We've Moved!

We are officially moved in to our new house! It is nice to be in a home again and have all my stuff back. Problem is I didn't pack the boxes, so I don't know where things are. There are a few boxes left to be unpacked and we are getting to them as we can. Noah prefers we give our attention to him instead. I have painted the living room and guest bathroom and will just leave it at that for now. In the near future I hope to refinish the cabinets and built-in shelving in the house. Crazy? Probably so...we'll see how my trial run goes first. I'll post house pics once it is more presentable. Our neighbors are friendly and Noah and I have enjoyed our walks checking out the new sights.

It is fun to be in Arkansas once again. We went down to the River Market to cheer on the marathon runners a few weeks ago. There is a beautiful park in North Little Rock that Noah and I love to visit. And hopefully we can take a trip to the museum of discovery today. We look forward to the zoo, camping, other lovely parks, and swimming in lakes this summer!

I love spring...it is my favorite time of the year! It is so amazing to watch all the beauty God gave us bloom into life. We have a tree in our backyard that is covered in bursts of white blooms. Noah and I like to sit on the deck and enjoy the blooms and sun. I am excited about the crepe myrtles getting color in late spring. In a few weeks I will be planting lots of flowers, hanging baskets, tomatoes, and herbs. Can't wait!

Here are some pictures of Noah:


He LOVES to stand by his exersaucer or coffee table and play with toys. Occasionally he even moves his hands for a second or two and stands on his own briefly. He never tries to crawl and gets mad if you try to make him. Little stinker.


Aunt Clara got him this dinosaur/lizard/dragon costume for fun. Since he was in the middle of pre-op stuff during Halloween we decided he needed to dress up now! I think I might put in on him during our next jog in the neighborhood and see if I get any strange looks.

The Face of an Angel

People watching:

My boys relaxing:

This one captures his growing belly:

Well, we can't expect him to be an angel all the time:

happenings in LR

It has been a very slow weekend around here. Noah has had a yucky head cold so I have been staying home with him and he has been sleeping so much! The last 3 nights he has been sleeping about 12.5 hours straight and taking long naps during the day. Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.

While Pete babysat, my friend Jackie and I went to a massive consignment sale this weekend and I picked up a few outfits for Noah and this hat:



We are still waiting to close on our house, but here is a picture of the front of it.

3 bed, 2 bath, 1750 sq feet, deck in the back, large living room. I LOVE it!

Last week Noah and I went to visit Leah & Kyle, and Sara, Chase & Ava in Oklahoma. We missed Preston as he was traveling around for work. Chase was so good with Noah and wanted to help entertain him. Ava scared him a bit with her typical toddler noises (see below), but she was sweet with him as well. Sara and Preston are in a new house with some extra space so we stayed there. We also went to visit Leah's kindergarten classroom where her students sang songs for Noah. So cute! And we got to see where Kyle & Leah live for the first time. While in OKC we ate at PF Chang's (my favorite!) and had a sister night at the melting pot where we ate our weight in chocolate. YUM! It was a fun trip to Noah's 6th state to visit. He did great in the car.

Chase asked me, "Amy, when Noah grows up do you think he will be 'Noah builds the Ark'?"

Noah is sitting up better and better. Here he is playing with his beloved caterpillar.

LR Air Force Base

We made it to Little Rock after stopping at the Willis farm for some R&R. So much has happened since we have been here. We bought a house! It is a 3 bed 2 bath in Cabot and I love it! In about a month we will get to move in. In the mean time we are still in the temp housing on base. Pete's class has been delayed so he is doing a temporary job in his sqadron while waiting on his class to start. I am hoping to start a part time job soon...just waiting on my AR social work license to get processed. We found a great day care for Noah on Tuesday/Thursdays. I have some anxiety about leaving him, but I know it will be good socialization time for him and good for me to have a break.

Noah is doing really well. We took him to get his 6 mo shots since they were due in the middle of our move. He took 'em like a champ. He weighed in at 16lbs 9oz which means he gained about a pound in the last month. He is starting to get chunky lets and I love it! He can sit up on his own, but does not maintain it well. No interest in crawling yet and doesn't like tummy time. We will have to work on that. He is eating lots of different fruits and veggies and seems to like them all. For breakfast he gets baby cereal mixed with mashed banana's. Today he tried a baby mum-mum which was great for occupying him while I did a little house work. In the last few days he has found his voice again and has been talking so much.

Today I went grocery shopping for the first time without Pete since we have been in temp housing. We are on the second floor of the building and thankfully there is an elevator...on the other side of the building from our apartment. When we got back from the store i put Noah in his stroller, filled the basket of the stroller with heavy grocer items, had 9 bags hanging from my arms, diaper bag around my neck, and still managed to use the key card to get in 2 doors and an elevator and didn't break a singe egg. whew.

News:

My little sister, Leah, is pregnant...have I mentioned that? She is due in August!!

Grammy Shell is coming to visit this weekend from Alaska

Noah and I are visiting OK next week

Noah is about to visit his 5th state

Noah has visited Alaska, Alabama, and Mississippi, and has lived in Texas. He will now get to experience life in Arkansas as a resident for at least the next 3 years. We are moving this week and as a result, I believe our lives are about to get a little interesting. Both Pete and I have moved around a lot, but never more than a few belongings that fit in an apartment or dorm. Now we are moving a whole house full of things while trying to keep some sort of routine for Noah.
We will be staying in temporary housing on base in Little Rock until we can find a house. I am excited to house hunt for the first time! It will be fun to have some input on our future home.

Here are some pictures to enjoy.

