27 Months Old

Our little rascal commemorated his 27th months of life by getting lost at Whole Foods.  He ran off in the produce department and after a few minutes of trying not to yell his name too loudly and sound like a total crazy person, an employee found Noah in the dairy section.  I thought maybe he'd be a little scared or something, but no, when he saw me, he was still laughing.  I tried to explain to him that he could get lost and that he can't run off, but he just kept laughing!  Then I said that if he were lost, there would be no more mommy, no more daddy (is it too mean to say these things?), no more Monkey, no more Spencer, no more Whiff, and I continued to list out the names of his trains... This time he didn't laugh.  He started crying, but said, "My Spencer.....my Spencer...." Geez.  I guess he wouldn't miss his parents!

The things that Noah says these days are hilarious.  When we ask him to do something that he doesn't want to do, he says, "Uhhhhhh....no genks."  What is he thinking over anyway??  Peter will ask him for a hug and his response is sometimes, "Uhhhhh....uhh...no genks."  Recently he started saying "Uhhh...ok fine," so I guess he really is deliberating.  Haha.  When he really wants something, he often says, "Pwease!!!  PWEASE!!!!" accompanied by whining and crying.  When he wants something to be moved out of the way, he says excuse me, but it sounds more like "cue me."  He says this not only to people, but to things as well.  "Cue me box.... Cue me chair... Cue me book..." We got a new TV recently and the box for the TV was in his way so he said, "Cue me, new TV."  If he doesn't know the name of something, he says, "Cue me, this."  It's the best when he wants something out of the way urgently: "Cue me, this.  Cue me, this.  Pwease!  PWEASE!!!" and then he starts whining and crying because the thing that he wants to move over can't actually move.  Now we have to work on pairing the polite language with actual polite behavior.  For example, no more yelling, "Mommy!!!  What you talkin bout??!?!" every time I'm trying to have a conversation with someone.  Also in the talking department, Noah just recently said his first accidental swear words.  As I've mentioned in previous posts, Noah loves reciting lines from movies, and his current favorite movie is Toy Story.  One of Buzz's lines is "My ship!" so Noah goes around saying, "My sh*t!  My sh*t!"  I suppose it's a bit immature to laugh about it, but when he says it over and over again, I just can't help laughing.

We've also been seeing more of Noah's sneaky side.  He loves playing with the our phones so a lot of times he'll look at us, give us a really big smile, while he slowly slides the phone away.  He also likes to try to sneak off to get the iPad.  Again, he'll flash us a big distracting smile, then tip toe sideways off towards our room.  Once he makes it into the room, he'll turn and sprint towards the usual iPad hiding spots.  

I guess that's it for this month!  He still loves his trains, still loves Buzz, and is getting better at using utensils.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving.  My most favorite holiday.  Even though most holidays are spent with family, this holiday reminds me most of family and home.  We never really did the traditional Thanksgiving dinner when I was growing up: every year when Thanksgiving rolled around my mom would ask, "Do we have to have turkey this year?"  Though she asked, it didn't really matter what we said since she would be the one cooking (or not cooking) it anyway.  We must have had turkey at least a few times growing up, but not always, and definitely not with stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, etc etc.  For a very long time, we only ate mashed potatoes made from those instant flakes.  I really thought this was how one made mashed potatoes.  One year I remember insisting that we have cranberry sauce, so we bought a can and had a dish of can-shaped cranberry sauce, which only I ate.  I have to admit I saw something similar on the Simpsons, so I figured this was normal.  Maybe this is what happens when your parents are immigrants, or maybe I just didn't pay very good attention.  Looking back, I guess these experiences make the holiday special in its own way, but mostly they're just a little sad - particularly from a gastronomic point of view.  After I graduated from college and started working, I started paying attention.

Working at a school, I was kind of inundated with all things Thanksgiving.  My colleagues and students all talked about the Thanksgiving meals they were looking forward to and in particular the special pies or stuffing that so-and-so was going to make, and seeing relatives, etc.  I also seemed to walk by a lot of stores that sold Thanksgiving related food and kitchen items.  So that year, instead of trying to convince my mom to roast a turkey, it dawned on me that I could roast one myself!  I was an adult now, right?  And I could make stuffing and cranberry sauce that wasn't shaped in a can.  Maybe even mash some real potatoes.  So I got to researching, discovered brining, found a great stuffing recipe, realized that it was pretty easy to make cranberry sauce from actual cranberries, and even got a great pie crust recipe from a colleague.  I was ready to go after a quick visit to Williams Sonoma.

I decided to brine the turkey, but didn't really think to get a brining bag, so my mom dug out the biggest pot we had, and we put the turkey in there.  But there was no room in the fridge.  Fortunately, it was a pretty cold Thanksgiving that year, so we ended up putting the pot of turkey outside, in the car.  My sister made the mashed potatoes, I experimented with a cornbread sausage stuffing recipe, and it was a success!  I even took notes on what worked and what didn't work to look back on the following year.  It was a lot of work, it was the best Thanksgiving meal I'd ever had, not only because it really did taste good, but because I had actually roasted a turkey!  At 22 years old, I hadn't really done that much cooking beyond instant noodles and pasta, so it was kind of a big deal.  But I didn't make it all by myself, and that was what made it special.  Not only were we getting together as a family, we were putting together a meal as a family.  Now that I've moved to Virginia, I usually have Thanksgiving here, and though it's changed a bit, it's still cooked and shared by family and friends.  And I always think of those first Thanksgiving meals I made in NY.

3 Month Update

Sarah is 3 months old today!  I've forgotten how much tiny babies change over just one month!  Sarah is still just eating, sleeping, soiling diapers, and doing some tummy time, but all things sleep were the main focus this month.  Up until a few weeks ago, we had been holding Sarah and rocking her/bouncing her to sleep for every nap.  Every baby book out there says to put babies down "drowsy but awake" and not fully asleep, but I didn't really remember how to put her down for naps otherwise.  This was also an area of such stress with Noah that I just wanted to keep things as easy as possible...and hope that Sarah would just figure out how to "self-soothe" and fall asleep on her own later on.  No adult, or even older child for that matter, needs to be rocked to sleep, right??  In any case, the rocking to sleep was a problem anyway because Sarah was starting to get very heavy (95%-ile in weight!!), and because it was also just not working that well anymore.  During the weekend of Hurricane Sandy, Sarah also started staying up for an hour or two after night-time feedings, usually between 4 and 5 am.  I think she did this every night that weekend.  Fortunately Peter had Monday and Tuesday off due to the hurricane, but I was worried that this was going to continue even after he went back to work and I would've been in real trouble.  When Noah was little, I could at least nap during the day when I was really tired, but now I can only nap if Sarah and Noah are both napping at the same time....which doesn't happen often.  It's like waiting around for a lunar eclipse.  So when Peter went back to work on Wednesday, I made it my mission to be on top of Sarah's waking and napping and I watched the clock constantly to make sure she was never awake for too long.  I was convinced that her sleep problems were due to not enough sleep and irregular sleeping times, so I was going to at least try to fix that and see what happened.  I don't know if my efforts did anything or not, but somehow, she started sleeping better.  Not only was she sleeping better, but if I paid close attention to her tired signs and got her into bed, in a nice swaddle, and stuck a pacifier in her mouth, she fell asleep!  It worked far better than holding her!  I hope this method continues to be effective, because I really do not want to go back to rocking her to sleep.

