Isaiah at 18 Months

Isaiah was 18 months on March 22, so I wanted to record a few things about him at this moment in time.

-He's 25lbs and just shy of 32 inches tall.

-He still only has 8 teeth.  His molars have been huge bruised "marbles" under his gums for MONTHS, but just now one is actually cutting through so that part of it is through the gums.  The other ones are still just bruises.

-He gets up between 2 and 4 times a night to nurse.  It's just recently he started sometimes getting up only 2 times.  I love those nights.  But I usually end up laying awake for 2 or 3 hours anyway.

-We cosleep, and we love it and have no plans to stop.

-He doesn't talk much, but he does say Mama, Dada, Noah, more, no, yah, ball, block, Papa, Nana, baby, bird, moo, cheep, and maybe a few other things.

-He likes to build now, not just destroy.

-His "lovey" is a panda that Noah built him at Build-A-Bear, named "Pandy".  He ADORES Pandy, which is especially cute because Noah made him for him. I don't think I have a picture of it, unfortunately.

-He hasn't been sick that many times.  4 or 5 times total, one of them being right now (we all have a cold except Justin).

-He's a super smiley, friendly baby, but he is not easy.  He is pretty high maintenance and requires a lot of attention.  But he's a toddler, so yeah.  I expect that.

-I've always said that 12-18 months is my least favourite age (for so many reasons), and literally just in the 1.5 weeks before Isaiah turned 18 months he suddenly got a little easier.  Up until that point he still wanted to be held or worn every second, even while I was cooking, washing dishes, cleaning, etc.  Right before turning 18 months he suddenly preferred to play than to be worn.  Nothing else got easier, really, but that made a HUGE difference.

-He is a MAJOR STINKER.

-He loves to strut around like a peacock on the dining room table.

-He's not a "good eater" even though he always wants to eat.  He just doesn't actually ingest a whole lot, and he's rather picky.  He still gets about 95% of his nutrition from breastmilk, which is fine.  It's healthier than most things he could eat anyway.

-In the tub he is constantly doing this (don't mind the old lady tiles):

-He continues to be a hitter, scratcher, pincher, and biter. He's always done these things, ever since he was an infant. It's usually not even malicious, but it HURTS! We are just finally starting to make some headway with the whole "Be gentle, be gentle" and petting things instead of hitting. And finally when we say "No biting! Just kissing." He will kiss whatever he was about to bite. Up until now those things didn't work. And interestingly, if he's hitting or biting and we just say "No hitting!" or "No biting!" it will make him do it even more. Every single time.

Trying to bite for no reason:

Still trying to bite...

A split second before I yelled "ISAIAH NOOO!!" and he smashed Noah on the head with the old diaper sprayer:

-He's a HUGE gym rat, and pretty much his favourite place to be is in our garage gym.

In short, he's "challenging", but he's a pretty awesome kid!  We like him :)

The Sweetest 2 Year Old Boy Ever

This morning while I was bent over scrubbing the tub, Noah kept hugging me from behind, kissing my back, and saying "Thank you for cleaning my bathtub, Mommy!  I love you, Mommy."  Then he would blow me kisses.

He sure knows how to treat a lady.

The Life of a Mom

I originally titled this post "The Life of a SAHM."  But then I realized that working moms probably have the exact same problem, it's just not an "all day long" problem, it's an "everyday after work" problem.

Maybe some moms don't have this "problem" at all.  If you don't... well, I don't want to hear from you!  (I kid).

So, anybody with children, especially very mobile children, has probably made the observation that it is incredibly hard to keep the house tidy (nevermind clean) when you are home all day.  This might seem counter-intuitive, because if you're home all day, you have all day to tidy and clean.  But seriously, a toddler makes messes much faster than you can clean them up.  At least MY toddler does!  And I don't really have any desire to be walking from one room to another putting things in their proper places ALL DAY LONG.  I would literally never be able to do anything else.

Probably one of our biggest problems is that we have an open concept house, and Noah is allowed to go anywhere.  Sure, we gate off the stairs so he can't sneak downstairs while I'm cooking or showering.  But other than that, there is no good way to keep him contained, and there never has been.  He's been opening doors and walking through them since he was 12 months old, so things are constantly ending up where they don't belong.  I always have random items, like stethoscopes, play dishes, play food, magnetic letters, and puzzles pieces in all the bedrooms and bathrooms (almost everyday when I'm in the shower Noah brings me a bowl of cut up wooden fruit and says "Here you go, Mommy!").  And things like toothpaste, tooth brushes, salad tongs, potato mashers, and mixing bowls end up on my living room couches.  (Yes, those things are kept in drawers, but our drawers and counters are arranged so that it's no possible to install those latch thingies.  I tried.  I guess all our counters jut out too far.)

There aren't many things I miss about being childless.  But a house that stays tidy for more than 2 minutes is definitely one of them!  Even when my entire house is clean I feel like it isn't because it's so hard for it to stay tidy.

Today I had one of those days where I was cleaning, tidying, and doing laundry all day long, but I felt like I was walking on a treadmill - as in, I was doing these things, but felt like I wasn't moving forward because there were so many things still left to do!  Vacuuming the whole house, cleaning both full bathrooms, washing the floors, stripping beds, washing/drying/folding 5 loads of laundry, unloading dishwasher, loading it back up, feeding the child several times, and constantly putting things back where they belong.

I am not even really complaining.  I'm just stating facts.  I am actually thankful.  Noah is much more obedient than he was 8-10 months ago, and doesn't touch the things that he really shouldn't touch.  So it's not like he's scattering the vitamins and medications from my bedside table throughout the house.  He's not pulling clothes out of our drawers (like he did A LOT from about 9 to 15 months).  If the lower kitchen cupboards are unlocked, it's not like I end up with unopened salad dressing and BBQ sauce bottles in the bathroom.  He doesn't go in the fridge because he knows he's not allowed, so I no longer get bags of bloody ground beef lifted onto my duvet cover.  But in the interests of encouraging toddler creativity and independent play, unless he can hurt himself, break something, or end up wasting a lot of money (like dumping out a 500 count bottle of digestive enzymes), he is allowed to have access to most of the stuff in our house.  Besides, there's not really a lot of places we can hide these things, since we can't lock our drawers (he would figure out the locks, anyway, even if we could).

But man, I really do wish that I had a magic wand... I would walk into each room, wave it, and everything would fly to the room it belongs in, and settle in its proper place.  That sounds glorious.

Okay, off to fold my 5th and final load of laundry.  And watch TV.  Before I collapse into bed.

The daily grind can be just that - a grind.  But since everyday is filled with multiple spontaneous hugs, kisses, and "Wuv you Mommy"'s from this adorable kid...

It sure is worth it:)

Monday Mush

-I LOVE my kid.  Noah is such a good boy, and so pleasant to be around.  He is so freaking adorable I can't even handle it.  For the past while he has become even more affectionate than usual.  He is constantly hugging me, kissing me, and doing super adorable things for me. A few days ago my mom, while joking about the size of my baby belly, said that maybe I'll give birth to another 2 year old.  I said that would be fine with me.  I love my almost-two-year-old.  He is smart, he is funny, and he just makes every day awesome.  I love taking care of him all day every day.

