Cute!

5 Months

I know it sounds crazy, but this week in particular he seems to be little boy and not a baby boy. Maybe it's because he's so long and skinny. Maybe it's that he's started this little protest noise that's part moan, part growl. Baby protests are kinda funny, actually. I mean, really, what does he have to protest about?

Now that we're feeding him bananas and avocados and not that rice cereal he seems to think comes straight from satan, he's finally happy to be eating. The face he made over the rice cereal was a riot. And the "mmmmmm"s he says when eating bananas is adorable. Yesterday I made some oat cereal and that went over a little better. This morning I just mixed it in with his banana and he scarfed it all down. This weekend we'll make some applesauce and pear or squash purees. Fun.

We call the kitchen "The Magic Room" because he gets all happy and wide eyed when he's in there. He's memorized watching us stir things on the stove. Last night we were eating dinner and just had him in his lounge chair. That would not do. We had to mash him up some banana so he could eat with us. I know this is a good thing, that he wants to eat dinner when we do. It'll just be easier when he can sit up and be in a high chair. For now he's on one of our laps to eat. Fortunately, he's not messy, yet.

He seems to be a pretty goofy boy. I'm convinced he's taking inventory of everything, particularly on my desk, for future use/destruction. He is good at entertaining himself, whether in his chair with toys, or on the floor on his back or tummy, but mostly in his bouncy chair. As we've said for months, he's so ready to be in motion!

The last few days, it seems he's changed his nap patterns. There are shorter ones with a much longer one in the middle of the day. It's a good change. We're hoping he keeps staying awake in the evenings a little more for dinner/bath times.

I can't believe it's only been five months. He's a fun, happy, sweet boy who loves to go out to eat and hang out with people. I pray he stays that way!!

New Type of Onsie

Ok, I totally understand why baby straight jackets aren't allowed. But, for at least a month now, I've really, really wanted a onsie that comes with little velcro handcuffs at the waist like prisoner jumpers have real handcuffs. You know, for those times his poor head is all itchy and he can't stop scratching it. Or when he's trying to help us feed him solids.

I'm just sayin.

Christmas Pics

This is our happy little elf! We went over to our friends' for brunch and he had so much fun watching everyone and interacting with them. We had to drag him away for his nap time. It looks like he'll be like me, as long as there's anything else going on he's not going to sleep. Two minutes after we started driving home, he was out like a light.


We went to Peking Gourmet Inn for some really good duck last night. Little Noah had an absolute blast. He was so happy and excited. He couldn't have the duck, but he wanted so badly to be eating on something, so we gave him a cucumber stick to gnaw on. He loved it. We've never known a baby to be so happy to go out to eat. From pretty much day one he's loved restaurants, I guess it's the nice aromas and all the people watching!

The Drooling Has Begun!

By Nerdstar and I, not little Noah. We got our Christmas present from Nerdstar's sister - a box of heaven from Texas. This will be our Christmas dinner.



Seriously, if you think you've had good brisket, you haven't. Now that Rudy's ships, you should try some!! Or at least get you some decent bbq sauce.

Picture With Santa

He was fantastic. We were in line a little over an hour and he loves people watching, so he was cool with it. Cute outfit courtesy of his grandparents.

A Nice Surprise

I knew the day would come when DADT would no longer be the law of the land, I just didn't expect it to be this year. (Technically the repeal will be implemented over time next year.) The irony is this was the year Nerdstar separated from the military after over ten years of service between active and reserve duty.

I'm glad another soldier and their family won't have to go through what we did. And honestly, we never had it that bad. No one ever cared one whit that she was gay. But to be in a war zone and to not be free to talk about your loved one back home is a stress no one should have to suffer. I've always thought if straight people had to spend one day removing all evidence of their marriage and not being able to talk about their spouse and/or kids then they might get a small glimpse of what it's like to be under DADT.

Anyway. Thank God this is finally happening.

Here's my old blog posts on being a military wife.

20 Weeks

I keep thinking about this time last year, and how much of it I spent wondering what this time this year would be like. Yes, I also think about how this time next year will be just a little more fun because our boy will be more aware of everything and will be mobile. For example, it's snowing for the first time since he's been born, but he's not really aware of it. I'm more content and happy than I even imagined.

I've also been thinking, "Wow, we have a baby boy around. And we get to keep him!" I still find that very cool.

Well, we were optimistic that starting solids would go well after that first attempt. Alas, not so much. We're not sure if homemade rice cereal just isn't very appealing (I'm sure it tastes like wet paper) or if he's not entirely ready to swallow stuff. We're avoiding the gagging and choking, but aren't sure any's making it to his tummy. This weekend we'll try a little avocado and see if it goes any better.

He's also lost interest in rolling over. I'm back to making him do tummy time. He does love the jumper we got him and I still think he'd rather just walk than roll around or crawl.

He's still the cutest, sweetest baby. He and I spend lots of time smiling and laughing at each other. And that's all right with me.

First Cereal

At his last checkup, the doc said we could start him on solids. Because he's not sitting up on his own yet, I thought we'd wait a little longer. Then, the last few nights he's been eating around 7:30 p.m. and waking up between midnight and 1 hungry again, then waking up around 5:30 or 6 for his first breakfast. He had been sleeping through the night. That was our clue to give cereal a try.

I bought a bag of whole grain brown rice last week, and finally ground it up in the Cuisinart last night. This morning after making coffee and biscuits and sausage for Nerdstar and I (this is an amazing feat for a non-morning person) I thought I'd go ahead and make Noah some rice cereal. Thankfully we had just enough time for Nerdstar to feed him before leaving for work.

We can't believe how well he did on his first try. Here's hoping he continues to eat so well!

The Cute and The Funny

No, not Nerdstar and I, although she is cute and I am funny.

Here's our boy in his lounge chair, just chillin' like a villain.


This is titled "Eating With An Audience". Or, "Why Doesn't She Share?"

A Typical Day

I'd say for the past month we've had somewhat of a daily routine. Now that he's getting closer to being mobile, it won't last forever.

He generally wakes up between 5:30 and 6. Nerdstar gets up to feed him and I get a few more minutes of sleep. Once he's fed and changed they head to the play area and I get up so she can get ready for work. I know she likes spending this time with him in the mornings.

