Sweet Norah

Just a few of my favorite photos from the past couple of weeks. We are so in love with this beautiful girl.

Erich bought this outfit for Norah and I love it. The hippo hat is my favorite.

A sweet neighbor girl babysits for Avery regularly. Her family brought us dinner and her teenage sister knitted these matching hats for the girls. Adorable! (cute how it looks like Norah is smiling at just a week old. It was just luck).

On her first car ride to get her newborn photos taken.

Having some awake time on the play gym.

Daddy Daughter Date

Avery has loved having Norah in the house and is constantly giving her love, hugs, and kisses. She hasn't shown any jealousy of the baby and has only been sweet towards her sister. However, there is no denying that this has been a major change for her and we've turned her little two year old world upside down. Although her behavior towards Norah has been 5 star, her behavior in other areas has taken a turn and it's been heartbreaking for me as her mom to watch her act out in ways that she never has before, knowing that even though she "knows better" this isn't really her fault. I know that in time she will adjust and we'll have our sweet girl back (she's still our sweet girl, just with more tantrums and outbursts). In the mean time, we're trying to keep her in line while showing her some extra love. Erich is the best dad our two girls could ever have. He's sensitive and caring, but disciplines firmly when needed. Avery loves spending time with him and looks up to him in a way that I wish every little girl in the world could look up to her Daddy (the way I've always looked up to mine). Erich had the idea to take Avery on a very special "Daddy Daughter Date" and she was SO excited. He planned a morning that was sure to make her feel special, but I'll admit it made me a little nervous. He planned to take her out to breakfast at Cracker Barrel, then go to a salon to get her nails painted by a friend of ours, then out shopping for a special dress that she'll wear to Norah's baby dedication at church in a few weeks. I was nervous for a couple reasons... first of all, while I thought that getting her nails painted was a fun idea in theory, I thought there was no way that a two year old would sit still long enough to have her fingernails painted and then let them dry. I knew for sure she would come home with smudged and smeared nails. The other thing that made me squirm a little was the idea of Erich taking Avery shopping for a dress... that she'll be wearing on a special day up in front of our entire church congregation. I love Erich very much, and he is wonderful at picking out clothes for himself (I love his style), but it's no secret that we've butted heads a bit in the past when it comes to clothes for Avery. I like having a say in her wardrobe and this was definitely an occasion where I had to relinquish control and let him take over for the sake of Daddy and Daughter making special memories on their date.

Wow, did they ever prove me wrong! After a lovely breakfast at Cracker Barrel, Erich said that Avery sat perfectly still for the entire manicure and was enamored by the whole process. Then, they went to Gymboree and picked out the perfect dress. I absolutely love it and I'm so impressed with Erich! When they left that morning, my main instruction to Erich was to take lots of pictures. Here is a play by play of their morning...

Avery picked out her favorite outfit to wear and got all dolled up for her big date. Here she is applying her make-up (pink princess chapstick).

On their way out the door for their special morning.

Out for breakfast

Eating her yummy pancakes (Avery notoriously doesn't do well in restaurants, so the fact that she took about 3 bites of these pancakes is a small victory in our book).

Erich said after breakfast they had some time to kill before her appointment at the salon. He asked Avery what she wanted to do and she said, "Let's go for a walk Daddy". So they spent about 30 minutes walking around the Cracker Barrel parking lot. She loved it. It's the little things.

They also enjoyed sitting in the big rocking chairs and playing checkers.

Next up was Avery's manicure. All week long leading up to the date, Avery talked about getting her nails painted PINK. She was so excited.

Sagan treated our little toddler like the most important client she'd ever had. She took her coat, pulled up a chair for her, talked to her about life, and gave her the full treatment. We expected her just to paint Avery's nails quickly. Instead she did a real manicure with all the many steps involved. Avery was thrilled and did not move an inch.

Picking her pink.

This was Erich's favorite moment of the morning. Sagan offered to get Avery a drink. Since Avery's nails were drying, Sagan fed the water to Avery. Talk about being pampered!

Avery showing off her new duds. A cupcake sweater dress, a new shirt, leggings, and a cute cardigan. She looks precious in it!

Avery came home that morning with flawless pink nails (that she can't stop staring at and showing off to everyone, even days later), a cute new outfit, a huge smile on her face, and a heart that was full of love for her Daddy. She needed the attention and deserved every bit of the love he showed her. These moments are priceless and so is my husband.

Trick or Treat!

About a month ago, I tried Avery's Halloween costume on her just to make sure it fit and we talked about Halloween and trick or treating. Almost every day since then, Avery has asked "Is it Halloween yet?". She couldn't wait to wear her Abby Cadabby costume and go door to door with Daddy collecting candy. At less than two weeks old, Norah was too tiny to fit into any costume (the smallest size we found was 0-3 months and she would have gotten lost in it) so instead she got to wear a cute little Halloween onesie. While Erich and Avery went trick or treating, Norah got to hang out with me and pass out candy. Growing up in the country, then living in apartments, then living in a house that faced an alleyway... I never got the experience of passing out candy until we moved to our current house. Halloween isn't my favorite holiday by any means, but I love the joy Avery gets from dressing up and I have so much fun passing out candy to the neighborhood kids. It was a great (but cold!) evening.

