Bump

I was thinking this morning that nothing really exciting happened this week, so I wasn't sure what to write. Unfortunately, Norah decided to take care of that this afternoon.

Check out Norah's forehead. Ouch.

She was running around our kitchen, having a great time, until... THUD! I wasn't in the kitchen at the time, so I don't really know what happened. But I heard her slip and she started crying, so I rushed over to pick her up, thinking it was just like any other little fall. After she calmed down for a second, I started to assess the damage and got a glimpse of the egg growing on her head. And then I almost started to cry. Poor little girl. Definitely her biggest bump to date.

I think I need to get her some grippy socks with how much she likes to do laps through our kitchen. I would love to never see another bump like that on her again.

Here are a few more pictures from the rest of the week.

I made this cute little bow holder a little while ago. Super easy, actually! Not that Norah really has enough hair for bows yet...

And I found this adorable print on Pinterest to add to our Christmas decor. I've been in love with this quote lately, even used it in a primary lesson on faith a couple weeks ago.

Our family had to say goodbye to some friends in our ward, the Genets. I tried to get a picture of Norah hugging Bella, but by the time my camera finally took the picture, they were done. We really are going to miss the Genets! It was really fun getting to know them!

Last Wednesday, we had an awesome mutual. An ugly sweater making party. Didn't these turn out amazing?! We have some pretty crafty girls!

Some more play time with Alivia.

Check out this super adorable video of these two playing tag:

I realized I can keep Norah happy in a store if she gets to sit in the basket. I usually give her the diaper bag as a pad for her back, but it's turned into a great seat cushion.

Norah likes to "take pictures" of the Christmas tree.

 I started this project for Norah. I realized there are so many little things that I don't want to forget, and I wanted someplace to write them down. I bought this little notebook, thinking I would just write down things, but I decided to include pictures, too. For most days, I either have a picture or something to write down. I don't know how long I'll keep up with it, but at least I feel like I'm doing some kind of scrapbooking.

 Every year, each family member gets a new ornament. These were our choices for the year.

The other night, Rich went in to peek at Norah right before we went to bed. He came back in and told me I had to see her. I guess this explains why she was laughing so much before she fell asleep. Crazy girl!

I arm knitted this scarf today. We started making them for mutual one night, which turned into a little bit of chaos, I decided to just make it at home. Thankfully this tutorial helped me remember how to do it! I can't believe it actually turned into something I want to wear!

 And, finally, Rich took these pictures. The bottom one makes me think of a dunce cap.... We only use the best methods for disciplining our child.

Merry almost Christmas, all! We are looking forward to some family getting in town this weekend. We've had a little break - now we're ready for more celebrating!

Happy Birthday, Rich!

Part 3 of 3. Happy birthday to the man of the house.

I guess things really stopped being so crazy after we were done babysitting. We were able to come home and relax a little, but I still have some pictures I want to share from Rich's birthday this year.

With Rich leaving for work at 6 in the morning, there wasn't much to do for celebrating before he got home. But we went over to Rich's parents' house for his birthday dinner, which was the traditional Nelson birthday dinner of steak, potatoes, and fake crab.

Presents followed dinner. 

Norah had a little pre-Christmas warmup. 

 This was a camp stove from Rich's parents. The thing was tiny! So cool!

 This was my first attempt at a cheesecake. It's not much to look at (I don't have a springform pan), but at least it tasted good!

Based on the amount of candy he received, Rich considered this to be a very successful birthday.

And here are a few more pictures and videos from the week to get me all the way caught up:

It's pretty crummy quality, but I still wanted to post this. It's obvious she gets her great dancing skills from her mother. Also notice the music she's dancing to - yep, that would be the Carpenters Christmas CD.

 Norah has been fighting nap time a lot lately, so she's been having quite a few car naps. We just also just switched her to forward facing, and she's been loving it because she gets a fantastic view of all the Christmas lights.

Norah loves being in her crib. She was being a bit of a crab one day, so I put her in with some books and toys, and she was in heaven. She played in there for at least 20 minutes, completely happy. She even asked to get back in again later.

 

Again, loving her crib. In the mornings, she'd be completely fine to lay in here and play until she got hungry.

So, that's the end of our past little while of crazy busy-ness. Things will be quiet for a couple more weeks until family come in town for Christmas, which we are really looking forward to! We could use a little more crazy in our lives.