His room, the kitchen, and the room off the kitchen (We have a weird floor plan but I love it.) with my desk are all upstairs. There's a ton of floor space for him up here and not much for him to get into when he starts moving. We spend 85% of the day upstairs, especially now that it's winter, it's warmer upstairs. The only relevant things downstairs are his swing and the tv. (The living room, laundry room and master bedroom are downstairs.) Sometimes we go down there so I can watch something off the dvr while he swings/naps. Upstairs, he has a chair that helps him sit up and has some toys attached. He has another chair where he reclines and it has toys that hang down for him to try to grab. He likes the sit up chair better. But mostly he likes to lay on his back on the floor. He's rolling back to front and seems to like being on his tummy more than he used to. But we know that he really wants to be in motion. He loves to watch where Ramen dog is and can't wait to chase him around. He also likes to sit in my lap while I'm at the desk and just look at all the stuff on the desk.

His first nap of the day is usually around 7:30 or 8. If I'm still too tired, that's my nap time, too! Otherwise, I use his first nap of the day, which is usually is longest, to get stuff done.

I keep up with the kitchen and laundry. Vacuuming and such gets done on weekends when we're both home. Nerdstar is great and washes his bottles after dinner every night.

His 2nd breakfast is usually 3 hours after his first. Then it's more playtime.

And repeat.

If we need to run errands, we do that after his 2nd nap and 1st lunch, which ends up being right around noon.

Then it's hanging in there until Nerdstar gets home from work and we figure out dinner. Every other night is bath night.

I look forward to weekends more now than I ever did when I worked! While I love watching Nerdstar and Noah interact, I'm very thankful to "hand him over" on weekends. I'm also much more exhausted by 5 pm every day. I don't know who's more amused by my 9ish bedtime every night, my 16 year old self or my 30 year old self.

As Nerdstar likes to remind me, this is my dream job and I waited a long time to get it. I still say it's the best job I could ever have!

Torture

Poor Noah, Nerdstar won't share her dinner with him!

Pics

Just chillin in the hotel room. We went up to Shenandoah National Park Saturday night with some friends. This was his second road trip and he did great again. He sleeps in the car and loves seeing new places and people and then sleeps great all swaddled up on his own hotel bed.





Umm,, is my breakfast coming?

Yes, I keep a bib on him constantly. Even though he's not teething, he has always drooled a lot. Especially now that it's cold, I don't want him in cold/wet clothes. Bibs just seem easiest.

4 Months

Little Noah had his four month check-up yesterday. He gets much more mad about being hungry than he does getting shots. He's in the 45% for height and 65% for weight, which is weird because he's actually long and skinny. Other than that he was declared "perfect".

He's ever so slowly moving beyond the "baby" stages. I'm still in no hurry and love watching his little changes every day. Although, we have told him that his life gets exponentially better once he can sit up - then he can eat real food and will enjoy bath time even more.

He really seems to be a happy kid. He doesn't melt down when frustrated. And he can focus and concentrate very well. He also seems to love live music, so it really sucks we can't sing and play guitar for him. It's also too bad we're not still in Austin with all the live music there.

I have a completely over-active brain, so I spend a lot of time thinking about how we got so lucky he's such a good baby. We both agree that we can't take any credit for it until he's older. But we do thank God on a regular basis. The problem is that with any ideas on why a particular kid is so good, you run into the "then why are some kids not so good" stuff - and no way am I going there!

The only problem he has is his eczema. Nerdstar has it, so he got it from her. We tried soy formula for almost two weeks now and it didn't make any difference, so it's not likely to be allergy related. Right now he's got 3 prescriptions, 2 kinds of lotion, and butt paste for general skin stuff. We're not clear on how you use an antibiotic cream twice a day, a steroid cream twice a day, and keep his face moisturized. Thankfully, we're not using the antibiotic much. The upside is that other than when his scalp gets dry and itchy, his skin problems don't bother him at all.

I'll try to post some pics later.

Just had to share

This is what greets me every morning as I go upstairs to change his diaper and give him his first breakfast! I don't think I was ever this cute when I was his age! I hope that he'll always be this happy and sweet!

He's now 4 months old, and approaching more mobility, introduction to solid food, and we suspect that he'll be an early talker as well!

For his first thanksgiving, he was only able to stare as us as we ate and smelled the food cooking, and I know that must have been difficult, but I think he knows that his day at the dinner table is coming soon!

I feel so bad that he's plagued by eczema right now, and not much is helping. I only hope that he'll grow out of it soon.

Tomorrow we are going to Shenandoah National Park for some walks on the trail and a chance to breathe some fresh air, it'll be Noah Maxx's first time on the mountains and I hope that he'll enjoy it! Pictures will be posted later, so stay tuned!

We are so thankful that we've got such a great boy with us!

Old School Sesame Street

We're working on a dvd collection for Noah, in an attempt to avoid some of the more obnoxious fare on Nick, Jr. in our future. We bought the Old School Sesame Street dvd that has shows from the first few years. Due to our internet/cable being out for a couple of days we put in the dvd and watched the very first episode of Sesame Street. Way cool!!

There was a cartoon character that gave a disclaimer at the beginning that pretty much stumped us. He said that these dvds are for adults and that the old Sesame Street episodes are no longer for educational purposes for pre-schoolers. WTF?? How could that possible be true? Well, after watching two episodes we realized that the old episodes are totally subversive - I mean, there are children riding bikes without helmets, and actually running around having fun. God knows kids today can't be allowed to see such things - they might revolt!

So, we highly recommend these dvds!!

There was also a 20 minute program about how the show was started and the ideas behind it. Sesame is from the phase "open sesame".

Rollin

Our little boy is officially rolling over, even if it's just from back to front for now. He's also working very, very hard on controlling that hand he's had his eyes on for so long. He's definitely right handed, has been from day one. I didn't think it'd be that obvious this soon.

Thanksgiving

Usually, before I blog, there are thoughts that roam around my brain until I find some that I like and think go together and then form some sort of order. Then I'll sit down and type away and see what actually comes out.

First, there are just no words to say how thankful I am for Noah. That he exists. That he's ours. That he's healthy and happy and growing and sweet and smart and strong. That he smiles and laughs when he sees us. If you have read any of my old blog, you know that every year for eight years I said how much I wanted a house and a baby. When you want something for so long, there's always the chance that reality won't be what you imagined. Being his mom is exactly what I imagined it to be, if not a little better.

