six whole months!!!

So, nora was six months old yesterday. in honor, i bought her a sippy cup. actually, it just seemed about time. it's funny to watch her try to use it. she'll get it eventually. the first picture is nora sleeping in our bed yesterday morning. the second is her this morning. what an angel! she was so happy. i keep trying to get her back to sleep in the mornings, and yesterday, it worked! we got a few hours that way.



oh, and my trick from the other day... she took a 2 1/2 hour nap! it was awesome! enjoy the video!

singing in the rain

another thought for today... is this scene familiar to any moms out there? this happened both yesterday and today. we are driving home (yesterday from church, today, jazzercize), and nora is incredibly tired. she is starting to fall asleep, but it is also ALMOST time to feed her. plus, if she fell asleep, she would only sleep the five more minutes till we got home. so, i find myself singing or talking ridiculously in order to keep her awake, forgoing that nap to get, hopefully, a much longer one after we are inside and she is fed. both days, it's worked to at least get her home. we'll see how the nap is today!

a date

while david and i went on a date this weekend, nora went to a friend's house and played. they had a great time. it's probably the only time in the foreseeable future that she will be allowed to be in bed with a boy! and, i was told that she had a great time in the jumper, so we will have to be getting one of those!!!

one of my friends watched nora for us, and when we got back, they had bathed their son, fed both kids, put both babies in bed, AND managed to get all of the cute pictures of nora and jeffrey onto a cd for us! it was so fun...

chelsey apologized later for where jeffrey's hand is in some of the photos, but it is cute... he looks at the camera like, can i be doing this.... i've been caught!

so, there it is... another blog with poor punctuation and capitalization! talk to you soon!

Hi everyone! It's Nora. In the past, when I've written some blurbs on my blog, I have lacked proper capitalization and punctuation, but I figured that since I turn six months old next Tuesday, it's time to step up and fight against the lack of accountability and casual attitude toward proper writing technique. (Note: My mom's posts probably will continue in their present style, and this is fine- but my dad has been impressing upon me lately the importance of good sentence structure.) Anyway, I just wanted to let you in on some of my random thoughts before I turn 6 months old.
First of all, there are a few things I don't understand. Look, I'm a baby with few needs. I eat, I sleep, I fill up my diaper- everything else is just frosting. So why is it that when I cry, my mom and dad always assume that something is wrong? Really, I am just doing my best to communicate with the limited means at my disposal. So when I cry, just think of it as me singing, or perhaps organizing my thoughts out loud. Just because I can write down all my ideas logically in a blog doesn't make that talking thing any easier. Besides, when I do decide to start talking, you'll know- my first word will be dada.
Second, why is everyone so odd when they talk to me? They talk to each other normally (or mostly normally- I do remember last October when my dad was jumping around and yelling at the TV a lot- something about how the Indians were blowing it...), but when they talk to me their voices get higher and their words become nonsensical. Do they think I will be able to understand them any better if they are goofy? A perfect example of this can be found in my blog videos when my mom and dad talk to me- would they talk like that to their friends or relatives? I think not. My dad has some ideas about why they do this- I think he tried to explain them in a previous blog post, but it didn't make much sense to me. My explanation is that adults are just weird.
Third, why is the NFL's Sunday Ticket TV package where you can watch any game you want only available on DirecTV and not on cable? You've got to be kidding me- you'd think the NFL could make loads more money by releasing it to the American masses, vice that small percentage of American homes with a DirecTV dish. Makes no sense to me- Congress should definitely investigate this instead of mispronouncing baseball players' names, because I'm sure it violates some monopoly or anti-trust laws. OK, sorry- I promise only baby issues from now on, but I just wanted to get that off my chest.
Well, I just wanted to thank my mum-mum and my Auntie Stef (or Coco, as she apparently now wants to be called) for a great time in Florida! My mom and I had a lot of fun, and as you can see from the pictures below, I love sunbathing. Great skill set which I will put to use in Aruba in a couple months. Thanks also to my Grammie and Grandpa Haile, who gave me the 365 days of Bible Stories book. My dad reads them to me every night, and boy does that book taste good! (Sometime soon I will probably also begin to digest the content as well as the binding). Anyway, thanks to all my loyal blog readers out there- you guys are the best!
-Nora Bean

throwing back the bottle

nora is trying to get the bottle into her mouth by herself... what a big girl!! we are having so much fun! and, i think those teeth are STILL trying to come in...

