A California Recap

We got back yesterday- ...I think? - from our California vacation. It was a lot of fun, I'm so happy we got to go! I don't think I would recommend driving 1800 miles across the country with an infant, though. Just for future reference. Noah did fine for the most part, he slept a lot, but... it was a lot of work. We tried to do as much driving as we could at night, so we were both exhausted, even when we were trying to take shifts. On our way back home, Zach drove as long as he could while I slept, and then he needed me to take over. I was able to drive for a whole 45 minutes before I could hardly keep my eyes open and was praying for a rest stop to appear, like, now. We were both pretty exhausted. So... road tripping with a baby = tiring.

I love Grover Beach. The weather is perfect. And there's the ocean. Ah. And fro-yo. I don't really know what to say right now, mostly because I just read Susie's post about it and now I feel like I'm repeating everything. So...

I had so much fun. I loved getting to spend time with Zach's family. We hadn't seen his parents since Noah was itty bitty (not that he was ever particularly itty bitty).

We were in Grover Beach until the Friday after the 4th... whatever day that was. I lost all track of time during the trip. Friday night (I'm pretty sure it was Friday...), we headed down to Chino. Saturday we drove around town because it had been 2 1/2 years since Zach was last in Chino and lots of things had changed. Sunday morning, we went to church, Zach's parents were very happy to show Noah off to all their friends, and then Noah caught a cold. And then he gave it to me. And then I was all gross and mucusy for the next few days. And that was a week ago and I'm still a bit icky. I'm sure you're pleased to hear all about my mucus. *cough*

Tuesday or Wednesday we went to see Zach's Grandma. Now Noah's met all of his great grandparents except one (Great Grandpa C. in Washington).

At some point Wynette (Zach's mom) gave me the book Handle with Care (by Jodi Picoult) to read. And I was absorbed in that. I finished it yesterday. It was very good. Next time I go to the library, I want to check out My Sister's Keeper (also by Jodi Picoult).

Zach and I played on the Wii... We were both pretty obsessed with the swordfighting game. I hurt my arm with my enthusiasm at killing the little mii people.

Oh, before we went to Grover Beach and on our way back home, we stopped in Henderson (where we'll be moving in a few months!) and spent some time with Zach's brother Justin, his wife Krista, and their son Jake.

Thursday night, we went to a concert in the Chino community center or park or something. It was pretty fun, they had an 80's band playing. And there was this awesome old guy dancing like crazy off on the corner of the stage and that was pretty hilarious. He was having a lot of fun!

And of course Zach and I went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter. And that was epic. I was sad that it's over. But I'm excited for it to come out on DVD so I can finally -finally- buy the movies. I've been waiting because I just know there's going to be some sort of collector's set of them with special features and I want to wait to get that.

We left on Saturday, made it back to Vegas. Left there Sunday night and made it home at 5 AM on Tuesday morning.

 This is what Noah thought of the drive. I'm sure this is through Kansas or Eastern Colorado. Boring, boring, boring. 

Taking a break at the No Name rest stop in the mountains.

 I'm bored... So I eat my foot.

Noah and Jake! They're 2-3 months apart.

He looks like he was on some sort of self discovery quest. "my hand.... whoah."

Noah's taken to sleeping on his tummy now. I put him down on his back, he rolls onto his side, and a while later ends up like this.

The view from the house... 

 The view from my waist...

Shell beach

 Mason and Noah

On the Pismo Beach Pier

 We went to Windmill Farms. The goat liked us.

 4 Generations of Hammer menfolk

Noah, Mason, and Great Grandpa Hammer

 I discovered Instagram. I love this picture.

 Noah and Great Grandma Cooper

 Noah and Jake again. Noah pushed Jake around in that thing. They seemed to enjoy it.

What. A. Trip.

We're going to California!

In about an hour or so, we're going to be headed to California! I'm so excited I can't hardly stand it. First we'll be in Pismo beach, then we'll head to chino. It'll be Noah's first time out there. And the first time he's seen grandma and grandpa hammer since he was brand new.

I'm so excited. I miss the beach (and I guess I miss Zach's family too. ;))

The only thing that worries me is accidentally dropping Noah into the ocean off the pier. I keep having nightmares about it. So.... No dropping Noah off the pier. That would be bad.

Pictures of our trip to come!

An update... maybe?

Noah just fell asleep... so maybe I can actually type out a blog post. Woohoo!

Noah's about 8 1/2 months now. I don't think I did a 7 or 8 month update.... so here's what's happened since the last Noah-splosion of information.

At 6 months, we started introducing solid foods, via baby-led weaning. He really likes cucumbers. He seems to like peas too.

I think right before 6 months, he started crawling a few paces at a time. Then a week before 7 months, he started full out crawling and getting into eeeeeeeverything.

At 7 months, 1 week, he started pulling himself up and standing.

A couple weeks after that, he started taking steps while leaning against things.

