35 weeks!

May 30, 2011

4 weeks, 6 days left to be exact! Baby Jakob is now the size of a large cantaloupe, which translates to roughly 19 to 22 inches long (maxed out in ht till he gets here!), and around 6 lbs. From now on, growth will be mostly in adding fat to make him nice and chubby. Pretty much everything else is good to go for life on the outside now. We are still getting ready for him though, so he can't come out yet! His room is pretty much done except for a few small details. I still need to wash everything again and unpack the bassinet. Still need to get pics posted (it's on my list!).

One thing I CAN cross off my list now is a double stroller. I found the one I was looking for (retails over $200 new) for $75 (slightly used but in great shape) on Craigslist. I figured after a week at my house it will be a mess anyway and this one is actually in GREAT shape. I got the Sit "n Stand Double and I love it. Better yet, Noah loves it because he isn't so confined in it. We've been going for walks with it to get him used to it and now he won't use the old one anymore. I would highly recommend this stroller to anyone. It is very light and easy to turn and push. I haven't found anything it won't fit through yet which is a plus.

I'm still looking for another monitor. I'm hoping to find a good used one still. So if any of you know someone looking to pass along a good video monitor I'm in the market.

Almost there!

May 30, 2011

Well, only one more week left before the big 2! AND, only 5 more weeks left before Baby Jakob makes his appearance (hopefully anyway). Noah has been having a lot of fun lately. All he really ever does is play. He plays outside as much as I can stand to be outside with him, and he runs around the house all day playing with anything and everything. He is done with Mother's Day Out for the summer so he's all mine! I'm not the best playmate right now, though, so he's been a little stir crazy. Thankfully, when Matt's home, they wrestle and play really hard so he gets to unleash a little of the rough boy in him on Matt.

We've had some good breakthroughs with Noah lately. He's now taking all naps in the toddler bed without too many problems. I have to be a little more stern with him about laying down and staying in bed than at night but he's done great! He is actually sleeping better for naps in the toddler bed than in the crib. Good deal he figured that one out before the baby gets here. Also, he's doing fabulous with talking. He is saying TONS of new words and adds to the list every day. I can pretty much understand everything he says now, which is nice since now he wants me to KNOW what he is talking about/asking for. He is starting to string two or three words together to form sentences. He can name pretty much any kind of animal or shape that he sees. He repeats EVERYTHING I say or do so it's time to be really careful about what he picks up. He knows the difference between cars, trucks, buses, and ambulances and constantly points them all out to me as we drive. His favorite are the big yellow school buses though. Good birthday present idea!!

Jumping on his new trampoline (b-day gift from Grandma and PaPa). He LOVES this thing and I can hardly keep him off of it.

Baking a "cake" with mommy. His consisted of lots and lots of baking soda, vinegar, water, seasoning salt and table salt. Yum!

Day at the Natural History Museum in Norman

Toddler Bed Update

May 17, 2011

Well, I am pleased to give a great report on the recent switch to a toddler bed. After the first couple of sleepless nights for me, I changed to a new strategy. I decided that I was not going to lay down with Noah anymore. No matter what. Even if I had to go back into his room and put him into bed 100 times, that's what we were going to do. So, the first night that I tried this (night 3 in the new bed) I had to go back into his room 7 times to put him back into bed. He would get up and bang on the door to get out. By the end of it, he was crying and not too happy with me but he finally stayed in bed. That night he went to sleep about 10pm. Much later than my ideal bedtime. However, after that ONE night he has gone down without a single problem. I lay him down around 8:30pm and he stays in bed, is happy, and falls right to sleep. Nothing short of a miracle! I'm so thankful to have a kid that catches on fast! He really isn't waking up at night anymore. Every once in a while he will, but then he just goes right back to sleep. Naps are still in the crib in the new baby's room. I tried the bed for one of those and let's just say he spent 2 hours DESTROYING his room, then I spent an hour cleaning it up. Not too fun!

Showing off his first scraped knee. He fell down in the park running too fast.

Never again will he get a chocolate fudge bar...

Playing with his favorite toy - the shopping cart!

Tackling Max - Yes, he still does that on a daily basis. I'm surprised Max will go anywhere near him, but I think he secretly likes all of the attention.

In the car on the way to church.

This kid is OBSESSED with water. Every day he brings me his teapot and asks for water. If I say no, which happens a lot considering the water usually ends up spilled all over the house, he throws himself into a fit and screams. I've learned to hate water. One of his favorite things to do with water right now is to play tea party with me in his room.

