16 Month Update

I almost forgot that Noah just turned 16 months! There's been too much holiday excitement and lounging around at home. I continue to be amazed at how quickly Noah is growing and developing. He is eating more and more "real" food these days and seems to prefer Chinese and Korean food. When we were in New York recently we went out to dim sum and he has never behaved better at a restaurant. No screaming, no throwing food, just lots of eating and sitting quietly - for almost an hour! Peter and I were a little concerned. He also really enjoys ja jang myun, dumplings, and rice. I have to admit his diet is somewhat lacking in the vegetable area but I just don't know what to do because most vegetables that we eat require a great deal of chewing. He only really eats peas and carrots. I hope I'm not ruining his palate for the future. Other than the vegetables, Noah continues to be a good eater. Yesterday I made a grilled cheese for us to share and when I asked him if he wanted to have some, he ran to his high chair faster than I've ever seen him move.

Noah continues to be more affectionate, giving lots of hugs, more kisses, and recently even started blowing kisses. Unfortunately he's become more clingy too, which makes daycare drop off and even nap time and night-night time very difficult. From me, he always wants to be held longer, and from Peter he always wants more back rubs. What a rascal. He used to go to sleep so easily but these days he cries every time we put him down.

I'm happy to report that Noah's vocabulary has expanded significantly in the past month! He's no longer only saying "ball" and "dah". He says "mom" now (referring to me) even though he never actually calls me "mom". Still working on that. He also says apple ("a-puh"), Elmo, owl ("ow-wool"), car, cold, nose ("no"), yes ("yesh"), more, and a lot of uh-ohs. I found out recently that he can sign "more" (he touches his forefingers together) and "all done". He also finally is able to point to his nose, ears, eyes, and belly button. I think he's learning all this stuff at daycare and just in this past month he is revealing it to us! When I was folding the laundry the other day I asked him to take out some socks just to see what he would do and he pulled out three socks! All of this makes me feel better about sending him to daycare. :) This and the fact that I have been exhausted these past 2 weeks taking care of him full-time - and I haven't even been doing all the work!

In addition to throwing around balls and watching cars from the window, Noah LOVES watching Sesame Street videos on YouTube, primarily the ones where they're singing a song. He used to grab Peter's phone and hold it up whining, so Peter started asking him "Do you want to watch a video? Yes or no? If you want to watch a video, come lie down on the couch with Daddy." So Noah started grabbing the phone and climbing up onto the couch to lie down next to Peter. Eventually he also started to say "yesh" when Peter asked him if he wanted to watch a video. Now, he just gets the phone, holds it out to Peter and says "yesh". What a rascal. After each video is over, he also always smiles and claps. He loves his Elmo! He'll say Elmo when he sees Elmo, but he still doesn't call me "mom". I'm just chopped liver... Noah only comes looking for me when he's hungry. Okay, I'm exaggerating. I know he loves me and enjoys my company too, but it would be nice to hear him say mom every once in a while.

Those are the main highlights of month 16. Looking forward to more fun in the 17th month! This month I'm hoping that he'll be able to master use of the spoon, but I think that's going to take some time.

15 Month Update

Noah is 15 months old and kind of a little terror. He is very adamant about doing things his own way. If you ask him to do something, most of the time he'll do it. But if you make him do something, he will start screaming as if he were being tortured. Do the "terrible twos" begin in the 2nd year, or is it after he turns two? Either way, I'm thinking that it's going to be very, very bad.

Other than the little tantrums, Noah has been lots of fun. :) He still doesn't say much other than "ball" and "daaa" - which is sometimes used to refer to Peter, but his understanding continues to develop. When I say that it's dinner time, he usually walks to his highchair and wants to get in. When I say it's time to put on his shoes, he'll walk over to his shoes. Sometimes he'll even start tapping one of the shoes with his foot; his attempt at putting them on I guess. If I say that we need to take off his shoes, he'll bend over and touch the velcro straps. I've been having a lot of fun testing out what he understands. I know that he understands "no" but it already has lost its effect when it comes out of my mouth. Once upon a time when I said "no" or "don't do_____" he would at least stop and look at me. Now, nothing. When his Uncle Eugene says no though, Noah not only listens, but he also looks like he's about to cry.

He's also been expressing more love, which is so fun. When I pick him up from daycare, he usually gets really excited when he sees me and will practically run to give me a hug. Sometimes, when we're at home just hanging out, if either I or Peter aren't paying attention to him, he'll randomly come over and hug us. If he's in a particularly huggy mood, he hugs for a long time and very tightly. :) It just melts my heart every time.

