SWITCHING TO NEW BLOG SITE!!!

Due to the fact that I have wasted more of my life trying to unsuccessfully download videos to this site than I care to admit, I will no longer be posting to it! Our new blog address is:

http://sullivanfam0626.blog.com

NOTICE it is very similar!! Be careful :)

I'm still playing around with it and learning how to use it, but so far so good! There are three videos to watch on this week's post...all you have to is over your mouse over the link so it highlights, then click! You'll see once you get there...

Good luck...happy blogging :)

23 weeks!

Our little girl is growing up so fast. 23 weeks have already passed. Seems like just yesterday she was sleeping in her bouncy by the couch because I was still to sore to climb into bed!! She has a new trick almost every single day. She now picks up her pacie and puts it back in her mouth, even in the middle of the night! And I swear she can wave! We always say "wave to Wrigley" and show her how to wave, and 'wave' is one of our words we are learning, so maybe she's actually doing it on purpose! She even tries to feed herself, and does an OK job of it, too! Such a big girl already.

This week we transitioned to "real" food. I made a little bit of peas and butternut squash.

She was so excited that it was dinner time!

First bite...what do we think??

Uh oh...this isn't rice cereal!!!

Oh well...I'm ready for more!

And some more...

But now I insist on feeding myself!!!

She's so awesome.

That was pretty much the highlight of the week for us! Other than the mountain out back being on fire!

We have ash raining down from the sky!

Uncle Mike will be here Saturday! Hopefully lots of good pics to follow. We had some amazing little videos to share, but this website is being an ENORMOUS pain and not allowing me to post any!!! So I'll be shopping around for a new blog site...I'll let you know if it changes!!

5 months old!

Can you believe I'm 5 months old already? Mommy and Daddy keep telling me to slow down...it's going so fast! I've decided that rolling over is SO last month...I've moved on to standing! I pretty much insist on being stood up at all times so I can practice my jumping and dancing...but I still don't dig being in my jumperoos. Go figure! Mom always says I'm killing her arms! And if mom and dad thought I liked making high-pitched screeches before, they're in for it now! I love exercising my vocal cords in the most ear-piercing ways possible! I'm certain that everything I come across must pass my taste-test. Everything from my fingers, toes, toys, mom's hair, dad's beard, must go in my mouth! I think Wrigley is my very first best friend (besides mommy and daddy of course!). He makes me smile all the time, although I don't know why! He's always just lying around...but he comes around to sniff me every once in a while. I try to pet him when he comes close, but I'm usually not quick enough! I could watch him for hours! Mom says I'm getting so good at eating! We still just dine on rice cereal, but I love it! I've got control of my tongue now, and I can swallow more of it that I spit out! I've heard that I can start trying some veggies soon! I also try to "help" mom and dad feed me bottles, and try to suck my thumb at the same time! Mom says I cant do both at once, but I'll keep trying...and trying and trying...Here's some 5-month pics of me!

 

 

Norah had some surprise visitors this week! Her Great-Aunt Nancy and Great-Uncle Bob stopped by to meet her on their way home from California. It's always nice to see family!!! And speaking of family, our next visitor is Norah's uncle Mike! He'll be here July 13 for a few days. Then Norah will have met all of her uncles! 

Here is Wrigley trying to give Norah his disgusting chewed-up toy to play with...so sweet. Once he dropped it over the gate he realized he made a bad decision and wanted it back!!

And Happy 4th of July! It was way to hot to do anything about it here! Bummer!

21 weeks old!

It's been a couple of weeks, and a lot has happened! Norah was baptized! She wore a baptism gown that was made out of her great-grammie Lutz's wedding dress, and that all of her grandchildren were also baptized in! There was a lot of drama associated with her big day...first, several weeks ago, I got a call from the church wondering where Norah was! Apparently that day's date magically appeared on her baptism folder, and they were waiting on us to start that day's baptism!!! I explained that we had only just met with the deacon and hadn't even discussed a date, because we weren't sure if we could arrange it around family visits! Anyway, after a very unpleasant conversation with an older lady at the church the next day (and her accusing me of failing to show up and it all being my fault...), we called and signed up for the 16th! Then we show up on that date, and they had no idea we were coming! I was pissed off to say the least...and it turns out they lost her whole folder! Naturally. But all is well, and she is finally baptized! Daniel's co-worker Jennifer was our godmother stand-in, and we came back to our place and had cake and cocktails to celebrate!  

We also celebrated Daniel's first father's day that same day! We didn't do anything too crazy, just opened gifts and went out for sushi! Norah also got her daddy a grasshopper pie...his favorite...how thoughtful! We didn't actually capture and "father's day" pictures, but here are some of Daniel's favorites...Norah in her Irish gear playing in her "zoo"!

Then we had some lovely visitors that came for a whole week! Norah's gram and great-gram came to visit! They got tons of quality time with their little "doll baby". It was a great week for me too! I feel like I got a lot accomplished! We also had delicious meals prepared for us, night-shift was covered, got help with cleaning and laundry...what more could we ask for!!? Four generations at our house!

