Meeting the Family

Norah had a very busy first few weeks of life, meeting many family members and friends who came to get a glimpse of the newest Piland. We were positively overwhelmed by the generosity of our local friends who supplied us with meals for an entire month. Norah was born on October 18th and our last meal was delivered on November 17th. Unbelievable. We are so grateful for all of the people from our current home group, our old home group, MOMentum (the mom's group I'm a part of), and many other friends who loved and served us in the form of meals. Not having to think about food freed our minds and our time so that we could better focus on loving and serving our girls. Not only did we have daily visits from friends, we were also blessed to have family travel from Stow and Columbus to meet their newest granddaughter/niece! We were so excited for Papa to arrive. He was unable to be at the hospital when Norah was born due to his travel schedule, so it was especially meaningful when he came up to Perrysburg to meet her.

Holding his newest grandbaby

Avery was thrilled to have a mid-week visit from Papa. She wore her Abby costume just for him! (actually, she wears it almost everyday, but who's counting)

Aunt Shannon, Spencer, and Karly came up to visit when Norah was less than a week old. Sadly, Oliver was sick so he and Uncle Travis had to stay home (they were missed!) but Avery loved having two of her cousins here to play with and Norah got some good cuddle time in with Shannon. It was a great visit!

We also enjoyed a visit from Uncle Paul, Aunt Kristen, Kate, Will, and Sophia. Somehow we missed getting a picture of Katie and Will (probably because they were busy playing with Avery!). Sweet Sophia had fun checking out the new baby and we loved the chance to visit with Paul and Kris!

Aunt Nikki traveled up from Stow to meet Norah and to spend some one on one time with Avery (who had been feeling the sting of having to share the spotlight with her new sister). We loved having her spend the night and we were especially grateful she was here when Norah came down with her first cold and a fever which required an emergency trip to the doctor's office (apparently they take it quite seriously when a newborn has a temp, but thankfully she was fine- just a crummy cold). Nikki was able to take care of Avery while we tended to Norah and also ran a few errands. Not only that, but she cooked us a delicious meal - homemade mac & cheese... yum! Nikki, thank you for being such a huge help!

Aunt Nikki made cookies with Avery... Avery's first baking experience! She was enamored with the whole process... especially the part where she got to eat the finished product :)

Last but not least, we had to include this picture. This is not actually from Nikki's visit to Perrysburg, but from our recent trip to Stow (where Aunt Nikki was also a huge help in taking care of Avery!). They braved the cold weather to spend some time swinging outside. Nikki gave Avery that adorable hat. We LOVE this photo of two beautiful Piland gals!

Thanks again to all of our family who were able to come visit (and for all the gifts you brought!). We are blessed have such a great support system. We can't wait for Norah to meet Uncle Evan, Aunt Passa, and cousins Cara and Jacob at Christmas!