All About Noah...and Esther

ONE

2012-02-09T09:07:00.007-06:00

Esther turned one year old last Friday. I still can't believe how fast the time has gone by. It seems like yesterday that we were FLYING down the freeway trying to make it to the hospital, rushing inside, almost delivering in triage, and then three pushes later, out she came. Her life, much like her birth, has been a whirlwind. It has all happened so fast. Here's what she's up to...

- She LOVES to eat. Brian lovingly refers to her as the garbage disposal. She literally will eat ANYTHING. She already eats a wider variety of foods than Noah. And if you are eating something and not sharing with her, get ready for the screeching. She eats all table foods, no baby foods or formula. She is getting to the point where she doesn't want to be fed anything becasue she wants to do it herself (aka applesauce, yogurt and anything else that requires a spoon and is very messy). She eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a couple snacks in between. She does not like to go very long between eating sessions, and she will let you know when she is ready for more. In almost every other aspect of her life she is very laid back and not in any rush to accomplish new things, but when it comes to food... She is quite advanced. :)

- She is pulling up. She started doing that over Christmas. In the last few days, she has started letting go and standing on her own for a brief time. She can also walk, very slowly, behind our little push walker thing or with someone holding her hands. Slowly but surely she is getting there. I think she at least has a taste for walking and seems to want to do it.

- She takes two naps a day most days. Some days, she will scream or play through her morning nap, but most days she sleeps at least for a little bit. I am not ready to let go of the morning nap just yet. I just keep thinking about life in May and know it will come in handy then. She goes to bed at night around 7:30-8:00. Once she decides she is ready to go down, SHE IS READY. She does not want to play, she doesn't want to read books, she doesn't want to rock. She just wants you to put her in the bed and walk away. She has always been very good about going to sleep. She sleeps with her pacis. She likes to have one in her mouth and one in her hand. She seems way more attached to them at night than Noah was. Should be fun to take them away some day. :)

- She says a few words. I think she says Mama nad Dada, but it is never on command. She definitely says "Uh-Oh," "Go," and "Yea!" I think she says something that means banana also. We have been told that she also says 'ball,' ' hey,' and 'book,' but we have not witnessed these. Apparently she becomes much more talkative at my friend's house. I guess she figures we are stuck with her and there is no need to try to impress us. :) She also is very good at pointing to what she wants.

- She is very shy around people she doesn't know and large crowds, which is very different from her brother, but around us and those she is familiar with, she is pretty animated. It kind of makes you feel special when you see how quiet she is around others and know that if it were just you, she would be talking up a storm.

- She loves her family, but especially, her brother and her Daddy. She prefers me over others, but if Brian is around she does not want me at all. We were in a restaurant the other day and I was holding her. She saw him across the room and started fussing, pointing at him, and trying to get down. It is pretty sweet to watch her with Brian and see how excited she gets when he is around. Her other favorite person is Noah. They love each other so much and love to antagonize one another maybe even more. Esther seems all sweet and innocent, but the first thing she does when Noah wakes up, is go after his prized toy and act so proud of herself and victorious when he is screaming and crying that she is taking his stuff. It is a tiring but funny battle to watch.

- Her favorite toy right now is a purse that she got for her birthday that plays music and has a phone, mirror, bracelet, and credit card in it (starting her off early). She loves to pull all the pieces out and put them back in. Her favorite one is the phone and she loves to take the bracelet on and off too. She LOVES to dance. Anytime music is playing, she is dancing and when it stops, she will scream to let you know that she wants it back on.

She has been such a joy to have in the past year. She has always been sweet and kind of quiet, but in the last few weeks, we are really seeing her personality emerge which is so much fun. She makes us all laugh. So far, she is not nearly as strong willed as her brother, but she definitely has a mind of her own and is not afraid to let you know it if you are doing something she doesn't like. I love this stage where they are developing into their own person and can't wait to see what she will be like. We love you so much Esther and can't wait to get to know you even better!!!

Three Years Old

2012-02-02T10:11:00.009-06:00

Noah turned three on Monday. I can't believe it has already been three years since he was born. I can remember coming home from my doctor's appointment where she told us that she would like to induce me because my blood pressure was high and crying. Crying because I was afraid and didn't know if I was ready for the challenges of being a parent. I can remember loading in the car that night to go to the hospital. I remember family coming in that night and the next day. I remember the excitement of the next day and the anticipation of your arrival (I had a really good epidural so it was actually fun and exciting). I remember how long that day of labor was and being so tired of waiting at the end of the day. I remember you finally coming and how hard it was and then you were here. I remember the next hour being a blur as they took you out of the room to resucitate you because you weren't doing very well after your tight nuchal cord. I remember you coming back into my room with lines in, wide eyed, and looking like you were ready to eat. I held your hand and then they took you to the nursery. Your Daddy was really nervous and worried about you, but I knew you would be okay. I got moved to my other room and pretty much passed out from exhaustion, but your Dad went to check on you because he didn't want you to be alone and wanted you to know that we were here for you. It all seems like yesterday... and now you're three.

The last three years have been some of the best of our lives. They have not always been easy. You have definitely been a challenge along the way, especially in the last six months, but they have been very rewarding. Just when I am at the height of my frustration and don't think I can handle anymore, you will melt my heart by snuggling up to me and saying "Mommy I wuv you." One night recently, Daddy was at work, Esther had been screaming in her bed, and you kept getting up. I was tired because we had been working on potty training which is EXHAUSTING. I was at the end of my rope and just started crying. You got out of bed, once again, saw me crying, and said, "Mommy you are sad? My teetee in the potty will make you happy." I couldn't help but laugh through the tears. I love you so much Noah.

Here is what you are up to these days:

- As I said before, you are a challenge. You never want to do things because we suggest them and have to figure things out on your own. We keep telling ourselves that someday, your strong-willed, independent spirit is going to make you a great man and leader, but for now it can be very trying and difficult. It is hard to be patient and watch you struggle through things, but I am learning.

- You go to "school" one morning a week and you love it. Everytime we drop you off, you just march on in and never look back, but you are always super excitd to see us when we pick you up.

- Your vocabulary is pretty amazing and you can annunciate quite well. It always makes me laugh when you break out some new word that you have heard somewhere that makes you sound so big.

- You love your family. In the past, you were definitely a Daddy's boy. I feel like recently you enjoy your time with Mommy more, but as soon as Daddy gets home from work, Mommy is once again forgotten. I love watching you wrestle and play with your daddy. You also love your sister. Bringing Esther into the family was a hard adjustment for you, but you love her so much now and miss her when she is not there. It is still hard for you when she goes after your toys. You try to stop her by pulling on her legs, screaming at her, or just tackling her, but you are getting much better at sharing with her. Inspite of your quarreling, you are so protective of her. If ever anyone gets too close to her, you are always there to make sure she is okay. She is so blessed to have such a good big brother.

- You continue to be a picky eater. You love mac and cheese, yellow rice, spaghetti, most fruits, and most vegetables. You still refuse to eat anything potato, don't care for fried foods, or casseroles. It still makes cooking a challenge, but we are all healthier because of it I am sure.

- We are working on potty training now. You have pretty much got it down, but you still do not like to poop on the potty. Slowly but surely we are getting you warmed up to it. It, like most changes with you, has been a huge challenge.

- You love to play with trains, cars, and airplanes or playing soccer, teeball, or 'golfballs' outside. You love playing with all your dogs and bears that you sleep with. Every morning, you come into our room carrying 'Baby Doggie' (Your favorite), 'Mommy Doggie' (a plastic dog with a pull string), Wishbone (the bear we bought for you in Gatlinburg, your second favorite), and polar bear. You quickly deposit them and run back to get 'Daddy Doggie' and 'Brian Doggie'. You have such original names. :) Every night, we have to make sure they are all in your bed, along with your giant shark. There is barely enough room for you left in the tiny toddler bed you are still sleeping in.

- You still take a nap most days, but you can go without. You just start getting crazy and have to go down early that night.

- You love to help out in the kitchen. You always take out the silverware and it surprisingly always ends up in the correct spot... You are pretty meticulous like your mom. Anytime I am making anything, you are always there pulling a chair up to help. You like to help me switch the laundry over and you always take care of Rudy, making sure he has plenty of food and treats. You try to help out with Esther too and as much as it is not normally helpful, it is very sweet.

We love you! Happy Birthday!

Potty Training Day One... A Battle of the WIlls

2011-12-02T15:38:00.010-06:00

Today began day one of potty training at the Hughes house and it may be the final day for a while. We'll see.

Noah: "Mommy I'm too sick to potty."

Me: "You're too sick?"

Noah: "Yes Mommy. I'm so very very sick. I can't go potty now."

9 Months

2011-12-02T15:01:00.009-06:00

Time is flying by. Esther's life so far has been a blur.

- She crawls. She started crawling the day she turned 9 months. In typical Esther fashion of being content with her current circumstances, it took her a while to realize that she could use it as a means to get around, not just get the toy that is two feet from her. Now at 10 months tomorrow, she is much more mobile.

- She takes two naps and usually goes down around 7-7:30 at night. She requires much more sleep than her brother ever did. I feel like at this point, we were pretty confident that Noah would sleep through the night, but that is definitely not the case with Esther. One, she is a very light sleeper and any tiny little noise will wake her. Two, anything that happens to her seems to affect her sleep. She gets sick, she won't sleep. She's teething, she won't sleep. Her world is altered in any sort of way, she won't sleep. I realize that this is the case with most babies, but it just seems to be extreme with her. I literally cannot remember the last time we slept all night without being disturbed. I am pretty certain it was before she was born.

- She likes to talk a lot and is quite loud about it at times. It definitely makes it difficult to keep Noah from yelling in the house. He doesn't always understand that it is okay for her to be loud, but not him because he is a big boy and knows better. :)

- She takes four bottles a day, but I am pretty confident that if we never gave her a bottle again, she would be just fine with that. I remember being nervous about weaning Noah off the bottle, but I am kind of excited about weaning her. Bottles are a struggle.

- She eats food three times a day. Usually yogurt for breakfast and maybe a little oatmeal or something like that, baby food for lunch/dinner. She loves Cheerios, but other solid/table foods are not her favorite. She just kind of holds them in her mouth and then starts choking on them later... aka, I fed her tiny pieces of banana for breakfast one morning. Probably close to an hour later, I was changing her diaper and she started gagging. When I looked, she had a wad of banana plastered to the roof of her mouth. Silly girl, just swallow!

- She is so happy pretty much all the time.

Although we are very tired these days, life with Esther is good and I can't imagine it without her anymore. It is definitely more trying, not necessarily from her because like I said she is always so good and so happy, but more from the interaction of her and Noah. It has mainly become that way since she started crawling. I don't know how many times a day I have to get on to Noah for taking things from her, not sharing, yelling at her, hitting her,laying on top of her... The list goes on and on. Hopefully sometime in the near future, he will just accept the fact that she can move now and choose to be excited about that and play with her instead of constantly fighting her. Wishful thinking I know. Anyway, back to Esther, we are so thankful that God has blessed us with such a sweet baby girl and look forward to each day with her.

Hand Foot and Mouth and Baby Doggie

2011-09-22T11:01:00.006-05:00

Our kids look leprous. They have Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. We had some friends over for dinner a couple of weeks ago. THat night their daughter got sick. Three days later, Esther did. Then three more days later, Noah did. Our kids were kind enough to pass it along to some other friends' kids and there parents. So now almost every baby and toddler at church has had it. THey really did pretty well. They each had a couple rough days and nights and then they were fine... Minus the blisters and sores ALL OVER their faces, hands, and feet. So for the last week, they have felt fine, but we couldn't really do much because we didn't want to pass our cooties on to even more innocent children. Noah feeling well + being cooped up in the house = Noah going crazy = Mom going crazy. :) Thankfully their leprosy is almost gone now and we will be able to venture out.

