Dear Norah,
Hey sweet girl. I have a lot of catching up to do on the blog to cover all the holidays and family events we've had going on lately. I'm several months behind on documenting the happenings of you and your sister. I'm learning that life with two kids is a bit more time consuming than life with one, thus I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll probably always be playing catch up with the blog. I'll get to all of those updates soon, but I wanted to take a break in the action to share my heart with you, Norah Elizabeth.
I hope someday when you are bigger you'll like looking back at this blog to catch a glimpse of our family life and what things were like around here when you were a baby. But I have a confession to make. I'm suffering from a bit of mommy guilt. Being the youngest child in my family, I've always given your grandma a hard time about the fact that there don't seem to be as many baby photos of me as there are of my brother and sister. I think that's very typical of a lot of families... the oldest child is well documented and then things gradually taper off. When I was pregnant with you I told your Daddy that we would take just as many photos of you as we did of Avery. Things would be perfectly fair and even between the two of you in every way... including your number of appearances in the family album! Well little one, I'm here to break it to you that I now understand why the 2nd born is usually lacking in baby photos. When you showed up in this world you doubled my capacity to love. You doubled the joy in our house. You also double booked my schedule. :) I genuinely love that my hands are full and I would not want it any other way. Don't fear, there are plenty of pictures of you! Amidst all of the obligatory posed holiday pictures, there are lots of candid moments, toothless smiles, bath time fun, summer days outside, baby food covered cheeks... all well documented and part of our family archives. Admittedly though, there aren't as many pictures of your every day cuteness as there are of your big sister.
You see, Norah, it's true that this time around my attention is divided. I have two girls to love, two girls to spend time with. That's why every moment I get with you is so precious that I'd rather be holding you than holding the camera. I've learned that this stage, this squishy chubby little baby stage, goes by so so fast. I've learned that I will blink my eyes and suddenly your little baby babbles and coos will turn into conversations with full sentences. Changing your diapers day in and day out will turn into me hearing the toilet flush and shouting up the stairs, "Don't forget to wash your hands!". Reading board books to you in sing-songy rhyme will turn into signing you up for preschool.... It all happens so fast, too fast. And don't get me wrong, every single moment is worth capturing on camera. I would have an entire room in our house devoted to photo albums full of my little girls if I could. I don't ever want to look back and regret that I didn't snap more photos. I'm just saying that right now, in this precious stage of life where you are my cuddly little koala bear baby, snuggling up tight every chance you get... right now, while you are full of belly laughs and peek-a-boo games... right now I just want to enjoy you. As a mom it's easy to get pulled in a lot of different directions. In those all too rare moments when it's just you and me and I can give you my undivided attention, I want you to have just that... my undivided attention.
So please forgive me if you look back someday and feel like the blog posts during your first year seem a little thinned out (and always months behind), or if you count more baby photos of your sister than of yourself (I'm sure any future sibling will have the same fate). Just know that you have captured my heart in a way that no photo could ever do justice.
I love you baby Norah,
Momma
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