Thanksgiving Weekend - Part 2

Now that we're caught up, I'm going to share a few from Thanksgiving. Nora had her first Thanksgiving at Grandma & Grandpa Bongorno's house. There were about a dozen people at the table(s), including friends and family alike. She was a little angel (as always), but was pretty pissed about not being allowed to have a second plate of turkey and mashed potatoes. In due time...

Great Grandma Miller, Nora & Aunt Beth:
Great Aunt Max & Aunt Jen with Nora:
The day after, we went to (Great) Aunt Rita and (Great) Uncle Steve's house for (Great) Aunt Mary's birthday party. Nora got to meet the extended Bongorno's for the first time, including her second cousins Eleanor and Ellison! We'll be in Yellow Springs for Christmas and New Year's, so it was nice to get to meet all the great aunts and uncles and cousins and what not. It was her longest car ride to date and she was - again - an angel!

Grandpa B & Nora got a little dancing in:
Grandma B shared some photos of photos (we'll scan them later) with cousin Kristie. It turns out that Nora & Naomi look pretty much identical at the same age! By the way, what is my cousin Kristie to Nora? 2nd cousin? Great cousin?
Earlier on Friday, Joel stopped over and we all went shopping on Detroit Avenue, a short 5-minute walk from our house. The star lights are out on the street poles and a couple new shops opened just in time for holiday shopping. We did a little browsing and Nora slept through the whole thing, including her first visit to our favorite local cafe, Gypsy Beans & Baking.

On Saturday, Grandpa Rex, Uncle Steve and Uncle Kevin arrived, followed shortly by the arrival of Eden, Kevin and 15-month-old Eli. The latter three left this morning for the long drive back to the Bronx, while the rest of us are sitting here getting pumped for this week's Browns game versus the Texans.

Naomi vacuumed in preparation for our guests and Nora slept through the whole thing!
She likes her new sling:
Grandpa Rex has the touch:
So does Eden!
Mommy & Nora caught sleeping:This is how we eat now:
Like mother, like son!Eli cleaned up the cream cheese on his face with a nice crisp apple!
Kevin showed Chris his world famous "Vulcan baby grip:" Nora likes!
She wasn't as thrilled about being measured for the first time on our freshly minted door frame measuring bar... 20 1/2 inches!
We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend!

Thanksgiving Weekend Update - Part 1

Hi all! I'm going to do this update in two parts... First, I'm going to catch up to where Naomi was with a few extra pics from the past week+. Then, in Part 2, I'll bring everyone up to speed with recent events, including Nora's 1-month birthday!

So, first, a few pics from a week ago:

Two of my recent faves... Nora smirking & winking at the camera:
Nora chillin in her new rocker:
Meg stopped by for a little cuddling:
Daddy's boss, Chris, held Nora for a few minutes... he's a daddy in training (Congrats Chris!)
Daddy trying out a new hold... success!
The Grandmas are going to tell me to remove this picture. I will give them raspberries!Uncle Jim is practicing in preparation for the day when he will cave in and hold his neice...
A loving stare:
Daddy & Nora caught a few winks on the couch:
More to come!

4 weeks and cuter by the day!

I know, I know - tsk tsk tsk on us for not posting any new pictures for over a week. Our excuse is that our internet has been spotty. Sorry folks.

Anyway, Nora is 4 weeks old and as cute as can be. She's been hit by a bad case of baby acne and still manages to be the most adorable baby around...now that's cute. She's started to smile randomly when Chris and I make silly faces and she's found her thumb a few more times.

Here are a few little face montages of our funny girl...

Almost 3 weeks

Nora will be 3 weeks old tomorrow! I can't believe how quickly these 3 weeks have gone by, but at the same time I can hardly imagine our life before Nora was here. She continues to amaze us and we love her more every hour.

News in Nora-land includes:

1. the discovery of her thumb (picture below), which isn't a big surprise since both Chris and I were thumb suckers,
2. a successful 2-week appointment (she didn't poop on anyone this time!) where she weighed in at a whopping 8lbs 6oz!
3. the constant shifting of her nap (or lack thereof) schedule and the continued gift of a good night's sleep (she still only wakes up once during the night for diaper change/food - go ahead and hate us!),
4. her umbilical cord stump healed enough (and she gained enough weight) for us to start using cloth diapers (g diapers w/ cloth as liner - www.gdiapers.com)...our learning curve for avoiding leaks is steep, but we're getting there,
5. we finally got a picture of her dimple! so cute...

As Promised

It didn't end well, but Nora cheered her little lungs out. We'll get 'em next week!

