Then and Now

Joseph at 3 weeks old:

Nora at 6 days old:

The blanket, sweater, and hat were a gift from T.J.'s Godmother Marilyn.  So lovely!

Joseph at 8 days:

Nora at 6 days:

Newborn Photo Shoot

I tried my hand at taking some newborn photos of Nora the other day.  I got a few good ones, which is I suppose all you need, right?  I think this is out of about 150 or so photos.  She was a very good sport!

Enjoy!

A busy week

Things have been busy here.  And I don't really mean like, typical "have a new baby" busy.  I mean "you are somewhat insane" busy!

Nora was born on Sunday, and we spent monday at home, of course. 

Oh my is Joseph big compared to Nora!

Chillin' in front of the fire.  What, don't you nap in baskets?

Enjoying being a big brother

On Tuesday we took Nora to the pediatrician, had some visitors, and our midwife came back to check us both over. 

First time outside

 

First car ride.  She was a champ!

 

 Not a fan of rectal thermometers, though.

 

Hey, a picture with Mama!

Wednesday I took Nora to her first La Leche League meeting while T.J. and Joseph rode the train to get some lunch.  That afternoon Auntie Debbie arrived, and that evening she and I took both of the kids to music class (hey, we had a couple to make up!)

Every once in a while Daddy even gets to hold her!

But he has to fight Auntie for her. Ha!

On Thursday, we took Nora to get her newborn hearing screen done (she's fine) and had a visit from my doula, Laura.  Joseph and Auntie baked that birthday cake I meant to do when I was in early labor.  Except that I didn't get around to it because I wasn't sure I was in labor.  (more on that soon!)

 

The rest of the day, Joseph kept busy reading books...

 

Nora napped

 

Joseph played with Nora's hair bows

 

Nora ate, and napped...

 

Joseph wanted more hair bows...

 

Nora wanted more naps...

Joseph played in the infant car seat

 

and pretended to be Cookie Monster (he does a good impression!)

 

And today to cap off our "inappropriate places we take our newborn" we rode the train downtown to vital records to get Nora her birth certificate made up before we leave.  When I called a couple of days ago, they said mornings were best.  I said, "is Friday morning OK?" and they said yes, any morning.  So we showed up a little after 9.  The person (there is apparently only one) who processes home births was at a meeting.  So we waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Finally after two hours she got back, and we made it home around noon.  

Whew!  What a week!  Tomorrow we are having a few friends over to say goodbye, Auntie leaves on Sunday, and on Monday we'll be packing up for my flight out with the 2 kiddos on Tuesday!  T.J. and his dad will be driving up on Wednesday and Thursday with all of our things.  

So, to say the least, we've been "busy". 

Introducing Nora Mae

Nora Mae was born on October 30, 2011 at 12:16 pm, 9lb 2oz, 20.75" long, peacefully into water and her mama's arms at home. 

Everyone is healthy and happy!  Amazing birth story to come in a few days!  Seriously, be super excited.

We named her Nora because we all liked it (Joseph had the tie-breaking vote) and Mae after my mama, the most loving and strongest woman I know.  It's her middle name, though I took spelling liberties being the PITA daughter that I am!

Here are some pictures to tide you over... they should be flooding into smugmug in the coming weeks, so check them out often!

Alternative methods of producing a baby

In order to produce a baby from my loins, I've been:

Taking an herbal supplement called 5-W for the last 5 weeks (6 pills per day)
Taking evening primrose oil - also for the last 5 weeks (I've been increasing weekly and am up to 6 pills/day)
Drinking red raspberry leaf tea - I'm up to 3 cups per day of a prett strong strength

And now I'm off to eat a big plate of eggplant parmesan from Scalini's, which promises results within 48 hours.  Haha. 

So don't say I'm not trying, people! 

We'll see Charlotte tomorrow for another appointment, I'm interested to see what she has to say.  I'll probably have my first cervical check then and we'll discuss additional options of "natural" induction - but I'm still pretty on the fence about evicting a baby, however naturally.  There's a reason she's still in there, and I'm trying to temper my impatience/worry about our plan to be flying out of Atlanta in 12 days with my desire to let this baby take her time.

