It's a Very Growl-y Christmas!

So, I just had to post about this because I think it is hilarious. Noah has learned how to growl! Not the cute little baby grunts that they make about this stage, but full blown, from the chest, deep, throaty growls! He sounds like a little bear cub! It's really funny, he will just growl and growl and growl over and over again. I have some pretty good videos of it that I should post, as soon as I figure out how! Even now as I type this, Noah is laying on his play mat and growling away at the mirror, the ceiling, his hands, everything he can see! It honestly doesn't sound like a noise that should be coming from the throat of a darling little baby! He smiles the whole time he is growling too, which adds to the comedic effect! It makes me laugh, he growls for about 15 minutes straight before falling asleep at each nap, and he will do it for even longer than that when we go for drive in the car now. We will see how long he can actually do it when we drive to Vegas on Monday... He has also discovered how much he likes people's faces. Whenever you pick him up now, he will look right into your eyes and rest his hands on your face. He usually likes to hold your chin or rest his hands on your cheeks. Almost every time I pick him up from his naps now he will pat my cheeks and squeal or growl. It's so cute that he likes to see me after his naps so much! :) Also, he is just starting (CROSS YOUR FINGERS!) to like cuddling! He will curl up with me more and more or rest his head on my shoulder and just lay there for a little bit. This hasn't ever happened! Since he was born he has had to always have his head up and looking around, so this is a treat for me! I hope it lasts, and I hope he does it more! :)

Noah's 4 Month Pictures

I found Noah this way after one of his naps. How he got his blanket up over his head like that after being swaddled is quite impressive! :) I like his face too, like he is saying, "What?"

He has discovered how delicious his thumb is and what a good sleepy time friend it is! He will usually suck it for a moment or two, and then when he falls all the way asleep it falls out of his mouth.

He's sleeping on the couch since he refused to take his nap at the time he was supposed to, and then realized that not taking his nap made him tired!

Thumb on it's way out of his mouth.

Noah really like to sit up more and more, he can actually sit up pretty good on his own for a while, but we have to really watch him because as soon as he decides he is done he will immediately fall over!

Playing with Mommy

Sleeping in his stroller

Back awake in his stroller when my mom and I went to the Festival of Trees. He really liked being pushed around and looking at all the lights and people.

After his bath one day.

I got this face when I came at him with his antibiotic for a minor ear infection. He got to where he recognized the little syringe full of medicine!

Enjoying being pants-less!

Noah is SO incredibly close to being able to roll from his back to his tummy, he did it once already, but I think it was a fluke. He looked incredibly confused that he was on his tummy! He is getting more and more social all the time, he will smile at anyone and everyone that talks to him! I get comments all the time on how social he is. He loves to listen to voices and music. He really loves his bath time, he will splash like crazy and squeal and grin the whole time. He likes to sit in his baby swing and look out the window, especially if it is snowing or raining. He also really like to sit in his boppy pillow and watch me cook dinner and do the dishes. He is getting really good at sitting up on his own, he is slumped forward for balance a little bit, but he is getting there! At his 4 month doctor's appointment we found out he is a little over 14 lbs putting him in the 33 percentile for weight, but he is 27 inches longs, putting him in the 85 percentile for height! He is a long, skinny guy! He is doing great with his nap times, he don't usually cry at all, or if he does, it's only for 2-3 minutes. He usually plays in the crib for about 35 minutes before actually going to sleep though! I can hear him in there rolling around, blowing raspberries, talking, and cooing for a while after I put him down. He is so funny! He still loves to babble and talk a lot, and when we go in the car now, instead of falling right to sleep like he used to, he will sit back there and talk and talk and talk and spit and make noises for a while, and then fall asleep. It's so fun to listen to all of his little sounds! :) Noah is about the happiest, content, pleasant baby I have ever seen, which makes it so much fun! I sure love my little guy!

