Okay- it's not quite crawling or anything, but Norah has learned to scoot. Enjoy ( :

Norah Fall 2010

Dear Norah,

One day, certainly when you're a teenager, and quite possibly sooner you'll look at this blog and say: Wait a second. . . how come there were these posts every month for Lily, but these sporatic ramblings for my infancy? and we'll say. . . . ummmmmmmm. . . .welllll. . . .ummmm. . . Hey! Who wants ice cream?

The truth is that we love you very much, and we have totally appreciated the same simple steps you're taking as you grow. Your first smile. The way you adore the bath, flapping your arms and gurgling with excitement. We are amazed at how patient you are when we dress you, letting us put stuff over your head without crying (most of the time), and being a good sport about all the clothing we make you wear. Mostly, we are in awe of how you handle the love of 3 older children- the headlock hugs, "sharing" your toys, getting hit by errant elbows, knees, blankets, and everything else when playtime turns to crazytime.

And there's sweet Norah, taking it all in stride. Achieving a new level of serenity now that you can sit up on your own and grab the toys you want. Clearly happier when Lily, Logan, and Kaya are in your line of sight. Full of smiles for your Auntie Rach and Uncle Mike. Testing your teeth (which have not broken through yet) on absolutely everything you can get your hands on.

Things move fast for us, so they must move even faster for you, watching as the big kids figure out how to draw pictures instead of scribble, and watching them run around, over, and through anything that stands in their way as Wonder Woman (Lily), Pattern Man (Logan), and Baby Jaguar (Kaya) come to the rescue once again, jumping and giggling in the crib you will soon sleep in (or would have had the big kids not broken the railing). As you can attest, Norah, there is a LOT going on in our house. Amazing, sweet, wild, touching, fun, loving, things are going on all the time. We see you watching.

We are watching you, and your big sister, too. And you guys are growing so fast, we find less and less time to write about it. But we appreciate it more. We see you grow and thrive, and we're grateful. Mostly, we love watching you with each other. The way you light up when Lily says "Hi, Seesterrrr". The way she sings to you in the car if you cry. It's true- your parents have let things slip here on the blog, but only because we're so much happier hanging out with you.

Love,

mama and daddy