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: