Nora is five weeks old

3/27

Nora is five weeks old. And we all survived the first night of drugged up/hyped up 3 year old. Actually last night was better than the night before. I think Maya was as exhausted as we were. Today was an overcast day. A lovely day for an outdoor photo shoot. I'd forgotten how much I like to take pictures (so you get a photo overload, but I'm sure that's why you come here rather than my thrilling narration). Apparently, it's not as much fun when your subject just runs away and ignores you. Maya's getting a little better now. And Nora's a captive audience for now. And the dinosaurs, they are always too busy eating everything in sight.

Nora is one month old

3/20
Nora is one month old today. It's really flown. She is a sweetie (and she's cute too if I do say so myself). She's very alert and loves to look around. Likely related, she hates sleep. Even if she's tired, she objects if you try to get her to sleep. Once she's finally asleep she generally sleeps ok at night for someone her age.

As you can see from the pictures, Maya can't keep her hands off of her. She's always asking "is this my baby sister?", "is this her tiny foot?", "does she have tiny ears?", "doesn't she have cute tiny hands?", etc. It's pretty sweet. Since everyone keeps asking I think overall Maya is adjusting fairly well. She sometimes has issues particularly when Nora is nursing. She wants "mom to hold me now." She's been a little whinier than usual. But part of that may just be because she's three. 

Everyone else went shopping today leaving me with both girls. Derek was hesitant to leave me with both at first but I told him it was fine. It's good practice for when he goes back to work in a few weeks. Maya and I took our babies for a walk. Then we fed her dinosaurs in our backyard.

3/21

These pjs were some of the first things I bought for Maya. One benefit of having another little girl at the same time of the year is I should get to see all of Maya's clothes again. And we haven't had to buy many things. Although somehow we ended up with only a few pairs of pants in size 0-3. I'm not sure what Maya wore.

3/22

Derek's parents leave tomorrow. His mom was interested in taking Maya to a paint your own pottery place. I decided to take Nora too and get her footprints and Maya's on a plate. It was fun but stressful. Also stressful, Maya is snotty today. Not sure if it's allergies or a virus. No other symptoms. We are being extra diligent about washing hands and keeping Maya out of Nora's face. Tonight Maya said "maybe we shouldn't have had a baby because I'm sick" and then burst into tears. I am so sad for her. 

3/23

Still have a snotty peanut. I'm thinking it's a virus picked up a playschool on Wednesday. We haven't really been anywhere else. Or maybe it's just allergies. She's always had eczema issues this time of the year too. 

3/24 
Maya seems to be on the mend. Less snooty today but still a little congested. Nora had her first shipping trip to target today. She slept in the wrap the whole time.

3/25
Nothing like baby puke at 4am. Great way to start the day. Extra bonus, albuterol for Maya. We got Maya's big girl dresser all finished up today. She picked out special knobs for it. This was our solution since she was disappointed that it was too bright, i.e. white instead of dark wood. Also, a side note,  magic erasers are pretty amazing. We got the dresser used and it had what looked to be nail polish and paint on it. You can't even tell where it was now.

3/26

Rough night here. Maya was up from 1:30-2:30. Then Nora was up at 4:30 for half an hour. Then Maya was up at 5:30. Then both of them were awake off and on. But I caught a smile on camera this morning. And Nora had a well check today. She's doing well, despite the spit up she's gaining right on track. She's 9 lbs 11 oz after eating. Maya had an appointment tonight since the albuterol isn't helping as much as we would like. Her pediatrician happened to be in the after hours clinic tonight and suggested I bring her in when I asked about her at Nora's appointment. She called her a happy wheezer and gave her an oral steroid on top of the two nebulizer drugs we've been doing. We went to the pharmacy to pick it up and I commented to the pharmacist about the albuterol making her hyper. The pharmacist said the oral steroid would likely make it worse and we would have a fun night. I replied "and we have a one month old at home too". Wish us luck.

compared to Maya (4/15/11)

The third and fourth weeks with Nora

3/7 
Nora had a pediatrician visit today for her belly button. The pediatrician confirmed that I wasn't crazy for thinking it looked funny. She called it a granuloma and cauterized it with silver nitrate. Nora was up to 8 lbs 6 oz, a full pound above her birth weight at just over two weeks. It's kind of crazy how fast they grow the first few weeks.


3/8

This is what I found in the living room this morning when I woke up

compared to this on 4/9/2011

3/9 
I went back to church for the first time since Nora was born. Took Maya with me but left Nora with Derek. She's been begging for us all to go as a family. We might try next week. As a compromise, Maya took her pictures of Nora to show everyone. She is so proud of her baby sister. When we got home, Nora nursed and then projectile vomited on me. Maya never spit up so it really freaked me out. She's been really fussy today too.

3/10 
Nora is still a fussy baby today. Lots of snuggling and bouncing. Her stomach was really rumbly. Not sure if that was causing her discomfort or what. Combined with the vomit yesterday I'm a little concerned.

