Nora Rose: FOUR Months!

I know, I know, I start every blog post this way when it comes to the girls' monthly reports...but REALLY?!  Where does the time go?

Our Nora is four months now...and this past month it seems like she's changed a lot.

This girl weighs in at twelve and a half pounds and is growing growing.

She's a quick eater and is finished in usually under 15 minutes.  Wildness.

She's been rolling from back to belly, but just recently started rolling from belly to back.  Go girl!

Cooing and making funny noises with her lips are her new pastime.  The cuteness.

She loves smiling and just this past week her Daddy got her to laugh out loud.  Love the laugh!

She's in a size 3 to 6 months, mostly.

Sleeping for her has changed some.  She used to sleep straight from 10 pm until 5 am, but these days she's been craving more milk and will wake at 1 am and 4 am, usually.

And she experienced her first sickness this past week...poor baby had a fever and a legit head cold.  All that remains now seems to be a cough...so glad we're on the tail end of that mess.

Nora Rose, it's so much fun watching you grow.  We love you...like whoa!

Sister Love

Oh these sisters.  The things they do to my heart is kinda incredible.

Their most recent feats:  1) some sisterly bonding, and 2) being sick.

I took these pics a day or two ago when Nora was just getting over her fever/chest cold/cough and just a day before Elise got what we now know is laryngitis and a virus.  Booooooo.  It's been a rough week for the tiniest Palmer girls.  

But while all that sickness has been a-brewin', their love has been growing ever deeper.  It's been amazing to see how they've started to interact.  Elise loves her Nora.  She always asks for Nora, talks about Nora, notices Nora, lays on Nora, kisses Nora, and well, you get the picture.  And what does Nora think of Elise?  Well, Nora lights up with a huge smile whenever Elise gives her attention.  Not to mention I've never seen a baby smile when her big sister lays on her.  It's cuteness overload.

See, there it is...straight up laying on her face. 

Those two above are blurry, but I love them all the same. 

Maybe, just maybe, all that lovin' resulted in some sickness sharing?  Who knows, but oh man, seeing their love grow makes me so happy and thankful.  And seeing them sick, that just makes my mama heart hurt.  Here's to sister-ship and (hopefully soon) health!

A Fun New Experience

I know this is going to come across as complaining, but I just gotta keep it real (that's for you Sonya ;) It's sweltering over here.  Like hot hot hot.  Our flat is pretty much hot year-round (we're on the seventh floor), but during summer, with nothing to cool us down at all (we're talking not even a breeze), we're all roaming around sweating!  Lovely, right?

That really has nothing to do with this post other than I was reminiscing on how cool and breezy it was by the sea and then how it was cooler in the mountains of Germany while I was going through these pictures and blogging this.  So that's why the rant on heat.

Anyway, here we go.  One afternoon in Germany we had a few hours to hang loose and enjoy.  So we joined some sweet friends and hit up the bobsled course.  I'm pretty positive that's not the technical name for this, but that's what Jas and I kept calling it because that's what it reminded us of.  Basically it's a type of "sled" that takes you up a hill and then you can either "gun it" or "brake it" down the course.  SO fun.

I will say I wasn't expecting it to be so fast, so I was a bit hesitant, but my friend, Allie, was a speed demon.  I hindered her run thus earning myself Granny status, but that's ok ;)

I like how in that picture above everyone is watching us as we prepare to dominate the course (tee hee).

Coming to the end of the course.  Total fun, even if I was a slow poke first go at it (second time would've been different ;)

Then the guys went.

Of course they both flew down the course...I'm just glad they didn't fly off (no, really).

And then we finally convinced Elise to go down with Jas.  She was pretty nervous the whole way through, but we're proud she finally bit the bullet and went for it!

(and I adore this pic below...)

Good good times.  And since we have one here in Bratislava, I think it'll soon be time to do it again...only next time I'm going all out! 

An Evening on the Balcony

So it's totally hot here.  Especially without air conditioning.  Thus the days are scorching, but the nights are cooler.  Particularly on the balcony.

Elise LOVES being outside, so we've been spending a fair amount of time out on the balcony in the evenings.  We draw with chalk, talk, sing, dance, watch what's going on below us, or play with toys.  It's just simple fun.

Sometimes we bring N's mat out on the balcony with us, but this night she was just right inside playing calmly so we let her stay there.  And yes, E really does need a haircut ;)

Three cheers for a balcony on warm summer evenings!

Elise Was Here

I looked over at Nora this morning while washing dishes and this is what I saw...

Ah, life with a big sis :)  At least Elise thought just the top of her head needed to be covered and not her whole face...whew!