March Wrap-Up

March was a busy month!  Between our trip to PA, John's birthday, a case of both kids being pretty sick, multiple doctor's visits, me starting back at work after 12 weeks off... we were quite busy! 

I'm still so thankful I was able to travel back to PA (while I was still off from work) and see my family and attend Laura's baby shower.  I love these girls so much!  (we missed you Jenn!)                And these kids are quite entertaining (minus the babies) 

 

Thankfully I had two kids that were WONDERFUL on both of their airplane segments.  I sure hope they always stay good travelers.  

Silly days inside wishing for warmer weather!  Even though we are going stir-crazy, we still have fun! 

   

Then the sickies came to visit our house..that was a long 2 weeks of miserable-ness.    

 

As I continue on my RCIA journey to becoming Catholic, one of our Sundays was spent meeting the Bishop.  Here is my whole class at St. Gerard with the Bishop.  (He is hilarious!)  

 

I just love the two of them!  Hannah is a good big sister.  Or as she says "I'm a good big helper sister for my baby brother"... just not all the time.  

He's getting so big, dressed in some big boy clothes!  

Starting to sit up more in the boppy.  I just love those big eyes!   

Noah loves being on his tummy.  Love those drooly face pictures too! 

Happy kids!  

 

                                             

 The sun actually came up and warmed the weather up into the 50's, so we could finally get some outside bike riding in. 

I don't take nearly as many pictures of Noah as I did for Hannah, but I am certainly trying!  I just love his cute little baby face :)

 

Happy March!  Let's hope those April showers will bring us May flowers (and SUNSHINE!) 

Noah 3 Months

My little bubba is three months!  12 weeks old, how did that happen already?!  

I love his little baby face, his sweet little cheeks, and his smile just melts my heart.  

We didn't have a doctor's visit this month, but at our sick kiddo visit, Noah weighed 12 lbs, 5oz.  He's continuing to gain weight and get bigger right before our eyes. 

  

 

These two kids are so much fun!  I can't wait for Hannah and Noah to chase each other around, build towers, color and really play together.  But for now, I'll sit back and watch her kiss him, play with his legs to make him giggle, and try her best to protect her little brother.  

 

Noah is certainly a happy little man, he is rather chill and laid back (most of the time).  He deals with his sister's intensity - she can be a tad rough with him.  He just sits back and seems to take it all in.  He has a more cuddly personality than Hannah did as a baby, I'm grateful for all the extra baby snuggles he likes to give me.  

Noah has been on a really good schedule, just like Hannah did as a baby.  It seems to work best for our busy schedules to keep him more regimented and he seems to respond to it nicely.  We didn't rush him into the routine, he took his time, where Hannah picked it up rather quickly.  He's awake by 8am, nurses, and goes back for a little nap between 9-9:30am.  Wakes again around 11 and typically is awake til around 12:30.  Wakes again by 2 to nurse and I try to get him back down between 3-3:30.  Up to nurse at 5, then he takes a short 30-45 min nap after 6:30 before its bedtime around 8pm.     

In the beginning of month 3, his napping was pretty terrible.  He would only sleep 30-45 mins in his crib.  He would fall back asleep if you picked him up and held him for a little while.  We would follow this same pattern over and over until the next feeding time.  It made for some frustrations because I couldn't get anything done, or start any kind of projects with Hannah before I had to go pick him up to stop his cries.  Now as the weeks have continued on, he is doing better and taking longer and longer naps everyday.  I am happy with how well he has been doing. 

Now you may be thinking that if his naps are terrible, he must sleep bad at night... Well, thankfully this little boy can sleep then!  He had his first sleep-through-the-entire-night while I was in PA with the kiddos.  And since then he has had another 10 nights or so of sleeping all the way through.  If he doesn't sleep all night, he typically wakes up once to feed between 2-4am.  He is up to nurse or take a bottle and back to sleep in 20-30 minutes.  He goes right back to sleep without any fight.  The nights I am away at work, he is great for John.  He takes his bottle so good for him and is back to sleep just as quickly.  It is a really nice thing for both of us.  Some nights w try to push him to see if he can make it all night.  If he will take the pacifier and not cry or fuss, then we try to let him sleep a little longer.  This is all in hopes that he will just get used to going 10-12 hours.  But he is getting there, and we are really happy with the night time.   

We've been working on his self-soothing to get back to sleep.  He really is not a cry-it-out kiddo.  It seems that if we let him CIO he only cries harder and more.  What works best is quickly picking him up, cuddling him for a few minutes, then back to sleep he goes.  

