Thanksgiving 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!  We went to Birmingham for the holidays.  The boys rode up with mommy and their fuzzy brothers (Hardy and Ridley) rode with daddy.  We stayed at Granddaddy’s house and had Thanksgiving lunch at Granny’s house (with mommy’s family) in Oneonta and Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Dana’s house (with daddy’s family) in Helena.  Everything was wonderful! We enjoyed getting to visit with family.  Noah got to meet extended family at these gatherings.  In keeping with his holiday tradition, Joshua got sick Thanksgiving morning, but felt better by the afternoon.  And being the generous boy that he is, he shared with his mommy who got sick the next day and missed the second half of the Iron Bowl.  Of course, given the outcome, I’d say I got to watch the best part.  The boys also got to see their cousins, the Green family, who were staying at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.   While I missed out on the Black Friday shopping, I did get to do some shopping on Saturday with one of my sisters, which was fun.  Also Grandma cooked a yummy lunch on Saturday which we enjoyed.  Then we stayed at Aunts Celeste and Elaine’s house for our last night in town.  I enjoyed spending time with everyone… and all the help with the diapers!

Noah is all smiles in his picture but he had a raised rash show up all over his body (even on his eyelids) over the weekend. I had been lotioning him with Aveeno baby crème which we have always used on Joshua’s skin. It didn’t seem to help, in felt Noah acted like it stung him. I took him to the doctor’s office and they said it was eczema. Joshua also has eczema, but his is really, really mild compared to this- in fact, it doesn’t even look similar. I have started lotioning him with Aquaphor ointment and otc cortisone crème so hopefully he’ll be feeling better soon. There is nothing worse than a pitiful baby.

Noah is 3 months old

Tummy time wore me out!

Happy 3 month Birthday!  With Thanksgiving tomorrow, this will be a short post.  You are an amazing little boy that we all feel privileged to watch grow.  You have discovered your hands and enjoy looking at them and playing with them.  You are a dedicated, right handed thumb sucker. You do not like drinking from bottles.  You have an amazing smile and the sweetest giggle.  It melts your mommy's and daddy's heart.  You are wearing size 3-6 month and 6 months clothes and size 2 diapers.  You still do not sleep through the night.  I have a theory that since you fuss and do not finish your bottles during the daytime, you make up for it nursing a couple times at night.  But you are happy, healthy, and loved and that is what matters most.  Joshua is a good big brother.  He enjoys giving you slobbery kisses on the head.  Sometimes I have to pat dry the area he kissed.  Aren't brothers the best?

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Yesterday was Mommy's 32nd Bday. We had a great day. Daddy made waffles and bacon for breakfast, then we went shopping, and later that evening, went to Outback for dinner.  Everyone had a good time, especially Joshua because as he says, "I like steak!"  All my boys, the dogs included, got me sweet birthday cards.  Thanks for a fun day!

I stuck.  Help me, pleasssssse!

This afternoon Matt set up the tree and we started decorating ot while watching "Elf." Joshua seemed to really like Buddy the Elf as well as Santa Claus. If you ask him, Joshua will tell you Santa says "Ho! Ho! Ho!" It's very cute! I realized we have a lot of breakable ornaments.  As a result the top of the tree is heavily loaded with breakable ornaments.  Joshua enjoyed hanging his ornaments, then counting them, then pulling them off the tree and throwing them across the room, and repeating the process.

Shhh! Sweet Dreams.

Noah's 1st Day of School

Noah's First Day of School

Noah started school today at Miss Kathy's. Overall both he and mommy (and Joshua) had a good day. Another baby started in the infant room as well and his mommy left in tears just as we got there which was a little discouraging but it went well. I only had a few tears as we pulled out of the driveway.  I get to take a baby break at lunch when I go to the nursery and feed Noah.  One benefit that Noah had being the second born was I knew to dress him in pants.  On Joshua's first day of daycare I dressed him in a cute onesie and no pants.  The nursery was cold and they told me to bring pants in the future.  Matt got a good laugh out of Joshua fullfilling the nightmare of not wearing pants to the first day of school at just 3months old.

When I went to pick up my boys Joshua said "I miss you Mommy."  Then when I asked him if he had a good day he said "Yeah, I a good boy!"  He is my good boy.  He was happy holding my hand and walking to his classroom in the morning and out to the car in the afternoon while I carried Noah.  (He often walks up to us with outstretched arms and says "Hold you!" when he wants us to pick him up.)

