Noah @ 10 Months

We have been so busy these past few weeks I almost forgot about this.
Also, I feel like this is really long. Feel free to skim. I promise I won't be offended or even know.

NOAH:

• I guess the biggest thing is that he walks now. This started about a week and a half after his 9 month mark, but mostly just teeny Point A to Point B stuff. Like the edge of chair to couch. Now it is ALL OVER.  Within a 3 day period, he suddenly started taking small, steady steps and being able to catch himself before falling. It is crazy how fast things change. It is funny and fun to watch him. 

• He does the cheesiest smile with his eyes closed when he is amused by something or really excited. Sometimes it is even accompanied by a snorty laugh. We got him a stuffed dog that is about as big as he is and this will get a cheesy smile every time. He also will give it kisses if you ask.

• Loves to: drink from the bathtub faucet, play in the shower, go outside, watch cars, say hi/bye to Daddy getting on/off the bus, brush his teeth, open and close doors, look out the window

• He is really into reading books on his own. He likes to pull them down off his shelf and knows to use his thumb to open them and flip pages. You can tell what pages he likes by how long he looks at them.

 

• Has started sucking his thumb. We have no idea why and it is not a comfort thing. It seems like it's just something he does because he can. It might have started when he was pulling his hands to his chest to steady himself while he walked. This happens less often now, so maybe the sucking will stop too. 

• Freaks out excitedly when we offer him fruit – usually bananas and apples. He knows where the fruit bowl is in the fridge since I let him play in there while making dinner occasionally. And sometimes we find fruit that has little baby bites taken out of it.

• Finally finally starting to understand when we tell him no. He doesn’t like it. The other day we told him no about playing in the trash can (which he has heard many many times) and he just stared at us while slowly creeping his little hand back into the can.

• He is really good about going off and playing on his own and getting into things. But every once in awhile he likes to come check and say hi. Which is adorable when he pokes his head around the corner and says hi. So much fun.

• He is definitely starting to get the hang of his hello/goodbye wave but is selective on when he will wave. Sometimes he just randomly waves. He really likes to wave bye to the checkers we always see when we get groceries. 

• Climbing. He knows he can crawl over things (like our legs) but he is now starting to climb ONTO things. Or trying to climb OUT of the tub (not as fun...)

• He can use his spoon pretty well if we hand it to him with stuff on it. He knows to give it back when we ask, even though he won't do it sometimes. He also can drink pretty well from his baby cup. And still hasn't really turned down any food.  We have tried to get him to start sharing and he will do it as long as he has a bite of whatever it is first. If not, he will ignore you. 

• He likes to wave and say "hi baby" to his reflection in the mirror and sometimes to pictures of babies. He likes to see his picture on the phone, and if I ask him to say "hi daddy" he knows it's most likely because I'm sending David a video/picture. He recognizes when we say lots of food words (like banana, apple, cheese...) and if I ask him to go get his blanket or where his doggy is he always starts to turn and walk towards them. It is really fun to hear him imitate sounds that we make. David thinks it is nonsense sometimes, but I really do think he is trying to communicate with us.  Classic parental disagreement. 

• Basically, he is our busy, curious, sweet little guy. I wish you could all see how funny he is and the way he wants to know what is going on and be involved. And while he is still not a snuggler, he definitely has his moments where he needs to be held and loved. 

WE PARENTS:

• loved our vacation. They are probably my favorite thing to do, I'm sure I'll try to blog about what we did. (keyword: try)

• I'm also trying to catch up on learning how to edit photos but I am so so slow and my time is so limited, sometimes I can't justify spending all night sitting at the computer

• David is 3 weeks out from a BIG exam which has claimed all of his spare time. I think he gets maybe 30 minutes to himself each night after hours of studying. We will both be glad when it is over, even if we won't know if he passed for another 8 weeks (sheesh.)

• The end of the year is going to be busy for us and I am excited, but also trying to stay in the moment and appreciate each day instead of immediately counting down to the next big thing on our calendar. 

bonus:

Halloween costume courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa. I still laugh whenever I look at these.

Noah @ 9 months

It was so tough to wrangle this kid for pictures. Definitely a two-person job next time. Also, he was SO chatty and moving all the time, it was hard to catch a smile that wasn't crazy blurry. But that about sums him up these days --- a busy blur.