Lessons from a Toilet Knob

A little while after we moved into our house, the toilet in our master bathroom started leaking and being obnoxious. Ben gutted it and replaced its insides with a super fancy new plumbing system that is quite advanced, you can do a "half" flush for little toilet deposits, and a "full" flush for bigger toilet deposits to help save water. The knob even directs you that for a half flush, the knob goes up, and for a full flush the knob goes down. I thought this was a nice feature, and we moved on. Well, the other day I was having one of those days where nothing went quite like you thought, you didn't get done what you wanted, and I was indulging in a little self pity. (Not something I do often!) So, after Noah was down for a nap, I decided to pamper myself with a nice, long, hot bath. As I was relaxing, I started telling myself all of the things I should be doing instead of what I was doing, things like laundry and dishes and making dinner, among other things. I then got more enmeshed in my self pity party because I had so much to do. I happened to glance over at the toilet, and I got a friendly philosophical reminder written on my toilet knob - "Half Full". I started laughing, reminding myself to look at my glass as "half full" and to get over my pity! Hooray for life's little lessons! :) May you always see your glass as half full!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know that I am a day late, but I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! We got to spend the holiday with Ben's family, and it was a lot of fun. We had the big dinner at his grandma's house with lots of extended family and then we spent the night at his parent's house and came home earlier today. It was Noah's first night away from home, and he did really well! :) We had a good time with lots of family, food, games, and conversation. It made me very grateful for several things:

*The blessing we have of living close to our families, I am so grateful for my family and the joy they bring to my life, and I am so grateful for my in-laws and for the loving relationship I have with them.

*My amazing husband. I have such a kind, caring, loving husband, and I am so grateful for him! He treats me like a queen and he is an amazing father to our little boy. I am so grateful for Ben!

*My son, Noah is a delightful, happy, content baby and I have loved welcoming him to our family. He is my little sweetheart, and I am so grateful to have him!

*Our health. We have been very lucky that Noah has been very healthy, other than an ear ache, and was born healthy and happy. We are both healthy and I am so grateful for that!

*Our country and the area we live in with good neighbors, freedoms, and privileges that so many go without.

*The Church and the marvelous things it teaches us about the Savior and families, I am so grateful that I go through life with a very clear understanding of who I am, where I am going, what I am doing, and why I am here. My gratitude to a loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ can't possibly be adequately expressed, but the feelings are part of my every day life.

I love the Thanksgiving holiday, and not just because of the food, but because of the wonderful reminder of all the things that I have in my life that bless me and make life so worth living. I am truly blessed, and I hope that I don't forget the feelings I have lingering in my heart from this year's Thanksgiving celebration. Happy Thanksgiving!

Poor Noah!!

My poor little guy has an ear infection! Noah has been solidly sleeping through the night since he was 9 weeks old. Then, Saturday night came and he woke up 4 times SCREAMING which is very unusual. Not just because he woke up, but because of how he was crying. Noah doesn't have a very loud cry normally, he has a very small squeaky cry and so for him to be just screaming made me worried. We spent Sunday at my parent's house for my dad's birthday, and then the same thing happened again Sunday night. Then, this morning he woke up with a fever to boot. So, after a visit to the pediatrician, it has been confirmed! I got an antibiotic that he will take twice a day for 10 days, with a follow up visit the day before Thanksgiving. He really didn't like the medicine, he scowled at me the whole time I was giving it to him. I think it just tastes SO different from breast milk that he didn't like it. Hopefully he will start feeling better soon, his crying breaks my heart! He is hard to soothe when he cries like that too, poor little guy. They said it should only be a couple of days before he is feeling better though, I hope so!

Noah's Baby Blessing

We blessed Noah in our ward on October 16th. We had a luncheon afterwards at my parents house, which turned out great! We served soups and breads, and then we had a cake and I had everyone sing Happy Birthday to Ben since his birthday was the day before. It was a really special event. I have more pictures of people who came and family pictures that I will post later. I forgot to charge my camera so all of those pictures are on my mom's camera! But, these are a few pictures of Noah in his cute outfit!

Pumpkin Carving!

My 4 younger siblings and my dad came over the day before Halloween for Sunday dinner and pumpkin carving! After a lasagna dinner we all went on the back porch to carve our pumpkins!

Noah woke up just in time for the final pictures! Our pumpkin is the Pac-Man one, and the Elvis pumpkin belongs to my youngest sister Ashley. The one with the mis-matched eyes in the front is Emily's, the one with the big eyebrows (by Brittney) is hers, and the really big one in the back is my dad's!

Noah kept snuggling down further and further into his fleecy blanket! We all joked that he could be a cocoon for Halloween! I would pull the blanket down from his face and he would just wiggle back into it. I think he liked to suck on it more than anything else!

Me and my handsome hubby! This was our first Halloween together, every other year one of us has had to work so this year was fun to be able to hand out candy together and play with our little baby dinosaur! (See post below!)

