The shirt says it all...

Colds are yucky...

Noah recently caught a nasty cold. It was just awful! He's still getting over it, but I think the worst is behind us. Poor little munchkin was really congested and had trouble breathing, therefore had trouble nursing. It was rough on all of us. I hope he doesn't have another cold for months and months... years would be okay. It was so hard to see him feeling miserable and not be able to do anything to help him. Poor honey.

Below, Mama and Noah both enjoy a nap after a feeding.

Danny and Noah play video games together. Noah is very excited about it.

Noah gives a couple of flirty grins after a walk at the Nature Center.

Splish Splash

Here are half of the Everett kids playing at the spray park near our house. They had a ball. It's gonna be so fun when Noah is big enough to enjoy it. Maybe next summer we can let him get one of those swim diapers good and soggy while he plays out here.

Cute Cousins

Noah Sebastian and Summer Kahlea, born 9 days apart. Real cutie patooties!

Family Time

Here are a bunch of shots from our fabulous visit with the Everetts (that's weird to say since I used to be one). Zach and Angela and the kiddos came up for the weekend and we had a stupendous time! We ate at Lambert's (home of the throwed rolls), which was very fun, took a long hike through the Nature Center, hung out at the local spray park (only three blocks from our house, yay!), went shopping, and just enjoyed ourselves all weekend long.

Hold the milk, ice cream, cheese, butter....

Sad news for me. No dairy allowed. After noticing a little blood in Noah's dirty diapers (scary!) we went to the pediatrician and she suspects an allergy to milk proteins. She said his symptoms present themselves like the classic milk allergy, so as a nursing mother, I am totally off all dairy products. She said to be aggressive about it for a few weeks to see if that clears up the problem. If not, we'll have to start thinking about tests and such. If it is that, I'm off dairy indefinitely. She did say that many babies seem to outgrow it by about age 1, so we're hoping that's the case for Noah. I'd hate for him to go through life trying to avoid all milk products. We're finding that milk is in EVERYTHING. We're reading labels like crazy. It's in some potato chips, granola bars, popcorn and of course, all your standard dairy things. No chocolate! So SAD! I can't have cereal anymore, not even with soy milk, which was our staple breakfast. No more yummy cheesy Italian dishes. No more slabs of cheddar cheese on my turkey sandwiches. No more ice cream and cookies. But...we do these things for our babies. We pray that he'll be perfectly healthy soon and we'd appreciate your prayers too.
.....On a happier note, Noah has learned to smile and laugh. It's super cute. Danny's dad got us a video camcorder and we've spent lots of digital minutes trying to catch those giggles. He gurgles and blows spit bubbles. He's also learned where his hands are and how to get them to his mouth. Most of the time, he tries to get both in his mouth at the same time. He has a seat that plays music and lights up when he kicks and he loves it. He can really get those legs going. I'll get some more pictures and videos posted as soon as I can.
Take care and God bless,
Vanessa

The many faces of Noah Sebastian

Our little man

Here are some shots of our little man.

Check out his Sunday shoes...

Sweet little smile...

Our limp noodle...

A goofy grin...

Six weeks old

Noah is now six weeks old and doing fabulously. We went to the Mother and Baby Support Center Friday for a weight check. He's a hefty 12 lbs 9 oz now - on exclusively breast milk. He really is getting to be a chunk - I definitely notice when he won't let me put him down and I'm pacing the floor in the middle of the night. Or when I'm carting him around in his car seat.

He had his first real bath about a week ago, after his cord finally fell off. We couldn't quite tell what he thought of it. He didn't fuss but he didn't seem too sure about it either. Subsequent baths haven't changed his mind any - he's still ambivalent about them.

I had my six week postpartum check up and I'm doing fine - all recovered and back to normal. I don't exactly feel back to normal, what with the sleeplessness and such, but physically, I'm fine. I'd like to start getting a little more active, working outdoors and so on. But between the heat and Noah not really digging his sling, I'm not sure how to accomplish it. I think I could start doing some slow jogging with the stroller if it wasn't so hot and humid out. I think we'd both be wiped smooth out by the time we got back. Maybe we could start taking our jogs at 4 a.m. when we're awake anyway...

Overall, we're doing quite well and really enjoying being a family.
God bless,
Vee