Baby Doggie... Noah has never really been attached to a stuffed animal. I have given him stuff to sleep with, but he has never really cared. He has always preferred to sleep with cars and aiplanes (very cozy I know). Well a couple of weeks ago, I left his stuffed dog and pillow at my friend's house who keeps them on Mondays. No big deal. He doesn't really care about the dog anyway, right? WRONG. Ever since that day, he will not go anywhere without the dog, lovingly referred to as Baby Doggie. Baby Doggie is a girl, which I think bothers Brian a bit, but I figure the only baby he is around that much is a girl so it makes sense. We'll see if it is just a phase or if his love for Baby Doggie sticks. :)

Mother's Day Out

2011-09-15T22:34:00.003-05:00

Noah started going to Mother's Day Out one morning a week this semester. The picture above was him on our way to school. Not too excited. That morning I told him it was time to go to school and he looked at me and said in the most pathetic voice, "I not want to go to school. I want to stay here and clean the floor." One, I'm not sure what he is talking about. No I do not make my 2 year old scrub the floor. Two, as tempting as that sounded, we had alreadu paid a deposit. Cheapness won out and we loaded up and headed to school. He greadually got excited on the way there... Until it was time for the drop off. He ran inside so excited and then flipped when it came time to go in his classroom. He flopped on the ground and started screaming. They had to scoop him off the floor, drag him in, and then promptly told me to leave. Thus not a lot of pictures. :( When I picked him up that afternoon, he was pretty happy and they said he was great. The next week was a completely different story. Still not too excited on the way, but once we got there he was ready. He walked right into his classroom and said, "Mommy you leave. You not come in here." I told him I had to come in to bring his stuff in and he responded again with, "No, you leave." 2 years old and already too big for his Mom. Today was the fourth time he went to MDO. Last night he was so excited about going. What a blessing that his independence won out over his rigidity and resistance to change.

Half a Year- My how time flies!

2011-08-10T20:52:00.014-05:00

Our baby girl is 6 months. The other day, I was looking back at old posts of Noah and it was so fun. And so good to remember that it wasn't all kicks and giggles. I felt really bad that all I have to show for our little girl is one entry... Her birth. So I am going to try to be better so that one day we can look back on her life too. She is such a joy to have as a child. When people see her, they always ask, "Is she always this good?" Now people would ask this question about Noah as well, and the answer would be "Not especially" or "Come to our house around naptime." With Esther, we can honestly say, "Yes, she is" or maybe "Even better." She truly is the best baby ever. She has made the transition from one to two much easier than I expected. Here is what she is up to:

- She sleeps all night. She usually goes down between 7 and 8 and sleeps until around 7 the next morning. We thought we were going to have to give her some tough love and cut out her night feed, but she did it herself. Yea! She takes two naps a day now. She probably should still take three a day, but she just refuses. She gets pretty tired in the early evening, but thankfully just when she is at her fussiest, Daddy comes home and puts the wind in her sails.

- She loves her exersacuer and her jumperoo. I keep trying to figure out which one she likes more so that I can put one up. They take up so much space! No luck yet. She seems to love them both equally.

- She can sit quite well. She has never been the most active of babies so sitting is right up her ally.

- She can roll over both ways now. She rolled from back to front for the first time at 7 months (Yes, she is 7 1/2 months old now).

- She still eats like a champ. She drinks four bottles a day (5-6oz) and eats solids 3 times a day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). She has slowed down some on the bottles since starting solids. She is a little slower in taking them. I think she just gets bored with them... And very distracted!

- Speaking of distractions, she LOVES watching Noah and would much rather follow his every move around the room than drink a bottle. She laughs at everything he says and does... which is just what he needs, more encouragement. :) She is definitely his Ed McMahon.

- Her other favorite person: Brian. As I mentioned before she gets so excited when he comes home from work. We all get excited. It is pretty much the best part of our day.

- She laughs and smiles all the time. And she is quite the flirt.

Stats:

Weight: 7.98kg (17lb 8.9oz, 75-90%)

Length: 64.9cm (50%)

Head: 41.3cm (25%)

Four Months!

2011-06-08T15:46:00.016-05:00

I thought I was a bad blogger before, but an extra kid has definitely slowed my already lacking writing skills. Esther is now four months old. I can't believe it!! The days just seemed to crawl by when Noah was this little, but they are all a blur now.

- She can roll over!!! She did it for the first time on Saturday, just one day after turning four months... Right on schedule I guess. I, of course, was not in the room to see the first time. It is a big joke in our family how I (the one who takes care of our children almost 24/7) have not been present for any of our kids' major milestones. Esther did not disappoint and kept the tradition alive. I was mopping the kitchen floor. Brian laid her down on the living room floor and tadah! she immediately rolled over. There is always rolling the other way...

- She laughs. It is so sweet to hear. She does it the most for Noah. She loves him so much. I pray that she always adores him and that he always takes care of her like now. They are so sweet to watch.

- She can sit in the Bumbo pretty well, much better than Noah could at this point.

- She LOVES to sleep in her bed... You won't find any blog posts about that with Noah. She is such a good sleeper. Right at 8:00 every night, she is ready to go down. She still wakes up around 4:00 to feed, but then is back down until around 8:00 am. The best part, is her napping. She takes about an hour long nap in the morning (sometimes longer) and about two hours later is ready to go back down for another 2-3 hours. Then she takes a little catnap in the evening. What a blessing to have such a great sleeper!

Stats

Weight: 6.45 kg (14lb 3oz) (50%)

Length: 62.6cm (50%)

Head Circumference: 40.3cm (25%)

I am a little skeptical of the head circumference because it looks rather large and round to me (and everyone else who has seen her), but I guess I can't argue with the tape measure.

Picture taken by Noah. He is becoming quite the photographer. :)

2 Months Already

2011-04-07T15:03:00.012-05:00

I can't believe it has been two months!!! She is getting so big!

-She is a good sleeper. We put her down around 8:30 (her choice) and she sleeps until 4:00 when she wakes up for a quick feed and then goes back to sleep until about 8:00-8:30 in the morning. She also is taking two naps in her bed a day (morning and afternoon) and then catnaps in her bouncy seat in the evening.

- She smiles quite a bit now.

- She is on all bottles and formula. Sadly my body has failed yet another child. My supply started dropping when she was two weeks old. I pumped until she was six weeks old, but also had to supplement her with formula in that time. I learned with Noah, that it is best for the sanity of the whole household if I am not pumping all the time. Plus, I am pretty sure Noah would not have been too patient waiting for me to pump all the time.

- She is working on sitting in the Bumbo...

- Here are her 2 month stats:

Weight: 4.8kg (10lb 9oz, 50%)

Length: 56.1cm (50%)

Head: 37.2cm (10-25%)

So sad... :(

Both kids lying on their respective quilts made by Gram.

The Best of TImes, The Worst of Times...

2011-02-04T07:22:00.011-06:00

My how time flies. I can't believe that Noah is two... until he goes limp and throws himself on the floor screaming because we told him not to run away. :) Other than that, it is hard to believe. Two is an interesting age, and I hear it only becomes more so. One minute, he is the cutest thing ever and I LOVE spending time with him. The next he is driving me crazy and I am on the verge of giving him away (not really, maybe). He definitely keeps us on our toes and makes us laugh.

- He talks ALL THE TIME. When he was 18 months, a friend of mine asked if she and the other developmental pediatrician fellows could practice doing testing on him. He did great on the problem solving part, but when it came to the speech part, he was finished. He wanted nothing to do with any of it and therefore would not perform. The attending was convinced that his speech was delayed (my friend knew he was fine) and was giving me tips on how to help him. Oh if she could see/hear him now. He never stops talking. And he repeats EVERYTHING. We have realized the phrases that we say frequently by listening to him. It is really quite hilarious to hear a two-year-old say, "Hmm, let's see here."

- He LOVES to be outside and cries everytime you come in regardless of how long you have been out. At the playground we go to, he loves to go down the "big slide." He always says he wants to go down the tunnel slide, but when you try to get him to actually go down it, he says "No, no tunnel."

- He LOVES animals of any shape, form, or fashion and he is not afraid of any of them. We have a turtle that lives in our flower bed. He loves to go pick him up and move him around the yard. Brian and I were a little more skiddish about picking up the turtle, but fearless Noah has no problem with it.

- Speaking of being fearless, he has actually started talking about how things scare him. We had our fireplace converted from gas to wood-burning. While the men were here with all the loud equipment, he said to me "I'm scared of those guys." Prior to that, I had never heard him speak of fear and don't know that he even knew what it was. Crazy how you learn to be fearful.

- He is a very picky eater... still. He loves mac and cheese, spaghetti, and "Yellow rice rice baby" (got that from his Dad). He will eat some vegetables and most fruits. He does not like foods to be mixed which unfortunately rules out most casseroles... Thanks for making my life easy Noah. :)

- He is still a good sleeper. He is in his toddler bed now and loves it. He rarely gets up, but I think part of that is that he still gets his pacis in bed. We are rather fearful of how his sleeping habits may change once the pacis are taken away. For now, he sleeps about 11 hours at night (8-7ish) and takes about a 2 hour nap. He will come into our room sometimes before seven, but is pretty good about going back to his room if it is too early.

- His favorite things to sleep with are a few stuffed animals (dog, big dog, polar bear and cookie monster), but most importantly, "big bus" and a flashlight. And of course his pacis...

- His favorite things to play with right now are balls, cars, trucks, sticks, trains, drums, blocks, and his Little People barn and animals. You think he is a boy?

- He is definitely a ham. He loves being the center of attention of a big group. Not sure where that came from... certainly not his mother.

Brian and I pray for patience daily. I feel like some days (a lot days), Noah spends more time in 'time out' than out. But it is that spirit that makes him so much fun too. We love him more than I ever would have imagined possible and thank God for him constantly (in between patience prayers:) ). I sadly did not take any pictures of him at his two year doctor's visit, but here are his stats:

Weight: 31lbs 7.4oz (14.3kg, 75-90%)

Height: 92.5cm (3ft, 90%)

HC: 50.5cm (75-90%)

Esther Claire Hughes makes her Grand Entrance

2011-02-04T07:21:00.007-06:00

Thursday, February 3, 2011. I go to the doctor for an appointment hoping he will check me and say, "Wow, you're 6 cm. We better get you to the hospital." Sadly that was not the case. I was 3cm, the same as I was the week before... Are you serious?!?! No change??? Not to worry. My doctor stripped my membranes (again) and got rid of all my plug and said, "I would be surprised if you didn't go into labor in the next 72 hours. " We left the clinic and as we were getting onto the elevator at 4:18, I had my first contraction. They kept coming fairly regularly, but were not that strong and 10 minutes apart. We ran some errands and then came home to make some dinner (tacos). While making dinner, the contractions all of a sudden started coming more frequently (4-6 minutes) and stronger so we decided to head to the hospital. By the time we pulled into the parking deck at 7:20, the contractions were every 1-2 minutes and VERY strong.

We made it to L&D and got put in triage where the tech didn't seem to think that a contraction every minute with me screaming and writhing in bed was anything to take seriously. Thankfully one of friends from residency was on call for Neonatology. She took one look at me and ran to get my doctor who just happened to be on call that night. He checked me and I was 8 cm. He tried to hurry everything along... Told them to get me in a room and call Anesthesia for my epidural (Yeah right). The resident came into do an ultrasound to get a weight estimate and got an earful from me... Something about how I didn't care how much the baby weighed. And that she was coming out regardless. Ten minutes after my doctor had checked me, I started feeling lots of pressure. The tech, still not impressed, told the nurse, "She SAYS she's feeling pressure." The nurse rechecks me and responds with, "That's because she is complete." Still in triage at this point.

