Time Flies

The other day Randi and I were looking at old pictures of Noah.  I cannot believe how much he has changed!  Some of them really had me laughing and I forgot how chubby he was there for awhile.  He sure has slimmed down now.  His leg rolls are gone and have been for some time now!  As I was looking through the pictures we looked at the ones of the day we took him home from the hospital.  That doesn't seem that long ago.  I remember getting home, laying on the floor while we looked at him and thinking now what do we do, all day, every day with him?  I remember anxiously awaiting for him to make it to the next step and get to new milestones! Wow have we hit a bunch in the last almost 14 months!  I love this boy more and more every day and more than I ever thought possible.  So many people miss having a newborn but I don't think I adjusted well as first and he was a cranky, and picky little boy.  I only got the cuddly stage for the first couple weeks after that he wanted to be held facing out and was never a baby who let you rock him to sleep (well for me anyway). 

With a new baby on the way, I'm hoping for a cuddler this time. I want to know what that's like because right now as much as I love Noah I would never want to go back to that newborn stage with him.   Where we are right now is so much better.  He's still ornery,  but cuter than ever and has me laughing at him all day!

Here is Noah around 4 months

And here is our big 1 year old!

What a difference! 

Our Trouble Maker

Boy oh boy,Noah sure is getting around these days!  He doesn't need anything to help him get up anymore he can just get up on his own and its so funny to watch him do it.  I think just in the last week or two he has decided he choose to walk all the time instead of doing both crawling and walking like he was before.  Sometimes he looks like he is almost running he gets to walking so fast.  He still tumbles sometimes when he gets to walking ahead of himself.  

Anyways now that he can go anywhere, whenever he wants it seems he is always into something.  One of his favorite things to do is take the remote to the tile or a hard surface like the entertainment center and throw it on it until the back comes off.  Then he usually tries to put it back together himself and then can't so it gives it to me.  I have been trying to keep this hidden but don't always remember.  Here he is trying to get the batteries back in.  

 If he can't find the remote or if it doesn't work because we have taken out the batteries, he has found the buttons on the side of the TV so he can still change what is on the screen.  I don't know why he loves doing this, he is fascinated by the ability to change what is on the screen, whether it be by the remote, keyboard, or the side buttons!

 This morning I was just finishing up getting ready in the bathroom and he snuck in, with his burp cloth.  I turned around to get him and he was staring in the toilet because he had thrown it in there!  All it took was 2 seconds.  I have been trying to keep all the bathroom doors closed but I was in there with him and he still managed to sneak over!  Later today, Matthew caught Noah in the half bath and his hands in the water, gross!

 Every day if he hears or sees the dishwasher open he is over to it in no time.  This morning I was unloading it  and managed to get the bottom empty before he found me in there.  I have to do the bottom first every time because the other day he was trying to help and took a bowl out and dropped it on the floor.  You can imagine what a ceramic bowl did on ceramic tile!  He loves just pushing the racks in and out and they usually end up off the tracks but sometimes the dishes just need unloaded when he's not sleeping.  

 He was trying to get his sippy cup out and was quite angry that it was stuck

While this stage is tiring and leaving me constantly chasing and keeping track of where he is, I wouldn't trade it for the world.  I love it!  He also plays so well sometimes and is so fun to play with!  Our little boy is quite the little showboat these days.  We have got to try and get more video, I want to be able to show him someday what a silly kid he was!

First Sonogram

This morning I had my first ultrasound for baby #2.  I was excited to get the chance to see our little one and just to get piece of mind and also to see that there was only 1 baby.  The first trimester is always so scary, I've never had any problems yet, but know so many people who have.  I truly was counting my blessings today, when they said the wonderful words, "everything looks great".  From the ultrasound we were right on track with how far along we thought we were, exactly 12 weeks today. The heartbeat was good also at 159 beats per minute.   We got some great pictures too!  At Noah's 12 week ultrasound the pictures hardly looked like a baby at this point and you couldn't really see much, but I was quite impressed with how much we could see this time.  We got pictures of the hands, feet, legs and some 3D images as well, which we didn't get with Noah until 20 weeks.  Here are the first pictures of him/her!  