6 Months old!

Noah is 6 months old! Sometimes I wonder where the time has gone...and other times I can't remember life before Noah. Here is what has been going on with Noah:

Noah is constantly on the move until he crashes for a quick nap. But thankfully he sleeps through the night! He sleeps about 9pm-8am and occasionally gets up to eat in the early morning. He naps about 11am and then again about 3pm (we are still working on the nap schedule!). Around 4 mo we gave him baby cereal and he was not interested. Around 5 mo we tried again, and he still wasn't interested! In fact, he gags multiple times on the first bite of cereal. It is pretty hilarious. So we have moved on from cereal and have tried a couple of veggies and a couple of fruits. I make most of his baby food with a food grinder. His favorite is squash and he also likes prunes, bananas, and peas. I am still nursing him, but give him a formula bottle at night. Noah is very afraid of loud shrieking noises. If i am holding him when he hears these noises he will "crawl" up my face clawing me when he hears them, but if I am not hold him he cries frantically. The doctor calls this 'stranger-anxiety.' Noah loves to smile, eat his hands, laugh, roll over, eat, go for walks (in his stroller), play on his exersauser, take baths, play with his feet and grab anything he sees. He balls up his fist, turns red and squeals when he gets frustrated, rubs his eyes when he is sleepy, opens his mouth in a wide smile when happy, stares into space when content. Most importantly he has a perfect heart and is completely healed!

The last 6 months have been a roller coaster of smiles, squeals, poop, spit up, baby toys, hospital/doctor visits, crazy sleep schedules, giggles, growing, learning, tears of joy, tears of stress, and pure love.

He is still tall and skinny. Stats:

Wt: 15lbs 10oz = 25%

Ht: 26.5 in = 50%

It was too soon to get his immunizations, but he did get the seasonal flu shot and H1N1 shot. The boy did not cry one bit! He is tough like his dad.

Wearing his Tie (thanks Aunt Em!):

He likes to hold his own bottle:

Happy Boy:

His first swing at the park (wearing his basketball outfit grandaddy picked out):

Christmas '09

At the airport heading to AK. He was ready for a nap!

Getting impatient to get off the plane with Uncle Ty

There was snow everywhere in Alaska! Noah liked it in short spurts.

Pete and I waited 3 hours at Sarah Palin's book signing. Got her book signed for her #1 fan, my dad!

Hanging out with Papa Rock and Great-Grandpa Gary. Not the best pic of any of them, but I didn't have a better pic of the men.

Worn out after shopping.

He got to try peas for Christmas. Doesnt seem that he is ready for solids just yet. We will give it a few more weeks.


Daddy taking him on his first sleigh ride

He was less than thrilled. haha!

Ready to come inside

Our family

With Aunt Clara

Noah and Auntie Em wearing their onsies

Openning gifts with Grammy

Four generations

Ringing in the new year with his buddy TJ in Abilene

Rolley Polley

Big news in the Hughes House: NOAH CAN ROLL

Well, he can roll from his tummy to his back. Hasn't made it all the way around yet.

Christmas posting coming soon!

One more thing...

I forgot to post Noah's stats from his 4 mo old appt.

13.9 lbs = 25th percentile
25 1/2 inches = 75th percentile

He is a tall skinny boy!

Thanksgiving, Popcorn, and Hotels

Thanksgiving:

We had such a fun Thanksgiving holiday with lots of family around. We went to Emory where we spent time with my whole family. And to make the holiday even better, Pete's 2 sisters, brother, and 2 cousins came to Emory to celebrate with us.

This was Noah's reaction when I told him about all the visitors he was going to have:




Here he is on the Willis farm watching all the men put together a big play fort for the kids. He was a little grumpy because he can't play on it yet.



This was the typical entertainment of the evening:




All of Noah's aunts and uncles in one place. What a lucky kid!



My little cowboy wearing his pearl snap shirt at church with Aunt Leah:

Popcorn:

We have been in Abilene over 3 years now, so the military tells us it is time to move. Off to Arkansas we go...but not before we sell our home in Abilene. The realitor came by and told us what we needed to do in order for us to get the best price: replace cabnet hardware, clean carpet, update light fixtures, touch up paint, de-clutter, clean yard, organize closets and drawers, and get rid of the POPCORN CEILING. oh dear! Our house is unrecongnizable right now with plastic, tape and white goo and powder everywhere! Thanks to all our friends who are helping out and especially Pete's brother, Tyler (aka: The Foreman).

Here is a small glimpse into the chaos:




That was once my living room. Guess who the clean-up crew is....ME!

Hotel:

A messy, dusty, cold house is no place for a baby, so Noah and I are staying at a local hotel thanks to our friend Amie for getting us a good deal. Pete and Tyler might have to sleep here a couple of nights, but mostly it is just me and NoBo. We are just practicing our adapting skills for when we move in January.

Noah is in the swing taking a nap:



This is just a bonus shot of Noah. Sometimes when Noah wakes up in the morning I lay him on the bed while I change, brush teeth, etc. He will sit there just watching TV like a big kid for a few minutes. Should I be worried that my 4 month old can already get glued to the TV? Thankfully his attention span is short.

I left Noah on my bed for a few minutes while I got breakfast and he became a chatter box, He was getting a little frustrated by the time I got the camera on him, but he gets happier in the end:

4 months old

Noah is now 4 months old! Where has the time gone?


My little Martian Man


Sitting in his bumbo chair.

Sitting in his high chair for the first time. He thought he was such a big boy.

Not sure he was a fan of rice cereal. A couple of days later I tried again and he gagged several times. Maybe we will give it a little more time.

Noah is very excited for Thanksgiving. He will get to meet Pete's siblings for the first time and spend time with my family.