Swim videos

For some reason, I can't get the videos uploaded without it being blocky and just plain yuck. I've deleted them and hope to figure out what the problem is in the near future. In the meantime, we're just going to make do with photos of the girls.
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Sisters

Lolo and Norah love spending time together in the crib. Lolo will crawl in next to Norah and turn on the music box for her and the two of them will just smile at each other.
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Bathtime

Smiles before tonight's bath.
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Crib and bunk bed status

Norah-Kate is now sleeping in the crib in our room. I finally got motivated enough to take it apart and reassemble it late monday. You'd think it would get easier since I've taken this thing apart several times now, but really, it doesn't seem to get any easier. NK has become very active. Sometimes I like to just watch her sleep...and as she is settling down, she will turn in clockwise circles on her back. It's fascinating to watch her move around in the crib now that she has more space.
Lolo is sleeping well in her bunk bed. She announced the other day that Mom can't sleep in her bunk bed; Dad can't sleep in her bunk bed; but when PoPo comes to visit, PoPo can sleep in her bunk bed. I don't know how these ideas get into that brain of hers.
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Going to Sam's

After swim class today, I told Lolo, "We're going to Sam's." We needed to pick up a few things (protein bars, diapers, etc.). Anyway, when we got there, she looked around and said "Where's Uncle Sam?!" She was really disappointed. She thought we were going to Meg and Sam's house.
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Videos

Yeah I know. The videos look bad. I'm not quite sure what happened. The conversion looks fine on my end. Something must have happened in the upload. I'll try to reupload the videos tomorrow.
By the way, in Lolo's class, all of the little girls are "big fish". Tonight at dinner, she proudly told her daddy "Lolo a big fish!"
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Swim class

The girls went to swim class today. Norah slept through most of it. Lo had a great time. According to Ashley, she talked about it all afternoon. Lolo did great today. She jumped right into the pool, started to learn the backstroke (by picking an apple, washing it off, and putting it in her pocket).
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Bunk bed status

Last night Jim asks "How do you like your new bunk bed Lolo?"
Lolo jumps up and down and enthusiastically replies,"It's PERFECT!"
She cracks us up. She's done a remarkable job of staying in her new bunk bed.
In other news, Norah took her first nap in the crib this morning. (We still haven't moved it out of Lolo's room yet...it's a big job to take that thing apart and put it back together by myself with 2 little ones running around.)
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Star balloon

Last night the twins and their boys came over for dinner. It's been a while since they've been here (Lolo's 2nd birthday party to be exact). So, I told Lolo that Ben and Nick were coming over for dinner and she said, "When Ben and Nick come over, I get a star balloon. It's my birthday." Uh. Nice try kiddo. Last time they came, it was her birthday and she did get a star balloon and a Clifford balloon, but not this time.
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Lolo's great idea

Today Lolo got her long-awaited big girl bunk beds. Last night we were clearing out her room to make space for the new furniture, talking about her new bunk bed, etc. This morning Lolo looks at me and says "I get bunk beds today. Norah-Katie can sleep in my crib." I look at her grinning and say "Great idea Lolo!" I love how she thinks of her little sister...it really puts a smile in my heart.
So right now, Lolo is taking a nap in her big girl bed. She was very disappointed that Norah-Kate isn't in there napping with her. She said, "Mama, Norah-Katie can nap in my crib?" Unfortunately, NK had just woken up from a long 2.5 hour nap. I think Lo was looking forward to a new roomie.
FYI - the room is a mess. We've got a lot of organizing to do. Once I get it in ship-shape, we'll take a picture and post it. In the alternative, you're welcome to come and see it for yourself :-) Lolo is looking for a roomie.
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Swim class

Lolo had her very first swim class yesterday. 4 little girls (including Lolo) in the class. Lo is clearly the youngest (but not the smallest). She thought it was great. We got there a little early and had to wait a bit. She impatiently sat on the side saying "Mama, I want to go swimmin'!" They practiced kicking, blowing bubbles and jumping in. With the exception of jumping in, Lolo did a great job. She just scooted on her bottom into the pool. But I think the whole reason was a lack of trust on Lo's part for the teacher because she's jumped into the pool when Jim and I have been there to catch her. I should have brought my camera, but it's a morning class and I was rushing to get us out the door. I'll try again next week.
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Lo's head

I just noticed Lolo's head is blocked by her red heart balloon in the kite posting. Here's one of her "flying" her balloon that day. Also, one of Lo and her PopPaul at the mall.
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Out of curiousity

I've noticed recently that folks we don't know (and I'm presuming who don't know us) are reading this blog. Personally, I find that curious. Why do you read my ramblings if you don't know us? I'm just curious.
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Whose baby is this?!

I must have someone else's baby. Norah woke up about 6:30am, went down for a nap around 8:30am, got up for a bath and to play around 9:30, started napping about 11am and she's still napping. I feel like I must have traded babies with someone because this is NOT the Norah Norah Norah-Kate that we have come to know in the last 4 months. Lolo is relishing all of the one-on-one time again. It's like being an only child again for Lo.
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Colic no more!

