I know, I know

Sooooo, yeah. I might be a tad busy. And a hair overwhelmed. And a wee bit tired.

Also, I was really sick there, for a long time. Apparently, a long bout of hyperemesis gravidarum and gestational diabetes can lead to some exciting post-partum issues of depression, anxiety, pre-diabetes, and a really horrid case of vertigo. BUT, we’re out of the woods now. I’m not diabetic! The world isn’t spinning anymore! I’m not having panic attacks! Yay! (but please don’t put me on any roller coasters)

I hope to actually slog through countless photos of Norah’s first year and document her awesomeness and adorableness, but in the meantime, today was Kelly and Norah’s first day back at our co-op preschool, and I wanted to share a few pictures.

Kelly’s first day in the 3’s class:

And Norah’s first day in the parent infant class:

And, for hilarious comparison (well, I think it’s hilarious), here is Kelly in the same dress. Um, Norah might be a bigger baby. By a lot.

Pilot in a tutu

This post is mostly about Kelly’s most recent trip to the Museum of Flight, so here are two pictures of baby Norah, next to a picture of Kelly around the same age. They somehow look so much alike and so different! How do they do that?

Kelly is beside herself with joy. Airplanes!

More joy, more airplanes!

Because you can totally be a pilot and wear a pink tutu. Obvs.

We brought toy airplanes to play with, duh.




Pretending to hang glide.

Is this where I make a pun about being a helicopter parent?

Action shot with Dada.

December 2014

Well, here it is February and I haven’t kept up with the flurry of pictures we’ve taken! But, I have, like, kept two children, a dog, and a husband alive. And myself. So there’s that. So here we go with playing catch up! A slew of pictures from December…

Kelly helping Dada fix the car

Norah looking like a Jedi

First time in the Bumbo chair

Fishy face

Good hair day

Happy baby

Dachshund butt

Future Hope College student

Fashionista toddler

My grandparents meeting their newest great-grandchild!

Binoculars

A bunch of happy, chubby baby pictures

Norah holding her ears while nursing

Fashionista baby

Happy baby at bedtime

And finally, Kelly gave me a pedicure

2014 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 3,700 times in 2014. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Merry Christmas!

For some reason the digital version of our card is teensy. Sorry. But if you click on the picture, it will open up a giant version on your screen. Lucky, lucky you. Feel free to count my pores.

2014 Family Photos

Our awesome friend Marie yet again took amazing photos of us for our Christmas cards (as well as wanting some “whole family” photos after Norah’s newborn photo shoot). So, spoiler if you’re getting our card in the mail eventually (whenever I manage it, so like… March?). I don’t have a lot of comments, other than to say sheesh I need to get to work on that baby weight (which will take me a good year at least, cause I’m definitely a nine months up, nine months down kind of pregnant lady), God bless under eye cream, our babies are adorable, Andy is still hot, Goobers also could lose a few pounds, our good friend Dr. Sara Diaz knitted the insanely cute Very Hungry Caterpillar outfit, the ones of Kelly trying to make a “V” with her feet and subconsciously doing it with her hands cracks me up, and I promise next year we’ll finally wear something other than our Team Samuel shirts. Otherwise, enjoy!

 

A different perspective

Logically, most of the pictures I post here are from my phone, but sometimes I manage to take the time and find the wherewithal to get pictures from Andy’s phone, and I am always surprised and pleased to find photos I didn’t know about. One of the main things is that I am actually IN some of the photos!

Awhile ago I posted pictures from Kelly’s Halloween, including Kelly the Lion trick-or-treating with Dada. He apparently also took photos of me with Kelly (not bad for someone who just had a Csection and can’t actually pick up said toddler yet):

More Halloween:

Goobers trying to convince us that HE needs to be in the baby carrier, too.

Kelly and I at the Seattle Aquarium (color coordination accidental):

Kelly and Mama at the Bainbridge Kid’s Discovery Museum Kidimu:

I don’t know how to explain this one.

