Nathan's First Three Months

Believe it or not, Nathan turned three months old last week.  It was an exciting summer for the newest member of our family.  We took Noah's picture next to a Pooh doll every month during his first year, and we've done the same for Nathan.  Nathan's change from month to month is amazing.

Here's a look at Nathan over the past few months:

Here is the first month.  "Look at all that hair!"  That is the most common reaction when people see him, and we love it.

Then, the second month:

He grew up a little bit here and could keep his eyes open long enough to let me take a picture.  Finally, the third month:

He's actually starting to sit up a little bit now, and has really filled out.  He was a pound smaller than Noah at birth, but has caught up significantly, and we think he'll be a big kid.

Some of Nathan's highlights this summer were a trip to Myrtle Beach with family, as well as the State Fair.  We also spent a lot of time visiting friends and family, and took many trips to the park (at least when the heat index was not above 100).

Nathan is doing a lot of smiling, and even has started laughing.  He has a funny laugh.  Overall, he's a very smiley kid.  One thing that I think is pretty funny is that he usually has a big smile when you change him..  I find it funny that he enjoys such a thing.  I don't see him maintaining that enthusiasm for diaper changes when he gets older.

We're also starting to hear more noises from Nathan.  They are mostly excited and happy noises, although he occasionally lets out a big cry of frustration.  He is certainly getting more animated.

Noah has enjoyed being a big brother.  One of Noah's favorite things to do is hold Nathan on the couch.  Noah also likes to give hugs and kisses, and is a pretty good big brother overall.  I joke that Noah is a passive hugger; he hugs Nathan by just lowering his head on Nathan's chest.

This was a fun summer with our two boys, and we can't wait to see what is next!

Noah's New Diet?

The following is an actual conversation at dinnertime the other night:

Noah: Whatchu eating, Daddy?
Me: I'm eating chicken tetrazzini.  What are you eating?
Noah: Pine cones.

He went on to mention eating pine cones two more times that evening.  For the record, Noah also had chicken tetrazzini.  You can rest assured that we will never make our children eat pine cones for dinner, no matter how much they beg.

Welcome Nathan Thomas Hynds

We are pleased to announce that our second son, Nathan Thomas Hynds, was born at 11:09 a.m. on May 21, 2011, weighing 8 lbs., 4 oz. and 21 inches long.  It was a very fast delivery (he was born less than two hours after we arrived at the hospital), and both he and Angie are doing well.

Here are a few pictures of his first week.  There are many more on my Facebook page as well.  Our larger family is doing very well!

I'll Take "Words That Noah Mispronounces" for $400, Alex

Okay, here's your clue:

When Noah says misagotti, he is really saying this word.

The first person to chime in with the correct answer wins a gold star!

Thank you!

I'd like to offer a BIG thank-you to Angie's aunt Jenny for coming down and helping paint all day, to Hannah Osborne for watching Noah today, and to my parents for picking Noah up and staying with him for a few hours while we finished. I'd also like to thank Angie and Jenny for painting all day while I just put up painter's tape. They don't care for taping, and I don't mind getting out of painting, so it's all good. We would be up to our necks in housework if it weren't for all of our friends and family!

Fun Times at the Manatee Park

Here is the first of what I hope will be many blog entries about our recent trip to visit Angie's parents Bill and Linda at their winter home in sunny Florida.  On our first day there, we went over to the Manatee Park, located near Fort Myers.  This park is located near a power plant, and the warm water near the plant provides the manatees a place to go when temperatures cool down.  There had been a cool spell right before we arrived in late December, so the place was full of manatees.

Here are a few fun pictures we took at the park:

Here, Noah is gently reminding us not to feed the alligators.  Contrast this to a picture taken at the same spot the previous March:

I also like this self-portrait we took back in the nature trail.  Angie is quite adept at self-portraits.

Finally, here are a couple of pictures that we took near the big manatee statue.

As you can see, we enjoy taking pictures near large, inanimate objects (see here, here, here, and here).

This is a great place to spend a short while if you are in the area, especially if there is cool weather.  Along with watching manatees, they have a butterfly garden, picnic areas, and a playground for the little ones.  It is also very affordable - all you have to pay for is parking at $1/hour.

