9 months!

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!

Easter 2009

Happy Easter!

We were lucky to spend Easter in Utah this year. I haven't been home for Easter since I moved to New York almost 6 years ago so it was wonderful to be there, and it was really fun that Norah's first Easter could be with some of her extended family.

It was a beautiful spring day, and we all enjoyed being outside and joining in on the fun.

Some footage of Norah's first Easter Egg Hunt:

While We're Away

We are away in Utah for spring break, so look for new posts featuring Easter and the trip next week when we get back. But for all our 10 or so readers out there, here is something for you to check out while we're gone:

My talented sister is the guest mom on DesignMom this week! Check it out. And she's posting all week, so be sure to check back in.

http://www.designmom.com/2009/04/hello-there-amy-smart.html

Exploding Weekend

Hi gang, now that nycemf is over (phew), I'm back on the blogging block. To recap some highlights of an explosive weekend:

First, my brother Brigham totally surprised me by arriving Saturday afternoon from D.C. to attend my performance at The Tank. I had no idea, as I was engulfed in preparations for the piece (which was improvised. I had to write the code so I could perform on my laptop. Blah blah blah). To show you how preoccupied I was, I have no picture to display of his presence. So here's a space for his would-have-been picture:











Seated to Brigham's right are my cousin, Nancy, and Dave Lewis, also not appearing. Thanks for coming guys! Also, special thanks to Miles for coming and letting me commandeer his laptop too.


Here's me performing Gotham Swift. Watching a laptop performance can be pretty boring, so here you can see that I at least tried to get in a groove.


Among the highlights on the concert: Cathy van Eck presented her piece Hearing Sirens, where she walked around in the space with music blasting out of her speaker pack. It was all about the way sound refracts off of surfaces. So here, you could hear the music coming out of the speakers, but I heard it even more prominently bouncing off the wall to the left. I loved it. In lieu of the witty one-liner I can't think of, I'll leave it up to commenters to come up with good captions for this. I expect at least one spouse joke.


Last night we made a kebab dinner using the oven, and when we went to take out the dish, it exploded! Thick pyrex glass was everywhere. Peppers were lost. Norah was freaked (she doesn't like big surprising noises. Just ask Brigham). Fortunately we had lined the pan with foil in an attempt to preserve the juices from the broiler, meaning that dinner was preserved. Click on the picture to view the aftermath in detail. Has this ever happened to anyone?

Other than these loud and exciting events, we enjoyed a quiet weekend together listening to General Conference, catching up with friends and family, going for a great walk, and taking dead-to-the-world naps. Good times.

My name is SJ, I like to dance!

In our family there is one show we can all agree on. Yo Gabba Gabba. I don't really know how to describe it, all you need to do is look at the above picture to sort of get what we're dealing with— a cyclops, a pink flowery raindrop, a yellow robot, a blue cat/dragon (?), and Brobee "the little green one." There's a lot of dancing, and singing 'helpful' songs like, "Don't Bite Your Friends," "It's Time to Put on Your Pajamas," "There's a Party in My Tummy," or my favorite, "Jumpy, Jump, Jump," and it isn't uncommon in our home for one of us to start singing YGG songs throughout the day at random. Our favorite is it's host, DJ Lance (doing his signature jump kick move seen below). Norah doesn't watch that much TV, and there aren't too many shows that really hold her attention, but when DJ Lance's signature orange hat pops up on the TV screen she gets the biggest smile on her face and will look at me and/or Nathan to make sure we also see it, and let me tell you, when I'm trying to make dinner/take a shower/clean the apartment/insert any myriad of tasks that are easier done not holding a baby, it is nice to have a sure fire way to keep her entertained for a solid 20 minutes (we currently have about 9 episodes banked in our TiVo for emergencies). And the bonus is that Nathan and I not-so-secretly enjoy it too. There are often fun guest appearances in Gabba Land, we are particularly looking forward to (and have the TiVo set for) this one.

Happy 8-month Birthday little one!

Today Norah is 8 months old! Please indulge us once again with some up to date shots of the wee one.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

While we might catch a glimpse of the St. Patrick's Day parade going down Fifth Avenue today, the real festivities are taking place at the lunch table. Norah likes to wear green by putting zucchini/pear mush all over, particularly behind and in her right ear. And occasionally in her mouth. I take this as a sign that she doesn't want to be pinched. Anywhere.


And while we're on the topic of St. Patrick's Day (this is SJ speaking now), this has been on my "to read" list for a long time, and I'm making a St. Patrick's Day Resolution that by next St. Patrick's Day I will finally read it. Someone please hold me to this.

Now this is happening...

As embarrassed as I am to show you all the inside of our kitchen cupboard, this morning Norah not only made her way over to the cupboard by herself, but she successfully opened it and started pulling everything out. Gone are the days of just plopping her imoblie little self down with some toys and having her be content to stay put. This girl is now on the move and wants to be into EVERYTHING! Time to get creative.