Now that sleeping and feeding are somewhat figured out, Sarah is pretty happy most of the day.  She smiles a lot, and is very chatty!  Just about every time I look at Sarah, she has a big smile for me, and I feel so, so blessed.  She looks like the happiest baby in the world, and I like to think that it's because she sees me. :)  I don't remember Noah being like this....I think he saved most of his smiles for Peter.  Sarah coos a lot too, with lots of facial expressions, and it seems like she's telling me all about what's happened to her recently.  I was a little nervous about having a girl because I felt like I was getting the hang of having a boy and I worried about being able to bond and connect with her.  Sarah and I aren't having real conversations yet, but I feel like we are already forming a deep connection.  I also worried about loving one child more than the other, but I'm assured now that it's just not possible.  Noah may have been my #1 baby for so long, but I can see that my relationship with Sarah is and will be special in its own way.  Now I have two #1 babies!

26 Months Old - Adventures with Buzz

During one of our daily afternoon walks.  I don't really like it when he brings toys, because inevitably, I have to hold them.

The only bad thing about Buzz is that he's very top-heavy and topples over all the time...and this makes Noah very mad.

Noah is 26 months old now, and Buzz Lightyear, or "Buzz Ears," as he calls him has been his best bud this month.  When I go into his room to get him after a nap or in the morning, the first thing he usually says is, "Buuey, and beyond!" - his interpretation of "to infinity, and beyond!"  He also likes to say, "Be careful with that!  It's extremely dangerous," referring to Buzz's laser.  He always wants to bring Buzz with him everywhere - in the car, to school (it's always a long negotiation getting him to leave Buzz in the car when I drop him off), out on walks, onto the highchair during meals, and even to the changing table while I change his diaper.  He used to want to watch Finding Nemo in the car all the time, but now it's, "I watch little bit Toy Story, Mommy, pweeeeeeeease?"  Or he climbs up and pulls the DVD screen down before he gets into his carseat, then looks at us with a very self-satisfied smile, ready to watch.  What a TV addict.  It started out seemingly harmless, just a minor diversion during long car rides, but now he demands some sort of TV or iPad use everyday.  Being stuck inside during Hurricane Sandy meant a lot of TV since our power didn't go out.  The only plus side is that we have a nearly fail-proof babysitter when needed.  When I'm battling Sarah over sleep during nap times or in the evenings, the iPad is my best-friend.

Sadly, this month has brought more bad behavior from Noah.  I really hope this is a phase, and not a referendum on our parenting.  When he wants something and doesn't get it immediately, he resorts to crying, screaming, and whining right away.  It is so annoying.  Last night, I don't know what was going on exactly because I was dealing with Sarah and her on-going anti-sleep campaign, but he was whining and crying and screaming for like half an hour, right through bath time.  Poor Peter.  Maybe it was cabin fever?  Maybe he felt neglected because we were both so focused on getting Sarah to sleep?  I guess we're entering the stage where we really need to start thinking about discipline.  I tried time-outs a couple of times in the past and just getting him to sit down became another reason for him to scream, but perhaps it's time to try again since he's older now.  Not excited about this.

Okay, enough of the bad, on to the good!  Noah misbehaves, but most of the time he's still happy, funny, and super sweet.  If he's jealous of the attention that Sarah gets, he doesn't really show it that often.  When she cries, he always says, "Sarah crying" and goes over to her and says, "What's wrong, Sarah?  Don't cry, baby."  I've noticed this month that he's able to converse a bit more.  He's been talking for a while, saying lots of sentences, and reciting whole scenes from books and movies to himself, but not necessarily expressing himself beyond "I want.." or "No!"  When we're at a restaurant and trying to order for him, we'll ask him if he wants pizza, and he'll say, "I want pizza."  But then if we ask him right afterwards if he wants grilled cheese, he'll say, "I want grilled cheese."  So....basically repeating whatever we say.  Haha.  Now if he doesn't want to eat or do something, he says, "No, genk you."  At least he's polite!  He's also developing more of an imagination and engaging in more pretend play.  He likes to re-enact scenes from the movies he watches with his toys, and he likes to feed his pretend fruits to his stuffed animals.  He also still enjoys having tea parties sometimes. :)

My most favorite story of this month is the story I shared on Facebook a few days ago.  Need to record it here too since I'm not going to be looking back at FB updates.  Noah woke up crying/screaming a few nights ago, but we usually don't go into his room at night because usually that just results in even more crying/screaming when we try to leave again.  Plus I was really tired from taking care of Sarah.  So I told myself that if he kept crying for a lot longer, I'd go in and console him.  He went back to sleep pretty soon, so I just went to sleep.  In the morning though, I asked him if he had been sad at night.  I didn't think he'd remember, but he said, "I sad crib."  It didn't seem like he was just repeating what I was saying, so I asked him why he was sad.  I totally expected him to just say, "I sad crib" again, but instead he said, "I miss mommy."  So sad!  Then he said "I hug mommy."  What a funny little guy.

2 Months Old

Happy to be two months old today!

I've already had to move the straps up two notches.

Tummy time!

Sarah is two months old today, and what a month it has been!  Instead of sleeping better, she was sleeping worse, and instead of eating better, she has been eating worse.  Sigh.  Despite these issues, she is growing, growing, growing.  We haven't had our official two month check up yet with the doctor, but we weighed her at home the other day and it seems that she's around 13 lbs already.  I don't know how this compares to other babies of the same age, but she was only 7 lbs when she was born, so she's almost two times as big!  My arms, wrists, and back are also starting to hurt a lot more because she always needs to be held to go to sleep and she is heavy!  The "cry it out" method is a bit  difficult to do when Noah is trying to sleep...I have to figure out some solution to this problem.  I miss the days when she was just a little 7 lb peanut.

Sarah has had a lot of reflux problems, and after a few weeks of cutting out certain foods with no real improvement, we recently started giving her some medication for it.  It's only been a few days so far, but I think it's helping.  I think the main reason why she was having a hard time sleeping was because of the reflux.  I think it was waking her up all the time so she was never really getting good rest, or waking up too early from naps, and therefore was cranky most of the time that she was awake.  So I'm hoping that things will only get better from here and that the Zantac will continue to work its magic.  I've also finally been paying better attention to Sarah's nursing & sleeping times so there's a little more structure to her days now, which may also be helping with the previous crankiness.  I think I was just a bit too overwhelmed the first month and my goal every day was just to make it until 5:30 (when Peter came home...haha).  Things are settling down now and I think we're all falling into more of a daily, semi-predictable routine.  When I have to nap Sarah, I ask Noah, "Sarah needs to take a nappy now, so what does that mean?" and he says, "Be quiet."  Unfortunately, now Sarah and Noah's nap are just about exactly the opposite.  Just as Sarah's waking up from her second nap, it's time for Noah to go down for a nap, and just as Noah's waking up from his nap, Sarah needs to nap again.  I get to spend a lot of time just with Noah, which is nice, but no more napping for mommy! 

