The Fair Skinned Italians

Sequim Lavender Festival 2009

2009-07-20T06:11:42Z

Just like our last set of festival pictures, we’ve got more than enough fun pictures to take us through the week ahead. To celebrate our family anniversary, we loaded up the car and drove over to this town known as Sequim for their annual lavender festival (that’s map marker B for those keeping score at home and apparently the ‘e’ in Sequim is silent). We had such a blast! Lots of street fair kind of things going on and, of course, fields upon fields of lavender and other smell-good plant life. They even had lavender flavored ice-cream.

Good Morn- Whoa! Good Job!

2009-07-18T07:11:34Z

When I walked into Nora’s room to wake her up this morning, I found her in this position.

She woke up after I took that first picture.

“Yay! Nora! You rolled over!”

She was very happy to get all the praise. Even if she didn’t quite understand why.

Following her nose

2009-07-16T04:06:15Z

Sneak attack!

2009-07-15T05:50:33Z

Mysterious Nora

2009-07-15T05:46:51Z

Sound asleep

2009-07-14T05:35:33Z

I Can’t Get Enough of My Baby

2009-07-14T18:31:00Z

“I can’t get enough of my baby” is both the title of a song that makes Nora smile and describes how we’re feeling these days. We love being Nora’s parents. Here’s some of the stuff she’s up to these days.

She’s all about pulling things towards her and then shoving them into her mouth. Everything- toys, her clothes, my hair. She’s also starting to reach for us, which is just awesome. Josh was playing with her just before bed the other night. When he handed her to me and then reached for a book, she held her arms straight out towards him. We both pretty much broke down.

Nora can’t exactly roll over. It’s more of a 10 minute process where she starts out by playing on her back. Then she rolls onto her side to reach for a toy. The next thing you know, she is technically on her stomach. But her bottom arm is pinned beneath her and she looks very confused and uncomfortable. So I’d say she’s rolling 75% of the way over.

She’s sensitive to noises. High on her lists of terrors are Remy’s barks and Josh’s sneezes. Those guarantee a bottom lip stuck way out followed by a wail. She’s also scared of motorcycles and keys being rattled. Interestingly enough, a gigantic clap of thunder recently rattled the entire building and she didn’t seem to notice. There’s also noises that she loves. Anything crinkly holds her attention. I’ll flip through a magazine and realize that she’s staring at it intently. She also loves the sound of people laughing. She’ll turn her head and try to find the source anytime she hears a laugh.

She loves it when you sing to her. Topping the Nora Charts are Itsy Bitsy Spider, Will You Be There? by Michael Jackson, and Ole Ole ( as in Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot.)

She also loves to be outside. She gets very serious and studies everything around her. Unless she sees a tree. Then she stares up into the leaves and laughs. I like to think she gets that from me. But it’s probably just because she was born near tree hugging Seattle.

There’s a chance we’ll have a very expressive child (dramatic?) on our hands in the near future. Or that we already have one. Nora will go from being cheerful and happy to being the saddest, most pitiful creature you ever laid eyes on. For example, a friend of ours was wearing a hat and saw that Nora was looking at it. “Aww, do you like my hat?” Nora lit up and smiled. “My baby likes it, too.” Another big smile. “He looks at it and says ‘HAT! ‘” Pause. Lower lip. Wail. Just like that, Nora was miserable for the next five minutes. She fell asleep immediately afterward.

Here’s a little taste of what life is like around here for the three of us.

Nora’s glamour shot

2009-07-13T14:34:58Z

Thanks to Aunt Mandy for taking some great shots while we were in town!

Ergonomically designed

2009-07-10T07:32:16Z

Nora’s been working on her posture, and doesn’t want any judgment.

Aunt Tiffany on July 4th

2009-07-09T16:12:18Z

Aunt Tiffany came into town! She was here last week for a few days and we
relished ever last minute of it. By the way, I’m pretty sure only Aunt Tiffany can
pull off looking so great with a city garbage bin just behind her.