Noah is still sleeping in our room which is nice because he still frequently wakes up hungry during the night.  He has found his hands, specifically his fingers and thumbs and will suck on them.  He seems to prefer his right hand over his left.  It's awfully cute, though with the lack of arm control, he'll smack himself in the face a few times before he finds his mouth.

Here's a cute Joshua story.  Grandottie and Jerry Pop stayed at our house for Noah's baptism and Joshua slept in their room one evening.  While they were trying to get him to go to sleep one night, it was quiet and Joshua started laughing out loud.  Jerry Pop quietly asked him "What's so funny?" Joshua giggled and said "Mommy."  Awww, my sweet little boy!

Noah's Baptism

We had a wonderful weekend.  Noah was baptized on Sunday while surrounded by family and friends.  It was a special, beautiful day that we were happy to share with everyone.  Noah was really well behaved and didn't mind Pastor Alan holding him.  Joshua was also well behaved and even made his prayer hands when he noticed everyone praying during the baptism.  Noah was given a bag containing a religious book and a baptism certificate from the children's ministry.  It was especially cute that this young children's group is called "The Ark" and has a picture of Noah's ark and a rainbow.  Both boys enjoyed being passed around to grandparents, aunts, and cousins during the service.

The baptismal gown that Noah wore has been in Matt's family for 69 years.  It is a beautiful garment that big brother Joshua, Daddy, Granddottie and more have worn.  Special thanks to Grandottie for bringing the gown to Florida and for getting it ready as I would not go near it with an iron for fear of burning it.  We enjoyed visiting with everyone and having lunch together.  I was especially proud of the cake I frosted as I don't have much experience doing that.  It didn't look professional, but it looked like it was made with love and tasted great!  Thanks to everyone for making the trip.  God Bless!

All the gown wearers (minus the 3 in the background)

Noah with Mommy's family

Noah and Granddaddy

Kisses from Mommy and Daddy

My boys

Here are some tidbits about what my boys have been up to lately:
Noah's eyes look like they will definitely be brown.  There was some question as to if they would be hazel, but they are definitely a beautiful brown (like Mommy and Joshua).  He has a deep belly button, which he also gets from his mommy, unlike Joshua who has a little bebo.  He is quite the smiley boy and has started laughing sweet giggles when you talk to him.  He is wearing size 2 diapers and solidly fills out his 3 month clothes.  Mommy really needs to wash his 6 month clothes so he won't have to squeeze into his current ones.  He still does not like pacis and rejected the first bottle we tried to give him.  Hopefully he'll figure it out.  He's still sleeping about 6 hours straight at night which is wonderful!

* Joshua's 3 favorite foods are still steak, pizza, and crab claws.  We recently went to a restaurant for dinner and Joshua was eating mommy's steak as fast as we could put it on his plate.  At one point he started wailing and big tears were  rolling down his cheeks.  Matt said "What happened?  Show daddy wear it hurts."  Joshua held up a finger.  He was eating so fast he bit his finger.  Poor baby!
* Joshua is better at saying the blessing - when he wants to.  He will fold his hands and say "God is great, God is good. Let us thank him for the food. AMEN!" Of course sometimes when we say "Do you want to say the blessing?" He'll say "Nooo! No blessing! No blessing!"
*Joshua recently did a very two year old thing - he used a crayon to color our couch.  Fortunately he wrote on the upholstery behind the cushion, so no one should ever see it, but I still want to know "Why would you do that?"  And where was mommy?  Changing Noah's diaper of course.
*Most exciting new trick - Joshua recently demonstrated his handle on the alphabet.  All the alphabet magnets were mixed up on the refrigerator and we asked Joshua "Find the "A" please."  So he stood in front of the fridge thinking it through and brought it to us saying "it that?"   We went through the entire alphabet and he brought them all.  He confused "M" and "W" but they are similar so it's understandable.  We are so proud of our smart little boy.  What will you discover next?

A recent conversation:
I gave Joshua some Cheerios to eat while I was feeding Noah. Here's the conversation when I came back:
Me - Did you eat all the Cheerios? Are they in your tummy? (I was expecting him to show me his tummy which is usually how he "tells" me he's eaten something.)
J - No.
Me - No? Where are they?
J - In the couch.
At least he's honest...

Nap Time!