A Similarity with Mommy....

Not only does Nora have my stubbonness, but she also has my love for a good deal and COUPONS!!!!!

I was going through my coupons and throwing away old coupons and sorting them all out; Nora wanted to get into the action. She is loving helping me organize!!!!

Nora and her coupons

And.....another similarity to her father. Her love for hot sauce. Here she is at Chipotle wanting some Tabasco. Nora and her 'hot sauce'

I forgot to Blog about.....

Kyle, Lincoln, Brandon, Charlie, JT and Matt before the concert......

see the excitement in their eyes!

Matt going to "STAR WARS in Concert" on July 11th. He loved it, he came home and was as giddy as a school girl in love! He went to the concert with my brother and his boys, and my brother in law and his oldest son. I still haven't seen ANY of the Star Wars movies, so I don't know why he married me!!!! One day he says he is sitting me down and making me watch all 6 Star Wars, all 3 Lord of the Rings, and Waynes World (nope haven't seen that either!).

Swimming Lessons, Part 2.....

So my daughter was 'the girl' who threw up in the pool today....yep! Pretty sweet! I have let Matt and Nora be in the pool and Matt kept asking me "are you going to come in today with us" so today, I went in the pool with them. Bad decision, of course I am the one who is holding her when she drinks the pool water and CHOKES on it.....and then a minute later decides to projectile spit up milky residue! THIS IS WHY I STAY AWAY FROM WATER.....nothing good happens when I am in the water. Matt and Nora will now be taking the class alone, I will be happy on the sidelines! Everyone wins with mommy on the pool deck.

Where I should stay, ON THE DECK-out of the water!!!!

Nora Eating

Nora is not liking normal baby food anymore. She wants to feed herself. Puffs & Cheerios are my new favorite friends. She also likes jelly toast, fruit cut up, cheese, yogurt. She makes quite the mess.....so I feel like my day consists of feeding Nora, putting her down for a nap, cleaning up her mess, back to feeding, nap, cleaning mess! She loves eating, just like her Daddy!

Nora Sleeping

Nora had a "BIG WEEKEND" and was all tuckered out come Monday at naptime. So sweet!

Nora's Baptism

Nora was baptized this weekend. The church we go to in the cities does not do baby baptisms, they do dedications. Matt and I really wanted to baptize Nora since we both were baptized when we were little. We decided to have the baptism at my parent's church in Dawson, MN. We had a lunch at the church afterwards with wonderful food. The service was so special with the church having a new pastor and Nora being old enough to know what is going on. My brother, Brandon also sang a beautiful song called "come to Jesus" at the service. He did such a great job and it meant alot to have him sing. Nora also is old enough to know what is going on.....the pastor was talking about baptism and following God and Nora just looked at him observing and 'taking it all in' It was so sweet! We feel so blessed to have our little baby girl and I am so glad that she got baptized this weekend. We had a bunch of family that was able to make--even my grandma Nora came to share in her great granddaughter's special day(Thanks to Connie & Randy for coming and bringing her). It was special to have Nora's namesake be there for her! Baby Nora also wore my grandpa, Leonards (my grandma Nora's husband) baptismal gown which is 96 years old. It was a very special and memorable day!

Kirsten and Nora
Kirsten, Nora and me
Grandma Nora and Baby Nora
Nora in her Baptism Gown

Hanging out with the Texan Relatives....

Uncle Richard and his daughers, Laurel and Caitlin drove up from Houston to help Matt's grandparents move into their new place in Eden Prairie. It was fun to see them all and they got to hang out and meet Nora! Here are some photos from their visit.

Caitlin, Nora, Laurel & Anne

Uncle Richard and Nora

Laurel, Anne, Caitlin,

Me ad Elle in the Back

Going out to Eat with some Friends

We hadn't seen our friends, the Passons and Weathermans all summer so we decided to meet at Cuzzy's in Chaska for dinner. Nora was good eating her cheerios while we ate and drank some beers. I would definitely recommend the Margherita Pizza there, it is awesome!

Tony & Erin with Nora....Mark trying to get in the photo

Erin and Nora

Nora not knowing what to think with Mark....

