April Wrap-Up

April has come and gone rather quickly.  It was a busy month for us filled with lots of family and friends (and unfortunately less picture taking by me).  But we are on the go and trying to make the most of our time.  

        All smiles and sitting like a big boy

 

All of a sudden, Hannah wants to wear "pretty dresses" all the time

Getting outside to enjoy the sun and play some ball 

 

Little stud

Big Sister and Little Brother

Those lips :) 

 

                                                                My little snuggler                                                        

 

Hannah was so happy to help me give Noah a bottle 

Such a big boy playing in the exer-saucer, and I see that little smile behind your paci 

 

Noah 4 Months

4 Months already?!  Not sure how this is even possible.... 

Noah boy is getting so big!  It's amazing how he is growing by leaps and bounds!  

 

                                             so serious...                                                               such a big boy! 

Four Month Stats:

-Height: 26 1/4inches (84%!)

-Weight: 13 lbs 5 oz (15%)

-Head Circumference: 39.3cm (1%!)

Our pediatrician appointment felt like deja vu.  Hannah's 4 month appointment had a drastic drop in her weight percentile and the nurse was not the most pleasant in this regard.  So when I saw Noah's drop from 55% to 15%, my stomach did a flipflop.  But this time, instead of feeling insecure and questioning our parenting instincts, I knew we were doing alright.  The nurse voiced her concern over the change, but said Noah's Doctor would discuss it with us.  When Dr. Isreal came in for Noah's exam, he wasn't very concerned.  He was happy with his progress, Noah is meeting all his milestones, and (just as Hannah had) Noah had starting sleeping all night and not getting that extra bit of milk.  So we will wait and see where Noah trends at his 6 month appointment. 

                                                        

Our little man is such a sweet boy!  His little smile is always present, I swear.  When he wakes up in the morning, we walk into his room and he is there smiling back up at us.  When I lay him down to change a messy diaper, he's smiling and happy.  When his sister is beating up on him and stealing all his toys, he's smiling and giggling at her.  This little boy is truly all smiles.  

Noah is doing good with his eating and sleep schedule.  He has a pretty predictable morning where he wakes up, nurses, plays for about an hour, then he takes a 2 hour nap.  It's been nice to put him down, hop on the elliptical, let Hannah watch Doc McStuffins, and do my workout first thing in the morning.  His napping has certainly improved from last month where he was all over the place.  Now he is much more routine and that has helped his naps and sleeping tremendously.  

Noah is much better at sleeping on the go than Hannah ever was.  She would not sleep anywhere other than her crib, she wouldn't fall asleep in your arms, and she would fight sleep in the car seat too.  She was a very particular sleeper.  Thankfully Noah is quite the opposite.  He will fall asleep in his car seat and doesn't fight it at all.  He will snuggle up right in my arms and snooze if needed.  It is helpful so we can get out of the house and do more things.  

Noah has also been sleeping through the night pretty consistently.  He will wake a few times and we quickly pop his paci back into his mouth, but he isn't waking to nurse anymore.  If he does seem hungry, we have been giving him a bottle "snack".  This way he doesn't get into the routine of nursing back to sleep in the middle of the night.  This helps avoid John having a hard time getting Noah back to sleep if I am at work.  And so far the bottle "snack" has been working when needed.  Noah will take the bottle and head right back to sleep.  We have been very happy about the extra sleep we get!  

We were "working" on Noah self-soothing last month, and that still continues on.  He is not very good at calming himself down if he gets all worked up.  We definitely do not have an easy CIO kid on our hands.  In fact, if we let him CIO, it only makes things worse. This isn't a complaint by any means, just a big difference from Hannah who preferred to put herself to sleep. So we are still trying to figure out how to make this work, but we will get there!  

Noah is an active little dude.  He has mastered rolling over from belly to back, and from back to belly.  Noah seems to prefer being on his belly over laying on his back.  It seems like we put him down on his back and within 10 seconds he is flipped over, investigating the scene.  I'll be curious to see if he is crawling sooner than Hannah was because of how 'nosy' he is.  We shall see!  

Noah continues to be very talkative.  He squeals and screeches, and it pretty much sounds like a scream.  He certainly wants our attention and he must know that he has some steep competition with Hannah.  He gets a kick out of music and it captures his attention whether its a TV jingle, lullaby playing in a book, or Hannah singing, he stops and really seems to listen.  