-The first trimester exhaustion hit a few days ago.  As much as Noah is awesome, he does not sleep enough hours for me to be well rested and still have an hour or two per day to spend alone or with my husband.  He sleeps about 10.5 hours at night lately.  And less than an hour for his nap.  Enough for him?  Yes.  Enough for me?  No.

-Exhaustion?  Check.  Sore Nipples?  Check.  That started at 4 weeks 2 days.  Nursing feels exactly how it used to feel everytime I ovulated.  Except for then, I knew it would be over within a few days.  Now I have the next 8 months to enjoy this.

-Is there a way I can specifically block Facebook statuses where people are complaining about the lack of winter we've had so far where I live?  Seriously, I'm starting to get really annoyed.  I kind of want to punch them in the face.  Or call them idiots.  For heaven's sake, we normally are drowning in winter and desperate for some sunshine and bare roads at this time of year.  Last year we got so much snow in such a short time that it was declared a State of Emergency and the army had to fly in with their helicopters to save the 400+ people who were completely stranded in their cars for up to 48 hours.  People died.  A few weeks ago, the day of our IUI, it was the day winter finally decided to make an appearance, and I was only 20 minutes ahead of a 26 car pile up on the highway.  Again, several people died.  If my IUI had been scheduled half an hour later, I would have been in  that pileup.  Are we forgetting these things, people?  Winter is not really all that fun.  Snow is not really all that fun.  It's cold, it's messy, and it's dangerous.  So shut your mouths, you idiots who clearly live in apartment buildings and don't have to shovel out your driveways, and who don't have to drive more than 3 minutes to work.    You're wishing trouble on the rest of society.

18 Months Old

At 18 months, here is where Noah is at:

-He is about 27lbs.  This shocked me this month.

-He is about 35 inches tall.

-He is in size 4 diapers during the day and night.

-He wears size 2T and 3T clothing.

-He wears size 6 shoes.

-He nurses on demand, 5-7 times a day.  When he nurses he is constantly playing with my face and ears, especially when he's nursing to sleep.  He will be sleeping, but he is reaching up with an open palm that just gently strokes my ear and earring, over and over.

-He exclusively feeds himself, either with his hands or with a spoon and fork. If he is given a utensil, he will always use it.

-He's cooperative about drinking from a sippy cup early in the day, but once the afternoon and evening hits he wants to drink from a regular CUP, darnit, just like Mama.

-He has 16 full teeth. The only ones left are his 2 year molars, which I think he is actually already starting to work on (although I am mostly in denial about this).

-He has one nap a day, usually about an hour long.

-This month he's been sleeping 11 to 11.5 hours at night, getting up to nurse once, sometime after 5am. Bedtime is after 8:30pm most nights, and we've been sleeping in until about 8am or later every morning.

-He still signs for water and to eat, even though he says the words just as easily.  He almost never signs to nurse anymore.  He said asks "Nurse?"

-At 15 months Noah was saying 18 words. At 16 months he was saying 42 words. At 17 months he was saying 79 words.  At 18 months he is saying 137 words.

His old words that he's still saying are: Mama, Dada, uh oh, more, this, that, cat, night night, hot, up, yes, woof woof ("what does a dog say?"), baa ("what does a sheep/goat say?"), moo ("what does a cow say?"), car, ball, shoes, cracker, Noah, water, orange, clock, blech, hi, done, dirt, Bert, puff, swish, fluff, book, buzz, Papa, Nana, boo, fish, phone, again, home, sunglasses, Gramper, sit, stretch, glasses, food, laptop, love, hair, quack, bye, tshirt, shirt, aunt, poop, slide, cheese, Colton, danger, banana, feet, please, clock, cold, toes, ooo-ooo-ahh-ahh (monkey sound), bad, burger, boo-boo (as in, an owie), nurse, block, fly, stuck, chalk, out, fit, hat, bye-bye, and shit (yeah, I'm not proud of that).

His new words are: pool, eyes, nose, rice, pour, no, apple, bath, heck, help, eat, T.V., pup, corn, cook, moon, sun, on, off, mouse, brush, ice, neigh, push, yay, peach, buddy, you, hi, mess, flip, hose, toast, home, see you, pieces, pear, foot, me, tape, open, meat, ok, out, street, outside, keys, bits, pee, flies, away, whoa, cheerios, cut, gas, wet, hey, bless.

-After he poops (and sometimes beforehand) he will inform us by saying "Poop! Poop! Poop!" He still doesn't really care if you change his diaper or not, though. I think he might actually be content with a poopy bum all day long.

-I'm pretty sure he knows exactly what pee is, and he knows it goes in the toilet.  He'll open any bathroom door, point to the toilet, and exclaim "Pee!!!"

-Noah still loves to point out things that are hot. He waves his hands around saying "Hot! Hot!" and then blows air out his mouth like he's trying to cool something down. He really pronounces the "t", and the way he says it is sooo cute. He looks so proud of himself for knowing everything that is hot.

-His verbal comprehension continues to be amazing.  He understands everything we say to him.  We can even reason with him.

-He still wants gets into everything, but he is continuing to obey the word "no" more consistently.

-He hardly ever plays with his toys.  Currently, his favourite "toys" are our Dyson vacuum cleaner, anything electronic that isn't meant to be played with, any cleaning implement (like Swiffers), or kitchen/bathroom gadgets.

-He loves to run, climb, swim... anything active.

-Time outs are still wildly successful around here.  They've been so successful, we don't need to use them that often anymore.

-One mild illness for Noah this month.  The count is at 13.

-He still has a thing for pretty blonde women:)

-He is such a cuddly, affectionate little monkey. He loves to hug and be hugged, loves to get and give kisses, loves to sit in our laps. He such a sweet little boy.

18 months old!  I just can't believe my little guy is a year and a half!  I still think of him as my baby, even though he is such a toddler.  The nursing, cuddling, and snuggling him as he falls asleep in my arms really helps us both ease this transition.  Everyday he does something that just makes my mouth hang open, because, "Oh my gosh, he is a little boy now!"

I think this might be my favourite age so far, at least since he has become a toddler.  He is so incredibly entertaining.  I love watching him do such grown up things.  I love listening to him talk and learn new words.  I love his long gibberish sentences.  I love observing him as he assimilates new information into his existing knowledge base so quickly and easily.  I love how he is just so darned silly.

I am not going nearly as crazy as I was a few months ago.  Noah is much more obedient now.  He still does things I don't want him to do, of course.  But it's no longer only going from one restricted activity to another restricted activity.  There are a lot of things he will stay away from now.  And when he's not listening, times outs really work for both him and me.  I rarely end up at the point where I want to bang my head against the wall, because a quick time out stops me from having to stop him from doing the same thing 200 times in a row.

Everybody is telling me I should be buying Noah a potty.  He is showing so much interest in poop, pee, the toilet, and seems to be grasping the whole concept.  He definitely grasps that we use the toilet for poop and pee, anyway.  And he'll wipe his diapered crotch with toilet paper.  This made me laugh so hard.  I am in no rush for this.  Potty training was something I wasn't even thinking about until sometime after he turns 2.  Next summer seemed like a good time to try, because he could run around outside all day with no clothes on.  Maybe if a good potty goes on sale I will pick one up and see what happens.  I'm not convinced, even though all his aunts, uncles, and grandparents seem to be.