Swimming Lessons

Nora and Matt are taking swimming lessons at our local community center. I have gone along to watch.....it seems like she and Matt are just hanging out in the water, but I am sure she is learning something. She LOVES the water, as does her daddy. She gets her face wet and is ok with it, she loves splashing, she loves going down the slide. She has it for the next 3 weeks, Mondays & Wednesdays. I am sure she will be diving into the pool by the end of class!

An End to an Era.....

So with being sick and dehydrated for a week I wasn't able to nurse Nora. And since it was for almost a week, it kind of dried everything up.....I know TMI perhaps for you men! I know that sometimes I was jealous of those babies that got formula---others could feed them, the momma's got to have a few drinks, they had a bit more freedom...AND NOW that it is over, I am sad and wish I wouldn't have taken it for granted. Feeding her was 'our special quiet time'. I went to our whole foods store to buy some 'mothers tonic' and have been trying some 'mothers milk tea' to see if I can increase some supply....but she still won't feed off me. It was a week and she got used to her bottles which is easier, so bottles(instead of boobs) it is. Formula is EXPENSIVE, so I am still trying to pump so we can have 1-2 bottles of milk and 2 bottles of formula a day. Even just doing that can save a bit of money on formula. She will only have formula for another 4 months as when you turn 1, I believe you can have 'real milk'. I guess I am just sad that the end to breastfeeding had to come at such a bad end, instead of us 'choosing' to end it. If you know me at all.....you know I am a control freak, so not being able to control this decision is a bit hard for me to take. She is doing well with the transition so I am very blessed for that.

Cat Scratch Fever, Mama's Fever....and Daddy being everyone's Hero!!!!!

Cat Scratch Fever.....
Nora loves to scratch ANYTHING! She loves texture, so she will scratch or pet at everything around her to feel it. When we were sleeping at the cabin up north, we would wake up at 3-4am and she would be scratching the side of the pac n play.

Mama's Fever....
Monday afternoon, I started to feel achy. I thought I was just tired from vacation and from the busy weekend. I dealt with it and went to bed early. Tuesday, I took my temp at noon at it was 102. Uh oh....what is wrong with me. I called Matt and we both agreed that we didn't want Nora to get sick so he came home to look after her so I could rest. Wednesday still 102 temp and SO NOT FEELING GOOD. Matt worked from home so I could sleep and work through this bug. I thought it was the flu bug, but come Thursday night when the fever went up to 102.5, we went to the ER. I haven't been sick, except when being pregnant, for the last 5 years so I don't have a physician I see. We went to the ER, so Matt's parents had their first sleep over with Nora! Never been to the ER....interesting place! They took about 20 viles of blood to figure out what was wrong with me and they pumped me with 2 bags of IV fluids.....I was so dehydrated. I ended up with a bladder infection......no symptoms except a fever. Wish I would've known this sooner and didn't have a WEEK of feeling sick!

Daddy being the HERO.....
Matt took care of me and Nora all week. He tried to make food for me to eat, which I couldn't! He bought sprite, gatorade, juice to make me drink, which I couldn't! He even rubbed my back, once! He took such good care of little Nora while still trying to work from home. He did a great job! Don't know what I would do without him!!!! His parent's were a huge help as well with Nora....we are lucky we have such wonderful family and friends!

Nora's 7 Months OLD

Nora was 7 months old on the 4th of July. She is getting so big. I think I say that every 'month update blogpost' She is getting quite the personality--she has a very happy temperment (like her daddy), but she does have her stubborn moments (like her mommy--finally something that she gets from me, albeit that it isn't the greatest things to inherit!!!!) She still looks alot like Matt but everyday she is getting more and more 'herself'. She also got her first tooth over the weekend, so she has one tiny little bottom fang! She enjoys bouncing in her exasaucer and 'trying to crawl' around.

Helping the Gravens Move

Matt and Lincoln playing football

Nora, Reese, Jenn, Me & Landrey

At the Park

Nora and Reese hanging out in the pool

We helped my sister's family move into a beautiful home in Marshall. Matt helped Kyle with the larger things from their old rental home and I tried to watch the kids and organize the kitchen!

We spent Saturday playing in the water. It was SO hot and humid outside that everyone needed to jump in the pools and run through the sprinkler. It was a fun way to spend the 4th weekend.

A Sidenote: We all watched Ice Age 3----HILARIOUS movie. Totally recommend it to anyone!

