Four Weeks!

Wow... I have never, in all my life, been so busy doing nothing.  I thought I would be able to take photos and post updates daily.  HA! What did I know?

We have been having just the most fun with Nora. I will just post a few pics here today and hopefully I can get to writing more details about exactly what we've been up to.  We think we've done a decent job of exposing her to some of our favorite things.  We've taken her out to Lake Minnetonka, DQ, the coffee shop and even a trip out to DC to meet Nana, Papa, Auntie Kate, Uncle Nelson and her big cousin Patrick. 

Nora and Uncle Nelson

Nora, Meet Nana

Getting to know you... Getting to know all about you...

Patrick is a little bigger than Nora - Thankfully I have a few months to build my muscles

Nana and Papa and Nora

Nora was doing her magic tricks for the whole family

Nap time

Bath time

She loves it!

Lunch at Maynards

Jamie went back to work last week.  We were all very sad. Nora and I miss him tons already, but I guess someone has to bring home the bacon.  We are still in the market for that winning lottery ticket, if anyone has any leads. We could get used leisurely mornings of coffee and the Today show and lunch by the lake and strolling in the park. 

She slept right through lunch by the lake

Mommy and Nora, sitting by the lake

Daddy and Nora

They are in love

We have a dimple!

The Rutz family from California are coming next week (for a WHOLE week).  Nora is so excited to meet her big cousins, Keara and Noelle.  Then we'll all head back to LA together, where I will be participating in my friend Chrissy's wedding.  Whew... got all that? 

Before I get too wrapped up in rambling on and on about everything and nothing, I'll post some pictures of our most recent adventures. 

Happy Summer!

Love,
Patty, Jamie and Nora

Nora's Big Day Out

Thursday was the annual Lyngblomsten Ice Cream Social. Eleven days after her birthday, Nora made her big debut at Lyng. We saw so many people that wanted to hold and smooch and love on her. She was quite an attraction. They could have saved on the exotic Australian animals and put Nora on the main stage.

Nora meets Grandpa and his sister Evie

We arrived around 3:30 and it took FOREVER just to make our way to the big tent to see Grandpa, Nefa, Carl and Evie. we listened to music and Nora was passed around the table. When Nora made her way back to me, she was about 1000 degrees, sweaty and getting fussy. We found refuge in Grammy's office, where it was cool, dark and quiet.

Grandpa and Nora face off

After we cooled off and had a bite to eat (mom and dad got hot dogs and ice cream -- sorry Nora, maybe next year!) we were back to the tent to socialize and do a little dancing.

Carl has some experience - he's got a few of his own

By the time we made it home, we were all way beyond exhausted. Nora was fussy and agitated all evening and in to the night. She's been such a calm baby, a good sleeper and a good eater. But it was a rough night. I think we learned our lesson about over-stimulation.

Grandpa says, "Don't get any ideas, Nefa!"

Tomorrow we are off to DC to see Nana, Papa, Kate, Nelson and cousin Patrick. Not quite sure how air travel will be, praying for calm and happy baby.
Happy weekend!

Love,
Patty, Jamie and Nora

Week One... and then some.

Daddy and Nora

Sweeter than watermelon on the 4th of July

Wow. It's been well over a week now (11 days, to be precise)  -- where has the time gone? We are very much in love with Nora. It seems to get more and more so each day. Each morning we wake up and say, "look, she's still cute!" It's been so fun.

We can't stop staring at her

We came home from the hospital a week ago Tuesday. We were very emotional leaving the hospital. We just loved our experience at St. Joe's and really LOVED all of our nurses and midwives who tended to us. They were amazing.

We are looking for a way to bottle this

Tuesday afternoon was busy with visitors from the neighborhood, friends bringing food (THANKS, JEAN!) and mom and Carrie who could not stay away another moment. It seems everyone wants to soak in a little bit of Nora every day. I can't blame them. She's pretty special.

Best Daddy

On Thursday, Nora had her first doctors appointment. She did very well. She was 5lbs 15oz when she left the hospital on Tuesday and was already up to 6lbs 2 oz by Thursday! It was kind of a relief for me considering I have no idea how much she's getting at each feed. The doc felt that her bilirubin was still a bit high so we had to run back down to the hospital for a quick test. Nora did not appreciate the heal prick, but she recovered pretty quickly and it turned out that her levels were "OK" - whatever that means.

