Nora - 2 months

This morning (well, last Saturday 12/6) as Nora was totally passed out in my arms, I glanced at the clock and realized that exactly 2 months ago she was screaming her little face off and we were meeting her for the very first time. It's hard to believe that just 2 months ago she was a squishy newborn and now she seems anything but that! I mean, she already is letting her personality shine through. I told Erik he will have a hard time ever saying "no" to this sad little face. She is so, so, so smiley and generally so content, but I think she's already figured out how to get what she wants. Prepare yourself for the most adorable series of pout pictures ever...

I got her all set up during nap time and took some monthly pictures. She was so happy & smiley! Then, as soon as I was done, I realized I had put the "3 month" sticker on instead of the 2. Fail.  Of course once I fixed it, she wasn't nearly as excited for her picture to be taken.

Smooth one, mom.

That's better.

I have been having fun dressing her up in lots of festive Christmas gear! She is wearing 3-6 month clothes and even the onesies in that size are snug. According to our scale she is over 14 lbs (similar to her brothers), we will get official measurements next week at her appointment.

It's been a busy month for our girl, making her first 2 long car rides down to the "red farm". The first time I took all 3 kids by myself for the weekend. It probably wasn't the smartest idea I have ever had. It took us approx. 5 hours to get everyone fed, packed, pottied, car loaded, re-fed, re-pottied, etc before finally making it out the door. I left knowing that what should be a 3 hour trip could very well turn into much, much longer. Nora slept the ENTIRE 3 hours. We usually try to avoid towns as much as possible but with it being winter and having a newborn, I went the route that would have me hit the most towns in case we needed to stop. On the way home, she did wake up about 1/2 way but it was lunch time anyways, so we stopped for some lunch for everyone and then she did great the rest of the way. WHEW! 3 hours could have seemed like 1,000 with a screaming baby & 2 older kids when it's cold out by myself. (see, probably not the smartest idea).

We made a return trip for Thanksgiving and this time it only took us 4 hours to get ready to leave (Erik was here to help!).  Again, she slept the entire way. On the way home we stopped for lunch and I tried to wake her up and feed her and she was not interested so back in the car we went. She woke up and was unhappy the last few minutes but at that point we just kept going. I hope her love for long car rides lasts for a very, very long time.

Of course with her first Thanksgiving she also participated in her first cookie baking day with Great Grandma and has met a good chunk of her extended family now.

As far as day to day goes, we just keep chugging along. There still isn't much pattern to her eating or sleeping. Whenever she makes noise, she is likely hungry. She "goes to bed" between 10-11 and then will usually wake up any time between 3-5am. Then depending on when that wake up is, she will sleep another 3'ish hours and finally be "up for the day" around 8-9am. So, if she gets up at the 3, she'll likely be up again at 6 but go back to sleep again after that. She did sleep through the night once, but I can't even remember how many hours that was. She will also usually take a really long afternoon nap after the boys go down.

She is the most crabby in the evenings and sometimes will just scream and scream starting around 9pm until she finally gives in and goes to bed.  That is no fun for any of us. It's almost like she has a belly ache but she wants to eat which just makes it worse. I have tried to convince her that a pacifier may help fulfill her needs of wanting to suck but not actually get any milk, but alas she is still not game for that plan. After saying I was done fighting with a pacifier I did buy one more kind to try. She maybe likes that one. She will take it for just a few minutes before going to bed sometimes. No interest in it during the day though and it does take a bit of time for her to realize it's okay. She likes to suck (loudly) on her knuckles sometimes, too.

Despite being what I would consider to still be a very sleepy baby, around 6 weeks she did start to have longer periods of being awake and alert. She will now stay awake for longer periods of time. She also still has extra sleepy days. Last week there was a 36 hour period where I she only woke up to eat and went right back to sleep. I bet she was only awake 3-4 hours out of that entire 36 hours. Her longest wakeful period is still late afternoon-evening which could also contribute to her being a total bear later on. Overtired? Too much supper time stimulation. It's never exactly quiet around here.

Along with being more alert, she has also been tolerating her bouncy seat on occassion. She has put herself to sleep a few times in the bouncy seat but is pretty content to just hang out in there and look around. She also will just lay on the floor and look around...although Levi is not very observant so I can't leave her side. He is a bull in a china shop. She also likes laying on her belly on the boppy, especially in the evenings when she's being a grump.  She still spends a fair amount of time in the moby, especially when I'm babysitting. And she's still sleeping in the bassinet at night. Getting pretty big for it, but I'm not ready/too lazy to move her upstairs. She still isn't really interested in the swing at all. And the car seat is pretty much a guarantee for an extra long nap (thank goodness). Of course nothing beats mama's arms and I still don't mind holding her as much as possible.

And, sorry Nora, but TMI. She doesn't have many dirty diapers as some newborns, but when she does, she requires a bath almost 1/2 of the time.  There is some major force behind her efforts. She almost always does this in the evenings so I try to plan ahead and have a cloth diaper on her because she has never had a blow out in one of them. But if she has a disposable on...yikes. Part of this could be related to the fact that we are still using up some size 1 diapers but I'm not sure it would matter. Of course the boys think this is the funniest thing ever.

 Charlie & Levi continue to be excellent big brothers. They both still request to hold her multiple times a day and are pretty helpful when they want to be. Charlie has even offered up his green blankie for Nora, but made it very clear she can't have the blue one. When she cries he likes to wrap her up in his blankies, it's very sweet. Levi isn't quite as gentle and has to be watched more closely. He loves holding her but then when he's done he will basically just try to push her off of his lap. He always wants his picture taken with her. His favorite job is picking out her diapers. He'll say, "ooo, she hasn't worn this one for a long time ago!" Levi is a little lover though and is always up in her face giving her kisses or just rubbing his hair on her face which I'm sure she really appreciates. I really need to just do a post on my big boys soon!

She looks sooooo big in this picture!

I have no doubt this month will fly by with the holidays. It still seems like forever ago that I was pregnant and at the same time it seems like just yesterday. Can't imagine a more perfect baby for our family!