Another Thing

I have a phone on the wall of my office with speakerphone capabilities. Several times a day, I call Willis at work, and I use the speakerphone. In the past few days, Nora will look at the phone, giggle, and sometimes she says, "Dada."

Every time she does it, I call Willis and tell him that Nora wanted to talk to him, and many times, she does! You've got to see the smile on this kid's face when we do that. I need to get a video of it: if it's even possible.

It is pretty cute, but in a way, you have to feel a little sad because maybe she thinks the phone is her daddy. I'm not sayin' that Willis isn't ever here. I'm just saying that in the 10 hours or so that he isn't here during the day, she's getting her daddy fix with the phone.

She Gives Me Kisses

I forgot to mention this when I posted the other day, but Nora has started giving me kisses. Sure: they are totally slobbery and open-mouthed, but a kiss is a kiss is a kiss. It's still really sweet.

Oh, Life (Is Bigger Than Me, and I'm Fairly Small-ish)

My life has been rather interesting of late. I think I'll have to do this in bullet point mode, but first, I have to share this video.



She's a lot of fun. Okay. Now, it's time for the bullet points.

• Last Thursday, I was cleaning up the cat litter box area (for the first time since before I got pregnant with Nora), and I discovered a giant, brown, freshly dead, spotted slug. Don't ask me how it got into the basement. It frightens me to think about it. Slugs weird me out ever since I saw Ron puking them up in the third Harry Potter movie.
• Yes, we still have the basement hole.
• We saw the Kaedings, the Campbells, Paige, and Kevin this weekend at the Kaeding house. It was refreshing to see all of them. Nora did swimmingly: she came with us. We had a good time. We're tired now, but we had a good time. I seriously think that Nic and Jason should own a bed and breakfast or something because they seriously set us up while we were there. It was pretty sweet. They were quite hospitable.
• I had a doctor appointment today. I think I'll start a new set of bullet points just for that.

I haven't been to a family practice doctor in ages, and I made this appointment long ago when I thought it was time to get us established with a regular doctor here. I decided I should probably ask about my wrist pain while I was in there (my wrist has been bothering me since I started working from home). Here's how it went:

• I got three shots today.
• I apparently have the beginnings of carpal tunnel.
• I got a wrist x-ray.
• Now, I'm wearing a cheesy, sexy wrist guard while I'm typing this (and I have to wear it all the time while working/typing/etc. now).

I'm just really glad that I asked Kelly to watch Nora for me while I went. I almost brought her with me. That would have been serious. Luckily, we are now established with a doctor in this town. So, if either one of us needs to go, it should be a fairly painless process.

Regular bullet point format will resume now:

• Nora has three teeth that are teasing us about their arrival. It's been fairly sad.
• I worked a lot the past two weeks. This week, I intend to take it a bit easy. I may not really have a choice in that matter, though, because I've just finished two major projects. After that happens, I tend to have a bit of a famine when it comes to work.
• We still haven't decided on a contractor for our bathrooms. In fact, we have one full quote from one contractor, and we just heard from the other contractor in the last two days. Apparently, he dropped off a quote at some point, and it got "lost." Mmmyeah. I'm not so sure about that. I'm, like, here all the time almost. We'll see, though. If the price is right, we might like him.
• I'm watching Randy and Kelly's little Marian three days a week for a couple hours at a time (and maybe sometimes four days a week). She's about four months older than Nora, but she's the same size. It's pretty wild. Nora looks so funny next to her. Marian is already practically walking, and Nora isn't quite crawling yet. So, I'm sure you can imagine how strange it is to see.

Willi's home. Must talk to him.

We're Hardcore

Things have been pretty hardcore with us Brown folk. We were out of town this weekend, as usual. We finally went to visit my Great, Great Aunt Lee for a very brief time on Saturday. I wish we could've stayed longer with her. She has so many awesome stories, and she's a joy to visit.

Sunday, we came back into town (we crashed at the Brown house for the weekend journey—and that's basically all we had time for there, which was sad), and Nora and I immediately hopped back into the car to go to a bridal shower in Schererville. We were pretty seriously under-dressed. I had fully intended to change our clothes, but by the time we got home (and when I realized that we'd just be getting covered in Nora's food), I decided not to change us. I had on some capris (they weren't denim or anything) and a matching T-shirt, and Nora had on a yellow sun outfit. If I had put on a blouse, I'd have probably been alright. I just didn't, though. We didn't stay to the end of the shower: I was afraid Nora was going to start squealing. So, we busted it back home. Sadly, it took and hour and a half to get back. The traffic was horrendous. I even took the toll road (and I didn't even take the wrong ramp like I did on Friday after lunch with my department—they took me out for my birthday).

Nora's still being a handful. She's been pooping constantly, and she's quite fussy a large portion of the time right now. She's also not napping well or normally. What's more: work has been really serious for me these past two weeks. I've got major projects I'm trying to wrap up (and my connection is just so painfully slow, which isn't helping me), and just because irony loves me, I have a billion smaller projects I have to get done when I finish the major projects (and they all need to be done yesterday). It just so happens that when it rains with work, it pours with work. In about a week, I'll be begging for more to do. It's maddening! Why can't it just be distributed evenly?

