Baby Norris

Poop Power

2012-02-15T05:32:00.001-08:00

Our Lexi may be little but the girl has some major pooping abilities. She poops almost every feeding and sometimes she soaks her diaper and clothes. Last night while changing her she was still pooping when Chris went to change her and she shot poop all over her clothes, the new diaper, on Chris, on the changing table, and somehow all over the wall. Chris was not too happy but I couldn't stop giggling... Aren't these the times that we just need to laugh at? Lol

Baby Acne

2012-02-14T14:31:00.001-08:00

Lexi is getting some baby acne. I remember Tia had it for a month or so. They say it could be my hormones passing through to her via my breastmilk. I hope it doesn't linger too long. She's beautiful regardless but I guess for a few weeks she'll gave a bit of baby acne.

Family Weekend

2012-02-13T10:50:00.000-08:00

This weekend it turned out to be a family weekend. My mom is moving to Thailand on Monday, February 13th and so she wanted to have everyone over to see her one last time. She will be back in April for a bit because her husband Ray hasn't completed his final work contract. Once he is done with that, they will 'retire' in Thailand. When she comes back in April, she'll be with Ray in Ohio. My little sister Sam made her way in on Friday and then again on Sunday as she was passing through to visit a 'friend' at the University of Illinois. On Saturday, my brother Bobby, his wife Dolor, and their girls Juliean and Janelle came to stay the night. My older sister Nan came by as well. Ironically, my step-mom is also from Thailand and she came back in from a flight a couple days ago and hadn't met Lexi yet and wanted to come down on Saturday too. So my dad, step-mom, and Grandma Billie came in on Saturday too. My car had some problems so Chris's dad came by for a while to see if they can get it fixed. So we had a big family weekend. Tia just loved having everyone here. She thrived around her cousins and just followed them around and had so much fun playing with them. It was so nice to see Juliean, Janelle, and Tia all playing. It was so sweet! Tia was so sweet all weekend too. She was hugging on everyone and giving them kisses. She was communicating and just seemed so mature. Lexi had a blast being held by everyone. Chris and I were actually able to get out for a few hours on Saturday night. Since Dolor was there, we had a babysitter and so Chris and I got out to hang out with some friends for a V-Day get-together. It was a nice time. Sunday everyone started heading back home and this morning, my mom and Ray took off. She should be in Thailand by this time tomorrow. It was nice seeing everyone!

Getting into a Routine

2012-02-10T14:32:00.000-08:00

Lexi is two weeks old today. We have gotten into a pretty good routine. Last week she was on the bili bed and it was extremely hard to get into any sort of routine, but as of a week ago, she was off the bili bed. I start pumping last Friday because for me it is less painful than actually breast feeding. Also, I like to know how much Lexi is eating and it was hard to tell before. I do believe in demand feeding and if she is hungry then I feed her, but I do like to get into some sort of a schedule. I do a three hour schedule for feeding Lexi. It is typically a 6am, 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm, 9 or 10pm, 12pm or 1pm...now this changes daily right now, but it stays pretty close. If I feel Lexi is hungry and it hasn't been 3 hours, then I feed her so sometimes she eats 2.5 hours apart and sometimes 3.5 hour apart. But it is nice to know that she is getting plenty of food. Lexi is a great eater so I'm sure you can understand why I went to bottle feeding! I do pump every few hours and make sure there is a great supply of food for Lexi. I hold Lexi a lot, but I also let her sleep when she wants too. I've actually found at least a few hours per day to get stuff done whether it is checking work email, writing in my blog, sending out announcements, working on projects, etc. The days seem to run together right now and actually it feels like the days are going by so fast. It is very nice to get into a routine though and I can't wait until I'm cleared to work out because I want to get back in shape sooner than later. I remember when I had Tia on maternity leave it took me quite a long time to get into a routine because it was my first baby and I wasn't sure what to expect. This time, I've remembered all of the tips/tricks and am ahead of the curve, which is nice. I love holding Lexi and watching her cute little expressions. I'm definitely enjoying maternity leave with Lexi.

Lexi's Newborn Pictures

2012-02-09T14:59:00.001-08:00

Noisy Sleeper

2012-02-07T09:36:00.000-08:00

One thing I have to say about Lexi is that she is a noisy sleeper. I don't remember Tia making much of a peep when she was sleeping, but Lexi on the other hand is constantly moving, grunting, and trying to get her arms free. This does not surprise me as she was very active in my belly. We used to say Tia was active, but Lexi was probably quadruple the activity. This was the reason why the umbilical cord was so long and ultimately wrapped around her neck twice and body twice. The more active the baby, the longer the cord gets to give them more slack. Right now, we have a portable crib that we have in the middle of our King bed between us. This way I can feed her and watch her sleep these first couple weeks of life. We have the big crib ready to go, but right now I just want to make sure she is okay so I am watching her intently while she sleeps. But the girl is so active and is constantly grunting like she is uncomfortable. She sort of reminds me of me. I have a hard time sleeping and it is hard to get comfortable. I have to sleep with a fan to drown out noise and if I hear any annoying sounds - I can't sleep. I blame growing up in a silent house. When it was bed time there wasn't a sound in the house to wake any of us up. I had a hard time getting through college with some rowdy roommates and later with other loud distractions, but the fan is my savior! I hope Lexi becomes a more comfortable sleeper so she gets some good zzzz's. She is so sweet to watch though - she just looks so cute all swaddled and dainty.

Lexi Adriana Norris

2012-02-06T17:59:00.001-08:00

Off the Bili Bed

2012-02-02T18:01:00.000-08:00

We went to the doctor today to see how Lexi's jaundice is doing. It has been a very hard week for me. One thing I'm usually good at is rolling with the punches and I rarely breakdown emotionally. However, I do know that your body goes through some intense hormonal changes the weeks after giving birth and some times it is okay to breakdown a bit. With Lexi being on the bili bed, I had a hard few days mainly because she hated it and I hated that I couldn't hold her. When Tia was on the bili bed her first week of life, it seemed like a blur when I look back, but now that we are going through it again with Lexi - it just seems more sereal. Breastfeeding Lexi became an every hour occurrence because it was the only way to get her to go to sleep long enough to carefully place her on the bili bed. Only a portion of the time it worked, which means some times I had to rock her forever and then try it again. I think over the 3+ day period I was either breastfeeding Lexi, watching her sleep to make sure she was still alive, or trying to rock her to bed. I didn't get much sleep and I also had Tia to tend to as well. My mom has been staying with me and I love having her here because she is moving to Thailand in a week permanently so I cherish the time with her. However, it can be hard to have an audience when I'm getting back to parenting a newborn again. She suggests a lot of advice and as much as I know she is trying to help, I have cultivated my own way of doing things when I had Tia that I stick to. So with all that was going on with the jaundice, no sleep, hormonal changes, many parts of my body in constant pain, and some unsolicited advice - I broke down for the first time earlier yesterday. I got away to the shower and had a good, short cry. I felt better afterwards and actually was back to normal pretty quick. Then Chris and I went to the doctor's office today and just talking to the doctor about Lexi having jaundice brought up my emotional side again. The doctor must have sensed it because she asked me if I was okay and when I said a quiet yes, she said 'are you sure' and at that moment I just broke down. I was so embarrassed, but I just couldn't hold back the tears. Even taking Lexi to get her blood drawn was tough and as we walked out of the hospital, I just broke down. Poor Chris wasn't sure what to think. He wanted to know if it was him and of course it wasn't. It was just a mixture of weird emotions. No, it isn't postpartum, it is just my hormones running through. Chris was there for me and when we got home it seemed like within the hour, the doctor called to let us know that we no longer needed the bill bed. I was so happy, but my emotions were still running heavy. Then all of a sudden, I snapped out of it and cherished having my little Lexi all better, my mom staying with us, and Chris home from work to take care of me. Then I was able to hold my little Lexi all I wanted and rid the bili bed. Chris was great and put Lexi on the bili bed for a while longer after I went to nap since we still had it. I finally got a few hours of sleep and felt great. I was just so relived Lexi's jaundice was on it's way out. Emotions are good to get out of my system and I am glad I had my two good cries and hopefully that will be all the tears I shed. From here on out, only happy tears, not overwhelming feeling tears.

I'm in Love....Again

2012-01-31T16:20:00.000-08:00

Words just can't describe this love that I have for Lexi. It is amazing and so deep. I just stare at her and kiss on her every chance I get. I am so in love again and I am so thankful. Last night Tia came home from school. This is the first time she saw Lexi since her visit in the hospital. I wondered how it would go. Would Tia be jealous, say 'my mommy' or become possessive? But she was really excited and loved looking at Lexi, rubbing her head, and kissing her. She kept bring her toys and saying 'here you go baby'. She seemed okay that I was holding her. The look Tia gave me when she saw me breastfeed Lexi was priceless...a look of absolute confusion. Tia is going to be a big sister and it made me see Tia in a whole new light. She looked so grown up, she looked like she had grown inches over the weekend, she looked so mature, and I just kept staring at her as if it was for the first time again. I just love Tia so much and love watching her get big. I can't wait to see the girls interact with each other and in a couple years become best of friends. I sat while holding Lexi and stared at Tia in awe. I am so in love with these two little girls and I LOVE it. I know Chris and I are just so happy with our little growing family. Proud parents just doesn't describe it!

Lexi Has Jaundice

2012-01-30T16:07:00.000-08:00

We weren't really surprised that Lexi has jaundice. Since both Chris and myself had jaundice when we were born and Tia had it when she was born - we figured that Lexi may have it too. Of course we want to do everything we can do help her get over it, but we dreaded the bili bed that comes with her recovery. But, she is getting used to it and when she screams because she hates we continue to say that we just want to make sure she gets as much as she can before her next bill test on Thursday to see if she is better or has to continue treatment. I pray all of our effort with putting her on this bill bed for 3 to 4 days does the trick. I want my little bundle of joy to get used to a normal routine in her first week of life.

Our Little Miracle

2012-01-29T22:11:00.000-08:00

So now that Lexi is here, it just all seemed like a bit of a blur when she came into this world. I remember all of the events but I am more focused on 'wow, she's arrived' than I was 'wow, that all happened during her birth'. Thankfully, she came early and thankfully I only pushed for a short time (10 minutes), because the doctor came in to say goodbye on our last day in the hospital. He started out normal with how everything is going great. Then he sort of got a melancholy look on his face and his tone changed. He said 'I don't like to bring this stuff up, but I do want to say that she is a miracle baby...having an umbilical cord wrapped around your neck happens, but having it wrapped around twice is very rare, in fact, it was the first time I've seen it...then she had it wrapped around her leg, then around her back. It could have been bad. Some babies with one loop around the neck end up with problems, but twice around...it could have been very bad. Thankfully, everything worked out perfectly and she was not affected, so I am considering her a miracle baby." After he said this to us, Chris and I looked at each other with sad eyes because it really didn't hit us until we heard it from the doctor. We were thankful to hear this because it does make us appreciate the lord watching over us and Lexi. Chris and I had a few moments to bond over these words from doc and ended up smiling because she is here and she is perfect. I really don't know what I would have done if something bad would have happened. I'd like to think I'd be strong, but knowing she has ailments because of this would have torn me up....and worse if we weren't able to watch her grow up - I think I'd never recover from this. The point though is that she is a MIRACLE BABY and we are so thankful and blessed to have her. Already, she has amazed us with her presence and we just can't imagine our life without her now. With having Tia and now Lexi - we could not ask for more! Thank you God for your grace!!!

Lexi Adriana Norris

2012-01-28T18:00:00.000-08:00

She's finally arrived! Or should I say she pleasantly surprised us with her presence a few days early. Due on Super Bowl Sunday, but then planned for inducement on Monday, January 30th - Lexi decided to make her presence known on Friday, January 27th. I was at work and it was to be my last day of work before maternity leave. Started out as a normal day and finishing up final projects at work and the day was going great. Went to lunch with my friend Stephanie and had some Mexican food. When we got back to the office around 1, I started to work on my final things before I was going to leave for home to officially start maternity leave around 4ish. My friend Donna was in my office chatting to me about some work stuff when I felt a small amount of liquid pop in my baby making area...I didn't initially think it was my water breaking but I wanted to find out for sure. I told Donna I'd be right back and I ran to the bathroom. As I approached the bathroom, I felt more small trickles and I was amazed that I wasn't able to 'hold my pee' because that is what it felt like I was doing. My water never broke with Tia so I had never experienced the sensation before. I got to the stall and as I pulled down my pants, some of the liquid went on the floor. I went to wipe it up and as I bent over, a gush of liquid came out. I realized at that moment I was starting labor. I walked back to my office and didn't think it was the amount that officially marked water breaking so I went to ask some ladies if they had ever experienced that before. When I started asking, more fluid starting coming out and as these ladies made me laugh, more gushes happened. By this time, my jeans were drenched and I knew for a fact that it meant Lexi was coming sooner than later. I was trying to close down my computer, but the ladies started being louder with excitement and I just kept gushing every time I'd laugh. Some were just cracking me up. I hadn't experienced a contraction yet, so I was just going to drive myself to the hospital, but they were all adamant that I shouldn't and to let someone drive me. So Donna drove me in my car and Stephanie drove behind and we headed to St. Lukes hospital. I tried to call Chris but he didn't answer. I had already sent him a text before I left the office, but when he didn't answer his cell phone, I called his work phone. I just couldn't bear if he missed being there, so I called the main line at his work and they paged him. After many attempts, they finally tracked him down in a meeting. He left as soon as he could and met me at the hospital. By this time, I still had no had any contractions that I knew of. There was some cramping, but nothing to be fearful of. As the next couple hours unfolded, the pains started getting stronger and they administered the epidermal...which is the way to go! From this point, it was just a waiting game for me to fully dilate. My doctor came in and said, we can get this baby out in a few pushes and that is exactly what we did. They said I delivered within 10 minutes of pushing. Just before, they couldn't hear her heartbeat and decided to put in a monitor that attaches to her head, while putting in more amniotic fluid because I was still gushing fluid even hours after my water initially broke. The final push, a ton of amniotic fluid squirted out and hit the doctor in the face, soaked the nurse and went everywhere. Then I looked down because I had pushed her out and saw the blue ring around her neck. The doctor untwirled the umbilical cord that was wrapped twice around her neck and once around her back - then she let out a big cry. He plopped her on my belly and it was heaven all over again. I was just so excited she was healthy. And she is just so perfect that I can thank God enough for blessing me with such a beautiful angel (again). I just love her so much!

