Wordless Wednesday…

Noah’s 6 month photo shoot.

The Looking Lense

Ok let me start by saying that I am no photographer. My current camera is a cheap Kodak that barely does the job. That being said I am hoping to find a decent camera to help me capture all of Noah’s adventures. I’m not looking to spend a ton of money. I’d like to leave it under a couple hundred dollars. So my question to my few loyal followers (who I am very thanful for by the way) is what brand do you use? What features should I look for? Where should I look? And is there a photo-editing software (preferably a free one) that you love. I’m not looking to become a pro or anything- Just something to help me capture all of the important little moments.

Oh and if you are reading this I want to say THANK YOU! I have big hops for this little old blog but little time and talent, but it is a work in progress.

Wordless Wednesday….. Like Father Like Son

Ignore the lack on pillow case on my husband’s pillow and the little, fluffy dog curled up next to the baby 🙂

When Pregnant Women Are Taking Over The World….

When we were trying to conceive, it seemed like the world was being over run by babies and pregnant women. They were EVERYWHERE! I  saw them everywhere I went. Sometimes it felt like they were taunting me or something, and at times it was extremely hard not to just burst into tears. I know I would have looked like the crazy, crying lady because none of them knew what was going on. As hard as it was to see random pregnant strangers, I think the hardest thing was that both of my (younger) sisters got pregnant while we were trying.  As the oldest child I think I felt like it was my birth right to give my parent’s the first grandchild and it took a while for me to accept the fact that that just wasn’t going to happen. (Please note that I love my nephews SO SO much and wouldn’t change a thing now.)

It’s funny how we have this time table of how we think our lives should go but God often times has other plans. I learned many lessons while trying to get pregnant that have shaped not only who I am, but what kind of parent I am as well. When we did finally get pregnant it was clear that the timing was perfect. Funny how that happens.

Okay, I’m way off of my intended topic. Time to get back on course! When I started writing this post my goal was to talk about how I was pregnant at the same time as 7 of my friends and family members. I kid you not there were six other pregnant women at my baby shower. It was like a fest of hormones but it was amazing! It was so fun to get to share that experience with so many of my friends, and now Noah has so many friends and cousins that are so close to his age! I love that he has so many people to play with!  One of my friends had her baby girl the same day I had Noah even though our due dates were a week apart. Noah is one hour and 2 minutes older than her daughter and the funny thing is they were the exact same size; 6 lbs 8oz. (Of course now my little chunker-monker has like 4lbs on her.)

Looking back I realize how blessed we were to get pregnant at the exact time we did. When I was 3 months pregnant I got laid off. I taught preschool for a public school district who laid off all first and second year teachers (and I was a second year teacher.) At the time it was devastating, we didn’t think we’d be able to make it on one income. Three days after I got my pink slip we had our little pregnancy scare and it quickly became clear that we were going to find a way for me to stay home. I actually could have gotten my job back since I have a specialty degree, but staying home is the best thing for our family.  Okay I’m getting off topic- time to wrap this up.

I know there are many women that struggle with infertility, and when you’re trying desperately for a baby it can seem like the end of the world so here are the words I would share with you. Relax, I know it’s hard not to let it consume you. Have faith, don’t stop believing in it. Trust, there are lessons being learned even if they are difficult ones.  And lastly just talk to your spouse, infertility is happening to them to and it really can bring you closer together.

Okay that was a wordy post. Let me close it out with a cute picture!

I Don’t Know If I’m Cut Out For This…

Yesterday was probably my scariest parenting day thus far. Granted he’s only 6 1/2 months so I’m sure there will be scarier days ahead but so far this one takes the cake. The day started out pretty great. Noah slept in until 9 am and then we went to  my mom’s house so Noah could spend the day with his cousins. It was a very average day. At around 4 am I had a little snack of a cheese stick and since Noah had been doing so great on his solids I gave him a few bites. BIG MISTAKE! The poor baby was fine for about an hour or so then he started really fussing and squirming when he went down for his nap and actually ended up sleeping on me.

When he finally fell asleep he let out a huge burp that sounded like he was going to throw up but he just kept on sleeping. About half an hour later he woke up and had a bump on the back of his head. I showed it to my mom and asked if she saw him topple over or anything (Now that he’s sitting up all by himself 🙂 ) and by the time we examined it his entire skull had broken out in like nickel size welts and he was starting to get a few on his neck and face. We immediately gave him some benedryll and called my aunt who’s a nurse and she told us what respiratory signs and things we needed to look out for. After about 20 minutes it appeared that the meds were kicking in. The welts had at least stopped growing and seemed like they may even be going down. I should mention that Noah was happy and laughing the entire time. The kids a champ, he truly is. I think the Benedryll actually made him hyper because the kid was wired for about an hour, and then he suddenly got very groggy so I loaded him up and we drove the 5 minutes home from my mom’s house.

When we got home he was sort of half asleep, half awake but he looked miserable. I should add here that my firefighter husband was on shift yesterday and he works about 35 minutes away.  Anyways, I pull Noah out of his carseat and he’s just laying on me when all of a sudden I’m COVERED in puke! I freaked, called the hubs and told him to come home. He told me to call 911 which I did, after calling my mom and telling her to hurry over here.  At this point I was frozen. All I could do was hold Noah and feel completely helpless and guilty beyond belief. Luckily my mom showed up quickly to help and the fire department was here within minutes. They assured me that he was fine for the moment and that I could drive him to the hospital myself if I wanted to and I agreed. Then he started shivering and I freaked out even more so we ended up going to the hospital by ambulance. Luckily we are only a few miles away from a great children’s hospital and my husband was there by the time we got there.  The nurses and doctors were great and assured me that he’d be ok. The assured me that I could give him a larger dose of Benedryll if it ever happens again but to stay away from cheese for a while. (Ummm Duh!) Now I find myself terrified to give him anything. I made my husband feed him his peaches this morning even though he’s had them a dozen times or so because I was still too freaked out to give him anything.  Anyways, I guess the next step is to get in to see a pediatric allergist. Luckily I have found some great mom’s on twitter who have gone through the same thing and have really been a great support. Now I just pray that he outgrows it. I know he was on the younger end of when they recommend starting cheese and yogurt but I NEVER expected this reaction. If anything I would have expected just the vomitting since that is what he does with rice cereal. Anyways, please just pray that we can see an allergist quickly and that we don’t have anymore reactions!

