Pumpkin patch

Life/school has been pretty crazy lately, with conferences, meetings, and schoolwork galore, leaving little family time...  Our weekends have been full as well, with no end in sight until probably Thanksgiving.  It's just a little crazy, so when the opportunity presented itself to meet up with Dave in New Prague after work on what was probably the last nice evening, we snatched it up and headed to the local pumpkin patch to stock up for Halloween and get some cute photos of the girls.  Abby has an amazing memory--she said, "Do you remember when I didn't want my picture taken here?"  She was referring to last year, when it was really sunny and she cried when getting her photo taken by the big display out front.  She was much more cooperative this year, and we got some good pics.  Abby got to pick out a pumpkin for herself and Norah, and helped make sure Norah wasn't eating too much hay or getting into trouble.  :)  Soaking up these precious moments with my girls!

7 months old

Our sweet Norah girl turned 7 months old last Wednesday.  Life has been crazy busy lately, so we finally found time to take her 7-month pictures today.  She is such a happy baby--loves everyone and everything, especially anything she can put into her mouth!  She's going to be a busy one once she's mobile.  She will grab anything that looks fun/yummy--necklaces, buttons, tags, etc.  She loves sitting up and playing with her toys, especially her piano and Little People.  She's tried lots of new foods in the past month, and really hasn't found anything she doesn't like.  A new favorite is Gerber puffs, which she can pick up and put in her mouth on her own.  Those are a nice distraction when she's fussy at suppertime (which happens when we don't feed her fast enough!).  She's still doing great at daycare, and has even started going to ECFE class on Wednesday nights.  She's not a fan of staying up past 7 on those nights, but is enjoying the toys and the friends there.  She's really settled into a good routine, taking two good naps at daycare each day and then sleeping from 7-6:30 most nights.  Now that she's discovered how much she loves sleeping on her stomach, the nights are going a lot better (she was in a phase where she'd end up in the corner of her crib on her stomach, stuck, crying in the middle of the night).  Norah's still a peanut, weighing in at only 14 pounds.  Here are some pics from her 7-month photo shoot:

1st day of preschool!

A big milestone in the Olsen household last Tuesday...the first day of preschool!  We would have loved to have given Abby the opportunity to attend preschool several times a week, during the day, but with our job and daycare locations, it just isn't possible.  We are lucky that our local ECFE program has an evening preschool, just for families like ours.  It isn't a lot, but hopefully attending one night a week will help get Abby feeling prepared for Kindergarten next fall.

She was a bundle of nervous energy Tuesday afternoon before her first night--apparently, her way of dealing with nerves is to become completely goofy.  Once she finished her first night, though, I think she was relieved that it was really not that much different than the ECFE classes she's been attending for awhile now--even the same teacher.  Her main worries were that she'd have to work hard and color a lot.  Oh my...just wait until you're out of preschool, kiddo!

Here she is, all ready for preschool:

She told me on the way home from daycare that day that she either wants to be a kitty or teacher when she grows up (this was in her goofy state before we went to preschool that evening...).

Here is Abby with her buddy Alex, and in front of the door to preschool:

6 months old

It's official--Norah is halfway to a year...  I know I say this every month, but I really can't believe that she is already 6 months old.  This age and the next few months was my favorite age with Abby, and it has been so much fun with Norah, too.  She is really growing and changing and developing her own little personality.  She is the happiest baby, and has been so flexible with starting daycare last week.  We had to do some serious sleep training last week, as she was recovering from a sinus infection, and had gone backwards in her already not-so-good sleep habits.  Thankfully, Dave took the reigns at night and shut our bedroom door so I could sleep while he listened for her in the living room.  After several rough nights of cry-it-out, she FINALLY is sleeping through the night with no interruptions...knock on wood!  Another big deal has been sitting--I still wouldn't leave her unattended, but Norah is getting more independent and can sit for a little bit on her own.  She now prefers playing in this position over laying on the floor.  The exersaucer is her favorite thing to sit in and play with, but she gets upset if she's in it too long or if she wants attention and can't see someone.  Norah has started trying some different foods, and has loved most of what she's tried (green beans seem to be her least favorite, and pears are her current favorite).  We can already tell that when Norah is mobile, she will be into EVERYTHING!  She already wants to grab everything within reach (cords, her window blinds when she is on her changing table, jewelry,...basically anything she shouldn't have.  She is curious and quick, so we'll have to do lots of extra baby-proofing in just a short time, I'm sure.  Here are some 6-month pictures we took of Norah on Monday:

