3 Month Sneak Peek

She just keeps getting prettier (maybe I'm biased though?)!  I'll post the online link and password hopefully tomorrow once Jayme gets them all done.  She posted this Sneak Peek on Facebook yesterday and I about died!  L.O.V.E.

10 weeks

Norah saw the doctor on her 10 week birthday (we thought she had an ear infection - she didn't) and she weighed 11 pounds 8 ounces and was 22.5 inches long!  Big Girl!

Beautiful Baby Girl

We had Norah Jane's newborn photos taken at 2 weeks old.  Here are just a few of my favorites!

Norah - Two Months

Sweet Norah Jane

Norah Jane turned 2 months old on this past Friday and she is growing like a weed! Her One Month update is here. She is starting to be little Miss Personality, but is also quick to let you know when she has had enough! Norah started daycare on 3/26/12 and the first night was rough, she got way off schedule and ended up being awake from about 1am to 4am! Momma got about 3.5 hours of sleep that night! Yuck! Thankfully, she seems to be adjusting well and we haven't had another night like the first one! We had her 2 month check up with Dr. Mijares yesterday which means she got her first round of vaccinations - 3 shots and one oral vaccine. Needless to say Norah was not a fan. The appointment ran late so she was already ready for a nap and screamed while the nurse checked her out, screamed while the doctor checked her out, then I got her to sleep, then the nurse came back with the shots and the screaming started again. Thankfully she calmed down rather quickly and spent the majority of the day sleeping up on my chest. She did have a couple meltdowns, but recovered quickly and this morning was all smiles!

Jack keeps becoming more and more interested in Norah, slowly but surely. Last night the cutest conversation happened. I was sitting with Norah in the chair, Chris was sitting on the couch and I was telling Jack that Daddy needed to give him his bath early because Momma had to go to work (Bunco - I tell him I'm going to work because he never gets mad or whines for me to stay).

Jack - "No, my Daddy mean!"

Me - "That's not nice Jack, don't you love your Daddy?"

Jack - whining

Me - "You better go get your Daddy!"

Jack - laughing ran to Chris and hopped up on the couch

Me - "See you love your Daddy!"

Jack - "And MY Baby Norlah!"

So cute! The whole "My Daddy mean" thing is Jack's clever way of trying to get me to do everything for him so we've been working on that. Frustrating to say the least, but Chris and Jack have been spending more time together than ever before and Chris is really starting to grow on Jack. They "work" in the garage or in the yard. They play baseball and go "fishing" in the front yard. They wrestle in the living room and go hunting in "Daddy's Office." I love seeing their relationship develop because for so long Jack refused Chris and only wanted me for everything, so it's nice to see them interact and enjoy spending time together!

Okay, back to Norah - here is her 2 Month Update!

Eat - Norah is currently eating 3.5 ounces 7 times a day! That means only ONE middle of the night feeding! Yea! We had a bit of a hard time getting her volume increased because it seemed to make her reflux worse and she would have trouble napping during the day. We tried a couple times and just started slowing adding more bottles a day at 3.5 ounces versus 3 ounces and it just seemed to finally work out. I still think she could easily take more at each feeding, but she seems content and isn't wanting to be fed earlier than her 3 hour schedule so we are sticking with where we are for now. We will probably try to bump her again closer to her 3 month mark.

Sleep - Norah is sleeping much better at night than she was a month ago. She usually is half awake during her middle of the night feeding and goes right back down to bed. We started a bedtime routine around 7 weeks and it has seemed to really help. She takes her "bedtime" bottle between 6:30 and 7:00pm and is usually asleep by 7:30, maybe 8:00 at the latest. I feed her again before I go to bed at 10:00pm and then she sleeps until anywhere from 2:00-3:00am and eats, then back to bed until 6:30am. Sometimes she goes back to sleep for an hour or hour and a half after this feeding and sometimes she doesn't. She is still sleeping in her Rock N Play Sleeper beside our bed. The RNP is angled up at a 30 degree incline so it helps her not reflux at night and she seems to love it! I'm already dreading the day she outgrows it! We even have one at Tonya's that she takes all her naps in. Norah has started fighting her naps which is frustrating, but she usually gives in fairly easy, but lately I've been having to put her sleep by rocking or holding and patting or else she will stay awake forever!

