Still Celebrating

Nora turned two years old two weeks ago and we are still celebrating. Although, I don’t think we’ll ever stop celebrating Nora, no matter how old she gets. 🙂

Nora turning two was a huge milestone. Getting her two years down the road from where she started with a strong and healthy constitution has been our main focus. The first two years of life are so important in so many ways. Now we can set our sights on her future with high hopes. We will still keep her as safe and protected as we can but we now feel that we can loosen the reins a little, broaden Nora’s horizons and share her with more of the world.

Nora planting her first flower seeds, which she thought was a blast.

Nora showing off her green thumb success a week later, she is very proud as you can see.

Nora is growing up so fast, physically and mentally. She is now up to 23lbs 6oz and she is just a hair shy of 33 inches tall. She is still gaining weight but at a slower pace for the past few months. Her growing energy must be focusing on height because she has grown a full inch in the past few months.

As much as we want her to grow up big and strong, I as her mom can’t help but wish I could push pause just for a moment. The developmental stage she is in at the moment is so sweet, amazing and challenging all at once. Her language and communication skills seem to continue to advance at warp speed. She can pretty much say anything and she certainly understands everything that is said around her. Even when we try to talk in code around her she always seems to know what’s up.

Some of the newest things Nora has been saying….

When Montana tells her to “be careful” as we do quite often since she is a little dare devil, she will reply “don’t worry Daddy, it’s ok”.

Just recently Nora has been telling us “I have a tummy ache” sometimes shortly before she has to go poopoo. We’re glad she is starting to express how she is feeling but we can’t help but feel a little sad every time she says it because we know that we will be hearing this often.

She thinks it’s really funny to clap her hands and say “I got that skeeter!” as in swatting a mosquito in southern slang.

Nora has also been honing down her chicken clucking skills…..click here to see Chickie Nora

In the past few weeks Nora has started humming and singing. Her favorite songs to sing are “I see your hiney so bright and shiny, it makes me giggle to see it wiggle” and just as of today she started singing Elizabeth Mitchell’s “Ooby Dooby”.

Click here to see Nora’s Ooby Dooby debut performance 🙂

Sunday was a very exciting day. Nora went swimming for the very first time! Well not exactly swimming, more like floating around in her pool car and us holding her in the water but it was lots of fun. She took to the water right away and she didn’t even flinch about the water being a bit chilly. I guess it’s only natural she’s drawn to the water with fish oil running through her veins. 🙂

Nora was so relaxed with the rocking of the water she almost feel asleep in her float.

A dip in the pool sounds simple enough but this was one of those moments that’s a common activity for non-IV children but for us it was a monumental moment that we’ve been waiting for for a long time. Nora is now down from 7 days a week on TPN to only 6 days so we used her day off to take out her port needle and have some fun family time in Aunt Linda’s pool on Mother’s Day. It was a comforting feeling of familiarity that I hadn’t felt in a while. Since Nora has been born we’ve only been around both sides of our families just a hand full of times. Sunday was a just a glimpse of more special moments with Nora to come that we can’t wait to experience with her.