The Babysitters Club

Part 2 of the craziness. The one where Rich and I became the parents of five extra kids for four days.

A while ago, I agreed to watch my friend Kristin's kids for a few days while she and her husband went out of town. It sounded intimidating to me at first, but the kids were really great for us, and Kristin had a good schedule for us to follow.

The biggest shock was just how much there is to do with 5 kids, especially once they start school. The only thing really going in Norah's life right now is doctor appointments every couple months and the occasional play date. Older kids have so much to do! And there weren't even any sports going on for these kids right now. I'll probably be one of those ridiculous moms who has everything scheduled out to the minute just to make sure I'm not forgetting anything!

The Wallace kids were great at helping out and were old enough to know what they should be doing anyway. Norah was by far the hardest child of them all because she did not like not being an only child. She got really clingy and wouldn't let me leave her sight for a second. (I realized a few days ago that part of the problem was that she was in the process of getting four more teeth.) It's going to take some major adjusting for Norah when we have another child (someday).

Day 1 brought us homework, piano practicing, a school Christmas program for one kid, and scouts and mutual for another two (as well as for Rich and myself).

 Before we headed over to the Wallaces' house, Norah hung out in her car seat for a while. For some weird reason, she loves sitting in it when it's not in the car.

Once the kids got home from school, Norah was never starved for attention! The kids made sure she always had enough toys and any snack she might want.

Day 2 consisted of more homework, more piano, a play date for the youngest (which was really easy because they picked her up), cub scouts, and another school Christmas program.

Norah's favorite place to hang out was the dog's bed. She was pretty much always covered in dog hair. 

Gracie was really loving the dog's kennel, too. She insisted that Lucy (the dog) wanted to be in there with her. And, I have to admit, the dog was pretty happy with this.

Don't tell the other kids this, but the oldest, Andrew, was probably Norah's favorite. I even caught this shot of her cuddling with him!

Day 3 was pretty easy, although I have no idea how to cook for more than three people. Making dinner wasn't the easiest for me while there. We did attempt an outing to Walmart that night. I can only imagine what people thought when they saw this couple of twenty-somethings with six kids ranging from almost 13 to 18 months.

 Norah and I got some alone time while Gracie was at preschool. She was much less clingy when it was back to just the two of us. I was able to clean things up a little while Norah played quietly on the bed.

Norah has quite the evil look on her face here, but she and Grace had a lot of fun together. Gracie always made sure Norah was happy.

A car full of kids (there are two more in the backseat you can't see). I let Rich drive the Yukon - I'm a little scared of how big it is!

Day 4 was lots of fun. It started with a ward Christmas breakfast where Santa made a guest appearance, followed by Norah's (and my) first trip to Chuck E. Cheese's.

Ward Party Shots

 We tried to get them to take a good picture so we could send it to their parents. Caleb's face cracks me up!

 Norah got to sit on Santa's lap at the party, and that went just about how I expected (which, I'm afraid to admit, is just how I wanted it to). She hated it. Threw a great fit about it. And I absolutely love these pictures.

Rich caught it on video, too. Love it!

And then our trip to Chuck E. Cheese's

Don't let Norah's face here fool you. She loved it! 

So this ride takes a picture of you while you're going, and Gracie knew just what to do. She had this fake, though still adorable, smile plastered on her face the whole time. 

This was Norah's absolute favorite part of the trip. In fact, she threw a giant fit if we attempted to get her off, even if it was to eat pizza, her favorite food. 

After Chuck E. Cheese's, the plan was to go home and quiet down so Norah could take a nap. That was only after Rich and the boys had a giant Nerf gun war. Boys will be boys.

We had some play time later that evening where we had an epic game of tag, followed by some Skylander lessons for me. These kids were so adorable, doing their best to entertain Norah, who was just about babysat out.

They started playing peekaboo with her, and she loved it, although the video does not do it justice. It was so adorable of them!

Such a cute family 

(Including Adam, who was sulking in the corner, for some reason I don't remember now)

This babysitting gig showed me that I still have a lot of things left to learn. Like how to cook a large meal. And how to get boys (including your husband) to stop shooting Nerf guns and start cleaning up.

It sure was a lot of fun, though! Thanks for sharing your family with us, Kristin!