Firsts

Before Noah I would see a baby doing "normal" things such as holding a toy, rolling around on the floor, smiling, laughing, sucking his toes, looking at his parents...and I never thought twice about it. But now with a new-parent perspective, I see how these simple accomplishments are just incredible. I've seen Noah go from being able to do practically nothing on his own, to smiling (October 2), rolling over (December 3), giggling (December 9), grabbing his feet (December 12), and just last night he laughed for the first time (December 18) while my whole family was skyping; regretfully, all except Matt (he was working). I love each of these small feats that I took for granted before. Who remembers learning to watch an object or how to brace your legs? These little ones of ours are learning everything from scratch...it's remarkable really, and I feel like I'm just getting that. I want to go back in time and be as amazed as I should have been at my nephews milestones and my friends' babies' milestones. The Lord is good and His children are beautifully and wonderfully made.

Noah Meets Santa

This past Saturday we worked the affordable Christmas event at church, and Santa and Mrs. Claus made an appearance. It was Noah's first time meeting "Santa" and his eyes got really big when he first saw him. (So I'm told anyway...I was wearing Noah in the Bjorn, so I couldn't see his face.) So cute!

Stark Christmas

It's taken me a little while to find time to write about our Christmas with the Starks, but here I go!
We headed down on a Friday and stayed through Sunday. On Saturday, Brian, Janet, Parker and Tyler came down to the lake, and we really had a great day together. The Matt and Brian made just about every kind of meat there is...pork, burgers, chicken wings...it was a little over the top; however, we were also celebrating Brian's birthday, so Matt had a good excuse to go nuts on the grill. After lunch, we opened gifts. Matt and I (and Parker) opened all of Noah's gifts which was really fun! We all received more than enough and had a really good time watching Parker really be into it for the first time. He's at that age. Later, we had prime rib with the family and during dinner, Parker crawled down on Noah's little play mat with him. He draped his favorite blanket over him, and he talked and hugged and kissed Noah. It was precious.

Inspired

I gave this little shirt to my precious nephew Tyler last year, and it has now become one of Noah's hand-me-downs (which he has lots of from his cousins Parker and Tyler). Anyway, I thought the shirt had significance when I originally bought it as it supports an AIDs foundation, but now that my little Noah is wearing it, I find that it's message rings true as I am incredibly inspired by my sweet son.

I am thankful for his life, for his health
I am inspired by his innocence
I am thankful for his beautiful, toothless smile
I am inspired by my boundless love for him
I am grateful for his huge blue eyes
I am inspired to show him God's love
I am inspired to set an example of what a woman should be
I am inspired to not be lazy with him
I am inspired to model integrity and strength
I am thankful for his sweet milky breath
I am inspired to read to him often
I am inspired by his dependence on me
I am proud of his little moments
I am inspired to sacrifice for him
I am inspired...

Time with the Girls and Noah's Cold

We stayed in the Springfield area throughout the Thanksgiving weekend, and I was able to spend time with some friends. Amanda and her daughter, Brooklyn, and Noah and I hung out at Sarah G.'s house on Saturday afternoon. We were going to go shopping, but Noah was dealing with his first cold, so I kept him in and the girls were cool with that. In fact, they were able to scrapbook a little, while Noah and I spent some quality time in Sarah's massage chair. It was fabulous! Matt and I have got to get one of those things! Amanda and I had a chance to catch up, and I was so glad she was able to meet Noah. Later that day, Amanda headed home and Sarah went shopping with me, Debbie, and Janet, while Matt kept Noah. We didn't want to take him out in public due to his first cold.

Speaking of this cold...oh, it was awful! Well, it probably could have been worse, but thank the Lord that it was as mild as it was. Noah had a lot of drainage, and he was choking on it. So there was a lot of coughing, sneezing and gagging; not to mention the runny nose and red eyes. It about broke my heart to see him so uncomfortable. I slept with him for a couple nights on the couch to keep him more upright...he seemed worse when he was on his back, but I'm afraid that those two nights set us back a few steps in the 'sleeping through the night' progress. I don't know if it is because he's been sick or because of our nights together, but he's been back to waking up every few hours. Anyway, he never had a fever, and he seemed to recover pretty quickly. I'm sure it was only the first of many colds. I'm going to be such a wussy mom...how am I going to deal with broken bones? Good grief.

Thanksgiving Day

Last Wednesday we headed to Kimberling City to spend Thanksgiving with Matt's family. Mid-day on Thursday, both sets of Matt's grandparents arrived, along with his aunt, uncle, and multiple cousins. We had a ridiculous amount of food and a really good time catching up with everyone. It was fun to introduce Noah to his great grandparents.

Debbie did in fact share Noah with the others, but she still managed to get some alone time with him.
These are Matt's paternal grandparents, Bruce and Shirley Stark.

And these are Matt's maternal grandparents, Bernard and Mary Walker.

The Walker side

Debbie and her sister, Teresa

Noah and his great grandma

The Bumbo and Mama's Visit

Today was Noah's first go at the Bumbo. He was a bit bobbleheadish, but he was able to sit up in it. He looks so big to me in these pictures.
"I'm tired mom; get me outta here"
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Here are some of the pictures I finally uploaded from mom's visit. Noah was so at peace in his Gram's arms.

The day before mom left, we went to the zoo. Noah slept through most of it, but we still got a few cute pictures.

Baby Massage...Who would of thunk it?

I tried something new. As my title indicates, this something new was a baby massage on Noah. Before knowing much about it, I thought it sounded a little fruity, but it was and has been a wonderful experience. My research revealed that 46% of babies who receive these massages have higher IQs later in life, and it makes them (the babies) feel more secure. At this point, those are just bonuses. Giving Noah these massages has been one of the sweetest experiences I've had with him to date.