Less Than A Week

2012-01-25T18:18:00.000-08:00

Went to the doctor today. I measured 2.5 cm dilated and still 100% effaced. The doctor decided to 'help' things along by stripping the membranes. He said that 50% of women who have this done go into labor within the following 3 days. However, he set a date to be induced for Monday morning, January 30th at 7:30am. So little Lexi will be here within the next 5 days. How exciting is that! I just can't wait to meet her!

Thoughtful Gift

2012-01-23T19:17:00.001-08:00

I received a couple thoughtful gifts the past week. One is the sweetest frame from my coworker and friend Donna. She had it engraved with the girls names. Love it. I have sitting in my office at work with Lexi's ultrasound pics displayed.

I also received a hoodie towel and two burp clothes that are absolutely adorable from the ladies over at Promise Christian Academy. I have the honor of helping them with invitations, postcards, artwork, and posters for their annual fundraiser among other fun graphics projects the past few years. They sent over this sweet, and unnecessary gift. But little Lexi will love them.

I'm so blessed by so many... Thanks everyone!

38 Weeks & Counting

2012-01-22T07:42:00.000-08:00

Lexi is officially full term and any day could walk right out! I am planning to work another week and see how it goes this week. On Wednesday, my doctor will set a date to be induced for the following week. Most likely, it will be the 30th, 31st, or the 1st. The past three weeks, I have been 1.5 cm dilated and two weeks ago, I was 50% effaced and this past week I was 100% effaced. So I'm completely thinned and now it is just a matter of the dilation continuing. Lexi has been head down for months now and there was a month there where she was extremely low. Many people thought I'd go sooner than later. But after the first time my doctor measured my cervix. Lexi moved up a bit and wasn't as low in my belly. Guess she didn't like being poked in the head. I would say that this third trimester has been a great one. With Tia had a lot of things I remember that I didn't like. For one, my hands would go numb at night and I'd wake up to them being brittlely, then I got trigger thumb where my thumbs would get locked into place and boy was that painful to wake up to every morning. I would tape them and sleep like a mummy to ease the pain. It wasn't until over a month after that I finally went to a doctor who gave me a cortisone shot that helped. I had gained a lot more weight with Tia. I know they say with the first babies, most women make the mistake of eating for two - in excess. I was definitely one of them. This time, I've eased back and have tried to be a bit better. Although, I have still gained a lot of weight, but just not as much. I just want to bounce back easier this time than last time. I'm 34 and it is hard enough to lose weight after age 30, let alone after pregnancy. But I'm excited to get back to the park and do some running after Lexi is born and I'm back to work. I have had 95% energy in this last trimester. I remember with Tia, I was in bed by 6 most nights. With Lexi, I am walking around as if I'm not even pregnant. I have had more people say that I don't act pregnant than I can count and of course I have to agree. Although, I will say this week, I've started to feel bigger and my stomach feels tighter. I'm starting to waddle more and I have more pregnancy pains than I did before. Either way, this has been a great pregnancy at the end. It was still by far the worst first 3.5 months in the beginning, but after that was all said and done with, I've felt like a million bucks the rest of the time. Now let's just pray I have an easy delivery like with Tia. I can't wait to see what little Lexi looks like and compare her to Tia. So sweet - my two little girls!

Allergic to Soap?

2012-01-19T17:28:00.000-08:00

We have known since Tia was a baby that she has some allergies, but we aren't 100% sure to what, yet. The doctor's really can't say anything for sure until she turned 2 and the minute she did, they said she has some allergies. So we are going to set up an appointment to take her in so we can find out what allergies she may have. Until then, we have our guesses. I know every time Chris is affected by high allergy season, so is Tia among other things. Chris has a lot of allergies, but nothing that is too over the top. He is allergic to cats and candles and certain things. We were told by the doctor to not give her a bath every day and to not use soap most of the time. She has skin allergies and she gets affected in certain areas. Some times when it gets really bad, behind her knees and on her elbows get really dry and she scratches until it bleeds. We have this ointment that we put on her when she starts to itch and we hope it will help. The other night, I used a new bubble bath and when I got her out of the bath, she had tons of red welts. At first, I wasn't sure if they were there before the shower, but I would have noticed. Plus Tia was saying 'owie' and pointing to them. So we put on the ointment. Then the next night and decided to put the bubble bath through the test and sure enough, the welts showed up again. So no more bubble bath for Tia. The welts did go away by the time she went to bed. So I am wondering if she gets hives in certain situations? Either way, I hate that she has allergies, but there could be far worse things. I know she'll deal with them accordingly and take some pointers from her daddy.

Worry

2012-01-18T07:16:00.001-08:00

I think in the dictionary, next to Parent, it should say Worry. Don't you agree? I have lived a life of 'everything is going to be okay' until I had Tia. Then the worry started from the time I got pregnant. I was worried I had a little too much to drink before I knew I was pregnant and was praying that she wouldn't have any affects at birth or later. Then when she was born, it was the worry of sleeping through the night...holding the mirror up to her nose to make sure she was breathing. Then it was just trying to be a good mom to her. Then leaving her at daycare...will she be okay. And the list goes on and on. I have heard from parents that the worry never stops and as they grow into adulthood, the list just gets bigger on the worry because you aren't there to protect them like you did when they were little. But with the worry comes great satisfaction and joy in being a parent that makes it all worthwhile. The past couple weeks, my worry meter went up on a couple occasions. Once was when it snowed a few inches here and I had a big event at work that required me to get into the office one way or another. I got ready as usual, scooped up Tia, and we were on our way. My car (BMW X5) has the all wheel drive out right now, so when I hit icy patches, I become a very heavy roller-skate. Traffic was horrible and it was evident from the moment I left the house that my hour commute was going to be much longer. I wasn't even able to get up our subdivision hill. I was slipping and my AWD was grinding because it doesn't work. I had to turn around and go down the other way. Then all the roads leading to the HWY were treacherous. I even came a few feet away from an accident less than a mile from the house. An oncoming car was turning and the two cars in front of me where sliding out of the way. The car behind me was trying not to hit me and me, well, I was just trying to come to a complete stop which was not going very well. Luckily, everyone was okay. pfew. Then the highway proved to be a parking lot and pretty much the entire way was horrible. I got to Tia's daycare an hour and a half later, which usually takes about 30 minutes. She was getting stir crazy and her movie that was playing was not entertaining her for that long. She is just not used to it. It was the first time she cried out for 'School' in a good way. After dropping her off, it took me another hour to get to work. So in total, it was 2.5 hour drive. The entire way I was worried for my babies. Here I am 9 months pregnant and Tia in the backseat too. I just kept repeating 'Precious Cargo' 'Precious Cargo' and praying to the Lord to watch over us and all of the other people out that day. We made it and I didn't mind how long it took, just how safe was the important thing. Then two nights ago, I woke up to sleet hitting the window. It was a crazy thunderstorm and it wasn't consistent. The wind would howl, then there would be silence, then I'd hear the sleet again, and the rolling thunder. It was creepy. Then, the sirens started going off. I woke Chris up and said, 'honey, there are sirens' and right then we hear the siren say 'Take Shelter Now' and so we jumped up, put some clothes on, I went in and grabbed Tia, woke my mom up, and we all headed downstairs. I hated waking Tia up, but I was worried about her and Lexi. Before kids, I would have just stayed in bed. But after the sad Joplin tornadoes that took lives and me driving through a tornado not too long ago, I did not want to take any chances. I pray almost everyday that my girls live long, happy, and fruitful lives....that they have all the wonderful things I've been blessed with throughout my life, and more. I know all parents feel this way. I know Chris and I certainly do!

Build-a-Bear

2012-01-15T14:26:00.001-08:00

Tia's first visit to Build-a-Bear was two years in the making. Tia received a $25 gift certificate from a friend from work named Sheri when work had a baby shower for me a month or so before I had Tia. Then a few weeks after Tia was born, her cousin Drew (my first cousin...my Aunt Kina's son) wanted to get her a bear from Build-a-Bear that she could stuff when she was ready. I also bought a recorder from Build-a-Bear and recorded Tia's heartbeat when she was still in my belly. We wanted to wait until we felt Tia could appreciate going and getting her bear done and so we decided to wait until she was two. Other signs she was ready is how much she loves bears. My younger sister was visiting from college and had a Build-a-Bear that Tia kept stealing and hugging. So once she had her 2 year birthday, we decided to take her up to the actual shop when we found an open day. So today we took her up to Build-a-Bear and had some fun. Tia was a bit overwhelmed by the mall and people. She wanted Daddy to hold her most of the time. In the store, she didn't want to give up her bear to get stuffed. We had to promise her that she'd get her bear back. So we had her bear stuffed, heartbeat recorder put in, fluffed her, and then bought her two cute outfits that Tia helped pick out. Well, she picked out the cute pink dress and shoes. I picked out the cute pink Cardinal's outfit. When getting the bear's certificate ready, I asked Tia 'what do you want to name her' and she said 'bear', so that is her name. It was really fun. So thanks Sheri, Kina, and Drew for the gift - Tia loves her Bear!

Temper Tantrum

2012-01-14T16:45:00.001-08:00

This is Tia the other night when she didn't get the snack she wanted. It just makes me laugh. She is pretty good tempered but every now and then she does have her moments. I know all kids have this and we hope it subsides over time. Doesn't she look so big!

So Sweet!

2012-01-13T16:48:00.000-08:00

I am normally not surprised by many things because I have a sense of when things are going on around me and I can figure things out. However, my coworkers really surprised me in the sweet sense. I had my ultrasound the other day and then I met all of the girls for our monthly Corporate staff luncheon. We were celebrating 2 birthdays and we of course said happy birthday to them. But then, out of the blue, they gave me a gift basket and card. I was shocked. It was a basket with a bottle of tequila and a gift certificate for $200 towards a hotel stay. This is perfect because Chris and I were planning a baby moon anyways for March. I had been checking into the Hidden Lake Winery's cabins so we could plan a night away from the girls. So this is even better. I was surprised and excited! The card was filled with sweet sayings from all of my great co-workers who are my friends. Then back at the office, they had a cake for me. Again, just so sweet. Thanks so much Yolanda, Lisa, Donna, Stephanie, Christy, Esther, Effie, Katie, Caryn, Karry, Jenny, Annie, and Allie, you girls are the best!!!!

36 Week Doctor's Appointment/Ultrasound

2012-01-12T16:56:00.001-08:00

Went to the doctor on Wednesday and had an ultrasound. Are these pictures so cute? So unbelievable how we can see little Lexi's face...wow. She is measuring at about 5 lbs which seems to be the same as with Tia, so I just have small babies. Everything looks good though. Everything is the same from last week in regards to dialation and effacement. I feel really good and all seems well with baby. If he induces me a week before, then I have about 2 and a half weeks left to go...it will be here before we know it!

I Make People

2012-01-11T05:56:00.001-08:00

I think everyone knows I'm a pretty creative person who has some craft skills under my belt as well. I love this graphic - it is so me!

Pregnant Barbie

2012-01-10T04:15:00.000-08:00

This cracks me up. Barbie who is pregnant. I have never seen this in person, but I have to admit with a baby in my belly right now, I think this picture is so funny....

My Sister Sam

2012-01-09T04:14:00.000-08:00

I love this picture because it reminds me of when Sam was Tia's age. I was 17 and I watched Sam for a summer while my mom took care of funeral arrangements for my grandma in Thailand and Sam's grandma here, etc. Ironically, both of Sam's blood grandma's died within 24 hours of each other. Sam was about 2 and I was taking her around here and there and boy was she a ham. I carried her around and showed her off. Now that I have a daughter of my own who is 2 and with Sam staying with us for a week or so while home for Christmas break from college, Sam gets to spoil Tia the way I spoiled her. Sam has a bear that Tia just loves as you can see in the picture. Tia will give Sam her prized Bebe bear and take Sam's bear in its place. Some times Tia won't trade back. It is pretty cute that Tia won't leave Sam empty handed. She says 'Share' and it is adorable. Sam always said she wanted me to have a daughter so she could spoil her the way I did with her and now she has that.