They rushed me across the hall to the nearest room where I can hear my doctor say,"If we don't get her on the bed now, we are going to have to deliver this baby on the gurney." Awesome. I crawl onto the bed, which turns out to be broken. They can't get it to break down. They wheel the cart in and everything starts falling off of it. My doctor lifts up the sheet on me to check me and lo and behold there is the head... He throws on a pair of gloves (no time for anything else), sits down on the end of my bed and says ever so calmly, "Julia if you feel like you need to push, go ahead." Two pushes, my water breaks. Three pushes, out she comes sans epidural, IV, and monitor at 8:05.

We were in a state of shock. We have another baby?!?! Just 45 minutes ago we were driving to the hospital. An hour ago, we were sitting down to eat tacos. What just happened??? We called our parents to tell them the news and they did not believe us until they heard her crying. She did great, APGARS 9 and 9. She weighed 7lb, 4 oz and was 20 inches long.

The next morning my Mom came over, there was snow and ice and she was worried about driving in the dark, and some friends brought Noah up to the hospital. He was so excited to meet his baby sister.

He wanted to hold her the whole time... and did not want anyone else, other than Brian and I, to have a turn.

Our new family of four...

It was a crazy whirlwind delivery. Probably not how I would have chosen to do it, but it ended up being good. It was painful, but then it was over before we really knew what was going on. Hopefully, if there is a number three, we can get to the hospital with a little more time, and hopefully... The rest of her life will not be quite as dramatic as her beginning. :)

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and 2011

2011-01-10T13:53:00.014-06:00

I realize I am not the best of bloggers... Okay, I am terrible. I know that Thanksgiving and Christmas have long since come and gone, but I figured I should write about them so that thirty years from now we will have a record of our child's second Christmas, but the first where he really did anything. So here goes my brief recap of the end of 2010 and the start of 2011...

Thanksgiving

Sadly, I don't have a whole lot of pictures, but we got a few. We spent Thanksgiving at Brian's parents' house. It was the first time since Noah has been old enough to really interact and play with others that he was around his cousins for an extended period of time. It was a bit of adjustment for him, but overall they got along great.

He pretty much wanted to stay outside the entire time. They loved jumping and diving in the leaves.

This picture is slightly disturbing to me, but oh well. They're little right? :) I think Rose was definitely the agressor on that one. :)

Playing in the leaves again...

MawMaw, Mimi, Robert, Aunt LaRhesa and Noah watching TV.

Solomon, Noah, and Rose "eating dinner" while Mimi and Rudy look on.

We had a great time!

Christmas

This year we spent Christmas with my family at my brother and sister-in-law's new house. We had so much fun! I don't think Noah understood all of what was going on, but he definitely understood getting presents and had fun playing with his cousins. Here are some pictures...

Making cookies for Santa

Eating Santa's cookies

Making pizzas on Christmas Eve.

Brian the master pizza dough thrower. :)

There was an Elmo ornament on the tree that played music. Noah would stare at it and play the music over and over again.

Posing with the stockings and Santa's cookies. Noah is not very happy and Nora and Elyn are very concerned about that.

Noah still upset, but the girls have moved on.

Santa came!

I think he likes it... Except for the Pillow Pet. He made it clear by throwing it down the stairs that he did not want it any where near his bed.

Not the best of pictures, but here is documentation that I was pregnant. Esther Claire to be joining us soon...

One of Noah's favorite gifts... A Charlie Brown ("Charles Bown") shirt. He has wanted to watch Charlie Brown Christmas every day since we showed it to him.

We went outside to play, but didn't stay long because it was so cold. Even Noah did not want to be out.

A couple days later, we all needed to get out so we loaded up and headed to Chuck E. Cheese. Right as we walked in, Chuck himself was there leading a group of kids in some songs. Noah was so excited and joined in. After he finished they threw a bunch of tickets up in the air for the kids to get. Noah quickly joined in and then took his tickets back to Chuck E. Cheese. When Chuck wouldn't take them back, he threw them in the trash can. He didn't quite understand that the tickets were a prize, not trash. He is tidy. :)

We had a great time. It was so good to be with family and so much fun watching Noah get so excited about everything.

"Boobies"

2010-11-19T15:26:00.004-06:00

Noah's favorite food by far is blueberries. He LOVES them. He wants to eat them all the time. If you ask him what he wants to eat, nine times out of ten he will say blueberries. Or at least he tries... It actually comes out "boobies." It is pretty funny. Unfortunately, since he loves them so much he talks about them quite a bit. In the store. In restaurants. At church. Pretty much if you have been around him at all lately, you have probably heard him talking about "boobies." As I said, it is pretty funny, but can also be slightly embarrassing when walking through the grocery store with your kid yelling "boobies" at the top of his lungs. Or at our small group Bible study, having him give a shout out to "boobies" during the middle of the prayer. I tried to get a video

to capture the memory. It is not the easiest to hear, but hopefully it will be good enough for posterity sake.

His Daddy's Child

2010-11-19T15:07:00.005-06:00

Several weekends ago, we took Noah to Krispy Kreme for the first time. Noah immediately loved it. He loved watching the donuts being made and especially loved eating them.

If you know Brian, you know that he also loves Krispy Kreme. He may be the only person over the age of 10 who wears the hat the ENTIRE time he is in the store.

We went back to Krispy Kreme weekend before last. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, Noah started saying "donuts." We didn't realize he knew that word. We ate our donuts and were getting ready to leave when a lady who worked there came up to us and asked if Noah would like to come in the back and make a donut. I don't know that Noah particularly cared, but Brian was all for it. She tried to get Noah put on a glove and do it, but that definitely wasn't happening so they ended up just watching.

Dipping the donut in chocolate...

Putting sprinkles on it (I think). Noah did end up doing this part.

Intently watching the process.

Posing with the lady from Krispy Kreme and the donut they made.

It was a fun trip, and one that Brian will never forget I am sure. :)

New Love Replaced...

2010-11-19T14:42:00.009-06:00

Last April, I posted on "Noah's new love"... a pair of blue sandals with fish on them. Well they have definitely been replaced now. He likes all shoes, but is particularly fond of one pair.

That's right, a pair of my slip on red flats. As you can see, they can be worn with pajamas ...

Or everyday wear...

Or sometimes just your underwear...

He will disappear into our closet and emerge from our room wearing them saying, "Mommy's shoes." It is pretty funny.

I am sure that one day, he will be embarassed by this post, but adolescence and adulthood would just not be the same without a few embarrasing pictures to bring you down a notch.

Halloween and Booka Face

2010-11-11T23:09:00.016-06:00

I have been meaning to post for some time now, but just never got around to it. I knew it had been a while, but did not realize until just now that it has been over a month since my last post. Well, here goes nothing.

Booka Face

Since Noah could say pretty much anything, one of his favorite things to say has been the word "booka." We have no idea what 'booka" originally meant, but around Halloween, "booka" became synonymous with pumpkin. A couple nights before Halloween, we bought a pumpkin to carve. Noah was SOOOO excited. He loved the "booka."

Here he is kissing his "booka"

When it came time to carve, he wasn't quite as excited. He wasn't to keen on the slimy part.

He did pitch in and do a little scraping...

But mostly he just wanted to watch me carve and try to grab the knife. It made for some very fast carving. I would like to put a disclaimer on the shots of my belly... I am pregnant and Brian didn't warn me what they looked like while he was taking them. There is really just no way to make a semi-pregnant belly look good when you are hunched over on the floor. Oh well.

Once the pumpkin was carved, it became known as "booka face."

He was so excited about it...

Kissing the "booka face"... Only slightly dangerous with a lit candle in it. :)

Every night until that poor pumpkin was completely rotted, we would go outside and light it and he would scream "booka face" at the top of his lungs and run around. It was so much fun to watch.

The next day showing off his "booka face" with his "face shirt" on.

Halloween

One of Noah's favorite things to do in the last month has been to put a blanket on his head and blindly walk around the house saying "Hi."

Brian and I thought he would make a perfect ghost for Halloween. We bought some white fabric from Walmart and I cut some eyeholes in it. As we were buying the material in Walmart, he was already putting it on his head saying "Hi." We just knew that it was going to be great. The weekend of Halloween, Brian was on call and worked pretty much the entire weekend. After a while of just me, Noah started getting pretty cranky and I started going crazy (pregnancy hormones were not helping). By the time Sunday night rolled around, we had both had enough. Noah refused to wear his costume and I resorted to tears. I gave up on the ghost and decided to go with Handy Manny putting him some jeans and a green tshirt. After all, he LOVES Handy Manny. I then tried to put a hat and tool belt on him, but that did not go over well. There was lots of screaming and many tears shed. Finally we loaded up in the car with him wearing jeans and a tshirt and headed to our church's Trunk-R-Treat. He was the only kid not dressed up, but I didn't care. I was just glad to be around other adults instead of at home by myself with a screaming toddler. Here he is with his friend Liam who's Mom managed to get him into an adorable Frankenstein costume. Way to go Crystal!

At least he got happier...

The closest he came to wearing an actual costume.

I guess there is always next year...

Mr. Independent

2010-09-09T22:53:00.001-05:00

Independence... Something Noah really wants these days. I feel like in everything he does, he is trying to prove how big he is. A few examples...

-- When we go on walks, he ALWAYS has to hold Rudy's leash and he does NOT want anyone else to help him. Hands off the leash.

-- He refused to eat in his high chair anymore. He only wanted to be at the table eating off a plate, not the tray.

-- He wants to brush his teeth himself. This has always been an issue, but seems more so now. We bought a stool for the bathroom sink and he thinks he can do it all now that he can climb up to the sink himself.

-- He doesn't like sippy cups anymore. Although he still uses them, sometimes it is a battle. He just wants a big cup because that is what Mommy and Daddy use.

-- At the store, he does not want to ride in the cart. He wants to push the cart and bring me various things off the shelf that he thinks we might need.

-- He does not like to hold your hand and will run away if not watched carefully.

-- A couple weekends ago, we had corn on the cob for dinner. I raked all the corn off the cob for him. He was eating it like a champ, until he noticed that we were eating it off the cob. He would not eat another bite unless it was on the cob. Once he cleaned up the cob, he tried to put his corn back on the cob and eat it.

-- He does not like to have his sncks chosen for him. He likes to go to the pantry or refrigerator and pick out what he wants. He does not always get his way, but he tries. He also wants to get his cup of milk out of the refrigerator himself. He climbs onto the ledge and reaches to the top shelf, pulls it down, and then closes the door.

On the one hand, it is exciting that he can do so many new things and that he is his own person. On the other hand, it can be very frustrating because he is still small and can't do everything on his own but gets so upset when you try to help him. I am learning to be patient and let him try to do things on his own even though it would be way more efficient and much cleaner if I did them myself. Much like Noah, I have a long way to go, but I'll get there one of these days.

Hard at Work

2010-09-09T21:54:00.005-05:00

I was just looking back at some pictures from a few weeks ago and saw this. It made me laugh. One day Noah brought me a toilet paper roll while I was in the kitchen cooking.

When I turned around I saw a trail of toilet paper back to the bathroom which is all the way across the house. He was so proud of himself. And, Yes, I rolled it back up and we used it.

The Latest Trick

2010-08-30T16:25:00.004-05:00

Noah has always loved the water. Swimming, bathtime, the sprinkler, the toilet, Rudy's water bowl... You name it, he will play in it. His latest water accomplishment is floating on his back. Obviously in the bathtub, he is lying on the bottom of the tub, but he does it in the pool as well, with Floaties of course. He will arch his neck all the way back until his head is completely underwater. Then he will come back up and just laugh. He thinks it's great. And I almost forgot, last week he jumped off the diving board for the first time. Like I said, he loves all things water.

18 month stats

2010-08-24T14:33:00.008-05:00

We finally went to the doctor today for Noah's 18 month check-up. Here are the stats:

Weight: 29lbs (80%)

Height: 2ft 9.3in (75%)

Head: 49cm (75%)

He did okay. This was the first time he has ever experienced any stranger anxiety with the doctor, but I guess an 18 month streak of complete cooperation is pretty good. He got one shot which he of course cried for, but quickly bounced back with some Handy Manny stickers and a trip outside. Last check-up until TWO! He is getting so old!

