Here we are...

Cousins!

2011-08-01T10:10:00.001-05:00

This is my first mobile post!

We Love Our Friends

2011-07-24T23:29:00.005-05:00

Our friends came out from New York to visit (in May. Only two months behind). It was awesome. So we ordered the good weather.

One of the highlights of the trip was going out to a local farm to pick strawberries, snap peas, and other delicious and fresh fruits & veggies. Twas mahvelous.

My girls!

Is John saying "Have a strawberry" or "Please take it. I don't like how this feels in my hand."?

John and Norah were like two peas in a pod. Just like the day they were born in the same hospital. In this photo they're probably just laughing at an awesome joke I made up and not at all watching Monsters Inc.

Meanwhile, these guys realized they both like to chew on giraffes, and bonded.

Whilst Cam recognizes a good photo op and seizes it, apparently I look like I've just witnessed something terrible.

Do you ever get an urge to make a sand toaster and accompanying plate of toast? No? It's just us? Weird.

At any rate, it was really fun to see our peeps on our side of the country. Friends are great. Thanks for coming!

Easter 2011

2011-06-01T00:16:00.006-05:00

Continuing with our trend of being about a month or two behind, here are a few shots of our Easter this year.

We were once again lucky to be able to spend the holiday with family. It was wonderful, even despite A. that it was FREEZING! (seriously, what is up with Utah not letting go of winter this year?), and B. I was fighting a terrible infection at the time, which sort of put a damper on the festivities for me. But here's a bunch of happy kiddos, so you know it was good.

Getting ready to dye eggs.

The loot!

The hunt:

And more fun with these two, including more shenanigans with these two in costumes. See here and here.

Hope you had a happy Easter! We sure did.

Happy Spring!

2011-04-07T17:01:00.009-05:00

Spring has been in full force around here. Here are a few recent snapshots to give an idea what we've been up to. In early March we were lucky to have two of my sisters and their families in town.

We had a fun day at Disneyland:

And a glorious day at the beach:

And just had a great time hanging out. I LOVED having some of my people here.

During Nathan's spring break we were able to drive out to Palm Springs to meet my parents for the tennis tournament at Indian Wells.

My mom, being the awesome mom and grandma that she is, watched our kids at the hotel so that Nathan and I could go watch some tennis with my dad. Thanks again Mom & Dad!

(that's R Fed just warming up)

It was a lot of fun. We also got in some serious pool time while in the desert.

And around here we've been up to some of our usual shenanigans. Hanging around the house:

Going for walks:

(yes, both of my kids are still in their pjs in this photo)

And getting out for an occasional treat or day at the beach:

Recent photos

2011-03-09T00:14:00.005-05:00

I'm playing catch-up, so in an effort to get up to date, here are a few of my favorite recent photos:

James

Norah

Here's to being caught up!

Christmas!

2011-03-08T23:08:00.013-05:00

Yep, I know it's the middle of March, but a promise is a promise. Behold, Christmas 2010!

We spent a lovely 2 weeks in Utah over the Christmas holiday. It snowed a lot, so...

...we played a lot of Just Dance 2 and Wii Karaoke.

...ate a lot of yummy treats, and had a great time with our people.

One day I went upstairs to take a nap, and when I came back down I found that my mom and sister had dressed my baby up like an elf, stuffed him in a stocking and taken a bunch of photos. So James, when these photos surface when you're a teenager, blame Grandma :). But in the meantime, they're pretty darn cute!

Christmas Eve program, written, directed, produced, and preformed by the Udall grandkids.

With cousin Ethan out of town visiting his other grandparents on Christmas Eve, James, although the understudy, got the role of baby Jesus in the nativity.

Christmas morning!

We also blessed James while we were amongst so many loved ones.

It was a lovely 2 weeks, 3 months ago :).

4 months!

2011-01-24T11:20:00.006-05:00

I promise, a Christmas post is coming soon, but in the meantime, this guy is now 4 months old!

4 month stats:

weight: 15 lbs. 15 oz. (70th percentile)
length: 25 inches (60th percentile)

He's smiling and laughing all the time, and trying his hardest to sit up. He just wants to be a part of the action. He's reaching for and grabbing at toys, and 'talks' non-stop. And lucky for me, he loves to be cuddled and kissed :). He's still just our little sweetie.

Thanksgiving

2010-12-05T19:00:00.016-05:00

Dr. Martin Luther King: We honor you. And since this is a holiday, we hope that it can serve as a segway for some serious blogging catchup. Ahem. Thanksgiving.

We went up to North Bend, WA for Thanksgiving this (last) year. We arrived just after a snow storm had passed through.

Norah was thrilled to see the snow and her people. Yet it was clear she wasn't sure how to deal with the cold.

If it looks like she's not sure what to do, then you've got an accurate read. She stayed motionless until she decided she didn't want to be outside any more. The reticence for playing in the snow was confirmed again at Christmas time.

Norah and Bop!

Three snowmen for three tikes. Iconic. (Note that Norah is still in her frozen pose.)

Meanwhile, James stayed indoors and got to know his peeps.

Cousins!

And my cousins! Holding James!

As is customary for Thanksgiving, we had a meal. It was really lovely, prepared by many hands.

Here is a picture of my Dad with his hands.

We had lovely leftovers.

And lovely treats.

And there was much obligatory resting.

Seriously, parents of small children need rest. This is conclusion number 1 of parenthood.

Don't let pictures like these fool you into thinking kids just hang out and lounge around. Not so. Ohhh so not so.

Anyway, with the cold snow and eventual rain, a little cabin fever set in. Thus, measures were taken.

