Life With the Bayles

Ready for bed? I think not...

2011-03-10T08:39:00.000-06:00

Most nights, Noah is so tired after his bath that he just wants to be held, drink his milk and go "nigh, nigh." Every so often he gets a wild hair and decides instead that he wants to run around like a wild banshee before bed. Well the other night was a wild banshee night and about halfway into his terror on the house I decided to start videoing. This is the tail end of his silly escapade- you can tell he's losing steam when he starts hugging us. Sweet boy!

PS, you'll notice the house looks a little bit like a tornado came through- overturned toys, etc...that would be tornado Noah's damage, although I can't really blame him for the stacks of stuff on the entryway table...

PSS, in the second video I say "Excuse you!" and start cracking up. The iphone didn't pick it up but little angel boy tooted really loud. I was SO disappointed that you can't hear it because it was too funny!

15 months

2011-02-23T16:49:00.002-06:00

Noah, on February 16, you turned 15 months old! I can’t hardly believe you are such a big boy! It does seem like your first birthday party was forever ago, but I think that’s because SO much has happened in the last 3 months! Let’s start from the beginning…

- The week after your first birthday we traveled to San Antonio to spend Thanksgiving with the Kita side of the family. You were a huge hit, as always, with your Grammar, Papa and aunts and uncles. This year you got to partake in the Thanksgiving feast- you enjoyed the ham, scalloped potatoes and the strawberry salad your Aunt Terri made and that was about it. Maybe next year you will like all the other yummy food more J

- The first week of December, you started walking!! You had been standing on your own and taking a couple of steps at a time for a couple weeks before and then Tuesday, December 7^th, you started taking off! Since then you have been strictly a walker- you never went back to crawling.

- On December 9^th, your Daddy and I left you for the very first time to go on a trip to New York. You stayed with Grammar and Papa and Aunt Terri while we were gone and I think it’s safe to say that you loved it! You absolutely love your Grammar which helped ease my mind about leaving you, but we still missed you like crazy! It felt so weird not having you with me, but it was a needed break for all of us.

- Just two weeks after that, you took your second ever plane ride to Lubbock for Christmas with the Bayles side of the family. I thought it would be a smart thing to book our flights around bed time so you could just sleep, but turns out it wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had. You were as good as can be expected for a 1 year old kept up past his bedtime (because you weren’t sleeping in that setting) in a small confined space. We were blessed with some very nice people sitting next to us that didn’t mind an occasional temper tantrum. I’ve said it many times before and I’m sure I’ll say it again, but it’s a good thing you are cute and can charm strangers!

- January was a little bit of a blur for me because I was working a lot more hours than normal, so you and daddy got a lot of special time together!

- You started cutting your 1 year molars in January and, oh boy, are they tough. You got your bottom right molar at the end of January/beginning of February and are STILL working on the other 3. I CANNOT wait until all those suckers poke through and I hope and pray that you are back to your happy little self when that is all done! I think teething is the main reason this is such a hard age!

Road Rage starts young, yall

- Going out to eat with you is getting to be more of a challenge. I know every parent has said that about this age, but somehow, I thought you’d be different. Nope! You still throw your food on the floor, try to climb out of the high chair, throw your head back and arch your back to show your temper and sometimes just scream for no reason. SO FUN! *I will say you are not ALWAYS like that and its usually about ¾ of the way through the meal that things start going downhill, so we get some good times out of you J

- You are still pretty attached to me and Daddy…probably more me than daddy to be honest J You have gotten so much better about being dropped off at school in the morning, but you do much better if Daddy drops you off than if I do.

- The world inevitably falls apart while I am cooking dinner and most nights I am standing at the stove either holding you and stirring or you are latched on to my leg while I cook. I have to keep telling myself that this is just a phase and there will come a day that you will want nothing to do with me and I will long for the days that you just wanted me to hold you- so I’m trying to cherish those moments!

- You LOVE outside. LOVE LOVE LOVE it. You’ll walk to the front door and just start saying “bye-bye”- it’s pretty cute. You just wander around, pick up sticks and leaves and just love exploring. It is the one place that you DON’T want me to hold you! Ha! You also love to swing.

- You also LOVE your dogs. I have to be honest, it is your love for them that makes me not give at least one of them away. Most people know that your mom is kind of over our animal family members lately (one in particular) but seeing you hug them and get so excited about seeing them makes all the dog hair and licking worth it. After all, “dog” was your first real word!

melt.my.heart.

- You started taking a bath in the big bath tub! I always give you lots of bubbles, but daddy does not (lame). When you have bubbles, you lie on your tummy and bury your face in them so that you come up with a bubble goatee. You know I think it’s funny when you do that so you always look up at me and smile after- such precious moments with you. Your favorite bath toys are your balls and basketball hoop- you always clap after you make a basket!

I STILL don't get how you did this...I turned around for literally 5 seconds and found you like this!

- You are saying a TON of words! Here’s a list of all that you say: hi, bye bye, mama, dada, dog, Georgia (guh-guh), dixie (deeee), bath, night night, go, car, more (you sign that too), thank you (its hit and miss with that), tree, ball, juice and eyes. Every once in a while I get you to say Elmo, but I don’t really think you’re saying it consistently yet- I think you are just repeating the sounds I am saying.

- You know that a dog goes “woof! woof!” and a cow says “mmmmoooo” although you really just get the “mmmm” part. You try to “oink” for pigs but haven’t really mastered that yet. We are using one of your bath books to learn all of these noises.

- As for body parts, you know where your toes are and can point to them, but you get confused with “nose” and “toes” sometimes. They sound too much alike! You also know where your ears are when asked and just the other night you could say AND point to your eyes. Before that, if we asked you where anything was on your face- eyes, mouth, ears, etc, you would just point to your ears.

- You have started giving hugs and kisses! You have to be in the right mood to give them, but when you do, they are the sweetest!

- You have had your first 2 ear infections in the past month L I can’t believe we went over a year without having you on any kind of antibiotic and now you’ve been on two different ones in just the last month! Poor baby!

- Your heart is doing great! You had a 15 month check up with an EKG which was perfect and then we had a consult with a new heart specialist. There is a procedure/study to look at your heart better that the doctors want to do, but we are waiting until you are a little bigger to do it. It was a hard decision, but I think it’s the best one for right now!

- The last time you were at the doctor you weighed 21lbs, 11oz.

- You wear 12-18 month clothes and still holding onto a size 4-5 shoe.

Well this might have been the longest little boy update ever! I just don’t want to forget anything about this time- good and bad! It’s a tough age, but also such a fun age! It is such an awesome and rewarding thing to watch your baby learn new things, figure things out and become a little person. I’ll take it all- the tantrums and the kisses!

Love you Noah B!

Take that and rewind it back...

2011-01-05T21:28:00.001-06:00

Well, it's been a while. And I'm not gonna lie. The past couple of months have kicked.my.tail. We have been traveling like it's going out of style, I have been sick not one time, not two times, but THREE times. And not just "oh-I-don't-feel-too-great" sick, but real, fever-running, laying in bed, sick. Noah started walking like a big boy, which is great, but also means we are on full-time baby patrol and watching him like a hawk. Work has been much busier with a big project that I am the lead on wrapping up. Throw in some Thanksgiving, Christmas and hunting (for Ben, of course), and you have our last two months. I guess that's just life, but, goodness, it has left me tired and wanting some calm.

I don't want to forget what all we did this fall and holiday season. We had a TON of fun, after all! Instead of doing a massive post with pictures, I'm breaking it up into the Birthday, the Fall and Thanksgiving and then December and Christmas.

Christmas 2010!!

2011-01-05T21:23:00.000-06:00

Christmas 2010 FLEW by way too fast. I feel like this entire holiday season went by in the blink of an eye. Time, slow down!!

Our first Christmas was spent in San Antonio with my family the week before Christmas. Unfortunately I was coming off of sickness #4, and we made it a really quick trip. We packed a lot in those 24 hours though! We had our annual ornament exchange, last minute shopping, birthday celebration for myself and my BIL Scott, AND Christmas with everyone!

Sisters picture! We are really trying to be better about taking pictures...again, unfortunately, I was not looking my best because of the great illness of 2010, and poor Karen was coming down with something too. Oh well, we tried!

Sisters and mom picture!

Present time! Most of that large pile is Noah's...poor thing barely got anything for Christmas.

Opening his first fire truck!

