours vs. using her army crawl.  If she wants to go really fast, she will usually drop to her army crawl because she is faster at that then being on all fours still.  Norah also has become very good at going from sitting to being on all fours.  She rarely goes to her belly from sitting now.  Also, at the very end of the month, she has figured out how to go from being on all fours to sitting.  She has only done this a couple of times, so she isn't great at it yet, but occasionally I have seen her on her belly, left the room and come back and she is sitting up, so I'm guessing she has figured it out. :)  Lastly, Norah figured out how to pull herself up to standing!!  Our TV is currently on a coffee table, and it's fairly low to the ground.  One evening before dinner I saw her crawling towards it.  Then I watched as she put her hand up on it and pulled herself up to standing!  I set her down and then she did it again...and again...and again!  She is now seen pulling herself up on other things like our chairs, etc.  The only problem is she hasn't figured out how to get down without crashing, so it has caused for a few wipe outs here and there.  Or, she will start whining so someone will come and help her get down. :)

In terms of eating, this month Norah started eating some finger food!  I am always excited when we start some finger food, because that means that she can feed herself and I can eat while she does instead of me feeding her the whole meal. :)  Norah has also tried a couple of new foods, cheese and yogurt, both of which she really likes.

Norah also got her first two teeth this past month.  Her first tooth, one of the bottom middle ones, popped through on October 14th and the other bottom middle one came through about a week later.

Norah had her 9 month check-up and she weighed in at 17 lbs 8 oz (25%), was 27 1/2 inches long (50%), and has a head circumference of 17 1/2 inches (50%).  So, she's long and skinny, just like her brother! :)  Her weighed dropped from the 50th percentile to the 25th between her 6 month and 9 month check-up, I'm sure because she's started moving! :)

Here are some pictures of Norah from her 9th month of life!

Miss at 9 Months Old!

Happy Girl!

Practicing pulling herself up and standing :)

On the move

Hi Mom!

Pulling herself up for the first time

First bath together! (it hasn't lasted...) :)

So happy!

Halloween 2011

We started celebrating Halloween on Sunday evening.  We headed to Bethany Bible Chapel with the Reisetter family where they had set up 20 different Western Store Fronts made out of cardboard in their gym.  At each store front there was someone dressed for that store handing out candy.  For example at the barber shop, there was a barber and a man getting his hair cut, both were dressed in clothes from the "old west" time period.  It was great because it was all inside and it moved pretty quickly.  When you were done going to all of the "store fronts" you could then have some cookies and a drink.  Jen had called that morning and invited us to go with them.  I hadn't heard anything about it, but I'm glad she called and we went, it was fun!  Before we left, we took some quick pictures of the kids in their costumes because we knew that tomorrow (Halloween) would be crazy busy.  Here are some photos of the kids in their costumes.

Our little giraffe!

Our elephant and giraffe!

Miss Norah the elephant

Holding hands :)

The gang at Bethany Bible Chapel

Halloween Day was pretty low key as we just had our normal day.  But once Erik got home from work, we were busy!  As soon as he got home, we got the kids dressed and ready to go over to my old babysitter's house.  I have mentioned before that the lady that babysat my brother and I when we were little lives here in town.  Her (Geneva) and her husband (Henry) are like another grandma and grandpa to me, so we wanted to be sure we stopped over to see them.  Here we are visiting Henry and Geneva.

After Henry and Geneva's house we headed over to Erik's parents house to see Grandma Deb, Grandpa Craig and Aunt Leah!  They had some goodies for Kyler and Norah and wanted to get some pictures of them in their costumes.  After Erik's parents house, we came home for a quick dinner and to hand out some candy.  We just handed out candy while we are dinner because as soon as we were done, we headed out to do a little trick-or-treating on our block.  We just went up and down our block because we knew we would hit plenty of houses.  We had been talking about what you say when you go up to a person's house with Kyler for a couple of weeks now.  We had been telling him that when you go up to their door you say "Trick-or-Treat!" and then they will give you a treat in your pumpkin.  We weren't sure how he was going to do because he is fairly shy around people he doesn't know, but he did really well saying "Trick-or-Treat" and then "Thank you" after they gave him some candy.  The only funny part was that if they gave him the bowl to pick a treat, he just kept taking them. :)

Heading out to Trick-or-Treat!