I'm looking forward to what this next month will bring.  I am constantly reminded that my Mom and sister in law both had their second babies when their first was 19 months old (my mom actually did that 4 times in a row).  I just can't even imagine having a newborn in a month.  I'm happy to be able to concentrate on Noah for awhile longer.

17 Months Old

At 17 months, here is where Noah is at:

-He is probably about 24lbs.

-He is about 34.5 inches tall.

-He is in size 4 diapers during the day and night.

-He wears 24 month clothing, for the most part.  He still fits into 9 month shorts, but they have gotten pretty snug.  I'm trying to get through the rest of the summer with what I have, though.

-He nurses on demand, 7-8 times a day.

-He pretty much exclusively feeds himself.  Using a spoon and fork has become less messy this month, and he really enjoys it.  I can get him to eat pretty much any vegetable if I give him a spoon or fork to eat it with.

-He has 16 full teeth.  The only ones left are his 2 year molars.

-He has one nap a day, usually about an hour long.
-This month he's been sleeping 11.5-12 hours at night, getting up to nurse once. Bedtime is after 8:30pm most nights, and we've been sleeping in until at least 8:15am every morning.


-He still gets up to nurse once a night, but he seems to be consistently pushing this later for the past week and a half.  Almost every night he has slept 10 hours straight before getting up, sometimes sleeping until 7:30 (and then going back to sleep until 9:30!).  I'd like to think he is maybe night-weaning himself, but I know better than to think this will last.  Over a year ago he was consistently sleeping 10 hours straight before nursing, and that didn't last!

-He still does just three signs: nurse (the sign for milk), water (waves his hand up and down), and eat (sticks his finger in his mouth).  I don't do any other signs, because he picks up language easy enough.

-At 15 months Noah was saying 18 words. At 16 months he was saying 42 words.  At 17 months he is saying 79 words.

His old words that he's still saying are: Mama, Dada, uh oh, more, this, that, cat, night night, hot, up, yes, woof woof ("what does a dog say?"), baa ("what does a sheep/goat say?"), moo ("what does a cow say?"), car, ball, shoes, cracker, Noah, water, orange, clock, blech, hi, done, dirt, Bert, puff, swish, fluff, book, buzz, Papa, Nana, boo, fish, phone, again, home, sunglasses, Gramper, sit.

His new words are: stretch, glasses, food, laptop, love, hair, quack, bye, tshirt, shirt, aunt, poop, slide, cheese, Colton, danger, banana, feet, please, clock, cold, toes, ooo-ooo-ahh-ahh (monkey sound), bad, burger, boo-boo (as in, an owie), nurse,  block, fly, stuck, chalk, out, fit, hat, bye-bye, and shit (yeah, I'm not proud of that).

-After he poops (and sometimes beforehand) he will inform us by saying "Poop!  Poop!  Poop!"  He still doesn't really care if you change his diaper or not, though.  I think he might actually be content with a poopy bum all day long.

-Noah still loves to point out things that are hot.  He waves his hands around saying "Hot!  Hot!" and then blows air out his mouth like he's trying to cool something down.  He really pronounces the "t", and the way he says it is sooo cute.  He looks so proud of himself for knowing everything that is hot.

-His verbal comprehension continues to be above average.

-He still gets into everything and anything, but he is starting to obey the word "no" more often (up until the past few days, he seemed to think it was optional).


-He is a super-climber.  He wishes our entire house was his jungle gym.

-He loves pools!  He loves to swim.

-We started doing time outs this month.  Just 1 minute in his crib when he's been disobedient.  I resisted this for awhile because I didn't want him to have bad associations with his crib.  But then I figured it was much better for both of us if I did it anyway, rather than letting my frustration turn to anger and build to a boiling point.  The time outs are working, and I stay very calm.  I've felt much more 'in control' for the past month than I did before.

-Every month Noah gets better with strangers and with separation from Mommy.  He's much better when it's on his own terms, though.  He's still not okay with being left in the church nursery, but we're working on it.  For now, I'm spending most of the church service in there with him.  I'm not going to force it and make him scream for an hour and a half.  It will come.

-No more illnesses this month!  The count is still at 12.

-He has a thing for pretty blonde women.  I'm sure it's because I am blonde.  It's really funny though, how he'll warm up to a blonde who is about my age in about 30 seconds, and want to sit with them and cuddle with them.  Actually, come to think of it, we have a gorgeous model friend who is a brunette, and he has a thing for her, too.  What can I say, my boy has discerning taste;)

-He is such a cuddly, affectionate little monkey.  He loves to hug and be hugged, loves to get and give kisses, loves to sit in our laps.  He such a sweet little boy.

16 Months Old

At 16 months, here is where Noah is at:

-He is a little over 23lbs.

-He is about 34 inches tall.

-His head circumference is 20 inches.

-He is in size 4 diapers during the day and night.

-He wears size 4 shoes.

-He wears 24 month clothing, for the most part.  His shorts are still 9 month, although he seems to have had a growth spurt in the past month and would probably finally fit into the waistband of 12 month shorts.

-He nurses on demand, probably 8+ times a day.

-He still enjoys a balance of feeding himself and being fed when he eats solids. He eats mostly grown up food, but sometimes still has purees.

-He is getting better at using a spoon and fork, but it is an extremely messy process.

-He has 12 teeth that are fully in (front 8 teeth and 4 molars), and his four canines are in the process of breaking through.  A few tips are already poking through, and the other one is just about to break his gums.

-He has one nap a day, usually about an hour long.

-He sleeps 11-11.5 hours at night, getting up to nurse once. Bedtime is between 8 and 8:30pm most nights.

-He signs to nurse (the sign for milk), for water (waves his hand up and down), and to eat (sticks his finger in his mouth). Those are the only signs I'm consistent with, otherwise I'm sure he'd sign more.

-At 15 months Noah was saying 18 words, now at 16 months he is saying 42 words.

His old words that he's still saying are: Mama, Dada, uh oh, more, this, that, cat, night night, hot, up, yes, woof woof ("what does a dog say?"), baa ("what does a sheep say?"), moo ("what does a cow say?"), car, ball, shoes, cracker. 

His new words are: Noah, water, orange, clock, blech, hi, done, dirt, Bert, puff, swish, fluff, book, buzz, Papa, Nana, boo, fish, phone, again, home, sunglasses, Nana, Gramper, sit.

-When something is hot, Noah waves his arms around and says "Hot!  Hot!"  The oven, a candle flame, water, food, the weather... he knows exactly what "hot" is in different contexts and circumstances.  This past Sunday at church Noah saw the candle flame at the front of the church during prayer and wouldn't stop saying "HOT!"  My Dad and I were shaking with silent laughter.

-His verbal comprehension continues to amaze me.

-Noah can get into anything.  Doors, closets, cupboards, drawers, fridge, stove, freezer, dishwasher... He is just one of those kids.   He's well behaved, but at the same time he tests the limits constantly.  Seriously, constantly.  It can be sooo frustrating. 

