4 month update

4 month mug shot - sorry no smiles today

she's 4 months old, folks!

Accomplishments this month:
Little girl can roll over both ways!  She surprised us all by rolling over one way and immediately flipping her self over and rolling the other way.  She doesn't prefer to roll, mind you.  It still surprises the heck out of her each time she does. 

As we hit the 4 month marker I can't help but start to think about how soon 6 months will roll around and we'll be introducing solid food.  So far this girl's growth is all me - and I can't help but think how cool that is.

She is super sweet & she already shows so much love for big brother.  She is a talker and she tends to use her voice and babbles as a way of joining in on brother's fun since she can't get up and over to him all the time.  As the second baby, she know's nothing of controlling our day or schedule - that is still all brother.  Sister tags along only.  She goes everywhere Elijah and I do whether she wants to or not - Baby bookworms, park, zoo, grocery.  This however is making her quite the easy going traveler.

At her 4 month visit, she weighed 14lbs 3 oz and was a bit over 25 in long.

We celebrated Easter this year with some neighbors & a low country boil.  Nora mostly slept through the entire party swaddled in a scarf on the screened in porch floor amongst all the hustle and bustle.

Life's Happening

So I took a little break from blogging.  If you hadn't noticed.  I think mostly it was only my mom who did!  We've been busy actually living life not so worried about documenting it.  However, weeks (and months) began to pass - and as we all know babies KILL braincells and this blog is my only hope of remembering anything about my babies lives or ours together.  (Seriously, Rob has to remind me about things from my own wedding and even babies births')  Awful awful memory I have.  It's a blessing and a curse :)  So when I'm old and gray, snuggled under a blanket I've made out of eli & nora's old baby clothes (don't even think I'm joking - I'm already saving my favorite onesies), I can remember all the funny pronunciations and developmental victories and long long days of sweeping graham crackers and scratching dried banana off of doorways with my finger nail - ahh, memories.

Before I begin posting the onslaught of drafts of nora's 4-5-6 months of life and a very grown up 2 1/2 year Elijah post, I hoped to catch up family and friend-family on our own lives.

Welp - I guess the biggest news is that we are moving to Lexington, KY at the end of the month.  Rob is beginning a PhD in Economics in the fall at the University of Kentucky.  UK was a great choice for us as it hosts the Center for Poverty Research.  Rob hopes to influence through writing, research, and teaching how poverty and justice issues are handled at the community and national level through an economic lens on the poor and marginalized in our society. We are so ready and excited to begin this next chapter of our lives which we didn't anticipate beginning for a few more years.  The program lasts 4-5 years, so it's very likely we'll be leaving Lexington with a rising kindergartener and second grader!

Along with this move, of course comes the grind of actually - physically moving.  Ugh, I hate moving.  I hate it with a most intense passion.  Some well meaning innocent acquaintance recently asked me, "do you like moving?"  After she heard how much we'd moved in the past 5 years.  To which I replied, "no - but we're good at it."  And, it's true.  This move has been a bit easier so far than the past ones.  The ease of this move coupled with Nora being so little and Eli freaking out whenever I pull out another box; however, has pretty much cancelled out any noticeable gain from our mad packing skills, though.  Several friends have given us boxes, and we've got a truck reserved for the 20th of July.  Our house is sold and we've bought a beautiful home in Lexington.  We'll close on both the same day.  All in all, we're taking care of business.  It's tough, but I keep telling myself, the worst will be over in a month.  And not to over-dramatize or spiritualize, but we feel like God is continuing to call us out and down our path to learning how to love like Jesus and bring his Kingdom closer.  I'm more excited about Lexington and the work God has for us there than I have been in a long time.  That makes the move, the stress, and then transition all worth it.  Or, worth it most days.

We've held several jobs between us over the summer.  Rob worked at Lowe's for a little while and became the reigning Lawn and Garden Specialist in our family.  We really both enjoyed him working there, the only tough days were when he closed and missed our bedtime routine.  But, I saw him more while he was working there than I had in awhile - It was awesome for our family.

Meanwhile, I've continued with teaching Bradley Classes and doula-ing with Open Heart Doula right up to the end of our time in Knoxville.  I am awaiting my 27th Bradley baby's arrival having taught 54 Bradley students while in Knoxville just over a year and a half of teaching.  Our whole family was quite busy recently with my last two doula clients giving birth just days apart from one another.  I am so thankful for this role serving moms and families.  I'm still hoping to attain DONA certification and possibly IBCLC certification to become a lactation consultant.  With our young family, however, this is a long term endeavor that I'll chip away at slowly over time.

I've already scheduled my first few classes in Lexington and am excited to begin again there.  I don't expect to take doula clients right away after our move.  I really feel like we need to settle in a bit first and get used to our new surroundings and schedules before adding the unpredictability of birth to the mix.

