Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a belated Merry Christmas from the Newman family. It's been a crazy, but fun holiday season. We're a little behind on everything (story of our lives since Baby Nora arrived), but do hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year a bit early! We are still in Alabama and Tennessee visiting the families and having a good time. We'll post more later.

And She's Off!

Miss Nora is officially crawling. We can't decide if this is a good or bad thing. All we can say at this point is ... things have officially changed. She's been doing the backward crawl since she was about 6 months old, but beginning the Sunday before Christmas, we moved forward and it seems like we keep going further and faster.

Oh - our other new trick is standing up in our crib. Guess what Mommy and Daddy spent the weekend before Christmas working on?

Pink Eye ... Times Two

So, I got a call from Nora's school on Friday morning - come and get her right away, we think she has Pink Eye. Turns out they were right. Fun times! I took her to the doctor right away and got a prescription for eye drops, thank goodness. It made for an interesting Friday since I was still attempting to get work done, take care of her and figure out how I was going to get my Friday afternoon errands completed. Thank goodness Mark came home early to help!

I guess that I was loving on her a little too much on Friday because when I woke up on Saturday morning, I could tell that I had pink eye in both eyes. UGH! Off to the doctor for me! No contacts for a week and drops every 2 hours.

At least Mark doesn't have to pin me down to put drops in my eyes ... I wish that I could say the same for Nora. Stubborn little girl! Thank goodness she is already doing much better, despite her best efforts to shut her eyes as tightly as possible when we come near her with those drops!

Ice, Ice Baby!

Last night it was freezing and sleeting in Dallas. Pretty crazy considering it was 75 degrees on Sunday... The joys of living in Dallas, with its crazy weather! Anyway, it was sleeting when we went to bed so I didn't know what to expect this morning.

Apparently we completely forgot about the ice and its repercussions... Mark and I were busy getting ready this morning while Miss Nora was still asleep - this barely ever happens, so we have to take advantage of the this rare time and get ready quickly without having to dance, sing, stop everything to change a blow out diaper or provide other general entertainment. We are rushing to get ready and then I flip on the TV to catch a glimpse of the news.

Reality alert !!! We have a baby... A baby that goes to school... Lots of schools are closed or opening late.... We should probably check out the listings on the web to see if Prince of Peace is on the list... Surprise, surprise - school is delayed!

So, I got to spend part of my morning with Nora, which was great. The down side - she actually chose to take 1 1/2+ hour nap during that time. So much for playtime with Mommy! I guess she was saving that up for her teachers at school. Lucky them!

Adolphus Christmas Parade

I am officially one week behind reality on my posts ... such is my life these days! Oh well! Anyway - Mark, Nora and I headed to Bill and Lisa's house early last Saturday morning to go to the Adolphus Christmas Parade. What a blast! Friday night had been a fun, but long night with my company's Christmas Party and Kim's 40th Birthday. Mom kept the baby girl for us, so that was nice. She and the dog headed out early on Saturday morning to go back to Alabama and we got moving for the parade.

The weather was pretty chilly, so we left Nora with the twins and their babysitter - definitely a good idea. Hopefully she will be old enough for the parade next year. Anyway, we headed out with Bill, Lisa, Will and Joe, Nick and Isabella. What fun we had! We all took the DART for the first time - hopped on the train at Mockingbird Station and headed downtown. Lisa had reserved us bleacher seats - note to self: a must do for next year! It was great to not have to get downtown too early and still have a seat. Plus, we got to see everything!

It was actually a really nice parade. Mark and I couldn't believe the balloons and all of the great characters that came down the route. What a great parade for kiddos of all ages! Here are some photo highlights from the day.

Mom's Two Weeks in Dallas

It was so great to have my mom staying with us for two weeks. We had a great time, especially Nora! I can't even imagine what it's going to be like with both grandmas fussing over her during Christmas (not to mention all of our other relatives in Alabama and Tennessee). We were all completely spoiled by mom taking care of the cooking, laundry, helping with the baby (especially in the middle of the night - thank you, thank you!) and general house upkeep. We're having a hard time adjusting to getting back to normal and the lack of sleep at times.

Here's a quick rundown of the past few weeks:

• Made lots of Christmas cookies and treats to stick in our freezer (have to credit Mom with most of those yummy treats!).
• Had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving with a great meal made by my mom (otherwise known as the original Martha)
• Saw the lighting of the huge Christmas tree in the middle of the ice skating rink at The Galleria.
• Went to see the trains at North Park - a definite must see!
• Celebrated my birthday with dinner at my cousin's house with all of the kiddos. Too fun!
• Checked out the Christmas lights in Highland Park.
• Ate good food - especially the meals that Mom made.
• Shopped - a little the day after Thanksgiving, not to mention clothes shopping - thank you Mom!, gift shopping, 2 trips to the Mattel outlet and a fun trip to American Girl.
• Having a fun lunch at the American Girl Cafe and talking about bringing Nora (and her American girl doll) there when she gets to be a big girl. How cute is that going to be?
  Got our tree and Christmas decorations up. I love a decorated house at Christmas time! My friend Deanna takes it to a whole new level - her house always looks fabulous!
• Plus, mom kept Nora home from school to maximize their time together. What a great treat for both of them! She also babysit of Friday night so that Mark and I could go to my office Christmas party and Kim's 40th birthday. Too fun!

We had a great time with Mom. We were sad to see her (and Frisky, the dog) head back to Alabama, but we'll see her in Ft. Payne on Christmas Eve, so that made it more bearable. We finally booked our plane tickets for Christmas. We can't wait to see our families over the holidays. What a blessing that we are all going to be so close together this Christmas.

