Noah News: Christmas Edition

aka...week 7.

This week was a very exciting one as it held Noah's first Christmas. It also marked my first Christmas away from "home" and my Mom's first away from her mom. A LOT of firsts for one day. It was different, and kind of a blur, to tell the truth. The good/important news is that we were able to spend it together as a family and create a few new traditions.

There was a lot of holiday flare this week in baby apparel world.

This weeks headlines:

Santa Claus is coming to town - Noah decided not to take any risks on ending up on the naughty list and slept 8 hours Christmas Eve. We have had a couple of repeat performances and I feel good about our nighttime routine we are establishing.

Scott made sure Santa could see our house. I will take a better picture but I snapped this pulling into the driveway last week.

One big sack of potatoes - Noah tipped the scales at over 10 lbs. this week! Every time I see a nice weight gain on the scales it makes me smile. He is even starting to get some chub on his cute little thighs! 

10 lbs. 2.8 oz!

Movin' on up - From newborn diapers to size 1 that is. More proof that our little boy isn't so little any more (ok, he is!). 

Head Smart - We are now making a conscious effort to get Noah to look to his right more regularly. He always defaults left and I don't want him to get a flat head or end up in a helmet so we are officially taking preemptive efforts to prevent this.

Reach out and touch someone - Or "something" in Noah's case. He is sort of starting to figure out his activity mat/gym. He accidentally hit one of his toys last week and immediately his hands started batting trying for a repeat performance.

Happy baby on, where else, his boppy!

Rubber Ducky, you're the one - Bath time is officially lots of fun now. Noah loves his bath time and doesn't even mind water on his face. He must be mine after all ;-).

After bath in his holiday towel...thanks Kelly!

Ok, no headlines for the rundown of my parents visit...

Wednesday, my parents arrived in time for a full day of Noah holding. I am pretty sure that Scott and I barely touched our little man for their entire visit. While it is nice to have him back it was wonderful to see him with his Grandparents!

Grandma got to give Noah his nightly bottle feeding. I think she enjoyed it just a bit!

Thursday, we had a lot of last minute errands to run so we headed out on a mission: Ikea, Costco, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Michael's. VERY ambitious to try and pull off between feedings and ultimately we failed. We had a full baby meltdown after BB&B and had to high tail it home for some food. That night we decided to give the adult dinner thing another try at The Village Pub. While we definitely got a few sideways glances for bringing an infant to a Michelin starred restaurant, he was the perfect dinner guest and slept the whole time while we enjoyed some amazing food!

Dinner at Village Pub. It might be nice weather in CA in December but not good enough for a tan!

Friday the preparation for Christmas Eve began. We were getting set to host 34 members of the Retchless family at our house which took a great deal of planning and set up. We were cooking, decorating, rearranging furniture, cleaning, and watching the little man all day. Of course, seeing that Christmas was being celebrated in a state where 60 is a high in December, my dad and Scott took in 18 holes as well! Somehow we managed to create a yummy risotto dinner amongst the madness.

Tables being transformed for the big feast.

Close up look.

Saturday we awoke and continued the previous days routine of prepping for Christmas Eve. It turned out to be a resounding success (if I do say so myself). If we had bad weather I think it would have been a rough day with that many people crammed in our tiny house but it was gorgeous outside so it all worked out swimmingly. It was wonderful to be able to celebrate with the Retchless Family in person instead of via Skype this year!

Family room...ready for football watching.

White elephant gift exchange.

Barbara and her white elephant "win". Luckily someone stole it from her!

After our glorious 8 hour sleep on Saturday night we awoke for Christmas morning. It took us at least twice as long to open as presents as usual since we wanted Noah to take part and he was more interested in eating and sleeping! BUT, we had nothing else to do all day so we stretched our morning out nice and long and enjoyed every minute of changing our family room into mounds of presents, boxes and wrapping paper. 

We took a little time as a family of three (five) in the early hours of Christmas. Lola was loving all the extra snuggle time in bed.

Our pre-Noah family.

Look who woke up!

A man amongst the presents. He wasn't cooperating for the camera very well.

Noah's first Christmas present...and it was...

WOO HOO!

I think he likes it ;-).

