1/4 of a year already!

Yeah for fall and all it brings! We are loving the cooler weather here toward the end of the month, and happy to use the A/C less and less. I've spent quite a bit of time switching both boys to their respective fall weather clothes, but we are now prepared! Whew!


So Noah is 3 months old. When I asked Matthew what he would say about Noah in the last month, he quickly had only one thing to say - his smile! Yes, he started smiling last month, but now, we get them ALL the time & they are just precious! I forgot how much I loved the gummy/no teeth smile! It's just so sweet! And we are now able to catch it a little better on camera - this makes me so happy! I love to think it will be remembered and shared! He absolutely loves 'face time' - when you spend time with him face to face you can just see it in his eyes that he's saying 'This is the best part of my day!' And when I stop what I'm doing, and sit down to play with him, I forget about my to do list, and it's the best part of my day too! To add to the fun, he's starting to 'talk' more - lots of cute coos and sweet noises - such an innocent, precious sound!


Noah is starting to open his hands some more now, instead of just keeping them clenched close all the time. He loves to suck on them, and has even found his thumb a few times - he tends to prefer the right over the left - opposite of Drew. He is also very slobbery - even getting a bit of a 'rash' under his mouth because it's impossible to keep it dry. He's an expert at spitting up and getting it on places you wouldn't think of - he'll somehow find the smallest little gap to let it drip down your entire shirt and or pant leg, not finding it until later...needless to say, I spend my days in cotton clothes that are easily washed! He is also starting to move and play a bit more, 'batting' at toys, kicking his legs, and rolling from his back onto his side. He does NOT like tummy time, so we are making slow progress there...but it will come.


Noah's sleeping is getting much better...his naps are overall much better, settling down in just a few minutes usually. The late evening nap is still hit or miss - I'm looking forward to it being over all together really. But his nights are awesome! There are lots of nights where he sleeps 10-12 hours! Aaahhh! On the nights he doesn't, he usually wakes up between 2-4am and goes easily back to sleep after nursing. We are SO thankful for this, no doubt! His growth check did show a bit of a drop in percentiles - without discussing it with the doctor, we are blaming it on the fact he's sleeping so long at night - not what's expected at this age...that might not be all that's going on, but he continues to grow, and seems perfectly healthy, so we'll be happy with that! We'll see if the doctor agrees in a month for his next visit or if we'll need to up his feedings or something. He currently eats about every 2.5 hours during the day. But, all that to say, his weight is 12 lb. (25%), length 25 in. (80%), and head circumference 40.5 cm (33%).


Now onto Drew...he is loving being a big brother still! He just loves doting on his little brother, and puffs up a little bit when we talk about how he's the big brother and is supposed to protect Noah! He calls him "My Noah" quite a bit, and can spell his name, kind of, "O-N-H"! He still struggles with sharing time with Mommy & Daddy, but we are working on it. We hear alot of "Come pay wif me!" Being 2, he's also going through a huge "NO" phase, responding with no sometimes regardless of what's presented - not the most fun, but hopefully it will pass soon too.


We are enjoying more outside time and more and more games. Drew loves playing soccer with his Daddy. He gets all excited when he sees Daddy getting ready for his soccer games, saying "I play socca wif Daddy!" And Daddy loves it too! We are looking forward to soon being able to take the boys to watch a game hopefully. Drew is also starting to really like playing baseball, especially hitting the ball. His hitting facial expression is just hilarious - so serious and menacing! It cracks me up what he comes up with on his own!


A funny little thing he's started doing lately is telling us "Everybody dance!" when he starts playing music or beating on a drum or singing! He's also caught us off guard with some of his responses to our conversations or questions, or just what he instigates on his own...these are hard to re-invent in paragraph form, losing the tone that comes along with it, but we are enjoying it, often ending in lots of laughter for us all! The more he gets more imaginative, the more fun we are having. Though one adverse reaction to this is it seems his nightmares are becoming a little more frequent, causing some frequent interrupted nights and a very sad and upset Drew. It seems we may be over the worst of it, at least we hope so, but it was certainly not something we were expecting - being more tired from Drew's waking up than Noah's at this point!


In true 2 year old spirit, he's also very adamant about becoming more independent, and joining in on everything that is going on...sometimes it's nice, sometimes it seems to 'get in the way', but overall, a very fun stage of him learning and exploring!



A few special treats this month included a visit from the Seller family - Drew of course had a blast with Jake, and Jake did a great job playing with Drew!


That same weekend, we also got to go to the Benbrook Cowboy Roundup...a small little fair, but we had fun checking out the miniature horses (though wouldn't get too close!) and liked watching the Folklorico dancers!