Noah is 6 Months Old!

I am having a difficult time believing that it has really been half of an entire year since I gave birth to Noah. No, it doesn't feel like yesterday, but it sure as hell doesn't feel like half a year!! When I think about a 6 month old baby, Noah is not what comes to mind. I suppose I just imagine them as "not babies" and I still see Noah as a little baby. But he isn't! Sure, people comment on how small he is, and it is true that he is on the smaller side of the spectrum when it comes to "averages", but he is waaaaay bigger than he was a month ago. He weighed in at 15 lbs. 3 oz, 26.5 " tall and his head is 17.3 inches around! He is waaaay bigger than a 4 month old and yet, he is still a baby, just not a itty bitty tiny weenie baby.

So, an update from last month's accomplishment of the "tri-pod" (sitting up supported by his hands), he is so beyond that! Noah sits up now, all by himself, no problem. Though he can't actually get himself into the sitting up position, if I sit him up, he will sit there and play unassisted for long stretches without falling over. I usually put some pillows behind him just in case he falls, which still happens, but it is often an intentional movement. Sometimes he hits the floor a little harder then either of us would like, but he is easily consolable. When he goes down though, I am doing my best to not freak out and instead clap or simply wait to see what happens. It's funny how much of an effect my reaction has on how he interprets the situation! He is learning so much so fast,
I can't even imagine absorbing all of it!

Noah's growth and change never cease to amaze me. In just 2 or 3 weeks he went from a wobbly little tri-pod, to leaning forward, and sideways as far as he can go in order to grasp a toy. He then returns to sitting as he chews on, and slobbers all over the toy (or phone) he managed to pick up off the floor. Along with toys and cell phones, Noah has developed a fascination with my diaper bag! The other day, he managed to grab a hold of it, tip it over and empty out half of it's content into his lap and all over the floor. His favorite appeared to be the nursing cover and the package of wipes....one smells of breast milk and the other made some loud crinkly noises, what more could a baby ask for!? His toys of course. When he actually found his toys, it was all over for the rest of the stuff, for at least 5 minutes or so! I can't believe just how busy this little guy is.

As for the rolling over....he still isn't tumbling around the living room floor (or rolling off my bed for that matter), but he IS CAPABLE of the task though, he just chooses to do so when I am not watching. After his naps lately, when he wakes up he will roll from his tummy onto his back and coo and babble and play with his toes for a little while before I swoop him up. If there is a toy that he really wants, Noah has rolled from his back to his tummy to get it. He usually does it while I'm in the other room and by the time I come in from the kitchen he is on this tummy gnawing away at the poor defenseless toy drowning in a mass of drool and I missed the whole thing!

This has been a big month in terms of "new" so get comfy and keep reading on!

The biggest and most entertaining feat this month is the start of solid food! By solid, I mean rice cereal mixed with breast milk into a thin tasteless soup! There really is nothing solid about it, but that's what it's called! He has been successfully eating for almost 2 weeks now and we are using the Super Baby Food book by Ruth Yarron as a guide! Thank You Sarah! The first night (December 20th) however, was anything but eating! He did open his mouth big and wide like he knew what to do, but most of the cereal came right back out, and then he would make a chewing motion with his mouth and smile that adorable toothless grin. I kept telling him, "you are doing it backwards silly...chew first, then push the food to the back!" He maybe swallowed a spoonful (a baby spoonful!) out of the whole bowl. What a mess! We were attempting this feat a little late, and it all ended with a fussy baby! The next night was much more successful, though the facial expressions, the mess and the late night fussies were the same!

By the third night, Noah ate a full tablespoon of cereal with out spilling a drop! The "3rd times a charm" cliche held true for the next new food as well....avocado! Ohhh man! The first time he ate avocado was hysterical! He gagedand made awful noises and instead of swallowing he let the avo mix with his drool and drooled it right out onto the tray! Again, I think he actually swallowed only a spoonful, maybe 2. The next day, same story! Day three, after telling my "Noah and the Avocado" story to everyone, he finally had an anticipating audience (Justine and Lisa), but he failed to deliver! Noah ate every bite as if avocado was just the same as his rice cereal. Though I was happy to see him actually swallow the avo, I was bummed that they didn't get to see (and hear) Noah's antics!

