The Grandparents Return

The grandparents, all four of them, returned to Denver last weekend to get some more 'Nora time.' Here are some photos from the weekend.

Nora relaxing on the patio table (she likes to chew her fist these days).

Her 7 week photo with the bear, she's wearing her party dress for Daddy's birthday!

Rich and Carol observing her newfound content-ness.


With the Grandpas in Rocky Mountain National Park.



Enjoying nature with Dad.



Walking around Spriger Lake.

Enjoying the sunshine in Vail.

Listening intently to the string quartet at Betty Ford Alpine Gardens.

On the top of Vail Ski Area, Nora got a first glimpse of the mountains she'll spend so much time playing on as she grows up.

Enjoying the company and the view.

On Tuesday morning, Nora rolled over from her tummy to back for the first time! Good thing she did it three times so everyone got a chance to see!

Next up: the uncles come to visit.

Babies Can Sleep Anywhere

And Nora is no exception. She sleeps really well in her crib at night, but prefers to nap in other places.

Growing Up

On Friday afternoon we went to Jeff's company picnic. I decided to try a new outfit on Nora, to see if she's grown into it yet-and she has! Her first non-newborn size outfit! She looked so cute, I couldn't help but take a bunch of pictures. Just by the look on her face you can tell she knew she was cute.

The Weekend

Last weekend started with a relaxing Friday night. Before Nora, we might have been out for a nice dinner or having late night beverages with friends, but this past Friday was more indicative of our new lifestyle-babies, bottles and beer.


Jeff and Nora hanging out with our neighbor friends, Dirk and little Finn.

Saturday we set out for our first overnight adventure. We went to Colorado Springs to see Claire, and for Jeff to ride with her and the Bike and Build crew to Hartsel on Sunday. Visit Claire's blog (link to the right) to see pictures from their ride. Claire enjoyed her additional Nora time.

Talking at the hotel:

Eating pizza and milk:

Nora checked out the bed at the Marriott, seemed fine for napping!

And good for playing too.
And she woke up happy Sunday morning.

Nora was admired by some Bike and Build boys. They were in awe of her and her tiny features!

The girls. Hopefully the camera just caught me at a bad moment and I don't look that exhausted all of the time!

Let me say a few words about Nora and her behavior. Based on these photos, it may seem she is angelic. She is...occasionally. But more often, she is a handful. I guess it is no surprise given her two parents, but she is pretty high strung and fidgety as opposed to calm and content. She's 8lb of pure muscle and likes to throw her weight around! She's getting better though, and even spent 10 minutes in her swing yesterday (this is a major milestone) and was content while Jeff and I ate a hot dinner-together! Hopefully her temperament will lead her to be an active, energetic and ambitious child and adult. We love her just the same!

5 Weeks

So Nora is already 5 weeks old! She had a doctor's appointment today where she weighed in at 8lb even. I can't believe how big she is getting, yet I keep telling myself that babies are born this size and even larger! It was a tough day at the doc though-a heel prick and a shot. There are no pictures to document the event, but it wasn't good. Jeff was holding her while she got her shot and she drooled the milk she had just finished all over the front of his shirt-oops, guess he should have brought an extra work shirt along!

I have been trying to get this trick on camera for quite some time, but always forget to have the camera ready when we put her on her belly:



Up-
Turning-
Tired out-


She has been able to lift her head off my shoulder since she was born, but is getting noticably stronger these days. Now, if we could just get her to sleep through the night...

Visitors

On Friday afternoon, we had a visit from the Bergs. Rocco was particularly interested in Baby Nora this time, and helped take care of her.


He even practiced holding her, in anticipation of his brother coming any day now...

Saturday, Jeff, Nora and I drove down to Colorado Springs to steal Claire away from Bike and Build for a few days. Nora and Claire were so excited to meet eachother!

And cuddle together.

We spent an afternoon in Boulder where Nora got a diaper change on the park bench.

One last cuddle before Claire had to return to her summer of service. I think they'll both miss eachother.

Claire caught this great smile one evening!

Favorites

One correction from the Father's Day post-Jeff went for a three hour bike ride, not three miles! Three miles wouldn't even be worth getting out the spandex.

Here are a few favorite photos of Nora from the past few weeks:

Love the expression on her face!

Laying in her favorite spot, and happy.

No, we didn't have the music on too loud.

She likes bathtime!

She's growing into her carseat a little bit.

Ummm, I'm not sure if she likes moose hugs.

Bear hugs seem ok though.

I should explain the bear since you may be seeing a lot of him. Grandpa Rich's coworkers sent it (along with a bunch of other great gifts) with a disposable camera. The intention is to take a picture of Nora next to the bear each week to see how much she's grown. What a cute idea, and a cute bear! Oh, and a cute baby!

In the past four or five days, Nora has started to smile! It is so fun to get up close and talk to her and get a huge smile in return. She's also 'talking' a lot more and her hair is showing hints of red. I can't believe how big she's getting, she must be around 8 pounds by now.