4 months Old

 Wow, where has the time gone? I can not believe our baby is 4 month old already. I know we have been through so much in the last 4 months but it still feels like Nora was just born. It is amazing how quickly she is changing. People say not to blink cause the next thing you know you are dropping them off at college, I think they may be right!

Over the past month we have gone from smiles to laughing to now screaming. Nora has for sure found her voice and she loves to let you know it. I can sit here with her for hours just laughing. She makes the funny faces and sounds so the more I laugh the more she does which then makes me laugh harder...vicious cycle, haha. She has also discovered that EVERYTHING can go in her mouth now..especially her hands. She also really likes holding things like tag blankets, rattles and teethers alike. She hasn't figured out how to not hit her self in the head when shaking the rattle. But she loves it.

Since turning 4 months we have hit so many exciting milestones! At our 4 month check up our pediatrician gave us the okay to start Nora on rice cereal by spoon feeding. The first time we tried it was a new adventure, we are starting better at it with each feeding.

     We are certainly still have a little thing. Nora finally passed up 10 pounds weighing in at 10 lbs 9 oz at 4 month! She has just now started growing out her newborn clothes but most 3 month or 0-3 is still too big so we will have to grow in to them :) Nora is for sure a mover and a groover. She is constantly kicking and wiggling. She has wanted to roll over now for a long time she would get to her side and not be able to go any further, boy did this make her made. Finally after a week or so of trying without success on January 30th she ROLLED OVER!! She went from her back to her front and then the next day she went from her belly to her back. Now she is a rolling machine! I will post pictures when I can get all stage of her rolling over, she seem to know when the camera is out and gets shy.

     Next up on our rollercoaster they call parenthood is some hearing test for Nora. Earlier this week we has the first round of hearing test completed. We have noticed she is not very responsive to noise, when you slam a door you rarely get a startle out of her. She passed the 2 test they did in the office, this means that she has all the "hardware" to hear. Since she doesn't respond to loud noise they want to do a test to see if the "wiring" is there, so they will test her 8th nerve to see if it transmits the sound to her brain.

     The test is called a BAER test. The tricky part is going to be to get her to sleep through the test, I am thankful they are not sedating (which they originally planned) her but trying to sleep deprive a 4 month old so she sleeps through the test may be interesting. We are hoping that its only lack in development because of her Hydracephalus and nothing more serious. We will just have to wait and see. We have gotten through everything else and we will get through this next hurdle. We have a strong little girl!

As always keep out little girl in your prayers!!

It's a Brand New Year..... 2012!

New Years weekend. Typically a weekend of getting dressed up to go out to dinner followed by a night a drinking. This year was a different. We has nothing planned but to hang out with a beautiful baby girl. I couldn't think of any better way to ring in the new year than being with my baby. It is amazing how much you change when you become on mom, well at least I did. Not that I am saying that I never want to go out or have a drink again, because I will, but my priorities have certainly changed.

Freddy and I both had Friday off so we spend the day just hanging out, sometimes those days are the best. Nothing too exciting. Amazing how much you look forward to day where you spend the whole day with your baby.

Saturday was a day of college football. Both Iowa and Iowa State were playing in bowl games. We were invited to go over to the Weaver's to have dinner and watch the Iowa game, it had been a while since we had seen them so we were excited. Tiffany and Wade had twins in April and this was the first time we have been able to get the babies together. It ended up being pretty funny because the twins are on the move now rolling around and crawling where Nora is not so it made for an interesting dynamic. Sam and Kaitlyn were very curious of Nora. It was cute.

Sunday was the last day of 2011, New Years Eve. It was Nora's first New Years and we celebrated it in a perfect way. We went back to the Weavers for the evening to celebrate. They also had some friends over from Cedar Rapids so it was 6 adults, a 5 year old, 4 year old, 9 month old twins and a 3 month old. We wanted the babies to have onsies to wear but they were out of them EVERYWHERE. Tiffany had found 1 so I made some for the girls.