Dave took her in for her 6-month checkup on Thursday.  He said that she charmed everyone in the waiting room and was great at her appointment.  She didn't react quite as badly to her shots this time, but was just a little fussy at daycare today.  She continues to be a little peanut, weighing in at only 12 pounds, 14 ounces--3rd percentile (Abby was 15 lbs., 15 oz. at the same age!).  She is 25 inches long (25th percentile).  You'd think with her big appetite, she'd be growing like a weed, but she actually lost a few ounces in the three weeks since we went in for her sinus infection in August.  We're a little puzzled, but Dr. Mark didn't seem concerned.  We love our little peanut, and while I love my job, I miss spending each day with her!

Flandrau State Park

On Friday, we took a road trip to Flandrau Sate Park in New Ulm--Dave had the day off, summer is winding down, and we wanted to do something fun before the crazy school life starts up again on Monday!  Flandrau was a lot of fun--we did some geocaching and hiking in the morning before it got too hot, then picnicked.  A bee was bothering Abby and hanging around her food, so Abby ended up finishing most of her picnic lunch later.  It was starting to get pretty hot after lunch, so it was perfect timing for the pool!  Flandrau has an awesome sand-bottom, chlorinated pool.  It's sectioned off by depths, and has nice clear water.  It was perfect after our hike and a great way to cool off.  We had so much fun there!

After Flandrau, we went downtown and checked out a few shops in New Ulm before heading home.  We'll definitely be visiting this park again--it would be a fun place to camp and have the option to swim and explore downtown New Ulm some more!

Nesting?

As the start of the school year gets closer and closer, I feel like I am in "nesting" mode--even more so than right before Norah was born.  With a little bit of panic that I didn't accomplish everything I wanted to this spring/summer, I've been cleaning out closets, weeding out clothes, ironing pretty much everything in my closet, cleaning out the fridge/freezer/cupboards, meal planning, grocery shopping, and trying to finish up projects that have been on my to-do list since March.  Here's one project that Abby and I worked on this afternoon:

Earlier this spring, I bought the frame in the clearance section of Michael's.  I used leftover scrapbook paper from Norah's scrapbook, clothespins I had at school, and photo paper to print all of the meals on.  Abby was excited to help me modge podge the scrapbook paper on the clothespins.  Hopefully it will help keep us organized for meals this school year, and help keep us from getting in the rut of eating the same things over and over again.

I'm going to try to force myself to get out of "panic mode" tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday and just RELAX and ENJOY the last few days of maternity leave/summer vacation and soak up time with my sweet girls...

Summer sports

Abby had fun doing a few activities this summer--VBS, swimming lessons, t-ball, and gymnastics.  They were pretty spread out throughout the summer, and it was nice for Abby to get a little taste of several things. T-ball wrapped up this week, after 4 sessions.  Due to a weather cancellation one week, the sessions were a little more stretched out and went later into August than expected.  Abby had fun, but definitely preferred hitting and running bases over throwing/catching practice.  Abby especially enjoyed hanging out with her friends Alex and Olivia--especially on the last night, when they ended with a "game".  Whenever Abby, Alex, and Olivia were in the field, they spent their time chatting or discussing how they should stand--paying no attention to what was going on in the game.  Watching 3-5 year olds play a game of t-ball in general was pretty hilarious.  Here are some t-ball pics:

The kiddos were rewarded with freezie pops by the coach after the last session:

Gymnastics was one of Abby's favorite summer activities--something she'd never tried before.  It was pretty brief--just 3 sessions, but Abby's bravery increased each week.  She loved the different activities, especially the rope swing.

She worked her way up to jumping in the foam pit and walking on the high balance beam.  Here she is practicing on the low beam:

It's been a fun summer!