Parallel Blog

We forgot to mention that when we returned we discovered that Lance (one of the grad students in Doug's department), who was taking care of the house and the cats for us, kept a blog while we were gone. If you're interested in laughing your butt off, please take a look at mojowatch.blogspot.com.

Update: Home for a Month

Well, we were getting harassed about updating the blog by a few people (you know who you are!) and we finally feel rested enough to do it. So much has happened since we returned. Here's some highlights (and you know with me, the list will be wordy, so get comfy if you plan to keep reading!):

Norah woke up 7-10 times every night for the first 3-4 weeks we were home. Boy were we all fun to be around then! We're happy to report that she now sleeps more or less through the night. It's actually quite a fast adjustment - those first few weeks just seemed REALLY long at the time!

Norah and Lisa have been going to the Early Years Centre. This is a community centre with a lot of kids' programs. We are taking a class together and playing in the gym and attending Music and Movement with other kids, including Sara, Doug and Joanne's daughter.

Norah loves the park, especially the swing. She is also quite a daredevil on the slide - no holding her around the waist. We just hold her hands and she slides down and jumps into the sand.

Norah is eating quite well. She likes veggie burgers, tofu, carrots, and cauliflower, among other things. She LOVES (i.e., she bangs her feet and sits straight up with her hands out) fruit cups (the deal is that she gets the peaches and pears and we get the pineapple as compensation for our labour in feeding her) and peach soy yogurt.

Norah's quite a fan of eating out - I guess it was all the practice she had in China. Again, we're amazed at how well she's been matched to us. Her first outing was to our favourite Indian restaurant - she loves curry just like us. We've also been to a couple of Chinese restaurants and the congee is still a big hit with her. Finally, she’s particularly fond of Sunday brunch - we've been 3 times.

We're working on getting Norah a little healthier. She has another ear infection and is just getting over another cold. Since we've known her, she's been congested almost the whole time. Her disposition is still really good though.

We think Norah will be walking relatively soon. She scoots around on her bum and knees, but doesn't seem to be interested in crawling. She's much more interested in standing, pulling herself up to standing, and walking while we hold her hands.

One of the keys to Norah's newfound sleeping success has been our bedtime routine. Doug gives her a bath, Lisa sings a selection of tunes from The Sound of Music, we read a couple of books (one is a book of nursery rhymes that Doug reads in a very William Shatneresque style). Finally, Norah has a bottle while Lisa sings a selection of Simon and Garfunkle songs (Doug turned the light off one night and "Hello darkness, my old friend" seemed like the natural thing to sing - the repertoire expanded from there).

Yesterday was Norah’s first outing to the big city of Toronto. We went to visit Uncle Doyle and Aunt Heather and saw their “deluxe apartment in the sky” (they’re on the penthouse level). We timed it so that we drove there during Norah’s naptime (she likes to sleep in the car). Since we had such trouble with her sleep before, we tried to stay true to her routine (we really love our sleep and want to ensure we keep it!). We had dinner and then changed her into her PJs. Doyle and Heather joined in the singing and story time and then we did our Simon and Garfunkle revival in the car and Norah fell asleep. She stayed asleep when we got home and we transferred her into her crib. She slept right though until 7:00 AM. Yeah!

So, it's been a busy month with lots of changes. At the same time, however, it feels like we've been together forever. Things are great, but it seems like they just continue to get better every day. We feel so lucky to have Norah in our lives. She's sweet and funny, with just enough "attitude" to make her fit right in around here!