Baby Bump

I'm having a hard time getting pictures online--but I got lucky today!

Here's me showing off my "baby bump" for the first time this pregnancy. This picture was taken early last week, when I was 31 weeks along. Since I'm scheduled to be induced on May 28th, that means that at most, I have only seven more weeks to go! Two kids? I don't feel ready for this...

Back from the Dead!

To all of you who either let out a courtesy laugh or a sigh of frustration when checking this blog over the past nine months, I send my sincere apologies (especially to my sister Mindi, who candidly reminded me at Christmas time what a pain-in-the neck blogger I've been!)

It's been so long since I've posted now, I'm sure that many of you have chosen to spare yourselves the agony of checking this blog and have given up on me altogether. Well I have news for you: Happy days are here again. I am back from the dead!

August 2009- March 2010 Recap

Mildly put, let's just say that 2009 was NOT my year for journaling! I have some serious repenting to do.

Many of you have kept tabs with us and know what we've been up to, but for those of you who haven't, here's a run-through of what August 2009-March 2010 brought our way:

August 2009: I enjoyed teaching swim lessons to good friends in our neighborhood and watching little Jonathan (my good friend, MariLouise's little boy) a couple times each week. We had a blast joining my family in Grand Lake, CO for a short mountain vacation. And Andrew got his long-time wish: owning an iPhone! I'm sure anyone who has seen him with it would agree with me...it's definitely his favorite toy.

September 2009:Andrew and I took Taylor into the mountains for a small Labor Day getaway in Evergreen. We stayed at a cute bed & breakfast there and hiked nearby the next day. Later in the month when I began feeling sick, we learned that we were expecting again!

October 2009: Unfortunately, life during this month mostly revolved around my extreme morning sickness. For starters, I sadly had to stop watching Jonathan during the week. It was a real bummer for Taylor especially. Andrew's parents came for a long weekend to visit, and after seeing how sick I was, his mom stayed longer than planned to help take care of us. Later, my mom drove from Utah and stayed for a week to help too! Andrew managed to celebrate Halloween a little by dressing Taylor up in a cute dragon outfit, thank goodness. Here are pictures to prove it!

November 2009: More extreme morning sickness for me, not to mention wife/mom-sickness for Andrew and Taylor too. It was rough on all of us. Continuing October's trend, There were several unplanned trips to the doctor and many prescriptions filled, a suffering husband and son, and sleepless nights for everyone. Whew! I'm now SO glad that part of pregnancy is over (it only took 5 1/2 months--ha!). Thank you, thank you, thank you, to the handfuls of friends and family who came to our aid while I was sick. I don't know how we would've managed without you!

With the help of Jeff and Donna (my aunt and uncle who live here in Denver), our fam drove to Utah for Thanksgiving. Andrew had fun running the "Turkey Trot" in Orem with Larz, Kyle, Devin, and Uncle Mitch that day. We were spoiled when we celebrated a little Macfarlane family Christmas while there too!

December 2009: Morning sickness tapered down to a manageable degree, and our family flew to Alabama for Christmas. We stayed for a full ten days! As we generally travel south only once or twice a year, this was a real treat for us. We felt especially honored to be with family in the Birmingham Temple a few days before Christmas, when Cindy and Cameron (Andrew's sister) were sealed to their newly adopted son, Davis.

We also invested $700 in a "new" 1984 Toyota Tercel this month. Big step for us...ownership of two cars!

January 2010: Began packing for another move. We felt happy to find a slightly larger place to make room for baby that was also closer to Jeff and Donna and my grandparents, and better yet, to Andrew's work in Golden too.

We had the "big" 20-week ultrasound for our baby at the beginning of the month. We've decided to make the baby's gender a surprise this time. So if you think you know if it's a boy or a girl from looking at these pictures, keep your guesses to yourself! :)

February 2010: Moved. Again. It was tiring process! When we felt moved-in, we had fun painting walls and hanging curtains for our first time (ever). The place really feels like home to us now. Please come visit us any time at our townhouse in Littleton!

I hate to even mention it--our "Champ" Toyota totally died. I'm still feeling the pain! :(

We also celebrated my birthday on the 21st...Andrew surprised me with a date to the Cheesecake Factory and a movie night at home without Taylor, and family came over to share cake with us the following day. I made great memories.

A week after my birthday, my mom had a hemorrhagic stroke. Yes, my mom. She's only 46! It was a scary thing for the whole family to say the least. Taylor and I flew to Utah to help take care of her and housekeep for a week after she left the hospital. We hear that she's doing a lot better now, although she still has a long road ahead of her. We feel SO grateful that her prognosis improved from very grim at first to predictions of a full recovery now. We love you, Mom! Get well soon!

