{ {Summer Lovin' }

Hi Everyone!

Sorry I have been MIA over the past couple of months. Don't worry I am back! I wont try to catch you up on everything that has happened over the last several months but I will try to catch you up before I get the recent stuff.

We had such a great summer! At the beginning of the summer Nora started her first swim lessons. Natural born swimmer like her Momma :) I had so much fun with her and couldn't believe how much she instantly took to the water.

 

 

Over the summer we visited 3 different zoos! First was the Blank Park Zoo here in Des Moines. We were invited to go for Dreamnight Night, a special even for children with chronic or critical conditions, it was a wonderful night. Then we made a trip later in the summer to the Omaha Zoo, Nora really started to like the animals and you could tell she was watching them. It was a fun day! We ended the summer at the Milwaukee Zoo in Wisconsin.

 

 

 

Freddy and I took out first trip with our Nora when we went to Bristol, TN for the NASCAR races and it was so much fun. We went for 5 days with 4 of our very good friends. I sure did miss my baby. She had lot of fun with Grandma and Grandpa though.

 

Nora got her first experience on the boat as well this summer. She LOVED it! I never knew a baby could LOVE the water, pool or lake, so much.

 

 

 

We spent a lot of time in out backyard swimming and eating BOMB POPS!

 

 

 

 



{The Firsts}

Nora changes every minute of every day. I can not believe how quickly my little girl is growing up. Over the last couple of month (month 6-8) we have hit many milestones and had many first!

{MILESTONES}

{March}
~13 lbs and 25 inches long~
* First St. Patricks Day
* First visit to the zoo
* Discovered we can eat our toes
* Moved to stage 2 foods

{April}
* First Mum Mum (Rice Cookie)
* First time using a sippy cup
* Started Crawling
* First Easter
* Sat up on own from laying down
* Daddy came home from deployment

{May}
* First Tooth (May 1st)
* Moved to size 2 diapers
* Pulled herself up
* First bath in the big bath tub
* 2nd Tooth (May 9th)
* First time in a swing
* First time in a restaurant highchair
* First time at the race track
* Was caught standing in her crib
* First word "Dada"
* Moved to new home

{Deployment 2012}

Wow! Finally able to post an update. I know, I know it has been a few month since my last post but it has been a crazy busy few months. So much has happened I am not sure where to even begin, so here I go (I am going to split it up so make sure to check them all of my new post !)

{Deployment 2012}

Nora and I survived our 1st deployment together as Freddy left for Afghanistan on February 10th. It was very hard getting use to doing everything on my own, but I survived :). I am so thankful for everything Freddy does as he such a wonderful and hands on dad. You don't realize the difference having that extra set of hand around makes until you no longer have that help. I am also so thankful that I had my parents close by as they helped out alot! If it wasn't for them I think this post would be A LOT different. HAHA. We were able to skype with Freddy every week so that made this deployment a lot easier! It was really neat watching the reaction Nora would have when we would skype. Sometimes she was very interactive with Freddy and then other times she just wanted to play. Through out the deployment Freddy sent us a book that have a video with it of him reading to her and Nora LOVED that, it made me cry every time we watched the video because she was so mesmerized by her daddy and would laught and talk to him.

Freddy got home at the end of April. After several delays on the route home, he made it! We were very excited to see him. Nora was not sure at first what to think and then when she realized it was daddy she was all smiles.

Thankfully this deployment was short so Daddy did miss too much and was home before we knew it. There were plenty of night though that it seem liked he was gone forever and would never be home. I really am lucky to have to such an easy going baby that it made this deployment a little bit easier. I couldnt imagine doing this with a cranky baby.

WELCOME HOME DADDY!

MY DADDY ~ MY HERO

5 Months!!

WOW! It is so hard to believe that Nora's is now 5 months. Is that possible?

Time is just flying by. Thankfully I am happy to report things have been quiet. We had another check up in Iowa City and they were very happy with how everything looked. Physical Therapist was just as impressed with her improvements. We finally seem have everything going the right way and Nora is doing great!!  

We did have our first trip to the ER, only an ear infection. With her shunt we have to be very careful when she runs a fever, which that night was 101.4.

Nora loves sitting up and is able to sit on her own for a few seconds before toppling over. I know it will be any day now that she will be able to sit up with no problems. She is trying so hard and hates laying down.You can not get her to sit still now. She can roll from her back to front and front to back with no issues and now she can even roll to both her left and right. There is no stopping her now. 

She is still a itty bitty but she loves her FOOD! She has really taken to the solids.Most time you can not get it to her fast enough.  

                                     Here is what we have tried:

    * Rice Cereal

    * Sweet Potatoes

    * Avocado

    * Squash

    * Banana

    * Apple Rice Cereal

    * Pears

    * Oatmeal

    * Green Beans (trying tonight)

I LOVE making my own baby food for her and being able to give her such a variety of foods. I have tried to introduce something new every 3 days or so That way I can ensure she doesn't have a reaction but gets to try a lot of different stuff.

I think we are entering the world of teething. Not showing any teeth yet but LOTS of drooling and chewing on everything. She has a mesh teething feeder that she loves to eat banana's out of of. I am also freezing formula to let her chew on that as well.

        



Making Babyfood!

Yes, that time has come! Nora is starting to eat baby food, does this seem crazy to anyone else. I can believe that she is this big already!!

I have made the decision to make my own baby food. Not only is it much cheaper but it alway way more nutrious as its all natural. I made my first go at it today. If I were to by the Gerber First Foods it would be around $1.19 for 4oz of food. Today I made 44oz of sweet potatoes for $3.09. I saved 10.00 by making it myself WOW!! I also know exactly what is in my babyfood! I totally think that is worth it. 



I would have to say it was way easy to make. I used the Baby Bullet and Steamer.  

  

I cut each sweet potato (used 3 total) in to 1/2 inch medallions. Steamed each one for 13 minutes.

    Once they were steamed to perfection I added them to 1 cup of water and pureed in the Baby Bullet mixing bowl. It only took a few seconds to puree so it was quick and easy!

Here you go....final product. SWEET POTATO PUREE!!!

I can't wait to try other things now that I have my first batch under my belt. Stay Tuned!!!

I can ROLL OVER!!

Nora has mastered rolling over. The second you put her down now she is rolling over, she loves rolling on to her belly. Now that she can roll over you never know how you are going to find her in the crib, she is a moover and a groover.

On February 4th Nora has her first over night stay with grandma and grandpa. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed a night out!! They said they has lots of fun. She even slept from 10pm to 7:30am! If only she would do that for us :)

Little Miss sure has figure out this eating thing and LOVES her rice ceral (as much as anyone could like that stuff). Most times you can not give it to her quick enough. We are up to 3 feedings of cereal a day now with a pretty think consistency. Our new high chair sure makes feedings easier too!! Since it's been a couple of weeks with the cereal now and she has been doing so well we thought it was time to introduce her first veggie.....SWEET POTATOES! YUMMY!

 

      



 





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!!!!!