Nora Turns 1

Nora has turned 1. She is about the cross the 13 month threshold. I am so, so happy and thankful that she is growing and developing as she should. And sometimes I just want to keep her small and eager to sleep in my arms.

July 2012

Birthday Celebrations, Part 3

The day after Nora officially turned 1, we had a party at our house. In addition to the wonderful neighbors and friends who joined us to celebrate the cutest and sweetest girl ever, the grandparents from Maryland traveled to Illinois for the festivities! 

Grandma Linda and Pop Pop Saul

Grandpa Sheldon

Some months back, Nora received an adorable little dress from her Gramma Wells, which served as inspiration for the party. Yellow, white, black, polka dots, and gingham with some bumble bees and daisies were all present in the decorations and outfits. My favorite decoration was a series of photos of Nora in her "monthsies" (made by my friend Sarah!).

Of course there were cupcakes! #3 kinds! Nora enjoyed the vanilla on vanilla cupcake. Mommy had the chocolate on chocolate and Daddy was loving the lemon on lemon. Yum!

I loooove cupcakes!

12 months old!!

I have an admission. I have been procrastinating on Nora's 12 month post. And the rest of her birthday posts. The feelings I've been having with this milestone have been many. With all of the joy of Nora turning one comes a little sadness of some of the baby things that are getting to be less and less. We're almost done with the bottle, snuggle naps are extremely rare, and I no longer get to hold my little girl whenever I want. My time with a baby is coming to an end. And it's ending forever, given our fertility issues.

But toddler-hood brings with it a lot of fun times. Times that I appreciate so much.

Nora loves to explore and we are often "walking" all over the house with Nora holding onto our fingers or with one of her push toys. She dances to music, cruises between toys and furniture, loves to crawl up the stairs, brings the dogs their toys and is learning to pat them gently, points to things she wants, and smiles a lot. She has learned to smile for the camera, making what we call her "cheese" face. Her laugh is amazing!

Nora has also learned to express her opinion! It's very clear when Nora does - and does not - want something. It is really amazing to watch her develop her own ideas. She is still as observant as ever, always watching and taking everything in.

As you can tell from our blog, it's been an amazing first year and we are just so dang thankful for it all. So HAPPY 12 MONTHS to our sweet, sweet girl. We are so excited for the next year of memory-making and milestones!

Nora at 12 months old:

• 23.8 lbs and 27.5 inches
• Says Dada, Mama, Dog-Dog, Uht-oh, Kisses
• Wears 12-18 month-sized clothes
• Eats mostly finger foods - current favorite is a hummus sandwich
• 8 teeth

I'm gonna get this owl!

Birthday Celebrations, Part 2

We are so lucky to be able to send Nora to a wonderful, small, local (up the street!), at-home day care. We love Miss Laura and her entire family. They take such wonderful care of Nora and enjoy celebrating her as much as we do.

And celebrate Nora's birthday they did! Cupcakes and crowns for Nora. What a great way to celebrate the day!

I think we have a sweet tooth baby on our hands!

Birthday Celebrations, Part 1

Nora's 1st birthday! This is the first of many celebrations we have had. To commemorate the occasion, Pop Pop Tom got Nora a gorgeous lemon cake from an Italian bakery. As we carried the cake to the car, my Dad told me that when he was a boy he always had lemon cake for his birthday. 

We all sang Happy Birthday, which Nora just loved! She grinned the entire time. Cousin Madeline helped her to blow out her candle and then we slid the cake in front of her to let her dig in. At first it was just a little finger of frosting.

Which she really liked...

After a little bit of encouragement and assistance, Nora dug right in! She laughed (as did the rest of us!) as she smooshed and smeared the cake. She ate some of it, too. :)

I enjoyed watching Nora experience her first cake much more than I expected to. In fact, I had so much fun that I forgot to take any other pictures. Just Nora and cake! No big family birthday picture. Ugh! I don't even remember snapping this one, but I sure am thankful to whoever took it for us.

Nora's first 1st Birthday party