Noah

6 Months Old

2009-07-02T09:13:00.003-05:00

My little boy is now 6 months old and full of personality. It's been fun watching his personality develop over the last couple of months. He's gone from a very calm and easy going baby to a speed around the room, don't keep me tied down, little boy. He used to love sitting and watching his big sister play, but now he likes to tackle her. Noah started crawling right at 5 months old. He still doesn't get his belly off the ground, but boy is he fast. Wherever Heidi is he will crawl to her, grab on to her, and try to pull up to which causes her to fall over and "be tackled". He just wants to be with his big sister. He can go from laying down to sitting up with ease and is now trying pull all the way up to standing. I was hoping he wouldn't be mobile for another couple of months but we'll just have to adjust. Last night he was crawling around the game room and put his hand on the treadmill (which is a big no no in our house) and Heidi went over to him, put her hand on his head, and said "tie out. No crawling treadmill". I couldn't help but laugh, it was great.

At his 6 month check-up he weighed 17 lbs. 6 oz. and was 26 1/2 in. long. He is in the 50% for both weight and height. He's growing and gaining weight at a good rate. The doctor commented on how active and coordinated Noah is. He also called Noah a monkey because when you hold Noah he squeezes his feet together to hold on just like a monkey does.

Heidi still adores Noah and Noah adores Heidi. I love having my kids so close in age.

Noah at 3 months

2009-04-03T15:09:00.003-05:00

Time has flown by and my little baby is now 3 months old. He is growing so fast! I feel like he has been a part of our family forever even though it's only been a quarter of the year. So much has changed in these short 3 months. One change is, he has gained more control over his legs and arms. They no longer flail around, yet he still doesn't have great coordination over them. I can't wait to see him use his hands to play with his toys on his jumperoo. Right now he just stares at the toys. I still have to stick some receiving blankets in the empty space of the jumperoo to keep his arms from getting stuck inside the jumperoo. He's still a little small for it, but he likes to sit in there and see his big sister. Speaking of his big sister.... he adores his big sister. He just smiles and smiles while she is near him. Heidi is the "binky patrol". Anytime his binky falls out she rushes over to him to try to put it back in his mouth. It doesn't stay in his mouth because he just smiles at her. It's fun to watch these two together.

Noah has been a very easy baby so far. My sister is so jealous that I've had 2 easy babies. Noah eats well and sleeps well. He still struggles at night with sleeping all the way till morning. He is "technically" sleeping through the night (5 hours at a time), but I wish he could sleep till 6 or 7 am. My poor boy gets gassy at night and it wakes him up. Luckily all he needs is his mylicon and his binky and he'll sleep for another couple of hours.

Noah is in the cooing and ahhing stage. It's so much fun hearing the soft sounds of a baby cooing. He giggles a little when you play with his legs or arms, such simple pleasures. I'm still waiting for that big belly laugh.

There are so many difference between Noah as a baby and Heidi as a baby. It's fun to see their personalities and know that they are individuals and not copy cats of either Ben or myself. They will grow up with the same parents, same sets of rules, same expectations, but will reach their milestones at different times, will grow differently, will have different personalities all because they are different kids!

1 Month

2009-01-30T10:45:00.004-06:00

Tomorrow Noah will officially be one month old! I can't believe one month has flown by so quickly. Noah had a check-up last week and was 10 lb. 4.5 oz. My little boy is growing quickly. He is sleeping really well and hopefully will sleep through the night soon. Right now he goes to bed around 7 and wakes up somewhere between midnight and 1 and then again between 4 and 5. So far he seems very calm and easy going. He likes to be held, which his sister did not. The only time she liked being held was if you were walking around while holding her. I all ready see lots of differences in the two of them even though he's only 1 month old. It will be lots of fun to see what they have in common and what is different.

A lot of people have asked how Heidi is doing with her new brother. She LOVES her little brother, sometimes a little too much. She wants to hold, hug, and kiss him all the time. She doesn't know her own strength yet, so we have to keep a close eye on her when she is near him. She is my big helper and helps me put Noah to bed, wake him up, and change his diapers. She loves to throw the dirty diaper in the. as she says, "tash". Because Noah sleeps so much Heidi still gets lots of one on one time with mommy. We've also learned that Dora is the best distraction when I feed Noah. I let her watch a Dora episode while I was feeding Noah once and she sat absolutely still the entire time. Now she is always asking for Dora. Luckily Dora comes on tv 3 times a day so we record it on our DVR and have a good library of Dora episodes to watch.

