Thank you Beth!!

Noah got a really fun surprise in the mail this past weekend. One of his honorary aunties, Beth, sent him a Metallica cd and he loves it. I know what you're thinking...but it is actually lullaby renditions of Metallica. This company, Rockabye Baby takes music from the likes of Metallica, U2, Coldplay and more and transforms them into lullabies. It's so fun! Thank you Beth!!

Great Grandparents

This weekend Noah and I drove up to Frederick to celebrate his Great Grandfather's 85th birthday. Noah got to meet him and his great grammie for the first time along with his great Uncle Bill, and his (second and third??) cousins Cabell, Alexis and Cab. If you recall the last day trip I took with him did not turn out so well at the end, but I planned this one brilliantly. We left at 9 so he slept the entire way up there. Lunch was at 12, so when we got there at 11 I found this little bakery that had amazing muffins and fed him before meeting up with everyone. He stayed awake through lunch and spit up for the first time on Aunt Rachel (yes Rachel, it will likely happen again;)). After lunch we went to Subway (the bakery was then closed) and fed him again. By 3:15 he was full and ready to nap through the entire trip back. Genius.

Mommy's boss

One of the first and definitely the funniest gift that Noah got came from my boss. Mark isn't really much of a baby lover, in fact, I'd say he has a strong aversion to babies. My pregnancy was possibly rougher on him than anyone else (he would actually look nauseous sometimes when I said Noah was kicking). Mark told me early on that I should not expect him to hold the baby - no big deal, I completely understand that some people are just not baby people, truly I was not in the least offended. Mark was at a Bears/Redskins game (Bears fan) one weekend and had asked before he left about baby sizes, so naturally I though he may pick up a little Bears onesie or something for Noah. Well, turns out I seriously underestimated Mark. I can't remember the last time I laughed as hard as I did when I saw his gift to Noah. Check it out.

It says, "I heart Mommy's boss" - and yes, heart is spelled out...so fun! In the card Mark wrote that he would consider seeing Noah while he's wearing it...but he actually held him! He acts tough, but in reality he's a big softie (don't tell anyone though, I wouldn't want to ruin his rep).

And since we're on the subject here are some of my friends from work. They pretty much all love Noah and wish I would bring him with me every day. Cassy (holding him in the pic below) is definitely the most smitten...

Cassy, Jessica, Kelly and Carolyn are in this pic, and its actually from early May (in case you were wondering why Noah looks younger there). Carolyn brought Noah a little present the other day for the upcoming holiday...but its' so cute that he's already worn it a couple of times.

So these pictures may look similar, but notice that in the picture above Noah is sitting back in the couch corner relaxing. In the picture below he has pulled himself forward because he likes to sit up by himself...without the assistance of the couch. Crazy - he's getting so big and changing so fast!

Getting behind...

So it has been a while since my last post - where does the time go? We've had a lot of things going on since the 10th. We got to celebrate Matt's first Father's Day for one. I've probably said this before, but watching Matt with Noah is one of my favorite things to do now. I had gotten this shirt for Noah to wear on Father's Day, but it was a tad big. In fact when I found it the smallest size was 18-24 months, but I bought it anyway! So here are some pictures. I've learned that if I want a picture of him in an outfit I need to take the picture immediately after dressing him. That's what I did the morning of Father's Day - which is good cause after about 30 minutes in it he peed on it during a diaper change. He really doesn't do that too frequently, but this time he not only got pee all over his shirt...he actually got a drop in his eye! GROSS! It didn't seem to bother him, but no worries, we will teach him that peeing on his face is not acceptable behavior in the future.

After church we went over to Matt's parents to celebrate Father's Day with his dad (my dad is in Jerusalem currently). As usual we played cards, but even with Noah helping Matt he still didn't win. In fact it was probably one of the most shameful days in Valentine history. Dad, Zach, Matt, Nathan and I played Hearts...and Zach won. Most of you will not understand how shameful this is, but trust me, it was pathetic. Luckily I redeemed myself by winning the second hand (YES!).

Survived...

Well, I survived my first 2 long days back at work. To maximize my time with Noah (and minimize childcare costs) I've arranged my schedule as follows...

Mondays: Noah is with Matt, Lauren works 9-7
Tuesdays: Same as above
Wednesdays: Noah is with Lauren, Matt is back to work
Thursdays: Noah is with Dawn (mother-in-law) at our place, Lauren works 11-7
Fridays: Noah is with Hannah (friend) at her place (and with Robbie who is 4 - yea!), Lauren works 12-7

The schedule is still in its rough stages, and I do have some flexibility (thank you Mark, you're the best!) Matt and I did agree that since we both had the flexibility to work 4 longer days that we should do it so that one of us can be with Noah as much as possible. It's been hard, but I made it through my first 2 10 hour days...so I guess I can keep doing it. Monday was tough cause Noah was not happy for most of the day. It just killed me when I heard that and I felt like a bad mother for not being there when he was unhappy. Today was much better (we're attributing this to the fact that he took a good morning nap today and didn't take a good nap monday till 4). He was happy and Matt loved getting so much daddy time in. So I get to be home with my sweet boy tomorrow and am about to leave now (at 10:15pm) to go grocery shopping so that I don't have to waste any of my time with him tomorrow running dumb errands.

And now for a couple of pictures...this one is form last Saturday when we had Micah and stopped by the store to visit Matt. Noah wore his little basketball jersey shirt cause Micah got it for him - such a little man already!

He got his thumb, he got his thumb!