She was showing off her strong legs yesterday. We could tell from her kicks in utero that she was going to be an athlete:

Lazy Saturday

We may have been quiet for a few days, but don't think the camera's been missing any of the action! Naomi will certainly tell you all about Nora's 2-week appointment with the family doctor. My most exciting news is that Nora will be sporting a new outfit for the Browns game tomorrow (thanks Adam & Sarah!)... stay tuned!

Our first walk through the neighborhood with Nora:
See? She's really in there! She slept nearly the entire walk...



Her first peek at herself in the mirror:
Auntie Jen stopped by for another visit:
Adam & Sarah made it over with some lasagna and a couple new outfits!

Sadie's a big fan of the AG:
Almost caught a smile on camera!

My Version

Time for my response... She may be overprotective, but what would you prefer with a newborn... nonchalance or extra care? As Naomi & I have discovered over the past 5+ years, we are stricken with more than our fair share of indecisiveness. I think that Friday night was our first experience with how that shared trait will impact our child-rearing. Knowing that whatever was going on with Nora was not an imminent life-threatening condition, we waffled for about 2 hours before ultimately deciding to go into the ER. In the end, I remained indecisive...dwelling more on the negatives of going in...while Naomi made the call and chose to err on the side of being overprotective.

It may not be clear at this point in my post, but I'm trying to say that I am thankful for the way she reacted. My stance is usually that of just waiting things out. That goes for my headaches, for rough patches at work, for decisions big and small. I always figure that the answer and the right move will come to me. In some situations, however, waiting is probably not prudent. Naomi was leaning in my direction, which would've been easier, but had the conviction to say, "I'm ready to be wrong and label myself 'silly' and 'neurotic' if that means that we'll be more certain that Nora is OK." And to that, I say, "You are a good mommy and I am grateful that you are ready to make decisions like this."

So, we're 12 days into parenthood and we're learning more about ourselves every day. Nora, meanwhile, has become more beautiful, more alive, more expressive, and yes - more stinky. And we love her for every bit of it!

She's also begun exerting one of her traits that she picked up from daddy:

And the award for Most Overprotective New Mom goes to...

Let me preface this story with the warning that most parents out there are going to either laugh or maybe hate us a little for being worried that our baby sleeps too much - the grass is always greener, huh?

Anyway, Nora usually snoozes through a good 90% of the day with periodic 1 to 2 hour waking sessions where she looks around, grunts, makes funny faces, kicks a lot, and eats. Yesterday she went down for her usual late morning nap and was in a state of groggy sleepiness for the rest of the day...not so interested in eating and never really her alert self. So, of course, I started to worry. She woke up around 5 or so and ate so much (probably my fault...trying to make up for lost feedings) that she promptly vomited it all back up. I decided to call our family doc just to make sure this was nothing to worry about - she said we should take her to ER just to be safe (they don't mess around with lethargic newborns...could be a sign of infection). On hearing that advice I started to cry and hung up on her (she called back and talked with Chris...apologizing multiple times and explaining that everything was probably fine, but that she'd take Nora in just in case). Ugh.

Of course, right after we talked with the Dr. Nora woke up and had a good meal (no vomiting) and was more alert - then she went back to sleep. But, the damage had been done and I couldn't shake the worry bug. So off we went (after about an hour or so of indecisiveness) to the ER...just to be safe.

Nora slept through the ride there and slept in the waiting room. She only woke up when the triage nurse had to take her temperature rectally (no fever). Nora disliked this so much that she pooped all over the nurse's hand (ha! the nurse said it wasn't the first time). Despite my worry I couldn't help but laugh at that one!

After another short wait (during which Nora ate and went back to sleep) the pediatrician came in and quickly pronounced Nora to be perfectly healthy (she kicked and screamed at the appropriate times and even peed on him to show that her kidneys were working well!). He was very nice and made sure we knew that he didn't think we were silly for bringing her in...better safe than sorry w/ such a small baby. Thanks Dr., but I still feel a little silly.

What we learned from this experience:

1. Nora has discovered the joy of pooping outside of her diaper (she had already perfected the art of peeing when diaperless)...she got me last night and shot one clear across the bathroom this morning!
2. My suspicions have proven true that a) I worry too much and b) we have a perfect child.
3. I was reminded yet again that I married a wonderful man who loves me and knows how to choose his battles.
4. Nora has gained a full pound since last Friday! She was born 7pds 6oz, had gone down to 7p 1oz at 3 days, and was 8p 2oz. last night (pre poop) at 10 days! Go little chunker!

So, here are some pictures and a video of our beautiful (and alert) little Nora. I wonder if there's a page in our baby book for "First Overeactive Trip to the ER"?

This morning...Sadie entertaining us and Nora being cute:



Hi Nora!


Norma, Joe & Sofia came over on Thursday (they're expecting daughter #2 in March!)...


And, Daddy and Nora all wiped out after our trip to the ER...