This was just the beginning of a great trip, and I thank Bill and Linda for bringing us down.

Some Interesting Observations From Noah

There are a ton of things that I want to write on this blog when I have the time, but here are a few quick ones about Noah from the past week:

1) When we got home from vacation earlier this month, Noah looked at our two cats and said, "Hi Daphne, Hi Big Striker."  Suddenly, he was calling Striker "Big Striker."  We don't know when Noah learned the concept of "big."  In fairness, Striker is about twice as big as Daphne.  Noah also calls me "Big Dada" from time to time.

2) We were at Wal-Mart last week when we bought some Christmas candy canes from the clearance rack.  Noah really wanted to open the package.  I said, "we have to buy it first."  Noah must have thought I said "we have to bite it," because he began biting the package, and he wouldn't stop.  He was determined to eat those candy canes in the store.

3) Finally, Noah likes anise seed cookies.  I think everyone on my mom's side of the family needs to be made aware of that.

Every day is a fun adventure with Noah, that's for sure.

Noah's First Haircut

Here are some pictures of Noah's first haircut.  Noah had his hair cut at Angie's House of Haircuts, located in the upstairs bathroom of our house.  In fact, I just had my hair cut there, and it's a place that I highly recommend.  Noah mostly sat still, and was a good boy during the haircut.  He certainly looks less like a baby and more like a young boy.

Noah's First Year

Noah is now one year old. We celebrated his birthday last week with a big party with friends and family. The party had a jungle theme, since his room is decorated that way, and he always holds his stuffed lion when he goes to bed. You should see the excitement on his face when he is in his crib and you give him his lion. Angie made a cupcake cake of a lion. The cake looked amazing and was delicious. We had more food than we knew what to do with, and it was a great time.

It is amazing to think that my son is now a year old. Every day is a new discovery. He certainly has a lot of personality. He really is becoming less of a baby and more of a boy.

Noah had his one-year checkup this week, and he remains off the charts in height and pretty close to the top in weight. As we expected, he’s going to be a big guy.

In child development news, Noah has been crawling for about three months now. It began as an “army crawl,” but has progressed to a full crawl. He enjoys crawling, and he can’t stay in one place for a long period of time. He is always on the move. At first, he liked to go into his bedroom and pull every book off of the bookshelf. He later got over that, and now he is all about taking every toy out of the closet. He will stand on his own from time to time, and likes to climb up people when they are seated.

Noah loves cabinets, as well as anything with a knob or button. We have had to latch the cabinets shut, except for a couple of cabinets with pots and pans. When he gets tired, he really wants to get in the cabinets, and gets upset if you take him away from there. We have to keep the bathroom closed, because Noah will immediately crawl there and take everything out of the drawers.

Noah learned a couple of signs recently. A while back, he learned the sign for “more,” and he took off with it. Around the same time, we taught him to clap, so now he claps for “more” when he’s eating. Well, he didn’t stop there. Now, he claps when he wants a drink, and he claps when he wants you to read a book to him. The sign for “more” turned into a general request for anything.

Another new sign recently learned is “eat.” Normally, you put your fingers to a point and point to your mouth. His version is to tilt his head and then put the palm of his hand on his mouth. When it’s time to eat, we say “Do you want to eat?” and he does that sign. Then, I can pick him up without him getting upset, because we all know that he is always excited to eat.

We read to Noah as often as we can, and it must catch on. Now, he has a few favorite books. When he finds a favorite book, he will show it to one of us and yell some one-syllable sound. This means we need to read to him. Often, when we are in the middle of a book, he will find another book and immediately want the next one to be read. (Once again, he can’t sit still.)

Babbling is still constant. He often yells out “da-da-da-da” or “dee-dee-dee-dee,” as well as “nah-nah-nah.” He learned something this week that is pretty funny; whenever either of us is on the phone, he will wait until we hang up and then yell three or four syllables very loudly. One of my favorite things that he does now is yell “Ayyyyyy” whenever I come home from work. It reminds me of the Fonz.

It gets harder to list every single thing that Noah does, because he is always changing. The first year was a blast, and I look forward to more great times ahead.

A Few Months of Noah Pictures

So, I forgot to post Noah's monthly picture with Noah back in January.  And in December.  And in November.  Whoops!  Here are Noah's last three monthly pictures.