It's Started!

2012-01-06T09:15:00.001-08:00

Went to the doctor on Wednesday. I am 1.5 centimeters dialated and 50% effaced. So the process has started, now it is just a waiting game to see how quickly or slowly we progress. Last week the cervix was still closed so we'll see if there is any change next week. We also have the 36 week ultrasound next week. Fun times ahead!

Mini Me

2012-01-03T19:15:00.001-08:00

What is so cute yet dangerous about Tia's age is she is a little copy cat. She repeats everything, does everything, and wants everything we do! In fact Chris and Tia shoot hoops in Tia's room on her little Tykes basketball hoop that Aunt Jenny and Uncle Dave got her. Chris screams out 'Michael' before every shot (every single time). What is cute and so funny is that Tia will say 'Kichael' before she shoots.we all love Michael Jordan and so ahead of Tia's time but now she'll know who he is because of daddy.

But Tia does so much more that we do, we really have to watch ourselves. She picked up 'stop it' at daycare and says it all the time in a condescending way to her dolls. She'll put her baby in the time out chair and say 'stop it.. No no' and we actually don't like it because she sounds so mean. We hope that goes away quickly.

Most if the time her copy cat stuff is so darn cute and we just laugh all the time.

What a Great Year!

2012-01-01T14:32:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it is 2012. It just seems like time is flying by like the speed of light. I am definitely taking as much time as I can to appreciate all of the wonderful family, friends, loved ones, and memories that I can take with me from 2011 to 2012. Of course, I can't wait to make more special memories in 2012 as we have another big chapter starting when baby Lexi arrive this month. We had a few options last night for New Year's Eve parties and we decided to wait until the last minute to decide. We ended up renting a ton of movies and ordering pizza. It was nice and relaxing and we got to stay in our PJs. Tia went to bed at her normal time and the new feat was to see if I'd be able to make it until midnight. There was a moment where I was going to head in to lay down, but I decided, you know what - I'm going to splurge and have something I haven't had in almost 9 months. A coke! So I went and drank down a big glass of coke and hoped for the best. We watched some movies and before we knew it, it was midnight. We turned on the Time Square celebrating, kissed, listened to all the neighbor's fireworks, and then finished the movie. I was actually not tired at all, surprisingly. I was missing my wine and/or dirty martini - OR champagne, but I know the caffeine was probably already too much for little Lexi in there. We enjoyed our night in and I was happy I made it to midnight.

New Year’s Reflections
Looking back on the months gone by,
As a new year starts and an old one ends,
We contemplate what brought us joy,
And we think of our loved ones and our friends.
Recalling all the happy times,
Remembering how they enriched our lives,
We reflect upon who really counts,
As the fresh and bright new year arrives.
And when I/we ponder those who do,
I/we immediately think of you.
Thanks for being one of the reasons I'll/We'll have a Happy New Year!
By Joanna Fuchs

I Love Tia's Laugh

2011-12-31T14:24:00.000-08:00

One thing that is amazing is that although young, Tia has a great sense of humor. She has her different laughs and I find it funny when she does the deep belly laugh. I even know when she is faking a laugh, which is funny. OR when she laughs because you are laughing. Regardless, her laugh is just so sweet. I love these pictures of her and her BFF Violet. These two girls were born less than week a part and have been together almost every day for the past two years. So cute!

Our Anniversary Tradition

2011-12-29T18:02:00.000-08:00

Chris and I are both super practical people. When it comes to gifts, we try to 'receive' things we can actually use. Mainly, because we don't want others to spend money on things we just stick on a shelf. Now, I'm a girl, so of course, I love receiving those things that I may not buy for myself and of course those super thoughtful gifts too. I'm a super sentimental person and I will always be. But for Chris and I giving gifts for each other...we always do the practical route. What things can we get that we'll use OR what things should we not get that we won't. Before we had our first anniversary, I told Chris that we need to come up with a plan for anniversary gifts from the get go. I am not a huge jewelry person and although it is nice from time to time, it seems like the 'easy' gift guys get for their girls after years together. Don't get me wrong, it is nice, but if anyone knows me well, they know I just wear it a few times and put it in my 'sentimental' keepsake box. So I came up with a plan that we could cherish, but have an annual tradition that is fun. For those who have never heard of Oneshare.com, I used to use this site to buy gifts for friends getting married. I'd get them a share of stock to Tiffany & Co and put an inscription that read 'Congrats on finding your diamond in the rough'. Very cool gift and why not do this for our anniversaries. So we established that each year, we'd take turns picking out the stock, we'd use the same format of the inscription and over time, we'd have a wall full of framed stocks that just remind us of how much our love has grown as a couple. So here is what we have so far:

Caterpillar Stock
04.30.09
Chris & Angie Norris
1 Year Anniversary
"Building a Foundation of Love"

Disney Stock
04.30.10
Chris & Angie Norris
2 Year Anniversary
"Making all of Our Dreams Come True"

Coca-Cola Stock
04.30.11
3 Year Anniversary
"Sharing a Captain n' Coke for Life"

Microsoft Stock
04.30.12
4 Year Anniversary
"Together, we Excel in Love"

We went ahead and got next year's because there was a good deal and we can't wait to get more than fifty more of these stocks over time together. How cool would that be? So this is our tradition for anniversaries. We don't buy gifts for each other, but rather buy one share of stock that we share together. Love it.

Our Little Lexi

2011-12-28T04:52:00.000-08:00

So we decided to name our little bun in the oven Lexi. We made our big announcement of her name on our Christmas cards that went out last week. We have known for quite some time we wanted to name our 2nd little girl Lexi, but we were waiting to figure out what her middle name would be before we told anyone. Then, we also wanted to tell people fairly so the family would all find out at the same time, so what better than the Christmas card. It is so hard when our family spans four generations and is as wide as can be. We came up with Lexi more on a fluke than a true suggestion. I have always liked the name Lexi from when I heard an old friend call his sister that as a nickname, although now I think he was calling her Lexa but some how I only remembered Lexi. My coworker named her daughter Alexa and I was thinking Lexi wouldn't be good because she called her daughter Lexa and then we'd have a Lexi - but when I told Chris that, he didn't seem to care about all of my reasons why it shouldn't be a good name - he just loved the ring to it and also how it went really good with Tia. Then I said, we'll lets put that as our favorite for now until we figure something else out. Originally, we were thinking Adriana Mia would be her name. Mia because Chris always liked it and Adriana Mia because it was my first cabbage patch doll and for some reason the Italian ring to it just seemed to work. But once we said the name Lexi, it really overpowered Adriana Mia...and for a few months, we'd call my belly Lexi and it just stuck. You know how you buy a new car and then you notice that that same car is everywhere and you always wonder why you never noticed? Well, that is the way it is with Lexi. I don't know a single Lexi and either does Chris. We were at church and the girl who checked her daughter in before us left the name on the screen and low and behold, her daughter's name was Lexi. Then in the Thirty-One catalog, on one of the bags appeared the name Lexi. Then someone told me that there is a TV show character on Grey's Anatomy and another Soap show. But, really we are just so excited and we love the ring to it. So our soon-to-be baby is Lexi!

Peanut

2011-12-27T16:46:00.000-08:00

I remember when Chris used to call Tia peanut for the first few months of her life. She was so tiny and I remember he just nicknamed her peanut. When she got a little bigger everyone would ask him if he'd call her walnut or something else because that was his thing 'she's my little peanut', so when my Assistant Allie sent this to me, I had to crack up laughing and of course send it to Chris, which he loved...

Tia's 2nd Christmas

2011-12-26T16:28:00.000-08:00

Tia made out like a winner this Christmas. She got so many gifts from all of her family, especially her Grandparents. For being two, she is pretty lucky to have such a great family who loves and cares for her. She had a blast with her cousins, new toys, and the dogs over at Aunt Jenny's house. It is amazing how big she is getting. I'm glad she had a fun Christmas.

Oh My Belly

2011-12-24T13:10:00.000-08:00

So on Thursday, I took off from work early and headed to the mall with Lisa to do some holiday shopping. I did good at first, but it wasn't long before I started feeling funny. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I just knew I didn't feel right. I thought I'd just toughen it out since I needed to do some shopping and I wanted to hang out with Lisa. After the mall, we headed over to Target where I just seemed to get worse. Standing up and walking just seemed like the hardest things. My stomach hurt as if I were sick and my back was aching too. I felt a tightness in my belly that just consumed me. I was leaning over the cart as much as I could and crouching down to pretend to look at things when really I was just catching a break from standing and walking. I ended up sitting on the end of an aisle where every seemed to think the pregnant girl was going to go into labor. We made our purchases and I bee-lined it to the bathroom. But when I got in there, nothing happened. No sickness from either end. I wasn't sure what was going on. We went to grab a bite to eat because I thought maybe if I sit down for a while, I'll feel better, but I barely made it past waiting for a few minutes and we just left. I hated to leave, but I headed home, crawled right into bed and literally stayed there for 48 hours straight. I missed work on Friday, I didn't eat much, I didn't do anything, but literally was on bed rest for 2 days. I thought I had the stomach flu, but after Chris and I talked about my symptoms, we think that I am just having signs of early contractions and my body letting me know there is a baby coming. Plus, I'm sure my body was also saying 'slow down' since I seem to be going a mile a minute the past few weeks. So call it Braxton Hicks, call it early-early labor, or just the tightening of my muscles, I had something going on. I hated to miss the Norris family Christmas reunion in Godfrey, but was so happy Chris and Tia went without me.

Tia has another Ear Infection

2011-12-23T16:18:00.000-08:00

The poor girl is back to square one when she was a few months old. One tube has fallen out and the other is on the verge. She has already had an ear infection around Thanksgiving, and now again another one. She is back on antibiotics and the diarrhea has started up again. The poor child can't catch a break. She went to the doctor yesterday for her 2 year check up and of course she got shots too. Doctor said she is more emotional than most kids her age in reaction to the doctor's office and getting shots. And YES, she is our little emotional, wear her heart on her sleeve, sensitive, little girl...can't blame her since her mommy and daddy are both the sensitive types. She is 32 3/4 long and 24 lbs 15 oz heavy, which are both in the 30%. Her head is still in the 75%. She tested at a 2 years and 4 month old which is great. Overall she is doing great and we'll most likely have her get an allergy test so we know what she is allergic too. She seems to have picked up the allergy gene from her daddy. But as we all know this St. Louis weather does not help!

Fw: Use the good napkins

2011-12-22T05:38:00.001-08:00

This is too good not to share. I think

we are the last generation to know what 'napkins' are.

THE GOOD NAPKINS ... Ahhhhh.

The joys of having Girls...

My mother taught me to read when I was four years

old (her first mistake). One day, I was in the

bathroom and noticed one of the cabinet doors

was ajar. I read the box in the cabinet. I then

asked my mother why she was keeping ''napkins' in

the bathroom. Didn't they belong in the kitchen?

Not wanting to burden me with unnecessary facts,

she told me that those were for 'special occasions'

(her second mistake). Now fast forward a few months

It's Thanksgiving Day, and my folks

are leaving to pick up my uncle and his wife for

dinner. Mom had assignments for all of us while

they were gone. Mine was to set the table.

When they returned, my uncle came in first and

immediately burst into laughter. Next came his wife

who gasped, Then began giggling.

Next came my father, who roared with laughter. Then

came Mom, who almost died of embarrassment when she

saw each place setting on the table with a 'special

occasion' Kotex napkin at each plate, with the fork

carefully arranged on top. I had even tucked the

little tail in so they didn't hang off the edge!!

My mother asked me why I used these and, of course,

my response sent the other adults into further fits

of laughter. 'But, Mom, you said they were for

special occasions!!!'

Pass this on to your girlfriends who need a good

laugh

Life is too short for drama & petty things, so kiss

slowly,laugh insanely, love truly and forgive

quickly...and for heavens sake, use the good napkins when ever you can!

Tia's New Bunk Beds

2011-12-20T18:22:00.001-08:00

This past weekend, Tia inherited a nice set of Potter Barn bunk beds. My bosses from work were redoing their daughter's rooms and decided to find a good home for the bed. Luckily for us, they asked us and of course we were honored to receive it. With another girl on the way, having a set of bunk beds will come in handy. At first, we thought we'd just put them downstairs until we needed them since we had already transitioned Tia to a big girl bed which was really a full. But after discussing it a bit more, we decided why not now. So we put it instantly into her room. Boy were we pleasantly surprised of how wonderful her room looks. It is not only more spacious, but it just goes with it being a kids' room. We love it and are so excited about it. Thank you Greg and Lisa for thinking of us. Tia loves it too. She had no problem sleeping in it from the first night. She just look great in it and the bed is so comfortable. Tia did hit her head trying to jump up and down, but I think she learned quickly that you can't do that. So we are excited to have this for our girls. They look great as bunk beds or we can separate and they can be two separate twin beds. Either way - what a great hand me down!

Does Tia Hate Santa?

2011-12-18T17:59:00.000-08:00

Baby #2

2011-12-17T08:25:00.000-08:00

I have about 6 weeks left before this baby arrives. Crazy! I'm feeling large, but I know I still have more to go. She is so low that I feel the pressure, but her activity level is so high that I feel her every move. I do love feeling her move about.