-He climbs on everything now.  He can even climb up on our high pub chairs, and therefore can get on top of our tall pub table.  This is an unwelcome development.

-Noah loves power cords.  Anything that has a cord and plug attached to it is fascinating to him.  When we went to the cottage I didn't even need to bring toys.  Just hand him a hair dryer, alarm clock, or even just an extension cord, and he's good to go.

-He's still very cuddly and affectionate.  He is getting quite good at giving hugs and kisses to people when we say goodbye.  Especially my parents, his Granny and Gramper.  He doesn't do this very readily for my inlaws, though.

-Noah has become much friendlier in the past few months.  He will flirt with, smile at, and wave to strangers now.  He likes strangers better if he can seek them out, though, and usually from the safety of Mommy's arms or shopping cart.  If you seek him out and he doesn't know you very well, he will still look at you like "Who the heck are you and why are you looking at me?"

-No illnesses this month!  Still sitting at 12 illnesses in his 16 months of life.


I am making more of an effort the past couple of months to take Noah places and do activities with him.  As he gets older he seems to need this more.  He loves to visit people and do things out of his ordinary routine.  If we go somewhere outside of the house, he will be so happy and distracted, he won't whine or cry or anything the whole time we are out.  I really wish we didn't live in the boonies.  It makes getting out of the house much more difficult.

Noah did wonderfully this month when we went on vacation to the cottage.  He had a total blast in his new surroundings, and all my fears about his sleep were unnecessary; he slept great! 

Since we have gotten home, though, his sleep has not been great.  Normally he only gets up once a night to nurse.  In the past 9 nights we have been home, he has gotten up twice (or more) probably 5 or 6 of the nights.  I've been understanding and not made him CIO, because he is teething hardcore.  But if this continues on too much longer I think I'll have to take a bit of a firmer line.  I don't mind nursing him once overnight, and I know he sleeps longer than he would if he didn't nurse.  But he doesn't need to nurse twice.  Not for hunger purposes, anyway. 

Speaking of teething, I think it is very interesting how Noah teeths in such huge spurts.  His first spurt was from 5 to 8 months, when he got 8 teeth in 3 months.  Then he had a 5 month break, and at 13 months he started teething again.  He got his 4 molars, and 3 of his canines are showing (one is about to).  So basically he will have gotten another 8 teeth in about 3 months.  It's rough, but if I could chose it, I would chose this.  If he's going to be in pain from cutting teeth, he might as well cut a whole bunch of teeth at once, rather than one tooth at a time.

Noah hasn't been a big fan of vegetables for the past several months. But this month we figured out how to get him to eat them again - give him a utensil to eat them with! He will eat all sorts of less-than-yummy stuff if he's feeding himself with a fork or spoon.

This past weekend Justin and I were able to go out for dinner for the first time since Noah was born.  We drove into town, and dropped Noah off at my parents house at 4:30 - it was a very early dinner.  We went out for almost an hour and a half.  Noah did really well.  He asked for Mama a few times, but my parents just reminded him that I was out for dinner and would be home soon, and he accepted it.  This is huge, because he has had such horrible separation anxiety for most of his life.  So have I, for that matter!  Justin and I already missed him when we were still in my parents' driveway.  Despite this, we really enjoyed our early evening date, and I'm glad Noah did well.  He loves my parents, though.  He wouldn't have done as well with anyone else.

This month Noah has really gotten into imitating his Daddy.  He tries to copy Justin by doing pushups, situps, squats, and deadlifts, making grunting noises while he does each movement.  He also copies Daddy's big overhead stretch, groaning while he does it.  It just melts me to watch him try to be like his Dad.

This past month Noah has used the word "Mama" more than ever before.  For instance, when Justin goes into his room in the morning to get him, Noah will immediately say "Mama??  Mama??"  Like "What are you doing here, Dad?  I want my Mom!!!"  If I walk in there, he just smiles.  I love hearing him say Mama.  Maybe it's because a "Mom" is such a special thing in my mind, so having him call me by my appropriate name almost makes me feel like he recognizes what a special person I am in his life.  I have always been his favourite person by FAR, but still, it just feels so special to hear him call me Mama. 

Such a Sweet Boy

Noah is such a sweet little boy.  I know this, but when we spend time around other kids it often becomes even more glaringly obvious.  On Monday we were at a playdate with my good friend Trista and her son Colton.  Noah and Colton are opposites in almost every way they could possibly be opposites, including their personalities.  Colton is a nice boy, but Noah and Colton are at opposite ends of the spectrum of sweet and gentle to crazy and wild.  Colton was running around, being rough, smacking Noah on the head over and over (BAM BAM BAM BAM!)... Noah just kept looking at him like, "Why in the world are you doing this...?"

Here are just a few examples of Noah's sweetness:

-He hugs now.  Like really hugs.  Gripping my shoulders, burying his head into my neck, and just loving all over me.  I love how his hugs are grippy and tight now:)

-Right now we have this random picture of Justin and I from when we were dating floating around in our kitchen.  When we let Noah hold it, he smiles and then "hugs" the picture by bringing it up to his cheek.

-When he sees kittens in any of his books, he "hugs" the picture (by laying his cheek on it).

-He has this touch and feel book with big pictures of animals in it that have fuzzy patches.  He especially likes to "hug" the picture of the bunny, and will lay his whole upper body on it if the book is on the ground.

-A couple of weeks ago I was working in the kitchen and he accidentally slammed a pot he was playing with on top of my bare foot.  I yelped in pain and then was crouched down holding my foot and saying "Ouch!  You really hurt Mommy!"  He stood in front of me looking all concerned, and then over and over he would put his hands on my shoulders and lean his forehead on my forehead, or give me a hug.  So cute!

-He thinks it's hilarious when Justin and I hug and/or kiss, and he always wants in on the action.  He'll walk over and reach to be picked up so he can get hugs too.  Either that, or he pushes Justin away so he gets Mommy to himself.  So funny!

-Everytime he is around a baby or toddler, he wants to hug and kiss him or her.

I love having such a sweet, gentle little boy.  I just to smush his little face.

13 Months

At 13 months old, here is what Noah is up to:

-I'm guessing he weighs about 21.5lbs, but I didn't get him weighed today

-He is about 32-33 inches long (when comparing him to other kids who measured 31.5 inches, he is visibly taller than them by at least an inch, but we haven't been able to get a good measurement of him ourselves).

-He wears size 3 Pampers Cruisers during the day, size 4 Baby Dry at night, which he often leaks through.

-He still nurses 10+ times a day, and signs for it a lot more often that that!

-He signs for "nurse" and "water".  I don't really do any other signs consistently.

-He is still about 75-50% breastfed, with solids making up the other 20-25%.  He has gotten more picky this month, and will spit out any vegetables he puts in his mouth.  He loves meats and fruits, and most starchy foods (potatoes, stuffing, etc).  But he is no longer a fan of vegetables.  This would bother me more, but since he is still breastfeeding I'm not at all worried about any picky eating habits because he is getting more nutrients from breastmilk than he would from vegetables.

-He doesn't eat much "baby food" anymore.  Not because he won't, but because we just usually feed him from what we're eating since we never know how much he will eat.  We have a ton of purees and baby oatmeal left though.  I'm not totally sure what we'll do with it.

