Noah One Month

What a month it's been!  I can't believe one month has gone by!  The time has flown, and we are so busy as a family, that each day runs right into the next.  I loved having twins, but I also love having just one baby.  It has been really nice to be able to focus on him, and not feel overwhelmed all the time.  It is just so different.  Noah definitely has his own personality, and we are starting to see more and more of that come out.  He really is a content baby, which is great, because I worried about having a colicky baby, and being overwhelmed.  This time around, I am also getting sleep, which makes a world of difference!  It's easy to not feel crazy when you aren't so sleep deprived!  Noah is making me think that the addition of one more baby might be doable!  ;)

Noah at One Month:

• You love to eat!  You eat anywhere from one hour to three hour increments, but you would love to eat every hour if I let you!
• You sleep anywhere from 4-5 hours at the start of the night.  I am hoping this gets longer!  Every so often you have a crazy night where you are up every hour.  I know I'm fun to be around and all, but...
• You will lay in your crib without freaking out and screaming.  Jack never did this!  You will even put yourself to sleep sometimes!

• Your nicknames are:  Noah Boa, Noah Bean(s), Bean, Beans, Beanie, Fussy Pants Magee, Jack...oh wait, that only happens sometimes!

•  You have to be held exactly how you want, or you fuss.  We go through quite the gyrations trying to get things perfect for you.
• You love the Moby Wrap, and I think I saw you give a little smile one day while I was putting it on.

•  Your unofficial weight on our scale at home is 11.1 lbs.  Seriously?  You are growing like a weed!
• You are wearing 0-3 months clothes with some 3-6 months thrown in.  Forget newborn!  You grew out of those sometime last week.

•  You make that silly face(above) just like Jack and Sophie.  I guess it's a family thing, because other moms have told me their kids don't do that.
• You are starting to smile, and it is so sweet!  They are just random most of the time, but you are trying to engage us.

•  The above picture is the wall above Noah's crib.  I have been wanting to use the cards in a room for awhile, and they fit right in in a boy's nursery.

•  You love Jack and Sophie.  Especially Sophie who spends lots of time talking to you and playing with you.  I left her upstairs with you the other day, and turned the monitor on, and she was mimicking Matt and I.  It was so sweet!

•  You are such a happy little guy, and rarely fuss.  The only times you fuss are if you get bored laying somewhere, aren't being held right, or if we put you in your bouncer chair or car seat.  You hate the bouncer chair and swing!
• When you are hungry, you make little sucking motions with your mouth.  Then you let out little coughs, as if to say, "ahem, feed me."  If I miss both of those signals, you scream a high pitched, shrill scream that's impossible to miss!

You have stolen our hearts little guy!  I cant imagine life without you!  I'm not rushing you, but I am excited to see just how your personality fits in with our family.  We are enjoying every moment of this stage you are in, and it's still going crazy fast!  I mean, weren't you just born yesterday?  Look at your little face!  You don't look very newborn anymore.

I love you Noah Beans!

Dear Jack at Four

Dear Jack,

Our wild little boy.  You are one big ball of energy.  Most days you spin through our house like a tornado, and I just pray that I can keep up with you.  Let me tell you, it's tough!  But I've had some years of practice under my belt.  Ever since you have been mobile, you've never slowed down.  Trying to keep you in line is a full time job!  Every so often though, you slow down enough to give me a glimpse of the sweet you, the little cuddles you will give me on the couch, and I know that underneath the blur, you are such a wonderful little boy.  I want you to always remember that!  God made you energetic, sweet, and fiercely loyal.  I can tell, that you love those in your life tremendously.  You are loyal, and you are kind.  You try to make sure that everyone is included, and no one gets their feelings hurt.  You are so happy and social!  Your teachers tell us that you are the one who is always initiating the play.  You try to get your friends to play the games and things you want to play.  You are a leader.  Just like your Daddy.  God made you such a special little boy, and I hope you always remember those little things that make you, you.  They are very special, and so are you!    

