Big Belly Laughs

A friend of mine sent me this picture from when I was pregnant and she said "remember when Noah was BHR?" Doesn't that seem so long ago ... it was only 8 months ago, but it feels like forever.

He's already grown so much, but still feels so small. He's looking at me right now, while I type this and saying "Duh-d0-da" and eating my backpack. I love it when he sees me looking at him and then picks his head up real high and smiles. His smile is so pure and so genuine and makes me happier than anything I can imagine.

Another new thing that Noah does is making his lips go "buh-dee, buh-dee, buh-dee" with his fingers. It's one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

Noah is laughing at everything these days. I don't always know what he's laughing at, but his laugh makes me smile. I love hearing Greg and Noah in the other room. Greg will pepper Noah's tummy with kisses and zerberts and Noah will laugh and giggle big belly laughs. It's my new favorite sound.

New Pictures

I love swinging at Nana and Papa's!

Look at how cute I am in my hat.

I look very Himovitzy in this picture, don't you think?

almost 8 months and very busy

Noah is almost 8 months old and he's been quite busy ... last week he started officially crawling. He loves to chase after Gary and Lou Lou. In fact, his face lights up when he sees either of them. Gary is getting better with him, he doesn't always run when Noah grabs onto his fur, but he doesn't hang out for very long.

Noah also loves water bottles. Whenever he sees my blue, camelback bottle his face lights up and his arms flap up and down. He can suck the water out of the sippy straw, but half of it dribbles back out. He loves his sippy cup, but I think he prefers my water bottle more.

Nana and Papa just hung a new swing in their front yard and Noah loves it! He also loves splashing in water and feeling grass ... but not at the same time.

He's keeping me busy and I'm so excited to see what he's going to do next ... I start work next week, I hope I don't miss anything!

Freedom ... kinda

I finished my last exam for the year last night. I don't know if I passed, but I felt relieved and free and excited and tired...I felt like celebrating, and what better way to celebrate than to eat a burrito the size of your head? So, last night I celebrated by eating a giant burrito and watching some Thursday night television. It was lovely, and even though my freedom only lasts until Monday, when summer school begins, I'm happy.

A friend of mine in school, who had a baby about 3 weeks before exams, yes she's amazing, said to me last night, "I feel like Luke (her son) will be born tomorrow, in a way, Noah will be too." I thought about it, and it's kinda' true. Although I feel so happy to have had all this time with, I have never had a time where there wasn't school .... so even though this break is short, I'm excited to spend it with Noah watching him grow and change before my eyes. Right now I'm watching him try and pull himself up using the coffee table. It makes me happy and then it makes me realize how much we need to do to the house to get it ready for all of these exciting changes...

In the meantime, here are some new Noah videos, a perfect way to start my morning ...

Noah's new instrument - here

Nana Melmo's Latest Medley - here

Just because I'm cute ...

Everyone needs embarrassing tushy pictures

Swimming with my daddy

Seven and a Half Months with Seven and a Half Teeth

So I woke up this morning to someone, I don't want to name names, but it rhymes with Shmoah, sticking their finger in my nose. Someone, and again, I don't want to name names, but it ryhmes with Shmoah, has decided that he doesn't like sleeping through the night, so Greg will bring him into bed so I can feed him. Then, we falls asleep for an hour or so and wakes up again to eat. It's a pretty exhausting cycle.

Noah is changing so much. Yesterday he started doing the military crawl across the hardwood floor. Right now I'm watching him pull himself across the carpet, desparately trying to catch Gary. He has yet another tooth coming in, which makes eight total. Four on the top and four on the bottom.

I've been in exams for the last week and a half, or what feels like forever, and I am missing Noah terribly. Yesterday I thought he was finally mad at me for being gone so much, so I rushed home before an exam just to see him. I think we're cool now, but I haven't left for school yet, so we'll see.

He's going to be starting Shalom School in less than month. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle being away from him, luckily it won't be full-time and I will be able to go and see him during my lunches too. I'm sure it will be harder for me than for him, but I guess I never realized all of the stuff I miss when I'm not around during the day.

Noah seems more inquisitive these days. Whereas before he would just smile at almost anything, now he has to explore it and check it out before he approves and flashes his pearly smile of 7 1/2 teeth. I took him to the co-op this morning and all of the "natural" people wanted to smile at him and make silly faces and he just sat in the cart and stared at them. He has a low stare that he likes to give people, almost as if he's already a teenager and he thinks you're being ridiculous. I know that stare well, I give it often.

So back to the teething and sleeping ... I think that's what is affecting his sleep. We had one night, where it seemed like all of his teeth were in and everything is cool and he slept almost through the night, only waking once for a brief period. But then, I think this 8th one decided to make its first appearance, and its been down hill ever since.

Maybe Noah's teeth are like my exams? He has eight in and only twelve to go. They'll come in stages and the mollars will be the most difficult. I have three more this semester and then one more year and then the bar...lame how everything comes back to exams. I'm ready for a break!!!