18 Weeks Old

 Officially 4 months old now! Amazing to think that in just 2 months we might be starting some solid food, she'll most likely be sitting up and will probably have a tooth (or two!). At least that's what I'm thinking based on all the teething she seems to be doing lately. But I know that they can teethe for months sometimes before a tooth finally breaks through. Nora is really reaching out and trying to grab different things - especially her toys or Henry's toys. Another favorite thing for her to reach for is my plate as she sits on my lap at the dinner table. She's actually grabbed it and moved it a couple times. She continues to be such a happy, happy baby. I remember Henry being very content, but with Nora I find her to be quite happy - if that distinction makes sense?

I love these pictures of her. I got her balanced in a sitting position (she is not actually sitting - just precariously balanced that way). She's tolerating it alright in the first picture on the left, then about 10 seconds later I got the angry, annoyed face on the right. Then she started wailing. She'd had enough!
Still waiting to see what color her eyes are going to be. I don't remember when Henry's started changing to green, but hers are still pretty blue. Henry's are actually still changing - getting more and more hazel as he gets older. Speaking of Henry, the picture of him above was taken during his acting class's performance last Monday. It was a much bigger class and there was a pretty large audience which caused a bit of stage fright for Henry...something he'll have to get over if he expects to become a big Broadway star. :)

17 Weeks Old

Nora is almost 4 months old! I had to take Henry in to the doctor's office today for a vaccine and so I weighed her while we were there. She weighs 14 pounds, 2 ounces. Since the last time I weighed her (at 3 months) she's gained an average of 6 1/2 ounces a week.  So her weight gain has slowed which is to be expected as she gets older, but the funny thing is that she jumped up on the percentiles chart. Not that it really matters where a baby falls on the percentile chart as long as they are following their own curve, but she went from the 42nd percentile to the 52nd percentile this month. I continue to be amazed at how easy and less stressful nursing her has been in comparison to Henry. I know part of it is having the previous experience and knowing what to expect but I think on top of that Henry's issues with his mouth muscles really affected his ability to nurse which of course made it tough for him to gain weight and made the whole thing more stressful.

 I haven't been measuring her - I suppose I should. She definitely isn't as long as Henry was. I am having the opposite problem with  her clothes than I had with Henry. With him, his arms and legs would stick out of clothes before they would fit properly around his waist...with Nora the sleeves and legs on her clothes are longer than her arms and legs but the clothes are snug around the waist.

Right now she is sleeping on my lap - every time I put her down she wakes and starts fussing. This is pretty unusual for her; I'm thinking it's because she is fighting off a cold. I've felt like I've been getting sick for the last two days and today her nose has been running and this evening one of her eyes has gotten red and watery. Hopefully we are able to get it out of our systems quickly and without it progressing too much.

Below is my favorite picture (so far!) of Nora and Henry. Taken this afternoon.

16 Weeks Old

 This last week has been a busy one for us - mostly for Henry. He is taking two classes outside of preschool right now. He returned to his drama class and also to basketball. He seems to really like both but I asked him if he was interested in taking more drama and he said no. He also has already decided to do soccer once basketball has ended. So if he maintains that he doesn't want to do another round of drama maybe we'll do swimming instead. On Saturday night his school had their Winter Social which was styled like a carnival with a magic show. Lots of fun! We also celebrated my birthday on three separate evenings so that was also lots of fun!

Nora's personality is really starting to develop. She is so smiley and happy most of the time but the other night Henry startled her twice in a row and she let him have it! She did her usual babbling but with a stern, almost angry tone. I also feel like she's paying even closer attention to me and responding to more things I am saying to her. I think she is starting to discern more words. I'm pretty sure she recognizes her name and today when I said "tickle" to her she scrunched up her neck and started to giggle before I even touched her. I tried it again and got the same response. She seems close to rolling over, but unfortunately she doesn't get that much time on the floor to practice. We are on the go a lot and then when we are home the floor isn't exactly the safest spot for her to be. But I'm not worried about it; her muscles are definitely well developed and the skill will come when it comes.

15 Weeks Old

15 weeks old! Just as I say every week - she's getting so big and so strong! She's already able to wear size 6 months clothes in some brands - they tend to be a little long, but fit around her body. The most exciting new development that happened this week was that she laughed a deep, hearty, belly laugh. We were up in Henry's room and she was watching Henry on his bed playing with one of those paddle ball things (a ball attached to a paddle with elastic) while Wilbur tried to interject himself into the situation and she just laughed and laughed and laughed. Nothing like the little giggles I had been getting but a true, deep laugh. It was awesome. So far that's been the only time she's done it even though we've tried to recreate the scene for her enjoyment.