The pictures above are from when we were in Boston for a few days. Every morning we had to take Noah outside to walk around and play. If we didn't, he'd start getting very cranky and crazy. It kind of reminded me of having to take a dog out for a walk, and in fact when we took him out to play, there were lots of dogs out there too on their walks! Noah was really excited about the dogs and wanted to touch all of them. Maybe one day we can convince Peter to get a dog. Preferably the kind pictured above, in black and tan.

That's all for this month...not too many exciting milestones recently. Hopefully by next month, Noah will have a more developed vocabulary by then. Or at least one that includes "mom"! I'm the one doing the bulk of the heavy-lifting and all Noah ever wants is "daaa". What about "maaa"??

14 Months Old

Noah took his first steps just before he turned 13 months, and in the past month, he has becoming increasingly more mobile...and increasingly more rascal-y, as seen in the photos above. Noah is almost always on the move, walking here and there and exploring everything. Just the other day when I was turned around for about two seconds, I found that he'd opened the toilet and was swirling his hand around in the water. Time to install the toilet bowl lock! He still really likes throwing balls and putting them in his basketball hoop, but unfortunately he will throw just about anything he can pick up, and sometimes at your face. I suppose it is a bit confusing figuring out what things you're allowed to throw and when you're allowed to throw them. Other than throwing things around, he just started to figure out the shape sorter this past week, which is pretty exciting. That will keep him occupied (and sitting in one place) for a good 15-20 minutes.

Noah said his first word this past month - "ball" (clearly this is Peter's son). He can also usually say "shoes", "chair", and "cheese". Basically things starting with "ch" or "sh". Haha. He uses "ball" for "balloon" too. Noah LOVES balloons. We were at the mall today and there were lots of balloons, and every time we passed them by, Noah would shout "ball", increasing in volume each time. Fortunately they give them out for free at Nordstrom so we went there to get one for him. He was pretty happy the rest of the time we were there. Although Noah doesn't say a whole lot, he understands most of what I say. If we ask him to read a book in his chair, he'll pick up a book, and walk over to his chair and climb in. If we ask him to shoot a basket, he'll pick up a ball and put it in the basketball hoop. He also understands random words/phrases like "horsie" (his rocking horse), "monkey" (his monkey blanket, not all monkeys), "sit down", "stand up"...not sure what else, but a bunch. Just not a big talker, but I'm not complaining. There is such thing as talking too much, after all. :)

In not as exciting news, Noah got his first fever last week, 102.5 degrees. It was kind of alarming, but we gave him Tylenol and the next morning it went down to 99.5 (is that still considered fever?). He wasn't too unhappy during the night, but he didn't sleep a whole lot and had to wake up early to go to the Dr. so he ended up taking a 3.5 hr nap the next day. After he woke from the epic nap though, his temp was back to normal.

We finally decided to turn his car seat around today. I was going to wait until he turned 2, but Peter wanted to do it sooner, so I said we'd do it at 18 months. Finally I succumbed though. Noah didn't seem too unhappy sitting rear-facing, but I have to admit, I was really looking forward to turning him around too. Now we can see him while driving! We had the mirror in the back before, but it just wasn't the same. It's kind of exciting seeing him sitting there like such a big kid. I say this everyday, but he's growing up so fast!!!

That's about it for 14 months I guess, other than Noah's recent change in mood. Noah has been kind of crabby these past few days, crying for long periods of time and not wanting to sleep. I have been having flashbacks to when he was just a couple of months old and I had no idea what to do with him. I'm hoping that it's teething related and will pass eventually. Otherwise, we might have a little terror on our hands. All I can is that I'm glad he's in daycare.

13 Month Update

Noah is 13 months old today and he's survived his first month of daycare! Sadly, he had to stay home today because he's been having diarrhea for the past day or so and now has wicked diaper rash. :( Peter called me today and said that Noah had been crying non-stop for a while and was totally inconsolable. Rolling around on the floor crying. So sad! So I called the pediatrician's office and we were advised to use a blow-dryer to dry off Noah's diaper area, apply Monistat for a potential fungal infection, and put diaper ointment on top of that to protect the area from moisture. I even told Peter to give Noah some Tylenol, in the hopes that it might help in some way. Poor Noah. Fortunately he hasn't really had a tough time sleeping so at least he isn't also over-tired and cranky. I'm hoping that tomorrow morning when I wake up, a miracle will have occurred and everything will be all better.