Avery and Norah in their festive shirts. The ghost on Norah's shirt glowed in the dark... so cute.

The adorable Abby Cadabby and her baby sister

Momma and her girls

Daddy and Avery heading out in the cold to get some candy. They had a great time!

It was a very chilly evening and I felt guilty for taking my newborn baby outside on a cold night. Just to be sure she was nice and toasty warm, I had her in 3 layers of clothes (one was a fleece bodysuit with a warm hood), a hat, in the sleepy wrap (best baby carrier EVER), and zipped up inside my coat. Then we sat on a chair and covered up with a blanket. So in total, there were six layers of fabric between her baby skin and the cold air. She slept like a rock the entire time and I was in heaven with my baby on my chest. No, I'm not normally this lumpy looking... that's the top of Norah's head poking out of my jacket. Most people didn't even know there was a baby in there.

Pumpkin Carving

6 years ago, shortly after Erich and I started dating, we gathered with our friends Mandy and Bryan (who were also dating at the time) and had a fun evening relaxing, carving pumpkins, drinking hot chocolate, and watching a movie. This became an annual tradition for the four of us, and over the next few years... through engagements, marriages, pregnancies, etc... we continued to gather for our pumpkin carving night and the biggest stressor of the evening was usually remembering whose turn it was to pick the movie that year. My, how things change! Over the years our numbers have doubled from 4 to 8 (with four of us being age 2 and under). Our time together is double the chaos, double the fun. We had a good laugh this year at how simple things used to be, as our kids ran circles around us and Toy Story played on the tv instead of a scary movie. One thing that hasn't changed and never will, is our love for the Croningers and the special bond we share with them as we've been witness to the milestones in each other's lives over the years. As always, we can't wait to see what next year's pumpkin carving party has in store.

We stripped the toddlers, Avery and Jack, down so they could get all messy in the pumpkin goup, but they wanted nothing to do with it ("It's sticky!"). 11 month old Max, who we didn't think would be too interested, stayed in his clothes and quickly found his way to the pumpkin guts where he happily played for quite some time. He may or may not have ended up wearing pink home due to the mess he made. :-) In all, the women and children were absolutely no help and Erich and Bryan ended up doing every last bit of the prep, carving, and clean up for the pumpkins. Sorry guys!

Avery "helping" Daddy.

The annual group photo. Our "group" gets bigger every year.

Welcome Home

Just a few (okay, more than a few) photos from our first weeks home with Norah. She's not quite 3 weeks old now and we've enjoyed every moment with her. Other than a couple of rough nights in the beginning (That would by my fault. I sort of forgot that I can't eat spicy food while breastfeeding), Norah has been a happy, easy, sleepy baby. We had Grandma here with us for the first several days. I don't think she'll ever quite be able to comprehend what an enormous help that was for us. She cooked our meals, cleaned the house, and took care of Avery's every need so that Erich and I could focus on taking care of Norah and catching up on sleep. We are so grateful for the time she gave up to be here with us. Once she left, Erich shifted to Avery duty and has been an all star dad... taking care of her every moment of the day and helping with Norah when he's not busy with Avery. Erich goes back to work next week and I will officially be on my own with both girls. I've been spoiled over the past few weeks and although it's going to be a major adjustment for Avery and myself (Norah probably won't notice too much), I'm looking forward to figuring out how to balance the responsibilities and settling into our new normal. I am so thankful for a mom who was able to rearrange her schedule to be here with us and a husband who was able to take 3 weeks(!) off of work to be at home as we adjusted to our new family member. Through the haze and grog of sleepless nights, endless feedings, and two year old meltdowns, I will always look back on our first few weeks at home with Norah and smile at the memories made. Thank you, Lord, for every moment.

Coming home from the hospital! Erich carrying Norah over the threshold of her new home.

Norah's first bath. She wasn't a fan.

When Avery was born, on our first night home from the hospital Erich made sloppy joes and homemade mac&cheese. We propped Avery up on the table in the boppy pillow and stared at her as we ate, in total amazement that this new little human being was in our house. To follow tradition, on our first night home with Norah Erich prepared the exact same meal. We propped Norah up on the same pillow and stared at her with the same wide eyes. What a miracle it is to just suddenly have another Piland here with us.

Our sweet friend and family photographer, Sandy, wanted practice taking newborn shots and asked us if we would mind allowing her to practice on Norah. Would we mind? Are you kidding? We were thrilled and jumped at the chance. Sandy is incredibly gifted and took amazing photos. It was a little stressful, what with the bodily fluids flying every which way, fussy toddler, and somewhat uncooperative infant... But it was also so much fun and we are forever grateful to Sandy for giving us such beautiful photos of our beautiful girls.

Admiring our angel from the sidelines as Sandy was hard at work. I love this photo.

Grandma and Avery got to be buddies for a week. Thank you Grandma!

Avery in her tutu helping wash Norah's hair. Avery loves to help with bath time!

One of the only photos we have of Norah and Grandma (sorry Grandma!).

Visiting Dr Vannuyen, who delivered Norah. Best Doctor Ever. This woman helped make my pregnancy, labor, and delivery experience one of the best I could ever have hoped for. She definitely has a special place in my heart.