6 Months!

Norah Jane, you get sweeter and more fun every month, and we are loving every moment with you recently.

- You weigh 16 1/2 pounds and are 26" long. Both in the 75th percentile for your age. Your 6 month dr. appointment went great. You are very healthy and the only concerns are the little patches of eczema on your eyes.

- You grab EVERYTHING! You want everything we drink or eat, and I'm excited for the day when I can actually let you try what we are eating.

Recently, you just started grabbing at people's faces. You do it a lot when we are feeding you, and it is the sweetest thing. You reach up and grab our nose or put your hand to our mouth. You especially love when we kiss your hand.

- You are sitting up without support and love it. You rarely want to be lying down anymore now that you have mastered sitting.

- You are very content for long periods of time and can play by yourself for 20-30 minutes. This is really helpful to me sometimes, especially in the mornings while I'm getting ready for work.

- You are a big eater! You still nurse about every 3 hours, and usually eat 2 other meals of real food at some point during the day. You love vegetables, and are surprisingly not a big fan of fruit. You have tried bananas and apples a couple different times, and you make the most hilarious faces. I guess I can't complain :)

- You are a mama's girl this month. You light up when I come home from work, which is also usually coupled with a cry of distress. You are so excited to see me at the same time you realize how much you missed me (usually also coupled with how hungry you just realized you were). I treasure these moments so much and will always hold them very dear to my heart.

- Mrs. Shelley and Mrs. Lauren have been watching you during the week (and blessing us immensely with this), and they both adore you. We could not ask for you to be in any better hands during the day while we are gone, and it gives us so much peace knowing you are very well taken care of. We also adore that you and Elle are becoming best buds :).

- Your daddy made up a great song for you about a week ago (this is nothing new), and I want to write it down so we will always remember:

"Daddy is my friend,
He will love me till the end.
God made him my daddy,
I think that is great.
God made him my daddy,
so him I will obey."

We will try to sing this to you often, and hopefully it will come in handy one day with discipline ;).

Here's some more pictures from our 6 month "photo shoot". You are truly not an infant anymore, as you can see:

We love you sweet girl, and could not imagine life without you. Your sweet smile and demeanor bring so much joy to our days. Thank you Jesus for this precious gift.

5 Months!

Sweet baby girl: Now that you are almost 6 months, I am finally writing about your fifth month. But this was a big month for you and you changed a lot, and I want to remember every detail!

Norah, at 5 months:
- You have put on more weight and have the chunkiest little thighs and cheeks...I absolutely love it!
- You started eating solid foods at around 5 1/2 months. You are a great eater. After your first feeding, you learned how to keep 98% of the food in your mouth.

We started you with rice cereal, and you didn't mind it, until we gave you sweet potatoes, then you realized how much flavor you were missing out on. Next we did green peas, and then some avocado. You will eat the peas, but you don't go crazy over them like you do sweet potatoes and avocado. So far no allergic reactions!

- You can sit up without support! You started this at about 5 1/2 months as well, and so far you can go for about 4-5 minutes before falling over!

- We finally broke you of your swaddle, and it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. We just stopped cold turkey for naps and nighttime, and just left you in your crib to figure it out. The first couple of days were rough, and you cried a lot, but you quickly figured out how to sleep with all your limbs free, and now you love it and are back to being a great sleeper.

- You are very flexible, and we are so thankful for this. You have many different people who take care of you throughout the week, and every day looks different, yet you handle it like a champ and it rarely phases you. Thank you.

- You are so fun. We feel like we have entered into a new world with you these past few weeks, as you are way more aware and alert, have started grabbing for things, are more active, and are just generally more fun and playful. We love it.

We love you baby girl. You have us wrapped around your finger, and we can't imagine life without you.

4 Months!

4 months has been so much fun! They're right, each new stage IS more fun!