Which leads to this new-found contentment inside. It's kinda strange for me. I'm not sure I can say he's made me a better person, yet. But I think the process has at least started.

The three of us are staying home this Thanksgiving. We decided that flying to Texas for Thanksgiving or Christmas with a four/five month old would be too much. We're headed to Austin at the end of March and my family will meet us down there for a lot of food and fun. I'm a little sad for my parents, that they don't get to be with their grandson on the holidays, but they understand.

Noah and I did the grocery shopping for tomorrow on Monday. I apologized to him that this year he doesn't get to eat any of the good stuff. I told him he's got a month to master sitting up and maybe he'll get something good on Christmas.

A Tip For Other Bad Moms

Sigh. We really suck at the fingernail cutting. I'd say at least half the time our poor, poor boy ends up bleeding at least a little. One day I really nicked it and, apparently, baby's blood doesn't clot very well, and it just kept bleeding. Two napkins later I remembered the little thing of Gorilla super glue and that there's this stuff called liquid bandaid and just went ahead and super glued the end of his little bleeding finger. And it worked.

We later bought some of the liquid bandaid stuff, called New-Skin. We had a chance to try it this morning. It didn't really work very well. It smells just like clear nail polish. I think nail polish would dry better. So, we just used the super glue again.

For little bleeding fingers I'd say use super glue, then clear nail polish, and then the liquid band aid.

Oh, and we're using these really cool baby nail cutters that have a l.e.d. light on the end and everything.

Friday Adorableness

16 Weeks

He's growing and changing slowly but surely. I love watching the little changes and am in no hurry. Although, it'll be nice when he can sit up and can start eating solids. I think he's going to love it. Some nights at dinner, Nerdstar will have him in her lap and he'll watch each bite go from her plate to her mouth. It's so cute. It'll also be nice when he can sit in a grocery cart and not have to lug around the car seat.

He's 95% done with pacifiers now that he's 95% mastered sucking his thumb instead. This means he's now swaddled with one arm out and he's really good at getting to sleep. The other morning he woke up at 5 a.m. and was just lying there talking to himself for a while. He pretty much wakes up anywhere from 5 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., I'd say 5:30 being the most common this week. The good thing about that is that Nerdstar gets to spend some time with him before going to work. The crazy part has been when he's gone to sleep at 4 or 5 p.m. and seemed all set to sleep through the night - except we had to wake him up about 7 or 7:30 to feed him and change him and get him ready for bed. He's missed a few baths. He goes back to sleep well if we wake him, so it hasn't been a problem.

I love that he wakes up happy and gives us big smiles when we go get him out of bed. I've never been a morning person, so all of this ass early waking up is tough on me, but his smile sure does help make it better. I told Nerdstar the other night that my 16 year old self is laughing her butt off that I go to bed at 9 p.m. on a Friday and Saturday night. My 30 year old self is probably laughing just as hard. I'm more amused at taking naps at 8 a.m.

He's not quite rolling over yet. He's been more content to lay on his back and check everything out and watch the dog. He's getting better at tummy time, but mostly likes to lay there and suck on his arm.

Yesterday we went to a friend's house with about six other moms and their kids for music time. He loved it so much. He sat on my lap and chatted up a storm and wiggled around. I guess our little fellow is going to be a social dude. I hope so.

Then this morning he was getting much closer to rolling over and just seems to ready to be in motion. I think he'd rather go straight to walking, he loves to stand up on our laps. Maybe seeing all the other kids yesterday inspired him.

His poor eczema is getting better with the new meds, but it seems to just keep popping up in new spots on his face. We hope and pray he grows out of it eventually.

I'm still so very happy to have my handsome boy to spend my days with.

Punk rock baby

Hairstyling by Cetaphil lotion!

15 Weeks

Our boy is so sweet and adorable and we ask ourselves all the time how we got so lucky. I still say it's because I spent nine months rubbing her pregnant belly and telling him to be happy and mellow.

We've gone to six ounce bottles and that seems to have made him happier. He rarely cries due to perceived starvation now. And some days it actually means he's eating slightly less because it's one less bottle in 24 hours. He's still a long, skinny dude at 15 pounds. He's also sleeping through the night, but the time change has slightly messed things up. His last nap of the day is now at about 4:30 or 5, but he hasn't been waking up from them at 6:30 or 7 like we need him to in order to do his last bottle of the day and change him and get him ready for bed. So, the last two nights we've had to wake up him for about an hour. This also means he's waking up for the day about 5:30 in the morning. Which makes sense to him, he's been asleep for most of the past twelve hours. But as long as he's eating and sleeping well and happy, it's hard to complain.

The sucky part is that Nerdstar generally gets home from work between 5:30 and 7 pm, so she's not getting a lot of time with him in the evening. But, the 5:30 am wake up means she gets more time with him in the morning while I try to get just a few more minutes of sleep!

He and I have pretty simple days together. He spends time in his sit-up chair and tries to play with a couple of the toys on it. There's one where he can spin this ball and he likes to do that. He's really working on his dexterity. It's neat to watch the small but steady progress. He's still not a fan of tummy time, but doesn't scream about it either. He much prefers to lay around on his back and stare at his fist, do some crunches, and squeal. Then he'll get sleepy and take naps. Then he wakes up and eats and if it's a day of running errands we do them then. That cycle repeats about four times a day with some swing time thrown in. The swing has a tray thing that has buttons and lights and music. I think the music is too loud for him on the setting with the lights, which is sad because he likes the lights. There's another setting with softer music, but no lights, and sometimes that puts him to sleep. When he can sit up, we'll find him something similar but that only makes sounds when you push the buttons, I think he'd like that better.

He's still kinda easy to startle, but that's because he spends all his time in a relatively quiet house with me. I might have some music on, or talk radio, but never anything loud.

He's also great in the car and when we go shopping or out to eat - kinda zen and mellow and just likes to watch people and everything going by. I'll be happy when he can sit up and I don't have to lug the car seat onto the shopping carts.

He's starting to track/watch Ramen dog. It's pretty cute.

Squealing

He's been squealing for a week or two now. He tries to see just how high pitched he can get. This is just a small taste. I'm not sure if he's trying to be a dog whistle or the next Mariah Carey.

