Shout out to Daddy

Here's Noah's message to Daddy. It says "Cool. Just Like Daddy" I won't even add my sarcastic remark here like I am sooo tempted to do....

Noah has really started to focus on people and objects in the last week or so. He seems to really like the mobile in his bassinet.

Twinkies

I took Noah to be weighed on Tuesday. He was 8 lbs 12 oz!

On Wednesday night I gave them both a bath. Hope likes to pick out Noah's PJs. She found these blue ones and remembered that we had bought her some matching pink ones. She was so excited! Do you think she will still like to match her brother when she is about 13 years old? (Heather, I expect a comment from you here!) It was short lived, because she soon remembered that she doesn't like "feetsy weetsy" pjs because they make her hot!

Look at the love!

I love his little pouty face!

Look, I put him in his bed! Just for a picture, though! (Baby steps...)

I get by with a little help...

From my friends...and my sister!

Friday was not a good day in our house. Not at all. We are all fine and healthy, but it was just one of those days where pretty much anything that could go wrong did. The worst of which I can not even post, but let's just say I am not going to be up for mother of the year. I don't mind telling you what happened, it's just not something I want to post. We finally left for the family reunion, about 5 hours later than originally planned. It was great. Really, family reunions are not always fun things, but we have a fun family. As we headed back, I was starting to get sad about John going back to work tomorrow, and stressed about my messy house I left on Friday and all that needs to get done before he leaves in the morning. I knew we were in for a not fun night. I walked in the door, and my house was clean! It really took me a minute to process! My sister came and cleaned my house! I just love her!

Then, I went out the front door, and there was a package from one of my very best friends, April. Packages from April are ALWAYS good things. Hope knew it was a good thing, too, because April always sends her and Noah fun suprises. In the box was probably the coolest gift I have ever been given. She turned our blog into a book! It is all the entries from the few weeks leading up to Noah's birth. It is such a special gift. I just love her, too!

One Month Old

What? Surely a month hasn't already passed. It has gone by really fast!

I am going to try to remember to take Noah's picture next to one of these things each month to see how he is growing (I saw this great idea on another blog and loved it! Please remind me to do it if I forget!) The bear is the Build A Bear that Hope made for him before he was born, and the doll is "Pretend Noah" the baby that Hope carried around everywhere while I was pregnant. Every Sunday she got to pick out one of real Noah's outfits to dress him in for church. Pretend Noah isn't getting as much attention now that the real Noah is here.

Here are some pictures of the "Birthday Boy." He loves to lay in the sunshine on his changing tables. It is the best place to catch his almost smiles. That is, before you change him. He HATES to be naked. These sweet smiles change quickly when he feels a draft!

Here are a few other things we have learned about the baby boy in the past month.

• He loves for you to run your fingers through his hair
• He hates his carseat
• He loves to be held (24/7!)
• No loud noises, please!
• He doesn't like baths, either!
• He loves to bounce on the exercise ball
• All things that vibrate are good! The bouncy seat, the bassinet, Hope's orange cat toy...(I need to write a whole post about that silly cat.)
• He likes the taste of Mylicon, but not Gripe Water!

And while I am listing things, here are some of the places he has gone to already:

• 2 trips to the mall
• 2 trips to Dixie Cafe
• 2 ball games
• the zoo
• several car dealerships
• the grocery store
• Target (of course!)
• And he made his first trip to church last Sunday

Another first will happen tomorrow. His first out of town trip. We are all going to the McCabe House for the Naylor family reunion. Hope is so excited about swimming inside the house. She can't wait!

And, another post I need to sit down and write...Hope can Read! Seriously. She can sound out lots of simple words. It is scary. I will write more later!

Lesson Learned

At around 3:45 this afternoon, I realized that I had been holding Noah since about 11:30. Seriously, I had not gotten up to go to the bathroom, get a drink, anything. Why, you ask...because he likes to be held. He is a really good, doesn't fuss kind of baby....as long as you hold him. I blame this on our second trip to the hospital when he was allowed to stay in my room. We held him 24 hours a day for 4 days. He even slept in the bed with me. It has started to occur to me that this might soon be a problem. Like when I go babck to work in a couple of weeks. And like when John goes back to work. So, at 3:45, I put him down. In his swing. He quickly started crying. I had to call my sister so she could help me be strong while I let him cry. (John and Hope were at the pool.) I let him cry for 5 minutes, changed his diaper, swaddled him up, and put him back in the swing. He fell asleep! All on his own. I know that I should know better than to have not let this baby cry at all for the last 3.5 weeks. I like my mom's theory that I just felt so bad for so long that holding him was all I could do. That theory works for a while, but now that I am better, it doesn't hold up as well!

