Six Months Old

At six months old, Nora:

• can sit up by herself for short periods.  She is still a little wobbly, but she gets more sturdy with each day.
• is scooting and rolling all over the place.  She gets up on all fours in the crawl position, but can't figure out how to move her hands forward.  I have a feeling she will be all over the place before we know it. 
• loves being carried around the house.  Good thing she doesn't mind being carted around in the Beco carrier, otherwise I would have some very tired arms. 
• still sleeps like a champ overnight and naps 3 times per day. 
• started solids about 3 weeks ago.  So far she has tried sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, peas, bananas, apples and peaches and has liked them all.  Bananas are definitely her favorite. 
• is such a happy baby.  She rarely cries and has such a great disposition.
• has a contagious little belly laugh.  Her sisters are especially skilled at getting her to laugh. 
• loves music.  She especially loves when you sing to her. 

Five Months Old

At five months old, Nora:

• is growing up WAY to fast.  I honestly can't believe that we are almost to the half year mark!
• LOVES to eat.  She drinks 5 bottles a day and just started oatmeal.  I have a feeling that she is going to LOVE baby food. 
• continues to sleep pretty well overnight.  She usually makes it from about 7:30-5:00 with no wake-ups.  When she wakes up at 5:00 we pull her into our bed and usually get another 1-2 hours out of her. 
• rarely cries.  She has a such a great temperment and is easy to bring along with us whereever we go.
• is rolling like crazy.  She started about 2 weeks ago and loves to flip from her back to tummy. 
• enjoys playing in the jump-a-roo and grabbing at the animals on her playmat.
• is starting to get more sturdy with 'sitting up'.  She is still pretty wobbly and unstable, but she is getting there. 
• is very patient with her 2 older sisters who love to give her tons of kisses and hugs every day. 

Four Months Old

;

At 4 months old, Nora:

• is still a super happy and mellow baby. When you talk to her, she coos right back at you with a big grin on her face.
• has starting to reach out and grab for toys, especially on her playmat.
• LOVES to eat. Her teachers at school have commented several times that she is the best eater in the classroom!!
• is close to rolling over (from back to tummy), but isn't quite there yet. She can roll over to her side but can't figure out how to make the final effort to get over.
• sleeps pretty well overnight. About 50% of the time she makes it all the way through the night; the other 50% she is usually up once around 4:30am. Not bad for 4 months.
• is out of her swaddle and into a sleepsack. The transition was pretty much a non-event.
• likes to chew on her fingers. They are always in her mouth and she is drooling like crazy. 
• weighs in at 12 lbs, 15 ounces and is 25 inches long. 

 



Three Months Old

At three months old, Nora...
- is cooing like crazy and is close to giving us a real giggle.
- is very mellow and easy-going.  We feel very blessed that she has been so easy.
- continues to grow more hair on top.  Looks like she is going to be a little blondie.
- is swaddled when she sleeps.  I'm not sure how we are ever going to break this habit as she loves it and doesn't fight it at all.
-  wakes up once during the night to eat. 
- is a very smiley baby. 
- continues to become more and more interactive.
- has started to dislike the carseat.  She has been crying much more in the car and is taking far fewer naps while we are out and about. 
- loves the bouncy seat.  
- enjoys bathtime.  Claire and Charlotte love to help out and Nora never seems to mind. 
- likes when we sing and read her stories. 
- loves to snuggle with mommy and daddy.  She LOVES to be held. 

Two Months Old

At two months old, Nora...
- is still a super mellow baby.  She rarely cries and when she does, it is very easy to calm her down.
- has started giving us lots of smiles and is starting to 'talk' to us.
- loves blowing bubbles and is drooling like a pro.
- has discovered her hands and loves putting them in her mouth.
- sleeps a 5-7 hour stretch at night, eats, and then goes back down for another 3-4 hours. 
- will pretty much nap anywhere - her crib, bouncy chair, carseat, your arms.  She really doesn't have a choice since she is the third child and we are often out and about during the day. 
- is getting stronger.  She can now lift her head up pretty high during tummy time and loves when we hold her in a standing position.
- weighs 10 lbs 4 oz (30th percentile) and is 22 inches long (30th percentile).  After a month long struggle to gain weight, she finally seems to be on track. 
- eats 6-7 times each day.  Given the weight gain struggles, I am now exclusively pumping and all of her feedings are in a bottle.  One nice thing is that Art now gets to help with night feedings!! :)
- is loved by her two older sisters.  They both give her no fewer than 10 kisses each day and love to help out with bottles, diaper changes and giving her the pacifier when it falls out of her mouth. 
- rolls from tummy to back. 

One Month Old

Nora hit the one month mark on Friday.  We are loving everything about this sweet natured little girl.

At one month old, Nora...

is a very mellow baby.  She really only cries if she is hungry or getting her diaper changed. 

is finally 8 lbs!! She was a very slow gainer the first few weeks, but has picked up the pace this last week, which is great.  We are currently supplementing with an ounce of milk in a bottle after every feeding.  While it is a bit of a pain, it seems to be working.  We will re-evaluate at her 2 month appointment. 

is starting to figure out her days and nights.  For the most part, she goes back to sleep after night feedings.  She is still only going 3-4 hours between feedings overnight, but I'm hopeful this will continue to get longer. 

loves to be cuddled and held. 

is becoming more alert during the day and is awake for longer periods of time. 

loves being outside.  The warm summer weather and bright sunshine usually put her right to sleep. 

is luke-warm about the swing.  She will tolerate it for small increments of time, but would much rather be held. 

is very tolerant of her older sisters.  They are constantly giving her kisses, bringing her toys and making lots of noise; luckily she doesn't seem to mind. 

doesn't seem to mind tummy time.  Her neck is getting stronger every day.

loves her pacifier. 

Sweet Nora

In attempt to document the first year of Nora's life (since Charlotte is nearly 3 and I am STILL working on her baby book), I've decided to re-visit our blog. Most of these posts will likely be all about Nora and her current happenings. Nora was born on May 29 at 7:18 weighing in a 7lbs 6oz and measuring 20 1/4 inches long. She came into this world screaming (literally), but has been an extremely mellow baby so far (Art and I are holding our breath). Our stay at the hospital was long, due to my C-section as well as a little heart scare the day we were supposed to check out of the hospital. We were getting all packed up and ready to head home when the nurse on duty did a final check of Nora's vitals. She heard a small heart murmur that resulted in a late in the day echo-cardiogram. She ended up having something called VSD (basically a small hole in her heart). Luckily it is relatively common at birth and usually closes on its own (at her 1 week visit her pediatrician confirmed hers had already closed). Long story short we left the hospital late in the evening on Friday, more than ready to start life at home as a family of 5.
 
Almost 2 weeks in, things are going well. Claire and Charlotte have adjusted well and have been extremely sweet with Nora...LOTS of hugs and kisses. Art was off work the last 2 weeks and it has been so nice to have him home with us. We done a lot of family outings and I've really appreciated his help around the house. Nora has been busy eating and sleeping...pretty much normal stuff for a 2 week old. While she is still figuring out her days and nights, I'm much more relaxed about the lack of sleep the third time around. In part due to experience and the fact that this is likely my last newborn to cuddle with during the early hours of the morning.

We are so happy to have welcomed her into our family. Life is good.