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| Noah will only take bubble baths now. |
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| 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.