28.75 inches tall - 68%

 21 pounds 5.8 oz - 78%

18.5 inches head circumference - 86%

Definitely not little any more!

NOAH:

• learned how to go from crawling to sitting up at the beginning of the month. I noticed him trying once or twice in his crib. But then BOOM, all.day.every.day. Now mix that with standing. That same day, he also realized he can pull himself to standing in his crib (giggling while he did it). It's pretty much all he does in there now.

• laughs like crazy when he gets tired. So fun hear him laugh uncontrollably. And he will laugh at anything!

• demands whatever we are eating. He will come and beg at your knee if he sees you with something. He also started drinking from a cup and is slowly learning to use a sippy. But he is a pro with his little baby cup. He pushes away his bottle unless he is really hungry in the mornings or after a nap. Really seems to just want more regular food. Which he can eat and eat and eat.

• looooves the computer. If you have it out, that's all he wants to play with and all he cares about. He learned he can crawl out of rooms this month and is now fascinated by everything in the bathroom and kitchen now. He loves to open and close cupboard doors. He's already unrolled a whole roll of toilet paper.

• pulls himself up to standing on almost anything, can cruise around our furniture so quickly, and will even use the walls to walk around to get where he wants to go. He can't stand up on his own but he really only needs a tiny bit of support to go somewhere. He has been pushing off us more and more but still d oesn't have great balance. Except in the bathtub, oddly enough.

• really good about letting me run in the mornings but I'm not fast enough to go as far as I'd like before he wants out. 

• we took him to the playground last week and he learned how to climb stairs. It is always fun to watch him figure things out.

• can clap his hands (he learned that one all on his own!) and will play patti-cake. He will start clapping if he is excited or happy about something too. It's so cute to see. He used to wave hi and bye, but refuses to anymore. Also knows how to high-five and throw his arms up for 'touchdown'.

US PARENTS:
• not much to report here. David is busy studying. I'm busy keeping up with Noah. This summer was really low-key for us. We went to the BYU game vs UCONN and it was great. It was also the first time dropping Noah off at a babysitter's. Kind of weird but it was nice to go on a date. We have a great little routine around here and life is so, so good.

Noah @ 8 months

8 months is my new favorite.

NOAH
• Babbles to himself on the floor, usually while gnawing on a toy (or a remote, yay). It is so fun to just listen to him and laugh at his goofiness. He also has the cutest little voice when he starts talking. 
• Loves the air conditioner. He stands in front of it and makes the most gleeful screams. 
• Will eat anything we put in front of him. He has been loving the blueberries we picked. He is not afraid to grunt to tell us he wants what we have. He also is really interested in drinking from our glasses (and water bottles) but absolutely ZERO interest in a sippy cup. (If you have a sippy you loved, what was it? I'm curious to see if another brand will do the trick.)
• When he wants to be, he is pretty mobile. He's not fast, but he is a determined little guy. He still army-crawls because he isn't patient enough to learn the traditional way, but he is working on it. He has started realizing he can follow me out of the room. 

• He already liked to 'walk' but now he has realized he can pull himself up to standing in the bathtub. SCARY. And now that is usually all he wants to do. He also likes to grab for the faucet and has turned the shower on more than once.
• He can happily jump in his jumperoo for quite awhile which is helpful for me cleaning up breakfast.
• He is so good for me when we go out on our morning jog/walks. I'm not fast, but he loves to look around and watch cars so win-win, I guess?
• Loves to watch videos of himself, and will smile and grab for the phone as fast as he can. We have some pictures on the wall of him from a few months ago. We like to show him them and say "hi baby" sometimes. And a couple different times, both David and I have been carrying him in the room and thought he made sounds that sound like it. SO CUTE. 
• Randomly shudders. It is hilarious and we have no idea why he does it. But we laugh every time.
• Still loves dogs. We spent yesterday with friends who have a dog and by the end he was squealing and trying his best to crawl after it. He tries to follow bigger kids too. 
• Gives theeeee BEST kisses right now. No more open mouth sloppies (which I kind of miss already). These are the soft, lean-in kisses where he presses his face to yours- sometimes even holding your face in his hands. My heart melts every.single.time. And bonus: he will give them to David too.