In other news, Noah is getting quite good at walking now. I haven't taken any more videos since that first day a couple of weeks ago, but he can take many steps now, before eventually losing balance and falling down. So, still working on it, but definitely showing a lot of improvement. He still loves using his walker and turns just about anything that moves in a makeshift walker. We just installed a gate at the bottom of our stairs last weekend because he can now get to the stairs pretty quickly and quietly if he's walking, and before we know it, he's heading up the stairs! I think we just need one more gate to block off the entryway/kitchen. I can't believe he's walking! Sometimes when he's waddling across the room, I just stare in amazement.


Noah also really likes playing with his basketball hoop. The rim is about as high as he is tall, but as soon as he could just about balance himself on his feet, he was putting the basketball through the hoop. I guess sometimes these things are just innate? Hahaha. We'll see if this interest in putting balls through the hoop (and any other toy for that matter; I've had to untangle Sophie the Giraffe from the net on a few occasions) actually translates into playing basketball.

Noah is still a pretty good eater. He's become a bit more picky, but I think it's mostly an assertion of independence. I try to make half the food stuff he can pick up and feed himself, and half stuff that I feed him, since the stuff he can pick up himself and still be able to "chew" is pretty limited. That usually satisfies him. He threw a few peas the other day though; hopefully that was an isolated incident. It probably wasn't.

Noah is totally off breastmilk/nursing! When Noah was around 3 months old, I was just hoping I could survive until he was 4 months old, but when he hit the twelfth month, I had a really hard time letting go! Noah actually made the transition pretty easily. I was pretty unsuccessful during previous months in getting him to drink formula from a cup, but then all of a sudden in the twelfth month, he was sucking down the formula! I don't know if it's because he just decided he was ready, or if it was because I switched formula, but whatever it was, he switched pretty easily.

Now that Noah's first birthday has passed and it's September again, the changing weather is reminding me of when Noah was just a few weeks old and it makes me a little sad. I think back to the last time it was fall and how little he was, how surreal everything was, how we brought him on the plane for the first time... I guess this is how it's going to be for the rest of my life. I'm going to cry when Noah graduates. From kindergarten. And every other graduation after that. I can barely remember life before Noah. I think it was a lot more carefree. But all of this is so much better.

Noah takes his first steps!

I went out to get a pedicure this afternoon and left Noah with Peter and James. I come home and Noah is walking! Amazing! He had taken a step or two before I came home, but then after another try he took 3, then 4, then we lost count but it was a bunch. This video was I think the 3rd or 4th attempt at walking, but each successive time he got exponentially better. When we went out to dinner tonight, he was walking around the restaurant while holding my hand. Such an exciting day, but it also means that we're really in for trouble now!

First Day of School

Yesterday was my first day back at work! Sunday night when I was putting Noah to bed, I almost cried because I didn't think I'd see him the next morning before I went to work. Later on Peter made me cry, saying, "Poor Noah...he's going to be happily playing around, and then all of a sudden he'll look around for you and you won't be there. He's going to be so sad..." Real nice, huh? I ended up going to work a little later though, and was able to see him before leaving. Later that day I met Peter and Noah at the pediatrician's office for Noah's 1-year check-up. He is currently around 21 lbs (40%-ile), 31 inches tall (80%-ile), and I forget his head circumference. Peter's still hoping that Noah will be 6'5" when he grows up.

Today was Noah's first day at daycare. Peter dropped him off this morning at around 8:45, and apparently he cried for about 10 min after Peter left. :( I'm just glad I wasn't the one dropping him off. I think I definitely would've cried. So sad! I know he'll be okay physically so I'm not really worried about him, but it is sad to leave him there crying. He also only slept for about 40 min during naptime. Also sad. He ate a lot though! According to the sheet they gave me when I picked him up, he basically devoured everything they gave him. When I picked him up, he seemed really confused when he first saw me. He just looked at me for a few seconds, then started crying. He calmed down pretty quickly though. I know that it will take at least a week or two for all of us to adjust, so for day one, I think things went pretty well.

Happy Birthday, Noah!

Newborn baby Noah at the hospital.

Our baby all grown up (kind of)!

We made it! Noah has finally reached one year. It has been amazing watching him grow from a tiny, fragile baby into an active, squirmy wormy. In addition to being a squirmy wormy, Noah is a very curious, friendly, happy baby. He loves crawling around to explore different places and touch different things. Although he seems pretty social, he also seems to enjoy playing on his own, which is pretty nice for me since it means he's relatively low maintenance. Every once in a while he'll crawl over to me and get me involved (or sometimes even give me a kiss!), but for the most part he's pretty content pulling his books off the shelves, banging blocks together, and taking things in and out of his dump truck. It's so fun watching him turning into a little person! This year seems to have flown by, but it also feels like it's been forever. I can't believe he's so big and so mobile already, but I also can barely remember life before him. So much happens in just one year!

