One month old and growing like crazy!

Oh my goodness can this boy eat!!! As many of you know eating was something we always struggled with with Haley so this is a HUGE change for us and we are loving it! Noah LOVES to eat and at 3 weeks started eating 5 to 5 1/2 ounces every 3 hours during the day and at night usually has a 4 1/2 and 5 hour stretch. Occasionally we will get a 6 or even a 7 hour stretch out of him but I'm thankful for anything over 3 hours :-) Noah is already out of his new born diapers and new born clothes and onto 0-3 month clothes and #1 Diapers. Haley almost NEVER drank a 5 oz bottle even when she was a year old and she was born almost a month before Noah and was still wearing her new born clothes at Christmas. Amazing how different they are already! Noah now weighs 9lbs 3oz (50%) and is 22 inches long (75%)! Crazy!! Dr was very happy with his results and said he looked wonderful!

Haley is back to her usual self and entertaining herself again which is fantastic and is still doing great with Noah. She understands that Noah is just a baby and needs help with things first and since she's a big girl she can wait just a few more minutes until I'm done feeding, changing, etc Noah to assist her. She also loves to help me give him a bath and will get all of the things ready for us (wash cloth, towel, soap...). So nice to have a helper around but there are the few times when i ask her to get something and she says no. I can't blame her though i don't always want to go get stuff either.

We took the kids to go see Santa and it's actually went really well! Haley wasn't shy at all and climbed right up with Santa and told him exactly what she wanted for Christmas.....baby dolls and a fire truck! I'm not sure why the fire truck or that she really needs anymore baby dolls but when you ask her what she wants that's what she always says so hopefully Santa has listened to Haley and will bring her these two items! Haley also told Santa that Noah wanted cars for Christmas. We never mentioned anything to her about what Noah would want so she made this up all on her own.

Below is a picture of Noah 2 weeks old and Haley 3 years old....

Aunt Sally came into town to visit FINALLY!! Its been a year! The kids had a wonderful time with her and Haley kept her very busy playing with her and all her animals :-) Haley also went with Mimi and Sally to go see her cousins! Haley was so excited to go see them and it looks like they had a great quick visit! Haley also got to go see Santa again with Macy and Makayla!

Noah has arrived....and no need for the induction!

Noah was 7.5 lbs 21 inches long and born at 3:19am on 11/15!

Here we go....

In my previous post I mentioned that they would start the induction on 11/15 at 6am....we'll we didn't quite make it to that point. We checked into the hospital at 7pm on 11/14 after my Mom picked up Haley while Clayton and I went to dinner right across the street from the hospital. When we got there I was 2cm dilated and 60% effaced still so they decided to do the cervidal (9 - 9:30pm) which is supposed to help prep you for the induction the next day. Typically they like for you to have the cervidal for 12 hours but after 45minutes I was having strong contractions. After 2 1/2 hours of the cervidal we had to stop it so that they could give me a narcotic for the pain as the contractions were so strong and about 2 minutes apart. This was at 12:45pm and at this time i was 3cm dilated. The narcotic wasn't' helping at all with the pain and the contractions were only getting stronger and closer...now only 1 minute apart and i thought i was dying! The nurse decided to check me again and realized i was 8cm dilate and 100% effaced!!! FINALLY the epidural was ordered and I had it for about 20 minutes before our little guy entered this world! The contractions were so close together that it took a few minutes for the Dr. to give me the epidural as i couldn't lean forward long enough for him to give it to me. Once we realized Noah was not waiting till the morning for the induction to begin Clayton started calling our family to tell them that Noah was going to be here within the hour. Talk about a middle of the night wake up call for our family :-) It was definitely a tough labor but as soon as they put Noah into my arms all the pain seemed to disappear. He is absolutely perfect! When we got to the recovery room all of our family was there with Starbucks in hand for us!! I must say that is the best way to come out of a delivery :-) Haley was still at my Mom's house with my sister Melissa fast asleep. Little did she know that her Baby Brother was already here. Once she woke up that morning Melissa brought her to the hospital to meet Noah! She is such a GREAT Big Sister and seems to really love her baby brother. She wants to know exactly where he is at all times, what he is doing and gives him about a thousand hugs and kisses a day. She now wants to frequently hold him too. Anytime he makes a noise, cries, or she thinks he might be sad she gives him his pacifier and his and her blankets. She's really sweet with him which we are so thankful for but she has certainly become more needy these days. She used to be really good about playing by herself, etc but now she wants us to play with her or watch her, etc. Luckily she understands that Noah is a baby and i have to help him first so she usually says "when you are done with Noah do you want to play with me?" Now how can i turn that down? So all in all we are all doing great and loving our Family of 4! This picture just cracks me up...look at the pumpkin! The games have just started! When we came home from the hospital Clayton, Noah and I picked up Haley from school and we all came home as one big family! Here's a little video from when we picked up Haley. Once we arrived home next to Noah's changing table was a new (American Doll) Baby Doll and Changing table, with diaper bag, etc just for Haley! She was thrilled and loves to changes her babies diapers. Thank you Mimi and Grandma!!!

