Snorah strikes again

Snorah Strikes Again....

Cinco Semanas!

5 Weeks Already!...

This week's changes:

1. SMILING, SMILING, SMILING!
2. More (shall we call it) "passionate" crying 
3. 10 lbs (mostly in her cheeks:)
4. Following us with her eyes - makes you feel super special and important!
5. Staying awake during feedings! No more stripping, tickling, or wetting her to awaken:)
6. Hair is thickening, eyes are "blue-ing", and side burns are fading (oh hallelujah!:)

Smiling at Mommy

Guess who dressed me?

Pretty in White 

Wearing my "Peanut" shirt from Poppy

 

Paparazzi!

 First Photos...
Recently, I had the privileged of working with one of my clients, Michele Manning
in designing her photography studio.  I was able to see alot of Michele's beautiful work and knew I wanted her to do Norah's newborn photos.  Michele came out to our house and spent a few hours hanging out with us while we listened to Adele, captured great images, and had such a relaxing, enjoyable experience with our 10-day-old!  

Needless to say, we both cried at the viewing!

  Click Here To See Slideshow

Looking Back At All The Preparation....
I now know why the good Lord gives us 9 months to prepare for a baby...you need it!  It's almost like planning for another wedding.  It always seemed that there was a doctors appointment to go to, something to buy, a class to attend, something to buy, a place to be, something to buy:), or a book that needed to be read.  Don't get me wrong, we loved, loved every minute of it, but it just blew my mind how much was involved.  Now, I'm sure the perfectionist in me definitely overcomplicated this quite a bit, but this was our first baby after all (sorry Weez!) AND my first little girl.  Being the Dave followers that we are, we were committed to staying on a budget while getting everything that we needed.  Our friends told us about this huge "baby sale" that is held in Charlotte twice a year at a local church.  We were told they had everything you could ever need for a baby at crazy low prices...we were sold!  Here was the deal though...they would start handing your required ticket for admission at 8:00 a.m. and would give them out in order of arrival in line.  This was crucial because they only let in a certain number of people at a time and all of the "goods" apparently went fast!  So what does Josh do?  He is the first one there...at 4:00 IN THE MORNING.  I was early in my pregnancy here so was needing ALOT of sleep just to function, so promised to meet him in a few hours.  When I arrived, I found him there, proudly sitting in his chair, the only dad in line...period.  I fell in love all over!  This sale was totally worth it too!  We got lots of clothes, two car seats and bases, a NEW breast pump, and several other items all for about $160!  We'll definitely do the sale again!

Then there was the nursery....

This is one room that I put my heart in to!  Josh would laugh when I would ask, "do you think she would like this?"  He would remind me, "we're still not even 100% sure that it's a she."

Mimi painted the room

SW7081 Sensuous Gray

Putting together the pieces....
 

 

The three of us spent forever putting this together, only to realize it didn't work...returned:(

 

Her storage piece from Ikea took us 6 hours to put together! It had SO many pieces!  Weezie supervised...

Getting creative....

Josh, Dad, and David built a custom changing station for lots of Norah's things.  The room was small so we had to get creative with space.  I designed the space by ripping off the existing closet doors and maximizing the interior, then gave the boys the specs and they made my vision come to life!

 All of the prep, planning, and prayers all paid off.  Now we are able to focus our attention on what's most important, our little Snorah, and not be distracted with all of the other details~ I hope she likes it!

Three Weeks Old....
We have now been so blessed to have spent three weeks getting to know Norah (though she's already wearing 3 months!).  They keep telling us her hair will fall out, but as of right now, it's only getting thicker!  Each day she's more and more alert and feeding is going MUCH better...HALLELUJAH!  I thought it would be the end of me there for a while!  I am just amazed at how babies can tell you so much of what they like, don't like, feel, and need without saying one word.  It's made me start thinking...(here's where Josh says, "Oh no!":)  When we care so much for someone, like our child, and are truly paying attention to them, words aren't even necessary to getting to know them.  Sometimes, I think as adults, we even often say too much, too little than what's expected, or just completely the wrong thing altogether.  Maybe if we all slowed down things a bit and truly paid attention to and were present with others, our relationships would be strengthened to a whole new level, people would always feel like someone truly cared, and alot of the sadness that exists in the world today would disappear. I'll consider this one of my New Year's resolutions!