The next week we traveled to Lubbock for Christmas with Ben's family. We decided sometime this summer to fly and I have to say I am so very glad we made that decision! Noah did pretty good on the flights...we had layovers going there and going back home, but even with all of that, he was pretty much an angel.

We always have such a good time in Lubbock. Laughter is non-stop for the entire time we are all together. This year was especially fun because we had EVERYONE there! I think there were around 15 people actually staying at Aunt Beverly and Uncle Ronny's house, and then at the peak of Christmas day, there was somewhere around 35 people in that house! Christmas night we always play Bingo for gifts and, while both Ben and I managed to find the only bags that didn't have gift cards in them, we still had a great time! I just love that family- seriously they are so fun.

Noah and cousin Annie on Christmas day while we were opening gifts.

Bayles family Christmas action shot...

Checking out the stocking- he got mostly snacks, plus some glow in the dark pacis

Bayles Fam!

The little Bayles fam! We haven't taken a picture in a long time together...Noah looks so much like Ben these days!

All the girls and our scarves...made with love by Micah and Chad in the sweat shop in the back :)

The entire group Christmas day- Knowles/Byers/Bayles Family Christmas 2010

When we came home, Santa had visited Noah! Don't worry, his presents were wrapped, this was after he opened them (there has been a lot of debate whether Santa wraps gifts or not, but he does in our house!). Of course, he was most interested in the box that his penguin came in, which made me feel a little better about the fact that Santa didn't really bring a whole lot this year :)

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and happy New Year! We sure did!

Fall Fun!

2011-01-05T21:22:00.000-06:00

Waaaayyy back in October, Noah and I met Mary and Jake at Old Mac Donald's Farm in Humble for a day o' fun. I wanted to take Noah to a pumpkin patch for the token pictures with pumpkins, but I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg on admission when I knew he wasn't really going to be able to take advantage of all the fun activities (read: I didn't want to pay the $$$ to go to Dewberry yet). Old Mac Donalds was a good in-between for us- not too expensive and there were lots of activities, a petting zoo, a train (that we didn't get to ride- it conveniently broke down close to lunch time, suspicious, no?) and a pumpkin patch area. I have to be honest, part of me wanted to turn around when we pulled into the parking lot and saw about 15 school buses also parked. Alas, I did some relaxing breathing and got us out of the car.

We walked around quite a bit and let Jake show off his newly aquired walking skills while we looked at various farm animals. Since both boys hadn't quite grasped animal noises yet and were more interested in the dirt and grass than the animals, it was a pretty quick walk around the grounds :)

We made our way over to the pumpkin area, where we were informed that our children were the exception to the sign that read "Children pick one pumpkin to take home!" because we didn't pay FULL price for their admission. Seriously? They were gracious enough to at least let us in to take some pictures. Gee, thanks.

The only way to get both boys to sit on the bench for pictures was to feed them snacks. Oh, how Noah LOVES him some snacks. I still couldn't get both boys to look at me at the same time...Jake must have seen something more interesting than me to look at.

I might have accidentally hit my poor baby in the face with my camera while I was setting him down for the perfect picture...

In front of the "broken" train. I had forgotten what a beautiful day it was that day! (those leggings are for you, Dabs!)

We finished off our fun morning with lunch, where our precious boys shared mac and cheese, grapes, and crackers. I just LOVE having a little boy the same age as my BFF's little boy!

The rest of these pictures are just random from the rest of the fall...

Little stinker showing off his Halloween PJs! LOVE smiles through paci's. Melts my heart!

We went to our church's fall festival on Halloween. It was so much fun! The church totally went all out and made it the best one since we have been there (almost 5 years). There was a train, a bounce castle/slide, tons of booths, cotton candy, etc. Noah will have a blast next year!

I don't think there was ever a cuter monster!

Adorable boys- Noah and Jack- I mean the monster and Buzz Lightyear. I hope these two grow up to be great friends!

I decided riding the train was a "daddy" thing :) They sure do look sweet too!

That night we passed out candy at home and Noah dressed in his Halloween outfit for the occassion. In reality, he was only awake for the beginning of the trick-or-treaters. Homeboy goes to bed about 7:30 :)

The day after Halloween, we went for Noah's one year check up with Dr. G- his pedi cardiologist. He had an EKG and chest X-ray, which both turned out great! I was SHOCKED with how still and good he was for the EKG. If you've never had one, you have a bunch of leads stuck all over you and then you have to be super still for about a minute while the test runs. It's not at all painful, but just getting a 1 year old to sit still for a minute is difficult. I think everything was so weird to him that he was in a little bit of shocked wonder and that made him sit still :)

He also had to have another Holter monitor put on him. The Holter just monitors his heart for 24 hours to make sure that he has normal sinus rhthym and doesn't go into SVT when we don't know about it. Basically there are leads all over his chest taped to him and then he had to wear this belt thing to hold the monitor on. This is his 4th Holter he's had to wear (he had 2 in the hospital when he was born and one when he was 2 weeks old) and he did great again! He didn't mess with it AT ALL. Again, I was shocked. He is such a good boy.

Here he is with the Holter on- we joked that it looked like he had a blackberry hooked to his pants. He had important business deals that day :)

Apparently, that's all the pictures from the fall that I had on the camera...I didn't take one single picture over Thanksgiving with the camera. Ever since I got the iphone (life changer, btw!) I use it for about 90% of my picture taking. At any rate, we spent Thanksgiving in SA with my family. We had a great time with family, ate until we were stuffed and then my sisters, mom and I shopped the day after Thanksgiving. It was great! I love getting to spend time with my mom and sisters and long for the day when we live close to them ;)

Ha, this is the only picture from Thanksgiving on the phone- Noah sitting on Papa's belly :)

I think that about wraps up our fall! Between Halloween, the first birthday and Thanksgiving, we were busy, but it was all oh, so fun!

1st Birthday Party

2011-01-05T21:21:00.000-06:00

The weekend before Noah's actual first birthday, we had a little party at our house with some of our close friends and family. It was such a fun day! Noah is one loved little guy- he had family come in town from all over Texas! His Grammy, Aunt Micah and Uncle Chad came from DFW, Aunt Candace and Matt came from College Station, and Grammar, Papa, Aunt Courtney, Aunt Karen, Uncle Scott, Hallie, Emmie and Jackson all came from San Antonio and San Marcos! It really made the day that much more special having so much of our family there. And, of course, some of our closest friends came to celebrate our little guy! I can honestly say that everyone there was such a blessing in our little Noah's first year.

I went with a sock monkey theme for his first birthday. I just think they are so stinkin' cute! I know I have maybe one more year where I get to pick the theme and I totally took advantage of that :)

I ordered most of his decorations from an adorable etsy shop called Peas and Thank You. Everything was a-dorable and I loved working with the seller. I highly recommend her if you are looking for birthday decorations!

The front door was decorated with balloons and a cute sign.

I hung pictures from Noah's first year on the mantle- so much changes in the first year! My arms just ache to hold that tiny baby one more time...

View of the kitchen- my attempt at a tootsie roll pop topiary (a big fail, but it still turned out cute enough), yummy cupcakes from Dessert Gallery, candy and fruit sticks

More food- we had Noah's fave- Chick Fil A chicken nuggets! And some chips and dip, hot dogs and popcorn

Close up of the cupcake toppers- so cute!

Some party peeps paying the guest of honor a visit

Opening our first gift! Super cool paper, by the way :)

A big truck from Aunt Candace!

Thinking about opening another gift, but really just interested in the bows...

He had lots of help from cousins :)

Love the Little People toys!

Time for cake and singing...and not too sure about everyone staring at him

Not gonna lie, I'm glad I only gave him a cupcake and not a whole smash cake. I don't care if that makes me a lame mom- it was an easy mess to clean up!

Yum!

Thank you so much to everyone that came and made Noah's first birthday so special. It was the perfect day for a perfect little boy!

12 Months

2010-11-16T14:54:00.002-06:00

Today is the big day! Noah is 1 year old! November 16, 2009 changed our life forever and it has gotten better every single one of the 365 days since. I am so grateful to have that precious boy as my son. God has truly smiled down on Ben and I.

Ok, I am seriously going to start crying if I don't get down to business.

Noah, here is what you are up to at 12 BIG months!

-You are so very close to walking all over the place! Yesterday you started taking about 2 steps at a time so I think we are in for more walking very soon.

- Your vocabulary is growing every day. As of today, you say, Dada, Mama, dog (duh), Dixie (dee-dee), Georgia (guh-guh), and uh-oh. You really learned uh-oh this weekend and now you say it all the time. You are constantly dropping stuff and saying "uh-oh." Oh and you are attempting to say "woof, woof!" like the dogs. Every time I say "dog" I say "woof woof!" and you follow with something that sounds like "ehh ehh." I guess that's your version of the dog sound.

