Happy Hanukkah!

from: nate

A "sweet" note left for me by my eldest son:

And More Noah

I'd apologize for all the photos of this boy, but he's just so stinking cute. It doesn't help that for most of the day, it's just him and me. So here are lots of the random shots I've taken during our days together.

Hmmm. I wonder what this thing does?

Even laundry is fun with that face near the pile.

Open mouth. Pull up foot. Suck on sock. Repeat.

Noah's getting good at spotting the toys he's dropped and picking them back up again. Hurray for object permanence!

Did you need something?

If it fits, it will go in the mouth.

Noah has figured out how to blow bubbles. Lots of bubbles. All day long.

See the bubbles?

Why yes. I can sit up a little now.

Two favorites: Bumbo and giraffe.

Poop face.

That's better. 

This mat is a whole new world in my Bumbo!

We finally set up his crib. This is the one and only time he's slept in it. (If you have recommendations for getting a baby to sleep in a crib without bumpers, please share!)

Trying to suck on his foot in the bath.

Sucking on the edge of the tub.

Oooh! When I kick my legs, water goes everywhere!

It's still working!

This is standard diaper changing position. Not super easy for fastening those straps. He actually kicked himself in the eye yesterday, hard enough that he startled and cried. How is that possible??

And this is why the laundry never stays folded.

Noah loves his brother and sister. A lot. He really loves to pull their hair, too. Look at that curly mess--Who wouldn't want to grab it?

First Snow of the Winter

This is classic my children...

Charlie's Back

Our elf, Charlie, returned on December 1st this year. He has been getting into lots of mischief. He has drawn mustaches on our photos with a whiteboard marker and has made snow angels in the sugar. We also found him one morning playing poker with two Christmas bears. If you look closely, you'll see the white bear is cheating! I'm not sure I'd cheat in a game with Santa's elf just before Christmas...

Noah LOVES to Eat

I honestly didn't want to feed Noah solids until he was at least six months old (although I would have happily gone 9 months!). I know the AAP recommends waiting and I wanted to do that. It also just takes more time and there's so much mess, not to mention the cost. But Noah wanted to eat. He really wanted to eat. He cried when we were eating and he wasn't allowed to taste it. I've never seen a baby want real food so desperately. And despite being only 5 1/2 months old in the following video, he is a fantastic eater. He opens his mouth so wide and swallows down just about everything. He can frequently wear the same bib for two meals because he swallows so much of what goes in to his mouth. He is the best eater I've ever seen. Noah still doesn't like rice cereal, but loves fruit. He can down an entire container of pears, prunes or peaches in just under 3 minutes. He likes sweet potatoes, squash and carrots, too. He still doesn't like green veggies (peas or green beans). Here's a video from a couple of weeks ago of Noah eating his peaches.

The Hoarder in You

I recently read a NYT article about hoarding. The article's author reviewed a book entitled "The Hoarder in You." The author of the book is a psychotherapist who specializes in treating people with anxiety, OCD and hoarding. She is a frequent guest on the TV show "Hoarders." Now, I am not a hoarder. I actually enjoy throwing things away. But I do have trouble with clutter. A lot of clutter. The book is basically a how-to for decluttering your home (not just for hoarders)... What to get rid of, what to keep, how to start, how to maintain. This book sparked a fire in me. I suddenly looked around my house and saw stuff, everywhere. My first thought was to light the whole thing on fire. But reason prevailed and I set up a plan to declutter the entire house. I started in my closet--Goodbye clothes that don't fit anymore, that are 10 years old, that I will probably never wear again. Goodbye shoes with 4" heels that I used to wear clubbing and shoes that no longer fit my expanded-with-each-pregnancy feet. Then we hit the basement. Hard. The kids went through their toys to find things that would make good Christmas presents for kids who don't have enough these holidays (we donated everything). When Alan and I bought our house, we went into accumulation mode. We filled our house so full, it is appalling. We used to love garage sales, free stuff from the side of the road, Goodwill. But there's just too much. WAY TOO MUCH. Especially after reading this book. So we spent an entire weekend cleaning out the basement. Goodbye middle school yearbooks, notes from friends in 7th grade, pottery from elementary school, t-shirts from 4th grade soccer teams, trophies, cards, pictures of Leonardo di Caprio and oodles of NKOTB memorabilia.

I'm so proud of us. We now have empty shelves in the closets and open space around the room. I've since decluttered our linen closet, which was so full the door wouldn't shut, but now has floor space and empty shelf space. I've also done our entry closet, china hutches, and bedroom dresser. It feels SO good. And it was a wonderful lesson for the kids to find an entire display of our stuff at the front of Goodwill. They knew that their hard work and sacrifices to let go of some of their things will benefit others. HURRAY! I highly recommend that book...

Shots of just a portion of what we donated, threw away or recycled:

Decorating the Christmas Tree

We did eventually add more lights around the top...

This cracks me up.

Tree decorating was followed by a trip around the house on top of Daddy.