a nora chair!!!

i know it's a lot of video, but i keep forgetting to add them! so, here they are. the first one (in purple jammies) is of nora, maybe a month ago? she was showing off her new words. i forget that she can "talk", so i have to pay attention, because some of the "words" just sound like sounds she is making. but they are intentional! like, "alk (silent l)"... meaning she wants to walk on her own, not be carried. also used when she hears me talking about going on a walk. if you make it a slight "r" instead of silent l, you get "park" (also known as "ark). "sssss" (like a snake) can mean juice or shoes.

she has also picked up the sign for help. she gets frantic about it, because it usually is preceeded by the frantic sign for please, and when that isn't heeded, help comes next! at least her intentions are right.

tonight, we sat down for dinner, and nora folded her hands to wait for us to pray! what an angel!!! she picked up david's shoes off the floor the other day, and i said "are those daddy's shoes?". to which she replied "dada sssss". how fun!!!

she is a drama queen... probably aided by us, because it's so cute to see her yawn or sneeze! the second video includes these, as well as the new chair we finally bought her. (don't tell her, but it's her christmas present!!!) she loves to climb in and out of it! i think she just feels like a big girl. she also has happy feet. but, you have to watch the WHOLE video to see happy feet at the end! it's quite cute!!

she will hand me her pluggy in the mornings, because she knows that she can't have it out of bed. when i ask if she wants nummies (food), she runs to her high chair and waits to be put into it. when she wants up, she says "up". this is such a fun age, watching her learn new things all the time. she is quite repetitive of me... she will copy all done and other words! i am trying to be VERY careful what i say!!!

as for james... nothing new on that front, but i will keep everyone updated. we don't expect to learn anything new for the next two months or so. but, i do feel him move quite a bit! and i will try to get some more pictures on here soon!!! tonight, i was nesting and rearranging!! (david loves when i do this... i just remind him that it's cheaper than buying all new things, and the same effect is accomplished! a new living space!)

halloween... and other fun!

david reading a story to nora and everett... his sister, moira, came to join the kids on david's lap soon after this pic!!

jeffrey and nora felt like such big kids sitting on the couch together!! nora was all dressed up in her dalmation costume, and jeffrey was all festive in orange!!!

you can't tell, but my cake is in the shape of a pumpkin! it was SO good!!! and the beautiful leaves on the counter were hand crafted for us by alyssa!!! (way better than williams sonoma!!)

a family picture... you can just see the top of my belly!!!

so, this was thursday. nora didn't want to eat off of a spoon. and i didn't have the energy to fight with her! so, she ate her oatmeal with her fingers, and when she was done, this was her attempt to finish off the rest!! at least it was BEFORE i dressed her for the day!!

on tuesday, we found out that we are having a boy. we are going to name him james patrick haile. the doctors had some concerns on tuesday, so we went back on thursday for a bigger and better ultrasound with more specialized doctors. what we found out is this... james is still a boy!! (whew!!) he also has club feet and a shortened femur. otherwise, he is structurally and physically fine, as far as they can tell. this all means that there is a slightly higher risk of a chromosomal abnormality, but as david put it... "i would go to vegas with those odds!!!" the odds are still in our favor! either way, his heart, etc seem to be functioning just fine! and we are THRILLED about that. plus... many awesome people have had club feet!! troy aikman, kristi yamaguchi, mia hamm (although david doesn't really want his boy to be a figure skater!!)... and more who have emailed me about it! (but for their privacy, i will decline from commenting... but i think they are pretty awesome people who have done awesome things) all this makes us very confident that james patrick is in pretty good company.

david lobbied pretty hard for the name lebron james haile. james patrick seemed to be a good compromise. and, if james isn't going to start out being the best basketball player, david then decided that tiger woods haile might be a better name! either way, david is VERY excited to have a boy in the house!

it hit me on saturday. i was walking through babies r us, and i usually avoid the boy section all together. i had to walk through it to get to something, and realized... "i'm having a boy!!!" ha ha... no more pink!!