The day continued with this theme and we took our time relishing in the family togetherness. We did take advantage of Christmas in California with a nice walk around the neighborhood (our gift to the Pomeranians) but otherwise we simply enjoyed the R&R. As an extra special treat, my dad cooked Christmas dinner. It is the only meal he prepares and it is from a 1973 issue of Playboy. It pretty much feels like a step back in time enjoying this vintage meal that was DELICIOUS.

Monday was not-so-fun as we had to send Grandma and Grandpa back to Missouri. One of these days I will blog about how hard it is to have them so far away but for today, suffice it to say that saying goodbye was really hard.

Check out that cute little comb over. He looks like such a little man.

Now, we are back to our family of three and it is time to finish out 2011 and prepare to welcome 2012 (probably staring at the back of our eyelids!).

Merry Christmas!!

Noah News: Week 6

Noah News is coming to you a day early this week because tomorrow we will be far too busy playing with Grandma and Grandpa to blog! Here is a video of Noah showing his excitement for their arrival!

Headlines for the week:

Just announced: New food group added to pyramid - Ok, 1-it isn't even a pyramid anymore and 2-animal crackers would definitely not be added regardless of the shape. I need an intervention...or some better snacks...my consumption of these tasty little guys is out of control. 

Clean Bill of Health Issued - I paid a visit to my OB this week and was given a clean bill of health and the a-ok to start any and all pre-pregnancy activity (more on that soon).  Is it strange that I am sad not to get to see my doctor as frequently any more? It is such an odd thing to see someone weekly and then say, "see you in a year!". 

Look who's back in the big city - Noah, Scott and I made two trips to SF this week. The first I was by myself most of the time and realized just how happy I am not to be dealing with an infant in the city daily. I got parked in with 1 inch in front of me and maybe six behind me. Awesome when you need to get out of your spot with a screaming child quickly! Getting back to the burbs was a welcome relief.

Noah was having a meltdown so I decided it was a good time to get out of the house for a pomeranian walk. This is as far as I got getting him in the car seat before he was passed out. He slept like that for 45 minutes!

Christmas in San Francisco - Our second trip was purely to take in the hustle and bustle of downtown at the holidays. Scott and I always enjoyed this time of year in Union Square and decided we should make it an annual tradition to take Noah! 

Our little family in front of the giant Christmas tree.

Yes, I busted out his Santa hat for our excursion.

Managing those awkward teen years - ok, so Noah hasn't exactly reached his teen years but we are already fighting acne. Baby acne might be the most irritating thing on earth. Everything I read says, "try not to let it bother you, it doesn't bother him". Right...apparently I am too vain for that line of thought. Luckily we think we are seeing some improvement with increased bath frequency and some Medela face wipes. I still say no matter what age, acne sucks.

He might have acne, but he still has awesome hair!

It's the same...but different - My body that is. At my doctor's appointment I braved the scale. One pound away from my pre-pregnancy weight. That said, things are not the same. I actually felt better about my body two weeks post partum than I do now. 5 weeks without a consistent workout routine has resulted in some muscle loss which is a bummer since I went into my delivery in tip top shape. I think some of my recent frustration comes from the fact that I was just impressed at seeing myself without a huge belly so my mental reaction to my body was better initially. Hopefully some serious ab work will get me feeling toned up again and back to my fitness goal (which is not a number but a feeling). I know I sound like a whiner...I am thankful for how my body handled pregnancy and how it is bouncing back. It will just be interesting to see how my body shapes back up and where I stand in a few months. Hopefully I'll feel like my strong/healthy self again soon!

Baby feet!

Caught in the act - Thank God no one actually caught me in this act! Scott and I headed out to the mall to do a little Christmas shopping and thought we had timed Noah's feeding perfectly. He let me know that we were WRONG in the Banana Republic dressing room. Poor little guy lost his mind so we high tailed it out of there and back to the car to head home. I decided a quick stop for fro yo wouldn't ruin the stinkler for life so I indulged. Unfortunately we weren't even able to get out of the parking lot before the hysterics got so out of control we realized we would be nursing in the car. All fine but it reached a whole new level when Scott had to feed me my fro yo while I was half undressed in the back seat. Now there is a story to tell the Grandkids.