Noah has not yet started walking, but he is getting better and better at using the walker everyday. In this past week he's also managed to stand by himself quite a few times; even for 10 or 15 seconds on a couple of occasions. I think he will probably be at least taking his first steps in the next month. Although sometimes I wonder if I really should be that excited about him walking...

Noah's vocabulary is still pretty limited, and he hasn't said his first word yet. He's said "mama" many times, but I'm not sure he really knew what he was saying. Words that I think he can recognize are "mommy/mama", "hug", "ball", "walk", and "clap". When we say mommy, hug, or ball, he usually points or looks in the right direction. When I mentioned walking, he usually looks or points at his walker. Clapping actually just started today. A lot of babies start clapping I think at around 6 months? but Noah's first time was this morning. While we were playing with his stuffed baseball, he started throwing it (intentionally, with one arm, and in a forward direction; Peter was very excited) and as usual, I was very excited and I clapped for him, then all of a sudden he started clapping for himself! At first I didn't really know what he was doing because at that point I had given up on his clapping, but then he kept doing it! Later today while in the car he started clapping excitedly, so I started clapping with him, while saying "yay, you're clapping!" Every time I would say "clap" or "clapping" during the car ride he would start clapping more excitedly.

In the eating department, Noah is still fairly low maintenance. He eats most things that we feed him, and seems more into "real" food (not from jar) these days. For a while he really wasn't into the food I made, but I think now he's tired of the soupiness of baby food. While this is a good thing, it also means I now have more work to do. Oops. This weekend we went a little crazy and gave him some pizza and kimbap. I am also very excited to report that Noah is now a competent straw-user. I had been working on the straw since I think he was 6 months old, but will little success. He would always choke on the liquid. Now he can use a straw cup and hold it himself. Yesss! I've also just about weaned him to formula from straw-cup, except for 1 feeding before bedtime. I used to hate nursing and said that I'd wean him after 4 months, but now I'm kind of having a hard time letting go. Weird.

I think that's it for Noah's 1 year update! I will be starting work tomorrow, and Noah will be starting daycare Tuesday. We're excited for the new year!

11 Months Old

Noah turned 11 months a couple of weeks ago, but we were busy packing and getting ready to head to NY again, and we just got back today so I'm a bit late with the "11 month" update.

The most exciting news is that Noah seems to have (fingers crossed) gotten over the gagging phase. He still does it every once in a while, but for the most part he doesn't do it anymore. We actually had a great ride back home today from NY - Noah fell asleep in the first 20 min or so, then slept until we got to Maryland! After we stopped for lunch, Noah basically stared out the window silently the rest of the way. Amazing.

Noah has 4 teeth now, and is working on 2 more. He's been drooling a lot the past few weeks, and I can see the 2 teeth next to his top front teeth trying to make their way out. The teething seems to be more uncomfortable to him, and I don't know if this is related or not, but he's been waking up at around 3:45am this whole past week. So tiring! I can't believe I used to wake up twice a night to feed him. How did I survive??

Noah is showing more progress with standing/cruising. He will even take a few steps now if I hold him up with his arms; before he used to just go limp and try to get back to crawling position. I recently had him try out one of those walkers that they push along. Last week before we went to NY he was just pushing it around while on his knees, but today when we came back home I had him try again and he actually "walked" across the room with it. Very exciting! He was very proud of himself. :)


Noah continues to be a very happy and expressive boy. He's usually pretty friendly with strangers and loves flashing smiles at people. Peter and I love all of the different facial expressions he has. They are hilarious. What's kind of sad (for me) is that Noah seems to be showing a very strong preference for Peter. At first I was happy that Noah was so excited to see Peter because I worried that he might not be as close to Peter because he didn't see him as much, but now it just makes me sad! He not only gets very excited to see Peter, but when Peter tries to give him back to me, he always turns away and usually starts crying when I take him. :(

Last bit of news for this month is that I've started weaning Noah off of breastmilk. I suppose I already started when I started dropping some of the feedings, but this past week I started substituting formula in a cup for nursing. I was advised to skip the bottle altogether since I'd later have to wean him off of the bottle too. I was also advised to skip the sippy cup with valve since I'd later have to get him used to "free-flow" drinking, so basically I went straight to the straw cup. I started him on the straw kind of early (about 5 months?), which didn't really work out until the past week, during which he made a lot of progress. He also seems to be happy drinking the formula. Yay! I guess the lesson to be learned here is to just use the sippy cup; they'll do the free-flow drinking when they're ready.

