14 Months Old

Uncle Tanner and Nora at the Lions Tap

Nora is 14 months old today! She is turning into quite the character. I feel like I say that at every "update" but it is so fascinating to see how her personality and knowledge changes daily/weekly/monthly! She is getting to be very independent and wants to try everything, albeit with her very cautious personality!

She loves going up the stairs; she will not even TRY going down the steps. I have tried numerous times to teach her.....she screams and cries and shakes her fists!

She likes any food dipped in ketchup, she also likes to still get her hair as sticky and dirty as possible when eating any food.

She can say puppa (Puppy), bubba (baby), mama, dada and uh oh....she is REALLY good at saying 'uh oh'...she drops food and says it, she trips and says it, a door closes and she says it!

She is 'getting it'. When you ask her to do something she will 'sometimes' do it. Today I said "Bring mommy her phone" and she brought it over and actually dropped it in my hand!!!! I know, this doesn't happen ALL (or even most) of the time, but atleast we know she is getting what we say! Now we REALLY need to watch what we say in front of her.

She loves the tupperware cabinet, the plastic bowls, and her toy chest! She carries tupperware around the house. She pushes plastic and glass bowls all over the floor (we have to wash most things again before we use them!) and her toy chest is perfect because she opens it up and takes out her toys herself!

She is turning into more of a mama's girl....which I love and find hard all at the same time!

She is just perfect in all ways, and she makes both Matt and I so happy each and every day. It is hard to imagine that we will be SHARING our time/love/energy with 2 kiddos in a few short months!

Finally able to play outside

For the first time in this L O N G cold winter we played outside with Nora!

She did not quite enjoy 'getting ready' to be outside, but she liked being outside for the first 15 minutes. Then we tried sledding down a hill, which is really just a big pile of snow in our neighbors back yard, and she did not enjoy that and wanted to be held by daddy. It was so fun to see how she would touch the snow and walk through the maze of snow. The snow piles in our front yard are taller than her. It was a fun sunny day in Minnesota, this is why we live here!

Getting Ready, lots and lots of layers, aquaphor on the cheeks to protect from the cold, we don't have boots for her so she wore tights, socks and shoes!!

First close up look at snow, sitting in it, daddy made a snowball...hmmm what does she think?

Such a classic 'Nora Look'

Liking walking around

Look at how tall the snowbanks are!

On the porch, pulled the hat off!

Getting pulled by daddy on the sled! Enjoying it/Tolerating it so far!!

DONE being outside, bring me in!

Wednesday Book Club

We our reading "Simple Secrets Every Couple Should Know". It is a good book and we are so enjoying everyone at group. We have been in this group for 5 years now, wow how time flies!

We have a great babysitter who takes care of Nora while we are gone. She cleans up the house, plays with Nora, and she(Nora) is almost always sleeping when we get home at 8:45!!!!

Nebbing Nora

No this is not a new rap song.....Nebbing Nora, Neb Nebbing Nora!!!!

When I woke Nora up this morning she looked like she got hit by a truck. Her right eye was swollen and goopy and her nose was all crusty and red. Her cheeks have been chapped so they were all red and dry as well. I felt horrible. Poor little daughter of mine!

I made an appointment to see if there was anything we could do. She has been on antibiotics 2 times in last 2 months and it has really cleared her nose and eye and ears up but then 5-7 days later it COMES BACK!!!! The doctor took her oxygen levels and then did a nebulizer at the clinic to see if the neb would help her wheezing/oxygen levels. We got sent home with a brand new nebulizer (Dr. Nebulizer to be exact) and a prescription for some medicines. It was WAY too cold, -8 degrees, so I dropped Nora off at home with Matt and went to Target to get the drugs.

