Noah is 4 months

Noah is now 4 months. We have finally gotten to the point where things start to get a bit easier. One thing I really want to mention about him is how smiley he is. Ty was not a smiley baby at all so this is a suprisingly wonderful contrast. Noah will smile anytime anyone smiles at him. He is seriously the happiest little guy. We always get people commenting on how many smiles they get out of him.

I stood Noah on our bathroom counter the other day and once he saw his reflection he started laughing. It was so cute so I told Michael to grab the camera but as soon as we started filming he stopped laughing. Funny kid. Michael told me I need to live more in the moment. Thanks hun, haha.

Noah is now
-Rolling over from back to front! Yesterday he rolled over 10 times in a matter of minutes! He's got it down now.
-Eating every 3-4 hours now that I nurse him on both sides. It's heavenly!
-Goes 5-6 hours without eating at night and sleeps great
-only sleeps on his back
-Loves when Ty talks to him and gives him attention
-Grabs onto toys and once he gets hold of anything it's going straight in his mouth
-having 3 naps a day. Morning, early afternoon, early evening. He goes to bed between 8-9 and sleeps until 8-9 (of course getting up a couple times to eat). We still don't have nighttime consistant and predictable.
-does a good blowout usually once a day. I'm not kidding. Blowouts are a normal thing for him. I'm doing a lot of poo scrubbing and stain removing lately. My new laundry sink sure has come in handy.
-still pukes ALL the time. Our Dr gave us some stuff for Noah for acid reflux but it doesn't seem to be helping. I never dress Noah in cute clothes because he will puke on it in a matter of minutes. He only wears onesies right now and sometime I'll throw on some tights to mix it up. I hope this spitting up ends soon. It's getting tiring never being able to just pick him up and hold him. I have to have a blanket on me and a burp rag right under his mouth at all times. Any advice??
-Loves sitting in his bumbo but usually a blowout happens when he is in there and he pukes all over himself.

Here are some photos of our sweet 4 month old Noah

 After bathtime

 How cute is his smile??? 

 Noah loves his soother but he can't keep it in his mouth, so usually we swaddle him so the blankets cover his soother to hold it in or else we will use a burp cloth like this ^^^ Strangest thing ever.

 Love my bald baby 

This picture kills me!!! His bald head, cute smiley eyes, hand in mouth, ears that stick out, and him in a swing. He LOVES the swing!

Ty's 2nd birthday

Photo credits to my mother-in-law. I'm a bad Mom and didn't take a single photo. Maybe because everyone else was taking photos...

Unlike last year we had fabulous weather for Ty's birthday. We had family over and played in the pool Ty got for his last birthday. It was a really fun time to celebrate our special little boy. 

After his birthday he was obsessed with the song "Happy Birthday".. he would sing "Happy Day You" all throughout the day. So cute! 

 

 Ty and Madison played in the pool SO much. The water was pretty cold to begin with, but Michael had this great idea to hook the hose up to our water inside the house. The pool has this arch with a hookup for a hose to have a little shower so we put warm water through it and these two kids were in heaven! 

 Noah was there!!

 They had so much fun eating popcicles and drinking juice boxes in the pool.

 Ty and Grandma Smith

 Oh, did I mention this two year old got a TRAMPOLINE from his Aunts, Uncle, and Grandparents.

 Just so mellow

Along with a trampoline Ty got a potty, some books, some tool toys, clothes, a Strider bike, a helmet, a remote control car, Thomas the train... He was so spoiled. I will write down who came, just for our records... Grandma and Grandpa Mendenhall and Smith, Auntie Becky, Jody, Cassandra, Breanne, Uncle Brad and Cameron, Cousins Madison and Brooklyn. Grandma and Grandpa Parker came over after the birthday party and we had our own little celebration. 

Ty won't eat cake so my Mom made this awesome rice krispy cake which he did eat! Yay!

Happy Day You, Ty. :)

Diapers

I HAD to post this picture. It's just the sweetest. I am so excited by how much these two look alike!

 Ty is missing his glasses, but you get a better idea of how much they look alike without them. I love by two diapered boys!!

