Happy Birthday, Nora Jane!

We can hardly believe that one year ago today we met our little bundle of joy for the first time.  What a year it has been!  We can't wait to celebrate her birthday with local family and friends and share pictures with those of you who aren't able to make it.

In the meantime, in honor of this major milestone, I wanted to record and share some notes about what Nora is like now and how we got here.

Everywhere we go, people tell us what a beautiful, happy baby we have.  We couldn't agree more and we love to show her off!

We learned early on that if she doesn't get her sleep, she is very cranky.  This made it necessary to prioritize sleep training.  These days, when she's home, she takes two naps of at least an hour each and sleeps through the night from 6:30pm to 6am.  She self soothes like a champ but sleeps best in a very dark room, in her sleep sack, with her noise machine on.  When she's at school, she hardly naps at all because she is too excited about everything going on around her.

I am proud and thankful to have made it to my goal of one year of breastfeeding.  She still nurses five times a day, so although we plan to introduce non-human milk in the daytime, I don't see us stopping completely anytime soon.

Nora also eats three meals a day-- a small breakfast, a big lunch, and a big dinner.  She LOVES to eat foods of all kinds but is developing a preference for fruits, so we usually wait until she has finished everything else to offer those to her.  She is getting so good at feeding herself that she hardly even needs a bib anymore.  Billy and I have loved watching her learn to manipulate food in her hands and in her mouth, and we enjoy sitting at the dinner table and eating together each night. (Next step: utensils!)

She is a speedy little crawler.  She loves to climb up on the landing of the steps.  She walks steadily behind her walking toys or while holding onto someone's hand.  She pulls up on whatever's nearby and cruises along everything.  She is developing more agile body control every day.  She can stand alone and has taken a few solo steps but is not too sure about walking by herself.  When she falls down, she almost never cries.

Nora's very vocal!  She loves to nod her head up and down and say "Yeah!" when you ask her a question.  She also shakes her head back and forth and says "neh" once in a while.  She knows the difference between the two and never says one while nodding the other.  She says "mama" regularly, though it's hard to tell if she is referring to me or just saying it.  She has finally started to say "dada" again sporadically.  The other day she said "birdie" and "bird" as clear as can be twice in a row, but hasn't done it since.  She mimics all kinds of noises very well and giggles frequently.

She is still a Mama's girl, but she loves to be around other people and is now happy to let others hold her.  She is a little ham for the attention of family, friends, and strangers.  Her teachers at school say she and her classmates play more together than any other group of kids they've had.  She doesn't mind when someone takes something away from her.  She likes dogs, and is learning to pet Oscar gently, but she still prefers to grab his tail or ears.  She loves a new experience of any kind and takes everything in with her eyes and ears wide open.  She is very curious and loves to explore.

She fits perfectly in 9 month clothes, has a full head of lush brown hair that is getting long and curly, and has a toothy grin with 8 teeth.  We still don't know what color to call her eyes, but they're beautiful and so often full of cheer.

She is such a joy in our lives.  I had no idea one person could cause so much happiness in a single year.  Billy, Nora, and I only get a few hours together every day but they are always the best ones.  Now that we've found our footing, parenthood just keeps getting better.  We feel so fortunate to have this amazing, joyful, curious tiny person living in our house with us.  The fact that she is ours makes it even better.  We are so thankful for all the love and support the rest of you have given all three of us in this past year, and though we already feel like Nora's growing up to fast, we can't wait to see what year 2 has in store!