Pizza, pizza

2010-08-20T11:49:00.002-05:00

Noah has never been a fan of pizza. He has never really liked it (Not totally convinced that he is mine) and has definitely never said the word. The other day, I wasn't feeling well and didn't feel like making dinner so I asked Brian if he would pick up a pizza on the way home.

As soon as Brian stepped out of the car with the box in hand, Noah started exclaiming "Pizza, pizza!" We sat down at the table to eat, and he put away almost two whole pieces. I'm not sure where this child came from, but I think there is more of a chance of him being ours now. By the way, if you have not had a Hot-N-Ready from Little Caeasars before, you are missing out. So good, so easy, and so cheap. Yummy!

18 Months

2010-08-10T14:57:00.010-05:00

A year and a half. Really?!?! Wow. I am a little slow in getting this up, but he hasn't changed too much in the last week and a half. :) Here's what he can do...

- He has added several words to his vocabulary. He can say Mommy, Daddy, Rudy, doggie, bird, ball, Bible, car, moon, choo-choo (for train), Uh-oh, poo-poo, tee-tee, something that means milk but does not sound like it at all, cheese (both the food and smile at the camera variety), bye-bye (he gets very excited and into it), hi (which he likes to say over and over), keys, shoes, hop, helicopter (pronounced ha-cop), and cheetah (I know, random).

- He knows several body parts... belly button (his first to learn), eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, head, hair, feet, toes, hands, fingers, and I think arm. We are working on knees.

- He loves to make animal sounds. He can do dog, cow, horse, elephant, monkey, owl, snake, sheep, bird, chicken (sort of), and lion. I think he is starting to do cat now too, but it doesn't really sound like a cat.

- He is still not much of a climber. He loves to be on the couch/bed, but never tries to get on them himself.

- He is somewhat of a picky eater. He eats A LOT of the foods he likes, but doesn't like to branch out to much. He loves cheese, cheese quesadillas, mac n cheese (are you seeing a trend?), spaghetti, most fruit, and is pretty good with vegetables now, at least with green beans, peas and lima beans. He is not a big fan of meat and he doesn't always like sweets. Sometimes he eats them, sometimes he doesn't. Weird. He is a very suspicious eater. He won't try new things if we just give them to him. We have to leave them on his plate on the fork for him to examine and study before trying them. You would think we were trying to poison him with the way he carries on when we are trying to get him to try new foods. His two favorite foods right now would probably be mac n cheese (which he can eat an entire box in one setting if given the opportunity) and amazingly enough, lima beans. He can put away some lima beans! This picture makes me laugh because there used to be peas and carrots on his tray. He ate every single pea and left every single carrot.

- He is still a good sleeper. He usually goes to bed around 8:30 and wakes up about 7:30ish. He just recently transitioned to one nap a day and it is usually 2.5-3 hours. Fantastic!

- He has been getting his molars in now for about a month. They have come one at a time, just drawing out the agony and crankiness. I barely knew when he was getting his other teeth, but the molars have been a different story. Awful!

- He has started becoming a little awnry at times. He likes to scream, an act that we are trying to discourage, so if you see us and he is screaming, please don't laugh. I know it is funny, but please don't egg him on. He doesn't need any encouragement. He also likes to hit when he doesn't get his way, another act we are trying to discourage.

- He still bites some, but not as much as before. Still only Brian and I and only when he is wrestling with Brian or really tired.

- He absolutely LOVES Rudy. They are pretty much best friends. They play together, wrestle together, sometimes eat together when Noah sneaks into the kitchen to get a handful of Rudy's food. Noah loves to get a goldfish in his hand, show it to Rudy, and then run away as fast as he can holding it out taunting Rudy and laughing hysterically the whole time. His other favorite thing to do is walk Rudy. When we go for walks, he always has to be holding the leash. Sometimes if Noah is driving us crazy, we make Rudy "take one for the team," leash him up and let Noah walk him around the house. Sometimes I worry that Noah is driving Rudy crazy, but Rudy seems to enjoy the playmate and is very protective of him when strangers are around.

- He loves the show Handy Manny. He has the toolbox and tools and he carries them around with him all the time. Everytime the tools sing on the show, he starts dancing. His other favorite toy would definitely be his trains. He plays with his train table almost all day long. I can't figure out why kids like trains so much. It's not like they see them a whole lot in real life. It is a mystery to me. He always tries to put the cars on the train track. They fit, but they don't have magnets to hold them to the other cars and he gets really frustrated when they get left behind. He still loves to play with all his Little People animals from Noah's ark and the barn. He knows the names of all the animals. He can't say them, but if you ask him for a particular animal, he usually gets it right and brings it to you.

- He loves music and loves to dance.

- He loves to give kisses. They are open mouthed, slobbery kisses. When he does, there is always the fear that he is going to bite down as hard as he can on your cheek. He rarely does though. :)

- He loves to read. He will go back into his room by himself and just read books. His favorite books right now are "Before I Go to Sleep," which he got from my mom and "My Very Own Name" from Aunt Beth.

We love you Noah and have so much fun with you! I am so grateful that God has given us the chance to be your parents. Although everyday is not always fun and easy, we treasure every moment we have with you. Thank you for being our son.

After I wrote this, I realized that all the pictures were in his high chair. I don't think it is because we spend that much time eating, although he is no lightweight. I think it is becaue that is the only time I can get him still long enough to take a picture. One of these days I will actually take him to the doctor for his check-up and get some stats on height and weight, but we have just been so busy lately.

Wow.

2010-08-10T13:36:00.011-05:00

I never knew a haircut could be so traumatic, but apparently it is. I decided today that I was tired of hearing Brian say that Noah had a mullet and a rattail and started calling haircut places to find out how much they were and if they cut 18 month old hair. First I called the kid place, "Pigtails and Crewcuts." I thought it was a little expensive so I kept calling... Sports Clips was three dollars cheaper and told me that since it was his first haircut he could get the MVP package for the price of a haircut. Hmmm, "What is in the MVP package?" I asked. The response was, "we give him a hot towel to put on his face"... Yeah that will go over well. No thank you. Next was Wal-Mart. It was six dollars cheaper, but I had my reservations. The last place I called, the girl told me that they would start over his ears because that is usually the spot that irritates them the most. If he freaked out, then they would just stop because their "scissors can cut to the bone" and they would "hate to cut his ear off." Yeah me too. I talked to my sister-in-law who said that it was worth the extra six dollars to take him to the kid place so we loaded up and headed there. He was so excited when we got there because they had a train table to play with. In hindsight, perhaps we should have waited to let him play with it so we wouldn't have to rip him away from the train to get his hair cut.

Mesmerized by the train.

Cheese!!! So happy, for now...

Miss Lisa came along for the adventure and thankfully so. She became the official photographer and bubble blower. I don't think she knew what she was getting into.

The happiest face we got, in the first 30 seconds before he realized what was going on.

Things started going South after that...

This picture cracks me up because I am so over the top excited and happy and he just isn't.

Resorts to trying to dive out of the chair. I think he is trying to spit out some hair that he got in his mouth.

The next three are definitely my favorite. Bless sweet sweet Shelly who stuck with him through this and kept cutting away, unphased by the screams and attempts to break free. By the way, my child was the only one in the store that was screaming. I just don't get how everyone else has such perfectly calm collected children. What am I doing wrong?

My sister-in-law had told me previously that they had TV screens for the kids to watch at the place she goes. Afterward I told her that they didn't have them at this place, but from the previous two pictures, it appears as though they did. I guess maybe he wasn't quite bad enough to pull out all the stops. :) We only got suckers and bubbles which, as you can see, were not completely effective.

Things got a little better once the cutting stopped, but were much improved once he was out of the chair and had some Cheerios and water. Still not happy though.

After the haricut, we went to Panera where Noah was treated to his all time favorite, Mac n Cheese and he was allowed to eat it however he wanted, aka with his hands.

After lunch we headed home for a nap. He was asleep before we pulled out of the parking lot. I guess 20 minutes of crying, screaming, and flailing your body around uncontrollably will tire you out. Sweet sweet Shelly told me to give them a couple of tries before I gave up and went somewhere else. Don't worry Shelly, we will definitely not be going anywhere else, for the sake of embarassment and Noah keeping both his ears.

17 months and 22 days

2010-07-22T09:45:00.014-05:00

Last week, Noah was sick for the majority of the week. He was already a little cranky because of teething and the splitting headache from his aforementioned tumble off the chair, but add 102 fever to that and it is just plain unbearable. He ran fever for about 3-4 days straight and was miserable. The only silver lining for me, I guess, is that for the first itme in his life he actually wanted me. The downside was that he wanted me ALL DAY LONG and did not ever want me to put him down. I took him to the doctor early on to have his ears checked out- they were fine probably just a virus. And of course I, being the pediatrician, accepted that as true and didn't worry about his ongoing fever... FALSE. I would love to say that I gleened from all my training and knowledge and applied what I would tell every other kid walking through the door to my own child, but that would be a lie. Throughout those four days, I diagnosed him with a cheek abscess, a brain abscess, mastoiditis, and meningitis. Even Brian was having to tell me that he was alright and to settle down (usually the roles are reversed).

Why is it that all training, knowledge, logic, and reason fly out the window when it is your own kid? I can only hope that the next time I won't be so crazy. One possible bonus from Noah's sickness and Mommy phase is that after 17 months and 22 days, yesterday he FINALLY said 'Mommy.' I heard it multiple times and it was witnessed by Brian as well. He may never say it again, but I know that he can and that he does in fact know who I am. :)

Not the best quality of pictures, but good enough to show that he is defintiely much happier now.

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A couple nights ago, we decided to wash the car together as a family. It ended up more like one of us wash while the other watch Noah. He was pretty excited about all of it, especially the puddle that formed in our driveway.

His favorite thing to do was actually to lie down in the puddle, but this was as close as we got to capturing that.

Finally, he started pulling his own weight and contributing to the car washing efforts.

He was very proud of himself for handing the sponge to Daddy.

It was good to be outside. It has been so hot lately that we haven't been out nearly as much and we have all been missing it. Trying to continue our nightly outdoor activities, we went on a walk the next night. It was not nearly as enjoyable as spraying each other with the hose while washing the car. Brian keeps coming up with ways that we can install a pool in our backyard so we can go swimming every night. It is obviously not going to happen, but wouldn't it be nice.

Brian's Birthday

2010-07-14T15:29:00.021-05:00

Brian's birthday was this past Sunday. We went to church, went out to eat, and then just hung out at the house for a while. In the late afternoon, Brian's sister and her family came over for some cake and ice cream.

Noah mesmerized with the candles.

Noah's cousin and buddy Solomon. Noah still mesmerized by the candles.

Brian's cake with all 32 candles on it.

Blowing out the candles. Noah still mesmerized.

Victory!!!

After cake and ice cream, we all loaded up (all nine of us) in Rob and LaRhesa's van and headed to the ball park to watch the Traveler's play. A little history, Brian grew up going to the Traveler's games. His dad was the team chaplain, and when Brian was younger, he was the batboy. When we started dating and early in our marriage, we would go to the Traveler's games a lot. A few years ago, they built a new ballpark in North Little Rock. We haven't been to very many games since then. It was not as convenient to get to, you had to pay for parking, and we were just down-right boycotting the closing of Ray Winder field. Rob and LaRhesa had eight free tickets and wanted to take us for Brian's birthday so we went. Immediately we were loving the new park. We had never been to a game with a child and soon learned that the berm section is perfect for them.

Noah picking flowers.

Fern, Solomon, Tessa, Brian, and Noah watching the ominous sky.

Under the shelter during the rain. This picture cracks me up because the girl in it looks just like my sister.