We found this little gem of a warehouse on a rainy day. Awesomeness defined.

And speaking of awesomeness, with the Hatches and Browns in town, you know it's going to be fun. Good times had by most, if not all.

Sisters. Sisters... There were never such devoted sisters...

And the men folk were able to play strategic games and study Chinese.

We had time to talk, which was nice.

Alright, it's time to wrap it up. It was good for James to meet the Bowen contingent, and for us to have some quality family time. On this Martin Luther King Day, we are truly grateful for our family. Look for a Christmas post soon... probably around Valentine's Day.

Guess Who's 2 Months Old?

2010-11-29T19:37:00.004-05:00

James is 2 months old (2 months and 10 days actually). Hard to believe. He is still the sweetest baby. He's an excellent napper (still working on sleeping longer at nights though :), and when awake he enjoys checking out the world around him. And he LOVES face time with others. He'll 'talk' to and give a big smile to anyone who plops in front of him.

Current stats:

weight: 12 lbs. 15 oz.
height: 23 1/2 inches

75th percentile in both. Moving up in the ranks :).

Halloween 2010 (get ready for lots of photos)

2010-11-14T17:25:00.005-05:00

Last year we made a last minute trip to Utah for Halloween weekend. We had so much fun that this year we decided to do it again.

We arrived Friday morning in time to rest up and get ready for the second annual Udall Halloween party. We all got dressed up, and it was the first time my WHOLE family had all been together in a while, and the first time James met his extended family. We're glad we could introduce him to them for the first time dressed like a banana:

Norah decided a few months ago that she wanted to be a butterfly, so we have had her costume ready to go for awhile. However, despite her enthusiasm, she would never try on the wings. The week prior to Halloween we talked a lot about Halloween and trick-or-treating, and two days before we left for Utah she finally decided to try them on. Once she saw herself in the mirror with them on, she was hooked.

Nathan and I dressed up as Zombie Parents. We figured it wasn't a far stretch from reality these days, we just had to fill those dark circles under our eyes in a little bit.

The party was a lot of fun... hanging out with cousins, playing Halloween games, and eating lots of yummy treats.

Saturday (day of) was a gorgeous fall day to start. We went over to my sister's house to carve pumpkins and play in the leaves. Pretty quintessential fall afternoon. We all loved it, Norah especially.

Unfortunately as trick-or-treating time approached, it started to rain, so we had to bundle up and wait out the rain a bit, but that didn't stop these two:

Norah loved every minute of trick-or-treating, especially getting to run from house to house with her cousin and little bestie, Lily. I'm so glad it lived up to all her expectations.

Halloween weekend also marked the first meeting of these two guys. You might remember them in utero from this post. It was so fun to finally see them both together.

And don't think they missed out on the Halloween fun.

It was a great weekend all around, just as we knew it would be.

The Pumpkin Patch

2010-11-03T22:13:00.004-05:00

1 month old

2010-10-22T22:39:00.005-05:00

It is true what they say about your second child. By the time Norah was one month old we had taken hundreds of photos and done like 8 blog posts. Poor James. We don't love him any less, we just don't seem to have the same kind of time (where did this last month go?!). But, baby James turned 1 month old this week, and that definitely deserves some documentation.

Current stats:

weight: 9 lbs. 13 oz.
height: 21 1/2 inches

50th percentile in both categories. You might call him an average James. We just call him our little love.

James Is Here!

2010-09-25T10:55:00.015-05:00

With much anticipation, James Paxman B. arrived 1:33am Sunday, 9/19/10. He was 7 lbs 4 oz at birth. Behold:

Here he is a few minutes into life.

20 inches of awesomeness.

Extreme closeup! Who does he look like most? Let's get a larger sample size to assess:

With eyes open! I'm predicting brown eyes like his mom.

Sarah Jane's mother Cathy also was born on the 19th of September. Happy birthday Grandma! It should be noted that 4 hours after being requested, Cathy arrived to the hospital from Utah. Impressive. Most impressive. And most helpful.

Some of you may be wondering how the delivery went. It's really not for me to say, but we both agree that things went smoother than last time. But it's really not for me to say.

Enough said.

...And on the other side. Thanks for bringing this baby into the world! Bless the bearers of children.

Relief and exhaustion. And Lansinoh. But doesn't SJ look great?

Father and son.

Not a lot of drama with this kid so far. He didn't really cry upon arrival, and so far he doesn't fuss much. I'm crossing my fingers as I'm typing that he will continue to maintain a mild temperament. At least for a while as we adjust to life with two children. Speaking of which, here's Norah on the big day.

So far she's been great around him. Not great when not around him, but she has been a good big sister.

And he's a good little brother.

These days James can most often be found in bundle/burrito mode zonked out. But who knows; when we're asleep he might stop his "I'm just sleeping" act and sneak out for a night on the town.

Anyway, welcome to our family, James! We love you and are so glad you're here.

Pre Delivery Post

2010-09-25T10:24:00.005-05:00

We just recently had a baby, people. But before we give you the details, it's worth posting the events prior to the arrivals. Well, some events. Tasteful editing is always desirable in these situations...

For the record, the cleaning itch did come the night when labor started. Would she have kept the baby in longer if she hadn't vacuumed? We'll never know.

A couple of things: first, with experience comes wisdom. The In N Out move was a good one, despite the contractions that came before and after this video that may have freaked out folks in the car behind us. We didn't really eat for another 12-14 hours.

Second, we're so glad this happened on a weekend (though secretly I kind of wish I got a call in the middle of teaching class where I'd have to dash out of the room saying "Class, we have to end right now cause WE'RE HAVIN A BABY").