He's also started sticking out his tongue. It's pretty funny. He likes to lick his swaddle, or his bibs, when they're up near his chin.

He's Just So Cute

I tried to get a good one of him smiling. This weekend we'll have to get the Flip out and video tape his smiling.

Picture from down memory lane....

Noah's Fortune

My mother, who is currently living in Taiwan, went to a fortuneteller and inquired about Noah Maxx's fortune.

It's not a very uncommon practice in Chinese society to consult with a fortuneteller upon the birth of a new child to see what his or her life will be like and what to watch out for. In fact, I believe that everyone in my family, until the births of my cousins, had their fortunes told and their Chinese names made after some suggestions from the fortunetellers.

After my mom had consulted a fortuneteller in Taiwan, she sent the results to my sister, and then my sister sent it to me. It was a big piece of paper with some Chinese proverbs, various timeframes according to the Chinese timetable for times of the day, seasons, and years, and advices. My mom also wrote out a summary of what the fortuneteller had said about Noah Maxx. The fortuneteller used Noah Maxx's birth time and date as the basis for her predictions. I'm sorry that I'm really not all that well-versed in the ways of fortunetelling so I really could not offer further explanations.

Noah Maxx's fortune states that he has two brothers (possible, since his sperm donor had reported pregnancies prior to Noah Maxx), is easy to get along with, will be popular so we should watch out for friends who will lead him astray, he should not marry anyone six years younger or six years older than him (they're monkeys in the Chinese zodiac), he should not travel for more than 50 miles away from home in the first three years of his life (we've already violated that by driving to Ocean City, Md), he is best suited for work in the restaurant business, or as a entrepreneur, not suited for government work, he will get married at age 28, will be very close to his moms (good to know!), and will have two sons of his own. (That means that both the GF and I will not become grandparents until we are in our late 60's and early 70's... :-(

While I am not a huge believer in fortunetelling, I do think that it'll be great if at least one of the good things that was said about Noah Maxx's future will be true. I really do hope that my mom didn't spend a lot of money on the fortuneteller!

Speaking of my mom, we have not seen each other in a very long time. My sister and I are basically our grandparents' children. Now that our family is sort of fractured and scattered after my grandparents passing away, there's aunt and uncle who don't like each other (my aunt had seen Noah Maxx but not my uncle, who now lives in China as a very well paid oil company executive), and a very distant stepmother (she had not seen Noah Maxx yet, and I really don't know if she wants to), and lastly, my father who passed away back in 2008. That basically leaves my mother, who lives far away. The GF and I would like to bring her out here to visit with us so she can hang out with her grandson for a bit. It'll be costly but I think it'll be worth it.

The Hard Days

Nerdstar's been having a hard time understanding my hard days, understanding that even a dream job has bad days. I've had three kinda melt-down days, due to being overly tired and pms. Then there's been the days when Noah's had really fussy afternoons and I've been out of energy. Nerdstar comes home to a fussy mom and baby.

So, yes, I am thankful beyond measure I get to stay at home with Noah. I love watching him change and grow. I love how he smiles when he sees me, how he wakes up happy. I love taking him to the store with me and asking what he thinks of it all. I don't love the screaming when he's hungry, or the times he's bored and nothing works. And honestly, I don't love the housework - never have, never will. The dishes and laundry and vacuuming, the litter box and the trash.

I explained that I feel like taking care of Noah is a job equal to her going to work. Therefore, all the housework is extra stuff for both of us, except, in reality, I do have a lot more time to get it done, in no small part because of the stupid time she spends commuting. We can only dream how much better it would be if she got home from her 9-5 at 5:30 like normal people instead of an average of 6:30.

I explained that staying home with Noah all the time is a little like the time she spent on Mosul. There was always, always a chance that a mortar would come crashing in at anytime. In fact, she came within minutes of being blown up once, and her poor laundry drying on the line was blown up. Now, it's not that Noah is deadly, but it's that same sort of constant underlying stress. You never know when the next screaming/crying will start or stop, or that you'll know what to do about it, or anything really.

Therefore, I just need a little break sometimes. Monday was one of the bad days, and I spent Tuesday and a little bit of Wednesday thinking about getting away today. But, I don't really want to spend the day away from them. I like watching her get to spend time with him, seeing him smile at her. But even if I say she's 100% in charge of him, she's not really, she has the comfort of a backup here.

I think she gets it a little better, but until it's really just the two of them for twelve or more hours, well, she won't fully know.

That said, I am also extremely grateful that she tries to understand, and that she gladly takes over of Noah duty, and helps with the dishes and bottles, and goes to work so we can all eat well. If I had a spouse that didn't - I think I'd kill them in their sleep.

One Year Ago

Our little boy came into existence.

So Cute!

How cute is this little face? Hopefully soon I can get a pic of him smiling.


He can only spend about ten minutes at a time in this contraption, but he seems to like it.

A Few Things

Today is day two of Noah waking up at 6:30, at least today I was much more ready for it. (I went to bed about 8:30 last night!) He seems to be happier this morning as well.

His squealing is getting louder and more frequent. It's hard to tell if it's due to frustration or just because he can. He's still mostly a mellow little fellow.

He still hates tummy time. I guess he's going to be one of those babies that rolls back to front first, and then figures out how to roll from front to back just to get off his tummy. I tell him he's got to learn to roll over, and then think - and fetch and play dead.

The poor boy has had skin troubles almost from day one. His cradle cap is gone, but there's still some dry skin issues on the top of his scalp. His face is 90% better, but he rubs it all the time with his fists. It's hard to tell sometimes it he rubs because he's tired, or because his face is itchy. I feel bad, because I'm sure he's getting at least a little lotion on his fists and then getting it in his eyes. This is one of the biggest reasons he sleeps swaddled up, to keep his hands off his face.

He still stares at his fist, looking at it as if he has to keep an eye on it so it doesn't sneak up on him. I still think it's cute.

We're also finally having him sleep in his crib in his room overnight. He just got too long for the bassinet. So that means moving all of his clothes and supplies from our room downstairs to his room upstairs. Which means a change in logistics in where he and I spend most of our time during the day. Really, the only thing downstairs is the tv. His room, the kitchen, and my desk and computer are all upstairs. There's a huge space of empty floor up here behind the desk for him to "play". Nerdstar's been more sad than I have about him not being in our room.

