you, at six months: nora

 

Miss Nora Hattie,

You are almost 7 months old! Here's a glimpse into your little personality at this age.

You are the perfect combination of fiesty and sweet. You are both things, simultaneously, all the time. When you are happy you are really happy and when you are mad you are furious. You switch between the two emotions effortlessly, but you can always be coaxed to smile even in the middle of a shrill scream (you have a really, really, really, loud cry that pierces the air and drives your Dad nuts). You are the happiest when you are watching Evie play or getting tickled or kissed and you are the maddest when you have to wait even 2 minutes for your bottle to be made. 

For the record, I love your fiestiness. I love that you know what you want. I love that you have opinions. I love that you are strong willed and passionate. These are all great qualities that you may or may not get from your equally feisty mother (bless you) and that served you well when you were fighting for you health in the hospital for so long. You are brave, Nora.

For as fiesty as you can be, you are equally sweet. You have the most darling smile on planet earth centered between two of the chubbiest cheeks. You giggle, all the time. You smile easily and automatically and you are social and friendly and happy. You love to be tickled, you laugh when Evie passes you, even if she hasn't done anything particularly funny. When you smile it's from ear to ear and your whole body tenses along with your face.

You aren't so sure about rice cereal. You're warming up to the idea.

You are soft and squishy and a total cuddler. We LOVE your hugs and your open-mouthed kisses and your silky soft skin.

You have a chubby little face and fluffly duck hair that sticks straight up. Your eyes and hair are the darkest of all 3 kids. You are completely edible.

You love Will and you want to be near him always. You like to roll to where he is and reach for him, touch him, and scratch him. You smile when you see him. You are a doting sister.

You are the happy and joyful in our family. When I wake you up in the morning (you always want to sleep longer than Will) you give me the biggest smile and you curl into my body as I lift you to me. I get so excited to play with you and cuddle you and make you smile. You bring me joy every single day and I can't imagine my life without you.

I think you are so special, Hattie girl. I think you have been special, right from the start.

I love you.

Mommy

a little photoshoot together.

o

 the day they turned six months.

north carolina.

It's no big secret that my blogging has taken a big hit since the twins were born. I'm now almost 7 months in and feeling much more in control of my life and ready to jump back on the blogging bandwagon! I've missed these stupid posts and hope I can get back into the rythym of documenting our happenings. With that said, I'm behind. I am so, so behind. There will be lots of random, back-dated, overly sappy posts popping up in your reader feed over the next few months (assuming I'm still on your reader feed? Knock knock?? Anyone? Anyone?) and I apologize in advance.

First off, North Carolina!

Greg and I had the opportunity to travel back to Durham, NC a few weeks ago for his big graduation from Duke University. It was my first time leaving Will & Nora and only my second time leaving Evie since she was born. I was a wreck the night before and honestly felt sick to my stomach that night as I tried to fall asleep. It was really hard for me to leave the babies and I missed them so so much! I missed Evie too, of course, but I felt really confident that she knew exactly where she was, who she was with (her beloved Nana) and was having a blast without me, so it wasn't as difficult as leaving my sweet tiny babies. Luckily, they both did great and it was the sweetest reunion back home on Mothers Day.

North Carolina was gorgeous. GORGEOUS. We will be moving there immediately, obviously, and I'm certain all of my friends and family members will follow accordingly. We loved the greenery everywhere and the old-town historic charm of the neighborhoods in Chapel Hill and Durham, which actually reminded me a lot of where we live in Sugarhouse (but much greener and more amazing).

Greg and I had such a wonderful few days together. I love spending time just the two of us and recconecting without the ENORMOUS stress and disctraction of our children. We had long talks on car rides, so many fun dinners out, a few adventures exploring and just so much fun together. I love that man and I loved being on his arm all weekend and cheering for him at his graduation. It doesn't get much better than Gregory J., he's the most dedicated, motivated, smart, selfless, capable, honest, wonderful man I know. I am so lucky he is mine and I loved our little trip together.

Here are some pictures from the trip!

 

Greg was really excited to take me for Chicken & Waffles. It was pretty much #1 on his list and was the first stop we made Friday morning with Ali & Brandon. I regret to tell you that I wasn't the biggest fan of chicken & waffles (I know, I know! I'm the worst!). The chicken was great, the waffle was great, the combo, on the other hand--not my favorite.

We toured Duke's campus and Duke Gardens after brunch. What an incredible campus! All the students at that school are so lucky to be going there, I was in love with the charm of it all and especially with those huge picnic tables (they look like boats) that rock.

The next day was graduation. I was so stoked to hear bag pipes before the students started to walk, because Greg LOVES the bagpipes. So fitting for his special day!

 Could he look more studious? I think not. Congrats Grad!

 We loved seeing our friends, Brandon & Ali, and spent lots of our free time with them. These two are the greatest and we can't wait for lots more trips and fun in the future!

happy to be back home with my darlings!

 Can't wait til next time, North Carolina!!