on a more serious note... it's been a fantastic week. david and i picked the name james because we LOVE that book of the Bible. i haven't gone through it recently, and stef called this morning to remind me of a verse in James... 1:2-4- "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perserverance. Perserverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." that pretty much sums up our week. it was an incredible test on our faith, and God was faithful. He always is! david and i both felt a peace that passes all understanding, in the midst of not knowing what was wrong and what the doctors would find. we both really understood that God is GOOD, ALL THE TIME!! His goodness is not dependent on our circumstances. (and, we came to this conclusion before the appointment on thursday!!) it is amazing knowing that HE is in control and is forming this baby to be EXACTLY how He wants james to be! i think the genetics counselor thought we were in utter denial, because we were so calm and peaceful about it all!!

on the upside, i didn't think about the upcoming election at all!! and, it reaffirmed my faith that God is in control of that, too!! no matter WHO wins!!

seattle

nora and i took a trip last week to seattle. we met pop-pop, mom-mom and aunt byssa. i also got to have lunch with a college roommate and her new baby! it was such a fun trip, and awesome to be back in fall again! plus, we had gorgeous weather and saw mt. rainier with snow on top! nora was quite the trooper in her stroller all over the city and on the plane! what a good girl!!

new things... today, she said park and walk. it sounded more like "ah", but it was in reference to those two things, respectively. she is an absolute joy to be around. i loved looking at some of these pics, and seeing her little personality... especially the one where she is standing with her foot cocked! she does that quite a bit. she is a feminine little girl. she still loves to read, and i find her doing that most of the time! she nods in agreement or disagreement if you ask her a question, and most of the time, i really think she is responding to what i asked! it's so fun to watch!

if i ask to put her bracelet on, she hands me her wrist. she only gets her pluggy in bed (or when mom really needs her to behave in public!!!). so, when she gets up in the morning, she will hand us her pluggy. and, if you go in to get her and she hasn't had enough awake play time in her crib, she just looks at you and shakes her head!! bless her heart!! at least she knows what she likes!!!

today, we took sadie for a walk around the lake, and all of david's fabulous dog training has paid off! sadie was such a joy to walk!! david has been working with sadie most nights to train her, and i could see such a difference today!!! go husband...

however, the NUMBER ONE reason i love my dog... i came home the other day, and there was a lizard in my kitchen!!! my sweet dog helped me chase the lizard back outside where it belonged!!! thank goodness for dogs and brooms!!! sadie got the lizard to where i could swat it outside! whew... it was not fun for me!!

dog beach... from colombus day

last weekend, we took the girls (nora and sadie) to dog beach. it was warm (thank-you santa ana winds...), but the water is always cold. for those of you who don't live here, i rarely go in the ocean. it's freezing in the middle of summer. and nora boycotts the pool if it's not warm enough. so, i didn't bring a swim diaper or a change of clothes. and neither of us brought a towel. nora, however, decided that she LOVED the ocean. thankfully, i was smart enough to at least get her sweatshirt off before her clothes got drenched. she went running towards the waves, and knocked over by a few! (thankfully, daddy was there to make sure she didn't drown!!) she had a blast. we only made her get out of the water because her teeth were chattering so hard david was afraid they would fall out! once all dried off, she wanted to go right back in and was a little disappointed when we wouldn't let her!

dog beach, by the way, is a designated area where dogs can be off their leashes and play. both she and sadie have been quite tired today!!! sadie barely moves, and nora took a fabulous nap!!

friends...

nora makes a habit of holding her juice while eathing breakfast... like i might take it away.... on friday david was off, and nora decided to help him write his paper! (not sure she was a whole lot of help!!) and in case we haven't mentioned, our 50 pound black lab thinks she is a lap dog! david sat down to read to nora, and sadie climbed right on into his lap!! poor girl was afraid she would miss something!!

we love our friend, jeffrey. nora got to play with jeffrey and his mom on tuesday when i had a doctor's appointment. nora made herself at home on the doggy bed and tried to share her snacks. on the flipside, we got to play with jeffrey while his mom went out. the kids read with david while i cooked dinner. the kids were entertained with baby einstein while we ate (don't worry, i did make them back up from the tv screen!!!). i did feel better that mine wasn't the only kid obsessed with baby einstein!!

