norah: relatives, outings, and milestones

now it's hard to imagine our life without norah. what did we do before she came?! over the past few weeks, both sets of her grandparents came to visit. it was great to have the extra help!

grammy & pop came when she was two weeks old. she also got to meet her uncle andy:nana & grandpa came when she was four weeks old.
and no, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. there are two babies there; mrs. cathy is holding daniel, our friends' newborn. they came to bring us dinner that week. the husband, adam, plays on the church softball team with christopher. his wife sarah beth & i are enjoying taking the babies to games. this was norah's first outing (other than pediatrician visits)!
norah's second outing was her very first sunday at church, which happened to be easter sunday. she wore a sweet little dress from one of christopher's parents' friends.last weekend, norah got to meet her great-grandparents on my side, grandmother & daddy buck. this was so special and warmed my heart to see! i had been praying they would live to meet their great-grandchildren. God is so good!
norah has already reached some notable milestones. of course, as her parents we are amazed at anything she does! every sneeze, every yawn, every coo seems like a miracle. she started smiling at four weeks old. here she's doing it in her sleep; we thought she must be having sweet dreams!
at four weeks, she also started reaching for things: my hair (she has quite the grip!), christopher's fingers, hanging toys on her activity mat. we have also started doing "tummy time" so she has the opportunity to strengthen her upper body & neck muscles. she is working hard at lifting that heavy little head! one of the most significant milestones (to a sleep deprived mama, anyway!) is that norah slept through the night last night! we hope this will become a regular thing.

we are so excited for christopher's brother kevin & his fiance andra's wedding later this month. this will be our first big outing/trip with norah, and her first time meeting extended family on christopher's side. we hope everything goes smoothly (for them and for us!).

our daughter

after a very short labor (less than 8 hours!), norah christy golden was born on wednesday, march 7, 2012 at 1:08pm, weighing 7 lbs 11 oz and measuring 19 1/4 inches. we were in love with her immediately, and our lives will never be the same!

one of her first pictures with daddy in the delivery room:
cuddling with mama:first family photo:meeting grammy & pop for the first time:meeting nana & grandpa for the first time:going home:we had several visitors while we were in the hospital, and we have been so grateful for people bringing us meals since we've been home. we have been eating very well! norah & eva (the dog) meeting each other went better than i expected. norah doesn't seem to mind her bark, and eva hasn't been as jealous or acted out like i thought she might. i'm sure as norah gets bigger, they will become good friends! hanging out with daddy & eva:looking sweet:meeting uncle kevin & aunt andra for the first time:i am (sort of) getting used to getting up 2-3 times a night with norah. it is exhausting, but so very sweet. we feel very blessed!

overdue

the title of this post refers to my (lack of) blogging, not my pregnancy status! we got smart phones for christmas, and i have just now learned how to transfer pictures from it directly onto my computer. i will try to give a brief overview of events since thanksgiving...

here is us at church at christmas:
we enjoyed celebrating our first christmas in our new house. here is our very first (live!) christmas tree:we got to visit both sides of the family over christmas, and of course both nana & papa (christopher's parents) and grammy & pop (my parents) couldn't resist getting norah a little something.

work has been a whirlwind since i got back from vacation. i recently finished my supervision hours for my counseling license, which has taken 2 1/2 years to complete. i am very thankful to be getting this done before our baby arrives!

in the month of january, my friends from sunday school- meg (left) & lori (right)- hosted a beautiful baby shower themed "cute as a button." both grammy (left) & nana (right) got to come up for it, which was special.later in january, i got to go to a bridal shower for my soon-to-be sister-in-law, andra. i didn't get a picture of the two of us on my camera, but here she is modeling her new apron.christopher has also been working very hard on the nursery. he got the furniture set up, and i have been enjoying finding places for all the baby things. i love resting in this most comfortable chair. it gives me a chance to daydream and pray for norah! i am almost 36 weeks, and it is so hard to believe she will be here so soon.my mom came up to greenville recently, and we enjoyed a mother-daughter shopping day together. we had lunch at one of my favorite bakeries, strossner's, and spent a considerable amount of time looking at baby things.
eva is doing well. we think she may be suspecting some upcoming changes. i took her to the vet last month b/c she was having some accidents in her crate. it was most likely behavioral. poor thing, i hate to think how she will be once norah is here and eva is really on the back burner! i think once she gets over her sibling rivalry, she will love having a little (soon-to-be big) sister to play with!

