Beached Whale

The last few weeks of pregnancy are like a time warp. There's a very good chance that in 3 weeks we will be holding Baby Nora in our arms and no longer sleeping through the night... but right now I feel like that might just take FOREVER! Three weeks to the rest of the normal world doesn't sound like very long... but it feels like a really long time when you look like THIS!
None of my clothes fit anymore... but I'm not about to buy new ones at this point... so I just make do with the wonderful BellaBands I got for Christmas that hold up my pants and waddle around let it all hang out sometimes. :)


I think I will miss this though when Baby Nora isn't in my tummy anymore. Carolyn is so sweet to her- she loves to hug my belly and say "I love you Baby No-Wah." I'm sure that she will have some adjustment pains when it comes down to it, but she is so excited to be a big sister! She talks about it all the time! The other day we were talking about Baby Nora and I asked her if Mommy would still love her when Baby Nora comes (of course wanting her to know that I will ALWAYS love her!) She said "Nooo" (in that, "how silly are you Mommy?" voice)- and then said "BOTH! Mommy love BOTH Baby No-wah AND Carolyn!" How sweet is THAT?

I am going to miss being just Carolyn and Daddy and me... in a sense it does feel a little bittersweet for anything, even something so wonderful as another child, to change what we've had for the past 2 and 1/2 years- but I am SO "ready" to hold this sweet baby in my arms and feel our hearts and home swell to encompass that infinite love that a child brings! I saw the doctor today and I'm dilated to 1cm- which means just about NOTHING (except it DOES sound a little better than the "fingertip" I was last week)- I never got any further than 1cm until I was about to go into labor with Carolyn. I've had a lot more contractions with this one, but nothing that feels "real." The silver lining of today was that I didn't gain any weight since last week! Of course, I celebrated this by taking Carolyn out to IHOP where I'm sure I got 5 more pounds... but it was so good! :)

Nesting

Two weekends ago, my mom and dad came out for the weekend and helped me get my "nest" in order. Carolyn spent the day on Saturday playing at her friend Rachel's house so we could work without distractions (Rachel really wanted to snuggle with Carolyn so she came in and woke her up early from her nap... such a sweet motive, but I'm not sure Carolyn appreciated the early wake-up call :))
We really had our work cut out for us! My main goal for the weekend was to get THIS under control! Neat freaks, please don't enlarge this picture- I assure you it is every bit as bad as it looks- maybe worse! :) I like things to BE organized, but I am perfect example of the second law of thermodynamics in that everything I touch seems to tend toward disorder whether I want it to or not, and I just lack the internal motivation to clean things up when the mess is small! So it gets... huge... and THIS is what my (rather large) collection of children's clothes and assorted baby paraphernalia looked like when we got started on Saturday.
We made amazing progress, thanks to my mom!! She's super good at organizing and loves me enough not to be offended by the truly horrific nature of my basement left to its own devices... We were able to clean up all that junk and organize it into bins labeled by size and season and in the process inventoried all the clothes so I know what I need now for Baby Nora and what would just be a waste of money to buy. And since shopping for little girl clothes is practically my second job... it's better to at least be focused on things I actually "need." :)
My dad put my shelf from Home Depot together and I was able to contain the chaos caused by my deeply committed relationship to Costco and love of buying things in large quantities when they are on sale. :)
My (not-so-distant-future) brother-in-law Jon came over (with my sister Laura of course) and we quickly drafted him to work putting the crib back together.
It was a highly productive weekend that helped me greatly in getting my little "nest" in order for Baby Nora. This is what it looks like now- complete with the new glider chair I just HAD to have even though it makes the room look kinda crowded (because I simply cannot take Carolyn's rocking chair away from her and I need someplace comfy to feed a baby in the middle of the night):
Here are some closer pictures of various features of the room that still has to double as a guest room, but is now primarily a nursery. :)
I loved the letters Carolyn's "Aunt" Carolyn made for her so much I wanted Nora to have her own, so I painted these to put over her crib.
For some reason, pregnancy seems to wake up some domestic drive buried deep within me and I suddenly want to do all sorts of handwork and the sewing machine that gathers dust most of the time starts working overtime for a few months! I'm no real seamstress, but I wanted Baby Nora to have something special I made for her while I was pregnant (I made a quilt for Carolyn when I was pregnant with her), so I googled "easy baby quilt" and found a set of directions simple enough to follow, and the above was the result. I was really pleased with it! I even used the scraps to make a little blanket for Carolyn's dolly.
Here's Baby Nora's closet- I got out all my 0-3 month clothes and got them all washed, and though it looks like kind of a lot, it really isn't as obscene as the amount of clothes I had for Carolyn because I have no dresser to hide stuff in this time so I had to hang it all up! But even still, I don't think she'll go naked. :)
Check out how TINY these little diapers are!! I can't wait to have a reason to use them... :) Come on Baby Nora! We're ready for you!!