Noah is definitely a little talker.  He coos and squeals, and really tries to be vocal.  He let out his first giggles in the beginning of the month.  Such a sweet sound.  I just love those belly laughs he lets out.  He is very ticklish on his tummy and sides of his ribs.  He also giggles when you give him kisses on his neck.  Hannah gets a big kick out of his laughs, she is always trying to tickle him.  

Noah likes to play on the keyboard kickmat still and has been sitting up in the bumbo seat more.  He can hold himself up sitting for about 10 minutes or so before his little head just wants to sag over.  If he is laying down, we find him doing "sit-ups" to try to sit up instead.  We love how interactive he has become, and how responsive he is to our faces and voices.  He is quite the little charmer!  

We've had a busy month 3 and are looking forward to a healthy and WARMER month 4!  

Giggles on Video: 

Hannah 2 1/2 years old

Hannah, little bubs, Bubby, Hannah-bean, Monks, my mini best friend....my little lady is getting so big so fast!  I can't believe she is 2 1/2 years old already.  She certainly doesn't seem 2 in my mind, I still see her as the tiny little baby who stole my heart.  

Here's my big girl!   (26 lbs at the Dr for our sick visit) 

  

Hannah is so talkative, I bet she says over 200 words!  I am so amazed with how well she speaks.  She uses complete sentences, even the tense she uses is correct. She understands so well too. I find it so crazy that I have complete conversations with her.  She says some of the most hilarious stuff.  I wish I had a recorder sometimes to catch her witty comments.  Some of my favorite things she says: opi-meal for oatmeal, squirdel for squirrel, come with me to see this- its incredible, We have to do what we do because so...I really will start writing more of her words and sayings down.  

Hannah will sing us her ABC's, count up to 20, count down from 10, spell LaMacchia "l-a-c-c-h-i-a", sing songs, recite books back to us, and make up her own stories to her books. 

Hannah loves to watch Thomas the Train.  She loves "Blue Mountain Mystery" and asks to watch that frequently.  We also love Daniel Tiger over here, he is such a cute tiger and that show is adorable.  We have learned many new songs from him, including our favorite Potty song.  (When you have to go potty, stop and go right away.  Flush and wash and be on your way.)  We aren't big TV watchers in our house, which I'm glad for, but we love books.  We are constantly reading something, stacking and re-stacking the giant pile of books in our living room. 

Speaking of Daniel Tiger and the potty song, we are pretty much potty trained.  We still wear the pull-up at bedtime because there are some overnight episodes, but during the day its big girl panties and potty time.  We have gone out to many places and church every Sunday and haven't had any accidents.  She is very good about telling us that she has to go potty.  We are beginning to think she wants to be done with the pull-ups at night because we find her without the pull-up when we go in her room to check on her before we go to bed.  John has gotten good at putting it back on without her even waking up!  Part of the pull-up wearing at night is partly my fault.  Quite honestly, I don't want to be washing her bed sheets all the time, it's a lot of work!  But I need to get past that factor.  We are so proud of how well Hannah potty-trained and that she is so successful.  

Hannah loves to sing and dance!  "I'm a singer dancer ballerina" is frequently coming out of her mouth as she spins around.  She loves to play dress up in her tutu dress, "my pretty pink dress" as she calls it.    

We have been learning how independent our little lady really is.  Hannah wants to do everything by herself.  Dress and undress, go to the potty, climb up into her chair at the table, EVERYTHING!  If she doesn't get to do it alone, we are frequently met with tears and protesting.  It's hard to let her do it all alone when you know it will be so much quicker to help her.  But these traits will only make her a stronger woman someday! 

 Here's my baby girl saying our prayers before eating dinner.  

My dear Hannah baby-  

I love you to the moon and back.  You are such a strong-willed girl, I know you will be an independent woman some day. For now, you will always be my sunshine, my best-friend, and my snuggle buddy.  I am so amazed by how smart you are, how you captivate the room and make everyone smile.  You are the sweetest girl, giving hugs and kisses, always making sure no one is sad.  I love that you are a big sister and can't wait to see you really cherish that role as you get older.  I often wish time would just stop so I can always remember how special you are right now.  I love you more than words, I'm so grateful to be your momma.  

Love Mommy

Case of the sickies!

It was bound to happen, I knew we couldn't escape all the winter germs that were going around.  But I didn't expect it to hit us as hard as it did.  