I don't want to jinx it or anything but Noah has been sleeping like a champ at night. He eats every 3 hours during the day and then at night he has a 4 hour stretch and then a 5 hour stretch which i REALLY appreciate. Of course when we are up for the feedings, etc we are up for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours each time but all in all he's a great baby so far.

Unfortunately my Dad had to leave for India on Saturday 11/13 and was not able to be there for Noah's birth but as soon as he got back into town this past weekend he came to see him. We were also sending pictures to him like crazy so he didn't miss much.

Noah's First Thanksgiving was wonderful! We are so thankful for Haley & Noah and our Family & Friends! This year was no different from any other we had Thanksgiving dinner at my Parent's house and then we all headed out at 2:30am Friday morning for some black Friday shopping!!! This year was a little more difficult to get out of bed since I had to be up feeding Noah by 12:30pm so that i could get myself dressed and out the door by 2:30am to be ready for shopping at 3am! After 6 hours of shopping Sheryl and I headed back to the house so that I could be back in time for Noah's feeding. Clayton fed him while i was gone we didn't let the poor guy starve :-) Mom and Melissa kept shopping all day though until about 5pm! I don't think I'm up for that much shopping 10 days after delivery. Maybe next year though.

Here are a few cute photos of the family! Haley wanted to be held too! Huge thanks to Sheryl for taking me and Noah to our Dr appts on Friday! I had a bad kidney infection with a high fever and was helpless when I would get the worst chills from it. Luckily Sheryl came with me and took care of Noah at his first check up. Mimi watched him for me that morning while Sheryl drove me to my appt. Wow was that a rough few days...i don't ever want that again!

Date has been set...

If our little guy hasn't arrived by this Sunday 11/14/10 we will be heading to the hospital that night and will start the induction Monday 11/15/10 around 6am!!! There is still a good chance that I could go into labor over the next couple of days but at least I have a definite end date in sight! It's amazing what a date can do for you ;-) We are all getting VERY anxious to meet Noah and will post pictures as soon as he arrives!

Aunt Miss took Haley to get her nails done again today....now she's all set for her Brother's arrival! She's going to be a Pro at this soon!

Happy Halloween

Haley was able to go trick or treating twice again this year! Our company has a huge trick or treating event each year where the entire office shuts down from 3pm to 5pm so that everyone can bring in their kids, grandkids, etc and go trick or treating. It's perfect because the weather is always great and the kids collect a TON of candy with out having to walk very far....just office to office! Haley almost filled up an entire target bag with all her candy. We had to keep dumping out her bucket and then head out to get some more.

After the first trick or treating event at the office Haley could hardly wait to go trick or treating again. When Halloween finally arrived Mimi, Haley and I went to get our nails done (this is her second time) and Haley got a pumpkin and a spider w/ a web painted on her big toes and flowers on her thumbs! She really likes to have her nails done so when she noticed that her nails were messed up yesterday she asked when we were going to get them redone. I told her we'd try to go today and luckily we were able to make it otherwise she may have driven me crazy reminding me that we need to get them redone.

