I have to say that Doug seems to be really enjoying fatherhood lately… he’d be the first to admit that he doesn’t totally get into the “baby stage” but he’s having a lot more fun with Nora now that she’s starting to reach some major milestones.  We have started introducing solid foods to Nora.  So far, she’s tried rice cereal and sweet potatoes and she seems to like it a lot!  Nora is also starting to sit up on her own and can stay on her tummy for quite a while before getting cranky.  She’s drooling nonstop, so we expect that first tooth to appear soon!

Molly is quite the little chatterbox lately.  She tends to start off a story or sentence with the phrase, “When I was a little girl…”  She likes to make up wacky stories about when she was younger, and she loves to play with stickers.  Molly has also befriended a beanie baby dog whom she calls “Ghost Scary.” 

Here are some recent photos, featuring daddy and his girls:

- Erin

I finally got around to putting the finishing touches on a slideshow video of the family from June thru September 2008.

Here is a low-resolution video that I posted on YouTube:

If you want the hi-resolution copy, please download the 114MB WMV file. It will take some time (about 2 minutes over DSL/Cable) to download, but it looks MUCH better than a YouTube video.

Stay tuned for an actual video with motion and sound, but don’t hold your breath…I have a lot of footage to go through.

Take care,

Doug

So Halloween is here… and I was tempted to turn on the A/C today!  What an unseasonably warm day for trick-or-treating!  It was so nice to not have to slap a big coat on Molly before she went out tonight.  Doug reported that Molly became very adept at taking multiple pieces of candy from each of the neighbors’ bowls.  And judging by the contents of her loot, I think she likes M&Ms!  Here are a few pictures of our little ladies:

Okay, if you don’t back up your computer data….you should. Mozy Backup is a free program that is easy to use that can back up your data for free up to 2 gigabytes.  It is even available for Mac if you are lucky enough to have one of those.

You’re on notice! Don’t come crying to me if your hard drive crashes and you don’t have a backup.

Have a nice day knowing your data is backed up,
Doug

Ps. It shouldn’t take long before Erin posts something interesting now that I have something like this as our top post.

Erin’s parents came out for a “grandkid fix” this weekend and we all went out to the Sugar Grove Nature Center on Saturday.  It was a beautiful summer-like day and we almost had the whole place to ourselves!  The only other family out there was from church, so that was a fun coincidence! 

The nature center is such a great place for taking pictures… so many scenic opportunities!  Erin’s favorite place is the corn crib - complete with rocking chairs.  The lighting is so perfect for portraits!  Check out some highlights below:

Exciting times for Nora lately… she’s 4 months old and things are changing left and right!

She recently learned how to roll from her tummy to her back… lots of fun to watch her use her head as a counterweight! 

Nora is starting to babble often, too.  She’ll just get into rants where she repeats the same sound over and over and over… very adorable.

And I suspect we may see a tooth soon because she is drooling and chewing on everything that she can get her cute little hands on.  Molly has her first tooth at 5 months old, so we’ll see what happens.

Here are some cute pictures I snapped today… she takes direction very well!

Just had to share… Check out www.yearbookyourself.com and get ready to laugh!  Here are some results for me, Doug and Molly!  We’ll wait a few years before getting Nora… 

There are two meanings for this blog title…

Nora has been sick since Saturday, throwing up, blowing out… I think I’ve given her at least 10 baths so far this week!  She is starting to feel a little bit better, but she’s not 100% just yet.  Doug and I have been taking turns staying home to watch her.  I notice that on Doug’s shifts, Nora sleeps a lot.  I wonder what I’m doing wrong! 

Secondly, “The Office” comes back for a 5th season starting tonight!!  I am so excited!!  I have very high expectations for quotable one-liners and a wacky premise.  Michael will be in a fat suit, so I think they’ll do just fine. 

A few months ago, Doug bought Nora a onesie from the NBC Store featuring our favorite The Office one-liner… and it finally fits!  (Let’s see how long it takes for her to get vomit or poop on it…)  You can even see Nora’s cute little bald spot on the back on her head in the last shot.  (Yep- looks like her hair will be an adorable strawberry blonde!)  I bought her one of those Bumbo seats last week so she can sit up and hang out with the fam.  It’s pretty neat and a lot of fun for her to gt a different view every now and then.

- Erin

Well, I guess I’m one of “those” moms… the kind that dresses her kids up in the same outfit.  And takes pictures of it.  Being a twin and growing up with this to a severe degree, I always thought I’d avoid doing it to my own kids.  But that was before Nora came along.  Although I will say, it’s difficult to find the same outfit in an infant size and in 4T, but I did it!  :)  I found the same Old Navy pajamas in both sizes.  Aren’t my girls adorable?! 

Uggghhh… I got a molar extracted and “crown lengthening” done on an adjacent molar last Friday.  I expected some diminishing pain for a few days, but not this.  I’ve had a constant level of acute, throbbing pain for 7 straight days.  And I’ve learned that plain old Motrin works better than Vicodin or Darvocet.  My dentist tells me it’s the crown lengthening that causes the pain… they basically sear away your gum line to create a better fit for the crown.  I’ve never been so painfully aware of smiling, eating or talking in my whole life. 

Just had to rant… time to go take some more Motrin.  And sorry if my phone calls are short lately… it really hurts to talk for any length of time.  E-mail is good!

~ Erin