5 Months!

Noah turned 5 months last Wednesday. We celebrated by going to Disneyland. At first Eric and I were a little unsure of taking a baby to Disneyland. Not at all worried about Noah, but more the worth of spending our hard earned cash paired with our doubt of finding enough to do with Noah at a Theme Park full of "Big Kid" activities. To my amazement there was more than enough to do. We barely fit in a quarter of the activities planned. You may ask, "What can you do with a baby at Disneyland?" Take him on rides!

That's right, you can take them on all the kiddie rides like Toy Story and Whinny The Poo. You can take them on the Carousel, It's a Small World and even Pirates of The Caribbean! Noah loved Pirates...after the first fall that is. That first drop gave him a little scare, but no tears from our big boy!

We met up with our friends Natalie, Jason, daughter Brooklynn, and Jami, Adam and their son Isaac. We can't wait to go again.




Noah is growing so fast we barely got him into any of the 3-6 month clothes. He is now completely filling in the 6 month sleepers and the 6-9 month onsies. I think he will be jumping to the 6-12 and 9month clothes in just another month. Our big guy is over 15lbs 9not exactly sure) but we know most of it is in THE CHEEKS. He is around 26 inches long and growing by the second.

We love you Noah!

Teething Bites (As Noah's Shirt Says)

As I am typing I am also listening to my son cry and cry in his crib. It should be nap time. We tried this around 10am this morning too. Unfortunately after 35 minutes or so the crying and whining turned into screaming and shrilling so I went in, scooped him up from his cosy crib and held him for over an hour. Consoling him is easy when he just wants to be held. He falls a sleep quickly when cuddled in my arms and warmed by my body. I would lean over in attempt to lie him down in his crib, on the couch...anywhere so I can move and get some work done. My attempt is quickly thwarted by his high pitched shriek. It breaks my heart to see him like that. He won't even open his eyes or fully wake up, he just makes a desperately sad face and bone shivering scream. Poor baby. My little baby. I wish I could explain to him that this pain will not last forever, that I love him, that he is normal, healthy and protected. Though, here I am thinking of making the attempt to go scoop him up again just to hold him and prove that he is not alone or ignored. At what point do they feel abandoned and at what point do they learn to comfort themselves and calm themselves to sleep (maybe never when in pain). On a normal bases I would not go swoop in and rescue (in my eyes) him from his discomfort, but these last few days I have been challenged. My sleep, my determination, my peace, my sanity, my time and energy all have been challenged.

Oh thank the LORD! He is asleep...

Noah, those days where you laughed and played not stop, when you went to sleep happy and woke up happy. Those days are not gone. I promise.

Happy Valentine's Day!

To Eric, the love of my life:

There is no possible way I can ever show you how much I love you, though I promise to always try. God blessed my life starting the day you entered it.

Look at what we have done in the past 8 years we have spent together. We have traveled all over the world, we have established our careers, our home, our faith...all with each others help. Now we have a beautiful son, one that is so perfect it is scary. I love our life, I love our life, even the tough times, even with fears and unknowns, I love the life we have made. I love you.

Thank you for:

Working so hard
Always giving me the last bite...of everything
Washing my car for me so I don't have to
Fixing...everything
Waiting to go to bed with me when I am ready
Dealing with my cluttered office (I swear it will be clean, someday)
Loving my cooking
Putting your workout clothes directly in the washer
Loving Noah in ways I never imagined were possible
Giving me a kiss before our son
Wanting me to come see you at work
Being quiet when you leave for work when I am still sleeping
Loving the LORD
Praying for our family
Allowing me to get a freezer for the Garage
For giving up "Your" garage shelves for baby stuff and diapers
Finishing your degree when no one pushed you to but yourself
Making me laugh
Changing every diaper for the first three days of Noah's life
Holding my hair back when I threw up everyday of my pregnancy
Being so strong (mentally and physically)
Promising to shave the "Stach" by the end of next month
Holding my hand all the time. It is my favorite thing you do even though I think it is purely habit, I still love it.
Giving good hugs
Making me feel pretty
Being the leader of our home, and a good one
Your love
Making me want to list on and on...but for the sake of being overly sappy, I will tell you the good ones later tonight.