- You can be a stinker or a charmer depending on your mood. If you are irritated you will angrily throw anything we offer you on the ground. For example, while we were in the check out line earlier today, you were starting to get sick of being in the basket so I offered you a toy. It wasn't enough to just push my hand away to say, "No, thanks"- you had to take the toy from me and throw it on the ground dramatically as if to say, "How could you even think to offer me that?!" On the flip side, if you are in a silly mood, you will just ham it up and soak up the attention. Saturday night after your party, people had cleared out and me, you and Grammar were on the couch and you kept going back and forth to us just laughing and playing, knowing you were being cute. The cute times definitely make up for your stinky times :)

- We are starting to transition to whole milk, which isn't going as easily as I had hoped. Right now, I am having to mix it in with your formula in a bottle since you won't take milk from a sippy cup. You're a little high maintenance.

- You eat 3 meals a day of table food, plus a snack in the afternoon. You drink juice from a sippy cup without a problem. In fact, most of the time, you chug it down like you are dying of thirst.

- Your most favorite food is probably macaroni and cheese. Or mandarin oranges. You love both.

- Your favorite toys right now are your big truck that you try and carry around, your shape sorter blocks, the leap frog table (still!), your piggy bank and probably every single one of your new toys you got for your birthday!

- You like books if they are touch and feel. If they aren't, then it's just not even worth it to try and read to you.

- You go to bed at about 7:30 or 8 and usually wake up close to 7. Since the time change you have been getting up earlier (around 6:15) and are a little grumpy by the end of the day as a result.

- When you are home with me, you take 2 naps a day- one in the morning and one in the afternoon. At school, who knows when you nap. Usually your sheet has written down that you sleep for about 30 minutes at a time a couple times a day. You need it pretty quiet for you to fall asleep and are very interested in what's going on around you, so it's no surprise that you aren't a good napper at school.

- You point at EVERYTHING. Your favorite is to point at the pictures around the house. Then you point and say, "Ehhh! Ehh!" until we take you to look at them, one by one.

- We have one balloon left from your party and you are kind of obsessed with it. It's a HUGE number 1 and you just love to hit it and touch it.

- You have 6 teeth that I know of. I say that because you don't let me look in your mouth and if I stick my finger in there to feel, you can bet that you are going to bite it.

- You wear a size 3 diaper and mostly 12 month clothes and a size 4 shoe.

- You are slowly but surely getting more hair. It's mostly blonde, but in some lights it looks like a light brown. No curls yet, but I'm still holding out hope that some will pop up :)

- You went for your one year heart check-up with Dr. G a couple of weeks ago and she said you looked great! You had an EKG, which was perfect, a chest x-ray and got another Holter monitor put on you for 24 hours. So far, everything looks good and there are no signs of your SVT coming back! We are seeing a specialist in February that will look more at the electrical side of your heart and hopefully give you the all-clear for good!

- You got weighed and measured at Dr. G's office, so at 11.5 months you were 19 lbs and 29.5 inches. I have no clue what % those are, but we'll go for your 1 year well-check this Friday and get all of the stats again.

Noah, I really don't think there are words to describe just how much your daddy and I love you. That fact makes it even harder for me to comprehend that your God loves you even MORE than that. Your little life and this first year have been a living testament to how good our God really is. You are a perfect, healthy, little piece of heaven on earth. Thank you, Lord, for letting me be your mama.

Happy Birthday little boy!

*all pictures were taken by Brittany Dawson

My little blue monster

2010-11-02T14:20:00.000-05:00

There is a line in one of Noah's favorite books, Walking and Talking with Elmo, where Elmo says, "What could be better than being a little red monster, laying with his daddy, watching the clouds go by?" I always laugh when I read that because it's such a random line (totally like Elmo though) and so philosophical sounding.

Well, Elmo, I think that being a little blue monster, held by his daddy, playing at the fall festival gives you a run for your money!

We have a TON more pictures of all the fall fun we have been having, but it's hard times at the Bayles' house for technology. So until that gets fixed, I am dependent on Ben's iphone for pictures. In other words, you get what you get :)

11 Months

2010-10-27T22:22:00.000-05:00

Well technically, it’s almost 11.5 months. Gah! I had such high hopes of getting this post up closer to Noah actually turning 11 months old. I WILL do better with 12 months.

One year. Holy Moly. My BABY will be ONE WHOLE YEAR OLD in less than 3 weeks. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Just FYI- there aren't any pictures. This is more just for me so I don't forget what baby Noah was like at 11 months old. We are having some computer issues at home (as in we wiped it and now can't do anything on it) so I'll have to add them later. There are some adorable ones from this month, too!

Noah B, here is what you are up to at 11 months old!

I have absolutely no idea how much you weigh or how long you are (find out next month), but you definitely look a lot taller this month and even a little leaner- more like a little toddler and less like a baby. You still have those baby cheeks and chubby little hands and feet, thank goodness.

You have gotten much faster at crawling. You LOVE for me to get on the ground and “chase” you crawling- you laugh and go super fast, but pause occasionally to make sure I am still after you. It’s pretty cute.

You pull up on everything with absolutely no problem. In fact, you barely need any support at all getting to a standing position. You’re pretty close to just going from sitting to standing all by yourself.

You will let go and stand on your own for long amounts of time. Sometimes you will bounce up and down without holding on to anything either! Big boy!

You aren’t walking on your own, but you do use the push toy now. You usually end up with it running into the wall, get mad and then just keep ramming it into the wall until someone helps you turn it. Oh dear.

You point at EVERYTHING. Outside, the dogs, people, pictures, trees, basically anything you want to touch or see closer.

When we get home from school you have a routine of what you want to look at and let us know by pointing at them. Usually it goes: glittery spiders on the mantle (Halloween decorations), pictures on the desk (your favorite is the one of daddy and Dixie dog), then pictures on the wall of mama and daddy’s wedding, and finally the back door or window to look at the dogs. It is so funny to me how you have a little ritual and remember it every.single.day.

You are trying to say “dog” and it usually comes out “duh” or “guh.” You are obsessed with the dogs. You love standing at the window looking at them and you get so excited when it’s time to feed them. You will stop whatever you are doing and crawl over real fast to go outside and “help.”

You do “SOOO BIG” really well and usually clap for yourself right after. It’s about 50/50 whether you will do it on command. The best shot we have of you cooperating is while you are in your highchair eating.

In fact, while you are in your highchair eating is probably when you act your silliest. You’ll make faces, laugh, talk and just eat up the attention that you get for being so funny.

On the flip side, your highchair is also where we have had the most “discipline” problems with you. You are such a good, happy little boy, BUT you have a problem with spitting your food out at us if you decide you don’t like it. It tends to happen if you get a piece of fruit followed by a bite of vegetable or meat. The chewed up veggie comes falling out of your mouth once you realize what it is. Yuck. Your dad and I are determined to not have a picky eater and to raise a child that eats their vegetables. So, the chewed up food goes back in your mouth, which you do not like so much, and you get told “No!” when you spit it out. Sometimes I can catch you when you are about to spit it out and just tell you “No sir” and you rethink your decision.

Speaking of discipline, this month marked the first time that you reacted adversely to the word “No” or getting talked to in a stern voice. You get this hurt little face and start crying, which I think is just so sad. Besides the spitting food problem, the only other time you get in trouble is when you are getting your diaper changed or getting your clothes on in the morning or after your bath. You constantly try to escape all of those activities, which causes many tears.

You still love your mom and dad to hold you and get a little upset when someone you don’t recognize tries to hold you. And you can forget about us leaving you. It is sure to bring on tears, even if we are just going into the other room.

It’s getting harder and harder to keep you occupied during church. You are just so busy and have so much to say that it’s hard to be quiet and confined to a small area for an hour or longer. We go through books, snacks, a bottle if we need to, toys, the Sunday bulletin, cell phones, etc. But I love having you in church, so I’m going to use all my tricks before you go to the nursery for worship (your dad and I kind of differ on this).

Here are all of the table foods you are eating (and some spitting out :) ): chicken, turkey lunch meat, ravioli, grilled cheese, peas, cooked carrots, cooked squash, sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, french fries (he’s tried a couple. Mom of the year, I know), diced apples, peaches, pears, mandarin oranges, grapes, blueberries, bananas, strawberries, shredded cheese, applesauce, cinnamon rolls, cinnamon toast, waffles, french toast, pancakes, scrambled eggs, nutri-grain bars and nilla wafters.

