Tis the Season

My how the time has gotten away from me! Noah's sleep is still a little rocky, so I tend to try to nap when he does lately, and during the evenings I seem to enjoy time with both of my guys instead of catching a moment to blog. Can't blame me!

Month 5 has been great. Noah is consistently rolling from his belly to his back, but we're still trying to work on getting him from his back to his belly. He'll arch onto his side, but not quite flip completely over. He's sitting almost independently. Well, he'll sit independently, just not steady enough or long enough for me to walk away from him. He's talking up a storm (still waiting for a few consonants to come in)--and fake coughing, too! His personality is still just as cheerful as ever, always ready with a smile. And his hair--longer and fuller. We've even put gel in it a couple of times this holiday season to "look like Daddy's". It's cute. As I mentioned, his sleep still isn't great. We went back on the Zantac and that earned us a 4 hour stretch of sleep, and usually it's a 5 hour stretch when he first goes down at night. But then after that he's up every 2-3 hours. Ferbering doesn't seem to help consistently, but we're still trying! Spoon feeding has been going fairly well. Sweet potatoes and carrots seem to be the favorites while he isn't too fond of the green veggies. Yet. :)

Work has been going well for me. I've mostly just had training and shadowing, but am ready for my first independent work day at RJ in January. Training at Children's starts next week. Noah has done well with the babysitter so far, and I think will be even better as she figures out his cues and he gets more comfortable with her.

And then we've had Noah's first Christmas. Everyone has been so generous in their gift giving to our little guy. So many fun toys to play with and outfits to wear and even a new highchair! We made the trek to Pennsylvania for Christmas and have all been completely spoiled by the family. So much so, that we're renting a U-Haul trailer to get back home! We are bringing back a piano (so excited!), a Christmas tree and decorations (you can have yours back now, Rae!), all of our Christmas gifts, a sewing machine, a porch swing (we've been given some things from Daniel's grandma's house--we're thankful for some things to keep her memory alive--we've missed her this week)...we're overloaded! And to think almost a year ago, all of our belongings fit in two suitcases. We are blessed more than we could ever imagine!!

I hope your Christmas was bright and you enjoyed time with those you love. Happy New Year!

Noah opening his first Christmas present from Grammy on Christmas Eve.

Bath toys! This little guy still loves his bath, so these will come in handy in the near future!

All dressed up on Christmas.

Playing on a toy mat at Mandie's (Daniel's brother's wife) parents house.

We keep this teether in the freezer and Noah loves to suck/chew on it. We keep saying he'll cut a tooth any day, but he's been chewing on things for weeks! I also think it's cute how his fist is propped up by his face.

Opening a present at Grandma's house (it was a teether that vibrates when Noah bites down to massage his gums. He loves it!)

The annual gingerbread house competition at the Shoemaker Christmas party. We can never remember how long we've been doing this...6 or 7 years?

Matthew opening presents at Shoemaker Christmas. This was the first time Matthew and Noah were together and we didn't take pictures of them side by side! It seemed like they were on opposite schedules that night.

Crazy hair!

The three of us on Christmas. Daniel's dad built the chair Noah is sitting in. He made it from the crib Daniel and Dave used to sleep in when they were babies. Noah and Gracie each got a chair, complete with a plaque and inscription on the bottom. What a precious gift!

Five Months!

Happy Birthday, sweet boy!

Doesn't he have great hair?? :) 

This past month has seriously gone by so fast. I don't know where the time has gone! We've been busy getting ready for Christmas and traveling, but I've also started a new job (I don't think that's been announced via blog yet...) Well, I actually got two jobs! Both are PRN so it might not add up to too much work, but I'm excited about that. One job is at Ranken Jordan, and the other is at St. Louis Children's Hospital. So far, I've had basic orientation at RJ and am scheduled to work there two days a week for the next two weeks. Orientation at Children's is later this week. I'm excited to put my skills to use. More than that, I think it will be good for Noah to have some time with other people. We found a babysitter to come to our home--she's a nurse who works 3 days a week, so it would be perfect if we could get her days off to line up with my days to work. It's been a little bit stressful for me to get everything worked out, but I think we're just going to have to try it for a while and see how it works.

I hope you and your families are enjoying getting ready for the holidays. I'd like to share a blog post I stumbled across last week. My friends the Motsinger's posted the link, and I can't help but do the same. I love Christmas more than the average Joe--the decorations, the food, the celebration--it all makes me happy. It's easy to get caught up in all of that, but we know the real reason for the joy. This article articulated a good way to stay focused on that with your loved ones this season (and future seasons).

Noah and our friends' dog-Laila were practicing rolling onto their backs together. The coordination was hilarious.

Merry Christmas! 

He rolled over!!!!