MOMMA:
• forced David to go blueberry picking (twice!) so I could stock up on supah cheap ($2/lb!!!) blueberries. We also picked way too many peaches - I sense a peach pie in our future - and ate dee-licious homemade ice cream and blueberry fritters. I'm actually tempted to go back today but I know they only have fritters on the weekends. Maybe Saturday? 
• Planning on sneaking in some more pool trips before they close (in 2 weeks, whatttt?? where did summer go? I miss Dallas pools.)
• AUDIOBOOKS are apparently the secret to getting me out the door to run. They keep my attention so much better than music. Especially when they are 6+ hours long. If only my library had more that are on my list.  
• I typed Noah's birth story while still in the hospital with him but finally got around to actually writing it in my journal. It's been good to remember some of the small details I forgot already.
• Noah and I have a great bedtime/nap routine down and I love, love, LOVE every minute that he lets me snuggle him. And when he does fall asleep in my arms, I snuggle him for as long as I can soaking up every tiny second and trying to keep my baby little. So grateful to be his mamma. 

And some of the goodies from this month's iphone storage overload! 

 

 

 

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Noah @ 7 months

warning. skip this if you don't want to read ALLLLL about my baby.

Teeth!

This kid. ♥♥♥

Life as a parent is definitely not glamorous but sure is glorious.

And Noah is our favorite part of every day. 

Noah:

• loves anything that makes noises -- rattles, banging toys together, banging his bottle on the ground, when the lawn is being mowed outside. Related: loves dumping his toy basket over.

iphone goodness...

• likes books! and will even hold still for them for a few pages. We have a 'touch and feel' book about animals that he really likes. He knows where all the spots are to rub the fur/touch the feathers. The whiskers page is by far his favorite. It is so much fun to watch him wait for that page. 

• still loves to watch cars. And now notices dogs and people more. Especially dogs. He gets excited when he sees them and will start giggling when they lick him. 

• will tilt his head to peer at you. Especially if he knows you are hiding around the corner. SO fun.

iphoooone too.

• jabbers at his daddy when they play on the ground before bedtime. It's all complete nonsense babbling that he never makes during the day at me.

• loves to tell us when he is done playing or eating, or ready to be picked up, or when he is not interested in trying to crawl anymore, or is stuck (usually under the bed or chair from scooting backwards). It's a nice loud grunt of frustration. 

• working on crawling - can go backwards, but not forwards. BUT would much prefer to be standing up holding your hands pretending to walk. Can turn his body on the ground fairly quickly and can roll over in the blink of an eye when he wants to (usually when getting his diaper changed or before getting in the bath....of course....)  

• still loves his bathtime and now sits up for the majority of the time. We also took him swimming a few days ago and he is definitely a fan. Except when he decides to put his own face in the water. Then he is NOT a fan.

comfortable, right?

• is a craaazy sleeper. moves EVERYWHERE. Also enjoys sticking his legs out between the slats, using them like a ladder to push himself around, and occasionally kicks his feet against the boards at either end. Which of course is awesome.  He does let me rock him before I lay him down now, hello heart melting daily! And it also makes me more likely to let him fall asleep in my arms because I know time is slipping away from us too quickly.

Out of focus face, but his hands!

Momma and Dadda:

• David has started studying for his test (which isn't until OCTOBER. yikes). Which means I should be working on a mini project every night with the time I have. Of course that hasn't happened yet. The dishes getting done (most nights) is my current accomplishment. 

• working on coming up with some summer plans. We toss around weekend options but then usually just end up relaxing which is just as good. We do want to do some berry picking now that blueberries are almost in season (!!)

• I've been binge-watching the world cup. (which coincides nicely with binge-watching Netflix when soccer isn't on... no wonder I get nothing done at night haha) I think I've only missed two games. It's pretty awesome and I will definitely have withdrawals when it's over. (*I also have issues when the Olympics are on.)    

• Most (UN)importantly --- I can now do the 2x2x2 rubik's cube. Add that to the 3x3x3 and the 4x4x4 from a little while ago. Definitely going to round out my resume someday.......

• my trial period on lightroom ran out and I'm still waiting on a good sale. Which never seems to come when you're waiting, right? If you see one, lemme know pretty please?

Bonus for making it this far! Family picture from a week ago! Our family apparently likes to tilt our heads all in the same direction.

(camera via phone....)

Noah @ 6 Months (!!)