We had an exciting traveling agenda this past month too: San Francisco for a wedding and visiting Peter's sister, and New York for two weddings, BBQ with Cornell friends+babies, and visiting my mom and sister. Some pics from our adventures:

Playing with Jeesup - the Wiggles car!

Hanging out with Auntie Terri at Amy's wedding.

10 Months Old

Noah is now 10 months old (yesterday). Not much new stuff going on...climbing, crawling, and teething. He has 2 bottom teeth, one top tooth, and I think the other top front tooth is coming soon . He's become very good at pulling himself up to a standing position, but hasn't really started "cruising" yet. He'll take a few hesitant, almost accidental steps every now and then, but for the most part, if he wants to move somewhere, he'll sit down, crawl over, then pull himself up again. He's also gotten very good at going between crawling position/lying down on the floor and sitting up, so I don't have to worry as much about him toppling over.

Eating continues to be tricky, and if he ends up being like me and Peter, I'm in for some very frustrating days ahead. I never wanted to eat anything, and never in large quantities. When I think back to my childhood, I remember always being forced to eat more. "Just one more bite!" my mom would say....when CLEARLY there were 3 to 4 more bites! I just wasn't hungry! According to my mom, all I wanted to do was drink milk. No food. I even have vague memories of drinking milk from a bottle - that's how long I was having bottles of milk! Peter on the other hand never wanted to sit still for a meal. I've been told that Peter's mom would have to chase him around to get a spoonful of food in his mouth, and then when she chased him down again for the next spoonful, she'd find that he hadn't even swallowed what was in there before. So he never ate either. I'm in trouble. These days, Noah only seems to want to eat mashed up peaches. And bread. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but mealtimes have definitely become more stressful because he often starts swatting the spoon away after a few bites. Sometimes I think it's because he wants to use the spoon himself, but when I try to let him feed himself, I find that he really just wants to play with the spoon. It's great that he likes fresh fruit, but peach season is coming to an end - what will we do then? And what about protein? He eats real food with meat, vegetables, and some type of grain, but not as much as I'd like him to, and sometimes almost none at all. I have to trick him by sneaking it in between spoonfuls of peach. Sigh. I suppose it could be worse.

We haven't done much traveling lately because our last trip to NY was rough. Noah has become very interested in gagging, and on the way there, he ended up throwing up all over himself. Gross. On the way back, he also did a lot of gagging and complaining, but fortunately no actual throwing up. Since then he's gagged himself and thrown up a few more times. Loves the gagging when in the car. So after that I decided to take a break from long car rides for a while. Hopefully the gagging will end soon! We're flying to California in a couple of weeks though. I'm nervous about the long plane ride and how the time change will affect Noah's sleeping, but I'm looking forward to going to San Francisco! We'll get to hang out with my sister-in-law and her husband (is he a brother-in-law too?) and go to a good friend's wedding in Napa. Exciting! Lots of traveling and lots of weddings. It's going to be a tiring summer.

Pool time with Isabel, Emilia, and Uncle James

9 Months Old

Baby Noah is 9 months old! It has been another very exciting month. He is now fully mobile, crawling and climbing everywhere. He's still working on pulling himself up, but he's getting there. I usually sit him on our bed to take photos at the end of every month, but he wasn't really interested in sitting still this time, and in the end crawled right off of the bed. He slid off the covers and landed on me, and I guess he thought that was fun because he kept trying to do it every time I put him back on the bed. It's also increasingly difficult to change his diaper and change his clothing. If he isn't distracted by someone or something, he wants to roll over and crawl off the changing table. I was so excited when he made that first move forward, but now I wish he would just stay still. We have to keep a much closer eye on him now because he always goes for the most dangerous thing he sees: plastic bags, cords, electric sockets, etc. Whatever is dangerous, he finds it, and heads in that direction. It's so fun.

Noah has his two front bottom teeth now, and I think one of the top ones is emerging soon. He doesn't seem too bothered by the teething, which I'm thankful for. He started eating more "solid" things that he needed to "chew" a month or so ago, but he's getting better at putting food in his mouth, chewing it, then swallowing. He's still loving the Cheerios, and I recently started giving him some watermelon, cantaloupe, pear, and waffles. I try to let him to feed himself, but for a Cheerio, he typically will pick it up, look at it for a little bit, lick it, bite it in half, wave the other half around for a bit, lick the other half again, before finally eating the whole thing. There is just no way I'm sitting around waiting for him to eat one Cheerio a minute. So I let him have his fun, but I also just put the majority of it into his mouth for him. He also had some soup with rice for the first time this past weekend and he seemed to really enjoy that. It's kind of exciting having him eat more "real" food!

