seven...seven?...seven!

yikes. Seven months.

Over the past month, Ms. Norah has begun the venture down solid food lane. Our menu currently includes: avocados, carrots, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, broccoli, green beans, watermelon, and the occasional lick of mom's finger with home-made strawberry or raspberry jam. Next month, bring on the fruits! We are anxious to add in some apples, pears, and possibly bananas (we'll see about that one because mom's stomach doesn't like bananas, so we're hoping she'll be ok...).

She is still getting the good stuff from mom in the morning and night, and bottles during the day. My impressive freezer stock is quickly depleting as I am not pumping enough at work to compensate for her 8 ouncers during the day, hence supplementing with my frozen supply. The day is upon us where we'll have to begin a little bit of formula too. Thankfully, we play dumb at the pediatricians every time and have built up quite the stock of Gerber formula samples too.

avocado

Happy 4th!

Darby! Just wear the bow!

Roman and I both took the day after the 4th off work so we decided to hit the zoo! Norah's first zoo trip. Favorite exhibits: anything with fish, monkeys, and the gift shop. Fun fact, she peed all over the changing table and got that cute coat she's wearing below soaked. Thank goodness for back-up clothes. Of all times to choose to pee at a changing station it was at the zoo. 

Riding the horsy

She was asleep for the giraffes, but mom thought it was pretty cool.

We have made a point this summer of swimming nearly every weekend. The Forest Grove (and Hillsboro) pool has a warm pool for babies...and seniors...but mostly babies. Norah clearly hates it.

We just got over our first cold/fever. Man. Nothing prepares you for that....here's what happened. Trip to California was amazing! My mom got married and we attempted to beat-the-heat with air conditioning and swimming in the pool. All was well till little girl woke up, the day we were scheduled to fly out, hot. Figuring it was because of the million degree weather, I didn't think it would be a fever. We went to the Sacramento Zoo then headed to the airport (which now I feel terrible for because she did have a fever...). Noticing she had slept about 75% of the day, when we touched down in PDX and made it home I took her temp...102.5. (a "sad face" does not even start to explain how I felt).

[Digression: for those of you who do not know what I do for work - here is a QUICK synopsis: I work for the Oregon Health Plan (OHP) in Washington County, housed at Tuality Hospital. Every day we review our members who (in)appropriately use our ER. I cannot tell you the number of kids who are brought in with low-grade fevers (I know... Norah's was not exactly low-grade) and parents not even trying at-home remedies. I do other things too, but this is the only part that is pertinent to the story.]

Started the Tylenol and called the doc the next morning. Took baby girl in to see her doctor and began our Tylenol - Motrin - cool bath - extra nap regimen. Two days later she woke up sans fever. YAHOO. The next morning, she woke up with a rash. DAMNIT. Roseola. Awesome. Of course its viral, so just have to wait it out. Needless to say, a week of restless nights, 2 trips to the peds, and coffee...lot's of coffee... we are all better.

Before taking our hot adventure to California, we had some family photos done. Chrissy, Roman's aunt who did Norah's photoshoot as a newborn, took some wonderful shots!

are there enough words?

I am not sure that we would be able to put into words everything that has happened in the last [almost] 3 months.

Basically.

We are both back to work full time. It was very difficult. VERY. But we are in a wonderful routine now. This would not be possible without the help of Roman's mom and her selfless offer to watch Norah everyday. Her house now [her words, not mine] looks like a preschool. At least we know that Norah is not lacking stimulation!
Roman has had a lot of support at his work for him returning. It probably helped that we introduced Norah before he officially went back, so now they all know why he's so anxious to go home every night.
I have also had wonderful support from my coworkers (given, they're all women and most of them moms). Tuality Hospital has a "mother's room" where working mom's can go to breast pump, or feed, throughout the day. This way even if I am not able to feed her myself, she's still getting the best of the best [or breast haha] from mom!

Now we segue into a photo story from the last 3 months...

me and my "little" brother

easter

facetiming with nana

ear peircing

all better with "baby in the mirror"

grampa b.

unofficial 4 month shot (chalkboard was packed...)

that's right...watch out

leave in review

Thursday, March 14th marks our return-to-work day. These last 3 months have been to busiest and most enjoyable of our lives (yes, I am speaking for Roman too). We would like to summarize in a not-so-short way of how we've spent the past 12 weeks.

1) We had a baby. The most beautiful girl has entered our lives. When we think back to the night of December 19th when contractions began, and the morning of December 20th, we still get a bit teary eyed. It was such a wonderful, emotional, painful, tiring, and most joyous day EVER. Roman was with me through every moment. Everyone always gives the mom props for all her hard work, but I want to make sure that everyone knows that I could not have done this without Roman. It will be a few years, but we are looking forward to our next!