Noah has started swinging his arms and legs a lot. It's fun to watch him wiggle around and hit the toys on his playmat. Once he knows he has those arms and legs it will be fun to watch his coordination develop and hit those toys on purpose... right now he's just getting lucky. His eyes are a dark blue (for now) and he is starting to watch things move around him. I can't wait to see what color his eyes turn out to be. Heidi's are a dark brown and I'm guessing his will be too.

Life with two kids is a blast. Somebody always needs to be fed or have their diaper changed, not a calm moment in our day and it's great! I know the coming months are going to get tougher as Noah sleeps less during the day, but for now, we're enjoying this stage.

Asleep

2009-01-02T20:11:00.002-06:00

Right now, both kids are asleep. It's amazing. I'm expecting Noah to wake up 2 to 3 times tonight and hopefully he will be able to go right back to bed. He has been sleepy all day today after having his "procedure" done this morning so tonight might not be too bad. I think I'm going to head to bed pretty soon to catch up on some of the sleep I'll be missing out on in the upcoming weeks.

We're Home!

2009-01-02T15:53:00.002-06:00

The Menchaca Family is home! We left the hospital a little before 1:00 and brought Noah to his new home. Heidi was very excited to have the baby at home. She wanted to hug and kiss him. Noah has been very sleepy today after his circumcision this morning. We've had to wake him a few times to feed him and he's done well with his eating today. Tonight should be interesting. I hope Noah's crying doesn't wake up Heidi. Like I said, it will be interesting.

Heidi and Noah Meet

2009-01-01T21:26:00.002-06:00

Heidi and Noah met for the first time this morning. When Heidi walked into the room she was very excited to see her mommy and didn't notice Noah. My mom was holding Noah while sitting on my hospital bed so I walked Heidi over to meet her new brother. She was very interested in touching Noah and "petting him" like she pets Gizzmo and Gremlin (the dog and cat). It was very cute to see her first reaction to her new brother.

Noah's First Night

2009-01-01T07:53:00.003-06:00

Last night went great. Ben had to go home to take care of Heidi so I sent Noah to the nursery so I could get a little sleep. The nurse brought Noah to me a few times over the night to eat and he was a great eater. The nursery staff changed all his diapers and I haven't had to do that yet! I'm sure there are lots of poopie diapers to come.

We have a big day today for Noah. He gets to meet his big sister, which I can't wait to see how she reacts to the baby, and he is scheduled for his circumcision later today. Thanks for all the great comments. It was fun to read all of those this morning!

Noah Micael Menchaca

2008-12-31T15:05:00.004-06:00

14:57, 9lbs, 2.4oz, 19.5in...looks perfectly healthy!

Complete

2008-12-31T14:30:00.002-06:00

10cm, 100% effaced, 0 station.

Ready to push...doctor on his way now! Pray for us...will keep updating as I can.

Second Place

2008-12-31T14:20:00.001-06:00

9.5cm, 90%, -1 station

Looks like the patient next door is having her baby now...checking Susan again really soon.

Nurse Checked Again

2008-12-31T14:09:00.003-06:00

9cm, 90% effaced, -1 station.

Susan had a little nap. Our nurse's other patient is at EXACTLY the same point in labor (9/90%/-1)...its a race!

Almost There

2008-12-31T13:48:00.004-06:00

9cm, 90% effaced, -1 station.

Labor Update

2008-12-31T13:19:00.003-06:00

8cm, 90% effaced, -1 station.

After trying to get him to turn his head for a bit, his vitals started not looking as good, so they have given up on moving him for now. Susan is back on her left side, and resting comfortably. Still working!

More Labor Progress

2008-12-31T12:17:00.003-06:00

7cm, 80-90% effaced, -1 station.

Susan is doing great...no pain, even during contractions. She is drinking water and downing butterscotches like they were going out of style.

Need Noah to make about another half turn, he's a bit on his side...

Labor Update

2008-12-31T11:16:00.002-06:00

5cm, 70% effaced.

Contractions are about 3 minutes apart. Still at -2 station. Making progress!

Labor Starting

2008-12-31T09:55:00.002-06:00

The nurse broke Susan's waters, and we were at 3cm, 70% effaced, head is now engaged...might have a baby by about noon.

Epidural

2008-12-31T08:53:00.000-06:00

The epidural is in place! Susan is relaxing, and Dr. Murphree will be back in soon to break her waters.