-He enjoys a balance of being fed and feeding himself.  He's not totally in one camp or the other.

-He wears 18 and 24 month clothing, depending on what it is. For example, he wears 24 month footless sleepers, but 18 month footed sleepers. He wears some 18 month onesies, some 24 month onesies. It just depends on the piece.  The funniest/weirdest thing is that he fits in 6-9 month shorts, but the waist on them is kind of big on him.  I thought he would wear them last summer, but they never ended up fitting him.  I tried them this year... almost perfect!  I wonder if it's the brand?

-He still has just 8 teeth, the four top and four bottom. He hasn't gotten a new tooth since he was 8 months old.

-He currently has his 10th illness, another cold.

-He goes to bed at about 8pm (sometimes early, but sometimes closer to 8:30), sleeps until sometime past 5am, nurses, and goes back to sleep again until who knows when. It's totally hit and miss with how long he sleeps, but I don't get him out of bed until close to 7:30am.

-Bedtime has been later this month because Noah is in an awkward transition from 2 naps down to 1 nap.  He is increasing the length of his daytime naps (generally to about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes), but slightly decreasing his amount of total sleep in 24 hours, so his nighttime sleep has been shortening.  I'm actually liking the later bedtime.  I'm in less of a rush in the evenings to get dinner cooked, eaten, and Noah bathed and in bed.  We have more time to be a family.  It's nice.

-We're having a hard time fitting 2 naps in everyday.  About half the time he only takes one nap a day, the other half he takes two naps.  This depends on what time he wakes up in the morning.  If he gets up at 7am, he'll definitely have 2 naps.  If he gets up at 8am, whether he has two naps would depend on how early he's able to get to sleep for his first nap, and then how long he sleeps for (this nap is almost always about 1 hour).  If he wakes up at 8:30, he definitely only has one nap.  If he only has one nap, his awake period before bed is usually about 7 hours, give or take.  Sometimes he is 100% fine with this, sometimes he is kind of cranky.  This occasional crankiness is why we haven't just made the leap to one nap. 

-(By the way, I don't consider this transition to be a sleep issue at all... it'll work itself out soon I'm sur - probably within the next month - and until then we are just playing it by ear.  I don't mind at all.  His nighttime sleep and daytime sleep are still doing well).

-He is almost running now! 

-He is very careful, and almost never hurts himself.

-When he goes to climb the stairs, he opens the baby gate at the bottom, walks through it, climbs up the first stair, turns around, closes the baby gate fully, and then proceeds to climb all the way upstairs.  He needs the gate to be shut first.  It's funny.

-He is really good at picking up his basketball, walking across the room, reaching the ball over his head, and scoring a basket. 

-He still "talks on the phone" by putting the phone (or an object that resembles a phone) all the way behind his head and "talking."  He also hands us the phone to talk, too.

-He's still very cuddly, and loves to hug and kiss Mommy.  He also loves to hug and kiss babies of any age.  He is such a little sweetie-pie.

-I am still his number 1 favourite person, and I'm who he wants when he cries, but he is getting friendlier to other people that he knows and is slightly less of a Mommy-suck.

-He still loves to play in the curtains. He breathes really excitedly, giggles, and pops his head out with a huge smile when I say "Where's Noah?!"

-He loves to walk around with a blanket over his head and giggle.

-He still loves to lounge around on the floor and lay his head on pillows.

-Diaper changes are still torture.  I've discovered that actually belting him to the change pad works to keep him on his back, though (with the belt thats attached to the change pad, not an actual belt).  So I just have to deal with the screaming, which I can handle.  I often just change his bum when he walking around to avoid the hassle. 

-He is understanding so much language now.  He follows many directions and points to objects and pictures when we ask where they are.

-His expressive language is still the same.  Besides babbling and gibberish, he says "Uh oh," "Dis," "Dat," "Mama," and "Dad" or "Dada". 

-He loves to "read".  If he is allowed, he will pull every book off his bookshelf and still flipping through them.  If he is allowed, he will also eat every book on his bookshelf.  His favourite book for us to read to him is still Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? He gets a huge smile on his face when we start it.

-He continues to happily allow me to shower while he is awake, and plays in the bathroom while I'm doing so. This is going better (for me) since I reorganized the cupboards and drawers. There's less for him to pull out and toss around, now. (This is a new development since shortly before 12 months... before this I was always having to shower while he was sleeping or else he would scream his head off).


 
There's 13 months for you!  I can't believe Noah is 13 months old already.  It seems so old to me.  And I can't believe I'm on time with this update!  I better post it now before a week suddenly passes...

1 YEAR OLD!

I am getting really bad at posting these on time. 

At 12 months old, here is what Noah is up to:

-He weighs 21lbs even, totally naked, on March 14 (he was 21lbs 11oz with his clothes and diaper on, which I then weighed, and they were exactly 11oz).

-He is still about 31.5 inches long.

-He wears size 3 diapers during the day, size 4 at night, which he often leaks through. 

-He still nurses 10+ times a day, and signs for it a lot more often that that!

-He still has just one formal "meal" of solids - mostly purees - at dinnertime. The rest of the day he snacks on various things, usually what I'm eating, as he wants them.. He's still about 90% breastfed, with solids making up the other 10%.

-He wears 18 and 24 month clothing, depend on the piece.  For example, he wears 24 month footless sleepers, but 18 month footed sleepers.  He wears some 18 month onesies, some 24 month onesies.  It just depends on the piece.

-He still has  just 8 teeth, the four top and four bottom.  He hasn't gotten a new tooth since before he was 8 months old.

-He goes to bed at about 7:30pm, sleeps until sometime past 4:30am (sometimes as late as 6:30am), nurses, and goes back to sleep again until about 7:30am, give or take.  The time changed a couple of weeks ago, and I don't think I'm interested in shifting everything the entire hour.  I think I'll keep bedtime at 7:30 for the spring and summertime.

-He has two naps a day, ranging from 30 minutes to an hour. The first nap is about 3 - 3.5 hours after he wakes up, and the second nap is about 3.5 hours after he wakes up from his first nap.  He can handle awake periods that are a lot longer, with no problem, but we have to fit in both naps so I make sure he gets down on time.

-He is fully walking, all over the house, turning corners, going in circles, waving objects in the air... it's so cute, but it makes me sad!

-He loves to throw balls (and anything else), play with his baseball bats, score points on his basketball hoop, hit his baseball off his Little Tikes Talking T-Ball tee, and practice stick handling with his mini-sticks and hockey puck.

-He "talks on the phone" by putting the phone (or an object that resembles a phone) all the way behind his head.  It's sooo cute!

-He's still cuddling with us a lot, which we obviously love!

-He still loves to give Mommy kisses (sometimes Daddy, sometimes other babies, and once even Gramper!), but he's not as obsessed with it as he was at 11 months.  I've found it comes in waves, ever since he started bakc at like 7 months old.

-He's still a mommy suck, but he is getting a little better about his separation anxiety.  I don't always have to be in the same room as him if other people are around.

-I can now shower with him in the bathroom with me and he doesn't scream!  Instead he stands at the side of the tub and throws shampoo bottles, toys, and one time even a magazine, into the tub with me.  This is a very welcome development.  Not the toy-throwing, but the lack of screaming while I'm showering.

