Wax Museum Pics

Ben, Me, Noah, and Uncle Derek (Ben's brother) at the entrance to the Madame Toussard's Wax Museum inside the Venetian hotel on the Strip in Las Vegas. We had fun looking at all the "celebrities", I even bumped into a wax figure and apologized before I realized it wasn't a real person! They all looked extremely lifelike!

Me and Noah with Shaq!

On Evil Knevil's motorcycle (it actually made revving sounds when you sat on it)

Kicking back with Beyonce

Ben getting his "Snoop" on.

Noah is the treasure with Johnny Depp. I actually had two ladies take pictures of Noah sitting in the treasure chest with the little hat on!

Ben, Noah, and The King himself! (He even sang when you touched his hand)

My pose is kind of ironic considering what actually happened to this circus act...

Ben and Nicholas Cage

Ben, "walking" on the moon

Ben Franklin, George Washington, and us!

George Bush and us

Getting an autograph from Elvis!

This is a moving walkway leading to the wax museum, Ben sat Noah on the arm rail to take a little ride.

Some Random Pictures

This is Noah "helping" his dad put a bookshelf together.

Daddy is already helping him with handling tools! (Don't worry, Ben didn't let Noah handle the screwdriver unattended...)

Laying in the base of the little bookshelf.

My boys!

Ben likes to put his hats on Noah's head, and then he will say something like, "Yo yo yo" in a really deep voice, and Noah thinks it's hilarious!

Me and Noah all dressed up for Ben's work party. We make a cute little couple, don't we?

Playing with his "baby friend".

Since he scoots around and rolls all over the place while he is playing with his little friend, he usually ends up sideways under the toys. He thinks it's quite funny, a lot of times the toys will kind of bonk him on the head, but he giggles and thinks it's a game!

This post is in commemoration of Noah's 5 month (calendar) birthday. I can't believe he is 5 months old already! He can now roll from his back to his tummy, and he started solid foods (rice cereal) last weekend. He continues to be a very happy baby, and he is a joy to be around! He sleeps 10 1/2 hours continuously at night, and has 3-4 naps during the day, usually averaging 1 1/2 to 2 hours long. Stay tuned for pictures of Christmas, Las Vegas trip, and the solid foods experience!

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!