Noah is 6 months old today!

Quick Noah Update...Pics to follow tomorrow...

Stats:

Length:

27 inches

70%

...

Weight:

14.8 lbs

Between 5% & 10%

...

Head:

17 inches

25%

So, still long and scrawny! He has fallen off his curve some, but he is still growing which is good! He is still vomiting on occasion, although the medicine has seemed to help some. But, he is still going to have to have an upper GI. We haven't made the appointment yet, but I will keep everyone posted. Dr. Laura said her concern was that their may be a web of tissue creating a partial blockage into the stomach. Ok, well she said something along those lines. The room started spinning and I got some tears in my eyes. She started to sound like the teacher on Charlie Brown. I am going to have to call tomorrow to get some more questions anwered...


And on the delaying vaccinations front... Today, he got two vaccinations, and probably not the ones you would think. He got the rotavirus oral vaccine, and the flu shot. Kind of a risk vs. benefits call. These two very common illnesses can be fatal in young babies. Noah is obviously at risk for both being in daycare (the very best daycare I might add.) We will see how he does with these. Assuming all goes well...In three weeks he is scheduled to get the Prevnar, a few weeks later he will get the Hib and eventually the Pediarix which is many vaccines in one. Everything will have to go pretty perfect for us to sign up for that one. We are taking it one step at a time. Or should I say, one shot at a time...

We're Off To See The Wizard

Hope has been dreaming a big Halloween dream for months. She loves the Wizard of Oz. She wanted us to ALL dress up for the Halloween Carnival at church (where she remembered that Ms. Shauna was dressed up as a witch last year...she says the wicked witch.) She wanted to be Dorothy, of course. She wanted her Daddy to be the Tin Man. She wanted Noah to be the Cowardly Lion. And she wanted me to be Glinda the good witch. John and I are not really the dressing up type of folks. But, she wanted us to sooo badly, we finally caved. I really didn't think I could pull off Glinda's pink dress, and I was shocked (and appalled) at the price of Glinda's costume. I had to convince Hope to let me be a scarecrow. She was upset because obviously, The scarecrow is a boy. I told her I would be a girl scarecrow with pigtails, and she finally agreed. After a few tears. It really almost broke me down and I almost forked over the cash. I kept trying to buy John a tin man costume on ebay, but I didn't think the One Size Fits Most would fit his 6'2"-ness. He told me not to worry about it, that he would handle it. He sent me to Hobby Lobby with a short list. Poster board, silver spray paint and silver make-up. So I grabbed those and the scarecrow supplies. Then, my very wonderful mother said that she would put it together for me so I could go to bed Saturday night! Love her! To say I had my doubts that John could pull this off is an understatement. He had only spray painted his shoes before Sunday. I had to work at the church setting up the carnival all day Sunday, which means he had both babies by himself, was going to have to get them fed, napped and dressed AND get his costume made and on and be back to the church by 4:30. Again, I had my doubts. He did it though! When they pulled up, I had my costume on and Hope was just beaming. She was so proud of all of us. At that moment, I knew it had all been worth it. We had a great night! I only got these 2 pictures on my camera, but I know Deni has some more for me, so I will have to add those later! Hope wanted a picture of us holding hands, so I will add those later too! Oh, and we WON the costume contest! We weren't even going for a prize, but it was definitely a bonus. I am so glad my girl is a dreamer, and I am happy we could help make this dream come true for her!

Jonesboro

A childhood friend of mine posted this picture on facebook from when I was growing up in Jonesboro. I think it was right before we moved to Little Rock. It is so funny that as soon as I see all of these people I remember their names and things about them. Some of them I haven't seen since 1990. And yes, I believe those are watches all over my shirt.

Real Mothers

My friend Amanda just sent this to me. It made me feel a tad bit better about my messy house.

....

Real Mothers don't eat quiche;
they don't have time to make it.

Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils
are probably in the sandbox.

Real Mothers often have sticky floors,
filthy ovens and happy kids.

Real Mothers know that dried play dough
doesn't come out of carpets.

Real Mothers don't want to know what
the vacuum just sucked up.

Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?'
and get their answer when a little
voice says,

'Because I love you best.'

Random Photos

Because you know I love to reminisce!

