The Weekend

Well school starts in one week! This was my last weekend of summer. Last stress free forget the do list weekend! I am maintaining a positive attitude about August 4th. Looking at as the day I head into my mission field and face the task of serving God through teaching and when Noah goes back to learning social skills by interacting with other babies :) It was a great weekend full of special moments as God continues to show me His hand is on my life and on my heart.t.

The Playdate- Adam, Noah, and I went to eat with our friends the Looneys on Friday night. Brandon is an old friend of Adam's from church. He and his wife Micheal have a 11 month old named Cohen. Cohen and Noah stayed with Brandon's parents Gigi and Pop. They took lots of pictures of the two of them playing together. And Cohen taught Noah to crawl! Noah had been on the brink of putting it together for a few weeks. He just needed some tutoring. He is not crawling all over the place but will go a few feet. I cannot even begin to express how thankful I am I got to see his first attempts. My biggest fear about daycare is missing all Noah's milestones. But God has been faithful and takes care of even this. While Cohen taught Noah to crawl we went to eat at a yummy Japanese place with Brandon, Micheal and Brandon's brother Nathan. Adam and I loved getting to hang out with adults without having to keep our attention on Noah. We had a great time and wished we lived a little closer so we could do it more often!

The Wedding- Saturday night we got all dressed up and headed to the wedding of one of Adam's college room mate. It was one of those Auburn weddings that reminds you what a small world it is and how everyone is connected through different friendships. The bride was actually a friend of mine through one of my college roommates and high school best friends. They make a fun couple! It was fun to see lots of Auburn friends and catch up with people in person instead of through Facebook and Blogs. Adam got to spend some time with another one of his roommates Nick and his wife Morgan. They live in Memphis so it is always good to see them when we can. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was at this beautiful house in Leeds. My favorite part of the night was spending time with my sweet friend Laudan. I've known Laudan since we were eleven. We lived together in college, as freshmen and then again as seniors. A perfect beginning and end to college. We were in each others weddings and at the births of our children (the first ones , sorry Bec Bec!). No matter how much the business of life and distance between us I know I can pick up the phone for her advice and counsel anytime. It is refreshing and a blessing to sit with someone who has known you forever and can appreciate you for where you have been and who you have grown to be. We didn't talk about anything deep Saturday, baby shoes and cake. But it did my soul good to "just be" with my sweet friend! Cheesy I know but true!

Family- Thank you Mimi and Papa for keeping both our boys during the wedding! And thank you Daddy for going with me in the pouring rain to Lag's for lunch. And to Jenny for running errands with me. It is much better to have company and to catch up! Adam and I are so blessed to have such wonderful families. God continues to show me this through the sweet actions of our parents and sisters and of course brothers in law!

The Good Nap

Do you remember the last time you had a really good nap and how good it felt? It wasn't that long ago that I took napping for granted. Some of my favorite naps were after church and lunch on Sundays curled up on the couch or in bed with Adam and/or Charlie, after football games in Auburn before getting ready to go out, after coming home to my parents house after staying up four days solid for exams, or on the beach or a hammock.
After having Noah I do not take good naps for granted anymore whether I am the one who takes them or Noah is. Noah is in Birmingham with Mimi and Papa and then Nana and Puddin (so I can concentrate on getting house, classroom, and myself ready for school) so I just woke up from a great nap and am very appreciative!
Earlier this week Noah took a great nap. I was working around the house (I am in a summer is almost over what have I done oh no I'm not ready for school to start panic) and I looked at the clock and realized Noah had been down for three hours!! So I went to wake him up because I was afraid he might sleep the whole day if I didn't and not sleep at night. I called his name soft and sweet, no response. I turned on the light nothing. I got out the camera and took some pictures, nothing. Finally I touched him and he began to wake up. What a good nap! This is a preview of Noah the sleeping teenager!

The video clips are of me trying to wake Noah up and trying to capture his latest trick, sitting up from laying down. Also while we were at the beach he said "up" and I've been trying to get him to say it again to no avail. Enjoy my little sleepyhead!

The Eight Month Birthday

Dear Noah,
You are such a sweet boy! I know you will help me out by doing me a favor. Its really a simple request. Can you stop growing up? Not forever of course but just pause here for a little bit?? You are so precious. Your innocence is adorable. I love watching you discover new things like sand and fireworks. I love seeing you think about things as you try to figure toys and ponder how to get places you want to go. I love the way you interact with people giving everyone big smiles. I love how vocal you are becoming (most of the time) as you try to voice your desires. I love the way you laugh and your eyes get big when I pull out Goodnight Moon. I love the way you fall asleep in my arms as I rock you. Soon you will be walking and talking and it will be harder and harder to protect you from the ways of the world. I pray that I will do a good job teaching you to be light and salt to the world. I love you so much and treasure each milestone you reach. Thank you for an amazing eight months of love, growth and discovery. And if you decide not to pause here for a couple of years that will be okay because I know there will be even more joy down the road!
Love,
Mommy

The Beach through Mimi's Pictures

This is the last post about the beach I promise! These are a few of my favorites that my mom took while we were at the beach!

The Beach in Videos

This post is a collection of videos taken on our beach trip. Most of you will find it boring. Some of you won't want to watch them all. But for the few of you who will find them precious... enjoy!

In the post below is the real beach post with commentary and photos of the trip. Of course Mimi took some amazing pics and those will be coming later on.


This video is of Noah touching the beach for the first time after we arrived on St. George Island.



This video is of Noah feeling sand and staring at the beach in wonder. And paying his cousin Michael who was crab hunting.



This is a video of Noah in his tent on the beach.




This video is of Noah in the our pool.




And this is the last one of Noah feeding seagulls before we left.