Twice when we've been out in public people have commented on how alert he is, taking everything in. I find that odd, are babies not usually alert when out and about? Although, even at two months we found he likes to people watch when we go out to eat. It's cute. We finally bought a stroller and I think he likes being in it a lot better because he can see everything.

That said, I'm not sure anything has made me feel more like a MOM than pushing him in a stroller at the mall. Weird, I know.

I'm not sure the boy will ever learn his name. I've mostly taken to calling him Shorty and Sweetie. I think Nerdstar still calls him Pinhead. I try to use Noah often enough.

He's still such a sweet, happy baby boy. Even when he's fussy he'll look at me and smile. Although, that said, one of the hardest things is when I'm holding him up facing me and he looks right in my eyes and screams. So far the screams are because he thinks he's dying of starvation, and because I know that can't possibly be true, the screams aren't heartbreaking.

Updated Kitchen

We moved into our house about a year and a half ago. We love the floor plan and the big rooms. Everything in the kitchen was new, but it didn't have a pantry. We have some tall, black bookshelves I built a few years ago that we used for storage, but the kitchen always looked messy and cluttered.

We were some of the lucky home buyers who qualified for the $8,000 tax refund and I hoped we'd be able to do something with the kitchen with it, but we had to wait until Noah was born and all other expenses were taken care of.

This week, I finally found a contractor and had three changes made.

This is our new pantry. I'm really happy with it.



I had the backsplash done to add a better sense of the kitchen being finished.


And last but not least, we changed out the light fixture. The other one was bigger and just didn't seem right in the space. I like the simplicity of this one.


The reason I say "I" in this post and now "we" is that although Nerdstar helped pick things out, it was pretty much my project to get done. No, I didn't use the entire $8,000.

Tasty

Nerdstar was holding him while we were eating pizza and he decided he'd chomp on her because she wouldn't share.


He's also started "talking" to himself more, especially when falling asleep. It's pretty funny to us.

Rollin!

He's not rolling over, but he's getting closer. He generally hates tummy time, and had much more fun on his back after it.

The video post

From Nerdstar

Hello everyone! Long time no see! With Noah Maxx now at almost 3 months old and me back at work, I have not been really prompt with new updates.

As the GF had already written before, you all know the story to the breaking of my left ankle, so I will not retell the story again. All I can say is that I am glad that it wasn't worse, but mostly I am glad that Noah Maxx wasn't hurt during the fall!

Speaking of Noah Maxx, he has been an absolute joy to be around! He seems to be reaching a new milestone in development every single time! The ways that he smiles at me while I'm changing him or saying hi to him are simply too "cute overload" for me!

That the GF has been more than great at taking care of him and myself (now that I'm sort of an invalid) simply tells me that she is one of these people with the "mom" genes already in her!

We will hopefully post some more pics of Noah Maxx in his daily life soon! Oh, before I go, the only comment that I've got about work is that it has been boring so far.... I'd really rather be around Noah Maxx and the GF!

Update

Things here are good. Nerdstar saw the orthopedist today and there is some soft tissue damage and some little bone fragments, but it'll heal in time. She's got a nifty, removable cast now so she can at least shower and get around. She's been a real trooper and has helped out a lot even with her bum foot.

I think the cats are finally giving into the reality of the pet door. Hope I didn't just jinx it.

We've been in this house a year and a half and tomorrow we've finally got a contractor coming in to build a pantry in the kitchen and install a back splash. I always feel bad spending a lot of money at once, but I'll be so happy when our kitchen looks a lot less cluttered!

Fun 12 Hours

Ahhh, finally, Friday night. I can relax, let Nerdstar take over most of the Noah duties and spend some good time with him. I was all set to cook some oven roasted chicken and jasmine rice, bathe the kiddo, and then watch the Rangers beat the Yankees in Game 1.

None of that happened. The chicken didn't defrost in time to have it for dinner, so we ordered Chinese and saved the chicken for lunch today. Noah fell asleep before Nerdstar got home from work, and then slept through bath time.

And the Rangers lost ugly. I was optimistic, but knew they'd scored too early and had a feeling their pitching wouldn't hold up.

I had put Noah down in his crib upstairs about 6 thinking he'd wake up in a couple of hours to eat before being down for the night. Nope. Little Fella slept until 4 a.m. That would have been a perfect chance for us to get caught up on sleep, except I stayed up watching the game thinking that Nerdstar would take care of him in the morning while I slept a little. Then, we could have slept great with him not waking up between midnight and 2. Nope. I kept waking up in anticipation of him waking up, and because he was upstairs I think we were a little more worried about him.

Then, when he finally woke up about 4 a.m., Nerdstar went up to get him and his bottle. She fell down the last couple of stairs, carrying him. He's fine, didn't even get scared and cry or anything. Her ankle swelled up pretty much right away. We got ice on it and wrapped it up. Noah ate and we all got to sleep some more.

He woke up about 7, 7:30 and her ankle was a wreck. She headed off to the emergency room while I did our normal morning routine.

She's called and let me know her ankle is actually fractured in two places. They've put a temp cast on it and given her information on an orthopedist to see soon.

You just never know what's going to happen!

Updated: Oh, and because all of that wasn't enough fun, I forgot to add the part where the cats threw up in two different spots and pooped in Noah's room. They have issues with the pet door that was installed a couple of months ago. They'll come back in it just fine, but one of them wants me to hold it open for her to go out it. Um, yeah, no. So I'm in the process of taking away their litter box. Fights with pets are fun.

Not Pre-Wired

This came up on FB, thought I'd write it here as well.

Nerdstar and I were talking last night about how much can we shield Noah from and for how long - not from anything in particular, but just in general. It's right up there on the top of hard things to do as a parent. Then I brought up the Duggars and how I think their kids are innocent but not ignorant. They seem like fun, rambunctious, intelligent kids, and I know they've been pretty sheltered in a lot of things. I know there are tons of Christian families out there like that, and non-Christian ones as well, who try to keep their kids from age inappropriate stuff as long as possible.

Then the mom was talking about having to teach each of the kids how to share. I thought that if it doesn't come naturally in a house full of that many kids, it just doesn't come naturally.

So back to last night's convo, we were talking about how babies/kids/humans are not pre-wired/hard wired to be Good. We have to be taught not to lie, how to share, and on and on.

