I want candy!

This was all Gary's idea - I merely took the pictures.

Redneck baby

OK, I don't mean to offend anyone with the title of this post, but how else can you describe this look? In my defense, I took this picture about 6:30 tonight. I had just changed Noah's diaper, and I decided to go ahead and take off his clothes because it was almost bath time.
"Whatcha doin', Mommy?"
Noah loves to push and pull this chair.
True to form, Molly wants nothing to do with Noah unless he's eating. He tries several times a day to get near her and touch her, but as soon as he gets close to her, she takes off.

Initiation

A trip to the ER is inevitable with boys, so it should come as no great surprise that that's exactly where we went last night. We have a brick ring around the tree in our front yard that up to this point has never been a source of injury. That changed yesterday evening when Luke fell and hit the back of his head on the edge of the brick. The wound was fairly small, about a half-inch, but it was pretty deep, so we figured he'd probably need stitches. After getting Noah in bed and finding someone to watch him, we headed to Centennial Medical Center in Frisco. Luckily they weren't that busy, so we were only there for about an hour. The ER doc said the wound looked like a puncture wound because it was deep but that everything else looked OK. A nurse put a cotton ball with numbing medicine on his head and wrapped his head so it (the cotton ball, not his head) would stay put. About 20 minutes later, he got two staples in his head. I guess the numbing medicine worked because Luke didn't even cry. All in all, it was a little scary at first, but we survived and can now join that not-so-exclusive ER club.

Ready, set, go!

Noah is officially crawling . . . and he's already into everything! I can hardly keep track of him anymore. As soon as he gets on the floor, he's off, and he immediately zeroes in on anything that's not his. He'd much rather play with anything of Luke's, much to Luke's dismay. Tonight he discovered Molly's water bowl and had a good time splashing in it and putting toys in it. He has also shown some interest in various electric cords around the house. I bought a play-yard for Luke and never used it with him; he just never got into anything he wasn't supposed to. I'm obviously going to have to put Noah in it on a regular basis. How else will I ever take a shower or cook dinner without stopping 100 times to scoop him up and relocate him? How funny that two children can come from the same parents and be so completely different!

Under the table and dreaming

8 months

Today is Noah's 8-month birthday! I just can't believe that it's been 8 months since he was born! Here are a few fun facts about my sweet baby:

-He's starting to crawl, but he still mostly gets around by scooting and pushing himself. It's amazing how fast he can move!

-I've found a few more things he'll eat - grilled cheese sandwich & oatmeal. This morning he had about half a packet of oatmeal mixed with a little baby food & a piece of toast. That's one of his first meals that consisted mostly of real food!

-He "talks" a lot. "Ma ma ma" and "ba ba ba" are his favorites ("ba ba" of course means "bubba" which means brother, according to Luke).

-Separation anxiety! He fusses quite a bit when I leave the room. He forgets about me pretty quickly unless I make an appearance; then he starts to fuss again. He also fusses when I leave him in the nursery at church.

-He tries to get anything and everything that's within his reach (and if it's not, he'll scoot over to it.) This means that we can only play with things like Tinkertoys and Legos when Noah's sleeping. It's a little frustrating for Luke, but he understands.

-Overall Noah is still a sweet, content, happy baby.

Brothers

Trial and error

That's what feeding Noah is . . . trial & error. Here are the things I've discovered over the past few days that he likes:

-McDonald's french fries (big surprise!)
-Papa John's pizza crust & cheese bread
-Ritz crackers

OK, I know there's very little nutritional value in any of these things, but at least it's regular food and not baby food. I tried stage 3 food again yesterday, and this time he ate a little of it with no gagging (a vast improvement over the last time I gave it to him.) He still has no use for yogurt, even the whole milk kind that tastes basically like ice cream. He's indifferent to French toast but does like regular toast with a little apple butter. He likes water now; he still hasn't gotten the hang of a sippy cup, but he drinks pretty well from a regular cup or water bottle (with me holding it for him.) So, that's our latest food update. If anyone has any other suggestions, let me know!

Soccer boy

We are making our first foray into organized sports this fall; Luke will be playing soccer. Yesterday we went to get cleats, shin guards, and a practice ball. This was all completely foreign to me (I've never worn let alone bought cleats in my entire life); luckily I ran into another mom doing the same thing, and she helped me find the right size shin guards. I have to admit that Luke looks very cute in his new sports equipment. He doesn't yet have his uniform, but when we get it I'll take some pictures and post them. While we were looking at the shin guards, I explained to him that they were to protect his legs in case anybody kicks him. He then said, "What happens if someone sneaks up on you and kicks you back here? I guess you just cry." Later that afternoon, he & Gary were outside kicking his new ball, and Gary had him do some drills (he knows nothing about soccer either, so he just had him pass the ball a couple of times and kick it into the goal . . . pretty sophisticated stuff. This is actually a big step for Gary; up until two years ago when we bought Luke a soccer net, Gary stood firm in his belief that soccer was a "communist" sport.) After dinner Luke said he wanted to go outside and do more "drilling". I'm sure there will be many such gems this soccer season.

Almost

Noah is on the verge of crawling. He's been rocking on his hands and knees for about a week, and today he scooted backwards a bit. He eventually flops back onto his tummy, and it's amazing how far he can go and how quickly he can change direction while he's on his tummy. Mobility, here we come!

Chow time

Recently I started giving Noah regular food (simply because I'm tired of spending over $10 every week on baby food.) Based on all the gagging and faces he's made, I don't think he's too fond of most of it, but we're persevering. He likes Cheerios and zwieback toast, but he still gags every time I give him a banana. He did enjoy munching on some Cheez-Its the other day (I seriously doubt Luke ever had anything so processed this young . . . oh well . . .), and he mushed several graham crackers at lunch today. I gave him some yogurt which caused him to make some pretty bad faces, but he did seem to like American cheese. I've asked for food suggestions from other moms because I'm having a hard time remembering what Luke ate at this age - it's amazing how much you forget in three years!

A new trick

I just laid Noah down for a nap. After a little fussing he got very quiet, so I peeked in to check on him. To my amazement, there he was, sitting up in his crib! He obviously figured out how to get into a sitting position all on his own. Looks like we'll be lowering the crib yet again.