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birthday, blessing, fathers day

This weekend we celebrated Ty's second birthday, Noahs baby blessing, and Fathers Day. It's been a great weekend with family! Michaels mom took lots of photos at Ty's birthday party so I will do a post on that once I get those from her, but here are some photos from today.

 Our first family picture since the hospital! Noah wasn't too happy, and neither was Ty about 3 seconds after this photo, but at least it's documented!

  Noah puked all over his baby blessing outfit before I could get a photo, but I'm okay with that because look how cute and chubby he is looking. 

 And here is Ty and Michael (on Father's Day) at the park. We never got one with just Michael and the boys, but this one is pretty darn cute. Man I love all my boys!

Comparison

Can we just take a minute and look at how much these two boys look alike? I am just loving the similarities.
I honestly got confused while doing this... haha. Okay, the top photos are Noah, and bottom is Ty. Let me know what you think!!

 

Ty is almost 2!

Ty has such a personality now. He will be two in a week and man we just love this kid. Here's a list of what Ty can do and is doing:

-he says "Ty do it" ALL the time. Sometimes not at the greatest times.. like when I'm trying to buckle him in his carseat quickly and he wants to "do it"
-he LOVES buckles, which makes it difficult when I go to put Noah in his carseat and it's all buckled up.
-he loves puzzles. We have a few... tools, numbers, and the alphabet. And he loves doing the animal one at G&G Mendenhalls.
-he loves being outside, and especially loves G&G Mendenhalls backyard because of the way their garden is setup.
-he still isn't a great eater. He eats, he just won't eat what we are eating usually. He doesn't like condiments or sauces of anykind (that eliminates Kraft Dinner and spaghetti, and hot dogs, peanut butter and jam sandwiches... and all the easy "go-to" stuff for kids). He still won't eat bread (so that means no sandwiches). He basically eats the more plain food, which is good because it's super healthy. He loves veggies, and chicken, and steak, and fruit.... but it just makes it hard because we usually have to modify our meals before they hit his plate.
-he is obsessed with "Coos coos" which is "Blues Clues". I want to do a post explaining his obsession. It's kind of adorable. He knows the signs for "thank you" and "smart" now from watching it.
-he loves "gings" which is "games". iPhone games, watching Dad play games on the Wii..
-he loves kids. Whenever he sees the neighborhood kids he yells "HI KIDS". Sometimes he stands on the chair on our balcony and yells that if there are any kids out. Also, he yells "HI GRANDMA(PA)"  from the balcony if he sees Michael's parents outside because they live 4 doors down from us. I'm pretty sure the whole neighborhood can hear him. It's adorable.
-he loves Noah. He doesn't like to hold him ("Noah off"), but he loves to give him kisses and give him his soother and let us know when "Noah crying".
-When we ask him how old he is he puts his hands above his head and says "TWO"

Thats all I can think of off the top of my head, but maybe I will add more later. Here are a bunch of photos of our sweet Ty boy.

 Heading out to the Childrens Festival

 He couldn't reach the pedals

 Hanging out while we put in the hardwood floors. 

 Wiping the rocks off his hands after throwing them in the water in Waterton.

 Note: Don't let your child walk around Waterton without shoes in the spring... "Stickies"

 Sitting on Grandpa Parkers new bike. Notice Ty's shirt (which is a coincidence). We bought it for Ty in Vegas.

 My matching boys.

 He loves bathtime.

 Ty joining in on Noahs fun. 

 He loves putting stickers on his head.

Playing in the yard.

6 weeks

Noah is 6 weeks! At his checkup yesterday he weighed in at 12 lbs 1oz, and is 22 1/2 inches long. About 75th percentile for both, and then his head comes in at 15 inches which is at 50th percentile. He's growing like a weed, which surprises me by the amount he spits up. I still can't keep him dry. Even when he is laying down, milk will just slowly leak out of his mouth. I'm hoping this is something that will end soon because I'm tired of being spit up on and smelling like milk. Yuck.

He is getting really good at holding his head up. He can hold it up for a couple minutes at a time. He likes tummy time, for up to about 5 minutes. He has also rolled over from front to back twice now. I've started to get some smiles from him too. Love those gummy baby smiles.

