sister comparison pic | 10 months

It's been 5 months since I did a sister comparison pic (insert tired mommy sigh).

Elsie is growing up so fast. I just wish I could bottle up all of this cuteness and keep it around for another few years. I'm already thinking about (aka : just started a Pinterest board for Elsie Birthday Party ideas) this little girl's One Year Birthday Party!

Many of you have asked me if Elsie is different than Nora, and if so, in what ways.

Here's what I've discovered (so far in her 10 short little months of life)...

• Elsie is VERY sensitive. A stern "NO!" makes this little peanut bust out in tears. This isn't so much the case with Nora.
• Elsie is not spirited. Nora is the poster child for spirited children.
• Elsie's energy level is pretty middle-of-the-road where Nora is bouncing off the walls (on most occasions).
• At Elsie's 9 month appointment she weighted in at 16 lb 12 oz. Nora at 9 month was 20 lb 12 oz. A whole 4 lb difference.
• Elsie isn't the best sleeper. Nora has always slept like a champ.
• Elsie has already consumed more meat in the past 10 months than Nora has EVER consumed. Really.
• Elsie's little tummy just doesn't really like dairy. Which essentially means we buy her very expensive formula - boo. Nora probably could have drank milk straight from a cow. :)

All in all they are two very different little girls but both exactly who God created them to be and we love them both so very dearly.

Till next time...

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Potty Training 101 | Top 5 Potty Training Tips

As I mentioned in the most recent In Our Home post, we embarked on our version of "Adventures in Potty Training" in mid-January.

Did I really want to potty train Nora? NO! Honestly, I secretly wish potty training was an optional parenting activity.

Unfortunately as we all know, it's not. So potty train is what we did!

Before getting started I did some research into various potty training techniques and decided on using the 3 Day Potty Training ebook guidelines (thanks Sarah for the recommendation).

Of course, like with so many things in parenting, not everything was covered in the book. I wish it worked that way but unfortunately it just doesn't.

So in an effort to "give-back" to the online mommy community, I thought I'd add a few of my Mommy Potty Training Tips to help encourage those of you who will be potty training in the near (or not so near) future.

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Steph's Top 5 Potty Training Tips ::

1) Find another "Mommy SOS Friend" who has recently potty trained a child.

I had NO idea how important it was going to be for me to be able to text and/or call a friend who has "been-there-done-that."

Thankfully I had a couple of friends who immediately texted me back when we were 2 hours into the potty training experience and I was ready to throw in the towel.

Find someone who has potty trained a child within the last few years that can encourage you in the very tiring process of potty training. It will be a huge blessing to you... I promise.

2) 25-30 pairs of underwear is not a joke.

Upon reading that I'd need 25-30 pairs of panties/underwear for our 3-day potty training adventure, I literally laughed. In my mind I figured that I do laundry at least once a week so even if she went through 2 pairs/day I wouldn't need more than 14 for the week.

Let's just say Nora wet all 14 pairs of underwear in the first 2 hours on day 1.

Lesson learned. You'll need 25-30 pairs. Really.

3) Potty Training can be VERY discouraging (especially the first 2 days).

This is something I wasn't aware of, but I learned quite quickly. Rather than have unrealistic expectations, I figure I'd rather you know the truth.

Alan and I literally went to bed after Day 1 and asked one another "Why are we doing this?!"

Rather than get discouraged, and worse yet - to show your discouragement to your child in the middle of potty training - always remember that your job as a mommy during these days is to be as encouraging as possible.

Yes - that means a potty dance. Yes - that means a potty song. You'll be the official potty training cheerleader of the family for weeks (which makes tip #5 all that more important)

Just know that you'll more than likely be discouraged at first, but your child will get it... eventually.

4) Plan on getting take-out (or making pre-made freezer meals).

Although this is covered in the ebook, it was a suggestion (much like the 25-30 pairs of panties) that I thought was a little extreme.

Not so much.

In an effort to minimize the distractions during the first 3 days of potty training, it is suggested that you plan on getting take-out or that you have something in the freezer that you can make that takes little to no effort on your part.

Let's just say we had more take-out than we've ever had in our 7 years of marriage during those 3 potty training days. It was a necessity.

5) Awake before your children and allow enough time to shower and have a cup of coffee.

I'm a huge advocate of rising before your children (as I posted about in more detail in the post Mommy Planning Mornings). But take it from the mommy who happened to forget to set her alarm on Day 1 of Potty Training - you're going to need to at least feel like you've beat everyone to the punch when potty training.

