4 months

little noah is less "little" all the time. we've already hit the 4 month mark and i find myself thinking "in another 8 months he'll be ONE!" and "we're already 1/3 of the way to his first birthday!" (this is what happens when you grow up with a mom who's an accountant). i find myself reveling in all the things he has learned to do, and looking forward to seeing all the progress he will continue to make in the coming weeks and months. he has already out-grown all 0-3 month clothes and now only wears 6 month stuff (he's too tall for anything else)! of course, like mothers everywhere, i also find myself looking back at his newborn pics and thinking about how tiny and sweet he was then and how he is already so different. how is it possible that he has already grown up so much? he changes so quickly, and i feel like i am scrambling to keep up with all his firsts, his milestones and progress. thank God for good cameras!

in the exersaucer

shortly after the last noah post we reached one such milestone: noah slept through the night, 10+ hours, on may 29th! i would like to say there was much celebrating (well, eventually there was), but i was at work and was really none the wiser until i got a near-frantic phone call from my doting husband. it's 4:30am, and my phone rings at work, i'm scared so i pick up:

"jes?"

"yah, honey, what's wrong?!"

"he hasn't woken up yet!"

"what? what do you mean?"

"i mean, he usually wakes up for his bottle at 1:30 or 2:00 but he's not awake yet! do you think he's okay?!"

"uhm....yes, it's okay for him to sleep that long, he'll wake up when he's hungry. i promise."

"do you think i should wake him?"

"NO. do not wake that baby."

"but is he okay? he had tylenol for his teeth at 9:30pm, would that make him too sleepy?"

"no, it's worn off by now, he's just being good and sleeping. whatever you do, don't wake that baby! if he's still asleep when i get home in the morning, *i* will wake him up and feed him. i promise."

"okay. ...are you sure he's okay?"

"is he breathing?"

"yes, i've checked on him, like, 5 times."

"then, yes, he's okay. go get some sleep, i'll see you in the morning."

have i mentioned how much i love my husband and what an awesome father he is? :)

since then, noah has done a pretty good job of sleeping through the night. there have been a couple nights where he will still wake up around 2:30am and want to eat again, but they are no longer the norm and are few and far between. the other thing noah has gotten really good at is turning over from front to back. he was already doing this when i wrote the last post, but now he does it so easily and readily that it's funny to watch because it no longer scares the living daylights out of him. the only downside? sometimes he will flip himself over at night and wake himself up....grrr. eventually this won't phase him, but for right now it's enough to startle him awake. usually it's an easy fix, though, where we just go in, turn him back over and he falls right back to sleep. phew!

as far as rolling the other direction, noah has only done it once, but when he's on his back he is continuously twisting and attempting the back-to-tummy roll. i'm sure he'll have it perfected very soon. noah also started teething this past month, which we were *not* ready for! but, true to his do-everything-early nature, he started drooling, fussing, running a low-grade temp and gnawing on his hands and anything else he could attempt to fit into his mouth. fortunately we had some infant tylenol on hand which helped and, even though we haven't seen any teeth yet, the symptoms seem to have abated a bit for now. i'm sure we'll be seeing more of the teething monster in the months to come...

enjoying the bumbo chair with monkey

activity-wise noah is getting stronger and stronger all the time. he now can sit fairly comfortably in the bumbo chair (although he still doesn't enjoy it for extended periods of time) and he was able to try out his exersaucer for the first time last week. i was scared he wouldn't like it, but to my surprise (and maybe his, too) he was absolutely fascinated! he played for several minutes before deciding he was too tired and ready for a nap. yay for a new activity! he also spends lots of his time playing on a blanket on the floor now so he has free range to scoot and roll as he pleases. we've acquired a few new toys (moosey, monkey and the jingle ball being the favorites) that noah is enjoying practicing his gross motor skills with. he now grabs onto a toy and immediately attempts to bring it to his mouth and chew the heck out of it. for the most part, he's pretty successful and it's really fun to watch him be so independent with his toys.

moosey and noah

his favorite new game is having any of this toys dangled a few feet above him then lowered onto his stomach and then tickling him with said toy. he always erupts in a fit of giggles which is absolutely fabulous...but i have yet to catch this on video as i can't figure out the right timing and how to coordinate toys, camera, etc. we also invested more in noah's library (which is fairly puny by my standards, so thank you half-price books!) and added some additional classics to the mix: the cat in the hat comes back; the very quiet cricket; go, dog. go!; and the giving tree have all been well received so far :)

as far as noah's social calendar this month: he was able to spend some time in the sun with some AKUC friends at the field day, he celebrated matt's first father's day, attended aunt sarah's baby shower, and has been recently seen cruising the city in our new family-size SUV as sole king of the backseat kingdom (for a while longer).

so. cool.

more pics here:

4 months

we visit the pediatrician on the 30th, so i'll update this post after we go!

