Noah: Two Months

I am happy to report that Noah's second month has been a little easier. He is now on Prevacid for his reflux (much better than the Zantac) and remains on a dairy free diet (mama is sooo missing her friday night pizza!)

He now has good days and bad days... some days he will do nothing but eat and sleep... and other days he will do nothing but eat and cry! He is starting to give us some 4 hour stretches of sleep, at night and he still loves his swing and paci!

At his two month check up... he tipped the scales at 9lbs 2oz and was 22 inches long. The poor guy also had to get 4 shots! The doctor assured us that by 3 months Noah will outgrow this colic! All I have to say is... BRING IT!

The most exciting part of Noah's second month... is getting to see his cute little smile and hearing that occasional little coo :)

Noah has also started to lose that cute blond hair ...and what remains of it...has turned strawberry blond! His eyes have also changed this month...and it appears that Noah is going to have his daddys and big brother's green eyes!

He still HATES bath time!

There is that big smiley grin!

Happy 2 months Noah!

We LOVE you!

I Heart Them...

Happy Valentines Day From

My Two Handsome Hansons <3

We made soft pretzels...

...but they weren't very good...since I omitted the butter in order to make them dairy free! Oh well, we still had fun making them :)

TWo AnD a HaLf

This little cutie pie is 2 1/2!

Gabe,
At 2 1/2 you go go go all day long.

You jump. You climb. You swing. You slide. You run. You dance.

While most of the time, Mommy and Daddy enjoy keeping up with you... I think our favorite time of day is when we get to snuggle you close and read bedtime stories.

You love to read!

You also LOVE bathtime. You have special tub crayons that you love to play with... so we've made a deal... we wash your hair (which you HATE) and then you get to play with your crayons!

You and Zoey are still best buds. She gets really annoyed with you sometimes though because you are always jumping and climbing on her! You feed her every morning and every night...and you LOVE to open the door for her to go outside. Whenever we leave the house, you tell Zoey to "be a good girl". You also tuck her in at night. You put her in her crate, give her a treat, and say "sweet dreams, sleep tight".

You are super silly and love to make us laugh. You also like to push our buttons. (like threaten to stick objects up your nose just to get a rise out of us!) You talk and sing all day long and your favorite song is "Moves like Jagger"!

You have a silly "say cheese" smile!

You LOVE your baby Noah. You are so gentle with him and you are always asking me if you can "pet" him. You have to give him a kiss when you wake up and you have to give him a goodnight kiss. You bring him his paci and sing the "shhhhh" song when he is crying. You are constantly telling him "It's ok baby Noah"...in your sweetest little voice.

You love your morning TV...which is ok because mommy usually needs this time to wake up and get going. You will watch your shows in our bed or downstairs with your cereal and milk. You love Team Umizoomi, Little Einsteins, Dora, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Super Why.

You love playing outside. You will ask to go play at your friends house. You love to go to the playground and you love going to get the mail with daddy when he gets home (with your "robo" bee flashlight!)

You are obsessed with cars, trucks, and tractors. You love watching all of the construction going on in the neighborhood... and you love screaming, "Hi men" to the workers! We read truck books, you sleep with firetruck sheets, you have car and truck jammies, and naturally...you have LOTS of cars and trucks to play with. You love to line up all of your toy cars and trucks....and you take this very seriously!

At 2 1/2, you go to school 2 days a week...which makes mommy appeciate the time that we have together all the more. You are growing up so fast. While part of me wishes you could stay little forever, another part can't wait to see what the next day brings!

Love Always,

Mommy

Noah: One month

I'm not going to lie... this first month was tough....way tougher than I ever imagined. Shortly after we brought Noah home, he began SCREAMING... non stop....and began spitting up a lot! He rarely slept and acted like his belly hurt!

We tried gas drops, we tried the swing, we tried small but frequent feedings, we tried frequent burping, and we tried giving him bottles instead of nursing him...but Noah still screamed. It broke my heart!

I began to worry constantly... was he eating enough? Was he eating too much? Was there something seriously wrong with him? Will this screaming last forever? Not to mention I had my doubts as a mother... How was I supposed to function without ever sleeping? And how was I supposed to care for an active toddler and a screaming baby?

I turned to my friends google and facebook for answers... and all signs pointed to a possible food allergy. I decided that I would cut all dairy out of my diet to see if that made a difference...and low and behold... a few weeks later we did begin to see some changes. Noah no longer screams bloody murder all day and night. He is still very fussy and he still spits up a lot but it is nothing like it was those first couple of weeks.

At Noah's one month doctors appointment, the doctor agreed that it was very possibe that Noah has food allergies. We agreed that I would continue to cut dairy out of my diet and consider giving up soy products as well, if there was no improvement. He also gave us some special dairy free/soy free formula, called Allimentum, that we could supplement Noah with. We also started Noah on zantac for reflux and got an ultrasound done of his abdomen (which checked out ok)

At one month Noah tipped the scales at 7lbs 7oz and was 21 1/4 inches long.

(Andy and I often refer to him as Wilbur or Wilbie because he likes to eat every 1 1/2- 2 hours...even at night!)

He likes his paci

He enjoys road trips

He is starting to enjoy the swing

(as long as the music is playing and the birdies at the top are going around!)

In between the tears and the sleepless nights...we enjoyed having lots of visitors...

Gabe has been AMAZING with him!!! He will not go to bed without giving baby Noah a kiss goodnight... he gives Noah his paci when he is crying... and he is always asking me if he can "pet" baby Noah! I can't believe how sweet and gentle Gabe is with his baby brother.

Gabe is showing baby Noah some of his favorite toys and trucks...

And Gabe gave Noah some of his stickers!

We enjoyed some outdoor time...Gabe is taking baby Noah for a ride in his tractor!

We enjoyed lots of snuggling...

and mommy was able to capture some cute "non-crying" photos.

Noah got his first sponge bath...

and his first tub bath... he HATES both!

We enjoyed story time with big brother Gabe...

and had fun hanging in our boppy pillow!

Here is Noah with his bear...taken a few days after he was born...

and here he is at ONE month!!

And look how big... big brother Gabe is!!

Noah: Newborn photos

One of Andy's good friends from high school, Laura Matney, happened to be on the 'shore for the holidays...and she was kind enough to come visit us and capture some pictures of our two cuties. Gabe was somewhat cooperative for the photos...but Noah... not so much! He screamed and screamed! He did not want any part of this picture taking business! Poor Laura had her work cut out for her! In the end, she visited with us for a few hours and was able to capture some pretty awesome shots!

Baby Noah is just 4 days old in these photos.

This photo is a more accurate portrayal of Baby Noah :)