A shower and a hot cup of coffee will do wonders on these days.

Bonus Tip :: Get yourself a Boon Potty.

This suggestion is mostly because I just like the Boon Potty so much.

And today could very well be your lucky day! Scottsdale Moms Blog is giving away a Boon Potty to one lucky reader. And you don't even have to live in Scottsdale to win!

Click HERE to see how you can sign up for your chance to win!

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Post-Potty Training Update ::

Thankfully Nora did great those first 3 days and we're currently almost 100% potty trained. She does very well when we're home but it's when we're out that she has a harder time.

My guess is that the accidents when we're out can be attributed to a combination of her high energy personality mixed with her desire to be with people (and not miss out on anything).

It was a long road but we made it (and are making it). And you can to!

Is there anything I'm forgetting? Comment below with any additional tips you might have that will help any readers who are looking for potty training advice.

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In Our Home | Potty Training & Elsie in the Hospital

First let's clear something up... the two items mentioned in the title of this post 1) Potty Training and 2) Elsie in the Hospital happened THIS weekend. Yes... I'll repeat that. THIS weekend. At the exact same time.

Fun, right?

I suppose it wouldn't be fun regardless of if they happened in back to back weeks (or even in the same month for that matter) but it was extra special that they happened the same weekend.

Impeccable timing.

Let's start with the first....

Potty Training.

We decided to start our potty training adventures this past Saturday. I did some research into various potty training techniques and decided on the 3 Day Potty Training guidelines (with a few "Steph/Nora tweaks" here and there).

It was all or nothing and we were "IN!"

Here are a few of the reasons why we decided to start last weekend (for those who are interested)...

- Alan had a 3 day weekend. Gotta love some daddy help.

- We didn't have anything else on the schedule. Perfect.

- Nora seemed interested in using the potty.

- Potty Training isn't an optional activity. Although if it were up to me I'd NEVER potty train. It's not much fun (just being honest here).

And some notes about the above photos...

1) I was given the opportunity to review the Boon Potty Bench (note: be sure to check Scottsdale Moms Blog in early February as we'll be giving away a Boon Potty). I'll tell you more of my thoughts about it on SMB but for now let's just say that we've loved it.

2) Yes - Nora is reading a Barney book on the potty. No explanation needed.

3) & 4) One of the cutest parts of the 3 Day Potty Training philosophy is that the "student" wears around panties/underwear (the wording of this item is a much debated topic in this home - which side are you on?) around the home without any pants. For 3 whole days.

So cute.

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Elsie in the Hospital.

On the first day of our potty training adventures we noticed that Elsie just wasn't acting like herself. Sure enough that evening she had a temp of 102+, had diarrhea and vomited.

We took the best care of her that we could on Sunday and decided to take her into the Dr. on Monday morning as she wasn't doing any better. At the Dr. we were advised to watch her closely and if she became more lethargic or if she didn't have a wet diaper in the next 5 hours she suggested that we take Elsie to the ER.

Unfortunately both of those things happened so we were headed into the ER (mommy and Elsie that is.... Daddy needed to stay back with our newly potty trained Nora) with the assumption that we'd be in the ER for a couple hours and then head home later that evening.

No such luck.

We were admitted that evening because Elsie was dehydrated and the Dr. wanted to hook her up to an IV, pump some fluids in her and observe her for at least 24 hours.

It turns out Elsie ended up spending 2 days on the Pediatric floor at Scottsdale Shea Healthcare. Just. So. Sad.

Throughout the entire process we were humbled by God's faithfulness and our loved one's generosity. There is just so much we are thankful for...

Thank you to all of you who visited and kept me company while in the hospital with Elsie. It was difficult to not be able to be with Alan and Nora b/c of child visitor restrictions at the hospital due to it being RSV season (and the above mentioned potty training situation).

Thank you to all of you who brought Alan and I food the past couple days.

Thank you to all who prayed (and there were a lot of you) and showed support through FB comments, text messages and phone calls.

And lastly - thank you Lord for your healing powers.

Elsie is now home and doing much, much better! Praise God.

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sister comparison pic | 5(ish) months

This is quickly becoming one of my very favorite things to do. I love looking back at pics of Nora and trying to reduplicate them with Elsie. It's not as easy as you'd think but it's still fun to try.