the kids could be an ad for sippy cups... we didn't plan to use the same ones! but, great moms think alike!! and, we caught nora with my cell phone this week... scary that she apparently knows how to text! she runs and hides with the phone, however, because she knows that she's not allowed to have it!

nora can say a lot of things now. as shown in the video, she found her hop on pop book, sat down and started saying "hop pop hop pop". it was cute! the phone rang the other day, and i said "oh it's mom-mom". so nora replied, "bub-bub" (her version of mom-mom). she can say "car-car".

on the flip side, she definitely knows how to tell us when she DOESN'T like something... today, she was crying because she couldn't have something. she stalked into her room, we heard a brief stop in the crying, and saw her head peek around the corner, like, "doesn't anyone care that i am upset???"

thankfully, she really only shows her attitude to us. she stays in the nursery on tuesdays and thursdays while i have bible study, and every time i go to pick her up, they want to know what i do to make my daughter so enjoyable! everyone else will cry, and she just plays. she can see the older kids outside, and just wants to go play with them!! my cute, big girl!!

a lot of pics!!

alright... a lot of pics, and a few videos! nora learned how to say "uh oh", and i think i already mentioned that... but here is the video!

and quite a few pictures from our time in cleveland and ohio! i am working on the album to email out! it's coming... enjoy these... we loved the fall weather and the family. it was hard to come back from sweater weather to 102* and sunny! i am ready for a little colder... but i can't complain too much! so, there you go...

homecoming and OH... IO!!!

i realized today that it is october. it's fun to be sitting in the rain, i mean in cleveland, in the fall. the leaves, it's not 90* outside, there's rain... classic fall. but i also realized that i would never want to give up what i have (read san diego, palm trees, no rain, the ocean, the mountains, predictable weather...) to have a few leaves change on the trees. i love my home, my life, my friends (not that i don't love all of you not from san diego...). it's a good life!

wow, it's october! september just FLEW by... and if we are being honest, so did august! between having my parents in town, getting ready for bible study to start, bible study starting, moving from two naps to one nap a day and then leaving to go to chicago-cleveland, it's been busy! we have a nice little routine. tuesdays and thursdays are bible study mornings. so, those days are shot, because by the time we get home, nora has usually fallen asleep in the car and sleeps all afternoon. "life moves pretty fast. if you don't stop and look around once an awhile, you could miss it." -ferris bueller's day off

so, nora. on friday, we flew to chicago for my 5 year college reunion. there was a breakfast, a block party, a game... it was a lot of fun, except that i was the ONLY one at the breakfast! a bunch of my parents friends were there, and when we told them i was the only one to show, they all said... "no one comes to the five year, anyway"! that would have been great info BEFORE i bought my plane ticket!!! it was fun, however, to be with the fam. alyssa is looking at my alma mater, and it was fun to see all that they had done with north park! so, back to nora... it's the first time we have flown since nora could walk. she definitely wasn't loving being cramped up for the first three hour flight. but, she napped for some of it. our second flight, however, was FIRST CLASS!! it was so nice. there was so much room. and, i didn't have to worry about nora kicking the seat or the person next to me!!! she couldn't reach any of them!! and, bean shows were a lifesaver (baby einstein dvds!!!).

on the plane, she discovered she could say "uh oh". it's SO CUTE!!! i will try to get a video. but, she just says it constantly! she has also learned that she can bite. not fun. so, i smack her mouth when she does it. now, she will go to bite you, remember that it's not okay, and kiss you instead! she has also gotten very good about waiting to hold your hand when in public, or when she is trying to go up or down stairs. it's so precious to see this little hand and sweet face looking up at you!

also, she loves her book "nora's room". that's the book i am reading in the video. she will do motions to that, or to itsy bitsy spider, and many other things! we don't even need the book nora's room anymore... we can all quote the ENTIRE thing!!! one less thing to pack for the plane!!

more pics to come!!!