Noah's Belated Five-Month Blog

I'm nearly two weeks late, but here is a picture of Noah at five months. Noah's fifth month was pretty eventful. To start off, we dove into the world of solid foods. It began with rice cereal, and now has branched out to several foods, including sweet potatoes, green beans, apples, squash, bananas, avocado, and oatmeal. Angie has been making Noah's food, buying fresh produce and pureeing it. We recommend the Wholesome Baby Food website, which contains tips on when to feed each food and how to prepare them.



Over the 4th of July weekend, we went to Danny and Marianne's wedding in Chicago. Noah did a good job handling us being stuck in Chicago traffic, and he slept well. He slept through the ceremony, which made Angie happy. He also made it through a decent part of the reception. It was nice visiting all of our family, and it was a beautiful ceremony.

On Tuesdays, Angie and Noah have been attending Baby Talk. Baby Talk is an organization that provides resources to parents of babies. They do weekly meetings throughout the area, all free to the public. It's a great organization that got its start right here in Decatur, Illinois.

One of Noah's favorite things to do right now is sucking his big toe. Those of you reading this on Facebook have probably seen the video by now.

Noah is making a lot of noises. One of his noises sounds like he's saying "Hi." Right before he falls asleep at night, he will roll around in the crib and talk to himself.

Noah is doing some discovering. He likes to grab faces now. He also likes to scratch things, to see what they feel like. When we go on walks (which we've done quite a bit, thanks to the nice weather we've had this summer), he looks around at the trees. One thing that he's not a fan of, though, is the grass. We laid him down in the grass, and he voiced his displeasure.

The fifth month was fun, as you know. It was a real blessing to have reduced work hours this summer, so that I could spend more time with the family. I'm not looking forward to having bigger responsibilities again next week.

Well, the next update shouldn't be too far away, given that I was so late with this one. Stay tuned later this month for the big six-month update.

Noah is 1/3 of a Year Old (That's Four Months, People!)

Noah turned four months old on June 22. (Call me biased, but I think that is the best of his monthly Pooh pictures to date.)

The fourth month was quite an adventure. We had our first overnight trip, with the three of us going to Naperville for his Uncle Danny's wedding shower. We stayed at the Hampton, and I am happy to report that Noah slept very well. In fact, he slept so well that we were tempted to use the Pack 'n Play at home as well.

In mobility news, Noah can now roll over completely. He moves around much more these days; we have to watch him when he is in his bouncer seat, as he now can move himself out of it. He has a little more strength, although sitting up is still a short while away. Whenever we grab his hands, he will stand up if we gently bring him up, and he will stay standing when we hold him.

Noah makes a lot more sounds now. Some of them even sound like words. I'm pretty sure he said "Hi" the other day when I got him from his crib. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, we'll wake up to hear him talking to himself in the other room.

Speaking of sleep, it is getting better. He still wants to fight sleep, but he has slept all through the night on several occasions now.

I had my first Father's Day last week. Noah (with mom's help) made a nice poem with his footprints, and a mouse pad that's a photo collage. It looks great on my desk at work.

Noah starts having small solid foods (starting with rice cereal) this week, so stay tuned for an entertaining fifth-month report in July!

The First Nursery Photos

Angie and I have worked hard over our holiday break to get the nursery put together. Here are a few photos. More will come as the nursery progresses.

Here's the crib and the dresser. The crib was pretty easy to put together; the dresser, not so much. They both look nice, though.

On the other side of the room are the changing table and the rocker. These were some lucky finds; the changing table came courtesy of my sister-in-law, Jill, and we bought the rocker when One Way had its church sale.

We also bought new curtains for each of the windows.

Here's the closet. The boy already has more toys than he needs. This is what happens when Angie's siblings couldn't wait to unload some unneeded toys. We are very thankful, however, to have so much. We don't plan on washing the clothes for a while, hence why the clothes are in a big pile.

Here's his bookcase. He also isn't hurting for books. The train on the top is a piggy bank train, where we can write in his name, height, weight, birthday, favorite food, etc. Next to it is a teddy bear from the Chicago Symphony. Both were wonderful gifts from my brother Danny and his fiance, Marianne. On the right is Woofers, a bear we made at Build-a-Bear when we were in St. Louis this past fall.

Finally, here's a closeup of the dresser. The ultrasound picture is on the left. That frame was a gift from Betty, a co-worker at my side job at the M.E. Barber Company. The picture book and piggy bank came from my parents, and my parents and grandparents combined to save over $120 in quarters to put in it. I gave Angie the elephant photo frame for Christmas, with a note saying "Insert baby picture here" in it.

It was hard work, but a lot of fun, to put it together. Now comes the waiting. We're pretty excited to see him come!