Third, I do have to say, this post is very reminiscent of our prior pre-delivery post, except California style.

Summer Happenings Part II

2010-08-30T16:26:00.010-05:00

It is the end of August, Nathan is back in school, so even though it was 104 degrees here not 4 days ago, I guess 'summer' is coming to an end. Here's a little more of what we've been up to this summer:

At the end of July we had Nathan's parents in town for a couple of days. We loved having them here, but I think I speak for all 3 of us when I say, it wasn't long enough. We hope they come back soon!

Since they arrived shortly after Norah's birthday, they came baring gifts. A cute baby doll in a stroller. Norah loved it! Well... she loved the stroller. She immediately took the baby doll out and put her beloved 'Piggy' in, and declared it "Piggy's Stroller." (Let's hope she's not so dismissive with another baby due to arrive here any day.) She's been loving pushing Piggy in that stroller ever since.

In early August we headed back to Utah for one last visit before I reached my 'no fly' status, and so we could see L & B before their little one arrived and they leave the country. Check out these two 'babies in waiting:'

(It should be noted with great enthusiasm that baby Ethan Thomas Miller arrived last Thursday! Congratulations Bret & Laura!)

We've been lucky to travel to Utah a lot this year, so Norah is very familiar with going there and what is there. She is obsessed with this yellow construction hat at my parent's house, and the very first thing she does every time we go there is find this hat and put it on.

Nathan's grandparents have a cabin up Provo Canyon, just down the river from Sundance resort. Both Nathan's mom and Nathan spent many summers up at the cabin growing up, and Nathan's grandparents, now in their nineties, still spend every summer there. It is a special place, and is where we blessed Norah two summers ago. It is one of our favorite places to visit in the summer, and we are always glad when our trips to Utah can include a visit to Wildwood.

We loved capping off our summer with a trip to see friends and family. We were lucky to get to see many good friends:

And to spend great quality time with family.

We had a great time!

The rest of our summer has been filled with various activites. One of which is Norah's newest obsession, jumping:

And with temperatures in the the triple digits the last 2 weeks, there has been a lot more of this:

and probably too much of this:

This Month Is Such a Special One...

2010-08-15T08:57:00.009-05:00

So, in our family we affectionately call July the 'Month of Fun' since all 3 of us have birthdays in July. I realize that going forward we may have to refrain from referring to it as that so as not to make certain imminent newcomers to the family feel left out, but until then, behold the Month of Fun...

I am usually especially great at documenting Nathan's birthday because it falls on the 4th of July, but this year I guess I was a real deadbeat wife, because this was all I managed to capture.

We did have a really fun day though, barbequeing and watching fireworks with friends, and celebrating our first Fourth of July in California.

Norah's birthday was a lot of fun. She woke up extra early that morning :), she must have known it was a special day. We started the day opening presents, then went for a fun family hike up to a waterfall (one of Norah's favorite hikes), came home and made Mickey Mouse pancakes and then crashed before the birthday party that evening.

Her birthday happened to fall on one of the hottest days we've had this summer, so what we had hoped would be a nice evening in the park turned out to be pretty sweltering. We appreciated everyone enduring the heat to come support Norah and eat melting popcicles with us. She had a great time.

Norah had very few requests for her birthday, but one thing that she kept asking for was 'a pink cake with two candles.' Wish granted.

And since I wasn't sure everyone would want bright pink cake (including myself) we had a back-up to share with friends.

For the past couple of years my birthday has sort of gotten lost in the shuffle of bigger life events such as the birth of our first child, and moving our family across the country. So this year it was fun to be able to spend my birthday just hanging out with my two best peeps. The bonus was that our BFs the Mills happened to be in town too!

We spent the morning in Santa Monica having brunch and walking around the Farmers Market, and then the rest of the day taking great naps, great walks, and going out for ice cream. It was a really perfect day.

Until next year 'Month of Fun.' Or as we'll probably call it next year, 'July.'

Sarah Jane, You're the Best

2010-07-28T22:15:00.003-05:00

For this year's birthday, it's time to show some classic SJ. I have secured permission to post these.

I love this girl.

Summer Happenings

2010-07-18T17:03:00.014-05:00

I feel like we are perpetually a month behind in our blogging, but here are a few things we've been up to so far this summer...

Last month we spent a couple of weeks in Utah. It was a fun way to kick off our summer with lots of fun outings with cousins and friends:

The Farm:

the Zoo:

And a lot of time in the pool:

Then this month cousins came to visit us here in California and we spent a fun day at the Long Beach Aquarium:

In between there has been a lot of things like this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

Twinkle Twinkle

2010-06-27T11:14:00.002-05:00

And the rock version. Yeah!

Zoo Trip

2010-06-27T09:41:00.007-05:00

Last month we took a day trip up to the Santa Barbara Zoo.

These are elephants. They are gray and have trunks. Just FYI.

Flamingos are funny birds. I'm glad they exist. Thanks flamingos!

We had a lot of fun riding the (pretend) animals.

I had no idea the California Condor looks like a vulture, and essentially is a vulture. It's huge. This one was kind enough to keep it's wing span out for a long time to give us a demo.

Can you spot my girls?

If you pay close attention to the end, you can hear Norah telling us where the third giraffe is.

Afterward, we hit Julia Child's favorite taco stand in Santa Barbara.

The food was good. Like Julia, we endorse this taco stand.

Norah is officially growing taller by the minute. Slow down!

Join us for our party!

2010-06-13T10:05:00.003-05:00

One morning Norah decided to gather all her friends for a party. It needed proper documentation.

Note the excellent nestling job of the squishy ducky friend.

It's nice to see that she considers herself one of the gang.