Norah post-bath. Love a clean baby!

Norah hanging out with her bear.

Shots of the girls on a walk we took on Veteran’s Day. It was very cold.

And, finally, Sisters!

Thanksgiving 2014

This year it was just us for Thanksgiving, since we’d seen all the grandparents recently and we weren’t about to do any holiday travel with a brand new baby. It was a quiet day, but we had a nice time.
Our day started with some turkey butt.

A little bit of a smile.

Looking very French.

Looking very Cindy Loo Who.

Enjoying the Christmas train at our local nursery.

Again, Norah is underwhelmed. She’s hard to impress!

The Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, we had a rare Seattle occurrence– snow! Kelly was gleeful.

Norah was less than impressed.

But Kelly had the time of her life!

November in Seattle

Andy is back at work and I am busybusybusy at home with the two girls. And Goobers. We mustn’t forget him. He’ll make sure of that. Here is he showing me that he can do Tummy Time, too!

Kelly is my big helper when we get groceries at Trader Joe’s. She gets her own cart to push and afterwards she gets stickers. Lots of stickers.

Kelly’s school pictures arrived and they. are. epic. Picture Day at her co-op preschool was right after Norah was born, so even though Kelly was at school with Grandma, I popped in long enough to get her hair into pigtails and help her smile for the camera. Worth the effort for sure! The real picture is even better than this iPhone shot of her picture print. 🙂

Norah’s bear butt! Also note amazing newborn head control.

Kelly’s amazing outfit.

More amazingness.

We managed to take a fun trip with some preschool friends on the Seattle ferry over to Bainbridge Island. When Kelly was a newborn, I didn’t really leave the house for a few months, but we are schlepping Norah all over the place and she’s a pro. I’m exhausted and sweaty, but she’s a pro.
Here is Kelly looking out the ferry window. I love her coat.

We came home from our adventure to discover the furnace was broken. We had a very stressful week of space heaters, workmen stomping through our house, and lots of messaging with our landlord neighbors. Here is the clan trying to keep warm under blankets.

This is a great picture of Norah’s extra chins and curly hair.

A more ladylike picture of Norah.

And a VERY ladylike one of Kelly. She is saying “I’m Christmas!” in this picture.

LOOK AT THIS SMILE.

And look at this milk drunk baby. Nothing better.

While I was sleeping (and puking)

While stealing all of the recent pictures off of Andy’s phone, I came across some that I don’t recognize. I realized they were taken while I was pregnant, which means either I wasn’t there at all (“while I was puking”) or so distracted by my pregnancy discomfort that I don’t remember (“while I was sleeping”). So here you go!

Last February, Kelly got her first chance to push her own shopping cart! She was very excited and zipped around the store like a crazy person. I was, in fact, present for this event, but I was also pregnant and unaware that I was so. Andy and I both remember that I was really weird that week– obsessive, grumpy, and emotional. Hmmm. I wonder why???!!!!

Kelly, shopping for wine just like Mommy does!

Serious bed head. (blanket by Aunt Laura)

Dada’s hat

Kelly loving the lion statues at the zoo. That’s my hand holding hers. I don’t remember this.

Blanket fort!

Kelly on a rocket ship, one of her favorite things! Again, my hand. Again. I don’t remember this.

On our Babymoon. OK, I admit, I remember this, because I told Andy that even though I HATE having my picture taken while pregnant (Would you want your picture taken while you had the flu or were hung over and also happened to be swollen, uncomfortable, and emotional??? Yeah, I didn’t think so.), I would want pictures once I wasn’t. And I was right, because now I look at this picture and think A) Look, one of the first pictures of Norah! (before we decided her name was Norah!) and B) Whoo Boy, I’m glad I’m past that part of life.

Kelly, blurry but adorable.

Another rare picture of me pregnant. Goobers was snuggling Norah, so it was worth it!

And one final bed head shot.

OK, now back to our regularly scheduled pictures of Norah! Picture such as…