14 Months

This kid seriously cracks me up. It's amazing how much personality can be bottled up into one tiny human.

She loves playing in her tent

Miss Nora:

• Has 8 teeth
• Says about 15-20 words now including Down, Blankie, Binky, and Monkey
• Is obsessed with climbing on the couch... and running across as fast as she can -_-
• Pushes her lips together and shakes her head "No" when she doesn't want to eat something
• Is OBSESSED with anything cheesy!
• Points to her high chair or the refrigerator when she's hungry
• Can point to her nose and her belly button
• Knows that a cow says "Moo", goat/sheep says "Baaahhh", a monkey says "Oh oh ahh ahh", a doggie barks, and an alligator "SNAP"s!
• LOVES books and will sit for 30 minutes just looking at the pages
• Is still in 18 month clothes... even though I expected her to be in 24 month by now. She has really thinned out!
• Had her first round of antibiotics this month with a "slight ear infection". For being slight, she was in a ton of pain. All better now!
• Takes one nap a day usually and normally sleeps all throughout the night
• Doesn't usually want to sit in the shopping cart anymore. She loves to walk around with us now. She gets so excited when we let her walk somewhere new.
• Throws some pretty impressive fits. This girl has a temper!
• Kisses and hugs her stuffed animals and babies.
• Doesn't give kisses often. It's very sweet when she does though! She says, "MUAH!"
• She does something she isn't supposed to be doing and then looks to us for our reactions. Sometimes I just have to look the other way so I don't laugh!
• "Tickles" us. She says, "Teekie teekie!" and giggles. (She's big into tickling our belly buttons lol)
• LOVES going to grandma's house aaaaand screams when we have to leave.

It's amazing to see her grow and learn. She is so curious!

And LOVES to play.

We like to go out to the lake once in a while and let her swing and run around. As the weather cools, we know we'll be stuck inside a little more often so we're trying to take advantage!

She is still nursing... yes... still! She is obsessed and is showing ZERO signs that she is ready to wean. She is eating full solid meals and cups of whole milk while I'm gone. She sure does love her cuddles though.

This kid is obsessed with cheese! She loves cut up pieces of cheese, mac and cheese, grilled cheese, and cheese flavored rice! Holy cow! She's also a big fan of bananas, waffles, yogurt, and any kind of pasta.

That nifty device on the tray helps keep the food off my floor! The pad is stuck to the highchair and the bowls and plates stick to the pad. Pretty cool! It helps keep the bowl in place while she learns how to use a spoon. When she's really hungry, she will eat with her hands, but she does like to use that spoon!

She has been fun to take out to restaurants... except now we have to order her a kid's meal! She usually eats the mac and cheese or grilled cheese and loves it!

At Texas Roadhouse for Daddy's birthday!

Lol a gross mouth full

Sometimes she gets her own remote to play with

Now that she has her own playroom, she can just walk down the hall and play for a while so I can cook dinner or whatever else I need to do. I usually find her reading! She loves books.

Things I'd never thought I would say in my life, "We don't ride cars after 10pm!" Haha. She loves this car and will run you over if you don't move.

She loves to mimic people. Mommy wears sunglasses... so I do too!

She thinks she's hilarious... and most of the time she's right.

13 Months

My Miss Nora is a little bit of a skinny mini! She keeps dropping in percentiles for weight, but she just keeps on growing in height and head size! She is right on track!

Miss Lenora Quinn:

• Has 7 teeth (4 on top and 3 on bottom)
• Wears size 18 month clothes (and her pants fall down off her skinny butt)
• LOVES baths and any kind of water (and splashing)
• Loves to drink out of Mom's water bottle
• Has to have a bite of whatever you're eating (and then says "Mmmmmm!")
• LOVES Frozen and Tangled (and will giggle at the funny parts)
• Has to squeeze right between my legs while I'm standing in the kitchen so she can stand in front of me
• Walks down the hall to her play room on her own (and then sometimes waits there like "Come on!")
• Likes to play with the garbage can -_-
• Says "mama" occasionally, but usually calls Bryan and I both "Dada" or "Daddy"
• Says "Bella", "Oliver", "Mama", "Dada", "Hello"
• Points at everything!
• LOVES turning the light off (she will flick the switch 100 times if you stand there long enough)
• Gives hugs and kisses (but is stingy most of the time)
• LOVES to jump and fling herself back on the couch or bed
• Is OBSESSED with her belly button (and will play with it all the time)
• Throws some pretty impressive tantrums
• Likes to brush her hair after bath time (and will brush our hair too)
• Always gives us bites of her food
• Lifts up her legs for a diaper change (and helps us get her dressed!)
• Still LOVES her monkey and knows exactly who he is if we ask her about him
• Is walking everywhere now!

