Thirty-two things that change when you have a baby

I receive emails from several baby sites- for the most part, they are very helpful. Usually they have recall information, what your baby should be doing this week, coupons, etc. Most of the time they are good but sometimes not so much. This one article really caught my eye. Most mommies will definitely agree with these! Enjoy!!

Thirty-two things that change when you have a baby
by Rebecca Woolf

What changes when you have a baby? A better question may be: What doesn't change? Here, writer and mom Rebecca Woolf lists her most notable post-baby observations. Then scroll down to read our favorite comments from readers about how their babies changed their lives.

1. You finally stop to smell the roses, because your baby is in your arms.

2. Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid.

3. The sacrifices you thought you made to have a child no longer seem like sacrifices.

4. You respect your body ... finally.

5. You respect your parents and love them in a new way.

6. You find that your baby's pain feels much worse than your own.

7. You believe once again in the things you believed in as a child.

8. You lose touch with the people in your life whom you should have banished years ago.

9. Your heart breaks much more easily.

10. You think of someone else 234,836,178,976 times a day.

11. Every day is a surprise.

12. Bodily functions are no longer repulsive. In fact, they please you. (Hooray for poop!)

13. You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself.

14. You become a morning person.

15. Your love becomes limitless, a superhuman power.

And from our readers...

1. "You discover how much there is to say about one tooth." — Ashley's mom

2. "You finally realize that true joy doesn't come from material wealth." — Anonymous

3. "You now know where the sun comes from." — Charlotte

4. "You'd rather buy a plastic tricycle than those shoes that you've been dying to have." — Sophie's mom

5. "You realize that although sticky, lollipops have magical powers." — Roxanne

6. "You don't mind going to bed at 9 p.m. on Friday night." — Kellye

7. "Silence? What's that?" — Anonymous

8. "You realize that the 15 pounds you can't seem to get rid of are totally worth having." — Brenda

9. "You discover an inner strength you never thought you had." — Ronin and Brookie's mom

10. "You no longer rely on a clock — your baby now sets your schedule." — Thomas' mom

11. "You give parents with a screaming child an 'I-know-the-feeling' look instead of a 'Can't-they-shut-him-up?' one." — Jaidyn's mom

12. "Your dog — who used to be your 'baby' — becomes just a dog." — Kara

13. "You take the time for one more hug and kiss even if it means you'll be late." — Tracey

14. "You learn that taking a shower is a luxury." — Jayden's mom

15. "You realize that you can love a complete stranger." — Dezarae's mom

16. You find yourself wanting to make this world a better place. — Arizona

17. If you didn’t believe in love at first sight before, now you do! — Ciara

Fall time pics

We took Nohie for some fall pics. They turned out really good! He's so photogenic. The photographers always comment on what an easy baby he is to take pics of! Just one more reason why we love him so much :)! Enjoy!

Rough Week

Last week was pretty rough. It all started on Friday. Friday was the day we picked up the little girl puppy. That was not the rough part. After picking up the pup, Mom and I picked up Noher and headed to the house. Mom stayed at the house for a while hanging out (she had not seen Noah for a few weeks and I think was in withdrawal plus she didn't want to leave the pup). Noah was super tired and feel asleep in my arms. I hadn't seen him all day so I held him instead of lying him down in the bed. When he woke up 1 hr later he was super hot. I assumed it was just from cuddling. Mom left and Noah went down for the night. He went to sleep as normal, but woke up at 1:30 (not normal)...and didn't want to go back to sleep. Finally, he did for an hour and was up again at 5 (which was the same time I had to get up b/c I had to work- 7AM-2PM at the vet). I didn't want to leave him b/c I just knew something was not right. I hoped it was just b/c he was teething. I told Justin to take his temp and to call me later in the morning. Justin reassured me everything was good- he's such a great daddy! I called several times throughout the day. By the afternoon his temp was up to 102.0F. I got home and we took a quick 30min nap together. He woke up and just wanted to be held. Justin said all he did all day was sleep. He ate and fell asleep on me again. He was so warm. Justin had a meeting to go to at night and headed out at 5:30. When we woke up, Noah was burning up so I took his temp again...it was up to 104.3F and I was worried! I called Justin and told him and called my mom for moral support. I was so upset. And poor Noah was not happy either. I took off his clothes (down to his diaper) and held him and sang to him while Justin called the after hours number (he had turned around to head home- which I was very thankful for). After talking to the after hour doc. She advised us to use Infants Motrin which lasts 6-8 hours and is stronger than the Infant Tylenol which we had been using. It seemed to do the trick. His temp did go down, but as soon as it wore off the temp climbed right back up. Poor baby ate a total of 16 oz and a little cereal all day- he noramlly eats 30-40 oz a day. We knew something was worng. That night he slept a little better. Sunday was a little better too. Justin sent me pics throughout the day while I was at work. I hated to be away! He ate better and wanted to play Sunday. On Monday I took Noah into the doc. His temp was much better and he was his happy self. But, the doc did find he had a double ear infection- ouch! She gave me a script for antibiotics and said we could use Benadryl at night to help him sleep. We started on the antibiotics Monday afternoon. And the Benadryl was tried that night too- it worked until it wore off, then he was up. I must have picked up something in the docs office because I started feeling bad Tuesday. By Wednesday I had spots on my throat...growing up I got strep every December without fail! Well, I went to the doc on Thurs and sure enough, I had strep. It was pretty scary though, b/c the doc was initially worried that I had mono. So much went running through my head. As a mommy, I'm not allowed to be sick. Especially with a virus like Mono. How would I take care of my baby? Thankfully, all the mono tests were negative! I started on antibiotics too :)- I was thankful that Noah was already on antibiotics, so that he would not catch the awful strep! Needless to say, it was a rough week!!
Our sick baby!

