Don't see me, baby

Though they have "known" each other since the smaller darling showed up, when they met again last year Norah couldn't take her eyes off that Big Alice Girl, which inspired the first sentence spoken in their friendship: "Don't see me, baby." As you can see, a year later they have been able to move past that, but as parents we are allowed to say it for the rest of our lives and make t-shirts. 

(Because I'm brain dead, that was is blatantly plagiarized from Alissa's Facebook.)  

Our trip to California happened in, what? March, maybe? But Norah still talks about it ALL THE TIME. Things like "I went to Disneyland with Alice yesterday, "I saw Pluto at Disneyland yesterday," "We flew on an airplane to Alissa's house yesterday," There was a lizard at Alice's house yesterday," "We went swimming with Alice yesterday." The girl is obsessed, and with good reason. JUST LOOK AT THESE PICTURES!

Oh, and we're still working on the concept of "yesterday" not meaning "anything that happened in the past."  

 

These two

This is how they both failed to keep me company while driving to Sunday dinner at my mom's. I cannot get over the coordinating head tilts and hats covered with hoodies. 

Mommy brain

Want to know the dumbest thing that I have said out loud in a long time? We were talking about taxes at lunch at work a few days ago, when I got the brilliant idea that my 30ish-weeks-pregnant coworker should wait until after she has the baby to file her taxes. You know, so she can claim the baby and get the deduction.

Idiot. As in: Why do I have to be such an idiot?

You guys, I got laughed at. And I keep telling this story because maybe if I get enough laughs out of it, it will detract from the fact that I seriously think there is a part of my brain that never fully recovered from pregnancy. And I only have one kid.

So looking through my pictures, it's not surprising that I seriously cannot remember what happened when. We went to St. George for Thanksgiving and did apples at my parents, but there was also another trip to St. George somewhere in there. Was it before or after Halloween? I seriously have no idea, and Norah skipped her nap today, which has left my brain foggier than usual.

I do remember that Nic stayed home and Norah was happy and well during our first trip to St. George. We visited grandparents, swam in the pool, and swam in the river.
 

Our second trip to St. George was for Thanksgiving. Nic drove us in the truck with the camper, and when we got in town late at night, Norah woke up and proclaimed, "Good job, Dad. This be awesome!" The next day she slept through Thanksgiving dinner, then made me feel like mom of the year by throwing up all over the floor as I tried to force her to eat just a little turkey. Again with the defiling other people's carpet. She seemed good the next day when we went to Zion's, but then threw up all the way home. We seriously cannot take this kid anywhere.

And apples! Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Dennis came to Grandma Wendy's, and it blew Norah's mind to have all the grandparents in the same room, existing right alongside each other.

Somewhere in there, this also happened. Which, I'm sure is the first of many makeup incidents to come. You know, because my brain is no longer fully functional.

This is how behind I am

About two posts back on this blog of mine that I have not been thinking about lately, is an entry about when we left Norah with Grandma Wendy so we could get our vacation on in Southern California. That was in the beginning of October. Guess what? We also got to get away the first of November. And I know I complain about the weather here, but this is why I live in Utah: It's so I can ditch my kid with her grandparents. Okay, maybe that's not the reason in its entirety, but it is on the top of the list. Nic and I have seen two movies IN THE THEATER in since New Year's Eve--all because Norah has awesome grandparents. Seriously, I highly recommend them.

So, November. In November Nic took a three-day metal shaping class in Oakland. I flew out to meet him and we made a weekend of it in San Francisco. I hadn't been there since I was elementary aged, and Nic hadn't ever been, so we did all the touristy things--Fisherman's Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, Lombard Street, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, the piers, etc., etc. We also went and saw the Lion King on a whim of mine, just because we could. We also ate fabulous food all day, every day. In fact, I'm kind of jealous of my past self at the moment.

And since you're all dying to know how we manage to stay mostly happily married, I'll refer you to this: Each day we were in San Francisco, Nic indulged me by accompanying me to pier 39 to giggle at the sea lions. I can't help myself! They're big and noisy and squishy! Nic liked it because he likes me.

Before our drive back home, I indulged Nic by accompanying him to a car show just outside of Oakland, where--full disclosure--I also got to giggle at a crowd that was big and noisy and squishy. But I loved it because I love him.

And now you know how we manage to get along so well: fat animals and cars. Because we're deep like that.

Hibernation

You guys, it's cold here. And it gets dark really early. Also, we've had some sort of disease--from strep to bronchitis--since the middle of December. And it is so very, very cold and gloomy. I keep telling Nic that this climate is not suited for humans, which is why I'm hibernating. And even though I do get some serious cabin fever, I am so happy to have a cozy home and a job that doesn't require me to leave it very often. And also, this girl:

Being inside so much has led to some interesting outfits.

It also led to Norah letting me curl her hair for the first time ever.

It has not led to any success on the potty training front. So far no bribe in the world is worth using the potty. And yes, that is a potty seat on her head.

Even when we do leave the house, Norah has now taken to having a strong opinion about what she wears. This is how we went to the babysitter today:

So, yeah. Hibernation. I still have catch-up to do clear back to Thanksgiving. It will come, slowly, just like everything feels right now.

Halloween

Does anyone remember when I hated holidays? Okay, "hate" is a strong word. Maybe "apathetic" is more fitting. But then I had this little girl, who, surprise! makes holidays kind of amazing. And the best part is that each time we celebrate something, it gets more and more awesome because Norah gets more and more excited about doing it. Which is why Halloween (yes, I'm WAY behind) was so. much. fun.

We got Halloween books and made Halloween decorations. We talked about her costume and wore it all month long. We made Halloween cookies and carved Halloween pumpkins. We painted even more pumpkins and had a special Halloween movie night with Norah's little friends.

Oh, and Norah was Super Norah! and the dogs were supers too and we all went trick-or-treating for the first time. How much does her costume make you want gobble her up and swallow her whole? I somehow managed to contain myself.

Side note: Norah waited patiently for her costume to come in the mail. On the day it came, she of course wanted to wear it right away. The first thing she said when she got it on was, "I not fly!" She had been thinking all along that her super hero cape would make her fly. You know, like a super hero. I tried to explain and console her by telling her that Daddy could help her when he got home. She then waited on the couch for Nic to get home. Which looked like this:

So Nic pretty much flew Norah around in that cape for the entire month of October.

That time we left Norah with Grandma Wendy

Back in September we took our first real vacation without the toddler. And I'm not going to lie, it was amazing. At one point Nic and I were on stand up paddle boards in La Jolla Cove with sea lions swimming all around us and I looked over and declared, "We could never have done this with Norah!" Love her, but we were able to do SO much without her there to run the show.

And you guys, we did so much.

We went to a live taping of So You Think You Can Dance? with Jon and Alissa. Cat Deeley is just as adorable in person, although a couple of hamburgers wouldn't hurt her. And the dancing! I'm glad I had Alissa there so I wasn't the only 30 year old feeling like a teenage super fan.

We spent a day chasing car parts and visiting hot rod shops, which took us from Anaheim to Riverside to L.A. and back. We also squeezed in a movie and a Dodger's game in the same day. That's what happens when you don't have to work around nap times.

This is Nic's version of sightseeing. It was only fair since we did spend the previous day obsessing about dancing and shopping at The Grove.

La Jolla was fantastically filled with seals, sea lions, and yummy food. We shopped, bummed around the beach, learned how to use a stand up paddle board, hiked, and went deep sea fishing. We basically did whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted.

 
Norah had just as much fun without us as we did. She gardened, had play dates, went on bike rides, and on and on. And the best part? Squeezing her whole body after an entire week of missing it.