Saturday, October 4, 2014

Nora Kate is 13 Months

Our sweet Nora Kate is 13 months!  (On a side note, I typed this post on September 14, but I had problems getting it posted to the blog until now!) 
Although Nora Kate still has a lot of little rolls to love, John and I really think she is beginning to thin out-I love her rolly-polly-ness and am NOT ready for her to grow up so quickly that she's already thinning out like a toddler.  Slow down, NK! 
Nora Kate's personality is showing more and more every day!  She LOVES to be silly!  She wrinkles her little nose up and smiles when she's being silly or laughing.
The biggest change this month....NK can walk!!  She still crawls 99% of the time, but she has taken a few unassisted steps!  She's great at cruising and does this a lot too! 
Nora Kate wants to do everything her brothers do and play with everything they have-she's very interested in everything they say too and is always craning around to see them if I'm blocking her view. 
She's an easy going little girl as far as entertaining herself when I'm trying to get us ready to take Dawson to school in the mornings or I'm preparing lunch or dinner-this is nice-especially since there are a couple of other little ones around here who are not as great at self-entertainment! 
She's generally very happy and content.
Nora Kate sleeps through the night about 65-70% of the time now-YAY!!!!  It's tough now when she does wake up since she's not nursing, all I can do is give her the pacifier and hope she settles back down--thankfully though, she usually settles pretty quickly when she does wake up these days!
No one can maker her sillier, rowdier, or happier than Dawson, Carter, or Daddy!  She loves these three sweet guys in her life! 
It has become *almost* impossible to get a picture of her with her brothers (as you will see below in the monthly sibling photo) because she gets so excited to be sitting so close to the boys that they all three get rowdy! I love to see all three of them interacting more and more each day.  I'm so glad that they will always have siblings so close in age as they grow up, and I really do hope and pray that they are always great friends.  They're so very sweet to each other (most of the time!) now! 
Nora Kate did not have a 13 month check up, but we can tell she's grown!  Specifically we can tell that our baby girl has gotten taller/longer this month since her birthday as well!
A couple new words Nora Kate has added to her vocabulary this month include cat, daws (some variation of the letters in Dawson's name that sounds enough like Dawson we know who she means-hah), and right back.
I could go on and on about our precious baby girl, but I'll let these pictures wrap it up...
 
 
(Sorry for the blurry pictures--she doesn't stop moving!)

13 months





Wednesday, September 3, 2014

August 2014

August was another great months!  This month brought about a few changes-Nora Kate is now one, Carter is totally potty trained (even sleeping at night and nap in underwear!), and Dawson started kingergarten readiness three mornings a week!  Despite all these things going on, we still managed to pack a lot of fun into the month!
 
We went to the zoo at the beginning of the month to check out the newly renovated Wee Play Zoo area.  They moved the komodo dragon, and the boys loved checking this out!



Nora Kate had fun watching this busy little lizard!

The train at the zoo is finally opened, and Dawson and Carter got to ride!

Watching monkeys at the zoo with this sweet girl!



My big sis, Lauren, is expecting a baby girl, so we got to celebrate this with a couples shower!  Here is me with the mom-to-be!

Sigma Kappas at the shower!

Pointing to the little legacy!
Carter showing me his "musckles" (translation: muscles) while swimming!

Earlier in the month, we had our small group from church over for a cookout and the kids got to bounce on the inflatable!  Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get any pictures while our company was here, so this one before anyone arrived will have to suffice!  :)

The boys love playing on this inflatable!


Nora Kate does too!

August started my Junior Service League meetings!

Dawson and I had a date day before he started school.  Carter and Nora Kate stayed with Nana, and Dawson and I started our day with a hair cut for him at Sports Clips.

A visit to the duck pond (his choice!)



Lunch at Salsaritas (his pick!)

Love this boy!!!!

Another change this month was that Nora Kate started sleeping through the night!  She now sleeps through the night about 60% of the time!  It's awesome!!!!!

