Catching Up

It's hard to believe that the last time I updated this blog was when Noah was 5 months old. Nearly 15 months later, my once floppy baby is a rambunctious toddler with a huge sense of humor, a strong will and an unlimited supply of energy. Although I have surely neglected to keep up with blogging my baby and although many months will unfortunately remain unaccounted for, I am resolved to pick up blogging again.

To provide a very brief update: Noah turns 20 months on the 25th. He is walking (more often running) and talking up a storm. He amazes me everyday with what he's picking up (and often throwing -- pun intended). He is sweet and stubborn as can be, eager to give affection and intent on having everything precisely his way. And though my days are often marked with tantrums, which have a wide range in duration, they are also filled with laughter. I love being a mom.

Apart from being a mom, I also work full-time now in my first post-law school job, in a career I love and one which has a great future, so long as I passed the Bar, which for the next 20 days it to be determined. Life has surely been more hectic than I ever could have imagined and some days as of late have been very hard to bear. Adversity has touched every corner of my family. My mother-in-law, who I love as though she were my own mom, was recently diagnosed with small cell lung carcinoma. While the cancer has been hard on her body, her heart is still as big as ever. As I type, she and Noah are laughing and playing as though cancer had never touched her. I am so grateful for her and miss the days when we all lived under one roof and she was as big a part of raising Noah as Michael and I were. At times like this, living so far away is surely hard. This past Thursday, my 88-year-old Ma fell and broke her hip while doing something as ordinary as frying an egg. Her life, too, has changed overnight and I know the road ahead will be long. I'm incredibly grateful that Noah and I were able to visit her in Florida just last month. At times like this it's so hard to be apart from my family and I am reminded of how important family is. I pray daily for healing for them and for the division and brokenness in all three of my families and trust that God is big and capable enough to answer.

Unfortunately, I am not at home and do not have access to any recent pictures to post. But I'm hopeful that I will find the time to do so soon. I look forward to sharing more of our life with Noah with those of you who have followed our journey as parents. It certainly makes the distance between us seem a lot easier to bridge.

5 Months old (on Monday)

It's been way too long since I've updated the blog. Now that I've ended my ban on social networking, I have been posting so many pictures that I forget sometimes that I have this to maintain! Noah has gotten SO big. He is already 18lbs and in size 4 diapers and he babbles up a storm and jumps for hours in his jumperoo everyday (his favorite activity in the world aside from laughing hysterically with his daddy!). His little personality comes through more and more everyday and though his reflux is still a problem and his sleeping is still not on any kind of schedule, he is doing really great! He has become such a happy little boy and he really is such a joy to have. This is a new development so here's to hoping the happy stage lasts! (Hoping it NEVER ends!) He is starting to teeth so I imagine that it won't be long before he gets grumpy again... So for now, I'm just taking it all in! Time has FLOWN. My little bitty baby is getting to be such a big boy!
Michael and I are both now back to school and trying to juggle our schedules as best as we can. It's been an adjustment for me after being home with him 24/7 for the last 5 months but I'm survivng. I can't tell you how forward I look to getting home to see his little smiling face and those big cheeks waiting for me! One last semester and I will be a law school graduate. I've got my eyes on the prize lol











At Noah's 4 month appointment he weighed in a little under 18lbs and measured 26.5 inches. He's growing so fast! On the doctor's advice we started him on rice cereal which he did not like (though he really loved eating the empty spoon) but it seemed to aggravate his tummy so for now he's exclusively nursing.



Oh... and how can I foget to mention Noah's First Christmas? My family came in from New York and we had the best Christmas Eve dinner ever. Ma's teaching seems to have paid off, though we missed her VERY much. For Christmas, Noah got his very first Elmo. He was not such a happy boy that day lol His reaction was not quite what we'd hoped it would be! (see video).

Fortunately they are now the best of friends! Below are some more great pics from the holidays to date. Hope you enjoy!

Catching up - The best shots!

It's been far too long since I've updated this site and so today, while we are all snowed in (save Michael who somehow trecked through a foot of snow and quite dangerous conditions to go to work, trooper that he is), I will try my best to get as much up here as I can. Below are a batch of some of the best shots we've taken of our rapidly growing little boy who will be four months old on Christmas day and is somehow getting ready to start donning 12 month sized clothes! How much our little one has grown and grown up! He now has great control over his hands. He plays with his toys (his favorite are his glow worm and worm rattle - posts on that to come soon). He gets such a kick playing on his playmat! He has also discovered his feet and went so far the other night to put his foot into his mouth! He has a whole vocabulary of words like "agoo" which he can say with various inflections and ennunciations as well as early versions of "mama" and "dada" which are so precious. He is such a little character!

He still LOVES bathtime and loves it even more now that he has learned to splash which is always fun (until clean up time comes!) :) And he gets such a great big kick out of his jumperoo!

