Catching up!

Obviously things have gotten a little busy (hmm...frantic?) at the Barclay household lately and I have not been able to post anything in the last couple of weeks.

I have been back at work for 2 weeks, which has been going very well. Noah has been having fun with his babysitter, Ashley, and her son, Zachary. The whole arrangment has been working extremely well until we found out this weekend that they will be moving back to Michigan very soon due to some difficult circumstances, so now we are scrambling to find a new babysitter. Having to get Noah up, ready, and dropped off somewhere will sure make mornings more complicated. But we'll make the best of it.

Noah is now eating sweet potatoes, carrots, avocado, and bananas. He is beginning to get the hang of eating now. He loved the super sweet bananas but had a hard time settling down for bed afterward, so we will save those for breakfast next time! So far, he has liked everything but seems to have a little trouble with the carrots. Maybe it is the texture, not sure. I started adding a little formula to each bottle to begin the transition. My current plan is to stop breastfeeding completely by 6 months but I have a nice stash of frozen milk to carry him for a while too. (And, honestly, I think it has helped him sleep longer too.) Just when it finally became easier, breastfeeding became even more inconvenient with my work schedule. Noah can actually finish nursing in less than 30 minutes now! Sometimes it only takes 20, if he's not fighting with me too much! It's a little stressful with all the planning and preparing I have to do for my work days.

We weaned Noah off his 2:00am feeding and he can now make it from 7:00pm to 5:00 or 6:00am. Not that I don't have to get up and give him his pacifier or rock him back to sleep some. Night wakings have become a problem the last couple of nights. I'm praying its just a short phase and we will soon be able to actually enjoy the loss of that feeding! Naps are still only 30 minutes to an hour, 3 times a day. I know the pediatrician wasn't worried about it but Noah's mommy would really like it if he would take a couple of 2 hour naps everyday!!

Noah is able to roll from his back to his side now. Pretty soon he'll be flipping over onto that tummy! If I leave him laying on the floor, I sometimes come back to find him facing 90 degrees in the other direction. He tries so hard to sit up and to crawl. I'm sure that strong will and determination will get him there soon. Wonder where he gets that from? ;) His excited squeals, shrieks, and belly laughs are too cute.

Lots of traveling! Last weekend we visited Mamaw and Papaw in Wichita Falls and Noah traveled well and slept great. We are excited about our trip to Tulsa and Arkansas coming up this week. A little nervous, but hopeful it will go well. It will be Noah's first plane ride. Any tips? I'm concerned about feeding him and how in the world we're going to be able to check enough baggage to get all his stuff there. Another post to come about that one!

Happy boy!

Yummy sweet potatoes!

4 Months Old!

These monthly updates seem to be running together! I cannot believe how much changes around 4 months. Noah's not my 'little' baby anymore...he's becoming a BIG baby now! Which is a little sad but lots of fun anyway!

His stats at his 4 month checkup this week:

Weight-14 pounds 5 ounces (25-50%)
Length- 24 inches (10-25%)
Head- 16.25 inches

Noah did great at this appointment. I got some Lidocaine for his legs and gave him Tylenol before we left. He only cried a little and has been feeling much better as compared with the last round.

He has started letting out some big laughs over the past week. Daddy is quite the comedian at bathtime. He no longer wants to just sit up when pulled by his hands--pulls himself to a full standing position now! Very proudly I might add. Must get a video of that. Noah is drooling all over the place and loves to stuff his fists in his mouth. We gave him his first sample of formula this week (mixed with breast milk) to make sure he's not allergic and is not. However, he made a terrible face and spit it. It's just not like Mommy's milk! :)

I go back to work on the 17th and will try to keep up the breastfeeding a bit longer but can't make any guarantees since it might be difficult to manage the pumping. My mom visited for a couple of days this week since she goes back to work next week too. Noah and I loved playing with Mimi and all her help. Mamaw helped out before she went back to work too. All us school employees. :)

I have been happily making baby food all week and freezing it. I love it. So far we have cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, plums, and pears. I figured I should make it while fruit is cheap and I still have breast milk to add in. Noah is a hungry little dude so I imagine he'll be chowing down before the 5 month post. Tonight Noah had his first "solid" food. We tried some rice cereal and I'm not sure that it was a successful experience but it was funny anyway! See below.