Being shy already, covering it's face!  It still has little nubs, but they are still cute!

Sick Baby Boy

This last weekend, wasn't any fun at all.  Noah on Thursday and Friday couldn't seem to keep much food down.  He had been getting sick after each meal.  Well since we have a past of doing that a lot after meals I really didn't think too much of it.  He was still playing pretty well so I didn't think he was sick.  Well Friday night he woke up in the middle of the night (definitely not abnormal either) Matthew was still up so he went in there.  Shortly after I heard him continue to cry and went in there to check.  Matthew told me he was burning up and I felt him. He sure was so we got out the thermometer to check and his temp was up to 103.  I was a little freaked out now, Noah never really runs a fever, not during teething, and never with anything else he has had.  I went to get him a drink, some Tylenol  and tried to put a cool washcloth on him, which he wouldn't let stay on there.  We took turns rocking him and we could now hear him starting to wheeze.  Well he was up on and off for the rest of the night and the next morning, he was definitely not any better, except for the fever wasn't as high.  I was a little worried and Matthew was as well.

Since it was Saturday our doctors office wasn't open so we took him to Prompt Care.  They didn't have an actual doctor working that day, instead there was a nurse practitioner.  She listened to him and said boy he sure is wheezing and we attempted a breathing treatment which didn't go well and she told me it's okay and we quit.  She then prescribed an antibiotic and off we went.  Well all through Saturday, and Sunday he still was miserable, wasn't sleeping at all, fever was up and down but never up to 103 again, coughing and then crying so hard afterwards because something was hurting and wheezing so loud!  It was so sad.  I felt AWFUL!  I hated not being able to help him.  I did get lots of cuddling in.  He hardly wanted to play at all and just layed around a lot, very unlike my son.

Well after Monday going by as well and he still hadn't slept much and his antibiotic was only to be taken for 3 days so we were done with that and all the symptoms were still there, so we called his actual doctor today.  They got him in this morning so  Jill took him and I left work to meet her there and we got in pretty quick thankfully!  The nurse practitioner came in and thought he sounded awful right away considering you could hear him from a distance.  Once the doctor came in she listened and decided to try some breathing treatments.  We had to do them while we were there with her checking him in between.  He absolutely hates them.  It's awful, he screamed almost the entire time and we pretty much had to hold all his extremities down.  Poor guy was a red, sweaty mess afterwards from getting all worked up.Bad news was she wants us to continue the breathing treatments every 3-4 hours which I can barely stand to do since he hates them so much.  Then  she also decided to still put him on a steroid to help kick this faster since he has something pretty bad.  Out of all things it was Prednisone, which I absolutely hate since I was on and off that for years with my hives and hated the side effects.

Well anyways after getting the breathing treatments and the Prednisone we had a different boy this afternoon and tonight.  He was just plain goofy!  Still wheezing some but playing great, took a great nap for his Nana Jill this afternoon too which he hasn't done in days.  Poor guy hasn't been able to sleep since he couldn't breathe.    I have never seen him act so weird, I think maybe the medicine has made him a little loopy.  None the less it was so great to see him, smiling, laughing and playing with us again.  I have missed that these last few days and have hated seeing him feel so awful!  I'm hoping tonight we can all get a great nights sleep because tomorrow is a busy day and we have to go back to the doctor again tomorrow so she can recheck them.  We are definitely ready to move on from this!

