Our first week home

We still have some photos from Hanoi to post, but we just wanted to put up some pictures of Norah at home.

Barnabas posted this before I got a chance to add my comments. I am slowly returning to the land of the living. I caught a stomach bug last week, most likely at the pediatrician's office (of course!) and spent the last 5 days in the bathroom for one reason or another and then this morning I wake up with what appears to be pink eye. I also did something to 2 of my fingers on my left hand during turbulence in the middle of the night on the flight from Hong Kong to LA and they are still hurting. Don't ask what, I couldn't tell you. I swear I am falling apart. So last week was really rough and I just wanted to give everyone an update as to what Norah has been doing.

First night at home. She went to bed really well that first night, err, morning as we didn't get in until after mid-night. That was the end of peaceful sleep until last night when she slept from 9:15 pm until 6:30 am. Tonight she went to bed at 8:45 pm and I am hoping she will sleep until 7 am... that would be so nice and more like the schedule we were on in Viet Nam.


Here Norah and Dad chill out before heading to the pediatrician on Monday 2/25. She had no idea what was coming... Oh and see those cute booties we got in Viet Nam? Daddy lost a whole booty and matching red poppy sock and mommy was very sad. At the doctors she was all cool with being weighed and measured. She weighed in at 14lbs 10 oz and measured 26 in long. The doctor told us that she is 100% developmentally on target which was wonderful and that in a week or so should be sitting unassisted. Then the nurse went to get the shots and Norah fell asleep on daddy's coat for 20 minutes.
This was a crappy way to wake up! She only got 2 shots to start, one in each leg. She was NOT happy and screamed all the way to the grocery store to get her 2nd round of antibiotics filled. She has another ear infection but you could have fooled us, she didn't cry during any of the take offs or landings during our trip home.
Immunization shots. Bad times for the Norah.


Then she discovered the joys of the ExerSaucer.

Okay, it was only joyful for 10 minutes that first day but tonight she spent and hour in there happy as could be, bouncing, giggling and yaking the entire time.
This was taken before going to Quest for an hour of pokes to try to get blood. They were unsucessful and she had to go to the hospital for another blood attempt on Wed. 2/27. I found out today that the 7 vials they took were not enough to run all the tests and she has to go back late next week after she replenishes half of her body's supply for round 2.
Here she is posing super cute.... or rubbing her infected ear.
Bundled up babe.
Norah went on her first walk on Sunday 3/2 in her stroller and seemed pretty bored with the whole thing. We had a freakish 78 degree day... today we got 7 inches of snow, that is St. Louis for you!!

Norah met neighbors Tom & Ashley and soon to be playmate Greta growing in Ashley's tummy.
Get this jacket off of me, it is HOT out here!!
The doctor gave us the okay to introduce Norah to veggies. She had some squash and green beans last week and some sweet potatoes this morning. She will only eat it if I trick her with bites of cereal first. The second bite of veggies usually gets projectiled nearby and then she screams. Aunt Jessi needs to send the green bean pic to me so I can post it, it looks pretty nasty.

More playtime excitement.

She loves CRUNCHY and will chew and chew on it. I think her favorite toy is her Infantino Elephant right now. It has lots of crunchy parts she can stuff in her mouth.
Happily eating cereal for dinner before I stuffed in more green beans and she yelled. She gets very excited about the cereal and will lean forward and almost shake with anticipation. She likes somewhat big bites and she likes them fast.
Big playtime tonight. She was so so happy and in such a good mood all day which was a nice change from the 3 hours of screaming-for-absolutely-no-freakin-reason yesterday. She was "talking" so loud we could not hear American Idol but would stop whenever I paused it, then start again and laugh when I turned it back on.
Uh oh, I accidentally deleted the last pic. We will have to add it back later. So other than that, we saw a specialist yesterday and Norah's first surgery to have her cleft lip repaired, head lump removed, (the doctor thought that it is scar tissue, no idea what happened to her to get that large of a scar on her head) and most likely ear tubes put in if the ear infections keep up will be 1 month from today on 4/4. It is a pretty quick surgery and she only has to stay 1 night in the hospital. I am not too worried about it, I just can't imagine her looking differently. We both love her the way she is!