Serious Weekend and More Wedding Photos

Oh, man. We just had a serious weekend. We traveled to Grand Rapids (well, Ada, Michigan) yesterday for the Brown family reunion. Nora cried almost all the way there. When we started the trip, she started wailing, and I made Willis pull over so I could see if she was poopy. She was. So, I changed her diaper (and her clothes), and I nursed her for about 45 minutes (that's seriously how long she ate) until she calmed down. She was fine for about a half hour or 45 minutes, and then she started wailing again. Josh and Ian were in the car with us, and I'm pretty sure those guys are not going to be wanting kids anytime in the near future after that episode.

It was so sad: the kid wouldn't nap in the car, and she ALWAYS naps in the car. She was fussy all day long, and any time we got her in a deep sleep, we'd try to lay her down, and she'd wake up screaming. I was thinking of just wearing her in the sling all day so she could sleep on me, but everyone wanted to see her and hold her (most of the family hadn't even met her yet). So, that wasn't going to work. I just felt so helpless. I didn't really feel like I could enjoy myself because I was really too stressed out about Nora being so upset. Mary (my mother-in-law) did her best to help me out by holding her and soothing her, and I do think Nora did pretty well for a large portion of that time.

On our way home, it was just Ian, Willis, and I in the car, and I sat in the back with Nora. I was able to curb her screams (don't tell the authorities, but I climbed over to her side of the car and nursed her in her car seat a couple of times when I couldn't get her to stop screaming). Luckily, Ian was sawing some logs up front, so he didn't get a show or anything. That's not something I ever thought I'd have to do with Nora, but . . . man . . . I got pretty desperate to get her to calm down. A few times, she was sucking my pinky finger, and she CHOMPED me. Once that happened, I realized she had to be teething again. I got to looking at things a little more closely, and I realized that I was seeing some more white spots on her gums. It was just terrible timing (but when is it ever good timing, honestly?).

In the past week, she's been really difficult to get down for naps and for night time. I think this is why. She's also been a lot more fussy, and she's been wanting to be held more than usual.

Today, I think she was just so tired. After everyone left this morning, I took her up to her crib, put some toys in there with her (her mirror and two small toys), and left her in there awake. I heard her playing around with her toys for a little while, and then after about twenty minutes, I heard nothing. I walked in there to check on her, and sure enough, she was asleep. She slept for a good two hours, I think. We had time to mow, trim, weed the garden, put up the hammock, and cut Willi's hair before she woke up again. She's probably going to need another nap here shortly. So, I've got to make this quick.

So, I'm exhausted today. I was up late last night with the girls (Amanda and Betsy), too, after we got Nora to bed. We actually enjoyed our patio last night—even though there's still a huge pile of sand on it. I had to buy some citronella candles and some bug spray, but, by golly, we enjoyed that patio.

Without further ado (and without further torturing you about our hardest day so far with our little baby), I'll share some more photos of my brother's wedding. These were taken by my sister, Julie, or by some member of her very large family. Enjoy!


Jermy, the groom.


Me at the rehearsal, looking like a school marm. That's little Nora standing up for me whilst watching her feet.


Jerm and Marlene at the rehearsal.


Daddy.


See how seriously uncool and school marmy I am? It's pretty significant.


I look like I should be holding a ruler or something.


Dark photo of Nora and me at the mansion. It's highly likely I had no idea where we were supposed to be here. I was wondering around the place for a good hour or so before I figured out what was going on. I felt really bad about that.


This is definitely where I had no idea where I was supposed to be. Nora was screaming for about 45 minutes straight here, too, which added to the stress level a bit. Killian was trying to help cheer her up. I think she grabbed his glasses clean off his face at one point.


Twins: Dad and Terry


Twins: Willis and . . . Willis.


Beautiful cake.


This is how I got my baby down the aisle. It worked out.


She passed out during the ceremony. Poor little angel.


Jerm and Marlene walking to the altar.


Neat Filipino tradition. Brother-in-law Ben is the officiant.


Nora's passed out here. And yes, I did hold her the entire time. I have serious arms.