Now that we have a play room, Nora LOVES playing in there with all of her toys. A friend from work had this toy box... and surprise, surprise... Nora didn't want a toy box, she wanted a fort. I tipped it sideways and she sits in it like this and either plays with her toys or just lounges. It's hilarious.

It's a "No Pants" kind of day

ANY time I bring out any kind of electronic, she HAS to play with it. I let her hold it while I pushed the button. I can't get over how cute this one is! She's such a ham!

Look at all those teefers!

"Smile wit cho eyes!"

And she throws a big fit and cries when I won't let her throw it across the room. 

She likes it when we play with her, but sometimes she is just perfectly content "reading a book" by herself. She loves to look at the pictures.

Maybe some people who don't have little ones (or who don't remember this stage!) won't understand why this is so exciting, but recently Nora learned a new skill! She still likes to take apart and "destroy" things, but she learned how to successfully put things back together! The hand-eye coordination involved with this skill is amazing. I was so excited!

 When I do laundry, I usually leave her pop-up laundry basket in the living room for her to play with. She thinks it's just hilarious.

I have been thinking, "How do we transition from purees to solid foods!?" Well, these little stinkers just do it on their own. Nora has been refusing baby food lately and would much rather eat something that she can feed herself. She loves all kinds of canned/frozen/fresh veggies, bananas, pears, LOVES cheese that is shredded or cut up into cubes, meatballs, mac and cheese, waffles, eggs, pizza, toast with jelly, and spaghetti. She will occasionally eat some purees, but she refuses a lot of the time.

I thought I was done breastfeeding. I actually tried to wean her because I didn't want to pump anymore. When I stopped pumping, my supply went down and those morning/night feedings became frustrating for her. It made me sad to see her upset because there wasn't enough milk. I realized she isn't ready to wean... so I started pumping again to keep my supply up. She nurses in the morning, gets 2 bottles a day of either all whole milk or 50/50 mix of breastmilk and whole milk, and then nurses to her heart's content when I get home. I have to admit that I LOVE nursing her. It's something I will always remember!

We had Bella stay with us for a few days this month. Nora thought it was hilarious that Bella was in her house.

Nora is usually up once in the middle of the night to eat and then immediately goes back to sleep. Sometimes she takes 2 naps a day, but lately she's been getting by with 1 nap and then going to bed around 8 or 9pm. She wakes up anywhere between 6:45am and 8am. Sometimes I put her down in the crib for a nap, but other times, it's nice to just snuggle and catch some sleep ourselves.

Last year Nora was only a couple weeks old when the fair came around and I was unemployed so we didn't go! I was very excited to go this year and take Nora. She had a good time seeing the animals. She LOVED the bunnies and the chickens for some reason. She's just so much fun to watch.

Petting a camel!

 This weekend we also took her to the zoo! The Washington Park Zoo is perfect for us because it's close by, small, and cheap! Nora loved seeing all the animals!

Checking out the lazy tigers

Snakes and lizards!

Beautiful blues

 Nora thought the goats were hilarious. They even tried to nibble on her toes!

Hahaha she's so bossy!

She LOVED the monkeys. We walked up and she said, "Ohh Ohh Ahh Ahh!"

Looking at the big bear with Dad

And of course we visit the park when we can. Her hair is so red in the sunlight!

 This little girl is my whole world!

Party! Party! Party!

We had Nora's party at our house and after all the hard work... it was a success!

At every seat there was a baby food jar of gummy bears. I painted the lids to look like ladybugs :)

 And every table had a centerpiece with a different picture of the birthday girl!

This picture shows off all of my hard work! I hand cut each piece of the banner ( the scallop, the circle, and the letters) and then put it all together. Instead of buying a chalkboard design from Etsy, I made my own birthday board! Then lastly, I made the cupcake stand using cake platters, scrapbook paper, and ribbon. My hot glue gun really got some good use over the past couple months! I'm so proud of how the decorations turned out!

One of the food tables

More food!

I printed out pictures from the day she was born and then every month up until her birthday. It's amazing to see how much she has grown!

We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was sunny and warm with a breeze. It was so nice outside!

We borrowed some tents and kept everyone in the shade.

Nora loved each and every one of her presents. Every piece of clothing, every card, and every toy. She just loved everything!

I ordered her bow off of Etsy. Cute right? It says, "Mommy's Little Bug"

Annnnnnd she got some more cake :)

Sharing her cake with Uncle Brad

Sharing her cake

Sharing with Dad

Mom gets a bite too!

 She loves getting messy

She definitely needed a bath!

Losing energy! She fell asleep for the night at 6:30pm!

We had such a good day and couldn't have done with without family. Thank you everyone for being so generous! Nora had a great time and is very loved!!