So, my least favorite part about starting solids...Noah's poop is starting to change :( It's not stinky yet, but it definitely is not the yellow seedy breast milk baby poo anymore! I'll spare the details, but needless to say, I am not looking forward to the diapers in my near future! I have quite enjoyed the non-stinkiy, non-formed, not so poo, poo diapers over the last 6 months!

As for the spitting up...he quit! For 2 whole days! RIGHT! I don't think he will ever stop spitting-up all over me! I suppose it has lessened a bit, but not enough for me to be excited or to not worry about my clothes. If anything, the spit-up has gotten a bit nastier...think about it...avocado and rice cereal?! YUMMM!

Noah has also started drinking water. He loves to take "sips" out of my glass. This usually results in quite a mess, at least one coughing spell, some laughs from me and daddy and a ton on backwash left in my glass! It's pretty cute and I do enjoy watching him stick his little tongue in the glass and under it trying to figure out how this whole "cup" thing works! I think a sippy cup is in his near future!

Noah has officially learned how to laugh, and laugh he does! He laughs at me, his dad, the cats, even his toys. The other day while I was in the kitchen, Noah was sitting on his blanket with some books and toys and from the other room, I could hear him babble and coo and then bust out laughing. This went on 2 or 3 times before I peeked around the corner to see him talking to one of the baby pictures in his book and spontaneously closing his eyes, pulling his hands to his mouth and giggling out loud before smaking his hands down to his sides and talking all over again!

Along with the laughing has come this basful and kind of coy thing he does. He is still a big flirt and now after making eye contact and luring in daddy, some passer-by or even me, Noah will give a huge grin, a little giggle and then bury his head into my shoulder and grab onto me with both hands. He sometimes even lets out a pretty good squeel while he is hiding! He will sit back up, and re-engage whom ever he is playing with and as soon as he gets a smile going, the bashful face bury starts all over again! It's his own little game!

Another, "game" that we now play is sign language! We have been signing to him for about 3 weeks now and Noah sure thinks it is funny. Every time I sign to him, he gets a big grin and watches the sign intently before flailing his arms around and giggling. We are trying to use the signs each and every time we are doing an activity and have consistently been using the signs for; milk for nursing, change (diapers that is), eat for solid foods, finished, bath, cat, mom and dad. It is a learning process for us as well as Noah, but so far, I think he is recognizing milk and change. Hmmm, weird, the two things he does at least every 2-3 hours if not more! Before Noah nurses and when he takes a break mid way through, I will sign "milk" to him. H e usually responds with a big toothless grin and leans back with his mouth open ready to latch on and nurse. I hope hope hope he picks up the signs and that Jason and I continue to expand our signing vocabulary so that we can communicate with Noah long before he speaks! So far, so good! (We are reading, Baby Signs and Baby Minds and The Everything Baby Sign Language Book. We are also watching, Baby Einstein My First Signs and the PBS series Signing Time though this one seems a bit too advanced right now.)

Though he hasn't signed back yet, and won't for a while, Noah has developed a habbit. Sadly, it is a bad habbit of "poppin off" while he is nursing. It is cute the first time, but by the 15th time it is pretty obnoxious and both of us are usually a bit soggy! He is so busy taking in everything he can, it seems that he doesn't want to take time out of "active observation" to sit back and nurse. I have grown to love that Noah is a 10 minute nurser, but now with my slow let down and his antics, we can spend up to 40 minutes before he has a full meal! Sometimes I get very frustrated, which turns into a power struggle that Noah usually wins. So, I am working on letting go of that and hoping that this is just a phase. Though, in public, the "pop off" is a bit awkward.

