Nora is 1 Month Old

I remember bringing this sweet girl home one month ago and I can't believe it has already been 1 month (and a few days). It is true..time flies! The picture above was taken the first week of little Miss Nora's life. 

Above: Nora is 3 days old.

Above: Nora is 1 month old. 

Here's What I Can Do:

• I have started smiling at people, especially at Mommy.
• I love to eat, sleep and make messy diapers.
• I prefer to sleep on very soft surfaces. I do NOT like sleeping on a harder surface, such as a pack and play without some cushioning!
• I respond to my brother and sister when they are talking by turning my head to find them. 
• I love to have my head and hair rubbed while I am chillin' or trying to go to sleep. 
• I really do love being held and cuddled. I especially love laying on someone's chest. 

I was only going to post the pictures above but then I came across these precious pictures and just couldn't resist. 

A Start in the Morning

I am a morning person. However, with the new little one, I am still getting use to our new morning routine, or should I say, the "no routine" morning. That is right...we really don't have a routine. The only routine we have is that Nora will want to eat. Everything is based around it!

After the mom's left, I had to figure out something that I could easily make for myself and the rest of the family. That is when I went to smoothie making. Okay...so smoothie making is so easy. You pretty much just take what you have and put it in a blender. I add fruit, vegetables (such as kale or spinach),  Greek yogurt (or regular yogurt) and  whatever liquids might be in the fridge and VOILA a breakfast is made. A trick I have learned, use frozen fruit, then you don't have to add ice, which waters it down. This mornings creation was mango, pinapple (both of these frozen and already chopped), coconut, yogurt, orange juice and a little honey. So YUMMY! 

Yesterday's creation was spinach, pinapple, mango, orange juice and a little honey. It was a beautiful green and so delicious. 

Of course, coffee always goes with this. I never miss a morning with coffee. I do have a funny story from this morning about coffee. I put water in the Keurig and I remember putting the K Cup in the machine. However, I don't remember anything after that. I got busy getting the big kids ready for Summer Adventure. When I went back to make a cup of coffee, there was a mug sitting under the spout with a little bit of coffee in it. When I called Matt to ask him if he had made coffee, he simply replied "I looked over and coffee was running with no mug under it." Yup, ladies and gentlemen, that is right, I started it, with no mug underneath, and walked away. I have never been so glad that the inventors of the Keurig made a spot where coffee can drip into it instead of all over your counter. It was either a woman inventor, who knows what is like to be pulled in 20 different directions or it was a husband, who has a wife that has done something like this before. 

A Must Read

While in Branson, I finished the book above. I had started this book around 6 months ago (could have been longer than that) and finally finished it. It is SO GOOD. I would recommend it. It is the type of book that makes you laugh out loud, makes you tear up and ponder on things. It is about marriage and the author just puts it out there. She is so truthful and there were many times,where I thought, "man...so true!" It is actually an easy read ( I just took forever because of busyness). 

Below is her first book, which is all about motherhood. I would recommend it also. So if you are looking for a light summer read, that makes you smile and ponder, check these 2 books out. She also has a blog that is awesome. Click here to check it out. 

Nora's First Road Trip

Road Trip!!

We took our first road trip with Nora this last weekend. Wow...I had forgotten what it was like to travel with an infant. Let's just say, after packing the vehicle, it looked like we were heading to the beach for the week. However, we were headed to Branson, for a quick night hotel stay, and then on to Houston. Miss Nora did an awesome job. She is a pretty good little rider. Luckily, my parents drove us down to Branson and Houston and then Matt met us in Bolivar on Monday evening to take us back to Blue Springs. 

A few things I found out on this trip.

1. My parents are awesome. They entertained the big kids and let me relax for the weekend. My dad even sat on the floor of the car to help with Nora and be at the big kids beck and call. 

2. Nora doesn't really care who holds her. She was passed around to different family members and friends all weekend. 

3. Nora likes to sleep on soft beds. We tried the pack and play in the hotel and she didn't like it. When we got to Houston, we cushioned it up a little bit and BAM...she slept like a baby (which she is a baby).

4. John and Sophia are excellent baby watchers in the backseat. 

5. Someone once told me that when you have 3 kids, you go from "Man to Man" to "Zone" in taking care of kids. This piece of advice is so true. It was nice being "Man to Man" this weekend. 

Once in Branson, Nana and Pops took the kids to Silver Dollar City, while Nora and I hung out in various places around Branson. The kids had a blast and I got to read and I took a nap in the Tanger Outlet Mall parking lot in the car under a shade tree with Nora on my chest. BLISS! 

Once we got to Houston, we got to see a lot of family and friends and introduce Miss Nora to everyone. John was quite the host, telling everyone that when he saw Nora for the first time, he kissed her on the head and cheek. Sophia stayed pretty quiet this weekend, which comes to no surprise when she is around a lot of people. She really came alive when she saw her cousin Piper. 

The kids got to see cousins, ride bikes, ride the "Big Dog" (my dad's big lawn mower), swim at Aunt Pam's pool,  run around barefoot, and be country kids for the weekend. They loved it and wasn't sure they wanted to come back to Blue Springs. But they missed their Daddy, so they decided it was okay. 

The car ride from Boliver to Blue Springs was a litte tougher. We had 2 feedings, a dirty diaper and and a tired Sophia and John. However, the Royals won, so Mr. Matt was happy with that news and of course seeing the circus come back to Blue Springs. (I had told him to rest up this weekend, because the circus was coming back to town!)

Enjoy your Tuesday! 

A Must Have...

The Moby Wrap has been a saving grace since Nora has been born.  I must say a huge thank you to my dear friend Sarah Beard for letting me borrow hers and getting me hooked! This lets me hold Nora, hands free, so that I can help the other kiddos. I used it the other day when the kids wanted to go outside and play. I was able to hook the sprinkler up, help Sophia get her bathing suit on, put sunscreen on the kiddos and water my flowers, all while having Nora in the Moby Wrap. It is AMAZING! I have also used it at the T-Ball games and at church. I don't have to carry around the bulky carrier when I use the Moby Wrap. 

So if you have a little one, especially if you have other kiddos around the house, and want some time where your hands are free...I would recommend this product!

Have a great day! 

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. 

Starting Preschool

Well...we are officially the parents of 2 Preschoolers!! Unbelievable. I am also amazed to say that we did not have one tear from either kid as they left to go to their Preschool room. They are getting so big. 

John is doing 5 days of Pre-K. He gets to take his lunch each day. He absolutely loves it. The first day I picked him up, I asked him about his day. He said, "Mom, you will never believe it. They rub your backs during rest time and we have 3, I mean it, 3 recesses!" Before he went to preschool, I had told him that the teachers pray over the kids as they are resting. After his first day of school, he said, "I didn't hear anyone pray." I said, "They were probably praying in their heads." John - "Well, I guess that is okay. I would rather hear it." 

Oh that boy! 

When he got home, he excitedly told his sister all about it and proclaimed that she would love it! 

Sophia is doing 2 days a week. I was nervous about her going in but she was a trooper. She did her "one more thing..." about 2 times where she runs back and hugs and kisses us. And then she was off. My sweet baby girl was off and going like it was no big deal. 

One thing I realized is that this is the first time John and Sophia won't be staying at the same place for a whole day together. On the days Sophia doesn't go to Preschool, she will head to daycare. Since John is going 5 days, he doesn't go to day care anymore. 

My kids are getting big. Strange...