Norah's Two Year Pictures

Here are some of Norah's two year pictures!  We had to do two rounds because the first ones didn't turn out so well :(  But here are some of my favorites :)

My favorite :)

Pre-Valentine Fun

We didn't do a lot for Valentine's Day, but the day before we took a little time to make a couple fun things.  Kyler had a Valentine's Day party at preschool, so he had to make valentines for that.  They had challenged the kids to write their own names on their valentines, so they could practice writing their names.  With 16 kids in his class, I thought this would be a bit overwhelming for Kyler to write his name 16 times :), so I wrote it in yellow, and he traced it instead!  Kyler of course chose Cars Movie Valentines for his friends at preschool. :) While Kyler did his valentines, Norah needed a project to do.  I had found a couple of cute valentine crafts in the dollar bins at Target, so I pulled one out for her to work on.  I wish we had taken time to do the other, but with Norah's birthday, we just ran out of time. :) We'll just save it for next year! ;)  Norah worked on coloring a Valentine's Day garland.  I think this might be an ongoing project for her, as she only worked on coloring about two hearts and then wanted something else to do. :)  Here are a couple pictures from our Valentine's Day fun!

Working on tracing his name :)  And yes, that is Norah's pink twins had he is wearing :)

Miss Norah coloring her hearts!

Still coloring :)

Carefully tracing his name

This isn't really Valentine's related, but was taken the same day and thought it was cute ;)

Norah's Birthday Celebrations

We celebrated Norah's birthday with just the four of us on her real birthday, Tuesday.  We had a fairly normal day, Kyler went to preschool, Erik was home, Norah and I went to the grocery store, etc.  We had dinner at home, but then enjoyed Scratch cupcakes for dessert!  After dessert, Norah was able to open her presents from us.  Here are a few pictures of her opening presents:

All ready!

Opening the first one...

"Mom" for her Loving Family people

Clothes for her babies :)

Opening again...

Horse trailer for her Loving Family people

Baby carrier! :)

Norah's second birthday celebration was on the Saturday after her birthday.  We invited our extended families over for dinner, cake, and ice cream.  Everyone came over to our house about 5:30, and then we enjoyed a yummy dinner of pulled pork sandwiches, fruit, cheesy potatoes, chips, and relishes.  After dinner Norah opened presents and had a fun time looking at all of her new things.  After presents, we sang "Happy Birthday" and had cake and ice cream.  We then enjoyed some hang out time, and the last party guests left around 9:00. :)  Here are some pictures from her family party:

All ready for her party!

Kyler and the birthday girl!

Norah's butterfly cake!

Loving her birthday dinner!

Cousins Ryan and Andrew

Henry, Geneva, Ben, Kyler and Norah enjoying dinner

More birthday dinner

Opening a card

New clothes from Grandma and Grandpa

Opening a present

New Sperrys from Uncle Ben :)

Norah got a bottle for Baby Stella, Aunt Mimi had to hold Baby Stella so Norah could finish opening presents :)

Modeling her new shoes :)

Ready to sing "Happy Birthday!"

Enjoying cake :)

Norah with her cake and ice cream

Norah received two sets of Duplos, my mom, brother, and Kyler put them together :)

Picture with Henry and Geneva :)

Norah's final birthday celebration was the week after her family party on Friday night.  We invited a few friends and their families over to celebrate Norah's birthday.  This is the first time she has had a "friend" party.  The party began around 5:30.  When everyone had arrived, we enjoyed a dinner of homemade pizzas, salad, fruit, and chips.  After dinner Norah opened up a couple of presents.  When presents were finished, we enjoyed cupcakes and ice cream.  When everyone was done eating, the kids then made some butterflies with beads and pipe cleaners, as well as played.  It was a fun evening hanging out with friends and watching all of the kids hang out together. :)  Here are some pictures from her friend party:

Butterfly cupcakes :)

Norah and Ahnie eating dinner :)

All the kiddos! (minus Jentry and baby Taylor)

Opening her first present...

Praise Baby DVD!

Opening her card

Kyler thought he should help... :)

A place setting and Elefun game!