Gymnastics Video #9

2010-06-06T14:38:00.002-05:00

I can't get enough of her size right now, and how she's gaining control of her appendages and such. From the time that I started these gymnastics video posts, she's successfully figured out how to jump. Instead of a little hop skip, both feet can clear the ground at the same time. It's a really fun time.

Gymnastics Video #8

2010-06-05T11:02:00.002-05:00

Gymnastics Video #7

2010-06-04T11:21:00.002-05:00

This is for all you who remember how Norah couldn't do a proper crawl.

Gymnastics Video #6

2010-06-03T15:57:00.002-05:00

Do as I'm doing...

Gymnastics Video #5

2010-06-02T12:17:00.002-05:00

First try!

Gymnastics Video #4

2010-06-01T15:16:00.003-05:00

Ribbit.

Well, she's still putting that one together.

Gymnastics Video #3

2010-05-31T15:03:00.002-05:00

Gymnastics Video #2

2010-05-29T14:37:00.002-05:00

Sideways walking. Sort of.

Gymnastics Video #1

2010-05-17T09:28:00.007-05:00

I'm tempted to reveal these videos once a week. Or maybe do this as a 1-a-day. Yes, that's what I'll do. Norah is taking gymnastics. It's the best thing.

How can you watch this only once? I mean, the elbows! Her little size!

Daddy Daughter Day

2010-05-16T18:40:00.010-05:00

SJ went out of town for a weekend, so Norah and I got to have a few days together. So we went to a farm.

"How do I get this thing out of reverse?"

This farm also included a tunnel, and Norah was instantly enamored. Observe:

If I hadn't diverted her elsewhere, we'd still be there doing this. These days the whole 'ready....GO' command is a very effective tactic to keep her from dawdling.

After a successful nap, we bopped on down the PCH to check out the Santa Monica Pier. We rode the Ferris wheel, had a hot dog on a stick, and got matching tattoos.

In exchange for drinking all but a sip of my lemonade, she gave me a *mostly* fuss free return home. I'll take it. Let's do this again sometime.

Funny Hat

2010-04-26T09:26:00.004-05:00

Norah found this 'funny hat' (as she called it) at Grandma and Poppy's house, and wore it about 80% of the time we were there.

I scream for ice cream

2010-04-23T10:11:00.000-05:00

Easter 2010

2010-04-18T21:38:00.008-05:00

Norah's city!

2010-04-11T17:29:00.013-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we had the chance to go back to New York City. Nathan was participating in NYCEMF again this year, which also happened to coincide with his spring break, so Norah and I tagged along for a fun week in our favorite city.

(I have to make a disclaimer here that the photos in this post don't really do the trip justice. Nathan had the camera with him the first few days at the festival, and the rainy weather made it tricky to pull out the camera for much of the rest.)

As we flew into New York I said to Norah, "This is your city! You were born here! This is Norah's city!" And for the rest of the day whenever I asked her where we were she would say, "Norah's city." She was very excited to ride in a taxi and on the buses and subways, it was such an anomaly to her. Little did she realize that that was just the norm for the first year of her life. She loved it so much I felt a little bad that we'd taken her away from it all.

We didn't feel too much pressure to get out and 'do' a ton, our main objectives were really just to see friends and eat ourselves silly. We were successful at both.

We did manage to get to the Museum of Natural History. Last March we took Norah there for the first time. I remember thinking that in a year she'd really think it was amazing. Of course then we didn't know we wouldn't be living in New York this year, so I was glad to still get the opportunity to take her. And just as I suspected, she thought it was amazing. It was especially fun to be able to go with friends Nikki and Cam, and Norah's little buddy, John.

Of course it was accompanied by a visit (maybe the second one this trip) to the Shake Shack!

(Dear Danny Meyer, please open a Shake Shack in L.A.! Love, the Bowens.)

We had a great time walking around our beloved city, and getting to visit with many dear friends. Thanks again to everyone who re-arranged schedules (and their kids' schedules), trudged out in the rain, or stayed-up late despite early work mornings to spend time with us/play Beatles Rock Band with us. We LOVED getting to see you all, and miss you all over.

Family Reunion and Southern California Adventures (Part II)

2010-03-12T11:36:00.007-05:00

Continuing our coverage of the family reunion, we went to Disneyland (thanks to some excellent planning and generosity from grandparents). It was the first time for several children in the family, which was rad.

Here I overheard Norah say: 'Take me to the Haunted Mansion.'

It didn't take long for Norah to get the hang of it. By the time we did Small World, she was absolutely loving her life.

It was really fun to be with all the cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Aside from the tour guide, this picture is all family.

We're related! (and looking great).

Leading up to this trip, Norah had been on a major train kick. It just about blew her mind that we got to ride on an actual train. Fun fun.

From the parental standpoint, Norah handled herself like a champ. She loved it all, which allowed us to take calculated risks on such things as Pirates of the Caribbean.

Mostly, it was really all about being with our people. Thanks Poppy and Grandma for making it possible!

Interlude

2010-03-12T11:29:00.002-05:00

Family Reunion and Southern California Adventures (Part I)

2010-02-27T19:12:00.012-05:00

Over President's Day weekend, my whole family came to town for a vacation. The weather was unseasonably amazing, which was great, but mostly it was just really fun to be with everyone.

The first people to roll into town were Grandma and Poppy. We enjoyed showing them around our neck of the woods. Laura & Bret came the next day and we all took a trip down to our favorite beach.

Poppy and Norah. Classic.

Nathan is so strong he can hold Norah up just by his fingertips. I didn't write this, apparently.

