Our Day Trip to see Grandma

Last Friday, we went to see my Grandma who was visiting from Ohio! She stayed with Aunt Kim in Belair, MD so Mom, Lizzy, Denise, Cole, Spencer, Nora and I went to see them! We got some great pictures, so I thought I'd share them all with you! Thank you Grandma for staying an extra day, so that we could all see you! Thanks also to Grandma and Aunt Kim for the pictures!! :)

Grandma Hinshaw, Nora and Spencer

Denise, Cole and Spencer

Mommy and Nora

Mimi (Grandma), Nora, Cole and Spencer

Grandma Hinshaw, Cole, Nora and Spencer

A scare with Nora

So, this afternoon, I had a scary situation with Nora. She fell off the bed, I jumped to get her and she was VERY upset. I tried to calm her and as I did, she passed out. I laid her on the bed, but my hand over her mouth and nose, she was breathing. I talked to her and jostled her, but she was unresponsive, her eyes were rolled back and it took about 30 seconds (but felt like forever!) to get her to regain consciousness. I'm assuming that this is what happened before, but I was able to look at her for specific things, because it had happened before! Maybe she reacts to pain this way. Regardless, it was scary! She got sleepy right away, so I sat with her for a while. She returned to her normal self and then took her normal afternoon nap. She seemed fine the rest of the day.

The doctors had said before, that some babies respond this way to pain, so I pray that is all it is! Thankfully, she didn't stop breathing!!!!

Nicoli's Kitchen

I'm stealing an idea I've seen on other Blogs (like Amy's!). I'm going to start putting on some recipes that Tim and I enjoy. So, if you are looking for ideas, check out my site on Wednesdays!

I will start it off with a recipe I found because I had a lot of leftover baked potato's from the Church Picnic! This soup was VERY YUMMY. I froze half of it, and when we ate the leftovers, it was even better than the first batch! It made for a very easy meal. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

5 medium baking potatoes

8 slices bacon (I used 1/2 lb of beef & used a little of the fat instead of the bacon drippings)

1 cup sweet onions -- chopped

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

6 cups chicken broth

2 cups half and half

1/4 cup fresh parsley -- chopped (I used Tbl. Dried)

1 1/2 teaspoon garlic -- minced

1 1/2 teaspoon dried basil (I used about 1 tea. Dried)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon hot sauce

1 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese -- divided

1 cup green onions, sliced -- divided (I omitted these, because I didn't have any!)

1/4 cup fresh parsley -- chopped (we didn't use this either)

Directions:
Wash potatoes; prick several times with a fork. Bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour or until done; let cool. Peel potatoes, and slice crosswise. Cook bacon in a large skillet until crisp; remove bacon, reserving drippings in skillet. Crumble bacon, and set aside. Cook onion in drippings, stirring constantly, until tender; add flour, stirring well. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add chicken broth; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened and bubbly. Stir in potato, half-and-half, and next 6 ingredients. Bring to a simmer, and cook, uncovered, 10 minutes (do not boil). Stir in 1 cup cheese and 1/4 cup green onions. Cook until cheese melts, stirring often. Ladle soup into individual soup bowls. Top evenly with crumbled bacon. Sprinkle evenly with remaining 3/4 cup cheese, 3/4 cup green onions, and parsley.

Some Pictures!

Last week, Tim and I went on a date! Thanks to Miss Amy for coming to our house to watch Nora! Dan & Amy don't go ANYWHERE without their new camera, so we have some pictures of Nora. :) Thanks Amy!

Here she is in her NEW Sneakers!

She made Amy read "Are You My Mother"4 TIMES!

Here she is just being silly!

A sad, sad day...

I'm very sad, because yesterday at the Elizabethtown Fair, our digital camera died!!!! It has seens its final days. :( Tim had it all in pieces on the table last night...it was quite comical actually. He was taking it apart for the thrill, knowing he wouldn't get it all back together again. There were so many little screws!! After a few electric shocks, it ended up in the trash. Although, he kept the LCD screen. WHO knows what for! It was a good Camera while we had it. It's 5 years old, so I'm really wanting a new one anyway...but there's always something more important to spend money on!
All that to say...I won't have weekly pictures of Nora's activities until we can get a new camera! So, if we are spending time with you and you have a camera...please snap away! Then send the pictures my way and I'll post them for all to see! :)

We went to the Fair with the Noss Family last night. We had a great time, thanks to the Southalls for lending us the Backpack for Nora. She loved being on Daddy's back...there was so much to see from up there!!! There was lots of yummy food, like "Rhino Fries" from T. J. Rockwells and a yummy beef & onion steak sandwich! Nora was happy with just her Crackers! Of course, Dove Chocolate was there and we got a box of FREE Dove Chocolate! Yummy! For those of you that don't know it, there is a Dove factory in E-Town. When we moved here last year, it didn't take long to find out! The air smells like Freshly Baked Brownies!! Some days, I crave chocolate ALL DAY LONG, because that's all I smell! My motto since we've moved here has been "It's impossible for women to diet in E-Town!! Your house, the air, everywhere smells like Chocolate!!!!!"

