Dear Norah, Month Five

Dear Norah,

Oh, how I love the sweet smiley stage you are in right now. Your gummy smiles light up the room and bring joy to so many, even to complete strangers that you smile at when we are out in public. The single dimple on your right cheek makes your smiles even more adorable and we are so fortunate that you spend most of your days smiling.

Your head and neck control really started to develop this month, which opened the door for new opportunities for you to play, including your bumbo chair and your jumperoo. While you haven’t quite figured out that you can “jump” in your jumperoo, you like being in it and are entertained by the array of activities it provides. That is, when you’re not being entertained by your brother, who pretty much makes it his mission to make you smile and laugh. Your current favorite activity that produces the most giggles is when Graham dances to his Rock N Roll Elmo. The more outrageous his moves, the deeper your laughs.

 

 

You started rice cereal this month and ate it without any troubles. While some babies make faces or reject the food with their tongues, you were quite the opposite and actually seemed to enjoy each mealtime. With this development, your daytime feedings started to stretch out a bit, as you now would go three hours between feedings, an extra hour for which I am very thankful. 

We made a trip over to Titusville during your fifth month, where you got to meet your great-grandma and great-uncle and aunts. You did pretty well during the 2-hour car ride over, only fussing the last little bit. You were delightfully entertaining for family and even for all those at church on Sunday. After church we went to visit mommy’s friend Melody, who happened to be in town visiting her parents as well. When we got there, you decided it was the perfect time for a messy diaper. Only it wasn’t a little messy diaper. It was seriously the biggest mess I have ever seen. Ever. Your diaper leaked all over your dress and bloomers, all over me, and all over their (thankfully tile) floor. I actually changed you on the front porch in fear of creating any more mess inside their house. You were oblivious to the chaos, smiling throughout the mess.

We also ventured out to your first baseball game this month. While we also took your brother to a baseball game as an infant, this time we were a bit more adventurous and went to a mid-day outdoor spring training game where we had grass seats. You did great for the first half of the time that we were there as you slept in the stroller. Then the second half of the time you decided it was a bit too warm for you and you weren't fond of the heat. I hate to break it to you, but we live in Florida and the weather the day of the game was actually delightful.

Oh, how I wish I could say your sleep improved this month, but it hasn’t. At all. I know I will look back on this newborn stage in life and mourn its brevity, but operating as a mommy zombie makes the days (and nights) so long. I’m trying to take in the sweetness of the nighttime cuddles and absorb the feeling of being so needed. Again, it’s a good thing you reward me with so many smiles during the day.

Love,

Mommy

Dear Norah, Month Four

Dear Norah,

Well, it’s a good thing we discovered those stomach issues of yours last month. Because in doing so, you’ve turned into the happiest, smiliest (yes, that’s a word I used to describe your brother too) and sweetest baby around. Your temperament is just delightful and we’ve spent the last month seeing your little personality start to develop.

You’ve become more vocal this month and I often respond to your coos with saying, “That’s a good story, Norah.” Well, one day you were lying on your mat just cooing away and I heard your brother say to you, “That’s a good story, Norah.” Apparently you already have an audience.

You caught a little cold this month, likely from your brother, as it seems like we are a revolving door for colds these days. You handled it all pretty well, except for a cough at night. Which made your already horrific nights even worse for a few evenings. Thankfully, it passed quickly and you were back to your cheerful self. Your cheerful self who still likes to wake up five or six times a night.

You love to be outside and go on walks, so thankfully we have had an extremely mild winter, which has allowed us to be outside nearly every day.  You smile up at us when we push the stroller along, normally in an attempt to keep up with your brother who is speeding ahead of us on his bike or scooter.

You continue to take very short naps, so you take about four or five of them a day. You’ve started going down for your naps fairly easily, which helps since you take so many of them. You have also started to tolerate being in the car seat, and have even fallen asleep on a few rides. I know that it seems like babies should do this naturally, but up until this point you were more content to scream than to close your eyes for a nap.

I went back to work part-time this month and you’ve adjusted pretty well to playing with a nanny while I’m away working. The hardest part is stretching you between feedings…I still think you would eat all day (and apparently all night) if we would let you. 

