Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Happy Birthday Norah!!

Yesterday was Norah's first birthday and I think I am still in shock!  Where has the year gone?  It sure has been an amazing one!  She has brought such immense hope and joy into our lives - so much more than I ever knew was possible.  After losing Harper, I never thought we would find that true happiness and even though we still miss her and always will, Norah has filled our hearts so much and helped them to heal.  <3 div="div">
Instead of sharing pictures from her party (I will very soon!), I am going to post the pictures that I displayed at her party of her from birth until now.  It is amazing to look at all of them together.  I am in awe over how much she has grown and changed.  She is such a wonder to me.  What a happy year it has been!!



















Thursday, August 23, 2012

Some updates

Thank you for all of your kind comments on my last post.  I truly appreciate it the support.  While this pregnancy is certainly different than Norah's, as in I am not a complete basket case (mainly because she distracts me from myself), it is still very stressful and scary and of course exciting all at the same time.  We only have about 7-8 weeks left and they can't go by fast enough.

It is hard to believe that we are getting ready to celebrate Norah's first birthday this Saturday even though her actual birthday isn't until Tuesday.  I think I am in shock that she is about to turn one.  Where has this year gone?  It has gone by too fast, I will tell you that. I fear that her whole childhood will feel like a whirl wind and that is why I try my best to soak up every moment with my sweet girl.  Even the not so great moments - I always try to keep it in perspective.  She is such a gift and I am so grateful and blessed to be her mommy.

Now onto the gushing and pictures :)

Her vocabulary has been growing quite a bit over the last month or so.  Every time she says something new it amazes me even though Chris and I are probably the only ones who can actually understand what she is saying!  Book, moo, buzz, hi!, deer, Zeus, dog, ball, mama and dada are on the list these days.  You can ask her what a bee says and she will answer back with "ZZZZZ", it's so stinkin' cute!  She is taking longer and longer stretches of walking unassisted but still prefers to hold mommy's hand a lot of the time :)  We have recently moved on from bottles - she just decided one day that she was done with them.  It is so weird but from what I hear from other mamas, I should be grateful that she weaned herself and I didn't have to take the beloved "baba" away.  She is a sweet girl and will give kisses, nice slobbery ones, or a hug if you ask.  She loves to flirt with people in public as long as you don't get too close.  She also has quite the little temper and gets MAD when she doesn't get her way.  I have to restrain myself from laughing at her little tantrums sometimes because it is so cliche - you know, the all out back arching, leg kicking, scream fit that you expect to see in the toy section of Walmart.  Yea, we've got that here and she isn't even one yet.  Am I in trouble??   We are also struggling with a bit of separation anxiety but I hear that it gets better.  She does not like me out of her sight much at all and leaving her to go the doctor is hard.  I usually end up crying, too.  I just feel so bad that she is so upset but I know that she usually calms down after a few minutes.

Here are some recent pics!

Hi Mom!  


A little light morning reading :)


She loves the pool and apparently splashing is very funny!


Hanging out in the ball pit at My Gym.


Yay for swings (at My Gym)!  


Did Hollywood call? 

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Where to begin...(TRIGGER)

I have been keeping something under my hat for a while - not really knowing how to bring it up and wanting to be sensitive to a community that I love so much and that has always been there for me. There are so many broken hearts here and there have been so many disappointments that I just haven't felt right sharing.

But I suppose the cat has to come out of the bag sometime so as I cross over a huge hurdle, I feel compelled to finally share some news with you all.  Harper and Norah are going to be welcoming a baby brother in the fall.  October to be exact but knowing the state of my uterus, September may be more likely.  We are very excited of course and just anxious for this little guy to get here safely.  I am 28 weeks and 3 days and just hoping and praying that things continue to go well.  I feel incredibly blessed to have the privilege of carrying another life.  We are so happy to have our family grow to 5 with our second rainbow baby.