It's really quite amazing about colic. I had read that it just stops abruptly. We just had no idea that abruptly means abruptly. One day, we had the Norah-Kate that we've come to know after 4 months of endless crying. Then one day, she wakes up with a smile and giggles for her daddy. BAM! She becomes this normal baby that we don't know.
Last night we went to a birthday party for our friend, Dave. (I went to high school and college with his wife Christina and her sister Sherry). At the party, all these different people held Norah, just passed her around. No crying. In fact, she did great! And when she got tired, I held her in my arms, put a blanket over her head, and she just fell asleep. Where did this kid come from?!?!?
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Lolo's roomie

A photo of Lolo's favorite "roomie" to date. Yesterday while we were out flying kites with Lo's Aunt Vic & Uncle, she suddenly said, "I need to sleep." We were stunned. Lo has not EVER wanted to take a nap in the afternoon. So we packed up and went back to let her nap. Turns out. She didn't really want to nap. She wanted to take "quiet time" with her roomie, Sophie. The only catch is when Lolo and Sophie are together, "quiet time" isn't really so quiet. Lolo talks and sings...and since we can't see her, I suspect she also dances.
Photo of Lo and her dad working on a kite they tried to fly earlier this week. It was her first time flying kites. Jim took the kite and started to run to get it up in the air. Lolo ran after him with her balloon yelling, "Wait Daddy. That's my kite." She thought he was running away with her kite!
I don't have pics of Lolo's more successful kite flying venture this past weekend. Here's another story....Lolo is holding onto the kite. It's going WAY high. Dad looks at Lo and says "Lo, you're about out of string." Lo looks and says "I'm out!" The next thing you know, Dad and Uncle are chasing after the end of the kite string, trying to catch the kite before it flies off. Lo runs after them with the empty spool.
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Lolo's first bubble bath

Lo's first bubble bath at Vicki's. This girl is spoiled by her aunt. Last night she had hot chocolate, baklava, AND a bubble bath before bedtime.
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Curious George

So we're at Vicki and Israel's house yesterday and they have the new Curious George soundtrack playing....Lolo hears the music and says that she wants to see George and watch the movie! Can you believe that at 2 1/2 she can recall the movie soundtrack a week later and associate it to the movie? We spent some time yesterday, explaining (to no avail) that it was just the music to the movie and that we couldn't watch the movie at home. Who would have thought?! BTW, the soundtrack IMO is fantastic. Now, if I could only listen to it without having to go through the explanation of why we're not able to watch the movie....
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Norah Pics

Our tiny little girl is getting more and more beautiful every day. Jim and I are so head-over-heels-in-love with this little one now that she's smiley and giggly. I especially love waking up in the morning, hearing her coo and giggle. And oh, this past week, Jim woke up saying "Wow, Norah slept through the night!" Uh. Not exactly. JIM slept through the night. Norah still has a ways to go.
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From the mouth of Lo

Sometimes, it's hard for me to believe that Lolo is only 2 1/2....the things that girl will say....
For instance, yesterday, we're driving to Vicki's house. Lolo is all worked up (I can't remember what about, but knowing our typical conversations, it probably had something to do with me not letting her out of her carseat while driving or not providing the snack of her choice). All of a sudden, she proclaims, "Mama, you're not being very nice to me!"
Then today, after we get home and have lunch, Lolo says "Mama, I want to watch tee". I say, "No Lolo you've watched enough today. Remember, you watched a movie on the jet plane." Lolo looks at me as if I'm dense and explains, "Mama, that's computer. I want to watch tee!"Of course her daddy says "She's got a point."
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We're back

We've made it back to St Paul. Uneventful flight back. Norah slept and Lolo watched the Lion King on Jim's computer. We had a great time visiting with everyone in Knoxville. I think our girls are going to be suffering from tremendous withdrawal from all of the attention. Lots of stories to tell about our girls, but first, some highlights about the girls :
(1) Norah rolled over from her back to tummy during this week. And made HUGE improvements in demeanour. She's starting to act like a normal baby girl. We're so pleased.
(2) Both girls are over their colds. Lo's still got a bit of a runny nose and cough but it's the very tail end.
More updates later.
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In Knoxville

We made it to Knoxville. Norah, thankfully, slept the entire flight and it looks like she's at the tail end of her cold today. Unfortunately, Lo has caught Norah's cold. On the plus side, Lolo doesn't seem to mind having a cough so much. She just can't stand to have her nose wiped.
We spent saturday night and sunday at Vicki's house. The girls watched their first movie (Curious George) at the movie theater. Lolo thought it was unbelieveably great. Lolo also took her very first bubble bath at Vicki's house last night. We also had a nice visit with Sam and Meg last night at Vicki's.
Today we're at Gramma Peg and PopPaul's for visit. Lolo's been driving in their mall.
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Trip update

At this point, we're planning on visiting Ktown tomorrow. Norah is still congested. But I don't think she's contagious anymore. We're anticipating a miserable flight there. Hopefully, the flight back won't be as bad.
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Norah Update