The cat found a new place to sleep while we were gone. I don't like it (see the photos). I'm sure Nora will put a stop to that with her hair-pulling and fierce kicking.

Nora's wigging out again, and Willi's not here yet to help out (he's got a department meeting tonight). Gotta go.

Update on Nora Pie

This little girl has been a bit of a challenge (compared to her usual self, that is) lately. She's still teething (this has been going on for quite some time now). Just this week, she's been fussy, crying a lot, pooping a lot (who knew that teething makes kids poop a lot!? As a result, she's also dealing with some diaper rash issues), and she refuses to let me put her down. Of course, it never helps: the dog always seems to freak out and bark right when there's a glimmer of hope that Nora might lay down for a nap in her crib (or there's a crew of contractor dudes shredding an entire tree down the street making a ridiculous amount of racket). Her two small naps that she had today were both taken in my lap. I have some photos from one of those naps below. I don't mind that she is sleeping in my lap, but it does make it difficult for me to, say, go to the bathroom when I'd like to or to switch the loads of laundry at my convenience and whatnot. She's got me spoiled right now. I suppose I'd better soak in this lap time, though. Soon, she'll be too big (and, some might argue that she looks too big to be in my lap already).

What's sad, though: this week, I've been seriously busy with some big projects for work, and the timing couldn't be worse. It always seems like the timing is always a little bit off for everything when it comes to having a kid. I suppose that's life now, though. That's what having kids is all about, I imagine.

We got a bath this morning, and I decided to not run a comb through her hair afterwards. The end result was some sweet curls on top of her head. Check those out! I love them!

She's so close to crawling right now, too. She's still scooting backwards, but she's started to figure out how to lunge forward, lay down, and then do it again to make forward progress.

She has begun to flip over onto her belly mid-diaper change. I'm not a fan of that. She was already like changing a diaper on a fish (a guppy, perhaps), and now, it's as if I'm changing a diaper on a salmon that is seasoned for swimming upstream or something. We've been changing an obscene amount of diapers around here lately, too, with this poo issue that's happening with the teething. We'd be shelling out some serious cash right now if we weren't doing cloth diapers. Instead, we're rinsing out a lot of diapers in the toilet. It's a good thing that we're not even phased about doing the latter.

In the last month or two, Nora's been immediately sticking her hands into the messy diaper area. I think it's because she's not used to feeling that area (due to it being covered so seriously by a cloth diaper). So, I constantly am having to clean her hands and then block her hands from her lower half. So, what I'm saying here is: I really need, like, at least one more hand to properly deal with this kid. For now, I'll just have to keep the flailing to a minimum and hope for the best.

She's also been grabbing at my keyboard while I'm at the computer. This makes for some extreme computer action. In fact, she's been wanting to post on my blog. Here's a little note from Nora:

                    b hj hb jm,ui ,uigh nh                       vr bveb fy

She was really excited to say that to you guys.

Nora has almost figured out what the whole "waving thing" is about. Almost.

She still pets herself while nursing, which is pretty cute (and she actually hasn't bit me in quite some time now, which has been appreciated).

She also still has serious ninja skills when it comes to removal of eyeglasses and diaper covers.

Oh, and she is really getting complicated with her babbling. She's really starting to sound like a little person having a conversation.

Oop! She's seriously fussy right now. I need to go.

Hilarious

I was listening to the radio on my way to a work meeting yesterday, and I heard about a guy in Australia that was mad because Google Maps captured him passed out drunk on his curb in front of his house. I had to go find the photo, of course. Google Maps has since removed this photo from the street view of this guy's address, but it's still out there on the internet.



I find it rather humorous, myself.

I bet his parents are proud. 

Seven Months

She's only been here for seven months, and I can't imagine life without her.

She got her hot rod from the neighbors, Bill and Pam. They brought it over for her yesterday along with another sweet toy that she'll enjoy when she gets a little bigger: a play house!

I got a chance to capture her weird, possessed-sounding growl. Check it out.

I still have to capture the Kermit noise. That noise is just hilarious.

Also, here are some recent videos:

I think she's fun.

In other news, Nora didn't nap at all yesterday (which was serious), and Willi's barbecue ribs were pretty good. (I made some cheesy potatoes to go with them, and we cooked some asparagus, too.)

That is all.

Yay, Freecycle!

The sand is gone! Finally, after three months of waiting, it's gone! Someone on my Freecycle group wanted it, and they came to pick it up when they said they would. It's so sweet, I can't even stand it. So, now, we finally have use of our patio. We cleaned it off yesterday (it's still got a bit of a sandy residue, but it'll get better with time). There's some crab grass trying to take over parts of the patio (and our sidewalk) that we need to address sometime (probably not until next year), but I think it still looks pretty sweet. Here are some photos from yesterday after we cleaned it.




