Bringing People Together

Quite a while back, Grandma and Grandpa Asai called.

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Them: "Hi, we were thinking of visiting. We were thinking maybe the weekend of March 12."

Us: "Well, that's so far in advance we don't have our schedules yet. We don't have vacation, and we don't know if we'll be on-call."

Them: "That's ok. Will Noah be there? That's all that really matters."

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Well, that's not verbatim, but that was basically the summary of the conversation. So, they booked their tickets, and as it turned out, we were around for most of it. I had call on the day that they left, but otherwise, we got to spend some time with them as they played with Noah.

Noah and Grandpa having some quality time on the couch

Grandma Asai shows Noah how cool rattles are

So they came. Of course, Noah was excited to see them. He was especially excited that Grandpa Asai brought him a toothbrush and that he could finally have someone who knows what they're talking about examine them.

And Noah, being the uniter that he is, rallied up the troops and invited everyone over for dinner at our place.

Cousin Ellia was chilling out, maxin', relaxin' all coolin' on the couch

Noah likes Grandpa Egle's hand hold

It was fun to get together and see people. Dinner was great. Some of it may have ended up on Kevin's head, thanks to his daughter.

And of course, after dinner, Ellia got all crazy like she tends to do, and she started table dancing... Fortunately for us, Kevin was able to restrain himself and didn't join her.

All the Girls Say He's Pretty Fly for a White Guy

New Kicks Our kid's got fashion. There's no denying it. And to prove it, here are some shots of his kicks...

They make him dance everywhere... even on the kitchen sink

That's right. Converse All-Stars. I don't know if I've ever been cool enough to have a pair of those. But Noah rocks them. Granted, it takes his parents a good 15 minutes to get them on him, but they look sweet. He can just chill at home with the cool footwear, knowing that if he needed to run anywhere, he's got the traction to do so.

Surgeon in Training

Noah really likes his daddy. In fact, Noah wants to cut people, just like his daddy does. So, he was quite excited to model his new shirt from Aunt Laura which shows how eager he is to cut things with Daddy.

What are These Funny Things? Feet! Noah has found those wonderful little appendages... perfect for grabbing... sometimes for trying to eat.... often good sources of tickling. Before, he would just lie complacently, waiting to get his diaper changed. Then one day he found his hands and they never left his mouth. And now, he's found his feet so that he grabs tight and never lets go.

Overalls

Every little boy needs at least one pair of overalls. And if anyone can make overalls look good, it's Noah:

Rolling, rolling, rolling...

Noah is bigger... he's stronger... he's better than ever. That's what happens when his daddy is too much of a slacker to update on a more regular basis. This is a catch-up post. And it doesn't even catch all the way up, but here are a few highlights of Noah's new tricks since I last posted eons ago:

Terrific Tummy Time Noah has always been a little reluctant to lie on his tummy... maybe it's because it's big, making it hard for him to balance. (That was a joke... his belly's not THAT big.) He is tolerating it more and more these days. And as he lies on his belly, he tends to alternately push with each leg. He doesn't go anywhere... yet. That day is probably coming soon. Also, he's rolled a few times from front-to-back, but he sometimes forgets that he knows how to do that. It's not very consistent, yet.

Sitting Pretty Noah is now an excellent sitter. He sits cross legged way better than his inflexible father. His balance the first few days of trying was a little sketchy, but now he's pretty rock solid. Well, by "rock solid," I mean that we still surround him routinely with pillows just in case he topples, but that doesn't happen too much any more. He's even good at reaching for and grabbing things in front of him and off to the sides without falling. Next thing you know, he'll be trying out the balance board on the Nintendo Wii.
Brushing Regularly He's still got two teeth. I don't think that will last much longer, because he seems on the verge of at least one more. But we have gotten him into the routine of brushing his teeth every night before bed. We use a brush that goes over the tip of one of our fingers and has bristles at the end. He seems to enjoy the unrestricted opportunity to chew our fingers more than anything, since we usually discourage it due to pain and the potential bleeding associated with it.
Cute Baby I'm sorry... have I mentioned it yet in this blog that our baby is really cute? As a matter of fact, maybe the rest of this entry should just be pictures of him...

Is that Godzilla or Noah?

Little Leprechaun

Noah is pretty excited about his Irish roots. So, when we told him about Saint Patrick's Day, he was completely geeked out. He couldn't wait to put on his best Irish outfit and put on a show.

Of course, he was calm and well behaved when we told him to be patient, but once we told him it was okay to cut loose... cut loose he did!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

All He Wanted for Christmas...

Two new updates for our little man. First of all, he has developed for himself a new nighttime routine. Noah and I had sat down and had a little man-to-man talk about his nighttime feedings, and I think we got that under control. The past three nights, he hasn't had more than one bottle overnight at all. He's gone as long as 12 hours without needing a bottle!

You're thinking, "Holy cow! He's so advanced! You're the luckiest parents in the history of mankind!" Well, I agree, but all is not as it seems.

Our sweet little guy... he couldn't cause any trouble, could he?

While he doesn't eat much at night these days, the past three nights have actually been more painful than any nights in a long time. He's developed this new habit of waking up, even more often than before, and crying more and more fervently until someone soothes him back to sleep. If I try to give him a bottle (because the only time that he ever used to wake up crying was when he was hungry), he forcefully turns his head away and refuses to drink. If I try to give him a pacifier, he ignores it and continues crying as if nothing has happened. If I make "Shhhhh" sounds (which used to soothe him a bit), it makes no difference.

He's got me wrapped around his little finger.

He knows that I will quickly cave in. I will pick him up, and walk with him, patting his back until he falls back asleep. Then, when I put him down, sometimes I'm unlucky, and he wakes up, and we start the cycle again. If I am lucky and he stays asleep, who knows for how long... Sometimes it's a couple hours... more often it's an hour... sometimes it's 15 minutes. PAINFUL.

Hopefully this is a short-lived phase. As I write this, I'm on-call, and Libby is also working, so Grandma and Grandpa Egle are gracious enough to watch him for the night. Maybe having a night away from home with be enough to snap that little habit. (If not, I'm really sorry Mom and Dad.)

And that brings us to update number two, which may or may not be related to update number one. Noah's competitive side has become evident. He heard that he wasn't the only one with a new tooth (his cousin Ellia got one on Superbowl Sunday), so he decided to one-up her. He realized he couldn't really do any damage with a single tooth, so out popped a second one, right nextdoor to the first.

Side-by-side, sharper than they look.

At this rate of about a tooth a week, I figure he should have a full set in time to chomp down a hotdog at his first baseball game. He's still very drooly and chews on everything (which, on a side note, seems to be his new designated purpose for his pacifier, rather than sucking it). I haven't felt any other new teeth coming in, but he sure does love biting things... and sometimes it seems like he's trying to chew with the back of his jaw, which makes me wonder.

(My mother just pointed out I was 8-9 months before I slept through the night. That's not hereditary, is it?)

AHHHH!!! LOOK OUT! THE TEETH ARE COMING!!!

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.

Fortunately for us, he's been happy throughout the experience!

(Or is that just because he's wearing a Tiger's shirt?)

Do you see what I see? a TOOTH!

(It's just to the left of the finger... look closely, it's LITTLE)

Working on an even more beautiful smile!

Tooth number 1!