Mama and Nora Cooking

Nora is LOVING being in the kitchen with me. She has a little step stool that she climbs up on and then loves to bang the spoons or play with her sippy cup dryer rack. I think she loves it because she gets to sneak food PLUS I give her 'tastes' of what I am making. She is really getting a personality and it is fun to hang out with her. I remember when I was young being in the kitchen with my mom and making banana bread (we always had a small loaf that we got to bake just for us!). I hope Nora can come away from our kitchen experiences with the joy and knowledge that I did from my mom/grandma!

Not quite sure what to think

You mean we get to lick the spoon??

YUMMY!

She LOVES running around the kitchen with my mixing bowls...I am surprised she hasn't dropped one on her toe!

Matt's Work Party

Me and Kristi (an old coworker whose husband works for Shavlik)

Karaoke after dinner

Every year Matt's work hosts a 'midwinter blues' party. This year it was in South Minneapolis and there was great food and a comedian. We had a babysitter, Grandma and Grandpa Forslund, and on the drive home all Matt and I could say is that we wish we would've just stayed home and watched a movie in bed! Does that make us old? boring? Oh well, we had fun, just sometimes when you get that ONE night away from your baby you just want to go to bed early and SLEEP instead of staying up all night watching others drink (ok well Matt had a few, but I was not able to partake!!)

Overall, it was a great time to catch up with Matt's coworkers and see some new colleagues that he is working with. Shavlik knows how to throw a party....that is for sure!

We took the plunge...

and got a NICE camera. How did we even have the patience for our other camera before? Wow, it is slow! I am afraid to use the new DSLR camera as I seem to be the one who wrecks all the other cameras. Stay posted for NEW & IMPROVED photos from the Forslunds!!

Here are just some random photos from the first week of trying it out!

Did I mention....

Nora can go UP & DOWN the stairs now. Finally

after trying and trying and trying

after crying and crying and crying (by both mama and Nora!)

Hooray for the big girl.

Now she thinks she is Miss Independent and goes downstairs and "waits" for mommy to come down after getting ready or goes upstairs to find her blanket and nuk! What a big girl

15 Months Old

am I cute????

playing the drums with my LeeAnn Chin's chopsticks.

Nora is now 15 months old. This means we had another check up and she got more shots!


Height: 30-1/2" 50%
Weight: 22 lbs 7.5 oz 45%
Head Circumference: 45.3cm 35%


We had her appointment and I said she had been a bit fussy lately and yes of course she had another ear infection. She screamed and cried when the doctor even got CLOSE to her ear. She has been on an antibiotic since December so it just seems crazy that she has another ear infection. Hopefully she will feel better soon.

She has FINALLY figured out how to go down the steps. Now she wants to go down the stairs all the time. It is amazing how independent she can be, when she wants to be.

Last month, I said she was turning into a mamas girl...well now she is a definite mama's girl. She is having a bit of separation anxiety when I leave the room, even when she is with Matt. She loves running to my legs and whining to come up. I am working with her to say 'up, please' but as of yet, she wants nothing to do with it. She would rather whine and cry to get her way. I am hoping soon she will want to talk and start using her words more so we all can understand each other. She has started using the sign language for 'more' and uses it for food. I don't think she quite understands what it means, but she laughs when she does it and gets more food! I keep telling Matt one day it is all going to 'click' for her and we will be amazed.

She is still cautious about most things. She LOVES puppies, especially Grandma and Grandpa Forslunds white puppy Polo! She loves fruit and ice cream. She loves reading books. She likes taking my hand and making me point or touch buttons for her. She is running around and is quite balanced when she walks. When she crawls you can tell she does it to be funny and get us to laugh or giggle at her. She loves jewelry--I have a bunch of plastic necklaces and some chunky bead necklaces and she loves to carry them around the house and put them around her neck and my neck. She also LOVES babies and 'worries' and tries to help them when they cry. We are hoping this is a great thing since baby boy will be here soon. She doesn't quite get that my belly is getting bigger and that kicking it or climbing over it does not feel good for mommy! She will be a great big sister--can't wait to see her with Baby Boy F.

Forslund Party

Nora is sitting in Matt's rocking chair from when he was little. She loved that she was able to get into the chair without help.

Great Grandma Neva and Nora

Great Grandma Barb and Great Grandpa Dick with Nora and Matt

We had a little get together since the Great Grandparents hadn't seen Nora walk. She ran around, chased the dog, ate alot of food, whined a little, but overall was a great little girl who loved being the center of attention. She loved playing with a toy that Grandma Anne got at PROP for $1. She was ready for bed when we left though as she had a big night with the grandparents the night before.

Gopher Game

Matt and I....go Gophers!

Adam and Kate

Goldy trying to get the crowd pumped up

Adam got tickets to the Gopher Hockey game vs Michigan Tech. Adam, Kate, Matt & I went to the game. Kate and I sat next to each other talking about life, wedding planning, etc (as we have NO IDEA about hockey). I did send Matt out to get me a snack and told Kate that everytime we have been to a hockey game and I ask him to do something, a goal is scored. Yep, same thing happened, Gophers scored while he was gone getting me popcorn! Sorry honey---I promise I don't do it on purpose. They did score 5 goals though so he got to watch a few other goals being scored. It was a very entertaining game, lots of fights and penalties. People got kicked out of game---that is the kind of game I like watching since I don't understand anything else regarding hockey.
We had fun with Kate and Adam and enjoyed a night off from Miss Nora, who was with Grandma and Grandpa Forslund. She had a blast with them.

