Could It Be Teeth?!?

I picked up a sopping wet baby from day care today. Her onesie was wet from the neck to her belly button and she had already been changed into her spare clothes because the others were equally as wet.

Her teacher said she thinks Nora may be teething...to which I responded, "No she's just going through a drooling phase, it's totally normal (as if I know more than the day care lady)." She said she it was not just the drooling that makes her suspect this - she also has been putting any and every thing on her gums, tugging at her ear and being a restless napper.

I guess I noticed these things too, but didn't associate it with teething mainly because she is still very happy and I just plain don't see any teeth coming up. Generally a teething baby is a cranky baby, no?

What do you think? Happy, but teething shy of four months or just drooly and learning textures by putting everything in her mouth? I suppose this is another of those things only time will tell.


In other news, the votes are in - 80 percent of respondents said they will check our blog weekly, and the other 20 percent said they'll check back regularly...granted only 5 of you voted, the odds are still good, so I guess we will blog on.

Christmas in January

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other"
-Burton Hills

We were a whole month ahead of last year's schedule, managing to celebrate Christmas with the Buskirk's only a week and a half after the 25th. As it turns out, Nora is already a Euchre pro!


Over all, it was a good weekend! I think everyone enjoyed their gifts and I hear the cook was amazing ::wink:: Here are some other snapshots to highlight the festivities:

The Essence of Childhood...

Is, of course, play. Nora is just starting to play - with toys, with people, you name it she wants to touch, smell and taste it - and it is such a fun and interesting stage.

She has been looking at colors and lights for a while, but this age of self discovery and realization that the world around her is made up of objects is so intriguing to watch. And a welcome relief that I don't have to be her 24-hour entertainment!

She has also begun to drool. Oh man does she drool. The other day I got to work and as I was taking off my scarf my hand came away looking like I had just submerged it in a pool of clear gak (remember that slimy, snot-like stuff made by Nickelodeon). I had only held her long enough to give her a kiss and say goodbye. It's ok though, it gives us a chance to use all the bibs that match her cute outfits!

My Spoiled Bear

We are very thankful for all of the wonderful gifts we received from family and friends for Christmas!

Charlie is now the proud owner of a new snowblower (while it was a gift for both of us, I say Charlie because the thing looks way too complicated for me to ever manage to maneuver), I am stir-crazying me some popcorn and Nora, well lets just say its a good thing we have 3 extra bedrooms in the house so we can store all of her stuff.

Here are a few of the gifts I have managed to get photos of:

"My first Christmas" bracelet from Kelly


Timmy the teddy from Grandpa Barnes

















Jumperoo from Grandpa Dave and Grandma Laurie, which she is still a little short for :)

We also got a ton of new books, and Nora and I have put a good dent in them already. Click the album to see more Christmas photos.

Christmas 2008

Thanks everyone - and stay tuned.

Happy New Year

Nora is 3 months old already! Though it took me this long to get the blog started, I'm not a complete slacker; I've got a good start on her first scrapbook. If you haven't seen it, come look!

It has been a busy, busy year! Here's a brief recap:

• In February, just after my 22nd birthday, we found out baby Baugh was expected to arrive on Daddy's birthday, Oct. 16

• March we went to Madison, Wisc. to celebrate Charlie being such a rockstar salesman. He received an award and a bonus for a combination of his sales numbers and customer satisfaction scores
• April we finally closed on our house after six months of habitating here, and I got offered a big-kid job at MidAmerican as my internship was coming to a close

• May Ashly graduated from Iowa State after 17 agonizing years of school in a row (but I'm secretly looking forward to going back for my Master's eventually)

• June we took a family vacation to Panama City Beach with Mimi, Papaw and Aunt TJ

• July we celebrated our first wedding anniversary

• September baby Nora decided to make an early appearance at 35 weeks 5 days gestation

• December Grandpa Dean passed. We feel so blessed to have had the time we did with him and that he got to meet Nora before he went

Here's to another happy, healthy, memorable year! Cheers.