(Almost) Wordless Wednesday…

I know a lot of you bloggers out there do a Wordless Wednesday so I thought I would use today just to share one of my favorite pictures of Noah. He was only 4 days old here and on his way to his 1st doctors appointment. I probably look at this picture daily, and I just cant get enough of it.

Doctor Doctor Give Me The News…

Today was Noah’s 6 month check up and I am glad to report that all is well. The doctor was really impressed with physical and social development and of course that makes mamma very happy. I mean I know Noah is progressing perfectly but it’s always good to hear your doctor agree with you. Of course his skin is still an issue. That dang eczema just won’t go away but for now it’s not bothering Noah so we’re just going to keep an eye on it. I was worried the doctor would be mad that we started solids last month since he recommended waiting until 6 months but he was very supportive when we told him why we started them. The kid is growing like a weed. At 67 months and 4 days he weighs 18 lbs 2 oz and is 26 inches long. He’s 50-75% for his weight and only 25-50% for his height but neither I nor my husband are very tall so chances are Noah will be pretty average. Did I mention that his head is 75-90%. The kid has a big noggin! It’s funny how important all of these numbers become. One of the things I look forward to the most at these visits is finding out his measurements to see how he stacks up.

On a side note the poor guy had to get his 6 month vaccines today. He got 3 needle pokes and a vile or that sugar liquid stuff. Anyways, this isn’t a post on choosing to vaccinate so I’ll stop here. Here’s a picture of him worn out from all of the excitement. See the little band-aids on his poor widdle wegs? Ignore my un-made bed please.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game…

Today is opening day for our local baseball team so we’re taking Noah to the game. This won’t, however, be his first ball game. We are fortunate enough to have spring training teams here in the desert and actually took him to two games. He did great. While he didn’t watch the game of course, he loved the people watching. He would get so excited when he would get someone’s attention and they would interact with him. So while the game will surely be fun, I’m more interested in watching my son be an attention hog! We’re Red Sox fans anyways, so we’ll be dreaming of being back at Fenway! I’ll try to get some good pictures at the game to post later.

*Game Update*

Noah LOVED it! We only stayed for the first 5 innings because it was getting close to nap time but he had so much fun making friends with people around us.  Here are a few pictures.

Baby’s 1st Easter

Today is Noah’s first Easter. Honestly, we didn’t get him an Easter basket of make a huge deal about it which I feel a little guilty about. I know it will be a big deal when he’s old enough to hunt eggs and such but for now we’re keeping it simple. However, Easter has a very different meaning for me this year. You see this year I have a true understanding of Jesus’ sacrifice, and how difficult it must have been for God to watch his “only begotten son” hanging on a cross. Becoming a parent really gave this new meaning. So today we celebrate the resurrection of our savior and make a special point to spend time with those we love. Sounds like a pretty amazing day if you ask me.

Look at that beautiful smile! Too bad his Easter outfit didn’t last very long.

Adding To The Mix

Sixteen months ago by parents had zero grandchildren. Zero. Today they have 3 and a 4th that is literally coming any day. It’s a little overwhelming to say the least, but it’s also amazing. My youngest sister was the 1st of us 3 girls to give my parents a grandchild. My nephew Caleb is the cutest, chunkiest, little thing you’ve ever seen. He’s 16 1/2 months old. My nephew Aiden came 5 months later and surprised us all. The kid is hilarious and it’s hard to believe he’ll be 1 in just a few weeks. Noah was the 3rd grandchild. At 6 months he’s 5 1/2 months younger than Aiden. Now we are waiting on Katelyn who will be 6 months younger than Noah (and 16 months younger than her brother, Caleb.)

Needless to say we are being over-run by babies. When we attempt to all go somewhere together people look at us like we’re nuts. My parents had us very young so they are just now in their early forties. I think people are usually trying to figure out which baby belongs with who. We’re quite the scene.

While we were trying to conceive, it was difficult to watch both of my sisters get pregnant so easily. Jealous didn’t even describe it. It was unfair and there were days I would just sit and cry, especially after another negative pregnancy test. The amazing thing is that I wouldn’t take back any of the tears and frustration. I honestly believe our infertility turned out to be a bit of a blessing. See, if I had gotten pregnant right away I wouldn’t have Noah. He wouldn’t be exactly who he is today and I think he’s perfect. And now I LOVE that he has so many cousins to play with. He’s only 6 months old but he already gets SO excited when he sees them. You can tell he’s just waiting to get in there and play with them. I am sort of sad that he won’t be the baby of the bunch anymore but we will finally have a little girl to spoil. I can’t wait to see how all of the boys are around her. I know they’ll be great.

Here’s a picture of my dad with his three boys. Of course this was a few months ago.