Although Noah seems to enjoy eating a variety of foods, his weight percentile dropped to the 45th percentile this month. :( We went for his 9 month check-up today and he's still in the 80th percentile for height and 60th percentile for head circumference, but it seems that he's getting kind of skinny. The doctor didn't seem too concerned about it, and I guess at some point it isn't such a great thing to be in the upper percentiles for weight, but 9 months seems a bit early to me?

Noah's sleeping continues to be pretty good, but he's had a lot of disruptions this past month with our trips to New York, Annapolis, and Boston. He's been a real trooper though, so we're pretty fortunate. This weekend we're heading to NY again, so I'm going to try to stick to a fairly strict nap schedule for the next few days to get him well-rested. So far, day 1 of strict napping has gone fairly well. Crossing my fingers for a good week!

The last piece of news is that I decided to go back to work, so I'll be rejoining the workforce at the end of August and Noah will be going to daycare, right after he turns one (what a terrible birthday present, huh?). It will be sad to not get to spend the entire day with my baby, but I'll be working part-time so I'll still be able to spend time with him during the week, beyond just putting him to bed. Besides, he won't really be much of a baby anymore, and I think it'll be good for him to hang out with other kids and not be in our apt most of the day. I was also getting a little crazy, staying home all the time, so I think this arrangement will be best for everyone involved. :)

Road Trip: NYC

This past week, Noah and I took our first extended road trip and headed up to NY to visit my family. Peter was working in Atlanta for the week so we took the opportunity to travel a bit ourselves. :) We've been up there before, but only by plane because I was worried about having Noah in the car for 4.5+ hrs and no way to entertain him or distract him since I was in the driver's seat. While I could always stop the car in the event of a Noah meltdown, I worried about taking too much time on the road and getting to NY (or DC, on the way back) during rush hour traffic, which would add even more time to the trip. Since Noah had become better at napping, I decided I could finally brave the trip. In the end though, my sister volunteered to take the bus down here and drive up with me (best sister ever). :)

The plan was to leave at around 9, Noah's usual morning nap time, drive until around 11 or 11:30 and then take about an hour break for lunch and playtime, then hopefully get to NY before Noah's next feeding at 2:30/3:00. We had a slow start because I hadn't quite finished packing and had some errands to run so we ended up making our lunch stop in Maryland - but at least we weren't in Bethesda! We were about 10 miles or so from Delaware, so not so bad. It was a beautiful day, so my sister and I got some food, then had a little picnic outside. Noah had his lunch, and got to crawl around a little before hitting the road again. Here he is exploring grass for the first time. He crawled to the edge of the mat and didn't go any further.


We hit a little bit of traffic before one of the tolls in Delaware, but otherwise it was a pretty smooth trip. Noah napped for most of the second leg of the trip so we made it to NY at around 3pm without another stop.

Usually when we go to NY, we mostly just stay around home, maybe venture to the mall a couple of times, but this time we hung out a bit in Brooklyn and got to meet up with Amy. Here are some photos from our trip to Brooklyn Heights.

He's knocked out in the stroller in the pic below. It wasn't a very good sleeping week for Noah (or for me). In addition to having a hard time sleeping in a new place and new bed, he went to sleep kind of late, woke up a bit early, and many of his naps were taken in the car or stroller. :( I felt a little guilty not "protecting his naps", as the Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child author recommends, but it was just for one week. Since we've returned Noah's had some serious naps. Out cold for 2+ hrs.

This was just a random picture I took while we were in the car. Noah was such a good sport for all of the car rides! I felt bad keeping him cooped up in the car seat for so long, but he didn't seem to mind too much. Here he is just hanging out and looking funny.


Last day, enjoying the break from the car ride at a rest stop in NJ - still not into the grass, apparently. The ride back was similar to the ride there; we stopped at around 11 for lunch for about an hour, then made it back home non-stop, with Noah napping for most of the way. However, I was on my own and pretty tired from lack of sleep during the week so it was kind of rough. Also, after crossing the Verrazano Bridge (which costs $13?!!), I found out that my credit card for my EZ-Pass was expired, which resulted in a negative balance on my account, which resulted in my tag being taken away, which resulted in me being very mad. Not so good results. I usually don't carry much cash on me, but luckily I happened to have about $30 on me that day. Whew! I'm not sure how I would've been able to get cash in the middle of the toll plaza.

Anyway, we made it back okay, with no traumatic experiences, so I would count it as a good trip!

