Nora is officially one month old today. I can't believe how fast that month went.
We are getting a kick out of this kid. She's finally starting to have a little bit of personality, and she's starting to become more sentient. She's also been sleeping for longer stretches consistently when we go to bed now (about six to seven hour stretches), so that's been really awesome.
She does, however, throw a little tantrum right when she's about to fall asleep each time during the day. It's pretty funny. This doesn't really happen at night, though, when it's time for bed. So, that's lovely.
Her diapers are a little more serious these days, too. That's getting fun with the cloth diapers. We still prefer using them, though, 'cause it's so much cheaper. It's a perk that it's better for the environment, too, I suppose, but it's seriously so much cheaper it's ridiculous.
These photos actually span over several days. The photos near the bottom are the most recent. I think she looks different just in this span of photos. Good grief. She is changing right before my eyes!
Nic and Jason came on Saturday to meet Nora for the first time. They even watched her for us for about two hours while Willi and I ran out to catch lunch together. It was awesome. Nic had also made some lasagna, brought it with her, and she heated it up for us for dinner that evening. We seriously won, and it was so nice of them. (Thanks, guys! We loved it! All of it!)
Awhile back, Andrew or Annaleah made a comment about my dog and cat on a photo on facebook. They said something about, "Soon you will just be a dog and a cat."
They were totally right. In fact, I'm finding that I'm irritated with both the dog and (mostly) the cat most of the time. They are driving me NUTS! I'm thinking that if they croak, I'm done with pets in the house. I'm especially done with cats in the house since we know way too many people who are allergic. I might be convinced on a dog again, but that's only because I know Nora might beg for one later in life. I can't guarantee I will say no to that.
Honestly, the cat behaves worse than the dog does right now. He totally knows what drives me nuts, and he constantly is doing it. He's always knocking papers off of tables, he's getting into paper bags that have baby clothes in them (if someone gave us a gift, etc.), he's opening doors that I have closed specifically to keep him out, he spills drinks (and not just milk anymore), he climbs on our counters when we're not in the room (and he knows he's not supposed to do that because when I run in there to catch him, he hops down), and I could go on for days. It also doesn't help that he sheds more than any animal I've ever seen in my whole life. I can vacuum the whole house one day, and the next day, I'll find chunks of that cat all over the house. It's maddening. The dog is just stupid, and I can't totally fault him for that. He's got his sweet moments, too, and that's why I still kind-of like him. He's in his terrible twos, though. I'm not really enjoying that so much.
Tomorrow, Nora and I are going to hang out with the Cook gang (just the ladies). I'm pretty excited about that! We may try to make it a regular thing, which would be good for all of us I think. I'm really looking forward to Marian and Nora playing together. I think that's going to be so neat! I bet they'd play with Melissa, too, even though she's two years older. How exciting!
I've been watching too much HGTV lately. I'm seriously jonesing to refinish my bathrooms. Have you ever seen the show "Save My Bath?" Man. I love that show. I love that show and "Divine Design." Good stuff. I am teeming with ideas.
Okay. I'm starving. I need to go eat something.
I definitely just vacuumed my whole house with Nora strapped to my belly. I may even run a mop over the high traffic, nasty areas, and I'm in the process of doing some serious laundry today, too.
I have to probably attribute my energy to do all this with the fact that Nora slept a stretch of 6.5 hours last night. She had been sleeping longer each night for about a week. It started out at a three hour stretch, then a few nights of a four hour stretch, then five, and then, there was last night. It was glorious. I woke up at about 4:30 in a panic because I was fully expecting to hear her fussing, but she was completely silent. It was a little creepy. She didn't wake up until Willis got up for work. It was incredible. She, of course, ate for a couple of hours after Willis went to sleep the night before, but I'll take the 6.5 hour stretch of solid sleep! Woohoo!
Man. She's a really good baby. I'm feeling ridiculously lucky.
I'm totally starving all the time right now, though. I feel like I have to eat more than I did when I was pregnant, and I ate a LOT when I was pregnant. Trust me. I'm also constantly thirsty. That's probably a sign that I'm dehydrated. Lovely. (I'm currently drinking out of a 32 oz Cactus cup full of ice water.)
She's growing so fast. So fast.
Gotta go.
I took Nora to work yesterday. That was really her first time being "out."
I mean: she's been to the pediatrician and whatnot, but she's not really been anywhere else.
She was such a good baby.
Today started out interestingly. I somehow managed to go a little too long between diaper changes (that happens sometimes during the night time feedings/changings), and Nora's dirty diaper soaked through her clothes, our sheets, and the mattress topper. That was a whopper! She is a master. I must say. What's more: I had just changed the sheets and washed the mattress topper on Sunday. That mattress topper is niiiice and fluffy now.
I realized this morning that I was massively behind on lots of things. I had to get some notes out into the mail. I had to put clean dishes away and clean up dirty ones. I wanted to start thinking about cleaning the house for potential weekend guests (I managed to get some dusting done with Nora in the sling, but she started getting really angry with me). I had to pull a clean load of diapers out of the dryer and put them where they needed to go. I needed to wash some whites. There's even more that I really needed to do, but this is about all I accomplished today. I feel pretty good about it now that I'm looking back on it. Plus, while Nora passed out for her afternoon nap, I popped her in the bouncy seat and stole a bath (I didn't even have to bust out the pacifier or anything). I try not to use it (the pacifier)—I'm afraid I might miss a need she's having or something.
My arms are getting totally buff, by the way. Every day I'm increasing the weight I'm carting around whenever I feed this kid. It's incredible. She's a tank.
I've taken some photos of Nora lately, but I haven't had a chance to upload them or anything. You'll have to wait on those.
She is almost totally growing out of these newborn outfits. I think this outfit she's wearing may be seeing its last use. Possibly.
She's also got a bit of a Morgan Freeman thing going on right now with the baby acne. It's amazing how acne doesn't look totally nasty on a baby, but on me, it looks downright scary. I thought this was going to go away once I had the baby, by the way, but it's still a problem. That's fun (especially since I'm spending a lot more time without makeup these days).
Whelp. That's about all I've got time for at the moment. You kids have a lovely Super Tuesday.