Guest speaker

Hi everyone, I am Billy. Noah is my boy and Ashley is my wife.

I just wanted to let you know that my wife is truly amazing and the best mother I could ever hope for!! I couldn’t  imagine this adventure without her. God has truly blessed me.

grace & peace

In The Thick Of Things…

About a month ago we started Noah on solids. He was only five months old so I was a little apprehensive, especially since the pediatrician recommended waiting until 6 months. I don’t know if it was mother’s intuition or what but I KNEW he was ready. He had all the signs. He was grabbing for our spoons, showing interest in food, and all that good jazz. Plus he was still pretty much nursing every two hours and I was really ready for him to stretch his feedings a bit. Luckily, it’s gone pretty smoothly. Due to his eczema I was really worried about food allergies but so far the only thing that has caused problems is rice cereal.  The poor kid gets so sick, but I do have hope he will out grow it as some point. Now I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that he won’t be allergic to all of the products that have rice flour, which is basically all of the puffs and other finger foods. I guess time will tell. I know I’ll eventually have to try those foods but I’m so afraid of making him sick. It must kills me to see him that way and knowing I caused it is just heart wrenching.

One thing I had been super excited about since we found out we were pregnant was making my own baby food. I’ve had a few friends who had sworn by it and the whole concept just seemed really appealing to me. When I was pregnant I registered for the BEABA Babycook Baby Food Maker and when I didn’t get it I honestly assumed my husband would not want to spend that much money on it so I figured I’d do it the old fashion way. I should mention here that my husband is loving, supporting, and amazing and that sometimes he surprises the heck out of me. Anyways, he was totally on board for the gadget so we ended up buying it right before Noah hit the 5 month mark and so far I think it was completely worth it. Especially since Noah will more than likely not be our last child.  I really enjoy making batches of baby food and knowing that I can control what Noah is eating. However, I do still buy jarred food for when we are on the go. I’m a little weary about taking the frozen stuff on the go since it is not supposed to be thawed at room temp.

Here is a picture of the BEABA Babycook.

If you plan on making your own baby food I highly recommend it. It’s definitely pricey, but if you have a Buy Buy Baby near you they honor those 20% off coupons for Bed Bath and Beyond that always come in the mail so it makes it a little easier on the wallet.  The machine steams, blends, and reheats so it really is multifunctional. I’m excited to try some new recipes now that Noah is ready for the stage 2 foods. It’s so much fun to watch him experience a new food for the first time! It’s one of the many joys of mommy-hood!

Noah Vs. The Sippy Cup…

Noah loves to yell at his sippy cup but of course I can never get it on camera! I did get some good jabbering though.

Where The Wild Things Are…

So a lot of my favorite mamma bloggers have been doing nursery tours lately so I thought I’d share some pictures of Noah’s room. While it may not be as modern or cutesy as many of the others I absolutely love it. I can’t even count the hours we spent working on it. Once it was finished you could usually find me sitting in there at 2 in the morning folding and organizing all of his drawers, dreaming about how this little peanut kicking inside of me was going to change our lives forever. I really never could have imagined this. So here are a few pictures of the room in progress. My friend Liz hand painted all of the murals and my loving hubby did all of the molding and trim work.

Now the arctic animal theme was inspired by the bedding which we both fell in love with. We wanted to do something a little different from the standard safari or sports theme. I’d like to point out that when we chose this theme it was IMPOSSIBLE to find things with whales on them. Now if you buy anything from Carter or Old Navy you will see that whales are every where. I like to think that Noah was just ahead of his time. So here are a few pictures of the bedding.

And finally a few pictures of the finished project. Now you should know that our house was built in the 40’s which is extremely old for where we live. It’s also all of 1,000 square feet and was literally in shambles when my hubs bought it 5 years ago. It has been an endless project since then but this is definitely my favorite room in the house. Here’s the crib,

And this is the view from the door.

Although I love my glider I hate to say I hardly ever use it. I think it’s mostly because Noah sleeps in our room so we’re never really in here.

I have a serious love for children’s books, and as an ex-teacher my son inherited my classroom library.

Since our house is so tiny there was really no room for a dresser. So it is hiding nicely behind these closet doors.

So there it is. I know it’s nothing fancy but I love it and I hope that when Noah is older he loves it to. Right now the room doesn’t get much use but I know that will change eventually.  Oh yeah and this post has made me realize that I REALLY need a new camera that can take decent photos. Mine is ancient and doesn’t do anything for my non-existant photography skills.

Back In The Swing Of Things…

So my attempt at blogging every day for 30 days was thwarted  by a massive technology fail. Our old, faithful Macbook that we have had for nearly 6 years decided to quickly and unexpectedly die on us this week. It was a sad, sad day to say the least, but now we have a new IMac so life is good again. Unfortunately I have like 4 days of work to make up now so today’s post will be short and sweet but hopefully tomorrow will have me back in the swing of things. I was happy to see that my little ol’ blog actually still get a few hits over the last several days. Hopefully some more consistent posting will gain some higher numbers. So until tomorrow….