Big Bayard fireworks festivities

For The 4th we wound up having several celebrations - OK, not really several -- but more than we had planned. Saturday we went to a my friend Sarah's. It was Nora's first social outing. She did very well, though was not too social. She sat in her car seat and slept. It gave mom and dad some time to sit and enjoy the company and a game of "bags" in the yard. Sunday we had some impromptu fireworks with neighbors Sara, Ben and Macy. It was the perfect amount for the little ones and by the time we got back inside it was time to settle in and watch the network lineup. We saw fireworks in DC, NYC and Boston. The pops did not disappoint this year and the program was again hosted by Craig Ferguson (one of my favorites).

Mom and Nora nap it up

OK, I'm sure there is much more to update... but it is now Thursday and I started to write this on Monday evening. I guess I should just post this with pictures and get on with it!

As always... stay tuned!

Love,

Patty, Jamie and Nora

Photo Reel - Days Zero to Four

Happy Friday to all. We're relaxing with some coffee at the moment -- watching some World Cup soccer, Wimbledon tennis, and Nora, the best show in town. Just a quick post this morning to show off an experimental YouTube effort to compile some of the 350 pictures we had accumulated through Thursday evening.

Have a great holiday, all. We'll be watching international sports competitions, waiting for the Boston Pops and enjoying Nora!

Happy Birthday!

Nora Katherine MacDonald 

Born Sunday, June 27 @ 11:09 am.  Weighing in at 6lbs 9 oz. 19 1/2 inches long. She is beautiful.  I have too few words to describe this amazing journey, so I will try to do it in pictures.  This may take a while...

 Time to head to the hospital - Just before 1am

Arriving at the hospital

We got to the room around this time - AM!

OK, we'll skip the grunting, pushing and yelling -- she's here!

Mom and Nora

Happy Birthday, baby!

Love at first sight

Weighing in...

6lbs. 9oz.

Warming up

Daddy helping Nora warm up

Heating up

Our nurse, Karen - she was the best!

Karen and mommy, warming Nora

All warmed up

 Mom time

 

Grammy, meet Nora

 

Nora meeting Auntie Carrie

Bath time

Nap time with Daddy

We have had the most amazing experience here at St. Joes -- everyone has been wonderful.  We love every single nurse and midwife who gave us so much support along the way.  They were so patient with me through my 2 and a half hours of pushing! I think Nora was happy not to have any drugs in her system when she was born.  She was so alert and happy for hours after delivery.  She was certainly willing to eat her first meal of yummy and nutritious colostrum. Yay!

Stay tuned for more photos of Nora -- and probably a whole lot less rambling on about mommy and daddy!

Thanks for all your kind words, support, food and treats (grammy)!

Love, 

Patty, Jamie and Nora 

Friday Night

It's pretty early Saturday morning -- not quite 8 am as I sit down to write this.  But that's how it goes, these days.  Sleep is pretty elusive, so I have to busy myself with other things. 

Last night we had a very exciting evening here at home.  It stormed like crazy.  I have never seen rain so fast and hard since we've lived here. Neighbor Larry was out back tending to the low spot in the alley.  It piles up quick right outside of our driveway and his.  We sat and watched, took photos and shot some video.  We had dinner and watched some of the NHL draft.  We were just settled in on the couch when I noticed some commotion outside.  I looked out to find a HUGE tree in the neighbors boulevard had come down, blocking the street completely.  It was CRAZY! The whole neighborhood was out taking photos.  We did not hear it -- the air is on, of course.  We were somewhat late-comers to the party (shocker), but the whole neighborhood was out.

Thankfully we had Macy there to survey the damage

We have had two similar trees come down like this in the last year now.  The first one happened on a perfectly sunny day.  I was home and heard the crack, it was so loud.  Last night was not particularly windy either.  The tree must have been diseased and the wind just right to knock it down.  Scary.  Thankfully there were no injuries and though there were cars parked right there, the tree fell right between them.  Had it been the tree on our boulevard, falling towards our house, it would have come right in to our bedroom.

Tree down

I was again impressed with the response of the city.  It took less than an hour for them to show up and make considerable progress securing the tree and cleaning it up.  It was quite the ordeal. But in the end the whole incident took probably less than two hours. All that remains of the big old tree is the flat stump, shaved down to the ground.

St. Paul, in action

Not much else to report here.  I've spent the week walking and stretching and trying to keep my mind occupied and baby moving in the right direction.

Macy's galoshes are way cuter than mine