Here's what I've done: After his bath I dry and warm him in a towel. Then I lay him on the floor with his towel still around him, and I sit in front of him. I rub baby lotion in my hands to warm it up, and then unwrap one of Noah's legs or one of his arms, leaving the rest of his body still covered. I start by slowly and softly rubbing his foot or hand, and then work the rest of the limb. Once he's used to my touch, I can rub his back, belly, neck and shoulders without it bothering him. I also sing a slow and soothing song to him the whole time. I've only done this twice, and both times he just calmly stares at me wide eyed, and he seems really at peace. I feel such a strong connection with him during these massages. It's so sweet; I even teared up the first time. I'm just a beginner here, but I would highly recommend getting past the initial weirdness of massaging your baby and JUST DO IT. It's great.

What a Week

We've had company since last Friday. I really enjoy having people stay with us, and Matt's pretty cool with it too. We just wish we had a bigger place. It started with Matt's family last weekend. They were in for his birthday as I reported in the last blog. The family left on Sunday, we took Monday to rest and clean up, and then my mom arrived on Tuesday. Mom stayed until Saturday, and then Sarah G. arrived and stayed through Sunday.

We were so happy that mom decided to come again before Christmas. We originally weren't planning to see her again until we went to Florida, but she said she couldn't wait that long. I have always wanted my children to grow up around my parents (which at this point just isn't possible), so it's really fantastic that she's in a place where she can visit often. I got some great pictures of she and Noah together that I have yet to upload, but I'll post them as soon as I do. One of the moments I was most looking forward to was when Noah showed Grams his newly developed smile. She melted just like I knew she would, and she spent the rest of her time talking and playing with him so she could see more of those precious smiles. He would just stare and smile at her and open his mouth like he was trying to say something, but no noise would come out. So cute! We didn't do too much...a couple of trips to the store and on Friday we went to the zoo. It was just nice to hang out. Mom bought Noah a super cute Christmas outfit, and also brought him a book entitled, Just Grandma and Me. She kept trying to read it to Noah, but he wouldn't let her get through it. He's going to be a reader, whether he likes it or not though!

Mom offered to stay with Noah while Matt and I had our first date since the little guy came into the world. We went to The Cheesecake Factory, and then to a couple of stores in the mall. It was great to hold a conversation with Matt in a public place without worrying about Noah. Mom took us out to eat her last night here. Noah wasn't too happy that evening though. I tried to feed him, Matt tried to bounce with him, but he didn't calm down until he sat in Gram's lap...and boy did Grams eat that up! We miss her already.

Saturday Sarah stayed with us. She was in town for a conference, and that afternoon Matt watched Noah while Sarah and I scrapbooked into the night. Sarah and I had a couple of observations about each other. I realized that she has the gift of generosity, and she noticed that I say delicious a lot. (Random bits of info, I know.) Anyway, we always have fun together, and hanging out with her was a nice little getaway from my mommy responsibilities.

Matt's 30th Birthday Weekend

Matt turned 30 on Friday, November 7th, and his family came up here to spend the weekend with him. We surprised Matt with a new TV when he got home from work on Friday, and Saturday we joined several of his friends at a surprise dinner. After dinner, we had a little party on our rooftop with a slide show of Matt's first 30 years. I have to say that although I thought Matt may have had some suspicions, he was clueless of our plans! I think he really enjoyed his birthday.

Noah wore his little argyle sweater vest for the first time. He looked so cute! He slept through the majority of the evening, which was fabulous! He's such a good boy!

Noah met his Uncle Brian, Aunt Janet, and cousins, Parker and Tyler for the first time. Parker was so sweet to him...he said things like, "you're cute," "Noah's hungry," and "that's my cousin Noah." Tyler was sweet too...he kissed Noah several times, but he wasn't too crazy about his mama holding another baby! He was funny. He's used to being the baby!

Cousins!

Little Pumpkin

We enjoyed a low key Halloween night at Steve and Andrea's house. We sat around their fire pit, chatted and munched on candy. Not good for my diet, but that's beside the point. Noah didn't dress up, save this cute little pumpkin onsie. I don't have much to report, but wanted to post my new pics!

Congrats to Rodney and Gina for their new little Eva. She is precious, and we are so glad she's healthy.

Happy Birthday My Noah!

Today is Noah's two month birthday. It's unbelievable to me that he has been here for this long already! He is so sweet today though...right now he's happily playing in his little bouncy seat. So cute! Happy Birthday my little one!

Guests

Last Wednesday my college roommate, Brittany, visited with us. She has two young boys, Brody and Wyatt, and we had a fun time together. We spent 6 hours at the Mills Mall, which was amazing considering our kids were with us. They were fabulous. I was telling Brit that I felt like the reason Noah did so well is because I didn't try to push his limits. When I figured he needed a diaper change, we stopped to do it. When I thought he may be hungry, I fed him. When he needed to be held (which was pretty much the whole time) I held him in my sling. I'm learning here... It's not about my agenda anymore, that's for sure. And Brittany was super understanding as she has little ones as well, so it was a great laid back day at the mall. I didn't get any pics of me and Noah, but here are a couple cute ones of Brit and her boys.

After Brit left, Sarah Garrison came up for the weekend. Matt watched Noah all day on Saturday so that Sarah and I could scrapbook. It was a good break for me, but I did miss the little guy. As always, Sarah and I had a great time together, and then we ended our day with some fabulous sushi from Wasabi. On Sunday, Sarah showed me how to make beef stew out of my leftover roast, and it was delicious! I think the cabbage in it caused some serious gas in Noah, so I think I'll have to leave that out next time. Oh man, it was good though.