But the most exciting milestone to date is that Noah has found his laugh! I am not as talented at Michael as getting him to go into full-on belly laughs but I do get some good laughs when I sing him Christmas carols (his favorite is my mish-mashed version of Holly Jolly Christmas and Frosty the Snowman during which "thumpidy thump thump" occurrs every other verse lol). He also laughs when I tell him that "mommy is going to eat his feet" before I gobble them up. But when Michael has Noah on his lap, he just gets absolutely hysterical. I was so thrilled to capture this laughing fit on video a week or so ago! Whenever I am sad I play this back for myself and it always makes my day. Enjoy!

Aunt Chrissy & Uncle Anthony's Wedding

During the first week in November, we took our first family road trip up to New York to be in Aunt Christine and Uncle Anthony's wedding. The night before the wedding, Noah stayed in his first Park Avenue hotel in the big city and the day of the wedding he got to wear his very first tux. He looked very handsome! Aunt Christine could not have looked more beautiful. Noah also got to spend lots of time with Aunt Michy who could not get over how big he had gotten since the last time she saw him. While in NY, Noah was surrounded by lots of beautiful women who could not wait to shower him with affection! Sadly, I don't have many pictures (how I don't have a shot of the bride and groom is beyond me) but when I get more I will surely post them!

3 Months Old Today!!!

more photos to come...

Happy Halloween!!!!

Good Grief, it's Noah's First Halloween! He's been a fussy boy today but we managed to get some photos of him in his costume where he is not crying lol. No trick or treating this year sad to say. Better luck next year!

HAPPY HALLOWEENIE!!!!

Love, Noah

2 Months Doctor's Visit

On the date of Noah's two month milestone, the two of us had a lot to celebrate and we did so by watching the Yankees seal the deal to play in their first world series since I moved to Virginia. Noah stayed in my arms the whole time and had lots of big grins to display as I bounced him in celebration each time the Yankees did something good. We have had a lot of fun watching the games together. :)

Yesterday, however, was not so fun. It was the day I've been dreading for weeks: Noah's first round of shots. Michael came with me and thank God he did because it was a truly awful experience for Noah -- and for me.

Amazingly, this was the first time Noah has been to the doctor where he wasn't screaming. Michael did a wonderful job with him and he was extremely calm the entire time. He was weighed, measured, and examined from head to toe and there were no tears. Then the doctor left the room for us to wait for the nurse to come in with the shots. Noah sat on his daddy's lap so peacefully and having no clue what he was in for. It just made me feel so sad.

The nurse came in and had Michael lay Noah down on the table and then asked him to hold down Noah's arms. I could see Noah's little face all happy and unsuspecting and then at rapid speed, the nurse began stabbing his chubby thighs. I wish to God I had not watched and that I could stop replaying it in my mind. With the first shot, Noah's happy face turned bright red and by the second he was crying out. By the third and forth he was absolutely hysterical and screaming louder than I've ever heard him scream before (and believe me, I've heard him scream a lot). As soon as the nurse was done, I ran to him and picked him off the table and just held him as close to me as I could while he wailed and wailed and wailed. The nurse joked that I was as red as he was but it didn't seem very funny at the moment. I was able to calm Noah down enough to get him to nurse for a few seconds but he was pretty inconsolable and eventually cried all the way home in the car. It was heartbreaking. I tried telling myself that it's for his own good but it's so hard to believe that when you see your baby go from being so happy, trusting and content to being so unhappy and in pain. I know it sounds silly (because deep down I do know that it's a necessary evil) but it felt like betrayal. I just thank God it will be another two months before he is subject to that again. :(

Aside from Noah getting his needles, we also got some new stats to report!

Noah is almost 14 pounds and is 2 feet tall! He is in the 90th percentile for both height and weight. (At his first visit he was 75th for height and 50th for weight.) He certainly takes after his daddy! And of course, I've had to laugh that at 2 months old, Noah is almost half my height. (ha ha).

Here is a quick glimpse of how our little guy has progressed:

Birth: 7lbs, 6oz
1 Week: under 7lbs
2 Weeks: 7lbs, 12 oz
3 Weeks: 8lbs, 12 oz
4 Weeks: 9lbs, 10 oz
6 Weeks: 11lbs, 8 oz
7 Weeks: 12lbs, 7 oz
9 Weeks: 13lbs, 7 oz

As for Noah's reflux, it continues to be a big problem. He is still very fussy and obviously uncomfortable and there seems to be so very little that we can do to make it better. Once again, the doctor adjusted the dosing on his medications. For the time being, we are keeping him on the Zantac and we are also going to try some natural remedies to see if they will give him any comfort. I look forward to the day when we can stop giving him medicine altogether. I hope that day comes soon...