After we got our nails done we headed back to the house to get ready for the Neighbors' party. Apparently this event started with 4 couples and has now grown to 50 couples! There were about 70 people there and then about 20 kids. After lots of snacks and drinks and playtime for the kids we all headed out to go trick or treating. They had two trailers with hay that took the kids around trick or treating. Haley wanted to play on the trailer for a while but then she preferred walking or riding on Dad's shoulders. She did really good this year and actually said "trick or treat" when we went to the houses and then said "thank you". She was Cinderella this year! She had a great time collecting more candy but I think she really liked handing out candy too! She would hear the door bell ring and say "ah...more kids" and would run to the door to hand out candy. She even took some candy out of her own bucket and was giving it to the kids. Then she would say "and when the next kids come I can give them some more candy." Hopefully she is this generous with her brother :-) Well Noah didn't get to physically attend this year's Halloween party but we are looking forward to him joining the festivities next year! As of Monday I'm 2 cm dilated so hopefully it won't be much longer till we get to meet this little guy!

Our Princess's 3 Year Old Stats and an Update on Noah!

We took Haley for her 3 year old check up appointment on Friday and other than having to get two shots it went GREAT!! Haley is no longer afraid of the Dr.'s office since she knows she's going to get a sucker when they are all done. She still won't talk very much while she's there but that's typical for her in front of any stranger. Haley now weighs 25 lbs (5th percentile) and is 35 inches tall (10-15th percentile)!!! The Dr. and I were both very excited to see that she put on 5 lbs since she turned 2 years old and grew 2 1/2 inches.....Go Haley! As many of you know we struggled getting Haley to gain weight most of her life so that fact that she's on the charts is a HUGE accomplishment for all of us. This past year and especially the past 6 months she's been eating great! I hope I'm not jinxing myself here but I have to brag on her a little bit :-) Aunt Sheryl surprised Haley and came to her Dr.'s appointment with us so when the Dr. saw both Sheryl and I she said Haley will fall right into our genetics and be about the same height and size as we are. She may look like her Daddy in the face but she's all Mommy and Aunt Sher Sher in her figure.

A quick update on Noah....he should be a little over 6lbs and around 18 1/2 to 19 inches at this time! Getting to be quite the Big Boy these days! I'm feeling every minute of it too. I have continued to have SEVERAL braxton hicks contractions and a few times thought we may be heading to the hospital since they were getting so close....2-5 min apart for about 5 hours. They started early that day and as the day progressed they were getting closer and closer together. Only reason I knew not to head to the hospital was because they weren't getting any stronger. They were sure making my stomach muscles sore but they weren't getting worse so finally around 11:00pm I went to bed and figured they'd wake me up if I needed to go to the hospital. I did wake up a few times during the night because they were hurting, etc but I was able to to fall back asleep. So basically we are just playing the waiting game at this point. At the most we have two weeks left! Dr.'s will induce me the week of 11/15 if he hasn't arrived by that time. We are getting very anxious to meet our little guy! Sadly Clayton and his parents had to go out of town this past weekend for his Grandpa's funeral in Missouri. Since my due date is so close I'm not able to travel and wasn't able to go with them so Haley and I stayed behind to hold the fort down. After last week with all the contractions I was a little nervous that he was going to be so far away but luckily Sheryl & Ryan and my parents live near by and were going to be in town this weekend. I'm so thankful that Sheryl took a vacation day on Friday and was around this weekend to help me out with Haley and getting all my other errands done. She was such a HUGE help and I really don't think Noah would have waited for Clayton to get back if I would have had to do it all myself! She even came over yesterday to play with Haley so I could catch a quick nap! I felt like a new person when I woke up. That's something that I have definitely not been getting to do with this pregnancy and really need it as we are on the count down. One of the things they did was make Halloween cookies! Haley was sad when Sher Sher had to leave yesterday evening but quickly cheered up when she heard that Mimi and Grandpa were coming over to visit. We are off to a neighbors Halloween Party this afternoon and then heading out for some trick or treating! We hope everyone has a Happy Halloween! I'll post an update with Halloween pictures hopefully later this week.