Here is Noah's nine-month picture.  He's wearing his Disney outfit that his grandparents got him when they visited Disney World.

Next, we have Noah's ten-month picture.  Notice the Christmas pillows in the background.

Finally, we have his 11-month picture.  I didn't expect him to be as big as Pooh by this point, but that's where we are.

Noah's big 1st birthday is coming up this coming Monday, February 22, and we can't wait.  Stay tuned for the one-year picture, along with a whole lot of updates.  He seems to be doing something new every day.

The Shell Factory

On the second day of our Florida vacation (New Year's Day), we paid a visit to The Shell Factory.  It's a kooky little place in North Fort Myers.  They sell shells, of course, but there is also a fun park and nature park.  We just walked around the shell displays and the fun little exhibits (a good portion of this is free to walk around in), and took some fun pictures.

One of the most important rules in the Hynds family is this: If you are near the skeleton of a large shark's mouth, you must take a silly picture with it.  Angie obliged.

Then, we all joined in on the fun.  Honestly, how many chances do you get in life to pose for a picture inside a shark's mouth?

Then, we roped Bill and Linda in.  Okay, enough with the shark.  Let's move on to more important things...

...like a triceratops.  Once again, you can't pass up an opportunity like this.  If you see a triceratops, take a picture with it.  No exceptions.

We will soon post all of the other pictures on our Facebook pages.  It was a fun way to spend an afternoon.  On a side note, it rained profusely when we got there, and we all got soaked!  Unfortunately, this was the beginning of the cool spell that hit Florida and stayed for more than a week.

One more note about New Year's in Florida - it was the first time in my life that I was in the Eastern Time Zone when the ball dropped at Times Square.  I got to ring in the New Year at that moment, instead of having to wait another hour.  It's the little things, really, that get me excited.

Why My Wife is Awesome

Let me tell you why. On Tuesday, I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed. Something that you may not know about me is that I can handle minor surgeries well, but anesthesia, and particularly painkillers, mess me up pretty badly.

We got home about around 12:30 on Tuesday, and I was still a little woozy. Angie got me my pills, a drink of water, and a vanilla milkshake from McDonald's, and brought out a blanket so that I could sit on the recliner. She also brought up some of my favorite DVDs for me to watch. I tried to watch "The Simpsons Movie," but I only remember seeing about 30 minutes of the entire movie, as I was dozing off for most of the afternoon.

I started to feel okay, but still had some mouth pain, so I took a painkiller. Big mistake! I fell back asleep, started to have stomach problems, and before you know it, I'm pale and really sick. This cycle continued throughout the night, where I eventually decided that I'd rather have a sore mouth than be sick.


Why does this make my wife awesome? Well, she did all of the grocery shopping, called home to check up on me, took care of some holiday shopping, took care of Noah, took care of me, cooked dinner, and did all of the housework, without doing a bit of complaining. Below is a picture taken from that evening, illustrating just how useless I was that night.




I joked with Angie that now she knows what it's like to have two kids. I promised her that the next time a simple, minor surgical procedure leaves her unable to do a single thing, I'll help her out too.

I'm happy to report that even though there is still some soreness, I have my appetite back and I'm able to pull my share of the work, hence why I will soon be ending this post and getting back to housework, as Angie is working a substitute teaching job right now and I need to return the favor.

Even if all of this didn't happen, Angie is still an awesome wife, and I thank God for her every day. In the midst of a busy life, sometimes it takes things like this to sit back and realize how good I have it.

Noah's First Halloween and More

Noah just had his first Halloween, where he was dressed as a frog. We began the evening with Angie's family, followed by some trick-or-treating in the lovely Village of Warrensburg. Sherry made some amazing chili, and Noah got to spend time with his cousins, one of whom was dressed as a blind referee for Halloween.

We then made it over to my parents' house, where there was more Halloween fun. He got some nice goodies from both families. One of the underrated perks of having an eight-month-old is that he can't have candy yet, so his Halloween candy becomes your Halloween candy. We only get one year to do that, so I'm taking full advantage!

Thanks to both families for making this a fun holiday for all of us.

