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