Sleeping is just as bad. I honestly don't know how long or how many times I'm up each night because I nurse him in bed, so I always forget when I wake up in the morning, but I know it's a lot. He's very loud too when he is going to sleep or waking up so it's hard to get any sleep during those times. By this point with Ty he was only up once a night.... Noah is a good baby, but now I realize how great of a baby Ty was!

Owning a home has made Michael and I realize a few things. Michael has never really done anything handy besides changing the oil and tires on our cars, but he has come to enjoy doing renos and working on our home. It can be stressful, and it's a lot of work, but he does enjoy learning how to do things, and seeing the change. The only problem is is that we don't own many tools, so we have had to borrow a lot of things, and thank goodness for so many generous people! Another thing I have realized is how much I LOVE having a yard. I love seeing it become green and beautiful, and taking care of it. Okay, well Michael does the mowing and fertilizing. I even love pulling weeds! It's great to feel like you are getting rid of something that is making your lawn ugly. We have spent a fair amount of time outside already doing yardwork, and playing in the yard. Today I filled a basin up for Ty with water, and he played in it for a few hours while I watched him and took care of Noah. We have a rain barrel that Ty likes to get water from to play with too.

I have a lot of pictures of Ty I want to post, but uploading isn't working, so I'm hoping to do a post soon about him. We have finished the floors (living room, hallway, kitchen, dining room) and now Michael is just finishing up the stairs! The floors look so great, and I'm excited to show before and after photos once we get some of the baseboards on.

Noah is 4 weeks

I feel like I've never been so busy in my life. We are so busy with these renos and having two kids now. I'm not complaining though. I am super happy and excited about the renovations that are being done, and I am just loving my two kids. We decided to put hardwood in our kitchen as well, so we are starting on that right away.

Noah is 4 weeks old! He is a good baby, although he eats every two hours day and night. I can already see a change in him. He is getting chunkier already and he is starting to lose his newborn look! So sad... He's a fast eater... I'm talking 5-10 minutes nursing. I'm considering myself lucky with that. He pukes a lot! He can't stay clean. I'm always changing his clothes...and mine. Notice the bib he's wearing below. He loves to fall asleep nursing or with a soother, but he can't keep a soother in on his own. haha. so strange. This photo was taken a moment ago but he woke up within a minute and now has his precious soother which is supported near his mouth by a blanket. Ty never took a soother so I am reluctant to have a baby so reliant on it, but it's really my only way out of having to nurse him to sleep.

Here are some photos from Noah's newborn shoot. Nicole Maclean did them and she did a great job!

My favorite one!

Ty's first sentence

Today Ty said his first sentence. It's probably not what every parent wishes their kids first sentence to be but he came up to me while Michael and I were working on the hardwood floors and looked at me with the cutest little face and said "I wanna watch Thomas" (Thomas the Train) It was so adorable. We are just loving how well he is communicating these days!

Right now we are working on our hardwood floors so our days have been super busy! We are doing them ourselves. Michael does all the handiwork and I lay the pieces out how I want them and sweep the floors over and over. We probably have another 2-3 full days of it, but we are enjoying it and taking it nice and easy. Michael has never been handy with tools but he sure has learned a lot with owning a home now and doing all the reno's we have done so far. We are trying to get as much done as possible on the house before Michael's paternity leave ends and he has to go back to work.

