Thanksgiving '09

Thanksgiving was a great opportunity for us to catch up with family this year. We saw nearly everyone at the big family get-together on Saturday. There was a lot going on, so we didn't get very many pictures, but here is what we did manage to capture...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038413&id=1075628199&l=a967f06488

My brother Eric shot his first turkey this year, which was on the menu. I heard it was very good! I didn't actually get to try any... it was gone by the time I came back from putting Judah to bed!!! But kudos to my little brother for his hard work and good cookin'! I heard many rave reviews.

The menu also included purple, pink and yellow mashed potatoes (no, there was no food coloring involved - that was actually the color of the potatoes!). My dad was going for red, white (yellow) and blue, but the blue potatoes turned out purple. Ahh well, it made our food table colorful nonetheless, and they were very tasty to boot!

Judah did great with all of the people, and loved Eric and Melissa's dog, Mable. Here's a funny video of Judah blowing bubbles at Mable...

After our big family get-together on Saturday, we were all pretty wiped out, as to be expected. Judah was out around 6pm and fell asleep on Grammy right as we were about to start having dinner. He had a very good night's sleep, and was pretty tired last night when we got home too. He's such a trooper with the long car rides. But Judah is getting more active and wants to move around more now, which gets him pretty frustrated when he's strapped into his car seat for more than an hour. But we made it home without too much crabbin' :)

A big thank-you to everyone for everything this past weekend. We enjoyed seeing all of you! We will be in Springfield, IL for Christmas this year, then back up to Wisconsin at the end of December for Angie and Matt's wedding.

We hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and wish you God's blessings on your holiday season!

Love,
Noah, Krista & Judah

Week 1 At Home

Hi Everyone,

This week was my first week staying home with Judah! I was excited to not have to work anymore, but realized that I was "working" just as much staying home with our little guy! I kind of figured it would be like that before we decided to leave my job, but big changes like that are always different than you thought once you get there and actually experience it. I have no complaints though - staying home has been good for all three of us.

I get a lot more done around the house and get to cook while Judah is napping, and Noah gets more time with Judah, as he gets home from work around 4pm. And I think both Judah and I enjoy that we get a bunch of relaxed playtime together too, and don't have to get into that car seat twice a day anymore! :) He was such a trooper, being trucked back and forth from work since he was 6 weeks old, and putting up with me trying to work while he sat there and watched most of the days.

We have been trying hard to work on nap time in the afternoon though. He is being so stubborn about taking an afternoon nap, even though he is extremely tired and crabby, his poor little eyes are all red, and he's yawning like crazy. I have had to let him cry it out several times, but I think he's getting the hang of it, and he definitely feels better once he gets some rest. We are also trying to move back his bedtime, which has been a challenge. He's been going to bed at 6:15/6:30pm every night which is great for Noah and I to have time together, but that also means Judah gets up around 5 or 5:30am! Yikes. We're making progress... hopefully we'll have a better schedule down pat in a few weeks.

On Thursday this past week, we had a play date with my friend Kate and her little girl Gwen who is 7 months old. It had been a while since we last saw each other, and I think the kids had a good time. Gwen definitely was interested in Judah. She thought it was pretty neat that there was another little person like her around! Judah didn't really know what to think about that though! We went for a walk down the street together and played for a while. It was a good get-together. Here are some pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037170&id=1075628199&l=2f60ffd55d

Noah, Judah and I will be in Wisconsin for Thanksgiving this year. We hope to see as much family up there as possible. We're not sure which day we will be arriving yet, but please let us know when you're available so we can schedule a visit!

If I don't post more before then, we wish all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving and many blessings.

Love to all!
Noah, Krista & Judah

Judah @ 4 Months

Hi Everyone,


It's been a while since I posted anything - sorry about the wait! We have been very busy lately, lots going on.

Yes, Judah is 4 months old already! We just had his 4-month check-up which went very well! Dr. Reichert said he looks "awesome". Judah weighed in at 14 pounds 15 ounces, and measured 26" long, which means he grew 2 inches in the past 2 months. Whew!


Judah is teething now, occasionally running the signature low-grade fever and experiencing a little crabbiness, but overall is his happy self. He loves to smile and laugh, and his newest thing is babbling. He is starting to "talk" a lot more...

Other than the babbling, he is doing well with tummy time, reaching for toys now and overall seems happy playing on his tummy. He only sleeps on his tummy - won't sleep on his back any more for some reason. This morning Noah and I went into the nursery to check on Judah after he woke up, and he was turned completely around and flipped over on his back, and squished up against the bumper on the side of the crib! I have no idea how he got that way and am so tempted to set up a video camera in there to see what he does in there!