Valentine's Day

Monday was Valentine's day and I don't generally like the holiday. Never really have, sorry for those who do. But I hate how it has to make people feel that don't have someone and then it makes guys feel like they have to do something. I would much rather something come when I wasn't expecting anything. Since we don't really make a big deal out of it, I wasn't expecting anything Monday. I had asked Kate and Randi if they wanted to come over and make cookies after school. They both said yeah but Kate said she had to go home first and do some things. I didn't understand why she couldn't do them afterwards but didn't think too much of it. So they got here and we made the cookies, Randi had to leave and Kate and I decided we wanted to go to Puerta to eat. I figured it would be a lot less busy than other places. So we were just waiting for Matthew to get home so we could leave and when he got home he asked if I was ready and I asked Kate. Then she got really excited and said I'm not going I'm staying here. Matthew had asked her the week before if she would watch Noah so we could go out and eat and go see a movie. I was surprised and excited but it's hard for me to leave Noah when I'm not expecting to. I know he would be in good hands though, she is so good with him so I got ready and we left for our evening. That was a good Valentine's Day because I wasn't expecting anything and he managed to surprise me. We had a great date, considering it was our first real one since last Valentine's Day when we went out to eat. Last year Noah was just too young, that's all I could leave him for.  I have been away from Noah a lot but it's always been for youth stuff, stuff with other people and not Matthew, work, or group things.  Matthew and I have had movie nights in, but its nice to get out of the house together alone!  Hopefully we can do this more often this year and some more before baby  #2 comes.

Busy Busy!

Wow, has this week been busy.  I have worked more and we had things outside of work going on so I have missed my little boy.  I don't think I have ever left him so much in one week.  I don't see how full time moms do it.  Today it's just me and him and I have been looking forward to today.  He's already down for a nap, he woke up early and I don't think he has been feeling well so he went down pretty early.  Today is a MOPS day but since he doesn't seem to be feeling the greatest I didn't want to bring him this morning in case he is getting something.  Plus I just want/need a day at home! Last night I stayed up doing lots of cleaning and laundry to get caught back up.  I'm still finishing laundry this morning but at least the house is decent.  It's been rough this week, I just haven't been able to keep up.  Our schedule is just very busy from March until June so I've got to stay on top of things and hopefully this house sells soon.  It's so exhausting trying to keep it cleaned up all the time.  I'm losing steam and going through  cleaning supplies like nobody's business.  Every morning that I work I try to get everything picked up (not clean, just picked up) in case they show it. It's impossible to clean every morning with Noah following us around everywhere we go.  He gets up so early now, there is no beating him up to get things done.  Later on, I'm hoping to get outside with him.  He loves it out there so much so this weather is exciting.  I have a feeling we will be playing outside a lot this summer! Have a great Friday everyone!  I know I will!

Shapes

For Noah's birthday he got a shape sorter from Great Aunt Kay and Great Uncle Mark.  I just love old school toys that make them think and don't have sounds or lights.  Don't get me wrong I love those toys too, but sometimes quiet is nice.  With the shape sorter he loves the circle and the star and always picks them out of all the shapes and most of the time only wants to play with those.  We have been working on learning their names, but so far no such luck.  Here he is with his favorite shapes...

 He moved the toy on the couch but still has the same circle and square in his hands and just the cutest expression!

 And this one is just for fun,  he was trying to get in the toy so I decided to help him out and put him in.  I will probably regret this later when he wants in it all the time.  Love him so much!

Bubbles

Aunt Randi and Kate got Noah some bubbles for his birthday.  I have never really thought about them before that.  I guess he has had sensitive skin all along so we have tried to not use anything extra on him, but now that he isn't a baby anymore and over a year, he has been doing much better and seeming to loose some of the sensitivity.  I was finishing up some things last night and Matthew had started the bath and decided to try the bubbles. At first thought I didn't think it would go very well knowing how Noah is with weird textures and things on his hands but I thought maybe he would just think they look cool.  No such luck!  As soon as he saw them he started to act funny and once he got them on his hands he was full out crying.  He just lifted his hand like "get this off of me, now!"  So that was the end of that, we tried to scrape as many out into the sink as we could and once they were mostly gone he still just couldn't enjoy his bath like normal.  Such a good idea, but we will have to wait a while I guess before trying again!

First Appointment for Baby #2

Today I had my first appointment for this pregnancy.  It wasn't that eventful just all the history questions, and the info you need to know when you are pregnant which I just went through not that long ago.  Today they told me my due date was September 7th based off of my last cycle, which was 2 days off from the online calculators  I used.  Last time it was like this too and then after the first sonogram they moved it back a few days.  So we will see if they change it after my first one this time.  I'm very excited that I get a sonogram in 2 weeks.  It's always so much better just to see the little peanut on the screen and to be able to get pictures.  We have a crazy spring/summer ahead so I'm hoping that makes this pregnancy go by quickly.  I'm just not a fan of being pregnant, it's totally worth it in the end but the beginning is hardest because it just seems like you have so long to go.  The nausea  this time around is still there, but not quite as bad as it was with Noah. It seems to come and go. I am definitely still very tired all the time and my dumb back always hurts, but has gotten worse the last couple weeks.  I just have to keep reminding myself this is temporary, and in September (maybe late August, I would love to go early, haha) I will have a beautiful baby in my arms and will forget all about the symptoms of pregnancy.