8 Months Old!

Noah is 8 months old today! His 8th month has been very exciting. I also figured out how to post videos here. Yay. And just in time too, because Noah is starting to move beyond just eating and sleeping. Words and photos are just not enough anymore!

So first of all, Noah has become much better at sitting.



Up until recently he only sat for a few seconds at a time before tipping over. But at a music class a few weeks ago, he sat for a really long time...perhaps because the teacher was standing up and he wasn't distracted by things on the floor. In the video he's playing with a baby food container lid. It's one of his favorite toys. I was a big fan of the juice concentrate cans when I was a baby.

Noah has also started to sort of crawl. I was so excited when he first started moving forward but now it's kind of a nuisance because I essentially have to pin him down with my arms for diaper changes. Because he can now "crawl" he isn't as into rolling anymore, which is kind of a relief because his rolling was much more haphazard and (in my opinion) dangerous. Now he can at least see where he's headed. Like to my phone.



Noah cut his first tooth!


Peter discovered it a few weeks ago when he put his finger in Noah's mouth and found something sharp in there. It's been slowly making its way out and Noah has been drooling like crazy. And though he's still a pretty good-natured baby, he's been a bit more grumpy/cranky lately. Not sure if it's teething related or if he's just pissed at me. Haha.. Or it could be hunger related because one of the not as fun developments of this month has been his eating habits. Noah used to be happy eating just about anything, but in the past few days he has become very difficult to feed. Today I must have spent about 45 minutes feeding him until finally I gave up.

This is how today's dinner ended up, with Noah having usurped command of the spoon and desperately trying to pull his bib off. He is currently happy eating Cheerios, tofu, cheese, and avocado though, so I try to feed him those things in between bites of purees/cereal, which so far has been kind of working. It just makes eating time muuuuch longer. Dinner used to be done in about 5-10 minutes. Although I've become a bit more crafty in getting him to eat, I don't feel like he's eating as much volume as he used to before. Things were going so well for a little while, with him eating and sleeping well, but I guess all good things must come to an end. His sleeping has become more erratic lately too, but there isn't much else to say about that. I don't want to end this post with the bad news, so I'll post some happy pics from Easter weekend with the Kims.

With Peter's mom...and sporting the cute new outfit she got him!

Chatting with Peter's grandma. He seems to like her. He always giggles when she talks to him.

With cousins, Isabel and Emilia.

With Peter's dad. Happy grandpa.

Finally, with Peter...proud daddy!

7 Months Old

My little man is 7 months old today! I know that people say it all the time, but I just can't believe how fast the time flies. I can barely remember what it was like during the first few months of sleep deprivation and nursing struggles. And no smiling or laughing! Although there are still sleep and nursing issues, they're fairly manageable. Noah's naps are somewhat predictable, and we can usually expect him to go to bed some time between 7 and 8pm and then wake up some time between 6 and 7 am. Sometimes he'll wake up in the middle of the night crying for about 10 min then go back to sleep and sometimes he'll wake up at around 5am, nurse, then go back to sleep. About a week ago he went through a "phase" of crying for about 30 minutes before every nap and bedtime. I don't really know what was going on, but I'm glad he's moved on from that for now. As for nursing, he doesn't always nurse very well because he always wants to look around and move around, but I think he's getting enough. Some days he has a lot of milk, other days (like today) not as much. Since he's also eating more solids now I'm not that worried about him starving. I am a bit concerned about him not getting enough nutrients though, because I don't think the relatively small amounts of fruits and vegetables that he eats are really nutrient-rich, but I guess all I can do is keep trying. I just make sure to push the cereals, which are fortified with vitamins and minerals (if there are any moms feeding, I welcome any tips/thoughts in this area). I had originally planned to wean him from breastmilk at around 6 months but when he finally turned 6 months, I was reluctant to let go. I really don't think I can make it to a year, but maybe I'll try to keep at it until he starts eating meat. To be honest, I think the idea of washing all of those bottles everyday is really what turns me off from weaning.

In my attempts to provide more nutrients through solids, as well as broadening Noah's palate, I've been trying to make baby food at home. I got the Beaba Babycook as a gift (thanks Sarah!) and it is awesome. Above is a mixture of leeks, spinach, peas, and sweet potato. I'm trying to expose Noah to a lot of green foods in the hopes that it might help him eat more vegetables when he gets older. I hope it works! When pureed, it is basically a dark green color. It doesn't look that delicious, but it smells good and Noah seems to enjoy it. I found the recipe in Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel. A bunch of her recipes involve making your own chicken or vegetable stock which is kind of a pain (and I haven't tried them), but so far I like the less labor intensive recipes.