There was a little bit of a rain delay, but it didn't last too long and then the skies cleared and it was a perfect night.

Noah supervising the tarp removal.

Noah and Solomon getting the water off the chairs for everyone after the rain.

After the rain, we had so much fun. The kids ran and played. We ate hot dogs and polish sausage. Oh, and watched some baseball.

I am not sure if Noah is getting in trouble in this picture or getting a lesson in the game of baseball.

Watching the game together

This picture didn't turn out very well because I was zoomed in all the way on my phone, but I took it to show how Noah would clap after every play. He loved it!

He was very busy all night running around the grass.

His new hairdo courtesy of his cousin Tessa.

Everything was perfect, UNTIL about nine o'clock that night. Noah was sitting on one of the metal chairs in the front row. We looked away for one second and he decided to nose dive off the chair onto the concrete. By the time Brian picked him up (which was about 1 second later), he already had a knot the size of a golf ball on his forehead. He scraped his face on the concrete and nailed his head on the corner of it. Poor baby! We ended up leaving the game after that to the sound of Noah's screams, all the fun forgotten in the moment. After we got home, he perked up some and started acting a little more normal. We didn't have any Motrin in the house so I headed to the store while Brian played with Noah. Thank goodness for 24 hour Kroger! We kept Noah up for a couple hours just to make sure he was okay and acting normal. He went to sleep a little after 11:00. This is a picture of him right before bed.

By the time he went to bed, I was exhausted! When we went to bed, I was out and didn't move until the next morning. I learned the next morning that Brian had not been able to sleep very well all night because he was worried about Noah and had been up three times during the night to check on him. He is such a great Daddy. Noah has since been pretty cranky, a combination of teething, having a cold, and a huge headache I imagine. He has been through a lot lately and I hope he feels better soon. It is so hard to watch him not feel well and not know why. The good news is, his head is looking much better now and we did actually have a good time at the ball game.

Family Reunion and the Glamorous Days of Motherhood

2010-07-07T20:45:00.017-05:00

This past weekend we went to a family reunion for Brian's extended family at the YMCA of the Ozarks in Missouri. We got there late Wednesday night and left Sunday. It was a good long weekend of swimming, archery, lots of eating, and lots of laughs. Sadly these are the only two pictures we got of the weekend.

We stayed in a four bedroom/four bathroom cabin with all of Brian's immediate family. Their were eight adults and seven kids in our cabin, plus two other cabins. The food was provided and I think I ate more in those 3 1/2 days than I have in the last two weeks. It is probably good that I don't have someone to cook for me three meals a day. Two nights while we were there, they had firework shows. I was nervous about Noah getting scared, but he, in usual Noah fashion, loved every moment of it, clapped after every firework, and cried when the show was over. We stayed up late every night visiting and playing games. We (at least Noah and I) were very worn out by the end. We had a lot of fun and look forward to going back in 2012.

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Today was one of those days that just don't seem real at the end of the day. It started out like any other day, Noah and I eating breakfast together. That's where the routine ended. We have a very old stove, circa 1980s. It has a timer on it that we never use and I had never heard it before until Noah figured out how to turn it on a few weeks back. The noise scared him and he hasn't really messed with it since then. Until today. He managed to turn it on again. I quickly turned it off, however about a minute later, it came back on. I, again turned it off, and it again came back on after about a minute. We did that for about 15 minutes until it came on and I couldn't turn it off at all. After several futile attempts to turn it off, I decided to turn off the breaker. Unfortunately, our box is not labeled very well, aka barely at all. I spent the next 30 minutes running back and forth between the oven and the breaker box trying to find the right switch while carrying Noah and Rudy was of course tagging along close behind. In the midst of everything I received an encouraging and helpful text message from Brian saying "Don't turn the refrigerator off." Thanks Sweetie. What would I do without you?

After all the excitement, I tried to lay Noah down for a nap hoping for some rest myself, but to no avail. He would have none of that. Oh well, at least he will take a long nap this afternoon, right? We packed up and headed to Wal-mart before lunch. Our trip there was actually quite uneventful. Then came lunch where Noah, our little tortilla snob, decided that he did not like the brand of tortilla that we had purchased and proceeded to take all the tortilla off his cheese quesadilla and eat only the cheese. After a while, he gave up and just threw it all to Rudy, another no-no. After lunch we played for a while and then it was really time for a nap. Did Noah agree? No. He cried for a while, but eventually fell asleep. FINALLY time for me to get that nap I was hoping for. False. Just as I was about to lie down, Noah wakes up screaming. So much for the nap I was hoping for. We layed on the couch together for a while and watched an episode of Handy Manny, Noah's favorite cartoon. After a while, we had a snack. While Noah was in his high chair eating his snack, he pooped. Dirty diapers are never fun, but especially not during your first trimester of pregnancy. I get him out of his chair and start walking back to his room to change him. I was rubbing his back and felt something. When I looked at my hand, it was covered in poop and up to Noah's shoulder blades. He hasn't had one of those in about a year. I stood him up on his dresser and start the difficult task of undressing him without making any further messes. I got him undressed and diaper off and then the morning sickness (why is it called that anyway when it lasts ALL DAY LONG!) got the better of me. I started vomiting in Noah's room. I puked into his dirty diaper, grab Noah (still covered in poop) and race to the bathroom. I continued to vomit trying to keep Noah back while he is laughing at me and trying to both stick his hands in the toilet and flush it. Meanwhile I am yelling at Rudy while he is trying to lick all the poop off of Noah's back. It was a pretty memorable experience. I finished up, wiped Noah down, and threw him in the tub. While Naoh was still in the tub, Brian calls to let me know he is coming home and see how our day was. It was FANTASTIC! Fortunately for me, I have the BEST husband in the world, who after a long day at work, came home only to clean up the trail of poop and vomit we left all over the house. I think it is safe to say that we are both ready for the first trimester to be behind us. :) Here is Noah after his bath, looking like it was the best day ever!

And, yes, that is a TV cable that my son is playing with.

The Latest Hughes Installment

2010-06-28T14:26:00.007-05:00

Meet the newest member of our family. I am 8 1/2 weeks pregnant and had my first doctor's appointment today. Everything looked great.

Va-ca-tion!

2010-05-25T15:32:00.016-05:00

Last week we went to Destin, FL for a week of fun and sun. I was a little apprehensive because last year we went to the beach when Noah was around 4 months old. It was fun being with my family, but it was not the easiest of trips with feeding and pumping and sleeping (or lack there of), and I am pretty sure that Noah was miserable. This year was very different...He Loved It! He had one day where he was cranky and generally unhappy most of the day due to teething, diarrhea, and an awful diaper rash, but other than that he was pretty happy. Every morning we got up, ate breakfast, spent what seemed like 5 hours putting on sun screen, and then headed to the beach. Noah wasn't a huge fan of the brightness and kept rubbing his eyes. It took us a few tries to realize that it was better to put him in the sun in the wet sand than under the umbrella in the dry sand. It didn't get in his eyes nearly as easily. We played for a while on the beach, then went to the pool for a bit, and then headed in for some lunch. After lunch, Noah took a nap while Brian and I had our own little vacation. He would sleep about three hours so we just hung out on the beach and would periodically check on him. After his nap, we went back out to the beach for a little bit before dinner. This was by far his favorite time of the day. It wasn't nearly as bright, and with less people and umbrellas, he had a lot more room to run around. Then dinner, a walk on the beach and bed. Overall, it was a great vacation! The lighting isn't the greatest on some of the pictures, but you get the idea.

First day. Ready to go!

Running away from the waves

Sand in the eyes

Noah's least favorite time of day... the clean-up

He loved the little pools/puddles near the water.
And rolling in the sand

We went to The Back Porch one night. The girl at the outdoor bar offered to take our picture and this is what we got... Thanks for nothing! :) At least it proves that I was there too.

Again running from the waves.

No oil in sight.
One day we left him a little too long during nap time. He was quite upset when we got him. He got to keep his paci and eat his snack in front of the TV while watching a Sesame Street video that Brian found at the condo movie rental place. We felt really bad. He loved Sesame Street.
I think this picture is hilarious. He just looks so proud.

This one makes me laugh every time. It looks like we stumbled upon some lifeless doll lying on the beach.
Brian's shot of the storm rolling in. He is a much more artistic photographer than me.
Happy boy... until he got all that sand washed off. :)
His facial expression cracks me up.
He somehow always managed to find a stick to play with.
His favorite time of day was the early evening when it wasn't quite so bright and all the umbrellas and chairs were gone. He would run all over the beach. His favorite game is chase, especially when Brian is the one chasing.
Sweet boy!

Picture with the alligators at Fudpuckers. I tried to take a picture of him petting a real alligator, but they wouldn't let me since they sell pictures. But he, as usual, was fearless and pet the alligator with no problem.

From our patio after a morning on the beach.

We met some ladies from Atlanta who were kind enough to take pictures for us. I think they did a little bit better job than the girl from The Back Porch.

It was a great time and we miss it already! If only all of life were a vacation! :)

15 Month Visit

2010-05-14T17:39:00.008-05:00

Weight: 26lbs 12oz, (75th %)

Height: 2ft 8.87in, (90th %)

HC: (75th%)

He's gets his height from his dad. :)

In this picture, I had laid the lens cap on the table. Noah grabbed it and kept saying "Uh-oh" while trying to hand it to me to put it back on the camera.

I finally had to take the cap back so I could get a picture.

15 Months- My New Favorite Age

2010-05-11T15:58:00.029-05:00

He has actually been 15 months for 11 days now, but as usual I am a little late on things. I LOVE this age. He is so much fun. Before I had a child of my own, when I would see patients, the four-month-old visit was always my favorite. I always thought it was my favorite age. Since I had Noah, every new age is my favorite. With every month, he can do more and more things, but yet he is still so sweet (For the most part). This all may change when two comes around, but for now, I am loving each new stage. Here are his latest feats...

- He says 'Daddy,' 'doggy' and 'Rudy' (or 'Doody') and they all sound very similar. He also says 'bubble,' 'bird,' and 'ball' -- at least I think that is what he is saying.

- His favorite word is Uh-Oh which he usually says after doing something very destructive. We know it wasn't an accident Buddy. He also uses Uh-Oh to let us know when things are not as they should be- like when Rudy's food and water are on the floor where he can get them instead of on the table or when the bathroom door is left open and the toilet is free game. He is so good at policing himself sometimes.

- He STILL does not say Mommy. I think he is capable of saying it, he just doesn't see the need in it. I try not to let it bother me. Actually I find it quite humorous.

- He loves to play with sticks and dirt. Just today, we went to the park with my sister-in-law and nieces and nephews. She asked me where I wanted to go, and my response was "Wherever, they all have sticks and rocks and mulch." When he plays in the backyard, he ALWAYS carries a stick around. Rudy ALWAYS takes them from him. I think if anyone else took them, he would get upset, but when it's Rudy he doesn't mind. He just finds another one. Which brings me to...

- He LOVES Rudy! Every morning when I go in his room to get him up, he looks up at me, sort of smiles, and then carries on with whatever he was doing. When Rudy walks in the room, he immediately throws down whatever he is playing with and starts jumping up and down, saying "Doody, doody, doody." Again, I try not to let it bother me. :)

- Every day when Brian comes home from work, he runs to the garage door saying "Daddy, Daddy" and waits for him. After Brian comes in and gives him a hug, he runs to the pantry and starts banging on the door. Brian, after washing his hands of course, then opens the pantry door, pulls out the Goldfish and they enjoy a snack together. Most of Noah's Goldfish are thrown to Rudy. He is so good about sharing with him. :)

- Every night, he gets a bath, we brush his teeth, and then read his Tiny Bear Bible, a kids Bible that has a furry bear for a cover that Brian's grandparents gave Noah. He sits in the recliner with Brian and listens so intently. He loves it all...except for Daniel and the Lion's Den. For some reason, EVERY night when we get to Daniel, he immediately turns the page. He sits through every other story, except Daniel and the Lion's Den which he has NEVER listened to. It is hilarious! I just wish he could tell us what it is about ol' Dan that he is so against. I am so curious.

