Nora - 3 months!

Our little Sweet Petite is 3 months old!! Nora continues to be super sweet and an amazing baby.  This girl loves to sleep by herself - lay her down when she's tired and she gets herself to sleep and sleeps great!  Up once, maybe twice, a night and always happy - smiles galore!  Recently Nora started sticking her tongue out and has been experimenting with sounds. She squeals when tired and talks to us a lot - I'm guessing she will have a lot to say, just like her big sister! Nora started riding in the stroller seat instead of in her car seat attached to the stroller. This gives us more flexibility to get around as a family, though Nora "kicks" Wren in the back and we hear about that... So far Nora seems to like to be able to see more of what we are doing from the seat of the stroller and generally just enjoys being outside. I've caught her looking at her hand a few times while she holds it in the air (pretty much just the left one so far since the right one is busy in her mouth) and she is now grabbing at more things and trying to put them in her mouth.  Thumb sucking is her favorite thing and she's drooling like a champ - we have already broken out some bibs to keep her tops dry.  Nora is wearing 6 month pajamas, which are a little bit big but look more comfortable than snugger small sizes, and 3-6 month clothes.  Cloth diapering is going great. Taking a peek in Nora's mouth we see a tiny little white spot on her lower left front tooth area.  Her hair doesn't seem to be in growth mode right now but the spray of hair at the top of her head has a little wave to it! Her thighs and arms are getting chunky and those cheeks are just so smoochable!!  Even though I am with her four days a week for now I dread leaving her on Tuesday mornings - she's just too cute.  A week and a half ago Jay had to go out of town for work for a few days so I took Nora with me to work.  She was quite the distraction for everyone but it was nice to have the ability to bring her in.  We stayed for close to 6 hours two days in a row and she napped on my office floor with the lights out.  She didn't really enjoy the drive back and forth but was otherwise a happy lady and didn't even mind being passed around- my boss even stole her away while I met with someone and Nora was very relaxed about it all.

Hanging out with some college kids on campus.  No big deal.

Snugglebug mode with Grandma Brynn

I hope these two can have sweet and happy moments together forever!

Oh, Daddy!!!

Not a fan of tummy time...

Wren - 2 years, 11 months!

Believe it or not, only one month to go until Wren turns 3!  

Thinking of you

2 long years since we last felt our Shepdog's soft ears.  Miss you, little buddy.  

Nora - 11 weeks!

Time has gotten away from me so this post is a catch up of weeks 9-11!  In the past few weeks our littlest lady turned 2 months old!  As of Nora's 2 month checkup she is 22.75" tall (60%), weighs 12 pounds, 10 ounces (78%), and her head is 38.4 cm (52%).  She is very healthy!  She received 3 shots and an oral vaccination as well.  She was pretty unhappy about the shots but had no ill effects later in the day.
  In her 9th week I started back to work. It was a very rough week!  Even though I am only away 3 days each week at this time it's hard to be away from my gal.  Jay and Nora had a very bumpy transition into daddy daycare with Nora mostly refusing a bottle her first 3 days.  She drank 3 ounces her first day, 4 the second, and on the third day she had consumed less than 1 ounce by 2:30 pm so I came home early.  The poor girl spent her days crying and Nora is not much of a crier.  I can imagine it was enough to drive someone insane but Jay stuck with it - such an awesome daddy! As I've mentioned before, Nora hasn't been interested in a pacifier, so by the third day she realized that sucking her thumb would be soothing. I'm glad she found something as I spend 9 hours away from her on my work days.  By that first weekend we were feeling pretty desperate and tried 4 additional types of bottles and even tried scalding my milk to test if it was a taste issue.  The following Tuesday Jay took a new approach and tried one more type of bottle and the two of them had a great day!  It hasn't been perfect, but now after 3 weeks they seem to be doing quite well.  Nora even went with Jay to his work for about 5 hours this past week and she was a very good girl (well, except for the meltdown she had while they tried to sit through a thesis defense.  Maybe she was bored...?)
In other news, Nora is now batting at her toys, bathing without the infant sling (she holds her head up amazingly well!), smiling up a storm, cooing (it sounds like she says "ok"!), and sleeping like a champ (she has had 2 stretches of 7 hours, most nights starts with at least 5 hours of sleep, and goes right back to sleep after a middle-of-the-night waking).  When Nora is tired she fusses a little; Lay her down and she will get herself to sleep by sucking her thumb.  It is amazing to lay down a sleepy but awake baby and leave the room knowing she will be asleep on her own soon - amazing!
Nora has seen quite a few family members in recent weeks.  Opa visited and met Nora for the first time.  She also met her Aunt Liz, Uncle John and cousins Karsyn and Landon who visited from Las Vegas.
Nora loves watching her big sister play and Wren has become much sweeter with Nora - though some hugs still seem akin to a sleeper hold! We are having a lot of fun with how interactive Nora is becoming!

