December 4, 2009
I've always loved this time of the year. It's so much fun getting ready for Christmas with all the family traditions, good food, Christmas lights, and, of course, presents! This season is so much more fun now that that we have Noah to share it with. We have been trying to start new family traditions of our own this year. So, for Christmas, we decorated the house, then we let Noah put the star on the tree, and finished up with a trip to the Yukon park to look at all the Christmas lights. Noah absolutely loved it! He was really into the lights and couldn't quite take it all it. He was whipping his head around like crazy just trying to look at all of it. This will be a tradition that he will hopefully really enjoy for years to come. I'm not sure what we will do when we have more than one child, I guess they will just have to take turns putting the star on the tree.
I also want to spend a lot of time each Christmas teaching Noah about why we celebrate Christmas. That it's not really about all the fun stuff that we do, although that's fine. I just want him to understand that there is something much more important to celebrate. Jesus came to this earth in order to save us, to give everything he had to us, so that we can be free to live our lives built on love. I want to do something each year that shows Noah how we can thank Jesus for what he has done for us by giving ourselves back to him through loving others. This year we are going to buy presents for a child from Abby's school that doesn't have any other way of getting anything for Christmas. Hopefully, he will learn to really enjoy this and become a person that is filled with love for others instead of anger and indifference like so many people are these days.
Noah putting the star on the Christmas tree
Helping mommy put the tree together
November 23, 2009
Almost Thanksgiving again! Wow! I remember last year on Thanksgiving I told my family that I was pregnant and we were all imagining what it would be like next year with a little baby. Now here we are, a year later, and we are all having so much fun with Noah. It seems like he has grown a ton these past couple of weeks. I can barely carry him around for an extended time anymore. My arms are killing me! He is such a little chunk! I took him to the Dr with me last week and the PA was holding him. She was like, "He's really, umm, stout." Yeah, I know. He's huge.
Hopefully, this means he will be really good at sports, not to mention a very smart kid, and get that full ride to college.Anyway, he is doing absolutely great! We couldn't be any more blessed than we are. He is so smart, super cute, and so engaged and active. He has learned a new skill --- throwing a temper tantrum when we take a toy away that he wants. It's really funny but it kinda worries me that he is already doing this so much. His favorite right now is this monkey book that my mom got him. He LOVES it! I'm not sure why, but I can barely let him play with it anymore because he gets so worked up about it. It's impossible to get him away from it. Other things he loves: my cell phone, my plate when I'm eating, my jacket, the remote, Max and Zoe, pretty much anything that he's not supposed to play with. He has a ton of toys but all he wants to play with are the things he can't have. Typical.
He's still doing great with his baby food and is over his bottle strike. No problems with eating at the moment. He's really loving his cereal and baby food and doesn't have that much interest in nursing anymore. He still does it but it's hard to get him to nurse more than a few minutes. He just wants to play with me.
He is so much fun to play with right now. I am teaching him how to clap and he's almost got it. He knows what I'm saying and he reaches his hands out to clap and spreads out his fingers but he can't quite bang them together by himself yet. He recognized all the songs I sing to him regularly and gets really excited when he hears them. His favorites are ABC's and Jesus Loves Me. He has also learned how to jump and spin in his exersaucer. He really loves that. He is also still really into the Baby Einstein videos. He yells and talks to the animals on the screen the entire time it's on. It's great for the morning when I'm trying to get stuff done. His teeth are coming in and I can see them very clearly now. I'm thinking that there are more on the way soon by the way he acts. He is also very clearly favoring his left side so I'm thinking that we have a lefty on our hands.
All bundled up
First two teeth (this picture was nearly impossible to get)
Fun with Grandma and Grandpa
November 2, 2009
Noah is growing up so fast. I can't believe it's been almost 5 months already. He is just SO big! He is really becoming more aware and interactive with us. I know I say that too much but every week he just notices more and does more. Now he is grabbing EVERYTHING! No more earrings for me! We had one incident with a hoop earring last week so I learned that lesson the hard way. He loves playing with his feet now and grabs them and sucks on his toes all the time. He really loves all his toys but his favorite things to play with are still his hands, feet, and my face. I think he discovered that he also has a face this week because he has started to rub his forehead and hair all the time now. He also plays with his nose a lot. He LOVES looking in the mirror at himself now so I prop him up in front of it all the time and he just cracks up. He really likes to hit and grab at himself so I have to be a little careful or he bumps his head on it. He has started to bring his legs up underneath himself when he is on his tummy so I don't think it will be too much longer before he starts trying to scoot and crawl. He got a new toy this week - an exersaucer! He really likes sitting up in it but he hasn't figured out how to turn or jump in it yet. He has also started to pay more attention to Max and Zoe and laughs at them every time he sees them. We were sitting in the chair last night and Max was lounging on the floor next to us so I let Noah lean over the arm to watch him and he laughed at Max laying there for about 15 minutes. Max was a little confused but he enjoyed all the attention. Noah had another big first this week - he got to try baby food for the first time. He was doing so great with his cereal that I thought I would try it and see. He actually really liked it, especially the sweet potatoes. He also liked the peas quite a bit but not as much. Two bad things about baby food: 1) when they spit up it is orange and green and it stains EVERYTHING! 2) their poop stinks!