These pictures are of Hope. She is about 2 weeks younger than Noah is right now. And yes, she could sit up by herself. (It is SO hard not to compare...) I remember this day so well, and I loved this outfit on her. I wish I had kept it, but I sold it on ebay. So hard to believe she is going to be 4 in just a few weeks. I also miss our green house. It was our first house, and I loved it. Hated the yard, but loved the house. We live just about a mile away from it now, and it makes me sad to drive past it. I just have to remember that the yard sucks.

Vaccinations Question

Have any of you delayed any of your babies vaccinations? I want to first say that I see the benefits of vaccinations. Hope has had every vaccination on time, no problems and I am thankful for that. In fact, she even just got the flu mist last week. And she will get her 4 year shots in a couple more weeks. Noah, however has not done well with his 2 and 4 month vaccinations. For his 6 month vaccinations, his pediatrician and I have decided to stagger them. Basically every six weeks he will receive another vaccination. He will still be "school legal." Dr. Laura said it was a good time to see if this works because no shots are normally given at 9 months. If he does well, great! If not, however, I am not sure what we will do. I can't not have him vaccinated and send him to school. And on the other hand, we can't afford for me to not work. I say that, but of course if he is going to get sick from his vaccinations, and therefore can't go to school, we would somehow find a way, but it would be very difficult financially. If this delayed round doesn't go well, we will pull the plug for a while. I will not risk it. Of course there is all the stuff in the media right now about the MMR vaccine being linked to autism, but then you have the medical community saying that it's not true. I do put a lot of my trust in medicine, especially Dr. Laura, but now I am also seeing that not every child reacts the same way to vaccines. Maybe the 30+ childhood vaccinations are just too much for some babies. Maybe my Noah is one of those babies. Just thought maybe some of you would have some insight!

Vote No to Act One Video

Vote No to Act One

So this is a pretty "happy blog." I don't enjoy controversy so I don't speak much about politics and such on this blog. I was raised in a bipartisan household. My mom and dad have canceled out each others votes for as long as I can remember. I think because of this I am a bit of a fence straddler. I will say that I do tend to lean to the left. I will also say that my vote will go to Obama on November 4. Although I do feel very strongly about this, I will not waste my time trying to convince you why you also should vote for him. I think everyone has made up their mind, and I do respect that. As long as you vote, I am happy.

Now for my brief stand on my soapbox. If you live in Arkansas, Please vote No to Act One. No matter if you are a democrat, republican or fellow fence straddler. These children need homes. Act One only makes it harder to find loving homes for these children. If for what ever reason you vote yes, I think you should be required to immediately become a foster parent.

Problem Solved

Noah has recently learned how to splash. Not little splashes. Like empty the tub onto the floor, walls, counter top splashes. So my solution...put his baby tub into the big bath with Hope. It was great. I have done this a few times now and everybody is happy. Noah is able to splash away. Hope loves having brother in the tub. And mommy is not completely drentched afterwards.

Oh, and if you have a baby, meet my new favorite Baby Soap...Method from Target. Loooove it!

Mommy Vs. Noah

Noah and I have both been fighting little health battles over the last month or so. Thankfully, they are not serious problems, just annoying. It goes something like this in a repetitive cycle:

Round One: Noah projectile vomits everywhere. Like massive amounts. Just once. Anywhere from every 3 or 4 days to a week or so. Let's just say this round might have happened at a favorite place to eat. We'll call it Justin's Deli. :-) I keep him home from school, but he's fine. No fever. No more vomit.

Round Two: Mastitis for mommy. (This has been an on going battle for me since Noah's birth. If you don't know what it is, don't look it up. If you aren't a nursing mother there's really no reason for you to know what it is. I was hospitalized for 4 days with this 12 days after Noah was born. I am VERY modest and this is an uncomfortable conversation for me, but if you have had reoccurring mastitis and have any tips for me, email them to me. If you don't, no offense but I don't want to discuss it. Pretend like you never saw this!) Anyway, this comes on very fast for me and I run a fever of about 103 justhours after first feeling it coming on. I am completely miserable for about 24 hours.