The day before John's birthday Hannah started coughing and the snotty nose began.  We had just returned from our travels to PA a few days prior so I'm sure the combination of the airport, airplane, and germs from cousins and family back home started to make their way through.  On Saturday, Hannah sounded horrible.  She woke herself up from her nap coughing, she actually threw up on her precious MooMoo.  But don't worry, we had a back-up!  It was about time to get rid of the original MooMoo, so this was the perfect time to do so.  Since he was covered with the majority of the puke, it was easy to tell Hannah he couldn't come clean and I couldn't get the germs off.  Out with the old and in with the replacement!   

Hannah's cough continued to get worse.  Between children's Motrin and Tylenol to help with her aches and pains from coughing, blowing her nose, and fevers, it was time to head to the Dr's.  Around Tuesday is when I noticed Noah starting to sound congested.  It was also around this time that I was starting to feel the cold sneaking up on me.  I took both kids to the Dr on Wed together.  Hannah had an Upper Respiratory Infection and no meds would help a viral infection.  Noah looked okay at this point, and both kids' ears were clear of any infection. 

Thursday night Noah started sounded worse.  His breathing was more labored and his little cough sounded terrible.  I was so tempted to take him to the ER because I just wasn't sure.  Was the Nurse in me over-analyzing my child, was the Mom in me over-reacting?  I was so worried about Noah having RSV and there be nothing to give him except a hospital visit if it was bad enough.  After talking with a friend whose little guy had RSV when he was 6 weeks old, I decided to see how the night went and call the Dr in the morning.  

Friday morning was terrible.  Noah's breathing was labored, he was nasal flaring, coughing way too much, not nursing very great, and the temps started creeping up.  I called the Dr and they had me bring him in at that moment.  He definitely had RSV and a double ear infection.  Our pedi decided to give him a breathing treatment in the office to see if that helped.  It really didn't help that much (just led to a screaming child who did not like the mask on his face!) but the Dr decided to keep us out of the hospital.  Between round the clock breathing treatments at home, daily phone calls to update the pedi on Noah's status, we were able to stay home and out of the hospital.  

While all this was going on, I was due to start back to work in 3 days...insert PANIC!!  Thankfully I work with some pretty amazing women, and I was able to trade my nights to work later in the week.  I am blessed to have some awesome co-workers!  

After 4 days of home nebulizers, Noah started to sound better, he wasn't coughing as much, and was starting to feel like his old self.  It was a rough week taking care of two sick kiddos by myself, and both John and I getting sick in there too. (John's parents were gone in Florida enjoying Spring Break) 

Times like this definitely make me miss being around my family and having them close by.  My dad was ready to jump on a plane to come out and help me.  (Thank you to John's Aunt Becky for her help too!)  But we made it through and thankfully both kids are on the mend.  

  

    First day with the new MooMoo                     my sick Hannah-bug snuggled up           Noah only wanted to cuddle and be held

 

            My little boy and his nebulizer                            two love bugs!  

(thanks to Hannah for taking this picture) 

John's Birthday

Hannah helped me bake and decorate cupcakes to help celebrate John's 32nd birthday!  She helped stir the batter, add the oil and eggs, and put the cupcake papers into the spots.  She was quite the helper!  

 

 

We are all so lucky to have such a special daddy, husband, and best friend in our lives.  John is the kindest, smartest, and most understanding man I've ever know.  I'm so proud of all he does to take care of his family and make us each feel important.  We would be lost without him.  

 

                                                       Happy 32nd birthday John!!  We love you so much!  

Noah's first visit to PA

I braved a flight by myself with the two kids to travel back to PA and spend some time with  my family and friends.  After "practicing" with the (kids and John) on our Denver trip, I took some good tips away from that to help when I needed to do it alone.  

But of course, Delta always has other plans for you...

We were supposed to leave Lansing Friday morning at 8am, arrive in Detroit, leave for Allentown at 10:45am, and arrive at our final destination by noon.  WELL... our plane wouldn't start in Lansing.  Delta's best alternative was to TAXI all the passengers to Detroit to catch their connections.  There wasn't a chance that I would be taking a taxi for an hour and a half drive, with my two kids and a complete stranger driving to get there.  That was not an acceptable alternative for me.  Therefore, John had to leave work early and come save the day.  He drove us to Detroit and we had to maneuver our way through security an extra time.  We didn't make the 10:45 flight, so instead, we left at 3:30pm, right smack in the middle of Hannah's nap time. Of course, how convenient when we were trying to avoid that by leaving so early with our original flight plan.  But we made it.  My dad picked us up and we headed back to their house to begin our whirlwind of a long weekend.  