I'm a Christian, and believe that man is fallen - and that he can be redeemed. It's just weird/interesting to see that played out in babies.

Hahahaha

Cake!!!

I can't wait for events like this.

Assumptions and Explanations

We had something similar to this at our last doctor appointment. I assumed that the new doc we were seeing for that appointment would read the chart and have some basic info about us and Noah. I guess not. She starts off asking about the birth and we give the basics about the delivery and such. Then she mentions the word adoption and things got confusing for us all. Because we had just explained that Nerdstar had delivered Noah just fine, I thought she might have insight enough to ask if I'd adopted Noah, but me explaining that VA isn't a friendly state seemed to confuse the doc a lot. I still have no idea why she was bringing up adoption. From there it was a really short exam and then the nurse came in and give him his shots.

The other annoying thing about the doc visits is this whole list of questions the nurse or doc asks, such as are there weapons in the house, who all lives in the house, etc. The first time they were asked I thought it was odd, but didn't dwell on it. Then on his second visit they asked all the same questions. I was annoyed and said we just answered them last time. The nurse said they ask them every time. I guess that makes sense in that yes, something could have changed in two months. But on the next visit I'm going to make sure to ask why they ask these questions and if the answers are private or are reported somewhere.

I kinda wish there was some big, red flag in his medical chart saying "lesbian parents."

Just like you never stop coming out as a gay person - every time you get to know someone new you have to decide on telling them or not - it's going to be the same with Noah and his having two moms.

At IHOP, a Chinese waitress asked Nerdstar if her husband was white, she could tell Noah was mixed. The rest of the convo was in Chinese, so I don't know all of what Nerdstar explained. But, we have to decide all the time on just how long and involved a conversation we want to have with anyone who wants to chat with us about Noah. Do we let them keep their assumptions or try to explain? I've got no problem telling anyone and everyone we're both his moms, but it does take time and patience.

And I understand people not leaping to the conclusion we're both his mom. Even if people are used to seeing/recognizing lesbian or gay couples out in public, and I think for the most part people are, the addition of a baby really does change the picture. It's reasonable to people to assume there's a man involved somewhere if there's a baby.

I don't mind it all too much really. I learned a long time ago I am under no obligations to tell anyone anything. But I also don't mind having nice conversations with random people. I'm sure that's partly because I've never had anyone be a total jerk.

Newest Funny Thing

He's getting close to knowing he has hands. He'll hold his right fist out in front of his face and stare at it intently like he's trying to move it by telekinesis - which, eventually he'll figure out that he can.

Too Funny!

You really have to watch this video!

9 Weeks

Our poor boy had his 2 month check up today and his first set of shots. He did great getting his shots, only cried for a minute and then was fine. I swear this kid is going to be all - ok, you can cut my fingers off, just don't make me late for dinner!

He now weighs 13 pounds 10 oz. Chunky. He's 23 1/2 inches long.

We're well into week 2 of me being a SAHM while Nerdstar gets into her new job. While this is certainly the most tiring job I've ever had, it's also the best. I've never been a "baby person." I don't love babies in general. I'll probably like yours if I know you, but have never oohhhed and awwwed over them. I always said if I had a kid, I wouldn't mind starting out with it once it could walk and talk. Nerdstar's just the opposite, she likes them at this age and would hand them over at the age I prefer.

So, here I am at home with this absolutely adorable little boy - and in some ways I think we're both bored. He can't sit up yet. He can't play with toys. He doesn't really care about story time. He does "talk" a lot. When I read him stories he usually babbles along more than he listens. He's not into music, which is just as well for the poor thing, neither of his mothers can sing. He does love to be held so that he can stand on his legs, or so that he can sit up and look around. Thankfully, he still likes the swing and will nap in it. He still sleeps fantastic at night, but isn't too interested in naps during the day. I still get the feeling he's just waiting until he can be mobile. He's not hyper or restless or anything, just not into laying around. I'm so glad the warm weather will return at just the right time for him in the spring.

One thing I wish we'd done before he got here was to learn how to go to bed early. We've both been night owls our whole lives. It's very hard to adjust our bedtime from 11 pm or later to even 10, much less the 9 pm we should be going to bed. I guess enough of these early mornings will eventually reset our clocks.

He's still the cutest, sweetest little thing we've ever known. We can't believe he's only been on the outside with us for two months, it's like he's been a part of us forever.

Funny

While we love that he's so talkative already, we do find it a little disconcerting that he loves to talk to the characters on his crib bumper as much as he loves to talk to us.

Heh

Fortunately, unless he wakes up starving, our boy wakes up happy. So, most morings I say, "Hey Sweetie, what do you want to do today?" And of course, the answer in my head is always this.

Beach Getaway

Being the bad moms that we are, we very seriously considered a 3 day Vegas getaway before Nerdstar starts her new job on Monday. There are some really good places to eat in Vegas that we've never tried. Not to mention poker rooms and craps tables. Although gambling one at a time wouldn't be AS fun. Heh. The deciding factor was that we didn't want to subject him to airplane germs yet.

So, we decided to hit the road to Ocean City, about 3 1/2 hours away and go listen to the waves roll in. We had no idea what all was there, or where we'd stay. We found a great Holiday Inn and gave little Noah his own bed and he did great!

It was really windy this morning, but we went down to the water for a few.


This was our view about 5 pm yesterday when we got checked in.


This was about 8 am this morning before we headed out to breakfast and the beach.


We've been to Atlantic City, Virginia Beach and now Ocean City on the East Coast. If we never go back to Atlantic City, that's fine with us. And I think we decided we'd rather rent a little place on the beach at Virginia Beach than go back to Ocean City.

If it's ever up to me, I love going to Monterrey, CA and sitting and watching the sea lions on the rocks. If it's ever up to Nerdstar, we're going to Hawaii. She's been, but I haven't.

Future Foodie

We've had our suspicions that Mr. Noah might be a foodie, other than the only time he cries is when he's hungry. He couldn't care less about wet diapers or being tired, just hungry. Then there's the fact that he often wakes up just as we're actually about to eat. Not just when we're cooking, or if we're at a restaurant, waiting for the food, nope when we're just about to start eating. Like if he can't have the good stuff, we can't either.