Just as soon as one of us starts to feel better, the other one comes back with another round of their affliction. Our recent week went like this: Friday: Mommy. Sunday: Noah. Wednesday and Thursday: Mommy. Saturday: Noah. Oh, and just to try to one up him, I smashed my finger in the door at church today. :-)

We are both being treated with meds and being watched by our doctors. Noah's is being treated as reflux. If his meds don't work by his 6 month check up, they will do an upper GI to rule out Pyloric Stenosis. Obviously we are praying for his meds to work!

Pumpkin Patch

Our favorite Pumpkin Patch was closed this year. This made me very sad. I was just about to just go set the kids out in front of some pumpkins at a nearby church that is selling pumpkins when John said let's just go try another pumpkin patch. I am so glad we did. I think it might be even better. It was way crowded, but what can you expect on a Saturday in October. Hope did not exactly cooperate on the picture taking. She would look anywhere BUT at the camera. It was a perfect weather day and we all had a good time. We'll be back... Here is a pumpkin patch post from the past...click here.

Hope's Day

We took Hope to the Fair by herself on Friday. She was concerned about Noah not getting to go with us and I told her it was "Hope's Day." It was kind of an odd feeling all day. It used to only be the three of us all the time, but now it is so strange not toting Noah around with us. It was definitely no place for a five month old and I know he had a much better time hanging out with his baby buddies. We went on Kiddie Day when the rides were free from 10 to noon. Then we grabbed some yummy fair food (I loooove fair food...especially Greater Taters!) We went to the children's barn, saw some animals, Hope had her face painted, rode a few more rides, played a game and headed out. It was a great day together!

*We always say Hope has a mind like a steele trap. On the way to the fair we were telling her where we were going and she started naming all the things we did at the Texas State Fair. She was 2 years old and she named about 10 things she remembered doing there. See that post by clicking here.

* I was not feeling well on Thursday and I was about to take a bath. Hope asked what I was doing and I said I was trying to feel better so that we could go to the fair tomorrow. She said "But Mommy, they have trash cans and potties at the fair." I said "Umm, ok." She said "You can just throw up in those at the fair!" Great idea Hope. Nice to see you care! :-)

Our Pumpkins' Pumpkins

The babies' school has a "family activity" where you decorate pumpkins for your children and they are displayed through out the hallways of their school. I will confess that I did not make this a family activity. Not because I didn't want to, it was just a crazy week. Sadly, I instead went in to work on my day off to make them. Hope's is Cinderella's Pumpkin Coach and Noah's is a Lion (maybe because he is going to be a Lion for Halloween...who knows?!) I am pretty proud of how his turned out. And Hope is very proud of Cinderella's Coach!

"What are you all doing right now?"

Daddy called tonight and wanted to know what we were doing. He asked me to take some pictures so he could look at them on the blog. These are all during the "Dancing with the Stars" hour. Hope is a DWTS fanatic. While John and I were in Vegas, Mimi got the girl hooked on the show. She doesn't like the results show, and on the dancing night, don't dare watch it live. She just wants you to fast forward so she can dance to each dance. No talking. No scores. Just dancing. Oh, and she has to have a wardrobe change for each song. Seriously. She will not wear the same dress twice in one night. She wants me or John to dance with her. She tells me exactly what to do, and it usually involves me lifting her or flipping her over.

Noah was hanging out watching Mommy and Hope act crazy. I wonder what he thinks of our mad dancing skills.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Hope's Got Style

Hope takes dance. She loves it. The absolute best part of dance is that the teacher comes to Hope's school to give lessons. Are you kidding me? Sign us up. All I have to do is pack her dance bag on Wednesdays. I put in a pair of tights, her ballet shoes and leotard. Apparently, some children have "tutus" on their leotards. The ones I bought do not. She wants a "tutu." Now, the ones I have seen children wear to dance are more like very simple skirts. So, last Wednesday I packed her bag complete with shoes, black leotard and red tights (with black hearts. We have to stand out a little, right? Hope is in charge of carrying her dance bag to the car and into school. She managed to sneak her big HUGE Ladybug tutu into her little dance bag. When it was time for dance, she apparently didn't want to wear the black leotard, and chose to wear the Halloween shirt instead. Here is the picture her dance teacher just sent me!

That's my girl! Love her!

Precious Boy

Noah was being such a ham! I couldn't stop taking his picture, and now and can't pick which ones to post! So, now you just have to look at all 11 of my favorites. It's my blog. I can post a ridiculous amount of pictures of the same face if I want to!