I Love This Girl!!

Two and a half is SO MUCH FUN! (well, except the times it is decidedly NOT fun, but the good times far outweigh the bad). Carolyn is a delight! She is so full of joy that it naturally spills out all around her. I love how something as simple as a game of peekaboo under a blanket can make her laugh and giggle like this!

She loves any kind of "poject," especially when it involves "bloo" (glue). Ever in search of ways to limit the mess, I tried having her glue with q-tips and a little cup of glue and it worked great. :)
She is VERY "into" her Cinderella dress and the Cinderella shoes I found in the basement when I was organizing my baby clothes (thanks Deanna! They fit just great!) The dress is made to fit her for a nice, long time, and since she isn't exactly what people refer to as "tall" to begin with, I have to tie the ends up so she doesn't trip- but I think it makes her look cute.
Sometimes she just wants to wear the shoes. Who cares about pants? She likes to tap them on the ground like her tappy shoes. :) I've been experimenting a bit with not using the flash on my camera all the time and although the focus doesn't seem to be as easy to arrange, I like the "feel" of the picture better.

Carolyn is going to be in a dance recital in June and they have begun practicing their song at dance class, and she comes home and tells me all about it. She tells me about how they will go on the "skage" and "come out and DANCE!" (DANCE is clearly capitalized!). When I ask her what kind of dance she's going to do, she says "A Tappy Dance!" I can't wait to see! :) We have another parent observation night coming up in March so it will be fun to get a little peek at what she's been up to. I'm so glad she's had a chance to do this class; it has been really good for her motor skills and social ability.

The Meeting

A brief update because I know some of you are checking for it. :) Brad had his Big Meeting tonight and we have just finished our little Family Pow Wow about it. The consensus is that it was a good meeting, that many of the concerns that we had about the contract as it was presented to us have been at least somewhat resolved, and that we feel comfortable taking the next step in the process. We have a lot more information about what is really expected now that he has had a chance to talk with the leaders of the group and are more able to approach the idea with our eyes open to the risks and benefits of the proposition before us. There are some substantial risks involved from our perspective. Financially we won't be immediately launched into the stratosphere- there will be a lot of work to develop a successful practice, particularly in an economically challenged area. But I think we can both look at that and say that's okay. Money is far from the most important thing in life and in fact it often adds to problems rather than solves them.

The next step will be for the group to revamp some of the things in the contract and to more explicitly state in writing some of what was discussed tonight. Then the group itself needs to have another conference at which they must vote on whether they are ready to make a final step forward (hopefully by this point anyone who had a major issue with the idea has already made him or herself heard), and then it will be time for a real decision. I think. Of course, the whole process has been more convoluted, had more steps, and taken much longer than I expected it to when we first started it, so there maybe more hoops to jump through before we really "know."

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers- and do please continue! After the initial panic, I have felt quite at peace about the whole thing and willing to let go and allow things to proceed toward whatever end is in store for us. My heart would really love to be able to stay here. But I am willing to follow wherever the Lord leads us and we both feel confident that as we continue to put one foot in front of the other and faithfully follow through with what we can see while trusting Him for what we cannot see, He will guide us.

Winter

It can be sorta pretty sometimes! Brad had a late start yesterday morning so I took advantage of the opportunity to get the dry cleaning dropped off early and this is what I saw from my driveway. We've had a lot of COLD, ice, and snow lately (that's what Michigan is all about I guess) and mostly I just get tired of driving in it and wish I could take my little girl outside more- but sometimes I am struck with the beauty of it.

