Thursday, October 31, 2013

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Turrible Twos

22 Months, Week 3

You know the Terrible Twos can come on early? Yeah. Deep sighs from Daddy & Mommy every day now. 

She doesn’t want to get out of her pajamas. And cries.
She doesn’t want to change her diaper. And cries.
She doesn’t want raspberries, she wants blueberries. And cries.
She doesn’t want to put her shoes on. And cries.
She wants to watch Thomas. Watch Thomas? Watch Thomas? And cries.
She wants to stand on the chair while eating. 

NOooo! NOOOoo! NOOOOO! 

If it’s not her way, it’s a meltdown. We’re dealing.

Mid-meltdown. We just stand and watch.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Zugga Wha?

22 Months, Week 3

Not sure where her new favorite word[s] came from - ?? Zugga, zugga was every other word Friday evening. 


Sunday, October 13, 2013

Obligatory Fall Farm Visit

23 Months, Week 2

Not really obligatory - I enjoyed farm visiting before Nora came along. Last year in Liberty Township we visited Iron Farms and now that we’re on the far east side, we have Shaw Farms - it’s great! Lots of little “scenes” set up for children to walk among, hayrides, bucket rides, an intimidating corn maze, food & drinks and a load of small farm animals that Nora was enamored with! 

*I have never been on a farm with almost every animal calling out at the same time; the calves were mooing, sheep were baa-ing, donkey actually hee-hawed, pig squealing and chickens clucking - what a treat for us!




Nora love the wolf from The 3 Little Pigs best!







We thought maybe Nora could ride in the bucket train - no chance between the bouncing and the whipping.

How.

So glad I captured this - Nora embracing her farming roots - a nod to the Heitkamps!


Norris Wedding

22 Months, Week 2

Saturday was Tim’s cousin, Jason’s wedding to his fiancĂ© at Vinoklet Winery in Colerain. The weather has been fairly warm for October, so thankfully I made the right decision to not put tights on myself or Nora for the outdoor wedding. The setting was very beautiful and picturesque. 

Nora was pretty good and stayed put among the chairs during the ceremony. She actually laid on my shoulder for the last 5 minutes or so which threw me into paranoia because she never sits still and I was convinced she felt warm and was getting sick. She wasn’t.

The last time I was at Vinoklet was for my cousin Brian’s reception and I was pregnant with Nora - so I was excited to try the winery’s goods. The only non-sweet wine was a Merlot and I really liked it - thumbs up. 

There were snacks and drinks while photos were taken and a kiddie table with a few toys and crayons/booklets which was a great idea for the little ones. 

Nora owned the dancefloor before dancing even started - lots of windmill arms, I was proud. We left around 8pm since Nora’s typical bedtime is 7:30 - great evening!









Friday, October 11, 2013

Dog-gonnit

I hate drama. I don’t seek it out, I don’t respond to it, I avoid it. Additionally, Tim and I are extremely non-confrontational people. 

So you can imagine my paralysis when a policewoman came to our door a week ago around this time [8pm] to inform me that a neighbor had called in to file a complaint against Ailo. Our dog barks too much according to a cowering neighbor who calls the police instead of coming to talk to us. That, friends is the most frustrating part of it all. 

The policewoman said the neighbor said it’s been an ongoing problem. Really?? Because if I knew it was ongoing, we would have nipped it in the bud a while ago. 

Second, we have full time jobs which allows our pup about a 30 minute window in the AM and a window between 6-9pm in the evening to get his wiggles and talking to the other dogs out. We thought keeping him in by 9pm was fair. He’s a dog and he’s not the only one in the neighborhood. Of course I’m biased, I don’t think he’s any louder or more howl-y than the next dog. 

So I’ve started damage control by walking around our immediate neighbors to [re]introduce myself and hand out our phone number. Letting everyone know if Ailo is a nuisance, to call us directly - and not call the police. I’ve talked to 4 neighbors and they’ve all been surprised what happened to us and very supportive. We are not crazy. Ailo is not a nuisance. 

One neighbor did tell us the couple behind us [with no pets] had at least 3 situations with the old owners and their dogs - ! Ah-ha! I sense a pattern beginning. Tim had only met the wife in passing who was very pleasant. I’m now bound & determined to get over there this weekend to introduce myself and give them our phone number to call if Ailo is a bother. 

*We are trying to do a better job of stopping Ailo from barking/howling more than he should as well as starting to give him short walks in the evenings. That way he gets his energy out and we don’t have to let him out as much in the evenings. 

Hopefully this subsides.


Our Lil Bearcat!

22 Months, Week 1

Here is Daddy teaching Nora how it’s done. [This one’s for you, Grandpa Batty!]


Saturday, October 5, 2013

Hike for Hospice


22 Months, Week 1

This morning we participated in Hike for Hospice to benefit the fantastic organization that cared for Tim’s Aunt Rosemary [Dottie’s sister] during her battle with cancer. 

Tim and I signed up to run the 5K at 8am - it was a nice, small 5K - I truly picked out the winner before we even started. It was a nice race, pretty flat. I finished under 30 minutes with a 9:08 pace [I ran fast for you, Rosemary!]. 

At 10:30 was the Hike for Hospice - a larger group of people who walked about 2.5 miles through Blue Ash for their loved ones who were supported by Hospice. Despite being October 5th, it was about 80˚ and pretty darn hot! With such an exciting morning, Nora actually fell asleep in her stroller for half of the walk as well! 

Afterwards, we joined Nana, Papa and Bobby for Bobby’s 12th birthday lunch at Cracker Barrel. I will say, it was super-toddler friendly; Nora had crayons with a placemat and Bobby was very sweet and shared the golf tee game with Nora. *Bobby got down to 1 tee on the golf tee game - “Genius” according to the game!

Mommy helping Nora color

Papa, Bobby & Nana

Let’s Hike for Hospice!


Random Nora


22 Months, Week 1

We’re actually getting close to leaving the highchair seat - ! Nora is getting so big she barely fits in it, however, she’s so darn wiggly she doesn’t quite sit still in a normal chair. BUT she isn’t tall enough for the chair, so she sits on her knees. Transition period...


NAKED SPAGHETTI!


Hip Update

I’ve meant to update on my hip “injury” - I’d gone about 4 weeks 2X a week and he downgraded me to once a week and have one more visit. 

My PT [physical therapist] thought he felt a fatty cyst on my hip weeks ago - it was a lump we kind of felt one day that moved around. A week later we felt it again and the lump was gone. I then went to my general practitioner and she didn’t feel a thing. She had no suggestions and thought I was fine. Sigh. 

So I guess keeping up on stretching and strengthening properly are the remedy for now. 

I wish I’d started this process way earlier because I decided to check it out during the high mileage of training for a fall Half Marathon. Unfortunately my PT held me back which is probably good for my hip, but has sidelined me for any fall Halves. Bummer. 

I was still satisfied I could do the 9 mile Hudy race and it’s kind of nice to “chill out” on the training schedule. 

I’ll probably keep a calm fall/winter schedule and try again for a spring Half!

*For the running nerds:
My Nike Sportband fritzed out on me in August due to the USB rusting - not cool, right? Running gear needs to withstand sweat and rain. The band wasn’t even 3 years old. Nike was awesome an gave me a $60 voucher towards Nike.com so I went ahead and bought the GPS watch. And... it’s awesome. I simply strapped it on, hit start and it connected to a satellite which was accurate on my pace and distance. When I plug it into my computer, it mapped out my run on Google maps and highlighted in tones of yellow to red where my fast/slow spots are on my course! Highly recommend.