At four, you love anything that involves getting your energy out.  Running all around, moving and jumping, constant motion.  The converse of that is the fact that you love your Duplos more than any other toy.  You make ships and cars everyday.  We watched as this skill progressed, and you started to make all of your ships symmetrical, carefully placing each block.  Then you made bigger ships, and ships that can hold things.  Your brain is always working.  You love big words.  I try to talk using more advanced words, and you love it.  You incorporate them into your speech, and it is quite silly when you occasionally get them wrong.  Your teachers tell me that you are very well behaved at school.  Which is so awesome for this momma who worried you might have too much energy for school.  Remember how I mentioned that you were loyal?  Last week we were at a play date, and you and Sophie were running around the gym.  A little boy accidentally hit her, and you were right there to protect her.  You wanted to know "who did that to her."  You were going to get that guy.  The other moms were amazed, but I've seen you act this way before.  You love her, and you are going to keep her safe.  I have to add, that I didn't tell you not to react this way.  It awesome as a girl to know that you have a brother there to protect you.  It makes my heart happy that you two will always have each other.  I hope you are always so sweet and loving.  It will be a tremendous asset later in life!  Your future wife will love it!  ;)  I am so thankful, everyday, that you are my little boy.  I can't wait to see you grow up with Noah as your brother.  Maybe you two can work together to not tear down the entire house!  ;)  So thankful that God blessed me with you as a son!  <3  

Dear Sophie at Four

Dear Sophie,

It's so hard raising a girl.  I want so much for you, and it seems of utmost importance that I pass it all along to you.  I used to think I had to help you become a certain person, or help you act a certain way.  It hit me quite suddenly, that God made you exactly who you should be.  He made you strong, sweet, and sassy, all rolled into one.  He made you such a beautiful person, inside and out.  And that's it.  That's what I really want you to remember.  I want you to know that you ARE beautiful.  And it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, that's the truth.  You can be anything you want to be, do anything you want to do.  I don't have to try to stop you from making the same mistakes as me, because you aren't me.  But it is funny how many things are similar between us two.  Maybe that's why we butt heads sometimes.  Every so often, you question me, and make me realize your viewpoint is right.  In the end, you will always have Jesus to guide your way.  Daddy and I can tell you what we think is important, but if you always make sure to follow Him, you will never get lost. 

At four, you are quite the opinionated little lady.  You know exactly how your day should go.  What you should wear, eat, do, you have opinions about it.  Jack used to be "in charge," but lately you are the one bossing him around!  As much as you fight with him, you love him.  He is your playmate and best friend.  You don't really like to be in a separate room from him, even when you are fighting.  Your favorite toys are your art supplies.  Crayons, markers, paint, coloring books, plain paper...I have trouble keeping the house stocked.  You make creations everyday, and most days Daddy and I are surprised at what you make.  You've drawn spiders, pumpkins, flowers, people, and a million other little things.  Your teachers were surprised at how well you stay in the lines when you color.  Other people are impressed that you draw things with the right color crayons.  You want to hang everything on the fridge, so that everyone can see it!  When I tell you that I have a "craft" for you, you get so excited!(Now here's one of those things we are so similar about!  ;) ).  You love to learn new things, like writing skills.  You don't let me do anything for you, but instead have to do it on your own.  You are still shy around new people, but love to play with friends you know.  You like playing with girls better than boys, but will play with a boy if he is friends with Jack.  I don't ever have to worry about you getting into trouble when we are at a playdate or school.  Your teachers let me know that you are quite well behaved at school.  You wait until you get home to challenge all the rules!  You can be quite dramatic when you want to be.  In fact, you cried for about thirty minutes last week(all the while Daddy and I talked about how we would have been spanked by this point!) about a princess wand that you wanted.  After you were done with your huge fit, you looked at Daddy with your best "doe eyes" and asked him if you could have the wand.  I had to leave the table I was laughing so hard!  Some days, raising a girl can be the most challenging thing I have ever done.  But then I look at you, really look at you, and my heart floods with love, and I know that with Jesus by our sides, everything will turn out alright.  I have been so blessed by you!  I always wanted a little girl, and I am thankful everyday that you are the one I was given.  <3

Decking the Halls

The day we brought the Christmas tree home, we decorated it right away.  I took a quick nap, and when I woke up, Matt had the lights on the tree, and the train set up.  He was pretty excited about that train!  We bought a new train this year, which is the Lionel Strasburg Train.  The Strasburg Train is the first train the kids rode on, so it is pretty sentimental!  The twins love operating the train, and are learning to do it better all the time.  We also got more track with the new train, so it stretches across the whole room.  I'll have to post pictures later, but Matt bought felt to be snow, and set up a little town with a church and a chocolate shop, benches and lots of trees.  It's going to be fun to add little things to it each year!