Despite spending a lot of time in the carseat and car, Sarah has been getting pretty good at tummy time.  I think she may actually enjoy being on her tummy more than her back.  Sometimes tummy time just ends in her taking a nap on the mat. 

Overall, Sarah is growing and healthy and when she isn't cranky, she's becoming more social.  She is smiling more and will often coo in response when we talk or sing to her.  I haven't really been able to fully appreciate her development day to day, but now that she's becoming more interactive and I'm getting the hang of being a mom of two, I hope that I'll be more attentive so that I can truly cherish these moments.  When Noah was this age, I sometimes would look at how little he was and think about how he'd never be that little again, and just like that I would start crying.  I always tell Peter that I'm going to cry at every graduation, even Kindergarten!  So, I need to slow down a bit, because before I know it, Sarah will be walking and running.   

25 Month Update

Noah just turned 25 months old, and with all the craziness going on, I totally forgot about it until last night!  Since Noah's two now, the monthly changes seem to be slowing a bit, but his personality continues to develop and he's starting to say all kinds of funny things.  He also is continuing to adjust to being a big brother, and is doing a great job!  So this update is just a few fun stories, mostly for our benefit so that we can look back and remember Noah's silliness.

A few weeks ago, we went to a playdate with a bunch of other kids with ages ranging from 1 week old all the way to 4 years old.  During lunch, one of the kids was trying to get his mom's attention and kept saying, "Mommy!"  Noah thought this was fun, so he also started saying, "Mommy!"...except I was sitting right next to him.  He kept on saying, "Mommy!" and would start laughing hysterically afterwards.  However, he was sitting next to an older girl who did not think this was so funny.  She kept saying, "Stop saying that!  Your mommy is right here!  Stop goofing off!"  And then Noah would just continue laughing and saying, "Mommy!  Mommy!"  This went on for at least 15 minutes. 

Noah has been a great big brother so far and is really doing well for a two year-old.  It's been a bit difficult at times putting Sarah down for naps while Noah is running around playing with toys, yelling, and banging things together.  All normal behavior for a toddler, but kind of a problem when trying to nap a little baby.  So every time it's nap time for Sarah, I have to tell Noah over and over again to be quiet, or ask him to play in his room so that he's a little further away.  It can be so frustrating when Sarah's eyes are just about to close, or have just closed, and then Noah comes barreling into the room going, "Hi, Mommy!"  So sweet, but so frustrating.  This morning though, he saw me holding Sarah and bouncing her and he looked at me and said, "Be quiet...ssshhh..." and even put his finger to his lips.  Then he said, "I go room," and went into his room to play while I was putting Sarah down for her nap.  I guess he's learning!  Moments like these remind me of how much Noah relies on routine.  When he takes our phones and pretend he's talking on the phone, he always says, "I hi Grandma," because it's always the grandmas calling!  And when he sees one of the grandmas, the first thing he always says is, "Where Grandpa go?" because he's always used to seeing the two together.  In Peter's mom's case, James often visits at the same time his parents do, so when Noah sees Peter's mom, he usually says, "Where Grandpa go?  Where Uncle James go?"  Recently, James surprised Noah with a few new trains so sometimes when he's playing with the new trains, he'll randomly stop and say, "Thank you Uncle James....Uncle James bring surprise."  

Noah has also been learning the power of "please."  I'm not sure when/where he learned that this was the "magic word" for getting what you want, but he has started using it and it really is almost too cute to resist.  One of his favorite things to ask for is to watch Finding Nemo in the car.  When we get in the car, he always says, "I watch little bit Nemo Mommy, pweeeeeeeease?  Pweeeeeeease?"  He also likes to use his power of persuasion for chocolate milk.  "I want chocate milk Mommy, pweeeeeease?"  Where does he get this stuff from???

These days, Noah has also been obsessed with watching Misty Island Rescue, a Thomas the Train movie.  I think he has watched it everyday for the past two weeks.  He goes into our room, finds the iPad, opens it up, opens the folder that the Netflix app is in, opens the Netflix app, and says, "iPad not ready" while waiting for the app to load.  I know that the ability to use Apple technology is pretty common for kids Noah's age, but I am still stunned by how driven Noah is to watch these movies that he will learn these multi-step tasks to get there.  Meanwhile, he can barely use a fork to eat.  You would think that food was more important.  Anyway, so he watches this movie everyday, re-enacts scenes from the movie with his toys, and is always quoting movie lines!  Already!  The best part is that he doesn't say all of the words.  I don't know if it's a processing thing or what, but when he quotes these movie lines, he only says like every other word.  But still, he can quote a lot of the movies that he watches.  He also does this with books.  We read the same books over and over and over again, to the point where he kind of can read them on his own.  When he's playing by himself, sometimes he'll sit there "reading" his books, reciting all the lines to the books from memory.

One of the funniest things that Noah says is, "What you talking bout?!!"  Noah often gives a running commentary on what's happening with his toys while he's playing with them.  Like, "Thomas go shaky bridge" or "Percy shunting James" or "Gordon thundering down tracks" (please excuse the train lingo).  Noah will often repeat these phrases over and over again until I, or someone, responds in some way.  When I'm having a conversation with someone, I sometimes just say okay, or sometimes kind of ignore him because really, how do you respond to "Gordon thundering down tracks" anyway?  So he'll keep saying whatever he's saying over and over while I'm talking, and when he sees that I'm not responding, he'll yell, "MOMMY!  What you talking bout?!?!!"  I feel like I should tell him that that's rude, but for now, it's just so hilarious!

Taking care of two kids is tough and exhausting, but these fun moments with Noah make the hard work worth it.  In the past year, it was so convenient to just hand Noah off at daycare that I didn't realize what I was missing.  We had a lot of funny moments after daycare and on the weekends, but I feel like it's only now that I'm really developing a relationship with Noah, beyond diaper changer, food provider, and general slave to his needs.  Now we're like mother and son.  Haha! 

5 Weeks Old

Sarah is 5 weeks old!  This was originally going to be a one month update, but I wasn't able to get the post done soon enough.  Sarah has become quite chubby in the past five weeks, weighing somewhere between 10 and 11 pounds now.  I've started referring to her as our little meatball.  Up until about a week ago, she'd been a pretty good sleeper, but is slowly turning into a little terror.  She still mostly eats, sleeps, and soils diapers all day long, but is spending more time awake these days.  Unfortunately most of her awake time is spent crying!  Always crying!  She is rarely awake and at peace.  I am at a loss as to what is wrong.  I have no ability to discern the "different cries."  In fact, I'm pretty sure they're all the same.  For now, I'm just hoping that this is a phase and part of the "fussiness peak" that's supposed to happen around this time.  In the mean time, I'm going to try to put her on a schedule to see if that helps.  So far I've just fed on demand and let her nap whenever...basically fitting her into Noah's life, which maybe is kind of chaotic for her.  Other than crying 75% of the time she's awake, she seems pretty healthy! :)  Nursing is going well and definitely much easier this time around.  I think that with Noah, every nursing session was a big ordeal and I used to marvel at how women could just eat or do other things while nursing.  It's still a bit cumbersome at times, but for the most part, I can be more relaxed about nursing.  Not to the point of nursing with no nursing cover though.  That may be a bit too relaxed.