It was sad to see them go! Makes me wish we lived closer to home :(

Finally, we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary! We went out to eat while the grams stayed home with princess. It was so weird to be anywhere without the baby! We came home early! I cant believe it's only been 3 years...so much has happened! I'm one lucky girl!

Now we're back on our own! Norah must be really missing her grams, because she's just not been herself! Actually, we were wondering if she was working on an ear infection. She kept pulling on her right ear, and was more fussy than normal, and sleeping like crap!! I emailed our doc, let her know what was going on and that she was not running a fever, but she decided she wanted to see her before the weekend to make sure all hell didn't break loose over the weekend! Good news is, she didn't see any sign of infection...bad news is, she felt her gums and said they were swollen, and that she was probably feeling referred pain in her ear from TEETHING! What!!? There is no way my baby is old enough to sprout teeth! Oy! So we came home and I brought out her teething rings...sad sad day! I suspected it might be tooth-related a couple days ago and put an ice cube in her little net-feeder for her to play with and suck on. It lets her suck away on whatever is in it without actually having a choking hazard. She loved it! This little girl is growing like a weed!

From now until the middle of next week there is an excessive heat advisory. We could have record-breaking temps, they say! Gag. With our LOWS in the mid-nineties, I am going to become a hermit! Last summer I don't remember it being so bad...I was just thankful not to have humidity! Daniel wants to go golfing on Sunday...he might actually melt!! Maybe he'll change his mind...

(In her yellow convertible walker! She can scoot backwards...a little!)

(Cant figure this thing out yet...but the dog apparently doesn't like her in it! He paces back and forth, and she gets a kick just out of watching him! Funny thing is, when you hold her in the standing position she jumps up and down constantly! But the second she goes in her jumper...nothing! Stubborn little girl! Must get that from her daddy...hahaha)

(standing up is her absolute favorite position. Would rather do this than be held, be on  her back, belly, anything!! And of course now she loves to jump up and down. She dances to the song "if you're happy and you know it stomp your feet!")

19 weeks old!

We survived our first plane trip! It actually wasn't so bad...I over-packed, but oh well! Better safe than sorry. I know I promised lots of pictures, but we hardly took any!!! We started out Friday morning waking Norah at 3am...had to be at the airport at 4am for our early flight. She was in a very pleasant mood, too! Here we are waiting at the airport:

We didn't get any pictures at the rehearsal...or rehearsal dinner...or with the bride or groom...or with us all as a family...but here's one of the two of us after the ceremony! It was a gorgeous day, and the ceremony was in a rose garden at the park...thought I was going to get a sunburn! (big surprise):

The next day we were both SO tired! It had been go go go since 3am Friday morning! I was dreading the trip back home, but Norah was a champ! We barely remembered a picture with grandma and grandpa...!!

We took a few, but grandma refused to let me post any! Here's one of Norah instead while the three of them were out and about! I think they really enjoyed their weekend with the little princess! She was perfectly well behaved :)

Norah must have had a lot of fun and gotten pretty worn out! Here we are on the way back to the airport:

She slept nearly the whole 3 hour flight too! On both descents, her ears got really uncomfortable. She had the saddest little wail with big crocodile tears that just broke my heart! As soon as they popped, it was like nothing ever happened. 

So now we're back to the grind. Monday morning came too early for Daniel, but Norah bounced right back into her old routine! We've found a solution to the increasing-mobility-vs.-hardwood-floors-EVERYWHERE issue...a big foam playmat!

The layout of this house is so weird, and there really isn't much space for all of Norah's things to live, so this mat (like everything else) is right out in the middle of the 'living room'! We put a gate up around it to keep her friendly little puppy dog off of her things, and to keep her from rolling away!! So far so good!

We were given the green light to start feeding Norah rice cereal, then yellow and orange veggies! Is she seriously old enough??? Wow! Our first attempt was so hilarious! She didn't know what to do with her tongue, but she kept grabbing for the spoon and directing it towards her mouth...needless to say, most of it ended up on her face! This is going to take some practice!

Now, when she sees the bowl of cereal she starts salivating and shaking her arms in such excitement! It's so so funny to watch her try to figure this eating thing out! Such a big girl!

This weekend, Norah is getting baptized and we will celebrate Father's Day! Even though its just us, we're still having a scrumptious cake and bellini's and gifts to celebrate the baptism! I don't want her growing up thinking nobody cared, even though she wont remember!! And this time, we will REALLY try to get a lot of pictures! And then it's on to our Father's Day celebration...not sure what that will entail...guess it's up to the dad!!

Grandma JoAnn and Great-Grandma Erma arrive next week! We are so excited! I think I'll put them straight to work!!...straight to work playing with Norah, that is, so I can get some serious organizing done around here! It's stressin me out!!!