Happy Half Birthday, Sweet Girl!

Nora turned 6 months old on June 10. Man, time really does fly (especially when you have two kids!!!). I can't believe out little sweetie is already a half-year old, but it is so much fun to see her growing and changing. When I took her to her 6-month doctor's appointment, she was 14 lbs. 3 oz. and 25 inches long. She's just a little peanut, but we love it! As I've mentioned before, Nora has quite a content and fun-loving personality. She is literally all smiles, all the time. The girl just loves life! She is also becoming quite good at playing. In fact, just yesterday, I witnessed her playing a game of ball with herself. She would push a little ball across the floor and then roll continuously until she got herself to the ball again and repeat. It was so adorable to watch! She is sleeping consistently through the night, which is a huge blessing, and she has started eating baby food. So far, she loves pears, peas and bananas, and sweet potatoes are growing on her. She also loves to interact with Joel, which is just too cute for words. And Joel takes such good care of her, too! I often overhear him telling her that he loves her, and he loves to give her toys and read her books. And the first person he asks for in the morning? You guessed it...."Nowa." I pray that they will continue to be close through the years and into adulthood. What a blessing for both of them!

Recently, Nora attended her future Aunt Anna's bridal shower with Mommy. Here's a couple pictures from the event of Nora with Mommy, Grandma Traci and Great Grandma Marilyn and also with Aunt Anna. We're so excited to have Anna in the family when she and Matt get married on July 3. Although it feels like Anna's been a part of the family for a long time, it will be wonderful to have it finally be official. We love her! 

Welcome Home, Uncle Jay!

June has been an exciting month for our family so far as Uncle Jay (Aunt Elaine's husband) recently returned from his tour of duty in Afghanistan. Jay is in the Navy, and he spent a year overseas while Elaine lived here in Bethany with Jack's parents. We are so thankful that the Lord brought Jay home safely and that he and Elaine are now reunited. Sadly (for us), they are leaving very soon to move to Germany where Jay will serve for three years. We will really miss having Elaine around, but we're so happy for the two of them to finally start their lives together.

Joel is especially sad about Aunt Elaine's move. The two of them became pretty close throughout the last year, and it has been hard for him to see her go. Thank goodness for technology though because they can Skype as often as they want to! I forsee many Skype lunch dates in the future! Here's a picture of the kids with Jay and Elaine while they were in Bethany for the last time before leaving for Germany.

May Adventures

It seems like the past month has just flown by! We've been keeping busy by enjoying each other and enjoying the great outdoors. The beginning of the month brought what seemed like an endless amount of rain, so Joel discovered the joys of jumping in mud puddles. I don't even know how many hours we've spent watching Joel splash around in puddles throughout the past few weeks. He's such a boy! 

Just before Mother's Day we had a bit of a scare concerning little Nora's health. Around May 6, she broke out in a rash all over her back and torso. I thought she just had heat rash, so I didn't think much of it. But over the next few days, it seemed to get worse. She also developed a slight cough and a runny nose. Again, I didn't think anything of it because she's teething, too, and 'tis the season for allergies. Anyway, Saturday, I took her with me to St. Joe to run a 5K and by the time we got home, she was a total mess. She had a high fever and a rash that overtook her entire body. She also had bloodshot eyes and was the most pathetic I've ever seen a baby look. We were pretty freaked out, so we took her in to the ER that night after dinner. After a lot of waiting and some bloodwork, the doctor on call diagnosed her with measles! We were shocked! After all, she is a stay-at-home baby, and there are absolutely no outbreaks of measles documented in this area of the state (or the state at all for that matter). That's just not one of those things that you just "pick up" somewhere; they are almost completely eradicated. After a few more days and some more research, I concluded that she more than likely had roseola, a much more common and less severe childhood disease. Thankfully, she has now recovered fully and proven that she is one tough cookie! Through the whole ordeal, she kept smiling and laughing. What a sweet little angel! You can kind of see her rash and sad eyes in this picture.

After Nora recovered from her illness, we decided on a whim to take a trip to the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines. It was a fun afternoon, though I think Joel would have rather stayed home and played in the mud puddles as all he talked about at the zoo was the water! We're standing next to a cage of lion, and he wants to talk about the pond behind us! It was funny! Here's a shot of Jack and Joel feeding the koi fish. Joel loved that! 

Lately, Joel's moved on from splashing in the puddles to swimming in a bucket in the yard! What a nut!

He is more infatuated than ever before with tractors and lawnmowers, and he loves riding the lawnmower with Jack. I think by summer's end, we'll have the best-looking lawn in town! He even sings about John Deere tractors and literally wakes up talking about tractors and mowing the lawn. He's such a  funny kid....and smart, too! He's been very into talking about time concepts lately. He wants to talk about tomorrow, yesterday, and knows the days of the week "Sunday" and "Monday." 

Here's a funny Joel story for you: One night Joel was in the bathtub and Jack was in the bathroom talking to him. Joel "hid" his boy parts between his legs and says, "Where'd Bowl's (Joel's) pee-pee go?" Jack replies, "I don't know, Joel, where is it?" Joel: "It's on the ceiling!" Jack: "What's it doing up there?" Joel: "Playing baseball! Beeeee careful pee-pee!!!!" We laughed for days...actually, we're still laughing about this one!

Joel also attended Vacation Bible School at our church for the first time the last week in May. He was the youngest in his class by far, but he did great and loved playing with the other kids...he took really good naps that week, too!!! Here's Joel on the first day of VBS.