I've also now spent the past 5 weeks as a mother of two.  I've received, and continue to receive lots of help from family and friends (Peter helps a lot too, but as the dad, I think he's kind of obligated to do so), but it still seems like a big accomplishment.  Every day seems like a big undertaking and I can't really relax until both kids are sleeping at night.  Sarah wakes up to nurse at night, but she usually gets in a good 4 or 5 hour stretch of sleep first, so I have a few hours to myself.  While it has been somewhat easier (though no less frustrating) to take care of Sarah because we've had an infant before, it continues to be difficult to take care of Noah, as he's still going through new things.  I think Noah had a particularly difficult time during the initial transition period, but things have calmed down a lot since then.  But still, taking on both at the same time can be very tricky.  Noah is very sweet with Sarah and always wants to say hi, give her kisses, and share his toys with her, but he's still a 2 year old and his emotions run high.  Some days, everything goes smoothly, the kids are napping when I want them to nap, eating when I want them to eat, minimal crying, and I even cook dinner.  On these days I feel like I can take on anything.  Then the next day everything falls apart, everyone's crying, and it is really hard to hold it together until Peter gets home. 

Today was somewhere in between those two extremes...had a nice trip to the zoo with the help and company of Amy, and even though Noah isn't napping like he should be right now, he's at least content hanging out in his crib, and Sarah's napping, so it's nap time for mommy.

Happy Birthday, Noah!

Happy birthday to my sweet baby, Noah!  He is such a little rascal and doesn't listen to us 90% of the time, but we still love him so much.  When he wants to, he can totally melt my heart.  He has been very loving towards his baby sister most of the time, showering her with kisses, patting her head (gently), and bringing her bottles for her milk (even though we haven't been using bottles). 

Noah has been waiting for a looooong time for his birthday.  He was the youngest in his daycare class, so all year he's been singing happy birthday to his classmates.  I can't remember when or how, but we started singing songs as part of his bedtime routine and in the past month or so, he'd been asking to sing "Happy Birthday Noah" before going to sleep.  Finally, it was his turn!  We did cupcakes at school, a small party with a few toddler friends (okay, my friends, with toddlers around his age), and of course a party with family, so he got to hear "Happy Birthday Noah" three times and blow out the candle many times.  Of all of the pictures I took, he definitely looked the happiest during the singing and blowing out of the candle.  As a parent, I think there have been few moments that have touched my heart as much as seeing him so happy being the birthday boy.  It was a bit crazy planning birthday stuff with a brand new baby, but Peter and my sister made it all possible and I'm so glad we were able to pull it off.  Yesterday when I put him in his highchair for breakfast, he said, "Happy birthday time?"  Unfortunately it was not happy birthday time again, but I did sing it to him one more time today before having some leftover cake after lunch since it was his "real" birthday today.  All in all it was a very happy birthday! 

As far as developmental updates go, Noah continues to talk more and more, and is putting together more sentences everyday.  He is also starting to "assert more independence," which is my euphemism for being totally out of control.  He doesn't listen.  We can ask him nicely fifteen times, not as nicely twenty times, or in ten creatively different ways, but it usually doesn't matter.  If he doesn't get his way, he almost immediately resorts to crying/whining.  I know that we probably shouldn't give in to the whining/crying, but it is really hard not to when your patience is worn so thin.  We usually try not to give in fully and try to compromise instead.  We'll say that we'll read the book just one more time and then it's night-night time, instead of just saying okay, let's read that book as many times as you want.  Not sure if this is better, but it's the best I can think of for now, and usually he'll hold his end of the bargain. :)  He also likes to grab random things from where they are and throw them around.  It's like he's just making a mess for the fun of it and then laughing at us when we get upset.  It drives me nuts, but I recently had this revelation: in this power struggle, I'm not going to win.  I think I actually have this revelation every month or so, but I always forget.  So I can either get mad at Noah and lose both my mind and any sort of control over my child, or I can remain calm and simply reinforce consequences.  So far, I've found that the latter produces better results and more happiness all around.  But man is it hard to stay calm when he spills his milk in his high chair tray and then proceeds to splash it everywhere with his hands!!!  What a rascal.  This week is the official beginning of my time as a stay-at-home mom of two, by myself (during the day).   I hope that in my next update I'll be writing about how unbelievably calm I was all month long. 

Baby Sarah is here!

Hello, Sarah!  7 lbs, 19 inches.

After 40 weeks and 3 days of pregnancy, Sarah finally decided to make her way into the world! After an uneventful due date (August 10th), I finally went into labor some time in the early morning on the 14th.  I was really starting to believe that she was never going to come and that I would most likely have to be induced the following Friday.  Fortunately, labor started on its own and continued fairly smoothly and Sarah was born at 9:53 that night!  I was a bit concerned about how it would all go since I had a c-section for Noah and we were going for a VBAC this time, but everything was fine. The only part that was not fine was the epidural.  First of all, I stupidly waited a bit too long to actually ask for it, even though I knew I was going to eventually get it.  I guess I got to 7 cm and it seemed somewhat bearable and I thought that if I could get through it without the epidural, that would be one less thing to recover from after delivery.  But soon after I thought these thoughts, I came to the conclusion that I really needed the epidural to make it through.  So I asked for the epidural, but the anesthesiologist was busy with other patients so he didn't make it to our room until maybe 40 min later - that's a lot of contractions. When he finally got to me and did the procedure, only the right side of my body was numbed, so I was still feeling contractions in full force on the left side.  He tried repositioning the tube so that the drugs would take effect on my left side as well, but that didn't work.  He ultimately had to do the whole procedure again, and then it worked the second time, but all of this occurred over a period of around 2 hours.  By the time the epidural had taken effect on both sides of my body, it was basically time for delivery.  Even though it would have been nice to have the drugs earlier, I'm super relieved that it came through in the end!

So that's pretty much the story of the birth of Sarah.  I'm really glad I was able to go through with the VBAC.  My OB said it was important for us to try for it because if I had another c-section, then any other subsequent babies would have to be delivered via c-section as well.  Although Peter and I have pretty much decided that there won't be any more babies, I kind of felt a bit cheated out of the childbirth experience last time.  I suppose it would have been more of a "real" experience had I forgone the drugs as well, but I don't think I need unbearable pain to really feel like I had a baby; there are plenty of after effects to remind me that I did indeed give birth to a baby!  I'm glad pregnancy is over, but it was a pretty amazing experience altogether and, more importantly, we now have a beautiful little peanut!