Currently, his favorite past times are trying to grab Mali's collar and drag her around. Her collar has a little bell on it and it's oh-so-fascinating, and he wants to grab it every time he sees her. Mali is not so enthused, but she's very patient about laying there and taking the enthusiastic abuse until we rescue her.

He's not signing yet, but he thinks any signs that I make are hilarious. I've been showing him how to sign "milk" with his hand and he cracks up laughing.

I think that's about it, Noah-wise.

Zach's not working at Shelter anymore. He's doing marketing/website stuff independently... Marketing consultant or something. I don't know. But he's much happier doing this stuff. So I'm glad for him. =)

I'm not doing much, other than chasing Noah around and trying to keep up with housework. I write articles when I can, to make a little extra cash. I'm also beginning to delve into the world of couponing... which is a bit overwhelming. There's a lot of stuff to it. Oh, and I've been working out. I have a love/hate relationship with working out. I hate doing it, but I love the accomplished feeling of it, and the whole weight loss part.

So. That's pretty much it.

And now for a Noah-paloosa of pictures.

(This first picture is of one of the first times he stood up on something on his own... I love the look on his face, he looks so proud of himself!)

Dinner is ready...

But a certain little baby is sleeping. Since said baby has impeccable timing and wakes up/needs me for something every time I try to get on and blog.... I'm hoping that by blogging he'll wake up. Although.... I probably just jinxed it. Hmm.

So for now, I'll leave you with a very cute picture of Mr. Noah and hope he wakes up. 

Baby-led weaning

Noah is a little over 6 months old now (can you believe it?). On the night of his six-month-aversary, he got to have his first taste of non-breastmilk food. We're doing baby-led weaning, so Noah gets to feed himself- which, at this point, means he gets to play with food and squish it in his fingers and drop it on the floor. I don't think he's actually eaten anything at this point, just tasted things and has made lots of cute faces. In a few more weeks, though, he'll probably start actually figuring out that the fun stuff he gets to play with actually tastes good and will fill his belly.


It's really interesting, apparently babies at Noah's age (and younger) don't know how to chew and swallow yet. When he nurses, the milk goes to the back of his throat and he swallows, but it's not something he knows or understands. When babies are spoonfed, the spoon bypasses the gag reflex, so the baby is forced to swallow. With baby-led weaning, Noah will learn through exploration how to chew and swallow.

So basically what we do with baby-led weaning is give Noah food that he can handle and bring to his mouth on his own and let him do his thing. The first night, we gave him some avocado, which he didn't seem to care for. He's also had (by which I mean played with) broccoli, carrots, banana, and mango. He seems pretty intrigued by broccoli. Bananas he likes to squish, and the mango he didn't really care about.

I know a lot of people don't really know about baby-led weaning, so I'm trying to explain it... I think most people know about the four-day rule with food, but that isn't necessary with baby-led weaning. Babies have remarkable instincts and tend to refuse food that they're allergic to (if they're spoonfed, the baby can't exactly refuse it very well, which makes the 4 day rule useful). They also tend to eat exactly what they need at whatever point, so if they're going through a growth spurt, they'll eat foods that contain exactly what they need for it. So we offer Noah food that we're eating anyway and don't force him to do anything with it. Sometimes he plays with it, sometimes he doesn't.

I think that's the basics of baby-led weaning...

So all that to say we've started (sort of) solids. Pictures of that are below!

Sea Monkey also has a little tooth breaking through (on the bottom)! He was a bit fussy for a few days while it was breaking through, but only when he was getting tired. I keep trying to look at his tooth, but he almost always has his tongue covering it. He likes to put our fingers in his mouth and bite down and then we can feel his little tooth.

He's very close to crawling. He can go backward very well, and can turn himself sideways and go backward more, but he's not so good with the going forward bit. Once in a while he'll lunge forward. He'll get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth, trying to figure out the whole going forward motion. He also likes to do something resembling the 'downward facing dog' pose in yoga (here). Cracks me up.

I think that's about all the Noah-related news. And an update on Zach and I...

Zach has started a new job. He's doing sales for a company called DubTizzle, who does internet marketing stuff for different businesses around the area. Zach's very happy to be done with his old security job and is enjoying his new position. I'm excited for him, I think he's going to be great at this. =) This past week was his first week doing it full-time and it's been very nice- he gets to work from home now, except for when he's out at meetings making sales. He spent a few days at home this week doing research and making calls to set up meetings, and having him home, even though he wasn't interacting with Noah and I was really nice. I'm very happy for him.