- He hates getting his diaper changed. He would rather sit in poop forever and get a horrible rash than stop playing for five minutes to get his diaper changed.

- He is learning to eat using a spoon/fork. He usually makes a few good attempts and then decides he is much more efficient with his hands.

- His current favorite toy is a ginormous train table that some good friends gave us. He loves it. One of his favorite things to do with it, is rip up all the track and bring you pieces saying "uh-oh". It makes me laugh every single time. I don't think I will ever get tired of it.

- His other favorite toys are his Little People animals, firetruck, popper, balls, and the beads on wire toys.

- He just recently started liking a couple of stuffed animals. Since day one, I have tried to get him to want a stuffed animal or a blanket, but he never has. Just in the last couple weeks, he has started wanting to sleep with and carry around a stuffed dog that Brian gave me when we were dating and as of yesterday, a stuffed polar bear that we somehow got from National Geographic a few years ago.

- He knows two animal sounds... They are elephant and dog. For elephant, he raises one arm and spits everywhere. For dog, he leans forward, squats down, puts both arms back as if he is about to jump and grunts. It is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. We have not been able to capture the dog on video yet. Hopefully we can before it changes to 'woof.'

- He has still been taking two naps, but the past few days when I have put him down in the morning, I think he has just been playing the entire time. There was a lot of squeeling going on.

- He has four and a half teeth right now, but is currently cutting about 4-5 new ones. Ouch!

- He is a biter. He will walk up to you and bury his head in your legs like he is going to give you a hug and then, crunch! It is so painful. He usually bites Brian in the chest when they are wrestling and will sometimes bite me on the back of my thigh while I am cooking and have no hands to fight him off. So watch out everyone, he is not always trying to be sweet.

- His hair is very fine and blonde and sticks straight up. I keep thinking that as it gets longer it will lay down, but so far it just sticks farther up. It is the source of many comments at the grocery store.

- On St. Patrick's Day, the Riverdancers performed on the Today Show. He loved it, so I rewound the tv and recorded it so that I could show it to Brian. To this day, he is mesmerized by them. I usually try to save it for when I need to cut his fingernails. That is the only thing that will keep him still and distracted long enough.

I have been laughing and smiling the entire time I have been typing this. I feel like I could go on and on, but I guess that is a pretty good list. He is not all kicks and giggles. Sometimes he drives me crazy when he won't eat his vegetables and throws them on the floor and spits in my face or when he rams his fire truck into my shins at full speed sending me to the floor or when I am cleaning up Rudy's water bowl that has been spilled all over the floor despite me telling him "No" a thousand times, but for the most part it, I couldn't be happier. I love being with him all day and am so glad that I have the chance to do it and a husband that supports that.

When he was little, the days would drag on and I would count down the hours until Brian came home feeling guilty that I didn't always want to be there with him and wondering if I wasn't really cut out for this and should just go get a job. Those days are over! Sure I can't wait for Brian to get home at night, but the days tend to go by more quickly now. And, yes, I often miss working and think about getting a part-time job often, but now I view it as a job would pull me away from my primary responsibility of him, not him pulling me away from a job. At the end of the day, when we put him to bed I tell him "Good-night" and "I'll see you in the morning" and it makes me very happy knowing that tomorrow is just another day I get to spend with our little boy, even if he is thinking "I can't wait to see Rudy in the morning." I love you so much Noah and I am so grateful that God has given us this time together.

2010-05-10T11:34:00.002-05:00

Last week, we had some very steamy days. Noah and I were playing in the backyard one afternoon and I was thinking about how sweltering it was and how I wanted to go inside when I noticed the sprinkler sitting out there. I hooked it up and Noah had his first encounter with a sprinkler. I think he had fun.

And yes, the grass has been cut since then.

Noah's New Love

2010-04-12T12:00:00.004-05:00

That's right. It is a pair of hand-me-down blue fish sandals. He thinks they are pretty much the coolest thing in the world. Every morning when he wakes up, the first thing he does is find the sandals and bring them to me to put on him.

He tends to bring them one at a time.

He wears them all day long except for during naps when I take them off of him. But after he wakes up, they go back on.

Finally last night we had to wash them because they were starting to smell. I don't know what it is about them that he loves so much. I think it is a combination of wearing shoes that he can still see his toes in and the fact that they have fish on them.

I guess his cousin Solomon likes them too.

Whatever it is, I think they are here for the rest of the summer.

Animals, Sticks, and Eggs

2010-04-11T14:19:00.013-05:00

A couple weeks ago, we went to the zoo with several of my friends and their kids. I wasn't sure how Noah would do. He loves playing with animals at home, but I didn't know if that would translate over to those at the zoo. He loved it! There were times that he was fussy due to fatigue and not understanding why he couldn't always be out of his stroller running amongst the people and animals, but for the most part he did great and loved all the animals.

Watching one of the elephants bowl.

The trainers brought them over to the fence and let us pet them. It was so cool. They are much rougher than I expected.

Pretty proud of himself after petting the elephant.

The crew, minus one adult and two children.

Exchanging pacifiers. They are about five weeks apart. It was so funny to see them interacting together.
Trying to pet the furry little donkey things through the fence. This was one of his favorites.
Watching the ducks and turtles.

Sadly, I did not get a picture of him looking at the giraffes. They have always been his favorite animal at home and they did not disappoint in real life. He was very excited.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last weekend was a great weekend. It was our first Easter together as a family- Brian was gone last year- and we enjoyed every moment of it. Saturday morning we went to the park for a little bit, came home, Noah napped, and then went to our church's Easter egg hunt. I am not sure what I expected of Noah, but I figured maybe he would get at least a couple of eggs... Yeah right. He started off well, walked a few feet, and then found a stick.

There was no chance for egg hunting after the stick was found. Notice the asphalt- that is where he started. He made it FAR!

He finally ditched the stick and we felt sure he go for the brightly colored eggs full of candy on the ground. He made it a few more steps and found a cup.

By the time he finished playing with the cup, all the eggs were gone. Oh well. Brian took pity on him and gave him an egg, which he loved. If only he had discovered how cool they were just a little bit earlier.

Noah, still holding the egg, and his cousin Solomon.

Overall, the egg hunt was a huge success. It was such a pretty day and all the kids had fun and got a lot of candy.

Sadly I didn't get very many pictures of Eater day. I got a few of him looking at his Easter basket, but had a hard time getting him to stand still long enough to get a good picture of him in his clothes. I think overall the basket was a hit.

The only time I could get him still long enough to take a picture before church was when he was trying to play with Rudy. The two of them are so funny together.

I didn't even think to get a family picture on Sunday. Maybe on his third Easter we will all be together and actually think to take a picture of it.

Busy, busy, busy

2010-03-24T10:29:00.004-05:00

That's what Noah is these days. He keeps me on my toes.

Wrestling his Elmo chair.

This is the view of him that we see the most as he is slamming the door in our faces. He LOVES to close doors.

Thankfully he doesn't know how to open them yet. You probably can't see it in the picture, but he has a key in his hand. He found the key to the front door and is trying to open it so that he can go outside. His favorite thing in life right now is being outside. Yeah for approaching Spring and Summer!

I took my eyes off him for literally 10-15 seconds while I got something out of the freezer (which is right next to the trash can). I looked down and he had dug the coffee filter out of the trash can and was making works of art with the grounds. That was fun to try and fight he and Rudy off in order to clean it up.

This one was a few weeks ago. We keep all the bathroom doors closed now.

Just when I thought our house was childproof, Noah proves me wrong yet again.

One Year Visit

2010-02-16T22:23:00.005-06:00

I took Noah to the doctor today for his one year visit. Here are the numbers:

Height: 2ft, 6.24in (50%)

Weight: 24lb 7.54oz (75%)

HC: 46.4cm (50%)

At the visit, his doctor asked me if he could walk. I had to say, "No." He has taken a few steps, but not really walking. And then here he is tonight...

If only he had done it one night earlier, I could have said "Yes!" Maybe next time.

Finally!

2010-02-08T10:24:00.007-06:00

First, we finally had the birthday party. Second, it is finally snowing in Little Rock and not just ice. It is coming down pretty hard and it is beautiful. Noah did great at the party. He was a little tired and overwhelmed, but over all, he was quite the trooper. He went crazy over the dots of icing on his cake, but wasn't too interested in the cake itself. It was so much fun to share with friends and family and we are so thankful for all of you. Here are some pictures...

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

2010-01-30T23:14:00.013-06:00

Noah is one year old. I can't believe it. Today came and went like any other day, but yet it was different... My baby is one. No longer an infant. He just seems so big now. We were supposed to have his birthday party today, but because of all the ice, we had to postpone it until next weekend. Brian's mom and brother were here and our friends Layne and Casey braved the elements to come over for some sledding and the warm-up party. Brian made Noah a sled out of a cardboard box, a jumprope, and some duct tape and we pulled him up and down the street. He loved it. I was a little disappointed at the beginning of the day because of canceling the party and my family not being here because of the weather, but it ended up being a really fun day.

Here's what Noah is up to these days:

- Walks everywhere with his little walker. He can't quite do it on his own, or he is just scared to try, but he pushes that walker all over the house. He LOVES it!

- He has incredible rhythm. For Christmas we gave him one of those fridge farm things where you match up the animals. He isn't really interested in that part, but he loves the music that it plays. He will pull it off the fridge and sit down on the floor with it. He will then push the button and tap his foot to the beat. When the song is over, he does it again. The other day, he sat for over five minutes (which is an incredible amount of time for a 12 month old to sit still, or at least mine) just playing music and tapping his foot.

- He loves to wave! Parking lots are his favorite. He waves at all the cars and always uses two hands turned sideways (like he is milking a cow).

- He loves being outside. If ever I open the door to our back yard just to let Rudy, our dog, out, he gets so upset because he wants to go out too. He will cry also when people leave the house because he wants to go out with them.

- He sleeps on his stomach with his hands tucked under his stomach and his bottom in the air.

- He sleeps about 12 hours at night and takes two naps during the day. What a good little sleeper he has turned out to be. Who would have thought after his rocky start.

- He has two teeth on the bottom and two that are coming in on top. He loves brushing them. He shrugs his shoulders, leans in, and says 'Ah' while we brush them.

- Eating can still be a little frustrating at times, but it is getting better. He doesn't throw his food down to Rudy quite as much, but you have to watch him pretty closely. He does, however, love to throw his cup down. Rudy, who is normally under his chair waiting for crumbs, has learned to be on alert for the falling cup. We are always on alert with our hands to the side of his face when he is drinking and even then he somehow gets it past us.

- I think he may have inherited a few obsessive compulsive traits from his mother (and father). He does not like to have too many things on his tray. If there is too much food/stuff on his tray he starts clearing it off, aka he wiping his hands back and forth like a windshield wiper pushing everything to the floor. He does not usually like his cup on the tray, but it is okay to have it in the cupholder section of the tray.

- He takes a big drink of milk, swallows some and then lets the rest dribble out of his mouth. This is why he ALWAYS wears a bib. Otherwise he will be soaked by the end of the meal and smell very sour after a few hours.

- I am pretty sure he can say dog, daddy, sort of mommy (more like mamamamama when he is upset), and banana (he says something like na-with a long a -nu)

- He is very independent and does not seem to notice when we are not around. He loves people!

- Perhaps more than his love of people is his love of Rudy and dogs in general. He loves to grab Rudy's toys from him and play tug-of-war. Thankfully Rudy goes easy on him.

- He loves Brian. As soon as he hears the garage door opening, he says something that I think is "Daddy" and crawls as fast as he can for the door. He usually prefers to be held by Brian if he is around. Unless he is upset and then he definitely wants Mommy.