As you can see, we now have a periwinkle chaise lounge. I did a little experiment with some fabric spray paint that went awry (do not buy that stuff: it's really, really terrible). I ended up spray painting it with an outdoor, multi-surface spray paint, and that seemed to work rather well. We'll see how it goes. I just know that buying new patio cushions is expensive, and if it weren't for the serious fading, that particular cushion would still be in good shape.

Doesn't the patio look sweet, though? It's going to take awhile before it's all cleaned up, but we're pretty excited about it. In a few years (once everything settles), I am thinking of tiling that cement slab that's under the patio table with a neat, durable, rough, outdoor tile. I think it'll dress up that nasty cement, and it'll really add something. If the brick ends up flush with the cement, I may do nothing. We'll see. Only time will tell.

Here are some other photos of our garden action:




We're going to have a serious amount of tomatoes very soon. A lot of these are volunteers, too. We didn't get them all caged (huge mistake), so I think we're probably going to lose a lot, too. Next year, we'll be smarter. We get a little smarter with this stuff every year.

In other Freecycle news, I am getting rid of some baby formula samples that I got while I was pregnant with Nora. People need this stuff, and Freecycle's a good way to do it. I actually got rid of some Enfamil brand formula this morning. I didn't realize it until I found a way to get rid of it, but I had a lot of that stuff. It would have been sad if I had just let it all go to waste.

This Freecycle thing is pretty sweet. So far, the people I'm meeting are friendly.

In other news in general, Willi's getting adventurous with the grill today. He's grilling beef ribs. It's going to take all day, apparently, and he's really nervous about it. I think it's going to be delicious. It already smells pretty good, and he's gotten to be quite handy with our charcoal grill.

Nora's not wanting to nap today. I finally just got her to go to sleep on my lap, and I think I'm going to go lay her down and join Willi outside. It's really nice out there. I hope she doesn't wake up when I lay her down. She's been doing that. Getting her to nap has become a bit of a challenge lately.

Dilly out!

Homer

Willi brought Nora a Homer from his conference adventures at Dave & Busters.

Nora loves him.

He's also the same size as she.

I Got Flowers!

Jerm and Marlene sent me roses for my birthday! Check these babies out!




Thank you, Jerm and Marlene! You didn't have to do that, but they sure are pretty!

Trip Eights

It's 8.8.08 today. That's kind-of fun. Some stuff has happened since the last time I posted. I'll just list it below:

1. I forgot to mention that I got sushi from the grocery store and ate it every night Willi was gone. It was glorious. (I finally got my stinkin' sushi!)
2. Nora didn't want to sleep the night before/morning of my birthday (Wednesday). I'm not sure if it was because Willi was gone or because she's teething. It was a rough night/morning. There was lots of crying and nursing.
3. My birthday happened. I turned 27 on August 6th (tree years shy of tirty).
4. On my birthday, my phone would not stop ringing, and it was mostly people calling from work (and they weren't calling to chit chat or anything like that). I about went nuts like I did when I was at my due date with Nora still in my belly.
5. Luckily, my mother-in-law, Mary, was here during all of that, and she was taking care of Nora for me while I ran around like a chicken with my head removed.
6. I actually was able to do a couple of housework things while Mary watched Nora. I did a load of diapers and I vacuumed part of the house.
7. Mary brought me a birthday cake.  It is tasty.
8. I got some awesome news from my good friend, Lena.
9. I went to the dentist later that day, and I had a better experience this time since I no longer have pregnancy gingivitis. (No cavities!)
10. Willi came home while I was at the dentist (the dentist was a half hour behind, and I had intended to be back before Willi got home).
11. Willi and I went out to eat while Mary watched Nora for us. I got a free slice of cheesecake!
12. Nora took a three-hour nap yesterday morning.
13. Someone from Freecycle offered to come pick up our sand on Saturday morning. I really hope they do.
14. I got a library card at my local library, and I had no idea what I wanted to read. So, I picked up the first book that caught my eye. It was called This Book Will Save Your Life. I read the first two pages, and I hated it. I absolutely hated it. I'll be taking that back, and Willi handed me The Hobbit to read instead. I do intend to use the library for other things, though. It's a really sweet library. Maybe I'll do some research and figure out what's good to read these days.
15. Nora figured out how to take off her diaper cover. This is why it's a good thing she's not in disposables at the moment.
16. She's not quite crawling yet, but she's thinking about it very seriously.
17. That's about it.

And now, it's time for a cute photo of Nora from today.

Sersly.

For now, Dilly out.

Miracle

As a last resort (and I had basically given up at this point), I shut down my computer, let it sit for awhile (I had already done this a few times this morning), and then, I reset my internet connection. I turned my computer back on, and tried to synchronize again, unsuccessfully. I figured it didn't work, but when I went to open up my project, all of my changes were actually there.

I can't explain it—it doesn't even make sense that it worked this time. All I can say is, "Thank God."

Back to work!

Bouncin' Babies

Susanna came over yesterday with her little Thomas. He and Nora played together, and it was serious cuteness. Susanna and I enjoyed ourselves, too! Thanks for coming to visit, Susanna! I'd probably be in bad shape today if I didn't have happy memories from yesterday to make me feel better.

Photos from yesterday:

Videos from yesterday:

Good times.