Merry Christmas, Part Two

Christmas day was outrageous! Noelle had, by far, the most presents. She seemed to enjoy all of the attention! Chris and I enjoyed opening her gifts this year, but I know that we will really enjoy watching Noelle do it herself next year! I've heard that's as fun as playing with the toys! We were so blessed by the generosity of our families. Needless to say, Noelle won't have to go naked and she won't be bored.

In addition to all of these fun toys, Santa came and left Noelle some baby food in her stocking. :-) It's too bad she can't enjoy it for a few more weeks.

By the time it was the adults' turn to open presents, Noelle was zonked out. Christmas is hard work when you're a baby.

Merry Christmas, Part One

We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas with your friends and families. It goes without saying that our Christmas was extra special this year because of our beautiful baby girl! Here are some highlights:

On Christmas Eve, we had Noelle dedicated at our church. We were so glad to be able to do this when all 4 of Noelle's grandparents could be there. This was a really special time for our family as we recognize that God has entrusted us with this precious little girl.

Here are some pictures when we are all dressed up after church:

Our families had a wonderful time playing with her. We caught some of her newest tricks on film:

Pictures!

Here's a recap of our weekend in pictures:

First apple juice (unfortunately, no funny faces):


Noelle playing with my cousin's kids:

Here is Noelle's dress that her grandma smocked for her (it's hard to see, but it has candy canes on it):

Visiting Rebecca (my college roommate):
And from Chris' weekend:

And another--Chris is on the left:

:-)

I'd like to use a sick day, please.

Well, this has been a week of "firsts." I still can't believe how much Noelle can change from week to week!

Chris went hunting this weekend, and so my mom came to pick me up and we made our first trip to Houston. We've been able to see my mom's sister & family, and we also saw my college roommate. I've had a super time with all of them. Plus, the shopping is WAY better in Houston! (Although the traffic is WAY worse!) Anyway, so this is the longest Chris has been away from Noelle, and I know he missed her mucho! We're headed back this afternoon and I'm anxious to see Noelle's reaction to seeing her daddy.

On with the firsts...Noelle had some apple juice for the first time. She's been a little "stopped up" since starting cereal, and this definitely helped move things along. I was primed and ready with the camera to get her face when she tasted this new stuff. No cute faces, though. She seemed to really enjoy it.

She's also rolling all the way across the room now. She can only go in one direction, so we're having to constantly pick her up and turn her around.

She also got her foot in her mouth and sucked on her toes. Boy is that a weird thing to see. I was getting her ready for bathtime, and I looked down and she had her foot in her mouth! I didn't think she was flexible enough, but she is.

The other first was one for me. I've had a cold while we've been gone. This is my first time to be sick as a mom. Definitely not fun. I was very fortunate to be with my mommy so she can take care of me. I think that moms should be immune from any illness for at least a year! Gone are the days of being able to call in sick to work. :-)

I'm at my aunt's house, and so pictures of the weekend will follow later! There are some cute ones!

Progress

Noelle finally rolled over all the way! She has done it 3 times...once a day for the past 3 days. It is definitely still an accident when it happens, but it's been so fun to watch her! I missed the very first time because I was at the grocery store while Chris was watching her. Bummer. But it was cool that he got to see it! I figure that there are going to be many milestones that I see first since I'm with her more. Anyway, I've gotten to see her do it the other times. Noelle seems pretty pleased with herself when she makes the last half turn. She is also getting to be much more content when she's on her tummy. Yea for progress!

Cereal is going pretty well. I think her digestive system is finally getting used to it. Man, I thought diapers were bad before...I don't think I want to feed her any vegetables or anything. Can she live on cereal until she's potty trained? :-) I'm also wondering why they are developmentally ready for solid foods about the same time they have mastered spitting and blowing spit bubbles? Noelle is having lots of fun playing with her food. Between spitting up and messing with cereal, I don't think I'm ever going to have clean looking clothes.

Naughty or Nice?

So much for a cute Christmas picture...