Sick Mommy!

Puppies?

A few weeks ago, one of Justin's student dogs had puppies. It was a Jack Russel Terrier who was accidentally bred to another JRT. My mom has wanted one of these little dogs for a very, very long time! So, I said she should get one for the kids for Christmas. Justin and I were going to keep it until Christmas. Our family dog Jazzy (who is a border collie mix) is getting older and after talking to my step-dad it was decided it would be a good idea to get another pup while Jazz is still around to "teach" it the way of the family :). Well... Mom, Justin and I went to pick out the perfect pup. I told mom a little boy would be best since Jazzy is a girl but she fell in love with the girl pup. She was so sweet- and the only girl of the litter. So we took her home. Mom didn't want to leave her that night :)- but she did. She made the kids clean the house on Sat. and Sunday I took the lil girl over. I know, so much for Christmas...but honestly, she's too cute not to have around! Noah fell in love with her too- and she LOVES Noah! It was even more funny that Justin loved her! I kept saying- we don't need another dog...but when I dropped her off I was sad. The next day, I told Justin maybe we do need a pup....that's all it took. The next day Justin brought home a little boy. He LOVES Noah too! It's definitely going to be Noah's puppy. He is super sweet- not as smart as the little girl, but we'll work on that :). When he first came into the house, he was terrified. We took him out of the carrier and he climbed into Noah's lap. It was so sweet. I guess Noah looked more safe than us big people. We got some super sweet pics. And Yes, we named the lil guy...ARK :)!
Noah and Abbi (mom's puppy)

Meet Ark.

Ark LOVES Noah!

Happy 1st Birthday Katherine!

Saturday we attended Kathrine's birthday party! It was a lot of fun! Jacob and Jennifer live on the top (literally) of Beech Mountain...the car ride was not too pleasant (Justin forgets I'm not accustomed to the winding roads of the mountains...I guess it's a good thing I went on an empty tummy!) They had Katherine's party at the Fire Station. Justin was sure the party started at 1PM... we arrived to an empty Station...the party wasn't until 4PM. So we called Jacob (who thankfully lives less than a mile away- because I was NOT going to make the trek back down the mountain just to return 3 hours later...not to mention there is NOTHING around to past the time). Luckily Jacob was home so we headed to see the birthday girl early! It was nice to have the extra time to spend with them. We had not seen them since our Gatlinburg trip. It was also nice to be there early because we were able to help set up for the party. And the kids got to spend some extra time together. Which brings me to the funniest part (well, kinda funny but sad too)...while I was helping Jennifer set up decorations, food and what not, Katherine was "playing" with Noah. Now, Katherine stays home with Jennifer and doesn't play with many other kids. So her playing consisted of banging Noher on the head with HIS toys :). He didn't cry, fussed a lil, but I wasn't too worried about it. Then Jennifer gave Katherine a book- hoping that would curb her interest in beating her little buddy...wrong. She took it and clobbered him in the face...this did not make him too happy and he did cry. I picked him up and he was fine again. Well, so I thought. Finally, the guest arrived and we began to eat. Justin was holding Noah and I noticed he had something on his little lip. Upon a closer examination I noticed it was a big blueish purple mark....little Katherine had bruised Noher's lip. Jennifer felt awful. The funny part of the whole story is that Noah's first injury was by a girl- hehehe. It looked awful and quickly became darker and darker. But it really didn't seem to bother him. He ate and drank like nothing was different. Poor lil boy! But we did enjoy our time with the birthday girl and Jacob and Jennifer!

