23 Months Old!

Kyler turned 23 months old on Saturday!  I can't believe that in one short month he will be a 2-year-old! Kyler continues to be our funny little man.  His vocabulary keeps growing and growing and he keeps putting more and more words together.  One example of this is that my Uncle Nick came and fixed our bathroom lights one Saturday because they weren't working right.  Kyler now says "Nick...lights...all better!" several times a day. :)  Kyler still loves to be outside and that is definitely coming out again with the warmer weather.  We have been enjoying a few of the warmer days we have been having lately and can't wait to get outside and play on a daily basis!  Kyler is still adjusting to being a big brother, there are some moments that he wants his "turn" and he has to wait a couple minutes, but overall I think he's doing a pretty good job-especially since he went from having ALL of mommy's attention to having to share it. :)  At times he is pretty interested in Norah though, especially when she's in her bouncy seat.  Kyler will go over to her and want to give her a kiss or a high five.  He is also interested in her when she's laying on the floor (this is when you REALLY have to be near by and watch him) :).  He likes to pat her head and say "nice" because that's what we tell him all the time-you have to be nice.  He is becoming more and more comfortable around her, which requires us to watch him a lot more carefully because he doesn't know how rough he can be.  I feel like we are constantly telling him to be "nice" or "careful", I'm sure this will continue for quite a while. :)   The other thing Kyler really likes to do right now is have "pens" (aka: unsharpened pencils) :).  Just about every day he wants a "new pen" so we go and get one out of a box that Erik or I had when we were in school and give him one-he's got quite the collection right now. :)  Drumming is still a popular activity at our house too.  Kyler still loves to pound on anything and everything that you will allow.  

Here are some pictures from the last month:

Eating a french fry! Kyler has developed a love for fries lately :)

Eating lunch...he's does great with a spoon!

Bringing Mommy some snow...

Holding hands with Norah :)

Ahhhhhhh!

Kyler's other love lately...Ice Cream!

Lining up all of his cars and trucks

Playing his drums...yes, this is the bathroom trash can that has now become one of his drums. :)  He carries it out daily into the living room so he can pound on it.

Doesn't everyone wear two hats and eat a banana? :)  Kyler loves to get out the basket of hats and wear them around the house...another daily activity here :)

One Month Old!

One month old!

Norah is one month old today!  It's hard to believe that it has already been a month since she was born.  Norah loves to pick her head up when she is laying on your chest and look at you.  She is getting pretty good at this and can hold her head up for a couple minutes now.  At her two week appointment Norah weighed 8 lbs 9 oz, that is 1 lb 2 oz over her birth weight-which is great to hear!  Norah fits into our family very well and we have loved having her be a part of our lives this past month!  She is so sweet and loves to snuggle with just about anyone.  She is also learning to tolerate all of the "love" her big brother likes to give her. :)  Here are a few more pictures of Norah from the past month.

Tummy time

Kisses from Kyler

Hanging out with mom :)

Sound asleep...

Sweet Girl :)

Norah's Birth Story

I had my last "official"39 week appointment on Tuesday, Feb. 1st.  At that appointment I was only dialated "a fingertip" (which is where I had been for the past 3 weeks).  This didn't surprise me in a way because with Kyler, I had a mid-week appointment and was dilated 1-2 cm and then he was born the following Sunday.  So, I wasn't expecting to be one of those people that walk around for 2-3 weeks dilated at 3-4 cm. :)  But, I did think that since this was #2, maybe things might move a little bit faster.

Friday morning, Feb. 4th, I woke up about 8:00 and thought I was maybe having a contraction.  I wasn't really sure as it seemed a lot lower than I remembered and not really across my belly.  I was also trying to decide if it was just "uncomfortableness" from laying down all night as I had been uncomfortable with aches and pains for quite a few weeks.  But then I had another one a few minutes later.  So, I told Erik I thought I was having a few contractions, they weren't really consistent, and not that painful.  He said he was heading to work and to call if he needed to come home before lunch, otherwise he'd be back at lunch time.

Around 11:30 Lauren stopped by to say hi since she was back from Des Moines.  I had still been having contractions throughout the morning, but again they were pretty spuratic and I was still doing okay.  Erik came home and Lauren left and Erik asked how I was doing.  I said I was still having contractions but they didn't seem very consistent.  We then decided I should text my mom to let her know that I'd been having contractions and she might need to come get Kyler at some point in the next day or so.  We had lunch, Erik went back to work-again with the idea that I would call him if he needed to come home before his normal time.