Does Tia have OCD Like Mommy

2011-12-16T20:08:00.001-08:00

At Tia's birthday party a few things happened that were hysterical. The hysterical part is that they reminded me of things I do. One is when we gave her the veggie tray to see if she'd eat any and the veggies got all messed up. There was broccoli where the celery was supposed to be and tomatoes where the carrots should be. When we pulled it away because she obviously wasn't going to eat any of it, she pulls the tray down and organizes them accordingly. She put the celery stick back in the celery section and the broccoli back in the broccoli section and the tomato back in the tomato section. Everyone was watching in amazement and Leslie/Lisa said 'Wow, that is so Angie's daughter'. The other funny thing she did was telling Leslie that her camera was Mommy's. Leslie and I have the same Canon camera, but her lens is a bit longer. Tia was adamant with Leslie that she had Mommy's camera and she wouldn't let go of the strap and made Leslie bring it to me. It was hysterical. Tia has a great sense of things going in their spot. She knows where the trash goes, where the swifter goes when she is done with it, where her dirty close go, and when things aren't right, she fixes it. Um, can you say clone. Both Chris and I do these things and I can see she has picked this up. It is cute but I hope she doesn't get as OCD as I can sometimes or like Chris can on his things. Guess we'll see. Regardless, she has her little personality that is just so darn sweet. I love seeing her grow up and see more and more of her personality. Only 3 more days until she is 2. Wow!

No More Superbowl Baby

2011-12-14T16:22:00.000-08:00

Baby #2 is due on Superbowl Sunday, which is February 5th, 2012. However, after my doctor's appointment, it looks like I'll have her on February 1st or earlier. My doc is headed out of town on February 2nd and he gave me the option to just wait and see what happens which means if I went around my due date, he won't be around to make the catch during delivery OR let him induce me a few days to a week early. I'm going for the week early route. I am sure I'll be more than ready then. So she may not be a February baby after all, we'll just have to wait and see. Plus, you never know - I could go extra early which many people are predicting because of how low this baby sits. My doctor said the reason is my body shape. I have a very short torso and she is head down, so there is more pressure further down. With Tia she was so high, but was breach up until the very end. Everything looks good though and after a couple weeks, I'll be going every single week to the doctor including one week to get my last ultrasound. I can't believe I'm in the home stretch and now even closer with possibly being induced. I'm so excited to meet her. I know she'll be so beautiful and we'll be so blessed with another little miracle!

Tia Pooped on the Potty

2011-12-13T19:09:00.000-08:00

I know Tia would not want this to be live on the web, but I can't help myself. I am so proud of my little girl. She will be 2 years old in a week and is going on the potty all by herself. So big!

She has been going at school here and there, but at home it seems like her potty is more of a play thing than the real deal. But of course, when she says she has to go, we give it a try. I was out doing some holiday shopping and while I was gone, Daddy got a real surprise.

She said she had to go poopy, so he took her in there. She took off her pants and daddy helped her with her diaper. She wanted to keep her shoes on because as most girls are, she has a shoe fetish. So she sits on the potty and daddy said 'you done' and she said 'no' so he gave her some time. Then he asks again and nope, she wasn't done and nothing was happening. So he left the room and then about 10 minutes later she comes strolling out. Chris said 'are you done' and she said 'yep'. Of course he thinks he is just going to put her diaper back on and get her dressed when he saw that she had really done it...gone both poopy and potty all by herself. Wow, what a big girl.

She was all smiles before the video camera came out and then she thought she was in trouble, but of course we are just proud parents. So hopefully she'll get the hang of it. She is such a big girl.

The best is after the video was shot she said 'pee you' - hahaha

Tia's 2nd Birthday Party

2011-12-12T05:45:00.000-08:00

Tia had a great 2nd birthday party this past Sunday. It was mostly family and a couple friends. She had all 7 of her grandparents there and three great grandparents there. She made out like a bandit with all of her gifts - she was so excited to play with all of her new toys. I think she definitely enjoyed her 2nd birthday party and I can't wait to help her celebrate many more in all of her years to come! I can't believe she is 2 - wow!

Tia's First Haircut

2011-12-07T21:02:00.000-08:00

Tia didn't have much hair until she turned 1 and a half, but then she started to get more all the way around. She had the mullet thing going on for a bit, but then her bangs started to come in too. Recently though, her bangs have grown and been in her eyes. She has been shaking her head to get them out from time to time. I wondered how I would cut her hair and at first I thought I'd do it when she was sleeping, but who was I kidding. I am 8 months pregnant and I seem to go to bed at the same time as Tia does. So I just decided tonight that I'd just do it while she was sitting in her high chair distracted by food and Barney. So I did it. I just took her bangs. Pulled her bangs up in my hands and cut away. I didn't take off that much, but enough for her to be able to see. This past weekend, I was at hobby lobby and saw the cutest little pink boxes that said 'First Tooth' and 'First Haircut'. I bought one for each of my girls. So I used Tia's First Haircut box and wrote on the bottom to put the date. Perfect!

So Sweet - Here Owie

2011-12-05T17:34:00.000-08:00

Tia hit her boo boo last night. She leaned back and hit her staple right on the corner of the crib that we have set up in our room now. Instantly, we knew what happened. We know her staple wasn't exactly in right. One side of the staple wasn't tucked under and we were afraid she'd hit it throughout the week and it would bleed. In fact, I had given her a bath earlier and noticed a long blood streak dried in her hair. I felt so bad for her. It must have happened recently while she was awake because of how it dried. So we felt even worse when she hit her head on the crib. We scooped her up and gave her lots of hugs. I wiped it off and throughout the night she was saying 'owie' while touching the back other head. It broke our hearts. The thing that really made me almost cry was when she was holding her teddy bear that she calls Bebe and she said Bebe owie and Chris said 'where is bebe's owie' and Tia turned Bebe over and pointed to the back of her head and said 'owie'. Chris and I both 'awed' at the same time. It was so precious.

Today, she got her staple out at the doctor. It came out with no problem and Tia seems to be doing pretty good except she had to skip her nap (poor planning by mommy), so she was a little tired during the day.

So let's hope that her head heals nicely and she doesn't have any big scars. Also hope that she doesn't even remember this incident and she doesn't have any more big owies like this one!

Rearranging the House

2011-12-04T17:26:00.000-08:00

Today, we put the Christmas Tree up and Christmas decorations. It is funny because when we bought all of our decorations, we weren't quite sure how many kids we'd have so we didn't know how many stockings we should get. We wanted them all to match the tree skirt and stockings we had picked out. I remember us sitting there saying, should we get one for you, me, and Tia. OR should we get 4 in case we have 2 kids. What if we had 3 kids? When we got the stockings out today, we weren't sure how many we bought. I looked and the stocking holders were NOEL, so I knew we had at least 4 of them which is perfect for this year, since we have 4 of us now. Then I looked deeper into the tote and saw the fifth stocking and laughed. Chris said, oh yeah, I remember - we can always get new stocking holders, but it will be hard to get the same stocking later. So we were definitely thinking about 3 kids...guess we'll see if that happens. We also moved the crib into our room. It is a tight squeeze, but we are trying to think of the best scenario for our 3 bedroom house. Tia has her own big girl bed now and so her room is her own with a play area. The office is still needed to be our all purpose room with all of our bookshelves, Tia's bedroom furniture, our office computer/printer, the rocking chair, and somehow the extra full bed for our guests. My mom is moving to Thailand permanently, but before she does, she'll help me get through the end of the pregnancy so she'll stay with us for a few weeks during that time. Then my little sister will need a place to crash when she is home from school so that room will need to be available for that purpose too. We would love to have it as Baby Norris #2's bedroom and will, but we'll wait until after the summer. Baby will be still young that we want to keep a close eye on her since we have curious Tia roaming the house. So this will be our solution for the time being until our new baby gets past those first months. Tia was in her own room from day 1, so we hope we don't spoil baby #2 by having her in our room when she starts out. Guess we'll see.

Tia's Ears

2011-12-02T17:57:00.000-08:00

So Tia has had an ear infection all last week and this week she has done great. We still have a couple more doses of her medicine to see it through, but I think she is over this infection for sure. So she went to the Ear doctor and had a hearing test. The doc said the reason why she had an ear infection the week before was because her ear has filled with fluid and wasn't draining is because her tube is no longer there. I haven't seen it and I couldn't tell you when it fell out. Her other ear's tube was about to fall out. So now we have to watch out for ear infections. If she gets a couple more in the next few months, that means more tubes need to be put in. We hope she makes it without it! We also need to watch out for Tia's hearing and if she is able to hear well. The girl can hear the lightest sounds and it seems like she is speaking the correct words when she tries, but it is always hard to know for sure. Let's hope she doesn't have any hearing impairment or loss and hopefully no more ear infections!!!!

Allergies

2011-12-01T18:10:00.000-08:00

Doc is finally saying that Tia most likely has allergies. This is really no surprise to us, but I guess hearing from a doctor is more concrete. There is no 'for sure' about it, but all signs point to allergies. We have to watch her skin allergies because she gets diaper rash that turns into blisters that we have to use Lotramin for days. We have to put doctor prescribed creme on her belly, behind her knees and on her elbows frequently or else she gets the worst dry skin that she scratches til she bleeds. I don't really have allergies, but some mornings the past years, I've woken up with some sinus issues and clogged passages and on those days Chris and Tia sound like old men. It seems like when allergies are high among everyone, Tia is right there with them. So I have had a feeling she has allergies. I hate that she has them, but at least we know and can help her through whatever ones she has.

Am I Nesting

2011-11-29T18:15:00.000-08:00

So I was off for most of the day on Monday to take care of Tia and myself. I wanted Tia to sleep in and wake up on her own. I knew she had had a rough week and I wanted her to start it off in a great mood. She was really happy when she woke up and so I didn't take her into daycare until after 8am. After taking care of some work stuff, I ran a bunch of overdue errands and got back to the house I took care of my own ailment (bad case of pregnancy hemorrhoids) and I had an urge to organize. I ended up switching out the shelves in our walk in closet with a cuter, more feasible shelf from our bedroom and a matching one from our office. I took the two shelves from the closet and dragged them to our office and put them in the closet. I re-shelfed everything in the office and then I went through and organized all of my clothes into the new shelves. I have to say it looked fantastic. Chris got home and I knew he'd be upset with me, but regardless he did say it looked pretty darn good along with the clean house he came home to. I was really happy to get that off my list. I've been thinking about it for so long and it finally got accomplished! yay! So I do think I'm in my nesting stage because now I want to get the Christmas tree up. I told Chris all of my ideas for rearranging and he just laughed, but was hopeful we'd get to it next weekend. I'm feeling good otherwise. My baby bump is getting bigger and she has hiccups all of the time so I know she is doing well. I'm tired but not exhausted which I'm happy about. I hope I don't get that overwhelming tiredness like the first trimester, but I guess we'll see. So excited to meet our new baby girl angel.

Tia is Doing Great

2011-11-27T15:49:00.000-08:00

We were hoping Tia would have a normal day after a long week and she did. She woke up in her big girl bed, came into our room to wake us up, and had a big smile on her face. Her poopy diaper wasn't diarrhea like as it was before which is an improvement. Her ears looked great and she wasn't batting at them. She has not even said the word 'ouwie' or reached to touch the back of her head all day. She just seems back to her normal diva self. So we are happy she is having a good day after a long week of being sick and visiting the ER. Chris and I wish I had some more days before going back to work, but we know duty calls. We gave Tia some extra TLC today. My little sister Sam was staying with us this week too so Tia has enjoyed having her around. Sam is heading back to school to MSU in the morning but Tia is having fun trying to copy whatever she does.

I've felt great all week. My little bun in the oven has had hiccups constantly and moves around like crazy. Chris downloaded a level app on his phone and set it on top of my belly. Little baby girl was rocking it so hard that Chris's eyes were bulging out in amazement. I'm telling you that I am super excited to get Tia into soccer and seeing how this little girl is even more active, I'm thinking we have two little soccer players on our hands.

Ever since my sickness those first three and a half months of pregnancy have gone away, I really have not had anything to complain about until this week. I have never had hemorrhoids in my life until now. With Tia, I don't remember having them but this week, I have had a bad case of what I think is hemorrhoids. Ugh! I am hoping my hand pain doesn't come back this time and I noticed for the first time yesterday that my ring felt tight on my finger. I guess being 30 weeks and rounding that final stretch will come more things to complain about, but all for something so worth it!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday. Please pray for Tia's head to heal nicely and the staple to come out with no avail.

