Nora: 1 month

Ahhh—1 month already??  How can it be?

A week late—but so cute.  The smile!  The chub!

Personality:  She continues to be a laid back, happy little girl.  For the most part.  As she has gotten older we have seen a little bit more fussiness and demandingness come out, but just a little.  This past weekend I took the two kiddos to Maine BY MY SELF.  I still can’t believe I did it, but it was totally made possible by Nora’s flexible nature.  She barely fussed at all. 

Physical:  She is chunking up much like her brother, though maybe not quite as quickly.  At her one month appointment a couple days ago she was 11 lbs 2 ozs and 23 1/4 inches.  She also seems to suffer many of the same skin ailments and sensitivities as the rest of her family: she often gets baby acne and she now has eczema too.  Boo.  But, best of all, she totally smiles!!!  It is such a beautiful smile and we see it so much now.  To be honest, she has been smiling since she was very young and it even seemed like social smiles—as in she looks right at you and gives a big huge grin.  However, all the books say that is not possible.  Anyways, lately she has been giving everyone lots of smiles and I’ve received lots of confirmation it’s not “just gas.”  Very exciting!

Eating habits:  She loves to eat!  But she still is a VERY efficient eater.  One of the so-called “hoovers” (as in the hoover vacuum, because she eats so much so quickly).  Every once in a while she spits up a huge amount, which was concerning me a bit, but the dr. said not to worry and it hasn’t happened in the last two weeks again…The dr. has also really encouraged me to keep right on nursing her as much as she would like.  She also continues to love her paci.  We sometimes try a bit to cut back on it, but haven’t had much luck.  If she doesn’t have it she tries to suck on her hands and fingers but ends up gaging herself.   Obviously she’s gaining awesome and we enjoy nursing, so that is what matters!

Sleep:  Her sleeping isn’t as amazing as it once was, but still pretty decent.  She wakes 2-3 times at night and usually goes back to sleep easily.  During the day she loves to sleep in the car (hence the easy trip to Maine).  She almost always falls asleep in the car, which includes bring Joseph to school and picking him up.  She also loves to sleep in her bouncy seat and swing.  Every once in awhile her tummy seems to bother her and make it hard for her to fall asleep, then she gets a bit mad.  But even her mad isn’t very mad!

Nicknames: Noranator, Sissy, Baby, Zibby, Norabelle, Stinkerbelle, Nora B.

Mom stuff:  Healing pretty well—better then I expected!  I can’t believe how normal I feel and how quickly.  Unfortunately the weight is not magically melting off my body—I still have 12 pounds to hit my pre-pregnancy weight.  But I’m not too worried; in fact I feel awesome!  I vaguely plan to join weight watchers or something in the future… But I am just so happy with how well we have transitioned to a family of 4.  I love our new house and our new family, Joseph is enjoying school and sports and friends, and it has been the most gorgeous fall!