Both kids did AMAZING on the plane!  Noah slept like a champ and woke up once we got to Allentown.  Hannah was a great little traveler.  She was helpful when she needed to be and sat and played nicely on the plane.  It was a long day of traveling but I couldn't have asked for better kids!  

On Saturday morning we headed over to my grandparents MeMom and PopPop's house.  My uncle and cousin were there as well.  Pam, Jason, Dylan, and Bryn arrived shortly after we got there.  It was a nice, fun ol time!  I haven't seen Pam and the gang since last May when we were home before they moved to NC.  It was so nice to see them!! 

This was everyone's first time meeting Noah, he was certainly an extra-cuddled little boy :)                      

 

         Dylan, Hannah, Abby, Bryn, and Noah                                             Bryn and Noah snuggles   

   

  

  some lovin from Aunt Pam                                                Abby, Noah, Bryn                                                             Abby and Noah

My grandparents meeting Noah!! 

 

                                                             Great-grandmom MeMom and Noah

  

                  Great-grandpa PopPop and Noah                                                     Abby and Uncle Bob                                     

                       Uncle Bob and Noah 

After a quick visit in the morning, we headed back to my parents and I got ready to go to Laura's baby shower.  Laura and I have been friends since 6th grade!  I was so happy to make it for her shower and see her glowing!  She is going to be a spectacular momma!  It was a beautiful shower, delicious food (that baked french toast-oh my!), and fun to see my friends and Laura's family.  

  

 My best friends:  me, Julia, Laura, Vanessa, and Wendy(we were missing one amigo Jen)               Laura and I (love this lady!)  

We planned a play date/dinner get-together Saturday evening so we could see each other and get all the kids together to play.  We haven't been able to have all the kids together EVER so this was a great chance to do it.  Our kids are about to outnumber us!!  

   

                       The kids sitting to eat dinner                                      Logan and Hannah in the tent         the newest additions-Keegan & Noah

 

Emma, Hannah & Noah, Davis & Keegan, Delaney, and Logan!          Love these girls so much!!  

Sunday was spent relaxing at my parents and going nowhere!  It's nice to be able to spend a day not moving and actually enjoying not running around.  I don't think everyone at home realizes how hard that can be, regardless that we want to get around and see everyone, it's just difficult on myself and the kids.  But we had a nice day and got to see everyone in my family.          

 

     Cousins-Dylan, Bryn, Grace, Andrew, and Hannah                                    Noah, Aunt Amy, and Dylan

  

           Bryn and Noah                                                         Gracie and Noah 

 

                  these 2 loved snuggling Noah                                            Andrew and Noah 

  

        Uncle Bubby and Noah                                                     Aunt Kate and Noah

  

                   so sweet :)                                                                                 All the cousins together (minus Dylan)  

                                                                                                             Matthew, Gracie, Hannah, Bryn, JD, Noah, Lola, Lilly, and Andrew

  

        Lilly and Noah                     Aunt Kim and Noah (sorry its not the best pic)                 Uncle JD, Lola, JD, and Uncle Jason

  

          Uncle JD, Lilly, and Noah (she LOVED him)                                    JD, Lola, and Uncle Jason

  

          Aunt Pam, Hannah, and DD                     Bryn and MomMom (MomMom sure loved all her kids and grandkids together!) 

 

                   JD, Bryn, and Uncle Jason                                                         Daddy's little princess :) 

  

                       silly girls coloring - Hannah and Lilly                                December kids!  Me and JD

  

                             Lola and Noah                                                                   Hannah and her favorite DD!

  

  

                          Uncle JD and Noah                                                                           JD and Noah 

  

                December birthdays!  Me, JD, and Noah                             Poppy and Noah  

  

                                                                            Grandparents: Poppy, MomMom, and Noah    

  

                                    MomMom and Noah                                     Poppy and Hannah "driving" the car/massage chair

     Great-grandma Mom Herr with kids and I

 

                         family :)                                                                               Proud grandparents! 

The 3 of us on the plane ride home (Noah was in the baby wrap) 

We made it home safe and sound, with only a minor 4 hour delay in Detroit.  The kids were wonderful flying and traveling.  But we were happy to be home and see John - boy did we all miss him!  And we are always thankful that he doesn't mind our visits to PA when he needs to stay back home alone due to work constraints.  

It was a whirlwind of a trip but it was a great time!  It worked out that we got to see everyone, even if it wasn't as long as we would have liked, but we got it done!  We can't wait for Easter here in MI when my parents and Pam, Jason, Dylan, and Bryn come visit.  Then we can't wait to drive home in July and spend a long week together.