If you missed their 4 month pics or their 3 month pics be sure to click back over to see how they both changed in such a short period of time.

Without further ado...here's the girls both at 5 months old.

What do you think?

I just want to eat 'em up!! Such cuteness!

(Note :: Yes - if you look really close you can see two little teeth poking through in Ms. Elsie's mouth)

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Steph's Pick | Toddler Backpacks

After Elsie's arrival, one of my new mommy dilema's was what to do with my diaper bag situation at the church nursery. You see I only have one diaper bag (yes - for those of you super observant type - I did get a new bag when Elsie was born) for both girls. But when dropping the girls off at church, they are in different rooms and thus the one bag/two room situation just wasn't working.

Now of course I'd love to say that this inspired me to potty train Nora - but no - not so much. Although a potty trained kid requires no bag, we aren't exactly ready for that transition just yet.

So off I went (and by "went" I mean my fingers went a searching on trusty ole Google.com) looking for a preschool/toddler backpack.

Here were my requirements :

- Personalization available

- Cute

- Side pocket for sippy

- Toddler Size (nothing too large for Ms. Nora)

After lots of research we finally decided on one of Pottery Barn's Preschool Backpacks.

I couldn't wait to get it in the mail!

Thankfully this sweet little bag didn't disappoint. It was just as cute as I'd hoped and Nora loves it too. She calls it her "hap-back."

Let's just say there may be a couple of these under our tree for some special nieces this year ;) What can I say? I'm a total sucker for personalized gifts!

And I'm throwing in this last picture for sentimental reasons. How in the world is she getting so old???!! Tear.

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Raising your Spirited Child Book club

A number of you have heard me mention that Nora is a spirited child. In fact I've even written about it on a number of occasions over on Scottsdale Moms Blog : Rejoicing in your Spirited Child and Rejoicing in your Spirited Toddler.

Wondering if you too have a spirited child? Here are a few ways Mary Sheedy Kurcinka (author of Raising your Spirited Child) describes a spirited child

"Spirited kids are the Super Ball in a room full of rubber balls. Other kids bounce three feet off the ground. Every bounce for a spirited child hits the ceiling."

"Spirited children are more intense, more sensitive, more perceptive, more persistent and more energetic."

"Spirited behavior truly falls within the range of typical human behavior - more but normal."

As Nora gets older and is interacting more and more with me, I continue to be encouraged to embrace this sweet gift of her spirted-ness.

My desire (and prayer) these first years of her life is to better understand Nora's personality and help guide her so that all of her spirit ends up being a real strength of hers in her future. God knew exactly what He was doing when He created her - spirit and all - and so I'm choosing to believe that He has great things in store for her.

Now I'm not saying it's been easy. As most parents of spirited children will say - raising a spirited child is EXHAUSTING. Raising kids is tiring for anyone but a spirited child cranks up the energy need even more.

It's also been very easy for me to feel like I'm the only person raising a spirited child. Well I'm not! And you're not! There are millions of parents that are in the exact same boat!

This is exactly why I decided to start a book club/support group for other moms of spirited children. I figured it was time I surround myself with people (online and in person) that I can link arms with in trying to better understand Ms. Nora.

So I invite you to read Raising your Spirited Child along with me.

Here's our plan :: The book is already divided into four parts. We'll read one section/month for the next four months. I'll post about my thoughts in the middle of the month and we'll use the comments section to encourage one another as we try to better understand our sweet-as-pie spirited children.

Part One :: November

Part Two :: December

Part Three :: January

Part Four :: February

So who's in?

{Oh - and yes - I am actually doing this with a group of local moms so if you're interested please email me and I'll send you the details}

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the bib club {2 yrs old}

Some of you may remember the following video - taken of Nora and Reagan at 4 and 3 months old.

That video still totally makes me laugh as it represents EXACTLY who these two little girls are to this day. (so cute). It never ceases to amaze me how God gives us sweet little glimpses into our child's personality at such an early age.

Recently I had the opportunity to watch Reagan for a bit and was able to shoot an updated video of the two girls.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

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sister comparison :: 4 months

Because it's just too fun to put together these monthly comparison's... here's a 4 month shot.

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we laugh in this home

When your children leave the home, what words do you want them to use to describe your home?

I've been thinking a ton about this lately.

As we mentioned in Elsie's Dedication Blessing - two of the things that we certainly (with no exception) want our home to be marked by are 1) a passionate love for Jesus and 2) an unquenchable love and concern for others.

