Day 182- On the Mend

Fever is definitely gone. Energy is back to normal. However, eating was a challenge since a good part of her gums are still very swollen. So, yogurt for lunch was a big hit. I fed her for a little while. Then, she became curious about the spoon...

... but she ultimately decided that spoons are for chumps.

Whatchoo lookin' at?

Happy to be feeling better and getting some food in her belly!

Day 181- Same as Yesterday

I wish I could say that Nora woke up today as good as new, but it didn't quite go that way. Last night, she went to bed at 8. She woke up at 9:30 p.m. and again at 11. Then, she slept until 5:15 a.m. I got her to go back to sleep from 5:30-7. Once she woke up for the day, she spent most of it curled up on Brad or me, drooling (and by drooling, I mean there were buckets of saliva pouring out of her mouth), and drifting in and out of sleep.

Snuggle Baby

She drooled so much today that I had to change her clothes THREE times. I had to change my own shirt twice, and Brad had to change his once, too. Thankfully, I wasn't able to detect a fever all day long. Of course, we've kept the tylenol and advil in her so tomorrow will truly tell the tale.

Already tonight, she's woken up once at 11:00. It's going on midnight now, and I'm really hoping I don't hear from her until 7 a.m. I can dream, right??

Day 180- Sad Panda

I got a call from Ms. Tracy at Nora's day care today telling me that Nora had a fever of 101.5. Tracy had given her some advil, and Nora was asleep in her arms. I headed immediately to pick her up, and when I got her home, she slept in my arms for 2 hours.

After a couple of hours, I gave her a dose of tylenol since it's ok to alternate between the 2 meds in 2 hour intervals. After a little while, this brought her temperature down enough that she perked up and ate a little bit. I was thrilled since Ms. Tracy shared that she hardly touched her lunch and didn't drink much today, either.

She went to bed at her normal time (after another dose of advil), and though I've heard her stir a few times, she seems to be sleeping pretty soundly.

Now, If I can just figure out how to rotate my cell phone pictures, all will be well.

Day 179- Neighborhood Watch

Nora's new hangout spot? The livingroom window. It's pretty cute to see her little head peeking up over the windowsill from outside.

I will say that I much prefer to see this smiling face peeking out at me when I am arriving home as opposed to leaving for work. Thankfully, summer school is over this week, so I'll be able to spend a lot more time with this little sweet heart.

Bonus picture- Here's Nora completely captivated by her favorite commercial on Sprout TV. It's for a product called Dream Lites, which is a plush animal night light "that makes bedtime fun!" and "turns your child's ceiling into a starry night sky!"

I'm pretty sure that if she was able to fully communicate with us using words, she would be begging for one of these by now.

Day 178- Busy Body

Bedtime has been switched up a bit, and now Nora gets a little more play time after bath time. Here she is tonight, just being cute, after getting fluffed and puffed and ready for bed.

DOGS!

Yellow triangle! Green circle!

Walking everywhere!

Day 177- ATTACK OF THE GIANT BABY

When I'm on the floor acting as Nora's personal jungle gym...

... and I snap a picture, she looks like a GIANT baby.

But when I sit up, she gets back to looking normal-sized.

Day 176- In-Door Playground

Seeing as how it's been over 90 degrees lately, taking Nora outside to play for extended periods of time isn't really feesible. At the same time, we can only spend so much time happy within the four walls of our house. Thankfully, both of the malls in town have play areas for the kiddos, so that is where we went this afternoon.

Nora likes the back corner best, where there are some puzzles and mirrors hanging on the wall. There is also a tunnel she likes to crawl through, but it always makes me nervous because the bigger kids sometimes take flying leaps over it!

It was a fun way for her to pass an hour out of the house and out of the heat.

Day 175- Early Morning Jaunt

Brad got up with Nora this morning and took her for a walk in the park while I slept a little longer.

