I lucked out for sure

I have the two sweetest girls on the planet. Hannah just loves Norah to death. She is frustrated with her crying, but I think it's mostly because she can't really fix it. She always wants to kiss her goodnight when I put her in her crib for a nap, and is happy to get her binky for her should Norah drop it. And Norah is just smitten with Hannah. She listens for her voice and is fascinated when Hannah sits with her and sings or talks and snuggles her. Life is just awesome these days.

Now if only we weren't all sick. What started out with Norah last week has graduated to Hannah and I also. Hannah's not too sick so far and is dealing well, but that's probably because sI haven't bothered to tell her she'll be skipping gymnastics tonight. I'm not feeling too poorly either, but I think if I were able to get more sleep I'd probably feel a bit better. But getting a little sleep these days is to be expected. I'm sure that in a few months when it's summer and hopefully Norah is sleeping through we'll all feel fabulous.

I hesitate to jinx this...

but I'll say it anyways. Because if I'm wrong, I'm the only one who has to deal with it anyways.

Norah is only waking up once at night, or at least the last two nights :) I feel very well rested. She slept from 9-3 and then went back to sleep until 6:30 this morning. I am possibly very spoiled. I remember nights with Hannah where she'd sleep 5 or 6 hours but then not go back to sleep for hours. I remember wanting to throw myself out a window as I rocked her endlessly because she was screaming at me, and at least it was quiet outside.

HOWEVER, (because that's a nice way of saying BUT) I lost out on a small bit of my sleep because at 12:30 Hannah was awake crying. I went in to see what the problem was, and she was sitting up crying. It just broke my heart. I asked her what was wrong, but she just kept saying she wanted to go to sleep. This morning Steven got out of her that she had a bad dream about monsters that scared her. Poor love!

Pet Peeves

People who are lazy. Not just the random "I need a break, vegging on the couch, eating cheetos and watching bad reality tv", I mean the actual "I'm too lazy to do what I'm supposed to and don't care" laziness. I don't understand where this comes from. I physically cannot be lazy even when I want to. Every day on top of caring for two needy children I do at least one load of laundry and 3 sinks full of dishes, fix meals.... you get the picture.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about all that I do. I stay at home with my kids and I'm blessed since so many cannot do it. However, I'm not sure it would kill a lazy person to offer to help with something now and again. Either that or actually do the things that are supposed to be done.


Other pet peeves include people who get To, Too, and Two wrong, and my husbands lack of ability to spell words and annoy me by asking if he's right.

More sickness

Norah this time, of course... because Hannah's had more than her share. Sad though, because no one that tiny should ever have to be sick.

3 year pictures and first pictures

Man both girls were SO good, and the pictures are precious, I cannot wait to get them back!

Thank God for Hotslings!

Yesterday was crazy. After napping wonderfully for 2.5 hours, Norah woke up and decided that going back to sleep just wasn't happening. I put her down numerous times thinking she was asleep, only to hear her wailing less than 10 minutes later. Finally as it was getting to be dinner time I put her in the hotsling (http://www.hotslings.com) so I could finish dinner and hopefully make her a little happier. It seemed to work, since she slept in there for about an hour. I can say without a doubt it is the best money I spent when we were planning the things we needed for a new baby. Every mom should have some kind of sling when they're expecting a new bundle!

This morning is going much better. I think she's a big fan of her new mobile (thanks Laurie and Irene) because I heard her fussing when I put her down, but no all out screaming, and now it's quiet. Yay

And a picture

Here is a picture of the 5 girls. My friend Kat's girls and mine. L-R they are Magi, Iza, Hannah, Norah, Mimi

And now we're stuck

Last night someone in our house had a 6:15 doctors appointment in Amherst (30ish minutes from here) and my brilliant idea was that we should go so that Norah can get an idea of what it's like to NOT be home during the witching hour, and for us to get a feel for what it will be like to go somewhere for a day with her.

For the moment, we are stuck. It was not at all pleasant, and I don't plan on doing it again anytime soon. She was miserable from the time we got to the doctors until we were way more than halfway home, and then she refused to go to sleep on time, screaming and crying at her bottle and fighting going to sleep, even though she was VERY tired.

So, for the moment, we will NOT be traveling anywhere until we get her a bit more settled into a routine. Anyone who wants to see us knows where we live, and when we're ready to try it again, we'll let people know.