Emergency Room for Tia

2011-11-26T22:08:00.000-08:00

So it started out as another day for Thanksgiving family gatherings and we were having a great time. We were at my Uncle Chuck's house and there were about 30 people there all enjoying each other's company. Tia was having a ball trying to play with all the big kids. We were all taking turns watching Tia and for the first few hours, it seemed just like any other day. I was sitting at the table when I saw a flash of pink tumbling down the stairs. Yes, it was Tia doing some cartwheels down the carpeted staircase. I jumped up and ran over. Luckily, she landed perfectly on her bottom on the very bottom step. You could tell she didn't hurt a thing and didn't even cry. Me, however was traumatized by seeing my little girl tumbling down the stairs. I have had a lot of faith in letting her climb on stairs for months now and she had done so well. Even last night, she was going up and down the stairs with no hands and just did a great job. These stairs didn't have a hand rail and she was trying to take on more than she bargained for. So from that point on, we were all watching Tia like a hawk. Down stairs, all the kids were playing. They had a playroom full of fun stuff from a ping pong table, pin ball machine, a mini basketball court, foosball table, bar for the really big kids ;), and of course the gaming center for all the video games. There was also a work out station with weights and a weight bench that we had all been watching so none of the girls or little ones would go near. What was hard was Tia's cousins Juliean and Janelle were crawling all over it and she wanted to do the same since she is in her copy cat mode. It really only takes a few seconds for all to go wrong when Tia crawled up on the weight bench and fell backwards hitting the edge of the weight pole with her head. My brother and dad both saw it, almost in slow motion, but couldn't get there in time. My sister-n-law Dolor picked Tia up and told Chris she was bleeding. Chris just thought it would be a small wound but to his surprise, he put a towel on a part of the back of her head that was flooding with blood. I was coming down stairs to see if Chris wanted me to take over watching Tia for a while when they were running up the stairs as Tia is crying, everyone is yelling out what happened, and I am in shock over what was going on. My uncle got in the car with us as I held Tia in the back seat and we sped off to the ER at the local hospital. By the time we got half way there, Tia stopped crying and the bleeding seemed to have stopped mostly. I was happy because I didn't know how bad or okay the wound was and the whole experience was just so hard on us to see her in pain. We got to the hospital and checked her in. We had to wait a bit and finally got in to the doctor's room. The nurse talked to us and cleaned off her wound. At first, she made the comment that it would probably just be glued shut. That is what we were hoping for, but we weren't sure. Then the doctor came in a bit later and said Tia would have to have it stapled shut with two metal staples. We had to hold a numbing cream on her head for 20 minutes which was not fun because Tia just wanted to leave and get out of there, but we managed to do it and finally the doctor came in and gave her the staple. That was very hard for Chris and I to watch, but we know it is what she needed. She only needed one staple and we got instructions on how to take it out after a week and we were on our way. Tia was happy to get out of there. We got her some McDonald's fries and some tylenol and we were off to my uncle's house again. Tia seemed in good spirits saying 'ouwie' from time to time but overall she was doing well. Chris and I on the other hand were still a bit traumatized by the situation and both just felt so bad for her. When we got back to my uncle's, Tia was back to her smiling fun self running all over and flirting with her boy cousins. She was petting the dog and making everyone smile. She fell asleep on the way home and she seemed to be doing pretty good for the most part. Chris and I had a heart to heart talk on the way home about the worry that comes with being a parent and how we just wish and pray every day that they grow up with little to no permanent wounds. With another one on the way and maybe even a third, we just know that we have to prepare ourselves for years of worrying for our kids safety. And of course, we are just happy that the wound that Tia received wasn't worse and we pray that this will be the worst of any wounds she'll ever receive. She did not pass out or vomit, so we don't think she got any sort of concussion, thankfully. I was hoping she'd be like me and never have to go to the ER.

More Thanksgiving Feasts

2011-11-25T21:21:00.000-08:00

Of course what is great about Thanksgiving is the food. We get to eat lots of great food all week and most of the time, we don't have to prepare anything. I made chocolate covered strawberries for all of the gatherings which seemed to be a hit. We went down to Ste Genevieve for the day and Tia had a blast down there too. She had some toys to play with and she loved running around. She got to pet a kitty and watch some TV. She didn't want to leave here either.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T21:54:00.000-08:00

I have so many things to be thankful for and I pray every day to God thanking him for all of my blessings. My wonderful husband and soul mate, my beautiful daughter Tia, and my little girl in the oven are on the top of my list. Of course, my family, friends, and other loved ones are more things. Our jobs, house, good financial standing, and so many more things that I know many others can't speak of. I am so thankful for what our little family has and I pray that God continues to watch over us and bless us for all of our days to come.

Tonight, we went over to Uncle Danny's and shared Thanksgiving with Chris's Mom, and his Aunt Jenny along with all the kids. Holidays are quite hard for us because we literally could go to 9 different places. So we focus on our parents first, then if we can make others, then we try. It is getting harder as our family grows. Tia loved Uncle Danny's house. It is like a Christmas wonderland where he has the entire house decked out in Christmas decor, villages, trees, etc. She just had a ball. Not to mention she got a lot of attention from her cousins.

She loved Evan and Brandon along with the dog Calaber. She just had a ball and did not want to leave.

Ear Infection

2011-11-23T20:49:00.000-08:00

It has been a while, but Tia has an ear infection. It looks like it started on Monday and was building until today. Her ear has started leaking and started to be really red. She started scratching behind her ear really badly too, even drew blood. On Wednesday, we got her into the doctor because daycare said she was hitting her ears constantly and being extra fussy. Doctor prescribed her two medications and we are obviously giving her a lot of TLC. She has started to get diarrhea and so I am praying it is over by the time Sunday rolls around. Luckily, none of our family Thanksgiving gatherings will have many young babies/kids so we won't have to miss any. Poor Tia, she has just had a rough go with her ears and ear infections.

Oh Sh!t

2011-11-23T05:34:00.000-08:00

We've been noticing Tia saying something along the lines of 'Oh Sh!t' but at first we weren't so sure. She dropped something the other night and said 'Oh Sh!t' but when I talked to Chris about it, he said I was probably hearing it wrong and she couldn't have been saying that. Neither Chris nor I say that so we knew she probably was saying something different. But, then while I was at work and Chris was with Tia, he heard her say it a few times too. Her language is so cute and a lot of words sounds like that word like 'church' and some others, so we couldn't believe it. Then I threw her tiny golf ball sized puppy at her and it hit her right in the cheek, she laughed, but said 'Oh Sh!t' and this time, Chris and I looked at each other and said 'yep, that is definitely what she is saying' and she has the right context too..when something doesn't go quite right. So we have our suspicions on where she has picked that up from, but we won't say any names. After the incident not too long ago at daycare, we are certain that is not the place she got it from. But in all honesty, we'll just see how it plays out. I can't believe she says that and deep down, it is so funny, but on the surface, we don't want our 1 year old starting out life as a cusser!

Bowling

2011-11-22T20:45:00.001-08:00

I bowled for five years on a league and 'retired' when I became pregnant with this baby. Ironically, Chris started bowling with work for the summer and this fall, they bowled on Tuesday nights. Since Tuesdays are when my league bowls, my intention of subbing sort of washed away. The reason was mainly because of Tia and bowling start times. In order for Chris to get Tia, take her to a babysitter and get himself to bowling, he'd have to leave work by 4. For me, it would be even earlier. Fortunately, Chris is off this week and when the girls asked if I could sub, it worked out. Chris was able to get her to AJs and to bowling in time. I didn't do too bad with a 155 average but I wasn't very consistent. I also got super tired half way through the second game. But it was so nice to see everyone on this ladies league. Chris bowled on his league about ten lanes down. It was fun!

Hiccups

2011-11-22T05:33:00.000-08:00

The past few nights I have been feeling baby girl #2 just rocking out in my belly. It feels like she is having a dance party and I have had no idea what she was really doing. It didn't dawn on me until I woke up not able to sleep last night and woke Chris up so he could feel this constant kicking and he said 'does she have hiccups' and it just hit me 'yes, that is what it is'. I remember Tia having hiccups all the time and I guess I forgot about it with this baby. She has them all of the time and during the middle of the night is the hardest for me because it makes me have sleepless nights. Knowing that she is just not jamming out down there gives me comfort in knowing that she can't help having the hiccups and honestly, it was probably something I ate or did to cause it. The poor baby! At least now I know what it is. Tia was breach for most of her time in the womb and this baby is head down, so the feeling of hiccups is totally different. Either way, at least I know she is doing good down there. Can't wait to meet her.

Tia is 23 Months

2011-11-20T19:53:00.001-08:00

It is crazy how fast 23 months went by. Tia seems so big now. She communicates and has such a personality. Chris and I were just saying how neat it is to see ourselves in her looks and actions. She has slept in her big girl bed most of the week and this morning she woke up, crawled out of bed, and walked into our room. I was so excited to see her do that. She is pickier than anyone and she knows what she wants. She is getting tall enough that she can reach things we put out of reach. She can turn on the iPad, switch from game to game, and watch her videos. She can get up on the step stool in her room, open the DVD player, take out the DVD, put in a new one, and hit play. She can get her own cup from the fridge and put it in the sink when she is done. Plus so much more. Wow on her growth! She is very sensitive and gets her feelings hurt easily but she has a small temper too that shines when she doesn't get her way. She is the faster runner I've seen that young and she has a little athletes body. I can't wait till she can play soccer when she is 3. So excited for her to get bigger. Not to mention she is going to be a big sister soon! Whoot Whoot!

Yay Tia

2011-11-18T07:06:00.001-08:00

Tia has gone two nights sleeping in her big girl bed. I am so proud of her. She actually asks to go to bed in it! Whoot Whoot!

7 Month Appt

2011-11-16T09:24:00.001-08:00

All looks good for Baby Girl Norris #2. Heartbeat is strong. I passed my glucose test. I'm not anemic. I am Type A+ so no RH shot. All looks good. I asked about her movement and how excessive it seems. Does she have A.D.D. Or will she be hyper active? He said never worry about too much movement. He says that is her personality coming out and that she is getting all the proper nutrients. He also said I'm more aware of movements and that to enjoy it. I love it and was happy to hear it is normal. Tia was very active but this baby is more active. So now I go to twice a month appts. Is it really the home stretch? Wow!

Big Girl Bed

2011-11-16T08:15:00.001-08:00

In Tia's room, there is her crib and a full size bed in hopes to transition Tia to a big girl bed soon. We bought a rail for the long side of the bed that isn't up against the wall. A couple weeks ago Tia took a nap in the big bed and the past few nights, Tia has been trying out the big girl bed at night. She rolls a lot and so Chris will move her to her crib in the middle of night. As with all transitions, it just takes some time but we are seeing progress. I just wonder what happens when she gets out of bed in the middle of the night. I guess we will have to just see how it goes. She's done so great with the other transitions do far do hopefully this will also be a breeze. Guess we'll see!

Cervical Dilation

2011-11-15T10:38:00.001-08:00

Not a Morning Person

2011-11-15T05:30:00.001-08:00

Tia is proving to NOT be a morning person. This does not surprise me because neither Chris nor I are morning people. I always seem like I am because my life has changed radically since having Tia, but the 30 years prior, I would sleep in until the last possible minute and snooze as many times as I could. Because I had Tia and the responsibility of having her depend on me to get her up, fed, changed, and to school each morning, I have become the morning person I never thought I would. Trust me though, given the chance, I will sleep in as long as I can. However, since having Tia, I have not had many days where I was able to sleep in. Chris, on the other hand, has still had the luxury of sleeping until the last possible minute and on the weekends much, much longer. I gave him this privilege w hen Tia was born with warning that when Baby #2 was born, he may have to start getting up with us a lot earlier than he's used to. Tia, the past week, has been the crankiest baby ever. So we'll see how it goes.

Letters from Santa

2011-11-14T06:10:00.001-08:00

Believe it or not, Christmas is just around the corner!

You are receiving this email as a past supporter of the Mercy NICUPS (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Parent Support) fundraising campaign, Letters from Santa. I am writing to ask your help in passing along information to anyone and everyone you can think of so that we may continue to provide the families currently in our unit the support that can make all the difference in their struggles. The NICUPS are a volunteer organization which is funded entirely by donations and helps families by:

- Providing one-on-one emotional and educational support.
- Provide, free-of-charge, books and other educational materials.
- Having family classes and meetings.
- Financial assistance during crisis situations.
- Making available breast pumps, car seats, gas cards and other necessities as needed to those in need free of charge.

For those unfamiliar with this project, we generate a letter from Santa to a child(ren) of your choice (or adults and pets, too!), for a donation of $6 per letter. Last year, our small group of 35 graduate parents raised over $60,000 from the letters.

I'm emailing to let you know about the capability of our web site, www.miraclebaby.org to accept letter orders and contributions through the safe and secure Mercy processing center. And, since anyone, anywhere in the world can access the site and easily request a letter, we are asking for your help by passing along information about our site. We can also be found on Facebook as Mercy NICUPS! On our web site you will find information making it very easy to pass along this wonderful opportunity to help the families of the NICU while sending a special letter.

If you feel comfortable emailing family and friends who might be interested, if you are part of any online discussion groups, if you have neighborhood newsletters or workplace newsletters, either online or printed - these are just some ideas of ways to let others know.

Please visit the web site www.miraclebaby.org to contact the NICUPS and order your Letters from Santa.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this, and thank you in advance for any help you can offer!

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Scout Gibson
Fundraising Coordinator, NICUPS

On The Potty

2011-11-11T04:30:00.001-08:00

So at daycare, they try to put the kids on the potty to get them used to it. Tia is one of those that actually likes it. At home she is constantly sitting on her potty and lately, she even pulls down her pants and sits on there. Yesterday at school, Tia went pee on the potty. She got a gold star and everything! So one step closer to potty training Tia. So proud of my baby girl!