Minnie & Mickey Mouse 3rd Birthday Party!!

Haley's 3rd Birthday Party was at her Gymnastics gym! She absolutely LOVED it along with the other kids. Nothing like 11 kids all 3 years old and younger running around in an open gym right :-) Since Haley has been to Disney World twice this year it's only natural that she couldn't decide whether she wanted Minnie or Mickey Mouse theme Birthday Party so thanks to Aunt Sher Sher's creativity we were able to have both! Check out the two sided cake! She then made Mickey and Minnie cupcakes to go along with the theme! What a perfect solution especially since we were having two parties for Haley this year! Aunt Miss made the "Haley's 3rd Birthday" sign for us! We LOVE this sign and in fact it's still hanging in our kitchen and will soon move to Haley's room! Thank goodness I have creative sisters! This is one talent that I lack.

We decided to have two parties this year....the first at the gymnastics gym with all her friends and then the second one was on her actual Birthday at our house where we had breakfast with just the immediate family. With Noah's arrival just around the corner we were trying to keep things as easy as possible so that he didn't decide to join the actual B-day party this year!

At the gymnastics gym they had all the kids running/jumping down the tumble track, jumping into the pit, going down the slide into the pit and then to end the festivities they had a blow up dragon with an obstacle course inside! Some of the kids were afraid of the dragon blow up but those that weren't couldn't get enough of it! Macy and Makayla made a day trip to ATL just to come to Haley's party! What troopers!! The kids played in the gym for an hour and then we headed back to the party room for cupcakes, juice, goody bags and presents!









All in all the birthday party was a success and Haley gave it a thumbs up!

Well that wraps up the first party on Saturday....now onto the party on Sunday! Saturday night after Haley went to bed I decided to go ahead and put some decorations up at the house and put Haley's presents out so that she could see all of them when she first woke up that morning! Well, we should have known better than to leave gifts unattended with a 3 year old around. Next thing we knew Clayton and I were upstairs and we heard the sound of paper ripping. You got it...she was already busting into her presents! Before we could even get down the stairs to tell her to stop so we could watch her she was already through the first one and onto the second one. What a crazy girl! After she opened her gifts it was on to breakfast where she decided to sing Happy Birthday to her self...LOL! Of course we had to do the Mickey and Minnie decorations again on Sunday so here are a few pictures. We had decided that we would do cupcakes for the gymnastics party and the little kiddo's and then save the cake for Sunday with the adults which worked out perfectly. After breakfast Haley got to open up some more presents from the family. She was really into organizing that morning and was more focused on making sure to layout the tissue paper from each gift then she was in opening her gifts. I have no idea where she gets her OCD organization from...haha ;-) At least she gives great hugs!

The Kid's Rooms are Finished!!!

Haley's Big Girl Room is finally finished!!!

Her and I both LOVE it and I think it's absolutely PERFECT for our little girly girl! Special Thanks to our family for all their hardware work in putting her room together for us! Haley is really into Tinker Bell and Fairies these days so when we found this adorable organizer shelf that was hand painted with fairies on it I knew she had to have it! Thanks to Grandma and Papa....she got it :-)

Noah's Room/Nursery!!!
We are getting very anxious and excited about Noah joining our family here in the next few weeks! Now that his room is done, clothes washed, bottles sanitized, etc we are really feeling like we are ready for him to make his debut into this world. Even Haley's getting excited about meeting her Little Brother! Noah's room was done in a sports theme with red, khaki, navy and baby blue colors so that he can grow with his room! I didn't think we would want to be re doing his room in another two years so we decided to make it more kid like. We have a few more items to add to Noah's shelf but this is close enough to being finished i was ready to post it.

I couldn't remember if I already showed you pictures of the kids bathroom but we that is almost complete as well. We need to add a few more Blue things on Noah's side of the sink but it's basically done! Sorry about some of the sideway pictures.