Happy Thanksgiving

Wow, what a week. We decided before Stella was born that no matter what we would be going to Chicago for Thanksgiving. We rotate years between St. Louis and Chicago and this year was our year to be in Chicago. We thought that we might as well make it worth our drive so we decided to stay for a week. We were not sure how the drive would be so we might as well stay.

The day we were leaving for Chicago Stella decided to sleep for her first 4 1/2 hour stretch, which threw our game plan off. Of course leave it to a baby to do that! She woke us up at 4:15, so as Peter was feeding her and I was pumping we decided to get the car packed when we were done and go. We didn't want to wait until after her next feeding because Peter wanted to get there before the Bears game and we didn't know how the drive was going to go. So we packed up put two sleeping children in the car and headed on our way. We got on the road at 5:30 am. Stella did a great job! We see the makings of another great traveler. Nora is an awesome traveler and hopefully Stella will be the same way. We made it to Grandma and Grandpas house in 5 1/2 hours, which was great time!

We had no plans for most of the week. It was really nice to see both sides of the family. A lot of family got the chance to meet Stella and we are so thankful that you came to meet her!  Tuesday Grandma, Nora and I headed to the American Girl store. Grandma got Nora a bitty baby for Christmas. Nora picked out a baby with reddish hair and blue eyes and named her baby Stella. Now, it has been a little confusing, but you just have to make sure you ask which Stella she is referring to, her sister or her baby. I think it is pretty sweet that she named her doll after her sister. It just goes to show how much she really does love her sister. More about that when I post an update on Stella and Nora after Stella goes to the doctor on Wed.

On Thanksgiving Day the Harrigan side of the family came over. I got to meet Peter's cousins baby, Emily. There were 3 girls under 7 months! It was fun to have Nora be able to play with her cousins, Shamus and Molly. They had a blast playing together and Nora now refers to Molly as her "new friend".

On Friday I did a little shopping, but nothing too crazy. I hit Kohls up at around 10:00 and then went to Old Navy and Carsons, which was all in the same mall. That evening we had dinner with friends, which was great as always.

We headed back on Saturday around noon time and it took a little longer to get home, but not much longer. The ride home was 6 hours, but still not bad considering we were traveling with an infant. We had a great week in Chicago!!!

2 weeks

Our sweet baby is 2 weeks old. Some days I feel like wow that was fast and other days i feel like she has been here a while. Stella went to the doctor at 5 days old and had lost a little more weight, but other than that was great. Grandma and I took her yesterday and she has gained back some of that weight! Yea! I am nursing this time around and it is going pretty good. There are definate days when I question if I should nurse, but that is usually at night when I am tired and then the next morning I feel better about it. She is taking well to the nursing and latching well and eating well. That is all I can ask for. It is hard and we have been busy the last few days running to the doctor, getting diapers and other stuff, and visitors. That can complicate things with nursing, but Stella seems no worse for the wear. I want to keep nursing at least until I go back to work.

Grandma has been in town since Stella was a week old. She has been a great help. She has been cleaning and cleaning and doing laundry. My house is going to be a mess when she leaves. Grandpa comes in to town today and will be meeting Stella for the first time! Nora is super excited Grandpa is coming in. She didn't understand why Grandma came without him.

Stella is a lot like Nora was as a baby. Nora was laid back and so is Stella. Stella only cries when she is super hungry or over tired. We are so lucky!!! I hope she is as good of a traveler as Nora was and is. We are making our first trek to Chicago in 9 days! It should be an interesting ride!

Well....here are her two week stats.

weight-7lbs. 10oz. (30%)
length-21.5 inches (89%)
head-14.1 (53%)

Here are some pics!  Nora and Stella at the same age!!! It is scary! Can you tell the difference? Leave a comment and tell me which two pics are Nora and which two pics are Stella!!!

And Jalen and his sweet baby cousin. He is such a great boy! I don't know what we would do without him. He just loves his cousins so much. He is so proud!!

Who am I?

Nora or Stella?

Can you tell the difference?

What baby?

Jalen and his sweet cousin Stella

Trick or Treat

Our little pumpkin

Ninja and strawberry

sugar high!

sisters!

Daddy and Aunt Boo took Jalen and Nora trick or treating this year. Normally he stays back and hands out candy and I go, but this year was a little different. Nora didn't have a joke to start with, but Peter called about 5 min. after they had been out and said that she started making up her own jokes. They last about an hour, which was more than enough with the amount of candy that she got! Holy Moly! We always have a great time at the Kountzman's!

Pumpkin Carving

Here we are carving pumpkins Sunday evening. We did not do carving with the rest of the family with everything going on this year. We carved two pumpkins. Nora wanted a scary pumpkin and that is what she got! She would not touch the inside of the pumpkin, wanted nothing to do with it. She did do a good job helping me carve!