Splashing in the pool


Post-pool. Noah doing his best Zoolander pose.

We put Noah in a pool on our deck yesterday. We were really excited to do this. The problem is that we don't have a way to get water into and out of the pool easily. Grant filled it using a pitcher. Then to empty, he had to carry the pool through our living room to empty it into our bathtub. Suboptimal, but not disasterous. Noah liked it.

UCI daycare

We have finally reached the top of the UCI daycare list!!! Only 1 1/2 years to get there. We took a tour yesterday. It is pretty awesome. I wish we had been able to have Noah in there the entire time. I am feeling torn, however, about taking the spot. I know that we are leaving the area soon. Noah really loves Fay and she loves him. So I feel bad about breaking that bond. That said, I do think Noah is just a love-able guy and I think he'll love anyone over time. I think we're going to take the spot anyway.

It is always something

We took Noah to the doctor, again, yesterday. He has a pimple on his eyelid and I freaked out because of the last bacterial infection. The doctor said is a tear duct that got plugged and infected. She said to put a warm towel on his eye for 5-10 minutes 3 times a day and gave us some antibacterial ointment for his eye. I did not like this doctor. She was old and I don't think she's handled a baby in a while. The way she said to put the towel on his eye was like no big deal. Yeah right. I cannot for the life of my get Noah to stay put for 5 minutes at a time with a towel on his eye. Squirmy-McGee. The upper eyelid now has a bump on it, so I am even more worried because it is spreading. I think I'm going to take him to urgent care tomorrow. We are bleeding all of our money to Kaiser in $15 increments with all of Noah's infections. :(

Noah's new tricks

Noah has had a spurt of activity, literally within the last day and a half. He has figured out how to go from laying down to sitting up, backward crawling, and has become generally hilarious. He has really transitioned from the lump-of-a-baby stage into a busy-body-baby that wants to get into everything. And with his new found coordination, he now can. Plus, he is so clearly happy about his new tricks, you can't help but laugh with him.

For a while now, Noah has been mobile. While not crawling, he's been getting all around by rolling and scooting on his butt. But he wasn't super fast about getting around, so we didn't have to watch him every second. Not anymore. Just today, he has been getting into everything, so fast. Now our lives are about to officially change. The time has come to baby-proof the house.

As anyone who has been to our apartment recently will know, our place is a mess. MESS! With Grant and I being crazy busy at work and Noah duties at all other times, house-keeping is way low on our list of priorities. Plus our place is so small that I don't have enough room to store things to get them out of the way. Anyway, clearly that has to change. We're going to try and make a dent into everything starting this weekend. Truthfully, I'm really not looking forward to it. But it must get done!

Dermatologist follow-up

Before 5/29/09

After 6/12/09

We went to our follow-up visit to the dermatologist today. Actually, Grant went with Noah. I went and got some blood-work done at the time, so this all is what was reported by Grant. As you can see from the pictures, Noah looks SO much better. The doctor said we are doing a great job. It is nice to have confirmation that we are doing something right, as I feel like most of the time I am doing wrong things. Anyway, I guess we can stop using all of the steroid-containing medications unless there is a flare-up, which is awesome. I want to go and get professional pictures of Noah taken now. I wanted to get them for his 6 month birthday, but he's had his excema for so long and I was waiting for it to clear up. Now I can get them!

Also, as of yesterday, Noah is 8-months old! Happy month-i-versery Baby Boy!

Family

We had both sets of grandparents in town this past weekend, plus Grant's sister-in-law and niece and nephew, for my graduation. Noah did great with all of the people. He happily allowed himself to be passed around and he smiled for everyone. Admittedly, I was worried before everyone arrived because he had been showing some signs of stranger anxiety. But, in any case, he barely cried the entire weekend. Except, of course, when it came for sleeping, which he cried a lot. Sleeping schedule is off again, but that is to be expected.

Having a lot of family around made me realize how sad I am that we live far away from everyone. I would like it if Noah could grow up in closer vicinity to his grandparents and aunts and uncles. I have been looking for jobs nationwide, but I am starting to hesitate more about the East Coast ones. When I don't see my family for a while, it is easier to think about moving even further away. However, after I get to see them and see how much they love Noah, I feel sad about living too far away. Now that everyone is gone, it feels lonely.

Who would steal a baby stroller?!

We left our umbrella stroller outside of our door for a couple hours. Someone stole it! Who would steal a baby stroller?! Plus it had my rain coat and an aluminum water bottle in it. I was hoping to see someone on the street pushing it so I could make a citizen's arrest and call the police for them stealing my property. Alas, it was no where to be seen. Grrrrrr....