One interesting tidbit from our beach visit is that a movie crew had just wrapped up a shoot. The set was for a film coming out this summer called 'Knight and Day,' with this beach scene to be set in Chile. So if you decide to see it, just be sure to imagine Norah inserted into that scene somewhere.

Poppy and Grandma applauding Norah's acting.

"I'll be in my trailer."

The next day the rest of the family arrived and we met up at one of our favorite spots in Orange County.

I must comment that the weather was indeed perfect. In February.

Once again, Amy refused to cooperate for family photos. So typical.

Norah was fired up to hang out with cousins.

There was digging.

And excavating.

And a lot of fun getting our feet wet.

It still kind of blows my mind that this is where we live, and that doing stuff like this is the norm for a weekend. That said, having family around takes the experience from awesome to 11.

(more trip highlights to come)

Visitors!

2010-02-07T23:58:00.009-05:00

Last month we were lucky to have some great visits from family. A couple of weeks ago my sister Laura came to town to spend a few days with us while her husband was in Brazil for work. For those of you that also read Laura's blog these photos will be awfully familiar (seeing as I blatantly poached them from her), but she is the one with the photo-taking skills, so we let her do the documenting while she was here.

While much of the time was spent just hanging around, taking naps, and doing the day to day stuff, we did manage a few fun outings— including a couple trips to the beach...

(as well as more than one trip to Tito's Tacos, and more than one trip to Crumbs Bakery :)

...and a gorgeous sunny day in Santa Monica.

Thanks for coming sister! We loved having you and are already missing you big time.

Laura's visit was also sandwiched between two great weekends with Nathan's parents– one down in Orange County, and one here with us. Turns out California is a much bigger draw in January for visitors than New York was :).

"18 months" (or) "Please indulge a doting mother"

2010-01-21T22:19:00.009-05:00

Norah reached 18 months last week, my baby is officially no longer a baby. She is a walking (more like running), talking, BUSY little gal.

A few things about Norah at 18 months:

She loves colors, numbers, and singing the alphabet.
She can count to ten all on her own.
She loves her music class.
She still loves a great bath!
Just like both her parents she LOVES ice cream (especially chocolate ice cream)
She loves books and puzzles and will plop down on anyone's lap who is willing to read her a book.
She loves to 'color,' (which there has been much evidence of on our walls :). Thank heavens for Magic Eraser! I've had to teach her the coloring mantra, "Just on Paper," which she now repeats to me any time I bust her coloring on something she shouldn't.)

She loves animals, butterflies, balloons, and anything to do with water. Anytime we go out anywhere I always ask her in the car what we should look for and she always says the same three things: "Fufflies" (butterflies), "manoons" (balloons), and "wato" (water, i.e. the ocean). And anytime I ask her where she wants to go she says, "Beach!"

She loves her people. Her highchair is across from the refrigerator where we have lots of pictures of family and friends, and while she eats we have to go through each photo and say everyone's name.

She is very interested in checking stuff out and exploring new ways to do things. A few weeks ago I came in the front room to find her watching her show like this:

and since then her wagon has been one of her favorite places to hang out.

One of my favorite things that she likes to do right now is to come behind us and give hugs.

Needless to say, these 18 months have been magical. We love you Norah, thanks for being our best little friend.

Christmas and our 2 1/2 weeks of winter

2010-01-09T20:05:00.010-05:00

This year we decided to take a long holiday vacation and visit family in both Washington and in Utah. This allowed us to see more family and friends, and to enjoy 2 1/2 weeks of winter weather. We started in Washington where we were able to do such things as sit by a roaring fire, eat lots of yummy food, and wear our warmest cozy pajamas.

It also meant the reunion of these three. Which of course was the best part.

Christmas Day was also an obvious highlight. The kids weren't quite sure what all the fuss was about as we urged them down the stairs, but they sure were loving opening the presents, and all the cool toys.

Stockings.

Opening presents.

When we arrived in Utah we were glad to see that the stockings there were also hung with care, and we enjoyed a second round of gift-giving with family there.

(thanks L for these photos)

We were also welcome by fresh snow that continued to fall for much of our time there. Since we knew that this was probably our one shot at playing in the snow, we were sure to take advantage.

We had a really great time with both of our families. That was the best gift, to be able to spend time with every member of both of our families at Christmas time. What is not photographed is all the fun time we also spent with friends we don't get to see often enough. It was really really great to see everyone in both states. And 2 1/2 weeks of winter was just the right amount :).

Norah Can Read!

2009-12-08T01:01:00.005-05:00

Well, sort of.

At the Beach

2009-12-03T18:09:00.009-05:00

We've been exploring some of our local beaches.

A few weeks ago our friends Brad and Mandy invited us to tag along with them to go check out the tide pools just down the canyon from us at Point Dume. It was beautiful to be down at the beach as the sun was setting, and fun to get to see all the starfish.

Then the next week we decided to check out Leo Carillo beach, which is one we've heard a lot about. It certainly lived up to the hype. Look how beautiful!

A couple amazing things about these two beach trips are A. we went to the beach in NOVEMBER (!), which is still amazing to me, and B. these two beach trips were a real turning point in our plight to get Norah to wear shoes. Apparently the beach is an exciting enough distraction that she forgets how much she usually dislikes wearing shoes and just rolls with it. I'll take it.

'Venturing' Out

2009-11-15T19:44:00.020-05:00

Okay, so now that we've been here in California for a few months, it's been high time that we get a lay of the land. So a couple of weeks ago we drove up to Ventura to check it out.

We heard it had a cool little downtown. It does.

What we didn't know was that every other store is a thrift shop.

