Nora Evelyn McGowan

Here’s a shot of Nora asleep (mostly) in her crib. You can also make out the spots on the rail where she’s gnawed the wood away (because fiber is important).

The rocking chair has been on loan from the Baumgartners (they used to be Irish) since Nora was born. Alas, it is not quite large enough for bedtime reading and Nora has been too big to eat in it (her legs tangle with its arms) for a while. So the chair is getting moved to the basement until such time as it can find its way back to Livonia. Soon it will be replaced by the big, soft arm chair intended for bedtime stories and general cuddling. The new chair won’t rock, but it should rock anyway.

Here’s Nora bidding a fond farewell to her rocking chair:

This is what greets us in the morning now. How could a day that starts out like this possibly go badly?

Edit: Nora’s cousin (second cousin, once removed) Ellen appears to have won whatever it is she was trying to win. I hope Nora helped.

We have a little bit of a backlog of Montana pictures still to post, but we’re home and safe and Nora is happily exercising her newfound crawling and pulling-up abilities. Last night we put her in her crib to learn that it urgently needed to be lowered yet again [not pictured: screaming Nora standing at the side of her crib and reaching both arms out over the front pleading with one of us to pick her up]. So we lowered the crib to its lowest setting, she got a great night’s sleep, and this morning she learned to do this:

It’s a darn good thing we baby-proofed the living room before leaving.

Nora’s recently discovered the joys of sitting up in the crib. This is how we found her this morning. Note the one leg hanging out the back of the crib. Did we catch her in an escape attempt? Was the smile merely a clever ruse to throw us, her captors, off her trail? Tomorrow never knows…

These days Nora is napping in her crib. This is a welcome change.

Some of you may have noticed that we’ve been off the air for a while. What can we say? Raising a baby while in grad school and/or working is hard. We’re likely to be similarly spotty for the next couple of weeks and I promise this hurts us more than it hurts you.

This has been a big week. Nora rolled over for the first time on Tuesday and absolutely scared the crap out of herself. She cried so hard Jennie and I actually checked to make sure she hadn’t sprained her wrist or something. She’s finally gotten to see the sun and smell what fresh air smells like — she seems fond of both. She really enjoys having books read to her now (and will reach out to turn pages and chew on the book). She also seems to maybe be spinning up to start teething. Yay? Finally, I have to say a giant “thank you!” to each of Nora’s grandmas. They each came over to watch Nora for us at different times this week and I can’t imagine how we’d have survived otherwise.

Here’s a picture of Nora wearing her storied fish onesie. The onesie was a gift from Zara who, in turn, had been given the onesie by La but with artwork by me. Nora appreciates both this rich history and the fact that she apparently finds the shirt delicious.

p.s. oh! those adorable brown pants from the post just before this one? Those pants don’t fit her anymore (she wore them twice).

Last night was Nora’s first night sleeping alone in her own room and it was an unqualified success. Jen and I were both a little freaked out by the silence in our room but Nora slept as well as ever. I figured we’d be awakened this morning by the frantic cries of a lonely baby but, quite the contrary, we were met by a chorus of happy cooing and hooting sounds. This kid is LOUD. Someone needs to have a talk with her parents.

(note: the discarded pooh hat marks the approximate location and orientation of Nora when she’d gone back to sleep a few hours before. )

(p.s. she was so happy this morning that she was just too quick for our camera to capture clearly. This shot was taken with sunlight streaming in, both overhead lights on, and the flash. This was also like my tenth try and she’s smiling and waving her arms (and feet) in every single shot. Eventually we had to stop trying to take the stupid picture and play with her.)

here’s a snap of nora after cruising the milk bar with her droogies.

here is what I promise is the last not-yet-inhabited movie of the baby’s room. (probably)

corrections: 1. the 5″ tall giraffe was a gift from our awesome friends Hans and Tricia at Tree Town Toys and the thing I call a boppy is actually a *bumbo* and the pillow I didn’t know what it’s name was is the boppy.