girls weekend

Nora and I had another trip this week... we went to marco island, florida! it was so much fun. we met mom mom and aunt stef down there. nora LOVED the pool and had a ball. she was the easiest, best baby ever! when she wasn't in the water, she would sit in the shade of her stroller and just play quietly with her toys for HOURS! and she slept in her stroller quite a bit down by the pool. she did get an upgrade, however! instead of being in the closet, she slept in a crib in the bathroom! (that way, we didn't wake her watching tv and what not...) let's be honest, the bathroom was HUGE!

on monday afternoon, she started not acting like herself. all week, people had commented about how good she was. people around us at the pool would ask if she ever cried? i think on monday, she really started getting a tooth (only time will tell...) but she was definitely a little crankier than normal (okay, so she's still the best!) hopefully, these teeth will come in soon! it hurts to hear her cry so hard! at least the teething tabs make me feel like i can do SOMETHING about it. ironically, i just had a cavity filled and it still hurts! i can feel her pain a bit!!! enjoy the pics!

our week at home...

david thinks poor nora looks like she is ready for bingo night here. however, we are just practicing with our sunnys for florida! (and i don't mean retirement home bingo night... i mean chilling on the beach with the girls!) daddy just doesn't know that big sunglasses are "in"! we started a new tradition... the three of us went for a run around the lake by our house. it was quite fun. i was a little jealous, nora slept through most of it!
this is nora's first time in her booster seat. since she hasn't started eating yet, she just played with toys. but, she is like her mom. being in her "bean machine" (daddyspeak for exersaucer) while we eat dinner is no fun. she complains about being left out! so, she sat with us and seemed to enjoy it!!!
alright, we leave for florida tomorrow... we'll send you great pictures of nora and her bikini soon!!! love to you all! oh... nora had a doctors appointment yesterday. she is still in the 95% for her weight- 17 1/2 pounds and is in the 50% for height and head circumference. she was 25 cm long... we are just about growing out of 6 month clothes!!! what a big girl!!

old video but new pics!!!

okay, so the video is from before Christmas, but it's so cute!!! nora props herself up (tripoding...), and LOVES her toes!! she also LOVES to blow raspberries. daddy has started doing devotions with us every night from the "one year Bible". it's so fun, and short enough that nora will sit through it!

so, nora and i go to Bible study on thursday mornings. there are eight other babies in my small group. there is one girl. the girl's mom said to me on thursday that she is extra careful how she dresses her baby when she knows nora is going to be there... cause nora is always dressed so great. everyone in my group thinks i plan my outfits to match nora's, or the sling i carry her in. so, thank you to everyone who has bought nora clothes. i really haven't bought her much of anything. and we only match because nora has a lot of pink and i happen to have a lot of pink. but it struck me as funny.

i married the most incredible man in the world. he is so smart. my mom commented over break that she thought our family was fairly intelligent until she met david and his family. we were watching the "planet earth" dvds recently and he just knows SO MUCH about SO MUCH!! i am glad that he is nora's dad....

okay, enough bragging about david, and my knack of matching my daughter! nora is a bit fussier this week... trying to figure that one out! i thought she was teething awhile back, but still no teeth. we'll just see!!

finally... the computer is fixed!!!

okay, so i don't have enough room for all the pics!! but, we had so much fun at home. and now that our computer is almost fixed, maybe i can put more pics on here more often. we snowboarded, hung out with grandparents and just enjoyed the time at home.

now, we are back... it's in the 60's, and SO nice not to bundle up every time we go outside!!!