I feel like this was the first month that we have started to settle into a bit of a routine as a family of four. Your actions are becoming more predictable, which benefits everyone around.  When you do cry, it’s typically tied to being either hungry or tired, which is so much easier to figure out than during the newborn stage where crying occurs for no particular reason.

It’s hard to remember what it felt like without you in our lives. You bring so much joy to everyone around you.

 

Love,

Mommy

Dear Norah, Month Three

(I wrote these letters some time ago but it's taken me forever to post them here.)

Dear Norah,

Being born in October sure does have its privileges… it meant you got to celebrate your first Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas in the first three months of your life.

Although Christmas may have been the biggest milestone of the month, your frequently occurring smiles were pretty special too. You evolved from doing the infant half smile to a full on gummy grin, which in turn brings smiles to those around you.

 
Your first Christmas season passed much like any other days do for you, but for us it was a time of celebration and love. Well, except for your first trip to see Santa. In what was a role reversal from what I expected, your brother was the excited one and you were the screaming one. We managed to eventually get you calmed down enough to snap a quick picture of you both on Santa’s lap. You experienced a few other Christmas festivities as well, including a trip to the zoo for their Winter Wonderland (in which we were all wearing shorts), a Christmas parade and a tree lighting ceremony in Safety Harbor.

You got to meet your Grand-dad and Grand-Gale, who came down and visited us for the holidays. You were especially cute in your first Christmas dress, even if you slept through the entire church service on Christmas Eve. And while you received your fair share of presents, your brother was more than happy to open them for you.

In not as joyful news, early in the month you began to have prolonged fussy periods and spells where you appeared to be in pain. Having experienced the symptoms of acid reflux with your brother, I took you into the pediatrician. It turned out your weight gain had slowed a bit and he discovered there was blood in your stool. It pointed to a likely food intolerance, and so your mommy gave up dairy, soy, peanuts and tree nuts in an attempt to free you from these painful bouts. While it has been a bit challenging for your mommy to be so limited in the foods I can eat, it made a big difference in your temperament. Although you continue to have some tummy issues, your weight gain and general disposition are much improved. 

Oh,  how I wish I could say that this also made a big impact on your sleep patterns, but you are destined to not want to sleep much, either during the day or at night. For one of your naps I attempted laying you down on your stomach in hopes that it might help you sleep a bit better. Imagine my surprise when I came in to get you when you woke up and instead of being on your tummy, you rolled over on your back, at only 10 weeks old. I guess that's what I get for trying to put you down on your stomach.

You continue to love to snuggle and be held. One of your favorite places remains in the ergo carrier, and you typically take at least one nap in it each day. Your daddy calls it your “happy place” and I don’t mind that one bit.

Love,

Mommy

Dear Graham, 36 Months

Dear Graham,

Your 36^th month might just have been the best month ever. And not just for you…your mommy and daddy thought it was pretty awesome too. 

Aside from the obvious celebration of your third birthday, we managed to squeeze in your first trip to Disney World, a trip to Chicago to visit your aunt, uncle and cousins at the lake house, the 4^th of July, and a day at the beach with friends. It was a pretty fun month.

I’ll start with the trip to Disney because it will forever be one of my favorite memories as quite possibly the perfect day. While you had a vague idea of what Disney entailed, you really had no idea about everything that makes Disney purely magic. We decided to stay in a Disney hotel for two nights, which gave us the ability to be on site early and to stay late, but also to come back mid-day and take naps. So when we arrived at the hotel and checked into our room, we decided to go to the Disney Boardwalk for dinner. You continue to be infatuated by all things transportation related, so the fact that we could take a boat from the Boardwalk back to our hotel blew your mind. In fact, we probably could have called that Disney World and you never would have known the difference. (And it would have saved mommy and daddy some serious money.)

Early the next day we went downstairs and boarded the Disney bus to take us to the park. Again, you loved just being on the bus, but then when we approached the park and saw the monorail, you were telling me all about it with excitement as other bus passengers smiled at us. We made it there in time for the park opening, where you got to see the Disney train with Mickey Mouse on board welcome us to Disney. We had already achieved the transportation trifecta by 9:00 that morning…needless to say you were a happy little boy.

