2.5- a letter to my big girl

Nora,

You are still baby girl around here for the moment, although that is going to change in a few months. How I've loved having you as my baby these past couple of years.

You are emerging more into a little girl role, so fiercely independent with a "do-it-myself" attitude.

You call yourself "Rora" although you are starting to say "Nora" on occasion and it makes me so sad because we've all grown accustomed to our little "Rora."

You play for hours on end with the same toys, mostly anything with people or animals that you can role play and imagine with. Your favorite toys right now are: your tea pot with little Squinkie girl and dogs, your magnet dollhouse, your grocery cart and babies, and the Little People nativity set. You have started calling one of the Little People wise men "Sadie" (the one who carries "syrup" or so you say).

You also love to read books. You always want a book in the car and then read again in bed every night.  We discovered the solution to getting you to go to bed without a fuss was to let you read before shutting off your light. You also read in the morning when you wake up. Your favorite books are: Babar, Huckle (Richard Scarry), or anything ballet/princess.

You are such a girlie girl! The other day we were talking about all the Disney princesses and I asked who your favorite was. You chimed in without skipping a beat, "Me! Rora princess!" I laughed so hard. You definitely think you are a little princess around here.

You LOVE to sing. You are constantly singing songs at the top of your lungs...in the grocery store, in the car, in bed, at the table etc... Your favorite songs to sing are: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Mary Had a Little Lamb (or Nora Had a Little Lamb), Jesus Loves Me, and the ABC song. You love for us to "sing together."

You are still a little eater, always asking to "eat sumpin." You develop loves for certain foods and they become your staple for weeks. First it was macaroni and cheese, next couscous, and now your current favorite is cottage cheese. You always love a bowl of cereal, especially at night...just like your mama.

You are such a joy...something I say again and again.

Love you dearly,

Mama

Stuff We Like (and you might too!)

We just spent a morning at our local library which is always a highlight of our week. We get a lot of books. I don't really make a limit. Because Aidan is starting to read, I pick out a few easy reader books for him, some ballet books (a current obsession for Nora), and then story books that look fun to read to the kids (mostly Aidan). We have also started getting some comic books because Aidan loves looking at the pictures. My current favorite series I stumbled upon is only illustrations and no words, which is perfect for Aidan's age group.

"Owly" is a really fun picture/comic book and keeps Aidan very occupied. We have found them at our local library and there are several in the series.

Another thing we have recently stumbled upon is Your Story Hour and Adventures in Odyssey free broadcasts. Aidan loves listening to these stories. I thing Your Story Hour is a little more for his age and Adventures in Odyssey says it is for 8-12 year olds. I usually just look up what the story is about to see if it is something I think he'd be interested in. These last for about 1/2 an hour and have been a new part of our daily routine.

We have been doing a reading program through Looney Tunes Phonics that I purchased through LivingSocial in the fall. It was an excellent deal (just $20 for a lifetime membership-so I can use with all my children). I have thoroughly enjoyed going through this. At first, I was a little concerned that I had wasted my money, but I think it was just too much for Aidan at the time I purchased it. He is now on lesson 22 of 100 and starting to read simple sentences. I would definitely say this is something that you have to sit with your child and do together for them to get the full benefit. The cartoons they show during the lesson are pretty repetitive which is the downside, but Aidan doesn't seem to mind. Nora also enjoys sitting with us and watching. She sounds out the letters, but still doesn't have much letter recognition.

Our kids love Melissa and Doug toys and have recently been busy with the following:

The Melissa and Doug Pattern Blocks and Boards  has been a great tool for both of our children. Nora is already starting to follow the patterns at just 2 years old! This is a great way to talk about colors and shapes as well.

The Melissa and Doug Shapes Clock has been a great way to talk about time (with Aidan), shapes, colors, and numbers. There are so many things you can do with these toys to teach your kids while they have fun playing.

A wonderful resource that I think I shared once before (also found at our local library) is Unplugged Play.

This book is a wonderful resource full of ideas for games and imaginative play with your kids. I haven't had much time to spend on getting together some of these ideas, but I hope with my returning energy I will be able to again devote some time to planning ahead for activities.

Well, those are just a few of our favorite things around here at the moment. 

Life Lately

So, my camera lens is still not working and I have not gotten around to taking it somewhere to be fixed.

My dear children, when you read the story of our lives, you will notice that it seems like NOTHING happened from December 2012- March 2013. It did...Mommy just couldn't take pictures because she was lying down or sitting next to the toilet waiting to lose her dinner.

But seriously, we have done some fun stuff.

It snowed here a TON in the last weeks (about 2 feet total). The kids loved playing in the deep snow.

 Our new house all covered in snow

Aidan holding his HUGE snowball :)

We also had my brother's family visit us for a couple weeks and it was fun to have the cousins reunite.

The four "oldest" eat at CFA

We also went to Legoland which was quite the fun experience, of which I took no pictures (not even from my phone). 

Today, we ventured out to a marble store to see a demonstration on how marbles are made. The kids had fun even though I was petrified they would break some $80 marble while we were there. 

 Rolling out the hot glass 

My precious little girl watching the demonstration

Well, that's been life lately. I hope that this blog will start seeing some more activity now that I can actually contribute something. I guess a big step would be to get my camera fixed so I don't have to keep using my phone.

Pregnancy: 3rd time around

So, I'm hoping my 3rd child will forgive me for being lame when it comes to documenting this pregnancy or taking pictures...and decent ones at that. :)

I am currently about 19.5 weeks pregnant. We have an ultrasound on the 7th and should probably find out the gender.

This pregnancy has been weird for me. I have felt AWFUL, which is starting to subside although I have nausea here and there. I have felt like I have been living in a black hole of "existing" for several months and am now feeling like a normal (though pregnant) person again.

I DO NOT hardly ever feel this baby move. It was alarming at first because I felt my other 2 earlier than average (Nora we felt from the outside by 16 weeks). I found out that my placenta is in the front and blocking all the jabs and kicks for now. I do feel reassuring kicks every once in awhile.

I am sleeping better...HALLELUJAH! And, am not desperate for naps every day. I have gotten some energy back which is good because we have a lot of stairs in our new house and I am constantly going up and down with a 30 lb. toddler on my hips that needs to be held 24/7.

Here's hoping for an uneventful and relatively easy 2nd half of pregnancy. :)

 17.5 weeks

19.5 weeks