3/11 
Nora is still fussy today. I'm hoping this isn't her new normal. Please no colic. Please no colic.

3/12 
Nora seems happier today. 

3/13 
Nora is three weeks old. 

3/14 
Nora smiled a few times while awake today. Not sure if it's intentional yet. We had a park playdate today. Nora slept in the wrap other than a quick lunch. Maya was happy to see her friends. After her nap, Maya noticed her pinky toenail was falling off. Cue hysterical crying. It's not so much that it hurt, I think, she was just upset about it. We tried to reassure her that it would grow back but she wasn't satisfied. We finally bandaged it and put socks on her and she forgot until bath time. By then the entire nail had fallen off completely leaving a little sliver of normal looking toenail behind and it didn't freak her out so much. We also turned Maya's car seat forward facing today. Derek and Maya have been wanting it for a while, but I was fighting it because paranoid. But her seat in the "white car" was forward facing and she never wanted to ride in the van so I finally gave in. 

3/16 

Nora went to church for the first time tonight. Maya, Nora and I hung out in the nursery while Derek sang. Nora slept almost the whole time. Word got out that we were there and a few people came in to take a peek. She wore the dress that auntie J crochet for her. Maya had to wear a pink dress to match. I see less of matching clothes in their future if Maya continues to be obsessed with it.

3/17 

Nora got to meet her other grandparents tonight. Derek's parents arrived to stay for the week. Maya is very excited to have people around.

3/18 

Nora had a hair in her eye this evening. It was longer than an eyelash. We tried to get it out with a wet washcloth and then saline. We succeeded in moving the hair around but not getting it out. She was not impressed by our efforts. She didn't seem bothered by the hair so we decided to try again in the morning when she's not so tired. If no luck, we'll call the pediatrician. It seems to bother me more than it bothers her.

3/19 

No signs of the offending eye hair this morning. Nora decided 4:30 was the new 7:30 so we were up quite a bit of the night. The last few days she's decided she doesn't want to sleep in the mornings. She'll almost fall asleep then scream then repeat. Then she's out of it all afternoon. I'm hoping we figure out some sort of routine before Derek goes back to work. I got another smile out of her today. Still not convinced they are intentional.

Maya had playschool this morning. They learned about the letter m. The teacher interviewed Maya since her name starts with m.
How old are you? 3
What's your favorite color? Green
What's your favorite food? Noodles and fish (because I'm a pteranodon)
What's your favorite song? Twinkle twinkle, row row row your boat, and the lord is good to me.
What is your favorite thing to do? Play

After playschool we went out to eat at Maya's favorite restaurant since it was a lovely day and we could sit outside.

The first two weeks with Nora

Day 4 (2/23)
Nora and I hung out watching some of the Olympics while everyone else was at church. Nice to have some quiet time with just her to snuggle. In the afternoon, Maya got the popcorn that she requested for her birthday, "since she's three". She seemed to enjoy it.

Day 6 (2/25)
Nora had her follow up weight check today. She was 7 lbs 11.6 oz. No signs of jaundice. Her pedi wanted to know if I had a c section because she has a nice round head. Guess that's a perk of her not dropping/coming out so quickly.

Day 7 (2/26)
Nora had her first of what I expect to be many (if she's any thing like Maya was) poopslosions today. That combined with Maya playing in the rain today means lots of outfit changes. Thankful my mom has been doing the laundry, I'm not sure I could keep up. Also we have Nora her first "bath" at home today. Maya was super excited to help. Nora was less excited.

Day 8 (2/27)
One week old. This week has flown by. Nora feels huge to me because Maya was so small. We took a nice walk today. I wore Nora in the Moby. Maya wore her doll in her ergo. She was busy collecting rocks, sticks, and leaves, climbing rocks/hills, and digging in dirt along the way. She is totally my girl.

Day 9 (2/28)

Nora went on her first non dr appointment outing today. Maya has been asking to ride in the car with baby sister so we all rode to the airport to drop my mom off. She's been here since the 12th.  We are really going to miss her. Maya kept saying "but I don't want her to go"

Day 10 (3/1)

Day 13 (3/4) 
Eleanor had her two week appointment today and Maya her three year. Eleanor was 8 lbs 2 oz (50th percentile) and 21.3 inches (92nd percentile). Her height seems to have jumped up a bit compared to 19 inches she was measured at birth. I think she's probably somewhere between the two. Nora's head was in the 97th percentile. Maya was 33 lbs and 38 inches (both are 72 percentile). Maya as usual impressed the pediatrician with her verbal skills. She even sang ABCs for the dr. After the appointments we had our first outing (other than the airport drop off) as a family of four, lunch at chickfila.

Day 15 (3/6) 

Nora is two weeks old. Her umbilical cord (or tag as Maya called it) fell off today. It looks different than I remember Maya's looking. Maybe I just don't remember, but I may put in a call to her pediatrician.