Nora at 1 month

Nora is one month old and I feel like we're getting used to being a family of four. We're definitely busier than we were before this newest little girl came along but we're having so much fun. Nora went for her one month check up on Wednesday and is doing well as far as growth. However, when the doctor was listening to Nora's heart she heard a murmur. She says that they're fairly common but wants us to get it checked out anyway. So she sent an order in for an ECHO to Mercy Hospital. Mercy should contact us sometime this week to schedule the appointment. We're praying that it's nothing and in the meantime are trying not to worry about it. Here's what Nora's up to at one month:

Nora you:

• Weighed 7 lb 12 oz & were 20.5 inches long at your one month check up
• Eat every 2-2 1/2 hours during the day and every 3-4 at night. You've had one night where you went 6 hours and it completely freaked me out because you've been so consistent about waking up!
• Are getting into a pattern of eat, play, sleep but definitely aren't on a regular schedule yet. 
• Are happiest when you are being held. You're not a big fan of being put down when you're awake and if you are put down you like to be on your stomach with a pacifier
• Sleep on your tummy. We've tried putting you on your back and you just won't sleep that way
• Are still sleeping in the pack n play in mommy & daddy's room. I know that we'll have to move you at some point but I'd like for you to be sleeping longer stretches so you don't wake your sister.
• Are affectionately called "sissy" by Ellis. She loves you so much and likes to give you wet, sloppy kisses
• Have reflux so we started Zantac this week and it seems to be helping

Nora,

Life with you is definitely different than before. You are already a little opinionated and truly love being held. (Some might call it needy but I'll call it "cuddly"). We are so happy that you are eating and sleeping well and are a pretty healthy little girl. We love you so much!

Love,

Mommy & Daddy 

Nora at 1 week

(I've had this written since 9-11-13 but didn't publish it! Oops! Oh well, better late than never)

On September 5th Nora was one week old! Even though this post is a week over due the pictures were taken on the right date. (I think that's pretty good for this new momma of two). Nora went to the doctor on Tuesday the 3rd and weighed 6 lb 2 oz, only losing 5 ounces since birth. We went back Tuesday the 10th for a weight check and she weighed in at 6 lb 8.5 oz! It definitely made this nursing momma's day for Nora to have gained 6.5 ounces in a week. It definitely makes all those late night feedings worth it! Nora is such a content little baby, so far. I think that she might have her days and nights a little mixed up because she sleeps all day and seems more awake around 11 pm and 4 am. She's not fussy during those times but is just bright eyed. She's pretty easy going though and doesn't seem to mind the noise that her older sister makes :) We love having 2 little girls!

Here are some pictures of Nora:

This one's a little blurry because it's from my phone. 

But it was taken today, 9-19-13, of our big 3 week old!

Nora,

You are such a wonderful addition to our family! You are content to lay and listen to your big sister play and are very tolerant of all of her kisses. You just go with the flow and are so sweet. Every day we get to know you better and love you more!

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

Introducing Nora Grace!

On August 29th at 10:54 a.m. little Nora Grace made her appearance. That morning I woke up around 4:30 with contractions every twenty minutes or so. I didn't think anything of it and went back to sleep. By the time I got up at 6:00 they were every ten minutes. I told Matt that I thought we should just go about our morning as usual and that I would let him know if they got closer. When I left for work at 6:45 the contractions were 5 minutes apart. I called Matt and told him that I was going to drive down Hwy 102 to go to work in case I needed to go to the hospital. His response was," Do you just need to go to the hospital?" I told him that would probably be a good idea. Thankfully Ellis has stayed the night with Rob & Kaye at the lake house so I didn't have to worry about taking her to daycare. 

Matt met me at the hospital, as he was already at work. (for a whole 4 minutes) We got checked in by 8:00 and I was at 6 cm! They started some IV pain meds and that was enough to cut some of the pain. By 10:00 the pain meds were wearing off and I was a little panicked because my water hadn't broken yet. The nurse had told me that if I got to 8 cm I couldn't have any more IV meds. So I told the nurse that I just needed my water to break. She said that she couldn't break it but that she might have to put a fetal monitor on Nora to check on her heart rate. She said that the monitor would pass through the membrane and break my water. So I agreed and once she put it in and my water broke she took it right back out and never attached it to Nora. After that things went pretty quickly. I got more medicine and within 15 minutes was ready to push. I pushed four times (12 minutes) and Dr. Fry walked in on the last push and then Nora was here!

She weighed 6 lb 7 oz and was 18 inches long. She looks a lot like Matt and doesn't really look like her sister. She has a ton of dark brown hair with her own unique little cow lick right in the middle of her forehead.  We're adjusting well to being a family of 4 and big sister is warming up to Nora more every day.

Last picture as a family of 3 the night before Nora was born

Waiting on Nora (in between contractions)

Nora Grace DeMott

Daddy & Nora

Mommy & Nora

Mommy & Daddy with Nora

Ellis waiting to meet Nora

Ellis didn't quite know what to think

Sisterly love

Daddy & his two girls

Look at all that hair!

Going home

Home sweet home

36 weeks & Nursery pictures

Well we've made it to 36 weeks as of Wednesday! Yay! We went to the doctor on Thursday and Nora's heartbeat sounded great. Still praising God that the abnormality resolved itself. The doctor checked me at my appointment and we've already made some progress. I'm dilated to 3 cm and am 80% effaced. Dr. Fry seems to think we might have a baby sooner than later. I go back next Wednesday and we'll see where we're at. I think that we're as ready as we're going to be for Nora and are so excited to meet her! Here's an updated belly picture, it's definitely getting bigger!