View from the back of the crowd—or close to it.

Alright. I've gotta try to get Nora down for a second nap. Catch you kids later.

Seven Eleven

This little girl is six months old today. Nora's been doing all kinds of funny stuff lately. I'll just list it here: She constantly babbles. When she cries now, she goes, "Maaamaaa," and it's really, really sad. She started rubbing, caressing, and pulling her own hair while she nurses.  She also does gymnastics while nursing, which is not my preference. She attacks my keyboard when I'm at the computer. She likes to stand up (with our help). She peed in the potty yesterday. (We got the chamber pot yesterday, and she peed in it the first time I sat her on it! It was so awesome! I think she had a blast while doing it 'cause she had a huge grin on her face.) She doesn't like to sleep anymore. She really gets chuckling when she's playing with her daddy. She likes Hobbes, and I think she likes it when he licks her hand. I, however, do not like that. He knows he's not supposed to do it, either, but he can't help himself. He just looks at me with his puppy dog eyes and licks her hand anyway while I yell at him. She sticks her tongue out a lot. She can sit up somewhat unassisted for a short period of time. She rolls over both ways, but she's not -like- rolling across the room or anything yet. She rubs her eyes when she's tired. She also freaks out and squirms now when she's tired. She doesn't let me vacuum the house unless she's strapped to my person. She thinks I'm funny sometimes. She still likes Spoon's "The Underdog." She's wearing size 6-9 months right now. Some of the six months stuff doesn't fit her. She yells for a good, long time in the morning after I nurse her in bed. For overnight visitors, I'm sure this isn't very much fun. For me, it's kind-of funny. She likes to splash in baths now. She coughs to be silly sometimes. She likes to bounce. She loves her feet. She cuddles with me sometimes. She has yet to be sick (knock on wood). She smiles at just about everyone she sees. She loves the baby in the mirror and pretty much any other baby she meets. She's started laughing a little bit as she falls asleep while nursing. I'm not sure what's up with that, but it's pretty stinking funny. Maybe she has her mother's uncanny ability to fully recall a funny scenario when it's long since passed. This very ability is the reason I've been known to burst out laughing in church and other similarly serious places. This could be a problem. She's such a sweet little girl. In other news, my canister vacuum cleaner arrived at Walmart yesterday, so I ran over to pick it up with Nora when she decided not to nap for me in the morning. I used it today (with a kid strapped to my back as usual), and it was pretty sweet. I think it's actually got better suction than my Dirt Devil upright vac ever had. That's somewhat unfortunate since that Dirt Devil vac was -like- 200 bucks or something nuts like that. By the way, I did discover that the belt broke on the Dirt Devil. I'm trying to order a new one, but it just so happens the website isn't working properly. Walmart doesn't stock that size of belt, either. It's just wonderful. So, we'll have a few vacuums. Maybe I'll keep the Dirt Devil in the basement since it's got a long cord, and it'll reach everywhere down there. Even though two people have told me they want the sand (off of my Craigslist post), it still sits on our finished patio. I told them, "First come, first serve, so get over here and grab it!" That didn't seem to be a hot enough fire for their butts. So, that's unfortunate and annoying. We've been trying to get quotes from some contractors for our bathrooms. We made four appointments. So far, only one guy has shown up out of three appointments. I thought contractors were -like- hurting for work or something. Guess not. I was originally going to do the bathrooms myself, but Willis decided he'd rather have his sanity. I tend to go a little OCD when I'm doing projects. Willi and I are watching Riley, my sister-in-law's rat terrier. She's been a fairly well-behaved dog in general. Nora can't stop staring at her, and the cat finally got used to her. In fact, the cat and Riley had a stare-down yesterday, and I was finally able to note that my cat is, indeed, the same size, if not a little taller than Riley. Weight-wise, though, I think Riley wins. She's a tank. Someone will have to explain this to me, but this dog (Riley) somehow manages to only stand on her two front legs when she pees while her back legs float in the air. I see her do it every time, but I still don't believe she's actually doing it. I ask you. If it weren't such an unattractive idea on paper, I might try to get a photo of it sometime. I just can't bring myself to do it, though. I mean—I'd be taking a photo of a dog peeing, for crying out loud. It's a sight to see, though, I must say. One for the books. Randy and Kelly are having a garage sale today and tomorrow, and it inspired me to get rid of some clutter. So, I brought a bunch of stuff over to their house to let them sell. Hopefully, it all goes. If not, I'll be grabbing up the remainder and trucking it straight to Goodwill. Tomorrow is the Brown family reunion. I haven't been to a reunion for my hub's family, so this should be a new and exciting experience. We're hosting some people in our house Saturday night after the reunion (cousin Betsy is one of 'em, and she's got cat allergies). Thus, the vacuuming and the urgency for it. My Nora pie is squealin', so I'm gonna pick her up, change her diaper, put her on the potty in the process, and play with her until Daddy gets home. I'm done with computers for the day, I think. Dilly out.