This is our last month of formula! Hooray! And, hopefully, the bottle to sippy cup transition will go smoothly. You drink from a sippy cup fine- but just water and juice. The one time I tried to put formula in it, you got pretty ticked at me. Fingers crossed that you get over it quickly!

You are just getting better and better, little boy! I love being your mama and spending every second that I can with you- I absolutely live for the weekends when we can hang out all day long. I can’t wait to celebrate your 1st year in just a few weeks!

State of the Union

2010-10-05T16:44:00.000-05:00

I did a little trip down blog memory lane today and noticed a couple of things.

1. Since having Noah (really since getting pregnant) I really don’t write very often and

2. When I do write, it’s generally a monthly update on Noah.

Clearly I get a big fat FAIL for documenting all of what is going on with our family. But here’s the thing. I work full time. I have a 10 month old. I have a husband that has a lot of hobbies that aren’t exactly indoor and appropriate for a baby since they involve things like guns and saw blades. That means that I am hanging out with a 10 month old that thinks the computer is AWESOME and it makes great noises when you bang on it, but it’s not so great when mom is staring at it and not letting him touch it. As of right now, I don’t have a cook or maid. On top of that, we don’t have a single family member that lives in the same city as us (ie we travel a lot). Point is, I am busy. While I can’t promise that I will be any better in the future, I really AM going to try to be better. Because here’s the other thing. I WANT to remember what our life was like while it’s just the three of us.

So, in the spirit of being better, here are some things going on with ALL of the Bayles.

- It’s hunting season. This means that Ben sent me an email a couple of weeks ago outlining our weekends from now until January (not kidding) and filling them in with his hunting trips. He’s not gone every single weekend. I mean he’ll be at Noah’s birthday party.

- Ben is working so hard on starting his own business. He’s making custom game calls (ladies, calm DOWN) and for very special people, he’ll make fancy pens and pencils. It really is very impressive what he can make. If I had as much talent in my whole being as Ben has in his pinky finger I would be over the moon. The business is called Truly Custom Calls and even has a facebook page! Look it up and become a fan! The website is almost finished and as soon as it is, there will be a link on our sidebar for it. Right now it is just a hobby that will maybe make a few bucks, but we’ll see where it leads.

- I absolutely live for the second that I leave work and head home to see my favorite little person. Two nights a week it’s just me and him, and while it’s hard sometimes, I love every single minute with him. Even when he spits his food out at me and acts like what I have cooked is the most disgusting thing that has ever entered his little mouth.

- I think I might have a slight addiction to buying baby clothes online. Here’s the situation. I like Noah to wear a certain type of clothing. I’m not someone who believes that all babies should be dressed a certain way, but just like in my clothes, there is a certain “style” that I like him wear. For Sunday morning, I prefer him to wear jon-jons, smocked long-alls, etc. The major problem with this is that type of baby clothing tends to be quite pricey. Enter sites like zulily and smocked auctions on facebook. Oh my word. The very same clothes, only 50-70% off!! It’s like a crime to NOT buy stuff. After this week, I have convinced myself that I absolutely cannot buy Noah anymore Sunday outfits for the fall and winter. What I have not convinced myself of is that the babies our friends are having (especially the two baby GIRLS on the way) should not be getting a precious outfit or two.

- We had a surprise birthday party for my mom’s 60th birthday a few weeks ago in San Antonio. My mom is the perfect person for a surprise party. She is so trusting and doesn’t question anything. Our story was pretty believable though. Karen needed help with some things for the party the night before so we told mom we wanted to stay at my sister’s house in Wimberley Friday night so that I could go to the outlet mall in the morning and then we would meet for lunch in SA. Even though it was going to be HER birthday lunch, we told her what restaurant we wanted to meet at (the one where the party was) and she just went right along with it. We could have told her to meet us at a taco truck on the Southside of SA and she would have gone and not wondered why. I love my sweet mama.

- There has been a baby explosion around us lately. Off the top of my head, I can think of 8 friends that just had babies or are going to have a baby. Oh how I miss the sweet, tiny baby stage and their precious noises and how they stay curled in a ball when you get them out of their car seat. I may have a touch of baby fever when I am around them. And then I look at my sweet Noah and see how I can’t even walk out of the room without him crying and crawling after me and pulling on my leg to pick him up. And I realize I still have a little baby and am definitely not ready for him to be a big brother yet. It’s also pretty nice to sleep all night long.

- The newest little friend we have is Wyatt. He was born on Saturday to some dear friends of ours, Courtney and Justin, and is in the NICU working on his breathing since he was born a little early. We would so appreciate it if everyone would say a prayer for that little guy and his precious family!

So I guess that’s it for now. Our weeks are busy, busy with work, school and keeping up with Noah. We have Jake’s 1st Birthday Paw-ty this weekend, which I can’t believe is already here. I swear we were just having the boys’ baby shower yesterday.

10 Months

2010-09-23T09:13:00.000-05:00

10 months sounds so much older than 9 months, right? I don’t know how it got to be September so fast, but here it is. I’ve had to suck it up and deal with the fact that my baby boy is inching closer and closer to 1 year old for the sake of his fabulous birthday party. Decorations have been ordered, one year pictures have been scheduled and his special birthday shirt should be on its way to our house soon J

Noah B-

Here are 10 things about you at 10 months old…

1. You now have 4 teeth! You have had your bottom two for a while (July 29th to be exact) and you just cut your top two September 9th. They caused considerably less drama than the bottom two. You had about a week of getting up at odd hours in the middle of the night, but once those teeth poked through you were back to normal! You look like SUCH a big boy with those teeth.

2. You crawl all over the place and pull up on everything! At first you were hesitant to get off the rug in the living room and venture onto the wood floors, but now you cruise pretty much wherever you want to (although, you actually stay in the living room most of the time). You aren’t a huge fan of the tile in the kitchen, but that may be because the swiffer scared you one day.

3. It’s a three-way tie as to what is your favorite thing to pull up on: me and daddy, your leap frog table, or our barstools. Your leap frog table is by far your favorite toy and you’ve spent hours standing at it pushing every single button on there. I think I have the sounds from that little table permanently engraved in my head. On the other hand, you are happiest when someone is on the floor playing with you. You will play with your toys and then remember that we are down there with you and crawl over to us with the biggest smile proceed to climb all over us. Then you’ll go back to your toys and repeat. SO cute! And then you are obsessed with our barstools. You get so proud when you pull up on them! I’m making a mental note right now to video it. You pull up and start bobbing up and down like you are dancing and smile huge, all the while looking around to make sure we are watching you (which, of course we are!).

4. You became a little bit of a mama’s boy this month. It’s not a secret that I LOVE this. I believe my exact words to your dad were, “FINALLY all of the hours I’ve logged in with him are paying off!” Thankfully, you still don’t cry when we drop you off places, but if I am in the room, you want me to either hold you or be right by your side. Love, love, love it.

5. You are getting better about eating table food- thanks to the teeth- and you are a TON better at feeding yourself. I can give you Ritz crackers and you will chomp on them, you get shredded cheese (which you love) and some of it actually makes it in your mouth and you of course get your beloved puffs. We have made it through several church services thanks to those puffs.

6. You have decided that you love your puppy dogs, especially Dixie. You just light up and start kicking your legs and flailing your arms when you see her. You are just fascinated with the dogs. You love to watch Georgia eat (if you’ve ever seen that dog eat, you’d understand), you love to pet Dixie and get so tickled when her nose touches you. You still don’t get to spend a ton of time with the dogs since they are outside dogs, but I hope that one day when you are bigger you will spend hours outside playing with them 

7. You make some pretty funny faces and noises. Your current favorite is one where you wrinkle your nose and smile and breathe out your nose (sort of like…a bull??). You also have started talking in, what I like to call, your mean voice. You’ll shout, “DADADADADA” in a kind of raspy voice and you look like you’re trying to make a scary face. Then your dad or I will do it back to you and we go back and forth until you are tired of it. Silly boy!

8. You’ve started getting your flirt on at restaurants and church. We were eating lunch the other day and there were THREE tables of women lunching surrounding us. You were absolutely eating up the attention. You would flash your “crinkly-nose-bull-face” and they would just gush at you. At church, you like to stand holding onto the back of the pew and flirt with whoever is behind us.