After we went around our block, which was plenty because Kyler was ready to be done riding in the wagon, we headed to Ashley's parent's house to see Grandma Nadene and Uncle Ben.  It was the last stop of the night.  It was fun to take Kyler Trick-or-Treating this year because he definitely knew what was going on this year and was really into it.  I'm sure that Norah will be right there with him next year!

First Tractor Ride

Kyler is really into tractors and big machines right now.  We thought it would be fun for him to be able to ride in one because whenever we see a big excavator or dump truck at the road construction he always asks to "go drive it?".  My aunt and uncle live on a farm up by Sumner, so we had thought it would be fun to take him up there during combine season and let him ride.  Well it didn't really work out for us to make it up there for the day, but we were able to go out to one of my high school friend's dad's house and ride in the tractor with him.  Kyler was SO excited when I told him we were going to go ride in a tractor.  He kept talking about it all day.  Here are some pictures from Kyler's first tractor ride!

Getting ready to go!

Starting off...

Kyler driving...

All done!

Thanks so much Bailey and Rusty!  We had a great time and can't wait to do it again!!

Kyler is 2 1/2!!

Kyler was 2 1/2 on October 12th!  I know everyone says this, but it is hard to believe our little guy is now closer to 3 than 2!  Kyler is a fun little guy with LOTS of energy.  He loves to be outside playing in the yard.  Some mornings when he gets up and comes downstairs, the first thing out of his mouth is "go outside?" (this is even before breakfast has been eaten or I am dressed yet!) :).  Kyler loves to play in his sandbox.  Our neighbors gave us their swing set when they moved away, and the part under the slide we made into a sandbox, and it has been Kyler's favorite thing this summer.  He has spent hours in there playing with all of his trucks, driving his big machines, and digging.  Along with that, Kyler is really into BIG trucks and construction equipment right now.  He loves seeing bulldozers, excavators, steam rollers, and any other large piece of machinery.  Since they re-did 18th street and Seerly Blvd. this summer, that was definitely our entertainment.  We would always have to go on a walk and check out the "road construction" to see if they were working and what big machines we could watch!

Kyler is also into lining up things.  Every day, all of his tractors, cars, machines, etc. are taken out and lined up on the couch or on the step or on the floor.  However, the floor is not a safe place anymore as Norah is on the move and loves to come and destroy Kyler's perfect lines of vehicles. :)  Kyler still loves to drum too.  Erik had found him a cheap plastic drum set on Ebay a while ago; however, because of Kyler's "forceful" drumming, most of those  drums are now broke.  Even though they might have a hole in the top, Kyler still loves to set up his drum set, and other two single drums he has and play.  You can also often hear him singing along with his drumming. :)  He loves to listen to music too.  Any time music comes on the TV for a commercial or something he usually starts dancing.  

Kyler is very into sports as well.  He loves to play catch with his baseball glove and football.  Now that the weather has gotten colder, this has moved indoors....hopefully nothing will get broken this winter! :)  I think baseball and football are his favorite sports.  He really enjoyed watching the World Series when it was on TV and even knew what teams were playing if you asked him.  Kyler has also loved watching football this fall and often asks to watch it during the day when no games are on. :)

Kyler loves to talk.  Usually when we are out in public he is fairly shy, especially in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people.  Often people ask, "is he this quiet at home?", to which we respond, NO! :)  He talks a lot during the day and is very observant of different things.  One of the things about Kyler's speech right now is that he calls himself "you".  Since we say, "Kyler, do YOU want to ______?"  He then thinks when he talks about himself he should say you, ie: when he wants you to pick him up, he says "Carry you, up?" or, if he wants to go outside and play in his sandbox, he will say, "go outside and play in your sandbox".  We are working on this and he is doing better with using "I".  I am also often amazed at what Kyler can remember or what he picks up.  He still loves to talk about going to the state fair, the cabin and other things we did this summer.  He has also started to say phrases that we have said....and we then realize that we do say that after he starts saying it. :)  Kyler can count to 12 easily, knows quite a few colors, and we are working on some letters. 

I think that's about all that our little guy has been up to!  Enjoy some fun pictures of him at 2 1/2!!! :) 

I love this picture and think it captures his personality perfectly!

Silly Guy!

Our big boy!

Loving his sandbox!

Lining up all the animals in the tub!

Wearing many headbands :)

Helping with the garden...

Lost his load! :(