But poor Noah. :(  I missed him so much when I was at the hospital!  He seems to be adjusting to life as a big brother about as well as any 2 year old can, but it makes me a little sad that he can't have all the attention anymore.  Sarah has been nursing every 2 hours for 20-30 min each time, and sometimes nurses every hour even, so I'm totally preoccupied with her and have very little time for Noah.  I had a toy for Sarah that I had just taken out of the packaging and when Noah saw it he said "this mine" like he always does, but I had to say "no, this is your baby sister's" and he just looked at me and then walked away without saying anything.  I don't really have a hard time saying "no" to him, but this was more of a "no, there's someone else now" and he seemed so dejected!  When he does interact with her though, he's very gentle and sweet.  He actually spent the past couple of months toting around one of the baby doll toys at daycare, calling it his baby sister.  Other kids in his class were becoming big brothers and sisters too, so maybe that helped him to get ready.  To be honest, I think I'm having a harder time adjusting than he is.  I love baby Sarah, but I miss the days when it was just me and Noah.  Today, I managed to nurse Sarah and read Noah a book at the same time.  I guess that's a good first step in figuring out how to balance two babies! 

23 Months Old, 38/39 Weeks Pregnant

This is what my life looks like now...very pregnant and chasing a little rascal around.  Except I'm not usually smiling.  Noah doesn't walk, he only runs.  Then after he gets all tired and sweaty, he says "Mommy carry."

He also does the exact opposite of everything we tell him to do.  At lunch the other day, I asked him to use a fork, and he didn't want to.  Then I said, "Okay, you don't have to use it if you don't want to."  Then he picked up the fork and started using it.  When Noah isn't being totally disobedient, he's usually bossing me around, telling me to get up, or sit down, or read this, or do that.  Then the other 10% of the time he's really sweet and cute and does what I ask.  All I can say is, it's a good thing I think he's cute.  Haha!

The only change I've really noticed this past month is improved talking.  He had been stringing two or three words together, but now every once in a while he can get out an almost real sentence!  He also uses "I" sometimes, rather than "Noah".  I don't recall him using the word "you" yet though.

Peter's been working late the past couple of weeks and was out of town this past weekend for his cousin's wedding so Noah has had a lot of just Mommy time.  I don't know if it's because of that, or age, or the pregnancy, but he's become a lot more Mommy dependent.  And while it's kind of nice since he's really always been all about Daddy, I'm getting a little worried about how he's going to handle having a new baby in the house in a couple of weeks!  Okay, I'm actually a little worried about how we're all going to handle having a new baby in the house, but at least Peter and I are adults and will adjust.  We've been reading to him about being a big brother and telling him he has a baby sister on the way.  He seems about as aware as he can be, but I think I'm going to be hearing a lot of "Mommy carry" and "Sit down Mommy lap" in the near future.

Worries aside though, I'm ready to be not pregnant anymore!  The anticipation has been kind of different this time around.  With Noah, I really didn't know what to expect other than what people told me, and you know how they say that ignorance is bliss.  Also, because Noah was the first, we had to actually prepare a room and space for him, so there was physical evidence ahead of time that change was on the way.  This time around all I really needed to do was dig up Noah's old baby things, buy a few onesies, and wash some clothes.  My sister-in-law, who was supposed to be due Aug 3, a week ahead of me, just had her baby this past Friday.  Seeing the little baby actually helped get me into the baby mindset a bit more.  I know that some things will probably be easier with baby #2 because I (hopefully) won't be as paranoid and neurotic about everything, but how do you prepare to take care of two kids?  Two kids in diapers, two kids to schlep around, two kids to plan for, two kids to feed, two kids to nap...sigh.  I remember what a logistical ordeal it was every time I just wanted to step out of the house with Noah.  All of a sudden there was fifteen extra essentials I needed to have to go out.  In the past, I had a hard enough time just remembering my wallet, cell phone, and keys.  I guess all I can do is put forth my best and not stress too much, and let God and Peter fill in the rest.

Well, hopefully I will be updating again sooner rather than later about the new baby!

22 Months Old

Happy with Monkey

Moody with Monkey

Noah turned 22 months old last week and boy has it been an interesting month.  I'm not sure if the "terrible twos" are upon us or if Noah is having a hard time transitioning to the more lax summer schedule, or both.  Some days he'll wake up just fine: smiling, cooperative, happy.  Other days, he'll wake up super cranky and the answer to everything is "No Mommy" or "No way" or "Go away."  Just recently he woke up crying, saying "No Mommy, go away" and then cried when I actually went away; this cycle continued for at least 20-30 min.  Then when I finally got him out of bed he would start crying every time I tried to get him to do something.  I think the picture above is from that day... He was so out of control that I finally decided to take him on a stroller ride because that usually calms him down.  We strolled around for a little while, and though it didn't exactly put him in a better mood, he was at least able to be calm.  Earlier in the year we had decided to keep him in daycare until the end of August because of my pregnancy (we would've had to pay a penalty to pull him out earlier but would have saved some money still) and I am so glad we made that decision!  Not just because of the tantrums every 5 minutes, but also because the heat makes it difficult to do anything but stay inside; at least at daycare they have activities going on all day long, as well as very powerful A/C.  I've also been experiencing a lot of back pain and fatigue from pregnancy so it's nice to not have to deal with a crazy toddler at the same time.  Yesterday I had a hard time just standing up for more than a few minutes!  I don't recall having these issues with Noah, and I definitely was feeling pretty ok overall until just recently.  I hope it isn't like this the rest of the pregnancy because I don't know if I'll make it to August 10!

Noah is talking more and more and starting to string two or three words together.  He has been using this new skill to boss us around.  He often doesn't like it when we're relaxing while he's playing so he'll say "Mommy/Daddy no lie down!" or "Mommy/Daddy off chair!"  Another favorite is "Mommy/Daddy get up!"  "Mommy/Daddy milk, please" isn't one of the combos, though.  Have to work on that.  On the more positive side, Noah is also developing more personality and remembering more events these days.  He likes fooling around and often will say "Noah funny" after doing something silly.  When he does accomplishes some task, some times he will say "Good job, self."  We recently started getting him familiar with the idea of using the potty (he's a long way from any sort of real potty training) and one day we found a bug in his potty.  I have no idea where it came from because living in a condo, there aren't too many insects around, but ever since then, he'll randomly say "buggy in potty."  We also started swim class last week and since that Friday, when we mention playing in the water, he'll say things like "pool" or "fish, green fish" because he played with a green fish toy in class. 

Another fun thing is that Noah now breaks out into song randomly - on the changing table, during lunch, while playing with toys.  He sounds tone-deaf when singing and only really gets out maybe 75% of the words and lyrics, but it's enough for me to know what he's singing.  His current favorites are the ABC's (which he calls ABCD), Twinkle Twinkle (which he calls Winko), Wheels on the Bus, and the Itsy Bitsy Spider - though at daycare they also sing a version where it's the Big Big Spider, and this is the one that Noah insists on singing.  He doesn't like the itsy bitsy one even though it's the exact same song, just with different sized spiders.    

