Nora Kay Love ~ 5 Months

And almost as shocked I am that it's May already, my baby girl is 5 months old.  One month away from being closer to 1 than a newborn! 

Weight: Who knows?!?  We don't have another checkup again until next month, but we get probably weekly comments about how cute and chunky she is.  Nora definitely doesn't leave any food on the table, and I'm so glad she's my chunky, roly poly girl! 

 

Clothes: We've officially moved into size 2 diapers, and I've moved her into most all of Elyse's old 3-6, 6-9 month clothes.  During our semi-annual, seasonal shopping trip I did pick up a few things for her and I bought 6-9 month stuff just so it would for sure fit for at least most of the summer.  I've boxed up all the newborn stuff and I really need to clean out her closet to make room for all the cute summer dresses and rompers that have been boxed
up for the last 3 years! 

 

Food: She's cut back a bit on the quantity that she's eating, but we've still got that overnight feeding.  I haven't had the heart to take it away completely, but last night I did only allow her to eat on one side and as long as I gave her the pacifier she seemed just fine.  I'm truly thinking she's not waking up from hunger, but more from just wanting to snuggle.  I'd really love to get her sleeping through the night...but our 15 minute snuggle/nursing session won't last forever and I just can't bring myself to let her cry it out quite yet.  I can't believe we'll be starting some solids in just a few short weeks! 

 
Sleep:  It's really not bad at all.  She goes down for the night sometime around 7:30 and typically, hopefully, fingers crossed...makes it until at least 1am before waking up.  I feed her, she goes promptly back to sleep and typically I wake her up at 7am to start our day/schedule.  If she wakes up before then, or before the 1am mark, Hubby goes in and gives her the pacifier which typically will buy us quite a bit of time.  She's still being swaddled, but I'm also thinking we may have to get rid of that soon because she's wanting to roll over and it's just no good to roll over AND be swaddled.  Of course, as of her 5 month birthday...we took away the overnight feeding.  Now we just go in and give her back her pacifier and she easily makes it through the night.  Hopefully she'll start sleeping through on her own soon without us having to do the mean cry it out thing! 
Activity: Well, this month she at least learned to roll from belly to back...but she doesn't want to show off every day.  She will roll over on to her side consistently and also does the whole 360 degree rotation while on her mat...but she just hasn't quite figured out how to roll over her shoulder yet.  We traded out the Mamaroo for her Jumparoo this month and she enjoys looking at all the animals and sounds that come along with that.  She's not quite tall enough to reach the floor, but she's OH so close!  She still really enjoys being down on the floor and if being held she wants to be able to see out so she can see what's going on.  Can't say that I blame her!?! 



Personality: Her personality continues to develop and blossom each day.  We have conversations on a regular basis and she is certainly not stingy with her smiles.  She's also just recently learned to blow raspberries, which results in a crazy amount of drool!  Slobbers, oh the slobbers!  We've started putting bibs on her so she doesn't get upset about having wet clothes.  I honestly keep waiting to see a little tooth pop through...but nothing yet, and I can certainly wait awhile on those!  She still has her witching hour in the evenings before bed, but that seems to be tempered now that we're able to be outside and go for walks right before bath/bedtime. 

The first time she actually noticed the giant bear sharing her chair! 

Likes:

*I didn't change most of these from last month...Elyse, her hands, and the floor are still some of her favorite things! 

Elyse--Nora LOVES her big sister...and I'm pretty positive Elyse adores her back!

Her Hands--This girl has her hands in her mouth ALL. THE. TIME. I really thought she might be teething, but I think she's just discovered her hands and absolutely loves having them in her mouth.  

Independent Time--She will lay on the floor for 20-30 minutes at a time just hanging out and batting at her toys.  She's also starting to love her jumparoo and it makes it easier to fix dinner when I have multiple places to move her! 

Mom...I'm Done.  Seriously.  Done. 

Dislikes:
There really isn't much to add here...this girl is happy probably 97% of the time. With 1% being when she's SUPER hungry, another 1% being when she's tired, and the other 1% when Elyse has invaded her personal space just a little too much! ;o)

Elyse & Nora: 
This relationship continues to grow and blossom just as Nora's personality continues to shine through.  Nora constantly watches Elyse and loves it when she walks in the room.  She giggles every time as Elyse runs by and Elyse manages to get a smile from Elyse almost every time she tries!  I know that soon Nora will be crawling around and following Elyse everywhere...and while I certainly don't want to wish the moments away, I can't hardly wait to see them truly interact and play with each other.  (of course I know that may also bring along some fighting, which I could do without!) 

 

My precious Nora,

You are such a joy.  Seriously. I can't imagine our life without you, and it seems as if you've been here all along.  Your personality lights up a room and you talk and talk and talk when you're happy & rested & full.  I can't wait to see your own individual characteristics blossom as you continue to grow and learn about this wonderful world.  We love you more than words can say. 