March 2010: Our home feels put together now. Life has finally slowed down a little too (does it ever totally slow down though?!). Poor Taylor, who had to put up with a sick mom and a crazy move for so many months, is getting to go outside much more regularly now. I'm so sorry, Sweet Little Boy!

Andrew and I are going to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary on the 25th. Wow. I am married to the best man in the world. Each year, I have to pinch myself that I got so lucky. Thank you, Sweetheart for choosing to share of this crazy life of mine with me--forever! I'm so grateful you did.

Well if you are still reading this, there must be hope for me and the future of this blog. I hope you'll check back again soon and see what's going on in the eventful lives of these Norrises! I promise to update more often than every nine months. :) Bye for now!

Terry Reunion in St. George

It's been a long time since we've posted...take a look at just what's happened in JUNE for us!

We had a family reunion in St. George, UT at the end of that month and had a blast while there. It was so fun to see some of Andrew's family, who we don't get to spend nearly enough time with these days. Among some of the activities we did at the reunion were: Andrew and his brother Don hiked Angels Landing (part of Zions National Park, not far from St. George), Tiffany climbed a rock wall--HUGE feat for her, because she's so afraid of heights, and Taylor got to play with cousins--another real treat and we think, the "trick" that really seemed to help him take-off with walking! We enjoyed every minute.

Birthday Baby!

That is right...Taylor is 1! He had his first birthday on June 2nd and is growing up so fast. For his birthday we went to the pool...

and then let him swim in his cake.

We are so lucky to have him in our family! He started walking ten days after his birthday; something that really opened his world, and ours too. He is everywhere now: tearing the kitchen apart for dishes and food, climbing stairs, emptying the trash (although not in the traditional way), hiding his mommy's keys and wedding ring...

...our hearts are beating faster with him around, that's for sure. I'm guessing that either means that we're at higher risk for heart attack, or that Taylor's the one of the best exercise regimens we've ever had!

Here's a video of his first steps:

Triathlon

Tiff, Tiff's aunt Donna and I completed a triathlon in mid-June! The distances of our adventure were: a 500 meter swim, a 13 mile bike ride, and a 3.1 mile run at the end (5K). It was a lot of fun...exhausting, but a lot of fun. We want to do another one together this year! Probably sometime near the end of the summer or early Fall.

Andrew

Happy Birthday, Andrew--today he is 25!

The day is almost over now, and it was a fun one.  After going to church, we had some friends over for a once-in -a-blue-moon kind of feast: pork ribs, grilled potato salad, Andrew's favorite strawberry cake, and Jim n' Nick's cheese biscuits (yes, it's true...I found a fabulous recipe online that duplicated them perfectly!).  My grandparents in Littleton came over in the evening and watched Andrew open a few gifts (thank you to my and Andrew's parents!) as we had a second helping of strawberry cake and ice cream...I shouldn't remind myself of that part...and now Andrew, having gone into Taylor's room to wear our little guy out before bedtime, has instead worn himself out!  I have been spying on my boys: my big boy is sound asleep on the floor, while my very little boy is creating chaos (while squealing with delight about it) all around him.  I wonder, how in the world can Andrew sleep through all that??

I love both of those boys so much; they enrich and bless my life beyond words and have brought me joy that I never understood until I became a wife and mother.  Today I feel especially grateful for that "bigger boy" of mine: my sweet husband and best friend, Andrew.  It was so easy to fall in-love with him: when we first met, I was so attracted to his easy-going attitude, genuine concern for others, listening ear, and silly sense of humor.  And those were just my first impressions of him--as I got to know him better, I realized that those strengths in him were actually weaknesses in me, weaknesses that seemed to diminish a little whenever I was around him.  I wish that I could be more like Andrew; more layed-back, more optimistic, and laugh more like he does.  He makes this world a great place to be, and makes me want to be a better person.  

Sometimes I just have to pinch myself when I remember that Andrew married me!  Our first three years together have flown by so quickly; filled with wonderful memories that make me eager to make more in our years to come...I'm so glad that we chose to marry in the temple so that we may enjoy the blessings of a marriage that can last for eternity.  

So before Andrew's birthday is officially over, I want to say once more: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Sweetheart!  I'm so glad that you were born today; you have blessed my life more than you know.  I love you!!

P.S.