Noah's First Halloween

Noah was a dinosaur for Halloween, and he looked SO cute! We got his costume for only 4 bucks too, which was an added bonus. He didn't know what to do about the hood very well, and he wouldn't move his hand around too much at first because of the little claws, the weight kind of threw him off!

This is not Noah's stash, this is what we handed out. I just thought it made a cute picture. We didn't take him trick or treating since he can't even eat anything yet! We will take him next year though.

Noah and his handsome dad outside our house with our Pac-Man pumpkin!

Showing off his tail!

You almost can't tell that Ben is holding Noah up, it looks like he is standing on his own!

Full body tummy shot! He looked SO cute wiggling around in this costume!

I wish this picture wasn't blurry since it's the only one where he had his head all the way up! He didn't like to keep his head up with the hood on.

I love this picture, it just makes me want to kiss his mouth and cheeks!

We got out the boppy pillow in an effort to get a better tummy shot!

I have a lot more pictures posted on my facebook for those that are interested! Noah did pretty good in his costume, but there were a few times where he really didn't like it! :) We are excited to take him trick or treating next year! Happy Halloween!

A Few Pics

I love this outfit with the matching hat. Noah isn't quite sure what to think about it...

Folding his arms! Such a reverent little baby!

His Halloween costume, he is going to be a dinosaur!

I will post more Halloween pictures a little later on, we just tried this on for size and I snapped a couple of quick ones on my phone. He looks so cute in it though!

3 Months!

Well, Noah is officially 3 months old! I can't believe how fast that went! Some ways it feels like I have always been doing the mom thing, but in other ways it's still very new! Noah is a joy to have around, he is a very happy-go-lucky baby and has been a blessing to have in our lives. He is sitting on my lap watching me type this, so I apologize for any spelling errors! Here are a few things that Noah can do:

*He can roll over from his tummy to his back. He did it for the first time right on his two month mark. He loves to lay on his tummy and look at you, and then will roll over and still looks a little confused when he does so!

*He can hold on to little plastic baby rings and loves to chew on them. He is getting a lot better at grasping things now and he loves to hold onto shirt sleeves and collars when he is being held.

*He loves to smile! It doesn't take much to get a smile out of him. He smiles all the time, all through his bath, all through getting changed, and sometimes when he is eating he will stop every few minutes to give me a big grin, and then will continue eating. It's so cute!

*He loves his bath and has figured out how to splash around. He will kick and move his arms and then coo really loudly.

*He is quite talkative. He makes lots of cooing and squeaking noises when you talk to him. He loves to tell stories and talk back to you!

*He is sleeping through the night! He started sleeping from 10:30-7:00 or 7:30 right at 9 weeks, and that has been lovely! He is starting to go a little longer at night now too, I don't think it will be long before I can drop his late night feeding altogether. He does wake up at about 5 every morning and fusses for a bit, and then lays in there and plays around for about an hour before falling back asleep, so mommy isn't sleeping through the night yet... :)

*He really knows my voice. I can be out of his vision and say something and he will turn his head to find me, usually giving me a smile when he does. Same goes for Ben, he really knows and loves his daddy! If someone else is holding Noah, and he hears one of us talking, he will try to find us.

*He goes to other people really well, not much stranger danger so far! He is content to be passed around, which is a good thing! He doesn't mind it as long as they hold him so that he can see, he doesn't like to be held on his back very much but prefers to be up and looking around.

*He is a very observant baby, and has been since day one. He likes to cuddle with me, but that's about it. Usually he likes to be held up and he likes to observe everything going on in the world. He is very content to sit in his swing, or the boppy pillow, and just watch everything. He also likes to lay on his back on our bed and watch the ceiling fan turn.

*He has always had a really strong neck, since the moment he was born. After they placed him on my chest when he was delivered, he lifted up his head to look and me and Ben! His head is still strong, and he has really good control of it. It doesn't flop around at all, he is very steady with his head. He loves his tummy time, and will hold his head up for as long as 30 minutes before laying it down for a rest.

*He naps pretty well overall, we still have some naps where he cries for a bit before settling in, but more and more he goes down for naps without a peep which is great. He still likes to sleep cuddled up next to the blanket my sister made for him.

*He loves mirrors. I got a baby gym for him that is an arch that has toys dangling down that he can play with and it has a mirror on the top that he can see himself in and he LOVES that! He will lay and talk to the baby in the mirror forever. It's adorable to see him smiling and cooing at himself! We call the toy his "baby friend".

