Our sleeping arrangements at the moment...

As most of you know, Noah has been co-sleeping with me basically since birth.. there was a brief time when he was 3 1/2 months that he slept through the night, in his own room... ahh fond memories (that lasted about 2 weeks?)... Well, we never had a crib in England for him and when we finally left England, Noah was 11 1/2 months! Having never slept in a crib, we weren't sure if it was too late to get him started in one.. now if we were going straight to our next base - I definitely would have tried!!! 


This is our weekend sleeping arrangement...

This is when Noah is trying to fall asleep.. he goes between mummy and daddy, laying on our heads, chest, belly... such a silly boy.. 
About 97% of the time, Noah wants to lay right on top of me and fall asleep that way.. it is sometimes hard to breathe when I'm laying on my back with the extra 25 lbs from Noah and 20 lbs from my belly.. but that seems to be the only thing I can do to get him to sleep for his naps and at night... at least today he was down a bit further and had his head on my belly instead of his body.. that wasn't so bad.

And this is during the week... so daddy can get some rest for work! :) and I must add that last night, it was the other way around - I was on the couch and it was glorious!!! I had 6 1/2 hours of uninterrupted sleep! and I feel wonderful! :)

The joys of co-sleeping with a toddler!! :)  I wouldn't have it any other way.. I love waking up and the first thing I lay eyes on is my sweet baby boy!! Having said that, it is my mission to get Noah in his own room before our baby girl arrives (less than 9 weeks)!! Which means, today is bed shopping!!! Yay!!

Shame on me!

Obviously I have been horrible at keeping up with my blog.. I can name all sorts of excuses but the truth is I will spend about 30 min of FB, or looking to buy things online (but never do).. then when I'm done on the computer I think "oh, I should have written on my blog!" Well, not anymore! I'm going to update as often as I can, especially when our baby girl arrives.. I know that I will be busy but I also know I can always make time for something important; and I do believe this blog is important because I want to keep track of all the milestones - big or small - my babies make. I have already looked back at my previous posts and thought "wow, Noah did ____ at ____ age!" I do plan to fill the gaps since my last two posts were "Noah is 10 months!" and Noah's birth story.. that was one thing keeping me from starting a new post.. I wanted them to be in order! but hey as long as they are written with the dates that correspond, it will still serve its purpose :) and I have lots of pictures to help jog my memory!! :)

Ok rant over.

As most of you know, we recently moved to Grand Forks AFB, ND... our house is perfect! I will post a few pics soon.. and then once our house is finished (decorated/organized), I will post more!

I think I will end here. Our internet will be hooked up on Monday so I will probably post Tuesday or Wednesday "all about Noah" :)

Birth story of Noah David... finally posted!

Well I had planned to post my birth story not too long after Noah was born... but since that didn't happen I decided to do post it 1 year later, on Noah's birthday. Again, didn't happen, so I decided that now is a good time! :)

The birth story of Noah David, born July 3, 2010 on his due date, 8lbs 2 oz and about 19 inches (they don't measure length in England!)



On Friday 2nd July I woke up around 7am, ate breakfast and was still very sleepy so I decided to go back to bed! Mind you, I had been off work for almost a month! and Dave had just gone back to work on Monday (June 28th) after being off for two weeks (as he had just returned from his deployment)! I am sooo thankful to God and Dave's shop chief that he went on the earlier deployment so he could be home for the birth of his son!


Ok back to the story... I woke up from my morning nap :) and had my bloody show when I went potty, around 10.30am. We had just learned in our antenatal course that a bloody show is one of the first signs of labor! I was sooo excited as I really thought Noah was going to be late (like his daddy)! I searched google and found that most women had their baby within 24 hours after the bloody show! So I went to have a massage in the afternoon with my amazing massage lady! She did some reflexology on my ankles and said it would "get things going".