-He loves to play in the curtains.  He breathes really excitedly, giggles, and pops his head out with a huge smile when I say "Where's Noah?!"

-He is still lounging on the floor like a lazy toddler, rolling back and forth and just enjoying being a goof.

-It is so hard to change his diaper.  He often starts screaming, and won't lie on his back.  I've taken to trying to change him while he's walking around.  Every diaper change is a dreaded battle.  Thank goodness he doesn't poop very often.

-It's always hard to know exactly how much an 12 month old understands, but we know for sure he knows the meanings of: Mom, Dad, nurse, up, night-night, hug, kiss, no, this, book, "say hi," "say bye," and "lean back". He demonstrates understanding of those words through his actions. I'm guessing he knows a lot more, but I can't tell.

-He says "Uh oh," "Dis," "Dat," "Mama," and "Dad" or "Dada". It seems like he says all these things in the right settings, but he also uses them at other times, so I don't know if he's really using them as words or just sounds.

-He loves to "read" (flip through his books independently) His favourite book for us to read to him is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?  He gets a huge smile on his face when we start it.


Well, it happened.  My baby turned ONE.  Over a week ago. 

It makes me so happy, and it makes me sad.  I love each new stage that Noah goes through (well, I guess not every stage), but it makes me so sad that I can never experience his infant-ness again.  People tell me to have another baby, and while I'm happy that I will (hopefully) experience another baby (or two), it's still not baby Noah.  And that's what I want.  To experience baby Noah again.

With that being said, I feel like being a mom just  keeps getting easier and more enjoyable.  The past year of my life has been phenomenal, and I couldn't be happier.  Nothing in my life has ever been as 'worth it' as being Noah's mom has been.  I love that kid to pieces!

11 Months Old

I don't think I've ever been so late with a monthly update.  Noah turned 11 months over a week ago, so I'm going to keep these updates restricted to those things he was doing at that time.  Some things have changed quite a bit in this past week.

At 11 months old, here is where Noah is at:

-He weighs 20lbs 9oz totally naked, but after a lot of nursings.  That's about 25th percentile.

-He is 31.5 inches long, about 100th percentile.

-He is less than 5th percentile for weight for height (he has tall, slim parents - he can't help it).

-He wears size 3 diapers during the day, and size 4 diapers at night.

-He wears 18 month clothing. His sleepers, onesies, and shirts fit perfectly, maybe a little on the small side.  His 18 month pants are a perfect length.

-He has 8 teeth, the four top and four bottom.

-He started signing 'nurse' at 10.5 months, and ever since then we've been nursing much more than every 2 hours.  He often wants to nurse again 5 minutes after we just finished.

-He still has just one formal "meal" of solids - mostly purees - at dinnertime.  The rest of the day he snacks on various things, usually what I'm eating.  He's still about 90% breastfed, with solids making up the other 10%.

-He goes to bed at about 7pm, sleeps until past 4am, nurses, and goes back to sleep again until about 7am, give or take.  (This has changed since a couple of days after he turned 11 months... that post is still to come.)

-He has two naps a day, ranging from 30 minutes to an hour.  The first nap is about 3 - 3.5 hours after he wakes up (he can make it to 4 pretty easily), and the second nap is 3.5 - 4 hours after he wakes up from his first nap.

-He is totally done with the soother, now.  I take very little credit for this, although I recognize that my actions inadvertently got him to this point.  He always needed it when he was being rocked to sleep.  Then we had a few weeks where he was either nursed to sleep or put in his crib awake.  I would give him his soother when I put him in his crib awake, but he never fell asleep using it.  So after seeing if he still wanted it on several different occasions, I have come to the conclusion that he is definitely over it.  It holds no appeal for him anymore.

-He's getting better at the sippy cup.  Sometimes he'll drink a couple of ounces of water out of it in one sitting.  He likes water now.

-He stands alone, takes a few independent steps (this was just an occasional thing still when he turned 11 months), cruises really well, speed crawls, and climbs.

-He loves to throw balls, play with his baseball bats, score points on his basketball hoop, and practice stick handling with his mini-sticks and hockey puck.  His athlete father is so proud :) 

-He's become extremely cuddly lately, often hugging us and laying his head down on our shoulders, draping himself over us, ect.  He'll even fall asleep sometimes with his head laying on my shoulder, which he hadn't done since he was about 2 months old.

-He loves to give Mommy kisses (sometimes Dad gets one).  He gives me probably a hundred open mouth slobber kisses each day.  Sometimes he just seems overwhelmed with the need to kiss me.  It's adorable.

-He's still a big mommy suck.  He's getting a bit friendlier with other people (smiling, making faces, giggling), but will freak out if I start to walk away. 

-He still has horrifyingly awful separation anxiety.  He still can't handle if I'm not in his sight when we're at home, so I have to plan chores and things carefully.  I can't even go to the bathroom without him.

-He just started doing this hilarious scrunchy face, sometimes doing it with a closed, pursed mouth, other times "showing off" his front teeth.  He breathes really fast in and out of his nose when he does it.  It's hilarious.

-He just started to lounge on the floor like a lazy toddler.  Not for long periods of time, but before this he would never ever sit still or lay down during the day, but now he'll sometimes lay his cheek on the floor, or recline on some pillows in front of the TV (terrible... I blame Dad).

-It's always hard to know exactly how much an 11 month old understands, but we know for sure he knows the meanings of: Mom, Dad, nurse, up, night-night, hug, kiss, no, this, book, "say hi," and "say bye".  He demonstrates understanding of those words through his actions.  I'm guessing he knows a lot more, but I can't tell.

-He just started saying "Uh oh," but its often more of an "Uh uhhh" or an "Oooh oooh." Sometimes he does "Uh uh uh ohh." He mostly does this after he drops something and we say "Uh oh."

-He says "Dis," "Dat," "Mamamama," and "Dad" or "Dada".  It seems like he says all these things in the right settings, but he also uses them at other times, so I don't know if he's really using them as words or just sounds.

-He loves to "read." He pulls out his books and sits and flips through the pages. His two teacher parents are thrilled:)

-We have this book called Who Do You See, and after "I see a bee" I say "buzzz" and he ALWAYS says "zzzzzzzz" as he strokes the bee.  After "I see a lion" I say "Rooaaar!" and he sometimes gently goes "Raaaaa."


I'm sure there is much, much more I could say, but I am already 9 days late with this post.  I am just going to finish it before I waste another day ruminating about it. 

But, as a last thing, I have to say, Noah is becoming hilarious.  His toddler personality that is beginning to emerge (although I still think 1 year olds are babies) cracks me up.  I seriously could not love him any more.  He is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me, and I am incredibly, deeply grateful for him every second of every day!

10 Months Old

Here is where Noah is at at 10 months old:

-He's 31 inches tall, 100th percentile.

-He weighs 20lbs 5oz naked (after a good nursing).  That's about 35th percentile, and almost a pound gain in less than a month!

-He is 5th percentile for 'weight for length'

-His head circumference is 19 inches..

-He wears size 3 diapers during the day, and size 4 diapers at night (we just switched to size 4s the night before he turned 10 months because of night-leaking).

