There are several inches of snow on the ground, and daddy took my car to work. You know, the vehicle with the carseat. So since we can’t go anywhere, instead of sleeping the day away, I decided to play with Noah and my camera. I’m trying to use the manual mode more and more so that I can learn more about light and exposure. I really want to grow as a photographer, even if I never do anything but take pictures of my family. It’s fun to experiment with different settings and see how the picture changes depending on what shutter speed, aperture, ISO and white balance I use. Sometimes the picture comes out really funky looking [read: bad]. And sometimes… well, sometimes everything just turns out right. Like magic.

I don’t know why I love this picture. I just do!

My sister Sarah has always been really crafty and creative. She makes her own pillows and photo display boards, she painted the furniture for her daughter’s nursery, and her newest hobby is making her own jewelry. She just made a new etsy page featuring her handmade jewelry.

Yesterday we spent some time taking some pictures of her creations. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Sarah’s Blog
Sarah King Designs on Etsy

Noah was very cranky yesterday, and I couldn’t figure out what to do to calm him, because the old fall back of nursing him wasn’t working. He wasn’t crying, but he was very whiny and fussy nontheless. I got about 3 hours total sleep yesterday, and I was ecstatic when Noah finally took the breast and fell asleep. Later in the evening I felt that he had a low fever. Then when I was holding him in my lap, he started gnawing on my finger and I realized that I could feel little sharp points on his lower gums. Drumroll please… My baby is getting his first tooth! It’s no secret I’m a big cry baby, so of course I teared up a little at the prospect of my firstborn’s first tooth. I have big plans to write in his baby book today since he’s sitting up and teething for the first time.

Noah has been hanging his tongue out a lot for the past couple of weeks. I think it’s because he’s learning that he can actually control certain things, like his tongue! He babbles constantly, and the book “What to Expect the First Year” says to listen as baby learns to make inflections – he will put emphasis on certain sounds to where it almost sounds like he’s asking a question. He used to only make open-mouthed “aaahhh” and “ooohh” sounds, but now he’s learning how to make consonants such as “ba ba ba” and “da da da.” He also squeals in delight a lot. I can’t wait until he begins to comprehend words and understand how to make short repetitive sounds like “da da” mean something! He babbles all day, with his tongue hanging out or with four or five fingers shoved in his mouth. He even started mimicking the little kissy noise I make at him all the time. He’s learning every day, and it’s amazing how something so mundane as a “ba” sound can be so exciting!

This picture is my new favorite. I want to print a huge canvas of it and hang it over my fireplace. I hope you like it, too.

Noah and I are sharing a bad cold right now, so we’re not very happy, but I decided to take his picture anyway. He’s starting to sit up on his own. He falls over in about 30 seconds when he’s on a hard surface. When he sits on the bed, he can stay up for a long time since it squishes up around his bottom and helps him balance.

September 14, 2007 [our wedding day]

Five Things I Love About My Husband

1. I don’t have to touch dirty things. Ever. He gets the hair out of the hair trap in the shower, he takes out the trash, he sucks up bugs with his hand held vacuum, and he empties out the diaper genie.

2. He carries a handkerchief. It’s no secret that I’m a big cry baby. Sometimes I cry at sad movies, sometimes I cry at the tragedies of life, and sometimes I cry for no reason. It’s so romantic when I’m dripping snot, and he just reaches in his pocket and offers his hankie.

3. The way he is with Noah when no one is looking. It’s the best thing in the world when I’m doing some chore in the hallway, and I can hear Noah’s perfect laugh coming from the bedroom because his daddy is tossing him in the air or noshing on his chubby belly.

4. His strength and willingness to do the “hard” work. I don’t like to carry loads of laundry or groceries or the baby’s car seat in the from the car, but Nate takes up the slack without complaint.

5. The way he constantly forgives my imperfections. Many times I am not a treat to live with [understatement], and he loves me and lives with me anyway.

Nathan, thank you for showing me what love is every single day.

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I really like my new banner; that picture of Noah makes me smile every time!

Here’s another one that makes me smile. I love his fuzzy hair! It’s finally starting to grow

Also I need this for taking his picture. Too cute. This blog made me want it.

We have been so busy the past few weeks. Every time I’m off work there is a party, a get together, or some kind of chore to be done that takes me out of the house for the entire weekend. I don’t feel like I’ve rested in months. Thankfully Nate and I are planning a getaway for my birthday at the end of March where the three of us can relax and hang out and DO NOTHING! I can’t wait

Noah has started eating other solids. He doesn’t really like the oatmeal despite the fact that it’s made with warm breastmilk. There’s just something about it that he doesn’t enjoy. So this week I tried one of the veggies I bought to see if he would take something besides the breast. He ate half a jar of carrots in one sitting! Apparently strained flavorless carrots are delicious [I actually licked some off my hand when he splattered me, and they were pretty tasty!].

Here’s a picture of Noah with his orange carrot goo:

He was pooping on his own for a week, but the yesterday when I fed him the carrots he didn’t poop all day. When I did his irrigation last night it was thick and orange and smelled like carrots. Is that normal? I don’t know how long it takes food to go through a baby, but it was about six hours later and the carrots were nearly unchanged from going through his digestive system. I’m not sure if him not pooping is because his colon isn’t used to “real” food or what. We’ll see what the doctor has to say at our appointment in February.

I hope you all have a happy, healthy week.

The title says it all. My blog is starting to become one big poop story. But I guess when you become a mommy, your life is kind of taken over by poop for a while. Especially when your child doesn’t poop for the first four months of his life. Hirschsprung’s Disease really makes you poop obsessed.

Yesterday was the fourth day in a row that we were seeing dirty diapers between irrigations. Reeeeally dirty. He’s pooping so much that I’m amazed the Sam’s Club diapers are holding it. We got the diapers from a friend at church, and Noah put them to the ultimate test. They passed.

We are slowly weaning Noah from the irrigations. Today is the first day of once-a-day irrigations [as opposed to twice or three times a day]. Next week is “as needed” irrigations. I’m really hoping Noah continues what he’s been doing for the past four days. This week his stomach has been so flat, he’s been eating really well, and as I’ve already mentioned, pooping a LOT!

Keep it up, baby…

I have been asked many times whether I think Noah looks like me or my husband. Nate’s mother gave me a picture of Nate at 6 weeks old right when Noah was about that age, and it was uncanny how much Noah looked like Nate’s baby picture. They looked so much alike that when my sister saw the baby picture of Nathan, she asked me where and when I had those pictures done. She thought it was Noah! One of my oldest friends says that Noah looks just like me mostly when he’s sleeping or still, but when he’s making his expressions, he looks like Nathan. I’ll have to get my baby picture scanned later so you can compare.

Nate, six weeks old.

The many faces of Noah, nine weeks old.