We bought John a new car this week. Another Accord. Got to love the Hondas. They are tinting the windows for him right now though, and they have given him a really geeky hatchback car. I won't say the model in case someone out there drives the same car! I will say it is a new model car but still probably the ugliest car I have ever been in. I just get in the car and laugh.

Here are some random pics from yesterday. The first I just thought was funny that they were both making silly faces.

And one quick Hope story:

I am borrowing a baby sling from Andrea. It is called a Peanut Shell. I was folding it yesterday and Hope asked what it was. I told her it was a Peanut Shell. No more questions, she just went to Noah's room and started looking through Noah's books. I walk back there a few minutes later and she is looking at the Mother Goose book. She has it opened to Peter Peter Pumkin Eater. She says, "Mommy, is this a Peanut Shell?" Pointing to the Pumpkin Shell where he kept her very well. I just love the way her little mind works.

Hope's Ballet Recital

Well, a star was born tonight! We weren't sure if she would cooperate, or just not even get on the stage. She absolutely ate it up! She loved every minute of being on the stage. She has already asked if she can do her reciatal again tomorrow. She was pretty darn cute as a Lemon Drop! "Thank You" to Hope's cheering section who sat and waited for her group to perform. The wait was brutal! We are so proud of our little ballerina!

Her first steps onto the stage

Can you tell she loved it?

Hope and Noah Time

I love when Hope

decides she needs a little time with her brother. She needed him this morning before she went to school. She really is so sweet to him.

Noah's First Real Outing

Noah is officially 3 weeks old! I am feeling a lot better, and we were all ready for a fun outing. We headed to the zoo for a little while today! It was a fun time, until Noah had the poopy diaper to end all poopy diapers. I mean caked on poop all the way to his ankles! What in the world?! We had to leave the zoo with him down to his diaper! We hosed him down, found a clean outfit and then took him to meet our friends on staff at our church. We ended the night with supper at my sister's. It was a fun day and it felt good to be back in the real world. Hopefully we can do some more fun things this week before Daddy goes back to work next week. I have NO idea how I am going to hold down the fort alone here when he goes back. I am saying prayers now. It has been soo nice having him around 24/7 since Noah's birth.

Tomorrow is Hope's first dance recital! I will try to get pictures up so you can all see our little "Lemon Drop!" Cross your fingers that she will cooperate!

Pics for Grandma Sharon

Hope and Noah have a very special "Honorary Grandmother." Grandma Sharon is one of our all- time favorite people, and she is always doing special things for our family, even all the way from Texas. These beautiful flowers were delivered today, and somehow, before I even read the card, I knew they had to be from Grandma Sharon. We wish she lived here in Arkansas, but we are still so thankful she is such a big part of our lives. I know she will look at the blog when she wakes up in the morning, so I thought the least I could do was to post a few pictures just for her!

These are some pictures John took of Hope at the park today. She talks about climbing on the spider web thing all the time. She is a little too brave. John said she also did part of the monkey bars completely by herself!

Here is Noah in the sweet cradle. I love to watch him snooze in there. (And before I get lectures, we just let him take a little cat nap on his belly while we sat and watched him. The cradle is in the middle of the living room! He sleeps on his back at night!)

We miss you, Grandma Sharon! Please come see us soon!

We're Home! (AGAIN!)

The boy is still doing great. He's pretty perfect, actually. However, an infection landed me back in the hospital for the past 4 days. John took me to the ER on Mother's Day morning, and I have been there ever since. I guess I missed the hospital food. I promise I have now had my fill of hospital food, and the infection is responding well to the antibiotics.

I do feel like I need a Mother's Day redo. I didn't even hold my baby all day on Mother's Day. That's just not right. Mother's Day has not been what I expected the last 2 years! Last year, I was flying home to Texas from Pennsylvania with John after his emergency surgery. See those posts here and here. Maybe as a family we should just skip Mother's Day all together! I am very thankful for my mom who always swoops in to save the day, even on Mother's Day.

Noah has officially spent the night away from us already. My mom kept him for us the first night. I think Hope was 2 years old before we let her spend the night anywhere! After the first night, he was allowed to stay with us in the room 24/7, which was nice. Hope was allowed to visit, but she spent the nights with my sister or my mom. So, another huge thank you to my sweet sister and mom for taking care of things, like they always do. I know Hope loved all the extra attention. I do think that she is glad that we are all back home together tonight. I know her Mommy is glad.

As a matter of fact, he DOES fit in that basket!