Fun-Dusted Trauma

Holy Moses. It was a serious Fourth of July weekend. We stayed in a tent at my parents' house from Thursday night through Saturday afternoon. We had good times, good food, and some mild trauma.

Hobbes got seriously spooked from the fireworks that my cousins were shooting off in the yard on Friday night, and he leapt on top of our tent (between the rain guard and the actual tent), flattening it completely while Nora was sleeping inside. I couldn't get him to come out, and I actually had to step onto the flattened tent (completely horrified that I could possibly step on Nora in the process) to pull Hobbes out of there so I could pop the tent back up to check on Nora. It seemed like minutes went by, but I seriously think it was only about 25 seconds or so before I got him off and got the tent in a position where I could get inside and check on Nora. I was freaking out the whole time because I never heard a peep from Nora, and I knew that she should be awake and crying. Of course, the dog burst into the tent before I did when I had unzipped about three inches of opening. He was really freaked. I ran in after him, muscled him into his bed in the corner, laid down on the ground next to Nora, and I shoved my ear in her face. There she was: perfectly fine, and sucking her thumb in her sleep. I sat and sobbed for about ten minutes after all of that. I don't think I've ever been so scared in my whole life.

So . . . if that little event hadn't happened, I'd have been a much happier camper. It was already stressful enough camping with a six-month-old baby and a toddler of a dog.

I could've done without the mosquitoes, too, honestly.

I was also concerned for half of the day on Friday that Nora had a sunburn on her face, but it turns out that I just got sunscreen in her eye. So, she was having a reaction to that.

I did get to play some volleyball, Bocci Ball (first time ever), and I saw some people I hadn't seen in way too long. So, that was fun.

I also got to run over and check out Lena and Brett's house for a little bit on Friday. That place is going to be amazing when they're done.

Without further ado, here are some photos of the weekend:

The first three photos were taken while I was packing up to go to Wolcott, and Nora was napping. I looked at the monitor at one point downstairs, and I realized I couldn't see Nora in her bed. I was kind-of freaked out at that, so I ran upstairs to check on her. The little rat was sleeping "under the radar" in her crib. Silly girl.




And now, here are some photos from my brother's wedding. I'm not linking directly to the photos on these because it's probably wrong. Hopefully, it's not wrong that I'm linking to the photographers' blogs. I have a feeling it's less wrong since it's their websites.

Anyway, there are a couple really sweet shots of my Nora in there, but you should just see how awesome this wedding was. I think my brother is really happy, and that makes me happy.

Photographer Blog 1

Photographer Blog 2

More Photos 1

More Photos 2

I've got lots to do today. We're having some guests this week, so I've got some prep work to do. I also need to, you know, work.

Nora Pie

I just noticed this morning (and I think it just started happening this morning) that Nora is actually babbling some consonants! I swear that today at lunch, Nora was saying, "Dadadadada."

She's been doing combinations of, "Yayayaya," and, "Mamananabababah."

This is totally new, I think! I know: I feel terrible that I'm not really sure, but I think I am! I don't believe I actually noted her doing consonants before! It's so strange how this kid just starts doing something different, and there are no bells and whistles that go off and say, "Your child has just completed a milestone," like I thought there would be. You know?