Those are non-negotiables.

But one other thing I was reminded of the other day during bath time was the importance of laughter in our home.

Nora reminded me of the great gift of laughter just the other day.

It was nearing the end of her bath time when Nora asked me to spray her mouth with our diaper sprayer. (yes - I did say diaper sprayer - stick with me). Now I have no idea what even made this simple action so hilarious but after fulfilling her request, we both immediately died laughing.

Now I'm not talking my child is being silly so I'll laugh with her type of laughing. I'm talking full on belly laughs that result in tears of joy and the hiccups. For BOTH of us. It lasted for a good 5 minutes and then it was over.

While putting Nora to bed that night I said a prayer to the God who created laughter. I thanked Him for the moment just a few minutes prior when my sweet little Nora and I were laughing with one another, and asked that He would bless us with 100+ more moments just like it in the coming years.

You see, there is something special about laughter. It may seem cliche but Laughter really is the BEST medicine.

My prayer going forward is that our home would be full of laughter. And not just your every day kind of chuckles but the laughter where tears are running down our cheeks and we're helping one another try and get rid of our hiccups.

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And just in case you need a little chuckle yourself (don't we all?) - check out Elsie's face in the following picture... she must have gotten the memo! :)

Love my girls!

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♥ cookie dough ♥

Confession time...

There's no hiding why we make cookies in this home...

for the dough!!!

And in case you're interested.... we've been using Kiley's Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (thanks Kiley!).

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an {indoor} amusement park

Upon receiving Nora's baby book, I noticed there was a "First Amusement Park Trip" page. Now I'll be honest - I thought (and still think) it's a bit weird to have this in a baby book. But because I'm a gotta-fill-out-everything-in-the-baby-book kind of girl I was itching for Nora's first amusement park visit.

We finally had our first opportunity on Labor Day. We had just learned about this new indoor amusement park for kids and figured it would be a fun family outing. So we hopped in the car and off we went.

Now believe it or not - Nora was a bit skeptical at first and wasn't too crazy about trying any of the rides but finally we were able to encourage her to try the swings.

Here she is getting ready for her very first amusement park ride to begin...

And of course a {funny to us but maybe not to you} video...

Now between the swing ride and the little choo-choo train ride Nora was in HEAVEN! She specifically stayed on the train ride for about 10+ rides in a row and was all smiles each time. Too cute!

Our trip to this little amusement park has made us very excited about an upcoming trip to Disneyland that we're planning with the family. Adelyn and Nora are going to LOVE it!

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Steph's Pick | Happy Tots Organic Superfood

It's official... I'm starting a "Mamas of Picky Eaters Anonymous" group.

After seeking advice on Scottsdale Moms Blog this week via my post "Mommy SOS | Picky Eaters" I'm happy to have found a group of ladies that love (wink, wink) meal times as much as I do!

You see, Nora is a picky eater. Ugh... so sad about that because I'm a bit of a foodie. Here's how Urban Dictionary defines a foodie...

Foodie - A person that spends a keen amount of attention and energy on knowing the ingredients of food, and finds great enjoyment in top-notch ingredients and exemplary preparation.
A foodie is not necessarily a food snob, only enjoying delicacies and/or food items difficult to obtain and/or expensive foods; though, that is a variety of foodie.

And of course a picky eater is probably the furthest from a foodie by definition. So needless to say we've been having a little battle each and every day around the hours of 8 am, 12 pm and 6 pm.

Well I'm happy to report that thanks to some great suggestions on the above mentioned Scottsdale Moms Blog post we've at least found something that Nora will eat (that contains veggies) - Happy Tots Organic Superfood Pouches!!! Yipee!

Now do I want to have Nora eating these for the rest of her life? - No! But I figure it's at least working now. Like so many things in parenting you sometimes just gotta to do what you gotta do to get through the day ;)

Note: I'm also looking into purchasing a Sili Squeeze so I can make my own little pouches for Nora (at a much lower cost of course).

All for now... just a little something to consider if you too find yourself in a picky eater situation.

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a little {video} glimpse

I love to take video of the girls for no reason at all but to capture these precious moments of their lives. It doesn't have to be anything extremely noteworthy that I'm planning on documenting... just their sweet little faces (dirt/spit up and all in most cases) is reason enough to pull out the camera on a consistent basis.