We're really going to miss our neighbors and friends.  A lot of the couples I had in class became good friends and we couldn't have asked for better neighbors in our neighborhood.  We became a part of peoples lives in really cool ways here and we are praying that God has more things like that for us in Lexington as we use our gifts and abilities there.  I've made Eli a shutterfly photo book entitled, "Eli's Big Move - from Knoxville to Lexington"  It's full of all his favorite things and people in Knoxville.  I'm hoping to take some of the confusion and anxiety of moving out of the equation for his 2 year old brain.

Below is a sneak peek of our new home in Lexington.

Front porch and yard

Back yard chicken coop and fire pit

Swing set for Eli and Nora Cate

How Deep The Father's Love for Us

( Holy Week 2012)


How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that left Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

The boy and his chalk

3 month-date

We have arrived! Officially 3 months old and out of the newborn phase. It is bitter sweet, but oh man, you really can tell when you've turned a corner. And these brief periods of respite before challenges of the new age arrive are so restoring.

I recently packed away the kids winter clothing and Nora's layette. It is really difficult to say goodbye to this phase, everything certainly is moving too fast the second time around.

Baby girl is a mover and shaker. She kicks, squirms, wiggles and is even trying to sit up - that or do baby crunches. I believe she has discovered her feet, or at least that she can move then and reach toys with them. She is constantly in motion. She also is entirely vocal. She adores being talked to and enjoys coo-ing back. She makes the best faces and sounds.


She has recently begun to love her toys and takes her time at the baby gym seriously. The sun in one hand, elephant shaker in the other. She's getting a real work out these days. She is also even more into following Elijah around. She's seeing pretty well these days and can follow his darting movements a little better than when she was a younger gal. She has also developed an affinity for TV. It doesn't matter what's on- though she prefers Cat in the Hat.

She's still an awesome sleeper. And I credit a reprieve in gray hairs to my getting more sleep than I ever dreamed possible with two little ones. It also seems that she is settling herself into a bit of a daily rhythm which is also cool. She's pretty flexible and easy-going; she's my "take along baby".

We had a short battle with thrush and a momentary stall in weight gain that spurred worries in me of my pediatrician wanting to supplement. He, however, was not at all concerned with the stall. He said she looked perfectly healthy and let's just wait and see. "But she's supposed to gain an ounce a day" I shouted. Turns out babies do grow in fits and spurts - she gained a whole pound last week alone and all worries of a skinny baby are over.

She remains a completely different nurser than Elijah. She does not linger over her meals and often does not want to nurse to sleep. When she's done - she's done and if I try to coax her to eat a little bit more, she screams. She wants to eat and then go about her business.

How I love toothless baby faces!

Me and My Little Valentine

Nora's two month update

The little girl turned two months yesterday. She is a smiling, coo-ing body of wonderfulness.

Seriously, I don't know if she's just that different of a baby than Eli, or if Rob and I were just clueless with him. Nora is a super easy baby. She is sleeping about 6-7 hours at night, which honestly makes anything and everything during daytime hours with 2 little ones much much easier to handle.

Nora began coo-ing and smiling about 2 weeks ago - and it is as wonderful as I was anticipating. She loves watching big brother. I like to think it's because she loves him already and is interested in what he's doing. Though, it is probably equal amounts of self-preservation as it is adoration. She's been hit with footballs (foam - but still I know it stung) and had matchbox cars driven over her face. She's going to be one tough preschooler one day.

I can tell very easily now that she recognizes her immediate family and is more than happy to see Ma's face when she's hungry.


She is an absolute dream.


Some things that have made this time around easier. A pacifier. I swore Elijah would not have one - and he didn't. By the time I realized there may be something to baby's having pacifiers he would not take one. This time, it was the first postpartum baby product we bought. She doesn't take it often and she doesn't sleep with it at night, but it comes in handy when she does want to take it.

Second thing, A book called, "The Happiest Baby on the Block." I so wish I had this book when Eli was a newborn. The doc's 5's work magic on Nora and our lives are all the more peaceful for it. His whole premiss is that baby's need a 4th trimester - I've read about this idea before by other authors - and the 5's mimic the environment of the womb. Swaddling, Shushing, Swinging, Side and the icing on the cake suckling. She's no match withstanding all 5 at once, she'll calmly fall asleep in minutes. It's like a party trick going from screaming baby to ... silence. Third thing, her cradle swing. If grandma lived next door, we may not need this baby item. But it was a consignment store steal and provides hours of contentment when there aren't extra arms to rock in the rocking chair. Some days she's in it a lot, other days not at all. But the days that she does need the extra attention it is very helpful.

4th thing, my electric steamer I got for Christmas. I love clean floors. 2 year olds hate clean floors. It has been an epic battle which I lost. hard. I considered getting a dog, just to keep my floors slightly less than gross. But now, I can save myself the vet bill and the hassle of a 4th living creature to care for with this contraption. It is amazing and makes my floors sparkle in about 10 minutes. It's has perhaps surpassed my love for my dust buster with it's ease of use and quickness.

modified tummy time - the only way my little ones will do it. Also they apparently need to be wearing chic french hats.

*Update- Nora Cate weighed 12lbs9oz at her appointment on Feb20