We are so blessed by the people the came to celebrate Norah's birthday.  Norah received some wonderful gifts, and was definitely blessed by the generosity of our family and friends.  We had such a wonderful time celebrating our little girl turning 2!  We love you very much, Norah, and can't wait to continue to watch you grow!!

Norah is 2!!

Norah turned 2 on February 5th!  I cannot believe that she is already 2!  Norah is such a crazy (and I mean that nicely!) :) little girl.  She is so full of energy and has her own little personality.  She still loves to be playing with and doing whatever Kyler is doing.  These two continue to develop such a friendship together that I hope lasts for years to come.  Norah is also completely in love with her babies right now.  One of Norah's birthday presents from us was a baby carrier, like the infant car seat.  Norah's baby rides around in the carrier all day, and has even taken a few trips to church for Wednesday night meals. :)  She is VERY particular about her babies and everything has to be "just right" with them, or she gets very angry.  For example, there are two babies she takes upstairs to her room with her when she goes to sleep.  You have to ask which baby she wants you to carry because if you just pick them up, she starts to yell at you. :)  The two babies then go upstairs, the one in the carrier,  baby Zoe, goes in the baby bed, and the other one goes in her dresser drawer with its blanket. :)  It is so funny though because you will often hear her going "shhhhhhh", "shhhhhhhh" as she is holding and rocking one of her babies.  If you ask her what she is doing, she will tell you her baby is sleeping.  Norah is also very into pretend play.  I don't ever remember Kyler pretending this much when he was 2, but I think it's because Norah has Kyler to pretend with.  She loves to dress up in her "doctor coat" and go around "checking" things.  She often comes up to me and wants to "check my ears" or some other part of my body. :)  Norah also LOVES to pretend to talk on the phone.  If I am talking to someone on my phone, she usually also has her phone up to her ear repeating everything I am saying.  Or you will see her walking around with her phone up to her hear talking to someone. :)  Norah also likes to repeat you when you pray sometimes.  In the evening either Erik or I will pray before we put the kids in bed.  Lately, Norah will repeat the ends of phrases you are saying.  She doesn't do it all the time, but when she does it is so cute, and you have to keep yourself focused or you end up laughing. :)

Norah's language development has grown a lot this past month.  She no longer talks in third person or just with one or two words.  Norah will now say things like "I need go get my shoes on", or "I go downstairs with daddy".  She also will say "me", like "pick me up!".  Her sentences are also getting longer and more complex all the time.  She will put 6 or 7 word sentences together quite frequently and I am just amazed at some of the ideas she puts together.  She is also recalling different events that took place in the past, not very often, but she is getting better.  Norah is working on her colors.  She gets them right about 90% of the time.  She will miss one or two here and there, but for the most part gets them correct.  Norah can count from 1 to 12 on her own.  I know she doesn't really understand the meaning of all of those numbers, but she knows how the numbers go.  She does understand the meaning of 1 and 2 though because she will tell me when she has two of something.

Norah still eats pretty much everything we feed her.  Lately though, she hasn't like to eat meat that much.  I think it's a texture thing, and the fact that since she only has her 4 molars, she can't get it chewed up that easily so she ends up spitting it out.  She will eat burger though, especially if it's in something.  It is not uncommon to see her eat better than Kyler at a meal. :)  Norah still takes one nap a day, usually for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours.  She usually goes down about 2:00 and wakes up around 4:00 or 4:30.  I usually don't let her sleep past 4:30 though so she will still go to bed at night. :)  Norah loves to sleep with her pacifier (aka her "mama) and her two blankets.  She now only has her pacifier and blankets when she sleeps, so they are kept in her bed.  At Norah's 2 year appointment she weighed 24.9 lbs (25th percentile) and was 33.5 inches tall (50th percentile).
Here are a few pictures of our two-year-old!

Birthday Girl!

Happy Birthday Norah!

Dr. Norah checking her baby :)

Daddy's two helpers in the basement

Duplo fun!

Our big girl!

Caring for baby Zoe

First pigtails!

More pigtails :)