Boy Meets Girl with Ball

Another story in five pictures:

      

     

Boy Meets Girl

A story in five pictures:

Sitting Up!

Norah is sitting up! She's been able to sit on her own for several seconds for a little while now. All of the sudden last week she figured out how to play with a toy AND sit up without losing one or the other. Last night we had dinner with some friends. One family has two active boys who ran around her while she was sitting on the floor. She really held her own - and kept her balance. Here are some photos to prove it!

         

Whistle While You... Eat?

Norah is loving her solid foods. In fact, when she's paying attention, I can barely shovel it in fast enough. However, as her parentage suggests, she's quite the social kidlett. I usually feed her in the kitchen sitting in her little bumbo seat while Mark is getting our dinner ready. Sometimes she gets so distracted she turns almost completely backwards in her chair. In the picture below she's not eating, but she's definitely distracted (I'll try to get some more pics soon). The only technique I've found that will consistently garner her attention is whistling. I whistle commercial jingles, praise songs and musical theater numbers. She's particularly fond of anything that Julie Andrews has ever sang... weird kid.

Six Months Old!

I can't believe Norah is already six months old. Everyone says it goes fast, but it's just amazing how quickly she turned into a little person. She's already got opinions and she's not at all afraid to share them! Here's a brief recap in pictures:

      

Norah's Birthday                   One Month 

      

Two Months                            Three Months

 

      

Four Months                           Five Months     

 

Six Months                                   Today! 

In the last photo she's playing with one of her new favorite toys, a bag of cough drops. Her other favorite toy is the plastic cap that goes on her bottles. Who needs to spend all that money on Baby Einstein? Not this Momma! :-)

So, maybe I'm a bad blogger (or at least an inconsistent one) but I'm hoping that means I'm a good mom. I just haven't had time to write down my thoughts and feeling because I've been so focused on the baby. Yeah... that sounds like a pretty good excuse.

Anyway, I'm starting up again and hoping to be a little more consistent so that our far away friends and relatives (specifically Grandma and Grandpa) can have a little better idea of the daily goings-on in the life of Sweet Baby Jones et al.

I'd like to start in chronological order but, to quote Inigo Montoya, "Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up." Here are a few tidbits from the last few weeks:

Norah got a chance to wear her sunglasses for the first time a few weeks ago. She didn't really like the putting on process, but once they were on she seemed to enjoy the absence of cornea searing glare that comes with a sunny, snowy winter day.

She's finally growing into her 3-6 month size clothes. She'll be 6 months on Thursday. Here she's modeling a pair of pajamas that her Grandma bought her. Her dad's favorite stuffed animal growing up was his polar bear, so they're pretty special.

We just got a package from Grandma and Grandpa a few days ago. The dress below was one of the ADORABLE outfits in it. Guess what she's wearing for Valentine's Day!!

Yesterday she was helping me make the bed. Mostly she was helping by laying quietly propped between our two pillows. All of the sudden, she grabs the blanket in front of her and pulls herself up to sitting. Then she looks at me as if to say, "Yeah, I do this all the time." Fortunately Daddy was nearby with the camera.

Last but not least... today was her first time actually sitting in the grocery cart. I figured if she could pull herself up she was ready. She's still so small that I shoved my big down coat all around her for protection, but she LOVED it. She was making some pretty hilarious faces. Here's a few of my favorite:

Maternity Clothes - A Rant

The Preface

First let me start by reminding you all that I live in a small town now. To further accentuate my point, allow me to explain our shopping situation here in Durango. Our "mall" consists of approximately 15 stores, depending on how many of them are out of business at any given time. The major stores in the mall are JC Penny's ("serving Durango since 18 something-something"), Linens 'n Things, Pier 1, a Sears that only sells appliances and lawn mowers, and an array of small no name department stores usually headquartered in the mid-west that rotate through the main department store space before dying a slow death. Since we've been here I believe there have been three stores in that storefront. We also have several teenie bopper stores including - oddly enough - Pacific Sunwear. Half the kids in Durango couldn't tell you which direction the Pacific is from here, but whatever. 

The only store in town that offers a maternity department is Wal Mart. A brief word picture of the Wal Mart maternity department: pathetic. It consists of one rack of clothes roughly 3 feet wide and 6 feet tall directly next to the five racks of surgical scrubs which, frankly are quite attractive in comparison.

The Rant

So the pregnant girl is going to rant about the poor selection of maternity clothes in her small town. Real original Shel. WRONG! I've discovered a surprisingly lush selection of maternity clothes here in Durango. It's just not exactly where I might have expected. I have good news for my preggo friends across the country (at my last count, I have 6 friends besides myself who are in various stages of incubation). Unfortunately this news may prove disturbing for mothers of teenage girls everywhere. 

I, a 20-blah-blah-year-old, six month pregnant, married woman have been buying most of my clothes in the junior's department. Pregnant women everywhere rejoice! There's a wealth of cute, fun tops roomy enough to carry you well into the 7th month readily available to you (and for cheap too!). It just so happens that these adorable maternity clothes are being marketed to your 15-year-old cousin. 

I must admit, shopping in the

 junior's section while obviously knocked up has earned me a few uncomfortable moments. I don't think I look THAT young, but I've noticed several concerned and disapproving looks from moms shopping with their daughters. I just smile and try to reach for things with my left hand. Just last weekend, a mother less than five feet away from me said to her daughter rather loudly, "No honey. Pick a smaller size. I don't want you wearing those blousy tops, they might make you look pregnant." Huh, I wonder what could have given her that idea. Perhaps the fact that I was wearing the shirt pictured below, which was purchased on a recent outing to the junior's department at TJ Maxx in Farmington.

Maybe I should just be grateful for this unfortunate shift in the winds of fashion. Instead I'm somewhat concerned with the fashion sense of America's youth. While I think we can all agree that this trend is far less offensive than the "bad catholic schoolgirl" belly shirt look that was popular in my high school days, it's still slightly disturbing. A young lady with inattentive parents could easily disguise a bun in the oven for several months before coming clean to the unsuspecting grandparents-to-be. I only hope that by shopping in the same area as the impressionable youth of my town I will help to snap them out of this tent-as-a-top fad. My secret, devious hope is that I walk into the local coffee shop and run into some snotty teen queen - perhaps one who's been rude to my cousin lately - and she'll be wearing the same outfit as me.