9. You definitely understand the word “no.” We are bad parents and haven’t really gotten around to baby proofing the entire house and have a couple of outlets still uncovered. When you notice them (which isn’t often, but still) you are drawn to those suckers like a moth to a light. It’s like they have a magnetic force for babies surrounding them. I can tell when they catch your eye and you start crawling towards them and at first, I just say, “Noah, what are you doing?” in my best mom voice. You usually stop and turn to me and flash me a smile and then keep going. Ha! Then I say, “No sir” and you stop mid-crawl and think about what you are going to do next. Unless I distract you with something else, you usually carry on to your destination, but at least I know you understand that the word “No” is supposed to make you think about your actions. We’ll work on making the right choice next. And we will DEFINITELY cover those outlets this weekend.

10. You are so HAPPY! Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, says this about you. Oh, I am so thankful you are a happy boy. You light up a room when you are in it. I pray and pray that you stay this way.

Love you little boy! Less than 2 MONTHS until your 1^st birthday!!!

Seriously

2010-09-10T14:44:00.000-05:00

I don't think I could love this little boy anymore than I already do and then I see a picture of him like this and my heart grows just a little bit more.

I mean seriously.

9 (and a half) months

2010-08-31T21:36:00.000-05:00

NOAH!

You are 9 whole months old! You have now been out of my tummy for longer than you were in it...makes this mama a little teary eyed thinking about it like that. It's not that I don't want you to grow up because I do. But I also want you to stay little forever. The other day I was rocking you to sleep and couldn't help but think that you are the closest thing to perfection this side of heaven that I will ever see. As I held you I prayed and thanked God for giving me and your daddy such a precious, healthy, beautiful baby boy. You are honestly the best thing I have EVER done and I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE watching you grow.

Here's what 9 months brought you:

- You continue to grow, grow, grow! At your 9 month appointment you were 17 lb, 10 oz (10th percentile) and 28.5 inches long (50-75th percentile)! We knew you would eventually make it to long and skinny...

-The day of your 9 month check up (it was actually on August 20th) you took your first crawls!! There was a light up toy of your friend, Jack's, that you thought was pretty awesome and you just had to get to it.  You had an audience too- Daddy and I were there watching you, of course, along with Justin, Courtney and Jack and Jana and BJ! Thanks for putting on a show :)

- Since then you are still mastering the art of the crawl and still sometimes resort to just scooting on your tummy if you really want to get somewhere fast. You never army crawled though.

- You are starting to pull up on things and are getting steadier and steadier every time. You do fall backwards every now and then, but are a tough guy and don't seem to mind!

- You tried a couple of new things to eat this month- some you like, some you don't. Yogurt and yogurt melts are a no-go right now.  I think it's too sour or something for your little tastebuds. You do like cheese, bits of Ritz crackers, and blueberries cut up though.

- You are still not the best at the sippy cup. Actually, you can drink just fine from it, you just choose to spit it all out once you get it in your mouth.

- You refuse to feed yourself. You are more than capable of grabbing a puff with your chubby little fingers, but the second we try and get you to put it in your mouth, you arch your back and try and shove us away. Little stinker.

- You love your bottles. Well, truth be told, you love them the instant you see them and throw a little fit until it is in your mouth and then lose interest a few minutes into them. We're actually trying to work on the little temper tantrums you throw when you don't get what you want, when you want it. Patience isn't my strongest suit either, especially when I'm hungry, so I understand it's hard.

- You are still on the same eating and sleeping schedule as 8 months and naps are still not great, but we take what we can get.

- You still are super happy about 90% of the time- the other 10% is the 7 seconds it takes to get the bottle in your mouth after you have spotted it and when you are tired.  Other than that, you just smile, talk, babble and laugh all the time! It's so fun to be around you!

- Your Daddy and I still love you more than anything, Little Buddy!

Pics from 9 months:

Pulling up on the chair!

He spotted me and is coming after the camera...

How can you not pick up this little boy and kiss those cheeks when he looks at you like that?? Yes, I'm a big sucker.

Started out happy in the chair for our 9 month photo shoot...

Making mama nervous diving for the ledge- I have a feeling this is only the beginning of my nervousness...

Aaaaand, he's done.

You sit in your big-boy high chair now! You like it most of the time :)

Oh my, we have a crawler

2010-08-25T09:21:00.000-05:00

Last Friday little buddy took his first official crawls! We were hanging out with some friends and I guess he wanted an audience because he did it when about 6 people were watching him. Either that or Jack's toys are way cooler than his and worth making the effort to get to :) He only took a couple little crawls that night and then WHILE I WAS AWAY on Saturday, he decided to make it official and crawl again! Thank goodness for Ben's iphone or I would have missed this! I can't believe my baby boy is crawling!

I'll be back...ummm...sometime...to do a 9 month post! A lot happened this month!

He Laughs

2010-07-29T11:46:00.000-05:00

Just a couple of things before you watch the cutest video ever:

1. Thankfully Noah's sweet laugh drowns out my singing

2. About halfway through Ben says, "And it's done" when it is actually not done, so keep watching!

3. He is holding proof that he really does enjoy playing with the Hot Tamale box

Enjoy! Click even if the screen is black :)

8 months

2010-07-27T12:57:00.001-05:00

Umm when did Noah’s ticker at the top start counting down to his first birthday?!?! I am NOT ready for that. We still have 3 and a half blissful months of little baby Noah left!

Although, if I’m being honest…I will admit that I have started planning his 1st birthday party and have even been buying up decorations and have a date set aside for it. The ONLY reason I have been buying decorations already is because if I waited until October or November to do it, all that would in the stores is Thanksgiving and Christmas stuff! Let’s face it, the summer months have way more fun and colorful party décor available. Not that a cornucopia/pilgrim themed birthday party doesn’t sound AWESOME. :)

On to 8 months…

This has been SUCH a fun month. I told Ben that if I could have ordered a baby off of a menu and hand-picked traits, Noah would have every single one of them. He is so incredibly happy, and has definitely earned the name “angel baby.”

Here’s what your eighth month was like, Noah baby:

- You started doubling-over laughing- not at just being tickled as you have been doing for a while, but laughing at silly things. You think your mama is the FUNNIEST person. I was dancing in the living room the other day to “I Need a Hero” and you were laughing so hard you couldn’t even keep your head up. I’m pretty sure anyone that would have witnessed that would have been laughing hard, but that’s neither here nor there.

- You went on your first vacation! We went to the cabin in New Mexico for a week after Aunt Micah’s wedding. Despite the banging, hammering, loooooong car rides and a few other setbacks, I think you really enjoyed being at the cabin! You loved looking at the hummingbirds and aspen leaves and swinging on the new porch swing outside.

- You sit up like a big boy all the time with no pillows around you and for long amounts of time. You have gotten to where we can sit you down on the floor surrounded by toys and you will play and talk for a good amount of time by yourself and even longer if we just sit down there with you.

- You have started reaching for things when you are sitting up. Unless I am there to help you with maneuvering your legs, you end up going to your tummy to get whatever it is that you want

- Your favorite toys are: spoons, an empty Hot Tamale box, paper, gum packages, the remote, my phone, empty bowls. What, those aren’t toys, you say? Yes, I am aware of that. You still play with your toys (stackable rings, laugh n learn puppy, and your dump truck that makes noise are currently your faves) but you prefer to play with non-toys.

- You still love to jump, jump, jump in your jumperoo! You go crazy in that thing.

- You FINALLY started rolling over more. With this new skill has come some problems though. You roll to your tummy in the middle of the night and can’t get back over to your back. You are so sleepy when it happens and you just whine and bury your face in your sheets. Sometimes you make it back to sleep on your tummy and other times I just go in and flip you over.

- You spent your very first 4th of July at home with me and your Grammar. Daddy was in Canada for work and Grammar came down and spent the entire week with you! I don’t know who enjoyed it more…me, you or Grammar

- You talk all the time! So far, its just “da da da da” and “na na na” and it ranges from very loud to a whisper. I love it when you whisper

- We started trying to use a sippy cup and you weren’t really feeling it. In fact, you gagged on it when I put in your mouth. We bought a different brand since then and you have actually started drinking from it! But I guess that skill really will go in your 9 month post…

- You wore size 2-3 diaper and a 3 at night

- You went back to having a bottle 5 times a day- each bottle is about 6 ounces every 3-4 hours. I know, that’s back up to 30 ounces, which your doctor said was too much, but that’s what works best for you and if you want 5 more ounces a day, so be it

- Just for kicks, here is your current schedule:

7am- wake up, drink 6 oz bottle
7:45-8- eat oatmeal or cereal mixed with juice or fruit
9-10 or 10:30- nap
10:30- 6 oz bottle
11:30- lunch- ½ stage 2 veggie and ½ stage 2 fruit
12:30- nap
2pm (or whenever you wake up)- 6 oz bottle
4pm- nap (maybe)
5pm- 6 oz bottle
6:30 dinner- ½ stage 2 meat and veggie and ½-a whole stage 2 fruit
7pm- bath time
7:30-8 bottle and bedtime

- You are a pretty flexible kid so anything can be off by 30 minutes and you are fine. The only thing that you do not do well with is if you miss is your morning nap. If it’s the weekend, I try to be home for that. Sunday is the only day that you usually miss that nap, but luckily we usually make up for it with a good afternoon nap!