In other adventuring, we also recently went to check out Griffith Park and observatory. We liked it there. Fantastic view. It's just north of L.A., along the same strip of mountains as the Hollywood sign.

This is the Hollywood sign.

Meanwhile, we also finally made it to my school's zoo. That's right. My school has a zoo.

The layout of the zoo caters more to the students than to visitors, so it was hard to get up close to the animals. I get it: they need to train to manage exotic animals. But despite being slightly disappointing, it still had its highlights.

What did not disappoint was the 'show,' which was a fantastic blend of information, passion, and awkwardness.

So that's it for now, stay tuned for some more adventures to come.

All of Fall in Three Days

2009-11-03T19:06:00.023-05:00

Last week we decided to do something very impromptu and fly to SLC for the weekend. It was my friend Tia's 30th birthday party as well as Halloween, so we thought we'd go and join in the fun with friends and family there. Plus, it is still 86 degrees in California and we've had a hankering for some Fall, so we thought this would be a good way to get us some of that as well.

On Friday night all the fam (minus Laura and Bret who we very much missed) got together for some Halloween Eve fun. Poppy and Grandma were in rare Halloween form, and Norah was in heaven with all her Udall cousins around.

At Tia's big bash. It was very fun to celebrate with her and to see and catch up with friends we don't get to see often enough. Plus, the costumes were amazing.

On Halloween we got Norah dressed up and made the rounds.

Leo and Norah. These poor kids, every time we get them together we make them take a billion pictures, but who can resist? Especially when they are in costumes!

Then it was time to go trick-or-treating. The concept of endless candy at every doorstep was pretty lost on Norah (although she did enjoy putting it in and taking it out of her bucket), but getting to be out walking around with all the kids was definitely exciting.

She was loving crunching the fall leaves under her feet, she kept walking back and forth over them.

(Thanks Cannons for letting us tag-along, and Poppy for coming with us.)

It was a great Halloween weekend, exactly what we wanted.

15 months of fun

2009-10-23T19:33:00.006-05:00

Okay, so Norah is 15 months old. For some reason this feels like a watershed moment, and we must therefore chronicle. Not that our blog isn't all about her anyway...

First, she loves to read books. It's pretty awesome, especially when she brings a book over to you for you to read with her. It's even better when she's got the book memorized; she'll anticipate the next page by saying the next word or doing the next motion before you get there.

She loves all her little friends. And forts.

She is still a water baby. Bath, pool, ocean, fountains, you name it. They all get her excited. And at 15 months, she now has enough hair to create the obligatory shampoo mohawk.

She is also talking a lot. Most of what she says is hard to decipher, but sometimes she goes on for a while and gets really animated. Check it out:

She's probably proposing effective health care solutions, to no avail.

Here's what we can tell she's saying for sure:

hi, or hey! (high-pitched to low pitched)
mom
dad
dog
ball
no
up
hat
moon (said for both moon and balloon)
ding dong (said "din don")
shoes (said "sues")
socks
books
trucks
banana (na na)
piggy
baby (said "bee bee," whispered)
cheese
bath
bah ba (bottle)
paci (pacifier)
night night (nigh nigh)
thank you (said "da doo")
hot
Plex (the magic robot from Yo Gabba Gabba)
bye bye

Finally, she is cruising. Her special crawl is now officially a thing of the past. I truly think the motivating factor for walking was having both hands available for carrying stuff.

Is it just me or is all this growth happening really fast?

There's a Party in my Tummy!

2009-10-22T22:02:00.021-05:00

Norah has been growing teeth this week so my already picky eater has become even less interested in food the past few days. So today I decided to make some of her favorites for lunch with the hope that she'd at least eat some of it. (I also let her eat in just her diaper, which she LOVES.)

Mac & Cheese! In my tummy party party! Sweet potato fries! In my tummy party party! Yo grapes! Here we go!

Does Broccoli want to go to the party in my tummy? (Okay, so it isn't that easy. My only real shot at getting some green veggies in this kid is to sneak it in. I have a feeling this cookbook is going to come in handy in the years to come.)

There's a party in my tummy...

so yummy, so yummy!

Yay! (http://yogabbagabba.com/#/party-in-my-tummy)

Fun at the Farm

2009-10-06T22:15:00.014-05:00

It's pumpkin season, so today Norah and I picked Nathan up from work to go on an outing to the farm.

To get into the farm spirit, here's Norah holding her pig in front of a huge cow.

On our way to the corn maze we stopped to see how tall we all are this fall by standing next to this 6 ft. cardboard pumpkin with eyelashes and shoes. What can I say, it is a good measuring stick.

(still the same as last fall...)

(8 inches taller!)

corn maze.

and of course... the pumpkin patch

(it should be noted that my brother broke his arm as a little kid by falling off a giant pumpkin, so this photo opportunity was taken with some apprehension on my part)

Happy Fall... even if it still feels like summer.

still too soon...

2009-09-26T21:31:00.005-05:00

I still haven't made it through this without getting bummed out. Even though I'm really happy to be in California, I still just miss New York every day.

Jay-Z - New Music - More Music Videos

(that said, this video is pretty amazing)

Outtakes

2009-09-20T10:34:00.004-05:00

Our little wee is in a great stage of development. She's becoming more adventurous with attempts to walk, and she's starting to say stuff. Enjoy the footage (yes, pun intended. I know, it's bad).

(in this first one, the video plays weird and skips the first second. The best part is the very beginning, so you may try moving the slider back manually. Baby steps.)

In this next one, she's showing me her ball. Notice her excellent pronunciation.

Walking and talking. It's fun.

Norah on the move

2009-09-12T08:55:00.003-05:00

So this just happened a few minutes ago. Thought you should know.