Starting Epidural

2008-12-31T08:22:00.000-06:00

We are about to start the epidural, and then get things started...

Pitocin Started

2008-12-31T06:15:00.000-06:00

We started the Pitocin. Susan is resting for now, but I am sure she will be awake shortly :-).

Got Some Help Sleeping

2008-12-31T05:57:00.000-06:00

They gave Susan some Stadol and Phenergan, and she's back out. No more getting out of bed now. Pitocin will be started in about 30 mins, and that's when things should get started. Noah's head is still not engaged, 2cm, 40% effaced.

And...We're Back

2008-12-31T05:39:00.000-06:00

Contractions starting getting a bit painful about 5:00a. The nurse came and checked, and no progress just yet. We are going to go ahead and start the pain meds now.

Going To Sleep

2008-12-30T22:18:00.002-06:00

Susan and I are both settled in for the night, monitors going. Hopefully tonight will be uneventful, so we can be rested for tomorrow!

Getting Things Started

2008-12-30T20:29:00.000-06:00

The Cervidil is about to go in, and she is taking an Ambien to help her sleep...this may be an uneventful night. We will start things up in the morning!

Checked in

2008-12-30T19:20:00.000-06:00

We had a rough start to our check in. There were "no rooms at the inn". Apparently the hospital had a busy day and did not have a clean room at 6:00 when we were told to be here. We finally got into a room at 7:00 and are still waiting for all the excitment to get started. I have the monitors on me so we can see Noah and my heartbeat, but are waiting for someone to come draw blood, start my IV, and start my cervidil. We'll eventually get this induction going.

Ben is sitting here watchcing the "Holiday Bowl" with Oklahoma State playing. He's hoping for another Big 12 win. Our friend Julie is at our house watching Heidi tonight, thanks Julie! My sister is coming in town tonight to be our official photographer and my mom is coming in tomorrow to take care of Heidi for the rest of the time. We'll give more updates when things start happening.

40 Week Check-up

2008-12-30T11:38:00.000-06:00

Time to laugh... I am actually LESS dilated this week than I was last week. The doctor said he would say I was still 2 cm. dilated, but barely. What a bummer! How can I be less dilated on my due date???? Now I'm waiting to hear from the doctor's office on when they can induce me. This is a busy time of the year for inductions, because people are trying to get that last minute tax deduction so we're not sure when I will get in. I sure hope it's soon. I'm 40 weeks and so tired of being pregnant. I love being pregnant, but it's time to get this over with! I'll update everyone when I have a date scheduled for the induction.

Week 39 Check-Up

2008-12-23T10:13:00.000-06:00

There was good news today! I'm now 2 cm. dilated and 50% effaced. It still is no indication of when I'll go into labor, but it's progress. I was very excited to hear good news at this visit. The doctor thinks I will go into labor before needing to schedule an induction, but if I haven't gone into labor by next week (on my due date) then we will schedule the induction at that time. He does not want me going past 41 weeks. That means there is at least an end in sight!!

Week 38 Check-up

2008-12-16T11:48:00.001-06:00

Sadly, there was no progress this week. I'm still dilated to 1 cm. I was hoping for a little good news, but nothing. Dr. Murphree said if I haven't gone into labor by next week then we'll make plans for inducing. The hospital is not allowing the doctors to schedule inductions more than a week ahead of time, so we have to wait till next week when I'm 39 weeks.

Maybe Noah is waiting for his room to get done before coming. It's almost done. I just have to hang a few more things, move the furniture in place, put the crib bumpers and mobile on the crib, get the dresser delivered (coming tomorrow), and a few other simple things.

I'll keep updating everyone!

Week 37 Check-up

2008-12-09T11:59:00.001-06:00

I had my week 37 check-up today and there was finally some good news. I am 1 cm. dilated and 40% effaced. I was never dilated with Heidi until hours after being on the pitocin when I was induced. I am excited that there is a little progress this time. Ben thinks Noah is going to just fall out, today. I think he is just excited to have his little boy join our family.

Being 1 cm. dilated is no indication of when he will arrive. It could still be weeks before Noah is ready for his grand debut!

Noah's Room

2008-12-08T20:35:00.001-06:00

We got started on Noah's room over the weekend. It has baby blue walls and that's pretty much it for right now. We got the accessories painted, so those will be ready to hang as soon as the walls go through the "touch up" phase. We have 3 weeks left until our due date so we better hurry up and get the room done. As soon as we have the room done I'll take pictures and post those.