Norah's 1st Year Recap

The Very First Birthday

The local hospital gives each new baby a copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and we have read this story to our own hungry caterpillar (or should I say butterfly?) many many times this past year.  So we thought it fitting to plan her a Very Hungry Caterpillar party.  She is too young to really care but Bryan and I had a blast putting it together and having friends over to celebrate. 

Bryan made this cute invite

Norah’s very hungry caterpillar cake with marzipan frosting and details, saltwater taffy feet and toothpick spikes. Before After

Needless to say it was very hot and humid

Surprisingly, the salami and pickles were hits and no one noticed that we swapped blueberries for plums – or maybe they were just being polite. It may have been excessive, but we included the chocolate cake, cherry pie and cupcake.

Bryan’s mom made Norah this darling table cloth to use on birthdays I took pictures of the food at the beginning of the party and then I was so distracted and I didn’t take ANY more the rest of the party. Thankfully my friend Caroline took these cute birthday girl portraits, but I feel bad I didn’t get a single group shot of all the little kiddos together.

She had just woken up from a very late nap and I plopped her down in the middle of the party (she missed the start of it). I think she was a little stunned.

This one is my favorite

Norah Walks

Norah took her first steps on Tuesday May 11th. Unfortunately this happened while I was at a Relief Society meeting -- probaby the only hour I had been away from her in about a week. She took a few more steps in the following days and then Saturday she stood up for the first time without holding on to anything. She was very happy with herself and clapped and cheered along with us. She took Sunday off from walking and then picked right up again on Monday. This video is from May 17th.

Victor’s Birthday Party

Norah helped throw a surprise birthday party for Victor on Tuesday.  We had brats, guac, strawberries and chocolate cake.  The rain even stopped just in time.  

He blew them all out.

Treman State Park

Bryan peeled the bark off of a stick and gave it to Norah. She held onto it (mostly in her mouth) the entire hike. It was a great toy.

We let Norah crawl around by the Old Mill to reward her patience on the trail.

She found some dandelions

she pulled them all up one by one

and even tried eating them. She didn’t like the flavor after all.

I don't post very often but I have become deeply saddened and angered by Apple's decision to shut down a marvelous music service, lala.com. As of the end of this month the website will be shut down and there isn't a good substitute out there. I already wrote a scathing email to tell them about my disgust at their actions. I thought that was going to be enough for me but it wasn't. I'm hoping this blog post will help me to get it all out of my system. For those of you unfamiliar with lala.com it might be easier to have never known the sweet. These days for me are akin to the day when napster died-- not the pitiful excuse for napster you might find on the web now, but the real one where you can find anything and then listen to it forever. I hope that this isn't too depressing for everyone to read but I really needed an outlet for my hurt.

Victor and Norah

Victor is Bryan’s lab partner.  Victor and Bryan make lasers for shark heads together during the week but sometimes Norah gets to hang out with him on the weekends.  Victor was actually the first person Norah ever waved to.  This weekend they had a little jam session together.  Norah showed him her guitar and played a little and then Victor painstakingly tuned the instrument and played her some good tunes.