Girls' Day Out

Friday, I got stuff done for work fairly early in the day, and I started to get stir crazy. So, I decided that Nora and I were going to get out of the house.

First, we went to the beach on Stone Lake in La Porte. It's in the Soldier's Memorial Park. It's only about a five minute drive for us, and it's free. The beach leaves a little to be desired, but it's fairly well-kept. I imagine I'll be going back there as Nora gets older, too, because there's a sweet, extensive playground there. I'd probably prefer a beach on Michigan, but you can't beat the drive. Plus, this beach is still better than anything I had growing up near Twin Lakes Shafer and Freeman.

Nora was asleep when we got there, so I covered her car seat and brought her out to the beach in it. She stayed asleep for about a half hour or so. I attempted to get some sun during that time, and when she finally woke up, I was ready for her to be awake. I put her little swim diaper and swim suit on, and we headed out into the water together. She loved it! She splashed around and looked at what was going on around us. It was neat to watch.

I brought a little yellow parasol that Marlene gave to me after her and Jerm's wedding (she had intended for the bridesmaids to use it during photos, but somehow the box they were in didn't get to the correct location in time). We got some good use out of it, I'd say. It's a neat little thing. I've always wanted one of those, and I plan to keep this one nice for Nora (for when she's old enough to keep it nice, too).

Afterwards, we went home, took a bath, I fed her, and then I decided to head out to the outlet mall. We were only there for about 45 minutes (I had very specific items I wanted, and I plotted my course once I got my booklet and map). I managed to find Willis a pair of shorts from IZOD for $11, and I found myself a pair of Lee jeans (since I have zero pair of jeans to my name that fit me right now) for a little under $17. Lee is the only brand that fits me for some reason. I'd say I win.

Today, Willi is working, so Nora and I are hanging out, listening to music, and doing some laundry. It's raining, which is a bit annoying since it's finally the weekend (it was dry all week long). He should be home in a couple of hours. Then, we're all going to have some fun. I doubt we'll get much work done today. We had plans of getting rid of the sand pile, putting an outlet in the garage, and I was thinking of washing a car or two since I haven't washed them since the fall (eek!).

Nora is shrieking at me. She does this thing lately where she breathes in and out really fast with her mouth open to be silly. It cracks me up every time! I'm gonna go squish her!

She's So Squishable!

Nora was being so sweet this morning, I couldn't stand it! I had to get some pictures. She was sitting up on the floor with virtually no support for about twenty minutes. The Boppy was there in case she fell, but she didn't really need it that whole time until the end.

Here are her stats from her six month checkup:
16 pounds, 13 ounces
28.25 inches long (That's above the 97th percentile, by the way.)

What is up with how long she is? Goodbye kitchen ladder! It's craziness!

Nora has recently tried some green beans and squash. She's not a raving fan, by any means, but she's tried them nonetheless.

In other news, I've noticed that other people have been using the phrase "in other news" in their blogs. I like to think they got that from me. I'm pretty sure I got it from watching the news.

I manned up today and decided to finally get established with a regular, family practice doctor. Unfortunately, there isn't a single doctor in this town (or close) that is taking new patients any sooner than August 25th. It's a good thing I'm not really sick right now. Running to urgent care is no way to do things: it is so much more expensive (and from what I understand, you end up waiting forever there). It's so maddening.

My new Kalorik Canister vacuum is awesome. In fact, it's so awesome, I'm a little bit appalled that my old vacuum was never that awesome. I'm pretty sure my old vacuum (a Dirt Devil Vision upright thing) was supposed to be awesome (since it was fairly expensive). I can actually use this vacuum and not have Nora strapped to me, too. It's not nearly as loud as the old one, and it's also not nearly as heavy.

I need to get some pizza dough started for tonight since Nora is napping for me. (Which, by the way, she is napping fine this week after our traumatizing weekend. Such is life.)

Dilly out!

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.