Today Is Not What I Planned

This is not the post I had planned on posting today. I had a cute little post written about how my baby boy is 6 months old today. It was all about all of the amazing things he does and how quickly he’s growing. I even had this great picture of him eating his breakfast this morning.

Cute huh? Well, that food he was happily nomming on was prunes mixed with rice cereal. He had been a little clogged up lately so I thought we’d get the plumbing moving.  He actually really enjoyed it and we started getting ready for a big 6 month photo shoot with him and his 2 cousins. All was goo, then we pulled up to the park. I immediately smelled poo so I started to change him on the seat of the car. It was everywhere. All over his cute outfit. I left dad to finish diaper duty as I went to throw away the diaper and talk to the photographer. Then I hear him yelling for me and pulling Noah out of the car. I then see Noah throwing up all over the car and parking lot. We’re talking massive amounts of puke. Now I can not handle puke but it’s amazing how that doesn’t matter when it’s your own kid. So anyways, Noah seems to stop puking so my hubby says he’ll run home and grab some more clothes (I changed him into the 1 spare outfit we had.) My mom, sister, and I then go with the photographer and take the three boys by the pond we want to take photos by. At this point Noah was still smiling and seemed okay. That didn’t last long. It became very clear that pictures were going to have to be rescheduled. We then make our way home. Luckily we only like 5 minutes from this park because Noah was throwing up the whole way. As soon as we got him home he passed out and slept for about an hour and a half. He woke up for about 20 minutes but still had the dry heaves and has now gone back to sleep. So here I sit, in the dark bedroom watching my poor baby sleep. I hate it when he’s sick. Worse, I hate knowing I made him sick. See he had thrown up like this the last time he had  rice cereal but the doc thought it was a stomach bug since he had had cereal in the past and had been fine. Now I know it was the cereal. (Of course I threw it away as soon as I got home.) I feel so guilty.

I know you might not believe me but Noah is pretty much happy  all of the time. I mean sure he has his moments in the car or when he’s hungry or overly tired, but what baby doesn’t? He spends the majority of his day smiling and laughing so it is so hard to see him like this. Poor baby still tries to smile but he just can’t muster up the energy. I don’t know how parents of sick children do it. I’m sure I could find the strength if I had to but I pray every day  I will never have to know what that’s like.  So for now I will sit here in the dark and listen to him breath and pray that he feels better when he wakes up.

Did I mention he was supposed to spend the night at my mom’s while we met a bunch of friends for a baseball game and then drinks for my husbands birthday? This is the second year in a row I have ruined his birthday. Last year I ended up on bed rest after being rushed to the doctor for bleeding. Come to think of it that’s the day we found out that Noah was in fact going to be a Noah and not a Molly or Madison. Now I get to have the guilt of also ruining my husband’s birthday….again. I’m going to go cuddle with my sick baby now.

Time Keeps On Slippin……

Where has the time gone? Seriously. Noah will be 6 months tomorrow. I don’t see how this is possible. Time is playing tricks on me and I don’t like it one bit. As a teacher I was always amazed at home a school year could seem to creep by but at the same time be gone before you knew it, but that is nothing compared to this. Every day seems to go by so fast. Every time I look at Noah he’s doing something new. I keep finding myself looking forward to milestones (did I mention he’s rolling over AND sitting up now??) and then feeling a bit sad when they actually happen. I know I only get to experience all of these 1st once so I am trying to make the most of them and just live in every moment. I think this is part of the reason why I am in no rush to get him in his own bed. I know soon he won’t want to cuddle with me at night, and just thinking about that brings tears to my eyes.  It’s impossible to imagine that he is already half way to his first birthday. He’s a mover and a shaker and I know it’s just a matter of weeks before he is crawling. So for now I’m going to hold my baby boy as much as he’ll let me, kiss him every chance I get, and take a million pictures to capture this amazing time.

It’s amazing how much they  change in just 6 months! Incredible!

I’m Not The Mom I Thought I’d Be

I’m not the mom I thought I would be. I mean I knew I would be a good mom but I didn’t expect this. Before I was a mom I taught preschool. I loved my job. I loved working with the kids and watching them grow, but I did not (usually) enjoy their parents. Looking back now I think I would understand them a lot better now that I’m a mom. I often wonder how I would be a different teacher now Noah is here.

So what kind of mom did I turn out to be? Well, for one I’m extremely attached. I hate to be away from Noah, absolutely hate it. If I had it my way he’d go with me everywhere (which he pretty much does.) I know at some point this will probably change so I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts.

