I can’t believe that 2012 has arrived already. Noah turned 5 months old today and it seems like just yesterday we were eagerly anticipating his arrival.

A quick Noah update:

He is growing like a little weed. I weighed him the other day and he was 19lbs 11oz. A healthy little guy, that’s for sure! He rolled over — both ways! — on January 17th while Trevor was away on business. He seems to enjoy his new skill since he rolls over all the time now.

Noah is also trying to learn to sit on his own. He’s got decent balance (and a wide base helps!) but he still does the slow slide and fall after some time sitting there. It’s amusing.

This week he started really blowing a lot of bubbles. He ends up soaked but seems pleased with himself.

Overall he’s such a cute, sweet little guy. He has the best smiles and is generally a really happy baby. He still sleeps quite a bit but is a bit more mommy-centered and doesn’t separate as easily as he did when he was brand new. Mommy doesn’t mind. 😉

He’s perfect.

Abigail is completely in love with Noah. Apparently they will be getting married so that she can look after him forever. It’s so sweet. And for his part Noah can’t keep his eyes off of Abigail. He frequently tries to engage her in conversation but she’s a bit busy to stop unless it’s for a quick kiss.

November was full of celebrations! We had Noah’s Baptism on November 13th at our Church. His God Parents are my cousins. It was a wonderful celebration and a great way for us to make sure everyone was introduced to our little guy.

We celebrated Abigail’s 4th birthday in November. It is hard to believe she is so big so quickly. We had a princess themed party and all of the little girls had princesses dresses on. We played pass the present, pin the fire on the dragon, and musical chairs. Abigail seemed to have a good time. It was a small party but enough work to pull off, especially while caring for Noah. Thank goodness for Trevor and my Mom or it wouldn’t have been successful!

After Abigail’s birthday we jumped right into the preparation for Christmas. We had my family’s Christmas dinner a week early as my cousin’s family was heading overseas. It was a different way to celebrate (for us) but still wonderful and so nice to have everyone here before all of the crazy that is Christmas morning. Really to me Christmas is being surrounded by family so it really didn’t matter which day we celebrated on.

Abigail’s school had their annual Christmas concert and the kids were adorable. No break down for Abigail this year (which wasn’t quite as funny as last year) but boy was she an excellent little drummer. So sweet.

The actual weekend of Christmas was also different for us: we had a non-traditional dinner on Christmas Eve with my parents and their friends from Quebec then we went to Trevor’s family for a traditional Christmas dinner.

Both kids seemed to really enjoy Christmas morning. Abigail was so excited for Santa this year. It was really cute. Noah, for his part, was enthralled with all of the ripping paper. Christmas has never been as busy OR as awesome as it is with kids. Seeing Christmas through their eyes is so magical and I just love the exuberance Abigail brings to everything such as Christmas.

On New Year’s Eve we did our traditional dinner minus the games (because really, with kids there was no time or energy for games!). We changed the menu and Trevor, taking advantage of the excellent weather, barbecued us a fantastic mixed grill. including chicken, beef tenderloin, hot dogs, sausage and grilled tomatoes. Add in some vegetables and it was a fantastic dinner!

The beginning of January meant Abigail started back to skiing lessons. She skis with other kids her age this year (instead of her Daddy) and practices with Daddy afterwards. She really is awesome and fearless. The only issue we’ve had was the day she put her lips on the chairlift bar and ended up bleeding profusely. Apparently it didn’t hurt but it sure did look gruesome! I am hoping we don’t have a repeat of this!

Abigail also performed in her first ballet recital this month. She was so cute and they did such a great job! Again, exuberant is the only way to describe Abigail. She brings a special joy and enthusiasm to everything she does and it really is infectious. She is adorable.

Trevor has lots on the go with work. Apparently there are many projects vying for his time and he has been doing a lot of commuting between here and Calgary. Hopefully he gets a bit of down time soon. He is also beginning a big hobby project in our family room where he will be building a big built in cabinet to house all of the TV equipment plus some books and toys etc. We are apparently on a built in kick around here! Trevor has also been back to his flying lessons but has not had a lesson for a little while due to his schedule. He really enjoys this hobby so hopefully he continues to pursue it.

As for me, I am keeping my head above water. I am still involved in a scaled down version of my book club which gives me a lot of enjoyment, plus I attend La Leche League meetings whenever my schedule permits (they are only once a month so when there’s a conflict I’m SOL). I’ve been trying to organize seeing friends a bit more and to that end we’ve been to a friend’s home for dinner as well as having friends here. It’s easy to get in the habit of not socializing and not really realizing how much you miss visiting with your friends when you are in the middle of just trying to get through each day so I am trying to remember to stop and enjoy my friends as much as time permits!

Really, though, for me there is very little time to devote to any hobbies. I am lucky to get to read and I can barely even manage to get my pictures online with any real regularity. I am behind on everything and it is a bit frustrating but I figure I will get there eventually. Most of my time is spent with my kids and managing the household. There is a lot more laundry (Noah is a big puker) now and if I don’t put a load on every few days we would drown in it plus getting Abigail to and from school and to and from all her activities breaks up the days in a way that makes it hard to really get into a project before you have to step away. Plus they all like to eat daily (?!) and have some family time. The nerve. 😉 We spend a lot of time doing small crafts and baking. Especially since the weather has been crazy rainy this winter and, when not rainy, cold and yucky.

Life is really busy but I am really enjoying things now. The kids are so much fun and having a baby has been awesome again. Abigail is at an age now where we can do a lot of fun things with her so there are lots of great things to look forward to with both of them.