Noah's birth story

Noah Michael Mendenhall

April 25, 2013

3:43 am

8 lbs 2 oz 

20 inches

At 10pm on April 24th I started to feel cramping. I figured it was Braxton Hicks again since I had been having them off and on throughout the week. I never had Braxton Hicks with Ty so each time I had them I would time them to see if maybe it was labor and so again I started to time. They started out 5 minutes apart, which I just figured wasn't labor because I've been told they are suppose to be far apart and slowly get closer together. So I tried to get some sleep but after about an hour they were too uncomfortable to be able to sleep through. I got up and walked around a bit and was trying to decide if this was labor or not. I could feel each contraction coming and going every 5 minutes still and they lasted about 45 seconds. Around 11 I woke Michael up (the poor guy had taken his sleeping pill and had been sleeping for about 20 minutes) and told him I thought I might be in labor and he told me to go back to sleep. Ha! I didn't want to call my Mom to come over if I wasn't sure I was in labor. My water broke with Ty so I was sure I was in labor when contractions started. This time it was different. I called my Mom and she said I should just go get checked out and that she was heading over. So we got everything together and by the time my Mom got to the house at about 11:45 the contractions were painful but manageable. We drove to the hospital and while we were checking in I got so emotional and started crying. Not because I was in pain, or that I was excited... I was just crying. I didn't know why. Probably hormones. I am not normally an emotional person so I was a bit embarrassed to be crying. Anyways they checked me once we got up to the room and I was 4-5 cm dialated at only 2 1/2 hours into labor!! The contractions got strong fairly quickly and soon they were calling for my epidural! I was SO happy that I didn't have to wait for an anaesthetist to come from surgery. At 1:45 I got the epidural. I was so happy because it was middle of the night and I knew I needed to rest. The freezing this time made my legs a little numb but I could still move them, and again my face and body were SO itchy! I was constantly itching my face. At about 3:15 they told me they were calling Dr. Geers (Dr. Koegler was on holidays) to come break my water. As soon as he got to the hospital he broke my water and was like "Okay you are 10cm. Start pushing on the next contraction"... I couldn't believe I was already going to be pushing. After 6 hours of labor and 4 painless pushes my baby boy was born. It was the craziest experience ever. 

With Ty I was given Oxytocin to feel the contractions more after my epidural so pushing was extremely painful, and 3 hours long. All throughout this pregnancy and especially at the end I was so afraid to give birth again. When I started to push with Noah they said "you're doing great, keep going" and I was thinking "okay I have another 2 hours of this at least" then another two pushes and the doctor said "okay next push and he's going to be out". I could feel nothing except a bit of pressure. No pain at all. It had been only 5 minutes of pushing and I already had this little baby! They took him to get cleaned up and weighed and I couldn't stop saying to Michael how easy it was, compared to what I was expecting. I couldn't believe I didn't feel any pain! It was so strange but I was beaming because of it! Noah was very mucousy for the first few days. Right after he was born they had to do a deep suction and he was crying a lot, but eventually he got cleared out a bit and settled down. We are so in love with this little guy. He looks so much like Ty did (to me anyways) and now Ty looks like this giant kid. haha. The first week has been going really well. I stayed in the hospital one night, and Michael has taken the month off as paternity leave so it's been great to have him home to watch Ty while I nurse Noah all day long. Ty never nursed so it's been really different to have Noah so dependant on me. I love it, but it definitely leaves Michael a bit helpless when it comes to Noah. Ty loves his little brother. He wakes up every morning and either says "bebe brother" or "newah (Noah)" as he runs into our bedroom and he gives him lots of kisses.  And now for lots of pictures.

 Okay my belly wasn't that deformed. It was the monitors on my belly. This was after the epidiural. 

 Our first family photo. I am looking HUGE. I promise I am not actually that big. I can't believe I am posting this photo but its the only one we got of our family together the first time.

 Michael and Noah

 Pro daddy!

 About to head home from the hospital.

 After his first bath at home. He hated it, but now he seems to love his baths.

 I feel like I've been taking so many photos of these 3 guys lately. Everytime I see them all together I just melt. I am so lucky to have all 3 of them. 

 My boys snuggling.

 Me and Ty. He has been doing so well with wearing his glasses. If we didn't forget to put them on all the time I am sure he would wear them all day. He usually has them on 3-4 hours a day right now. 

 Bathtime for Noah in our avocado green tub. You like? :)

My two kids in their pj's! I can't believe I have two kids. I am so lucky. I think they look a lot alike here. 

Ty holding Noah. He is never sure what to do and he usually says "all done" or "baby off".

Recovery feels like it's gone smoother this time too. I feel like I can get around a bit better than I could when I had Ty. The contractions after this baby have been brutal and thank goodness for T3's. 

We got Noah's baby photos done this week, so I am excited to share them when we get them.