Nora crawling backwards ... Oh no - she got stuck!

Ready to head to the tree lighting!

Nora and mommy at the tree lighting

Nora and Daddy at the tree lighting

Hanging out with Grandma - so serious!

The Trains at Northpark. Check out the Dallas skyline!

We took this one just for Mark Newman!

The Ogle kiddos - Sloane, Will and Isabella at my birthday dinner.

Love the cousin pic. Nora was not happy - how dare we put her down! Classic!

Nora helping me blow out the candles on my birthday cake - Carrot cake made by my mom. Yum-O!

I hope that everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving!

7 Months Old!

Miss Nora Caroline is 7 months old today. Amazing! Everyone told me that time would fly by ... how right they were! I can't believe that our sweet baby girl is getting so big! Her little personality has definitely shown through - every sweet, sassy and stubborn side of it! She is so cute and sweet that we just want to eat her up! I think that we kiss her at least 100 times each day. You'll have to increase that number over the past week since Mom has been here visiting. This is one spoiled grand baby! I guess that it pays to be the first girl grandchild!

We're having a great time with Mom. She arrived the Saturday afternoon before Thanksgiving. She and Frisky, the dog, couldn't sleep so they left Gulf Shores at 2:15 in the morning to drive to Dallas. Craziness! We were excited, not to mention a bit surprised, when they arrived so early. She was thrilled to see Miss Nora and couldn't believe how big she has gotten. They have had a really good time together. Mom kept her home from school all last week and spoiled her just a bit. Nora thought that she had to be held constantly for a few days, but we've gotten her over that silly notion. They have had so much fun playing and snuggling together - so sweet. We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving this year, just the four of us. Definitely different from years past, but still nice with lots to be thankful for each day.

We've done some fun stuff and Mom has been baking and cooking up a storm. Thank goodness for being spoiled! I'll have to upload some pictures later in the week.

A couple of fun Nora updates for now...

• She started crawling - backwards! Too funny. She ended up getting stuck under the bed in her room and was not too happy about it. She is a mess!
• Nora loves, loves her toys. She can sit and play by herself for a long time. Yippee - I can actually get a few things accomplished.
• Her favorite activity right now is jumping in her doorway jumper (thank you Henline family!). She gets going so high and just loves going jumpy, jump.
• Mark can make her giggle like no one else. He makes her lose her breath laughing and it is so cute and sweet that it makes me want to cry. He is such a good daddy.
• Nora loves her baby food. She tries and likes everything. It's been lots of fun making her new creations every few days.

Nora's 6 Month Stats (and new pictures!)

Nora actually turned 6 months old on November 1st. It's just taken me 25 days to update the blog with that breaking news… Mark and I took her to see Dr. Wong for her 6th month appointment on November 14th and got her updated stats:

Height 27 1/4 inches (95%)
Weight 17 lbs., 11 oz. (85%)
Head 43 (70%)

We've got a tall, strong, healthy little baby girl. She just makes our life so special each and every day. What a blessing from the Lord!

Check out this sneak peak at her 6 month pictures that my friend, Jessica Starr (Jessica Starr Photography) took:
http://jessicastarrphotography.blogspot.com/2008/11/ladies-hold-onto-you-fallopian-tubes.html

On Halloween night we spent a fun evening at Bill and Lisa's house for the second year in a row. Whoa! How things change in a year. Last year it seemed like Will was still a baby and now he's such a big boy. Plus, I was really sick with little Princess Peanut, who we didn't even know was a peanut at that time. Craziness! This year we had a crowd, with 4 little babies - Nora, Isabella, Sloane and Baby Charlie. They were all so cute, along with the "Big" kids. We had a fun dinner and then did a little truck or treating up and down the street. I think that Will had more fun handing out individual pieces of candy to each trick or treater, while telling them exactly what it was! So cute! Here are a few pictures from that night...

Nora's school outfit on Halloween (courtesy of Uncle Harry and Kathryn)

Lisa (the good witch) welcoming everyone

The soccer player and the Chinaman (Nick and Will)

Baby Charlie (the world traveler!)

Oliva, the ballerina, plus a few stickers for effect...

Princess Isabella

Pricess Peanut with the Pumpkin (Sloane) and the Ghost (Isabella)

Will - at the end of the night and a few pounds of candy!

It's Beyond Time ... for a new post!

The Newman family (aka Leslie) has been a huge slacker when it comes to our blog. The past month has just flown by! The last time that I was going to do a post was from Trunk or Treat at our church, so I guess that is where I'll start!

On the Sunday before Halloween, my Mom to Mom group at church hosted their annual Trunk or Treat event. How fun that we got to go this year! Lots of our friends and their kiddos came all decked out. Here are some fun pictures from that Spooktacular evening...

Nora making her Halloween debut as Princess Peanut

I love, love this picture of Elizabeth and Nora.
It looks like their are having this in-depth conversation. Too cute!

The whole crew!

First Food

So, after making Nora's baby food over the past few weeks and sticking it in the freezer, we finally gave Miss Nora her first taste of some real food. Of course we had to capture the moment. Imagine that!

Yum! I love these peas! More please - I think that I still have some room on my face!

Our Little Pumpkin in the Patch!

On Saturday afternoon, Mark, Nora and I had a fun lunch with our friend Jay before heading down to the Dallas Arboretum for the afternoon. The sun was shining and the weather was perfect! Thank goodness Fall has finally arrived in Texas.

The Arboretum has a great Pumpkin Patch for all of the kiddos. We had so much fun posing our little pumpkin all over the patch and getting some fun, family pictures. We'll definitely have to make this a family tradition!