Of course it's fun to take video of Nora when she's being my little barista or when she's eating a Popsicle. But I also love videos like the two below that show the good, the bad and the ugly (all in less than 2 minutes in Nora's video).

Consider these video's a little glimpse into what our days look like (minus the donuts of course - that was a treat).

First, here's Nora...

And then Elsie...

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Nora's {August} Happenings

It's been a busy month for Ms. Nora (and Elsie of course but we'll wait to do a different post for her)...and we still have a couple weeks left!

Here's a little Nora happenings update...

Just last weekend Nora and Alan went on a daddy-daughter date to Barney LIVE in Concert. Yes - you read that right. Our little Barney lovin' Nora got to see the big purple guy LIVE :) I think it may have been the highlight of her life thus far ;)

Not only did she get to go with her daddy BUT she also was joined by two of her dearest little girlfriends - Reagan & Colette (and their daddy's too of course).

Let's just say these little girls had the time of their lives... dancing...clapping...singing... all sorts of things. And I'm pretty sure the dads enjoyed themselves too, right?!

And as with life, all good things must come to an end...

Just two days after her roof-top Barney experience Nora had quite the scare.

At the end of Nora's nap-time I heard a very loud bang coming from her bedroom. I of course ran to her door to see what had happened and found the door locked! (Nora just recently learned to lock herself in her room - this was the 2nd - and last- time she's done it. We've since changed the door handle).

I spent the next 5 minutes trying to open the door with anything I could get my hands on. Luckily Alan returned home from work just in time to kick open the door (that's my hubby) and found Nora's dresser on the ground and our sweet little Nora scared to death in her crib.

We're still not sure exactly what happened, but we're certain that God had his guardian angels protecting our little girl as somehow she escaped the incident with only a bruise on her cheek.

Here are a couple pics to document her battle wound. The first was taken about an hour after everything had happened and then second before bedtime that night.

Needless to say we're telling everyone that has children to 1)flip your door handles around so the locks are on the outside (it will save you a heart attack) and 2)bolt your furniture to the wall. We of course learned these two lessons the hard way... as with much of life...but we're making our mission to encourage others not to make the same mistakes.

Nora is recovering quite well.

And lastly... I've recently trained our new Keurig Barista... and I LOVE it!!!

Here's a (fairly lengthy) video of one of her earlier coffee making endeavors.

Stay tuned for an Elsie update soon!

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Steph's Pick | a Milk & Cookies Birthday Party

Did you hear that our little Nora turned TWO last week?!! So crazy to think that it was 2 years ago that we welcomed Nora Marie into the world. Which of course called for a party! ;)

As you know...parties are my thing. I honestly love planning any kind of party. So naturally I couldn't help planning a super fun party for friends and family to celebrate Nora's 2nd Birthday.

Here's a quick recap of the party:

The Theme :: Milk & Cookies!

Food :: Milk & Cookies of course. We had 7 different kinds of cookies. Some homemade and others were store bought. We also had 3 different kinds of milk - Skim, 2% and Chocolate Milk for the kiddo's (and kids at heart).

Guest List :: Lots of little friends (and their parents).

Activities :: Eating yummy sweets and playing in the baby pool and sprinklers in the backyard - two of Nora's most favorite activities.

The Attire :: Matching sister outfits from Nana of course ;)

Thanks Kevin, Joy, Reagan and Elliot for hosting Nora's Party for us! We're so thankful for such great friends who are willing to open their home for such an occasion.

And of course a HUGE thank you to everyone who attended!

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our little flower girl

Some of you may remember back in January when I was petitioning your help with a "How to Prepare my 2 year old to be a Flower Girl" Mommy SOS post. Thanks for all of your help - I loved all of your comments and suggestions.

Now I wish I could say that we were uber-prepared and started working with Nora in January but we didn't. If we were totally honest - we started a week before Lexa's Wedding(if that). Mostly our practice/preparation included a green tin bucket with some fake petals in it. We tried our best to encourage Nora to walk from one end of our living room to the other while dropping flowers in between. RIGHT!! She's 2 people. :) She was just going to do whatever her little heart desired.

On Friday we headed to the Royal Palms for the rehearsal. Just thinking about Friday makes me smile and get all worked up at the same time. Without going into too much detail let's just say Nora spent the entire hour of the rehearsal running laps around the wedding ceremony room. When it was time for her to practice walking down the aisle Alan would simply "unleash" (not really - but you get the point) her and we'd pray that she'd head in the right direction. Both times she practiced she never walked or even ran down the aisle. We were in BIG trouble!