It's so funny the things he takes in and holds on to, because he sure isn't holding onto the times when I tell him to not put his hand in his drinking cup or to not play with the cable box.  I find that it is really difficult to get him to do something without some sort of manipulation.  When he runs into his Cozy Coupe and slams the door shut in order to avoid a diaper change or putting on his shoes to go out, we have to coax him out of the car every time.  We usually employ one of two methods: bribing him with the prospect of watching a DVD in the car if we're going out, or giving him the choice of getting out himself or being taken out.  About half the time he'll get out himself, but the other times we just have a screaming toddler who's gone boneless.

Despite all of the tantrums and difficulties though, Noah is more fun and funny than ever and it melts my heart every time he runs over to give me a hug or just wants me nearby.

School's Out!

School's actually been out for a week or so, but I haven't had a chance to blog.  I still can't quite believe the school year's over.  The last couple of months were such a crunch, trying to cover all the material to be covered, prepare for finals, grading, and comment writing.  There was so much to do and I was so looking forward to being done with comment writing that there wasn't any time to think about the fact that school was almost over and that I would not be returning in September.  Although I'm glad that the year is over, I know that I will be a bit sad in the fall.  It's always so exciting starting a new year with new students, new classes, new everything (even if it gets old really quickly!).  But, I will have a new baby then and I'm sure that she will bring all kids of new excitement.  Noah will also be starting preschool at a new place, two mornings a week, and I'm sure that will require a lot of my attention. 

Since our daycare does full-year contracts, we decided to keep Noah in daycare for a full year, meaning he will be at daycare the entire summer and I will have one final vacation....at least until the kids are old enough for sleep-away camp. :)  And it's a good thing too, because in the past few weeks, picking up Noah frequently has really taken a toll on my back.  With him at daycare, I can suffer the inconveniences of pregnancy alone. :)  Okay, so I'm not really suffering... it's just the back pain/possibly sciatica. 

Once August rolls around though, I will likely be enslaved to baby duties for a full year.  I ended up nursing Noah just about the entire first year, and never really got him used to drinking from a bottle.  The plus side was that I didn't have to worry about weaning him off the bottle; he went straight to a straw cup.  I also could never really figure out a good system for nursing and pumping without making the milk supply crazy.  The down side was that I couldn't leave him with anyone for long periods of time.  Looking back it seems really crazy that we did that, but it's over, I survived, and I barely even remember that time anymore.  Since we are 99% sure we will not be having anymore babies, I think it'll be a bit easier this time around. 

It's weird that when you have very little to do, it takes so long to do it!  When I was working, I woke up at around 6:30 everyday, worked pretty much a full day, picked up Noah, went to the supermarket, usually tried to cook, and did dishes, laundry, etc.  These days, it's a whole undertaking just to buy some groceries or return library books.  Ah, the life of leisure.  Hahahaa... I'm going to enjoy it while I still can! 

21 Month Update

Driving a school bus.  Noah loves buses!

Here he is doing the "round and round" hand motions to the Wheels on the Bus - his favorite song.

Hanging out with me because he was home, sick with a fever.

So I'm a week or so late on the update, but better late then never!  Especially when so much is happening every month.  Noah is talking more and more these days, and now will at least try to say almost anything you ask him to.  Even things you don't ask him to.  The other day I might have kind of been road-raging while driving and I was like "Come on!!!" and then Noah goes "Come on!!!"  Oops.  I've already been careful about what I've been saying because I know he understands a lot, but it's starting to get very dangerous!  We've also started having spell words out, like "strawberry" or "Thomas" (for Thomas the train) because he will often drop everything to eat strawberries or watch Thomas.  And I mean everything.  If he has food in his mouth, he will often spit it out when he sees something else he wants to eat.  Once when he was in one of those shopping carts with kiddie car attached and didn't want to get out, we said he could watch Thomas in the car if he got out and he immediately got out.  We let him watch Finding Nemo recently and now he's all about Nemo.  When we get in the car he'll say, "Nemo?"  If we say no, he'll say, "Water?  Shark?  Turtle?  Whale?" Peter got me a toy Nemo years ago when he was in Disney World for some sort of work training thing and now Noah sleeps with it.  I think Noah may have watched Finding Nemo twice last weekend because we spent so much time in the car.  I know, we're rotting his brain.  We do try to limit it to just in the car though, since there isn't much else for him to do but look for buses and trucks on the road (which he actually finds very exciting sometimes).

Noah is becoming more and more independent these days.  While this sounds great in theory, it can be kind of frustrating because, well, he really doesn't know how to do anything.  He always wants to feed himself, or as he says, "felf."  A lot of times he refuses to eat and will only eat if he has control of the spoon...which he then abandons after I give it to him because he'd rather eat with his hands.  He also likes to eat with his hands while still holding on to a toy, usually one of his trains.  Another thing likes is to walk by himself instead of being held or having his hand held.  Again, this sounds great, but it also means he's constantly wandering off, trying to run into the street, or trying to run off to the playground when I'm trying to take him to his daycare classroom.  If we don't let him do things himself, crying, kicking, and screaming ensue....it's difficult to decide when to give in and when to stay firm!  My decision making process is usually based on how much patience I have at the given moment.  Peter is definitely a lot more patient than I am.  I think I have to give him full credit for teaching Noah how to spoon yogurt into his mouth because I just couldn't deal with the mess.  But now Noah's pretty good at eating yogurt!  It's still a bit messy, but pretty good.

Noah loves songs.  Sometimes he'll randomly say "Daddy, singing" or "Mommy, singing," basically saying he wants us to sing something.  Sometimes he'll randomly start saying/singing the lyrics to songs he likes.  One day I started singing "hickory dickory dock..." (not sure why), and then Noah said "mouse...up" and then when I finished the rest of the song and ended with "hickory dickory dock" again, he said "tick tock, tick tock."

The last thing I wanted to add was Noah got into his first scuffle at school today.  Well, at least the first one that got physical enough to inform parents....and he was on the receiving end.  When I went to pick him up from daycare today, his right arm had a bunch of scratches on it and I was informed that he was scratched by a classmate either because he had taken a toy from the classmate or the classmate wanted the toy from him.  It's a bit unclear to me right now exactly how it started, just that there was a toy involved, and Noah was scratched.  Even though he  wasn't seriously injured and most likely forgot about the incident already, I'm kind of traumatized!  I know that the kid who did it doesn't know any better, I know that Noah is just fine, and I know that these kinds of things happen, but I have to admit that I lost a little bit of trust in his daycare today.  This is also combined with other recent incidents though.  Noah was in a time out a few days ago when I went to pick him up, for spilling other kids' drinks.  I totally agree that Noah should receive some consequence for doing something wrong, but just yesterday I saw another child push Noah down (not by accident) - and he didn't end up in a time out.  In fact, I often see this particular child pushing and hitting other kids when I go to pick Noah up, and I've never seen him in a time out.  All of this kind of makes me feel like the teachers aren't always treating the kids fairly, and it makes me wonder whether or not the child who scratched Noah received any sort of consequence at all, while Noah's getting time outs for spilling milk.  Sigh.  I'm trying really hard to not cross over into crazy parent land, but everyday I'm finding that it's a really fine line to walk! 