Norah, at 4 months:

• You are such a sweet and easy baby! We are so thankful for this because we are having one of our busiest seasons yet, and you are so flexible and go with the flow so well. Especially with childcare. I can't even count the number of different people who may watch you in any given week, yet you still stick to your schedule pretty well and are generally pretty easy!
• You rolled over from your stomach to your back over Christmas, but have yet to do it since! But you are about to roll over from your back to your stomach any day! You are trying so hard!
• You know your mama and are super attached to her :). Everyday when I come home from work, you light up for me, and it melts my heart every time. You also will only laugh for your mama! I am so thankful for this as well because I was so worried that you wouldn't know me or be bonded to me once I went back to work full time. Thanks for daily showing me that's not true!
• You have a little bit of feistiness in you :). With certain things, you know what you want and are not happen when we don't give it to you! Especially with eating. If you are hungry and I try to give you the pacifier instead, you refuse to take it and then proceed to yell at me! On the good days, I laugh at this, but on others, it can stress me out!
• You are a talker, and a loud one! We have had so many different people tell us this, so I guess it is unique to you! One of my favorites is when we're in the car, and if you are awake, you could talk to yourself the whole car ride!

This month has been so much fun, and your dad and I feel so greatly connected to you. We can't imagine our lives without you, and the joy you bring to us is inexplicable. We love you sweet girl. 

3 Months!

3 Months has been a big change for sweet Norah. She has become way more alert, has found her voice, and smiles ALL the time! She generally just seems like a happier and more content baby this month, and we are so so blessed by how easy going she is. 

Norah, at 3 months:

- you are getting so big! you are still in 0-3 month clothes, but you have cute little fat rolls all over your body and a "buddha belly"!

- you yell all the time, just for fun and because you are happy. many times you make yourself choke and end up coughing because you yell so loud, it's hilarious. you are quite the talker already.

- I think your vision has recently changed and you can see much clearer and further now, because you are always scanning and looking around, moving your head back and forth constantly, taking it all in, especially when we're in a new place. 

- you laughed for the first time yesterday! It is the best sound ever! You are one happy baby!

- you are SO EXPRESSIVE! You make crazy faces all the time, and whatever you are thinking/feeling is written all over your face. I used to think this was common of all babies, but I'm realizing that it is unique to you. I guess you are your mom's child after all :)

- you LOVE your play mat! You will be happy just laying there for a really long time. You especially love your mirrors and your blue elephant, you talk to him often :)

- you rolled over (from your stomach to your back) for the first time at Christmas! For about 2 days, you were rolling over a ton, but since then we can't seem to get you to do it again!

- you are working on sleeping through the night. We've been down to one night time feeding for awhile, and now your dad and I are trying to get you to skip that, especially before I have to go back to work. You lasted until 6am two mornings this week, but you didn't make it past 2am last night, so we'll see. 

And now for a plethora of pictures, many from our photo shoot this morning :)

Sweet Norah Jane

It's official...I'm the worst blogger ever. But instead of trying to set high hopes for myself of being a consistent blogger, I'm just going to use this as a place to write down memories for myself every now and then.

Our sweet Norah girl is 10 weeks old, and what an amazing whirlwind these last 10 weeks have been. Our lives have forever changed, and I don't think we've even realized what that fully means yet. But I already can not imagine life without this sweet girl. I want to record some of the things she is doing now, because she's already growing and changing way too fast, and I can barely remember what she was like when she was first born. 

Norah, at 10 weeks you:

- are a happy baby. The only time you really fuss is if you are overtired, and we try very hard to avoid this state. You are sure to let us know if you are hungry or bored, and you definitely have some lungs on you, but these problems are quickly solved. You are not hard to figure out. We have only experienced an inconsolable cry (lasting longer than 3-5 minutes) once or twice in your life, and we are very thankful for the Lord's grace in this so far. 

- are a good sleeper. Your first week of life you were sleeping 6 hour stretches, and the doctor told us we needed to wake you up sooner than that to eat. Wow. The last 4 weeks or so, you generally only have one nighttime feed, and one early morning feed, and you almost always go right back to sleep after these feeds. 