So precious! This little Mickey Mouse outfit is so cute...okay, everything is cute on Noah, but really, the little hood, so sweet!

Cousins!

To top off our crazy week we decided we should have a crazy weekend as well. On Friday Beth dropped off Micah to spend the night. While she was here with Riley we had to get some pictures of the cousins together. Riley is about 2 1/2 months older than Noah and weighs about 1 lb less than he does! She is so precious and we were glad to see her even for just 30 minutes.


I love this picture, it just captures the mess that it is to try to get 3 little ones to look at the camera at the same time...the accidental bird that Riley is flipping...the fact that Micah seems to know about it - LOVE IT!

The reason (not that we need a reason to want to keep Micah - we always love to have him) that Micah got to come stay with us was that Robbie was having his 4th birthday party at Pump It Up on Saturday morning and Micah had been invited. Noah slept through most of the party, but Micah had fun playing basketball (in a big inflated bouncy court) and eating cake of course. After the party we visited Matt at work, then went to Chic-fil-a for lunch (my special treat to Micah whenever I get a chance). After Micah wiped out the play room at chi-fil-a we went to Barnes & Noble (yes I still hate that store, but I did it for the kid) to play with the Thomas Train set. So fun. Noah was marvelous through all of this craziness - he really loves his cousin.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROBBIE!!! (Robbie and Noah will get to be buddies since his mom, Hannah will be watching Noah every Friday.)

Old Friends and New Lessons

This last week has been crazy. I went back to work on Tuesday after almost 9 weeks off. When I saw that I didn't have my old desk and wasn't going to be sitting with my team I started to cry. I knew it would be hard to go back, but I definitely didn't think that I would actually cry when I got there. Anyway I took it slow and worked less than 20 hours last week to sort of ease myself back in. People keep saying that it will get easier once I'm in more of a routine, but right now it definitely doesn't seem that way. On a lighter note Noah is getting more fun to play with every day. Here he is trying to suck on his Ugly Doll. So far Matt and I have given all Noah's toys alliterative names..."Buster the Beagle" "Patty the Peacock" and "Emma the Elephant" to name a few. We have come up blank on the ugly doll...I think Matt's been referring to it as "Scooter".

A bright note in the midst of my gloomy first days back at work was that I was able to see Donna on Thursday. Donna and Drew were up in Leesburg for part of last week for a big family event so Noah and I drove up to visit with her. We did lunch and then hit the outlets. I actually did very well resisting all the cute baby things (Gymboree, Carters and an Osh Kosh outlet are all there). It was great fun getting to spend time with Donna and I loved that both she and Drew got to meet Noah.

Noah was of course wonderful all day (slept the entire drive up) so I assumed that he would sleep the entire way back as well. He may have, if I hadn't decided to leave at 5pm. In retrospect I should have either left at 3:30 or not till 7:30 - I definitely learned my lesson. Noah did sleep for the first 40 minutes or so, but then he was up and he was not a happy camper to be in the car. He wanted his evening ritual (which currently consists of a little play or bath and then nursing for a LONG time until bed - and yes I know that we need to break him of that, but give us a break, we've got a lot of adjusting to do without tackling his bedtime routine) So then I ended up stopping at 2 different gas stations and feeding him in my lap in the front seat. The picture below is of him in my lap, he finally got his thumb in his mouth (he had been sucking on his knuckle or his whole hand)! Needless to say we made it home safe and sound...at 8.

So the one thing that I did get for Noah at the outlets is this hat from Gymboree (that's a monkey in case you can't tell - we've been calling Noah "little monkey" since he got the adorable pjs (thank you Sara!) with the monkey on them - so now we love all baby things with monkeys). Adorable isn't it? Matt was worried that it wouldn't fit his head, but it does, and he's quite the little stud in it.

Matt won...

Noah had his 2 month check up today and did wonderfully through the entire appointment. Matt won the weight game, Noah weighed in at 14lbs, 13oz (Matt was off by 3 oz and I was off by 5) and is now 24 1/4 inches. He is one big healthy boy. We did get to hear him scream as never before when he got his shots...so sad. He did calm down after a minute or so and is back to his normal self thus far. I'll be back to work for the first time tomorrow and Matt will be home all day with Noah so hopefully that is a smooth transition for both of my men.

We love bathtime!

Noah loves bathtime as many babies do. We had a first tonight while Matt and I gave Noah his bath. He pooped in the tub. SO GROSS! Luckily we had finished all the scrubbing and he was just playing so we were able to wrap it up quickly. He just sat there as content as can be while Matt and I made faces and called him a little stinker. I had been meaning to post some bathtime pictures anyway, so here they are (not from tonight). We have Noah's 2 month checkup tomorrow so check back for an update on our little (or not so little) man. Matt thinks he's between 15 and 16 pounds, but I'm thinking he's somewhere between 13.5 and 14.5 - we'll find out tomorrow who's right!

Beth's getting married!!!

July 19th Beth and Ted will be getting married in Baltimore. This weekend Matt, Noah and I went up there for her shower and for Noah to get some quality time with his Auntie Beth, Auntie Kate and Auntie Anna. Below is Beth (partially covered by Shannons hair - dang it) and her Bridal party (what a bunch of hotties).

Kate didn't think I'd be able to get Noah to look at the camera so quickly - but he's smart for an 8 week old!

Anna got Noah this WRV (Wave Riding Vehicles) shirt so that he will always be ready to chill with her at the beach. Yea Auntie Anna!