We took Jelly, Henry's school's guinea pig, home for the long holiday weekend. We always enjoy having him (or is it her? I'm not actually sure.) around the house...Nora wasn't too impressed (as per usual). I love the two pictures of her above in her Bumbo seat. I put her in it so she could watch Jelly, but as you can see she only had eyes for Henry. Even when I turned the chair to get a better picture of the two of them, she still turned her head so she could continue gazing admiringly at her big brother.  We also went to one of Henry's classmate's birthday party this past weekend. It was at Sunset Lanes and Henry had a blast - they had these ramps that launched the balls down to the pins. I had never seen that before but the kids loved it and they all had a fabulous time taking turns "bowling." That's also where the first picture of me and Nora was taken.

14 Weeks Old

This week Nora went and had her second round of shots. I delayed some and are spacing the rest out so that she never receives more than 2 shots at a time. This means more frequent doctor's appointments but I feel much better about her receiving the vaccines this way than the traditional schedule (in which a child is sometimes administered as many as 6 vaccines on the same day!). Although the link between autism and vaccines has been disproven there are still concerns about the aluminum used in vaccines as well as some that have live animal cells in them. Furthermore, if she were to have a bad reaction to a vaccine it would be difficult to determine which vaccine it was that caused the reaction. I did the same with Henry although I delayed them much longer than I am with her. With Henry being at preschool now he could bring home any number of germs and I want to make sure she's protected. I (obviously) didn't have that concern when Henry was a baby. I also got two vaccines this week - the flu shot and the whooping cough vaccine. Brett got his whooping cough in the hospital as part of their program to make sure all families with newborns are vaccinated. I elected to wait because I've had a bad reaction in the past to the tetanus portion of the vaccine and boy am I glad I did! I had an even worse reaction this time than I did last time. Not something I would have appreciated while recovering from labor as well!

Nora has started to laugh a little bit which is awesome. Not a lot, maybe only 4 or 5 times, but enough for me to get a little preview of what her laugh will sound like. She continues to be a chatterbox! I've tried to get some videos of her talking but haven't been successful as she quiets down when she sees the camera. I'll keep trying. She still hasn't rolled over yet, but she's trying! In that last picture that's what she's doing - trying to roll over. I love it too because you can see all her cute chubbiness!


 I love this picture of her in profile too. She reminds me so much of Henry, but is also definitely different as well. Another shot of her working on her muscle development as well as her mental exercises! :) Look how high she's holding her head up!

13 Weeks Old

Not only is Nora 13 weeks old today, but tomorrow she is officially 3 months old! In honor of this, we decided to take her into the doctor's office today to get weighed. Ready for this? She weighs 12 pounds, 8 ounces! 12 and a half pounds! I can hardly believe it (even though I could tell she was definitely packing on the pounds I really wasn't expecting such a great gain!). In the last 4 weeks since she was most recently weighed she's gained 2 pounds and 4 ounces or an average of 9 ounces a week (which is obviously more than an ounce a DAY! If I go by her lowest weight (which I should since I had IV fluids during the labor), she's gained one ounce short of 6 pounds since she was born. I need to go back and see what Henry weighed at three months....of course he had supplements of formula whereas she's never had a drop of formula! And really only about 5 bottles in her lifetime. Which is actually something I need to work on so that I can get out a bit more often without her.

Developmentally she has really made some significant changes in the last week as well. She's started playing with my bra strap or shirt collar while nursing which shows me that she not only is much more aware of objects around her but also able to control her hands and arms. She is consistently holding her own head up 100% of the time now; although she does get a bit bobbly headed at times still! She is seeing things at a greater distance - she watches Wilbur or Henry from across the room now. And she actually laughed today for the first time! Awesome to hear - I hope she keeps on doing it...and frequently. She continues to be a chatterbox and continues to just gaze with eyes full of admiration at her big brother. She is continuing to lose her long, dark hair - boo! But the new hair that's underneath is also dark, just not quite as dark. Her eyes are still baby blue; I can't tell if they are changing yet or not. I'm wondering if she's started a little early teething because she is constantly gnawing on her hand and has started drooling which she never used to do.

The pictures above are of her wearing the cutest hat - I love it - she looks like a little flower when she wears it. The next picture is of her in her exersaucer (which she's still a bit too little to be in for more that 5 minutes at a time). She was deeply involved in a stare-down with a smiley-faced flower. I think she was trying to talk to it too. Then there is a picture of her working on her muscles and doing some tummy time. Finally her and Henry together. The video is just a short one - I actually meant to be taking a picture but the setting was on video so I recorded a bit of Henry burping her. :)

12 Weeks Old!

Happy New Year!

Henry started back to school yesterday and even though the break was only two weeks long it was still a bit of a struggle to get back into the school routine.

Nora is continuing to do amazingly well - growing and changing every day. Even though the first picture here isn't the most flattering of Nora, I love it because it shows off her chubby face and big belly!  We (finally!) got out the Bumbo chair but after putting her in it, I actually think she's not quite strong enough for it yet. She kind of slumps over a little bit and I think her neck got tired quickly. Another week or two and then I'm sure she'll love it, She's definitely reaching out for things a lot...and talking a lot. Whenever she's held face to face with someone she talks and talks to them...a sign of things to come??