Day at the Museum

On Saturday we met up with the Rissers to go to the Natural History Museum and the Shake Shack. Here we all are outside the NHM. Norah and Van (both tucked into their dad's jackets) were born two days apart last July.

The rare family photo. Here we are in the main entrance (sorry the lighting isn't so great).

contrary to what is portrayed in the movie Night at the Museum, 'Rexy' is not in the main entrance. He's up on the 4th floor, which we didn't make it to this time. Saturday + winter = very busy at the NHM. And when you throw strollers and crowded elevators into the mix, it is trickier than you might think to get to the 4th floor.

We did enjoy the African Hall of Mammals though:

and my favorite main attraction, the whale! Behold:

And here's Norah and me in front of a meteorite:

I think that Norah's favorite part of the museum was actually all the people at the museum, especially the kids who were at her eye level. Give her another year though, and this stuff will start to blow her mind.

On not getting things done (aka rocking out)

As much as I try to be productive, Norah always works her way into things. Oh well. Probably a good thing. Stay tuned for a longer post from SJ soon.

Trip to Visit Grandparents

Over President's Day weekend we headed out to Seattle and then to North Bend to visit grandparents, cousin, and family. It was fun. A quick tour.

Here's SJ and Norah fresh off the flight. Norah is gearing up for a weekend of overstimulation by looking nonplussed.


About that overstimulation, this is Norah's first time in an exersaucer. This picture shows her once she got the hang of it and was able to acknowledge others in the room. At first it was all business, examining each toy to determine the precise function, and keeping a firm handle on one thing while checking something else out to make sure the first didn't go anywhere.

I am in favor of vacations, especially the kind that include time in front of a fire.

...and Norah continues to be in favor of baths. These days she is really interested in where all the water comes from and where it goes. She's so environmentally aware.

She is also much more aware of people around her, and as Sarah Jane pointed out in her last post, she's really a pleasant kid right now. Here she is with her people.

Papa Scott and Norah.

Here's Monica and Sam, happy to have time to hang out. Currently Norah is Sam's lone cousin.

"You blinked. I win."

Dads and babies. Stripes vs. greys.

Feeding Norah is one of my absolute favorite things. That is, if she's eating something she likes. Sweet Potatoes = puréed gold. Peas... not so much.

"We come in peace. We mean you no harm."

All in all we had a great time. Thanks family for the President's Day trivia, food, and fun. And Mom, thanks for the photos!

A snapshot

This photo (courtesy of Grandma Annette) pretty much sums up what life is like for us these days. Norah at 7 months is our sweet, happy, hungry, silly, smiley baby. It's a pretty magical time.

Hosting Playgroup

Here in the city during winter, playgroup = high density of babies (and parents) in a single apartment. Thanks to everyone for squeezing in and being nice about it. For those of you who weren't able to make it, we missed you and hope to play soon.

Here's Norah before playgroup.

And here's the playgroup. And this isn't including everyone. Yes, this is how it's done in the city. You just deal. Kind of like this, but not really.

Oh, the Superbowl happened yesterday too?

Tennis is the best kept secret in sports. Don't get me wrong, I watched (part of) the Superbowl, and it ended up being a pretty exciting game there at the end, but truth be told, I was way more excited about the Australian Open men's final yesterday than I was about the Superbowl. Where the Steelers and the Cardinals had me mildly interested, Federer and Nadal had me glued to my couch. Men's tennis is at such a golden age with the rivalry of these two (as well as some emerging talent like Andy Murray). When Roger and Rafa play you really never can predict who will win. The level of play is amazing, and the respect that they have for each other as players (and as people I think) just makes it that much more exciting to watch... and easy to be happy about the outcome no matter who wins. Despite the confetti and the coaches getting doused with gallons of gatorade, the end of the Superbowl was pretty unemotional for me, but I actually cried along with Roger Federer yesterday. I mean, to see someone who is so talented, so hard-working, so dedicated to his sport, and such a class act weep like that, you can't help but clench your own chest at his heartache. And to see Nadal, the victor, come and put his arm around Roger and offer him the highest of praise is real sportsmanship, and the true mark of a champion. I love it.

The little red Schoenhut

One of my favorite gifts that Norah received upon her birth is this little Schoenhut. It was given to her by our good friends Carlo and Becca (and Henry). Now that Norah is sitting up and demonstrating [a little] better muscle control we thought we'd get it out and let her give it a whirl. She loved it! Especially once she figured out that SHE was the one making the noise. Thanks again Carlo and Becca! I think this is probably just the beginning of kids learning to play instruments in our home, and the many great sounds that will accompany that :).

Happy Half Birthday

Norah hit the 6 month mark over the weekend. Our girl is half a year old! Amazing. We went in for her 6-month check up yesterday and the stats were:

height: 26 1/2 inches
weight: 17 lbs. 11 ounces

90th percentile in both!

We've yet to see a tooth, and we're still trying to get her excited about eating real food, but we'll take those things as they come, and in the meantime we'll just keep enjoying watching this little love grow. Here are some more 6 month shots.