We are currently working on sleep training, and are teaching you to take naps in your crib, fall asleep on your own, and soothe yourself back to sleep when you wake yourself up. This has not been an easy process, and I feel like I have spent the majority of my days getting you to sleep. A couple of nights ago, you were extremely overtired and would fall asleep, but wake yourself back up every 5 minutes. Your daddy and I were desperate, so we let you cry it out in your crib. I cried with you. You lasted 2 hours before I finally came in and picked you up. The next night when you woke yourself up, we let you cry, and it lasted 45 minutes. Tonight was 20, so hopefully we're making progress! I hope so, because this is probably harder for your mama than it is for you!

- your favorite places are your bouncer and your changing table (although you almost fell off today when I went to get something from your closet, so this may not be a place you hang out at very long any more!). 

- recently found your hand, and you love it! You also just starting loving looking at a mirror and talking to the "other" baby. You will last so long doing this!

- had your first sickness already! At your 2 month checkup the doctor confirmed that you had a minor ear infection and diarrhea. This only really affected you for a couple of days, but those days were hard and you were pretty irritable. We are just glad it cleared up quickly and you didn't have to take any meds!

- are a daddy's girl, and always light up for him, and look for him when you hear him enter the room. Up until just recently, he could soothe you just as well, if not better, than I could. And he loves you right back. You melt his heart already girl. 

- are starting to mimic the noises I make to you. You can do it sometimes, and other times you just move your mouth like you're trying to get it out. I may look like a fool saying "goo" to you all the time, but it's so fun when you say it back! 

You are such a blessing, and I want to remember each and every sweet moment with you! Now for some pictures...

                                           {2 month picture. It was done super quickly
                                                because this was ear infection day. }

                                                            {Sweet Smiles}

                                                        {I love this little cutie}

25 Weeks

For those of you who haven't seen me in person in awhile, you might be surprised by how much my belly has grown!! It still surprises me almost every day! Baby girl is just starting to really put on weight and subsequently, so is her mama :).


I can't believe I am almost 26 weeks...I know sweet baby girl is going to be here before we know it! She has been such a mover lately and I feel like I've spent so much of my week just sitting or laying down and watching my belly. We can not only feel her kicks and movements, but can see her move and switch positions. If I'm getting this much joy from watching her inside my belly, I can't imagine what it'll be like once she's out!


Recently I have begun to feel the beginning of a season of preparation. So much of my life and time and energy right now is spent preparing for her to be here, and I don't see that changing until she's here. I am beginning to figure out how long I can take off work and how my job will look while I'm gone, we're starting to look into labor preparation classes, and we just bought a crib! I have big dreams in my head for a nursery, and am ready to move into our new place so I can start actually making some of these ideas come true. Needless to say, Justin and I are not physically anywhere close to being ready for her to be here, but emotionally we already feel like she is part of our family and can't wait to meet her!

Pregnancy Highlights

How far along: 25 weeks

Fruit/Veggie size: Eggplant (whoa!!)

Baby changes: Baby is beginning to gain weight and her skin is beginning to look less wrinkly. Baby's nostrils are starting to open and she is beginning to practice how to breath. 

Best moment this week: Her sweet movements. This may be the best moment every week, but in this past week her kicks/movements have gotten a lot stronger and have made us wonder aloud many times "WHAT is she doing?!"

Movement: See above!

Food craving: None, my hunger has just significantly increased. I feel myself getting a little anxious whenever we leave the house because I'm thinking about the next time I'll eat, if I'll get hungry, if I need to bring any snacks with me, etc. 

Sleep: I generally wake up once a night to go to the bathroom, but not every night. The last two nights baby girl has woken me up around 5am with the most intense movements I've felt yet, and I've woken Justin up and we've laid there and just reveled at this miracle inside me.

Clothes: I am in a lot of maternity clothes, although a lot of my normal clothes still fit, which is good because I don't have very many maternity clothes, so if you have some you would like to pass on, please do! (And thanks to my sweet friends who already have :)). 

I am in the middle of re-arranging my closet and creating a section of everything I can wear. Mornings are starting to take too long because I try on too many clothes figuring out what fits me and what doesn't. 

