Back to basics...

We installed Noah's new 'big boy' car seat today - it only took us 2 hours!! :-) Noah enjoyed playing in the box.

Our little fish

Watch out, now I'm going to bombard you with videos! :-)

Swimming!

I FINALLY got around to working on uploading videos. Here's one from our swimming class today....

Professional Shots

Here are a bunch of them... :-)

BUSY!

It's been a busy few weeks. Noah is doing great at daycare! My work is going great, too. I'm feeling so good about this decision! It's fun to only work three days a week, too.

We are REALLY struggling with some major colds. All of us are sick (as are a lot of other people right now in general). Noah's cold turned into pink eye (that cleared up quickly after starting antibiotic eye drops) and was actually sent home from daycare on Tuesday because of a fever. I did take him to the doctor on Tuesday night to make sure he didn't have an ear infection but he was fine. It's just a basic virus that keeps going and going and going. Waylon stayed home with him on Wednesday and I think they both enjoyed that. He hasn't had a fever since. He hasn't been sleeping well, so that's been frustrating and we are ready for him to get back to normal!

Last weekend, my sister, Leah, flew down and we were supposed to go to visit my Gramma but since they were predicting some bad snowy/icy weather, we decided not to go. And guess what... yup, we got almost nothing. We missed seeing Gramma but we had lots of fun hanging out with Aunt Ditter. Here's a cute shot of her reading to Noah after his bath.

We had Noah's 6 month photos done on Monday (a little late... he'll be 7 months old next week!). I'm back tomorrow to get the pictures, and I'm so excited to see them! I think we got some great shots. So check back soon for some of those.

Just as we expected....

... almost a perfect combination of the two of us! :-)

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Geneology

Great Day!

Just a quick update to let you all know that today went great! I stayed strong for Noah but as soon as I walked out of the door, the tears started to fall (for me, not Noah... he didn't seem to mind at all that we left). I only cried for about 15 minutes on the way to work! :-) Then I had another 25 minutes to get myself together (only 40 minutes from the day care to work in RTP... not too shabby!). I called to check in around 10:45 and they said he was doing great and had already taken an hour long nap. That's more than he does at home sometimes! The rest of the day was great for him, too. He ate well for them and napped three times throughout the day. I was able to leave work around 3:30 to go get him. He was very happy to be home and was laughing and smiling at me, Waylon and Seger. He was very tired tonight and should sleep well. He couldn't even keep his eyes open for his bedtime story! Now the big test will be to see if he remembers that I left him at the day care. I'll really be upset if he cries when I leave him tomorrow.

My job is great, too. Today was mostly training and orientation but everyone is so nice and the work seems like it's going to be great! Luckily, I won't have much of a learning curve because I'll be doing exactly what I was doing at my old job. My workdays are going to be 8:30-4:00 so that's perfect! I'll be able to beat the traffic on the drive home and get Noah a little early which will be nice.

So, it was a great day - besides one thing... Waylon got in a fender bender on the way home. Someone rear-ended him, so that was a bummer but there's not much damage and most importantly, no one was hurt.

Here's a great picture of Noah giggling with Daddy tonight. Noah looks like such a little pudge-ball here! :-)

Swimming, Sniffles, Daycare and Weightloss (for me, not Noah!)

Saturday was our swimming class. It was so much fun to be in the pool with Noah. He really liked it and kicked and splashed around a lot. It was also great to get together with the girls I've made friends with from prenatal yoga and all their little ones. Here are some pictures - thanks to Jacque and Amy's husbands, Kevin and Grant!

Noah and I both have some sniffles. I'm not sure where we caught these colds - maybe just from visiting the daycare last week? Anyway, we assumed he'd might get a cold after the first week at daycare anyway, so maybe we are just getting it a tad bit early. He doesn't seem to be too bothered by it but he sounds so sad when his little nose is so stuffy.

Tomorrow is the big day... Noah starts day care. Yesterday, I was feeling pretty good about it but today I'm pretty emotional. Yesterday, we went and signed up at a new gym and left Noah in the daycare there for about an hour and a half. He did great! They said he got a little fussy twice, but they were able to calm him down pretty easily. Today, I went back for a yoga class and 45 minutes into the class, one of the daycare workers came to get me. They said he wouldn't take his bottle and was pretty fussy. So that experience today has really made me worry about how he's going to do all day tomorrow. I know we'll get through it and he'll get used to it, but I feel so bad that he's going to be so confused about what's going on and why Mommy isn't there with him. Such an emotional roller coaster. It's going to be so hard tomorrow.