Solids, Bad Hair & Sleep

The latest update from the Mathis world:

Solid foods are going OK, but not as well as I thought they would when we first started. Apparently adding the cereal has done a number on Noelle's digestive system, and we have found a pretty fussy baby on our hands the last couple of days. I called the pediatrician's office and they gave me a few tips, but said to stick with it for now. We'll see...

Sleep is better. I think the main difference is using the sleep positioner. (Even though it could be due to the cereal, but she's really not eating much of it at all yet.) She did wake up the last 2 nights briefly, but before that we had 5 or 6 days in a row with no crying. Yea!

And lastly...I thought you might enjoy this picture we took after bath time.

Adventures in Food

We had lots of fun at the Mathis household today. Not only did it snow, but we gave Noelle rice cereal for the first time. It was pretty funny! At first she made some faces like, "What in the world are you doing? This stuff is weird." When we started she spit out a lot of the cereal and didn't really seem to like the spoon. But after a little while, she got used to it and started opening her mouth more. I think by the end of the bowl she liked it pretty well. I hope you enjoy the pics!

Pictures with Daddy

I tried to put this picture on the previous posting, but it didn't work. Chris is enjoying a snow day at home with us today!

Let It Snow

This morning, I didn’t wake up to a crying baby—I woke up to the sound of sleet. Crazy Texas weather!!! Yesterday the high was 76 degrees. Chris and I raked leaves and put up Christmas lights in t-shirts & shorts. Then, the temperature dropped 18 degrees in 2 minutes, and this morning we had sleet and snow!!!! We took Noelle outside to play for just a minute and take some pictures. Don’t worry…we didn’t have her out in the snow for long.

I’m glad we already decorated the house because I wouldn’t want to do it in the cold. :-) Decorating for Christmas is always fun, but it’s a lot of work. Chris and I set out to find a tree this year because ours was super-wobbly. We decided since we’ll have several young kids over here for our life group party, it was time to invest in a new one that hopefully won’t tip over. We splurged on one that is pre-lit! That made the job much easier.

I also tried to put my collection of snowmen out of harm’s way. It’s kind of a dress rehearsal for next year when Noelle will be into everything. Boy am I glad she can’t get into stuff yet! As you can see I made a HUGE mess…I think next year I’ll have to decorate when Noelle goes to sleep.

Something else we got this year is a timer for our lights. It is super cool…it automatically turns on at dusk, and then you can set it to turn off after 2, 4, 6, or 8 hours—or you can have it turn off at dawn. Very high tech. I’m just glad I won’t have to go unplug the lights in this weather! (I know I’m a wuss.)

Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful wintry day! And if you don’t have snow where you live…enjoy pictures of ours!

Noelle's Check-Up

Noelle's appointment yesterday went great! The doctor said she looked great & was still gaining weight well. She's 13 pounds & 13 ounces (50%), and her length is 24 1/2 inches (25%). I really think she's longer than that...the nurse didn't stretch her out too much, but that's the official number.

She also did really well with her shots. She cried more when they gave her the oral vaccine for rotavirus than when she got the actual shots! Yesterday she seemed very happy and alert, but today I'm noticing a little more crankiness and sleepiness than normal. For example, when I was feeding her today, I laughed at something on the TV and she burst into tears! (I guess she takes after me.)

She got the go-ahead for solid food. I think that will be SO fun! We'll be sure to blog about that and include pictures!

As for sleeping...our doctor just recommended letting her cry it out. The problem with that for Noelle is that sometimes when she's crying it's because she's rolled over and is on her tummy. So, we tried the sleep positioner yesterday, and she did really well with it during naps. We tried it again at night and she slept really well. 10 hours and no crying! Yea! I can't tell you how bad I needed a full night's sleep!

Will I Ever Sleep Again?

Our Thanksgiving was really fun. We went to my family's house the first half of the holiday & watched the A&M/Texas game there. What a surprise! We're glad that Noelle's first game was a win!

Then we traveled to Waco and spent the second half of the holiday with Chris' family. Both trips were great...we had tons of good food & Noelle got lots of spoiling from her grandparents! We did have to endure a marathon crying session in the car, though. Not fun. At one point, Chris said she sounded like a strangled ostrich. Poor thing!