Because I knew we only had one day and because I tend to be a bit neurotic, I had planned out the ride schedule based on which rides I knew would be busy later in the day and which rides I knew we could get Fast Passes to. It worked out beautifully because by lunch time, we had gone on the Speedway, Dumbo, the spinning teacups, Winnie the Poo, It’s a Small World, Peter Pan, the train, and watched Mickey’s Philharmonic.

After three hour naps for all of us, we headed back to the park. All morning you talked about wanting to see Mickey, so we finally went to see him. At which point you decided you really weren’t a fan. You were timid and weren’t about to have your picture taken with him alone. So mommy and daddy got in on the fun as well. We spent the afternoon going on more rides and revisiting a few from that morning. The highlight of the evening were the fireworks and Tinkerbell’s flight right over your head to kick off the fireworks show. Despite being awake waaaay past your bedtime, you were the only child on the bus back to the hotel who was still wide awake and looking around. You weren’t about to miss one second of your Disney adventure.

Another highlight of the month was a trip to Chicago and Wisconsin to see Uncle Rush, Aunt Kristen, and cousins Emelie, Christopher and Nikolas. The trip happened to coincide with a cold front, which provided a nice break from the Florida heat, yet wasn’t too conducive to getting out on the boat at the lake house. We still made the best of our time and you had a wonderful time running around with your cousins. The first day we were there it was warm enough to get out on the water and you and daddy were adventurous enough to go tubing behind the ski boat. We were worried if you would like it, but when you were done the first thing you asked to do was to “do it again.”

We spent one of the colder days visiting a farm where you got to feed the goats and see turkeys, cows, horses, ducks, chickens and more. When we got home that evening, the extended family threw you an early birthday complete with a Thomas cake. You were so enamored with the trains ON the cake, that you had to be reminded to actually eat the cake.

We flew home on your third birthday and that evening opened presents. This was the first birthday that you actually got what was going on, and you wanted to “open more” when the presents were all done.  You were an old pro at blowing out the candles on the cake, having had lots of practice this month not only on the cake at the lake house, but also helping with mommy and daddy’s cakes earlier this month.

The three years (or 36 months) that you have been in our lives have been such a blessing. You make us smile daily with your wit, songs, hugs, dimpled smiles and personality. It is so much fun being your mommy.

Love,

Mommy

Dear Norah, Month Two

Dear Norah,

Well, month two came and went as fast as your first month, which means it was a total blur. But somewhere between diaper changes, cat naps, nighttime feedings and lots of snuggles, you continued to grow.

 Your eyes are so much more alert; your sweet hands are now open as much as they are balled up in a fist; and you are gaining more and more control of your neck muscles, so you’re not such a bobblehead these days. Perhaps your best development (in your mommy’s eyes), is your adorable smile. You have one precious dimple that is nearly invisible until you smile, and then it appears as cute as can be on your right cheek.

It’s a good thing those smiles are so precious because your sleeping patterns are not. All kinds of friends (and even strangers) told us how great their second children sleep, but apparently you didn’t get that memo. You like to have frequent wake ups and cuddles with your mommy, and while I don’t mind the cuddles, they would be even better in the daylight. 

Your brother continues to love on you constantly, and sings his song that he made up for you frequently. The lyrics are short but oh-so incredibly sweet: “You’re my sister, yes you are. “You’re my sister, yes you are.” And the sing-song voice that he delivers it in makes my heart melt each time he sings it to you.

You celebrated your first Thanksgiving this month and to you it was pretty much like any other day. The day was special because you got to meet one of your great grandmas and you were surrounded by aunts, uncles and your sweet cousin Sutton. You spent much of the day asleep on your daddy in the ergo, which is one of your favorite places to be. We frequently put you in the ergo when you’re fussy or refuse to be put down, and it normally calms you almost right away.

 While we’re sleep deprived and I may or may not refer to our home as the “house of chaos,” it already seems strange to think back to when we were a family of three…you filled a space we didn’t even know was missing.

Love,

Mommy