As of yesterday, 11/6, I am officially a stay-at-home mom! I am very excited and feel blessed to stay at home with our little guy. He's such a gift, and we couldn't pass up this opportunity. Yesterday was my last day, and it was bitter-sweet. It was strange leaving the office where I'd worked for 3 1/2 years. It felt like I was just going home for the weekend and would be back on Monday. I will very much miss my boss Jennifer, and all of the other girls I worked with, as well as all of our insurance agents. They've all been wonderful to me and we've built some great relationships since I've worked there. I hope to have an opportunity to return to work for Jennifer when our kids are in school. We'll see what's in store when we get that far though. For now we'll just be a mommy to Judah! :)

Noah has been on travel the last 2 weeks. He went to Texas (somewhere in between Dallas and Houston) for work for a wind tunnel test. His boss allowed him to come home for Halloween weekend, which was nice, but then he left for the second week on Monday. Judah had a tough day on Halloween, so we didn't make it out to the neighbors for trick-or-treating, but we dressed up for the day around the house. Anyway, I had a nice surprise last night - Noah came home early! He was supposed to come home this morning, but he got done with work early yesterday and caught a 4pm flight home. Such a great surprise!!! He and Judah were play buddies all day today and we got some great pictures of them together...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036454&id=1075628199&l=5396fec2e5

We will be in Wisconsin for Thanksgiving this year, and Christmas will be in Springfield. Then we're heading back up to Wisconsin for New Year's. My cousin Angie is getting married on New Year's Eve! I am playing piano in her wedding - such an honor! It will be a really fun way to ring in the new year. Noah, Judah and I are really looking forward to seeing all of our family again!

Well, it's almost my bedtime. We hope all of you are doing well, and hope to see you soon! Sending lots of love and best wishes!

Love,
Noah, Krista & little Judah-bean

The Little Bean is Growing!

Wow - 3 months already! Some days it seems like such a short time since Judah arrived, but other days we just can't believe it's already been 3 months. He is growing so fast and learning so many new things.


We are really enjoying being parents. It's an adventure, that's for sure! You never know what to expect... another super poopy diaper, or a new sound? That he's grown out of another outfit, or that he likes it when you whistle "la cucaracha"! haha No, I'm not kidding... we will do anything to see that adorable smile!


We have been so busy lately - taking care of Judah, working and also being out and about. We just recently went to a Cardinals baseball game with a number of people that I work with. We even got to sit in a party box, which include free food and drink. They have indoor and outdoor seating. Last weekend we went to the Packers/Rams game with some friends which was very fun! Unfortunately I didn't have any Packers gear to wear... I will have to put that on my Christmas list! But our friends did bring Judah a cheesehead! Judah didn't go to the game with us though. Noah's parents came down and watched him for us, which was so nice of them.


Work has been going well for both of us. Noah will be going to Texas for a wind tunnel test October 27 - November 6th. But his boss will allow him to come home for the weekend, so Noah will get to be home for Judah's first Halloween! He will either be a pumpkin or a lion this year, depending on which costume fits him :)


My work is busy as usual. My manager hired my replacement this week, but the catch is that I need to help her boss (which is one of our agents) find a replacement for her before she can start. After she starts though, I will be training her for about a week, and then I will be done, and officially a stay-at-home mommy, which I'm very much looking forward to. I will miss all of the wonderful people I work with, but I'm blessed to be able to stay home and watch our sweet little boy grow up (at least for a while).

So... I know now why many of you laughed a little bit when I told you we were going to have Judah suck on his pacifier and not his thumb. Ha! Judah decided to learn how to suck his thumb anyway, and I have to admit it turned out to be ok so far. Since he's teething, the thumb and fingers work much better than a pacifier, especially in the middle of the night! Yes, he is addicted to his little thumb. I'm surprised it's still on his hand!

Judah has grown a lot since many of you saw him. He is rolling onto his side from his back already, and he laughed for the first time last week! We actually caught it on video... I couldn't upload it here, but if you go to my Facebook page you can see it there.



He also plays with his hands a lot, reaches out for toys now and is hanging onto toys and pulling them towards his mouth. Judah has been pretty good about sleeping - his bedtime is now 7pm instead of 8pm. He was getting very overstimulated and overtired, and it was getting very difficult to put him to bed, so we tried putting him to bed earlier and it worked wonderfully. He is still waking up once a night, which is fine. We are hoping he'll start sleeping through the night soon :) He gave us a little taste of that by sleeping 11 hours straight Sunday night! We kept checking on him to see if he was still alive in there, and yep... he just must have been really tired or something!


Here are some pictures...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033028&id=1075628199&l=8ee27815ce


We hope everyone is doing well, and hope to see you soon! We will be in Wisconsin for Thanksgiving this year, and Springfield for Christmas... then Wisconsin again for Angie's wedding at New Year's.


Love,

Noah, Krista & Judah