Saturday was the wedding. Upon arrival we had the task of getting Nora into her dress. Let me tell you - that was a chore... to say the least. Most little girls LOVE dressing up and acting like a princess. Not Nora. After finally getting the dress on her she spent the next 30+ minutes trying to rip it off. She did successfully destroy the beautiful peony (Nora = +1) that was on the front of her dress but thankfully after an hour passed she actually forgot about the dress and stopped yanking on it. Mom and Dad = +1.

The shoes were another story. There is no convincing our sweet little Nora that she is going to wear anything but her Havaiana flip flops. We decided the dress was a battle we were going to pick but the shoes... not so much. Nora = +1.

After finally getting Nora ready, it was time for the ceremony to start. We both said a little prayer that Nora would at least show her face in the room. Thankfully Nora actually did better than we ever could have imagined. She walked down the aisle, holding the basket, smiled and shouted "Flowers" at the end of the aisle. She did AWESOME! And of course everyone thought she was sooo cute. Mom and Dad = +1.

Here's a picture of Nora and the beautiful bride, Lexa.

And of course the flower girl with her mama.

So all in all it was a great night. Both girls made it until nearly 10 pm (yes - I know - that's a pretty late night for a 2 year old) and we were so happy to be able to celebrate with Lexa & Andre.

Congrats to the new Mr. and Mrs. Andre Cotan!!!

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Steph's Pick | A Birthday Blessings Book

In the spirit of extending birthday celebrations as long as possible (which I'm a strong advocate of doing) I wanted to highlight one of the things I started last year that I just LOVE.

A Birthday Blessing Book.

Last year as we were approaching Nora's birthday I was thinking a lot about how important it is as a parent to give our children our blessing. I was reading The Blessing by Gary Smalley and John Trent and was really encouraged to find practical ways that I could give Nora the gift of our blessing.

Although there are plenty of ways to do this, one of the things I decided to do was start a Birthday Blessing Book - Nora's Birthday Blessings (shown above and below).

It's simply a small notebook that I keep in a safe place throughout the year. On Nora's birthday every year I pull out this little book and write a prayer of blessing as a way to document our prayers for sweet little Ms. Nora.

I specifically chose a bible verse that I use to pray over her throughout the year. A yearly theme verse. (If you're looking for a quick and easy reference for how to pray for your children check out FamilyLife's Lifting My Children Through Prayer Card)

Nora's theme verse for this next year is:

"Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord."

- Romans 12:11

I thought this was a perfect verse for Nora as this past year has been a year of ZEAL! (To read a little more about this check out my recent post on Scottsdale Moms Blog - Rejoicing in your Spirited Toddler). Now our prayer is that this spirit/zeal would turn into true spiritual fervor that would show itself in GREAT service to the Lord.

Although we pray for our kids on a daily basis (well - let's be honest - we WANT to pray for our kids on a daily basis but we're not perfect), I thought a Birthday Blessings Book would be a great way to document some of those specific prayers.

*******************

Note: I have no idea when I'll end up giving these books to our children - more than likely it won't be for a number of years. Because you never really stop giving your children your blessing - even when they are grown and have their own families.

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happy {2nd} birthday nora!

It honestly seems like July 13, 2009 was just the other day. Now two years later, we stop to thank God for the sweet gift He has given us in Ms. Nora Marie.

Although her birthday party is scheduled for this coming Sunday (party details to come next week - promise!) we wanted to give a little bloggy love to our sweet little Nora on her actual birthday.

Here's what our day looked like....

We got up nice and early for her 2 year Dr. well check appointment. I know, I know... what kind of mom schedules a Dr. appointment on her birthday??! I won't do it again as I'm pretty sure Nora knew what was coming as this is what she looked like all morning prior to the appointment.

No smiles for the camera from this 2 year old!

Next we got a chance to spend some time with Reagan, Joy and Elliot. Playdates with the Cherrick's are a weekly to-do as the girls just love spending time together (and well, the mama's need some social time too).

After naps we took Nora (and Elsie) to Yogurtology. You may remember how much she loved her first visit to this frozen yogurt shop. You can see pics of that trip here.

Well things haven't changed much as it was nearly impossible to get a picture that didn't involve a wide open mouth and spoon. Case in point...

And lastly, Nora was lucky to have lots of gifts to open up today from various friends and family.

