Saturday, July 21, 2012

Two Months

I can hardly believe that Norah is now two months old. Time goes by so quickly with a baby, even faster than before. It's amazing how much she has changed and how much her personality shines through.


Norah is our happy little girl. I know research says babies don't smile socially until about 6 weeks, but Norah, whether reflex or not, started smiling around 2 weeks old and hasn't stopped since (she's currently smiling in my arms right now). And we're not just talking about sleepy smiles and random grins. These are in response to people and are full-faced and mouth-lifting where she squints her eyes like her daddy. Rich is the best at getting her smiles.



Norah is very social. She loves to be held and will only fall asleep at night if someone is cuddling her (for about half an hour). The same goes for after nighttime feedings. She can chill in her bouncy seat for a while but gets bored with it and wants to be held. I might have created a monster by holding her all the time, but I don't care that much. Things won't always be this way, so I know I should enjoy her cuddling while I can.

 



Norah had her 2-month checkup yesterday. Her stats basically told us what we already knew - she is long and skinny. She is 23 3/4" long (90th percentile) and 11 pounds 1/2 ounce (50th percentile) and has a head circumference of 15 1/2" (80th percentile). At her two-week appointment, Norah was in the 75th percentile for weight, meaning she hasn't advanced in the weight like we thought she would. Nothing to worry about as long as she keeps eating well; she just might be smaller than we originally thought. The nurse and PA kept telling her how smiley she was, and then they jabbed her with the vaccine needles, instantly ending the smiles and starting the screaming. I almost started crying with her. It's so hard because you can't explain that you let those mean people poke her because it's for her own good. She was pretty crabby for the rest of the day, but what can you expect?



Norah sleeps pretty well, usually about 4 or 5 hours between feedings. This week I got lucky and had a seven-hour night, followed by an eight-hour one. That was great, but I don't think it's going to last (we sure didn't have that last night). The PA said she probably needs the calories from nighttime feedings anyway since she's such a skinny minny, so I don't mind if it means putting a little meat on those bones. We swaddled her from the beginning, which worked great, but then I tried to stop once the hot weather finally hit Spokane. That worked for about a week, but then Norah decided one sleepless night that she'd only sleep for about thirty minutes at a time without it. Now we're back to swaddling, and I can get a little more rest. There are currently no plans to stop it again in the near future.



I have no idea who Norah looks like, but we hear that she looks like both of us. We're still trying to figure out what color her eyes and hair are going to be. Her eyes were rather brown when she was born, but a lot of these pictures make them look blue. I think we'll end up with some sort of hazel color. She had very fine, short, dark hair when she was born, but now when I look at her roots I see quite a bit of blond there. I don't think we'll really know her hair color until she's like a year old. She is also super active, a little crazy at times. If she gets going, she will kick and kick for hours on end. That's probably the main reason she's skinny - she burns so many calories moving around all the time.



We love our little Norah Kate. It hasn't always been easy (definitely not), but it's more than worth it. It's so fun getting to know her better and getting to know ourselves as parents. I love when I figure out something new about her.One of the biggest things Rich and I have learned is patience because now things cannot happen on our schedule. But most importantly, we've learned even more about love. It is so wonderful feeling how much our love for each other has grown and how completely this little girl has captured our hearts.


Heavenly Father really has blessed us with this special, beautiful, happy little girl.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Blessing Day

On July 8th, Rich was able to give Norah a beautiful baby blessing in my parents' ward. I would have liked to have her blessing in our ward, but it worked out better to do it in Utah since so much family was there. We felt very blessed for both of her grandpas, two of her great-grandpas, and six of her uncles to be in the circle, and, of course, to have Rich give her the blessing (we were one of those annoying groups that have a ton of men in the circle).

Norah's blessing was wonderful. I know Rich was inspired to say the things he did. I feel the overall message of her blessing was that she is loved, which is so true. We are so lucky to have Norah in our lives.

Norah's blessing dress was gorgeous (and overflowing out of her car seat!)


I feel like I have a special relationship with both of my grandpas. It really meant a lot that they were both able to stand in Norah's blessing circle.

 
Grandpa Max (rocking the fedora) 

Grandpa Burnham

Monday, July 16, 2012

Dre and Jed

The main reason we went to Utah was for a wedding for Andrea ("The Dre") and Jed. It was a beautiful wedding in the Bountiful temple, followed by a great reception in Brigham City.


The boys with their girls 



 All of the Nelson cousins

 The three 2012 cousins

 Rich had fun practicing his photography skills on the temple

 Our happy baby

I hate it when the eating of the cake is nice (I got cake up Rich's nose at our reception), so good job Dre and Jed!


This was the last wedding for our siblings. All six Nelson kids and all four Fredrickson kids are married, so no more family weddings here (at least until our niece Alison gets married, hopefully in the distant future). The best part of this is that all of our siblings chose wonderful spouses. We love all of our siblings-in-law, and Jed is no exception to the rule. Welcome to the family, Jed!

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Road Trip, Part 1

The past few weeks were pretty busy for the Nellys. We made the road trip to Utah for a basically nonstop vacation. The trip was great (though exhausting), and some of the best news is that we didn't lose any of the pictures from our camera this time around! (I've also discovered how much fun Instagram is, so we have several phone pictures, too.)

Norah handled the drive pretty well. We left about 10:30 p.m. hoping she would sleep for pretty much the whole ride, and she sort of did. There was about half an hour where she was not a happy camper, but after that she slept from somewhere in Montana all the way to Ogden.

 

Lola, the first cousin Norah ever met

Grandma Burnham's Party

Grandma Burnham (my mom's mom), turned 80 at the end of June, and Rich and I were lucky enough to make it to her birthday party. A lot of my mom's family was there, so it was fun to see a lot of people I haven't in a while.

Norah with Uncle Brian

The cousins were taking turning sticking their fingers inside Norah's pacifier - oh to be a kid again



So Many Cousins

Norah is going to be lucky enough to have four cousins about her age. On the Nelson side, she has Trey,who was born in January, and Kelsey, who was born two weeks after her. (The other two on the Fredrickson side and are yet to be born, although baby Hugh is only eight days away now!)

 


Notice how bumpy and red Norah's face is? She had some kind of rash, but Rich's pediatrician uncle told us how to help her so be sure to notice in the pictures to come how much better her skin looks (and don't mind the boogers!)

Kelsey's Blessing

Cami and Ethan blessed their adorable little girl while we were there. Baby blessings are special experiences. Ethan gave his daughter a beautiful blessing, and this one made us especially excited for Norah's (which would come a week later). 

 Kelsey, the star of the day

4 generations on Rich's side

I can't get over Trey's amazing blue eyes!



 
 These two cousins could hardly be more different. It's crazy to see how different their personalities are, even when they're so young!

 Norah smiles all the time - I LOVE it!

Long day for Poppa

More Cousins

My mom can't resist matching outfits for the girl cousins.

 Grandma Kari had to get her Norah fix while she could.


 Oh my gosh, is Carson not the cutest?!

Handsome Skyler

4th of July



This picture does not do justice to how completely opposite these two are! Somehow Rich and I ended up with the long, skinny one! 

The soon-to-be newlyweds



Obviously a lot happened while we were in Utah - so much that I do not have enough time/patience to post it all right now. So, more to come later!