Please keep us and our current relocation dilemma in your prayers. You can read a more detailed explanation here on my other blog that I update very infrequently and really only my mother and I are interested in that much verbiage anyway... but the short story is that we have been trying to discern God's will for where we should go when Brad finishes residency in just six more months (yay!) for a long time now. For the past several months we have been seriously investigating our options for staying in Grand Rapids because we love the snow sooo much (okay not because of the snow; it's because of the family really- my whole family lives relatively close to GR and all plan to relocate to this area in the next few years! We'd leave the snow in a heartbeat!)- one of those options has finally issued a contract to Brad to be discussed and hopefully amended on Wednesday night this week at 5pm. There are some significant things that would need to change in this contract in order for this to become a realistic possiblity for us and we really need wisdom, humility, and patience as we tread this unfamiliar path of negotiation.

Please pray that we would be able to see what God wants for us and that we would be willing to follow wherever that might take us and whatever that might mean, whether it is moving to another state, or accepting a financial picture that is not quite what we dreamed and planned together as we looked forward to this long-anticipated day when we would "have money." [side: that last part sounds so funny as we know that we are blessed indeed to be in the position that we are in even if the dollars don't quite add up to what we might have expected them to five years ago when we graduated med school with massive debt and five years of residency to look forward to!] As I have more information (which, as my frustrated rant on my other blog clearly states, has not been as forthcoming or clear in ANY part of this process as I would have liked it to be!) I will share with you, o faithful blog audience and friends. :) We thank you for your prayers.

Playful Princess

Uncle Doug and Aunt Katy got Carolyn this beautiful Princess dress for Christmas. She loves it! :) She had such a fun time dressing up in it and playing with Daddy last night while Mommy sat on the carpet and snapped pictures. :)
The bigger and more awkward Mommy gets, the cooler Daddy gets by comparison. He loves to run around and play chase with her; it's just laughable when I try to lumber along after them. :)
I love to see them having so much fun together! Carolyn has in many ways been kind of a "mama's girl," especially over the last few months- she generally won't let anyone else help with the basic care tasks- but I love that she is having so much fun playing with Daddy! I'm so thankful for a husband who loves being a daddy so much. I think they will both find something really special in each other over the next few months as I find myself once again immersed in all-consuming infant care and consequently a bit less available.
Part of me feels a little sad to see the end of the "Carolyn and Mommy" days... but I am so excited to see Baby Nora add to our family in incalculable ways, and I'm looking forward to seeing Brad and Carolyn develop their special relationship even more.

Less Than A Month...

... Until our due date anyway... I was happy to notice that our little pregnancy ticker at the top of my blog is now on the most squished up picture of the baby because that is how I feel! I feel like Baby Nora is just crammed in there and there just isn't much more room for her!! We are taking the weekend to prepare a special little nest for her (in the room that also has to double as a guest room... sigh... she's already a "second child.") and are looking forward to seeing her occupy it!! We saw Dr. Florido today- the first of our weekly appointments from now until Miss Nora makes her debut. This was the most depressing part of pregnancy for me last time- not only does my weight seem to skyrocket in the last month, each week the doctor checks to see if I'm... progressing... and let's just say that the "doors" to the outside world remained essentially shut and locked with Carolyn until the night before she was born. Seems like this time will be a repeat of last time- Dr. Florido described me as "closed, and thick." So no baby anytime soon... which is really fine with me because my due date's still almost a month off and I'm not optimistic enough to expect anything REALLY early, and I'm really not THAT uncomfortable, and truth be told, I'm really not QUITE ready yet... there are still a number of things on my "list."

But give it a couple more weeks and I just might leave the doctor's office crying after news like that! :) I know from my past experience of the point that is coming where I will simply want nothing more than for this baby to be OUT! The day I make that post about being depressed that she will NEVER come, someone please be kind enough to remind me that she CANNOT stay in forever! :) But it looks like at least a few more weeks anyway... so I'll just soak up those stretches and pokes and remember what my mama told me last time- that I'll never be so close to my child as I am at this moment- from the day she is born she will begin the process of moving a little further away from me each day, as is the normal way of things... so I'll just enjoy the sweet closeness of today and praise God for His miracle of life. :)

Girls Day Downtown

Carolyn had her very first overnight with Aunt Michelle and Uncle Bryan on Saturday. While she had a ball having her nails painted, eating mac n cheese, and jumping on the bed, I spent the day in downtown Chicago with one of my very best friends. Lisa and I used to be "twins" when we both had short hair and lived in Arizona together. Now she lives in the upper peninsula of Michigan (Yooper) and we live in Grand Rapids, so Chicago was a great meeting place for us.