- You constantly open and close your hands. When you want something, you open and close your hands and start flailing your arms. When you want to be picked up you put both arms kind of out at your side and open and close your fists.

- I decided to put the whole open and closing your hands to good use and started working on “bye-bye” which you are getting better at (or its just a coincidence…). After bath, you like to look at yourself in the mirror and talk. So when it is time to leave the bathroom, I started standing with you at the mirror and saying “Bye-bye, baby!” and waving. By the time we are in the hall you start lifting one arm and opening and closing your fist. I’m considering it the beginnings of waving.

- I tell you at least 5 times a day that you are the cutest thing ever. And then, I tell your dad that you are the cutest thing ever another 5 times a day  I think you are pretty cute.

It is so cliché but I am so stinkin’ proud of every single thing that you do, Noah! It is the most amazing thing watching my precious son learn and grow and LAUGH. There is no better sound in the entire world than when you giggle and I can’t wait for the years of giggling and laughing that we have ahead!

Love you baby boy!

Ya Ya

2010-07-15T21:42:00.000-05:00

Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood was on TV last night and it made me think about and miss my most favorite girls. We have known each other for 15 years...well most of us...Dabs is just a baby :) When you aren't even 30 yet, 15 years is a long time! When we were younger we decided that we needed a name for our little posse and for some insane reason we decided on the Chi Chis. It stuck and we now have Choo Choos (our men) and little baby Chiclets. Ha!

I honestly cannot express how much these girls mean to me. We have laughed SO much in the last 15 years. We've been there for each other every single step of the way- in the good times and sad times. We've gotten in trouble together (umm River Trip anyone??) and still all I can really remember was how much fun we had.

So, this is for my Chi Chis. Mar, Suz and Dabs, I love yall. And you're welcome for not putting ANY pictures from junior high or high school on here.

"A friend is someone who knows all about you and loves you just the same."

-Elbert Hubbard

L-R Me, Mary, Susan and Dabney

Code Brown

2010-07-12T08:53:00.001-05:00

I was giving Noah a bath last night and everything was going completely normal. We had finished washing off and singing, Noah had gotten bored with his toys and moved onto just plain ole splashing. I was sitting beside the tub and was getting his towel down and arranged for the transfer from the tub to lap when I noticed the splashing had stopped and little buddy was very still. I thought, “Surely not!” He went back to splashing very quickly (I’m talking he stopped for maybe 3 seconds). Then it happened again, this time with a couple of grunts. It was then that I realized what was truly going on. NTB just looked up and smiled at me while I was saying, “No, No, NO!” I lifted him up and sure enough, we had a code brown on our hands. I yelled for Ben to come here and explained to him the situation. I sent him for a wipe while I got the culprit out of the tub. Ben brought the wipe and walked out of the bathroom very nonchalantly. Sneaky guy. Luckily, he married a sharp girl, so I asked him where he thought he was going leaving me to take care of the little stinker AND his mess? Think again, buddy. Since I was already in the process of getting Noah ready for bed, he had the pleasure of cleaning out the tub, which was quite entertaining with a lot of talk about “strategy.” When I also told him that he’ll need to actually clean the tub, not just rinse the offending “stuff” out, what does my smart, engineer-also-getting-his-MBA husband do? He grabbed the Head & Shoulders shampoo sitting there. It was like he had never cleaned anything in his life. The Scrubbing Bubbles might be a better choice, babe.

I just love these two boys.

6 and 7 months!

2010-06-23T15:38:00.000-05:00

Half a year old. Whoa, nelly!

Noah-
6 months just flew right on by and then before I knew it, you were 7 months old! Yikes! You will soon learn that your dear mom is not on top of a lot of things…like keeping your baby book up to date…or folding AND putting away laundry BUT you will ALWAYS be fed, clean and look cute! I like to think of it as prioritizing : )

Let’s start with 6 months. Here are the highlights:

- You weighed 14lb 11oz (5-10%) and were 26in (25%)

- You found your feet and think it’s funny when I put your foot in your mouth

- You really started eating baby food. Your favorites right from the get-go were bananas and prunes. I fed you bananas pretty much every day for almost 2 weeks straight before I realized that bananas cause a clog in the “plumbing” and we quickly moved onto prunes. Luckily you LOVE prunes and the problem was fixed. I’m very sorry and I won’t ever feed you bananas twice a day for weeks on end.

- You started with baby food only once a day- about ¼ a banana mixed with cereal or ½ a container of stage one fruit- at dinner time. By the end of 6 months, you ate breakfast- cereal mixed with bananas or a little apple juice and water and then dinner of ½ a container of fruit or veggie.

- You ate 30-35 oz of formula a day before we went for your 6 month check-up and the doc said that was too much! Then we cut it back to about 25-30 oz a day.

- At 6 months, you were still getting 5 bottles a day, every 3 hours

- You got to try ice cream- not by the spoonful or anything, but we were at Marble Slab and poor thing would open your mouth and look at me with puppy dog eyes every time I took a bite and wore me down until I finally gave in. You were a fan!

- You started sitting up a little better on your own but would pretty quickly slump forward and assume the “tripod” pose where you held yourself up with your arms in front of you

- The day of your 6 month appointment you decided that sleeping at night was not for you and you began your worst month of sleep since you were a tiny baby. To be honest, there was at least one night when your dad was out of town and it was just you and I and I cried right along with you. I think this all revolved around teething, but you haven’t had any little teeth poke through yet.

- Your dad and I finally got desperate and decided to do a baby boot camp Memorial Day weekend where we let you cry and didn’t go in and give you a paci or pick you up or anything. It sorta worked. It took about one more week before it clicked and you became the best angel baby ever and slept completely through the night for 10+ hours. Thank you!!!

- You got in the pool for the first time and LOVED it! You splashed and splashed so much that your eyes would get red and you would be gasping for air, but have the biggest smile on your face.

- You wore 3-6 month clothes pretty much exclusively

Now for 7 months!

I feel like besides eating more and getting bigger, 7 months was pretty low-key! Here’s what you were up to:

- I don’t know how much you weigh, but I would bet you are pushing 16lbs now

- You eat 3 meals a day. For breakfast you have a bottle and oatmeal mixed with fruit or juice (you’ve tried apple, pear and white grape now). For lunch you get ½ a container of a fruit and ½ a container of a veggie. For dinner you get ½ a container of a meat and veggie combo and ½ a container to a whole container of a fruit.

- You are past the stage one foods and on to the 2nd stage foods.

- Your favorite foods are: apples and chicken dinner, sweet potatoes and turkey dinner, any and all fruit (but you especially love anything mixed with blueberry), and little tiny bites of real banana. You are not a fan of veggies (shocker) but you tolerate them and manage to choke them down after you put on a show and pretend to gag on them. Seriously, you are a little dramatic about it.

- You get a bottle 4 times a day most days and every once in a while we squeeze in an extra for a total of about 28 oz a day.

- You have tried puffs and like them, but aren’t interested AT ALL in picking them up and feeding them to yourself. You would rather just hold the container and shake it.

- You tried a little bit cupcake icing at your friend, Jack’s birthday party for the first time and liked it- surprise, surprise (I don’t think I’ll be winning mom of the year feeding my baby ice cream and icing!)

- You have discovered pulling straws out of drinks and really like doing that- you get so proud of yourself when you get it

- You LOVE LOVE LOVE looking at yourself in the mirror or pictures. In fact, I think it is your absolute favorite thing.

- You get super excited when I tell you we are going to take a bath and we walk into your bathroom. Your legs and arms just start going nuts!

- You sit up in your bathtub without the hammock thing. I almost always give you your bath and one night daddy gave it to you and called me in there to see how cute you were and when I walked in you were sitting there like a big boy!