I'm still rocking my stay-at-home-mom gig. In the little free time I have, I study something pregnancy/childbirth/baby/parenting- related, because it's fascinating to me (I've been studying this stuff for 3 years now and I'm still thoroughly intrigued). And I've started using my sewing machine (which, by the way, is a very pretty 60 year old machine)! I've mended some pants, made a changing pad cover, nursing cover, nursing pads, and I want to make a blanket for Noah. And curtains. And an apron! In my vast amount of free time..... :-/

One more newsworthy thing: at the end of our lease (October/November), we will be moving out of the Midwest and (probably) settling in the Las Vegas/Henderson area for a while. Where we're moving isn't set in stone yet, so it may still change, but we will for sure be moving out of the Midwest. So if you're in the area and want to see us, let us know. We've only got a few months left! (6 or 7... but still)

Soooo... that's all that's going on right now.

Tasting avocado

 He bumped his head on the stand =(

 Here's the bump =(

 Banana reaction =)

 This is posed.... but he was very excited about standing. So excited he slobbered all over the couch. =)
















THIS is wonderful. I made breastmilk popsicles to ease the teething aches and he was very surprised by how cold it was. =) He liked it, except for how cold it was.

It's been a while...

Well. I had a post for 4 months half written, but didn't get it finished. Then I had a post for 5 months, but didn't get it finished. And here we are, a little more than a week from 6 months. So... here's an update.

Noah went through a brief period of rolling. He seemed to be excited about it at first, but then realized that rolling meant he ended up on his tummy. And that's unacceptable. So the rolling back-to-tummy stopped. He only rolled tummy-to-back a couple times. I put him on his tummy one time, he shrieked, rolled over, and glared at me (seriously) and hasn't rolled that way since.

Instead of rolling, he's been working on crawling. He can get up on his hands and knees for brief periods of time (and he rocks back and forth trying to move forward while he's there), but most of his tummy time he spends scooting backward. I'll put a toy just out of reach in front of him to persuade him to move forward and he ends up moving farther and farther away from it.

He sits up on his own very well. He's gone through 5-10 minute spurts of sitting up unassisted. He still topples over (which is quite funny to watch...) often.

What else...

I think he might just be the happiest baby ever. Seriously. Unless he's hungry or very very tired, he's pretty much all smiles. He loooooooooves people. When we're at the store or visiting Zach at work, people stop to look at him and comment on his supreme cuteness and Noah will almost always give them a big grin. =)

We've been going to a "rhymes and rhythms" thing at the library that's geared toward pre-walkers. We sing songs that have actions, read stories, etc, and Noah loooves it. I don't know if it's the songs and actions or the people or the babies that he enjoys... but he really, really likes it. =)

At his last appointment (4 months), he measured 27 1/2 inches long and 22.4 pounds.

Pictures!

Our first Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all!

We had a wonderful first Christmas with Noah (and Grandma and Grandpa W.). Noah slept through half of the gift opening. Noah got some fun toys; we're excited for him to start playing with them. Right now he's just staring at them. It's still kind of fun to make the toys move or make noises or whatever and watch Noah really concentrate on it. It's cute. =)

So he's a little over 3 months old now. This is bizarre. He's about to outgrow 6 month clothes very soon (like... now?).

He's still not rolling all the way over, but he rolls onto his side like crazy (he's been doing that since he was 3 weeks old, though). There was one time a few weeks ago where he rolled from his back to his front and looked excited for a second, but then he realized he was on his tummy (which he HATES) and freaked out. He hasn't done it since. But he's super content to go from his back to either side.

Noah keeps trying to sit up, too. We'll be holding him, having him leaning back against us, and he'll try and pull himself up to a sitting position (he gets about half way up, too). He's really loving sitting up. We were thinking about getting a Bumbo seat for him so he could sit up, but he was really close to the weight limit on it (I think it goes to 20-25 pounds). So instead we got him a little booster seat for Christmas that will work up until toddlerhood. We put him in it while we ate dinner today and gave him some toys and he was happy as a clam, sitting up and banging some toys around. =)

Oh, that's another thing- if he can get it in his hand, it WILL be in his mouth. It's so funny to watch him. He stares at the toy, grabs it, and right into his mouth it goes. He's also fairly constantly covered in drool these days (as am I). Slobber, slobber, slobber.

I tried to measure him the other day. He was wiggling a lot, so it was hard to tell what it was exactly, but he's between 27-28 inches. He hasn't been weighed since he was 7 weeks... but I'm sure he's around 20 pounds. He's definitely a sturdy kid.

He laughs a lot now. Oh my goodness, it's adorable. I was holding him facing me last week and he just started cracking up. I wasn't doing anything particularly funny, but he seemed to find me hilarious (I guess he thinks I'm funny looking). He just went on and on laughing! Music to my ears. =)

His hair is blonde. It's cute. And his eyes are still blue- I think they're going to stay blue. And his cheeks? Squishy and kissable. =)

I keep trying to take pictures of him smiling with my actual camera instead of my iPod (iPod pictures are grainy... but it's more convenient to use), but the flash throws him off and by the time it actually takes the picture, he's mesmerized by the flash and not smiling anymore.

Pictures of my cutie.