Finger Lickin' Good - We did it. We braved our first adult dinner out with Noah in tow. We packed up the munchkin and headed to Mayfield for a delicious dinner (we ordered all but 3 entrees) with Aimee, Andrea, Kristina, Nick and Michelle. Great company, great food, and to top it all off...a sleeping baby!

He stayed like this until dessert.

A quick fix for a fussy baby :-)

Feels just like walking on broken glass - No, I didn't jump on glass again. BUT, I have decided that I should really just stick to all things plastic. I had a sleep deprived moment that ended with me grabbing a pan that had just come out of the oven with bare hands. Needless to say, it ended up on the ground along with all of the contents (chicken tamale casserole) and a ton of broken glass. This is why God invented pizza delivery.

I have nothing clever because it is too exciting...Noah slept through the night! We laid him down at about 10:30pm and he didn't demand us until 5:45am. We are hoping this continues...forever ;-).

We can't wait for a nap-off with Grandpa and Noah!

The pomeranians want in on that challenge too!

Noah News: Week 5

Here we are at week 5 and inching closer and closer to the holidays...AND Grandma and Grandpa's visit! All of my holiday shopping is complete and I am READY for the week of fun to begin.

This weeks headlines:

Shake, shake, shake - Noah's favorite toy this week is actually not a toy at all. I picked up one of my holiday "decorations" and he was immediately fascinated. M&Ms in a little glass jar is all it take to entertain this little guy. Add to it that I was wearing my polka dot PJs and we have one happy baby!

The play is under review - I am going to go ahead and call it...we had our first real smiles this week. There have been a few over the past week and a half that I have been 50/50 on (gas versus real) but this weekend he legitimately gave Scott some smiles. Here's hoping there are a lot more regular ones to come as they are completely unpredictable and random so far.

Obviously not a smile picture but a cute picture of afternoon snuggles with Dad.

Scales tip in favor of Noah - We are continuing to see awesome weight gain in our little guy. This week we did a weigh in at DayOne and he was up to 8lbs. 14oz!! This is beyond stellar and we have eliminated his "topper" bottle as a result. It is so reassuring to know he is getting all he needs from me.

Growing boy! Same size onesie & a much happier baby!

Zest-fully clean - Side note: do they even make Zest soap any more? Anyway...I have been doing great on all the things I hoped to accomplish on my to-do list. I have not even missed one day of showering (everyone around me is thankful). This week I am making an attempt to return to a normal workout schedule...wish me luck!

The scene on a Sunday morning at our house.

Do a little dance - Friday was Scott's office holiday party. I was abnormally excited for this affair as it meant I got to get all dressed up for a night out! We had the best babysitters come to stay with the Stinkler so we were able to enjoy our night knowing he was in great hands.

Noah and Meesh snuggling while we were out playing.

• A funny anecdote from our evening: This year's holiday party was complete with a DJ for entertainment. However, putting 50 semiconductor employees in a room with a DJ is pretty much a bust. Scott decided we needed to be the ones to break the ice and get people out there. He did his best convincing to get me to go dance in front of all his colleagues and stood up and started to lead the way. I made a game time decision that my dance moves weren't ready and quickly sat back down and watched my husband dance solo for a good minute. He was less than thrilled but we all enjoyed the show!

Proof.

The art of sleep - Noah's nighttime sleep routine has become a bit of a puzzle. He usually gets his last feeding around 7 or 8 and then we enter this great debate of whether to wake him to feed him between 10 and 11. The tricky part is that sometimes he will blow right through those hours and sleep until 1 or 2 and sometimes we go to bed and he wakes up 20 minutes later which pushes the whole bedtime routine to midnight. It sounds obvious...just let him sleep. BUT, it is really hard to wake up 30 minutes after you fall asleep for a feeding.

He is so stinkin cute!

Gas for the road - yes, my life is pretty much all about the digestive system these days. Someone should teach a prenatal class purely on baby gas and poop. I call Noah "stinker", "stinkler" or "tinkler" most of the time. It just kind of happened but it seems to fit his personality. Our poor little boy spends most of his days working stuff out and then finally come evening when things get moving he is like a new baby. I wish baby systems worked a little better :-(...here's hoping another couple months see some improvements for the little guy. Also, anyone who has had a baby with sensitivity to dairy can you tell me what the symptoms were like? I am paranoid he is going to have an issue with this (since it comprises 90% of my diet) but I am not even sure what to be looking for. Note I have zero rationale for this fear!!

