Nora's first birthday

Joe helping Nora open birthday presents

Again with the late posting. With the two kids being as active as they are and my work schedule I barely have enough time to take my shoes off when I walk in the door before I'm engaging with both kids. I love the attention from them when I get in but my personal time, including time for this, is at a premium these days.

Last month we went to Gainesville, Florida, to stay with Rachael's sister Holly and celebrate Nora's first birthday. It was wonderful to have a chance to do it with extended family and everyone had a great time. Joe's really starting to become affectionate with his cousin Marissa and they were inseparable until she got sick a few days into our trip.

Nora's just about at the point now where she could start walking on her own and we wouldn't be surprised. She's taking a very cautious approach to it all but can stand unsupported for minutes while she examines whatever happens to have her eye at the moment and has taken a few small steps on her own before crouching down or reaching up to us for support. She has also started scooting around pretty quickly and we had to install our baby gate at the foot of the stairs last weekend because she also really enjoys the stairs as well.

Nora popped her molars last week and they're all starting to come in pretty quickly now. She's been pretty miserable the last few days because of it, though, and has been a drooling mess at night and mostly doesn't want to eat because of it. She does smile through all of it, though, and has developed a pretty decent vocabulary for her age - "mama", "dada", "uh-oh", "up", "that", "hi", "bye", and a host of animal sounds as well. She's taken up an interest in books already and gets excited to open and go through the motions of reading whenver she gets a chance.

Joe's been absorbing all sorts of science and sports stuff lately. He's very interested in planes, fire trucks, planetary motion, volcanoes, earthquakes, and tornadoes and can't get enough YouTube videos explaining them. I do regret that we don't have as much time at the moment to get to the museums to learn more about them, but I also don't think the Smithsonian does a good job with many of these topics. I'm thinking a trip to the Franklin Institute in Philly might be more appropriate for these interests and have fond memories of them from when I was kid myself.

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