2) We bought a house. The house we are renting now is knowingly being put on the market at the end of our lease. After talking to a lender, we knew we had to start looking in the price range we were approved for because these houses are FLYING. Our realtor (Merri Ott) showed us a few...then strolled across town to a development we had sorta thrown out of the running. We walked through a quaint 2-story "starter" house and fell in love. It is not quite finished yet, but we can't wait for the finished product. We are scheduled to close on March 29th. Happy birthday (and Christmas and more birthdays) to us!

3) We (Jen) battled making it through the first 2 months with a baby. Norah is wonderful. Her temperament...we couldn't have asked for better. But ask me about breastfeeding, and I'll initially wince. Everyone knows it is so important to give your baby the very best milk made for them. And to get through 2 clogged ducts, 2 milk blisters and a cracked nip, you have to tell yourself that. There was a few times I could have just as easily given up. I told myself that [other moms say] the first months are the hardest. We got past the first few months of heating pads and lanolin cream, and now its smooth sailing until my supply says otherwise.

4) We got hooked on lots of TV shows. Hubby downloaded a slew of seasons of shows for us to watch. Hooked up the laptop to the TV and we proceeded to watch Parenthood, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and Dexter. We also were able to make it out to see a few movies on groupon Cinetopia deals we purchased. And of course, weekend morning HGTV shows are now a lot more relate-able since our recent purchase.

5) We saw lots of family. All family. Both sides. We have spent a lot of time over at Roman's parent's house and his grampa's farm. We had a week with my side in early January and a few visits with uncle Kelly and aunt Bobbi . Facetime has been a Godsend for Norah to see her Nana (or rather Nana see her). I think that she'll think our phones are cameras instead of the real things.

6) We enjoyed each other. Some people wondered if both of us having 3 months off together would drive us equally nuts. Nope. Not only do we consider each other entertaining, but we understand. We understand if the other needs to go to the grocery store...alone. Or if the other needs to stay up and play video games with friends. We understand and that's why the past 3 months were more enjoyable than excruciating.

7) My closest friend had her baby. Last year, we found out that one of my closest friends from...well..babyhood was not only moving up to Hillsboro, but also having their first baby. We got a call the morning of March 9th and headed into the hospital. Layla Barr (aka Norah's ready-made bff) was born and she couldn't be any more precious. Roman asks how do we know they'll be bffs?? They will Roman, they will.

8) Justice was served. For those of you familiar with my grandma's trial, it was huge victory for our family. In a nutshell, my grandma was murdered in November 2008 by a distraught employee who felt that his firing from the company constituted returning and killing three of the employees. He pleaded insanity (of course...), saying that he blacked out coincidentally during the exact time he committed the crimes. If the jury felt that he indeed was insane, he would be accused of manslaughter (you know, if you accidentally run into someone with your car and kill them, that is manslaughter). This comes with a lesser sentence. They saw through his BS and ignorance and found him guilty of first degree murder (meaning it was premeditated) for all three counts. He will be put away for a long long long time.

What to look forward to? 2013 has already been fantastic so how can it get much better? We had quite a break last year, but so far we have at least 4 weddings and 3 babies being born. Moving into our new place and establishing ourselves in with our neighbors (we saw some huggies boxes!) will be an important step. Also, figuring out how we can make hologram versions of ourselves so we can stay home with our baby girl.

hi ho hi ho its back to work we go...

That's right. Our 2 week countdown is here. Can't believe that our 12 week leave will be coming to a close. Still trying to figure out if I should go back on the Thursday (like Roman, a true 12 week leave) or wait until the following Monday. There are obvious pros and cons to both sides.

Pro: going back on a Thursday means only a 2 day work week. This could help ease myself back into work and only 2 days of exhaustion as we start adjusting schedules. Con: The pass-it-on consignment sale begins that Thursday and I can actually go this time (last time we were in California). Decisions decisions.

Cloth diapering has been going great! We wash them about every other day. We could go out and buy more, but until then every-other-day it is. I have mastered the technique of the wash cycle. Fortunatel, we have a top-load washer. Apparently these high-efficiency front loaders aren't as good with cloth diapering.