It was a great night. We all ate dinner, the kids played and took baths. Once the kids were all in bed we enjoyed some drinks and played a game. I would have to say it was a perfect New Years. Nora woke up a few minutes before mindnight, so we rang in the New Year holding our baby, could ask for anything better.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! MAY 2012 BE THE BEST ONE YET!!!!!

OUR FIRST CHRISTMAS!!

Celebrating our first Christmas with Nora was absolutely amazing. It was such a special weekend. We were so blessed to be able to spend it with our families. We got so many wonderful things and even more the best memories of Nora's first Christmas!!

We started the weekend by both taking Friday off to enjoy the day together. Freddy went out to so some last minute shopping for a few gifts and then we wrapped the rest of the presents. Nora was experiencing her first cold so we kept her indoors since it was chilly outside. I never knew that a little 9 lbs girl could produce so much snot, haha. We quickly became pros at the nasal aspirator.

Saturday afternoon we went over to my parents house with my brother, Jenner and Jameson. We had such a great day. Jameson was all over place running around like a mad man trying to help everyone open presents. He seems to really enjoy all the toys that Nora got :) Next year will be crazy with both him and Nora old enough to be running around. Truly what Christmas is all about. We enjoyed a wonder dinner to end the night. Great way to spend Christmas Eve. 

  

Christmas Day we went over to Freddy's mom's house for lunch and to spend the afternoon. Jake, Freddy's cousin who lives in Iowa City was in town so he came over, always great to see him!! Nora got to meet her Great-Uncle Rick for the first time as well, he was very excited to meet her. We hung out, played outside with the kids (crazy to think we were outside on Christmas in Iowa) and opened presents.

Christmas night was spent hanging out at home watching the PACKERS!!



2011 Coming to and end...

While I am sad to see 2011 go, I am excited to see what 2012 will bring.

2011 was our year of miracles.

On February 14th, 2011 we discovered that our dreams were coming true as we were finally pregnant. 18 weeks later we found out that we would be welcoming a baby girl in to the world. Then on September 28th Nora made her debut a little early than we expected but we were so excited!

2011 changed our lives for ever.

My brother asked Jenner to be his wife and I couldnt be more excited! She is perfect for him and I could ask for a better sister, she truly is the sister I never had but always wanted.

We had a few scary times throughout 2011 as well. Before we had to deal with all the things that Nora went through my mom was diagnosed with congestive heart failure in May and for the second time she was fighting for her life. After a scary few months of being in and out of the hospital and getting a pacemaker she managed to fight another fight! With lots of prayers and her strength she is doing great and acting just like she always has :)

My mom had shown her strength and ability to fight several times now and it amazes me how strong she is. I thank God every day that my daughter got that strength from her grandma. It got them both through this year.

2012, I welcome you with open arms as it will be a year of first for us as we watch Nora go through many milestones along with her first birthday!!

Back to Work I Go...

Well, as much as I did not want my maternity to end it did just that. It's time to go back to work. Thursday of last week we made another trip to Iowa City for a check up. Everything looked great and it seems to have healed from the leak so they made another adjustment to see if we can work on the shape of her head and get her sutures to level out. Good News is we don't have to go back until February!! WOW! 2 whole months with no trips to IA City...I can not believe it.

Over the weekend we left Nora for the first time. She spent Saturday with my parents so Freddy and I could do a little deer hunting and then go to Freddy's work Christmas Party. While we has a lot of fun I couldn't wait to get home to get home to my baby. It's amazing how things have changed.

Monday marked my return to the working world. I was sad leaving and felt horrible the entire day for not being with my baby. At least that day Freddy was home with her so it made it a little bit easier to not have to go back to work and first day of daycare on the same day! I am so excited to get home that night. Best part of the day.