It's been more than 2 years since we've seen each other, and a lot has changed for both of us. We don't exactly look like "twins" anymore... but it was fun to rekindle a dear friendship and enjoy a great day together. It was kind of a "last blast" for me- what a refreshing experience to take a total break from responsibility for a whole day- especially right before we get to start ALL OVER at the beginning again! I can't wait for Baby Nora's debut, but it sure was nice to just be "me" again for a whole day. :)
After an early check-in at the hotel, we walked to Potbelly's for lunch, then took a cold stroll (with many stops to get warm) up Michigan Avenue.
We went to the Ghirardelli shop for ice cream AND a sundae... delicious! Then we took a cab back to a movie theater close to the hotel and went to a chick flick together.
We enjoyed a relaxing swim at the Sheraton (where we were staying)- and let me tell you there is nothing that feels better to a cruise ship sized pregnant woman than being in the water!! :) I loved it!
We rounded out the day with dinner at PF Chang's and dessert from the Cheesecake Factory. It was a truly wonderful day! I'm thankful for a great friend- and also that Carolyn has such a great auntie and uncle to give her a wonderful day, too. :)

My Silly Photographer

I've been letting Carolyn play with our "little" camera sometimes and she loves taking her own pictures- maybe she will need a camera of her own for her birthday. :)

Most of her pictures look something like this:
She is still figuring out how to frame a subject in the screen. Half the time there are also little fingers in the picture. :)
She is willing to take turns and enjoys having me take her picture so she can look at it (well, at least when we are playing this game)- most of my pictures of Carolyn from this occasion are variations of the above picture. Here are a couple other fine examples of Carolyn's silly face- just a small sampling of many similar pictures.
Carolyn likes to wear her silly face best... but I like these expressions better. She's such a sweet girlie and I like seeing her happy. :)

Kindermusik

This was our second semester with Miss Lynette's Kindermusik class, and this week we had our last class- the one where you can bring the whole family and there's a party with snacks afterward. We had a great time with this session- Carolyn really grew up a lot in the last several months and seemed to enjoy all the different parts of class more than she had when we first started. I'm looking forward to seeing how the next session goes- it will be our last in "Our Time" and then she will move up in the fall to the big kids' class! I can't believe that we are THAT close to THREE! June 30 seems a lot closer from this side of Christmas...

But anyway, Brad was (miraculously!) able to get off work in time to come with us to class and we enjoyed showing him all the fun we've been having.
There are always fun new things on family night- this time all the kids got to play with a bunch of spoons Miss Lynette brought to use as instruments.
Carolyn enjoyed banging her spoons against Daddy's to make a fun noise.
"Cleaning the kitchen" with fun scarves (pink of course :))
Carolyn's favorite part of Kindermusik class is "My Rocking Song," as she calls it (there's a sweet, slow song and all the mommies pick up the kids and hold and rock them somehow during the song). It's funny, because last semester, she wouldn't even let me hold her for any length of time, and now she can't seem to get enough of it- provided, of course, that I'm standing up while I do it... which is getting physically more challenging! But even though my back screams out when I do this, my mommy's heart loves this unique time to hold BOTH my girls. You can see from the picture that Baby Nora is growing quickly! We have just a little more than a month to go! :)

And I'll end this post with a brief reference to my previous one- apologies for taking forever to move my long text down with a new post with pictures! It has been another busy, busy week, and I find myself so tired now at the end of the day that I really just don't have much left for blogging- or anything else I used to do after putting Carolyn to bed. I do thank you though for many sweet comments; as usual I can't believe that many people actually read that thing because it was so long! It's always so encouraging for me to hear feedback from others- so thanks! :) Now that my "crisis moment" has passed, everyone seems to be feeling better- and last night Carolyn was so tired that she actually did sleep in her bed! So we'll see... no doubt it won't be the last time that her will meets mine in the great, epic parent-child struggle- and I have to determine whether it's a battle I will fight to the bitter end, or whether it's one I need to let go. Being a parent can be so hard at times! But worth it, SO worth it!