I should be happy since when she finally fell asleep she slept until 1:30 and then went back to bed until 5:15. AND she's still in bed now (7:50), However she is the worlds noisiest sleeper, so I heard her from 2:45 until I picked her up at 5:15, snuffling and grunting and just generally being loud.

My sweet Hannah

Hannah: Mommy, I share melon with baby
Me: No honey, you can't share with her yet, she can't eat melon without teeth
Hannah: Baby have Mouth!
Me: Yes she does, but you need teeth to eat!

The end

We've reached the official end of the work week, now if only Steven didn't also have to work today. I survived a week on my own, and even our first trip out without help. The girlies had a WIC appt on Tuesday, so we traipsed over there for 9am (what was I thinking trying to get out that early!) to check up on the girls and to get their new checks. Hannah was NOT at all pleased to be there, and was still not pleased when we left and went to Kat's house to visit. Even cake didn't really make it much better. Thankfully she snapped out of it, despite not napping and was a peach in the evening.

Norah is interesting. She's sleeping pretty well at night, waking twice to eat and then generally goes back to sleep. I guess the problem is daytime sleep for her. She doesn't want to do it, and we all know that overtired babies don't go to sleep either. Oh, and the nearly nonstop crying from about 6 or 6:30 until we get her ready for bed at 8ish. I'm hoping it's because she hasn't slept well during the day so she melts down at night.... otherwise it sounds like colic, which isn't on anyones list of fun things.

Hannah had a wonderful birthday. She got lots of presents she loves, and Meme made her spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, and got a princess cake for after. Her favorite gift I think is her "Pianano" and since it's so cute when she says it, I can overlook the ultra annoying factor of the random princess music and neon pink flashing lights.

Pictures

The big THREE

Tomorrow my biggest baby turns 3. I'm not quite sure how it happened. She went from this tiny bundle (somewhat similar to the one I have now) to this grown up kid with attitude that is hilarious and trying all at the same time. She is so much fun, I keep saying this is my favorite age. I love listening to her, and now I love watching her interact with Norah. It's so sweet.

We're not doing anything special for tomorrow. Presents at some point and dinner/cake at Meme's house later. She'll have a great day I'm sure though either way. I was going to add some pictures, but I think I'll wait until tomorrow to get some good ones involving cake or presents. I do have some sweet ones with Norah, so I'll share those too of course.

Here comes the fun

So far in the week since Norah was born, life has been interesting. Starting with our first night home where she didn't go to sleep until after 2am. Steven and I are both pretty tired still, but as of last night, she spent the night in her bassinette while she was sleeping (as opposed to part of it in bed with us while I held her). I think we're messed up from the time change a bit, but that shouldn't affect her much since she's not on a schedule yet. She's just so small there's no way I can get her to do anything, which is fine.

Hannah is doing really well with Norah also. She loves to give her hugs and kisses, and even asked me Friday if we could leave Baby Norah at playgroup with her so they could all give her hugs and kisses. VERY sweet. I'm hoping that none of this changes come tomorrow. Tomorrow is D Day. Steven goes back to work and I try to swing this operation on my own. I'm truly hoping that Hannah can adjust to the fact that my hands will be busy pretty often with feeding and changing. I'm going to try using the sling I bought today and see if I can get Norah in and out on my own. That should help with the hands problem, at least partially.

On another note, I just cannot seem to believe that Hannah will be 3 on Wednesday. She is so much fun, I keep saying "this is the best age" and every time I say it, it's completely true. She's such a joy, and makes us laugh at least every day in some small way. I can't wait to see how she grows up and shapes what kind of person Norah is also.

March 2, 2008

Welcoming Norah Anne Fields, born at 5:45am on March 2, she was 6lbs 7oz and 20 inches long.

Labor was very short, I was in the hospital for less than 3 hours when she was delivered. We are home and feeling pretty good, but we'll see how tonight goes as our first night at home.

Oh the hilarity

The other day I was washing dishes, and Hannah was standing by our back slider. It had recently been washed (by someone other than me because I'm past caring what windows look like right now) and she was patting the glass. As I looked over at her, she had her face pressed up against the glass, so I asked her what she was doing. THIS is what I got for my trouble.


"I'm kissing the window Mommy, it's not yucky, it's SO fun"