4th of July

This year was Noah's first 4th of July!

Every year since I can remember we always go to Woodland to watch my Dad's firework show. I was pretty excited for Noah's first firework show because he LOVES lights (and loud noises oddly enough...). Tom had been setting up the show with my dad for the past couple of days so we were excited to see him too! Here's a little set of pictures to show you our day...Noah loved hanging out with Aunt Ciara, Grandma Jensen, Aunt Caryn, and loved getting to see Grandpa Jensen for a little bit when he got a little break from setting up the show, but he fell asleep at about 8:30, and didn't wake up for the show. So we will have to wait until next year to see if he will like fireworks!

 

Noah 7 Months

Noah is 7 months old today! It's crazy how fast the months fly by. I feel like I was just posting about him being born! He is growing so fast and wishes he was growing faster I think ha. This kid is just so smart.

He is crawling full on now. And not only is he crawling but he is lifting himself up and climbing all over EVERYTHING! He is loving his mobility, but the trouble comes when he thinks that he can walk already. He's got a nice big bruise on his forehead right now because he will just let go once he stands up on something and try to walk off. I seriously think this kid will be walking at 8 months. He is SOOO strong I can't even believe it! And he is always so proud of himself when he stand up!

He has two teeth (and possibly more on the way). Teething is still going on here and really hasn't been as bad as I always hear it is. He IS waking up about two times a night, but other than that and a few grumpy days he hasn't been too bad! He loves to bite everything, including fingers, OUCH! I can't  believe how sharp those teeth are haha.

We went to southern California this last weekend for our nieces baptism and Noah loved looking at grandpa Hall's trains. He also loved swimming in their pool!

Noah enjoyed going to the lake and hanging out with Uncle David for a bit.

I still love hanging out with this boy. It gets more and more fun everyday as he gets older and learns more.

Noah: 6 Months

So Noah is now 6 months old! Probably seemed fast since I just posted about his 4&5 months last week haha. But I feel like so much has changed in the past week since I posted that! It's crazy how fast things change with a little one.

First off, We've started with teething! It hasn't been as bad as i thought it would be so far (knock on wood). Noah seems to be spitting up TONS more now that he's teething (I have already been spit up on 3 times today), but it actually seems to be making him sleep better, which is a blessing. He had been going back to waking up a few times a night previous to this. He's definitely more clingy and cranky the past few days, but I don't mind him wanting to be close to me since he usually wants to be on the move.

(the real face of teething)

He has learned how to pull himself up to stand! He is loving doing this. He climbs all over me now trying to stand up. It's so fun to see him learning these new things, and once he does it one time he can't stop! He was so proud of himself the first time he did this!

We've been tasting foods here and there for a little while, but he's finally gotten into in more and is loving it! I've found that he loves the orange veggies, but is not so fond of anything green. He also loves pears and apples. Obviously it's still a pretty messy process haha. He loves grabbing the spoon right as i'm putting it in his mouth. He is also mesmerized by cups. He will stare at me any time I'm drinking water and when I let him take a little sip he is always so happy! (he does love eating...although this photo doesn't make it look like that haha....theething)

I know I already talked about this, but he is seriously LOVING Coco. Their relationship is the cutest. He loves to lick him and he loves to pull her hair and she lets him. It's nice to have constant entertainment for him!

Noah got a hair cut this week and is looking so blonde! When he first got his hair cut it was a little sad for me. He didn't look like my baby anymore haha. But now that I've had a few days to get used to it I am loving it! He is just the cutest kid!

This week has been a good one for me. I feel like I am finally really truly loving being a mom. I was talking with a friend this week about how when you become a mom you don't realize how hard it is going to be. I mean everyone tells you it's hard and you understand that the baby is going to cry a lot and you won't get sleep, but what you don't realize is that it is emotionally and mentally difficult. Even though I always wanted to be a mom, once I became one I had a really hard time with it. I never talked to anyone about this because it was the one thing I had always wanted. Being a mom has always been my top priority and I never would've imagined that it would be so difficult for me. Whenever people would as me if I loved being a mom before now I always felt like I was lying when I said yes...Obviously I LOVE Noah and sometimes I did love being a mom, but it has taken me a while to really feel like I am doing enough by raising him. For the first few months of Noah's life I really didn't see much come from what I was doing. Since breastfeeding wasn't working out I didn't have that joy of feeling like I was the reason he was growing so well, I didn't feel like I was helping him to gain weight because ANYONE could feed him. I didn't feel like I was enough because he really did prefer Tom to me for the first few months. With a husband still in school and me still in school it is hard sometimes to not contribute financially. 

When I was in Utah going to school and working I always was able to see the benefits of working (getting money). You get paid every week or two and you feel like you are doing something to be productive. But here, being at home, most days I am so busy watching Noah that I don't have time to do any housework. Tom comes home and I feel like I haven't done anything all day. The house is a mess, I haven't showered, and I haven't even thought about cooking dinner...and yet even though I haven't done any of this I am still exhausted. It's hard to feel like you are doing enough when you feel like all you do is entertain a baby all day. 

