Great Wagon Race of 2010: Baby's First...

It's been awhile... I know, I'm a slacker. Noah has adoring fans all over the world, and I've been keeping him from them. So, I should start with the excuses, just to get them out of the way.

Libby went back to work January 3, so life has been different in the Egle household. Fortunately, her first month back was very flexible and allowed for lots of time working from home, and not necessarily during normal business hours. AND to make the deal even sweeter, Jonathan was on a rotation that was mostly clinic, so there were very few unpredictable late OR days. (Editor's note: Jonathan still thinks clinic is miserable and would rather be in the OR any day of the week, but he does recognize it's contribution to a sane, balanced schedule.) So, Libby was on baby duty during the day and Jonathan in the evenings. All was well with the world.

And then, there was February. It's only a few weeks old, but it feels like YEARS... It has definitely been the biggest test of our parenthood thus far. Libby went back to not just a more full-time hospital schedule, but a hectic half-nights half-days never consistent from day-to-day sort of schedule. Throw that on top of Jonathan's 80 hours a week back in the unpredicable world of operating most days, and you've got a little bit of a mess.

We'd matched with a Au Pair from Turkey, Esra. That was the good news. The bad news is that she didn't arrive for the first two weeks of February. We had no idea how that would work. Have you ever tried getting a babysitter for 5:30am? Or worse yet, from 5:30am until 7pm? That's what some of our days looked like in terms of child care needs.

I will take this opportunity to publically say that without the Egle grandparents, these past two weeks would have been either impossible or we would've gotten fired from our jobs... one of the two. Grandma Egle watched Noah all day with Donna at the day care, and sometimes before and after, for extra hours and hours. In the evenings, Grandpa Egle helped, too. They never complained about the loooonnnnggg hours or the crazy schedules that changed from day-to-day and were never finalized until the last second, and in fact, complained only on the few occasions when our schedules changed so that we didn't need their help a few days. "Aww! Grandpa Egle is going to miss him!" they would say...

So, in short, THANK YOU GRANDMA AND GRANDPA EGLE!!! (and Donna too!)

Not saying it was an easy two weeks for us, though... On a good day, each way driving was 35 minutes, and with the weather, the trip on more than one occasion took over two hours... so AT LEAST an extra 2 1/2 hours in the car every day (but usually more than that) was not fun. Not fun at all. It was hard on everyone involved.

But hopefully you will accept that excuse for why it's been awhile for a post. Esra has arrived now, and our schedule is a bit less hectic... that's the topic for a future post, I suppose, but now, let me share a few of the "first"s that have taken place recently...

Bowling Trip
Noah had his first bowling adventure. Jonathan started bowling at a young age... he was on his first league at three years old, so Noah wanted to see what this was all about. Granted, he's about the same size as a bowling ball, so he can't quite lift one yet, but he still needed to scope things out.

Our Sunday School class went for a trip to the bowling alley

Noah made the rounds, paying his social visits

Meanwhile, his dad was hard at work, racking up turkeys

It was a long morning, and everyone was tired...

But in the end, everyone was happy. There might just be something to this bowling thing.

Bath Time

Of course, this wasn't his first bath time, but he's still really cute, and he really likes his baths, so I had to include some cute baby pictures...

This time it's Mommy's turn to be photographer, and Daddy's job to do the hard work

He doesn't even mind when bath time is over!

Ain't nobody dope as him, he's just so fresh, so clean *So fresh and so clean, clean.*

Finally getting some routines down...

More Cute Baby Pictures

I know, I know... I'm wandering from my theme. I'll get back to it. I promise! But let's be honest, here. Cute baby picture are really the only reason anyone ever visits this blog anyway.

A man of many expressions... Shocked!

Happy!

Flirty!

Roll-Over?

Sometimes Noah has found himself on his stomach. Whether or not he realizes that it's because that's how we set him down, I'm not sure. But he tolerates it for a few minutes and then decides he's done. Usually, he lets us know, and we swoop to his rescue and cater to his every need, worrying if we've permanently damaged his psyche.

Lately, though, he's been working on figuring out this whole independence thing. If he just pushes hard enough with one arm, what might happen?

The world looks more sideways...

Balance feels a little funny...

And then...?

And then... well, Noah still hasn't figured that one out yet. the picture above is the closest he's gotten to rolling over. He's really close, but has't quite crossed the treshold, yet. So, keep posted on this one, and we'll let you know.

Day at Work

Libby went back to work at the beginning of the year, so Noah decided that was the thing to do. While Libby was working from home, Noah would often help her.

That's it, Mom! Push that button!

Blizzard

He'd seen snow before, but never quite like this... We had a few big storms in January. Noah was prepared, though, thanks to the snowsuit Grandma and Grandpa Asai gave him...

All bundled up and ready to go!

Lots of snow!

A SHORT walk on our street was all Noah experienced, first-hand, but he watched from the window, too.

Tooth!
Grandpa Asai is probably most excited about this one... Lately, Noah has been pretty much like a Saint Bernard. He chews on everything. And he drools... a LOT! That can only mean one thing to a baby: teeth are on their way.