*You can skip this post if you have no interest in the development of a 5-6 month baby. Because really, I'm the only person who is overly excited about these.  But hey, pictures!   :)

SIX months! How did that even happen?!

(Our appointment isn't until tomorrow, so I'll post stats when I get them...)

Oh baby. You are so loved! It makes me a little heartbroken to see how big you are getting. But also so happy because you have the CUTEST personality and are so active and love life.

NOAH:

- For a couple weeks, he would shriek/scream loudly to get our attention when he decided he was done doing something. Like sitting in his high chair when I try to make dinner. Or laying on his back. Now he makes the cutest ba/muh-muh sounds that lead up to the shrieks or whining. However, happy shrieks happen too.

-  When he is excited he will point his toes and hold his legs and arms out super straight with a huge smile on his face. Like planking face-up style, accompanied by happy shrieking. This always happens at bath time. He just loves it so much.

- Stares at people/things he doesn't know. Like stroller rides. They are pure silence for the longest time because he just loves to look. 

- Cut his first tooth! (5/23/2014) We had no idea it was coming in. And he is working on #2. But he doesn't seem to really notice.

- He really discovered his toes this month. And finally can put them in his mouth. (yay?) Last night he spent a lot of time putting them in his mouth before he finally went to sleep.

- Speaking of cribs, he rolls ALL over his. And not just when he is awake. Rolling happens multiple times every night. He really seems to like sleeping with his face smushed in the mattress. Which of course makes me nervous. But he is sleeping through the night (hallllllelujah). Wakes up early some days but I get a straight 6ish hours now. 

- His grabbing/chewing abilities have improved VASTLY. I'm doing mostly BLW (more on this later? maybe.) and he really seems to be loving it. Even just a couple weeks of it and he is way, way better. He loves broccoli and really liked his squash last night. 

- Figured out peekaboo (object permanence) with mommy/daddy. We aren't 100% sure he knows the game part but he definitely knows we are still there. 

- He is ALL boy. Loves to be roughhoused with --  tossed in the air/ tickled / being scared and the anticipation of all the above -- and hates to be cuddled or held close. 

- He notices details now. Like my hair (so fun. Hello, death grip) and likes to watch cars drive by out the window. It is so fun to watch his head swivel back and forth.

Mom (and Dad?):

- I love my sleep so sleeping through the night has been glorious. And napping when he does is nice too. 

- Went running on my own for the first time in..... A year? 15 months?.... And it showed. I felt like a dinosaur lumbering down the street while trying to get my body to remember what jogging (running sounds prettier, right? But let's be real here. It's like a mini step above a fast walk right now) feels like. 

- [TMI right here. You might want to skip this one.] I quit breastfeeding a month ago - but someone needs to tell my body that. Still get a little leaky occasionally. Someone tell me this goes away, please. He wasn't even eating from me very much before that.

- I have formula stains on lots (MOST) of my clothes from an unusually spitty phase Noah went through a couple weeks ago. (Not having a washer stinks big time).  I think I need a new wardrobe.....

- Feeling completely panicky that my little thanksgiving baby is already 6 months old. Lots of conflicted feelings over how much I love watching grow and learn and just wanting to put him in a protective little cocoon and never let anything happen to him. But life is about falling down and learning new tricks and growing and experiencing things. Mostly I just want to give him all sorts of experiences that teach him to be a kind, compassionate boy and to make the world a better place. He definitely makes MY life better. 

SIX MONTHS. Oh man.

NOAH @ 5 Months

Can you tell what Noah thinks about me taking pictures? 

15.5 lbs and 25 inches. And those are purely guesses because his weight on the scale keeps going up and down depending on what time of day we weigh him. And I swear he has grown way taller but every time I measure him it says 24.75 inches. Maybe my tape measure is shrinking.)

NOAH:

• decided to kick off his 5 month birthday by rolling back to front. And kept doing it for probably another 10 minutes - back to front front to back back to front - while I gleefully filmed and texted the video to David. And then wouldn't do it when David was watching in real time. Stinker. He also is at the sitting like a tripod phase but can't stay up on his own very long or when he gets excited. 

• his face totally lights up when you go get him out of his crib. After naps too. It is one of theeee best moments of the day. Those sleepy huge smiles. 