Nora took the first neb treatment in the clinic like a pro, didn't cry, didn't fight it, just opened her mouth and breathed! Yeah not so much the second time around. She was ok for first 5 minutes and then wanted the mask off her. The doctor told us to do another treatment right before bed, yeah WRONG! Nora was bouncing off the walls. She laid down for bedtime at 7:45 like a little angel, so tired and so peaceful. 8 o'clock she is pounding the walls in her room and I can hear her jumping up and down in her crib---she is talking to herself and singing along to her lullaby music. I let her play thinking she will calm down and go to sleep. Matt and I are in bed at 9, she is STILL talking, pounding, singing! Then crying, I go and rock her and she is quiet for a while, then I need to rock her again, then she coughs so violently that her nuk is thrown out of crib and so on....this little routine lasted all night! I did finally get innovative at midnight at took one of the nuk straps and fastened it to her pj's so the nuk wouldn't go flying out of crib(pretty smart considering I was so exhausted myself!) She did finally settle down and sleep restlessly for awhile. I am hoping and praying the nebulizer and antibiotics will help her fight this cold and keep it at bay!!!

poor poor Nora!

Another Visitor

Auntie Jenny and Drooly Nora

What are you doing Aunt Jenny??

Today and tomorrow my sister is in town for work. She has an important job being in charge of the photography for the Schwan Food Company catalog.....I am a bit jealous when I hear of all the cool things she gets to do! She had an ice cream photo shoot today downtown and then came to visit us even though the roads weren't the best to travel on! We had a lot of fun. Nora played and talked and even let Aunt Jenny hold her. She brought me all her maternity clothes so now I have bins and bins of clothes thanks to my neighbor Jessica and sister Jenn.

I made nachos for dinner (yes according to my mother nachos CAN be a meal and NOT just an appetizer) and she headed back downtown to her hotel. It was so fun catching up and getting to see her again! I am sure her kids/hubby miss her when she is working in Minneapolis, but secretly I love getting to see her more often!

Sunday, Sunday

I love Sundays! I really enjoy going to church, relaxing at home or running errands. This Sunday after Church, we decided to go to the Cheesecake Factory (ok I DECIDED hat baby boy Forslund needed some Spicy Chicken Chipolte Pasta). I was totally impressed with them today. We brought Nora so before we even sat down the hostess asked if she would like something to eat? Sure I said. They brought a plate of cut up bananas and whole wheat bread for her. It was very nice to keep her entertained with some food while we waited for our own food. And I am not a horrible mom, I did bring my own food for her but man it sure was nice to know that they took care of the WHOLE family!

Back in July 2009 while eating Spicy Chicken Chipolte Pasta, which is my favorite meal out at a restaurant, was the first time I felt Nora kick. So although it was my favorite before then, that moment solidifies why I love eating it so much! Baby boy Forslund has been kicking quite a bit but didn't seem to care much about the spicy chicken pasta that mama was feeding him.

We were then going to go to IKEA to look for stuff for the house. I have just wanted a few things to 'renew' the house, but both Nora and I needed naps so we came home and rested while Matt played video games.

Perfect Sunday spent with my family!

Horrible Posting.....Going to Get a Better...I Promise!

It has been 2 months since my last post....OOPS! Hopefully I can get better and find more time to blog a bit more frequently because I am sure you guys miss reading about our daily adventures!!!

Random Photos of Nora

Nora loves giving her moose a kiss, babies kisses, books kisses but not quite into giving mommy or daddy kisses yet. Here she was giving her 'Grandma Nora Bear' a kiss...of course I didn't catch it in the picture because our camera is too slow!!!

Now she is done giving kisses and wants to sit on the poor bear!


Nora LOVES the tupperware drawer....maybe it is because it is one of the few cupboards she doesn't get in trouble for going in

Nora loves getting her toys out of her toychest

Messy Messy Nora

hm....what IS she doing here?

Nora LOVES carrying around this Dots lunchbox I bought at Old Navy on clearance for 1 dollar!!
check out her hair....MULLET

Nora sleeping on a pillow, I went in to check on her and she was like this---she looks so grown up.

Nora and daddy hanging out

Nora

Nora getting so big, she loves to get up the stairs and then go to her room and get her 'lovey bear' and nuk out of her crib.

Nora walking

Visit from Kirsten and Grandma Debbie

Nora and Kirsten

Nora and Grandma

Nora showing Grandma how to use a spoon!!!

Nora and Grandma Debbie

We were again lucky to have 'stuff' going on this week. We had 2 visitors this week.