- You are getting more and more personality. When you are sitting in the tub and splashing, you will stop and look up at us and make sure we are watching you and when you see that we are, you smile so big and go back to splashing. Funny little show-off!

That’s all I can think of right now, but I’m sure I am forgetting something cute that you do! Your dad and I are just amazed at how much you are growing and how much cuter you get every single day! You are so fun and make being a mama look easy. I love you little boy.

Behind

2010-06-07T09:30:00.000-05:00

Sooo, I am a little behind.

Parts of this month have been really busy, parts have been blissfully uneventful, and pretty much ALL of this month has been spent teething by the littlest member of our family. Needless to say, it’s been interesting. And tiring.

The beginning of the month was heavy on travel. We went to Fort Worth to celebrate some pretty special people. Ben’s sister, Micah, is getting married in just a few short weeks, so I hosted a wedding shower for her. It was so fun- it’s such a special time in your life when you are getting married, and I loved getting to be a part of that for Micah. We also celebrated the newest (and only) doctor in our group of friends. Dabney is one of my oldest and best friends, and she made the wise choice a few years ago to marry a future doctor. :)

Ben went to Kansas for almost an entire week, leaving me and little buddy to fend for ourselves. It really wasn’t so bad, aside from probably the worst night of sleep since Noah was a newborn.

Noah and I decided we had enough of being by ourselves, so we went to San Antonio for the weekend. It also happened to be a pretty big birthday weekend in my family- Terri (I won’t say her age, but it was a monumental birthday), Jackson (turned 6) and Emmie (turned 4) all have a birthday within a week of each other. All in all, the San Antonio trip was time well spent.

The next weekend was a glorious 3-day weekend, thanks to Memorial Day. We hung our American flag proudly and spent a lot of sweet time as a family of 3- it was perfect.

This past weekend, we had absolutely nothing to do. Ben has been spending a lot of time in the evenings and on the weekend working on my desk, so that is what he did most of Saturday while Noah and I played and ran errands. Thankfully, he took Sunday off from working on anything in the garage and we just had a nice, relaxing day hanging out, taking turns holding Noah and shopping for the great Cabin re-do of 2010. (We’re doing some renovations and redecorating at the cabin in New Mexico this summer.) It was another fabulous weekend with just some quiet, little moments spent as a family. My favorite. I am just so incredibly thankful for my husband and baby boy.

Oh, and for the 2nd time in a week, Noah slept completely through the night, without me getting up even ONE time to put a paci in or soothe him back to sleep. Hallelujah!

6 and 7 month posts (maybe I’ll just combine them at this point) are hopefully coming soon. We’re getting the “red light of death” on our internet modem-thingy. Sigh.

So Excited!

2010-05-12T15:36:00.000-05:00

I am so very excited. Just yesterday I booked a birthday/5 year anniversary trip for Benny and I to NYC!! Assuming we don't really go anywhere between now and then, this will be our first trip sans baby. We have quite a while before we actually go on the trip (December) but I am in full-on planning mode. I've been to NYC before, but never during the holiday season, when the city is all decked out for Christmas. I cannot wait to see the big tree, ice skate in Central Park, watch the Rockettes Christmas show, and look at all the window displays. It is going to be so incredibly fun!

What I have been mainly looking at the last couple of days is restaurants. I love eating on vacation- it doesn't even have to be super nice- I just love the whole experience of eating good food while away from home. I am 100% sure we will be going here at least for lunch or a snack one day- it's like a dream come true. There are so many amazing restaurants in NYC that I don't really know how to choose! Does anyone have any suggestions?

As excited as I am, I think I can wait for December to get here because that will mean my baby is one whole year old. I'm having a hard enough time with the fact that he will be six months old in just a few days.

On another note, Mother's Day 2010 was excellent. I woke up and walked into the kitchen and had a huge, beautiful bouquet and sweet cards waiting for me on the island. For my gift, Noah ordered me a necklace with his birthstone, I picked up a precious picture frame to put a picture of a precious boy in and I also got a pair of shoes that I am calling part of my Mother's Day gift :)

The actual day itself was pretty much like any other Sunday- we went to church, then to brunch just the 3 of us, then we all went home. Noah took a nap, Ben studied for finals and I read a book. Nothing too busy- just a normal day that I got to play mommy on.

This is the only picture we took all day and it was with my cell phone! I just had to show my sister Terri what Noah looked like in one of Jackson's old outfits. Those two boys look like twins!

Welcome to Aggieland, Noah B

2010-05-04T14:22:00.000-05:00

We took a little family road trip up to ~~the Motherland~~ College Station a couple weekends ago to introduce Noah to his future school and take in a little Aggie baseball action. Seriously, every time we go to CS we leave talking about how we need to find a way to live there. Between the Aggie goodness, small town with no traffic and good friends we have there, it’s perfect! Plus, it puts us smack dab in the middle of Noah’s grandparents- equal distant to both families. Maybe one day…

We got in on Friday night and went to Jeremy, Stacey and Abby’s new digs. Their new house is beautiful, and they were perfect hosts. Abby is SO PRECIOUS. Just look at her. We gave Noah the green light to start putting the moves on her.

Holding hands already

Saturday we hit up all the bookstores in search of some Aggie gear for the family and diploma frames. Four and a half years out of college and we are FINALLY getting that done. We spent a somewhat ridiculous amount of money on A&M shirts (mostly fishing shirts now that I think about it- I think Ben ended up with 3? How that happened with me present- I don’t know.), hats and an adorable smocked bubble for the little guy. Truth be told, our original intent was to look for a hat for our little baldy but by the time it was all said and done, we figured it had been a couple years since we updated our Aggie wardrobe AND we have a new person to outfit- so it was worth it.

I mean, just LOOK at him. Sooo worth it.

There is a new ridiculously HUGE Aggie ring by the Association of Former Students.

We then trucked it over to Kyle Field. Unfortunately, the guy getting the tour fell asleep.

He wasn’t thrilled that we woke him up to take a picture with the 12th Man. We tried telling him that one day, when we show these pictures at his senior slide show, he’ll thank us. Except, I don’t really think that boys care about their senior slide show pictures.

After Kyle Field, it was time to head over to Olsen for the game. Our awesome parking pass that came with our awesome tickets ended up being completely worthless as we had to park MILES away on the other side of Reed. I’m not bitter or anything.

We finally made it to the game and guess who we saw?! Aunt Candace!

Once we made it to our seats we realized that they were halfway in the sun…not ideal for little baby skin. So, Noah charmed the usher and she moved us up a little bit to the shade. That was after a nice couple offered to switch seats with us so that NTB could be in the shade. I just love Aggies!

By the way, we decided that the guy pictured below right in the middle, is what Ben will look like in 20 or 30 years...same hair, only gray AND they were even wearing the same fishing shirt. Ha!

Daddy and son in their hats. Love it.

Must have been an intense play.

At this point, I think Noah was like "Really?! More pictures?" OH you have no idea, baby.

So happy to be at the Aggie baseball game on such a pretty day!

We decided to start our trek back to the car at the bottom of the 9th inning since it was getting close to feeding time (and we were out of bottles) while the Aggies were winning 5-3. By the time we made it to the car, the game was tied. We made it back to Jeremy and Stacey’s, packed up, fed Noah, and got on the road and the game was STILL going on. Obviously NTB was the Aggie’s good luck charm.

Oh I forgot to mention one thing. On our hike back to the car, we almost literally got run into by two guys running from the intramural football fields through the parking lot with a broom between their legs. Strange. So I looked over at the fields and there was a game going on that, at first glace, looked like rugby or football. I took a closer look and noticed that EVERYONE had a broom between their legs and they were running around chasing someone with a ball.

I finally put it together that it had to be some crazy Harry Potter fans playing whatever it is that they play in HP (I’m not a Harry Potter fan. Sorry, I just don’t get into that kind of thing) but I’m not sure what it’s called? Apparently it’s all the rage on campus these days. I just don’t know about running around with a broom between my legs.

I can’t end with that sentence so I’ll leave with this:

5 Months (and 6 days)

2010-04-22T12:27:00.005-05:00

Baby Noah!

You are 5 months old now. Holy moly. If I could make time stand still, I just might. You are such a smiley, happy, fun, cuddly little buddy. One day, when you are a big boy and grown up, I just know these are the days that I am going to look back on and think of as the best time in my life.

"These are the days now that we must savor

And we must enjoy as we can

These are the days that will last forever

You've got to hold them in your heart."