Yesterday, Nerdstar brought home an ice cream sandwich for me and a cone for her. He sat on my lap and watched me eat just about every bite of the ice cream sandwich. Then Nerdstar sat down next to us to eat her cone. Now, he's starting to track things with his eyes, but boy oh boy, you should have seen him track that ice cream cone when she moved it back and forth for him. I told her it's a good thing he couldn't lunge for it!

Buzz Cut

We have a picture of Nerdstar from when she's a few weeks old and they're shaving her head with shaving cream and a straight razor. It's the cutest thing! I had hoped to shave his head completely, so that his hair will grow back in even thicker, but that wasn't to be. His cradle cap is getting better, but not great yet. So we just shaved it really short. I absolutely love it!!

Noah "talking"

9 Years Later

I try to keep politics and such out of this blog. But I'll put a link up to my post about this 9th anniversary of 9/11.

Six Weeks

Our little Noah is six weeks old today. And I know I use the word adorable all the time, but he is truly so very adorable. He's "talking" to us and smiling sometimes - although he smiles the most and the biggest as he's falling asleep. If we only knew what he was dreaming of.

We put him in his bed last night while he was mostly awake and he put himself to sleep, that's cool. He's on a decent schedule for eating and sleeping, in that we couldn't be any luckier. He had a rough time of it last night, not sure if it was gas or constipation, but even in his fussiness he would calm down and sleep a little while I held him.

I find it fascinating that it takes babies so long to trust us. That he cries every time he wakes up and is hungry and doesn't stop until the boob or bottle is actually in his mouth, even picking him up isn't enough for him to know food is coming.

It's nice that he can see better. He's still not crazy about tummy time, but he'll lay on the bed and stare at the ceiling fan. I put him on his back on the floor this morning and he wiggled and stretched and had a good time. We don't want to buy one of those little things babies lay in that have the toys over it because I think he's too wiggly and will outgrow it too soon. So we're trying to find a way to hang some toys across his crib - it's got lots of room for him to wiggle and would be a good height for him to reach out to when he starts doing that. He finally paid a little attention to the mobil this morning and seems to like looking at the bumper in the crib. I can't find anything I like, so I think I'm going to get a stick to put across the crib and then find some neat toys to hang from it. I'd love any suggestions.

Nicknames So Far

Nerdstar still calls him Pinhead and Little Man.

I call him mostly Handsome, then Little Fella, Farty Butt, Munchkin, and Piglet.

New Pics

Our boy is getting noticeably bigger and heavier. He's also been "talking" to us for the past few days. And his baby acne seems to be on the recovery side of things.

Last night we were all hanging out in his room for a little while. I've had sleep music on his iPod for months. I finally put some awake time tunes on there the other day. I swear this was during AC/DC For Those About to Rock. Heh.



How adorable is that sweet little face?


We liked this one because it looks like he's putting his hand over her mouth to make her stop talking. Which is funny because I'm the one who talks his ears off, not her.

Dealing With Idiots

I don't understand how hard it is for some people to simply do their job. Ugh. And really, I'm writing this on behalf of poor Nerdstar, who's actually having to talk with these people all the time.

We had forgotten that the hospital put the wrong date on his "proof of birth" letter, and since we sent in the forms for his birth certificate the other day, figured this wouldn't matter. Then her HR wanted something proving he was born so they could add him to her insurance, so she faxed that little letter off not even thinking about the wrong date, until they called and said, um, nope, that won't work. Of course, the lady at the hospital who can fix this mistake (as opposed to all the people who work there who apparently can't fix the mistake) is out today, and only works part time anyway. This wouldn't be such a big deal if there wasn't a $270 bill from the ped. office waiting to be re-filed with the insurance company. Plus, once we get his birth certificate, if it's wrong it's $10 to get it fixed. Ugh.

But the real winners in the idiot department are the folks at the disability company. Nerdstar's having to play middle man between them and the doctor's office billing dept. For reasons completely unknown, and in spite of calling her almost every day up until he was born, to see if he was born yet, they can't seem to get right his actual delivery date and when benefits should have started, as opposed to when they seem to have arbitrarily started them, etc. And the doctor's office wants no part of finding whatever form they sent out in July and dealing with any of it.

Add in complete uncertainty regarding her current job and either of two other job prospects and constantly changing requirements for said jobs, well, lets say we're not having a lot of fun on this front either. We had been planning on her starting a new job on the 20th of this month. That's now looking a lot more iffy. They're going to have her take a language test, and we're just praying it's not the same one she failed at her last job. (There are several different language tests for her type of work.) While I'm thrilled to have her home for as long as possible, financial uncertainty is never fun.

So Far

Today he's five weeks old. So far he's like his mama Nerdstar.

He loves to eat, or at least, the only time he cries and then screams is when he's hungry. Other than that he's not fussy. She said she doesn't cry when she's hungry, but I said she would if someone else was in charge of her meal times! She's still complaining that after being in labor for around 17 hours, the first thing the nurses told her was that she missed dinner and all they had was crackers and ginger ale.

He loves baths. He loves to just lounge in his little plastic bath tub and let us run the warm water over him. He's even starting to like having his hair washed. It'll be fun when he can sit up and sit in a bigger tub and splash around!

He's still so mellow. When he's awake he still prefers to just sit on our laps and stare into space. Nerdstar can do quite well at staring into space.

And, of course, to me they're both just so, so, so cute.

Peace

I've always had an evil brain. It races around non-stop ninety miles an hour.

When I was in middle school and high school I played trombone in the band. In high school, I was fortunate enough to be in the jazz band. It was the one hour a day I didn't think about anything other than playing the music. By my senior year, that one hour a day probably saved my sanity, if not my life.

Several years ago, when we lived in Austin, I finally bought a motorcycle. Riding out in the hill country is fun and beautiful. Like playing music, riding takes up all my thoughts, and also seems to drive the unnecessary ones out. I don't ride very often here in the DC area, but every once in a while I'll still take it out for a ride and enjoy the blue skies and green trees.

And now, sitting and holding little Noah Maxx not only brings peace to my brain, it brings a joy to my heart.

Two Firsts

Yesterday we both got our hair cut and had hoped our dude would have time to trim Noah's, but he was busy. So, we broke out the scissors and comb and I managed to trim it up some. I'm sure it doesn't look any different in the pic, but we can tell.