My high school friend Kirsten came and spent Monday and Tuesday night with us. Nora was a bit wary of Kirsten at first but then warmed up to her. It was so fun to see Kirsten and hang out with her. We caught up and enjoyed our time together. Nora showed her all her toys and had a few temper tantrums.

Then Wednesday came and my mom came into town. Nora enjoyed spending time with Grandma Debbie since she doesn't get to see her very often. We ran a few errands, I needed some maternity jeans! Then Thursday morning Nora, Grandma and I were all up at 6am to drive Grandma to the airport so she could get to Vegas with her sisters/sister in law . wow, were we tired. Nora took a nap when we got home from our long drive.

We love having visitors and it was so fun to have a few in a short time.

Week of catching up: with friends

Katie and Adam and Nora

Nora hanging out with all her toys while daddy is at work!
She loves carrying around her pumpkin bucket.

Matt had sales training this week, which means he is training for work from 8-5 and then gets to go out to eat/drink from 5-10pm. Needless to say, I was a single mother for the week. I put a post on my facebook asking if anyone wanted to do dinner (hoping that this wouldn't be a status that WAS NOT commented on making me look very SAD and PATHETIC!) I was overwhelmed by people who wanted to hang out with ME!!!!! I feel like sometimes I want to be such a great wife, mother, housekeeper, worker that I forget to be a friend. This was a great week to remember to do this.
Monday: Ate at my neighbor, Kelly's house-she made amazing chicken pot pie.
Tuesday: Ate at other neighbors house, where Nora got to play with her boyfriend William
Wednesday: Night free with Nora and Mommy....we enjoyed girl time
Thursday: Night at Noodles & Co with Katie and Adam
Friday: Matt was home early so we ate PB&Js at home

It was a great week, although Nora missed daddy quite a bit!!

It's a........BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the news is official and we have had a few ultrasounds so I think it is safe to let the blogging world know: We are pregnant, we are having a boy, due date is May 21st which means we are about 22 weeks along. Baby boy Forslund looks good and healthy, according to the ultrasound tech. Matt says he could tell that the baby was a boy before the ultrasound tech told us...ha ha Matt!

We are very excited to turn into true FOURSLUNDS! I guess our blogname will need to change.

Nora LOVES babies, she loves to poke them, and pat their heads so she will be a great big sister!!

The kids will be about 17 1/2 months apart so it will be a crazy household but we are looking forward to the adventure!

Nora's HAIR!!!

Nora has ALOT of hair!! I feel like I could give her a haircut every other week. I am too scared to do this so I am waiting for my mom to come in a few weeks. Right now she has a mullet, Matt and I tried to capture the wonderfulness of this with some photos! I know, poor girl is going to hate us when she grows up! I try to put her hair in pig tails or ponytails everyday so that her hair isn't in her eyes!

Nora trying to put on daddy's viking crocs

Nora looking like 'Hulk'

Nora

Nora and her mullet....Matt put on a vest as well to make her look like McGruber!

MOPS--Praying BIG!!

We had a MOPS meeting tonight and our speaker talked about praying big. It was a great awakening to looking to the future of our daughter, our goals, and our future together. I really came away from the meeting knowing that God can help in the smallest and BIGGEST ways, I needed that reminder.

Matt's New Job

Matt took a new position within the same company, Shavlik Technolgies. He is now managing all the international account business for the company. He got a major in International Business, so he is so excited to put that degree to use! His hours: 5am to 2pm. Awesome to have him home in the afternoons, but wow 5am is early. He has a 1 hour commute to work so that means leaving our house at 4am. We'll see how the transition goes, I am praying smoothly. I know he is very excited about the new position and the challenges that will come with it.

Maybe he will actually post about it soon......hm...

New Years!

New Years. How the celebration has changed since we have a baby! We used to go to an annual New Years Bash, but now with a baby, it is more fun to stay home and turn in at 11!

This year we spent New Years Eve with our neighbors and their son William who is about 4 weeks younger than Nora. We had a wonderful steak dinner and played sequence (Jon and I won 3 times....I am NOT gloating though!)

New Years Day, we went to Williams' birthday party and just hung out trying to get Matt ready for his new job starting on Monday!

Williams Birthday Party....what a cute monkey!