Finally as big as Jones?

Nora is about as big as Jones now. He probably still weighs a little more, though. Jones allows such abuse. His policy is pretty much any attention is better than nothing!

Riding Jones

Eating Jones

Hugging Jones

Time to give Jones a break!

Putting her foot in her mouth

Nora had her 4 month check-up today. The doctor said she is looking great! Nora got two shots today. The first one I don't think she even noticed, and the second she made a five second complaint. Having a big sister has really toughened her up. I think I complain more about getting a shot. What did Alena do while all of this fun was going on? She went to visit Daddy at work where she made food dishes for Jones and Ruby and ate grapes and Goldfish crackers.

Nora is weighing in at 12 pounds, 7.5 ounces and is two feet tall! Speaking of two feet...

Best newly discovered playthings

I'm going to get you guys!

Yum!

But don't take the good old thumb for granted.

Who, me?

"I don't know how Kirstin's shirt got all dirty. Don't blame me!"
--Baby Nora

Alena went to bed for her afternoon nap with her clothes on. She woke up in these pajamas. She told me she put them on so her legs wouldn't get cold (it was probably 85 degrees in her room yesterday.)

Practicing sitting

Excellent posture

But not too stable at sitting yet

I meant to do that--now I can eat this blanket

A quick roll gets her back onto her belly again

Jumping

Nora is into her jumparoo. If you dare put her down and leave the room for a couple minutes, it is the only acceptable place for her to sit.

Alena likes to break in Nora's toys for her

Nora and Daddy like to sit in the front yard and watch cars go by. The other day they got one wave (a neighbor), and two women on a walk smiled at them. It was a successful day.

She is almost as big as Jones. I didn't have to pose the two of them--when Jones sensed a camera in the vicinity he jumped up for a picture. Nora made a lucky swipe today and got Ruby's tail. She is getting a few lucky grabs these days. And she started blowing raspberries this week. Tomorrow is Nora's 4 month birthday!

Alena is getting ready for our camping trip!

Sleeping

Nora usually flips over to her belly to sleep. Frequently when she is playing she flips over as well. She is a belly kid. Watch closely to see the thumb sucking. Nora is a cute sleeper! As for the end of the video, I don't think we have a single video without a certain orange appearance.

Nora gets frilly

There are a lot of frills to suck on. This makes Nora very happy.

Money!

You never can trust these two when they get together. Alena and Kaelyn were playing upstairs. When I came up to check on them they were shouting "money" while emptying Alena's piggy bank. When it was empty they put the money back in and did it all over again. When I asked them whose big idea it was, Alena answered, "Alena Kaelyn."

Kids in sunglasses

Bumbo what?

Chilling in the Bumbo

Alena put some toys on the tray for Nora to look at

"Sit on Nora's lap." Maybe not the best idea, Alena.

Random stuff

A bottle from visiting Aunt Julie

One of Alena and Daddy's famous block houses

Grandpa Steve gives a super pedicure

So sleepy

Nora was "go, go, go" at daycare today (and eat, eat, eat.) When we got home she kicked for awhile but gave up the fight while we ate supper. So tired! This is her classic sleep pose which she also uses at night in her crib.

Rolling instructions

Nora demonstrating how to roll over

I tell her that this belly time will help her with handwriting, but it still makes her mad after awhile. Getting a little angry helps with rolling.

Here she goes!

Now how did I get on my back?

Super cute alert!

Super baby! (If Nora was a super hero, her power would have something to do with her tongue.)

Alena created this toy blob for Nora to play with. It is pretty much every baby toy hanging from one ring. Nora likes to wiggle over to it and grab it. She also loves the singing star on her play mat. When you set her down on the mat and turn on the star she starts smiling and cooing at it. "Hello, friend. I am so happy to see you again!" This picture shows off the ring of baldness she has developed.

Matching outfits

The other day I dressed Nora and Ben dressed Alena. That afternoon we realized that we had dressed them in matching outfits. We didn't even know we owned matching outfits. So naturally we had to get some pictures.

Alena looks like pretty tough stuff here. She is protective of her little sister and if a strange kid comes over to check out Nora she will stand guard to make sure that kid doesn't step over the line. I was vacuuming yesterday morning and Alena stayed next to Nora so she wouldn't be scared. If there is no danger from kids of vacuums, Alena pretty much ignores Nora still.

The two girls started a new day care this week. The report was that Alena played well with the other kids and Nora had fun watching them play. They both created some original artwork. That's right, Nora did as well. She made a smoosh painting by sitting on two halves of paper with paint in between them. Alena was praised on the great composition of her coloring. Such artists!

Baby Nora's on a roll!

Guess who rolled over from back to front this morning? That's right--Nora did! After rolling over onto her belly she got angry and soon rolled back onto her back. She is a mover! She is 11 weeks old this week.

Nora relaxing in her swing. This is her favorite pose right now--left thumb in the mouth, finger on her nose, and right hand behind her head. She does this after waking up from a nap and looks around, taking stock of what happened while she slept. Sometimes she gets a little over zealous and sticks her fingers in her mouth. Then you can hear her gagging.

Water table

Grandpa and Daddy went to Walgreens to pick up one thing and came back with a new squirt gun and a water table. Alena was very excited for the water table and could hardly wait to fill it with water. It has definitely been hot enough to play in the water lately.

No swimming, Nora.

The water gun was really fun for 10 minutes until it was disassembled and broken forever.

Balloon glow 2011

This year we dragged Brad, Amanda, Brielle and Kaelyn to the balloon glow. The weather was perfect and the bugs were few (and funnel cakes were plentiful.) Half of the city was there. Alena and I managed to get a little lost on our way back to our chairs from the balloons. Don't worry--we eventually made our way back. It was a late night but we all recovered. Nora doesn't like to go to bed until 11 on a normal night.

A very enthusiastic "cheese." The girls refused to get a group shot.

Daddy experiences the fun of changing a diaper on his lap. Brad was there critiquing his every wipe. After all, what are friends for!

Nora had a great time people-watching. The more excitement the better for this kid.

After we made it back to our chairs. We walked down to the balloons and Alena freaked out every time the fires would blast. But she thought it would good scary. As her big cousin would say: "scary and fun."