-He wears 18 month clothing.  His sleepers, onesies, and shirts fit perfectly, his 18 month pants are a little bit long.

-He has 8 teeth, the four top and four bottom.

-He nurses every 2 hours or so all day long (two nursings during each awake period), and once overnight.  He nurses 7-8 times in a 24 hour period.

-He has one meal of solids (mostly purees) at dinnertime, and throughout the day he might have little nibbles of what I'm eating.  I'm careful about what he has, but I don't follow a specific '3 day wait' rule anymore.

-He is obsessed with fruit.  If he sees a piece of fruit and isn't allowed to eat it, he has a little hissy fit.

-He's still constipated pretty much all the time.  We have only a couple of normal poops in a month.

-After a long break, he's starting to show a little bit of interest in the sippy cup, although he is really terrible at getting water out of it.  he chews more than sucks.  But at least it's water in there!  He seems to love the taste of water now, whereas it disgusted him a few months ago. 

-He goes to bed at 7, has one night nursing sometime after 4am, and wakes up around 7, sometimes later if he has a long awake period around 6am and ends up falling back asleep.

-He has 2 naps a day, each usually 30-40 minutes long (although sometimes he'll have an hour long nap).  He's not on a strict schedule, and his naptimes start anywhere between 10-11am, and 2:30-3:30pm.

-He stands unassisted for far longer periods of time, far more frequently.  His record is several minutes.

-He can stand up from a squatting position without holding on to anything, and can squat down slowly and gracefully from standing without holding on to anything.

-He's a much better cruiser now, and walks with his walker really well.  However, on the hardwood floors he has a tendency to let it get ahead of him and ends up looking like he's charging through the house on a rampage.

-He's been hands and knees crawling and pulling up to stand for 3 months.

-He's been climbing stairs for at least a couple of months, but he's really fast at it now.

-If he loses something under the couch he'll crawl over, lay on his tummy, peer under the couch, and reach for the object.

-He waves "Hi!" when we say "Say 'hi'!"  He lifts his arms when we say "Up!" and understands the word "No," but doesn't always listen to it (these are several months old).  These are the 3 "commands" that we can tell 100% for sure that he understands.

-He still babbles a lot and says things like Dada, Dad, dat, dis, deh, that seem like words, but I'm not sure if he is really intending them to be words.  He likes to imitate singular sounds we make like fff, sss, tthh, but not really any combinations of letters. 

-Just started babbling "Mamama" again after a long break.  I don't think he's calling me "Mama" though.
-He's still pointing a lot to things he wants or places he wants to go.

-His new fascination is with light switches.  He loves to turn lights on and off.

-He puts objects in containers and balls into the holes they're supposed to go into.

-He plays with his "talking" toys a lot more purposefully now.  Instead of mashing his hands around on things in an excited way, he carefully presses specific buttons to hear specific words and noises.  It's need to see him become so purposeful in this area.

-We have this framed print in our house that has the line from the hymn: "All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all."  Noah LOVES it, and always points to go over to it.  When we start reading it to him (we point to the words as we read them) he gets this huge adorable smile on his face, and sometimes starts giggling.  It's so cute!

-He started dropping toys off his high chair tray all the time shortly after he turned 9 months.  He would do this occasionally before but I always ignored it.  Then Daddy made a FUN GAME out of it *rolls eyes and sighs*, so I'm trying to break him of this habit.


-He loves it when I spray water in his mouth with a spray bottle.  He laughs and opens his mouth for it again and again.  His face is hilarious.  A squinty wince, with his mouth wide open... so cute.

-He's figured out how to undo the bottom of our top-of-the-stair gate, and he gets really ticked off that he can't pull it all the way open.

-His pincer grasp is about the same as last month.  Not amazing, but not bad.

-He detests the playpen (immediately starts screaming if he's put in it), and doesn't like being in his jumperoo.  So basically, he's a free man all the time.  Therefore, I can't shower unless he's sleeping.  I can't vacuum unless he's in the sling (or my husband is home).

-Diaper changes are still a big battle, but this past month he has added a freak-out everytime we lay him on the change table.  Sometimes he'll cry the entire time he's being changed.  It's ridiculous, really.

-He hugs and kisses Mommy (with a wide open slobbery mouth) all the time.  He's been kissing me for months, but this month he started kissing Daddy!  He'll only kiss his ear, though, because Daddy's face is too scratchy:)  I find that hilarious.  The few times he's tried to kiss his cheek or mouth he came away with an injured, disgusted look on his face.  It cracks us up!

-He is an enormous Mommy-suck.  He is so attached to me I can hardly even describe it.  He cannot be distracted or dissuaded if he wants his Mom, and he wants his Mom often.  After seeing any display of this Mommy-suckyness, people agree that if I were going back to work when my maternity leave is technically over in 2 months, he honestly might never recover.  I am the be-all and end-all in his life, and if I disappeared I honestly think he might will himself to die.


A typical day in our house at 10 months old might look like this:

7:00am - Wake up
7:30am - Nurse
9:30am - Nurse
10:15am - Sleep
11:00am - Wake up
11:30am - Nurse
1:30pm - Nurse
2:15pm - Sleep
3:00pm - Wake up
3:30 - Nurse
5:00 - Nurse
6:00 - Dinner (solids)
6:40 - Bath time
7:00 - Nurse and bedtime (plus 1 night feeding)

That's what a typical day MIGHT look like, but we are by no means on a schedule and the timing of things can be different everyday.  If a nap goes long, or he wants to nurse sooner or later, or he does seem to want to sleep... everyday is different.  The one basically consistent part of our day is the wake, nurse, nurse, nap, nurse, nurse, nap, nurse, nurse, dinner, bath, bedtime (with nursing).  Lately Noah has been nursing to sleep for his naps more often just because that's when his feeding happens to land.  And I'm not a nazi about not letting him fall asleep nursing.  I try to have him fall asleep in a variety of ways throughout the week so that he has "versatility."  I want him to be able to fall asleep nursing, rocking, on his own, or in the car.

Now that Noah is down to 2 short naps a day I have even less time to get things done around the house.  I use his first nap to shower (I have to finish getting ready while he's awake, usually), and his second nap I use to try and relax and eat something, since I don't have time to do that during the rest of the day.  I do most of my chores when Justin is home because it's way easier to clean my house without Noah strapped to my body or trying to climb my legs.

We seem to have had a month off from teething, which has been nice.  And it's been nice going down to 2 naps, which we did right at 9 months, even though that usually means I have less baby-free time.  It's just been a lot easier to do other things now that Noah has awake periods of at least 3 hours, and can usually stay awake (and be happy) for 4 hours or more if we're out doing something.

Noah's 10th month has been lots of fun.  It's crazy watching him grow up so quickly, and I can't believe he's going to be a year old so soon!  I should start thinking about his birthday party...

Christmas Break Spoiled Me

I've always been aware that my husband was gone more than I would like.  It's actually a constant underlying bone of contention in our marriage.  He's a teacher, but he also coaches 3 out of 3 seasons a year.  Coaching is not part of his job description.  He teaches SO THAT he can coach.  He sees it as part of his job - a requirement, but a requirement he enjoys.  I see it as him choosing to be away from us for absolutely no extra pay.  I can't help it, that's just how it feels to me.  Coaching is about 15 extra hours each week that he spends away from us on top of having a full time job.  In a week where he has a tournament, that time is tripled.

