THREE!!!

After last year's low-key event we decided to throw Nora a little party this year.  Many of her friends are back home in the States for the Christmas break.  And it's a good thing!  How would we have managed many more??!?

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A bit of food, a few balloons, a mountain of cupcakes 

and a roomful of totally crazy toddlers makes for a rockin' party!

All attempts at a group shot of the kiddos were thwarted despite much coaxing from kind parents.  

The kids in the photos below were the cooperative ones!!  : )

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday dear Nora!

Happy Birthday to you!

Turns out everyone just wanted cake.  Duh!

Happy Birthday sweet silly girl!  We love you SO!!!

Funny side note:  We sing a song with Nora before she goes to bed each night.  For her birthday she wanted us to sing her 'Happy Birthday' which we were happy to do but on a whim we decided to teach her the version about smelling like a monkey and looking like one too.  It was the first time she had heard it and she thought it was very silly.  You should know that Nora is getting very excited to meet her little brother.  After we leave her room at night she often sings songs or talks to her stuffed animals and dolls and we hear her telling them things (in a very grown-up, matter-of-fact sort of voice) that we have been talking to her about throughout the day.  Lately that often includes things about what it will be like to have a little brother.  But on her birthday we hear this to the tune of 'Happy Birthday'...

"Little bru-u-u-ther,

Little bru-u-u-ther,

Little brother smells like a monkey,

Little bru-u-u-ther!"  

Oh boy.

Christmas Goings-on

There has been a lot going on here in the Edsall household. Deanna is officially done with work (and ever-growing.)  Soon our newest addition will join us…but hopefully not too soon. There are, of course, lots of Christmas goings-on about which Nora has been very excited. Last weekend we took a trip to a palace to visit Father Christmas (I know…it should be Santa Claus) and yesterday we visited Oxford Castle for a Christmas market, complete with carousel and pony rides. The pictures describe it better than my words could.

Nora on the bus to the palace. She's not excited at all.

Here is part of Blenheim Palace on a beautifully cloudy (but very cold!) day. 

We took a little novelty train from the palace to the pleasure garden which boasts the world's second largest hedge maze.  Here's a small part of it.

Nora the red-nosed toddler.

Priceless. Nora was super pumped.  When Santa asked her what she wanted for Christmas she answered, "A baby brother."  Santa was obviously unsure how to respond but I reassured him that we were working on it.  He seemed rather relieved.

A little family photo.

She can be such a cheeseball!

Here is Nora at the Christmas Market riding the fastest carousel I have ever seen.

Nora on Bo-Bo. (Deanna may have been as excited as Nora.)

Riding a pony at Oxford Castle.  She loved it!

Saying good bye to her new friend.

And here are a few more classics for you to enjoy.

Classic bubble-hat.

Nora, comparing her belly to Deanna's a couple of weeks ago. According to Nora, there's a little
girl in her tummy.  We randomly hear, "Ow!" throughout the day.  Which is most often followed by, "My little girl kicked me again!  She's so wiggly!"  

Grow Momma grow...

A bunch of photos from over the past few weeks... mostly showcasing my growing mid-section but a few of Nora thrown in for good measure.  ( :

                

We're now at 27.5 weeks and I was reminded this week (thanks Shelley!) that I didn't ever announce that we're having a BOY!  This is indeed very exciting news except that...

     A.) I have NO idea what to do with a boy, 

     B.) I am having a VERY hard time thinking of boy names that I love (that aren't already 'taken'), and 

     C.) the little rascal is already a VERY active little man.  I have been receiving painful blows from him every day for a good month now!!

Other than that, we're pretty thrilled!  

Nora has taken more convincing.  At the ultrasound she was sitting on Ben's lap while the technician looked for some sign of gender designation.  When the tech told us that she saw something and was pretty sure it was a boy Ben said, 'Nora, it's a boy!  You're going to have a brother!'  And with a look of utter consternation she said, 'But, I thought I just wanted it to be a GIRL.'  (As if we simply hadn't heard her request.)  She was not amused.  But she has since warmed up to the idea of having a brother and has decided the best name for him is Australia.  (Don't ask me where she got that - I'm as confused as you are.)

A beautiful day

Actually, it's been a beautiful week!  We've been enjoying warm, sunny days for awhile now - which is so great!  Because we also moved house about a month ago and have been needing this good weather to encourage us to get out and explore our new neighborhood.

Sunday was forecast to be just over 80 degrees and we decided to take advantage.  

The day started out with a healthy breakfast and a yogurt goatee while dad went for his morning run.

When he got back Nora joined him for some stretching, some sit-ups and some push-ups.                                                                                                  

High fives were definitely in order. 

                                                                                  
We packed up a picnic lunch and hopped on our bikes to go to the nearby village of Binsey.  We wove our way through country roads, past green pastures lined with blackberry bushes and old fences and past clusters of lazy cows until we arrived at St Margaret's Church.  The current church dates back to the 12th century and is built on the site of a previous Saxon chapel.  There is a well there, famous for being the well in Alice and Wonderland but which may actually have originally been a pagan well which was 'Christianized' in the 9th century.

 For Nora, the best part of this visit was the 3 goats in a pen behind the church which belonged to the farm next door.  Second best was the picnic.  She's a big fan of picnics.

After our picnic overlooking a nearby meadow we rode back toward the Thames, changed Nora into her swimsuit and let her wade in the river.  She shared the water with a herd of cows across the river and plenty of ducks, geese, dogs, boaters, and other kids cooling off.  She was thrilled!  (Afterward, we went straight home for a bath!)

Rumor has it that this glorious weather will be gone soon and I've heard from 2 different people today that the weather forecasts are predicting snow by the end of the month!

Grow baby grow...

A week by week look at the relative size of our unborn baby (so far).

week 3: pin point, week 4: poppy seed, week 5: sesame seed, week 6: pumpkin seed, week 7: blueberry, week 8: raspberry, week 9: olive, week 10: red grape, week 11: walnut (w/shell), week 12: kiwi, week 13: egg, week 14: lemon, week 15: small apple, week 16: avocado 

And this week.  Week 17:  Red Onion

(For the perceptive and curious, there is no week 1 or week 2 because although these first two weeks are counted as part of the 40 week gestational period, babies are not conceived until the third week.)