Meeting a World Series MVP pitcher

Finally at the front of the line (the guy sitting down is the famous Jack Morris!)

The new Mega Menards is FINALLY open in Eden Prairie. Yes, I have been waiting for this day. I could live at Menards or Home Depot. I love wandering the aisles dreaming....I think I get this from my father! This Menards has groceries and I needed taco seasoning so I loved that I didn't have to stop at Rainbow to get it. Anyway, back to the post-the sunday ad said that Jack Morris would be at the new Menards signing autographs. I nonchalantly said this to Matt who then wet his pants and said "we are going to get his autograph". I thought he was joking, but no, he said no to a work dinner and we met in Eden Prairie to wait in line to meet the World Series MVP Jack Morris. Matt even had some dialogue with him

Matt: "my dad had to tape game 6 for me"
Jack: "that is a bummer"
Matt: "yeah, thanks so much for coming out tonight"
Jack: "have a good night"

It was exciting for us all!

Nora doesn't quite understand why she cannot play and chew on this 'precious' baseball!!

Playdate for Nora

We watched my cousin, Ashley's, little girl for a few days and Nora and Laney loved hanging out! We didn't get too many pictures since we were busing chasing after 2 kids under 14 months!!!

Laney didn't quite know what to do since Nora was invading her space in the bathtub!

Laney enjoying the high chair/booster toy. Nora was a bit jealous.

Mommy's Sick....

So after Nora was sick and nebbing, I ended up not being able to breath and got it checked out. The doctor thought I had pneumonia, as I am pregnant they decided to treat me as though I have pneumonia without doing an x-ray to confirm the infection.

Nora and I took turns nebbing and I got put on medicine. It has been hard to walk up the steps without being winded. I don't know how people with asthma or breathing problems do it....I felt so lightheaded from not having enough oxygen. I am glad it will hopefully be a short sickness and Nora and I will then hopefully STAY HEALTHY!

Matt has been healthy-Thank God!

Happy Valentinte's Day

Valentines Day-just another day here at the Forslund Home. Matt and I haven't really ever been big 'Hallmark Holiday' observers so this is just another one of those holidays! My sister was in town so we had her over for steak and sweet potatoes. Matt did buy 10 roses for me, 1 rose for Nora, and 1 rose for my dear sister....what a sweet guy huh? Nora got valentines from her daycare friends and her "boyfriend" William who lives behind us across the alley. He even came over to deliver it himself.

Jenn and Nora

Nora in her outfit that Mommy made for her especially for Valentines Day (Matt said it looks a little "Little House on the Prairie"--oh well)

Nora and her boyfriend, William (he is wearing a shirt that says "chicks dig me"--love it!)

Nora's hair is getting SO LONG!

Using Utensils--such a big girl

Nora watched me eating with a fork and wanted to take it away from me, so I decided this meant she needed some utensils to eat with. Ikea has these that are the best utensils. She started using them and immediately 'got it'. Ok well looking at the photos below, she did end up with FOOD everywhere on her face, belly, the floor!

so happy to eat ice cream with my own spoon!

so so happy!

Here, I'll show you how its done: First put your spoon in the bowl.

Then put that filled spoon in your mouth!

or...the easiest way, just pick up the bowl and drink it like a cup!!

Turning into a 'little girl'...

I don't know why I thought it was a good idea, but I thought I would paint Nora's fingernails. She actually didn't mind it too much. She was brushing her teeth with one hand and I painted the other, then I used the blowdryer (on cool setting) to dry/cool the hand. Then we switched hands. She liked looking at her nails and smiling. I tried to get a few photos of our little princess!

Business Nora, needs to get some work done on her laptop!

Aren't my fingernails so pretty?

Super Bowl Sunday, pepper time....

Nora liked looking at Grandma Debbies jewelry.

Superbowl Sunday gave us great food and my parents were in town because they were flying out to Mexico the next day at 5am. Matt made some chicken wings and we had some great pineapple salsa. The salsa was SO hot-it called for one habanero pepper. I was in charge of cutting up the pineapple, the pepper, the onion and other ingredients. I did NOT realize that habanero peppers were that hot, I mean I had heard they are one of the hottest peppers but wow they are H O T! I diced the peppers not thinking anything of it, asked matt to taste a TINY little sliver because they sure didn't smell hot. His mouth was burning. I rubbed my eyes 4 hours later and my eyes were attacked with heat. I washed my hands 50 times (we now need new soap in the house) and my hands/eyes still burned. My mom had to take out my contacts because I couldn't touch my eyes again with my contaminated hands! Wow, learned my lesson--wear gloves when cutting hot peppers.

Date Night.....FINALLY

Our last date was probably months ago....I can't even remember when it was-that is how long it was! Matt and I dropped Nora off at Grandma and Grandpa Forslunds and headed to St. Paul to Cafe Latte for dinner. Cafe Latte is one of my favorite places to eat in St. Paul, not because of the food but probably because of the great college memories it dusts off for me. My college roommate and college basketball teammates would go down Grand Ave and eat at the Latte.

Matt and I shared a whole bunch of food....it was so wonderful and yummy! We then walked across the street to Cooks of Crocus Hill to look at kitchen stuff. I could look at kitchen/cooking things ALL the time. I love baking, I love cooking, I love coming up with recipes----If I had all the time in the world....I think I would bake/cook for Matt!

We had a blast just being out on a date, we needed it to rekindle the marriage!