Noah: 9 months!!

Noah has officially been out longer than he was in! Why is it that pregnancy lasts forever, but the first nine months of a baby's life flies by too fast! :( I love love love this age, but man...he's getting too big!

Noah now:

• Loves his solids. He loves cheerios and other finger foods. He is the best vacuum cleaner! ;) One day while I was cleaning, Noah decided to scoot (yep, that's right...he's a mover now!) into the kitchen and play with a spoon Aben left on the floor under the table. He loves to hit things on the floor and make noise. But then I realized it had been a minute or so since I heard him hitting the spoon on the floor. So I look over and he had found a bunch of crumbs from a chocolate cookie Aben just ate and I had yet to clean up! He was in heaven :). Woops!
• He army crawls all over the place! He doesn't crawl on his hands and knees, but he pulls himself around and rolls to get to wherever he wants. He is getting better and faster at it. I have officially put up the gate for the stairs now. :)
• Is always babbling...like he always has. He says dadadada and yayayaya all the time. I haven't been able to get him to say mama yet. :(
• When I say, "no, no, no," Noah shakes his head no and then usually smiles really big like he is proud of himself.
• Is starting to clap
• Is finally getting better at going to bed for naps on his own without me rocking him. YAY! This week was rough, but the last couple times he hasn't cried so I am hoping it will stick this time and that he won't revert back when the teeth he is working on swell up again.
• He still only has the two bottom teeth but he is working on three teeth on top... 
• Absolutely loves playing with Aben, especially now that he can move around
• Loves taking Aben's toys away from him. This is pretty comical...Aben doesn't quite know what to do about it yet so he usually just starts saying, "No Noah. Don't do that...MOM!!!" :) Ha Ha Ha! (Is it bad I think this is hilarious!)
• Loves bath time!

Noah is such a sweet and funny boy. He is generally so happy all the time. He seriously brightens my day. I love going and getting him out of his crib because he is always so excited...swinging his arms, kicking his legs, squealing, and smiling as big as can be. I was always so worried that I wouldn't be able to love him as much as Aben...but it's amazing how you love them both even more!

 Aben loves sharing his food now...good thing Noah couldn't figure out how to bite any pieces off :)

He found the cheerios!

Always so happy!

 

Being a mom of two.....

Being a mom is hard, being a mom of two is hard, being a mom of two while your husband goes to medical school is especially hard.

Some days I look at my kids at think, I could have three. I could do it. Then a day like today happens and I think... "How in the world am I going to make it as a mother the rest of my life!" Don't get me wrong... I love my children and even on the hardest of days, I still love them, if not even more then I did the day before. I would never in a million years want to go back to the days of being married and not having any children. Even the worst days are so much more fulfilling to me when my children are in the picture. I love being a mom. But that doesn't mean it isn't sometimes so overwhelmingly hard that I don't know how I'm going to make it. I'm used to hearing kids cry, and a lot of times it doesn't even phase me. But some days....it does. Some days I don't get the dishes done, the laundry folded (or possibly even switched over into the dryer), the floor vacuumed, the dirty clothes picked up off the bathroom floor. Sometimes its all I can do to clothe, feed, and put my children to bed. And even those days sometimes end in tears. But I've come to learn that motherhood is beautiful. It is the hardest and most challenging duty and role I will ever have. I've worked as a med/surg nurse and that job was extremely difficult. But motherhood is still harder. It doesn't end and there is no lunch break. You don't get to go home at the end of shift and call it a day. But despite its difficulty, it is remarkable and more fulfilling than anything I could ever imagine doing.

These days that are hard make me think about what people are saying about stay-at-home moms. What many are saying about the role of a woman. I am so grateful to be a woman. I love being a woman. I love and am grateful that I am different than my husband. We are equals, but we are different. He teaches our children things I couldn't, and vice-versa. I love being a nurturer. I love staying at home. I don't think there is anything wrong with a woman working full time and hating to clean and cook, but there isn't anything wrong with a woman being proud of staying home either. I love taking care of my children while my husband goes to school. And I pray I can continue to be a stay-at-home mom when my husband is done with school and is working, even on the days like these, that try my patience and make me want to just sit in a corner and cry.

Being a mom is hard, but it is beautiful. And I am so grateful I can be a mother!