Speaking of things to look forward to we are planning lots of travel this year. We are heading out to Kicking Horse for some skiing soon. I won’t be doing much skiing but Abigail and Trevor can take advantage of it. This should be a fun time for all. We are also heading to Florida in March for a Disney Cruise (yahoo!) and a week at a resort in the Orlando area. It’ll be awesome. And, of course, Noah will celebrate his first birthday in August so in lieu of a party we are taking him to Maui (Abigail went to Waikiki and Kona so it has to be fair! right?!). We will stay at the same resort as last year and it’ll be a great time.

So 2012 looks great. Life is great. I hope it is the same for all of our friends and family out there! Let’s all catch up soon. 😀

Yesterday my son, Noah, and I hit the 6 week mark. Amazing being on this journey again!

Well it has been six weeks since Noah formally joined our clan. He is truly the sweetest little guy we could have asked for and, I have to say, such an easy baby! I don’t know if it is personality or simply being experienced parents, but this time around has been far more enjoyable during the newborn stage. I suspect it is a bit of a mixture of the two. As I type this, for example, Noah is finishing his nap in his crib. I don’t like to put him in the crib much (probably a hangover from the screams Abigail would give me when I would try that trick with her) but when I do, he actually stays asleep. It is a miracle. And yes, I recognize that this will likely not last but I’ll take it. So far he’s already been more pliable than his sister ever was!

For reference, this post was written around the same time frame in Abigail’s life and it is interesting the similarities.

So an update about Noah. He is a sweet and easy going little baby. Breastfeeding came really easily this time (far easier than with Abigail). He has a tongue tie, like his sister, but it is further back on his tongue and doesn’t affect his feeding enough to do anything about it (we had hers clipped). I did have it assessed by the Newman Clinic when he was about two weeks old to ensure this was the case and they gave us great pointers on how to nurse effectively. It was a good refresher since nursing a toddler is so different from nursing a newborn. Noah nurses a lot more than Abigail did but not that he is taking in more milk, he just doesn’t like to sit and work for his milk so he will drink the big let downs but gives up once that is done until he can come back for another big letdown. It is a bit challenging because that means he’s “on the tap” a bit more than Abigail was but whatever works.

Oh and I should add that, unlike his sister, Noah is a puker. Abigail never needed to be burped and spit up so rarely that it was something to be remarked upon when she did (of course, she graced us with neon green poop so there’s always a trade off, right?). Noah spits up all the time. Sometimes it is projectile. Sometimes there is more than I can believe. This means that, whereas his sister could wear the same sleeper for days, Noah goes through 2-3 outfits a day. There is a lot more laundry!

As for sleeping, Noah’s been a great sleeper since he was born. I think he wakes 1-3 times a night but, since I learned with Abigail I can’t handle the bassinet in the night and having them in the crib is too far away, we co-sleep and I seem to sleep through his feeds now so… let’s just say I am very well rested and for his part so is he! He was never mixed up for day and night much so this helped plus he seems to have scheduled himself into a basic nap routine from the get-go. I don’t believe this will last at all (nothing ever does with kids) but it’s nice for now and it means that we never had those bleary nights where you wondered how you were going to manage the next day. Sweet!

In the post I linked to above about Abigail I mention how she is outpacing the diaper service. Noah is outpacing even his sister’s amazing output, using, at the minimum, 15 diapers a day as his standard. I even started with Abigail’s 100/week just to be sure I’d have enough. Oh well. I’m not increasing it again and instead filling in the extra day or day and a half with Abigail’s toddler cloth diapers, folded to fit, as I’d rather do the extra laundry (heck I’m already doing it every day anyway…) than pay more money.

So overall the big difference for us has been the lack of stress normally associated with having a newborn. Maybe because of the age difference between Noah and Abigail, and in large part because of the lack of breastfeeding issues and lack of sleep deprivation, these last six weeks have flown by and we have been so busy out and about in ways we weren’t with Abigail. Heck, Noah’s been to the zoo twice already and the pumpkin patch! Maybe part of it has been the time of year he was born, too, as we’ve had pretty nice Fall weather this year. But maybe more than these things is the fact that, an almost four-year-old is not going to stop doing her activities just because a newborn has joined the family. Abigail goes to school Monday to Friday in the mornings so we have to be ready to take her and pick her up, never mind the extracurricular activities (this year it’s ballet and swimming) so you just have to keep doing.

This has benefits (gets us out!) and drawbacks. The main drawback has been not being able to really enjoy this newborn stage because we have been so busy. I can’t endlessly cuddle the baby or give in to my wish to leave my pajamas on a bit longer because everything is go go go! But that’s life. 🙂 And with two, life is grand I have to say.

So where’s Noah at right now? We had our last midwife appointment yesterday, always a sad time because in truth the midwives come to feel like family after this journey and they are so much more comfortable to visit than a regular doctor clinic. Noah weighed in at 13lbs 4oz. An astonishing gain given how much he lost in his first few days of life (he was born at 9lbs 8oz, but was down around a pound or more within his first few days — that was a whole story that I didn’t bother posting about). He’s more awake now and more alert. We’ve had some tentative smiles but nothing definitive yet.

The Fall has been busy, as I said, and will continue to be busy. Abigail is off to a birthday party tonight and starts skating with school next Monday. We are planning a Princess Birthday party for her 4th which is on November 19th so coming up soon. We also have Noah’s baptism scheduled for November 13th and a party for after that! Thankfully I got all of my gardens pulled last weekend so that’s one thing off the list.

So, wishing everyone a happy October and hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving (to those who celebrated) last weekend. I leave you with a few pictures of our little guy and little gal.