Teaching for Junior Acheivement

2011-11-09T04:06:00.000-08:00

Today, on my birthday, Chris and I are going to be teaching for Junior Achievement. We will be teaching 2nd graders all day at Jefferson Elementary School, an inner city school here in St. Louis. This is something the staff at my organization does every year. This is my fourth year doing this. I invited Chris to help out this year and teach so he will also be helping. My co-worker Karry and I have done it every year together so Chris will be a great addition to our team. We are teaching on Our Community which talks about living and working in a community. What is neat about Junior Achievement is that it gets kids excited about business. So seeing business people, such and us, volunteering to teach gives them more hope that no matter what your background, they too can achieve big things. I love teaching for J.A. It is a long day and it really makes me appreciate teachers! Karry is going to teach the first two lessons, I'll be teaching the 2nd two, and Chris will teach the third. It will be neat. I'm excited to teach with Chris. Now that we have Tia and another baby on the way, we may have a deeper connection with these kids than if we were non-parents.

Tia's School Pics

2011-11-07T10:43:00.001-08:00

Tia’s school pictures are in. She is 1 year and 10 months old in these.
You can order at: www.images4kids.com
Access Code: NKW5-14
Password: 26016

Night Night Time

2011-11-06T20:17:00.001-08:00

Tia is a night owl. She does not want to go to bed. She does everything she can to get out of it. Then when all else fails she puts on the charm. She'll start singing 'I love you...you love me...' and when that is done, she'll sing 'twinkle twinkle.' Then she'll say 'I love you' loudly then after you say it, she'll say it even louder...almost like her way of saying I love you more. Sometimes she'll ask for a drink and we'll take her to get one. Other times she'll request all of her stuffed items like Be-be a teddy bear, Lamby a lamb head blankie, and puppy which is a big puppy dog. Then sometimes she'll just squeeze you so tightly that it makes it so hard to put her down. She is just so sweet and on a whim, she'll cry out in anger because she hates going to bed. When we finally get her down, we can hear her talking for a very long time until finally she'll go to bed. Chris puts her to bed most nights so he gets the sweetness and the resilience. Nap time is the same way! The girl is definitely our daughter and I know Chris and I are night owls, so it doesn't surprise me.

The Candy Witch

2011-11-05T16:50:00.001-07:00

I often hear some great ideas that make me want to do them with my kids. A friend who told me about the Elf on a Shelf told me about the Candy Witch. As you know I am a creative, which means I am attracted to creative ideas and am always coming up with creative ideas. So the Candy Witch is like the tooth fairy and is used the night of Halloween. Basically, you tell your kids they can pick out a few pieces of candy for each day of the next week and then they put the rest of their candy outside their door when they go to bed. Then tell them that the Candy Witch is coming and will take the candy but leave you a present. Then after they go to bed you take the candy and leave them a small present. My friend left her daughters a DVD. What a great idea since you know how much candy they get each year. I am definitely going to use this in the future.

Big Belly

2011-11-03T18:47:00.001-07:00

All of a sudden this past week, my belly has grown immensely. Everyone has noticed and I feel further along than I am. Little Baby #2 really kicks me all of the time and let's just say that I feel pretty pregnant. I am just happy to be past that 'I don't have a beer belly stage' and am now noticeably pregnant. So excited about this baby and to see how Tia does. I really hope they are close growing up. Although with girls - you just never know!

2011-11-01T18:01:00.000-07:00

Halloween was pretty good. It seemed like a light crowd compared to last year, but last year was on a weekend. I made some bags up with candy and some halloween toys. Tia enjoyed handing out the candy to the trick or treaters. Chris will laugh because I was calling them customers. Every time another kid would show up, I'd say 'here comes another customer' and Chris would crack up. Tia had some candy and she wore her Ladybug costume from last year. I can't believe she fit into it. Didn't she look adorable. Tia had a good Halloween!

Toilet Infatuation

2011-11-01T06:33:00.001-07:00

So I know most kids go through a toilet infatuation but for some reason I thought Tia would miss it. Nope! She loves sitting on her potty but not too long ago we found her cup of milk inside it. Then this past weekend Chris found Tia coming out of our bathroom all soaking wet and he realized she had been playing in our toilet. Ew! Later I went to go to the bathroom and found my sock, my razor, and the toilet bowl cleaner inside. Thankfully she didn't flush. We have told her how icky it is but I guess kids just get a curiosity for toilets. Kids!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-30T20:15:00.000-07:00

Up until last year, I had never handed out candy for Halloween. The past ten years have also been dedicated to the Halloween Bus Party until last year. Tia and I did walk around our cul-de-sac and did some trick or treating, but we also handed out candy for a while too. This year, I decided I wanted to do something better and so I ordered candy and some toys and bagged them so it is easy to hand out. I think Tia will have fun handing out these bags to the trick or treaters. Here are some pictures of Chris and Tia being silly:

Alright! Here You Go! Oh No!

2011-10-28T14:26:00.001-07:00

I have to say that I love Tia's sayings... She has really started to talk and it is adorable. She says alright a lot especially when you do what she wants. Oh no when an oops happens and here you go when she gives you something. Chris's favorite is when she says 'oh no Tia' which cracks him up because she says it to herself. He calls her Jimmy from Seinfeld who talks in 3rd person. She is a little chatter box for sure.

World Series - St. Louis Cardinals

2011-10-28T14:21:00.001-07:00

I am super proud of our St. Louis Cardinals. As a team who came back from being pretty much out of the running has now won the World Series for the 11th time. I made sure Tia was all dressed up in her many St. Louis Cardinals shirts. Thanks to Aunt Wes Wee (Leslie), Tia had a few cute Cardinal's shirts to wear the rest of the week. On Friday, October 28th, we went over to cousin Jeremy's house to watch the game and meet his new little addition Elliot. It was nice to catch up and relax. The game was well played by the Cardinal's and of course after they won, we were hysterically excited. Almost amazed really! So I am excited that in Tia's lifetime, the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series and hopefully the first of many more in their life. Plus, baby Norris #2 is alive in my belly and is also witness to the exciting World Series win. Here is a picture of little Elliot experiencing his first World Series win.

Tia Loves Outside

2011-10-26T18:29:00.001-07:00

One of Tia's favorite words is outside. She absolutely loves playing outside. Aren't these photos adorable.

Mommy's Girl

2011-10-25T05:25:00.001-07:00

The past several mornings, Tia has been super clingy, extra cranky, and does not want me to put her down when we get to daycare. I hate seeing her cry, but I have to leave to get to work on time. I am not sure if she'll crack this routine. She has been this way for months, but after being sick last week, she added the crankiness that is hard to handle. As a parent, it is so hard to know what your child needs if they can't communicate it. When she woke up this morning, she seemed fine, but then she wouldn't eat, drink, let me change her clothes, and just cried. She wanted to be held, but acted like she didn't. She didn't want daddy or do any of her normal routine. I just had to put her in the car as is. I changed her and fixed her hair when we got to daycare. When we went in, she seemed fine again and then as soon as we got to her classroom, she went into a cry. It feels like I'm abandoning her, but of course I'm not. Hopefully she'll rid this soon. I would hate for Chris to have to go through that during my maternity leave. Maybe she knows there is another baby coming and wants to hold on to being my baby girl for that much longer, ha. Either way, I just can't get enough of Tia. She is just such an amazing addition to my life!

St. Louis Cardinal's in the World Series

2011-10-24T05:55:00.000-07:00

I'm so proud of our St. Louis Cardinals. They have made a huge comeback from barely making it into the playoffs to being in the World Series. They are even winning 2-1 in games right now against the Texas Rangers. They should have won game 2, but after almost a shut out game let the Rangers score 2 runs in the last inning for the win. They won the last game 12 to 6 with Albert Pujols hitting three home runs to break Babe Ruth's record. Albert is the only person to ever hit three home runs in a World Series game. Wow, what a great honor. So the Card's are 2 games away from winning the world series. Let's pray they do it!! Woo Hoo

Good Bye MeeMaw

2011-10-23T09:45:00.001-07:00

So Tia has a lot of Grandma's and she calls all of them MeeMaw including my mom. My mom lived with us the past week as her house closing became final and her husband started his new job in OH. They originally were moving to Thailand right after they closed on their house, but he got this final job and thought it was a good one to take as his last one. So they are moving to Toledo, OH for a few months. My mom's plan is to stay until Baby Norris #2 is born and then she's off to Thailand. So, her husband Ray flew in yesterday and this morning, they left to drive to Toledo in my mom's car. It is about a 9 hour drive. She said they won't come back for Thanksgiving since it is so far away and that over Christmas, they go visit Ray's brother who is on his last leg out in North Carolina. She will be back around the time I give birth for her final days in STL and U.S. Chris and I were very spoiled this week having my mom here. She has a cleaning fetish and I certainly didn't get that trait. I do like my house tidy and clean, but not as clean as my mom likes it. She sees dirt where I can't and she has an urge to clean. She does clean houses for a living including a couple of my coworkers and she used to do some Ram's players houses too. She does a great job and no, she has never cleaned a single house I've ever lived in until now. I cleaned before she moved in, of course, but she did an overhaul and cleaned the kitchen, would make our beds, took all the dust/cobwebs away, ironed all of Chris's clothes, even cleaned our basement a little. The list goes on. We were not complaining and then there was her food. I know we all say this about our mom's but I LOVE my mom's cooking. I've been spoiled with her, my step-mom's, and my grandma's cooking my whole life and I love it. My mom cooked every day and Chris vowed he'd gain a ton of weight this week, but he just wanted more and more of her food. It was nice having a week of pampering and just having my mom around. Thanks Mom!

6 Month Doctor Appointment for Baby #2

2011-10-22T06:36:00.000-07:00

I had my 6 month doctor's appointment on Wednesday and had to take Tia with me. By now, she had been to the doctor quite a few times and almost every time she had shots given to her which she hates. I didn't even think that she'd react when we walked in because I knew this was for me and baby #2, not her. But as soon as the nurse came in to take my blood pressure, Tia started freaking out. She went into this scared cry as if the nurse was going to give her some shots. I kept saying, 'Tia's this is for mommy, not you', but she didn't care. After the blood pressure was taken, the nurse walked out. We waited for the doctor for quite some time and Tia just sat on my lap like a good little girl distracted by the iPad. Then the doctor came in and he snuck in because he had heard how Tia reacted to the nurse. We chatted a bit and he said, we'll let's listen to the heartbeat. When I tried to put Tia on the chair, she screamed out with the scared cry again. We were trying to tell her that this was not for her, but she didn't believe us. So I just pulled up my shirt and the doctor put the instrument on my belly and we heard the amazing sound of baby Norris #2's heartbeat. Tia was still crying, but not as hard. I could tell she wasn't sure what was going on. Then it was time to leave and Tia was saying bye to everyone. I think she was happy to get out of there. I guess it is safe to assume that we are going to have a hard time with her at her 2 year appointment - oh boy.

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

2011-10-21T06:21:00.000-07:00

The past couple days have not been fun with Tia. It is pretty emotionally exhausting and honestly, I just pray that she gets better quickly, because I hate to see her in so much pain. I was on Tia duty last night and I wasn't sure how it go, but it was excruciating. We went to bed and she seemed to sleep just fine at first. We got home late because we had dinner plans and Katma watched Tia during the day. Chris watched her in the afternoon, then Great Aunt Jenny watched Tia while we were at dinner. The key is to keep her distracted, which seems to be pretty easy, but she has her moments where she just is in so much pain. The spots on her tongue turned into holes. Chris explains it as if she had tongue piercings and took them out. They do look so painful. Her feet are all discolored red with some spots here and there. She wouldn't eat or drink anything. She would barely take medicine and she was just not happy! So we got home late from dinner with friends at Kobe and watching the end of the St. Louis Cardinal's play game 2 of the World Series. She slept until about midnight. I slept in the spare bed in her room, just because I knew it would not be a fun night with her and I was right. She woke up just after midnight and was having her pain/hurt cry constantly. Nothing seemed to help her. She didn't want anything I had to offer from holding her, putting her in bed with me, a bottle (that we brought out of retirement), a drink, food, rocking, or even watching Barney. Nothing seemed to soothe her. I just held her and tried to soothe her but there was nothing that was calming her down. I felt bad for my mom sleeping in the guest room because Tia was in the condition for almost 2 hours. I was at my wits end and it was the type of cry she had. I could tell she was in so much pain. So about 2am, I finally threw in the towel. I walked her into our bedroom where Chris was and in the midst of her crying said 'honey, I'm desperate and pulling out the pinkie'. I didn't want to do it, because she had gone over a month cold turkey without one, but I was desperate and it was time to call in the big dogs. So I said, 'Tia, you wan't a pinkie' and she smiled (finally) from ear to ear and said 'Kee Kee' and I knew she wanted it. So I found one, washed it off and gave it to her. She was careful in putting in in her mouth. You could tell it hurt at first, but she wanted it badly. She then pointed to her crib and I put her in it and she was out. I got into bed next to her and we went to sleep. She got up almost every hour on the hour with a painful shout, and sigh of being uncomfortable, but then she went back to bed each time. I was saying 'Amen' under my breath. I just hated seeing her in so much pain. She'd be going to Katma's on Friday and I prayed that the worst was over.