Symptoms: Still a fairly easy pregnancy, though I am beginning to have more discomfort. I have been experiencing some indigestion, mostly at night when I go to bed. It's a catch 22 because I'm always hungry right before I go to bed, but if I lay down shortly after I eat, I'll have indigestion. 

I still have varicose veins on the back of one of my knees, and they have caused me slightly more pain, but nothing crazy and most days I don't even remember I have them. 

What I'm looking forward to: Decorating her nursery! And officially deciding on a name! We have some ideas and think we may know what her name is, but have not committed to a name yet. We have been praying for her name since we found out we were pregnant, and really have been asking the Lord to show us a name that fits this specific child of ours. We want a name with meaning that we can pray/prophesy over her life, so this is no small decision!

LONG Overdue...21 Weeks

It's official...my goal of blogging about this pregnancy has not gotten off to a great start. But I'm only halfway to the end, so there's still hope!

I am now 21 weeks and have officially made it halfway...crazy! I can't believe it's gone by that fast and I'm sure I will be holding my sweet baby girl before we know it.

That's right folks, we are having a baby GIRL! We found out about a week ago, and we couldn't be more excited. I had a feeling for most of my pregnancy that it was a girl, and although Justin had no feeling either way, I do think he was slightly surprised. The world of girl is (obviously) more unknown to him, so being able to raise a little girl well seems a little more difficult, but we realize that either way, we need the Lord's strength and wisdom to raise any of our children well. We have a few ideas for a name, and will share once it becomes official. We are praying that the Lord will give us a name with a significant meaning that we can pray/prophesy over our daughter's life. Pray for this with us and let us know if you have any ideas!

So far, this pregnancy has been better than Justin and I could've ever asked for, and we are so blessed the Lord has chosen to make this a fairly easy road for me. My main symptom in the first trimester was fatigue, and I rarely, if ever, dealt with nausea or morning sickness. And second trimester has been even better. Recently, when people ask me how I'm feeling, I have to stop and think "oh yeah, I'm pregnant", because I seriously feel almost 100% all the time. Praise the Lord.

As this baby continues to grow inside me and we feel her sweet movements daily, Justin and I are falling more and more in love with her. We are already so anxious to meet her and hold her in our arms, and we are beginning to feel more and more like a family of three. The Lord perfectly planned the timing of this pregnancy, and we could not have planned anything better ourselves.

Now for the Pregnancy Highlights of the week:


How Far Along: 21 weeks


Fruit/Veggie Size: A large banana


Size: About 8 inches long and 11 ounces


Baby Changes: Eyebrows and lids are present now. Arms and legs are finally in proportion. Neurons are now connected between the brain and muscles, and cartilage throughout the body is turning to bone.


Best Moment This Week: Getting smiles from strangers out in public. It's just starting to be obvious that I'm pregnant, and most likely everyone I come into contact with can tell. I'm sure this is just the beginning of this :).


Gender: A precious baby girl!!


Movement: I have been able to feel our little sweet pea move every day and it never ceases to amaze me. Justin has also felt her on a daily basis, and we think she is beginning to respond to his voice when he talks/sings to her. He's going to be a great daddy :).


Clothing: I am still in all my normal clothes. Just in the last few days have some of my pants not been able to fit, but overall, everything still fits. I have been given a few maternity tops and dresses, but I'm hoping I still get to hold out on wearing those for a little while since I might be wearing the same few outfits once I'm in all maternity!


Food Craving: None that I can think.


Food Aversions: None, I'm just more picky in what I want to eat at any given time. Certain foods don't sound good to me at certain times, and this is not usually normal for me.


What I miss: Being able to run an errand/go into a store without having to go to the bathroom at least once while I'm there, even if it's only a 5 minute trip.


Sleep: I have to wake up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night about once every other night. I can't complain!


What I Am Looking Forward To: Beginning to plan and prepare her nursery! I am starting to brainstorm some ideas...decorating for a little girl is going to be so much fun!


Symptoms: Not many. Like I said, I have felt pretty much normal throughout this second trimester. Some symptoms are frequent urination, nasal congestion, increased appetite, and some varicose veins on the back of one of my knees (which have been painful a few times).