Tails of two pomeranians - Wasn't it nice of Scott and I to buy the pomeranians all these new dog accessories?!

Arnold and "his" Boppy.

Lola and "her" new red fuzzy blanket. 

Noah News: Week 4

Week 4 flew right by. I can't believe that he is already a month old!! One month of pregnancy feels like a complete eternity, but one month of baby goes by in a flash.

News for the week:

• No need for an Ark, Tinkler likes bath time. We had a very successful bath this week. They key is a full tub of water and warm wash cloths laid on his little body. Warm baby=happy baby.
• Baby survives arctic temperatures, Safeway. Our Safeway might be the coldest place on earth. There really is no need for a "freezer aisle" as the whole store is one giant freezer. This week Noah and I took our first trip to Safeway. I debated wearing him, trying to cram groceries in the stroller, etc... I settled on putting the car seat in the basket. Rookie parenting I'm sure, but we made it work!

• 

  Can you find Noah?

   
• Christmas comes early, gift of sleep delivered. I am scared to death I am going to jinx this but Noah has been giving us some nice uninterrupted hours of sleep. For example, we had an 8:30pm-2am sleep and then a 2:45-6am sleep. Not too shabby in the world of baby sleep :-)...although apparently we need to start going to bed at 8:30 to capitalize fully :-).



Morning Daddy snuggles.

• 

  I just want to eat him up!

• 4.0 Magnitude Leg Shaking. I went back to Bar Method. It was tough but it was wonderful all at the same time! My legs were doing some serious shaking and it reminded me what taking a month off will do to the body. Hopefully I can get a routine started and make this a regular occurrence. 
• The email you thought you would never send...I emailed a picture of my baby's poop to our pediatrician. Yes, this involved good lighting and a dirty diaper photo shoot...the things we will do for our kids. For the record, he is 100% healthy. 
• It's not a miracle, it's a reflex. That's right, I broke down and watched The Happiest Baby on the Block. Call it what you will, it is pretty miraculous what a little laying on the side will accomplish. Noah goes practically catatonic before we even get to shushing! 
• Beat the holiday rush, visit now! We had more visitors this past week. 
• First, Noah got to meet his cousins Kayla and Tanner :-). Kayla was pretty taken with him it seemed and Tanner even brought him a toy to play with!

• 

  Ok, I look like a creeper but look at those adorable cousins!!!

  

  Aunt Crickie

• The Von Rohr's also came to visit from Berkeley. Hopefully Noah was good enough that they move a little closer and want to visit more often (or let us crash their house)!

Jess, Hoffman and Noah

Some random pictures just for fun:

I got Christmas jammies and I love them! As Scott told Noah, "we may never get her out of those!"

After a pomeranian walk in the Moby...he was zonked (and I am aware this is not correct head position..we were on the couch so I wasn't worried)

Are you tired of pictures of me on my Boppy yet?

Cute baby feet at nap time (I took this picture by accident but I like it)!

 Arnold on his pillow fort.

Noah News: Week 3

A little late, but I want to document all things leading up to Noah turning 3 weeks old. Moving forward I will put together a "Noah News" weekly to chronicle his first year. These will not be concise as I want to remember every little detail of my stinkler's early weeks of life!

• First, and most importantly, we weighed in on Tuesday at 7 lbs. 13.9 oz. For those keeping track that is ABOVE birth weight. WOO HOO!!! This was a big milestone for this family and we are happy to be on the weight gaining train. 



His hair is also growing...I love his little hair flair he gets!

• Noah is definitely happiest in the morning. He will just relax on his Boppy and take in his surroundings. He is usually super awake and just happy to be a baby.
• On the flip side, he gets a bit cranky come the early evening hours. It is nothing terrible and we can always get him calmed down with some swaying, swaddling, baby wearing, or a few other items in our bag of tricks. 