Okay, very long post this time.  Sorry to end on a sad note.  Hopefully I'll still be sane next month!

20 Month Update/25 Week Pregnancy Update

Noah will only take bubble baths now.

Fresh new haircut for the spring!

Is Noah really 20 months old already?  Am I really having another baby in less than 4 months??  It has been a tiring but exciting month.  Noah is talking more and more and in the past week or so has even started stringing a couple of words together.  He can say "'bye bye dada" or "bye bye mama" instead of just "bye bye" or "mama" and I think just in the past day or so he started saying "choo choo train" instead of just "choo choo".  When he finished playing with toys, he always says "bye bye" to whatever it is he's putting away as well.  I'm also very excited that he usually helps with putting things away - I need to somehow cultivate this and make the habit stick! 

Here are a couple of videos from the past month.  Not only is he talking more, he's becoming more tricky and rascally as well...



He really does have poo poo in his diaper, but he always lies about it!  He'll even say "poo poo" to tell us either that he has a poo diaper, or that he's about to poo, and then right afterwards when asked about it he'll say "no no...no no..."



Feeding time can be difficult because Noah likes to spit things out and/or throw food around when he's not interested in it.  He also likes to throw his cup and plate off the tray at random times.  Noah loves yogurt and eats it every morning, but these days he always wants to eat it himself, or as he says, "felf".  As a result, breakfast has become more challenging as well because it's really hard to manage the yogurt flinging, though I suppose it just can't be managed.  But when he's eating fruit, he's usually very compliant, and often very happy!

Noah watches more and more TV these days, which I worry about a little, but sometimes just can't help it.  Peter's been really busy at work the past few weeks so our daily dinner routine consists of me plopping Noah down in front of the TV for about 30 min while I throw something together for us to eat.  We ate a lot of pizza and chicken nuggets this week. :(  I did get semi-healthy chicken nuggets though...I hope that counts for something!  He did eat sweet potato (fries) and green beans as well so that makes me feel a little better.

Something I can take comfort in is Noah's interest in books.  We still read the little board books, but we've progressed to slightly longer non-board books.  I'm not sure how much he's comprehending, but he often can identify the characters in the book, remembers certain dialogue & reactions of the characters, and most importantly wants to read the same books over and over (and over and over and over) again.  His current list of favorites are Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Pigeon Wants a Puppy, The Little Engine That Could, and all of the Llama Llama books.  He used to really like Are You Ready to Play Outside? since he loves playing outside, but he seems to have lost interest in it recently.  I don't know if he actually likes Mo Willems as an author, but I love Mo Willems and I definitely look for his books at the library.  There otherwise are just too many books to choose from!  It's time consuming but fun, looking for books for Noah at the library.  I feel like I'm starting to get a better sense of what will be appropriate for where he is and what kinds of characters/stories he would like, which is cool!  This is definitely one of the more fun and interesting aspects of motherhood.
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As for pregnancy, I can barely remember what week I'm in and the whole thing is just flying by!  I guess that's a good thing.  I was looking back at my pregnancy journal from last time and it seems that I had really low energy around this time, and thinking back, I do remember being really tired all the time and sleeping really early.  Fortunately, I don't seem to be as fatigued all the time these days.  I'm tired, but that has mostly to do with the fact that I go to sleep between 11 and 12 and wake up between 6 and 6:30...and never get to sleep in on the weekends!  I suppose Noah just starting using up my energy before he was even born.  Another plus is that my OB just told me at my past appointment that I didn't need to take a glucose test again because I wasn't at risk for gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with Noah and my weight gain his time around has been about the same.  So I don't have to drink super sweet orange soda stuff and not be allowed to drink water for an hour afterwards.  Yay!

Overall, I have to say that I'm ready for summer vacation!  I have had so much fun working this past year, but now that Noah is older and with another baby on the way, it's getting harder for me to spend just a few hours a day with him.  I'm always so sad when the weekend is over, not necessarily because I have to go to work, but because when I say good night on Sunday, I know I won't see him again until 5pm the next day.  I definitely love the "time off" I have from childcare because it can be tiresome, lonely, and frustrating (even if it's only to go work in a different arena), but I also miss spending time with Noah.  What a dilemma!  But I know I'm not the first to ever feel this way.  I'll have to come back and read this next year when I'm ready to tear my hair out taking care of two small children.  But in all seriousness, now that I've taken a year to be a stay at home mom and a year to work, I think I can confidently say that for now, I'd rather be the stay at home mom.  I know it won't be easy, but I also know that it will be so rewarding.

19 Month Update/Pregnancy Update - 21 weeks

Our little guy is 19 months old today, and what a character he is growing up to be. He continues to pick up more words, but his all-time favorites are "car", "truck", "che-choo" (train), and "boo bus" (school bus). We live on a pretty busy road where plenty of cars, trucks, and buses pass by everyday so Noah spends a lot of time looking out the window and pointing out the vehicles he sees. A couple of days ago, he was (I think) talking in his sleep and said "boo-bus". I thought he'd woken up because it was around 8 am, but he continued sleeping until about 8:30. He is obsessed with the vehicles. His love for che-choos is more about Thomas the train than actual trains.

Noah seems to be a little less all about daddy all the time these days. He wants daddy, but he also wants mommy (whew!) - at the same time. He's quite the demanding little guy. He also demands being read to all the time. After we finish reading the book, he hands the book back and wants it to be read again. If he isn't demanding reading, he wants to be pushed around in his little car. He puts his Elmo and monkey (who he also calls "elmo") in the car, then gets in and wants to be pushed around. Okay, that's kind of an exaggeration. He's usually the one pushing the car around with his Elmos and some assortment of other toys inside. But in general, if he wants something, he can be very insistent. Noah doesn't really throw full on tantrums (yet?), but he does start screaming and crying when he doesn't get his way. We can usually distract him/calm him down within a few minutes, but hopefully this is the extent of his tantrum throwing! Even when Noah's's in a good mood though, he is wreaking all sorts of havoc. He's really into throwing things - remote controls, cars, books, cups, food he doesn't want to eat, etc. He also likes hitting and thinks it's funny when we say ow!

What's been particularly exciting to see this past month has been the development of Noah's personality. He is quite the ham it seems. He loves being goofy and laughing. When he sees that we are laughing with him, he continues his antics or starts laughing even more. Sometimes he'll do something silly and then look at us and wait for our response. He is quite entertaining.

Noah also seems to be developing some sort of empathy. I was reading a book to him a couple of weeks ago in which the main character starts crying at some point because he misses his mama and Noah kept pointing to the tear in the illustration and wouldn't let me move on in the book. He seemed so sad for the little llama in the book! Peter also said that when he was reading the bible to Noah and Noah saw an illustration of one of the Israelite slaves getting beaten he kept pointing at it and saying "oh no..oh no.." (it's a little kid bible, so the illustration isn't scary or gory; I think the slave is just crouched down and really sad) The teachers at daycare also said that Noah usually goes to hug his classmates if they get hurt or are crying. Maybe this is a good sign for his future as an older brother!