Katherine eating her cake.

Nohie's black lip :)!

Noah and his new friend...

We went to Justin's parents this past weekend for Halloween! It was a lot of fun! Noah made a new friend :)... Christen has rescued/ adopted this little baby kitten, Rocki. Rocki was a kitten to a semi-feral farm cat. The cat left her kittens. When Christen got to them there were only two still alive. She tried to rescue them but unfortunately, the other baby did not make it. BUT, the good news is that Rocki is doing great! She has had this baby for a week, and you can see a big difference- this little girl is FEISTY!! Her and Noher had a GREAT time together and I think Rocki enjoyed Noher's toys too :)!

Pace and Roxi loving each other!

Noah and Roxi

Noah and Roxi on the couch- She was attacking him, and he wanted down. He ended up knocking her off! It was too cute!! Sorry the video is not the best quality...

7 whole months!

Yup- one month closer to being the big ONE year old! As I say every month, I cannot believe it! He is getting soooo big! This is such a fun age too. His personality is really blooming! And his decisiveness is also blooming :) he is getting a little attitude. It's actually funny at times- but he will let you know what he thinks about everything! Changing his diaper and clothes are becoming a work of art- we have to see how fast we can do it- otherwise he is done! He is so wiggly, at times it's almost impossible to do it. I guess it's a good thing he likes to be naked- LOL! AND he's FINALLY cut his FIRST TOOTH!! YAY!! After several LONG months of drooling, drooling, drooling, chewing on everything and did I mention drooling? He has finally cut his first tooth! I do have to say that I will miss his gummy smile! With teeth he is definitely going to be more like a lil boy than a baby. Here's what he's up to at 7 months!
Noah's 7 month pics! Hope you enjoy- he's so good with the camera! And we got him sporting his baby's first Thanksgiving outfit- such a cutie!!






Noah at 7 months:
-Still no strange anxiety! He is happy with anyone and anything as long as he is getting attention. And we LOVE it!
-Will put his arms up to be held or reach for you to be picked up. Too cute!
-Still gives the best "Hugs" and "Kisses"
-Has started on fruits
-Still has not met a veggie (and now fruit) that he does not like
-Eats cereal (with fruit mixed in) in the AM and Veggies for dinner
-Has started using sippy cups; however, I'm still trying to decide which one/brand I like best
-Loves to sit up. At times would rather be sitting playing with toys than bouncing or playing in his exersaucer
-Still grunts when he wants to be heard
-Still no interest in tummy time- but talked to his Dr. about it and he said once babies are able to sit unassisted there's no use in tummy time...YAY! And Noah says YAY too!
-Of course has a tooth :)!
-His hair is getting so light, and still growing! Everyone said he'd lose his "birth hair", but he didn't! He's going to need a hair cut before too long... the birth hair is creating a sort of mullet- it's kinda cute, but I cannot bring myself to cut it just yet...
-Gose down between 7-8PM and is up at 7AM
-Still loves the bath! Has been filliped to the other side of his bathtub- the big boy side for big boys who sit up all by their selves :) and LOVES playing with bath toys (and eating them too!)
-Still a good car rider- and we're going to have to get a bigger boy car seat soon!!

I'm sure there's more- he's growing so fast, as I remember, I'll add :)!

First Halloween!

Noah was so cute! He went as a dinosaur! And the cutest I must add! We headed up to the mountains for his first Oct. 31st! He was very festive all day sporting his cute "This is my costume" orange onzie! At night we headed to Grassy Creek Baptist Church for some fall festivities. Aunt Christen helped Noher play some games and win some fun prizes. I think he had a great time!! He's growing up so fast!!

Here are "professional" pics of Noher in his dino outfit! He's the cutest!





Sporting his "This is my Costume" onzie! Too cute!

Noah and Aunt Christen!