Largest load setting - cold
Soak for a few hours (usually before we go to bed) with 1 cup oxiclean and 1 tblsp/scoop of Lulu's cloth diaper detergent. **We are on well water at out house. Its hard water, so all of our loads get oxiclean in them to prevent build up of dirt**
Turn to a cleaning cycle HOT and add about 1/2c tide free and clear (usually when she feeds around 3am).
Shells get hung, diapers get dried. It works lovely and gets 99% of the stains out.

Over the past 2 months, she has been receiving exclusively breast milk. Norah gets one bottle a day, and the rest of the time she nurses. I'll tell you...I feel as though women who get through nursing the first 3 months should get gold stars. Among my own issues of clogged ducts and cracked nips, I have heard of so many other new moms with latch issues, thrush, and other things that are very discouraging. It is emotionally crushing when you can't nurse because of infections or don't want to because you dread the pain that it will cause. Getting through those first months helps your baby so much, so for all those moms who push through the pain for the well being of your child, I am proud of you. I am proud of myself and I am proud of you!

two months old!

We have had almost a week of successful crib sleeping. Our progression was as such: first month in her pack in play next to our bed. Second month in her pack in play a room over. Now, sleeping at night in her own room in her own crib. We figure since we'll be going back to work, it would be helpful for her to be out of our room so we can sleep too. Her longest stretch so far: 6 hours. Hallelujah! I felt like a new person waking up after that. So much so that it was really hard to go back to sleep at 4:30am.

We are looking forward to baseball coming to Hillsboro. We headed to the Orenco Station office of the Hillsboro Hops during the week so Roman could pick up a Hillsboro Hops cap and t-shirt. It'll be a lot of fun bringing our 7 month old to the stadium this summer for some ball! When we posted this picture, Roman tweeted (because Jen doesn't tweet) this out. Hillsboro Hops picked it up and retweeted the photo. Norah, you're a star.

Outfit from Aunt Bobbi!

Happy girl!

Cuddling with dad.

February was bizzzzy.

February was a big month for us! We started off the month by taking our first big trip to Washington. A few bumps in the road to start with. We had a pitstop in Centralia, where I realized I forgot my nursing cover. The lunch crowd at BK got quite a site as Norah cried and mom tried not to flash the world. 30 minutes and some chicken strips later, we were back on the road. On our way up to Sumner to visit my brother and his family for the night. My niece, Hannah, lent us her room for the night. They had a cradle set up for Norah at the foot of the bed. We enjoyed a delicious steak dinner and Hansen family time.

Hannah and Norah

Our welcome sign in "Hannah's Suite"

Aunt Bobbi and Uncle Kelly

We then hopped the narrows bridge over to my old stomping grounds, Gig Harbor. One of my best friends was having her baby shower for a baby girl who is due in March. It was so great to see her (although we see each other weekly) and her family.

Norah finally made it back to dad's arms after wooing all the moms and grammas (to-be)

Unfortunately, I did not pay enough attention to my own needs. We returned from Washington and I had a clogged milk duct. It is one of the most painful things I have experienced (since giving birth, that is).  After some heating pads and lots of wincing while nursing, it unclogged throughout the week. Note to self, Jen's ducts are numero uno.

Cloth diapers. First off, we starting researching cloth diapering when we were early on in the pregnancy. I ran into this site: http://www.diaperdecisions.com/pages/cost_of_cloth_diapers.php. It gave us a good comparison financially. We told ourselves that as soon as we were finished with the box of disposables around 2 months, we would start on that investment we had made before Norah came. We chose to use the brand Best Bottom. Why?
1) Recommended by friends of our who are cloth diapering.
2) Available at a local baby shop in Hillsboro (also online at www.mypreciouskid.com). We were able to touch and feel a number of cloth diapers. Also doing much research on www.diaperpin.com and comparing brands. There are hundreds!
3) Nitty gritty - the cloth part comes out of the liner. If she just pees, we don't have to wash the whole darn diaper. There is no mesh to dig poop out of. We bought 14 cloth liners and 10 waterproof covers. We've been doing most-time cloth diapering (disposables at night...easier on mom) and are loving it. We now only use about 14 disposables a week instead of a billion. It has also bumped her up to most 6 months clothes since her "cotton-butt" is so big.
4) These diapers will fit her [theoretically] until she's potty training. 

"line dry" in Oregon happens inside with twine

Before baby girl came, we won a $50 gift card at the store where we [already] bought our diapers. So we used the money to get a poo-sprayer aka bidet for diapers. Attaches to the toilet so we can spray off the poo instead of soaking. Helps keep em clean and her room smell not terrible. Our total cost to start out with cloth diapering came in around $120 (along with the gifts from showers).

Other photos:

He gets cozy...sometimes too cozy.

We love our hands!