Grand View Lodge with the Forslund's

Nora ENJOYING vacation!!!!

Oh My goodness.....what a Blessed week.
We couldn't have asked for better weather and it was truly relaxing.

Nora was absolutely perfect. She had never been in her 8 swimsuits (yes you read that correctly....she has more swimsuits that I have had in the last 10 years!-they were all hand-me-downs but 1), she had never been in water, never sat on GRASS....we didn't know what to expect traveling with an almost 7 month old.

Nora's pack n play got set up, and we unpacked all her food and necessities. I think Matt's parents and siblings were looking at us like "wow"! I wanted to be sure I had anything and everything that I might need.

First morning we brought Nora to eat breakfast with us up at the main lodge....didn't think to bring food for HER! whoops, good thing they had a banana and cheerios that she ended up loving by the end of the trip. She is funny when she eats cheerios...she makes a face like she doesn't like it but then keeps opening up her mouth asking for more cheerios.

Matt got in some golfing and I got in 2 holes of golf! Anne & I walked down to the golf course and we met them at the course as they were finishing up so Steve had me play the last 2 holes for him. I did horribly but it was FUN to swing the clubs.....if only we had the disposable income to play and get GOOD!

Nora playing with some golf balls on hole # 9

Mommy and Nora....Nora loves the flag

Anne & Steve took Nora for an afternoon so Matt and I could have some couple time which was SO thoughtful. We hung out by the pool....Matt and I read our books while drinking pina coladas---oh the memories of our honeymoon!

Nora got in her first boat ride, which she fell asleep. She loved the pool. It took a bit to get used to. We first tried the lake, NO WAY. Then tried putting her in the pool, NO WAY. Then we fed her, got her on a full belly and tried again. We tried the warm pool, which is not as Hot at the HOT TUB, and she liked that. She actually made friends with this sweet 5 year old girl who was all excited that they both had pink swimsuits. Then we tried the cool pool again and she was OK with it. Matt tried laying her down and they splashed and every day she liked it more and more. Matt and she are taking swimming lessons in July so hopefully she enjoys the water then too. It was fun to see Matt and Nora loving the water. I hope that is something they can enjoy together in the future. He is the water lover in the family. I love boating.....I love sitting BY water....I just don't like going in unless there is a purpose. He loves wading in water and reading in a chair IN the water. Hopefully they can bond over this when she gets older!

One day Nora was SO tired but would not fall asleep in her pack n play, No one else wants to hear someone elses baby cry so I got her out and put her in the inflatable toy and she fell asleep in 5 minutes. Sun in eyes, Anne & I sitting right there, she was Pooped out!

Nora hanging out in her floaty boat (which we only used on the deck!!!!)

AJ & Elle, Matt's siblings, turned 16 while we were at the cabin. Pretty exciting. They had each brought a friend along so we all went out for a nice dinner at Sherwood Forrest. There weren't any 'Merri-men' singing which made Matt sad.

Honestly, we had such a nice, relaxing family time. It was fun to see Nora hang out with her grandparents. It was fun to see her be all sweaty and dirty and smell like the outdoors (we didn't give her a bath the whole time we were there....and normally Matt is bath crazy!) It was fun to read a book in the sun! It was fun to wear a swimsuit (did I just write that......ugh I am crazy~!) It was fun to not be in charge of supper. It was fun to vacation!!

On the Beach

Ready for her first boat ride

On the beach in her sun dome

Grandpa Steve and Nora on the beach

On the Beach

Nora and Daddy in the lake

Brainerd with the Bergs

We are going on vacation with Matt's family from Sunday to Wednesday and thought we would come up a bit earlier and visit my college friends Sarah and Tom who have a little 18 month old Odin. We had so much fun catching up with them. We went for a walk, went for lunch on the lake, Sarah and I even went to a crazy horrible flea market!!! Sarah has an amazing camera and took some awesome photos of Nora and Odin. They both are blonde bombshells! They have good genetics :) Overall we didn't do much, relaxed, caught up with each others lives, watched the Twins, slept....well maybe the Bergs slept--Nora did not want to let her mommy and daddy sleep!

Nora at the Lake

Odin and Nora ready for our walk

Nora 6.5 Months & Odin 17.5 months

Awww.....Odin Kissing Nora