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

Kitchen Update

So, I realized that I haven't posted an update on our kitchen lately, and I figured if I don't do it now, it might be awhile since baby #2 could make her appearance any day now! :)  We (or mostly Erik) :) have been working really hard this summer and fall to get our kitchen almost done.  No, it's not completely done, but we have made MAJOR steps in that direction!  I think the last post I put up was that we had moved our fridge back to where it belongs and finished tiling the floor.  Well since then this is what we have accomplished...

We finished refinishing the cabinets.  This included stripping, staining, and finishing them.  Don't they look great?! (Just ignore the unorganized dishes inside) :)

We then painted the inside of the cupboards.  As you can see from the picture above they were an ugly peach color and needed a fresh coat of paint!

We then tiled the backsplash!  It is a subway tile that is cream/off-white in color, it makes it look very clean and nice!

Cabinet doors!!  Yes, we got all of the bottom cupboard doors refinished and put back on!

Backsplash grouted and outlet covers back on!

Cupboard hung! My Uncle Nick built us this cabinet so we could hang a microwave over our stove!  Previously there was no cabinet here at all.  It was a great addition of cupboard space and it gets our microwave off of our counter!

Cabinet doors back on the top!  Erik's dad came over a couple days this fall and helped finish stripping the cupboard doors with a heat gun so then Erik could strip (with liquid stripper), sand, stain, and finish the doors.  Don't they look great!!

Microwave hung!!  This has been so nice to be able to get our microwave off of our counter.  We have such limited counter space anyways and this just gives us a bit more!

So, as you can see, we have made great progress over the past few months!  We are not done, as you can see, there are no doors on the cupboard above the stove, but it got too cold out to stain them and Erik doesn't want to do it in the house.  Also, we have the doorway that goes from the kitchen to the dining room that is now completely sanded, but needs to be stained.  Again, we are waiting for warmer weather.  We then have a window and one set of cupboard doors that are by where the fridge was that need to be stripped, stained, and finished, but that will be this summer's project.  Also, we have some trim work to finish up too, but overall we are on the home stretch and I'm very excited about it!  Thanks Erik for all the hard work you have done these past few months in our kitchen!!!

21 Months Old

Kyler turned 21 months old yesterday!  It is hard to believe that in 3 short months we will have a 2 year old! (And another baby!) :)  The past month has flown by with all the preparations for baby #2 and celebrating Christmas.  Kyler is doing great and makes us laugh daily with some of the silly things he does.  Here are some of the things that happened with Kyler this past month:

*Talk, talk, talk! Right after Christmas Kyler's vocabulary just started to explode and he has been really trying to repeat what you say.  One day I said "duh" to something Erik said and then Kyler said "duh" right after I did...it really surprised me because that was the first time he had repeated something I had said, guess I'll have to start paying attention to what I say! :)

*Big boy bed!  There is a picture below of Kyler's new bed!  He got all of his bedding for Christmas from Grandma Deb and Grandma Nadene, so I waited until after Christmas to kind of make a big deal about it and move him.  The bed has been in his room for about a month or so now and we've been talking about it, but he just started sleeping in it last week.  He has done really well!  The first day for nap I had to convince him to sleep in there, but after that he was fine.  He has also been doing okay at night too.  When baby #2 comes she is going to sleep in a pack n' play in our room at first, but we wanted to get Kyler used to sleeping in a normal bed.  It is just a normal twin bed and was too high on the bed frame, so we just put the mattress and box spring on the floor with a railing and that is working well.  

*Being a helper!  Kyler is really into helping out.  Whenever we are in the kitchen making lunch or dinner he wants to be "up" so he can see what his going on and "help".  He loves to push the button to start the microwave and dishwasher.  He really does a pretty good job with things too.  Today he had taken the hat basket from the front entry way and brought it into the kitchen and emptied out and tried on all the hats.  So before his nap this afternoon I asked if he could help put away all the hats, so we came in and he helped me put all the hats back in the basket.  I turned to do something else and when I looked back he had picked up the basket and carried back to the front entry and put it right back on the shelf where it goes.  It didn't surprise me that he picked up the hats and put them back in the basket, but it did surprise me when he put the basket back exactly where it belongs. It's things like that that remind me how observant and knowledgeable these little minds are already! 

Taking everything out of the cupboard...I guess that's what happens when you don't have a door on it. :)

Taking a ride in his "car" with Santa. :)

CRAZY hair!

First time out to play in the snow...didn't go very well as he does NOT like to wear his boots...

Big boy :)

Trying out our new double stroller that Daddy surprised us with!  Kyler was NOT a fan as you can see, hopefully he changes his mind by spring! :)

Making muffins with Daddy

Reading on the little built-in bench in our kitchen

Trying out the car seat :)

Big boy bed!

Sitting in his chair that Henry made-I think he looks so old here!

Bath time with a hat :)