This morning we go to Noelle's 4 month check up. I'm looking forward to seeing how much she's grown in the last two months! (But I'm not looking forward to the shots!) I'll be sure to update that stuff on the blog. One thing I'm asking the doctor about is Noelle's sleeping habits. For a few weeks she was sleeping through the night perfectly! But for about a month she's been waking up once or twice a night. All she needs is a paci and to be swaddled (no feeding, thank goodness), but I'm getting really tired. Last night was really bad. We went to bed early, but I had a hard time going to sleep...then Noelle woke up at 2:30 & 3:30. THEN...my cell phone was dinging because it had a low battery, but I couldn't find it. Urg. Coffee, anyone?

Anyway, even though Noelle's swaddled, she'll some times wiggle her way out and roll over to her tummy at night. She really doesn't like that (see Tummy Time posting below), and so there's no hope of her going back to sleep on her own at that point. I wonder what the doc will say... Probably something like don't give her a paci anymore to get her to go to sleep. Hmmm...I'd like to see him try that!


This doesn't really have anything to do with Noelle, but we went shopping for a new Christmas tree yesterday. Do you know that they now sell upside down Christmas trees? Weird...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sorry it's been so long since we've posted anything on our blog. I'm supposed to be packing right now so that we'll be ready to leave when Chris gets home from work... I'm stalling because I really hate packing!

Here are some quick updates:

• Noelle turned 4 months old last Saturday. We go to the doctor next week and I'll be able to fill you in on her stats.
• She still is only turning over halfway. She doesn't get quite as mad on her tummy, but she still screams if we leave her there too long.
• We're headed to see family this week and are looking forward to introducing Noelle to some people she hasn't met yet.

I've been a bad mommy and haven't taken many pictures the last week or so. Here's one of Noelle with her daddy watching the A&M vs. Nebraska game:

Anyway, enough of my stalling! We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

Growth Spurt?

I know this seems crazy, but I think Noelle has gotten bigger overnight! I know that since I'm her mom and I see her everyday, that I don't normally see the changes that everyone else sees. But to me, she's now starting to look more like a child and less like a baby. And she's getting really long. I got the tape measure out and she's about 25 inches long. I definitely think there's a growth spurt going on...She's wanting to eat more often and is waking up in the night hungry. (Urg!!! I thought we were past that!)

Last night Noelle went to her first football game. It was a junior high game in Lueders, TX (pop. 300). You know your town is small when you play 6 man football and there are only 7 people on your team. She had fun, but we think she prefers watching football on TV. :-) She's all geared up for tomorrow's A&M/Nebraska game!

Here are some recent cute pics! Enjoy!

Tummy Time

Noelle hates tummy time! I probably didn't put her on her tummy enough when she was itty-bitty, and now she SCREAMS when we do it. She'll lay there for a couple of minutes grunting and trying to lift up her head, but she really isn't too good at it. Then she gets frustrated and cries until we flip her back over. Sometimes she keeps crying after we turn her over...she makes a very pitiful pouting face as if to say, "Why did you leave me like that?" It's kind of funny to watch her face down on the blanket, but I also feel mean to let her lay there frustrated.

This really wasn't much of a problem until Tuesday. Then she learned to flip herself over. Now she just needs to learn the other half of the roll! Yesterday evening she probably rolled over 10 times and I kept having to bail her out and turn her over. I let her lay on her tummy each time so she might start developing her "tummy skills" but Noelle was really unhappy about this. I guess I would be, too, if I was "trapped" on my stomach.

When she's older, she'll probably wonder why I was taking a picture of her instead of helping her. :-)

Election Day

Today Noelle had a couple of "firsts." Sarah took her to vote, and since she wasn't sure who to vote for in the gubernatorial race, she let Noelle decide. :-) Noelle did need a little help working the electronic voting booth.

The other new thing that Noelle did was roll over from her back to her tummy several times. She did it once a long time ago, but she wasn't really trying to do it. Today she spent a while rolling and swinging her legs from side to side, sometimes with enough momentum to propel her to her tummy. The first time she did it, Sarah was switching the laundry to the dryer, and she came back in the living room to find Noelle like this:

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!