Christmas, New Years & Everything In Between

I know it's already February and the holidays are long gone, but I felt compelled to write about them anyway. We had a whirlwind Christmas and New Year's, and January to boot!

Noah was on travel for work in Tennessee for a few weeks up until Christmas. He came home on December 23rd. I had everything already packed up when he arrived, and we immediately packed up and left for Springfield, IL to spend Christmas with his family. We had a great visit with everyone and were blessed with some wonderful gifts for Judah and ourselves. After about a week with them, we packed up again and headed to Wisconsin to see my family. My cousin Angie got married on New Year's Eve, and I played piano in the ceremony, which was quite the honor. The service was beautiful, and the reception was a blast. We stayed until about 10pm, until Judah pooped out (which was later than expected) and headed back to my parents' house to ring in the New Year. Everything at the church and reception - even the flower arrangements - was filled with silver and teal and glitter. It was amazing! Congrats to Angie and Matt - Mr. and Mrs. Halbach!!! :)

Here are some pictures of our Christmas & New Year's:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041572&id=1075628199&l=a691ce0d1d

After the wedding, we relaxed for a few days and headed home. We were home about 2 days, when we received news that my grandmother (mom's mother) had passed away. We had just been there to visit with her with Judah a few days prior. She had been battling Parkinson's Disease - we are not sure how long, as it was just diagnosed in the final stages. The Lord took her home, so we made the trip up to Wisconsin to attend the funeral. Although our return was for a solemn reason, it was still wonderful to see family again, as we don't usually get to visit often with my family.

Shortly after the funeral, Noah had to leave for Tennessee again and flew out of Milwaukee while I stayed with Judah at my parents' house. He was there about 4 days when he called and said they were sending him back because the wind tunnel wasn't operational. So he flew back and we headed home to St. Louis again. It was nice to sleep in our own bed again after being gone since mid-December!

They got the tunnel up and running again, so Noah drove out to Tennessee on the 12th. In the interim, my mom said the house was too quiet so she flew down for a few days and helped me do some projects around the house and had a great visit with Judah. After she left Judah and I headed up to Springfield, IL to be with his parents. Noah's mom had minor surgery so we went to help her recover and help her around the house. Turns out, it wasn't so much about helping around the house as it was her having fun with Judah! haha We had a nice visit for about a week and just got back on Thursday. Noah came home from Tennessee Friday, after being gone almost 3 weeks.

It was wonderful having everyone home again. We are so incredibly thankful for that after all of the craziness!!! Noah will be home for about a week, and then he will be flying to Sweden for work, gone from the 12-18th. Once he returns, he will be home again for a few weeks, then heading to the UK for another wind tunnel test for a week in March. Hopefully things will calm down after that.

I am thinking about joining a Mom's group (like Mom's Club or MOPS) or a Bible Study from church so I can break up my week of being at home, and Judah and I can meet new people. Being a stay-at-home mom is wonderful, but it can be a little monotonous at times (and a little crazy without another adult around to talk to during the day!). I love being with people, and it would be good to help Judah meet other kiddos too.

Noah is working on his LAST Master's class, which he (and I) can't wait to be done with! It will be so nice for him to have more time to spend with Judah and myself in the evenings. I know he is looking forward to that.

Other than that, Judah is turned 7 months old today. I can't believe he's growing up so fast! He got his first two teeth a few weeks ago (which I can't seem to get a picture of, for the life of me!) and he is trying hard to crawl backwards. He's doing a pretty good job of it and is constantly trying to 'fix' his technique. He is still a sweet little ball of cuddles and laughter and we just love him to pieces. Can't get enough of that smile and his little giggle. Judah is into EVERYTHING now - everything that is within reach he will pull, throw, touch, grab and smack. He especially loves hair, buttons and any dangly strings. His favorite things to interact with are paper (especially newspaper ads) and water. He loves water bottles and bathtime is getting wetter for mommy and daddy since Judah figured out how to splash! lol Judah especially loves to bounce - in his jumper or on anyone's lap, couch, floor... you name it. He is always hopping up and down, whether he's got his feet on something solid or not! It is so much fun and it gives our arms a great workout too! :)

Here are some recent pictures of Judah with my parents in Wisconsin:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042891&id=1075628199&l=a406b3161b

All in all, we feel so blessed. We have a wonderful family and group of friends, our home, church and our sweet little boy. Noah's job is going well and I am having fun staying at home with Judah.

We hope all of you are doing well also, and blessings on all of your heads!

Love,
Noah, Krista and Judah-bean

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