I’m a breast feeding mamma. From the beginning I planned on breast feeding but I never thought I would end up being so passionate about it. The first few weeks were incredibly hard (and not to mention painful! Oh the pain!) but I am so glad I stuck with it because I love knowing that I am responsible for Noah’s nourishment. I honestly believe it has been crucial in our bonding experience. (I’m not saying I have anything against formula fed babies. Breastfeeding is not for everyone and I know that but it was the right choice for me.) Noah has only had formula 4 times. One of which was immediately after he was born because his blood sugar was getting dangerously low. The other three times he threw it up. Luckily I haven’t had to try it again and I hope I won’t have to.

I’m a co-sleeping mamma. Before Noah was born I swore up and down my baby would not sleep in bed with me. Then he was born and I was terrified to put him down. I would stay up all night watching him. I literally slept like 6 hours the entire first 4 days he was alive. Although many people thought I should have Noah in his crib or bassinet it just felt right having him sleep with us. I don’t know how else to explain it. Now he is 6 months old and we are beginning to make the transition to his pack and play (which is of course right next to our bed) but he still ends up in bed with us in the middle of the night.

I’m a baby wearing mamma. One of my favorite things is my Moby wrap. It’s great to be able to have Noah cuddled against me while having my hands free.  Although everytime I wear it I can’t help but think of that scene in Away We Go where Maggie Gyllenhaal say’s she doesn’t use a stroller because she doesn’t want to push her babies away from her. Luckily Noah has loved the Moby since the beginning. It sure was a lifesaver when colic struck! Here’s a picture of Noah in the Moby.

I’m a “crunchy” sort of mom.  Okay, so I’m not super crunchy but I’m much more than I ever thought I would be. I’ll admit I used to laugh at my hippy friends and their home remedies and now I find myself researching the effectiveness of things like garlic oil for ear infections. I’m also making my own baby food and loving it. I think it goes back to the whole knowing I’m the one responsible for Noah’s nourishment thing.

These are just a few of the things I wasn’t expecting when I became a mom. But most of all, my hope is just that I am the best mom I can be. Noah’s am extremely happy baby, so I know I’m doing something right.

My Road to Mommyhood

I’m a good mom. That might sounds arrogant but I know that it’s the truth. I always knew I was meant to be a mom, there was never any doubt for me. I always knew I would be a young mom too. Not sure how I knew it. I just did. Maybe it’s because my mom had all three of us girls before she was 22 (sounds crazy I know.) I actually would have thought I would have become a mom younger than 24 but looking back I’m glad it happened when it did.

Having a baby was not easy for us. It took about 15 months, which isn’t incredibly long, but I come from an extremely fertile family so it felt like forever. Once we started trying to conceive we quickly found that I had polycystic ovarian syndrome.  In short, I don’t ovulate on my own. Luckily we found this out pretty early and immediately went on progesterone and Clomid. Four months and 3 different doses later and I still wasn’t ovulating regularly so we added Metformin to the bunch. (By the way Metformin is a diabetes medicine and since I am not in fact diabetic it made me very sick.) Luckily 2 months later we were pregnant. Honestly, I had just started to accept the fact that it might not happen to us and it was actually the 1st month that I was sure I wasn’t pregnant. (True story I took a pregnancy test on the earliest possible day because of a fortune cookie I got at Panda Express.)

I found out I was pregnant on Feb. 1st 2009 (which was super bowl Sunday.) We were so excited we couldn’t wait to tell our friends and family. My pregnancy went pretty smooth (4 weeks of morning sickness but nothing too bad) and except for a scare at 12 weeks thanks to a low lying placenta, it went pretty well. Did I mention that I live in AZ and was it was 100+ degrees my entire last trimester?

Fast forward a bit to Oct 2nd when our world was changed forever. After about 8 hours of labor (I know 1st babies are supposed to take a lot longer) Noah arrived and I knew my life would never be the same. Here’s a few of my favorite pictures from that day.

Hi my name is Ashley and I am blogging illiterate.

This isn’t my 1st attempt at a blog. I tried a personal blog a few years ago and all was well for about a week. Then it got pushed to the side like so many of my other projects. I also did the pregnancy blog thing and that went a little better. It was a great way to keep family who lives far away updated on the pregnancy. So here it is, my 3rd attempt. (The 3rd times a charm right???) I’ve been so inspired by all of the great mommy blogs out there and I’m really not sure I have anything to offer but I’m going to give it a shot. If nothing else I hope this blog can be a way for me to keep account of all of the amazing things that Noah does. Did I mention that I am the mom a 6 month old little boy who I’m pretty sure is the greatest thing on the planet. He’s the light of my life. I’m also blessed with an amazing husband who has made so many sacrifices for my to be a stay at home more, and for that I am eternally grateful.  So here it is, my 1st post. Hopefully it will be the first of many…