A Long Letter

***Because I feel like it would have helped me to read about someone else's struggles with feeling like a failure as a parent, I am posting this "post-mental-processing" letter I wrote to Carolyn about our difficult day together yesterday. I know there's a way not to post the entire thing at once, but I don't know how to do it, so feel free to read my long letter only if you want to, and skip it if you don't have time.***

January 3, 2009

Dear Carolyn,

Yesterday, we had a really tough day together. It may seem sort of strange to write your daughter one of these little love letters the day after feeling like the biggest fattest failure as a parent, but maybe it’s not. I so hope that someday you have the great joy and awesome challenge of having your own dear ones to raise, and undoubtedly there WILL be days like this when you wish so badly that you were better equipped for the job and that your own failures and shortcomings as a person didn’t become so painfully obvious when you’re dealing with those little ones you love more than anything in the world. Maybe it will help you in moments like I had yesterday to remember that your mama struggled just the same way.

I am told that one day we will look back on all these two (and a half) year-old antics and laugh, so I will tell you the story in case it one day seems funny. Increasingly (and totally normally), you are wanting to be your OWN person, make your OWN choices, do your OWN thing- and you seem to find it especially imperative to do your OWN thing when the thing I want you to do is the exact opposite! Any child development expert or experienced mom could have told me this would happen- but it’s been the downfall of me before many times- I just have to learn a lot of these lessons for myself. Several weeks ago, for some truly unknown reason, you decided that you would not sleep in your bed anymore. It suddenly became totally cool and absolutely necessary for you to sleep on the ground! I think at first you thought it was funny… and I kind of did too… but then when I realized you weren’t showing any signs of going back to your bed, I started really wishing you would! My dear, you just don’t sleep as well on the carpet as you do in the bed! And you are not the only one who has to deal with the consequences of not getting good sleep; it derails my day too because an overtired toddler is a grouchy toddler! So I tried to get you to stop sleeping on the ground and go back to your bed. And you just have stuck your little feet in the mud and refused to back down. I’ve even tried to bribe you with special treats and jelly beans without much success at all. It makes me feel angry because I don’t understand what it is about sleeping on the ground that is so important, and as the all-wise “adult” in the situation, I can totally see that ALL our lives would be better if you’d just start sleeping in the bed again, but I feel so powerless to change the situation! To add insult to injury, coinciding with this “sleep on the ground” thing has come a setback in potty training. You were beautifully trained during the day- had so much success for the past several months- and all of a sudden with all this has come a total refusal to poop in the potty! So not only am I 8 months pregnant and dealing with an overtired toddler, but now I have to deal with disgusting poopy panties every time you take a nap because you SAVE it for then! Oh yesterday, I was so frustrated!! You slept on the ground (of course) for your nap, then woke up an hour early (thus cutting my only free time for the day an hour short) with the biggest pile of poop I’ve ever seen just waiting for me in your pants!

I was so angry. I am sure that by the time I let you read this letter, you will know even more about my shortcomings than I do, but to be complete I will tell you that I’ve always been a bit of a thunderstorm- my temper flares so quickly and sometimes when I’m mad I say really awful things- but I’m quickly sorry and feel this insatiable desire to repair the relationship. As I’ve grown older, I’ve developed a better ability to control myself- or at least the things I SAY when I’m mad, but the pattern is still the same. I lost it with you yesterday. I made it very clear to you that I was upset and angry with you for what happened. You are such a sweet, sensitive soul… you came to me after it was all done and said “I love you Mommy” and gave me a kiss and said “I’m sorry I pooped in your pants.” (still working on the personal pronouns). I still felt badly for the rest of the day, because I never meant to shame you for something that you probably don’t really understand and have less control over than I think. I was angry and I hurt you, and I’m sorry.

There are so many things I wish I could say to you in ways that you would understand. After thinking about yesterday a lot, I believe I am starting to understand what’s motivating this behavior. Even before the “sleep on the ground” thing began, you had started to seem really insecure; you won’t let anyone else do anything for you; it’s like you’re afraid I’m going somewhere. I don’t know if it may be that I’m getting bigger and bigger and Baby Sister is going to be here so soon, but for whatever reason, I can sense that you’re afraid of losing me, so you’re holding on really tight. I’m that way, too. Whenever an important relationship I’ve had seems to feel threatened to me, for some reason, my natural inclination has always been to “prove” to myself that it’s not going anywhere; often I’ll say or do something that I know I shouldn’t do, and more than anything I just want to see that that other person loves and accepts me anyway, ESPECIALLY when I know I’m not at my best. I wonder if that is why you are being so adamant about sleeping on the ground despite (or perhaps because of) my best efforts to prevent you- maybe you just want to see that it doesn’t matter; that Mommy loves you anyway, no matter what. You are too small for the words to really make a difference to you, and maybe words fall short for all of us no matter how old we are- we need to see them acted out to believe them. But I do love you, Carolyn, more than anything, more than you will know until you hold your own sweet baby in your arms and feel the miracle begin as your heart expands in ways you never knew it could.

