5 months old

Noah is 5 months old!  I'll be honest, time seems to be passing by so much faster with two boys as opposed to when I had one.  It seems like Noah just turned 4 months so how can he be 5 months old?  He's doing new and exciting things all the time and so is Joshua which makes it harder to keep up with both, but I'll try my best.  Noah had a new first on the 22nd.  He said "mama."  Now I know he doesn't know what it means, but it still makes a mommy smile.  He said it in the evening and before I reacted I looked at Matt and said "Did you just hear that?"  He sighed and agreed, then playfully accused me of coaching.  Regardless we were both proud of our little man.  He also makes other sounds as he is learning to expand his vocals.  He is starting to drool and chew on everything which may mean teeth are just around the corner.  This means I'll also have to step up my "Please don't be a biter" prayers.  ;)  Noah is proud of his rolling over skills.  He does that all the time.  He also can spin 360 degrees on his tummy to reach for toys.  He is a strong boy!  Joshua got upset at him the other day because he spun around on his tummy and grabbed a puzzle piece.  In Noah's defense, it took him 20 minutes to maneuver and twist and actually grab the piece so it shouldn't have come as a surprise to Joshua, but Joshua was still put off by it.

Some Joshua tidbits.  His favorite shape is the octagon.  It has been for some time.  I'm not sure why that is.  He likes to say "Oc - Oc - Octagon!"  His favorite books right now are Goodnight Moon, A Seasame Street Lift-the-Flap book, and Alabama 101. He has these memorized and "reads" them to us frequently.  He has several memorized that he likes to read to us.  Right now he likes to ask you "What is that?"  Then we reply "I don't know.  What is that, Joshua?" Then he'll answer.  He knows what it is the whole time, but he really wants you to ask him.  It's hard to name his favorite songs because he sings everything!  At daycare I've been told his favorite song is "Do you know the Muffin Man?" At home and in the car he's been singing the Alabama fight song "Yea Alabama" as well as the Alma Mater.  Impressive since I know college students and alumni who can't do that!  He also likes singing Elmo's theme song.  His favorite shows are Veggie Tales, Super Why, Toy Story, and Shrek.

Notice the stick in my hand...

One last Joshua story.  Matt was outside with Joshua and J saw one of the dogs walking around with a stick in his mouth.  Joshua asked why the dog was carrying a stick in his mouth.  Matt explained that dogs don't have hands like Joshua does so the only way they can carry things is with their mouth.  Matt continued taking pictures and playing with the dogs and moments later when he looked at Joshua he saw Joshua with a ball in both hands and a stick in his mouth.  Matt wished he'd taken a picture of this but his parental instincts jumped in first and he told Joshua to get that stick out of his mouth.  He did get a picture right before the incident as the picture above shows J with a stick in his hand.  It's cute, though.  You never know where their questions will lead.

New Skills

Drum roll please!!!!!  Noah rolled over for the first time on Jan. 9th!  We are so proud of him!  He is growing, growing, growing all the time!  He's  such a pro now that he does it all the time.  In fact his preferred sleeping position is now on his tummy, sucking his thumb.  So cute!

Joshua has also been busy learning new skills.  He recently mastered opening doors and climbing up into our bed (it's tall)!  We are in trouble!  His boundaries keep getting smaller and smaller.

Joshua has a new trick which we will try to capture on camera this weekend if we can slyly do it.  He likes to “read” books to himself, sometimes out loud.  Recently he was reading the “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?” book only he kept peeking ahead then closing the page so he could read it.  It’s so cute!!  It goes something like this:

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?  I see a…

[peek at the next page then close it]

Red Bird looking at me.

[Turn page.]

Red Bird, Red Bird, what do you see?  I see a…

[peek at the next page then close it]

Joshua stories

A couple Joshua stories:

Joshua has gotten used to sleeping in bed with big people over the holidays which means we are retraining him to sleep in his room. On Monday morning he woke up in our bed (~5:30) after I changed Noah and was about to feed him. He sleepily said “Mommy I need Buzz and Woody,” because he had left them in his room when he joined us around 2AM. I said “Okay, I’m going to feed Noah then we can go get Buzz and Woody.” To which he replied “No Mommy. I NEED Buzz and Woody…right now.” He said it ever so sweetly and earnestly that I had to go get them.

On Sunday night, Joshua was stalling about going to bed and kept asking for one more kiss, then one more hug, then one more drink, etc. and we’d give him one more and then send him back to his room. His last attempt, which I thought was fairly creative went like this. We heard his door slam (because he doesn’t know how to gently close doors), then he ran to our room carrying his night-night pillow and a big grin, and said “Door is shut now. It not open. I sleep in here.” I don’t remember if we sent him back to his room or not after that, but I do know he eventually wound up in our bed, along with Buzz and Woody.

Brotherly love

Mommy and Daddy story:
Mommy and Daddy have been having a lot of fun with Joshua's Mr. Potato Head. It started out with Mommy hiding Mr. Potato Head's eyes so they were peeping out from under Daddy's pillow. It surprised a tired daddy. Next thing I knew, the eyes were hiding under the loofah in the shower. This has escalated and those eyes are popping up everywhere. We should probably thank Joshua for sharing his toys with us.

4 months old

Noah is 4 months old and I took him for his well baby checkup.  Here are my happy boy's stats:

 Length - 27in, 95th perecntile
Weight - 17lbs 4.2oz, 90th percentile
Needless to say, he's a big boy, about the size of a 6-7 month old.  He's even wearing size 3 diapers now.  He had 3 vaccines, one oral - which he must have thought was yummy, because he did not miss a drop.  He had two shots and got all red in the face, but I picked him up immediately and he recovered without actually crying.  Noah did show off his tricks - smiling, "talking", clasping his hands together, grabbing his feet.  The dr repeatedly remarked what a happy boy he is. He truly is a good-natured little boy!  Noah is so close to rolling over.  He gets on his side and uses his arms to stop.  He's also cooing and "talking" to us. Sometimes in the car Joshua will translate and say "Noah says 'Watch Toy Story on big TV.'" when he wants to watch a movie at home. Noah is a beautiful, smiley, bald little boy!

I must say that Joshua was in rare form.  He was quiet the whole time but very busy.  First he decided to be a frog and hopped on his hands and knees saying "ribbit, ribbit" to and from the exam room when Noah was weighed.  I was cringing at the germs that would be all over a doctor's office floor, but what can you do.  At some point he stood up in a chair (which none of the adults noticed), got my phone out of my purse, sat down in a chair and started a search on google.  I took the phone away and he started circling through and around one of my legs which he is really a little too tall to easily do anymore.  Later he was hanging on my legs partially upside down smiling at the doctor who said "Joshua, is that comfortable? I don't think I could do that."

I did tell the dr about Joshua getting an ear infection and also about how we gave him the prescribed decongestant and J freaked out for hours.  Poor guy was hysterical, kicking, bucking, rolling on the floor - absolutely miserable.  Dr. Hensley said he would have never prescribed it and to throw it away.  Mommy and Daddy learned he is too young for a decongestant. Then the dr had to bribe him with a sticker to look in his ears which looked fine. He spent the rest of the visit quietly opening and closing the door. When the dr and med student left he followed them out and headed for the waiting room (Noah still had to get his shots) so the dr grabbed his hand and led him back to the room "Let's wait for mommy to leave, okay?" I can't really complain because despite being busy he was quiet and would sit in the chair when I asked him to, he would just climb back down seconds later looking for something to do.

Joshua reading Good Night Moon.