Easter & Casey's New Job

Hope you had a wonderful Easter!

Our Easter weekend started off with Norah & Casey waking up with a cold on Friday morning. I stayed home from the gym to take care of the two of them and then Friday night we enjoyed dinner with Casey's brother's family. We brought the pack in play because we knew we were going to be there later than her bed time and I didn't want her to not sleep with her cold so I put Norah to sleep and then we hung out and enjoyed the evening. Saturday morning Casey and Norah weren't feeling that great so they both took naps and I got a bunch a stuff done around the house. Norah has been down to one nap, but with her cold I could tell she needed that 1 hour morning nap as well as her 2 hr afternoon nap so she has had both since Friday. Our church had 5 services for Easter and one was on Saturday night and since I knew Norah wasn't going to be able to go into the Nursery because of her cold and she doesn't sit quietly in church we asked Casey's mom if she could come over and put Norah to bed while we went to the Saturday night service. We got there about 20 minutes early, we were hoping to be a least a half hour early (the life with a toddler!) and it was already overflowing into the lobby, seats were being set up in the lobby and starting to set up outside with screens brought out. We decided we would try in the morning and watch the service in the family corner (outside the sanctuary our church has a family corner set up with a screen and chairs and toys for families that aren't able to put their kids in the nursery, either due to sickness or the childcare is full). So we came home and ordered Chinese and relaxed and went to bed early. The next morning we went to the 8am service and Norah played in the family corner. After church we got home and I put Norah down for a nap because we had a busy day ahead and wouldn't be home in the afternoon so I just let her sleep as long as she wanted, she got a great 2 hr nap in. Casey was also still not feeling great and so he took a nap too. Meanwhile I picked up around the house and stuffed Norah's eggs with fishes and cheerios for our Easter egg hunt in the front yard and I put together her Easter basket.  Norah got up and we let her open her Easter basket which she thought was the coolest thing, she loved chewing on the plastic eggs. After we headed outside and did her 1st Easter egg hunt! She is really in to putting things in baskets, buckets right now and so I knew she would get the hang of putting the eggs in her basket if I showed her. Sure enough it only took one time and she was off and running picking up the eggs that I placed around the front yard. After the Easter egg hunt it was time to pack up and head to my Aunt's house for Easter dinner. We enjoyed our time spent with family but I could tell with Norah's cold she wasn't quite herself and seemed to get really tired a couple of hours into it and so we headed out and decided to let her take a short nap at home before we headed over to Casey's parents for the rest of the evening. Norah was out as soon as I laid her down. Me and Casey also laid down for a bit because the busy weekend of taking care of Norah and Casey and the house was hitting me hard. After Norah's nap we packed up again and headed over to Casey's parents. We enjoyed hanging out back next to the fire and talking. Norah seemed to be doing much better and played all night. We finally got home around 8:15 and I put her in the bath because she was sweaty and smelled like campfire and then she crashed around 8:45. Overall it was a wonderful weekend celebrating the resurrection of my Savior Jesus Christ and being with family!!!

(Pre-edited)

At my Aunt's house in the country

 All the kids and my Aunt and Uncle

Goat's Milk for Norah
So I officially decided to put Norah on powdered goat's milk since fresh goat's milk is really expensive and Organic whole milk is not as expensive but still very expensive, I pay about $6 dollars a gallon (on sale). I have a good friend who told me she put her daughter on powdered goat's milk to cut costs and she loves it. I bought a pack of 3, 12 oz cans yesterday off of of Amazon. She said a can usually lasts her about 2-3 weeks. Goat's milk is more easily digested than cow's milk and actually has more calcium and other nutrients too.

