Cause and Effect

We've had an exciting week. First Jorgan started walking!


This makes me a little nervous and apparently I have good reason to be!


She pulled the piano bench over on herself and we thought she had possibly broken her nose! Luckily she didn't and she gets this badge of blue and purple to wear around for a while. I love this little girl but she is going to give me gray hairs!

Our Little Jorgan

Jorgan is nine months old! I can't believe it, where has the time gone? She is the delight of our lives!
A Few of Her Favorites:
Broccoli (weird I know)
Taking naps with Momma
Spending time with Dadda
Exploring
Feeding the horses
Walks outside
Playing with Grandma and Grandpa
Crawling away from Momma, laughing :)
Being tickled
Peek-a-boo

A Few of Her Accomplishments:
She says Dadda, Baba, Bampa(we think its Grandpa) and Momma(only when she's mad or upset)
She feeds her self (very independent)
She crawls very fast
She climbs on everything
She is trying to figure out the whole walking thing
Smiles constantly
Can cry on demand
Knows how to take her shoes off
Helps mom with the laundry

We truly love this little girl. She is so fun!

The Holidays

It seems like I'm always playing catch up with this blog... Oh well. We had a fantastic holiday season full of food, family and fun...

Thanksgiving this year was spent with Collin's family. The first time since we've been married. It was so much fun with food, food, food! Which means I ATE, ATE, ATE! Jorgan had fun with all the different food we kept letting her try!

Cousins! Jorgan loved playing with her cousins. They are so fun!

All of the Collin's family and the Norton Aunts and Uncles and cousins were there and it was fun to visit, wrangle kids, and of course play CATCH PHRASE! Some of us get very creative and intense (Chelle) when we play that game... :) Fun times. After Thanksgiving Day we had the Norton Family Reunion that weekend. I met a whole lot of relatives that I have known all my life and am now related to. It was fun. I'll forever have burned into my mind a certain rendition of YMCA...

We had a few weeks break where I made a mad dash to get every one's presents put together. Every year I swear I will start that whole process earlier than December 17th but I am the Queen of Procrastination so I find myself in the same place every year; One week to go and I'm not even 1/3 of the way through my list! I got it all pulled together thankfully and it was a great Christmas.

Collin had to work Christmas Eve so Jorgan and I stayed at my parents house that night. Talk about flashbacks from the past! Evan and Olivia went carolling, so we got to stay with my mom and dad and sing songs and look at the fire, and I fell asleep at about 9. It was heaven! Thanks for taking Jorgan, Mom! That in itself was a great Christmas present!

Christmas morning we woke up early and fixed breakfast and waited for Collin to get there so we could open the presents. We got about half way through with presents and then Sean called! It was so fun to talk to him. He sounds so good! His release date is March 5th and he'll be home on the 6th. My mom is counting down the hours practically... Anyways, back to Christmas. We finished opening the presents at my parents (We were so spoiled!) Collin got a GPS unit from me and Jorgan, and a bunch of stuff for guns and other manly stuff. I got a new camera from Collin! My parents also got us year supply stuff (thank you, I already feel more secure) and a play pen for Jorgan, and then Jorgan was spoiled rotten!

I think Jorgan enjoyed eating the wrapping paper more than opening presents!

Evan made her the prettiest little rocking chair. I love it!

After presents, we got ready really fast and headed to spend the rest of the day with the Claridges. Yummy food at Vick's beautiful new house, then we headed to Chris and Debbie's for presents over there... I never knew Christmas could be so fun with two families! JK... They got us some beautiful books on the Claridge and Norton heritage, and Debbie slaved hours to make us a scrapbook full of pictures of great-grandparents, and stories. It is really a treasure. The rest of the day was spent eating, visiting, eating, playing games, eating, and did I mention eating... I love her face in this picture... she has crazy eyes! Thanks Chelle, she loves these!

The Sunday after Christmas, Seth and Courtney blessed their new little baby boy and we had more good times. Eating, visiting, eating, wrestling crazy, crying, babes who desperately needed naps, eating some more, you know the usual. It was a fun day and little Mason is so precious.

New Years Eve was about as low key as I've ever had. We must be getting old because we went to bed at 9, and only happened to notice it was after midnight because one of us was taking a bathroom break and noticed the clock... Life's grand.