Then today he finally fell asleep and took a nice long nap in the swing. Before today he'd do about six minutes in it and start crying. So that's cool.

One Month Pics

He's really seemed to enjoy the last couple of baths when we let him sit and enjoy the warm water. He's still not so crazy about washing all that hair!

One Month

We honestly feel like he's been with us forever. In fact, to us, he's been with us for over 11 months, he's just been on the outside for one month! I'm glad time isn't flying.

It's been a whirlwind month. Lots of visitors. I'm so glad everyone got to come and see him as a newborn. He handled it all like a trooper. He's great with anyone who holds him. And so far he's been great running errands and eating out.

We were also talking the other night about how having him is pretty much exactly what we expected it would be like. That's mostly because we're just so lucky that he's such a great little boy. He's still sleeping great at night. He eats like a champ. In fact, the only time he fusses is when he's hungry - so at least we're not always having to guess why he's not happy.

We know we're in trouble when he starts smiling at us and charming us. It melts my heart now when he smiles in his sleep.

When he's awake he's usually pretty happy to just "sit up" on one of our laps and look at us or look around. He's not crazy about the swing, he'll still spend about five minutes in it and about five minutes doing "tummy time." I feel bad we're not entertaining him more, but he seems so content. And we're pretty content just staring at his adorable little face. We read him Pooh stories sometimes. I need to take some of the Seuss books downstairs, they have the better illustrations for him.

It's fun trying to keep everything we need for him within reach - bibs, pacifier, a book.

My favorite thing is when he wakes up and I unswaddle him and he spends the next couple of minutes just stretching all he can - it's so cute.

The pets have mostly taken it well. Thankfully Ramen dog isn't into toys, so he doesn't bother the few things Noah has. The girl cat acts like he's not even around, which is typical for her. I think the boy cat has been the most affected, but that could also be because we moved their "door" from downstairs in the laundry room to upstairs in the kitchen. Ramen will usually go and see what's up when Noah cries, but sometimes he's just too worn out to bother!

We know it can't go this smoothly forever. But I'm more grateful to God than words can express that's it's go so well so far.

It's bath night, so I'll try to get a pic later.

Nights and Days

Our little fella is all of 3 weeks old. It seems like an eternity. We were trying to imagine what a whole year will feel like!

He's still sleeping fantastic at night. One night there was even a 7 hour stretch of him sleeping. Usually it's still in 4 hour blocks. Days have become a different story. He's awake more and I'm not sure he's happy about that. We do about four minutes of swing time, four minutes of tummy time, a few minutes with one of his toys. I think he wants to be moving around on his own. But mostly, he wants to sleep on my tummy. At night he sleeps just fine swaddled up on his back. During the day not so much.

Still screams through most diaper changes. Still hates baths - although he hasn't had that many to get used to them yet.

But he's as adorable as ever. There are still lots of quiet times holding him when we're both just quiet and hanging out together. Those times almost bring tears to my eyes.

Hopefully Nerdstar will do an update soon. Her sister will be in town the next 3 days, though, so we'll see.

More Pics

Just chillin.

Punk hair! It's so not intentional!




Grumpy face!


And I finally got to add the new sticker!

Pics

He's a little scrunched up here, he's propped up on Nerdstar's legs. He's often got his arms out and about, sometimes it looks like those ballet poses. Oh yeah, and we love his little man boobs.

I love his cute little feet. When he's breastfeeding, I'm usually on the side where his feet are dangling and I always rub and play with them.

Big Boy Big Day

He's two weeks and 4 days, but today was his "two week" ped appointment. We pretty much found out what we already knew, he's a big, skinny, strong boy. His height is 73% and weight 76.4%. He's gained a pound since his birth weight. He's already pretty good at holding up his head a little and wiggling all over the place.

After the ped apt. we went to Red Lobster for lunch. Yum. We're not so great at the home cooking, and having to find something to eat in this house three times a day isn't always fun. But, we're getting better at it. As if that wasn't enough fun for one day, we then took him to Walmart with us.

I can't tell you what a good baby he is. The couple of times he cried in his car seat in the restaurant or wally world, we just had to hold or carry him for a few minutes and he calmed down and usually went back to sleep. When he's awake he just looks out into whatever it is he looks at and is so calm.

He's eating and sleeping on a pretty good schedule. During the day he usually eats every 3 to 4 hours, and at night he eats about 11 pm, 3 am and 7 am. This has allowed us to stay fairly well rested.

We (ok, probably me) almost feel guilty - but more than that we feel so very lucky. And we love him so very much.

Rain Songs

It was pouring rain this morning and Noah was sharing some fantastic awake time with us, so I thought, hmmmm, what little songs about rain do I know. Um, couldn't remember all of the lines to any. Not "it's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring", not "itsy bitsy spider", nada. I haven't even been able to remember what the heck all five little piggies do.

Thank God for google! Now, if only I could order a better singing voice on amazon.

Update

Of course, now that I've talked about him online, he's pooped two days in a row. Today's didn't even seem to bother him.

Two weeks- the run down

Exactly two weeks ago little Noah was making his way into the world. It seems like an eternity ago - like he's always been with us. I think that's the sleep deprivation talking!

Today was his first sorta fussy day. Apparently he's a tight ass and does not like to poop. Today was the first day after riding himself of all that "first poop" that he pooped unassisted. It made him cranky all day. We sure hope he gets used to it soon.

Other than that he's still simply amazing. We can't get over how downright adorable he is. I know we're in real trouble when he can smile at us - I'm not sure we'll ever tell him no. (Ok, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to, but Nerdstar - not so much.)

We're going to continue the breast feeding and the formula supplements. He seems happy with both.

He generally sleeps like a champ at night. We feed him around 10 or 11, then around 3 or 3:30 then he wakes up about 7:30 a.m. We knock wood this keeps up.

He's starting to spend more time awake during the day. That's cool! We've read him some Dr. Seuss and Pooh so far. He seems to like them. But really, he's always so chill and quiet and serious looking.

Anytime we've had to take him places, he sleeps in the car, and usually through us grabbing a quick lunch. He was great with my family, never cared who was holding him.

We mostly chalk it up to be very, very lucky. And I often wonder how long this good life can last. I spent ten months of him in Nerdstar's belly, rubbing her belly telling him to be mellow and happy. So far, he couldn't be more mellow. I just hope he's happy!