Noah,

You are now 7 months 2 weeks and 3 days old and growing up so fast! I know I haven't blogged in awhile, I didn't realize how time consuming blogging can be and truthfully I just don't have the time nor do I think anyone is even reading this :-)

I am blogging more for my and Noah's sake so we can look back at all his development milestones and have this as a keepsake.

Pics and Trips

I take pictures of Noah each month, but don't post them. I have months 4-6 here, and I haven't got month 7 off my camera yet. During Noah's 7 month birthday we went to Phoenix for Spring Training and he went to his first baseball game - The Dodgers vs. Mariners! It was a great time.

This week Noah and I will be flying to New Mexico for his first Easter. I am a little nervous because it will be the first time I am flying alone with him, but hopefully it won't be too bad. Noah is only 7 months old and is a little traveler! He has been on more flights than he is months old - crazy huh! 

We are gearing up and practicing with him so we can make the long trek to visit his cousins in Belgium and go to Paris and London while we're at it :-) We are in the process of getting his passport and if all goes well, we will be in Belgium before Noah turns 1 year old.

Eating

Noah started eating solid foods right around 6 months old and I am having a fun time making my own baby food. So far here is a list of foods Noah has tried:

- Bananas, Pears, Apples, Peas, Carrots, Butternut Squash, Spinach, Blueberries, Avocado, Pinto Beans, Black Beans, Broccoli, Kale, Peach and Vanilla Yogurt, Scrambled Egg Yolks, Beets, Sweet Potatoes, Steel Cut Oatmeal, Chicken Breasts, and of course Rice Cereal. I am probably missing some foods here, but that is the gist of it.

Noah LOVES beans and sweet potatoes. He also loves his morning Oatmeal with bananas. He doesn't seem to like Avocado too much, we are working on that.

I also have given him some cinnamon mixed with his apples and pears, he loves that. And I've added some onion to his spinach, and he loves that too. Overall Noah is a great eater and for the most part will eat anything I give him (except for avocado and carrots) he doesn't like those too much.

For the most part, almost everything I make him I try to make organic. Making Noah all this healthy food has also inspired me and Chris to eat healthier too! I never thought making baby food would be so much fun.

I am also still breastfeeding Noah. I can't believe I have made it this far. I never thought in a million years Noah would be almost 8 months old and I would still be breastfeeding him. It has been difficult, I have to make the time to pump at work, and then feed him when I am with him, but I know it is like liquid gold, and the best nutrition for him right now, so I may just do it for a whole year until Noah turns 1! I still take it one day at a time and don't know if I'll last doing this for a year, but we'll see.  I have been back at work full time for almost 3 months now and so far have been able to continue to breastfeed him, so I am really happy about that.

Teething

Noah also had two teeth pop out recently! Right about 6 1/2 months old his bottom two teeth came out - he looks so cute with two little teeth at the bottom. He has been teething off and on and I'm sure he is about to get some more teeth soon.

Sleeping

Noah has been doing great lately. If he isn't teething, he sleeps almost through the night. On average he will wake up once during the night if he gets hungry, other than that he is a sleeper. He loves his bath time and story time before bed.We read "Goodnight Moon, and Tuck Me In" almost every night and sing songs. He loves loves loves his bedtime ritual and mommy does too!

Here are some other stats:

 - He is using size 3 diapers

 - He has two teeth

 - He is around 18 pounds

 - His bedtime is between 7:30-8:30. He sleeps from 8:30-5:30am waking up sometimes once for a half hour.

- He is a great traveler, is great in the car and on an airplane

- He LOVES being outside. Looking at all the trees and plants in the backyard, smelling the fresh air, going to the park and for walks, just being outside and getting out of the house he seems to love.

- He started sitting up right before his 6 month birthday and loves to sit up and play. He also loves his jumperoo. His tummy time is getting better and he has learned to push himself backward and turn himself around in a circle while on his tummy. He is trying to crawl but hasn't got the hang of that yet. In due time!