33 Weeks Pregnant

May 10, 2011

Only 7 weeks left on the new baby countdown. This pregnancy has absolutely flown by! I am huge, but that's no surprise. I don't have any new pics this week. Maybe next week... I am getting more uncomfortable moving around and it's hard to hold Noah for very long. He's so wiggly anyways that I have to pretty much get on to him the entire time I'm holding him so he doesn't kick me in the stomach. He still doesn't get the be still thing. The baby is one active child. Much more than Noah was. I am now worried that he will be even more crazy than Noah. I'm not sure that's possible but I guess we will see!

This week Jakob is about 19 inches long and weighs around 4 1/2 pounds. He now has learned to close his eyes when he's sleeping and keep them open when he's awake (which seems like most of the time). He has also developed his own immune system at this point which is good news just in case he decides to come out early.

We are still finishing up his room so no new pictures of that yet either. My goal is to get everything done in the next couple of weeks so hopefully I'll have some soon!

23 Months Old!

May 10, 2011

Noah is now 23 months old so only 1 left to go! I can't believe that he is already almost 2. That doesn't even seem possible. He is just SO big now and is turning into such a sweet little boy, no longer any trace of a baby at all!

Some of his favorite things to do right now are drawing on the patio with sidewalk chalk (he's getting pretty good at shapes), cooking with mommy, yelling for Zoe and Max then feeding them all of his food, imitating EVERYTHING that Matt and I do, and giving lots of hugs and kisses. He has become very affectionate lately and just wants kisses over and over and over. He will give absolutely anyone a hug and kiss whether they want it or not. It's really sweet and I take advantage of it! I know someday he'll be too big for that so I'm treasuring those moments while I can.

He is also really starting to get the hang of the talking thing. He can repeat pretty much anything we say and has a ton of words that he says on his own. He can name any type of animal that he sees and always points them out to them. He can also name trucks, cars, and planes very accurately and points those out to me the whole time we are in the car. He freaks when he sees a plane still and loves them! I told Matt I should just start taking him to the airport to hang out. He'd be happy there for hours! He's started saying "Big truck!" or "Big plane!" when we see one that is really close to us. I'm really proud of how well he is doing with talking and learning new things. I can tell these next few months he's really going to start changing a lot!

One thing we were recently informed of is that Noah has a little girlfriend at school. His teacher told me a few weeks ago that he was always hugging on this one little girl and that they always played together and sat next to each other. I finally got to witness it for myself at their Game Night the other day. As soon as we walked in, she came running over yelling "NOAH!" and he ran up to her and gave her the biggest hug. It was really cute! I always knew he was going to be a ladies man, I just didn't think it would start this early. Looks like I have my work cut out for me...

Other not so fun things are the never ended eating issue in that he just doesn't eat. Anything. Ever. How he even continues to grow I have no idea. Every single meal is a fight. They said they have the same problem with him at school and they pretty much have to force every bite in him mouth. I force him but it usually doesn't amount to much food. On the upside, he loves to drink things and guzzles water and milk all day. I tried to cut back on liquids thinking that was why he didn't ever eat but it made no difference. So I'm just going with it. Hopefully someday he'll decide that he likes food but until then he's getting it forced down his throat.

Another fun thing that he does is throw up all the time. He gags on EVERYTHING! If he ever gets to crying hard, he'll throw up. I've learned the hard way not to force him to do something, like laying down, because he'll start crying, then gagging, then I'll be cleaning up throw up for the next half hour. The worse thing he did by far was at a restaurant about a month or so ago. He had actually been sick this time and I thought he was over it so we went out to eat with my mom, Kelsey, and Cody. They sat us in the dead center of an extremely crowded room, and RIGHT when they brought the food out and sat it down he started gagging. I could tell what was coming and I thought I had time to run with him to the bathroom, but I didn't. I had just stood up with him and out it came! All over the table, completely ruining our food. Then all over Cody's head and down the back of his shirt. All over the floor, my chair, purse, and diaper bag. I mean, I have NEVER seen so much throw up in my entire life! It happened so fast that I just stood up with him the entire time with everyone in there watching and probably getting sick themselves. It was probably the worst thing I've ever experienced with puking. I did learn a valuable lesson though: Never, EVER stand up with a kid that's about to puke. Put them under the table and confine it to the floor. I love lessons learned the hard way!

