Sweet, Sweet Sleep

Noah has always been an awful nap-taker. It's like pulling teeth to get him to take a nap. If I want him to sleep for a long time at all, I have to rock him or bounce him until he's asleep and hold him the ENTIRE nap. If I put him in his swing, he'll fall asleep pretty fast...and be awake again in 20 minutes. If I put him in his crib, he'll scream for about 15 minutes then fall asleep, then wake up 15 minutes later and do it all over again. *sigh*. Well now he's rolling over every time we lay him down. Typically, he absolutely despises being on his tummy for any length of time.

Much to my surprise, the past couple of days, at nap time I've been just laying him in his crib. Can you believe that he has rolled over an gone to sleep?!?!?! Two things he hates, being on his tummy and taking a nap. Apparently two negatives make a positive! :-) Here are some pictures of him sleeping now that he's rolling over. He doesn't sleep in the same positions he used to. lol.

He rolls around and every once in a while, I see a hand or a foot poking out of the crib. I'm afraid he'll get stuck, but I keep a close eye on him so I can help him if he does. Here he fell asleep with his hand sticking out.

Last but not least here is another picture of my adorable little boy playing on the floor. He is so sweet and loves to play. It honestly is a blast to watch him play.

A Rare Day

Today was a rare day. Actually this week was a rare week. On Monday, I woke up to the sound of Noah crying in his exersaucer and Adam in the shower with his i-pod stereo thing blaring in the bathroom. Initially I was annoyed that Adam got Noah up and put him in his chair and left him there, but he, as I found out later, actually had good intentions. Noah woke up in the middle of the night because he and I have had a cold and he hasn't been feeling good. well, as I was climbing back into bed, I randomly mentioned that IHOP french toast sounded really good. Somehow, Adam heard me and actually remembered that I said that! (rare #1). Usually, I have to push him off the bed to wake him up at that time of night, that night I got lucky because he heard me. Come to find out, he was in the shower getting ready to leave. He was gonna take Noah out to Walmart and then go get me IHOP french toast to surprise me and let me sleep in! (rare #2).
I don't mean to sound like he never helps me. He helps me all the time. Usually though, i have to ask him for help. It was so nice for him to think of me. It was, needless to say, a great peaceful and relaxing morning (and my IHOP french toast was really yummy, thanks for wondering).
Today, Jared came over and took Noah for a walk. I actually got to take a nap! (rare #3)

It has truly been a great week...and it's only Tuesday!! Hahaha!! hope the rest of the week goes this well. :-)

Time Flies...

Well, as I was telling Jared earlier this week, I have a hard time thinking of things to write on my blog. He makes it sound so easy. We'll see, but I'll try to do better at writing more often.

Sea Breeze camp was great this year! We had so much fun with visitors! We got to watch 'Fireproof' with twice Keith and Christina Heimlech and once with Joy Gray. It was so much fun to catch up with friends. ( by the way, if you haven't seen that movie...do it)

The Motters (some friends of my family) were down from Lima, Ohio. We had a good time with them too!

After camp ended, my cousin Meaghan Closser came down for a short but sweet visit. It would've been better if Noah and I weren't sick with colds. Poor Noah had shots, a cold, and teething this week, but thank God we got it all overwith in one week. :-) Now we're feeling lots better.

We had a great time when Meg was down here. We went to the beach one day. She loved it....but me....not so much. i'm not really a beach person. It's beautiful, but it's also dirty. Noah put his feet in the ocean for the first time and it scared him to death. Needless to say it'll be a while before we're doing that again.

We took Meaghan to Man Li's chinese restaurant here in Hobe Sound on her last day here. We love to eat there. She ordered crab rangoons under the impression that they would be cream cheese filled little fried pastry thingies. She said up north they are called crab rangoons. well, apparently, in florida, crab rangoons are actually filled with crab. That was kinda funny...and sad. lol.

Noah and Adam across from Meg and I at Man Li's:

We took Noah to the doctor for his 6 month well baby visit this week. I can hardly believe he actually weighed 18 lbs and 15 ozs. Wasn't he just 8 lb 10 oz yesterday? it sure feels like it. I know people always told me they grow up fast, but I didn't know they meant this fast.

We're having a blast with Noah these days. it seems like every day he learns something new. It seems like he's mastered sitting up on his own this week. At first he was scared when we'd sit him down and let go. He'd grab for us and whimper. but now, he just plays and plays. It's so fun to watch him.