Noah doesn't have any teeth yet, but he's been gumming on just about everything. Whatever he can get his hands on, he tries to stuff into his mouth or wave around. He also has recently started putting his toes in his mouth and sucking on his thumb (it took him a while to find it). Noah continues to enjoy rolling around, and even has started rolling to his right as well as his left.

Here he is, mesmerized by the TV, while doing some kind of leg workout because he doesn't like to just stay still. Like father like son, I guess. Dad says that he used up all his energy when he was young; now he just wants to sit around all the time and do nothing.

Finally, swimming pictures!

Swimming, Sitting, & Sleeping

Last week we started "swimming" lessons with Noah. I forgot to bring a camera the first time, when Peter came with us, so all I have is a picture of Noah in his towel/robe/onesie in the parking lot. Noah seems to like the pool. After the initial entrance into the water, during which he cries because it's cold, he is pretty happy. He likes splashing around and doesn't seem to mind getting water on his face.

While it's fun to get in the pool with Noah, the class is kind of stressful for me because of all the preparation and changing. I need make sure that Noah is napping by at least 9:30 so that he can get a good hour of napping before waking up at 10:30 so that I can get him ready to leave the house. It usually takes about 15 min to get out the door. We leave home at 10:45, get to the pool at around 11, then we need to get changed and ready for class at 11:20. There's only one changing station in the locker room so I either need to wait or change him while holding him. Because there's no where to put him down, I also need to wheel the stroller around. Class ends at 11:50 and by this time, Noah has been awake for almost 1.5 hrs; he can only really be awake for about 2 hours without becoming overtired. By 11:50 he's also hungry because it's lunch time and also because everyone's hungry after swimming, even if it's "swimming"! So I have to feed him quickly, then get him home so that he can take his nap. As a result, Noah's swim trunks got left behind this week. =( I was sure that someone would turn it in to the lost and found, but as of yet, it's still missing. I suppose this seems naive, but I'm hoping that maybe one of the other moms picked it up and will bring it to class next week. For some reason I'm having a really hard time accepting the idea that maybe someone just took it home and kept it. Who takes swim trunks from a baby??? Anyway, now that I've gone through the whole process by myself, I think I will be better prepared for next time. No more lost swim trunks!

Noah has made progress in sitting! I helped him out by spreading out his legs a bit, but he's able to stay sitting like that for a little longer now.

While Noah has made progress in sitting, he is making negative progress in sleeping. It's 7:40 right now and Noah has been crying, crying, crying since about 7. I know that he's tired because he's been yawning, rubbing his eyes, and overall has been pretty cranky but he's been crying for about 40 minutes already and I just don't know what to do. In the past, I've gone in there after about 15 minutes of intense crying, calmed him down, then put him back in the crib (still awake). That usually did the trick and he would fall asleep soon after. Most of the time I didn't need to even go in there because it never got to that point. But this past week there has been intense crying at almost all nap times and bed times. My neighbors must think I'm torturing him. I'm starting to think that going in there to calm him down is counter-productive. It may have worked before, but now I may just be conditioning him to cry until I go in (I think he just fell asleep!). Perhaps it's time to really let him cry it out?

6 Month Check-up

Band-aids on his legs from his shots. :(

We went to Noah's "official" 6 month check-up this past Wednesday. He is now 27.5 inches tall, 18 lbs 4oz, and has a head circumference of 17.5 inches. He's basically grown about 2.5 inches every 2 months!!! I'm excited about his growth and development, but it also makes me so sad when I think about how quickly it's all going! He'll never be this small again! :( On Wednesday the Dr. asked us if we were still giving him Prevacid for his reflux and we'd totally forgotten that he even had reflux.

Noah also got more vaccinations on Wednesday - one oral and three injections. Since he's over 6 months old, we also ended up getting him the flu shot because the Dr. said that they're still seeing lots of cases of the flu right now. I'm convinced that the taste of the Rotavirus brings back painful memories of the ensuing shots, but I'm sure babies can't actually remember. Noah sucked down the Rotavirus vaccine the first time he went, like it was the best thing he'd ever tasted. Then he got 3 shots in a row. The second time he was a bit more tentative, and then he got 2 shots in a row. This last time he took the longest to drink it up, even though he's become very proficient at taking the vitamin D drops and drinking from a sippy cup. Is that not compelling evidence? I think so. Hahaha..

One last update - Noah has conquered the activity mat. He rolls around while he's underneath it, and if the foam poles get in the way, he just powers through and takes them down. He also rolled out of the Bumbo seat earlier today while trying to reach for my phone. He still hasn't made much progress with sitting, but it seems that he's become quite the bulldozer.