6 month update

noah's pediatrician appointments almost always fall after i post his monthly updates, so here are the stats from his last visit:

weight 15 lbs, 4 oz

length 27 inches

and his developmental status was on par with an 8 month old! overall, dr. ezekiel was very pleased with his growth and development. noah did end up getting several shots, but he did much better with them this time and was able to be distracted shortly after receiving them.

post shots, getting to wear daddy's hat.

our next visit won't be for another 3 months, when noah will be 9 months old! in the meantime he is supposed to be working on learning a few body parts (eyes, mouth, nose, etc.), practicing coordination, learning to crawl and eventually stand, cruise and even walk. sounds like it's going to be a busy 3 months!

my guys

6 months

we've already made it to half a year! this time last year we had barely found out we were pregnant, had announced the news to only our closest family and friends and had begun to settle back in after moving back to texas at the beginning of the month. my, how things have changed! the 16th marked my 1 year anniversary at children's, the 27th marks my 1 year at AKUC, and little noah has been here for a full 6 months as of the 24th....only 6 more months until he reaches a whole year and then college! oh, wait...it just feels like that sometimes ;)

in the past month noah has continued to show his budding personality. he has become more and more perceptive of the daily goings-on around here and thrives on any interaction he gets...including lexi! this month he has really started to notice our "first child" as we jokingly call her and *loves* to be close enough to her to pet her or let her lick his hands (don't worry, i keep antibacterial hand gel nearby). one of his favorite games to play is "chase lexi" where matt or i carry him around the back yard in pursuit of our favorite yellow lab, while she dashes about. this is always sure to get an eruption of giggles and super-sweet belly laughs. i'm not sure who enjoys the game more: noah or lexi....and i'm not sure who is more worn out at the end: lexi or the parent carrying noah. he also really enjoys being held while i do squats, and being lifted over my head a-la tricep curls. so this has become my new workout routine...although i'm still trying to figure out how to work my abs while entertaining him ;) i was also lucky enough to find a like-new jogging stroller at the consignment shop (for a mere $70!) so when the weather improves (read: finally drops below the scorching 100+ degree days) noah and i will take up jogging, too. and in weather news, i am a bit sad to say that while noah has endured one of the hottest summers on record, he will not be able to boast that it was the hottest summer in DFW. we were mere days away from breaking the record when a cool front moved through and literally rained on our record-breaking parade. now we've just endured a ton of heat while only being able to say it was the second hottest summer on record...sorry, son! he probably won't remember it either way, so i'm sure he's not too upset about it.

as far as other developments, noah has been getting better and better about sitting on his own. he's still a little wobbly, but he can now sit for several seconds before doing a slow lean-and-crash to the floor. fortunately, these little tumbles don't seem to phase him too much as long as he gets the toy he was reaching for/looking at. what a trooper :)

our little man is a happy guy, and loves to find fun things to do. i'm starting to see a little bit of mischief, though, and i'm a little fearful of what's in store for me in the years to come. last week noah decided one night he wasn't all that fond of sleeping, but instead wanted to play. i left him playing and talking in his crib until he finally wore himself out, but when i would go to check on him i would find him looking up at me with a big silly grin as if to say, "you know i'm cute, pick me up and play with me! who cares if it's 3am?!" i was determined not to let him think it was playtime, but it took an awful lot of effort not to play with that sweet little boy at that moment!

also this past week noah discovered the art of splashing in the bathtub. oh, what joy for a baby!! at first it was just a short period of waving his hands in the water, but the other night he was full-on swimming! he lays on his back and kicks his feet and waves his arms all over the place, splashing the tub (and even me!) in the process. of course, the whole time he's got a *huge* grin on his face and is laughing at this new way to play. i think he's ready for the pool!

and what would his little personality be without some of his dislikes? we've recently discovered that noah does not care for the ice dispenser on the fridge. for some reason, the sound seems to bother him, and every time i use it he gets a huge frown then starts to cry :( it's the only loud sound that really seems to make him cry -- even lexi's barking doesn't bother him. the other sound that always startles him, though, is lexi shaking. when she gets up from sleeping for an extended period she will shake vigorously and it never fails to make noah jump --and if he's really tired -- cry. poor thing!

and finally in firsts, noah got to enjoy his first few cowboys games! we celebrated (just the two of us because daddy was at work) decked out in our cowboys gear (thanks, papa king!) and noah got to watch the first 15 minutes of each game. lucky for him, this meant his missed the loss during the second game :(

he also got to celebrate his cousin maddie's second birthday. it's absolutely crazy to think that one day my little man will be the one celebrating that milestone (and many more!), but before i get too far ahead of myself i guess i start working on halloween preparations!