Oh, and mom...thanks for my Pampered Chef two liter/can opener/bottle opener magnet. i've been using it practically every day:

Memories

Wow...so many tragedies close to home in the past couple weeks. The death of Karis Winter (7 years old), the sickness diagnosed to Annie Thompson, pre-mature babies born and dying, it makes a mother really think. I didn't know any of the children (except Annie), but it still brings tears to my eyes. I look at my precious baby and think of all the things I've imagined for him to do. I've imagined Adam teaching him to ride a bike, which tools are which, and how to change the oil in a car. I've been filled with excitement thinking of what his future may hold. I've spent so much time on my knees in prayer pleading to God to help me to point Noah to the cross and asking Him to work in Noah's heart even as a child. To have all those dreams stolen away from you in an instant has to be heart breaking and devastating. My prayers go out to those mothers, fathers, grandparents, siblings, and friends of those poor children.

I can't imagine what life would be like without my little boy. He lights up my life in such an unexpected way. He has already taught me more patience, compassion, and understanding. I always had a little 'goal' to write each of my kids their own little lullaby. It might sound silly, but I always wanted them to have something all their own from me. Without the tune, Noah's lullaby doesn't sound as good because it doesn't rhyme, but I'm gonna write it anyway.

"Once upon a time there was a mommy and a daddy
and they went to God and asked for blessings he could give
That's when God sent down to earth a little baby Noah
and That's when you became our Noah boy
Little Noah
Baby Noah
Mom and dad's true blessing
Mommy loves you
Daddy loves you
and you will always be our Noah boy."

My prayer is that I'll never take that precious child for granted. I pray that I'll treasure every second I have with him, even if he is testing my patience. I don't want to ignore him when he wants to tell me something or give me a hug. I pray that God won't ever let me forget what a blessing my little Noah is to me and Adam.

Momma's Little Laundry Helper

I think we have way more fun with chores than we're supposed to. Sometimes, as most of you mothers know, it's really hard to get stuff done when you have a little person demanding your attention. Sometimes, I just say "fine, let's play then", and this is what happens...

He loved the tumble dry...lol...j/k


and he helps me fold the clothes, but he can only do the little stuff...like washcloths and underwear, but he refuses to fold our underwear. or maybe he just eats them...lol. j/k again

so then we grab the hangers and hang the clothes up in the closet...me and my helper

Cheesecake Factory

This was Noah's first time to sit in a restaurant high chair. It was amazing how much happier he was in there then he usually is when we get the chance to go out to eat. On this occasion, Brother Wilson took Brother Cole, Jared, Adam, Noah, and me to eat. It was one evening during Sea Breeze Camp Meeting. The Wilsons have made it a tradition to take us somewhere to eat when they come down for camp. Unfortunately, Sister Wilson couldn't make it due to a family emergency...we did miss her. But we had a great time.

While we were there, Noah ate baby carrots for the first time. When I had fed him about a quarter of the jar, Uncle Jared wanted to try. He was pretty clean when was feeding him...then Jared...

Tummy Time

Noah has been hating his tummy time. He gets very little of it because he always starts throwing a fit. I'm hoping that soon he starts to enjoy it a little bit so that he will eventually learn to crawl. I think my main fear is that he won't learn to crawl because he won't spend more than 3-5 minutes on his tummy before he starts screaming. oh well...at least he's cute :-)

Good Daddy

Every day Adam surprises me with how wonderful of a daddy he is. He can make Noah laugh and Noah loves to watch him and follow him around the room with his eyes. Adam was never afraid of a poopy diaper and chooses adorable outfits for him when he dresses him. He takes him over to the church and shows him how to work the sound equipment (within reason). I am so impressed and it's nice to have a husband who isn't afraid of the baby so I can have a break once in a while. Praise God that I have such a wonderful husband and Noah has such a wonderful daddy.

Note to All Parents...

Noah enjoys playing on the floor with his toys and we always put a blanket under him. Well one day, I had something I had to do (like put laundry in the dryer), so I put a blanket down and put him on top of it and left him for a minute to entertain himself. Well....he did.

This scared me to death. I have been so paranoid about him suffocating since then, but a mother can only do so much to protect her child. It was kinda funny, but he is so capable of doing things like this, and I don't like it. It looked like he was having fun though.

Now I know why the doctors and advice books say to keep everything out of the crib and to make sure his sheets and blankets are tucked tightly.

I guess I'm just gonna have to keep a close eye on this little fellow... *sigh*

Since I haven't been taking classes (at least not often since it's only once a week), I have been having the time of my life playing with my son. He is so much fun! It brings back the kid in me. Even monotonous (sp) chores are more entertaining when he is involved. Here is a picture of him helping me do the dishes.

I had too many bubbles in my dishwater, so I thought to myself, "self, what should you do with the extra bubbles?" I think my conclusion is obvious. We have a great time doing laundry too...but you'll hear more about that in the FuTuRe....