Dave got home soon after and I told him the good news! Then I told him I was going to the prom! He looked at me like I was crazy but I couldn't miss my year 11s prom!! Although Dave really didn't want me to go, I convinced him I wasn't going to have the baby that night. I got ready and he dropped me off... he insisted on driving me. So I told him to go to Tescos and get some snacks for the labor :) and boy am I glad he did! The prom was wonderful, I didn't buy a ticket just in case I couldn't go - turned out one of the form tutors couldn't go so I got her seat at the big long important table.. and her meal!! God seems to always be looking out for me! :) My students kept asking if I was going to have my baby at their prom... I simply told them no. Although it would have been a night to remember for them! haha Well Dave didn't want to stay out in the parking lot all night so I said my goodbyes and we headed home.

One of my students and I arriving at the prom

I don't remember what time we went to bed but I woke up around 2am with contractions that I couldn't sleep through so I went downstairs and started talking to my sister (Nikki) on yahoo messenger. She was timing my contractions for me :) By 5am they were 3-5 min apart lasting for 30-60 seconds. I called my midwife, Jo, around 5.30am and she got to our home around 6.30am. Dave and Jo set up the birthing pool in the living room while I laid on the couch having contractions. It took about an hour to sett up and fill the pool and during that time my contractions got stronger and stronger. Jo said "well I had planned to go home and get some more sleep but it sounds like I better stay!"

Getting the pool ready...

I went into "active labor" at 8am. I tried to use a TENS machine to help with the pain during contractions but I swear it made them worse! I believe it was around 9.30am Jo checked to see if I was past 5cm dialation so I could go in the pool. I was 7cm! yay! I went into the birthing pool which definitely eased some of the discomfort. Jo and Dave talked me through each contraction. Everytime I heard Jo say "breath Barbara, your baby needs oxygen" I immediately took a breath and the pain seemed to decrease! Jo tried to give me "gas and air" to help ease the pain but it made me sick so I said no more thank you! Dave got in the pool with me around 11 and comforted me through the contractions.

Smiling in between contractions... Dave looks exhausted bless him.

I then got the urge to push and told Jo. She said "if that's what your body is telling you to do then go for it". I started to push... yikes! weird and painful... I said to Dave "I don't think I can do it"... I knew at that point I didn't have a choice... but I just needed to say it! Jo said I must be in the "transition phase" and said to kneel in the pool... it was sooo much easier to push! I continued to push during contractions. Jo told me to reach down to see if I could feel his head... and I could! Just a little part of it! and not too long later I reached down again and could feel almost the entire head! It was such an amazing feeling! Dave was scared to feel the first time but he did the second... and then started to cry... so sweet!! Jo then told me to put my chin to my chest and push during the next contraction. WOW! Somehow that made pushing even easier! And a few minutes later, Noah's head was out, then the body, and Dave was right there with open arms. He brought Noah up out of the water and handed him to me (well Dave says I grabbed Noah from him...).

First family photo!

Love.

Our sweet baby boy... we couldn't take our eyes off of him!

The emotions from us both were joy, shock, amazement, exhaustion, happiness, and much more! Our sweet baby Noah was born at 11.50am... in a birthing pool... in our livingroom... in our cottage... in England! How amazing is that?! We are truly blessed and honored to be parents to our little angel!

Noah's name means: rest, peaceful, comfort... and that is how we decided on his name!! :)


Oh! and back to the snacks Dave bought at Tescos... Jaffa cakes!! I couldn't eat anything during the entire labor but after... I ate an entire box of Jaffa cakes and boy were they good!!!

Note to self: today (August 17th) is a special day!

Noah is 10 months!?

My baby is growing up so fast!! Can I still call him a baby?? hmmm... I think I will at least until he is 1... maybe longer... lol

(So I started writing this post on May 5th.. and its now 20 days later... the 25th and I'm still writing it! It isn't even that long! I feel like such a slacker! Hopefully when I'm done working, and settled at our next base I will update more often! :o) )
oh my goodness! It is now June 30th and I still haven't finished this post!! I'm going to post it and then add more later... lol

Well Noah seems to be doing something new every day!! He also makes us laugh every day! I could just sit and watch him for hours :o)  I would love to know what he is thinking sometimes!!