Eric,

I LOVE YOU!

Here are some oldies but goodies

Eric and our first baby at the beach. A common place to find us all year long.

Duke asleep on the couch...Little stinker got in TROUBLE!
(That couch was so uncomfortable)

Here's to you babe, and all your silliness

Catalina, How I love thee

This one is for all the craziness that occurred during this vacation.
Stinky cheese. The French. Sleeping in train stations. Shaving on the train.
Broccoli Beef. Little cars that don't reverse. Smelly old historic hotels with cold hard beds...etc!

Little Swimmer

Yes. We are training our son to be a swimmer just like Mommy and Daddy. In our effort we took Noah into our friends Spa to play. We love Sean and Julie Haynes and their son Ben. Ben is teaching Noah all kinds of fun things. If was interesting because after having Noah in the spa with bath toys and playing on his stomach, I found Noah now payed attention to his toys during bath time and he enjoyed tummy time more then ever. And no I am not naked...it's a tube top.

My Family Silhouette

I have a teething baby. Ugh! Of course it could be gas, it could be constipation (probably not, but maybe)it could be just plain old "I want my mom to hold me but I still wine when she doesn't rock me" syndrome. Ha ha. Who knows, but right now I am enjoying the couple minutes Noah has finally kept quiet. Maybe tonight I will post something fun, right now I have to do dishes until Noah wants to drool and hang on me for hours on end again.

Noah Travels to Philadelphia

Eric and I took Noah on his first plane ride last week. Since Noah was only two weeks when my Pop-pop passed, we were not able to attend his funeral back east in PA. So we decided to go to PA last week to visit with family, friends, and to see where my Pop-pop's Rests.

We were a little nervous about taking Noah on the plane but much more nervous about taking him around town in 18 degree weather. In both situations Noah was a trooper and really handled it well.

Shortly after we arrived in Philadelphia, My parents (Nana and Papa) joined us. Here we are enjoying a meal, or at least drinks, at the City Tavern in down town Philly. Eric and I both finished an entire Turkey Pot Pie each. Mmmmm, Yummy!

And after the Pot Pies, we had the very best Strawberry Short Cake ever! just thinking of it makes me want to go back right now.

Below is a picture of my super sexy husband and little Noah, FREEZING, at Papa's Drexel reunion Ice Hockey Game.

We spent a lot of time in the car. Nana and Papa showed us around down town, all over the area were I was born, were all the family lives, we visited grave sites, and of course lots of touristy sites like Betsy Ross's House, Independence Hall, Firefighting Museum...etc. Noah was just as happy as can be in the back of the big van with all of us!

How lucky am I to have such perfect men in my life! This is after we walked down Elfreth Alley.

Finally a picture of mommy and Noah.
This is at Laurie's home (my God Mother) in Glenside, PA

Here is my God Mother. She is so much fun and always generous to us. We are extremely lucky to have her in our lives and to be blessed by her hospitality! Love you Laurie!

Below is a picture of us at an old Firehouse in Downtown Philly. It is now a museum. I know I am married to a fireman (A super sexy one too), but I was so amazed how much Eric new about all of the really old Fire tools, emblems, codes, plaques, insurance companies...etc from as far back as the 18th century. He taught me so much that day.

These pictures are of the last couple nights when we stayed at a hotel. Eric and Noah really bonded on these nights. This is when we video taped Noah laughing at Eric with Mr. Bear (the bear blanket he has in his lap). The video is on YouTube and on the right side of our blog.

Noah and Daddy Snooze on the flight home. This was supposed to be a 3.5 hour flight. Because of head winds it was over 6 hours. Yikes, Noah was great, but we all were ready to get home!