Life at our house..

Things are finally starting to feel back to routine..
Randy has been back to work and the kiddos and I are getting into our own new schedule. Noah seems to be adjusting really well. The three of us made a few outings this week (including grocery shopping!) which is a pretty big accomplishment for us. It cracks me up that while I watched the Ebeling kids last summer, I would take their 5 plus Ella to the park, pool, you name it with no fear. Now suddenly two seems like a big task lol. I suppose I could blame it on the fact that Noah's a newborn so you never know what you're going to get when you leave the house. Thankfully, we have had some practice this week and now it just feels like I've been doing it my whole life.

Here's what we've been up to this week :)

We had a surprise visit from Randy's Aunt and Uncle that live on the Weat side of the state. They were fairly close in VA and called to see if they could come visit and see the little ones. We were so excited to have them since we haven't seen them since last summer.



We also made a trip to the pool where Ella played with some of the youth girls. She had a blast and loved all the extra attention.. Noah kept watch through the glass door ;)



Ella has really adjusted well and is back to her normal self. Most of the time if I don't see her nearby, I find her reading books in her room. She loves to sit and "read" stories. She has memorized some of her favorites so it actually sounds like she is reading. lol.


She has also been trying to help me with Noah however she can. This morning she found one of her baby bottles and was giving him a little drink. She told me he was thirsty!


Ella's been really wanting to wear her big girl panties lately, too. I told her when she starts doing pee pee in the potty she can, but for now she will only poop in the potty and isn't quite ready to be completely trained. Maybe soon, but not quite yet. Well, this morning, she decided to put on her panties by herself and wear them around.
She has a diaper and shorts on underneath! Silly Goose!



And Noah is growing and still SO cute!


He has been testing out his crib today for the first time taking naps. I elevated the mattress so that he could sleep more upright and not choke from his reflux. He sleeps in our room at night, but I needed a place where he could get some good sleep and I could keep Ella from waking him up. She loves to give him kisses when he's asleep. So sweet, but it makes for a grumpy little Noah!

Father's Day and such..

Is it already Wednesday?!?! I had full intentions of posting something on Father's Day, but I'm just now getting to it! We did have a great Father's Day though! Noah made his first trip to church and we also went to a little BBQ at some friend's house. It made for a pretty busy day for little Noah who hasn't been out much, but he did great (and I was thankful to be out of the house!)

Randy enjoyed having his first Father's Day as a Daddy of 2!
He got Tiger Woods Golf for the Wii so he's been busy testing that out for the last few days! And don't worry, he hasn't been slacking on his Daddy Duties! He is quick to turn it off and help (but maybe it's because he knows I still have the receipt lol)

We were kinda in a hurry, but we snapped a couple of pics before heading to church on Sunday...


Here are a few from the BBQ, too! Ella is getting more and more comfortable in the water each time we take her. She let Randy let go of her a few times while she had her floaties on, but she still hasn't quite figured out how to keep her head out of the water...

Noah and his little friend Elizabeth :-)

As for Noah, he is doing great for the most part. His reflux has gotten worse (just when I thought it was going away). He is just so uncomfortable when he eats and awhile afterward. I feel so bad for him. We are trying all kinds of tricks to help him through, but something that works one feeding might not do anything the next. Also, keep little Noah in your prayers because at his last Pedi visit they found that he has a heart murmur. At first they told me they would just keep and eye on it and check it again at his 2 month visit, but she had trouble feeling his femoral artery between his legs so she wants to see us back again on Monday. She told me that it could have been hard to feel it because by that time Noah was really mad and crying pretty loud. So hopefully, when we go back on Monday she will feel it just fine and it will eventually go away on it's own. If she can't feel it on Monday or has any reason to still be concerned, we will be referred to a cardiologist. From my understanding, most of the time heart murmurs just go away on their own within the first year. There is also a pretty routine surgery that they do if there is a problem. Although I'm glad to hear that it's "not a big deal", it still feels like one to us. We just hate to see our little guy go through surgery or have something that has to be constantly checked. So pray for us! Hopefully we will get good news on Monday!

As you can imagine, we're all pretty tired these days! Naps are becoming a favorite past time for us all!! :-)Here is Nurse Ella pretending to give Noah some more Gripe Water for his tummy!!



And last, but not least! On Monday night we had dinner over at the Wallace's house. It was so yummy and we had a great time! Here are the pics from that and be sure to check out the video at the end..I saved the best video for last!!

My Sweet Ones!

