The evening before Thanksgiving, our little butterball arrived. Well, not little, more like gigantic. Audrey lay there screaming on the scale and a dozen nurses stood around her...busy saving her life? no. She was healthy. They were all placing bets on her weight. She was a whopping 10 lbs, 2 oz! I don't know whether I should be proud of my work or humiliated. Either way, we are overjoyed to have our sweet little angel in our arms now. 
It was exciting to bring her home and introduce the sisters and rather funny to watch it actually happen. Nora got this deer-in-the-headlights look and just kept pointing at her and saying "baby...baby...baby...baby...". After all the talking we did with her beforehand, she was very caught off guard to say the least. Its been a bumpy road as they have tried to get used to each other. As the stay-at-home mom of the family, it has been very challenging for me. That's not to say it isn't extremely rewarding and tons of fun as well. Of course I am home alone with the girls every weeknight for the fussy hour, cooking and serving dinner, giving baths, trying to read bedtime stories and get both kiddos down for bed. That's not easy. Between about 5:30 and 8:30PM, most nights I lose my mind. Audrey often wakes up from her nap screaming and inconsolable, which upsets Nora and makes her whine. All the while I am trying to finish cooking and get Nora to eat. And try bathing a toddler, dressing her and reading to her with a screaming 2 month old attached to your chest in a baby carrier! Unfortunately bedtime is not all that relaxing for Nora...but she is a trooper. I think she's relieved to have some peace and quiet in the dark with her music. I should be so lucky! I love my girls and my heart breaks for them, but I'll be glad when Mark finally has evenings off, one way or another.
After 2 long years of online classes, I can't believe it, Mark is graduating next weekend! It has been so hard on our family to have his home time in the mornings be monopolized by school work on the computer. Full time school and full time work has taken its toll on Mark. He's amazing! He still finds time to be a supporting husband and loving father. What a journey this has been these last three years! Starting with the move to AZ from GA, we had our 1 yr anniversary, and the next week became pregnant with our first child, we both got into new jobs, bought our first home together, I left my job, had Nora, then 9 months later we found out we were expecting AGAIN! The economy went down the toilet, Mark's sales job suffered, we had our second beautiful girl, and Mark is now graduating all in less than three years. We are both different people than we were when we moved out here, after all we have been through and seen. And we are so blessed.
So now Nora is sick. Last tuesday (one week ago) I took her to the doc for lethargy, a low fever and fever blisters. He found that she had sores all in her mouth, hands, knees and backside, and diagnosed her with Hand, Foot and mouth disease. (Not to be confused with hoof and mouth--very different thing there) So as he looked in her mouth, he found something else, an abscess above one of her front top teeth. Apparently she got it when she fell and bumped her tooth. We went to the dentist yesterday and he confirmed it then referred us to an ORAL SURGEON! She has to have the tooth pulled to save the adult tooth coming behind it. My poor baby is gonna have a missing front tooth until about 6 yrs old! So next friday she'll have the surgery...that's right, surgery. She has to be put under general anesthesia and everything. I am going to cry like a baby. She's going to be so scared, and they say they usually wake up crying. I am about to cry now, typing this! I'm such a baby. My little Nora will be beautiful no matter what happens. I love my girls so much. They are the most wonderfully beautiful things in the world to me.
I'm putting some pics of our Valentines day toddler party up. We had five toddlers and two babies. It was fun to see all the babies now that they are almost two.