Noah sleeps now from around 6:30 or 7:30 pm until 2:00 or 3:00 am, eats, sleeps until 5:30 or 6:00 am and then gets up around 7:30 am. We are beginning to wean him from the first feeding since his pediatrician says he doesn't really need it. Bedtime became SO much better after we "ferberized." Naptime, however, is pretty bad. I have given up on the crying it out for now because he just screams for an hour, which is when I am supposed to get him up if he doesn't fall asleep. It's just too hard. So we are doing the best we can and he isn't getting much daytime sleep.

Portraits from August 1:

Doesn't Dominick look like a little game show host in this one? Let's make a deal buddy...

Ah, the unexpected family portrait that nobody dressed for but we all kinda coordinated anyway. I'm not happy that the girl only took one shot and that I managed to do a marijuana blink during it. Oh well.

Sup, dudes.

First eating experience. Are you people crazy?

You'd think we put pickle juice in it.

08/08/09

Well, its been one year ago today that we set off on our Birthday Bash Cruise to the Bahamas with our good friends, Brian & Stacie, on 08/08/08. It also happens to be the one year anniversary of the day we found out that a little stowaway was on board the Barclay Mothership.

One year after our unexpected discovery, life has totally changed at our house! While we long for the days of beach vacations and nights of sleep to return, we have the most adorable soon-to-be 4-month-old as the result of a long year of hard work!

Mamaw and Papaw acting surprised when we told them we were expecting by giving them this little "gift."

This is the only baby item I could find in all of the Bahamas to celebrate the momentous occasion! And now, he is wearing it with a smile on his sweet face. :)

Family Day!

I declared August 3, mine and Jeremy's official birthday, as a family day! This means that both Mom and Dad are off work and the three of us spend the day playing. And play we did!

In the afternoon, we loaded up with suits and SPF 50 and headed to a friend's house to go swimming. Noah loved it! He was too cute. See videos below. After swimming, we swung by Cold Stone Creamery to pick up the ice cream cupcakes I was craving! Yum. And Noah had a good car seat day and good nap day as well! It was also pretty cool that Noah was 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days old on August 3. I love weird number things.

We also busted out Noah's jumperoo, which he really likes for a few minutes until it makes him mad. I think it must be tiring. Notice the dangling feet. Oh well, it will fit better soon.

I love that you hear him chuckle at the end of the second video!

29 and 32

Happy Birthday to us! What a great weekend we've had! I'll even have to split this into 2 posts.

We started off Saturday, the 1st, with celebrating Mamaw's birthday (Jeremy's mom). We met up with Dominick and Sophia so Noah could have his picture made with them and ended up with some family shots as well. And the kids were all really good! I'll have to post those next week after I pick them up. Then we had lunch and birthday cake at our house.

Next, Jeremy & I took off on a little "birthdaycation" while Mamaw and Papaw spent the night with Noah! And he did GREAT for them! (I'll have to update the sleep progress later but things have definitely improved. :)

Anyway, his mommy and daddy headed for downtown Dallas and had dinner at Cuba Libre with Jeremy's sister and our friends Kelly and Ross. It was awesome! I ate so much. Plantains and black bean dip for appetizers, grilled mahi mahi with mango, roasted veggies, and rice, and of course some kind of ice cream dessert with fruit. And a blackberry mojito, which was very tasty! :)

Then we spent the night at the Adolphus Hotel, where Kelly and I briefly crashed a glamourous wedding reception. I'm pretty sure I'll be appearing in the wedding video. Oops. I slept great until the wee hours of the morning where I started waking up every 30 minutes. By the time we got up, I was ready to get home and see my baby! When asked what it felt like to be away, I said it was strange, sort of like we rewound the clock a few months and had our former life back. And I thought about Noah and wondered how he was doing and missed him the whole time! And he really didn't seem to notice that we were even gone...hmmm. He was in great hands and we so appreciate Mamaw and Papaw giving us a night off and time together.

A is for Amy...or Adolphus, whatever.

Here's to Tim and Ashley, may they have a long and happy life together...please don't tell them we were at their reception. Kelly and I could not get over the size of this flower arrangement. The picture does not do it justice.

I cannot believe I am 29 years old. Where did the 20s go? It's my last year of this decade. Life got really good around my 26th birthday so I will be sad to see them go next year. :) Turning 30 means you're really.... a grown up.

More to come....

Ferber Baby

I got pretty frustrated recently with people insisting that babies should definitely sleep for 12 hours by 3 months (NO, they do not!) and that I should love rocking my baby to sleep 20 times, at all hours of the night, or morning rather. Of course, I treasure rocking him while he's sleeping and cuddly. It's the best thing ever. But I do not treasure it after the tenth time or at 4:00am.

