Catching Up

Not long ago, a good friend of mine asked me to catch up with the times and start blogging about Norah. I had considered this early on, but decided it would take too much time. But, seeing as how we have only been sending pictures out about once every 3 months, it seemed like something needed to change. So, thanks Carolyn! Here you go.

Instead of writing a multitude of posts to catch up to the first 16 months of Norah's life, this will be a crash course consisting of a picture from each month along with a few nuggets about her. Ready? Let's go!

Month one: Norah enjoyed falling asleep on Karen, watching Anchorman at 3am with Paul, and going on long walks with the dogs.

Month two: Norah enjoyed sleeping through the night (thank you Norah!), smiling, and watching the Cowboys on Thanksgiving.





Month three: Norah enjoyed spending time with family during the Holidays, swinging in her rainforest swing, and jumping like crazy in her jumperoo.


Month four: Norah enjoyed going to Oklahoma City on her first out of state trip to wish Heath a happy 30th birthday (though she slept the entire drive up from Arlington), learning to laugh, and making some very big raspberries with her lips.





Month five: Norah learned how to scream (I mean, really scream), she happily progressed into 9-12 month clothes, and she loved loved loved playing on her Baby Einstein gym, though she also learned how to roll off of it this month.



Month six: Norah got in touch with her Irish roots on St. Patrick's Day, she loved getting tossed in the air (and caught) by her Daddy, going to the Fort Worth zoo for the first time, and she became very attached to her Piggy (which she still is to this day...all three of them).




Month seven: Norah had a great time rejecting solid foods - either by throwing them down or spitting them out, going to her first crawfish boil (where she won a staring contest with one), and playing with her awesome babysitter for the first time. Oh, and meeting her first celebrity. Hi Bobby Flay!



Month eight: Norah honed her traveling skills by riding happily in a car to South Texas and back over Memorial Day weekend, and flying to the Carolinas for the Tennessee Denneys' annual trip to Lake Toxaway, North Carolina. And it became evident that these trips were great practice for the upcoming trip to Mexico...




Month nine: Mexico! We went to Los Cabos in July (Norah celebrated her 9-month birthday by playing in the pool and watching the Sea of Cortez), and Norah couldn't have enjoyed it more. From quickly befriending the entire waitstaff during the Hilton's happy hours to strolling around San Jose del Cabo, Norah enjoyed every minute of it, and we were thrilled that we took her. Oh, and as you can see, she loved sleeping in the spacious shower. Seriously.




Month ten: The day we returned from Mexico, Norah took her newfound confidence for a ride up the stairs. She crawled quite quickly up the stairs, in fact, and thus began the climbing that has only become more intense. Norah also had a great time hosting her Aunt Karin and Uncle JAmes from Tenneessee, who visited in July and August.



Month eleven: Norah started took her first tentative unassisted steps during the Cowboys' season opener on September 7 (perhaps she was sad she wasn't getting the attention for the first time in months), and began full-fledged walking the next day. She was quite adept at using balancing tools in those early days. In this case, the dog collars. Norah also took to watching lots of Texas Tech games with us, and surely she was the good luck charm in the 11-win season.




Month twelve: Norah and I met Karen for lunch a couple of times during October, including on Norah's first birthday. She loves meeting Karen for lunch. And though Norah had a beautiful birthday cake at her party, she didn't eat any of it. She did, however, play in it like a pro.





Month thirteen: Simply put, Norah was the cutest dog ever on Halloween 2008.


Month fourteen: Norah loves refried beans, a fact we learned at Marianos in November. Norah and Piggy also welcomed the upcoming holidays in style.

Month fifteen: Norah very much enjoyed Christmas this year, as she did a pretty good job of getting through wrapping paper to the many gifts inside. She got to see lots of friends and family, and enjoyed being able to run with her cousins instead of just crawling after them during their time together.

Month sixteen: This brings us to the present (or, really, a month ago). Things are changing daily, and we're experiencing the many highs (new words, new laughs, new ways to play chase) and some lows (such as the scary hybrid of Paul's temper with Karen's impatience. Nice!). But it's an awesome show, and we hope you enjoy it.

See you soon!