*He also loves music. His baby gym has four big piano keys at the bottom of the mat that he can kick with his feet and they play music, and he loves it. He will get really into the music and kick his feet like crazy! Also, if we sing a song to him (especially when we are holding him) and the song ends, he will bob his head to get us to do it again. He also likes to squirm and dance to music.

*Noah has very strong legs. He likes to stand up and hold his own weight, and he will "step" with his feet. He also does a little scoot thing that is so freaking cute! He will lay on his back and I (or Ben, who discovered this trick) will hold in feet and ankles. We will place his feet flat on the ground with his legs bent and say, "Go!" and he will push off and straighten his legs, which scoots his body across the floor! He will go around our whole house like that, scooting around and grinning like crazy. I think he likes the mobility. I am sure I will have a very active toddler on my hands before too long!

*At his two month appointment he was 12 lbs exactly and 22 1/2 inches long. I am pretty sure that in the past month he has grown a LOT more than that though! We are now in all 3 or 3-6 month clothes, and have been for a couple of weeks now. He is a growing boy with a good appetite!

A birthday and a blessing!

I have been a little neglectful of my blog as of late. It's been busy! We had Noah's baby blessing on Sunday, and he looked adorable! We blessed him in our ward and then had a luncheon at my parents house afterwards. I forgot to charge the camera beforehand, however, so all of our pictures are on my mom's camera! So, pictures will follow later. Ben did a fantastic job with the blessing, and Noah was a great baby and slept through the whole thing! He little blessing outfit looked great on him, and he waited to poop through his diaper and get it all over his pants until after the guests had all left the luncheon! :) What a good boy... We had a nice luncheon of homemade soups and rolls, with lots of cookies and cakes for dessert. Since Ben's 29th birthday was the day before the blessing, I surprised him with having everyone sing Happy Birthday to him! About 50 people total-which is WAY more attention than Ben will ever be comfortable with! But, I thought it was too good of an opportunity to pass up since I will never get to plan a big party for him since he wouldn't like it! We had both of our families there plus several dear friends and their children. It was a lot of fun, I thought, to have them all there to celebrate his birthday as well as the blessing. He got a lot of great gifts too, mostly gift cards to various restaurants to give us some free dates, which is awesome! He had a great time, regardless of the "embarrassing" birthday song.

On his actual birthday we really didn't do much, I let him sleep in until about 11 in the morning, and then we just had a lazy day at home, which was great. It was actually just what he wanted for his birthday so that's what he got! That night we were going to go out to dinner, but it just didn't work out, so Ben brought dinner to us! We ordered Texas Roadhouse take out, put the baby to bed, and had a little feast while we watched a movie! It was a lot of fun and reminded me of our first Valentine's Day when we had a candlelit picnic on the floor consisting of deli food from the grocery store since we were poor and had moved into our apartment the day before! We had a blast, and I think he enjoyed his nice lazy day off from work, school, and everything else!

Smile!

I love my little boy, and I love to make him smile!

Impromptu Photo Shoot

These pictures were taken by my awesome sister-in-law, Kayla. She is a photographer extraordinaire and this photo shoot was done with black tablecloths and pillows on the floor of my mother-in-laws living room! We didn't plan to do pictures until Kayla suggested it right then and there, and these were all taken with a point and shoot camera! Thank you, Kayla! I think that these turned out great, Noah is just so cute! I love a few of his facial expressions, he is looking at us like, "What are you doing to me?" because Kayla, Grandma, and I are all talking and making noise and crawling all over the place to get smiles and to get him to look in the right direction. It was quite humorous...only babies can get adults to make such fools of themselves! :)

She even captured one of his smiles, this is an impressive feat since he seems to have "camera radar" and stops smiling as soon as I pull out our camera!

This face cracks me up. "What are you doing to me?"

This is his kiss-y face. The smaller his lips gets, the more I know he's going to poop his pants!

He's discovered his tongue and loves to play with it.

He actually really likes his tummy time, usually holding his head up for quite a long time!

This was another one of Kayla's great ideas, I think he looks so cute, and he didn't even pee on the tie or anything!

He doesn't like to be naked around other people, as you can tell from this facial expression... He's quite a modest little guy!

And, of course we have to have at least one naked baby shot! He DID pee all over during this part of the photo shoot...boys will be boys I guess! :)