Learning

We have been learning the ABCs, colors, numbers, and shapes in Spanish! (Amarillo! Circulo! Verde! haha) Even though mommy and daddy don't know too much Spanish we are teaching the little we do know and try to speak with you in spanish. We also got you this cool bilingual toy that you love to play with. Grandma Serrato also speaks to you in Spanish during the day when mommy is at work and she is watching you.

Pictures

4 months old (Noah's First Christmas):

 5 Months

6 Months

Noah's First Valentine's Day

Noah's First St Patrick's Day

Noah, mommy is cherishing every moment with you. This has been my motto : Don't rush things, be patient, and enjoy every moment. I know it will go by so fast.

I'm hoping it is not 6 months before I post again! But we'll see. If you are reading please comment! Would love to hear from you!

- XOXO Jen

Noah's Nursery

Noah's nursery is such a fun place! I thought I'd share some photos of the masterpiece Chris and I created :-). Well at least we'd like to think it's a masterpiece. When I was about 38 weeks pregnant, Chris and I spent a full weekend painting Noah's nursery. At the time, we didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl, so we decided to go with something neutral and do a farm animal theme.

Since I grew up on a farm, and my dad always had horses and cows, and drove a big red tractor, I thought it would be cool to incorporate my childhood into the nursery and bring a farm into our baby's life! I never imagined it would turn out so good. We used stencils and acrylic paint and it took us about two full days to complete.

When you first walk into the room, this is what you see!

When I first told my parents we were expecting, the first thing they said was, "WHAT?!?!" and after them expressing how joyful and happy they were, they told us, "Oh, you have to use the cradle you used when you were a baby!" 

I didn't even know they kept the cradle all these years, but apparently me, my brother, sister, and all my cousins used this when we were babies. So, my dad took it out of storage, fixed it up a bit, and brought all the way from NM to CA. How special! Here is a picture of the cradle: 

This cradle is awesome, I love the fact that it can rock Noah to sleep. He sleeps in this cradle once in a while, but we also use a co-sleeper at night which is useful because it attaches to our bed.  And, even though Noah's nursery has been complete for some time, he still doesn't sleep in it. It may be another month before we move him out of our room into this one.

Noah's dresser and changing table

Noah's crib and background

We got a couple of our favorite newborn photos of Noah and put them on a canvas. My mom also quilted a beautiful quilt for Noah which is hanging on the far left. 

Here are some other pictures of Noah's really cool room! When Noah is old enough to understand, I hope he thinks his room is cool too!  When we take him to his room, we already see him looking at all the cool things on the wall and it seems like he is fascinated by all the colors... so cute and cool to see!

Notice the photo bomber once again in the far distance! :-)

Super cool diaper caddy from cousin Andrea!

Door leading to Noah's bathroom

Noah's Baptism

Noah was baptized on Saturday, October 27th, 2012. We were so excited and anticipated this day since  the day he was born. Uncle Bryon and Auntie Jess flew in to baptize him and share in his special day. He also had Great-grandpa and grandma Pacheco, Great-uncle Harry, Grandpa and grandma Pino, and Auntie Aine all visiting! Our favorite priest at our parish, Father Chad baptized Noah and made his day very special.

Noah wore the baptismal robe that me and my brother and sister all wore! A 36 year old heirloom that we hope Noah will use on his children some day. His outfit wouldn't be complete without him wearing a fancy white suit and of course Air Jordans!

Here are some pics:

Noah wearing the baptismal robe!

He's Baptized!

His awesome cake and cake pops!

Family visiting!

Great-grandma Pacheco and Great-grandma Longoria

4 Generations

2 months!

Guess who turned two months this week! Noah, you are getting so big. You are smiling more and more each day. You almost slept through the night last night - a whole 7 hours! Look how much you've changed in just one month!

One Month Photos:

Two month photos:

This week you took your first trip to pick out a pumpkin with Mommy, Daddy, and Grandpa Serrato. (Every year Chris's dad plants these huge pumpkins and we get to go pick our ginormous pumpkins out to carve for Halloween. Here are some pics of our trip to the pumpkin field:)

We celebrated Grandma Serrato's birthday the other night and we all went out to eat Thai food at our favorite Thai restaurant:

 You are so darn HANDSOME!!!! Mommy loves you so much!