 

Nora - 8 weeks

Last Friday Nora turned 8 weeks - my, the time has really gone fast! Nora is a pretty happy girl and smiles easily for us.  She is just such a sweet girl!  She likes having Wren talk to her and seems pretty entertained by her big sister's craziness.  To celebrate turning 8 weeks old Nora slept for 5 hours, then after a quick nursing she slept for another 4 hours! Most nights her first sleep is about 5 hours, so I know I'm pretty lucky!  The "another 4 hours" thing was new and unique to that day only so far.  But I am not complaining!  During the day Nora's sleeping varies each day.  She loves to be held when she is sleeping and it's hard to put her down!  A few times we have napped together and that has been wonderful!  Nora has fallen asleep on her own while in her bouncy chair but it hasn't really worked to put her down flat and have her fall asleep yet, which I am not really surprised about.  By this time Wren was using a pacifier to soothe herself, but Nora continues to show no interest in a pacifier.  She tries to suck on her hands but gets frustrated since she still keeps them in tight fists.  I think that once she figures out how to soothe herself she will be able to get to sleep a little easier.  We borrowed a baby swing from friends last night to try to give Nora another option for napping.  This morning I put her in the swing when she was awake but drowsy and she has slept for 2 hours already!  I kinda want a big swing like that to sleep in too....!!  Nora is still sleeping in our room at night- the transition to her crib will be happening soon as we work on having her try to nap in her crib first.  I did lay her down in the crib once she was asleep this last week and she continued to sleep for about an hour. Progress!
Nora took a bottle from Gramma Sondy last weekend, but it was a slow process and took a few tries.  Tomorrow is my first day back at work so Nora and Jay will be working out the bottle issues together.  I have been feeling very anxious this past week about returning to work. I am already sad to know that I won't get to be with my Nora all day while I'm at work (with a 25 minute commute each way I'll miss out on a mid-day visit). But I know it will be good to go back and at least I get to ease into it by working 3 days a week for a while. The mornings and evenings will be hectic but we will get into a groove and figure things out.  This time will also be great for Jay and Nora to bond and have some adventures!

Nora - 7 weeks!

Our little sunshine just keeps growing and smiling! In her 7th week Nora took a trip to our local fair! Pigs and horses and goats - oh my! We went down to the fountain again and also had a special outing to lunch with Daddy - don't tell Wren! Nora is still sleeping in our room though I know she needs to transition to her crib soon. She is napping while being held or lays in her chair or on our bed. Jay successfully got Nora to drink about 2 ounces of milk from a bottle! She hasn't had a lot of opportunity to try it (I prefer to not be the one to offer a bottle) but I'm sure she will be a pro when I am back to work soon! 

I do declare!

Nora - 6 weeks!

In the past week Nora has been working on trying a bottle, continuing to refuse a pacifier, doing a pretty great job of sleeping at night, and is still a sweet little snuggle bug.  The weather has still been hot around here but we have been trying to get out when we can.  Nora has been spending time in her activity gym and started batting at the toys this week!  It is amazing to watch the little changes in her.  One reference that we appreciated with Wren was The Wonder Weeks (the official website no longer offers their information for free, so I'm stealing it from another site!) as a guide to fussy times and when we could be watching for certain changes.  

On Thursday we went downtown for Nora's first dinner out, followed by gelato and time at the riverfront fountain, watching Big Sister play in the water.  Nora seemed to really enjoy the sights and sounds!  Nora's little body is growing for sure!  She seems long to me and pretty sturdy. Her little legs are getting a smidge chunky now, too!  She has a great appetite - runs in the family! We will get the official growth stats in 2 weeks at her 2 month checkup.

Arrangements have been agreed upon for my return to work, so I now have two weeks left at home full time with Nora.  My first day back at work will be Tuesday the 19th of August and I will work three days a week until the end of October, when I will start working 4 days a week until the new year, then back to full time at work.  Until the new year, on my working days Nora will have Daddy Daycare!  Jay will be able to take advantage of his FMLA and stay home with Nora until January - it will be great! With Wren, Jay's leave time was used for his student teaching stint during his Master's program, so this will be very special time for Jay and Nora. The daycare providers we are familiar with will not have an infant opening when we need one, so the search will soon begin for a daycare to start in January.  We are very happy to be delaying daycare until Nora is 6 months old - good for the family and good for the pocketbook.  We plan for Nora to go daycare in Albany so she can ride with me and I can see her at lunch - that was a great thing for Wren and I.  

So for now I will get all my snuggles while I can with my little Nora.