Nosey Nora strikes again

Cheesin' for the camera

Gearing up to go down the slide

By the time that third picture was taken, I was up and had joined them at the park, but Nora was getting fussy. She was ready for her nap, so we headed home.

Day 174- Visiting

We stopped by Dede and Grandpa's for an impromptu visit. Nora was pretty much a fussy butt, but she did have a few minutes of fun toddling around the house- especially Dede's kitchen.

Anything valuable in this thing?

Dede's kitchen is so much fun!

And there's that tongue hanging out again! What a little ham she is.

Day 173- Bounce bounce bounce!

Today, Nora's day care went on their second field trip of the summer. This time, they went to the Bounce House. Nora hasn't slept well the past couple of nights (I shake my fist at you, swollen gums!) so I was worried that she would be a bear today, but Tracy said she had a lot of fun and that she napped for over 2 hours this afternoon. I really hope she makes it through the night tonight because Momma's soooo sleepy!

Don't worry, she wasn't the outcast playing all by herself. They all got silly rolling around in that ball pit. I am hoping to join them for a field trip or 2 in July once I am finished with summer school.

Day 172- I Love You

From the top of your wild, half-curly head of hair...

To the tip of your sweet fingers (with which, in the same minute, you can pinch me while laughing gleefully and then stroke my face so lovingly)...

To the bottom of your wrinkly, wiggly toes...

You are so incredibly loved...

Even when you are a complete fussy face.

Day 171- Photodump!

It was one of those days when no pictures were taken. You know how this works. Here are some from the past couple of weeks that haven't yet been shared. Enjoy. :)

Day 170- Silly Monkey

Nora's tongue has been hanging out of her mouth lately. It seems to mostly be when she is concentrating on something really hard, but sometimes, it hangs out just for the fun of it.

Do you think she realizes just how silly she is?

Day 169- Happy Father's Day!

It was a quiet Father's Day. Nora woke up bright and early, as usual. She was excited to see her Daddy and wish him a Happy Father's Day. We let Brad go back to sleep for a couple of hours while we played in the living room and ate breakfast. Once Nora woke up from her first nap of the day, we got ready and headed to Dede and Grandpa's for lunch. Nora had fun showing off her new walking skills and trying her Daddy's chocolate peanut butter pie.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!

This is DELICIOUS!

Makin' Music

Kisses from Daddy

It wasn't an exciting day, but Nora and I hope that her Daddy felt loved and appreciated.

Day 168 (Part 2)- An Early Father's Day Special Edition

I had a fabulous idea to take pictures for Brad and each of Nora's grandfather's for Father's Day. I had outfits and themes picked out for each photo shoot.

For Grampy, I had envisioned dressing Nora up to look like Grampy does when he performs: tie dye t-shirt (t-shirt dress, in this case), backwards baseball cap, black imitation Chuck Taylor shoes. She was going to climb a "Ladder to the Sky" or "Hug a Teddy Bear" and "Wear a Ribbon in her Hair" to honor Grampy's songs. In my mind, it was adorable. In reality, Nora was having no part of baseball hats, Chuck Taylor shoes, ribbons and bears, or looking at the camera.

These are for you, Grampy.

For Grandpa's pictures, we bought a special shirt that reads, "I Melt Grandpa's Heart" because Nora is her Grandpa's "Precious Love". The idea was to get a picture of her with Bailey because, if we're being honest, though Grandpa's aren't supposed to have favorites, Bailey is Grandpa's favorite grand dog.

Nora decided that instead of melting Grandpa's heart, she was just going to melt down. These are for you, Grandpa.

For her Daddy, I needed 3 pictures to fill the frame I bought him last year.

 

It was a pretty simple photo shoot last year. Position 9 week old baby, position blocks, take pictures. Ta-da! This year, well.... not so much.

With a little persistence (and about a half a bag of yogurt melts with which to bribe her), I did get Daddy's pictures, though. These are for you, sweet husband of mine. Nora and I both love you very much.

I hope all 3 of you have a Happy Father's Day! More about this special occasion tomorrow.