Hand Foot Mouth Disease

2011-10-20T06:02:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I have never heard of Hand Foot Mouth disease until this week. Tia was super cranky last weekend and wouldn't eat much, but we just summed it up to possibly teething or a growth spurt. However, a few days later we found out what she had and I have to say that it is a horrible thing. On Monday, I got a call from daycare in the afternoon that Tia wasn't herself. That she was laying on the cot just crying after her nap and she wasn't being her normal diva-like self. So I left work early and went to pick her up. She seemed fine when we got home, but I did notice that she was eating/drinking more careful that before. I wasn't sure what that was about, but with Tia, I just sum it up to her being her little cute self. Then Tuesday, I got another call and this was early in the day. They said they think they know what is wrong with her. They saw some sores in her mouth and on her feet. They said they think it is HFM, but they don't know for sure. So I called the doctor and they seemed confident that it was exactly what the daycare said. They gave me some recommendations on how to soothe her pain, but they pretty much said that there is nothing we could do for her because this was something that just had to run its course. We did our research and I asked around and this is something that is very common among kids and the daycare circuit. Chris was able to pick her up and head home. My mom was able to watch her for an hour when Chris left to go bowling and I was on my way home. That night she didn't eat a thing. When she'd drink, she drink from the very tip. Then she slept horribly which made us sleep horribly. The next day, I took off of work to watch her and had planned to work a half day and have my mom watch her the 2nd half of the day. But Tia was extra cranky, extra clingy, and I was not going to leave Tia with my mom in that condition. So I just took off the whole day except an hours worth of work to get things finalized for meetings the next day. I had some pretty big meetings in the morning and needed to get a good night sleep. I just did not know how she'd sleep. She was up a few times and I was beside myself tired, so I asked Chris to go and sleep in her room so I could get some sleep. He kindly did so, but said he didn't sleep but 45 minutes the whole time. I promised to do Tia duty the next night.

iPhones for Mommy & Daddy

2011-10-17T18:04:00.000-07:00

I have never really had an urge to get an iPhone, but for some reason we got one. So the truth is that I love having a keyboard. I had a Treo from 2003 until 2008 and really had no intention of getting rid of it. But, the Sprint store talked me into something a little more with the times, ha. I guess I can be a creature of habit from time to time. I have a Samsung Moment for the past three years and I've really liked it. Touch screen, pull out keyboard, and it seemed to do everything I needed. Recently, it has been acting up and I've had the urge to change, but again I just get into my same old routine. We've been sitting on our upgrades for months now and decided that we've finally could both use some new phones, but we didn't quite have an idea of what. Then Sprint announced they were getting iPhones which was big news. So we thought, why not. The iPhone 4S is supposed to be the latest and greatest introducing Siri (talking assistant) and iCloud. I pre-ordered on the first day about 4am and it wasn't long that the pre-orders were sold out. There were no guarantees when we'd get our devices, but we weren't in a huge hurry. Except our excitement of course. Luckily, we were one of the first and we received ours the first day available. I have to admit, it has been a few days since I've had mine and I absolutely love it. Even if it doesn't have a keyboard where I can feel the individual buttons. I know Chris likes his too. So Mommy and Daddy have new toys! hee hee

Family Weekend

2011-10-17T04:17:00.001-07:00

We had a great weekend with my mom, Ray, and my little sister Sam. My mom and her husband were supposed to leave Saturday for OH where my step-dad has his last contract job in the U.S. before they go to Thailand. However, my mom decided to stay behind one week to finalize finances from the sale of their house and say some final goodbyes in St. Louis. So Ray left Saturday and made his way to Toledo. I was able to get my mom's AWESOME Thai beef noodle soup on Friday night. We had a family dinner and it was, as Chris would say, 'Glorious'. Then since she stayed on Saturday, she cooked us her spaghetti too. I was able to get that recipe too. So she plans to cook this week some of her other dishes and I can't wait to get these recipes so I have them. My little sister came home from college to spend the weekend with us. I think it was great for her to get quality time with Tia. They seemed to bond quickly and were just loving each other. So I have my mom here for one more week. She'll head to Toledo and probably come in a couple times in the next months until Baby Norris #2 is born. Then they'll be off to Thailand. If flight prices go down, she could go earlier but we'll see. It is nice having her around.

Night Owl

2011-10-14T04:29:00.000-07:00

Tia is such a night owl. She does not want to go to bed. We have set her bed time at 8:30pm because that seems to be about the time we've fed, played, washed up, and are ready for her to go to bed. However, the past months, she has really tried to push that time to as late as she can get. If you ask her if she is ready for night night, she'll say no. So we'll have to coax her into going to night night which is not easy. She does fight it and she gets so upset. I have friends whose kids can barely keep their eyes open after 6 or 7 and here is Tia the night owl. Now Chris is a super duper night owl and I used to be before having Tia, so it doesn't surprise me. She gets up in the mornings with me around 6ish and lately she has fought that so now I know she is my daughter because I love my sleep and I love sleeping in...so does Chris. The past few nights we'll put her in her bed and she'll talk or sing to herself. Last night, she did it for over an hour. It was super cute of what we could hear through the monitor, but it was getting to be almost 10 and she was still jabbering away. I loved it when she started singing 'dada dada daddy daddy' and I could tell Chris just loved that. She sings and talks and we just get a kick out of it, but the girl would not go to bed to save her life, ha. I have a really hard time sleeping and I pray she does not grow up with that problem. I don't think she will, because we've exposed her to noise and other things and she has had no problem. I do know she has started to get 'uncomfortable' and I definitely have that problem too. My thing is that I grew up in a quiet house. It was so quiet you could hear every cricket alive. It was also pitch dark. So I am used to having nothing but dark stillness when I go to bed. College was a chore because I had some terrible roommates who didn't care if they were loud while I was sleeping. My cousin Missy has slept with a fan her whole life and I started to adopt that shortly after college. I know it took a short while for chris to get used to it, but now he loves it too. The fan helps me get that steady quietness I need while Chris can stay up and watch movies, etc. My mind races too. A list of to-dos or things I need to work on race in my brain at night and it causes me to have a hard time falling asleep. I will say with being pregnant again, it isn't as hard to fall asleep because I am always so tired. The other thing is if I watch movies right before bed. I will spend an hour or two analyzing the movie. One reason why I can't watch scary ones anymore because I'll spend countless hours reliving every part of it in my head. I sure have a vivid imagination and I guess I am super analytical, but sometimes when it is time to go to bed, I just wish I could shut off the brain power to get some Zzzzz's. Probably why I have such crazy dreams too. So me being a night owl days are long over with the arrival of Tia, but I can tell she is a night owl too.

Tia's Little Words

2011-10-11T04:12:00.000-07:00

I just love Tia's little words that she says all the time. They are so darn cute. She sings with us and communicates. Tonight, she rammed her toy into the door and I gave her a look of 'no-no' but before I could say anything, she runs over to the time-out chair sits in in and says 'No-No' with her index finger waving in the air. It was too funny. Later, I was showing her my big belly and said 'baby' and she has finally caught on that there is a baby in there or at least mommy calls her big belly baby. She rubbed it and said 'baby' then out of no where, she does a chest bump but with her belly on my belly. It was hysterical. She did it a few times. She just kept bumping her belly with my belly. Chris and I just laughed so hard. She says she is sorry which is so darn cute and says I love you. She says 'here you go' when she hands you things and of course her favorite word is 'no'. I do love it when I hear her say 'mommy' and 'daddy' and so many other words. I love it!

Mom's Moving to Thailand

2011-10-09T16:53:00.000-07:00

So my mom has had a goal of moving to Thailand for quite some time. Her and her husband Ray bought a house in Thailand about five or so years ago in preparation to move there one day. Due to taxes, high cost of medicare, and lack of retirement, it is very hard to live in the U.S. when you haven't worked for the man your entire life. Ray has worked as a consultant, but that doesn't come with a lot of the secure benefits that normal 8 to 5 hour jobs do. Hence, they have weighed the costs and it is much cheaper to live in Thailand. So the time has finally come where they have made the plunge. They put their house on the market and were aggressive with buyers. Their house sold in a matter of days. So they are closing on Friday, October 14th and so they'll be moving in with us for a few days. Ray got a contract job in Detroit, so instead of moving right away, they'll move to Detroit for a few months and then off to Thailand they will go. They hope to wait until Baby Norris #2 is born and I'm sure they'll come stay with us from time to time until February 5th arrives. Some of you know my upbringing in that I was raised the majority of the time by my dad only seeing my mom for a month out of each year. When I got into high school, I saw her a little more and then when her late husband Ron (Sam's dad) was dying of cancer at 43, she asked me to move to STL to help her with his final days and Sam's upbringing. So after college, I moved to STL and lived with them for a couple years. It has been great getting to know her better over the years and of course spending time with her. I am going to miss her when she has moved, but I'm hoping we'll see her at least once a year or once every couple of years. I am sure Chris and I will get over there at one point after all of these babies are born, but it will be a few years for sure. So I'm enjoying my mom's final days/months while she is in the U.S.

Go Cards!

2011-10-09T16:47:00.000-07:00

This may be one of the last times Tia gets to wear this shirt, so I wanted to put a picture of her on here. It says 'It's not my diaper that stinks, it's the Cubs"....sorry Maria/Rosie/etc, I know you are Cubs fans, haha. We had some tough games and won! yay! World Series here we come - I hope! Tia is so awesome. Go Cards!

Tia Applesauce Head

2011-10-09T16:35:00.000-07:00

You know those times when you kids do things and you NEED to yell and be upset, but when you look at them, you just crack up. Well, here is Tia when she was eating tonight and decided instead of eating her applesauce, she would literally take a bath in it. Chris and I were watching TV and had our back to her most of this time, so we didn't catch it until it was too late. I said 'Chris, look at your daughter' and when he came over instead of being mad like 'we are supposed to', he just busted out laughing. I had my stern face on, but his laughing made me laugh. Gosh she is so darn cute. She knew we were upset though, hence why she is making such a serious face in this picture. She knew she was in trouble, but lucky girl got an instant bath out of it which she loves. Isn't she funny? and if you were wondering, yes, that is a coolie on her cup of milk.

Daycare Incident

2011-10-06T04:14:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to note that last Friday, September 30th, there was an incident at Tia's daycare. A teacher tried to move Tia out of the way and used her purse to do it. It hit Tia hard enough for her to fall and bite her bottom lip. Tia is perfectly fine and nothing to be alarmed about. We know the teacher and we feel it may not have been the best course of action, but we certainly believe that she did not do it on purpose to intentionally hurt Tia. I picture it as her hands were full and Tia was using her favorite word 'no' and wouldn't get out of the way. The teacher probably was trying to shoo her out of the way and underestimated the weight of her purse. Now, I'm an optimist who tends to see the positive sides of situations and people. In my heart, I have to believe that the teacher would never want to intentionally harm Tia...in fact, I've seen her so loving to Tia. She is one of Chris's favorites. She is young and always bubbly when we are there. The downside of this situation is that the teacher got fired and the police also arrested her with a charge of child endangerment. The daycare was just following protocol and doing what the Department of Family & Child Services would do, etc. An investigation has brewed and we've been contacted by DFCS several times the past week. They even went to see Tia, made sure the daycare was following protocol, etc. My honest opinion is that the teacher already got fired, probably feels terrible about what mistake she made, and she is young and going through enough. I am praying that she doesn't not get the record for child endangerment that can hurt her the rest of her life. As a parent, I know I've done a few things that were mistakes and childcare on a daily basis has to be full of little incidents. I rolled over and elbowed Tia in the forehead the other night. She didn't cry and it didn't hurt her, but I felt bad still. It just happens. Now I also realize that Tia is just fine from the daycare incident and had she had to go to the hospital or something worse happened, my view on the situation would be totally different. I want to believe that the girl made a mistake, she got fired because of it and does not need a permanent record reminding her of this. We love the daycare and we know they've done everything they can to ensure Tia's safety. I just wish this situation would not have happened. But it is what it is and we have to carry on. Please pray for that teacher who lost her job!

Little Soccer Player

2011-10-04T04:23:00.000-07:00

One thing that I love about Tia is that she has athlete written all over her. She is strong, fast, loves being active, and if you saw her trying to unlock a door...you'd see the muscles in her calfs. It would surprise me if she didn't turn out to be athletic. Of course, Chris and I are soccer people who both of us have played for most of our lives. The little girl in my belly is extremely active. Tia was active but more towards the end of the pregnancy and we sort of had a system down on how we'd get her to react to us. This baby though has no problems with being active. She is active all day, all morning, and all night. It feels like she is doing summersaults in my belly or she has a treadmill that she is running on. I love it because it makes me know she is alive and kicking, literally. If she is as active as Tia is now, then I think we'll have some athletes on our hands and hopefully two little soccer players. I can't wait to get Tia involved with soccer and then again with our second little girl. So much fun!