But really, check this out:

Superstar.

Family Reunion in the Great Northwest

2009-09-01T21:00:00.010-05:00

We were lucky to get to go spend a few days at this beautiful spot in Washington with Nathan's family last week. It was the first time we have all been together since last Thanksgiving, so it was a momentous gathering. Below is a picture of the whole gang, Nathan's parents with their entire progenity— three sons, three daughter-in-laws, and three grandchildren all born within 10 months of each other.

Needless to say, much of the time was spent watching (and taking photos of) these three.

Norah was endlessly fascinated with her cousin Sam. Being 6 weeks older than her, he has a few more tricks in his arsenal that left Norah quite in awe. Such things as being able to open doors, go both up AND down stairs (Norah is great at going up, but still has a hard time going down), and walking all over the place. We were hoping Sam's influence would rub off on that last one, but Norah is still building her confidence to venture out on her own, although she is a great little walker as long as she has a finger or furniture to hold on to. Because Sam spends a lot of time at Gram and Papa's house he also knew where all the good toys were :), all the makings of quite the super-cool guy in Norah's eyes. I'm sure he will always continue to remain so throughout their lives.

Little Dalton was an absolute joy to have around. The most pleasant and sweet baby. And he is getting big so fast!

There were also many photos taken of babies and their parents in different combinations:

There was hiking and vista-viewing

Ferry-boating in the Puget Sound

And a lot of general all-around relaxing (which in this family can include such things as playing the Banjo)

An added bonus of visiting Seattle is that these two chuckles live there now. Yay!

It was fun to get to spend time with Laura and Bret, and to see their cute little apartment in the city. We're glad they chose to move somewhere that we already love to visit. Thanks guys.

And the added bonus of Laura and Bret living there now is that members of my family have added incentive to come visit too. We overlapped one day with my mom when she came to visit, so we lucked out in getting a great photo of Norah with BOTH her awesome grandmothers.

Thanks again Gram & Papa for having us, and for being such wonderful hosts/parents/grandparents. We love you!

Westward Ho!

2009-08-25T21:16:00.011-05:00

This post is way overdue, but I thought I'd re-cap our move a little bit.

You'd think that having only a 600 square foot apartment would mean there wouldn't be much to pack up, but it sure didn't feel that way. And that 600 square feet filled up pretty quickly with boxes everywhere.

Our month of packing up the apartment also coincided with Norah's new found zeal to stand and climb on everything :).

Last day.

On our way out to California we made a pit stop in Utah where we bought a car (!). We haven't had a car in over 6 years, so this was kind of a big deal. Here we are all packed up ready for the drive to Southern California.

An hour outside of Las Vegas in the early hours of the morning Norah had one of the biggest poop-outs of her life (sorry to get graphic). It was only fitting that our closest pit stop was a casino called "Terrible's."

Little sweetie asleep in her car seat.

We made it to California and were successfully able to find a new home (thanks to the help of many, the Blakes in particular). One of the first things we did upon arrival was hit the beach!

(I still can't believe we get to live here.)

We had to wait a couple of weeks for all of our stuff to arrive from New York, and on the day it did Nathan came home from work with a 103 degree fever, so it was a little bit crazy, and hence no photo documentation of the move-in. But we are getting settled in nicely and will post pictures of the new apartment soon. I do have to say though, one of the perks of not having your stuff for six weeks is that all the old toys seem new again :).

I Am A Robot!

2009-08-16T23:28:00.006-05:00

This is one of Norah's favorite things right now. A friend of one of Nathan's cousins developed this to help teach his daughter the alphabet. He designed it all and did the animation, and then had his daughter do the cute little robot voice. We love it. Anytime I'm on the computer Norah comes over and wants to climb on my lap and watch it. She especially loves pushing the buttons to get to a new one. My favorites are M, R, and V. Norah loves H, and of course D. Thanks friend of Nathan's cousin!

(and thanks Laura for reminding us we should post about it and pass it on!)

Norah's 1st Birthday

2009-08-04T23:33:00.011-05:00

So I know we are waaaaaaay behind in our blog chronicles, but after successfully moving ourselves to Southern California (more on that to come), we are back up and running. So look for a string of 'catch-up' posts to come.

But 'first' things first. Norah's birthday.

Our baby girl turned 1 last month. We were still in Utah on her birthday, so to celebrate we capitalized on the beautiful summer weather as well as access to my parent's great backyard and an awesome grill (which also included two fabulous grill masters— my dad and my brother Jim), and most importantly, being with many of Norah's 'people.' I'm not sure how aware Norah was of what was going on, but she sure had fun regardless. Here are some of the highlights:

opening her gifts...

(New York in a bag... the first of many not so subtle reminders of where her roots are)

...blowing out her candle

...and diving into her first birthday cake

Happy Birthday little sweetie, we love you!

Fourth of July Celebrations (including Nathan's b-day!)

2009-07-19T10:04:00.014-05:00

Happy Fourth of July. Sorry we're a bit behind on our blogging, our 'Month of Fun'* has just been so much fun. As one might expect, these next few posts will inlcude many photos, so sorry to those of you who don't enjoy a lengthy post.

The Fourth of July is double the fun in our family because it is also Nathan's birthday. So first, a Happy Birthday shout out to him. We love you honey/Dad.

Last year our Fourth was pretty low key because I was super pregnant, and it was super hot and muggy in New York City. So this year we really went for it with the celebration activities.

We started the day with an early morning hike with Laura and Bret. It should be noted that this was Norah's first hike.