Momma

Project 365 ~ April

After the medical craziness, April was a nice change of pace with just a few simple blood draws here and there.  With all positive increases in platelet numbers!  Woohoo!  I did miss a few days during April, but I really love having this record to go back on to see what all we accomplished during the month.

And so...here's our month in review!  

We went for several walks around the neighborhood...

Nora had her first belly to back roll...and it might have startled her just a bit...

We celebrated 4 months with Nora...

I successfully planned the Easter egg hunt at our church...

and we spent Easter Sunday celebrating with family...

Nora sat in her high chair for the first time...but no food yet...

Elyse introduced Nora to the excitement of red wagon rides..

And we took a few comparison shots--Elyse 4m2w on the left & Nora 4m1w on the right!  Twinsies!

Elyse was constantly her silly self...

Hubby got his girls dressed up in their Cardinals gear for the Opening Day @ Busch Stadium...

I went back to Zumba for the first time in over 6 weeks, and it felt amazing...

This  girl showed a bit of the "trying 3s" and we had some rough days, but we seem to have worked through it...

Nora experienced the joy of the the jumparoo...and loved it!  

We did more belly to back rolling, but haven't quite figured out how to do back to belly.   

We ate our fair share of ice cream, and with sprinkles of course! 

I planned a girls' night out and we had a fabulous dinner just hanging out and laughing.  A LOT.  

 Nora kept smiling.  All the time.  

Mamaw planned a perfect princess party for Elyse.  For no reason other than just for fun!  Decorations, cake, crowns, capes, and heart shaped grilled cheese were all included!  

We realized Nora was maybe getting a bit too big for Elyse to hold her on her lap.  

Just before her 5 month birthday, I ventured out with both girls' to Target and birthday shopping for Hubby.  We survived and we all napped well that afternoon!  

 Cousin Jackson got to see his precious Baby Nora...

& Gigi dressed Nora with some funny looking leg warmers aka socks when the weather was a bit more cool than we had dressed her for!  

I won some cool mom points when we had a picnic lunch on the playset!  

And I cherished some full-lap, full-heart moments reading with my girls on my days off...

To end the month, we found out that the next baby in our family will need more blue than pink...my brother & his wife are expecting a baby boy in October!  Poor kid, he better learn to love baby dolls & princesses too!  

Easter 2015

Well I just realized that I uploaded all of our Easter pictures last week, but never actually finished the post.  We had quite the busy Easter weekend, which will probably remain the case for many years to come!

We started things off on Saturday morning with our Easter Egg hunt at church. However, things were a little different this year because...I WAS IN CHARGE!!!!  Along with another lady from church and several volunteers, I organized our hunt this year which included 4000 eggs, a couple of bounce houses, a complimentary hot dog lunch, and some various Easter games.  Along with our church family, we also specifically invited some ministries in the area that reach out to single moms.  I have to pat myself on the back just a tad and say that the event went off wonderfully! Sure...there are a few things I would have done differently, but overall it was a great success!

After the event at church was over and all cleaned up, we headed to Hubby's parents' house for a quick Easter celebration.  We had another egg hunt for the kids, and then we spent most of the afternoon just hanging out and enjoying the sunshine!  

I do have to admit that in many ways I completely failed at Easter this year.  Well...at least when it came to doing Easter stuff.  With all of Nora's medical drama, March just flew by and the last thing on my mind was pulling out all of the Easter decorations and filling every day with Easter-related fun.  However, I did manage to buy a few jelly beans that I had Elyse plant...and guess what?!?  They grew into suckers!   She totally thought this was amazing and it literally took me all of 2 minutes!

I did also manage to fill the girls' Easter baskets (not new matching baskets as I'd hoped...but there's always next year).  For Nora we included a swimsuit and sun hat, a couple of new headbands, and her very first bible.  And for Elyse we included a swimsuit, new flip flops, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, a new jump rope, headbands (which she hates), and just a touch of candy.  We definitely lean towards the practical side of things for Easter baskets.

Before church we actually managed a timer-taken family photo with everyone actually looking at the camera...and I was also able to manage a couple of father/daughter & mother/daughter shots!  You might recognize the girls' Easter outfits from Nora's 3-Month photo shoot...hey, I can't waste that much cuteness on just one photo shoot!

After church we headed down to my parents' house for the annual family Easter gathering.  The weather was pretty much awful, but we did manage another group photo, some dance party shenanigans from Elyse, and even a quick Easter egg hunt outside.  However, our darling, prissy, princess was more concerned about a few raindrops that were on the plastic eggs than she was about the candy actually hiding inside.  Silly girl...we're seriously going to have a "who cares if we get a little bit wet or dirty" intervention.  It's ridiculous.  Really.