Hopefully she won't keep us waiting too much longer.

Continuing to Bake

In more ways than one.

Joseph and I kept busy this afternoon baking five dozen chocolate chip cookies - Daddy's favorite!

Hopefully we'll be baking a birthday cake in the next few days.  No signs of labor so far.

The Latest and Greatest

Stranger comment, that is.

Today at the bank:

Banker: So, when are you due?
Me: Thursday
Banker (with look of absolute horror): THURSDAY?  Well.... (sputter, sputter)... You seem so calm!
Me (baffled): Um... well, we're just waiting for her to make an appearance....

What is the appropriate behavior supposed to be when out in public 3 days before your due date?  I assumed that I should still act like a rational being.  Perhaps I should be openly weeping or my head should be spinning around as if possessed???

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  People are weird.

Our Last Few Weeks as a Famiy of Three (In pictures)

I don't feel like doing separate posts for all that we've been up to, so here's a highlight reel of the last couple of weeks!

Mama got a new lens for her camera!  You can see what it does here... it's focal length is fixed and it can "stop down" really low, so it's great for shooting in low light (i.e. indoors).  However, you have to be careful how low you go (and how close you get), otherwise you end up with fuzzy ears and chins!

 

Joseph got a $1 store balloon.  Not exactly the equivalent gift, but he likes it just as much.  

He picked it out himself.

 

Last weekend we went to an art festival that my friend is in charge of.  We had a great time at the children's area, playing with hoola hoops and looking at the puppies from the shelter.

 

We went to the park for a birthday party for one of Joseph's friends

 

We watched a little bit of Sesame Street

 

We went to the zoo.  Grrr!

 

We celebrated Daddy's birthday - I even taught Joseph to sing Happy Birthday in only 2 days!  He's not too bad at it, either.  Now he wants to know whose birthday it is ever day - 

I think because that means he gets cupcakes!

 

We had a "Prom Playdate" at our house.  It was adorable.  (for the record, there were supposed to be more older boys - Joseph wasn't trying to shut down all the other gentlemen!)

 

We went to a pumpkin patch with my mom's group.  It was amazing.  

Joseph rode the cow train (twice!)

 

Sat on all of the tractors

 

Ran around in the pumpkin patch

 

Visited with his friends

 

Galloped on the horse

 

We also took a hay ride, fed some farm animals, watched a chain saw artist, saw a pig race, watched people shoot corn cannons, and rode pedaled "go carts".  Mama beat Joseph and Daddy, despite her huge belly hindering her.  It was a tough race!  I think the only part we missed was the corn maze... but it was naptime!

It's been a fantastic couple of weeks - a great way to end our stint as a family of three.  Baby Girl, we're ready for you!

New Video!

Check out our new videos - we've got one of baby rolling around (just like I did for big brother... baby #2 doesn't ALWAYS get the shaft).

We also have some funny ones tonight of Joseph being crazy.  He actually did a somersault on his own for the first time and we were trying to get him to do it again, but I have a feeling that it scared him a bit because he never got there a 2nd time.

It scared T.J., too.  He thinks that it's probably not good for Joseph's neck.  I figure that we all survived, right?  He probably will, too.

Molars

Last night while brushing Joseph's teeth, I discovered the tip of one of his 2-year molars!  He's been drooling for months, and I've been watching for them, but no dice until now.  The other three are still in hiding, but I'm sure at least the other bottom tooth will come through relatively shortly.

Not sure if this explains some of his behavior lately... there is so much going on with the new baby, his teeth, moving stress (which he doesn't understand but I'm sure he picks up on) and general 2-year-old-ness, that it's just impossible to pick out what the problem is most days.  He usually has anywhere from 1-5 meltdowns in a day that are mostly inexplicable.  He'll never tell me what is wrong, which makes me think that he doesn't know!  We just wait it out and after a few minutes of crying he generally comes for a hug and says that he's all done.  Poor little guy.

Maybe once the molars are in at least he won't have physical pain along with all of this emotional growth to deal with.