Rockin and Rollin

Guess who learned to roll over!

Giving Grandma his own special brand of kiss

He likes to try and eat the caterpillar on his activity center.

Tickle Toes

Noah has discovered his feet and he uses them like a little monkey.

You be the judge

Here's a handful of pictures of me and Danny Joe as babies. I'm sure you can tell who's who. And there's a shot of Noah at the bottom for comparison (as if there's not enough of him on this blog). So you judge...who's he look like?

A Novel in a Month!

I am participating in National Novel Writing Month this year. Every November, thousands of people try to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Quite a few of them succeed. Last year the stats were about 100,000 participants and about 15,000 winners (people who wrote 50k words; you don't actually win anything). My friend Vic has done it a couple of years and he inspired me to give it a go. I'm working on a novel in short stories based on my childhood in Southwest Louisiana. A Southern coming-of-age type tale.

Of course, I have a four-month-old child so I'm not going to beat myself up too bad if I don't make it. In fact, my mathematically-inclined husband tells me I have to write 2,000 words a day to do it. Seems a little far-fetched. Still, it's got me writing and it's giving me a good start on a novel that's been bouncing around my brain for years now.

Cheer me on, friends!

Dinner with the grands

Dinner with the grandparents at our house... Noah tried to get Pop's tea and sat between them like he was just grown up as could be. In the bottom picture, he tried to make Grandma his dinner. He loves to get hold of people and pull their faces to him. He's an aggressive kisser.

Yummy reflections

Noah really likes the turtle mirror on his activity center. He thinks it tastes like milk.

Bounce Bounce Baby

Here's Danny and Noah putting together his "Bounce Bounce Baby" activity center. He's still just a tad small for it and he can't quite hold himself upright enough, but he seems to really like it. He particularly likes to lick the mirror.

Election Thoughts

I am thrilled that America has elected its first black president. Even though I disagree with many of Obama's policies, I am proud of our nation for moving past the past... for repairing history (to a degree) by making history. My prayer for President-Elect Barack Obama is that he will lead our country in a way that upholds marriage and family, the sanctity of life, and religious freedom - including the freedom for Christians to boldly practice and openly proclaim their convictions. May he lead the nation with a respect for God and an adherence to divine law rather than human law. God bless America.
Vanessa

Playtime

Here he is, doing what babies do best- chewing and slobbering on stuff. In the top picture he had been slobbering on his link before it somehow ended up on his head like some kind of green halo. He just left it there, so I had to take a picture.

Our big li'l guy

It's hard to believe Noah's already four and a half months old. Sure doesn't feel like it's been that long. He had his four-month checkup a couple of weeks ago and he was doing fine (other than a persistent cold). He is 18 1/4 pounds and 26 1/4 inches long - in the 95th percentile for weight and 90th for length. He's a big ol' boy. The pediatrician said he could start solids if we want him to, but that we can wait a couple more months if we like. Noah might be ready, but I'm not. I don't want him to be grown up enough for real food - plus, his meals don't take any prep work right now. Is that lazy of me? I'm thinking we might starting trying a little cereal after we get back from our Thanksgiving trip.

We took our first overnighter with him. We went to a revival in Kansas City. He handled the three hours in the car relatively well, although the ride made me realize those 10 hours to Texas for Thanksgiving are gonna be rough! Sleeping in a strange place went okay, although we were up a lot more than normal. I'm not used to sleeping in the same room with him and I woke up every time he breathed hard. That's motherhood for you.

Noah still wakes up once in the middle of the night and once in the early morning to nurse. Sometimes he even wakes up in between and needs to be soothed back to sleep. I know all the experts say this is about the age you start letting them get themselves back to sleep, but I just can't stand to listen to him cry, especially in the middle of the night. I'm probably setting a dangerous precedent by rocking him to sleep all the time, but I can't seem to help it. One, I love that cuddle time as he's falling asleep and two, I don't want him to think we're not going to come when he calls. It would be nice if he'd start sleeping through the night... any body have any advice?

Except for that pesky congestion that keeps hanging on, Noah is doing super duper. He laughs and smiles and makes funny sounds all day long. He even tries to blow raspberries and make kissy sounds. It's really cute. He's started doing this thing where he kicks his right leg really hard to make a loud thump. DJ's started calling him Thumper. He did it in the bath yesterday and splashed me real good. He's a delight. We're so happy and so grateful for our wonderful family.

God bless.
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Ciao!

Cutie Patootie