Video: Our Little Drummer Boy

We have a video of Noah playing the Rock Band drums. Perhaps the drumline is in his future?? Enjoy.

Playing is Hard Work, Mom

Late this afternoon, Noah was acting a little whiny in his exersaucer while I was working in the kitchen. The next thing I know, he's being quiet (always a bad sign, as every mother knows). I turn to check on him, and this is what I see:


It was too adorable! Playing must be harder work than I realized!

Falling asleep in random places is hard to do. Do I sense an uncanny resemblance to Uncle James?

Can he really be 9 months?

Noah is turning 9 months this week. While each month brings new milestones and new changes, I think 9 months is significant. He has finally be "out" as long as he was "in".

Noah has lately been "talking" a lot more lately. His babbles sound more like words (a-ga-da-o) instead of just syllable repetition (ba-ba-ba). Apparently while cousin Benjamin (13 months) is the walker, Noah is the talker.

Noah loves pushing around a little toy walker that a friend is lending us. He walks all over the house pushing that little toy. It is so cute! He is not walking on his own yet, but he is standing alone and cruising along furniture.

VIDEO: Here is a video of Noah pushing the little walker:

Noah is into everything. He is generally fascinated by odd little objects and the noises they make. Crunchy paper. Hangers. Door stoppers. He loves drawstrings on jackets, zipper pulls, and buttons on shirts.

Into the Halloween candy a few weeks ago:

Noah loves to eat. It is impossible to eat in front of him without him whining for you to share! He now eats a lot of table food. Though he still has no teeth, he eats a lot of food that requires chewing/mashing. Noah's favorite snack is Cheerios. His favorite foods are meats (chicken, turkey, roast beef) and fruits (bananas, peaches, and apple blueberry). He dislikes some of his veggies.

Hopefully this week we will take him to get 9-month pictures done!

Guys and a Game

This was too cute.   I saw them together and had to snap a couple of photos.  Apparently Jason and Noah both enjoy snacking while watching the Colts play.  :)

State Championship Football Game at Lucas Oil Stadium

On Friday, we went to the Indiana High School Athletic Association's Football State Championship 1A game. Sheridan (my family's hometown) was playing to earn their 10th State championship title against Cardinal Ritter. It was our first time to visit Indianapolis' new stadium, Lucas Oil Stadium. It was a very impressive venue.

Sheridan lost the game 34-27, but it was avery competitive game. It was tied 27-27 and Ritter scored with only 45 seconds to go! =( Maybe this was payback from two years ago when Sheridan beat Ritter at the state championship in overtime.

Views of inside Lucas Oil Stadium

Noah was more interested in his toy than in watching the game. Typical 8-month old.

Noah was a happy kid at the game.

Our little family at Lucas Oil Stadium

CVS Shopping

This week I realized again just how worthwhile CVS shopping is.  Normally I would never shop there for groceries and toiletries, due to the cost.  Generally CVS is very overpriced.  (Example: All laundry detergent 7.49....at Walmart it is 5-something.)  I ONLY purchase the items that are on sale (plus I use a coupon) or they are Free after Extra Bucks.

( Extra Bucks print off on the register receipt and may be used toward the purchase of any other items in the store.  The trick is to use the Extra Bucks on other items advertised as Free after Extra Bucks.  Then you will keep rolling over your Extra Bucks.)

Typically, CVS offers two or three items for Free after Extra Bucks in their weekly flyer.  I almost always buy these items, using the week before's Extra Bucks.  I just have to pay the tax (but when using coupons, often the tax is even covered.)

This week I scored some major deals at CVS.  The Thanksgiving/Black Friday deals listed in the advertisement flyer were so good.  There were many items that CVS was offering for Free (after Extra Bucks). 

I started with 10.99 of Extra Bucks (from Free after Extra Bucks purchases last week).