• loves loves loves loves (LOVES!!!) bath time. No matter how tired he is, take him in the bathroom and turn the water on and he gets positively giddy and will squeal. And when we take him in the shower, will stare at the stream of water and put his hand in it and even will lean forward and put his face in sometimes. (I'm still not sure if this is intentional or not. But it happens and I'm not stopping it.) We also "dunk" him under the shower (very!) briefly because we are *those* parents. 

•is really good about putting himself to sleep for naps/bed IF we do his routine properly and IF we catch his tiredness before it's too late. And every time he does it we oooh and aaah over how proud we are of him. 

•is fantastic in his stroller. It is a sad day for us when we can't go outside because he is so content in his stroller. He will just stare at the world around him. It is hard to get a reaction out of him until we go inside. 

•absolutely fascinated by our Rubik's cubes. Those are the toys he gets most excited about. We think he just loves the bold colors. He is getting really good at picking them up with both hands too

•will give me [the best slobbery drooly open mouth face sucking] kisses sometimes. He has to be in the right mood but I adore it. He's not cuddly at all so this gesture makes me so happy. He doesn't do this with David, but he does do things for him he won't do with me. 

He will squeal and talk when David kisses him and will laugh when he blows raspberries on his feet. 

MOM and DAD:

• we are la-la-loving this phase of life. It is so fun to see his minuscule developments every day. He is generally really good when we go anywhere but we have yet to attempt eating out or anything extremely long. 

• still working on having him drop that last feeding but we sleep great and would sleep even greater if we went to bed earlier. 

• I am loving the warm weather and getting so excited for summmmmmmer!! [pool, vacations, MAINE, maybe the beach?, sunlight!!] we've been going on walks to meet David's bus almost every day and it has been fantastic. April has been good to is, here's to hoping May is even better.

We just love this little guy so much!

Noah @ 4 months

Noah is at the BEST age right now.

14 lbs 1 oz, 24 3/4 inches long

NOAH:
▲  will gurgle and babble ALL day long - lately it is vowel sounds while rolling his tongue in his mouth. He kept doing it while we were out shopping today and I was laughing the whole time
▲  last week of sleeping was no bueno, but TODAY WAS MAGICAL. He's pretty good about sleeping through the night and I kind of had just given up on naps, but today I laid him down and he played and talked with his lovey  (a thin small burp cloth) and then closed his eyes. I was in heaven. My mommy heart hurts when he cries.
▲ had a fantastic appointment and everything looked great. And he cooed at the doctor the whole time she was trying to talk to me. So funny. He just wants to be a part of every conversation
▲ puts everything in his mouth. and sucks on my shirts every time I'm holding him. He is pretty good about holding all his toys and getting them up to his mouth.
▲  his hair is kind of starting to grow in and when it sticks up, it is the cutest peach fuzz

MOMMY (& Daddy):
▲ absolutely loving the fact he is sleeping well at night. When you are in the middle of the fuzziness and delirium that come with a newborn, everything starts to seem hopeless. And while sometimes it is too easy for me to find something to complain and say that being a mom is hard, not sleeping was definitely the one thing that killed me to give up. And now that he is pretty regular, life is THE BEST.
▲ Things are great. He has a sort-of schedule and that helps me to kind of plan on what I can accomplish each day. I love hanging out with my buddy all day and I miss him when he is asleep (even though I am glad for the break).
▲  I got my act together and started making dinner every night (instead of making David do it when he got home). Coincidence that this happened when he started sleeping regularly? DEFINITELY NOT.
▲  Trying to get back on the working out bandwagon. There isn't really much for great trails nearby or sidewalks that don't disappear here, so I'm debating getting a gym pass but they are SO pricey and it would be a 20 minute drive. (PLUS stinky weather. It snowed again today....) I almost can't remember what it feels like to run a mile. So if you ladies (and gents?) have any suggestions for an at-home workout, throw them this direction and maybe, just maaaaaaybe, I'll be ready for the pool and not just the hot weather that I miss so much.

3/17/2014

I'm kind of obsessed with our baby --

In case that wasn't obvious enough on Instagram. So if you have seen enough, you can skip this post. I won't be offended. :)

[This post could alternately be titled "Why It Is Worth It to Bully Your Husband to Buy a Nice Camera & Lenses."]

These are straight from my camera with no editing. (They could use a little bit, but I don't feel like it...) Just shows what good lighting and learning manual can do.

Having a cute baby helps too, I guess...