I only really use the cover for "other" people. Especially now that Noah wants to play with it. I end up spending more time trying to keep the darn thing on and keep Noah from smothering himself with it, then I do sitting back and enjoying feeding my baby! Last week, while traveling to Tahoe solo, this pop-off nursing cover struggle resulted in a 60 something little old man getting flashed and a table at Starbucks getting sprayed with milk! :) I found the whole event quite amusing! But that poor old guy looked traumatized! To say the least, I hope Noah will soon realize that he isn't missing anything while he nurses, and that he could be done in 10 min. if he would just eat and not play!

I suppose last on the list this month is Noah's discovery of his penis. Yep, it has officially happened, and he can't get enough of it. Last week we were up in Tahoe and during our nightly bath, I was continually offering Noah toys and he wasn't reaching out for them. He was just sitting there! I figured it was because we were out of his element, and in a new place. After a few minutes though, I finally looked over his shoulder and he had both hands down there and was not letting go for any stupid bath toy! :) I was cracking up! He finally let go with one hand and half heatedly played with Lily's super cool bath toys, but he has found his toy and there is no stopping him when that diaper comes off! HA HA! Boys!












Noah peed on Daddy...and he thought it was pretty funny!

"Noah and the Avocado!"

hows that for good timing?
























*Though I wrote this blog on his actual half birthday, I haven't gotten around to adding pictures, editing and posting for a few weeks....he is already doing more and more. I can't believe how fast he is changing! I love having this record to look back on and to compare! In just 10 days, he has added a new food (sweet potatoes that he LOVES (only 2 tries this time) and he is rolling over, and he has developed a little bit of a temper! Still obsessed with his penis and attempting to make single syllabyl sounds! :) ok, that's it! I have to leave something for next month!!!

The Great Tree Hunt!

The weekend after Turkey Day, we finished dinner with Obachan and Grandpa, gave Noahnator a bath and drove home at o-dark thirty from Tahoe. It's easier to drive when Noah sleeps! We got home and slept for a few hours, had breakfast and enjoyed sitting on our own couch for a hot minute and the piled back into the car to go on our annual Christmas Tree Hunt in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

We met at Grammy and Papa Long's house and Noah quickly joined Uncle Nathan and Cousin Sierra for some playtime with a new toy! Damien, Chesna and Soren weren't going to make it, so after a "do we go? do we not go?" debate, we decided to go anyway. Last year we went up to Crest Ranch, it is so beautiful, but this year we weren't up for the long haul to Bonny Doon. Instead, we went up Zyante Road (not really a road if you ask me, more of an insane bike trail!). to Summit Road and went to a cute little farm with another beautiful view. Sadly, I don't remember the name of it, but they had great trees and a $35 flat rate! Can't beat that.

While I battled with the Moby Wrap, Grandpa Ron, Uncle Nathan and Cousin Sierra went off into the farm. I hadn't used the wrap in a while and Noah has grown, so I needed to adjust the way I usually tied the darn thing. I love the wrap, but when I just want to toss him in and go, it is a bit of a pain! Anyway, I ditched the Moby and hooked Noah on my hip so we could catch up and get to sizing up the trees. Each year it is usually the same thing:

The ones right in the front of the lot are always soooo pretty. But what is the fun in cutting down the first tree you see; without walking through the rows and rows of the sweet smelling pine and chasing the beams of sunshine through the needles? Instead, we walk up and down the isles. Weave in and out of the prickly branches. Critique that strange gap, the floppy top or the lopsidedness of the tree. The next one is too tall, and the next is too short. The one after that is too full and the next is too scrawny. At some point, I always seem to suggest that we get the most pathetic looking tree, "Lets just get this one, it's a Charlie Brown Tree," I shout out behind a giggle or two. My silliness is usually met by Jason shaking his head and continuing the hunt!

By now all the trees look alike and we are all getting tired and no tree is looking good enough. So we decide to go back to find the one or two trees that we said we would "come back to." RIGHT. I dare you to find the ONE tree you liked 20 minutes and 30 trees ago! We always try though. We are never sure, but manage to get in the same area (I think) and we convince ourselves that this is the tree we liked, and to avoid yet critique session, Jason gets down and saws away as I watch...this year Noah and I watched and took pictures and cheered him on!