During Christmas break Justin did go to coach practices on 4 days for about 2 hours each day.  But he was home pretty much the entire rest of those 2 weeks.

It was glorious.

Noah loved having his dad around all the time.  He loved having TWO parents he could play with.  He had variety.  It was awesome.

Furthermore, both Justin and I got little breaks.  I could actually shower while Noah was awake, because Justin was there.  I think my house was clean the entire 2 weeks because there was time to clean it.  Justin could work out without guilt because he was home all the time so he wasn't sacrificing his limited time with Noah and me.

We're on Day 3 of Justin being back to work, and I am disliking it even more than before.  I've realized how wonderful it is to have him home, and how less-than-wonderful it is for him to be gone. 

It's very hard to get anything done when your 9 1/2 month old barely naps and likes to be with you at all times and get into everything.  It's hard to even be showered by 11am, because he's often not going down for a nap until then.  I can't keep my house as clean as it was over Christmas break.  And I can't keep my child as entertained as he was over Christmas break.  Or, at least, that last part is far more challenging than when Justin was home.

Bedtime routine was so much easier with Justin home.  Getting myself changed and ready, setting up the bathroom, feeding Noah dinner, bathing Noah, and then getting him diapered and dressed afterwards was sooo much easier with my husband around.

Plus, I just miss him.  Last night we ended up having dinner together at about 8:45pm, so we got an hour of time together.  But other than that it's just been in and out, a quick kiss, a very short playtime with Noah, and that's it. 

I miss having him around.  Christmas break spoiled me.


On a positive note... Noah has been adorable today.  For whatever reason he has just been hugging and kissing me like CRAZY.  It seemed like every 2 minutes he was coming at me with an excited open mouthed grin, and hugging and kissing me with his open, slobbery mouth. 

I love my kid:)

8 Months Old!

I can't even believe my baby is 8 months old. He's been outside of me for as long as I knew he was inside of me (I found out I was pregnant on July 19th and he was born on March 18th - his EDD was March 29). Where oh where has the time gone??

Here's what Noah is up to at 8 months old:

-He weighs 18lbs 12oz (less than 50th percentile)

-He is 29.5 inches (about 95th percentile)

-He is 10th percentile for weight for height... just a little stringbean.

-He wears 12 month and 18 month clothing.

-He wears size 3 diapers (most Pampers BabyDry).

-He has 4 teeth, three from when he was 5 months old and one he just got in the past week. I think he may be working on his top-right-middle tooth, too. We'll see!

-He is still exclusively breastfed (except for solids at dinner; he still has never had a bottle), and he is getting to be a very cuddly nurser again.

-He eats about 4oz of solids before bedtime, but during the rest of the day it's just breastfeeding. He has finally ingested a small amount of liquid (1/3 pear juice, 2/3 water) from a "sippy cup" (a silicone spout sort of thing, not a true sippy cup). He's usually not that into it, though.

-Most solids still constipate him. So far the only safe foods are pears, prunes, peaches, and butternut squash. Peas, carrots, rice cereal, bananas, apples, apples and apricots, sweet potato, and sweet potato and turkey all constipate him. It's very frustrating, because it takes forever to unplug him again, and it makes it very difficult to introduce new foods. I think the fact that we keep having to switch back to strictly pears and prunes is starting to make him a bit pickier. He was at a point where he loved everything we offered him, but I don't know anymore.

-We just started Oat cereal in hopes that it won't constipate him.

-He's going to sleep at night usually between 7 and 7:30.

-He sleeps amazingly well at night after a very short bout with CIO. He pretty much sleeps 10 to 11 hours straight (with an outside range of 9.5 to 11.5), nurses, and then usually goes back to bed, depending on how long that stretch was (if it was 11.5 hours, he usually won't fall asleep again). He is usually awake when I put him back in his crib, but that seems to be the only time during the day and night that I can lay him down in his crib, walk away, and he'll often drift off to sleep, even if it's 45 minutes later.

-Bedtime routine is boob, solids, bath, boob, bed. He falls asleep nursing nearly every night.

-He has 2 or 3 naps a day.

-His normal awake time is about 2.5 hours.  Sometimes as short as an hour and 15 minutes, and often he has a stretch of 3 hours or more in the evening.

-His naps are still crappy most of the time. In an entire week he maybe has 2 or 3 naps that are about an hour long. The rest are all 30-40 minutes.

-He's still rocked to sleep with a soother for all his naps. I've tried letting him CIO for naps, but the crying is usually much worse than it was at nighttime when we used CIO, so I don't feel he's ready to go to sleep independently for all his naps.
-He is still swaddled at nighttime, but we recently have stopped swaddling for naps. I think it's going okay.

-He sleeps on his tummy even when he's swaddled.  I thought this was just the worst thing until I remembered that when I used to sleep on my tummy (before being pregnant and nursing... I haven't slept on my tummy in a very very long time) I would always sleep with my arms straight down at my sides.  So it's not like it's uncomfortable.

-Everytime we go to get him out of his crib he's standing up waiting for us. It's one of those things I always dreamed of about being a mom:)

-He crawls on his hands and knees exclusively. He started doing this right at 7 months, and had ditched army crawling completely by 7.5 months. The only time he'll army crawl is if he's trying to get under something that's too low to crawl under.

-He pulls up to standing using everything (even just a flat wall) and can sit down again on his own. His crib is on the 2nd lowest setting. He no longer needs someone to sit behind him when he's standing in case he falls, because he pretty much never falls. He doesn't even lean on the things that are supporting him. He just needs a hand on something to steady himself.

-He can just sit there in a squatting position, not holding on to anything.

-He can stand on his own - without holding on to anything - for a few seconds at a time. His record is about 5 seconds. This is by no means something he has mastered, though.

-He is understanding object permanence and looks for dropped objects.

-He has seperation anxiety and stranger anxiety. Fun fun!:)

-If he wants to be picked up and you are across the room, he will whine and crawl over to you and use your legs to stand up until you pick him up.

-He gives me lots of kisses everyday. He's started to "talk" while he does it, I think because when I kiss him I often am going "Muah, muah muah, muah." He's started to open his mouth, plant it on me, and go "Ahhhhhh." He doesn't kiss anybody else, usually, but yesterday he gave his friend Aubrey (3 weeks older) a kiss on the cheek, "Ahhh" and everything..

-He likes to sit in the bumbo on the kitchen counter while I cook.

-He babbles lots and sometimes purposefully imitates the sounds we make ("bat"). His most common sound is "Dada."

-He laughs his head off when Justin turns the ring stacker upside down, spins it like a top, and says "BING!"

-He doesn't get his soother much during the day, so he's falling out of love with it. When he does get it during the day, he plays with it more than he sucks on it.

-He still does the head-tilt thing, but it's becoming less frequent than it was a month ago.

-He loves our cats, but they do not love him. It makes me not love them.

There it is!  Happy 8 months, my sweet little Noah!  The past 8 months have been the best and happiest 8 months of my life.