Health - This month has gone rather smoothly, we did have to double her Prevacid dose around the 7 week mark and it's really seemed to help. I don't feel like she is refluxing as much as she was a month ago or even 2 weeks and I'm hoping that she might already be starting to grow out of it! Fingers crossed! Norah is still a Gassy Girl, but it doesn't seem to bother her much but my girl can let 'em rip for sure! Dr. Mijares said she looks great, I did ask her about whether we will or should do anything about the Ecogenic Focus that was seen on her heart in utero and she said that they typically don't unless there was an indication of a problem. She said her heart has sounded great and her heart rate is always strong, no indications of murmurs or anything like that so she doesn't feel we need to do anything unless something changes.

Play - Norah is starting to play, well as much as a two month old can. She is starting to tolerate her swing in small doses better and we tried out the Bumbo chair this month (that didn't last long because the pressure on her tummy made her spit up). She has decided she HATES tummy time so that's a challenge. Oddly enough though, she likes to lay on her back and just move and groove, moving her arms and legs like crazy, - odd because usually reflux babies hate being on their back, this gives me hope that transistioning from the RNP that is angled to her cradle or crib will go smoothly. Norah has started batting and swinging at toys on her playmat, it's funny to watch her get excited!

Learn - Norah has started recognizing my voice and will turn the direction it's coming from. She started really smiling around 4-5 weeks and will generally flash her pearly gums at just about anyone. She started cooing maybe a week or so later and has developed multiple sounds, screams, coos throughout the month! I think she is going to be a talker like her Momma! She also is very interested in faces, she loves to stare at you and just observe, mostly your mouth as you talk to her. Little Miss Piggy has also started recognizing her bottle and will promptly start smacking her lips when she sees it, it's kind of cute!

Grow - Norah weighed 11 pounds 3.5 ounces (75th percentile) and was 22 inches long (just over 50th percentile) at her 2 month check up. She outgrew her newborn clothes around 6 weeks and is already fitting very nicely into her 3 month clothes. She is also wearing size 1 diapers and seems to be outgrowing those quickly, too bad I just ordered and received a HUGE case of size 1 from diapers.com. :-(

Norah and Lenny - Month Two

Big Girl

Norah turned 7 weeks yesterday! We had a check up today for her reflux and she weighed 10 pounds 8 ounces and was 22 inches long! Starting to chunk it out!

I'm also going back to work this next Monday! I'm ready, but I'm not. You moms know how that goes! I'll give a full report!

Norah - One Month

My Little Diva Doll Baby!

This post is about a week late, but better late than never! I've been thinking back about the last month and I honestly think I was on complete auto-pilot! As most new moms know, you do what you have to do to survive on an ungodly lack of sleep. The first few weeks were hard and I felt like a first time mom because I couldn't remember how anything went or was when Jack was a newborn - it was like experiencing it all over again. The good news...we survived! Norah is a much more laid back baby than Jack was, but that's not to say she hasn't been challenging - she has! We are starting to get on a bit of a schedule, which is nice but I'm really not trying to hard yet because I will be going back to work in 3 or 4 or 5 weeks (I haven't fully decided yet) and I know her whole routine will change at that point and a new schedule will develop. Norah will be going to the same daycare Jack does, Jack has been going to Tonya's since he was 9 weeks old and we couldn't have gotten luckier to have found her! I feel great about Norah going to Tonya's and I know she will be well taken care of it, but still there is that little bit of sadness inside that I won't be the one taking care of her everyday! But I also have to be honest and say that I'm a bit excited to go back to work and get back to my "normal" - you know, putting fresh clothes on every day, showering every day, putting on make up, brushing my hair daily and wearing it down instead of in a ponytail, having conversations with adults, going to the Y at lunch to step class or for a run through the park, etc. etc. etc. Enough about me, let's get to Norah's One Month Update!

EAT - So far Norah seems to be a bigger eater than her brother was. She is eating 3 ounces every 3 hours day and night. Hopefully we will be able to bump her up some over the next month and she will sleep a little longer at night! There have been a few nights where she slept 4 hours, but for the most part we are pretty much on a 3 hour cycle 24/7!

SLEEP - Norah is starting to stay awake for a little while in between feedings - she is usually awake 1 to 1.5 hours then naps the other portion of the 3 hour span. She usually does fairly well at night...she seems to have a little bit of awake time after her 10pm feeding which is her last "planned" feeding of the day before we let her sleep as long as she wants during the night, but it's never too much more than an hour or so - some nights though she won't settle down until 12:30am! Ouch! I'm hoping we can continue to work on only having one feeding in the middle of the night and get that pretty much routine before I go back to work! She is currently sleeping in a Rock and Play Sleeper right beside my bed, this sleeper keeps them at a 30 degree angle which is recommended for reflux babies - she seems to like it.