Tuesday came and it was time to take her to daycare. We have a WONDERFUL in-home daycare that I couldn't be happier with so it made leaving her a little but easier because I knew she was in great hands! Ali sent me TONS of pictures throughout the day so it put me at easy and made my day. Nora seemed to adjust to daycare very quickly and our week went great! It is for sure a lot different getting ready for work when you have a baby, a whole new routine. Gets easier everyday.

    

This week was also Grandma's birthday so we celebrated with her with dinner at Jethro's, which was great.

NEW MILESTONE: Holding her head up with little wobble. Can sit in a bumbo chair!!!!

So excited for our FIRST CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

Daddy Back to Work

The dreaded times has come and we are starting back to work, thankfully I have a couple extra weeks but Freddy returned to work this week. It worked out pretty well this week because Freddy was night flying so he was still her to help me in the mornings.

Due to everything Nora has been through we really have not been able to get schedule going. So that has been my focus this week, trying to build a routine. We have had her sleeping in the bassinet since it was angled it was the best place for her when her shunt was leaking. They said keeping her at an angle will help keep the fluid down. Now that the shunt seems to be working correctly and not leaking we started to introduce her to the crib.

The first night did not go well at all. I was reading about transition to the crib and everything I found said that starting with naps is the best way to get the baby use to it before trying it at night time. So that what a did. The next day she slept for about 30 minutes in the crib after about an hour of trying to get her to sleep. The good news is the day after that she sleep for an hour and 30 minutes in the crib and will now lay down in the pack n play for naps as well with little issues. So we are making progress. Hard to try to create habit or routine given the past 10 weeks we have had.

I had a few visitors this week as well so that helped make the days a little better. As much as I would LOVE to be a stay at home mom I am not sure I could so it everyday. I would have to be involved with something, hard just sitting at home all day but worth every second being with my baby. I will say my house had never been cleaner...haha.

I can honestly say though I am totally not ready to go back to work, so thankful for one more week...oh my I only have one for week, I could cry just thinking about it. I can not believe how quickly the time has gone by, guess the hospital visits and millions of doctors appointments did help that at all.

For those of you that have kids, give them an extra kiss tonight and be thankful for every moment you have with them.

Thanksgiving

After everything we have been through the past 6 weeks it was nice to be able to enjoy time with family for the holiday and just relax.

This year Freddy and I had so much to be thankful for. For starters the birth of our beautiful daughter Nora. She has made our lives complete. It was a dream come true when we became a family. We are also very thankful for all our friends and family that have supported us through all of this. We couldn't ask for anything more. Everything from visiting us at the hospital or at home, to making us a casserole or bringing us lunch/dinner, to taking care of things at home for us like taking care of the dogs, cleaning and doing laundry while we were in the hospital, to a simple phone call or text or a simple prayer it all meant the world to us. We are surrounded by so much love!

This year we went to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving. We has such a wonderful time and loved that Nora got to meet tons of the family. I come from a very small family so the fact that Nora can grow up knowing her great-grandma, several great aunts and uncles, and numerous cousins of many degrees is pretty neat. I hope some day she can meet everyone on my side of the family (little harder since they are all in Canada).
 

4 Generations

Our trip consisted of so many wonderful meals, lots of card games and a little bit of shopping. Never a dull moment when we go to Wisconsin. Nora also got to experience her first Thanksgiving Day Packers game!!                                                        

Congratulations to our good friends Nikki and Eric Wagner on the birth of their beautiful daughter Amelia Kathryn

Born November 17, 2011 at 9:07 PM.

Can't wait to meet her and for our girls to meet each other.

Baptism

On November 20th, 2011 Nora Mary- Elizabeth was Baptized at Saint Francis of Assisi Church in West Des Moines.

This was such an incredible day. We were joined by so many people who we love very much. They have been there to support us every step of the way and we are so blessed thet were there to help us celebrate this wonderful day.

Our Beautiful Angel

Nora with her Godparents and Jameson

WHAT A BLESSED DAY!