I bought $96 worth of merchandise in several transactions, using the Extra Bucks that I earned each time.  For several items, I used coupons as well to add to the savings.  I spent about $15 cash out of pocket, but ended up with about $38 of Extra Bucks.  I actually "earned" about $10 (when you subtract the Extra Bucks I started with and the cash out of pocket) plus got all of the items for free.  The items were: makeup, hair mousse, lotion, energy drinks, toothpaste, razors, nail polish, lip gloss, shampoo, makeup remover, etc.

Our grocery bill is being reduced each week!  I have "converted" several others to shop at CVS as well.  I learned how to do it from www.MoneySavingMom.com (my favorite website!)

CVS 101 from MoneySavingMom: http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2008/03/cvs-101.html

Dodgeball

Jason has been playing in a dodgeball league with his brother James. They have been playing for several weeks, and I finally had the chance to go see a game. They are actually quite aggressive games! I was glad I didn't have Noah with me. He might have gotten hit by a ball!



These pictures are not very good, sorry. But just to give you a little idea about the dodgeball games:



James and Jason

Noah is Standing Alone

Well as of last week, it's pretty official that Noah is standing by himself.

I can't believe my baby is growing up so fast! He just turned 8 months last week. Where has the time gone??

This is the first picture of him standing all by himself.



He is playing with a toy in this one but still standing by himself.

What a big boy!

Noah is 8 Months!

Yesterday, November 10 marked eight months since our son Noah was born. The crawling and pulling up mean he is truly into everything. Everything goes in the mouth. Noah loves noises and banging on pots and pans in the kitchen.



The best parts of having a baby so far:

1. smiles
2. laughs
3. kisses
4. watching them grow and change
5. cuddling

Here he is playing at church in the nursery with his cousin Benjamin

Happy baby!

We love this little guy.

Cloth Diapers

We are in the process of learning how to cloth diaper. So far it is going great! We really like using cloth diapers, since they are completely re-usable and easy to take care of. They are very cute and colorful! Not to mention they are saving us hundreds of dollars over time.

The Kinds:

We bought a few of several different kinds to get a feel for what we like and what kinds we want to buy more of. There are many more kinds that we did not buy. So far we are using these kinds:

• Prefold diaper (rectangular square) and a Super Whisper Wrap diaper cover - Medium

• One size pocket diaper Bum Genius 3.0

• Fuzzi Bunz pocket diaper - size Medium

• All in One Bumkins

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Bum Genius 3.0 and Fuzzi Bunz. Those are by far my favorite ones. The prefolds with the wrap are the most cost-effective method for diapering, though. We can't decide which ones to go with right now, but probably we will end up with a lot more of the prefolds and a few more of the pocket diapers.

The Cost:

Pre-folds with diaper wrap covers will cost about $175 for us to use until Noah potty trains. Perhaps another $100 if he goes up a size before he potty trains.

Pocket diapers will cost about $400 until he potty trains, and another $400 if he goes up a size before potty training.

For child #2 and beyond - $0 to buy diapers....just the maintenance to keep using the ones we already own! The cost of washing, extra water usage, and detergent is said to be about $15 a month.

Cloth Diapers total for ALL children = $300-800, plus $15/month

Disposable diapers, even using lots of coupons, will be probably $800-1000 for another two years until he potty trains.

Disposable Diapers total $1000-1500 per child

Where to Buy:

We had a connection to a company in Fishers, Indiana that sells cloth diapers. In fact, the owner will come do a 1-2 hour demonstration of all their products for free. It was like a diaper how-to class! I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in learning more about how to cloth diaper.

Toasty Baby: www.toastybaby.com. They have every great kind of diaper imaginable. They even have gift cards for purchasing diapers!

Noah in a blue medium Fuzzi Bunz:

Benjamin Turns One!

Noah's first cousin Benjamin turned one on October 29.  We celebrated with him, his family, and his friends.  

Here is Benjamin trying cake for his birthday.

I think he liked the paper crunchy sound more than the presents!