I sat down New Years Day to write my resolutions and realized that half of them had to do with weight loss and my figure. I can only assume that this is a result of all of the aforementioned holiday parties and family get togethers. Mostly though, I have to remember all of the blessings I have: a wonderful husband and daughter, a fantastic extended family, a home, Collin's job, etc, etc, etc. 2009 sure was a wonderful year but I'm excited to see what this year brings!

Halloween and Catch Up

Alright. We haven't had a computer for about 2 months and we finally got a new one that works! Yay! So for the last couple of months...

I survived my first season coaching volleyball at Ft. Thomas. I had so much fun but it was definitely a learning experience. I learned that I have a long way to go to be a great coach. Isn't it amazing how different 8th graders are from 9th graders?!

Collin is working his brains out. He loves his job and is getting more and more confidence in his EMT skills. I am so proud of him!

Jorgan is growing like a weed! She can sit up, and roll completely over, and she got her first tooth! She is such an angel and I am having such a fun time being her mother. She was a flower for Halloween and a pretty cute one at that! We made the rounds to all the grandparents and she put on a show smiling and talking to them all. It was fun showing her off in her costume.

Goings On

Another month(ish) has flewn by and like always I am behind on the times. Poor Jorgan's world has been rocked this past week. Not only did she get put on the bottle (that whole experience has been just as traumatic for me too I think) but she got her first ear infection. The poor babe has not been feeling well, but we saw Dr. Batty and she's on antibiotics now and hopefully she'll be back to her happy self shortly.


Collin started at the San Carlos EMS yesterday as an EMT! Yeah! I am so proud of him. He had a great first shift and we managed to go a full 24 hours at home without him. Boy were we happy to see him this morning!

I started coaching again. This year I am the JV volleyball coach at Ft. Thomas. Thats right... I've crossed over to the dark side. :) Its fun and the girls are great, but it is a whole different world from Jr. High. I hope I don't botch it too bad. Its keeping me busy and Jorgan is having fun hanging out with Grandma and Olivia every day.

We had so much fun at the Pioneer Day Celebration. My Aunt Mary and Uncle Steve and family came for the festivities and it was fun to see them all. My cousin Jen had a little baby boy, Colt, about a month after Jorgan and he is so stinkin' cute! He was five weeks early so Jorgan looks like a tank compared to him but I bet he'll outgrow her before too long.



Here's Jorgan with her Great-Grandma Katy and Great-Grandpa Crockett at the football field. She loves these two people! I was worried about how she would handle the fireworks but she slept right through them. I guess it was all too exciting for her.

My dad and Evan along with Uncle Steve and cousins Zack and David sang in the program and it sounded so good! They're rock stars!


The next weekend we had a fun time with everyone in Collin's family. We had a party at the Thatcher park and took family pictures (Thanks Trey!). Here's my two favorite people... Doesn't Collin look like he's having fun?

Summer has been fun but I always like it when school starts and we have a little bit of a schedule. At least this way I remember what day it is halfway through the week!

I found this picture and it cracked me up! This is what Collin typically looks like when he gets home in the evernings. Phone in one hand, babe in the other.

Lots and Lots

Sorry I've been a blog slacker, but summer has started and so has all the pandemonium that goes with it. We have been having such a fun time with little Jorgan. She is wonderful! We blessed her on Sunday and it was so special. Collin gave her such a sweet blessing and thanks to the tons of family who came to support us. It wouldn't have been half as special without you there! We had a great lunch at Chris and Debbie's (Thanks again!) and took a few pictures...
Jorgan got to wear my blessing dress and that was so fun. Thanks mom for digging it out of boxes! And thanks Trish for teaching me how to make bows!

The Ft. Thomas Fire Dept. participated in a challenge at home depot to cut open a car with a DeWalt reciprocating saw and the got 2nd place to Safford by a fraction of a second. Good job guys! It makes me feel safe to know that our fire department is full of such capable men. Isn't Collin cute?!

A couple of days ago I decided I needed to have a "photo shoot" with Jorgan. A few of them turned out pretty good, some of them are just cute because they are of her not because of the photography. She is such a sweet heart!

First Month

Jorgan turned a month old on the 3rd. Can you believe it?! She is on the verge of smiling and has seriously found her voice. She growls and coos and is just so much fun. Collin and I are loving it. Feeling like someone is going to come and pick her up is slowly starting to fade and it is sinking in that we truly are parents and this is forever. Its a good thing she's so dang cute! Well, here's some pictures of our baby girl.