******update******

the numbers are in! as of june 30th, noah is now

13 lbs, 4 oz (25th percentile),

25 inches long (55th percentile), and now has a

head circumference of 16 inches (15th percentile)!

the pediatrician was very impressed with noah's weight gain since he seems to have a pretty significant case of reflux. she increased his medication doseage since we had begun seeing some ugly symptoms start to appear again (which meant no more sleeping through the night and some pretty bad tummy aches the week before we went to the visit), and gave us the green light for solid foods. yay for noah! now i guess i get to start making baby food... just when i think i have it all figured out and down to a routine. i should really know better by now! ;)

first father's day

on sunday, matt got the chance to stand in the spotlight a bit: we celebrated his first father's day! and the spotlight was really all his since all of our parents were out of town (his family was, obviously, in ohio and my family was at the lake for their annual trip). even though i worked the two nights before, i attempted to pull together a memorable first dad's day. here's how the day turned out:

i got off work at 0700, headed to the grocery store and picked up some breakfast necessities (long ago matt told me that all he wanted for father's day was eggs and bacon...), i also picked up a couple frappuccinos to ensure that i had enough energy and as a tasty treat for matt. i came home and wrapped presents, made cards and cleaned the house while matt slept late -- noah was up to help me for part of this before taking his mid-morning nap. we enjoyed a late breakfast of egg-bacon-cheese sandwiches and fruit then matt got to open his gifts. noah and i had surprised him with a hard-cover copy of watchmen, a meat thermometer for our grilling enthusiast, a box of his favorite bad-for-you treat (nutty bars), and a coupon for a round of golf -- redeemable when he pleases. fortunately, all the gifts were a big hit! we enjoyed the rest of the day at home, happy that no one had to be at work!

click for more pics:

first father's day

happy first father's day, honey! we can't wait to celebrate many, many more with you. even though you've only been at it for 16+ weeks, you are a pro at this fatherhood thing, and i couldn't have asked for a better husband for me and daddy for our son. love you!

the nursery!

so, when we first brought noah home i showed the disasterous, non-prepared, non-decorated nursery sweet little noah came home to. let's face it, having a baby a month early can really mess up your decorating plans! but here we are, a mere 15 weeks after his grand entrance into the world, and i've finally decided on a "theme" for the wall decorations and completed the room decor! i realize that i am probably the only one excited about this, but for posterity sake i am posting the pictures here.

here were the before pics:

and the final product!

i decided to go with a simple star theme so i can incorporate whatever else i might want later as noah gets older (i.e. firetrucks, sports, constructions stuff, etc.). i bought all the decorations from hobby lobby for less than $30 (including the paint) and painted the stars and made the mobile and the hanging stars above the crib. the only final touches will be getting a small table for next to the rocking chair and refinishing the bookcase and rocking chair....eventually. overall, i'm totally satisfied with the final product!

i think noah likes it, too!

3 month pics

it's very fortunate that i am friends with so many talented photographers. for noah's 3 month pics my friend carole wightman came and snapped some photos of our littlest king. we were lucky to even catch a few smiles! of course, photo sessions tend to wear him out, so by the end he was getting pretty tired. overall, i think it was a success though! thanks, carole!

click below to see the pics:

noah's 3 month pics

3 months

really? already?! i'm not sure how it's happened, but my sweet little 6 lbs newborn has grown into a 12 lbs infant! it's crazy to see how much he has changed and grown in the last 12+ weeks, and i know that every day he is just a little bit less a baby, and a little more grown up. this past month has been a busy one for our little man in pretty much every way. with both mommy and daddy working full-time, and mommy returning to her part-time job at AKUC, time together is much more precious than it was previously. we are still working out the scheduling particulars and are very thankful for a supportive family (especially my mom!) who have been very flexible in helping us out with childcare when our schedules get thrown for a loop. hopefully, some schedule stability is on the horizon and things will settle down a little more.

speaking of schedules, our little man is doing a pretty good job of setting/keeping his own schedule. there are days and times where it gets a little messed up and he gets fussy, but for the most part we now know what to expect from him (and what he expects from us) on a daily basis. our typical noah schedule goes something like this:

0630 - feeding time, followed by a little nap

0830 - wide-awake and ready for the day, he eats, then plays the rest of the morning

1030 or 11 - nap time

1230 or 1300 - time to eat again, followed by more play time

1430 - somewhere around this time he'll go down for another nap

1600 - dinner time!