Grandma and Noah

The two cousins with Benjamin's new Purdue pacifiers

Little Chili Pepper

Thanks to a friend who let us borrow her son's former costume, Noah dressed up as a chili pepper. It seemed fitting for a little one born in Nicaragua. :)

Weekend at Purdue

This weekend we enjoyed going back to Purdue campus for homecoming to visit Stewart and Marwood, plus seeing Melody's apartment, Paul's tiny dorm, and hanging out with Andrew. We didn't really even care about the football game (Purdue lost anyways!). I enjoyed visiting old friends at Stewart who I hadn't seen in several years. Jason found a few guys at Marwood that lived in the house the same time he did. Everyone wanted to hold Noah all day. Unfortunately, Noah was sick by the end of the day.



Jason and I at Greyhouse Coffeehouse, the Campus House ministry



Melody and Andrew (less than 9 months till your big day!)

Paul, the freshman engineer, holding Noah

Andrew holding Noah at Melody's apartment. We didn't actually watch the game there, because the channel wasn't allowed on Melody's cable. We just hung out instead and watched CMT and Ace of Cakes.

When is the last time Melody and I got a picture together? Who knows. Here we are on the Purdue Engineering mall, with some of the festivities behind us.

It was very, very cold outside! Noah had at least 2-3 layers on and blankets on top of that!

Poor Baby

Noah has had a cold for a week or so, but this weekend he officially had his first fever.  We're not quite sure of it's cause, but it has created a miserable environment for our family, especially at night.  We've given him infant tylenol to help him out, and it seems to make him groggy.  But poor Noah can't sleep because his nose is so stuffy, nor can he suck a pacifier or anything else!  So he just cries because he is miserable.  Jason and I have taken turns getting up with him a total of about 4-6 times during the night for the past two nights.  We are very ready for him to be healthy again!

So Cute!

What could melt a mama's heart any more than this!?

My New Job

So I am officially a childcare worker at a fitness center in Westfield. It's just a part-time job for me, and we'll see how it goes. Right now I will just be doing Tuesday and Friday mornings, and I may be able to sub on occasion for other moms who need off. The BEST part of the job is that I get to bring Noah along with me and hang out with him all morning. No paying for childcare! The second best part is that I get a free gym membership.

Noah's Favorite Things

Noah's list of favorite things to play with:

1. Nalgene waterbottles
2. flip flops / shoes
3. paper, especially newspaper
4. metal doorstops (make a funny noise when you flick them)
5. plastic containers
6. hangers
7. shiny cans that can roll
8. his food
9. the remote control
10. clean clothes (but only if they are folded in a neat pile)
11. keys
12. faces--ears, noses, cheeks, chins, hair (pulling hair!)
13. people's jewelry

He has toys but prefers all of these other things.  As you can see, it doesn't break our budget to provide sufficient entertainment for our son!

Good Neighbors

This weekend we had the opportunity to participate in our church's Good Neighbor weekend, where all services were suspended and all church attenders sent out in groups to serve the local community.

This is our Life Group:

Our Life Group served out in a town called Fortville. There was a farm there that needed some repair work done. Jason helped to build a goat cage as well as fixing part of a barn. Some girls in the group and I went to work with a single mom who needed some things fixed and painted in her house. She had thrown out her back and was unable to complete the work herself. We sanded walls by hand and painted her kitchen. It was a good experience being Jesus' hands and feet to serve others.

Sarah Palin visits Indiana

On Friday, a new friend of mine and I went to see Sarah Palin speak in Noblesville. We waited in the security line for over an hour with our babies, but eventually made it out to the lawn (yes, the nosebleed section) of the venue. We listened to Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman as well as Attorney General Greg Zoeller speak before Palin came on stage. The crowd of 20,000 went wild when she appeared.

Here you can see how close we were...

My friend Abby and her 5-month old Maddux

Noah was so good at the rally. Both mommas were very thankful that their sons were cooperative little ones!

Noah and Maddux

We were glad for the opportunity to attend to show our support for John McCain and Sarah Palin!

VIDEO: "Indiana, soon the choice will be yours to make..."