Norah Kate is still sick. She still has a low grade fever and is very congested with a runny nose and icky sounding cough. Our poor baby girl turns really red after every coughing fit. After a very rough night (Norah was up every hour and couldn't sleep on her back...she'd fall asleep upright in my arms and wake back up when laid down...I think she was having trouble breathing), we went to the pediatrician this morning. The good news is that it's viral and Norah will probably be feeling better soon. The bad news is we don't know how soon, so we're taking a wait-and-see approach to our trip this weekend.
I'd, personally, rather not fly when Norah's feeling bad. I feel like I've learned my lesson about air travel with a sick kid. If you'll recall, the last time Lolo and I went to Knoxville was for Vicki's bridal shower. Lo had been feeling bad for a few days prior but since she was the "hostess" for the shower, I didn't feel like we could miss it. Anyway, we went on the flight. Lo cried the whole time AND puked all over me and the guy next to us. Turns out, she had a raging ear infection. That little adventure scored lots of points in the bad mom column. (Although now that I'm thinking back, I don't quite recall how Jim got lucky enough to avoid this miserable flight AND the drive from he** from Missouri to Minnesota...let's just say, the man lives a charmed life).
Lolo has been very sweet. When I got her up this morning, I told her we were going to see the doctor because Norah didn't feel good. She proceeded to explain to me how doctors can make people feel better.
Anyway, we'll keep you posted about whether or not we go. We're pretty laid back about trips at our house. We usually don't pack until the night before or the day of the trip.
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Warning - don't read this post if you're squeamish

While playing legos this afternoon, Lolo looks up at me, sticks her hand down her diaper, and with a wicked grin says "Snack, mama?"
I'm crediting that one to her dad's genes.
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A first for Norah

Unfortunately, it looks like Norah has caught her first cold. She's been coughing since yesterday and was up quite a bit last night. We'll see how things go. Hopefully, this will be over in the next few days.
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Traveling again

Just as an FYI - we're headed back to K-town this weekend. Verbi is headed back to Lilly & Yvette's home for another vacation. And we're getting on another plane, and going through security with the girls. Ick. I really love to travel....but these days, it's the getting there and back part that I just can't stand.
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Norah's Grasp

Norah's hand-eye coordination has been improving steadily. She's able to grasp toys within her reach (primarily with her right hand) with fairly good accuracy. Seems like Norah is reaching some physical developmental milestones before Lo did.
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Book recommendations

Thought it might be nice to get everyone's thoughts on (1) books that they've read and would recommend regarding discipline and child development, and/or (2) links to good parenting sites.
Here's my current reading list, in no particular order...please note that I do not yet have opinions on what works for us since I haven't yet finished reading and have not yet decided what approach to take.
(1) "The Discipline Book: How to Have a Better-Behaved Child From Birth to Age Ten"Martha Sears;
(2) "Touchpoints: Both Volumes of the Nation's Most Trusted Guide to the First Six Years of Life"T. Berry Brazelton
(3) "1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12"Thomas W. Phelan
(4) "The New Strong Willed Child" James Dobson

For the record, thus far, I've read Sears' Baby Book, Dr Spock's Baby and Child Care, Babywise, Super Baby Food, Healthy Sleep Habits, No Cry Sleep Solution, and the AAP's Caring for your Baby and Child. I also read St Paul's Early Childhood Family Education class book recommendation, Becoming the Parent You Want to Be. There were a few more that basically were just rotten books which I won't even bother to mention because they were so bad and such a waste of time (IMHO)....it's amazing how many really bad books get published and how many people write books your just completely disagree with.
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Photo album uploaded

I just uploaded our pictures from January and February (including our recent Disney pics) to Shutterfly. http://loloandnorah.shutterfly.com
Please keep in mind that the photos are unedited.
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Sad news

The girls and I went to Laura's school last night (Laura is Lolo's best friend David's big sister)because her class had a "chinese opera" production. Very cute. While we were there, David and Laura's mom and dad told us they've found a new house and will be moving in April. Very sad. We're hoping a nice family with little girls Lolo's age will move next door. (Or, nice girls of babysitting age).
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A little short

The other day as I'm up on a chair, changing a light bulb in the bathroom, I realize that I'm about 1/2 an inch too short to safely put the cover back on the light fixture. I ask Lolo to run upstairs to get her dad to help. Jim comes downstairs to help. Lolo climbs up on the chair with Jim, stretches up to help, and says "Ugh. Daddy, I'm a little short."
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Naps and tantrums

Lolo is back to her afternoon naps. I'm re-reading for the millionth time Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child. Speaking of reading, unfortunately for Lolo, we're starting to read books on discipline. I don't know why, but there are days when she just seems to have a very hard time (today being one of them). She can be so sweet one minute and the next minute she's throwing a tantrum and is rotten beyond belief. And of course, with tantrums, the minute Lolo starts her tantrum, it won't be long before Norah Kate joins in with her crying. Stereo-crying.Ugh.
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