The Army Crawl - or something like it. :-)

Noah's 3rd Wedding - and 4th ear infection! :-)

First an update on the health.... Noah's croup cold turned into (surprise!) another ear infection. We went back to the doc because the fever wasn't going away and we actually suspected another ear infection because he was fussy when laying on one particular side. The doctor confirmed and got him back on antibiotics - this time they put us right on the one that worked last time, so hopefully it will knock it out. That night, we noticed crusty stuff around his ear, too. Turns out his eardrum burst. It sounds really bad but apparently it's no big deal. In fact, I think it made him feel a lot better and that night he slept all night for the first time since the croup attack. He seems to be feeling much better now, so hopefully those antibiotics are working! We'll see for sure at his 9 month checkup in about a week and a half.

More developmental milestones... We definitely have an army crawl going on. He's been barely inching like that for a while but he's now using his arms a lot and moving pretty quickly. He still rolls a lot to get where he wants to go but it's to the point now where we can't leave him alone for any time at all because he can get places quick. Time to start babyproofing! He's also doing really well standing while holding onto something but not cruising yet. I bet it won't be long and he'll start doing it all at once. Then we'll wonder why we wanted him to be mobile! :-)

Noah officially has another uncle now! Andrea and Sean were married on Friday. It was the absolute perfect day... 80 degrees and sunny. We went out to lunch and then went back to their house where they had a small ceremony in their backyard with a champagne toast afterwards. Everyone went home to relax a bit and freshen up and then came back for a party at their house that night. It was such a personal wedding and so special. Noah was great sport even though he'd only napped for about 30 mintues that morning. I was worried he was going to crash right at 2:00 (the time of the wedding) but he was the perfect angel the whole time and happy and quiet during the ceremony. He of course fell asleep once we got in the car to go home around 3:30. We had Miss Heather (one of his 'teachers' at daycare) come babysit that night so we could go back to the party. Noah was excited to see her and we felt comfortable leaving him with her because he's already with her 3 days a week.

I didn't take too many pictures because there was a photographer at the wedding but here are some pictures from the beautiful day!

Congratulations, Andrea and Sean!

This was the night before the wedding, when Noah was trying to decide which suit to wear to the wedding. He decided not to go with the birthday suit... although Waylon and I disagreed.

The happy couple

At lunch before the wedding

Noah with the beautiful bride

Pictures from the weekend

What Noah now does with the spoon. :-)

Along with bath pics, I'm a sucker for the messy face pics, too!

The new toy that Grandma and Papa gave him...



Ready for a boat ride... doesn't he look excited? :-)
(He hated the life jacket)
And this is what happened after about 10 minutes both times we went out. I think the motor was soothing to him. :-)

First ER Visit

Before I begin, Noah is fine...

This past weekend, Noah and I went up to my parents' lake house at Lake Gaston. I decided last minute to head up after Noah's bedtime on Thursday. We did his normal routine but instead of putting him down in his crib, we put him down in the carseat. I was nervous about getting him out of the car and back down once we got there but he did great! Friday during the day, he even napped great, too... although come to find out, he obviously wasn't feeling well.....

Friday night, Noah woke up around 11:00 with the classic croup bark (sounds like a seal). I called our pediatrician's 24 hour nurse line and he confirmed that's what it was. I was so scared because we were out in the middle of nowhere, I had no idea where a hospital was, I had no idea how long it would take for someone to get there if I called 911, and Waylon wasn't there with me!! He was wheezing so bad and it sounded like his throat was closing up. We were able to get Noah calmed down and he even fell asleep in my arms, but he was still wheezing pretty bad. I called the nurse back again and when he listened to Noah's breathing, he told me that I should take him to the ER. So my parents, Noah and I loaded into the car at 1 am and headed out to the Roanoke Rapids hospital 45 minutes away. I swear, he never ceases to amaze me.... they put him in this teeny hospital gown on this big hospital bed, he had a fever of 101.5 and this horrible barking cough and was giggling and laughing and having a great time!! They gave him a steroid shot and some tylenol to bring down the fever and watched him for a while. He seemed to be doing okay, so they let us leave at 4 am.

After that drama, the rest of the weekend was pretty good although we all were very tired on Saturday. Leah and Casey came down on Saturday so that was fun to see them, too. I was really nervous that he was going to have another attack on Saturday night but luckily he didn't. Noah was really mommy-needy which I had never seen before. He's still not 100% and still had a slight fever today so he'll stay home from daycare tomorrow... Waylon and I are going to timeshare - he's going to stay home in the morning and I'll be home in the afternoon.

We came back to town on Sunday and went straight to lunch with Waylon's parents and Andrea and Sean for Easter. That was very nice and Noah got two great Easter baskets from both sets of grandparents!

Noah and I were glad to be back in town and with Waylon who spent the whole weekend cleaning up the yard and getting the lawn back in order - and cleaning the house! That was a nice homecoming.

I'll post some pictures from the weekend later this week. I'm ready to get to bed now but just wanted to update everyone.

Look what I did!!!

Sunday Paper

Checking out the ads on Sunday morning....

And you know I can't resist the bath pics!! :-)

Just a normal weekend.

I just had a few cute shots of Noah and figured I'd post some. Things are great here... no big news.

Noah officially has 6 teeth now and he likes to play with them. On Monday, we noticed a bruise on his tounge. I think he bit it. It's gone now and he's fine (as usual, didn't seem bothered by it at all).

We had our last swim class this morning. Noah did well as usual. He absolutely loves the water. We can't wait to take him to the outdoor pool this summer!

This afternoon we took a picnic lunch to the park. Waylon ran Seger while I fed Noah and just as we were about to find a spot to sit down and eat our lunch, the rain started! So we came home and picnic'd in the living room. :-) Of course the rain stopped almost as soon as we got home! That's okay though... it was still fun.

Here are the pictures...

Noah was having fun playing on the hardwood floor. Obviously, we don't let him play there much so this was something different for him! :-) You can kind of see his top teeth in this shot.

Playing with his tounge...

Looking like a bunny rabbit... just in time for Easter! :-)

(and practicing standing)

And some other cute ones...

Maybe we are crazy....

... but we just booked a trip to the Dominican Republic!! Waylon and I are going with three other couples to an all inclusive resort there!

I went back and forth as to whether I could handle leaving Noah but in the end, we decided to go for it. Not only are we committed to being great parents, but we are also committed to having a great marriage (those two go hand in hand, of course). I believe that means taking some time away from the kid(s) every once in a while to just be a couple. And if we are going to get away.... we might as well do it right!

So, we are going for 5 nights at the end of June. My parents are going to come stay with Noah (and Seger). I know he'll be just fine... it's me I'm worried about! :-) I know once I'm on that white sandy beach with a margarita in hand, I'll be just fine, too. I'll miss him terribly but coming home to his smiling face will just be that much sweeter (except I'll be tan, too!). :-)

Here are some photos of the resort where we are staying! I can't wait!!

YIPPEEEEE!!!

We just got back from the doctor's office, and after 3 rounds of antibiotics, Noah's ears are finally clear! We hope the ear infections do not return as they were getting ready to send us to an ENT.

Also, some other good news for me... 14 lbs down (and 14 to go)!! :-) YAY!

Swimming with Daddy!

And here's a cute video from the other night...

He-Man

This is what happens when Mommy leads bath-time!!! :-)

And as per requests for more videos... here is one of our son, He-Man

(Sorry about the long video and the bad videographer skills. I need to learn how to edit these video clips).

Another video

Noah loves being naked right before his bath at night. This is a video of 'naked boy playtime'. :-)