New pictures

This picture is from late summer/early fall, it is amazing how much older he already looks.

This one I just took earlier this week. I was folding up the blanket on the couch when I heard him whining. I turned around and saw that he had climbed in to the mixing bowl and got stuck. Instead of rescuing him immediately, I ran to get the camera. I just couldn't help myself!

Noah is also a future football hall of famer, in case you didn't know.

His smile just kills me. I think discipline is only going to get harder and harder with this little grin!

New Specs

I took Noah to the eye doctors today (he gets check-ups every 6 months now), and things are looking good! For those of you who don't know the reason for his glasses, he is near sighted in his right eye and far sighted in his left. The difference between the two was enough to make his eye doctor concerned about him developing a lazy eye, so he got glasses almost a year ago to help prevent it. After checking Noah out today, Dr. Berman said that his right eye is unchanged and his left eye is seeing better than before! He wrote a new prescription for glasses (good timing because Noah's old ones don't fit very well anymore) and told me that the chances of him developing a lazy eye are very small now. Even better - he almost certainly will never need any r.o.p. related eye surgery ever again!

I know it seems like I say this every time I post, but Noah is just taking off when it comes to meeting milestones now. He loves to play patty cake and knows when applause it due; he gives us high (or low) fives; he knows where eyes, nose and mouth are; he blows kisses; he is using toys in new ways every day; he is babbling up a storm and trying to mimic us; and he is eating tons of new foods! Our next goal is to get him drinking out of a cup consistently. He has known how to do it for a long time now, but refuses to drink anything other than juice out of it. He still insists on a bottle for his milk. Sometimes I think he is too smart for us, but I know we will eventually outsmart him! ;)

He is also developing quite the personality. His newest thing is to crouch really low, tuck his chin in to his chest, and stick his bottom lip out as far as it will go when we "hurt his feelings" - which is basically whenever we don't let him have his way. It is so hard not to just give in laughing! He is also starting to have a bit of a jealous streak. Last week Ruby, his daycare provider, was rocking one of the other little boys, and when Noah noticed he ran right over and started grunting and groaning until she picked him up and put him next to her. He quieted right down and was happy as a clam. I think we might have some trouble on our hands!

Up, Up, and Away!

Last Saturday, Noah began standing up without holding on to anything else. So instead of needing the coffee table, the couch, or one of our legs, he just gets on all fours and pushes in to the standing position!

This week he is really loving pushing around his grocery cart - usually in an upright walking position, but sometimes on his knees. There are no breaks on that thing, so sometimes he gets going pretty fast! He is also doing great at playing pass with me - we like to bounce a whiffle ball back and forth to each other on the coffee table. And he knows what to do with toy trucks now! He pushes them around on the coffee table and makes a "brmm, brmm," sound. We have been trying to show him forever, but I think it was watching the other little boys at day care that finally made it click for him. :)

Ups and Downs

The end of September was pretty rough in our household. It started with Noah catching a cold which led to an ear infection. The doctor gave us a prescription for antibiotics. A week later, the cold was gone, and we thought the ear infection was too, but he started throwing up. A day later, we could tell his ear was bothering him again. Back to the doctors who said it was all viral and to just keep an eye on his temp. When his ear started to drain that weekend, and he developed a fever, we had a feeling it was more than viral. We went to the doctors again on Monday and a prescription for a new antibiotic along with some ear drops because the ear infection was back, only in both ears, AND and ear drum had ruptured. I can't even describe how guilty I felt, knowing how much pain he must have been in. By the end of the week, he still wasn't himself and the second ear had started to drain. Darren tried to get the doctor to do a culture on ears, but the doctor claimed it wouldn't affect the treatment and instead gave us a super strong antibiotic to try.

Thankfully it did finally work, but we have learned from the experience. We are Noah's parents, and we know him better than anyone. Noah does not normally whine or cry unless he is feeling very unwell (he seems to have a high tolerance for pain - a common preemie characteristic), and he never wakes up during the night unless he is really sick. To be fair to our pediatrician, we were never actually able to see him during this illness. Two visits were on short notice and his schedule couldn't accommodate us, and two visits were on days he was not in the office. Instead we had to see other doctors in the practice that did not know Noah. I do honestly believe things may have been different if we had seen our doctor, especially for the last three visits.

We seem to finally be over the worst though. He is back at day care and loving it. He is making great gains with his motor skills, he knows how to put balls in the basketball hoop and the other toys that come with them, and he can put his rings on his stacker. He gets so excited when we do it together, and he says "Yay!" with me when he gets it in/on just right. He likes to bounce a ball across the coffee table to me, and when I bounce it back, he almost always catches it. He climbs stairs like monkey, and is super sneaky at it, so we have to keep a very close eye on him whenever we let him out of the gated living room. In fact, he is pretty sneaky with anything he knows he is not supposed to be doing. After we say no to something, he will stop and act like he is going to do something else, stop, go back to what he was originally doing and watch us with a big smile on his face, waiting to see if we stop him again. When he is on our laps with a bottle, he likes to look at our ears, and if we turn to look at him, he will push on our chins so he can see our ear again. He likes to play "beep, beep" with our noses too. :)

He is eating lots of big boy foods now (only by finger though, he won't let us feed him much more than yogurt or fruit and cereal). His favorites are peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, banana, bacon (maybe he is channeling Elvis?), toast with yummy toppings (peanut butter, jam, or cinnamon sugar) and pretty much anything Darren and I are eating at the time - but it has to be something we are actually eating. He loves to eat things from our own plates/bowls like a little bird, but if we try to give it to him on his tray he is NOT interested!