Anyway, the least they could do, is give us some for free at the fair!! :)

Little Sickly Nora

Well, this has been a long weekend! Poor Nora had a fever from Friday through Monday morning. We went to the Doctor's today, because after her morning nap, she had little red spots all over her!! It turns out, she has Roseola. :( So, she's been pretty miserable. She's been very tired, very clingy and has spots all over her face, belly, back and legs. Thankfully she's no longer contagious!

She hasn't been eating very well either. The Doctor said, "Just let her eat whatever she wants". :) She'd love it if Chocolate was an option!! She had soup for dinner and really gobbled that up!

Tomorrow I'll have to take some pictures so you can see what she looks like!! Hopefully her eyes will be looking better. Her eyes speak volumes about how she feels.

Anyway, we have lots going on this week, so I'm sure I'll post again soon.

Here's Nora, in the Fun Fort. She was able to go all over, thanks to Aunt Lizzy and Uncle Joel!!

It has been a while...

We had a very busy week! Lizzy was here all week while my parents were in Florida! We had a great time! Here are a few pictures of our week.

Nora enjoyed putting Liz's headband on "her way".

Dusting the mulch off her hands after one of her MANY falls at the Fun Fort.

Going down the slide with Lizzy!

And another one with Joel!

Here she is after eating one of Aunt Lizzy's yummy Chocolate Chip Cookies! Mmmmm!

Playing Around

Here's Nora goofing around with a pair of shorts on her head!

Have a great weekend!

Remembering

This past Monday, I was able to see little Alivia Southall. Afterwards, I was going through some of Nora's Preemie clothing and trying to remember how little Nora was! It is amazing to see pictures and remember that her Preemie clothing DIDN'T EVEN FIT HER!!!! They were too BIG!!!! I'm reminded once again of God's grace as he protected our little girl! It's amazing that she has come from 3 1/2 lbs to 19 lbs!!!! She's gone from eating through a tube...to shoving PB&J down AND all over her face! She's gone from being protected from germs, needing an Isolette to keep her body temp up and only being touched through an Isolette, to walking all over and getting into everything!
Here are some pictures from her first few days! :)

About 15 hours old, the first time I got to see my baby girl!

Look how big her Preemie outfit is!! And this is probably 2 or 3 weeks after she was born!

See how tiny she is in Tim's hands!

Our Precious Baby Girl

Happy Birthday Alivia Grace!

Today, my dear friend Melanie had a baby girl! Alivia Grace was born Saturday, August 4, 2007! We are so excited to see this little blessing! Hopefully tomorrow we'll make a visit to the Hospital! Nora will have another playmate! Nora's Pal, Cole is Alivia's Big Brother! :) So, I'm sure we'll have some pictures in the near future of all of them together! :)

Today was the Living Hope Church Picnic! We had lots of fun! There was lots of food, fellowship and Volleyball! :) Thanks to Aunt Janelle for watching Nora, so that Tim and I could play volleyball!!

Anyway, I don't have any new pictures, but will work on that this week!

Just a small note...one of our friends, Mike Bell had a few minutes of fame....uhm, if you could call it that.

Take a look at this!

The guy HOLDING Josh Groban's hand, yeah that's Mike. You have questions...yes, yes we all have questions.

This is a HUGE picture from the Harrisburg Patriot News. Mike's twin brother, Gabe (who was NOT at the concert) says, OTE - Operation Tell Everyone. This was a hot topic at the church picnic, everyone was looking at the picture, laughing and then running to show someone else! Gabe did a GREAT job making sure OTE was active!!

Oh my, a Birthday that Destiny will probably NEVER forget! One that Mike will probably ALWAYS try to deny (or justify!!!!) Good thing we've got proof! Thanks Patriot News!

Nora's little friend Cole

We watched Cole yesterday evening and had a great time! We went to the park, played on the swings, got a bath, read stories while drinking our milk and went to sleep with clean, full and happy bellies!! :) (Well, Cole and Nora did anyway!)