Happy Boppy time

• Back to his happy awake times...I often feel guilty for leaving him staring at his toys so I can squeeze in a shower or tooth brushing. I feel like I should be interacting with him whenever he is awake and happy so I am working on finding a me/Noah balance during these times. I love these moments but also feel like I have to seize them for my own personal sanity as well.
• I mentioned baby wearing above. So far we have tried the Moby Wrap and Ergo. The Ergo is great for outings as it is easy to throw on and very sturdy. The down side is that it is fairly bulky and cumbersome around the house. I have found that I prefer the Moby for house work/dog walks. Once you figure out how to get it wrapped and him in it is actually pretty easy and not as intimidating as it may look. 
• Bottles. We have introduced bottles with success. Noah is still on 100% breast milk but I have been able to pump to supplement his nursing sessions. He gets a few "toppers" of about 1 oz. during the day to help him keep putting on weight and he also gets one full bottle from Dad in the evening. So far he could care less what receptacle the milk comes from or the temperature...he just wants it!
• Pumping. Originally this was a bit of a thorn in my side...now I am addicted. I pump twice a day; once after his morning feeding (milk supply is highest in the AM) and once in the evening when Scott gives him his bottle. It is pretty much a contest with myself to see how much I can pump in a session and oh so gratifying when it is a lot!
• We have absolutely zero schedule but if I had to identify something it would look like this:
• 8:30am - wake up for morning feeding
• Feed, burp, change diaper, boppy time, pump, breakfast, coffee, shower



More happy Boppy time

• Sometime between 10:30 and 11 he eats again
• Feed, burp, change diaper, prepare for outing (dry hair if I haven't managed that during round 1)
• Outing
• So far we have been successful with one outing daily. We have run errands and gone to a class at DayOne. 
• 2ish - home from outing
• Feed, burp, change diaper, frantically try and get a little house work done before the fussies set in. This is often the feeding where I end up wearing him.
• Dog walk before it gets dark.
• The evening is pretty much a well choreographed routine
• Lots of feedings (throughout the day he eats every 2-3 hours and sometimes every 1.5...like I said, we have no schedule), prep dinner, sooth cranky baby, cook dinner, clean up from dinner, continue feedings/soothing, try to squeeze in a little TV time...you get the idea.
• Sometime between 9 and 11 he has his last feeding before we all retire for bedtime. He gets this feeding in our bed in a much more quiet/calm environment. We are trying to teach him the difference between night and day by throwing open every curtain when we wake up in the morning and not limiting noises and doing the exact opposite come bed time.
• Noah still sleeps in our room so the night routine is kinder to us all. He still wakes 1-2 times but is getting better about going right back to sleep after a feeding versus needing a lot of rocking/soothing.
• Repeat it all again the next day.
• At some point I would like to get him on an actual schedule so that we know when feedings are coming, map out some "real" play time, create a bath routine, etc... I think he is a bit young still so maybe in a few week.
• Tummy time. We have done tummy time a couple of times. As with most infants, Noah doesn't like it much. The good news is when we burp him it is essentially doing the same thing as he holds his head up and looks from side to side while we burp. He is actually really strong and the few true tummy time sessions have resulted in very few head crashes. 
• I feel great! I am actually going to take a Bar Method class next week and see how I feel. It will only be a half class as I haven't been cleared for ab work or full workouts yet but I am imagining it will feel tremendous to get moving again!

This week we got our professional pictures of Noah back. They are tremendous and I can't stop looking at them!! If you need a Bay Area baby photographer I highly recommend Nicole Hoxie. 

A few to swoon over :-)

This one is beyond words...that face melts me.

More soon, there have already been visitors and plenty of pictures taken for week 4!

Noah & Mommy's Christmas List Part 1

Dear Santa-

Noah and I started putting together our Christmas wish list and wanted to get it in your hands. We'll probably be adding some more to this but thought we would let the elves get started early :-).

For mom:

Vintage Pearl - I love their jewelry and have a few items on my wish list (FYI, they have to be ordered by tomorrow for holiday delivery):

Size 6 :-)

Link

 Funny that this has the name Amelia on it as that was a favorite girl name of mine. Unfortunately my husband's pronunciation of it has taken it off the list...oh, and we had a boy!

Link

Link

Anthropologie - LOVE LOVE LOVE their dresses. I missed this store so much while pregnant but it was good for the ole wallet!

Sumana Dress (LOVE!)

Tiered stripes dress

Corliss Dress

Also, any assortment of fun Christmas items...pillows, ornaments, frames, etc...

For Noah:

Baby Bjorn Bouncer