God has blessed us so much in the last year, but by far the greatest blessing has been giving us the opportunity to be parents to such a sweet baby boy. Noah, thank you for making this year one of the most exhausting yet most fun years we have ever had. I don't know what we ever did without you. We love you so much!!!

Glad We Did It

2009-11-17T14:45:00.006-06:00

In my last post, I wrote about how we lowered his crib on Saturday. We didn't have any reason for doing it at the time- he had made no attempts to pull up. We really just did it because we had time and didn't know if we would when he actually started pulling up. It's a good thing we did because here he is yesterday.

He managed to pull up onto the ottoman as I turned away and pulled that green tray off which had a full glass of water on it. I obviously didn't learn my lesson because the green tray is still there in the picture. There is not, however, any water on it. The tray has since been removed. Being able to stand up adds a whole new meaning to child-proofing. I can't wait until he starts walking!

Stop Growing Up

2009-11-14T22:05:00.005-06:00

Today was a sad day for me. As you can see, we lowered Noah's crib. I am not sure why, but this just made him seem really big to me. He isn't supposed to be growing up so fast. I think he was very confused when we put him down tonight. Hopefully he will figure out how to reach the button to turn on his crib aquarium in the morning. Otherwise it may be a very early morning for us.

Check out that belly... No concern for being too skinny anymore.

Nine Months Old

2009-11-02T16:12:00.015-06:00

Weight: 21lb 4.7oz (75%)- Yes that's right... from 10% at 4 months to 75% at 9 months

Height: 27.5 inches (50%)

Head: 45 cm (25%)

I know I say this every month, but, Where has the time gone? Nine months already! Here's what he can do...

- He can crawl. He started at 8 months 3 weeks and is everywhere now. People always told me that it was nice when their kids started crawling because then they could follow them when they left the room. Not so for Noah... As soon as I leave the room, he goes for the nearest outlet or plant. I can't wait until he starts walking!

- He is not a big vegetable fan. He is doing better now, but for a stretch he would spit every time we gave him vegetables. It was the first time we have really had to get on to him. I do not look forward to disciplining, but I guess it is a necessary evil.

- He can drink from a cup, but usually half of it ends up down the front of his shirt. He thinks he is pretty big though when he does it.

- He loves bananas. Pretty much the only time he throws a fit or gets upset is when he feels like we have not given him enough banana.

- He naps well now. He sleeps about 1.5-2 hours in the morning and afternoon.

- He claps all the time. Any time he does something that he feels is an accomplishment, he stops and starts clapping and waits for us to do the same. Whenever we say "Yea" he immediately starts clapping.

- He LOVES Rudy. He loves grabbing Rudy's hair. He also squeezes Rudy's rubber ball and then laughs when Rudy starts barking at him. He will then barely hit the ball away from him in an attempt to throw it. Rudy likes Noah also, but not quite as much.

- He has pretty much stopped nursing. I try each feed, but most of the time he does it for a few seconds and then wants his bottle. I think this would have upset me had it not been such a long saga, but as it is, I am happy for a healthy chubby boy even if that means it comes from formula and not me.

- He continues to love going to bed at night. Whenever we pull his pajamas out at night he gets really excited. Once we put them on him, he lies on the floor and kicks for a while, laughing and spitting. Then he takes his bottle and goes to sleep.

- He can wave. He usually does it with both hands for good measure.

- When he gets really excited, he clenches his both fists, his eyes get really big, and he shakes all over.

First Halloween

2009-11-02T16:04:00.003-06:00

The spider and his web.

Sunday School

2009-09-30T15:11:00.003-05:00

Noah started going to Bible class this month. If he looks tired in the picture, it's because he is. It starts at nine which is nap time. I was a little nervous about how he was going to do, but he did great- or so they tell me. He just takes an extra long nap in the afternoon. He also has been staying in there during worship time as well. I think Brian finally got tired of wrestling a bear cub during church and collecting the toys that he had thrown all over the auditorium was getting a little old as well. He's getting so big!

8 Months Old!

2009-09-30T13:48:00.017-05:00

Time is flying by way too fast! Our baby is already 8 months old. Where has the time gone?!?! Here is what he has been up to...

- He rolls everywhere. He tries to crawl, but ends up moving backwards and getting very mad that the toy he was trying to get is getting farther away.

- He is eating baby foods three times a day and breast/bottle feeding four times a day. We just started meats yesterday which he hated. It was the first time since first starting solids that he has not liked something.

- Every night when he eats dinner, he pauses for a minute, turns really red, and poops. Other than that, he doesn't care for interruptions in his meals. If you are taking too long getting a bite ready, he will let you know.

- He is finally napping!!!! Thanks to the Baby Einstein crib aquarium (greatest invention ever) that we purchased around 7 months, he is now taking pretty regular naps.

- He sleeps 11-12 hours at night. He usually sleeps on his stomach now, but is in a different position pretty much every time we go into the room. He makes good use of every square inch of his crib.

- We finally stopped swaddling him last week. We were so afraid that he wouldn't sleep if we stopped that we just kept putting it off. I was beginning to think that we would send him off to college all swaddled up. He hasn't been swaddled since last week and hasn't really seemed to notice. Apparently we liked the swaddle more than he did.

- We have been through many, many different kinds of diapers trying to find one that he cannot manage to leak out of. We have finally worked out a combination that seems to work... He wears Pampers Cruisers size 3 during the day because he was pooping out the legs of the Huggies and Huggies Overnights size 4 at night because he was peeing out the tops of the Pampers. I have a wide variety of almost full bags of many different sizes and brands of diapers in the closet in Noah's room that he will never wear.

- He has two teeth coming in on the bottom which he loves to feel with his tongue and fingers.

- He still does not seem to have much stranger anxiety. He goes to pretty much anybody. I can at least tell now that he seems to prefer Brian and I over complete strangers, but barely.

- He loves our dog Rudy and is constantly trying to grab his hair. I pity Rudy when Noah starts to crawl.

- He has a horrible cow lick at the crown of his head which is really cute now, but he probably won't think it is so cute when he is 15.

- He loves baths- especially when his dad runs them because they have a lot of bubbles in them then.

- Every night before he goes to sleep, we put him in his PJs and he lays on the floor in his room waving his arms, kicking, and laughing. It is pretty hilarious to watch.

- He laughs and smiles a lot. Even when he is sick or teething, he is still happy most of the time. He is happy most of the day, but he is definitely happiest when his dad comes home at night.

I can't believe he is 8 months old. For the first 4 months, life seemed to be at a standstill. In the last four months, I feel like I blinked and they were gone. Before you know it, he will be off to college, but at least he won't be swaddled!

Cutting Teeth

2009-09-30T13:38:00.003-05:00

Teething is no fun! Just when he had started napping well, here come the teeth. His naps became under an hour a piece which made for a very happy baby at night. This picture was taken before the real crankiness set in. It was also the last time he ever used the teething ring. I would post a picture of the actual teeth, but he's not very big on showing them off yet.

I HATE CHICKEN!!!!

2009-09-30T13:34:00.002-05:00

We started meat for the first time last night. Not a big fan.

6 Month Stats

2009-08-10T15:27:00.004-05:00

I took Noah to the doctor for his 6 month visit last week. Here are his stats:

Weight: 15lb 8.68oz (20%, Yea!!)

Height: 26.3 inches (50%, I am pretty sure they didn't stretch him all the way out)

Head: 43cm (25%)

He wasn't particularly fond of his shots (who is?!?), but he settled down pretty quickly. Since then we cut out his night feed since he had gained so well. The first few nights were a little rough, but now he is generally sleeping from 8:00-8:30 to around 6:30-7:00 in the morning. Yea!!!

Half a Year- Really!?!?!

2009-07-29T09:51:00.009-05:00

Can you believe it's been 6 months already? Our baby boy is 6 months old today. I can't believe how time has flown. Well here's the run-down on what's going on with Noah...

- He is starting to sit. In the last week, he has gone from not being able to sit at all to sitting up unassisted for minutes at a time. I can't believe how fast it happens.

- He can roll over both ways, but is not a fan of his stomach so once he gets to his back, he just stays there. Thankfully he hasn't yet figured out that he can use this as a means to get around.

- The rare times when he stays on his stomach, he tries to crawl (despite the fact that he can't get up on all fours) and just gets mad when he doesn't go anywhere.

- He is eating cereal. He loves it and usually finishes all that we give him.

- We started green beans thinking that he would dislike those the most and he LOVES them. We usually have to cut him off. Just wait until you get to the fruit buddy.

- He is napping better... He is kind of hit or miss. Somedays like today, he goes down without a problem, others he screams for a while. All in all, it is an improvement from a month ago.

- He is very happy most of the time.

- He wakes up once at night to eat.

- He loves to spit. He will soak the entire front of his onesie just from spitting.

- He loves playing in his exersaucer and playing with toys on the floor, but I think his favorite toy is still the remote control and my cell phone.

- He gets really happy when his Dad comes home at night and always seems to be happier on the weekends when Dad's around.

We love you Baby! I can't believe it's already been half a year!

Apologies From a Pediatrician

2009-07-09T22:49:00.009-05:00

This entry is dedicated to all the parents of patients that I saw in residency. I apologize for making parenthood sound easier than it really is.

When I told you, "You have to just leave them in bed; they are going to cry, but you have to be strong-" It is not that easy listening to your five month old cry for almost two hours.

When I said, "You should try breastfeeding-" It is not always that easy as I have learned. Never again will I judge someone for not breastfeeding. People always said, "Breastfeeding is tough, " and I thought, "People have been breastfeeding since the beginning of time. How could it be that difficult. I think you are making it harder than it really is." Well now I know, it is not always that easy.

When I chided, "You have to sleep when baby sleeps-" I didn't realize that that may be the only time of day you have to take a shower or just sit.

When I thought to myself, "What exactly do stay-at-home Moms do during the day? How hard can it be? I work 80 hours in a week. It's not that big of a deal-" Boy was I wrong about this one. I have definitely learned that it is not that easy. It is a lot of work and you never get to leave you job, but it can also be very isolating when your only social interaction in a day is your slobbering baby and Matt, Meredith, Al, and Ann.

When I said, "You just need to get out more. That will make you feel better-" whereas it may make you feel better, when you are still recovering from your postpartum hormone craziness, and you haven't the slightest idea about what to do with a baby at the grocery store, it is not that easy.

So again I apologize to anyone I may have casually given parenting tips to when I had no idea what I was talking about. I understand now why you looked at me with the eyes of a frazzled, beaten down soldier losing the battle. I apologize for sending you out the door without letting you know that it will be difficult, and that at times that you will want to throw the towel in, but not to give up because you can make it through. Not that any of my patients' parents will ever read this blog (not that anyone ever reads this blog), but if you are out there, know that I am sorry. I may still give the same advice, but there will be a lot more empathy behind my words now. And know that while I have a lot more to learn, I am definitely a better, more understanding pediatrician through my experiences thus far. If I have learned nothing else, I know that it is not always that easy!

Noah's Favorite Time of Day, Part 2

2009-07-09T16:28:00.004-05:00

How long can this sweet little guy scream??? One hour and forty minutes! Our kitchen sink, microwave, and stove were immaculate by the time he finished. He slept for about twenty minutes, then woke up screaming again. However, since then, he has done much better. I think the longest he has cried has been about 10-15 minutes. He is still not sleeping very long, but I feel confident that this will improve. I never thought that our laid-back, happy baby could be so stubborn!

Noah's Favorite Time of Day

2009-07-08T16:54:00.004-05:00

What time of day is that, you ask.... Well it is Nap time.

