Socks

Norah always has socks on her feet, mostly because she needs all the help she can get in the warmth department, but also because she has Kyle's flat feet. Nothing against Komenda feet, but they're nothing a girl would wish for themselves and from the looks of this picture, she is not going to be a big sandal girl!

Ava Loves Norah

Ava is still totally in love with her baby sister. She loves to ask to hold her and is always wondering when Norah is going to wake up. She has taken this new baby thing much better than we could have ever hoped for. This picture actually looks like Norah is smiling at Ava, proving she loves her big sister just as much!

Mommy's Girls

This is such a proud picture for me, these girls are both so special and both totally different from me (so far), but I love them so much all the same!

Tiny

This isn't the best picture of either of us, but I wanted to have a picture that showed just how small Norah is. Her head is as big as the distance from my chin to my nose! She was born just shy of 8 pounds and even though she gained it all back and then some in a week after discharge, she is still so much smaller than the other two beastly kids we have! It has been so nice having a small baby for a change.

PJ Time

We bought Norah a couple pj's to wear and got even more similar outfits from friends as gifts, but we have discovered that this baby isn't into having her limbs free to startle her. She is more likely to wake up if put to bed like this than if she is swaddled super tight.

Hangin' Out

Norah has been so chill lately and can be seen being held in this position when she isn't sitting with me on the couch. It has been so nice having Kyle home to allow me this carefree "with child" lifestyle. I'm not sure what will happen once he goes back to work, but I am assuming the sling will come in quite handy!

Komenda Eyes

The jury is still out on which sibling Norah looks most like, but for now it is unanimous that she does not have my eyes. I was a little disappointed to see how different Norah looked from the other kids, but have since come to appreciate how beautiful, while remaining unique, she is.

Sleeping Again

When we got home from the hospital, I tried REALLY hard to take advantage of the "sleepy baby" stage. I was pretty much sitting or laying on the couch at all times and barking orders to Kyle and the kids. It was nice at first, but my personality is way to high energy for that. Norah was all about sitting around being held, so the first two weeks pretty much looked a lot like this.

Late Night Photoshoot

With all of our late nights, we have been able to take some super intimate pictures of baby Norah with no one else around. Figuring out the lighting has been tricky when it's completely pitch black outside, but somehow we were able to get all these to turn out!

Ava Loves Norah

Ava is still Norah's biggest fan, Ava would hold her every waking moment if I wasn't nursing her most of the time she was awake. The best part is that Ava has remained fairly untouched by the jealousy monster that gripped her with Jack's arrival.

I am relieved to know that the older a kid gets the more excited they get about the birth of siblings. Jack is still acting out much like Ava did at his age, but with Kyle home it has been manageable. I hope when all my help has left on an airplane or gone back to work, I will be emotionally capable of taking care of a newborn, a jealous two year old boy and an extremely social four year old girl.

Sleeping

The days following my discharge from the hospital included a lot of sleeping during the day. Nights were all over the place in an awful way and the day was a time of recovery from both lack of sleep and surgery. The kids weren't super keen on the idea of staying home all the time, but were able to occupy themselves pretty well. Some of the games they played included this one where we all pretended like we were sleeping! It is amazing to me that a two year old boy can close his eyes when he is not sleeping, but Jack did it and in the end looked pretty convincingly asleep!

Going Home

Ava picked out Norah's going outfit while I was packing my bag for the hospital and she wasn't going to let us forget about her desire to help dress her in it either. With a tiny bit of help, Ava was able to robe Norah in this ensemble, but because she is so tiny, she was unable to fit in the traditional Pooh Bear hat from Aunt Amber that both Ava and Jack wore home from the hospital. The hat was big in fact, it is amazing that these kids are related!

Before my wheelchair arrived, and Kyle took all of my stuff down to the car, I wanted to take a picture with all the wonderful gifts the hospital stay afforded. Norah, being the best of all, with the flowers from Kyle, my Mom and Amy placing shortly thereafter. Kyle has gotten me a bouquet of flowers with each birth and each time, the arrangement is slightly bigger and more expensive. This time, he picked one yellow rose for our big boy Jack, two pink roses for our princesses Ava and Norah and eight red roses for each year we have been together. It is amazing how lucky I am to have such an awesome companion, who knew I could ever be this blessed.

Kyle got one last picture of Norah in my arms before the nurse wheeled us out to the elevator and down to the awaiting car. She looks so peaceful now and has no idea what craziness she has awaiting her at home with a two year old big brother and a doting four year old big sister.

Once we were outside the hospital doors, we asked the nurse to take our first family picture. We all look super excited, except Jack! I think he was wondering why the baby was getting in the car with us, but he will find out soon enough.