"Outside"

2011-10-03T04:14:00.000-07:00

We hear this word all of the time from Tia. She loves going outside. We love that she does, but we aren't able to let her go outside as much as she wants. Our backyard is not in a condition to let her just roam around and play unless we are right there with her every step of the way. It not only has two very steep hills, but the retaining wall is at least 4 feet tall and she loves to climb on it and walk along the top of it too. Our front yard is equally steep and the driveway has at least a 30 degree incline. She does get to go out every once in a while, but coming back in is a chore. She is not great at transitions from fun to not so fun and she screams her head off. I've bribed her with ice cream or we've let her cry it out, but it just sucks because she goes from being on top of the world with smiles from ear to ear to crying her eyes out like it's the end of the world. We hate that. But we don't want her to just be held captive inside all the time either. After church yesterday we took her to a local park. We thought, what they heck, she deserves some good playground time. We stayed for almost an hour where she went up and down the slides by herself and we did the swings which she loves. But when it was time to go, it was trouble for mommy and daddy. I even did the countdown from 5 more minutes to 1 more minute and she did not want to leave. So we had to take her kicking and screaming. All the way home, she screamed too. We got her home and she screamed. We put her down for a nap because it was time and she just screamed. It was as if she couldn't calm herself down. So we did our best to get her calmed down, but she would not. I had to take her and rock her to sleep. This is something I love doing, but don't want her to get into the habit of it. She would fall all the way asleep, then as soon as I'd put her down, she'd go into a cry again. So I spent about 2 hours rocking her or laying with her. She is just my sweet baby and it was nice to have some mommy/Tia time. I know we are a sensitive family and when you get all worked up it can be hard to get calmed down again, so I just gave her some love and attention. I just am not sure how to give her outside play time when she will scream her head off when we leave. I guess we'll just have to keep doing it and deal with the crying until she understands, but it can be emotionally draining too. We'll get there. She's had a big month with getting rid of her pinkie...she's 3 weeks without one, literally cold turkey. She's two weeks with no more bottle and so she has had a few milestones to deal with. We just love her so much though and regardless of her sensitivity, we just love hugging and kissing on her.

So Thoughtful

2011-09-30T05:45:00.001-07:00

So we know that Tia loves playing on the iPad. She usually gets a nightly dose of at least 30 to 40 minutes of playing her games. What we've noticed that is hysterical is that when she is done, she'll swipe over to Daddy's page of stuff, she'll open Wee Rule, then hand him the iPad while saying 'here you go'. She knows what game he plays and where to find it on the iPad. At first, we thought it was coincidence, but nope, she does it every time now. She also does it with ABC Player and hands it to him too. But when she does Wee Rule, we laugh so hard. She is very thoughtful for sure and I hope that continues. She has a very sweet and thoughtful side to her and I love seeing that. For instance, she hates seeing people get hurt on TV. She makes a sad face. If she knows someone is hurt in person, she'll go hug them. Chris had a band-aid from getting a flu shot yesterday and she said 'boo boo' in a really sad voice, then leaned over and kissed it. On the iPad, she loves playing with Talking Tom and his friends. She'll tap his head until she knocks him out, he'll fall over and little birdies will spin around his head. She'll give him a 'aw' sound and lean over and kiss him. So sweet!

Shoe Fetish

2011-09-27T18:26:00.000-07:00

OMG! Is it crazy or is it just me that Tia already has a shoe fetish? How boys automatically know about being rough and mean and girls know about shoes, make-up, and jewelry. Tia has always loved shoes. If she sees a pair, she'll bring them to the owner. Not sure how she always knows whose they are, but she does. She often brings Chris's to him and lately she just loves everyone's shoes. I had this silver pair of boots I tried to put on her this weekend but her feet are not long, but they are thick. Chris calls them yabba dabba feet. But she was very determined to wear it. She walked around and her foot was half way into the boot. She seriously looked like a pirate the way she was walking around with a limp. I lost it when Chris was saying 'Ahoy Matie'. She was determined and eventually she got it on. So I put the other one on her and told her to jump and she got it on too. We all looked and could tell that it was paining her to walk, but she wanted to have them on and refused to let us take them off. Talk about fashion over function as I know I have lived by many times! It wasn't for a good hour that we were able to switch her shoes back to her tennis shoes. We knew that she had a shoe fetish. I decided to buy her some play shoes at the store and saw a 4 pack of Disney princess ones and thought 'what the heck'. Got them home but I waited until Chris arrived before opening it and showing them to Tia. I had them on the table and was trying to take the plastic off. She walks over and her eyes got really big. She screamed 'shoes' and started jumping up and down in joy. I looked at Chris with amazement. The only part of the shoe you could see was the very front tip. I have no idea how she knew they were shoes. Chris was equally surprised and we were blown away by her response. We took the first pair out - the pink ones. She put them on and let's just say she would not take them off. She played with the other ones organizing on the shelf and then off again, then moving them around. She was grouping them together, etc. When it was bed time, Chris tried to take them off and she was upset, so I said...let her wear them to bed if she wants and she did. She was almost asleep when we heard her cry out. He goes in and she said 'help' because her shoe fell off. So funny that she couldn't go to bed because her shoe fell off. Chris was just laughing so hard about it. We finally got them off of her and snuck them away as she grew more tired, but it will start all over again tomorrow! She is such a cutie and so funny!

New Camera - Canon EOS Rebel T3i

2011-09-27T04:21:00.000-07:00

We got a new camera that we purchased with a $2000 gift card I received for winning the top level dream rewards from Thirty-One. I also got a new MacBook Pro. We wanted something nice, but not too fancy that we couldn't figure it out. I have to say that I love this camera. It is a Canon EOS Rebel T3i. Chris did a lot of research and of course, we asked around a lot. This camera has been easy to use and takes great pictures. Plus, she's so cute!

My New Favorite Picture

2011-09-26T04:34:00.001-07:00

I just love this picture. This is what happens every morning. Chris is still sleeping and he has Tia crawl on him and give him kisses. Eventually he wakes up. It is so cute watching her get so excited to see him in the mornings after she gets ready. She says 'Daddy' instantly and gets this giddy face when she knows she is going to wake him up. Love it.

Day 4 - No Binkie

2011-09-23T06:02:00.001-07:00

I have to admit that I'm pretty stoked about Tia not having her binkie the last few days. She is going on day 4 and she has been doing great with it. I thought the hard part would be her going to bed without her binkie, but it has been in the car when she is awake. Although, I have to admit that Chris puts her to bed almost every night and he seems to have done a great job at getting her down without it. Every now and then we can hear her crying for her kiki, but we stay strong, although it is hard because we just want to go running in there to scoop her up. We just look at each other and say '5 minutes' and usually she has gone to bed. This morning she was up awfully early and crying for a while. I figured she'd go back to bed, but she never did. Chris brought her in with us (first time) and she snuggled up next to me and went back to sleep. I have to admit, it was pretty sweet having her right there. It reminded me of her newborn days when she was all swaddled up. The car rides have been the worst although not too terrible. Probably harder for Chris on the way home because I have nursery rhymes playing in my car in the morning now. She isn't totally into the songs except when she hears Twinkle Twinkle, Old McDonald, and Row Row Row Your Boat to which she sings and it is the sweetest! She'll cry out for Kiki often, but it seems to be less each time. So as we go into the weekend, we've already told Katma about our efforts and we hope she sticks to her guns too. If we make it through next week, I think I am condident there will be no more binkie for Tia - yay! Then onto potty training!!!!! Tia LOVES sitting on her little potty, but she obviously doesn't know all the logistics yet...daycare is working on it and we have been a bit here too. I know that is the negative of us working all day - we can't really dedicate to potty training as much. We hope it doesn't take too long! Regardless, I just can't believe how big Tia is now! So Big!

It's a Girl!

2011-09-22T06:16:00.001-07:00

We had our 20 week appointment yesterday and we found out we are having another little girl in the Norris household. Boy is Chris going to have a lot of drama on his hands! We were excited to find out and plan for her arrival. We didn't have a preference on a boy or a girl, as we plan to try for another in a couple years. But hey, if we end up with 3 girls down the road, then Chris will have a lot of daddy's little girls on his hands. He did say he is going to have to load up on some baseball bats and scare tactics for all these boys that are going to be knocking down the door soon. Tia already has a boyfriend at school. In fact, when she could barely hold her head up while laying on her belly, I saw them kiss. His name is Vinny (Vincent) and his parents told school that all he talks about is Tia at home. They said that every dinner he says 'Tia this...Tia that' and when I drop her off, he runs over and says hi Tia, etc. Tia acts like the typical Gen Y girl and looks like she has an annoyed face and is wanting to say 'give me my space', but he just follows her around. I think it is super cute, but I wonder if this is the way it will be for her? Or perhaps the other way around. I was an ugly duckling until mid-high school and I just pined over crushes for years but never had any boyfriends. It humbled me to say the least and makes me appreciate the solid and true relationships with my husband and friends now. So our little bun in the oven is going to be a little sister to Tia. Practically speaking, we have all the girl stuff! They can share a room and hopefully 'share' toys. OR will they be like my beloved nieces, Juliean and Janelle, who fight like cats and dogs over every thing. We have to buy 2 of everything for them. I guess we'll see. I have heard so many people tell me that the have and always have been best friends with their sisters that are a couple years ahead/behind...I hope my girls will be the same way. Some of my coworkers are not convinced the baby is a girl by looking at the Gender picture. I did some research last night and it was pretty obvious the boys from the girls, so I'm leaning towards the Sonographer being accurate! But don't worry, we'll have a boy name picked out just in case!

No Binkie - Day #2

2011-09-21T05:38:00.001-07:00

So we've known for a while that we were going to have to start getting rid of Tia's binkie habit. We just got into a habit of letting her have it when she wanted it. She called it KiKi and she loves that thing. She needs it to go to bed, to nap, and to ride in the car. Besides that she can usually do without. Last week, Lisa watched Tia for us when I had my work event and she didn't realize that Tia still had a binkie habit. Tia was excessively tired and of course it was past her bed time, Lisa was able to distract her with some music and get her down without a binkie. I remember when we got home from our event after Lisa left...we went into see her. I noticed right away that she didn't have a binkie and I looked all around for one and couldn't find one in her crib. We both had amazed faces as if 'no way did she go to bed without one'. With us, she calls out immediately 'kiki' at bedtime. It is part of the ritual. So we knew there was hope thanks to Aunt Liza! So we picked this week to really try hard to rid the binkie or at least start. I have been working on it in the car rides and we were making progress slowly but surely. I decided to get some of her favorite nursery rhyme music for the car to try to distract her and yesterday we set out without the binkie. She was calling for it the minute I put the car into reverse and she seriously called out for it the entire way. I put the music on and she would get distracted but then she'd call out for it. It normally takes about half an hour to get to daycare and some how, we made it the entire way. I could not believe it. It was a bit emotionally draining because she cried out a few times in desperation, but I held strong. I told her teachers of our mission and they vowed to help. When I picked her up from daycare, her teacher said 'she cried out for it at nap time, but we held strong and didn't give it to her....we patted her on the back and eventually she went to sleep'. I think I had tears of joy in my eyes...so exciting. So all the way home she called out for it, but I held strong again and we made it home even though traffic made it a 45 minute trip. Chris said 'should we try it at bed time' and I know we were both thinking it would be impossible, but Chris said 'if Lisa can do it..then...' and so we tried. She cried out for it many times and so many moments we wanted to run to her aid, but we didn't. She cried out several times and every time we just hated hearing her, but after about 20 minutes, she was out. She never broke into a full out cry or else we would have gave in, but rather she just whined for it so we held strong, yet again. When she woke up this morning with no binkie, I was just so excited...over 24 hours straight with no binkie - what an accomplishment! I did it again this morning on the drive and she asked for it right at first and then about mid-way 'Kiki...Kiki...kiki...' in a demanding voice. I just ignored her and switched her songs to distract her. She had her favorite teddy bear and her blankie, so she was quite distracted. We made it again - wfew! I told the teachers and they know the plan....so hopefully this is a good sign! Rough times ahead, but I have a lot of hope! yay!

Oh My Back

2011-09-19T05:43:00.001-07:00

The past week, my back has been killing me. I'm not sure if I did something specifically to hurt it OR if it is just another ramification of being pregnant, but I can say with certainty that I don't like it! It feels like my lower back bone is separating from my tail bone. Hard to explain, but it just aches. Sometimes after sitting for a while, I get up and I can barely walk and picking things up is a bear, namely Tia. I don't want to have to go to a doctor, but if this continues much longer, I may have to see a Chiropractor or someone who can help me in this area. I go to see my OBGYN this week, so I'm going to see what he suggests. Oh my back is my saying of the week!!

20 Weeks!

2011-09-16T05:59:00.001-07:00

I can't believe that I'm 20 weeks along. Half way there and counting...Last night before I went to bed, I put my hands on my belly and see if lil one will respond. Most times he or she does, but last night lil one was really interacting. I'd move my hand to one side and I'd feel a big kick, then the other which resulted in another kick....and so on. I seriously felt a body part of the baby - I'm thinking the leg was pushed up far enough where I could feel it. I know I'm pregnant, but it really made me know I'm really really pregnant now! I got my belly yesterday and now I feel like I have a big ole beer belly. I don't like that look, but I know we all have to go through it. I gained more weight early on last time so I think my belly was hidden for longer. This time, I haven't gained much, but I have a feeling that is about to change! I can't wait until next week when we find out if it is a boy or a girl!!!!!! So fun.