This year was no different, except this year there were kids! Sierra hit the ground running after a short nap in the car. Literally, she ran and ran and ran. Stopping once, just long enough to help Papa cut his tree, and didn't stop again until we reached the parking lot where she would not step foot on the concrete without holding the hand of an adult! What a good girl!

The only downfall of the smaller farm is the that there was no hot cider, hot chocolate or hot dogs to snack on when the Great Tree Hunt is said and done! Well, Noah's snack bar was open! While the boys tied the trees to our cars, Noah had a snack and Sierra and I had an insanly cute conversation about milk. She is always so curious when I nurse Noah. I let her watch and we always end up in a conversation about her as a baby and her mommy's milk, this time though, she was convinced that, "when Daddy gets his milk," she would taste it! SOOOOO CUTE! I then had to explain that only mommy's got milk (which isn't entirely true, but that is a whole 'nother story :) ha!). In the end she wasn't fully satisfied with my answer, but was pleasantly distracted by her "delicious candy cane" and took off running again!
After the trees, we had yet another delicious Turkey Dinner with the Long family. We ate some amazing pies, let the babies roll around in the living room, exchanged names for a secret Santa and exchanged ornaments! This year we got a B-E-A-UTIFUL butterfly ornament from Nathan and Sierra. So, two years in a row of trees, turkey, ornaments and Secret Santa....we are on our way to a family tradition with the Longs!


this year... last year...

Noah Meets The Big Man In Red

A few weeks ago, we got Noah in his cute Christmas shirt, which he spit up on instantly, and made our way over to Tiny Tots, to meet the Big Man in Red! Santa didn't notice the spit up, and Noah didn't notice Santa! He did make some funny faces at me as I jumped around trying to get him to smile, but he barely gave Santa a glance. I am guessing next year won't produce a smiley picture, rather one of insane fear and screaming, so I am enjoying the smiles this year. We met up with Lisa and Jasper and headed next door (to Westfall Photography) to meet yet another Santa because Tiny Tots couldn't squeeze Jasper in. We met another Santa...and Noah was just as smiley...in between diving for the milk and cookies on the table next to them! Jasper was all smiles too until he noticed the cookies...too bad they are on a milk only diet!

After those pictures, we all walked downtown Campbell for some of the "parents talk" that seems to consume every conversation we have these days, and enjoyed a cup of coffee while the boys slept! We made our way back to Tiny Tots in time for Jasper to squeeze in with Santa again, and Noah ended up
taking the other knee
(the pics at Tiny Tots were stuck on a disc for free!)

It definitely got me even more excited for the holiday and looking forward to sharing it with Noah...even though this year will be just another day for him! We had a blast and enjoyed hanging out with Lisa for more than 5 minutes during the morning hand off!

Noah's First Day At The Park!

Though we have wondered through the park, while my family was visiting back in October, Noah had is first time in the actual playground. And he got to share it with his Grandparents, Aunts, and Cousin Lily! There were kids everywhere! He was loving it. But I think Lily was loving it more! Auntie Rose and Obachan took off with Noah and introduced him to some of the toys...and I had to get over my fear of germy germs! My all time favorite part though was when Lily and Noah were swinging together! Noah is still a bit too little for the swings, so Lily played the "big cousin" role and let Noah sit in her lap! Soooo cute! Especially when Noah decided to suck on Lily's hand!

just before he fell over :)

Auntie Rose took Noah for his first ride on a slide!

the plastic was hot when she put her hands down! She wouldn't climb out!
you can laugh...I sure did!
what a great big cousin!
my dorky mom & dorky sister!
my other dorky sister!
& my dorky husband!
(I'm sensing a pattern)
Bampa, No-AH & BaBa-CH
(in Lily Speak)

We Went To The Zoo...Twice!

The week before Thanksgiving , we got a call from Auntie Sarah letting us know that she was going to be in San Francisco for a trip to the zoo! THE ZOO! Mommy (that's me) Loves The Zoo! A quick side note...why does having a baby make you talk about yourself in 3rd person?! Anyway, an opportunity to see Sarah and Lily AND go to the zoo...who could pass that up?! Not to mention we FINALLY got to meet the infamous Matt. Lily talks about him like crazy! He's pretty cool!