Then we walked in our first Fourth of July parade, joining in with Norah's cousins (cousin Lily seen below) and dozens of other kids on their decked out bikes, scooters, etc., as well as people in golf carts, on horseback, 4-wheelers, motorcycles, a fire engine, police cars, someone pulling a handcart, a dude on stilts, and a man dressed in colonial garb carrying a musket. Quite the Fourth of July hodge podge. Norah thoroughly enjoyed herself.

The rest of the day was spent partying (and eating) like it was the Fourth of July.

And of course the day was capped off with firework shows both big and small.

*our anniversary is June 28th, Nathan's birthday is July 4th, Norah's is July 18th, and mine is July 28th, so we affectionately call the month between June 28th and July 28th our 'Month of Fun.' And it usually really is.

Goodbye

2009-07-06T10:17:00.006-05:00

This past week we said goodbye to a city and a lot of people we love. New York City will always be a special place for us, and we look forward to going back someday. We are excited to begin our adventure in Southern California, but for now it just seems appropriate to play this again.

The Amazing Race!

2009-06-09T14:36:00.013-05:00

A couple of weekends ago my mom, and two of my sisters came into town for a visit and so my sister Jen could run the Brooklyn Half Marathon with me. It rained the two days before the race, but we woke up that morning to gorgeous weather, it could not have been more perfect. The race started in Brooklyn's Prospect Park and ended along the boardwalk at Coney Island.

Here we are coming down the homestretch along the boardwalk. We were so happy to see Laura and Mom and then Nathan and Norah a little further down cheering us on. We were pumped!

Here we are at the end. Both Jen and I had a baby last year, so this was our come back race :). It was so fun running this race with my sister. We stayed together the whole time and kept each other going, I couldn't have done it without her. Thanks again Jen for coming all the way to New York to do this with me!

My team! Norah was such a little trooper making the trek out to Coney Island and waiting around for us to finish the race, especially since it meant missing her morning nap (and Nathan was so awesome to bring her and her gear all the way out there solo). It was so awesome to come down the homestretch and see my family at the end.

Our friend Nikki Kelly (who also had a baby last year) also ran the race. Nikki finished before us so she, Cam and John Henry joined in cheering us on at the end. It was great to share this fun day with these great friends as well. Way to go Nikki!

And here we are making the trek back into the city. Thanks again everyone for supporting me in this goal. (And yes, Norah really does ride around in her stroller holding both her legs in the air like that a lot of the time... wonder who she gets that from? :)

(more pictures of Mom, Laura, and Jen's visit to come)

Big News

2009-06-03T18:01:00.006-05:00

We're moving.

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-27T10:20:00.015-05:00

We had a pretty glorious Memorial Day weekend. It probably seemed even more amazing because the weather forecast kept calling for rain, but the rain held out until Tuesday, and we had nothing but sun all weekend. While walking back from Central Park on Monday night, Nathan and I counted 8 trips to the park over the 4 day weekend (I took Friday off too). Not bad. We had fun going for morning runs, taking Norah to the swings, and meeting up with friends.

Me and My Gorilla

2009-05-26T11:38:00.006-05:00

Norah has a new best friend. It is this little gorilla (that we affectionately call 'Monkey') given to her by her aunt and uncle. She carries this thing everywhere! And now her already unique method of transportation (see previous post) also includes her gorilla in tow. She crawls around with a death grip on that thing. It is actually really sweet.

Their favorite place to 'hang out' is under our kitchen table. When we're in the kitchen cooking, eating dinner, or whatever, this is where you'll find these two.

Oh yeah? Check this out

2009-05-04T14:54:00.005-05:00

So as I mentioned in the previous post, Norah is now crawling. Kind of.

She can also wave and clap. She'll wave as a basic thing now, and if we try to prompt her to wave to someone hello or goodbye, it's usually 50/50 whether she'll do it. Mostly she'll wave later after someone leaves. Still, it's pretty awesome. Check out some clapping.

Leg kicks and tricks

2009-05-03T19:54:00.006-05:00

Norah has a couple of her own little trademark moves when she gets excited about something. The first is that she starts kicking both legs fast.

But before we move on, let's talk about her amazing attempt to crawl. She is now moving much better (we'll post video of this later), so in retrospect this reminds me more of that moment on Elf when Will Farrell attempts to get on the escalator for the first time. Serious concentration.

Her second trick is to do a 360º spin on her bum. Observe:

What about her face at the end?! Cute kid. So anyway, those leg kicks are not quiet kicks. They are excited kicks. Thankfully we currently don't have anyone living below us, otherwise we could have some angry neighbors. When we were staying with family in Utah Bret and Laura would emerge from downstairs in the morning wondering if there were kids running around the house, or if a heater was broken. Once Norah did her kick pumping action, the culprit was identified. Sorry.

9 months!

2009-04-22T10:04:00.002-05:00

Norah is now 9 months old, in the 80th percentile for both height and weight, and full of new tricks. Gone are the days of plopping this girl down with some toys, she is on the move and into EVERYTHING! Her current fascinations include shoes, the inside of the refrigerator, and pulling out the DVDs and books on the bottom shelves multiple times a day. Getting her dressed and changing her diaper is now a full on wrestling match as she is very proud of her newest trick of getting herself from her back to sitting up.

(Thanks for the great back-drop Holly & Paul)

Her crawling skills are improving as well (see above), the other night she was in the living room (pulling out the DVDs) and I went to turn on the water for her bath and before I was even out of the bathroom she had heard the water going and booked it over. This girl still LOVES a good bath, and still HATES when she has to get dressed, see below:

(and check out those 2 little bottom teeth!)

This is such a fun stage, I feel like she is figuring out something new everyday— we are just trying to do our best to keep up!