1730 or 1800 - another nap

1930 or 2000 - bathtime, feeding and a book or two before bedtime

around 0130 or 0200 - late night feeding, then back to bed

he's also still on the prescription for zantac twice a day for his reflux, and that works into his schedule around 8 am and 8 pm. fortunately, though, he seems to be having way fewer symptoms and problems with that, so hopefully we'll get to be Rx free in another month or so!

on april 29th we went for noah's 2 month check up and were happy to hear that everything looked wonderful and noah was doing very well developmentally. his measurements at the time were a weight of 10 lbs, 10 oz (25th percentile), length of 22 3/4 inches (50th percentile) and a head circumference of 15 inches (up from 13 inches at birth!). noah also got his first round of really terrible immunizations, which wasn't so bad until about 4 hours after his appointment when the muscle soreness set in. lucky for him (and us) some infant tylenol fixed it right up, along with some extra snuggles that day.

noah continues to get stronger all the time, still doing his baby pushups any time he's on his tummy, rolling from front to back occasionally, and kicking and batting at things more and more. his neck muscles have gotten so good we've actually tried the bumbo chair out a couple times, but he still needs some assistance when his head gets a little heavy. it'll be a few more weeks before he's really ready to use it all on his own. in other news, he now giggles and smiles with little prompting, with his favorite smile-bringing activity being his bouncy chair -- especially when we play the music for him. originally, that was the only thing he would really smile at, but now he smiles at the toys on his activity mat and directly interacts with people who smile at him and play with him. his little baby giggles are so sweet to hear, i love it!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

our growing boy is now roughly 12 lbs by our not-so-accurate at-home measurements. this means that he is rapidly out-growing his 0-3 month clothes and, just this week, has started transitioning into 3-6 month outfits. what a little weed! :)

and lastly, for those who are curious, lexi seems to be doing well with this extra little person taking up all our time and attention. she mostly just likes to lay at our feet when we feed him, and sit close to us if we are playing on the floor. honestly, as long as she gets fed twice a day and let outside from time to time, i don't think she really cares much! hopefully as noah (and future siblings) get older lexi will have more playtime companions, which will make everyone happy. time for bedtime around here...thanks for checking in on us!

for *lots* more pics, click below:

3 months

my baby brother is 21

the birthday boy posing with his present from us

the littlest miller in our family is now old enough to buy and drink....a miller! on may 17th my sweet baby bro turned the ripe old age of 21. it's crazy to think that we are all so "grown up" now with our own lives, families and jobs. just in time for his birthday, jared accepted an internship at TI; meaning he has to work that 9 - 5 to bring home the big bucks. way to go, jared! and this time next year we will be celebrating another big milestone for him: graduation from SMU!

this year, we enjoyed his birthday with the family on sunday with tasty grilled foods and yummy turtle brownies for dessert. and even though jared didn't send out any sort of birthday wish list, we all showed up with gifts (read: mostly 6 packs of beer including corona, blue moon and ziegen bock). matt and i even worked out a little "scavenger hunt" for him that led him around the house until he finally found his cerveza.

happy birthday, jared! we are so proud of the man you have become, but you will always be my "little" brother! love you!

the standard pic of the spread and chaos in the kitchen!

the birthday boy with his food

later, papa john plays with the grandkids...

...i think he won!

"happy birthday to you!!!"

never too old for birthday spankings from your brothers...and nephew...

reading a clue for the scavenger hunt

mother's day

all the mothers (and grandmothers)!

i remember thinking when i found out we were pregnant that our little baby would arrive just in time for me to be able to celebrate my first mother's day in 2011; and now it's come and gone so quickly! first, let me start by saying that i had a fabulous day, despite having to work all night the night before. after midnight, nearly all of my coworkers (at separate times) wished me a "happy 1st mother's day!" and might have been even more excited about it than i was! when i got home, matt was already awake and had fed noah for me so i got to play with a super happy baby. this was probably the best mother's day gift ever, because noah smiled more than he ever had up to that point. and i *love* baby grins! after noah went down for his nap, i found an envelope and followed a trail of clues for a scavenger hunt to get my mother's day gifts. my amazing husband put a lot of effort into my first mommy's day and along the trail i got the proposal and tangled on dvd. at the end of my hunt was an adorable home-made apron with sweet little noah's feet stamped across it -- awesome!

after our own little home celebration we headed to sarah's house for a mother's day brunch where i got to spend time with my own mom (and, obviously, the rest of the family). we had a wonderfully tasty spread (thanks for coordinating it, sarah!) and enjoyed spending the day together.

tasty mother's day food:

we rounded out the night at mom & dad's house by watching tangled, which neither of my parents had seen. it was a wonderful day and i can appreciate it now more than ever! happy mother's day to all the moms out there! and thanks to my husband and my sweet little noah for giving me my own reason to celebrate :)

noah -- show stealer!

the grandmas work on a puzzle :)

jared's attempt at chocolate milk...it's a long story...

grandma sharon lovin' on noah

our little family + our niece maddie (who *had* to be in the pic)

the guys

awww...

mom opens her presents

and, of course... dog pile!!!