The Beach

They say a picture is worth a million words. What are a million pictures worth??
We had a great time at the beach with my family. We are so grateful for the generosity of my parents for taking us to the beach and of their times as they helped out with Noah so we could enjoy relaxing. Thank you to all of my family for helping us make some memories this past week! Noah adored having his "peeps" to entertain him. He loved spending time with Aunt Jenny, Uncle JJ , Michael, Auntie Em, Mimi and Papa. He loved all the extra attention and kisses.
Noah loved the beach mostly tasting sand. He also loved watching seagulls.
Adam enjoyed staying inside during peak hours and playing pool and Wii.
I loved reading a good book, taking naps with Noah on the deck, spending a whole week without Adam at work, playing games with my family,eating, and sipping wine at sunset on the beach with my sisters.
I am so thankful that God gave me a family that enjoys each other. I am glad we can spend a week together and come away with a deeper appreciation for each other and the people that God continues to mold us into!
I took a lot of videos (which I will post separately) and pictures. Mimi of course took great pictures which I don't have yet but will share later! For the time being enjoy these shots of Noah and his first beach trip!



My favorite thing about the beach, Noah needed some cat naps because of all his fun. How sweet to hold him here with such great scenery!

Noah's favorite thing, feeding seagulls! And no I'm not pregnant again that is just Noah's leftovers. Still won't pop into place.



Yummy!

Noah spent time in his tent.

My boys!

Auntie Em! Look at that belly!
The beach and sand for the first time.

The Fourth

We have been out of touch from the world for a week! We had so much fun at the beach but we didn't have Internet or cell service! And believe it or not I didn't watch much TV! So if anything major in the world happened last week please tell me about it! I have a lot of things to post about the beach but I didn't want to leave out our Fourth of July celebration. Noah and I left Adam behind at work and joined MiMi, Papa, Nana,Puddin, Aunt Jenny and Michael in Homewood for the block party. They closed down the main street and had vendors, inflatable games and rides. It was fun. I ran into lots of old classmates from both Homewood and Auburn. Then at nine we had the perfect view of "Thunder on the Mountain", Birmingham's fireworks. (Which seemed shorter this year) I was so nervous that Noah would cry, he's at a stage where loud noises startle him and he wails and wails. (It is a stage right?) But he loved it. He sat in my lap and just stared. It was so amazing to witness his wonderment. I look forward to seeing him discover more and more! The next morning we headed to the beach with MiMi and Papa!

Noah and his cousin Michael.


Noah and MiMi. Pictures of MiMi are rare as she is usually behind the camera!


Noah and Nana, who is always good for a bottle no matter if its a football stadium, restaurant, or in this case a parking lot!

The Birthday and the Beach

Happy Fourth of July! Happy Birthday America! Because I am a history teacher I could go on and on about America today, but I won't. In a time when it is cool to belittle America and complain about the state of our country, disrespect our leadership on both sides of the aisle, and when patriotism is something we think we remember from wake of 9/11 I hope everyone celebrates America's good things today. Sure we have problems but we have many many blessings!! I read recently that Americans spend more annually on trash bags than 90% of the world's countries gross national product. That's crazy! We are so blessed to be in a nation of wealth. America is beautiful, free, inventive, and strong. We've made mistakes and there are things we need to address and fix but be proud today to be an American!!

Today is someone else's birthday.... Charlie!! We weren't sure of Charlie's actual birthdate, just that it was early July. Since Charlie loves a party and all the people that come with it we decided to make the 4th his birthday so he would always feel celebrated! Today he is two. Wasn't he a cute puppy?? He's two today, so Happy Birthday Charlie!!!


Tomorrow we are leaving for the beach! We are going with my family to St. George Island for the week. It will be a fun adventure that I will be sure to have stories about when we get back! I'm excited and nervous about Noah's first trip to the beach. And I am feeling a little selfish to be honest. The beach is about relaxing, reading, soaking in the rays, romantic walks on the beach and long dinners out. This will be different. Fun to share my love of the beach with Noah but different. So pray for the 8 hour car ride and that we successfully keep him from getting burned, something Adam and I have never accomplished for ourselves!!
Seaside 2006


Seagrove 2006

The Debate

My friend Beth commented on my last entry which brought up an issue I have been thinking a lot about lately that I wanted to hear more about from others. I want to start out this post by saying I hope not to offend anyone by my statements. I am just trying to see different sides of an issue to help my own decision making process. I am leaning one way but I am willing to see if people can sway me.
The important issue is the BPA bottles. I do not breastfeed. Since Noah was in the NICU the first week of life we never could really get the breastfeeding to satisfy or nourish him in the way he needed so after a few weeks he went to formula (which he had always supplemented with anyway.) So Noah has used Dr. Brown's bottles since he was two weeks old. When we first heard reports about concerns over BPA Adam did some research and came to the conclusion that we were not heating the bottles (by not boiling or microwaving) to the point that the chemicals would be harmful. I have researched and despite many rumors there is not actually a recall here in the U.S. for any BPA related issues. (Though I have found that Babies R Us will take back bottles in exchange for BPA free bottles) In fact the FDA has concluded from several studies that the level of exposure is minimal and poses no risk that the can tell at this time. I have also consulted my dad who is a doctor(in environmental and occupational medicine which covers chemical exposures) and a protective grandfather on his thoughts. He has done some reading and does not think that Noah is in danger. But it continues to be brought up again and again. There are a lot of "probably does not" and "at this time" that as a parent I have to comfortable with. So if you have already made a decision about what to do with the bottle issue please share! Also if there was any reading that you did, esp. research based articles could you link them in your comments? I am interested in seeing others thoughts and opinions. I want to be comfortable with my decision and know what information helped others to make their decision. I hope to make a decision based on more information than public pressure.