the newest princess

i walked into the den this morning to find ella trying to put her dolls clothes and accessories on maren.

miss maren

norah giving kisses! she gets big praises for that :)

grandma and the girls

we had to say good-bye to grandma today, after having her here for 3 weeks! there is just nothing like the help and love your mom gives :) we love and miss you already mom!!!!

OT & speech

norah has had 2 OT and speech sessions already. she'll have an in-home session once a week for the next 3 months and at that time we'll re-evaluate to see where she stands. she was fitted for orthodics (hard, plastic shoes inserts that are the mold of her foot) that we should have next week and then we will be going for a PT consult to see if something else needs to be done.
it's amazing how quickly she is picking up words. most of them are indiscernible to the outside ear but we know she's trying! the nice thing is, she loves loves loves Rachel, the woman who is working with her!

just please keep her in your prayers - it's hard being 20 months :)

life as we know it . .

my mom put it best one day when she said to me "i can't tell you what exactly we do all day but i know it's a lot because by the end of the day i'm exhausted!" . . that's pretty much it in a nutshell! i think i've felt that way before but never everyday, and it's definitely a bit chaotic around our house at the moment! i know i am not the first person to have 4 kids (my mother-in-law has 8 - God love her!!!) and i know things will eventually calm down and we'll find our routine, but right now i am definitely still in a free-fall, just trying to survive the days! it's hard to put into words the incredible amount of joy i feel or how blessed i truly am, yet at the same time the craziness that life seems to have become in such a short time :)
ella and layla still love their new baby and are eager to help me all the time - something i encourage :) norah has struggled a bit more with being a big sister, but i know she'll come around soon enough. my mom goes home saturday and i imagine next week will be "sink or swim" :)

going to church


we all look either drunk or tired :)

maren - 2 weeks later!

we had maren's 10 day check last week and she was already 8lbs9oz - almost a pound up from her birth weight :) she still sleeps all day, and we've even 5 hour streches at night, but for the most part she's awake b/t 1-5am (anyone up for skype at that time?) we 've reached the 2 week mark where the fussiness is kicking in a bit more but all in all, she's wonderfully perfect!

some quick periods of alertness









doing what she does best!

norah - 20 months!

norah begins OT/speech therapy this week. she began walking about 2 weeks ago and is finally using it as her mode of transportation (except in public places) :) but we noticed right away she wasn't walking in a way we were used to seeing so in retrospect the evaluation we had 4 days later was a wise decision! i'm not 100% sure what exactly will be done - a few ideas were tossed around in her initial evaluation - so we're just waiting to see. her speech is limited but getting better everyday. she understands most anything we tell/ask her and mimics very well, but doesn't seem to just speak on her own. the speech therapist thinks teaching her to sign would be a good start (she gets very frusterated w/ the lack of understanding i think), which i used to do with ella but never taught the other girls - lazy mommy :)
the nice thing now is she has been sleeping in her own bed for about 2 months which was a huge relief!!! she wants to do all the things her big sisters do! she loves to sit and "read"/listen to books and loves to sing songs - she's very good with tunes -just not words!

doing a jig around the den . .

out and about

we had to take maren in to the pediatrician for a quick once over yesterday. she's just fine - already gained back 2 of the 4 oz she lost before coming home! we take her back next week for her 10 day appt.






we also had to take ella to her school, Beverly Elementary, to officially register her for kindergarten!! she was already excited, but now i don't know how she'll wait for 7 months! she keeps reminding me that she gets to go all by herself and how much fun she's going to have . . and i just keep reminding myself i have 7 months to get used to the idea :)


maren, although wasn't officially here for the big game, i know she was here in spirit with all the yelling she endured through it all :) auburn has 4 cheerleaders coming their way in about 18 years :) (my dad actually bought this outfit when i was pregnant w/ ella!)

Maren Suzanne

Arrived Friday night, Feb 4th, at 6:36pm. She was 7 lbs 14.1oz and 21 inches long and, of course, plenty of black hair!! Labor was only 3 hours, and 1 push! We were able to come home last night and so far so good :) Ella has already stepped in as the other mommy and norah just likes to pet and kiss her and say "baby baby!" frankly, i think layla could take her or leave her - she's in her own little world most of the time :) I'll update as much as i can - my mom is here for the month so i am trying to take advantage and just get settled and figure out how to handle four kids!










watching the superbowl :)