november update

wow! november has been flying by and we've been keeping busy.  in addition to making time to celebrate four birthdays this month, including matt's, we were also blessed with a visit from matt's parents at the beginning of the month, and thanksgiving celebrations just recently.  and now, of course, we're ramping up for christmas!
noah has been his same, wonderful self, enjoying every day as an opportunity to add new words to his vocabulary and learn new things about the world around him.  he continues to be an excellent big brother to his sister, often wanting to give her kisses or help us tuck her in.  we are continuing to work on letters, numbers, and colors but they still don't seem to be sticking.... guess we'll have to keep working on it :)

noah has gotten much better at identifying family members, though, and it's cute to hear him talk about people by name.  he's gotten very good at identifying my mom, "shah-nen" (for grandma sharon), and he does a fair job of recognizing alex, alia and bed ("ayex, ay-ah, ben"!).  and, even though we haven't been able to go to my parents' house as often as we used to, he actually recognizes their neighborhood and starts a repeating chorus of "papa, papa, shah-nen, shah-nen" any time we are close.  i'm amazed he can so easily recognize his surroundings!
and speaking of grandparents, noah got to show off all his knowledge when matt's mom and step-father came to visit at the beginning of the month.  they were here for halloween and the beginning of the month, so noah got a chance to play with his grandma and grandpa richards.  this typically involved playing in the sandbox, playing with cars, watching the movie Cars, or an occasional outing with the family to half-price books.  matt was not able to take time off work, but i was able to enjoy their company during my last week of maternity leave.  we were actually able to host them in our new house, so we probably got to see them more than other visits in the past, since there was no need to coordinate drive time and hotels and such.  it was also nice to have extra hands around the house, after having been solo for so many nights the last 3 months! and i know noah enjoyed the extra attention, after having to learn to share my time with his new little sister.

we were also lucky enough to be able to host thanksgiving this year in our new house.  while it was a lot of prep work and cleaning on the front end, i absolutely loved having everyone here and making use of all this space we now have.  my dad helped us set up the media room with a projector and some other A/V equipment he had and we made use of both upstairs and downstairs to spend time with family.  overall, i'd say it was a success and i really enjoyed hosting, too!
on the 25th, we celebrated november birthdays including alia, ben, matt, and my father's with a big celebration at my parents's house. we enjoyed the usual spoils: chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, etc.  and then enjoyed three different kinds of dessert.  it was fun, and very filling, especially after having celebrated thanksgiving only a few days before!

so that's most of november, i'm sure i'm leaving something out and i'm sure i always will, but at least one day i'll be able to look back and remember why i always felt so busy! i hope you are enjoying this holiday season as much as we are!

november 2012

3 months

time has flown by!  it really seems like just the other day that i was waiting to know when our baby was going to arrive, and now she's already 3 months old and i'm back to work!  our sweet girl has really started interacting with the world around her and now smiles and giggles easily.  her baby laughs are the best to hear, especially on days when i'm staying up with them before i have to work that night.  and when i come home in the morning after being awake for 24 hours, those baby smiles, in addition to noah's sweet grins, make it all worth it.

right now samantha really enjoys playtime in her bouncy seat, which will entertain her for long stretches of time.  she's also a fan of the activity mat, especially when playing on her back.  she's still getting used to tummy time, it's mostly hit or miss -- sometimes she does really well, othertimes she seems to hate it.  we've also recently started putting her in the bumbo chair to help strengthen her core and give her a different view of the world.  she seems to like it, but i can tell it's a work out for her because she always seems like she's concentrating really hard when she's in it :)
and as for our transition back to the world of two full-time working parents, it's going about as well as it could.  samantha has been doing really well at sleeping through the night for the past few weeks (a trend i desperately hope will continue!), which means that the transition has been easier for everyone.  bedtimes can be tough, though, since both kids typically need everything at the same time.  i've tried to get sammy to nap during noah's bedtime routine, but only had limited success.  and originally i was bathing her in the kitchen sink during noah's dinner, but this was stressful for everyone and sam never really enjoyed her baths.  the best change to our routine probably came from the advice of a few friends who have had to weather bedtime routines alone who recommended bathing the kids together.  the first time i tried this was horrible, samantha hated the big bathtub and noah was upset because sammy was crying.  so i was holding one screaming child while another one was trying to crawl out of the tub and into my arms. thankfully my mother-in-law was here and took sammy while i attended to noah. then she saved us again by purchasing us a bath seat (essentially like a bouncy chair) that sammy can be in for bathtime in the tub.  now both kids are typically pretty happy in the tub, and i can wash one while the other plays. after bath, it's just a matter of books and tucking them into their beds.  and yes, samantha has started sleeping in her own room in the crib.  much like her brother, she seemed to prefer her crib very early on.  she had been sleeping in a pack-and-play in our room for the first few months, but one day i let her sleep in her crib for a nap.  she slept really well, so we transitioned to naps in her room from then on.  then when she started going longer between feeds at night, i moved her upstairs for the first part of the night and then into our room after she ate.  now she sleeps all night in her room, and has been since she was about 10 weeks old.  such a big girl!  i guess my kids really aren't fans of sharing a room with their parents.  i will say that it's nice to not feel like we have to sneak around our bedroom while brushing our teeth/getting ready for bed anymore.

other than that, it's just been a matter of trying to settle into a routine once again -- we've obviously had to make modifications from my stay-at-home mom routine.  everyone seems to be doing well, and i think the biggest struggle is how tired i am now :(  fortunately, my family makes me smile and even on their worst days my kids are pretty amazing.  i am so thankful to have been blessed so abundantly!

quality time with big brother

 all smiles :)

Oct 9, 2012