Random Update :)

Here are a few new pictures and a little video. I have some more video to upload it just seems to take forever!!

Everything is going great.

Ella is still doing great as big sister. She was pointing to some of her baby pictures around the house this morning and saying, "That's my little brother" lol. She looked at me like I was crazy when I tried to explain that they were pics of her when she was a baby. For someone REALLY proud of being a "big girl" that seemed like a really not nice thing to say lol

Here is a little video of her holding Noah. At first she thought I was taking a picture so she is cheesing it big time LOL What a goofy girl!




Noah is doing well and we seem to have the reflux under control. He does great as long as he's upright. His spitting up doesn't seem to be any more now than a normal baby. Last night he woke up after 3 1/2 hours to eat and then slept for 4 hours before waking to eat again. I was really hoping we could get a 4 hour stretch in there somewhere and I'm so glad he did. He keeps me busy through the day nursing every 2 hours so the sleep at night is great!

I think we're all a little sad since Randy has to go back to work tomorrow, but thankfully he only has 2 days left in his work week and then he's off again for 3. It's been so nice having him around so I know we're going to miss him :(

Well, here are the pics I promised!! Enjoy :-)

Ella enjoyed some time yesterday coloring and putting stickers in her coloring book while I got the dishes done. She loves doing arts and crafts!

Daddy and Noah cuddling on the couch :)

This is Noah's new bed! He seems to find it nice and cozy and it's letting us get some rest. Guess we'll just pack the bassinet back up lol

Ella went in the closet this morning to find a hat so she could be like Daddy. So cute!!
And here is our sweet girl giving Noah some kisses. She loves to rub her lips on his skin because she says it feels so soft!! :-)That's all for now :)

Guitar Playing Fun!

Randy and his Dad had a great time yesterday playing guitar together. He really enjoyed getting to "jam out" and spend some quality time with his Dad while he's in town. Once Ella woke from her nap, she wanted to join in on the fun. She sat on the couch and watched while she played her Barbie guitar. Too cute!

Day 5

Noah's Doctor appointment yesterday went great! He weighed 8lbs 2 oz. which is pretty good since it's only 3 oz less than his birth weight. Only bad news is that his throat was pretty red and he has all of the signs of reflux. Since he is still so young we'll wait to put him on any medicine. For now we are trying to keep him upright as much as possible and using gas drops. Last night we took the bassinet out of our room and replaced it with the swing since it sits pretty upright. We just left it turned off and let him use it as a bed. It worked so well!! We finally were able to get some descent sleep. He's still eating about every 3 hours or so through the night, but he will go right down and sleep until the next feeding. That has made me a nice, happy, momma!
Sleep=Good!

Here are some more pics for ya!

And of course..we can't leave out a pic of Miss Ella. She is doing great as Big Sister. She loves to help hold things we need until it's time to use them. Yesterday she helped me clean his belly button and she was so sweet and gentle. She usually refers to him as "Ella's Baby Noah" which we think is really cute!

And then there's Princess who's not sure what to think. She will give him the occasional sniff and then just ignore him. She spends most of the day hiding under the table watching all the chaos!

Keeping Busy..

Sorry for the lack of updates now that we're home. As you can imagine, we've been keeping really busy. Randy has been such a wonderful help to me!! I think I would be going crazy without him. He's been fetching things I need and keeping Ella busy. Noah's been such a sweetheart. All three of us are completely in love with him. Still trying to remember what we did before we had little Noah to "ooh and aah" over!!

Noah is doing awesome! He's been a little bit more work for me at bedtime. Ella was a great sleeper from the start. Noah..not so much. He's been having some tummy issues. You can hear the milk trying to come up and him swallowing to keep it down. Poor guy. Now that my milk has come in (Woo Hoo!) he has been having some explosive spit up. Just hoping his stomach will settle and that we're not going to have a bunch of reflux issues. Good thing is, once we work through his fussy spell after eating he usually will give me at least one good 4 hour stretch. That along with the 30 minutes here and there have been enough to keep me going. Randy's been great at taking a turn to settle him, too. I'm also trying to watch my diet and see if that helps as well. He has his first pediatrician visit today so we'll have some updates then!

Overall, things really couldn't be much better. I am feeling great and slowly adjusting to the demand of two little ones. We are so amazed at the amount of love we have for both of them. It's been pretty overwhelming emotionally!!

Here are a few new pics. Some of them are already posted on facebook, but for those of you only checking the blog they will be new :-)