I started this post over a month ago, but never finished it because he started taking naps (Note Number 3 on Four Months entry) . Well here I am one month later, sitting on the couch listening to my screaming child. How did I get here you ask?...Vacation! We recently went on a two week vacation. We visited family and went to the beach. Whereas, I loved the break and it was good to get away and be with family, I am still reaping the consequences. Since our return, almost two weeks ago, Noah has taken three good naps. Yes, that's right, three naps in two weeks! You may say, "You're just not being tough enough," or "You just need to let him cry it out," but before you judge me, hear me out. I have been putting him in his bed at designated nap times for almost two weeks, and for almost two weeks, he has cried for an hour at each of those times. After an hour I would rescue him because it was time for a feed. I took him to the doctor on Monday to have him weighed and mentioned his naps (or lack there of) and was told "You are just going to have to let him cry until he falls asleep." Great, how long is that?!?! Well Tuesday I was really dreading naptime, but was resolved to be strong. I put him down and, low and behold, not a peep. He slept for an hour and a half. The afternoon nap was similar- only about eight minutes of crying. Sweet! He figured it out!-- Not quite. Today I laid him down thinking, "No big deal. He's got this." He was quiet for about ten minutes, and I began to celebrate another victory- maybe a little too soon. All of a sudden I heard a noise, but it's okay, He's just talking. Well talking turned into screaming and so here I am. How long can he go? To be continued...

It Must be an Acquired Taste

2009-07-06T17:11:00.013-05:00

We celebrated a new milestone in the Hughes household last week. We started cereal! How did it go? I will let you be the judge of that...

This is before the first time. He looks pretty excited, right? The rest are from the second feeding. The reaction was about the same as the first, but the pictures were a little more telling the second time around.

Well, maybe he will learn to love it. At least it gives him a few extra calories.

4 months

2009-06-15T11:28:00.003-05:00

Our little boy is now four months old. I can't believe that it has already been that long. I thought I would copy my sister-in-law and write about what all he can do so that I would have it for later. Here goes...

1. He smiles a lot. He will hand out big grins for me and others, but will only really laugh hard for his dad.

2. At night, he goes down without a fuss, wakes up once to feed and then goes right back down.

3. Not the same story during naptime... He HATES naps. I think he doesn't want to miss anything. He takes after his mom in that regard. Some may call it nosy, I prefer to call it inquisitive. Anyway, it has been a battle to get him to take a nap during the day, but after many hours of me listening to him cry in bed over many weeks, I think he is finally getting it.

4. He can roll front to back (started at 9 weeks), but has not quite mastered back to front. His Dad claims that he watched him do it, but once again I was not present. I had just left to go the bathroom- what a little stinker.

5. He is very long (75%), but on the skinny side (10% at his last visit). We are actually having to supplement him a little with pumped breast milk right now.

6. He has discovered his feet and plays with them all the time. It is really funny to see his confusion when I put socks on his feet. Hasn't figured out where his toes go.

7. He also loves his hands. He chews and sucks on them all the time. Occasionally he will gag himself when he puts his entire fist in, and again he can't quite figure out what has happened or that his fist is the culprit.

8. He coos quite a bit, especially when he is getting tired. He really has a lot to say then.

Noah you are such a joy! You have blessed your Dad and me so much. We have loved these last four months and can't wait to see you grow and develop in the coming months. We love you!!!

The Joys of Motherhood

2009-06-10T22:55:00.004-05:00

Today was just one of those days...It began with waking up to Noah screaming at 7:00 after I had fed him and put him back down at 6:00. I was just hoping for 30 more minutes of slumber. I fed him, we had our morning time, and I put him down for a nap. He initially went down without a fight (which used to be rare for him, but in recent days he has improved), but about 10 minutes into it, the crying ensued. I did not rush to his bed thinking that he would settle himself. After about 20 minutes, I went to check on him. Upon seeing me, he stopped crying and proceeded to laugh. Great! He won! I made sure he was okay, then left again. Immediately he began crying again. I left and went to take a shower so that I could be ready to go to his doctor's appointment. After I finished getting ready, I went to rescue the napless wonder. I nursed him and as I was starting to give him a bottle (he has had weight issues so is doing both now) I discovered that he had poop up to his shoulder blades. So glad that I let him cry it out! All he wanted was to get out of his poop soaked clothes, and Mom gave him some tough love. We immediately put the feed on hold and retreated to his room to strip him down. As I was wiping the poop off, he proceeded to pee all over himself. At that point, I gave up and headed for the bathtub. He got cleaned up and then I had to go change my poop clothes. After we were both changed, it was time to race to his appointment. The appointment went well, but he was exhausted thanks to his mother not changing his diaper during his morning nap. He fell asleep on the way home. I thought, finally he is sleeping!! I carefully pulled his seat out of the car so as not to wake him up. I walked into the house to find my 7lb Yorkie sneaking into his bed and about 10 dirty diapers and wipes scattered all over the living room floor. RUDY!!!! I had emptied the trash can in Noah's room into our big trash can right before I left. I remember checking to make sure the pantry door was closed, but apparently I didn't check very well. As you can imagine, Noah's was now awake after my yelling at the dog. I left him in his car seat while I cleaned up the diapers and carpet. He didn't last very long because at this point he was both tired and hungry. I finished up and rescued him once again. I thought I smelled a hint of poop again so I pulled his shorts off to check his diaper, not wanting to make the same mistake again. As I grabbed them, I felt the poop running down my hand. Lovely. We again spent some quality time on the changing table.

Shortly after all this Brian came home. The rest of the day was not nearly as eventful. He ate again and went to sleep for the night. Hopefully he will sleep well since he successfully went the entire day without a real nap. It is days like this where I think, "What in the world am I doing?!?!?," but then I see my sweet baby boy smiling up at me and know that I wouldn't have it any other way.

My First Mother's Day!

2009-05-19T12:36:00.011-05:00

So again, it's a little late...My first Mother's Day was a few weeks ago, and I have had these pictures loaded in for some time, but am just now writing about it. We spent the weekend at Gram and Grampa's house.

I think Noah enjoyed the attention, and judging by that expression, I am pretty sure he loves the new hat that they gave him. It will come in handy this summer.

We all spent Sunday afternoon at my Grandmother's house.

Gram with her Grandkids

Dallas made Gram T-shirts for the girls and a Onesie for Noah. I don't have a picture of Noah with his, but here are the girls.

Nora and GiGi

Elyn on the phone

Noah's onesie has a lightning bolt instead of a heart per Brian's request.

My brother and sister-in-law brought their Baby Bjorn for us to borrow. What a wonderful invention. Noah loves it! It has made shopping so much easier. No more carrying the car seat into the store and trying to fit it and my groceries into the cart.

Our little family.

Afterward, Brian gave me a Wii Fit for Mother's Day. I am loving it. It is a little upsetting to watch my Mii grow, but quite motivating. What a great First Mother's Day!

Car Seats

2009-05-07T17:43:00.004-05:00

Guess who graduated out of his infant insert on the car seat?!?! This boy!

Brian and I got the ol' car seat manual out this past weekend to look something up and discovered that the infant insert is supposed to be removed when they reach 11 pounds. Oops, he's over 12. Guess we should have read that earlier. I went ahead and read the rest of the manual so that there would be no more surprises. Here is a picture of one of his first ventures in the seat.

Think he's bigger? I guess that hour of feeding every three hours is doing something. Glad to know I am not wasting my time. One insert gone, one to go. I think we'll keep the head insert at least until he has better head control.

Papa

2009-04-30T10:21:00.006-05:00

** Again this is a week late. Sorry. I started it last week, but then did not have a chance to finish it until now. Maybe one of these days I will actually write about things when they occur.

Papa and Noah (Tuesday, April 21, 2009)

This past weekend was a time of joy and sadness. My Papa died last Friday and went to be with God in Heaven. He was a wonderful man who loved his God and his family more than anything. He was very witty, funny, thrifty, practical, but most of all loving. He lived for 93 years and was married to my Grandma for 68 of those. This weekend the entire family gathered to celebrate his life. We laughed and cried and just spent time together remembering. Here are some pictures of the weekend.

Grandma and Noah (23rd Great Grandkid)

Grandma and the Sons

The Grandkids (minus one)

The Great Grandkids (minus several)

Greats and Grands (minus one grand and several greats)

Noah did great the whole weekend. Unfortunately, this is how he took most of his naps (in our arms) making the next week a bit difficult. There were a lot of tears shed at nap times the next week.

My siblings and I stopped by their old house.

Goodbye Papa! We love you, miss you, and can't wait to see you again!!

Noah's First Easter

2009-04-14T19:42:00.009-05:00

Here is an old post that I started obviously a while back and am just now getting the chance to finish it. Sorry.

The Easter season began last week for Noah when he received a package in the mail from his cousins, Nora and Elyn. Inside the package was a card which I regretfully do not have a picture of to show you, but there was also a bunny.

I am pretty sure he loves it. Thanks Nora and Elyn!! His Gram had bought him an Easter outfit, which regretfully did not fit thanks to his lankiness. Unfortunately I did not try it on him until Saturday so his Aunt Beth and I went shopping that day for an outfit. Here he is:

Isn't he cute! Here is the hat that Gram bought- pretty funny.

Aunt Beth came to town for the occasion

And where was his Dad you ask...

I am sure he will make it for Noah's next first Easter. :)

It's Official

2009-04-08T16:37:00.003-05:00

I finally witnessed the event and have the pictures to prove it.

Way to go Noah!

Colds, Baby Showers, and Rolling Over

2009-04-04T20:56:00.005-05:00

Today was a day of several firsts in the Hughes household...

1. We are all sick right now. That includes Noah. I would say that he is handling his first cold quite well thus far. He has been more fussy for the last couple days, but has had some smiles in there too. It is rather difficult to hear him cough though, knowing that he has no idea why he is coughing and that I am the one that gave it to him. Poor guy!

2. Second first: I went to a baby shower leaving Noah at home with Brian. Their time together started out smoothly with Noah sleeping. Then it transitioned to play time- fun for all. He started fussing a little, but Brian being the astute father that he is took him for a walk to take his mind off the hunger (I didn't pump because I did not think I would be gone that long). It seemed to work for a while...And then, the crying started. About this time, I began receiving text messages inquiring of my whereabouts and time of arrival. I quickly left the shower and called Brian only to hear a screaming baby in the background. I arrived home shortly after that and fed him. All was right with the world. I guess the moral to this story is always pump before going somewhere regardless of how long you think it will take.

3. On my way home from said shower, Brian asked me, "How old are babies supposed to be when they roll over?" Seriously!?!?! I have been with him for almost every moment of his entire life. I leave for three hours and he decides to start knocking out milestones! When the initial shock wore off, I asked the question that any mother would have asked, "Did you film it?!?" The response from the other end of the phone was, "Well, no, I was watching him." For the rest of the day/night, I tried multiple times to get him to roll over. Did he perform? Of course not. Since I don't have any evidence of this monumental event to show you, I will just share another cute picture. Enjoy!

Bumbo Seat

2009-04-03T10:48:00.003-05:00

Not quite ready, but hopefully someday soon. Thank you Beth, Matthew, Dallas, and Aaron for the Bumbo. We can't wait to use it for real. And, yes, it is on the couch, but we were standing right there. He was not left unattended.

Favorite Time of Day

2009-04-01T22:13:00.006-05:00

Last week when my brother and sister-in-law were here, my sister-in-law, Dallas, suggested we have some tummy time with Noah. It had been about a week since we had had tummy time because of all the relatives in town wanting to hold him. Here was his last attempt...

Cute, but not the most stellar of attempts. I was expecting no more than this on his next attempt. Low and behold, when Dallas flipped him over, this is what we saw...

Where did that come from? It did not, however, last too long. Seconds later he was fading...

And then he face planted. We didn't think to grab a picture of that, but Dallas was kind enough to get a picture of the aftermath.

It took me holding and consoling him for about 20 minutes to get him over this traumatic experience. Sorry Noah. Needless to say, we do a little more abbreviated tummy time now. Way to go buddy! You are already getting so big!

Our baby boy

2009-03-25T15:21:00.000-05:00

The cutest baby in the world...Noah Langston Hughes