In other Noah news, he is now eight months old. Along with the Halloween fun, we made a trip to Arthur to check out the Central Illinois Bragging Rights BBQ Competition. That was followed by a stop at Beachy's Bulk Foods, where we purchased copious amounts of good foods (cookies, dip mix, cheese, syrup, cinnamon rolls, and other good foods that I may have forgotten). It was a bit chilly outside, but we all enjoyed a nice fall country day in Amish country.

Later on in the month, Angie and Noah went to Okaw Valley Orchard in Sullivan, along with a few other women and kids from the church. It was a beautiful fall day, and Noah especially enjoyed playing in the leaves and hay.

Near the end of the month, we had a family reunion, where Noah got to see several people for the first time, including Bea, David, Barry, Jim, and Chris.

On the child development front, Noah is developing much more of a personality. He is moving around more. He is not crawling yet, but we're not sure if he will crawl; he is much more interested in standing and walking. In fact, there are times when he is sitting down when he reaches out his arms and wants to pick himself off the ground and start going. When he is on his back, he wants to roll in every direction, as often as possible. When you pick up Noah, he starts to kick his feet in the air.

There are many more foods that he is trying. Most of Noah's meals now consist of "real" foods, and he enjoyed eating generous amounts of food. Honestly, there are times when he just can't stop. He also is becoming more independent at meals, even to the point of sometimes getting upset when he is being spoon-fed.

Noah's noises are funny. His favorites right now are "da-da-da-da-da-da..." and "muh-muh-muh-muh..." and often his noises go up an octave after a few sounds.

Yes, there is much going on, and we look forward to his nine-month birthday and his first Thanksgiving.

Noah's Seventh Month

Lucky Number 7 just passed us by a week ago. Noah's seventh month was full of growth and adventure. He is now sitting up much more than before. He wants to crawl, but doesn't quite know how to do it. He will scoot backwards and pull his knees up. We know that our days of having an immobile child will soon end, and we are about to get the house ready for it.

Noah's eating has really picked up. There are too many new foods this month to even list. We are now doing more jarred foods, and this was the month when he started eating meats. There are some interesting combinations of foods out there. He also is doing finger foods, including puffs, biter biscuits, and pieces of bananas.

Noah's selection of noises has picked up. He likes to say things like "Aye-nigh-nigh-nigh-nigh," and sometimes he will go into an awesome falsetto while he's talking. It's very Brian Jodice-like. When you put him on the changing table, he'll begin to talk and kick his feet. While in the tub, he now can sit up, and likes to splash. Bathtime has become more fun for him. Basically, he is a lot more active than before, always exploring and looking for things to grab and play with.

Most of our activities this month included parks. We went to Whitmore Park, South Shores Park (to see his cousins' soccer games), and we went to Arts in Central Park, a nice art exhibition downtown.

Noah and I have had fun watching Bears games together. The first game of the year was a night game, so Noah was asleep. I'm very thankful that the Bears' Week 1 stinkfest against Green Bay was not the first game Noah saw. Since then, we've watched a few afternoon games, and I'm sure to celebrate with him every time they score. I have to start him early!

Angie started some occasional substitute teaching in September, so Noah has had some days with me (on Wednesdays) and also with his grandmothers. He has handled it well, and we're glad that we don't both have to work every day.

Stay tuned later this month for the eight-month report. Even since turning seven months old, Noah has discovered some new things, and it's going to be a good month.

Halfway to the First Birthday

Noah turned six months old on August 22, and the sixth month was non-stop and full of firsts. First, we have to get through the bad news: Noah had thrush at the beginning of the month. It lasted long enough that he needed blood work. Thankfully, the thrush is gone and the blood work results were good. Holding him down for the blood work was no fun at all. It was pretty funny, however, to see him having a purple tongue when he got treated for the thrush.

We all went to Scovill Zoo in early August. Noah enjoyed listening to all of the animals, although he mostly enjoyed looking at the plant life in the zoo. It was a fun new experience for him. Angie used to work at Scovill, and it’s a nice place to visit. Later in the month, Noah took his first trip to the Decatur Public Library. Angie has been taking him there, and checking out CDs of kids’ songs every couple of weeks. Noah enjoys listening to the music.