TWICE! :)

My latest craft project

A carseat blanket!
So once again, the pictures are rotated and I don't know how to rotate them through the blog...sorry!
This blanket is awesome. I know there are products like the Bundle Me, but then you can't raise the car seat shade. So I bought some fleece, sewed it together, and cut some slits for the straps. This way, the blanket goes underneath Noah (so it doesn't fall off like a blanket placed on top of him!) and then wraps around for ultra-warmth (though this winter hasn't been too cold---yet!). Of course, this was a Pinterest idea. I didn't follow the patterns exactly-Mom helped me make some adjustments, but close enough to give credit where it's due.
 Noah loves it--when he falls asleep in it, he does so without fussing--which is rare for him!
Daniel wants me to make these and sell them on Etsy, but fleece fabric is expensive...I think I'd have to list it at a fairly high price to make any money off it...how much would you be willing to spend on this?

If you need to know what to get us for Christmas...

...we could use some stain remover! :)

 We had to strip his whole outfit off after the first tastes of squash! Let's hope it isn't ruined....someone really should make full body bibs....and if you look close enough, you can even see squash on the poor zebra's ears...

Happy Thanksgiving!

...from our turkey to yours. :) 

Busy pondering life's blessings.

Month four has been great so far. Daniel's mom and brother and sister-in-law came for a quick visit. We were so busy having fun we forgot to take pictures for most of the weekend! We enjoyed a LOT of food (including a trip to Lambert's) and some outlet mall shopping (Noah and Gracie got several new outfits). Sandy and I even discovered a children's consignment shop that yielded some Christmas presents for Noah and Gracie. We're glad they got to take a trip out to see us. 

Noah had his four month well-baby check up on Monday. He's perfect, says the doctor. He weighed in at 17 pounds 7 ounces and 26 inches long (I knew my back was hurting after carrying him around for a while!) We're weaning him off his reflux medication, which is exciting. And the ever exciting topic--his sleep...Since our trip to Pennsylvania a few weeks ago, Noah's sleep had been getting worse and worse. At first I just thought our routine had gotten off and would work itself out after we got home. But that didn't happen. It just continued to get worse to the point that he was waking up about every hour and a half. We would have the occasional good night of 4-5 hour stretches, but they were few and far between. If we "ferbered" him, he just cried and cried until I finally fed him--no matter how long that took. I didn't think he was hungry (since he seemed comfortable going 4 hours between feeds during the day), but tried to do some things to get him to take more during the day to see if it made a difference. It didn't. So I talked to Dr. Rohatgi about it. His thought was that Noah has been going through a growth spurt and just needs more to eat. (So apparently my thinking was wrong!) So he recommended starting spoon feeding. We hadn't planned on doing this until closer to the six month mark, and it goes against our typical practices at CHOP to start this early :) , but I need more sleep! So we've been trying. He doesn't love it and tends to gag occasionally (which is typical of new spoon feeders...) but it's still new. We'll get there. Last night he slept six hours and then another 4 1/2 hour stretch. So maybe it's working! (The first night he slept a 7 hour and 45 minute stretch, but he had gotten shots that day, and had a little temperature, and we had given him some Motrin...) Noah did great with his shots--just two little wails and then he was done. 

Noah has been talking like crazy over the past few days. I know I've said this before, but it's really a LOT now...and loud. :) It's adorable, but of course, as soon as we turn on the camera he stops. He's laughing a lot more often now, which always cracks us up too. We're still working on our tummy time--he cries after about 30 seconds, but we're trying! On his back he can roll to his side but not quite all the way over yet. Last night he sat unsupported (in a wide W) for six seconds (hey, it counts!) three separate times. We're so proud of him and super thankful for him being in our lives this holiday season. 

Enjoy your turkey! 

He really likes his farm activity center. If we take the tractor off it's post, he can (accidentally) get it to play music, which keeps him entertained even longer. 

Love this sweet face!!

He'll take short naps unswaddled, but for the most part we still have to swaddle him to get him to sleep. And yes, his blanket matches his onesie. And no, it wasn't planned. But yes, it's adorable. 

After trying rice cereal the 2nd time...I had to work really hard to get this smile out of him! 

Four Months!

Can you believe it? Four whole months. Our youngun' is so precious. We're thankful for the past four months!

My pictures uploaded way out of order for some reason, but there are a LOT, so I'm not going to go back and reload them...

Aunt Janice, Uncle David, Cousin Ryan, Cousin Danielle, and Cousin Matthew came to visit. Matthew and Noah always enjoy some quality time together. Matthew was a little more interested in Noah than the other way around this trip, and gave him some pretty big smiles.

Almost holding hands.

Holding hands! 

So happy to be four months old! 

Someone took my chair when I got up...

Really enjoying playtime in the swing.

Owen likes to supervise playtime.

Good job bringing hands to midline with your bottle, Son! (Amy L...didn't know if you wanted this one or the other bottle picture...)

Daniel babysat for a bit...this is where I found Noah when I returned! 

Starting to grab at toys and bring them to his mouth.

We miss you, CHOP friends! 

Owen also supervises tummy time. 

Sunday afternoon football lounging.

Sweet baby.