Saturday

Beautiful little bird that hit the kitchen window this morning. 😦 I’m still not sure what kind of bird he was. Some sort of warbler?

Greta made a lavish grave for him adorned with an assortment of wild flowers. As pretty as this bird was on earth I marvel at how radiant his feathers must be in heaven. Rest in amazing peace, little bird! {I don’t mean to start the post off on a sad note but I am instead marveling at God’s perfect creation and rejoicing in the promise of new Life!}

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
(Revelation 21:5 KJV)

This happy little morning baby had a big day ahead of her!

The Give Back event that was graciously coordinated and hosted by Wing Eyecare was a great success! I was overcome with emotion as we turned into the lot!

I was so touched by all the people who put forth their time and energy to make this happen — all for Nora!

Nana and Papa hung out with us for most of the afternoon and helped with Nora and the big kids. Thanks, N & P!!

“Whhh? Is dis Sesame Street?”

No, Nornor! That’s Belle from Florence Freedom!!

“Awww!!! Hi, Belle!!!”

Gavin and James Brooks, retired Bengals player ~

Fun in the Photo Booth ~

Oh look! It’s a stinky little Trunk Show!

Babies like to tailgate too!

We had an absolutely FABULOUS time! Thank you, Ryan and everyone who came together to do this for Nora! We are overwhelmed with gratitude!

Later on that night we took Nana & Papa up on their invitation to der Buben Verein Oktoberfest celebration. We love hanging out with my Mom & Dad and I hadn’t rocked the dirndl dress in a long while. Invitation accepted!

William would look so suave in a dashing pair of lederhösen! All in favor say, “Ay Yi Yi Yi…”

Me und mein Vati ~

Home sweet home :: Baby sweet baby

Easy like Sunday morning in da baffs ~

Monday we had Nora’s pre-op visit with Dr. B. to make sure she’s healthy for her ear tube surgery.

While we were there she got her flu shot out of the way. She was hardly phased by that shot which gives a pretty good indication of how painful the antibiotic shots were that she had endured in the past! Sad!!!

She’s been given the green light from Dr. B. for the tubes!

I’m so thankful for sweet and thoughtful neighbors! This delightful bouquet of mini sun flowers, Russian sage, Italian parsley and chive blossoms was delivered to my door by a very well-bred young man! ☺ Thank you, T and M!

Getting ready for Monday Night Football!

“Are you ready for some football!!??”

“Mwahh!”


“I got my cheering outfit on…”

“Me n my Kelly say, ‘GOOOO, BENGALS!!!!'”

The Bengals beat the Steelers! Yayy!

Tuesday morning Norns was talking in her sleep:

She was busy dreaming away about something! I hated to wake her up, but it was a perfect morning to walk the big kids to school!

“Time to go buh bye!”

“Laura and Albert Ingalls” on the way to their one room schoolhouse (you’d think!?). “Don’t forget your lunch pail, Half-Pint!”

Walking through unpaved fields and woods to get to school is actually kind of awesome! Nora seems to really enjoy the off-roading in her jogging stroller. She’s the adventerous type!

This girl loves her brudder!! She thinks he’s really cool!

Tuesday night things somehow went south. Nora was in obvious discomfort and refused to keep much of her bottles down. She had a very restless night and her displeasure extended on into Wednesday. As usual we initially have trouble trying to figure out if it is her ears or her belly giving her grief. After we spoke with the nurse at the pediatrician’s office, it was determined that she should probably be seen. This could all be a side effect of her earlier flu shot, or she was getting another ear infection.

I did manage to get a couple of really sweet smiles flashed at me, but the discomfort persevered and she was sad again seconds later.

She’s truly Happy Baby at heart. You could tell she wanted so badly to feel better which made things even sadder.

At the pediatrician’s office we decided to administer an antibiotic shot and see where that would take her. If she had something viral going on with her belly, we didn’t want to aggravate it any more with an oral antibiotic and we wanted something fast acting to wipe out any infection in time for her upcoming surgery appointment on Friday. If she is running any kind of fever the day of surgery, it will likely be canceled.

Poor sweet Norns did not appreciate the shot one bit. She did not recover from this one as quickly as she did the flu shot. It obviously inflicted great pain on her precious little fat leg. I really hate to see her so sad. Her Daddy consoled her. I love to witness the love she reflects back to him.

Through the rest of the evening Happy Baby seemed to be gradually coming back to us. She had a good restful night of sleep and woke up in a wonderful mood today. She was running a slight fever this morning, but I did speak with a pre-op nurse at the hospital and as long as Nora is not exhibiting any other symptoms right now, she should be good to go tomorrow morning.

We have to be to the hospital at 10:15 in the morning. We are expecting that she will stay overnight in CICU (which sounds so scary to me!!!). I will try to update here on the blog and/or the Praying for Nora FB page as often as possible. I will do updates on one blog page kind of like I did on the day that she was born so as not to wind up with a bazillion posts. (Press F5 a lot!) Your prayers are incredibly encouraging and appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!