She's also been doing a lot of the whole, "Pffffffft," thing.

She thinks it's funny, and you know what? It is.

You know what else might make me terrible? I mowed part of the lawn yesterday with Nora in the Snuggli (Willi and I had made a deal that he'd go to the grocery if I mowed the yard. I really, really hate grocery shopping, and I really don't mind mowing, believe it or not). She had napped through the first half, and then I heard her fussing on the monitor. So, I went up to get her, stuck her in the Snuggli, and we had a good ol' time. The yard got mowed, so that's a plus. I'm finding, though, that I'm having to do more and more things with Nora strapped to me in the Snuggli. She refuses to let me vacuum or do anything noisy of that nature unless she's strapped to me. She didn't used to be like that. I wonder how tacky it looks to have a baby strapped to your back while you're pushing a lawnmower. I bet it's pretty laugh-worthy—like Britney Spears laugh-worthy.

I don't think I posted this but on Sunday morning, we massively slept in! Nora slept until 8 a.m. (she must have been exhausted from the wedding weekend), and when I went in to get her, she was on her belly (which means she rolled over from back to front for the first time ever, by the way)! It's quite possible (and likely) that she was awake long before 8 a.m., but she at least was quiet in her crib until then. What's more: she had flipped completely backwards, and she was smiling at me. She makes getting up in the morning so easy.

We're eating dinner with Randy and Kelly tonight. I made some potato salad, and I'm going to throw in some crescent rolls to take over there. They're grilling some brats and chicken, and Kelly baked an apple pie. I'm stoked!

Tomorrow, I'm going to be cooking and baking for a decent part of the day. I'm making food to take with us to the big ol' Dill Fourth of July camp-out. It should be a good time.

I think someone is going to take our sand! I got a bite! Woohoo! I'll let you know if that really happens, though. I haven't pulled the ad yet since the sand is still sitting in our back yard.

Dilly out!

Lots to Share!

Oh, man . . . there's so much to talk about. There's no way I'm going to cover it here in the next few minutes.

Firstly, Jerm and Marlene's wedding was awesome. It was a little chaotic, admittedly (and who's wedding isn't?), but it was beautiful! I'm hoping to be able to score some ceremony and other wedding photos from Jerm and other people to share. For now, you'll have to make due with what I got behind the scenes with my little camera. I'll tell you right now, it's pretty sad: I didn't get much opportunity to take pictures with my camera. My arms were a little full. (I ended up walking down the aisle carrying my beebee in her big, poofy glory.)

I have lots of photos and videos to share. The two videos are just of Nora. One of them was taken in the hotel while we were hanging out for awhile the morning after the wedding. Here are the videos:

Sadly, that's all I've got with photos. I'm bummed. I want more!

Last week, Julie, Jennifer, Jacob, Kate, and their two little dogs came to stay with us overnight. We had a good time while it lasted, but I think Julie and I can both say that we're glad that the barking fest has ended. (And yes, I'm referring to our dogs.)

Unfortunately, I still haven't really cleaned up my house since the dog/kid tornado went through 'cause our vacuum cleaner crapped out on me yesterday while I started the project. It's funny: the warranty just ended on our anniversary. Huh. I've already ordered a replacement vacuum cleaner. This time, I'm getting a canister vacuum. Here's the one I'm getting:

I think it'll be pretty sweet. It's a Kalorik Canister Vacuum Cleaner, Model# VC-16107. I read several reviews on it, and it did better than some of the Dirt Devil and Eureka stuff that's out there. I wasn't willing to shell out the cash for a Dyson, either.

Anybody want some free sand? If so, check this out.

Yeah. We have a bit of an excess from the patio. We've finished the patio, but we can't actually enjoy the patio until the sand is gone. It's sadness.

Nora's getting bigger and more hilarious everyday. She's so much stinking fun!

Alright. She's yelling at me. (She has not yet napped for me today.) Perhaps I'll remember to share more things later, but in the meantime, enjoy!