Erik got home around 4:00 and my contractions were starting to get a bit stronger and more consistent.  We decided to go to Target quick around 4:30.  While we were at Target, I definitely had a couple contractions that made me stop walking around the store and just stand there a minute until they were over.  We then decided we needed to head home and get dinner.  This is where things started to really get going.  Around 5:30 we ate dinner and then I was ready to go sit down as I was pretty uncomfortable from the contractions, they were starting to get consistent and a bit stronger.

At about 6:30 we called my mom and she came and got Kyler around 7:00.  Erik and I finished getting things ready to go to the hospital, as we didn't know when we'd actually go.  About 8:00 we called the hospital and the nurse said I could take a bath and see what happened, or head over there.  I really did not want to get there and have them send me home, but I also knew that things would probably go a lot faster the 2nd time around.  My contractions were every 3-4 minutes and fairly uncomfortable by this point.  We decided to head to the hospital about 9:00.

We got to the hospital and they checked me to see how far I was dialated, and I was at a 6!!  I was very excited that we were going to be admitted and not be sent home!  By about 10:30 we were in our room and waiting.  Kyler was born all natural with no epedural, so I wanted to try and do the same this time too.  Around 11:30 Dr. Weno came in and asked if I wanted her to break my water.  I decided no, I was going to wait, and I wasn't quite ready for that yet.  I think I was at about a 7 by this time.  About midnight the nurse finally convinced me to sit up for a bit because I hadn't been making much progress.  After sitting up for a little while, I was finally at a 9.5.  She then went and got Dr. Weno, who then broke my water the rest of the way.  I then started pushing around 12:30 or 12:45 am and our little girl arrived at 1:11!!  I did make it again with no epedural; however, the end seemed a bit longer this time because they used the vacuum to get Kyler out and Norah came out with just me pushing.

Overall, things went very well and faster than with Kyler.  (With him, I had contractions for a day and a half before we went to the hospital).  We are very excited that our little girl is here and healthy!

22 Months Old!

Kyler turned 22 months old on Saturday!  He is becoming such a big boy!  Here are some things that he has done the past month:

*Vocabulary-Kyler's vocab has exploded in the last month.  He now says just about any word that we do and with pretty good pronunciation/accuracy too.  There are some words he still struggles with, but he has improved a lot over the past month.  Also, Kyler has been putting words together to communicate.  For example, my Aunt Marilyn (Mimi) brought Kyler some books that her grandchildren have outgrown, so Kyler will say "Mimi books" because Mimi brought him books.  Or, another example is he says "Abby puppy" because our next door neighbors have a puppy named Abby.  It has been fun to watch him grow this way and understand things enough to put words together in order to communicate what he knows.  

*Using a spoon-Kyler is great with a fork, he can pick up things easily and get them right to his mouth, but the spoon was a bit different.  Before, he would be great at scooping up the food but then it was kind of like a "sling shot" to his mouth because as the spoon headed toward his mouth, it would be turned upside down before it got there, so you never knew just how much food would actually get there. :)  But this past month he has figured out how to keep it "upright" all the way to his mouth, so he is really doing good using his utensils! :)

*Big Brother!!-Obviously Kyler became a big brother this past month.  He has been doing pretty well with this transition.  He loves to go up to "Neeo" (as he calls her) and rub her head and point (and poke) at her eyes and nose.  He also wants to "hold her" usually every day.  There have been some moments where he wants "up" and you are holding Norah, but thankfully Erik has been home this past week to help with those times.  We'll see how Wednesday goes...it will be my first day home alone with two kiddos!

Hanging out with Daddy having a snack

Lauren came to visit!

Big boy :)

Trying on one of his hats :)

Crazy hair! (We have tried to cut it...Kyler was NOT a fan) :)

Loving on Norah

Big Brother! :)

First days home with Norah

Norah Ashley Blanchard

Born at 1:11am today. Weighing 7 lbs. 7.4 oz.

39 Weeks

We're at 39 weeks!  It's hard to believe we will be meeting our baby girl any day now!  Last Tuesday at our appointment her heart rate was in the 140s (I can't remember exactly) and everything still looked good.  I'm dilated about "a fingertip" and have been since about 36 or 37 weeks.  We have our next appointment tomorrow morning so we will see what they say then!  It was the same way with Kyler though, I went in for my appointment mid-week and was dilated 1-2 cm and then he was born the following weekend.  My official due date is Saturday though, so we'll see what happens over the next few days!

39 Weeks