Let's see... first of all, he is crawling! and (so impressed with myself) I actually got his first crawl on video!! woohoo! and now he is pretty much unstoppable! He has gone to the stairs a few times and just put his hands on the first or second step to pull himself up to stand. He mostly goes to the stairs to play with my shoes! Once we let him crawl up the stairs - just to see if he could - turns out he can! Like I said though, we only let him have this opportunity once! Yep, this has changed, we let him go up the stairs all the time now... develop his muscles, right?! :)

Noah has also been pulling himself up on things, such as the coffee table, since about 9 1/2 months. I've also had to take the seat out of his piano since he refuses to sit and play in it... he wants to stand up on his own and play with it!!

Since I've been back to work, Noah has started to eat some foods.. mostly puree carrots, sweet potatoes, fruit, or a mixture. He loves toast! and those Gerber stars! His pincer grip is fabulous! sometimes too good as he finds the tiniest thing on the floor, pick it up and put it in his mouth!

Noah still loves his thumb action!!

Will add some pics soon...

Our trip to Edelweiss!!

Noah's "first family vacation", apart from going home to the states in December!

We had a such a lovely time :) even though the weather turned from beautiful to chilly the day we arrived!! and then back to beautiful the day we left!! haha

Short summary: We arrived Tuesday evening and got settled into our room and had a look around the resort. Wednesday we looked at the tours being offered and signed up for the Bavarian Brotzeit/Ettal Tour - cheese factory and Monastery visit. We also walked over to the Army base - basically across the street - and checked out some of the shops. On Thursday we went on the tour, met a nice family; Thursday night we went on a horse and carriage ride through the town; then relaxed in the outdoor hot tub which was pretty big but it was also pretty cold out! so it was a bit strange being really warm even though our head felt chilly. Friday we went to the top of the Zugspitze with the family we met on Thursday! Saturday we had breakfast with our new friends and then left for the airport... I hope we can go back - in the summer though! :)

Pictures of the resort:

Front entrance

Beautiful lounge from front entrance!

View from our room

Thursday tour:
We learned how local farmers make cheese and other yummy dairy products (cheesecake and yogurt...); we then had lots of samples of cheese... and I had cheese soup for lunch - very salty, wouldn't recommend it! Dave had sausage and a pretzel.

Then we walked over to the Ettal Monastery to see the exquisite Basilica; learned about the Monk's famous home-made beers and liqueurs which we could have tasted and purchased (but we didn't...).

After we got back... time for a snooze!!

Checking out the rocking chairs before dinner...

A staff member kindly took our photo :)

Horse and carriage ride around Garmisch!

Not gonna lie... it was pretty cold!!

We saw a few houses made of only wood!

Many houses have beautiful paintings on the walls

Friday adventure up the Zugspitze:

Walking to the train station...

They have wood piled up everywhere!!
And they are all cut to the same length so they fit in their containers just right!

On the train going up the mountain... 

Sam to the right - Noah's new best friend!!
Sam got so excited every time he saw Noah and gave him a hug... it was really sweet!

A church on top of the mountain?
we didn't venture up to it... 

We made it to the top!!
As you can see... it wasn't the best day to go as we couldn't see much!
When it is clear, you can see about 100 kilometres away!

Close up! My baby is so handsome!!!

Beautiful lake we could see on the way back down

Train stop that took us to (almost) the top of the mountain...
that is Erica on the left - from the family we met :)

On our way back home...

Pictures from the car on the way to the airport... 

Clever boy pulled himself up to stand in his car seat!!

and thought it was really funny!

Waiting for everyone else to board... sitting on the tray, also very funny! :o)

checking out the view!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!! :)

P.S. We sent a few post cards out :) If you aren't going to keep it, we would like to put them in a scrapbook when you are done with it! Oh and let us know when you get yours! :) I could only send them to the addresses I have memorized so I'm so sorry if you didn't get one! :-/