These two make all the tough mommy moments worth it!  I just love my sweet babies :) 

                                                  

Easter Celebration

Our trip to visit the Easter Bunny went rather well!  Surprisingly there were no tears from Hannah, a little apprehension as we approached the bunny for our turn, but no tears!  

 

 

We headed to church on Saturday night to celebrate at the Easter Vigil.  This was a special day for both Noah and myself.  This was a celebration for me as I completed the journey of the RCIA process to become Catholic.  I started my preparation and weekly classes back mid-September.  After a long 9 months of weekly Sunday classes, I was officially welcomed into our church and the Catholic community during the Vigil.  This evening was made even more special because Noah was baptized during the mass.  I got to share such a special moment with my son, it was pretty emotional.  In addition, it was even more memorable for me because some of my family was here to support us.  Both my parents and sister Pam and her family were able to be here with us.  And all of John's family was sitting there behind us as well!  We had quite the crowd/cheering section :)  But it was so amazing and such a wonderful experience to have everyone there for both Noah and myself.  

LOTS of pictures!!  

 

 

 

 

Noah's Godparents:  My sister Pam and John's cousin Anthony

 

  

                                     My parents                                                                                 The Muthersbaughs

 

                                Both Grandparents

  

                                                          The LaMacchia bunch

 

                                                                  Silly Hannah with her cousins Bryn and DD

 

Herr Family takes on MI for Easter

We had the pleasure of having my parents come out and spend Easter with us once again this year.  My parents arrived late Wednesday night into Flint; it was an uneventful flight for them and I'm sure they were anxious to crawl into bed after we got back to our house around midnight.  

Thursday was a lazy day spent around the house as Mom and Dad got to spend some time with both kids.  Of course Hannah enjoyed playing with MomMom's phone and taking lots of pictures :)  

  

On Friday we headed over to the mall to see the Easter bunny.  We met John's family there then went out to eat afterwards to Westgate for our favorite fish fry.  We certainly love going there during Lent - delicious food and always great company!  (Easter bunny pics are in the Easter post here) 

Early Saturday morning, Pam, Jason, Dylan, and Bryn arrived from their 12 hour drive from North Carolina.  It was a long drive, but they made it around 2am and all headed straight to bed.  We were also blessed with the Muthersbaugh family joining us for Easter weekend as well!!  This was the first time we had physically seen Pam and family since May last year!  Of course we have "seen" each other via facetime, but it was nice to give hugs and actually spend time together.  

The cousins had an absolute blast playing together!  Hannah just loves her "DD" (Dylan) and Bryn was able to be a silly girlie with Hannah.  (and teach her some cheerleading too)  I'm so thankful that the kids could play together and spend this time with each other.  It's really hard being so far away from family for this reason.  I wish Hannah could play with all of her cousins more than once or twice a year :(  But, thankfully we know how to make up for any missed time when we are together.  

 

Saturday was a busy day with the Easter Vigil and Noah's baptism that we really took it easy and hung around the house.  There was 10 people to shower/bath and be ready for the evening, so we didn't want to be rushed or late.  (The pictures are all here) 

Sunday morning was a nice day to do some sleeping in!  The kids woke up to their Easter baskets full of goodies!  And the nice bunny even left some sweets for everyone else too :)  

 

Of course we had a little Easter egg hunt in the backyard.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day so we certainly took full advantage of it!  The kids were laughing and running around finding eggs.  It was great to see the smiles on ALL of their faces (Dylan, the teenager included!) 

 

 

 

 

Noah got in on the action as he watched with Poppy!  

  

MomMom and Poppy lovin!  

  

As we waited for Easter dinner to be finished, we played a nice little game of whiffle ball in our backyard.  It was so much fun and HOT!  I definitely discovered that I'm a little LOT rusty, haha!   

 

My parents left to go back to PA on Monday afternoon.  Dylan came with to drive them back to the airport, which was nice to spend some time alone with him.  We said our goodbyes, until late June when we will drive to PA for a week.  

The next few days while Pam, Jason and the kids were here we spent hanging out and relaxing.  Unfortunately the weather didn't want to warm back up for us, so it was too chilly to do much outside.  John, Jason, and Dylan went to the Lugnuts baseball game one evening, but it was like 40 degrees out!  They informed us that there was only 40 people there, but they stuck it out - all 9 innings.

 

                                                                                (Did someone say "pickle cheese"?  haha!)

 

                                                    My two favorite cheerleaders! 

We had a great time with my parents and sister and family, it was truly a blessing to have them all here together!  I'm so thankful that everyone could take the time out of their busy schedules to come see us and enjoy a mini-vacation away.