Norah's is officially a Pre-Toddler!
Norah is also changing every day. It seems overnight my baby turned into a pre-toddler. She is into everything if she gets a chance. We are constantly correcting her, but she's smart and is learning what she isn't supposed to be getting into, but she is definitely not perfect. She still loves to push the stools around and her high chair or our desk chair, she learned on Sunday how to crawl onto the chair in the family room and stand at the back of it. She has no fear and we are afraid she is going to hurt herself and so we are telling her no for now until she understands that she can hurt herself by falling over the armrest. Norah truly has no fear, I really think that's part of why she walked so early, she isn't afraid of trying things that are scary. She loves to crawl on top of the fireplace ledge, which we have to tell her no. I recently started back into my On Becoming Pre-Toddlerwise book I purchased from Amazon awhile back because Norah was definitely in a new stage and I wanted to see what material there was to help me guide her in this new season and since I love the Babywise series I thought I would try it. The first paragraph in Chapter 4 "Mealtime Basics" pg 43 sums up completely who Norah is right now and I had to laugh out loud because it was so true, here it is "The primary cottage industry of a pre toddler is play and exploration of his expanding universe. His interests are greatly enhanced once he achieves walking. He is filled with energy. His curiosity will not allow him to just sit still or do nothing. He is constantly on the go, moving, exploring, rearranging and touching everything. Mom says 'Sit still', his body says 'Wiggle.'" This is truly Norah right now. I especially laughed at "rearranging" because we constantly joke that Norah is taking after me (I'm always rearranging or changing something to freshen things up or make something more functional). She is always moving her toy boxes or moving something. Some days I want to pull my hair out because it seems like I turn around and she is into something she isn't supposed to be, but I pray for patience during this time and continue to implement what I have learned and have worked so hard to establish and overall she is an amazing baby and I'm so thankful.
Also in Pre-Toddlerwise I read a section lately that didn't make me feel like I was loosing ground with her because I was feeling all this correcting was getting us no where because she still seemed to be getting into things even though I know she understands what's ok and what isn't, it read "Do not worry about gaining ground with your pre toddler, (behaviorally speaking), but rather focus on not losing ground. By not loosing ground you are actually gaining ground. Manage your assets and avoid creating new liabilities." (pgs 26-27 of Ch. 2 "Setting the Right Goals"). Overall as new challenges come my way I will pray for wisdom and patience to lead Norah in the right way. Parenting isn't easy and you have to work really hard at it all the time and your kids are constantly changing which makes it even harder. But you have to do what you think is best for them not what they think is best for themselves or what others think is best for them. Sometimes that might mean you have a few critics of your parenting, but I know a happy, well rested, obedient, loving child is a joy and shows you are doing a wonderful job, despite what your critics have to say of what parenting techniques you use. This season also comes with so many wonderful new exciting adventures for me as a parent and Norah too. I just love watching her in this stage of this new found knowledge and curiosity. She is so intentional now with her playing. She loves putting things into baskets or buckets. She also watches you do something and then repeats. She knows what a doggy says and her newest thing is lizard tongue and fish kisses. She moves her tongue in and out really fast when we say "do lizard tongue" and then pierces her lips like a fish and makes a kissing sound and then repeats it when we say "do fish kisses". She also is learning to follow hand singles in a song like when we do patty cake she claps her hands during the patty cake, patty cake part. She also gives you open mouth kisses when you say "give a kiss!" She knows how to get up on her horse and her Wheely Bug and when we push her she knows to put her feet up. The other day we caught her hugging her baby doll and putting her on her shoulder and laid her head on the baby, it was so cute. She has also been learning to eat with a spoon, she loves it and is doing quite well. She is truly a blessing and I'm so thankful that God has entrusted me with her :)

Norah loves our chocolate lab Juno, we got a few shots the other day of her sitting on her, so cute :)

Casey's New Job
Yesterday Casey started his new job at Kaiser South Sacramento. He is really excited about this new job because its a Trauma center and he really missed the action he saw when he worked at Virginia Beach General in Va. He is still staying on call at Northbay so we are super excited that we will be able to put more money away for our downpayment on a house. Kaiser is the big HMO in our area and has wonderful employee benefits so this is also another great plus.  I'm also excited because he will be working 8 hour shifts at Kaiser from 3pm to 11:30pm so he will be home at a decent hour and won't need to sleep in so late and with Norah down to one nap we can spend more family time and be on the go in the morning. Even with two jobs he will still have a decent amount of days off so I am very thankful that he will still be home to be with us. I thank the Lord for this wonderful blessing of a new job!