2011-08-17

father's day in...august?

yup, because everyone was out of town for father's day -- and then at any given time after father's day at least part of the family was out of town -- we finally sat down to celebrate the big day with the whole family on august 14th. crazy? maybe. tasty? absolutely! when it comes to the traditional father's day meal: homemade chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes, salad, green beans, rolls, deviled eggs and more, who wouldn't find an excuse to celebrate two months later? top that off with three different kinds of desserts (one for each dad) and it's hard to argue!

better late than never...especially for the awesome dads in our lives! happy father's day to the men who have continued to contribute so much more than just their DNA to make our kids who they are!

getting to go thru the line first

the dads and their desserts: ray with toasted pecans, matt chose pecan pie and dad chose the traditional chocolate cake

dinner time. the dads at the head of the table, their progeny taking up the rest of it!

maddie turns two!

on 7/31 we celebrated sweet madeline claire's second birthday! everyone had a fabulous time and enjoyed the fun and cute ladybug theme. we got to watch maddie's second year slideshow and enjoy some tasty food and yummy cupcakes, too! the only downside was that noah was a little too tired to stay for too long, so this king family had to cut out kinda early, but we were glad we got to be there to celebrate such a sweet little girl on her big day.

happy birthday, maddie claire! we love you!

mmmm... cupcakes!

the dessert spread...yum!

watching the slideshow

5 months

it's amazing to think we've already known noah for 5 whole months! in the last few weeks, we've seen more and more of his personality develop and he's become *much* more interactive with the world around him. his sweet little smiles and personality are my favorite thing to come home to after a long night at work... the perfect medicine! as far as activities go: he now enjoys playing in his exersaucer for extended periods of time, rolling around on the floor and working up the strength to make it onto his knees, sitting up with minimal assistance and playing games like peek-a-boo and patty cake. the best part about this month? noah has really found his laugh! he used to give a small giggle or big gummy smile if we could really amuse him, now he belly laughs at most anything silly or goofy or pleasing to him. it is the best!

noah thought this rattle was *hilarious* the other day:

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after our trip last month to the pediatrician we were able to start noah on solid foods. like anything, this was both good and bad for many reasons. the good: a fuller tummy would mean our sound sleeper would hopefully return, solids can help settle little reflux tummies and decrease the symptoms, and it makes it that much easier for other people to help feed him. the bad: i was hoping to exclusively breastfeed for the first 6 months for noah's benefit (as always, noah had a different plan about what was best for him!), i now have to coordinate meals for our little one and have taken on the task of making all his baby food. we also had to re-work his schedule (through *lots* of trial and error -- sometimes it seemed like mostly error) to fit solids into his diet with his nursing schedule. so far we've tried apples, pears, bananas, avocado, sweet potatoes, zucchini and yellow squash. his favorites are the apples and pears. his least favorite is the sqaush. we also found that noah cannot do rice cereal and reflux medications....this equals some serious constipation for our little man. fortunately, this mommy is a pediatric ER nurse and was able to utilize some medication and a change in diet to "fix" this problem! we are still having some issues getting noah to settle back into a night-time schedule and routine -- made doubly difficult since matt and i both work nights/evenings so consistency can be tricky -- but we are working on those and are hoping that very soon noah will be back to falling asleep without problems at bedtime and sleeping through the night again.

what else in noah news? he got a visit from his paternal grandparents! at the beginning of the month both sets of matt's parents braved the texas heat for a visit from july 1 - 7th to get the chance to meet their grandson in person (noah and matt have had several video chats with our family in ohio). with our hectic work schedules and adjusting to life with a little one, we haven't had a chance to visit ohio this year, so this was a real treat! of course, noah loved all the attention... and matt and i weren't complaining too much about having some extra hands around to help for the week!

