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.

4

It's very hard for me to believe, but Luke turned 4 yesterday. It just doesn't seem possible that four years ago I was in the hospital with my brand-new baby boy. What a funny little guy he has become! He has brought so much joy into our lives, and I feel thankful and grateful that God blessed us with him. I certainly have my bouts of frustration with him, but overall he's a sweet, loving, funny, smart, precious little boy. Here are a few pictures from his big day.

A new robe from Mimi & Jerry
Luke is very into Spiderman, so a lot of the gifts were of the Spidey variety, including this umbrella.

Having a blast at Pump-It-Up!

We of course had to have a Spiderman cake. My friend Donna made it for Luke, and she also made spiderweb cookies to go in the goodie bags.

Happy Birthday, Luke!

Fun in the tub

I love bath time for a few reasons:

-It signals the end of the day. My boys are precious . . . they're even more precious when they're quiet & sleeping!

-Luke & Noah both love being in the bath, and it's fun to see them together.

-There's nothing better than a clean baby (and big boy) in PJ's.

Luke

Luke got an early birthday present this weekend - it's a combination 3-D View Master/Binocular. While he was looking at one of the View Master discs of fish, he told me some of their names . . .
-"thin, water, spike-eater crocodile"
-"two, underwater sea plant tangle-vines fish"
-"fish plant scaly lives in a plant"
What an imagination!

Speaking of imaginations, this morning Luke "decorated" his room with all the stuffed animals from his bed. Believe it or not, he sleeps with all of these!

7 months

Noah is 7 months old today! His latest trick is sitting up - he's still a little wobbly when he sits up, but he's got the basics of it down. He's been trying to get up on his knees when he's on his tummy, so I think crawling may happen sooner rather than later. While we were at the beach, he started saying, "Ba ba ba", and just yesterday he said, "Ma ma ma." I know he's not really saying "mama", but it sure does sound like he is. He doesn't have any teeth yet, but that's OK because I love his toothless, gummy smile! He is still very content (except when he's hungry, and if he is, you better feed him NOW!!) Everyone at the beach kept commenting on how much he smiles and how happy he is, and that's basically Noah in a nutshell.

A few more pictures

One of the sand dollars we found.
We had an early birthday celebration for Luke.

Although we're glad to be home, we already miss being at the beach. I think this was one of my favorite trips to Edisto; Luke had so much fun playing with the other kids that I actually felt like I could enjoy myself. It was a week filled with friends, food, & fun.

Part 3: Edisto

We finally made it to the beach on Sunday! The weather was perfect all week, we ate lots of great food, and enjoyed being with our beach friends once again. Luke particularly liked playing with Josie. They spent hours reading, coloring, and playing on the beach. She is a sweetie pie, and her sister, Margot, is a riot. Luke & London got their own room and had fun building forts out of the quilts.

Noah's first dip in the ocean.

Gary told me not to post this picture on my blog, but how could I resist?

Luke, Josie, & Margot

Josie, Luke, & London

Luke learns the finer points of crabbin'.

Luke & Margot found lots of hermit crabs and even a few sand dollars.

Part 2: Columbia

They boys and I got to Columbia on Friday, and Gary flew in later that evening. Needless to say, the Chumleys were excited to see Luke & Noah. Luke's 11-year-old cousin, Grayson, and his Uncle Greg both tried to beat him at memory, but neither one succeeded.

No one can beat the master!

Lauren, 14 & Grayson, 11

Noah found a soft place to take a nap.

Part 1: Greenville

We had a great time in Greenville! Both boys did very well on the plane, something I was grateful for since I was by myself. Noah basically slept the whole time and when he was awake he was pretty good. I charged the battery on our portable DVD player the night before, but I forgot to turn it off, so the battery was dead by the time we got on the plane. Luke took it pretty well, and he entertained himself for most of the trip.

Once we got there, we were able to spend lots of time with my family and also saw one of my dearest friends Tonya and her two children. Luke did his first sparkler on the 4th of July . . . he was a little hesitant at first, but he was soon waving them around. Here are some of the pictures from this first part of our trip.

Luke played everyone in at least one game of Spiderman Memory . . . he never lost.

Uncle Cam got to meet Noah for the first time.

Mimi and one of her boys.

"Crazy" cousin Ethan (that's what Luke calls him.)

Traveling

The boys & I are headed to South Carolina today to see my family. We're staying in Greenville till Friday, and then we're meeting Gary in Columbia. We leave for Edisto on Sunday. I'm a little anxious about flying with both boys by myself, but it's a direct flight, so I expect we'll be OK. Since we haven't been to the beach in two years, I'm really looking forward to seeing our beach friends and relaxing on the beach (yeah, right!) I know we'll have a good time - I just hope all this rain doesn't follow us to the beach. I'll be sure to post pictures when we get back in two weeks.