november so far

we've had some great weekends in november, and it's not even thanksgiving yet! we went to atlanta for the vt game (we won't talk about that too much) and got to meet up with some of the yorks- here's me with our sweet friend blakely and her precious boys, ashton & collin. (please ignore the beer sign behind us. i think the photographer- aka christopher- must not have noticed!) blakely also has another boy on the way, due two days before our girl! her husband wes had to work, so he couldn't join us for lunch. we love hanging out with them and wish we could see them more often! i hope we will be as great parents as they are!! the rest of the weekend, i had a mini-reunion with three of my best friends from middle school: (left to right) carrie, tori, & jessie. i'm not exactly sure how it got started, but back then at sleepovers we used to blow kisses at the clock at 11:11 and make a wish. we have been saying for years (about 13 to be exact) that we were going to get together at 11:11 on 11/11/11 at a 7-eleven and make a big wish! well, we nixed the 7-eleven part, but had a great weekend at carrie's house reminiscing (i even dug up our old middle school yearbooks!). we also recently went to a wedding in greenville for some friends from bible study. it was fun to see some of the beautiful venues in our city and enjoy good food, friends, & dancing! i also finished a craft project with my friends liz & lori. it is a frame to display christmas cards. i saw something very similar (for $200) in a pottery barn catalog and knew i could make it for much cheaper (less than $40). i wish i had taken step-by-step pictures, but just try to imagine: 1) i took a plain black wooden frame and spray painted it a metallic champagne. 2) after it dried, i used sandpaper to scrape some of the edges to make it look weathered. thanks to liz for showing me the basics of "antiquing" furniture! 3) i measured & cut picture hanging wire and attached it to the back using a staple gun. 4) i used metal clips to hang the cards- in this case, birth/adoption announcements. i think i may use it year round for other cards & announcements, maybe photos too. but for now i will have a great place to collect all the christmas cards that usually take up counter space!

halloween weekend

we had quite a busy weekend. we spent all day saturday in atlanta at the clemson game. some sweet clemson friends of ours from greenville, matt & meg, made the drive with us (pictured on the left). we also got to meet up with some of our other clemson friends, tim & blaire (on the right). they moved to the atlanta area almost a year ago, and we miss getting to see them more often! of course we got to see our usual favorite tech friends (er, tech friends & their wives): justin & linda (left) and derek & katherine (right). you see a sea of white and gold (and navy) behind us storming the field because we weren't expecting to win against clemson!
sunday night we went to a halloween party with some church friends.for a while, i have been wanting to find a reason to wear my tiara from my wedding day again. i am (a redheaded, pregnant) holly golightly from breakfast at tiffany's. all i bought were the evening gloves and the plastic cigarette holder. christopher is beaker from the muppets. he did a great job of making his head, and he borrowed the lab coat from his mom (it was too big for her, in case you were wondering!).
in other news, here's what i look like at (almost) 21 weeks. and here are two outfits i recently bought for baby G. if i had a daughter, sir, i'd dress her in white & gold!

live free or die

this is the state motto for new hampshire, where we spent my birthday last weekend. we actually went there for a friend's wedding, and my birthday just happened to coincide. brienne is a friend from college who moved to new hampshire after she finished her doctorate in physical therapy. we got to do a few fun activities while we were visiting. on friday before the wedding, we visited mount washington, the tallest peak in new england. here we are about halfway up, with another college friend, michael. well, michael is a college friend to me, but he & chris went to school together since 1st grade!notice how i added layers of clothing as we went up. the base of the mountain was in the mid-70s that day, while the peak was mid-40s! there was a gift shop on top of the mountain that was chained down because of the wind. the top wind speed ever recorded was 231mph! in case you were wondering, that's a world record. on to the wedding- here's brienne & andy, newly married. and us at the reception, happily married for almost 4 years. chris liked the getaway car. we enjoyed some other activities i don't have pictures of- hiking, tubing, and a cook out at the bride & groom's adorable house. and here's a sign you don't see in the south. all in all, new hampshire was really beautiful. i didn't know much about it before we went, but i can see why they enjoy living there.

round trip

this weekend we drove to alabama so i could attend my cousin ashley's bridal tea sunday. on the way down saturday, we got to have lunch with our college friends luke & julia. luke just returned from kosovo after a year of military duty. i know he must be so glad to be reunited with his wife & baby daughter, carrigan! (she was at her grandparents' for the day here.)we went to church on sunday, and my grandmother proceeded to introduce me & christopher [read: show us off] to no less than 20 or so of her friends. keep in mind this is at a church where that probably comprises 20% of the congregation! we went to the bridal tea shortly after church, while the men went to lunch. it's funny, because there was actually no tea involved. it was basically a shower. except it felt more like a reception. our gifts were opened discreetly by the hostesses and displayed on several tables for all to see while everyone mingled and ate. i think this is how things are done in small southern towns. it was fun to meet some of ashley's other bridesmaids that i will be seeing more of over the next two months. here i am with the beautiful bride, her mother (aunt jenny), and our grandmother. grandmother is wearing the same dress that she wore to her & daddy buck's 50th wedding anniversary (they are now going on 63 years!) and to mine & christopher's wedding. on the way back through atlanta, we got to have dinner with our good friends wes & blakely. we enjoyed little szechuan while their sweet boys, ashton & collin played. soon it was their bedtime and ashton was in his little monkey pj's. i asked him if i could have a hug and he said "yeah, sure!" they are both so sweet! it really works out well that many of our friends living in atlanta are in the perfect path for us to meet up with on our way through town. we love greenville, but we do miss our atlanta friends!

blessings

i heard a quote once: nothing happens, and nothing happens, and then everything happens. we had a period of about a week-and-a-half like this last month. first, we found out christopher was promoted to lead engineer! in case you're wondering, he does still work on the hot gas path. while this isn't as hilarious as the first time i heard it, it still strikes me as kind of funny. the next big thing that happened was that i also got a promotion at my job! my new role will start next month as a mental health counselor II. (as opposed to a mental health counselor I; the government is very creative with their titles.) and then, the biggest news of all was that we made an offer on a house, and the sellers accepted!! in a few weeks, we will be calling this home:eva is going to have fun running around in the backyard! we are so thankful for all three of these blessings. God is good!