Jack and Sophie have been getting around three ornaments a year since they were born.  Sometimes more.  We give them one each, and both sets of grandparents give them one.  It's fun to pick out that ornament each year, based on what really interests them.  And of course, when we unwrap them each year, the twins want to know where each one came from.  I have a good memory, but I started a list this year so that we could remember when they got each one, and who each one came from.  It will be such treasure when they go their own way as adults, and have a whole tree full of meaningful ornaments.  I just love Christmas Traditions!  Both of their grandparents already gave them their ornaments this year, but Jack and Sophie will have to wait until Christmas Eve to get our ornaments!  And of course this year, we have the fun of picking out Noah's first ornament.  We are seriously going to need an additional tree soon! 

Here are Jack and Sophie decorating our tree.  They were so careful, and nothing has broken so far!

Little Noah slept through the whole thing.  Matt propped him up on the couch for a picture with an ornament, and he gave us this little smile.  He must be dreaming of sugar plums!  Isn't he the sweetest?

The Perfect Tree

Happy Thanksgiving!

We decided to forgo any big celebration this year, and just spend the holiday with the five us.  We haven't spent a holiday like that for ages!  The day turned out really great.  I made a turkey breast, and all of the fixings, and we ate "Feast Food" as the twins called it.  Above is our sad little family photo!  It is cute nonetheless.  We ate after watching the Macy's Day parade, and eating veggies and cheese and crackers, with pepperoni(of course).  As soon as we started eating, Noah wanted to eat too!  HA!  After the meal, we hung out, and watched movies in the kids anywhere chairs by the fire.  It was Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving on the computer.  For dessert we had peanut butter pie which is Sophie's favorite.  It was a very nice day with our little family.

The next day we went to cut down a tree.  We like to get the tree up as early as possible!  We went to a new farm this year, which takes you to the trees on a hayride.  Sophie wasn't sure at first because the sides were open, but she quickly decided she liked it.  We quickly went to the fur trees, and found a winner.  Matt cut it down with a saw, and they wrapped it up for us.  We took the hayride back to pay for the tree and hook it to our roof.  I think we will do this again next year, because it was lots of fun!

Noah stayed nice and cozy in the Moby Wrap.  We both love that thing!  He gets to be all cuddled up like a little ball, and I get to have him nice and close.  He snoozes most of the time, and I can use both hands.  It was a great investment!

The five of us.  You can see Noah's little head peeking out!

The perfect tree!

 The kids played on this little train, and looked at some animals in a little petting zoo while Matt tied our tree to the roof of our car.

Mission Accomplished!  We had fun, picked out a tree, and now my house smells like pine!  Tis the season!

Meeting Baby Noah

 The day the twins finally met Noah was an exciting one!  They were excited to meet this little guy for so long!  They finally had their chance to meet him when we brought him home from the hospital.  We had originally planned to have them come to the hospital, but they had slight colds, so we thought it would be best to wait.  Thursday, after Noah was born, I was finally free from the hospital!  It was a terribly rainy day, and gray, but we barely noticed it.  I missed the twins terribly when I was in the hospital.  I couldn't wait to get home and see their faces.  I swear they grew tons in the three days I was gone.  Their little faces were huge after looking at Noah's tiny face all week.  

The twins could not have done better.  They were gentle, and quiet, with just the right amount of curiosity thrown in.  Of course as soon as Noah got home he wanted to eat.  I went upstairs to nurse Noah, and my thoughts of privacy went right out the window when they busted upstairs to watch.  I hadn't really discussed breast feeding with them, I just told them that Noah wouldn't drink from a bottle.  Sophie was mighty curious as to why Noah was drinking "from my belly button."  She is one silly girl! 

After he was done eating, they got to hold him.  They were the epitome of a proud brother and sister.  They love him!  They want to be around us all the time.  They want to hold him, pet him, kiss him, and talk to him all the time.  If Noah is crying, Jack gets pretty upset.  He wants me to feed Noah right away.  Last night, I was in the nursery putting Noah to bed, and he was fussy after I fed him.  Jack was yelling out of his door, "Mommy, the baby's crying, the baby's crying."  Matt had to explain I was already with the baby.  Sophie has taken to calling him "Noah-bean" because she hears me say it.  They really do love him, and I think that love will only grow stronger as the can interact with him more and more.  They love his smiles and coos so far, and are extremely interested in what he is up to!