Introducing Miss Nora Joann

I always knew that I wanted a family that had 3 or more kids. When Matt and I first got married, our hopes were that we would have 4 or 5 kids. After having John, our first child, we quickly rethought this dream and said "Let's take this one child at a time." With John and Sophia, we quickly got pregnant and were so grateful for each one of the pregnancies and births. When deciding to try for a 3rd child, we had the same expectations. However, God had different plans for us. We tried for almost 2 years. Through a lot of tears, a miscarriage and frustrating times, we had decided "Hey, maybe 2 kids is just what we need." Yet, God once again has perfect timing and Nora's birth couldn't have been more perfect. 

There are so many things that I want to say about having a 3rd child and how perfect Nora is and how John and Sophia have adapted so well...but this blog would go on forever. So I am just including a few highlights and a few pictures to tell the story. I am sure and hoping that I can go into more detail as I blog more about our growing family.

• Nora's delivery was the easiest birth of all 3 kids. This seems to go with her personality that we are seeing each day - laid back and going with the flow. I think I pushed for about 10 minutes and BAM...there she was! 
• We didn't find out what sex we were going to have but Matt and I were convinced that we were having a boy. We just knew that we would be walking away with a "Jude Robert" when we left the hospital. We both gasped in the delivery room when we saw a sweet baby girl with a lot of hair! (our other 2 had NO hair) We hadn't agreed on a girl name yet, so this was a discussion we had as the nurses were cleaning Miss Nora up. 

We brought the kids back first to meet Miss Nora and then they got to tell the grandparents that we had a little girl and that her name was Nora Joann. For those of you that know the story...John did NOT want a sister. He had made that clear. Matt and I were both nervous about his reaction when he walked in the room. However, it couldn't have been more perfect. He loved her from the moment he saw her. He kissed her on the head and cheek immediately. Sophia's reply was 'I knew it was a girl."

LOVE this picture! John adores his youngest sister. He seriously looks at her like this every day. Every morning, his first question is "Where is Nora?"

Okay, I love this picture too. Sophia, my sweet middle child, is so much quieter and seems to stay in the background. It wasn't really until the next day, when there wasn't a lot of people around that Sophia asked to hold Nora. She couldn't take her eyes off Nora and kept saying, "Look at my sticker, I am your big sister."

This child has super long, skinny feet and toes. 

She also has cheeks that I can't stop kissing. 

Nora is a sleeper so pictures with her eyes open are few and far between. When she has her eyes open, Sophia immediately announces it. 

Poor Sophia has been fighting allergies, so this isn't the best picture of her but I wanted to show it because John can't keep his lips off Nora. He LOVES giving her kisses. He has become a pro at changing diapers and learning how to burp her.

Nora fits in our family perfectly. Adding this sweet baby to the mix of our crazy family has been a true gift from God. Matt and I laugh about how different we are with Nora than what we were with John and even Sophia. Being 11 days old, Nora has already attended a tee-ball game, church, and a cousin's birthday party. As long as she has a chest to lay on, she is perfectly happy wherever she goes.