As for Nora, she's started eating cereal and some baby foods, and she has been rolling continuously to get around where she wants to go. We've got a mover, ladies and gentlemen! On the downside, she's not been sleeping very well lately, so that's a bummer. I hope she outgrows that pretty soon. I'm ready to sleep through the night! She did go through a phase of sleeping all night (or pretty close), but right now she's having some trouble...perhaps it's separation anxiety? Or teeth? Who knows!?! That's the guessing game of having a baby! 

My Little Runt

I am so thankful for our new little baby girl. She has brought such joy into our lives with her happy, smiley disposition, and we just love her bubbly little personality. I cannot believe what a happy girl she is....and oh my, she is so very social! She won't even go to sleep unless she is in her room completely alone because if anyone is around, she feels like she must "turn it on" and smile, giggle and flirt! She is so fun, and we love her so very much! Here's some happy girl photos:

Yesterday I took Nora to her 4-month doctor's appointment, which confirmed what I pretty much already knew. Our little girl is a runt! She weighed in at a whopping 12 lbs., 12 oz. and was 23 3/4 inches long. For her age, she is in the 25th percentile! This is absolutely crazy to me since Joel was nearly always in upwards of the 75th percentile. This just goes to show that even in a physical form, Joel and Nora are very different children, and we must learn to treat them as such as they grow. I can hardly wait to see what both of them grow up to become. 

Speaking of Joel, he is loving on his little sister more and more every day. The first thing he asks for every morning is "his baby Norna," and he just cannot give her enough kisses! Nora is also very intrigued with Joel and loves to watch him play. No one can make her laugh quite like big brother! These days, Joel is very busy playing outside every chance he gets, going to the park, mowing the yard with Daddy and playing in the sandbox. He loves anything with wheels and a motor, and he is such a funny little man! He says the funniest, wittiest things, and he is very very sensitive and cautious. He can often be heard telling me, "Be careful, Mama!," and he does a great job looking out for Nora (p.s. he did NOT like the fact that Nora had to get shots at her doctor's appointment!). We are so blessed to have such loving and fun children! Here's Joel checking out Nora's Bumbo seat....nothing is sacred when you have siblings!

Easter 2010

Happy Easter from the McCalls! Notice all the "love" that Joel is giving to Nora....this is not abnormal at all! And check out her face! Do you think she likes it? Haha!

We had a busy weekend celebrating Easter with both sides of our extended family this year. Throughout the weekend, the kids got to hang with Aunt Elaine, Aunt Kim, Uncle Justin, Aunt Anna, Uncle Matt, Uncle Zach and Uncle Logan as well as both sets of grandparents. They were both a little spoiled and a lot exhausted by the time Sunday night rolled around, but it was well worth it.

We kicked off the weekend by taking the kids to the Easter egg hunt at the park on Saturday morning. Nora, of course, was too little to hunt, but Joel enjoyed finding the eggs with Daddy while Mommy and Nora cheered him on from the sidelines.

Later that day, Joel colored Easter eggs for the very first time. It was a messy process, but it was tons of fun. Joel totally took charge of the project and let Mommy have virtually no say in the coloring or decorating of the eggs. He may be just a bit of a control freak (wonder where he gets that?!?!). 

On Saturday evening, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Kadolph's house for an Easter barbecue with the boys and Anna. Joel had yet another Easter egg hunt with Grandma Traci. 

Sunday morning, the kids woke up to find tons and tons of loot that the Easter Bunny had left for them. Joel enjoyed hunting eggs once again and even got to have some candy before breakfast. Ever since, he has been asking for "candy eggs" when he wakes up. I've created a monster! Here's Joel finding his basket and checking out the goods:

I think Nora liked hers, too:

Here's a good shot of the kids before we got them dressed and headed off to church. Don't you just love the coordinating pjs?

This is literally the only picture that I got of Joel alone in his Easter outfit. And check out the face!!!! It's hard enough to get a 2-year-old dressed up, but to get him to stand still is nearly impossible! But doesn't he look handsome??? 

And here's one of Nora in her Easter dress (which she hated, by the way). 

Mommy and Nora:

All in all, it was a great day filled with family and rejoicing in our risen Savior! What a joyous time of year! 

Fish Tales

On Good Friday, Jack had the day off, so he decided to take Joel fishing for the very first time. With Jack's help, Joel actually snagged a little fish of his own. He had a great time! When he got home, he told me, "Mama, that fish too funny!"

Waiting for a bite:

Here is the proud little guy with his catch:

On the Move

A couple of weeks ago, Miss Nora decided it was time to start rolling. It all began one evening when her Daddy was torturing her and making her do "tummy time" (she hates it!). She got so mad that she accidentally flung herself over and rolled onto her back. She was shocked to say the least! Since then, she has not rolled from tummy to back but rather, she's started rolling from back to tummy. It's just so darn cute, but sad at the same time as I know she's growing up! Here is our little lady at three months:

It amazes me to see, even at this young age, the difference in Joel's and Nora's personalities. Nora is so very social and chatty. Unlike Joel, who must check people out and make sure everything is safe before warming up, Nora will smile and flirt with anyone who crosses her path. If she's ever fussy, which isn't too often, I simply lay her down and talk to her. She immediately starts cooing and laughing at me with big, big smiles! It's so fun! I have a feeling we will need to have the "don't talk to strangers" talk with little Miss sooner than later! What a little social butterfly! Here's a couple shots of little motor mouth: