Trick or Treat

Here's a picture of Noelle in her costume. We thought this would be a cute outfit for her to wear today, plus she can wear it Saturdays to cheer on the Aggies! (They'll be at Kyle Field for ESPN Gameday, by the way.) Now we just need to teach her "Gig 'Em" and we'll be all set.


We haven't had any pictures of Hannah on our blog recently, so here she is--our very own hallow-weenie. :-)

A Weekend of Babies!

We've had several friends have babies within a few months of Noelle, and this weekend seemed like a mini-reunion for all of them. I would say that Noelle had a lot of fun with her friends, but she's a little young for much interaction. The parents had a lot of fun, though. Just wait a few months and I don't think we'll be able to keep up with all of them! :-) Here are some pictures of our weekend:

Shannon, Kara & Sarah with Mallory, Brooke & Noelle.

Chillin' out at the soccer game...Go Crusaders!

Meeting Lillian--I think that Noelle is smiling even though she has her paci in her mouth.

3000!!

Chris reached a very important milestone yesterday...He now has the 3,000 hours required to become licensed as a professional counselor. He passed his LPC exam earlier this year, and so now all he has to do is wait to get his license in the mail. We are all so proud of him!

Baby Books

I've come to realize that baby books are not for anyone with perfectionistic tendencies. I don't consider myself to be a super-perfectionist or Type-A person, but I do like things to be done "correctly" and as neat as possible. So, tackling the baby book has been interesting to say the least.

I filled out most of the info the other night while Chris was at a lock-in at church. But I've been putting off one of the pages...her handprints and footprints. Today Noelle seemed extra happy and cooperative, so I thought I would give it a try.

I did the hands first. (Big mistake.) I got the ink on them (and on me & her pajamas) and then she clenched her hands so tightly that I ended up removing most of the ink as I tried to spread out her fingers. I tested her print on a piece of scratch paper and it looked awful. So, I cleaned off her hand and decided to go with the feet.

This was much easier, but still a little messy. I did end up getting some stray ink marks on her baby book page, but it didn't look horrible. It'll just be a memory of this *fun* experience.

Once I felt like I had the hang of it, I decided to do the hands again. At this point, I decided whatever I got done would be fine. I don't know how much fun Noelle was having, but after I realized the page doesn't have to be perfect in order to be special I started to have much more fun with it.

What an experience...trying to ink her hands, unclench the fists, put the prints in the book without smearing them too bad, keep the ink off of her outfit/bouncer/face, and cleaning her up before she put her hands in her mouth. :-) Here's a picture of the page and our mess!

She's 3 Months Old Now!

And I finally got out Noelle's baby book and started writing in it. I've been putting it off for a while, thinking that it would be hard filling out all of that info. It really wasn't bad at all. I hadn't looked at it in a while, and I was afraid that I would have already forgotten a lot of the things that it asks you. Luckily, the pages are pretty simple and I hadn't forgotten that much. What I didn't know, I took my best guess at. Better to have something than nothing, right?

Updates for her at 3 months...

*Last Thursday I saw her take a toy on her bouncer and put it in her mouth for the first time. That was pretty cool! I know that I will want to keep things out of her mouth, but it was neat to see her accomplish that for the first time! Later she made a cute noise that sounded like she was saying, "Man, I'm exhausted! Trying to get my hands on that thing is hard work!"

*I'm not sure of her weight since we don't have a check up this month, but I measured her length and she is about 24 inches long.

*She's so fun to "talk" to now. She can make sounds with you back and forth & will even try to mimic us sometimes. It's really cute! She's started to squeal when she plays with her toys, too.

*Since she's 3 months old, she can now go to our church's nursery. I've been looking forward to this day so that I don't have to worry about loud diapers, but I was a little sad taking her in today. I can already tell that kindergarten will be rough!! Anyway, she did great today! (And I only peeked in on her once.) :-)

*Bad habits: 1) She's getting to where she sucks her thumbs and fingers all the time. We try to give her a paci & she'll normally take it. But then those fingers make it to her mouth just as often. I don't mind, though, because she keeps herself occupied with it. 2) She likes watching the TV. I guess it's because of the bright lights. Is it too early for Veggie Tales already?

Anyway, that's our latest update. We are loving parenthood!

Baby Jeans

This morning it was pretty cold in Abilene, and with the cold weather came an opportunity to dress Noelle in some new clothes. I bought this pair of jeans when I went to a huge consignment sale in Abilene called "Dittos for Kiddos." I got some really good deals! Well anyway, these jeans are the most ridiculous things to put on! I didn't realize that the button in the front is FAKE. They are elastic in the back, but it isn't nearly as stretchy as normal baby pants. There is no easy way to get them on. I think it's a little too early in Noelle's life for me to be telling her to "suck it in" in order to get her clothes on. :-) Plus there are no snaps for easy diaper changes. These jeans are cute, but a hassle. I'm glad I only paid $2 for them. I guess you live and you learn. Now I'm a more experienced jean shopper.

A Message for Daddy

My friend Shannon had this idea & I thought it was too cute! Noelle is smiling a little more on cue these days, but it did take several shots before we got this adorable picture. (Sorry about the drool!) :-)

I love you, Chris!

First Trip to the Zoo

Noelle and I went to the zoo with several other moms & kids last week. The Abilene Zoo isn't huge, but it's nice to at least have a small zoo here. As you can see from the picture, Noelle slept through most of our trip, but I had a very fun time getting out of the house & getting some fresh air. (Although, near some animals the air didn't seem so fresh!)

Noelle continues to do very well. For about a week now, she has been sleeping later in the morning. I've been able to get 6-8 hours of sleep in a row! (I'm sure that now I've written about it on our blog she'll make a liar out of me tonight.) :-) I'm definitely starting to feel a little more normal, and a little less sleep deprived. We ran out of the frozen meals that I cooked during my nesting craze before Noelle was born, so I'm actually cooking now, also. I finally feel like I'm getting into more of a routine. I'm slowly getting used to this mom thing... :-)

Family Time

This past weekend was very fun for us. Chris' parents came for a visit and really enjoyed holding Noelle and seeing how much she had changed from their previous visit when Noelle was only 3 weeks old.

We then went to Dallas because Chris had a conference for work. Now that I'm a stay at home mom, I can actually travel with him! My mom met us and picked up me and Noelle for a quick visit. While I was with my mom, Noelle had her very first babysitter--my dad. He watched her while we went to the mall. Unfortunately, she fussed pretty much the whole time. I've been told that I cried way more than Noelle, so she was in very experienced hands!

It's so fun to watch both of our parents become "ga-ga" over this little girl!