36 weeks, 3 days

August 24th

Here are some pictures of Nora's room. We're combining her nursery with the guest bedroom. So we've decided that if you come and are a house guest that you're also on "baby duty", ha!

Nora had to have a few things of daddy in her room. 

This is my favorite picture of Matt from when he was little. He's feeding a calf a bottle. 

A few pictures of the soon-to-be "big sister". Lately she seems like such a big girl, which is what we were hoping for before Nora came but it's still a little bittersweet. 

Update on Baby Nora: 34 weeks

We are at 34 weeks, yay! Matt and I were just talking the other day about how quickly this pregnancy has gone. It seems like a lot has happened since I last blogged about our sweet little Nora so I'll try to recap as best as I can (this post may be a little long). At 30 weeks we had another ultrasound of Nora because on the 20 week ultrasound they didn't get a good look at her spine. Her spine looked good at the 30 week ultrasound and we were excited to have another look at our girl. Here's a 3D picture from that ultrasound:

Two weeks (32 weeks) later I went back to the doctor for a regular check up. Since most check ups are pretty routine at that point I went early in the afternoon while Matt was at work. Dr. Fry was listening to Nora's heartbeat and detected an irregularity, called a pre-atrial contraction. She listened for about 5 minutes to make sure that's what she was hearing and told me that she wanted me to come in first thing the next morning to listen again. She said that most of the time these things resolve themselves and she never hears it again. Of course I left the doctor's office crying, called Matt and we spent the evening worried about Nora. The next morning we were at the doctor right at 8 to listen again. That morning Dr. Fry heard it again and said that she wanted to recommend us to a specialist. The specialist didn't have an opening for a week but we went ahead and made the appointment. At that point we had everyone we knew praying for Nora & for the upcoming appointment. 

That evening Dr. Fry's nurse called us (at 5:45 p.m.) and said that the specialist was going to open his office just for us the following morning to check Nora out. We had mixed emotions, not knowing if we were getting in early because it was urgent or because our doctor had called in a favor. The next morning we went to the specialist and he did the longest ultrasound I've ever had (almost an hour). He looked at Nora's anatomy of the heart, heart rate, blood flow to the heart, blood flow to the umbilical cord and checked her anatomical measurements. He was not able to detect the pre-atrial contraction (PAC) and said that her heart looks good. He told us that PACs can be common sometimes in the 3rd trimester.  He said that as of that time we have baby girl who looks pretty normal. We were so relieved!

Now, two weeks later we are at 34 weeks! We went to the doctor today and everything still looks good. Nora's heart rate was good today and her heart beat was normal. 

Here are some fun facts about Nora:

• She should weigh about 4 3/4 pounds (the size of a cantaloupe) and should be about 18" long 
• She is fully developed and right now she's just fattening up
• Her lungs and central nervous system are maturing
• She already gets annoyed when her sister crowds her space :) Ellis has been kicked several times!

33 weeks, 5 days

Ellis at 14 months

So I'm not doing monthly posts on Ellis now that she's one but will stick a few in here and there. She has changed so much in the last month that I wanted to write down everything she's doing. She is a little ball of energy and so much fun to be around!

Ellis you:

Weigh about 20 pounds 

Are talking more & identifying objects. She still says the normal "MaMa, DaDa, Baby, Bye, Hi". Some new ones include "Thank you (in reference to her sippy cup), Good girl, Animal noises (dog, cow, horse, elephant, sheep), EIEIO, Tickle Tickle, I Love You"

Love music and will do the moves to The Itsy Bitsy Spider. You also "sing" to most songs and always dances. 

Have a new favorite game, "tickle" mommy & daddy. Sometimes the tickles are more like scratching but that's okay. 

 Have been on the verge of walking over the last week but on Tuesday you really started walking! Since then you have been going non-stop!

Opinionated. You responds yes/no to questions but mostly says "no". 

Continue to be a good eater. I think that some days you eat more than mommy! The only thing that you really don't like so far are peas.

 Say "Cheese!"

"Mom, I can't see you"

 "Don't you think that it looks much better as a necklace?"

"Look mom, no hands!"

Ellis,
We just love being your mommy and daddy. Every day it seems like you learn something new and are eager to share it with us. We can't wait to see how you act around your little sister, I have a feeling she'll be getting some kisses! We love you!
Mommy & Daddy

Summer Wrap Up

I've been off since the end of June with Ellis and it honestly has flown by. This week was the first week back to school so I thought that I'd just recap the summer in one post. First of all, Ellis is the sweetest, funnest, smartest child I know, and I don't really care that I'm probably a little biased. She has also changed a lot over the summer and is starting to seem like a "big girl". Most days we stayed at home and played and that was enough to wear us both out. Here are some pictures of things we did this summer and our sweet little girl. 

Fun in the pool with daddy & mommy. 

She's definitely a water baby!

First Snow Cone of the Season

Happy Father's Day!

Picnic in the park

Fireworks! She loved them and laughed the whole time!

Family picture at the lake on the 4th of July

After the 4th of July, Ellis went to Conway. She stayed with her MiMi & Poppa for a few days and then with Grandpa & Grandma. She had fun, despite getting hand foot and mouth in the middle of it!

Poppa with the 2 youngest grandchildren

 MiMi & Ellis

Aiden & Ellis

Ellis on our weekly shopping trip 

Fun at the Splash Park 

The park with Zoe 

 Some days it's just too hard to stay awake through lunch

 Happy 30th Birthday!