August also included Noah’s first swim. We went out to his Grandpa and Grandma Austin’s pool. He was pretty unsure of himself when he first went in, but eventually got used to it. He liked to chew on the front of his flotation device. He looked pretty funny in his big swim trunks.

At Noah’s six-month checkup, he came in at 19 pounds and 28 3/4 inches. He’s a tall boy. That is already over the length limit for his 9-month pajamas, which we just started using. Most of his 9-month clothing still fits, but we’ve discovered that some of his 12-month clothing is now fitting him as well.

One more thing about his checkup – the doctor told us that most six-month-olds don’t push back when he’s examining them, but Noah sure did, so we could already be in for a fun adventure with this one.

I can’t begin to list all of the new sounds that he has discovered. Our favorite one right now is the sound that he makes when he rolls his tongue. He just learned to roll his tongue, and it makes a suction sound when he does it. He also is doing a lot more squealing, and he’s finding his voice.

New foods discovered since last month include peas, peaches, and carrots. He still likes all of his foods, even the green ones.

Noah also can sit up now. He can’t sit himself up yet, but if we sit him down, he’ll stay that way for a while. Eventually, he ends up rolling over. He is rolling over a lot more than he used to.
Another of Noah’s new hobbies is drumming. He especially likes to bang his hand on the Culligan dispenser. He’s not afraid to reach for anything. He likes playing with toys, and each toy has the same purpose – to be put in his mouth. No matter how big a toy is, he always ends up picking it up and putting it in his mouth.

As you can see, the sixth month was jam-packed. We expect more of the same in the next month.

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!

Noah at Three Months

Noah turned three months old on May 22. The third month has been a fun one.

Noah now is laughing, and he has some ticklish spots. He also is babbling a lot these days; most of you saw the video on Facebook. One of my favorite things to say to him is "Ah Gee!" He seems to respond to it, and it sounds like something that he says.

Angie got to have her first Mother's Day this year, and Noah made her a nice gift.

Noah got to spend his weekdays with his Grandma Tina, since Angie and I both were working. Those were fun times. As of yesterday, Angie is no longer employed with the school district, and is now a full-time mom! We're very excited, and thank God for providing for us.

Last weekend, Noah went to his first baseball game, as he saw his cousin Zach play. He also had his first trip to the Central Park water fountain. He was mesmerized by the fountain.

We also are happy to report that Noah slept from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. earlier this week. Of course, we are all very happy by that.

As you'd expect, we're having a lot of fun with Noah, and we can't wait for the summer.

(If you are reading this on The Hynds Quarters, I thank you very much. I also would encourage you to check out my Facebook page. I have more pictures and videos on that page.)

Noah is Two Months Old

Believe it or not, Noah turned two months old on April 22. Here's a picture montage of his first two months:

This is a picture of Noah taken about two hours after he was born, on February 22.

We took this picture on March 22, his one-month birthday. We plan on taking a picture of him next to this Winnie the Pooh doll at every month, to show how much he grows.

And here's his picture at two months. He has grown quite a bit.

Noah has done a lot of growing and developing. He can move to either side, he can lift up his head, and he occasionally can hold his head in the air. He also is very close to completely rolling over. In fact, he wakes up every morning in the corner or the edge of his crib, but it doesn't seem to bother him.

Noah is smiling a lot these days, and he does have some small laughs. He actually laughs the loudest when he's asleep.

He likes to lay down on the floor or the bed, but he really likes to sit in his bouncer seat and talk to the animals on the seat. One of his least favorite places to be is his carseat. And for the past couple of weeks, he hasn't been a big fan of baths.

Sometimes, when he's fussy, I like to call him either Fussypants McGee or Noah Von Fussypants.

He sure has been a lot of fun. There will be many more pictures, videos, and stories over the years.

Noah Lee Hynds is here!

We'd like to welcome Noah Lee Hynds to the world. Noah was born on Sunday, February 22 at 3:24 p.m., at 9 lbs. 5 oz. and 22 inches long. He has brought tremendous blessing and joy to Angie and I. Here's the first of many pictures of our little guy. Noah and his mom are both doing well.




There will be a lot more pictures and videos both on this blog and on Facebook. We can't wait to share his stories to all of you! A big thank you goes to all of our family and friends for their caring and generosity.