Saturday, the 22nd, we got goin' about as fast as a herd of turtles and met up with the crew around 11 at the SF Zoo. They had already seen the Leemers and the monkeys, which are my favorite part, so I was a bit sad, but we planned on stopping by there again on the way out...and boy are we glad we did! (more on that later). We found them at the petting zoo in the children's section of the zoo and it was soooo cute. Lily was petting, brushing and feeding all the goats! I can't believe how tame they are. Noah got in on the action, but we left the sheep alone...mommy is allergic to the wool. (there goes the 3rd person nonsense again!)

Anyway, we saw lots of animals (all of them really) , smelled the stinkiest of cages (which Lily chose to put smash her face into), we posed for some silly pictures, and were entertained by some silly chimps! But, best of all, we had Gorilla Poop FLUNG at us! That's right! We were among the luckiest of lucky to have a female gorilla poo in her own hand, scream, charge at us and lob the poo up over the side of the enclosure and run off beating her chest as we took cover! It was HILARIOUS!!!

Noah wasn't sure what to think as I covered his head and took off running, Jason caught the flying pieces of poo on film and Matt took pictures of the poo when it landed. Once we had all collected ourselves, stopped laughing and were back to looking at the crazy poo flinging gorilla, Sarah said, "Why did we all run?" (or something of that nature!) What? She had climbed up on on this wall and was snapping some photos and missed the whole thing. She just saw all the people running and joined us! I suppose it makes sense, if I see anyone running away from an enclosure at the SF Zoo, or any zoo for that matter, I would run too! After explaining it to Sarah, we all got another good laugh and as the fog rolled in thick and cold, we headed for the cars. All of us were sooo tired and Noah was sleeping before we even got out of the parking lot.





















the stink cage...all over her face!























we are sisters...


























Our next trip to the zoo was just 2 weeks later (dec 2nd)! Noah and I packed into the car with Kat and Michael and headed up to the city to meet up with one of stroller gang friends, Gabbi and Baby Roan, he's just a week older than Noah. They moved up to the city and we hope to make regular visits! Again we were off like a heard of turtles...mommy time...but made it up there before lunch time!

We wondered around and continually tried to get the 3 babies (all under 6 months old) to engage and look at the animals. Our attempts were futile, but Noah made friends with people at nearly every enclosure we stopped at! Go figure, we drive an hour to go to a zoo, and Noah likes to look at the people! HA! I suppose the zoo at this point is really for us mommies!

After searching for a spot to change the babies, and getting distracted by all the animals, we managed to get all babies in clean diapers with full tummies (well almost, Roan was on strike!) and then fed ourselves before continuing on! Despite their disinterest, we continued to point out all the animals,managed to meet some strange man who was hand feeding a squirrel, and pose for some more silly pictures. It was pretty cold that day, so we stopped into the cafe for some hot chocolate before another round of diapers and nursing and headed over to the petting zoo...just in time for it to close! Which was fine, it was time to go. No poo throwing this time, but we did hear the lions roar and saw the penguins get fed!

Noah was asleep before we left the gates, Michael was passed out before we hit the freeway, and Kat was passed out by the time we hit San Jose!!! We got season passes, so this is not the last zoo post you'll see!

My cute little Polar Bear!

Noah's First Thanksgiving!

We made the annual trip up to Gardnerville for yet another FABULOUS Turkey Day with my Dadio, Rhonda, Sarah, Lily and the usual crew (minus a few). Last year for Thanksgiving, I was in the first trimester of my pregnancy and SICK AS A DOG. I was unable to eat even a bite of dinner...well I took one bite, and spent the rest of the night in the bathroom. This year I chowed down to make up for it. And there was no lack of food. There was only 8 of us who actually sat down to eat and we still had a 20 lb turkey and a prime rib along with all the other typical dishes. AND we made the regular visit to the Lamb Family Home for a visit and second dessert!