-These are the Days by Van Morrison

Here is what you are up to at 5 months, NTB:

-You are so close to sitting up by yourself. We took a short break of practicing it and then just the other day, we were in your room and I was getting a book off your bookcase so I set you down and you sat up for a couple seconds on your own!

- I'm positive you recognize your daddy and I (and have for a while) but now you smile big, get your legs and arms going and squeal when you see me for the first time when I pick you up from school. Makes this mama's heart just melt!

- You LOVE getting your diaper changed now- unless you are too hungry- then you cry. Otherwise, you are all smiles on the changing table!

- You recognize your bottle and start this sort of whimpering sound when you see it- makes me laugh every time! You still don't quite get that you have to spit your paci out in order to eat though, so if we wait too long to help you out you get mad and start crying.

- You are eating about 30-35 ounces a day of formula (6-7oz bottles, 5 times a day)

- You started eating rice cereal recently...and were not a fan. So, we took a week-long break and tried again. Still not a fan. Finally, after talking to some other moms I decided to mix in some mashed bananas and you love it! Well, love is a strong word. You at least eat it and act like you want more.

- The hardest part about eating for you is that you love your hands. They are always in your mouth! I pry them out of there to stick the spoon in and immediately you put your hands back in. All the food eventually gets back in your mouth, but it is so messy! You're a boy and things are going to get messy, so I just need to learn to deal with it and not worry about wiping your hands after every bite :)

- You are wearing almost exclusively 3-6 month clothes- I'd say about 90% of what you wear is 3-6. You still fit into one or two pairs of 0-3 pjs and a couple of church outfits that are 3 month size...although I get confused when the tag just says "3 months." Does that mean 0-3 or 3-6?? Whatever size you are in, you always look adorable!

- You finally moved up to a size 2 diaper

- I have no idea what size shoe you wear, but I do know that 0-3 month is too small and 3-6 month is still just a little big. You really only have a couple pairs of shoes anyway. I prefer barefeet now that the weather is warm!

- Tummy time is not dreaded time anymore. You will happily play on your tummy for a long time now.

- Your favorite toys are: Laugh and Learn puppy, your bird friend that hangs on your carseat and vibrates when you pull it, and your soft elephant that makes a crackling noise.

- You love to read and look at books! Oh, that makes me SO SO SO happy! Your absolute favorite books are the Sesame Street shimmer books. They were only $1 each at Target and that was maybe the best $2 I have spent! They are what gets you through church service without going to the nursery...most of the time.

- You started going to Bible class with your friends at church and from what the teachers tell me, you love it and are a good boy for them

- You are very close to rolling over. I was so sure when I was taking this picture that this was the day you were going to do it...but you just got stuck in that position until I helped you.

- You have picked up some new vocal skills- you blow raspberries (what you are doing below- its really hit and miss still if you actually make any bubbles), squeal, and talk all the time- especially at bathtime and when I am lotioning you up

- I also feel like teeth are right around the corner for you. You are always feeling your gums with your tongue (like below) and drooling has definitely been kicked up a knotch

- Your skin is so much better than last month! As long as we are diligent about putting lotion on you and hydrocortisone on red spots, we have no issues. It's still pretty dry, but it is a million times better than what we went through last month.

- We are still swaddling you to sleep. There was a day or two this month that I had enough with the swaddle and wanted to break up, but ultimately, you are not ready. And that's ok. As long as you keep sleeping well at night :)

- You are a horrible napper. Honestly, I blame daycare for this. You take one short nap in the morning and then an hour to two hour nap in the early afternoon. Most days you are done napping after that nap (usually from about 11-1pm) and are Grumpy Gus in the evenings. Sometimes we can get you to sleep for a short 30 minute nap in the evening when we get home, but only if we hold you for it. Truth be told, I don't mind holding you for that 30 minutes when I get home from work...if your dad doesn't beat me to it :)

Noah B, your daddy and I love you more than words can say.

Easter 2010

2010-04-20T14:15:00.005-05:00

This is late…I know. Who knew working full time with a 5 (!) month old while my husband works on his MBA at night would get in the way of keeping up with documenting our life?!

We had such a wonderful Easter this year! I LOVE LOVE LOVE how Noah just makes every holiday, special occasion, and family time so much sweeter. Starting with Good Friday, we spent the morning at home as a family. I love mornings with my little family when we don’t have to rush to work and daycare. We always bring Noah into bed with us in hopes that he sleeps a little longer than the normal 6:30-6:45. Sometimes it works, sometimes he just lays with us and talks to the ceiling fan. Either way, it’s precious :)

Noah and I did some serious shopping that morning while Ben did yard work (what a man) and then we headed to San Antonio after lunch for the weekend. Noah slept most of the way to SA and when he wasn’t sleeping, he was the happiest little guy talking to his toys. He is turning into the best traveler! That night, everyone met at my parent’s house for dinner and we ate, passed Noah around and played Skip-Bo. Pretty much the perfect day in my opinion!

Saturday was b-u-s-y. It started out with Ben and I visiting my Uncle Ronnie, who is recovering from triple bypass surgery. It was so good to see him on the mend and acting like himself. It blows my mind what doctors can do (with God’s help, of course) to our bodies. After that, we went out to Terri and Phil’s new house since Ben hadn’t seen it yet and he got the grand tour. Seeing a new house makes me want a new one! They moved to a beautiful part of San Antonio- it’s all hills and scenic views. We ate lunch at Aldacos- amazing views AND delicious food! Noah loved it too- he was SO happy at lunch- even sitting in his car seat!

After that, Mom and Dad took Noah back home with them and I went to one of my favorite shopping places EVER with Terri and we both picked up some fabulous things. Ben went with Phil and the boys to Bass Pro- so I think it was win-win for everyone!

That night, Karen and Scott and the girls and Courtney joined the group for dinner at my parent’s. And then, Ben and I did something that we had not done since November 13, 2009. We went to the movies. It was just as I remember- the smell of popcorn, the teeny boppers hanging out in the lobby and overpriced tickets! We decided to go big or go home, so we got popcorn, Sour Patch Kids and a coke. Holy cow! Obviously that made a bigger impression on me than the movie because I can’t even remember what we saw. Maybe Matt Damon was in it?

Noah and I woke up Easter Sunday (we let Dad sleep in a little) and went to check out what the Easter Bunny left. He got a frog toy, 2 touch and feel books and a Little People CD for the car! He also got a jumperoo for Easter, but it did not make the trip to SA with us from Houston.

{Basically I am a horrible Mom. Not only did I not order an Easter basket in time for Easter for my baby, I also forgot to take pictures of his very first Easter morning. I realized this and had a late photo shoot with him and his lame Easter basket (the free one that came with his bear (Mr. Fluffy) from Build-a-Bear that his cousins gave him for Easter) when we got home. Sorry, Noah.}

I think he liked the Easter grass best!

They really are friends! And you know what's extra special about Mr. Fluffy (named by Jackson)?? His heart that was stuffed with love TICKS! You push on it and it will beat for a few seconds. How cool and fitting is that?!

One day he might be mad at me for putting him in an outfit with bunnies on it...but I thought he was a-dorable :)

After church and lunch, we decided to do a little photo-shoot with all the cousins…most of the pictures were of someone pulling hair, laughing uncontrollably, looking annoyed or giving us the stink-eye.

But we did get a couple good ones!

Not really the best family picture...but the best we got that day

The girls loooove baby Noah

Best group shot we got (yes, I'm playing around with editing tools :) )

Grammar and Noah

We didn’t get to stick around for the egg hunt this year. We decided to start our trek back to Houston since it was already getting late and we would be pushing our “good” hours with Noah and it was nap time anyway. Funny how that careful planning ended up not mattering because we ran into a pile-up on I10 that shut down the highway for over an hour about half-way into our trip. FUN!

So, we got Noah out of his car seat, fed him, played with him…

Mom, this traffic is lame-o.

…told him he could drive…

…and taught him proper driving technique! He should be ready to chauffer me around by his 6 month birthday.

We finally made it home waaay too late for a Sunday night. I still feel like I’m not caught up! Actually, I don’t just feel that way- I really am not caught up. Poor Ben has had to go “dumpster diving” as he calls it in our laundry on more than one occasion since then…don’t worry, poor thing hasn’t had to wear anything but socks more than once…I hope.

Maybe he and Mr. Fluffy were fighting?

2010-04-08T19:58:00.003-05:00

Don't worry, I told Noah that is NOT how we treat our friends ;)