Anyway, so we signed up for this new gym... Lifetime Fitness. When I'm there, I feel like I'm in a fancy country club or something! The big draw for me was that they have indoor and outdoor pools. Swimming is my favorite form of exercise and yesterday, I swam over a mile! Not too bad for the first 'real' workout in a long time! It will be nice to have a pool for Noah to play in also - especially in the summer.

I also started back at Weight Watchers last week to get myself back on track foodwise. I'm a lifetime member there and I found out that if you are a lifetime member and you've recently had a baby, you can get a doctor's note saying it could take up to a certain time to get the weight off and they will let you go for free! The best part is that I don't really feel like I'm dieting because I get more points each day because I'm still nursing. So, the goal is to lose 27 lbs by the time Noah is a year old. I'm writing it here, so now I have to do it, right? :-)

On my last day as a full time stay at home mom, I did the ultimate Holly Homemaker thing to do and made baby food! It was actually very easy. I have been planning to do this but had been putting it off. I just did sweet potatos today and it was so easy! Noah taste tested it and he seemed to approve. :-)

Anyway, wish us luck tomorrow! I'll post later in the week and update everyone on how it went. Here's one last picture of how I found Noah after a long nap this morning. :-)

Water Fun

Noah loves his baths. Up until last week, we'd been bathing him in a baby tub in the kitchen sink. He's enjoying splashing so much these days that the walls and floors were starting to get wet every night at bath time! So last week we've moved him into the big boy tub... well the little boy tub in the big boy tub. :-) He really seems to like it.

I'm really excited that he likes the water because tomorrow, we are starting an AquaMoms and Babies class through Healthy Moms of NC! I would really recommend any of these classes for anyone who is a mom or soon to be mom. I can't wait to see him in the pool.

Here are a few shots from his bath the other night.

This is Noah's new way to play with his rubber ducky.

He puts it in himself and likes to leave it there most of his bath! :-)

Tough Times

Over the past year, there have been many families I have had on my mind constantly who are dealing with very serious illnesses. It's been a rough year for a lot of people.

Today, one of those people, a very close friend of our family, lost his battle with cancer. I just wanted to mention this to honor the man I always considered my uncle and ask all of you to keep his family in your thoughts and/or prayers.

When things like this happen, it makes you slow down and reflect on your life. Things can change in an instant and you have to appreciate every moment. I realize how lucky I am to have such a healthy and happy little boy, a loving and supportive husband, and such amazing friends and family members to surround us.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.


I'll miss you, Charlie.

Some Pictures

Hanging out with Nana and Grandad on New Years Day

Noah and Seger learning who's toys are who's

And the touchdown pass is.... GOOD!!!!

I love my toys and showing off my shiny new teeth!

Happy New Year and Happy 6 months!

Noah turned 6 months old yesterday.... where does the time go?? We had his 6 month appointment yesterday also and he is officially still a BIG BOY! :-) When the doctor walked in, she said, 'Okay, you are here for your 6 month physical.... and you look 6.' HA. He was deemed healthy and had a few more shots, including a flu shot. We'll see how well that wards off the day care bugs! Here are the stats:

Weight: 20 lbs, 7 oz - 90th percentile
Height: 27 inches - 75th percentile
Head: 45 1/2 cm - 90th percentile

We had a great New Years Eve. Amy and Grant (Stella Dot's parents) had a party from 5:30-8:30. We counted down the New Year at 8 pm with champagne and noisemakers. It was a perfect event for our first New Years Eve with Noah. Thanks Amy, Grant, and Stella Dot! Aferwards, we came home and fell asleep on the couch watching Dick Clark - waking up just in time for the real New Years countdown. :-)

Next week is my last full week at home with Noah. I start my new part time job on Jan 15th. I'm really excited about it but also dreading those first few acclimation weeks. I know it will be good once we get into a routine, so I just have to keep my eye on the prize, right?

I hope you all had a great holiday season and are starting 2008 with a bang!

(Sorry, no new pictures this time!)