The older you get, the more I begin to see parts of myself in you. When you were small, all I saw was the Barton side of the family in your looks and your daddy’s personality. You truly do have some of my favorite things about him incorporated into your emotional makeup. I love how empathetic and compassionate you are; how quick you are to judge a situation and see how people are feeling. But now that you are 2 ½ and beginning to show us all a bigger picture of who you are, I am seeing more of HIM in your face, and more of ME in your behavior! Oh dear sweet one, I’m sorry to have passed on some of my less favorite traits in myself to you! I wish that you did not have to experience things so intensely- but that is SO ME! I have been like that my entire life- and it is a blessing and a curse. You experience the joys of life to a fuller extent, but also the hard things in life hit you harder because of your greater capacity to experience them.

Dear, sweet Carolyn, today I am going to go to the store and buy you a special Disney Princess sleeping bag and bring it home to you, and you can sleep on the ground for as long as it matters to you to do it. There will undoubtedly be times when I have to stand in your way and prevent you from doing something you really want to do because it is truly better for you not to do it. But this is not one of those times. What you need most from me is to feel love and acceptance in a “no matter what” way. And since you could not understand what I mean if I say that to you, I will find other ways to show you. Because I do love you, no matter what.

Love,

Mommy

Line of the Day

"Mommy, I love you (***kiss***). I'm sorry I pooped in your pants!"

It is too late to go into details... suffice it to say that Carolyn is working on personal pronouns and potty training at the same time. :)

And Mommy is working on Being the Grownup and letting the two year old be the two year old even when everything in her screams that it's HER turn to lose it this time. :)

Thank goodness that tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it.

Happy New Year

It's time again for the Year In Pictures for 2008. It was harder than ever to choose just one picture from each month... but I managed it, except for one month when there just HAD to be two. :) I hope you enjoy this little year in review as much as I did creating it. It's always fun to look back on what a year has been: joys, sorrows, laughing, complaining, trusting, freaking out- all the things that make us human and make up the facets of a year that comes together at the end as something different than you planned it to be at the start. But it's all part of life; all a gift; and all something to celebrate. :) So Happy New Year- and may we all have a blessed 2009. :)
January: We spend seven unforgettable days cruising the western Caribbean. It was an amazing trip and one of the major highlights of our 6 1/2 years of marriage. :)
February: It snows forever and ever and ever and we have to come up with new ways to have fun and be creative indoors. Carolyn has a rough time being sick: first experience with RSV and the nebulizer machine, which comes in handy even now when she gets a cold!
March: Coldest Easter I can remember. Poor Carolyn has a busted up nose from a fall in the neighbor's driveway.
April: Took a trip to Austin, Texas to visit family- and to get the obligatory Bluebonnet picture. :) My granny would have been proud.
May: Reminders everywhere of new life, even as we are sad over the loss of what might have been- God shows Himself faithful even in hard moments and provides comfort in the deep places that hurt beyond where tears can go. Little did we know as those tears fell that He would also begin knitting together another miracle inside my womb at that very time as part of our story of His unending love, grace, and faithfulness.
June: Needs two pictures, because we learn this month that we have TWO children to celebrate (and one of course to remember always)! Carolyn turns TWO, and Baby Nora is just beginning to grow. :)

July: Brad follows the call to Africa, where he meets more than just cute monkeys; he has a life-altering experience ministering to the neediest of the needy and sharing good news with a hurting part of the world.
August: We are glad to be a family again! We celebrate Brad's safe return with a vacation to the Smokies with my family. What a great time to be together.
September: We are delighted to learn that Carolyn will have a baby SISTER!
October: Carolyn's first trick or treating experience as the cutest little giraffe out there- and a great night of family fun with friends. :)
November: Family pictures to celebrate the miracle of Baby Nora and sisterhood-to-be.
December: Snow, snow snow! A REALLY white Christmas and more time cooped up in the house than I'd have planned, but sometimes unplanned inconveniences make for the fun times you didn't plan either. :)