Moving on…

Posted: June 27, 2010 | Author: K&D | Filed under: Asper Kourt, Ava Rae, Noelle, Other Family, Us Sorenson's | Tags: Ava, Birthdays, Moving, Noelle | Leave a comment

We had big plans for taking a family picture in front of our new house on the day we closed... or at least on moving day... sadly, this is the only picture we have of our new house (that's not even our car in front- ha!)

So far June has been one of the craziest months to date for our little family… as if bringing home our second baby didn’t throw enough of a curve ball in our schedule, we decided that moving two weeks later would really spice things up! We are beyond thrilled to have found a new house and not only that but it is a little bigger, a little newer and REALLY close! What we didn’t bargain for was having to move either 9 months pregnant or with a few week old baby. Turns out, once again God had the timing all worked out! Our original close date was just 4 days before Noelle was born and even though we were so bummed that things just seemed to fall apart and our plans were totally messed up- it all worked out beautifully. We ended up getting to bring our baby home to our first home… one that we we can now affectionately remember as the first place our family of 4 lived under one roof! We might not have thought this would be the case but as we left our little town home, Kurt and I both found ourselves with tears in our eyes as we prepared to move on to the new house. I am left feeling very nostalgic about the many wonderful memories we will leave in that home but also very grown up and excited as we start down this new road from a new address:-)

No matter how prepared you are for a move you never quite realize how HUGE a job it really is. This experience has left me with gratitude coming out my ears for our lovely family and how much time, energy and love they poured into moving us. It was a solid two days (plus a few more) of boxing, unpacking, cleaning and moving all with 2 little ones underfoot most of the time. With the memory of it so fresh in my mind I can safely say that I don’t ever want to move again… and I think I can speak for our families when I say, they hope so too! Thank you so much to those of you who put your lives on hold, showed up first thing in the morning and stayed until dark making sure we were settled and put away! You guys are the best!

So… all this to say that since day 10, the last few weeks have been busy, busy, busy… here’s a little bit of what we’ve been up to. Hopefully our lives will soon find some kind of normal pattern and we can get back to some regular blogging and playing, dinner with friends and summer fun!

Oh did I mention that we are leaving on our annual Herig family vacation to Bethany Beach Delaware on Friday. Four hour flight and a 3 hour drive with our 2 year old and our 4 week old… AHHHH! Guess we just LOVE the craziness 🙂

Right after Ellie's PKU heel prick. She woke up when they pricked her and then fell right back to sleep for all of the squeezing!

OH NO!! We might have a thumb sucker on our hands... whenever she find her hands this is where her little thumb ends up.

Making some banana bread with JoGi 🙂

Cookin' girl!

Happy Father's Day! And Ellie's first time in "real" clothes... so cute!

Big Cousin Brody and Noelle!

This is how Ava spent 'moving day' (asking (or telling) everyone who came over to help, "play with me.")

This is how Ellie spent 'moving day' (sleeping in various beds, cradles, cribs, swings, bouncers...)

Me and the gals on our first trip to the gym!

Kurt and I celebrated our 3rd Wedding Anniversary on June 15!

Happy Birthday JoJo!

Girls Wine Date at Casa Rodena Winery to celebrate Jo's Birthday!

Gosh, I just love seeing my guy with his gals!

The tiniest Asper Kourt fan went to her very fist AK Show at Summer Fest- Uptown!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Ten Days In

Posted: June 12, 2010 | Author: K&D | Filed under: Ava Rae, Noelle, Other Family, Us Sorenson's | Tags: Ava, Noelle | 4 Comments

I’m not really sure where the days have gone. If you asked me I’d say we’ve been home just a few days, not 10! Though I don’t feel that tired or out of sorts, as I looked through our pictures from the past 2 weeks I couldn’t believe how much has gone on, how much has changed and how little of each day I actually remember. I’m wondering how present in my current life I am… Here’s hoping this is all just part of the process of getting used to being a mom of 2! Here’s a run down of what we’ve been up to:

: So much sleeping! I’m really trying to embrace this milk-drunk babytime… I know it doesn’t last long!

: Ava practicing for her very first Ballet class at Fishback Dance Studio! She loves dancing around our house and anything having to do with ballerinas however, after two failed attempts to actually get her into the classroom we’ve decided she’s a little too young. We’re going to try again next year!

: Even though the class is a no go, I couldn’t resist putting up pictures of her cute little bun and her sweet 2 year old bod in a leotard and tights 🙂

: Our first park outting post baby… too bad it was over 100 degrees!

: Noelle at the park, soaking up some rays to get rid of the last of her jaundice!

: This is how I find Noelle for most feedings… she grunts for about 10 minutes as she wiggles herself free and then cries her face off as though she’s starving! At least she’s proving to be a good eater 🙂

These 2 pictues were taken within minutes of eachother...

...I think it's safe to say they're sisters!

Ava started SWIM LESSONS!

She's been having so much fun getting comfortable in the "big pool"...

...so far we're kicking, blowing bubbles, being a monkey on the wall and talking a lot about the possibility of getting our whole face wet! Glad we have the whole summer ahead of us!

Ava is really anxious to "play" with Noelle... With dad keeping a close eye, the girls played Pet Shop! Ava did all of the talking and Noelle just stashed dogs and cats in her pockets 🙂

We LOVE LOVE LOVE watching Ava love her little sister. While we were taking this picture Ava said, "Noelle, you're so pretty"... Thank God for our sweet gals!

June 1, 2010

Posted: June 6, 2010 | Author: K&D | Filed under: Other Family, Us Sorenson's | Tags: Baby #2, Birthdays, Noelle | 8 Comments

Happy Happy Birthday to our GIRL!

Noelle Bryce

June 1, 2010 at 7:11 p.m.

7 pounds 20 inches

And what a wonderfully blessed day it was! We are so truly thankful for every prayer said in preparation for the birth of our sweet girl! Boy, were they answered… ABUNDANTLY! After Ava’s birth experience (a 40 hour labor, a posterior baby, 3+ hours of pushing and a vacuum delivery), it is safe to say we were slightly traumatized and had a few nerves as we prepared to go through it again. In the end we decided to be open to anything that would help us along and to just pray, pray, pray!

God took good care of us. From the time my water broke at 8:00 a.m., we had an 11 hour labor! The baby was in the correct position, we had a great midwife and 2 nurses who were there from beginning to end, a wonderful anesthesiologist (who is officially my new best friend – not only for the stellar epidural he placed in my back, but afterward he called me a “skinny girl”- even though he probably says that to all the girls, I couldn’t even help the grin that spread across my face- haha!), I pushed for 26 minutes, heard “it’s a girl!” from Kurt, and got to hold little Noelle the minute she was born! I bawled my eyes out from the last few pushes on… not from ANY pain but from shear shock and joy that this was our birth story and how perfect it was!