One of the specific gifts was a perfect close to our ice-cream filled day.

Have I ever told you how much I LOVE Melissa and Doug toys? They truly are our favorite toys and the ice cream set Nora received from her Aunt Sara, Uncle Kyle, Aunt Abby and Uncle Nick (oh and her cousins too) was just perfect for Ms. Sweet Tooth herself.

Nora Marie - you truly are a joy to know and love. We're so thankful for your spunk and spirit. You've flipped our lives inside out and all about BUT we wouldn't want it any other way.

We love all that you are and everything that you will be! Blessings to you on this day.

Happy 2nd Birthday!

love - mommy & daddy

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flies girls update

Seeings how it's been 2 months since the last Flies Girls Update I figured it was about time to give you a little peak into the lives of our two little peanuts.

Let's start with Ms. Nora...

• Nora is approaching her 2nd Birthday! It seems like just the other day we were planning her 1st Birthday party. CRAZY?!
• busy, Busy, BUSY!! This girl is busy. People say - well that's how 2 year olds are. Well - maybe. But you haven't met Ms. Nora. She takes the word "busy" to a whole new level. She'll run laps around any 2 year old (boy or girl) any day. I often tell people I feel like I have a 4 year old boy on my hands.
• So busy is she that it earned her a trip to the ER this week (boo). Nora was playing so hard (and drinking so little) that she came down with a case of heat exhaustion and dehydration. Needless to say it was a bit scary for everyone involved but after getting some fluids in her via IV she felt much better. **Note: I will certainly be posting about this experience and the heat exhaustion/dehydration signs to look for in your children so stay tuned.
• She still loves her friends Reagan. Yes... if you've missed it in other posts...Nora has two besties named Reagan.
• Nora made her first appearance on live television this week. Check out SMB's ABC15 Interview by clicking here.
• Nora loves her baby sister. So much so that she is always the first one to hear her cry after waking up for a nap. She'll run 100 miles an hour to wherever I'm at and let me know by saying "Baby sad!" Who needs a monitor when you have Nora?! ;)
• Nora's new favorite activity: Flash cards. Yes... you read that right. This girl loves her flash cards. And some of you moms may be feeling all bad that you haven't thought to buy your children flash cards. Well let me ease your mama anxiety a bit. I honestly bought these solely to help distract Nora when I'm feeding Elsie - and it's worked like a charm! Some kids might be cool with coloring or reading for 30 minutes. My busy bee just doesn't want to sit still for longer than 1 minute. So flash cards to the rescue!!! I consider the purchasing of these to be one of my finer mommy-moments.

And how about Ms. Elsie...

• 6 weeks old!!! I'm as stunned as you are. :)
• Still having some tummy issues but we're on the road to recovery. I've been eating dairy-free for a couple weeks now and it has seemed to help a ton. She's also taking a probiotic so we're hoping that helps too.
• Elsie rolls over all of the time. I thought it was a fluke the first time I laid her on her tummy and found her on her back. Nope! She pretty much performs this little stunt every time now. This girl is crazy.
• She's sleeping pretty well at night. Usually goes one 5-6 hour stint and then the rest are always around 3 hours.
• Starting to "coo" and smile more which of course makes this mama's heart melt.

And that's all for now! We're awaiting the arrival of Uncle Erik & Aunt Amy this morning from Iowa - it's sure to be a wonderful weekend! We can't wait!

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Nana meets Elsie

If you spent a full day with Nora recently it's safe to assume that you'd hear the following words spoken a number of times: Mommy, Daddy, Barney, Reagan, Caillou, Nana, Bubbles, Papa and Ma.

Nora never ceases to amaze me with how many times she can say one word over and over (and over) again.

Today her word of choice is Nana.

You see, Nana spent the past week with us. Nora and her spent countless hours reading books, coloring and playing all sorts of fun games. (Aka Nana helped Mommy soooo much)

And of course she helped snuggle lil' Elsie too.

Nora was SUPER lucky one afternoon when Nana suggested it was time Nora try Yogurtology for the very first time. And boy did she LOVE it :) We honestly couldn't get a picture that didn't look exactly like this (hence the family pic in this post- hehe).

Here's a little glimpse into how much she enjoyed her time:

And a family pic at Yogurtology of course.

Thanks Nana for all of the extra lovin' you gave to our girls (and us) this past week! I'm honestly wondering what we'll do without you.

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