That's it for Noah. As for the pregnancy, we finally were able to find out today that we are having a girl! I'd been kind of leaning towards a preference for a boy, but mostly because I have all this boy clothing already and it would just be such a shame to not be able to use it all again! I am actually a little sad to be putting away Noah's clothing for good (most likely). A few days ago though, I actually started thinking that it would be really nice to have a girl for a change...I guess that's just God at work! Now I just hope that this girl will be more calm and well-behaved so that I can manage two kids at the same time!

18 Month Update

Taking a ride on the "choo-choo" at the mall.

Noah is now 18 months old and growing very fast! He is now 34.5 inches tall (95%-ile) and 26 lbs (54%-ile). I was looking at his 15 month stats and he's grown almost 2 inches since then and gained almost 3 lbs. So basically he just got taller. He still has a big belly and kind of skinny arms and legs. Even though his head looks really big, his head circumference is on the low side.

Noah's canines and first molars are all either out or making their way out. They kind of all started erupting at the same time and I think he'll have 16 teeth very soon! Other than that week when he didn't really want to eat anything though, he's been acting pretty normally for the most part, so hopefully that means the teething hasn't been bothering him too much. And as far as eating goes, he's somewhat back to "normal" now, eating just about everything. He still prefers fruit and yogurt over everything else, but is pretty amenable to anything involving noodles, rice, or tofu. I usually try to chop vegetables up and mix them in with what he's eating, which usually works.

Noah is talking more and more now. He can say: mama, dada, ball, car, cold, truck, bye, apple, draw, frog, bear, bird, dog, sheep, duck, owl, horse, whale, teacher, itchy, water (wah), feet, hand, mouth, ear, nose, cheese, teeth, head, hair, shoe, bath...not sure what else, but a lot! He can also often repeat what I say, even if he doesn't remember it later on. He isn't saying any words together, but he's been doing a lot more babbling this past month, which I think is a good sign. He still can't really say his name, but just recently when I try to get him to say Noah, he'll say "wawa". Better than nothing I guess!

Another sign that our little baby is growing up is his growing independence. Sometimes when I'm feeding Noah food, he doesn't want to eat it, but if I let him take the utensil or just leave the food in front of him, he'll eat it. He also is starting to not like being in the high chair. He likes to climb up onto the real chairs and sit at the table. Sometimes he'll just sit there reading a book or flipping through a magazine, sometimes he'll eat food there. I kind of cringe at the eating because there's nothing to catch the mess, and no where for his greasy little hands to go except all over the table and chairs. But I guess I just have to deal with it, to an extent. So yeah, my little baby is becoming more independent, more rascally, and more old!!! :( So sad but so fun at the same time. He is quite the character!

Mama!

I felt I had to record this exciting day - Noah called me Mama! He's said Mama before I think, even in relation to me, but never actually called me Mama. I'm not even entirely sure today counts. I was blow drying my hair while Peter was waking Noah up in his room and according to Peter, when he heard the blow dryer turn on, he said "Mama!" Then they came over to the bathroom and he kept saying "Mama!" which was very exciting. Yay! I feel officially like a Mama now.

Hunger Strike - help!

Noah's been on a bit of a hunger strike lately. I don't know what's going on. Once upon a time, he loved dumplings, rice, noodles, tofu, and ate just about anything. Literally overnight (from Saturday to Sunday), he decided he didn't want to eat any of these things anymore. Every night dinner is a struggle. The other day he did eat a few bites of rice with potatoes and carrots, but didn't eat nearly as much as he normally would. Last night I stir-fried some udon noodles with zucchini and tofu - a meal he devoured just last week, and he wouldn't eat any! I ended up making a sandwich for him with peanut butter, banana, and honey instead. The only other things he'll eat are yogurt, fruit, and Cheerios. And he drinks lots of water and milk. I've heard that kids can become more picky when they are older, but no to rice? No to noodles?? How can he all of a sudden want nothing to do with things he used to totally love? Peter thought maybe it's because of teething, but he still eats some foods...things with fruit or sugar, in particular!!! Although, I made him oatmeal this morning with sugar and he didn't want that either. He opened his mouth for it only because he saw strawberries in the oatmeal, but once he tasted the oatmeal part he spit it all out. :(

Any thoughts on what's going on would be greatly appreciated!

17 Month Update

It has been a very busy and exciting month! So much so that we don't really have all that many pics of Noah..haha. I usually try to take pics on or around when I write these posts but these pics are mostly from a couple of weeks ago. I suppose now that he's older it doesn't really make that much of a difference anyway since he's not really changing that much physically. Just growing taller all the time! He seems to be very tall and the last time we went for a check-up he was still in the upper percentiles for height, so Peter's still hoping that Noah will be 6'5". I think we'll be lucky if he breaks 5'9".

Noah has been making a lot of progress with communication, which has been very exciting. He understands most things that we say, even if he doesn't always do what we ask him to. Last night at dinner we were trying to get him to eat chicken tenders but he kept wanting to eat french fries only. We said that he had to eat chicken first if he wanted a fry and like magic he opened up for the chicken. So that's how the rest of the meal went...bribing him with french fries to eat chicken. At one point he wanted another fry so he picked up a piece of chicken and started waving it around and pointing towards the fries. At daycare though, he's apparently a champion eater. He usually eats everything given to him, and if I get there to pick him up during snack time, he'll try to grab all of his snack into his hands before getting up from the table. I don't know what kind of magic they use there but he eats everything and takes super long naps. He's a good eater in general, but I don't think he eats as well at home. Same with the naps. He's not a bad napper, but at daycare he sleeps on a little cot and will sometimes take a 3 hour nap!! I wish they would start using utensils at daycare and work their magic there too. Then maybe he'd use them better at home. Noah has made some progress with the spoon and just started using a fork, but we're still pretty far from him being able to use utensils independently. Or maybe it's just me and I can't bear to let him fling the food around everywhere.

Noah still loves playing with balls and books and watching Sesame Street videos. He plays with the basketball hoop we have at home sometimes, but mostly he just likes carrying the balls around or trying to put it in his little car. He also spend a lot of time "reading" books. He particularly likes to take a book out of the bookshelf, get in his chair (sometimes I put a blanket on him), flip through it, then put it back and get out another one. He's a funny little guy. When he was younger, he used to just like pulling all of the books out of the shelf and throwing them on the floor, but recently he's finally starting to put them back as well. In general he's less destructive all the time and has started putting things back in order. This is definitely a skill I need to try and cultivate! I've been told that kids lose interest in putting things back very quickly though.

Even though Noah continues to understand a lot, his vocabulary hasn't really expanded much since last month. I think the only new words he knows are dog, mouth, water ("wah" - and this refers to all beverages), itchy (he currently has a bit of a rash and he's been scratching it a lot) and baby. We just taught him baby a couple of days ago in an effort to help him get ready for his future baby brother/sister - arriving this August! :)


We're just about at the end of the 1st trimester, and the baby is due on August 10. Another August baby! Hopefully Noah won't be too jealous. :)