Catch up with Iphone pics

At the park with Ashton and Huddy

This is how I roll these days- Nora in the bjorn so I can have two hands. Poor thing gets thrown in and out we go!


I must have been quite a site on the first day I attempted this, I was pushing it up our big Deanwood hill and a car stopped to watch and the mailman asked if I was ok!


Mammers giving her famous kitchen sink baths, the same way she used to give them to me and David.

Check out this smile- Hey Nora!


Swimming in the lake with Grandpa and his cousins

Franklin with his grandfather's grill "The Ducane" that his friends like to tease him about, yes it's an "antique" but it still makes great burgers!

Miss Nora wasn't enjoying her bottle when I went to school, so we've been "practicing" all weekend! It's gotten a lot better, thankfully!

Little play time with James!

Everyone's gotten pretty busy with school starting back, and so have we. The blog has taken a back seat but I will just play catch up today with some iphone pics.

We're all doing great, although Nora has a little bit of a gunky eye and nose :( I think it's just a tiny cold. DF and I have have a little runny noses ourselves, but it's Nora's first time and I don't like it.

We celebrated Meme's 60th birthday last weekend which was so much fun, and we are looking forward to this labor day, holiday weekend!!

(she's watching her brother try to climb up the side of her crib here- ha!)





Nora with "Great Ann"

Nora is 3 months old. In some ways it seems she's still a brand new baby and in others, it seems like we've had her forever....
What she's up to-
-Wearing size 1 diapers (but only until this last package runs out)
-Great body/neck control on tummy time, but she's not a fan.
-She rolls over some from her tummy to back, but doesn't seem to do it on purpose :)
-Tracks across the room with her eyes and smiles a lot now, trying to laugh but just sucks in which sounds like a hyena mostly :)
-Has fussy periods from time to time, if it happens it's usually in the evening.
-Seems to be quite the momma's girl, which I don't mind at all ;) Her brother is a daddy's boy big time these days. Hopefully they will constantly go back and forth and "take turns" with us.
-Loves being outside, and like to face out in a lap now or being up on the shoulder. She wants to see what's going on!
-She eats every 3-4 hours. I'm still nursing so I'm not sure the amount, anywhere from 3-5 oz. Still dairy free, but yesterday I had a few bites of ice cream and no break out so her tolerance is better!!
-Sleeping really well and seems to really enjoy her big girl bed which she's been in exclusively for 2 weeks. We lay her in there awake most of the time and she will just settle herself down watching her mobile and sucking on her paci until she falls asleep. She is still swaddled and I love the "summer swaddle me" Velcro blanket- life saver! She still falls asleep after each feeding but takes a good long afternoon nap (sometimes 3 hours), and is sleeping through the night- WHOO HOO! In fact, the night before my first day of class (Wednesday night) she slept 12 hours straight. No crying, she just did it on her own. Of course this isn't consistent or even regular. Her regular is 9 hours. I feed her last around 8-9:00 and she will wake up around 4-5 and will usually fall back asleep with her paci until around 7:00.
*REVISION- wakes up around 4-5 and I've started feeding her a little again...call me weak or call me smart, but holding her off for two hours wasn't nearly as practical as going back to sleep for 4 more hours, which she does with a little snack.


Happy 3 months old, baby girl! We love you to pieces!

School Days

First day of Tuesday/Thursday St. Luke's preschool...
He's such a big boy, he just waved on his way out the door and said "bye Mommy, bye Bella." He was just thrilled I let him have a pop tart for breakfast! He is in Mrs. Etter's 2 1/2 year old class which is right by his old class and he still sees Mrs. Gaddis so all is well there, but Avery McBride is in a different class and he is missing his friend!




And today was my last one on one day with sweet baby sister. I am glad to go back to teaching on Thursday, but I am going to miss my time with my girl!!! I'm so thankful that our neighbor friend and retired Kindergarten teacher, Ann, will be able to come down and keep her at home while I'm gone! Such an answer to prayer! We are so thankful for "Great Ann!"

Look what we've found...(almost anyway)

I remember when DFB was about 4 months old, we were living at the condo looking for our house and he was asleep in his crib and he discovered his thumb. I had mixed feelings about it then because I was a thumb sucker and had a hard time breaking the habit...what 3rd grade isn't that bad!! But it turned out to be a great thing for him and he has almost weaned himself. In fact he only does it when he's really sleepy or nervous and it's getting less and less. He was always happy and could self soothe with that thumbsky and I thought/think he looks so precious and innocent with that little thumb in his mouth.