noah also got to meet his newest cousin, gabriella rae proctor, who actually bumped him out of the "youngest member of the extended family" spot a short 5 months after his arrival. he doesn't seem too excited about her just yet, nor she about him, but i'm sure that with time the two will have much more in common and be glad they have a cousin so close in age.

we go back to the pediatrician at the end of august, so i will post an update on his weight and height then. in the meantime, his unofficial weight is around 14 lbs. it's crazy to think he came home at less than 1/2 that weight! it seems like with each month that passes noah gets more fun to be around (read: more interactive), but he's less of a baby every day. despite our hectic schedules, i'm trying hard to appreciate each little moment and remind myself that the next time we do this i'll have a toddler running around! and while there is no question in my mind as to whether or not we will have more kids, it's also nice to enjoy just one little king right now :)

5 months

gabriella rae proctor

after much anticipation and excitement a 4th little proctor arrived via waterbirth to my sister and her husband on july 20th, 2011. sweet gabriella, or "brie" as she will be called by the family, pestered her mom with some start-and-stop labor over a couple days before making her grand (and ultimately speedy) entrance on wednesday morning at 10:56 am. she weighed in at a healthy 7 lbs 8 oz and was 20 inches long and is absolutely beautiful. as with her siblings, i was there for her birth and was able to enjoy the first few moments of her birthday with her and the proud parents.

i was also able to bring her two oldest siblings (maddie was sleeping) up to the birthing center a short while later so they could meet her. this proved to be quite an event since i had told the kids we were going for a surprise, and when we wound up at the birthing center liv was more than a little disappointed. it wasn't until we were half-way upstairs that she finally put it all together and realized that the only reason we would be visiting the birthing center was to meet her newest little sister (after this realization she leapt up the last several stairs!). however, my favorite part of the whole conversation was in the car while we were waiting for ray to be ready for us to arrive, it went something like this:

liv: what are we doing

me: we're waiting for your daddy

liv: what?! i thought you said we were going to a surprise?!

me: we are, but your daddy will be there too

liv: NO! i don't want him there! i see him *all* the time, he doesn't need to be at the surprise!

me: (suppressing giggles) he'll just be there to take pictures of you with your surprise

liv: well, fine.

that girl is so funny! after spending some time with their new baby sister, i took liv and jonah to the grocery store where we picked out a birthday cake for the family and some ice cream for grandma sharon's house.

the kids enjoyed the trip immensely and then we headed back over to grandma sharon's to gather everyone up for dinner at the proctor's house with the whole family. unfortunately, when we arrived back at grandma's house we found that the power was out...and the house was 85 degrees! not ideal when you are hosting a "slumber party" for a 5-, 3- and 2-year-old! so we loaded up again and everyone came to our house for the night. it was interesting, but an overall success and i was happy to be able to help. besides, it will be a great story to tell brie when she's older :)

our congratulations to the proctor family on their sweet little one and her arrival. happy birthday, baby gabriella!

king of the road

after years -- yes, years -- of shopping, pricing, comparing and negotiating matt and i finally brought home a new family-size vehicle on june 7. we traded in matt's 2000 mazda protege for something a little newer, larger and more likely to be able to haul around the large number of children we are currently planning on having :)

after all the shopping and test-driving, we settled on a nissan armada for it's size and reliability. while it's a lot of car for us right now, the plan is to have it paid off shortly and to be able to grow into it. this may seem silly in a time when gas prices consistently hover around $3.50/gallon, but it will mean no car payments or car shopping (hopefully) during any future pregnancies or with toddlers or infants in tow. also, it is not used as our commuter car, but instead for trips with noah or short trips to matt's work, so hopefully the gas mileage won't kill us!

it took some skill, patience and practice to get it to fit in the garage, but it does fit! matt was never a fan of so-called "big cars," but he's learning to appreciate the little things like tinted windows, steering wheel radio controls, back up cameras and keyless entry and keyless start :)

noah tries out the driver's seat...and facing forward in the car ;)

a photo tribute to the sweet little mazda we traded in...you were good to us, little car!

matt says goodbye