Jim 'n Nick's Cheese Biscuits

For all my Norris family members in the south (and family & friends in the west who want to give these a try!):

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups milk (2% works best)
2 eggs, beaten well
1 stick butter (8 tablespoons), softened
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together in medium sized bowl. Pour into generously greased muffin pan and bake at 400 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes. 

This recipe makes about 24 muffins.

Summa Summa Summa Time!

We've been enjoying the beautiful Summer weather--finally!  Taylor and I still walk to the park regularly, and we recently found a kiddie bike trailer to tow the little guy around so we can ride bikes, too.  Being a "one car family," it's been so freeing for me to be able to travel around more than just a couple blocks each day!

Stay tuned...Andrew and I both recently registered to participate in our first triathlon, taking place near our home next month.  Although this triathlon is considered to be very small among triathlon distances (500 yard swim, 12 mile bike ride, and 5K run), it doesn't feel small to us! We're excited for this big "small" deal. :)

There's one more even BIGGER announcement to make that's happened for us since the weather turned warm:  Andrew got offered a job!!  The commercial construction company that he interned for, Haselden Construction, made it official this Monday (May 18th).  Guess that makes us permanent Coloradans now--we're so excited for and proud of Andrew!

                                                    

                                                     

New!

So much that's new has happened for us during this past month; it feels both crazy to reflect on and great to know how truly happy and blessed our little family is.  I'll let the pictures do most of the telling:

                                    
Andrew's internship is over, and  is officially a new college grad!

                                              

We finally sold our Jetta and bought a new car.  We love our new '02 Volvo XC70!

                                   

Our student laptops gave up at about the same time.  Sad, but not entirely...we are proud to be the owners of a new iMac.  Thanks, BYU-Idaho and Uncle Sam! :)

Taylor had his first chocolate chip pancake.  His cousin Jake was so nice to share... (what a mess!)

         

                        

                             

It was a new kind of Easter for us--spent in Alabama for the first time, and our first time with Taylor.  Of course, the Easter Bunny visited, but we were there for something even better: to celebrate the arrival/blessing of Taylor's newest little cousin, Corinne Norris.

         

New babies!  As luck would have it, while we were there, Andrew's sister Cindy and her husband Cameron adopted their second little boy: Davis Hickman McEwen.  

         

Taylor's first pair of new sneakers!  Thank you, Grandmother Norris!

                             

Our new little driver discovered this car at his grandparents' in Alabama and fell in-love--I couldn't keep him away from it!  It was so cute.  Later in the month, we bought our little boy a new "big boy" car seat.  He's getting too big too quickly!

                                

Denver had a new snow storm in April, right after we came back from sunny Alabama.  We thought that we were finished with big storms!  Andrew built a snowman right outside our window while Taylor watched.  He loves his dad.

                                              

Taylor's new sign:  "all finished!"  I was so happy when he finally caught on to all that baby sign language I've been doing!

         

         

Photography--my new hobby!  I took my first photo class this week and now my thirst for another new: an SLR camera, has grown tons.  

                                

Taylor has new teeth!  Two to be exact.  Here's the one on the top of his mouth, and there's another one on the bottom center.  It's exciting to see, and also so painful to live through this experience with him.  I had no idea how difficult a baby's teething experience could make parenting!

Walking Buddies

When I was in Idaho, I regularly pushed Taylor in his stroller around the park and neighborhood with other young moms from my ward.  Taylor and I both looked forward to those fun breaks when we both could have a change of scenery and I could enjoy a little girl time.  I miss my walking girl friends now--Denver is a place where friends like that take a little more time to find--but in the meantime I've continued getting outside on my own, with my now not-so-little guy.  In so doing, it's become much more rewarding than I ever would've guessed before I moved!  I've discovered that I'm not just walking around with my baby anymore; I'm spending time with my little pal.

Taylor gets so excited for this daily routine:  When I put his ball cap and jacket on, he bounces his arms and legs around and makes lots of baby babble--he knows it's OUTSIDE time!  Then it's off to Falcon Park--just a few blocks down the street--and then up and down nearby green belts here in Highlands Ranch.  I'm sure to place favorite treats in his little stroller tray each time we go--usually chunks of string cheese and Cheerio's--which he practically inhales.  We also like to find other Taylor favorites as we go along--doggies, cars, kids, and wild rabbits (which by the way, are all over the place here).  And I have fun with my photography hobby by creatively recording memories of our little adventures as we go.  This has been a lot of fun. Here's a look at of our latest trips to the park:

We're outside!  Cars!

Eating cheese

Do you see the rabbit?

Home is the apartment complex you can vaguely see just above the silver car on the road.