Our trip up there was HELL this year. Not that traveling the day before Thanksgiving is ever easy, but it took us 9 hours to drive a 4 hour drive and we had a 5 month old baby screaming in the back seat! YUCK! While it was worth it, I don't think we will do that again! I think I sang every song I have ever heard in my entire life...when we finally pulled in the driveway, I was singing Righteous Brothers, Unchained Melody! I will say that Noah is a great audience and very encouraging though! Ha Ha!

When unpacking the car, my dad offered to help, and took the baby from me and disappeared. Thanks Dadio! Then, we got inside, and when I said hi to Lily, she replied with shrugged shoulders, "No-AH!" So cute, but I think the dogs were the first to greet Jason and I, and that too was after greeting Noahnator! It's cool, Jason and I are now second rate even to a 1.5 year old and the dogs! :) Lily is absolutely in love with her No-AH...the entire weekend she was giving him kisses, passing him toys, saying his name and generally wanting to play. It's going to be fun wathing them grow together!

The biggest surprise that weekend though...the woman who is scared to death of, and does not like children spent a good 15 minutes holding and playing with BOTH of he grandchildren at the same time. No help. No Joke! WOOO HOOO HANAMA! We got ya'...first you cried at the wedding and now you are loving the babies...next year you may be changing diapers or not afraid of spit up! :)
Noah attacks!

Lily trying to steal the binki (she actually pulled it out!)

This is a sight we thought we would never see!

After the holiday and a relaxing day on the living room floor we had a quick visit with the Ellis 3. and managed to bring Tristen to tears in the first 23 seconds. Sooo sad. We got the their house around the same time Rich gets home from work, so when Angel said, "guess who's here!" Tristen ran for the door expecting to find his daddy! He saw Noah and me first, and gave us a puzzled look and kept running. He reached his arms up with a smile to who he thought was his daddy and when he realized that it was Jason, poor Tristen burst into tears for a good 5 minutes! Scared the poo outta the little guy. So sad :( He got over it though and was showing off in no time!

awe, Auntie Angel!

he was a little jealous

Noah attacks again!

First Elmo Encounter

First Elmo Thievery!
Tristen wasn't too sure about sharing his Elmo,
but quickly got over it when Daddy got home!

Running late (as always) we made our way to Tahoe, for dinner and a play with the Campions! Rose is performing in a HILARIOUS play with her church called the Nuncrackers. Noah watched the show for a while before passing out with daddy but didn't disturb a sole. Rose was awesome...she knew all her lines, hit her marks, juggled like a champ and ROCKED a saxophone solo. YOU GO GIRL! We wrapped up the weekend by going out to take our annual family photo (it has grown significantly in the last 2 years!), having lunch and decorating some ginger bread houses and taking a nap!

Instead of listening to a crying baby and turning into a human juke box all over again, we chose to drive home Saturday night. We had dinner, sent Rose off to the second night of Nuncrackers, gave Noah a bath and in jammies hit the road. We had a easy 3.5 hour drive home and got ready for Turkey Day #2! Though he didn't get to directly eat some turkey,
Noah had a fun filled first Thanksgiving!

LOOK, we are all growed up!

We Joined A Gang!

A stroller gang that is!  

We took over the sidewalks, and some of the streets, and between the oos and aahs over the 6 babies under 4 months old, people cleared a path for us.  Who wouldnt?!  Then we took over a resturant...we are making pogress and taking over new territory up in San Francisco (but thats another story)!

However, I think the one most scared of the gang was and unexpeting Amber Zo!  She came into town on a whim and met up with us at the resturant, not expecting 12 of us with boobs hanging out to nurse, tussies out to be changed and spit up to follow.  

Noah broke the code though and let her in on sectret smiles!

BUSY BUSY BUSY!!

I can not believe just how much we have managed to cram into the last few weeks! And I really can't believe that we are continuing to cram pack the upcoming weeks too! Stupid, Stupid, Stupid! I will have lots to share....but no time to share it. I do miss blogging and reading comments, but we are having OH SO MUCH FUN! (and taking lots of pictures!)