HEALTH - I think we have been to the doctor every single week so far! She was jaundiced (like Jack) so we had to make 3 trips to the doctor within the first week and a half to monitor it, then she started displaying signs of having reflux (like Jack) so that took some more doctor appointments. We tried Norah on Zantac first and it didn't seem to control her pain, so we are now on Prevacid Solutabs (like Jack) for her reflux. We haven't quite been on it for 2 weeks, but it's been a life saver - Norah went from crying constantly and only being able to sleep about an hour at a time before waking up from the pain to sleeping 3 hour stretches and being a happy baby! She does seem to be awful gassy, but usually doesn't have too much trouble passing it - every once in awhile she will need a tummy massage or some leg work to help get the gas to pass, but she is nothing like her brother was when it comes to gas! We are on a "gentle" formula and seem to be doing great with it.

PLAY - Norah doesn't really play yet and she doesn't really like any of her toys yet either and prefers to be held when awake. This is difficult with an almost 3 year old, but I'm getting better at knowing Norah is fine if she whines a little and Jack is getting better at waiting patiently - sort of! We have started Tummy Time which Norah will tolerate for about 2.5 minutes, she sometimes will lay on her play mat for maybe 3 minutes, and the swing lasts maybe 3.5 minutes! We are going to have to keep working on getting her more interested in toys other than Momma's arms! It seems like every time I put her on her play mat or we do tummy time or I attempt to get her to swing in her swing she spits up (dang reflux) and then gets the hiccups and it's pretty much over from there. I've been wearing her alot in the early evenings after we get home from picking Jack up from daycare because he is always needing/wanting something and she of course doesn't want to be put down!

LEARN - I think the only thing Norah has learned at this point is how to wrap her Momma around her little finger! No really, she does pretty good at self soothing and putting herself to sleep the majority of the time. She focuses on faces and has starting making her first sounds! She is also really strong, she can hold her head up for a few seconds and uses her little legs to try to stand in your lap! She also started smiling right around the one month mark and it's so cute! She knows Momma's voice and tends to calm down if I talk to her from across the room.

GROW - Norah weighed 9 pounds 1 ounce and was 21.25 inches long at her one month well baby visit! She is wearing newborn diapers and still fits (semi-nicely) in her newborn clothes.

Norah and her Lamb, Lenny!
xoxo

My Little Guy

This post is more for my documenting purposes, I took Jack to the doctor last week because he had a head cold/sinus infection and he weighed 28 pounds even! Still just a little guy, he weighed 24 pounds 2 ounces at his 2 year check up back in June - I'm hoping he can pack on a few more pounds before his 3 year appointment. He doesn't eat much at one time, he is more of a grazer and is very picky. I'm affraid we are needing to start giving him vitamins and those supplement drinks that have all the vitamins and stuff in them - he is so small! I guess we will just see what the doctor says when we go see her in a few months!

xoxo

2 Week Well Baby Visit

Norah was back up to 8 pounds 3 ounces at her 2 week well baby visit!

She was 7 pounds 15.6 ounces at birth, 7 pounds 7 ounces when we left the hospital, and 7 pounds 12.5 ounces at her 1 week well baby visit! She is packing on the pounds nicely! :-)

We did have to start Norah on Zantac, she seems to have the same reflux problems as her big brother - poor girl. It seems to be helping for now, so we are keeping our fingers crossed! Jack had to go on Prevacid which is an acid blocker - while Zantac just nuetralizes the acid so that it doesn't hurt when she refluxes. I'd prefer Norah to stay on Zantac, but we will do whatever she needs to be comfortable. Reflux is particuarly bad for infants the first 6 months or so of life because they are constantly laying down! :-(

She is still pretty unpredictable with her sleeping. She likes to have her fussy time anywhere from 6pm to 2 or 3am - she will usually pass out after 3am on most nights and then sleep until 10 or 11 am (eating every 3-4 hours, but going right back to sleep). She is definitely a night owl at this point! Yikes!

xoxo

Big Brother...

Jack holding Norah for the first time!

Jack has handled the addition of Norah Jane to the family better than I had anticipated. The first couple days home were rough, he did not like that Momma couldn't jump at every beck and call like usual, but he adjusted rather quickly!

While we were in the hospital we kept asking him if he wanted to hold Norah or give her a kiss and he would politely reply, "No...no thank you!" At least he was nice about it, right?

Now he likes to help Momma out by throwing away diapers! He also likes to give Norah kisses and to tickle her, but I think he mainly does it because he likes the attention and praise he gets from Momma and Daddy for being nice to his baby sister!

All Dressed Up...

And Headed Home!