Dear Norah, Month Seven

Dear Norah,

We celebrated Easter during your seventh month and while you couldn’t quite hunt for eggs or enjoy delicious ham at brunch, you did wow all those at church with your adorable Easter dress and Easter bonnet, which you accessorized with a smile on your face. We received compliments about you from total strangers, as if you were displaying all of the joy that Easter has to offer in one little bundle. 

After receiving the green light to start fruits and vegetables with you, we began solid foods much like we did for your brother. Carrots first, then butternut squash, then sweet potatoes, and then peas and green beans before moving on to the fruits. I wasn’t quite sure how you would handle it all, but you took to solids like a champ. In fact, I had the camera ready to go to film your first bite of carrots, but spoiler alert: it’s very anticlimactic. You simply ate them just like you had already eaten carrots a million times before. You enjoyed most foods but weren’t really a fan of peas or green beans.

I’m not sure if it was the solids or if you are just finally getting to the right age, but your sleep improved marginally this month. Instead of being up four or five times, you now only want to see my sleepy face twice a night. And I can’t thank you enough for that change. While I never thought I would be appreciative of a seven month old who wakes twice a night, I know now it could be oh-so-much worse.  

I’ve talked before about what a sweet, happy baby you are, and as you have grown I have noticed that after you flash your largest, most adorable smile, you will often bury your head in my shoulder. It’s as if displaying that amount of emotion is overwhelming to you and your bashfulness takes over for a sweet moment. It is one of my absolute favorite traits about you right now and I love being on the receiving end of your sweet cuddle. 

Love,

Mommy

Dear Norah, Month Six

Dear Norah,

In some ways, it’s impossible to believe that six months have passed since the first time we held you in our arms. And yet in other ways, it’s like you have always been a sweet part of our family. Regardless, I still find myself shocked each time someone asks your age and the words “six months” come out of my mouth.

In perhaps the biggest news of your sixth month: you finally rolled over from front to back. After you rolled over from your stomach to your back at such a young age, I assumed you would quickly learn the art of going the other way as well. However, that wasn’t exactly the case. You would frequently try, get stuck on your side, and be content to roll right back on your back and keep playing. One Sunday morning when our whole family was in the same room together, you finally rolled over on your own. I now think you were just waiting for that perfect time to have an audience.

At your six month checkup, you weighed 16 lbs and 1 oz, and were in the 52 percentile for both your weight and your height. This is great news, meaning your little belly is content and the rice cereal is agreeing with you. It also means we received the green light to start you on fruits and vegetables…your whole little world is about to be rocked. 

 

During your sixth month, your Uncle Rush, Aunt Kristen, and cousins Emelie, Christopher and Nikolas came for a visit. You were passed around frequently and loved on by many during their time here. While they were here, we joined them for a trip to Panama City to see Grand-dad and Grand-Gale. It’s about a six hour drive without stops, but with a nursing six month old, it took us about seven and a half. For the most part, you did pretty well on the way up and back. You had a few crying periods where you simply didn’t want to be in the carseat, but at some points I didn’t want to be in the car any longer either, so I couldn’t really blame you.

While in Panama City we stayed at Grand-dad and Grand-Gale’s beach condo, so you got to experience your first trip to the beach. It was actually still a little chilly due to the wind, so you enjoyed snuggling up on me and taking a nap both days we went. I have to say that I couldn’t complain about the ocean waves, a good book, a pina colada and a sleeping baby in my arms. That about sums up my definition of perfection.

Your curiosity and general state of awareness continued to improve as you take in everything going on in the world around you. You adore watching your brother do pretty much anything, and your sweet giggles in response to anything he does to make you laugh is precious. Your constant state of alertness has made it more challenging to get you to nurse, as you would rather be taking in the sights around you than sitting still and eating. 

 

Everywhere we go people comment on what a happy baby you are and how you are always smiling. You bring us such happiness each and every day.

Love,

Mommy

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