Lowe-Wiswell Family Blog

Nora and I are currently on a plane headed to South Bend. She’s been very good, although a bit antsy. It was really hard to leave James back in NC, but we’ll see him soon enough. I’m sure she’ll miss her daddy, but hopefully not too much for the grandparents and family to make up for. This is the longest she’s been without him, and the longest I’ve been without him for quite a while. It will be really weird.

I’m looking forward to spending time with aunts and uncles I don’t see very often, as well as the rest of our family. I really wish we could live close enough so that a trip to Grandma’s wasn’t such an ordeal, but that’s just not in the cards right now.

Nora’s saying her ABC’s right now. Her voice sounds funny with the engine vibrating it. We’re sitting in the very back of the plane. Now she’s eating pretzels (MY pretzels; she finished BOTH of her bags already). She’s roaring now. “Oh no! Nora monster!”

Well, we should be landing in about 15 minutes. Looking forward to seeing everyone!

It’s been awhile since I wrote, and I just wanted to update everyone on Nora’s new accomplishments!

On Wednesday (6/23), she went pee-pee in the potty for the first time! I sat her on her potty as she brushed her teeth, and after a couple of minutes, I heard a little tinkle! It was pretty exciting. She hasn’t gone since then (well, not in the potty anyway ), but I think it’s a good first step.

She is getting better and better at handling herself in the pool. She should, since we’ve been going swimming almost every day (being laid off does have some benefits). We have floaties for her arms, and she likes to swim off of the steps of the pool. She also likes to jump into the pool now and go underwater. This was a bit scary at first, but I feel more confident of her abilities (although we definitely know not to leave her out of arm’s reach when she’s in such a position).

We went to the zoo about a week ago, and she enjoyed the first half, at least. She was pretty tired (as we all were) by the second half, so she didn’t really get excited by those animals (like the elephants, even though she had been talking about them earlier). We did get to feed a giraffe, ride the carousel and watch a 4-D Dora movie (for those who don’t know, 4-D means that it’s in 3-D and they spray you with water at appropriate times. No, seriously, they did.). She also had a lot of fun watching the turtles and frogs. All in all, a nice outing.

Nora amazes me everyday with something she does or says. She figures things out easily and structures sentences instead of just words. Some of the sentences aren’t completely intelligible, but what were you expecting? She’s 2! Her hair is long enough to tuck behind her ears, and she’s got a rockin’ tan! My little girl is growing up a little every day. I love her so much and can’t wait to see what she does next.

I just realized that I haven’t really written much in this blog, yet I wished the other day for such an outlet. I guess it’s because when I’m at the computer, I’m usually working, so I want to get away from it. …That’s kind of a lie, because I do play poker sometimes. I guess I just don’t remember that it exists. I want to start a habit of writing frequently to keep anyone who’s interested posted on what’s going on with Nora. And, there may be some things that she does that I forget. If I do this often, we’ll lose less of those moments.

Okay, here’s the Nora breakdown so far:

Favorite Foods: Cheese, Fruit cups, Peas, Green Beans, “Hot” (Gardenburgers), Cake (can be actual cake, or muffins, anything cake-like), Carrots, Pickles (Oh no, Pickle!), and much more.

Favorite movies: Finding Nemo, Happy Feet (those are the two she’s requested recently)

Favorite show: YO GABBA GABBA (still obsessed with it)

Favorite places to play: Gymboree, the park, Monkey Joes, the mall

Favorite words/phrases: “Oops.” “Mommy/Daddy tickle?” “Happy cocoa?” “Mo please, (object/action).” “Back, away? (when putting things away)” “Hug, kiss? (when one of us leaves)” “Jumpy-jump!”

What Nora can do: Count to 13, sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, the Alphabet song, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Row, Row, Row Your Boat, recognize all the letters of the alphabet, recognize all single digit numbers and 10, dance, jump, run, hug trees, draw circles and faces, blow kisses, play pretend with toys, and gives us lots of love!

Things she’s done that amazed us: Recognized the words Spongebob Squarepants and Yo Gabba Gabba, recognized that fries were hot and a Frosty was cold without having seen or touched them (I got fries in a bag, which she hadn’t seen the contents of and a Frosty. When we got home, she said, “Mo please, hot.” I gave her a couple fries and she said, “Mo please, cold,” while gesturing to the Frosty.)

Well, there’s more I could write, but Nora wants me to play with her, so I gotta go (she came over and said, “Help,” which means she wants to get on my lap). I’ll write more soon!

Well, we’ve been back for about a week and a half now.  It’s nice to be back, but I feel like all we’ve been doing is working and taking care of Nora.  We did go to one of Nora’s playmate’s first birthday party, but that’s been about it.  We usually only see each other for 2 1/2 hours a night, since I come home at 7 and James has to get up at 5AM.  I just wish that daycare was more affordable.  I love taking care of Nora, and I’m glad, in a way, that she’s able to be with one of us all day, but it would be really nice to be able to work at the same time, and actually feel like we can get things done.  The extra money will be worth it tho, I think.  That’s been one of my worries; not having enough money to pay for our basic needs, and wishing that we had enough to just spend a little on stupid things, without counting every penny.  I think we’re getting to that point now, for which I am grateful.  It’s definitely a trade-off, tho.  I guess we’ll see after we’ve been working this schedule for awhile longer if it’s worth it.

Nora’s doing really well right now.  She’s got a new thing where she furrows her brow all the time, whether she’s happy or sad.  It’s really cute!  Especially when she does that and then laughs or smiles.  She is still the object of all affection wherever she goes.  We were in a waiting room the other day, and everyone was so taken by her.  It really makes me feel good that she’s so smiley and friendly to everyone.  She’s really an outgoing baby.  I love her so much.