Really?

Today I was supposed to have my first doctors visit for baby #2.  I have been looking forward to this since I scheduled it weeks ago.  I didn't think they would really do much on this visit anyway but I'm anxious to start going and feel like I'm at least starting to move along in the process.  Anyways due to the crazy winter weather we experienced this week the office closed early on Tuesday and was closed all day today.  Hopefully tomorrow they will be back open and running.  I'm sure it might be a little while before they can get me in, since I'm sure there are people that need in far more than I do but I will be calling to at least get it scheduled.  Until then I will just do my best at being patient, I do have around 31 more weeks until this baby comes (boy does that sound like forever from now).

We are Expecting Baby #2

Today is January 18th, I'm not going to publish this yet, but wanted to blog about this baby like we did Noah.  On January 7th we found out I was pregnant I kind of had a feeling before this but didn't actually take any tests until that day.  After 3 positive ones throughout the day it was pretty clear.  This did come as a surprise, totally unexpected but I am now excited.  I wasn't upset just surprised and it completely caught me off guard.  I kind of had a plan in my mind of when we would have the next one.  That is something I have learned through the years, my plan isn't always the best so I'm trusting God on this one and he knows better than me!  I do not go to the doctor until February 2nd, so we are waiting to tell everyone.  From the online calculators I will be due on September 9th but we will wait to get our date from the doctor for sure.  Noah's birthday party was on January 8th and we did use the occasion to tell our family at his party.  He first started the day wearing a shirt with his name and a big number 1, then after his cake his aunts changed his shirt and brought him out in a big brother tshirt.  It took awhile but everyone eventually caught on. The night before I had went to Kohl's to try and find one with no luck, I found one but the smallest size was a 2T.  I guess no one expects a boy who wears a size 12 month tshirt would be a big brother, haha.  I was hoping this pregnancy I would feel better than with Noah but so far no such luck.  I have had morning (all day sickness)  pretty much every day since I found out and even a little before.  I don't remember it starting this early with Noah but it probably did.  I also was instantly tired again.  I never take naps during the week when Noah does but a couple days he has just had me wiped out and I took one when he went down.  I have been trying to go to bed earlier as well and thankfully Noah has finally been doing great at night so full nights sleep for me really helps.  Well that's it for today, we will keep the updates on baby #2 coming!

Still no milk

For over a month now we have been trying to get Noah to drink milk, with no success.  A little bit before he turned a year we started putting half milk/half formula in his bottles.  He didn't seem to mind this to much and drank it fine.  Then when we went for his year checkup the doctor said not to do that and just give him formula in the bottles and milk in sippy cups at mealtimes. After that we had him try it one day from the sippy cup and one sip and he was done. Throughout the last month, we have tried it multiple times and have tried both whole and 2%milk.  He loves drinking out of our glasses more than anything so we have tried that and still nothing,  usually he sees that it's white in the glass and won't even try it.  Even in his blue cups he sees that's its not the color of water or juice and won't even give it a chance.  He is so smart! 

 Well lots of people have told me why don't you try a little chocolate or strawberry in the milk.  I just really didn't want him to get used to drinking that because then he would never want regular milk.  Well today was one of those days when I feel like pushing towards meeting a goal so I gave in and tried chocolate milk with him.  He watched me make it and knew I put milk in it but because it wasn't white he tried it.  I got about 2 sips out of him and he was done.  What kid doesn't like chocolate milk?  I'm at a loss now I don't know what to do.  I really don't want to continue to buy formula any longer than I have to and was very excited for the year mark.  However, my son has always tried to do everything the expensive way in all of his eating habits, so this shouldn't surprise me. I think we are just going to do have to start doing both in his bottles again and just gradually work him up to more and more milk.  I don't think there is any other way.  

