Our First Week Together

Nora was held and loved on by her beautiful Aunt Nikki:

Daddy and Aunt Nikki got her tiny little footprints:

Cuddles and examination from an excited big brother:

Together, on her birth day:

Day-after weighing by Dr. Lori (six-and-a-half pounds):

Friends:

Thursday, our fourth wedding anniversary:

Getting fixed by her brother:

Pretty girls in matching jammies:

More snuggles - and thumb sucking! - with Aunt Nikki:

Lots of attention and love from AJ:

Plenty of cuddling with Mama, both indoors and out:

Photos with friends:

What a week it was, together with these incredible people, both big and little. Here's hoping the littlest among them doesn't grow too fast and that we don't let time slip by us too quickly. Here's to slowing down, pausing, appreciating, and remembering to be so thankful for these blessings being poured out over us.

40 Weeks and Saturday Night Football

Friday the 23rd marked forty weeks of baby-growing time, so we took a few pictures to remember these very last days of pregnancy. It started raining soon after we finished up, but James managed to snap a few shots of the fun that commenced afterward:

The next evening, it was off to Aloha Stadium. James's command was asked to participate in a halftime event at a University of Hawaii football game last weekend. Someone else was on standby in case baby decided to show up before then, but since baby was still baking we were all free to go. UH provided tickets to all of the service members and their families, so we excitedly took AJ to his first college football game:

He had such a blast, talking about what was going on with the game the whole time we watched. But his favorite part, by far, was watching Daddy on the field during halftime:

We left after halftime since it was already after the kids' bedtime, but were approached by Jack Ingram (former UH and Patriots long snapper) and another UH guy on our way out to take a photo for us:

James got AJ's ticket signed, then we made our sleepy way home. We weren't sure about all of us going to the game at first, but we're so glad we did; it was a really good time.

Batter Up!

On Wednesday the 21st, AJ and Aunt Nikki went out back for a little "baseball" practice. AJ was so focused on hitting that ball, and he got it with his cedar stake bat almost every single time. We were pretty impressed!

Water break:

Technological Problems

Well, I've been trying to post for a couple of days now, but Blogger says we're out of photo storage space. We're not quite sure how to resolve this issue, so until we can figure it out we'll be limited to text only. Bummer.

We had a great Thanksgiving with Nikki, Chloe, and our awesome neighbors, and James and AJ have already gotten the Christmas tree all set up this morning. Someone's been running around excitedly yelling "CHRISTMAS!" since he saw the box with the tree in it. Love that boy.

Today is 40 weeks; Dr. Lori stopped by this morning, and the belly is measuring about 38 cm (sitting down) and baby's heart rate was between 120 and 140 bpm. Sitz bath herbs have been brewed and stored, everything we need is upstairs, and we're feeling pretty well prepared. Now, we wait!

Sharing

He would take a bite of his apple, then she would look up at him and open her mouth. He'd put the apple to her mouth so she could take a bite, then wipe his mouth with a napkin. She'd finish chewing, then look up at him again so he could wipe her mouth. Again and again and again, until the apple was gone.

They can be so sweet, these two. They make this mama's heart smile.