Lots of random pictures taken over the last month:

Don't ever assume that a 1 year old is being good when they are quiet. Noah gave Max a bath with baby powder while I was in the bathroom.

Happy Mother's Day!

May 8, 2011

I had a great Mother's Day weekend. We did tons of fun things and saw both grandmothers, which was really nice. However, I did manage to get NO pictures of anything. Not even one of me and Noah together. I did take a picture of the crafts that Noah made for his grandma's. They were canvas squares that had magnets on the back with his handprints. It was a little difficult to do since Noah just wanted to play in the paint, but we managed. They loved them so I guess it was worth it.

First, I celebrated at Mother's Day Out Mother's Day Tea with Noah and all his little friends on Thursday afternoon. It was really fun and Noah gave me his present which was a little bag with his handprints on it. Very cute! That night they also had a game night with all the kiddos. I actually had some pictures from that so they are below :)

Then, Matt's mom and sister came down on Saturday to spend the day with us and Noah had a lot of fun with them. He was a little shy at first but he warmed up quick, like he always does, and was soon dragging them all over the house to play with his toys. They watched him for us that night so Matt and I could actually do something together. The next day my mom and sisters came over to grab lunch and ice cream. We had fun as usual but Noah was having an especially crazy day for some reason so he was a bit of a handful. Anyway, it was a very busy but fun weekend! I'm so thankful to have such a wonderful mom and mother-in-law, and VERY thankful to be a mother myself. Noah is my whole world and I can't wait to meet his little brother so he can become part of that world too!

Noah packed up all his books and carted them around the house. I still haven't found them all...

He figured out how to drag his chair into the bathroom and reach the faucet. Not so good for me. He got into the shaving cream here and made a huge mess!

Game Night at Mother's Day Out:

Planting a seed - he was pretty much only interested in playing in the big bucket of dirt.

Painting! He ended up with blue paint EVERYWHERE! Even in his hair!

When he got his face painted, they held up the big sheet with all of these really cute pictures on it and asked him which one he wanted. He picked out the OSU emblem and that was what he wanted. The girl kind of looked at him weird when he picked that. It was really funny! It's smeared because he wouldn't stop touching it.

Big Changes!

May 2, 2011

We had a really fun (but exhausting!) weekend! My 32nd birthday was on Friday so my mom, Kelsey, Noah and I went out to do some shopping Friday evening for the boys' rooms. I told them what I wanted for my birthday this year was to get both Noah's room and Jakob's room done and organized. We ended up staying out until 11:30 pm on Friday. Noah was a trooper but he was one tired little boy! He always ends up shopping with the girls! We got a ton of new stuff but the biggest purchase was a new toddler bed for Noah. I let him pick it out (sort of). He wasn't too excited about the nice looking wooden beds. He wanted the "buzz" bed! I broke down and got it for him. Although, I didn't put the stickers on it so it's really just a red bed which ended up matching perfectly and looking pretty cute. I did let him get the Toy Story bedding also and he loves it!! He sets in his bed and names all of the characters over and over and over.

Anyway, we spent the entire day on Saturday moving furniture, unpacking boxes, hanging up stuff, and putting things together. Both rooms turned out awesome and I can't wait to do all of the little final touches that will really make them cute.

The first night with Noah in the toddler bed went pretty well. Probably just because he was so exhausted after a busy day. He went down about 9:30 and slept until 4:30 which is when I had to go get into bed with him to get him to go back to sleep. Being 8 months pregnant and trying to fit into a TINY toddler bed with a wild toddler is not really my idea of fun. He didn't go back to sleep until 6:00 am but he slept in until about 9 so I survived. However, the last couple of nights weren't so easy. He wouldn't go lay down in it without me in there, and when I'm in there he doesn't want to sleep. He has ended up staying up until 10:30 pm the last couple of nights and still waking up at 4 every morning. I'm a little exhausted from all of it but I'm sticking with it. My plan is to slowly get him in there earlier and only lay down with him for about 15 minutes to start with then less and less as he gets more used to the new bed. As for him waking up, I'm not too sure what to do about that yet. Maybe just get him up for a few minutes then put him back in it without laying down with him. We'll see! I'll let you know how it goes...

31 weeks pregnant and HUGE!!

Noah in his new bed!

More pictures of the rooms once they are completely done!!