Well, sister is hot on his heels. YES!! She is about to find that thumb and maybe we can ditch that ole paci! She's trying hard but hasn't gotten the grove just yet.
I know it's weird that I actually want her to be a thumb sucker. Sorry to my ortho friends (Lauren I know you are dying) And Kim don't tell Adam ;)

A summer afternoon

His new "cheese" face when he sees the camera




Nora's tummy time- still not a fan but getting better about it and about to roll over...I think she might have on accident but I missed it and she hasn't done it again. Sleep is back on track I'm HAPPY to report- I think my poor baby was starving so I let her eat longer at night. She seems to like her bed and has been taking two naps a day in there and others on the move. I remembered being so concerned about getting DF on a schedule and he had to sleep in his bed, etc. and with Nora I need her to be on a schedule, but flexible so we don't miss out on big brother's activities. It's a different world being baby number two and I'm sure even more so for 3,or 4. I can really see now how there could be something with birth order and your personality development.

I had a helper making brownies this afternoon...I remember when my mom would let me lick the bowl or the spoon and it was such a treat. I did the same with him and he loved it too. He said, this cereal is delicious :)
This is what DF will look like as Tom Seleck, or with a goatee. Hoping he has many many years before he could ever choose to sport this look, and hoping he doesn't make that choice.

DF funnies- last night we prayed for curious george and superman, in earnest.

He had a runny nose and got a little taste (gross I know) but he said, "that's spicy."

Horses and paci fights

Yesterday afternoon we were going to go out on the boat, or to the pool, but we were too tired to load up and put on our suits so we decided to do something different. My mother's cousin has a horse farm on the way out of town that they have invited us to go see. This is quite a horse farm. They board and train a lot of the Thoroughbred race horses there. She calls it the Holiday Inn for race horses. (I just found out about this place, and I can't believe we haven't been there before).

We woke up from much needed naps- we moved Nora to her room this weekend and I'm trying to break the middle of the night feeding so we are in the "adjustment phase." I'm not sure why I started this... we were all doing so well and she was sleeping like a champ, and I got greedy and wanted to kick the night feeding but now she's waking up for her paci multiple times a night. FRUSTRATING. The tired me wants to bring her back to her pack n play in our room and feed her at night until she's full but the "baby sleep solution; 12 hours of sleep in 12 weeks" book reading me wants to stay the course. Which is leaving her in her room and still feeding her at night, but cutting back on the amount of time. Her daddy wants to stay the course too, which resulted in him sleeping in the recliner in her room for a good portion of the night to pop that paci in. Poor thing.

Anyway, we went to the horse farm yesterday in the blazing heat, but we had the best time!! David Franklin loved the old gentle horse, Tucker, and even rode him bareback with Emily, who is my mom's cousin's granddaughter who rides him all the time. We will be going back and riding Tucker many more times I'm sure. My little boy loves horses and animals just about as much as anything in the world. He was so red faced and played so hard, he said he was tired and then he started telling the sun to do down. SO CUTE!

Grow

I tried to catch a smiling pic of Nora on my phone, not the best but I got a little of that gummy grin, and she's sticking her tongue out!

Nora's doctor stats:

weight: 12 lbs. and 4 oz- 75%

height: 23 inches- 75%

head: 40cm 50%

We have a growing, healthy girl on our hands! I'm so happy, I love big ole babies and baby rolls. She is getting a nice sized, new one on the top of her thighs that is to die for!

David Franklin went with me to the appointment which was hard but thank you Lord for IPads. The hardest part was when he started to whine/almost cry because he didn't want Nora to get her shots. She had two today and was a champ but it almost broke her brother's heart. He hugged her after and said, "Good job Nora." My heart almost exploded because it was so sweet to see him love on her and have genuine concern for her!

He has gotten to be truly HILARIOUS these days. Just at the doctor's office he said:
"I want to be a doctor when I grow up." I felt the pride start to arise just like the cliche, and then he directly followed it with- "No, a zookeeper." Still felt the pride but couldn't help but laugh.

To all of my drug rep friends, he asked as two reps walked in, "Why does she have her suitcase at the doctor's? That's silly, that's just for the airport." They cracked up!

He also answers now in "probably not today." I said it was time for a nap and that is how he responded. I asked if he needed to potty, that is how he responded. He also has learned new words that he uses incorrectly. Like tasty, if it's something he doesn't like he says, "that's too tasty" and pushes it away. Difficult is another new word that he has started using but in the wrong context. He doesn't miss a beat- not. one. Which is wonderful for him and his expanding brain, but challenging for us. We've got growing minds AND growing bodies at this house!