  On the plus side he hasn't  thrown up in weeks now, so that is very exciting.  He still is very picky but we have found multiple things he will eat and he's getting a little braver at trying new things so that is exciting.  He is very picky about so many things.  This last week has been a huge struggle every morning for breakfast.  He would eat a few bites and then lean on the side of his chair and grunt and get mad and wouldn't take any more bites.  Well today he just kept pointing towards the fridge so I thought maybe he was telling me he wanted a drink.  Sure enough I get out a cup and he starts saying juice so I knew what he wanted.  All along I have been trying to wait until he's done before giving him juice because I don't want him filling up on it. Well apparently he has decided this week he's not eating breakfast until he has his juice because after  I gave it to him, he ate more. Then at some meals he points  to the light and then the light switch because he wants it on/off depending on what I already have it on. He doesn't give up until I switch it either.  

It just amazes me how strong willed he is.  Sometimes I just have no idea how to handle him.  He is going to be a challenge.  However, no matter how frustrating he gets at times, in the next minute he is making me laugh and smile ear to ear because of his cute face, and  personality.  He can just be the funniest kid too, and knows when he has people's attention.  He turns into Noah the little showboat.  We went to lunch with mom, Randi, Katie, and Hali last Friday and they caught a few pictures of him being his silly self, with his goofy faces.  How could you not love this boy?  

This is our son Chucky the look-a-like

Nightly Routine

Every night before or after bathtime we usually end up playing in Noah's room for a little bit.  I think he likes it in there because we have a few different toys in there, lots of books, and a change of scenery.  Pretty much each night he will take one of both of the canvas bins off the shelf, and pull out lots and lots of books for us to read.I definitely don't mind the book part, I love reading to him and love seeing his daddy reading to him.  He just loves books which really makes me happy.  Sometimes he likes to control what pages we read and the speed because sometimes he's always trying to flip to the end but at least he will sit and let us at least try to read to him.  

 Noah and daddy reading a veggie tales book, with a typical Noah face!  

Moving Fast

Wow, what a difference a month makes.  Not too long ago, Noah would just walk from a person to another, then he gradually would move from a piece of furniture to another, and now he's just walking everywhere and getting pretty fast!  When he was crawling I could usually hear where he was going and would have an idea of where he just went to.  Well now, he walks and walks fast he disappears and I'm racing around trying to figure out which he went.  He's so cute when he walks and it really makes him not seem like a baby anymore. He always has his hands out and looks pretty wobbly but really doesn't fall as much as it seems like he would by the way he walks.  He just gets cuter and cuter each day with his bubbling personality.  Lately, he has really turned into quite the little showboat and knows when people are paying attention to him.  Today I got to spend the day at home with my 2 boys.  It has been way to long since we have had a day when neither Matthew or I didn't have to go anywhere.  Here are a few pictures from today

It was dark out and Noah could see himself in the door.  I tried to get the faces he was giving himself but missed them. 

Pretty much every day now, Noah will go into his room, open his bottom drawer and pull out multiple burp cloths.  Now never before he started doing this did  I know he had a preference of what kind of burp cloth he liked.  Most of his drawer is now ones that I had made for him but there were still some of the original ones we used when he was born that I had bought, just simple colored cloth diapers.  Each time he goes to the drawer and throws out all the ones I made one by one until he finds a couple of store bought cloth diaper ones, apparently these are his favorite (my feelings were hurt)!  

When he gets some it's even funnier because he won't just grab 1, he at least have to have 2 of them.  

 Pretty much every time he sees me now with the camera he starts walking toward it, I have to be ready to take it quickly.  

Here he is trying to give me one, so he can go get another!  

The things he does are just so darn cute, we can barely stand it sometimes!  The other night I was getting ready to do his laundry and rounded up all his snotty burp cloths and threw them in the hamper.  I walked away to do something else, came back and he had gotten them all back out.  He does the same thing when I fold his laundry, he will go threw the pile and find all of them out.  Maybe that was the trick to his happiness all along was the wonderful burp cloths!