2 week check up & pics

Nora had her 2 week appointment today with Dr. Blehm. She passed inspection.

Her 2-week stats:
8 lbs 2 oz (44th percentile)
21.5 inches tall (88th percentile)

Meanwhile, in Boston...

I had to share these adorable photos of our sweet niece, Hava. In this series of shots, she's observing the neighborhood going-ons on her block.

She's 16 months old now. Time flies!

We welcome visitors

The shock of a new sister was absorbed easily by the great guests we had last week. Gus enjoyed every minute of it. Between aunts, grandmas, grandpas, friends, and neighbors, Gus had plenty to do.

But first up, here's his first official photo with his sis. This photo is sweet, yes, but the best part, in my opinion, is the look on Nora's face. If she could snap her fingers, point, and talk, she'd have both pointer fingers aimed at me, and would totally be saying, "right back atcha, mom."

Grandparents are great. Not only were they here lickity-split to greet Nora, they helped immensely with Gus. We appreciate all the help! We wouldn't have had such a nice transition home without you. Especially Gma Vickie who stayed all week. What a lifesaver. Thank you!



Josh, Christy, and Will have been over a few times. Nora doesn't measure up to Will yet but give her some time.


Gus' great aunts Patty, and Nancy, and Great Grandma Betty drove down for a visit, too.

Gus put on a show for them while they were here.


Michelle graciously left her family back in Mpls to spend 2 days with us. It was wonderful, and so relaxing (although we missed Gabby and Mike).


We also had a couple Johnson families swing by but I didn't snap any pics. The first Johnsons' were Jaime, Paul, Carson, Ashton, and the second set was my Aunt and Uncle Val and Randy Johnson. It has been so fun to see everyone! Looking forward to more visitors.

Gus getting ready

Before we brought Nora home from the hospital, Gus was busy with a few different things. First of all, he had to tend to his first pet, a beta fish, all on his own. He likes her. He named her Mojo-Dorothy.

He also wrote a welcome home chalk greeting on the driveway (with the help of his Gma Debi).





He's a good big bro.

Ross 2, Allison 0

At this point, I'm OK with being totally defeated when it comes to kids looking like me. I'm not planning for a 3rd round redemption yet, but we'll see. Here's a couple shots of Gus and Nora in similar poses at the same age. Both of them are all Dad. Good thing Ross is extremely good-looking.

Gus snoozing in a hat.

Nora striking the same tired pose.


Gus listening to me talk back in Nov 2007.


Nora and her dad, last week.
Gus
Nora
And finally, Gus -

and Nora.

Times are a changing

We are adjusting to our new family of 4. Gus got a nice surprise when he arrived back to visit daycare.

Meanwhile, here's Nora. She's changing everyday and in other news: she still hasn't lost her hair.

Making the most of the hospital

Nora was wide awake between hours 18-24 of her life.

During that time, she freed up a few minutes to get her hair done, and participate in the hospital photo shoot. I didn't plan ahead and bring a picture-outfit for her, so I asked the nurse to do whatever she thought was cute. She brought her back after the photo shoot with this:

HA! We are slowly adjusting to girly-ness. On a related note, check our her hair! She has just about as much as Gus and he's almost 3.

Gus entertained himself with Nora's balloon.

And he brought a book to the hospital this time so we could get some quality reading in while his Dad held his sister.

Which leads me to my favorite photo of her life so far. I love this photo! She is very interested in hearing what Ross has to say.

Nora Grace

Nora Grace was born on August 11th, at 10:43pm. She is healthy, cute, and pretty laid back (so far).

7 lbs 9 oz
21 inches

Who are we kidding? We must brag for a moment - we think she's perfect in everyway and have been staring at her for hours.



Gus made an appearance, and was excited at first glance, but later announced he 'did not want to look at his baby sister anymore'. We said that's OK. Enough looking for now, there will be plenty of time to do some looking at her in the next, oh, say 20 years.

Her grandma Vickie arrived early this morning.

And Gma Debi and Steve shortly thereafter. Gpa Dave will be here this weekend. Sadly, she is just another grandchild in this family who receives little to no attention at all. Yeah.


Here goes...now begins our family of 4! We love it.

Thank you for all the well wishes.

A couple firsts in August

Gus loves to eat corn on the cob, so we decided to let him experience the full corn process from start to finish. He liked husking the corn but I realize now why, as kids, we did this task out in the garage or outside: I cleaned up those little silk strings forever. A vacuum doesn't really do the best job.

He got front row tickets for a Peter Cottontail reading - LIVE, at Barnes and Noble. Awesome.

And meet-n-greet Peter, too.

What a day!

Why wasn't babysitting this fun when I was 16?

We babysat our nephew, Will, last weekend. He is a delightful little guy.

Carnival

Gus tried every game/ride/booth at this summer's Carnival at a little place called Rheault Farm. He had to be bribed out of the park with candy.

Football toss
He's the one in the purple car, stretching forward awkwardly because I fastened his seatbelt way too tight. Hey - you can never be too cautious when you send your 2-year old out by himself on a bumpy train ride.



Ross had to help him with this game. He is not familiar with archery and maybe it's little too early for him to start practicing it.

The face painting booth had the longest line, by far.

Gus checked out the final product and decided it was worth the wait.

He picked it out.
Dad and son.
I told Ross we shouldn't wait in the dunk tank line because he wouldn't hit it anyway. Of course he hit the red lever on his first toss. Never underestimate your kid!

He finished up the evening with a round a golf.