What I've had to come to terms with is that raising a baby is ENOUGH. Even if I can't do anything else all day it's okay. Because even though the house is a mess and I'm a mess Noah was able to feel loved and is learning from everything we do together. I am also learning to better plan my days so that I CAN fit in a little laundry and cleaning. I am still learning and still trying to become a better mother, but I feel like I truthfully can say that I LOVE it now. Now that we are getting into a routine (and now that my hormones feel more in check) and now that I feel like Noah has bonded with me a little more we are doing so much better.  Being a mom is truly a blessing and I am lucky to have this little boy. This turned into a much longer post than expected haha sorry.

I love this boy

Even though some days look like this....

Noah: 4 & 5 Months

AHHH I got so behind on this. Noah is almost 6 months now so it's been a while since I blogged. Oops! Turns out with a little one there really isn't much time for writing blogs. I probably should've just done a few short ones instead of just waiting and waiting because now I feel like I've forgotten all the milestones Noah has hit the past two months. He's hit a lot though!

Here's an update! I'm just gonna put 4&5 together since I can't remember when what happened.

Noah is on the move! Seriously in the past few months he has gone from not really being able to get anywhere to army crawling EVERYWHERE!! I can't leave him alone for half a second anymore. I can put toys all around him and he will ALWAYS go for the electronics in the room. This kid loves electronics. How did that even happen? He's only 5 months old! haha. But really he loves phones, computers, tvs, he just likes buttons. I think I need to get him some more toys with buttons and lights. Anyway, Yes he is on the move and SOOO close to crawling. He just needs to figure out how to move his right leg because he currently only uses the left leg and drags around the other. It's quite cute!

Sitting up! Noah has just recently started getting good at sitting up. I always thought this would come before crawling, but I shouldn't be surprised since I've always known this kid doesn't like to sit still. Learning to sit up was hard for him purely because he doesn't like to be in one spot for long so as soon as he'd get close he'd just roll over and start moving. But now he's getting pretty good at it and won't fall over as soon as he get's up! He will stay long enough for me to be able to take a picture or two :)

Thumb Sucking. Noah has now gotten into thumb sucking. Sometimes he will suck on both thumbs at the same time. I usually try to give him a binky when I see this happening because I know some bad consequences of Thumb Sucking (Ciara....), but It's nice that he can self soothe a little with his thumbs. Plus we all know it's just SOOO darn cute!!!

His Jumparoo...I found this on craigslist and had to try it out. It was definitely a success! He loves sitting on this thing and eating everything (don't worry I heavily disinfected it!). Thank goodness for this invention! It gives me a few seconds to do dishes.

Coco: We recently took back one of our dogs now that we felt like we had fully moved in. My mom said she would like to keep Nilla with her wich really worked out for us because I only have so many hands to take care of things. Noah LOVES dogs. He is always starring at her and laughing and her and grabbing her hair. Luckily Coco doesn't mind the hair grabbing too much. And Coco loves Noah as well she is always trying to give him kisses right on the mouth...ahhhh, but it's fun to watch these two try to figure each other out. Although sometimes it seems a little unsanitary when I catch Noah chewing on one of coco's toys....

Noah is starting to love going on walks. We went on a little walk around Disneyland one day (but had to leave since it was 100 degrees outside) and he LOVED it. We take walks daily now with Coco and Noah on the walking trail by our house before bed time. It's become my favorite part of each day.

Noah LOVES his dad. These guys are just the best of buddies. This picture cracks me up. Because this is literally just how they were sitting one Sunday. Just hanging out looking like a couple of models....I love them.

Noah has just become one of the happiest babies. I love that he is so full of emotion and energy. Sure, he's always quick to tell me if something's bothering him, but I also always know if he's happy and he is happy a lot! I love his smiles and laughs. The best thing is going into his room after he's just woken up and he's sitting there talking to himself and then he sees me and looks up and smiles. He is the cutest!

Noah - 3 Months

Noah turned three months old on the 6th!

He is growing so fast and is getting so big I LOVE IT! This month I feel like he has really started to respond so much to things.

*He is loving toys and grabbing onto things...and sticking them in his mouth. He got a giraffe toy from his Aunt and Uncle and he LOVES IT!
*He is talking even more and now not just doing it when we sing but actually having "conversations" with us.
*He started sleeping through the night over the past few weeks. Thank goodness! Mom and dad are LOVING THIS! Now he will only wake up maybe once at night but usually he can sleep through until about 7.
*He has also started getting into more of a schedule with his naps. He naps about four times a day for about 30 mins to an hour. He is getting to be a much better sleeper than he was.
*It was a big struggle for the first two months to keep Noah happy because his tummy was always hurting. I always felt so bad because he cried so much and was in pain, but I think those problems have started to go away so now he is doing a lot better.
*He has his own room now! We moved into an apartment in Folsom this month so he finally has his own room to sleep in. Now we don't have to tiptoe around while he sleeps.
*He is rolling over so well from both tummy to back and back to tummy. Anytime I lay him on his back he turns directly onto his tummy. He loves it and is getting good at holding himself up with his arms. I can see him trying to crawl already and I just hopes he waits a little while for that haha. You are only 3 months old!! I know he will be all over the place once he can move!
*He loves dad. Tom seems to be the baby whisperer around here. He can always get him to sleep. Thank goodness.

Here are some of my favorites from the past month :)