Meeting Baby Jasmine

Just a year ago there were three couples in our small group (there were five, but two moved away). As of just a couple of days ago, all three couples now have baby girls! Norah was born in August, Ellie was born in December and Jasmine was born just last week. For those of you keeping score, that means that the girls in our group officially outnumber the boys by 100%! On Saturday we took Norah over to meet her newest friend, Jasmine. (We also took some fun costume pictures with Ellie. More on that in the next post.)

This is the first time she saw Jasmine. She was very quiet and gentle looking over the side of the bassinet. That actually surprised me a little, since she's usually so, um, animated. Once she saw Jasmine napping in there she kept pointing and saying, "Bebe Jammin night night." So apparently she got the basic concept.

We hung out for a little while (and took some good halloween pictures). When it was time for Jasmine to wake up for dinner, the big girls got a chance to see her up close.

Then, of course, it was time for a group picture with all the girls!

Silly Saturday

Halloween pictures to follow. I think we got some really good ones. Here's a freebie from this morning. Such a big girl. She can get up on her chairs all by herself now. Can you tell she's proud?

Blast from the Past

Just before Norah was born we got a little point and shoot camera that I could keep in my purse for impromptu photo sessions. Sort of as a result, Mark's (really really nice) camera has been neglected. He started taking pictures of Norah with it last weekend and man, does that camera take nice pictures! I'll be posting a few awesome pictures in the next day or so. As we scrolled through looking at the photos he'd taken, we found that the last time he used the camera was quite a while ago. Here's one of the most recent images he took up until last weekend:

Celebrities in the Baby World

I have a pair of pajamas with Tinkerbell on them. I bust them out at this time of year because they're especially fuzzy and warm. The first day Norah saw me wearing them, she pointed at my shirt and asked, "Wha dat?" I told her it was Tinkerbell. I also have a Tinkerbell mug, sweatshirt, and a couple of other things. Ever since that very first "Wha dat?" Norah has been recognizing "Teekeebeh" on everything. In fact, when the commercial for the new Tinkerbell DVD came on the TV, she stopped in her tracks and stared. I think it was the longest she'd ever paid attention to the TV.

In that same vein, we don't watch any kids' programs on TV yet. I anticipate several years of repetitive songs and characters with high pitched voices in our family's viewing future. I'm trying to dodge that steamroller for as long as I can. So imagine our surprise when Norah, while looking at a Sesame Street themed book (which I got on the dollar rack at a certain store) turns to the page with a little fuzzy red guy on it and proceeds to run around the house with the book yelling, "Ehlmooo!" Fortunately, I grew up with Sesame Street myself (though Elmo is a little on the new side for me) and it's one kids' show I don't mind watching. Which is a good thing because apparently the cast of characters on The Street have somehow entered the collective consciousness of America's children. Or, perhaps, they have some Sesame Street books at school too.

Bewitchingly Cute

I promised my mom I would post a photo of this outfit since she didn't get to see it. My mom got the tights and the black kitty socks (which you can't really see) in the dollar aisle at Targ*t. Love that place! All morning Norah was lifting up the little ruffled cuff of her tights and meowing at her socks.

Anyway, Mark calls this the Wednesday Adams outfit. Silly Mark. Norah will never have as much hair as Wednesday. But maybe we can disguise that fact with a pointy hat!

Divide and Conquer

There's one little milestone that Norah reached last weekend that I forgot to mention. In one of my posts from last weekend I introduced the (somewhat annoying) little pink doggy that Norah has decided is her new favorite. Last Saturday she asked me to turn him on. After an hour or so of listening to him yap earlier in the day, I just wasn't ready to set him loose on my home again. So I told her no, I wasn't going to turn on the pink doggy. She asked at least four times and I stood my ground. Finally, she tilted her little head and squinted those sweet blue eyes. I could almost see the wheels turning in that baby brain of hers. Suddenly, her face brightened and she said one little word, "Dada!" Then she took off at top toddler speed with pink doggy to ask Daddy to make him bark.

That's right folks! Our sweet little baby girl is already attempting that age-old kid technique of divide and conquer. Don't worry though, in this family Mom and Dad are a team. Thank goodness, because I don't think I could have taken another second of that barking dog!

Thankful Thursday - Milestones

As usual, today I'm thankful for my little girl. She has changed our lives in so many ways - most of them good! Here are a few milestones that she's reached recently that I don't think I've mentioned yet.

• She gives kisses. Real ones. No more open mouth slobber sharing, these are the real deal.
• She has way too many new words to count, at least a few more recognizable ones every day (most recently "noodles" and "peas"), and she's started stringing them together into simple sentences.
• She's decided that her once beloved bath times are now torture and she screams the whole way through. We don't know why. It started this week. We're hoping she gets over it just as quickly.
• She loves to throw the ball for the dogs to chase. This is a fantastic development as it entertains both the baby and the dog AND does not involve the possibility of the dog throwing up baby food a few hours later (as her other favorite activity involving he dog does).
• If you hold her hands while she's upside-down, she'll flip herself backwards and land on her feet.
• Upon hearing the word "booger" her finger immediately goes into her nose.
• She can blow her nose when asked. That doesn't mean she always will, but she can!
• She has six teeth showing and another two set to arrive any day now.

But my favorite milestone is this one:

On Sunday morning I was getting her ready for church. I pulled out a little outfit to put on her. She looked at it, looked at me, and said, "No." So, humoring her, I pulled out another one. "No." After the third one, I finally pulled out a skirt. She looked at it, smiled, looked at me and said, "Uh huh." I must admit, I did NOT expect this development so soon. I'm going to have to employ a "pick from these two outfits" strategy from now on, because it takes forever to get her dressed!