The love playing in the water!


We took a family drive along the Foothills Parkway.  Beautiful!!!




After our drive along the Foothills Parkway, we drove through Cades Cove and saw a young black bear...very close up!!!  The kids were so excited!!
 
Nora Kate waking up on her 1st birthday!
She always wakes up so happy!

A candle in her birthday pancakes!


On Nora Kate's actual birthday the boys and I took her to the zoo!

petting zoo

Birthday Girl!

We fed the budgies at the zoo too!

Nora Kate loved watching the birds fly around Budgee Landing, and she kept signing bird.

Nora Kate crawled in the little kid area of the Wee Play Zoo.

LOVE LOVE LOVE these three!
Celebrating Nora Kate at the zoo.


Nora Kate Birthday Girl!

On her actual birthday we got a cake for her and the boys to have a little of after dinner.  The boys were waaaay more interested in it than Nora Kate, although we figured it was good practice before she did her Smash Cake at her party!

She really wasn't too interested in the cake!

Nora Kate got to open her gifts from John, Dawson, Carter, and I on her birthday!

One of Nora Kate's gifts was new hairbows...the boys HAD to try them on!

Opening a gift from Nana and Grandad.

Oops! this is a little out of order...but here are Nora Kate and I at the zoo on her birthday!


The boys LOVE the big sandbox at the zoo!

Owl Nora Kate

Owl Carter

Loving the zoo!

Zoo picnic on her birthday!

After dinner on her birthday we went to the park!

I was trying to take a picture of Dawson climbing on this animal at the park, but I ended up with this sweet candid picture of John and Carter too!
 
Nora Kate is now big enough to ride in this push trike around the neighborhood!

I've been trying to do 1 and 2 year old things on Dawson's school mornings so that Carter and Nora Kate are entertained and get their special outings like Dawson did at this age.  One morning we met Carter's friend Charlie at the playground, and they had a blast together (but I didn't get any pictures).  These pictures were from a morning John was off and we took Carter and Nora Kate to TumbleBears where they had a blast!




One Friday evening we met Nana, Grandad, Drew, and Hailey at Mr. Gatties for dinner and games.  Dawson and Hailey hit the 1000 ticket jackpot TWO TIMES!  Look at those smiles!

The next morning was sweet Olivia's 2nd birthday party!




Carter sneaking a hug with the birthday girl!


Nora Kate is now big enough to play in the little pool with the boys!
She loves it!

 

One Sunday morning we skipped church because Nora Kate was SOOOO fussy (she was cutting FOUR teeth at once!).  Dawson asked if we could go to the duck pond.  Nora Kate enjoyed watching the ducks.

Carter loves it too...so much like big brother!

Dawson loves it!

We've made  a lot of popsicles this summer.  The boys love eating them!

Nora Kate enjoyed this popsicle in her swing...she was cutting 4 teeth (look at that pitiful face-you can tell she doesn't feel well), and I think it felt good on her gums!

If you give a two year old a pen in the car

Dawson started soccer practice this month!

We did lots more swimming with friends at Colt's house.  Here are the friends eating lunch one day after a morning of swimming.

Dawson had been asking if he could get a pet goldfish, and we finally agreed.  He was beyond excited!

Meet Mr. Bubbles.
John and I went to the first UT game of the season, and we got to tailgate with our friends before the game.  I took this 7 layer Mexican bean dip...complete with a power T! (We also took other food, but it didn't look as festive to need a picture) :)

Got to see AT before the game!

Got to see Lauren and Baby Hightower before the game too!  So glad she and Dillon stopped by to tailgate with us!

John and I at the game....in the rain!  It was nice most of the game, but we did get wet at the beginning of the game (hence the hat). 

We got to sit with Binkley and Click!

Go Vols!  So fun to get to go to a game this season!

Dad and Logan stopped by the tailgate as well!