It is amazing to watch him change and grow. He is looking more and more like a little boy and less like a baby. It makes me both sad and excited! As each month goes by, I think to myself, this is my favorite age, only to find out it gets even better the next month. This will be the first year we take him out to trick or treat, and he will be collecting change for the Ronald McDonald House. His memere is making him a Flintstones "Bam Bam" costume to go with the plastic bat he got at the beach this summer (which he loves to swing around everywhere). And we are so excited for this Christmas, now that he will have a better idea of what is going on and what to do with all that paper (tear it up, of course!). He will have a new baby cousin by then too, and we can't wait to take pictures of them together!

Even though there are bumps in the road with illnesses and other stresses, I have to say that here on the Brann Rollercoaster, life is good!

First Steps!

Noah just let go of the love seat and took three steps towards me before grabbing on to his toy shopping cart! The crazy thing is, he was just so nonchalant and easy about it, like he had been doing it for months now. Of course now that I have the video camera out he refuses to budge. But I saw him do it with my own eyes, and that is good enough for me!

They keep coming!

One more tooth for Noah, on the bottom. That makes three total on the bottom and two on top. Today was also the first time I actually heard Noah crunch something with his teeth - a cheerio. It was so cute to hear coming from him! (Of course in my book, everything - well almost everything- i so cute!)

I head back to work next week. I can't believe it is time already! Tomorrow I will be bringing Noah to Ruby's house, his new day care, so he can start getting used to it. I think he will enjoy being around other kids, but I am still a little nervous to leave him. He is getting to be a little mama's boy, and I don't want him to miss me too badly (a little would be good for my ego though!). And of course, after his rough start in this world, I can't help but worry a little extra about him. I know he will be in good hands though, and I am sure it will be harder on me than it is on him!

And for those of you doing some back-to-school shopping, check out the great deals:

Tops!

Noah got two, top front teeth this past weekend, bringing him to a grand total of four. So cute!




Finally Firsts!

A short post about two new milestones that we have been waiting for very impatiently ;)

This weekend, while staying at Grammy Shorty's, Noah finally starting feeding himself little finger foods, like cheerios and puffs. He has been feeding himself big things, like crackers, for a long time. And he has been picking up and inspecting little finger foods like cheerios for a long time too, but he just wouldn't put them in his mouth. Now he has put it all together and is eating them like a champ!

He has also started to wave bye-bye! He did it once this weekend, but we weren't sure if he was actually waving or just trying to bat at the person he was supposed to be waving at. Today we know for sure because he waved to two different people - his memere, and even more importantly, his speech therapist (Jane). She and I were both sooooo excited. Yayyyyy, Noah!!!

Makes You Wonder

If Noah had made it to his due date, he would be one year old today. Hard to believe, isn't it? Especially when you consider the results of his 15 month check up on Monday. He weighs 23 lbs, 12 oz., and he is 32 inches long. That makes him heavier than 45% of other 15 month old babies and taller than 75% of them! His head is in the 97th percentile. That means really big brains, right? ;) It makes you wonder what he would be like today if he hadn't been 15 weeks premature. It is easy to assume that he would be even bigger, but you never know. I've always kind of thought in the back of my mind, that as crazy as it sounds, maybe Noah needed to be born early. If I hadn't gone in to labor on April 8th, maybe things wouldn't have turned out as perfectly as they seem now. That's the thing with "what if's" - you just never know. The one thing I do know is that Noah is a happy, healthy, thriving, soon-to-be toddler, and I could not be more grateful for that.

Noah's second tooth has finally come in as well. And just like with the first one, he was crankier the two days following its appearance than he ever was before it arrived. He seems to be over the worst of the pain though, and is back to his darling self. We have yet to get a good shot of either of his teeth; he refuses to show off for the camera. Instead, we have another beach picture. They were both taken by Auntie Amber, who also visited us at the beach. Thanks Auntie!

Where is the summer going?

Summer is flying right by, despite the fact that the weather has rarely been worthy of the summer.

We just returned from our first vacation on the beach. We rented a cottage on Hills Beach in Biddeford Pool with Memere and Pepere, just in time for the sun to arrive. Everyone back home claims it continued to rain, but where we were - it was pure fun in the sun. Thank goodness!

Other than a slight disruption to his normally generous sleep schedule, Noah had a fantastic time. He loved the cottage - no gates to stop his exploring! He especially loved the kitchen where he would bang on the oven's drawer and look at his own reflection on the oven door. (Don't worry, never when there was any cooking going on!) He was a little angel on the beach, never budging from his beach blanket under the cabana (he didn't even mind being slathered in sun screen. He is his father's ghostly pale son, after all!). He loved having his feet dipped in the ocean - he didn't even mind the freezing temperature! He wasn't crazy about the feel of the sand, but overall, his beach experience was a success. He had a visit from Auntie Jaime and Rylee on Wednesday and got to spend two and a half days with his NC cousins - Rachel and Derrick. He especially liked watching Derrick play the Wii. And of course, having Memere and Pepere around to love for a whole week was the icing on the cake!

We have tons of cute pics, you can check them out soon on our shutterfly page (check the link on the side of the page), but here is one of my favorites in the meantime!