Then Noah just lost his coping skills this week. Or something. After 2 nights of him crying for 2 hours, rocking, crying inconsolably, until he finally wore himself out and stayed asleep, it was clear that he needed us to do something else. (Not to mention that he slept a fabulous 8 hours after all this crying.)

My new books finally arrived this week. Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth and Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems by Richard Ferber. I especially like the Weissbluth book. (Thanks, Kerry!) It explains everything without telling you which of the various methods are right for you. Every pregnant woman needs to study this! I only read through a borrowed copy briefly before Noah was born, but at least I had some forethought of what might go on. Sleep is a terribly complicated thing it seems and most infants need help learning how to do it properly. Otherwise, you just endure months or years of sleep problems.

Anyway, we started with the Ferber method last night and Noah cried for an hour and a half before finally wearing himself out. We checked on him at 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, and then every 10 minutes. It only took 45 minutes for his morning nap today. It is the hardest thing ever though. I picked him up a few times last night (even though you aren't supposed to) just to calm him a bit. Sigh. We got through it. Of course, last night I dreamed that 2 people made CPS reports on me because they said Noah had injuries resulting from abuse.

Last weekend, Noah had some firsts! He went to the church nursery for the first time and went to a restaurant for the first time. We went out to Blue Goose with my family to celebrate our upcoming birthdays. He did great with both!

I am very excited that Jeremy and I are celebrating our birthday this weekend! We're going to dinner at Cuba Libre and spending the night at the Adolphus Hotel in downtown Dallas. Jeremy's parents are staying the night with Noah, which I am feeling guilty about since we just started the sleep training stuff. But it should be fun and I can't even imagine what a whole uninterrupted night of sleep will be like! I am packing the Benadryl just in case. :) Oh, and Saturday morning, Noah and his cousins are having their pictures made together to celebrate Mamaw's birthday that day.

Lots to blog about! We visited the pediatrician yesterday for a little diarrhea check (he is fine) and now weighs right at 14 pounds. Latest pics:

The product of a good night's sleep ;)

Tour de Paris

Last weekend, the Barclay bunch journeyed to good old Paris, Texas. Jeremy and I had plans to ride in the Tour de Paris bicycle rally on Saturday morning, but this was also an experiment. We needed to see how Noah would do with another attempt at a road trip.

The answer...not too badly! He cried off and on for about an hour before finally giving up and crashing on the way there. We arrived just in time for dinner and then putting a fussy baby to bed! My mom had plans for Noah to sleep in the antique baby cradle that generations of our family has slept in. (In case you haven't noticed, the woman is obsessed with old stuff. Just don't ask her about genealogy.) I was more than a little skeptical, concerned about safety and certain that he would not stay asleep in it. I put him down in it asleep and waited. And waited. The kid did not make a peep. He slept from about 7:30pm to 5:00am on the nose! I could not believe it. I'm pretty sure that was his best stretch yet. And of course, I could not sleep. One, because Jeremy and I were squished in a full-size bed when we are used to a king, and two, I kept listening for Noah to wake up and had to go check on him to make sure he was alright! Of course, since returning home, he added back an extra feeding, pushing it back to 2:40am this morning. You can just hear my mom saying, "It was that cradle, Amy! He really likes it."

Saturday morning Jeremy and I took the old bikes out to the Civic Center and rode in the 15K race. I don't know why but 10 miles on a bike sounds pretty simple to me. I was so worn out and my bum is still recovering! (My super athlete husband was totally bored by this.) But we were blessed with a beautiful, pleasant morning and I can say that I finished the race! I wanted to go buy some more Paris Vineyards wine but was too tired. :)

Sorry, we didn't take many pictures to commemorate the event. I was super tired by the time we got home Saturday evening. Noah cried slightly less on the way home. Good car seat training! Unfortunately, he wakes up as soon as you get off the highway and get caught by a stoplight or sign. Luckily, the trip is just long enough that we can feed him, put him in the car, and arrive just in time for the next feeding. We concluded that we probably need to travel more often to get get Noah used to it.

Thanks for all the prayers and advice, my sweet friends! I don't even mind it these days. I will have to start the sleep training soon to get Noah ready for his new babysitter! Praise the Lord, we found someone who comes highly recommended that we can actually afford. She plans to come to our house, at least at first, and will bring her own 14 month old with her.

Have a great week!