Noah’s First Thanksgiving

Leave a comment November 28, 2014 discoveringnaturalmotherhood

Noah’s first Thanksgiving was great! He was a little overwhelmed with all the attention and people to begin with, but he soon adjusted to everything going on around him.

First, on Wednesday, my mom and I made the pies. We made an apple pie and pumpkin pie and they turned out to be delicious! But, we had a few mishaps with the pumpkin pie. We began with the pie crusts for both the pumpkin and apple pies. The pumpkin needed to be refrigerated for 45 minutes, so we started with that first. Once that was in the fridge we started on the apple pie. We decided to make two apple pies; one with dairy, and one without. We decided to make a fold over pie this year, which turned out to be much easier and less time consuming than a typical apple pie.

Then we ate lunch before starting on the pumpkin pie. We rolled out the pie crust and put it in the over to par-bake it for 10 minutes. We chose not set the timer because we figured we’d be in around the stove. While waiting on the crust to par-bake, we mixed pumpkin filling. Then, for some reason, we began talking about cleaning the house, and got started cleaning different areas of the house. Well, about 40 minutes later, we smell something burning. We both looked at each other and ran to the kitchen. The crust was completely burnt. We’d forgotten all about the crust! After laughing about it, we decided to make another crust but we didn’t want to put it in the fridge because it would take too long. We made the crust, rolled it out, put it in the pan, and baked it for 10 minutes. We made sure to set the timer this time! But when we took out the crust one side had slide down and badly had a crust along the edge and the other side had a huge bubble. We decided it would be good enough, so we put the filling in and baked it. When we took out the pie, half was burnt because the crust had slid down, but half of it looked great! By then we were over baking pies, we called it good!

On Thanksgiving, we had my parents, grandma, brother and his girlfriend and a family friend over! It was great to be with everyone for the day. Anthony made the turkey and the mashed potatoes and my grandma and mom did the rest! Everything was delicious!

The best part was during the meal. Noah was sitting in Anthony’s lap while he was eating. Anthony saw a few cranberries on the ground and thought he’d dropped them. He asked me to pick them up when I went over to him I saw some on chair, on the floor, and suddenly we realized Noah had picked the cranberries off of Anthony’s plate! He had tried to get the cranberries into his mouth but dropped them. He did get cranberry sauce all over his mouth! It was hilarious!

After that we realized he might be getting hungry and we gave him some rice cereal! This was the second day we’ve given him the rice cereal and he LOVES it! He tries to shove the spoon into his mouth. It’s so cute!

Finally, Noah was looking tired so we put his jammies on and said good night to everyone.

Month 3

Leave a comment November 25, 2014 discoveringnaturalmotherhood

I have loved, loved, loved month number three! Each stage Noah begins, I have mixed emotions. I love each new experience that he has and I love watching him experience and take in new things. On the other hand I also feel a little sting because I cannot believe how fast it’s going. I mean, I have a 3 month old…really?! These three months have flown by, and I don’t know how I lived without him for so long. I feel so lucky I get to be his mom.

This month Noah has started to sleep three to four hours at a time, throughout the night. We even had one night that was five hours at a time, and it felt so good.

This month I noticed Noah preferred to be held upright instead of on his back, and he is seeing so much better. I can see him processing everything. He also likes to sit with the boppy when on the ground. This appears to help him see more. I have been showing him the pictures of some of the books I read to him, and he reaches out to touch the pictures in his color book. That is his favorite book right now. He stares at the green page for a good five minutes, and when I try to turn the page he starts to whimper. When I turn it back he is content to look at it more!

He is also talking away! Every day he talks and talks, and I either talk back or mimic his sounds to encourage him to talk back! He is starting to find different pitches in his voice; I have heard a few squeals and shrieks. He is so close to giggle, I can’t wait to hear it!

Noah has also found his hands this month; there has been a lot of snacking on his hands. It’s surprising how much of his hand he can fit into his mouth. This last week or two he has started to put just his fingers into his mouth too. Sometimes he even opens his hands while they are in his mouth and he ends up gagging himself; it’s pretty cute!

Noah also really surprised Anthony and I the other day. He was lying on his back, on the bed, while was Anthony talking to him, and he rolled to his side and then onto his stomach! We couldn’t believe it! I don’t know if it was just a one-time thing or if he will start to do it more. It sure surprised us! He has been rolling onto his side for a couple weeks but I didn’t think they rolled over to their stomachs for a couple more months.

Each day he learns more and interacts more. I’ve loved every stage so far and cannot wait to see what he does next. I can’t believe I got so lucky!

I hope everything has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

-Savanna 🙂

Favorite Products During Month 2

Leave a comment November 14, 2014 discoveringnaturalmotherhood

The following are some products that I’ve used a lot during the second month with Noah!

• Swing– The swing we have plays music, has multiple speed settings, and also vibrates. Noah does not like going very fast on his swing, but we use it daily. I’ll put him in the swing while I shower and get ready for the day, or sometimes while I cook. Also, there have been a few nights were he did not want to go to sleep, so I put him in the swing for a few minutes and it calmed him down enough to finally go to sleep!

• Books– Can you tell yet that I love reading? As I’ve mentioned before, I have a ton of books from teaching preschool and it was so much fun to buy all the books. I bought them at yard sales and Arc or Goodwill to save money! I hope to pass on my love of reading to Noah!

• K’Tan– I didn’t use any carriers until Noah’s neck was a little bit more steady. He was about ten weeks old when I started to use it, but now that I’ve started, I love it! I can get things done around the house while taking him with me. Plus, there are days when he doesn’t want to be put down and this allows me to get a few things done without leaving him. (Plus, I love being close to him!)

• Fan– There are two types of fans that I’ve loved this month. First, a free standing fan like this one. This allowed us to have white noise that helped Noah get to sleep much quicker and he’ll sleep longer when the fan is on. We tried not having it on, but he got up throughout the night more often. Then, there is the ceiling fan that Noah has loved this month. He can stare at the moving fan for a long time, talking to it and making high-pitched noises. It’s so cute to watch!

• Tummy time blanket– I like this one because it is bigger then the typical tummy time blanket that you usually see. This one has different textures placed on different animals that Noah can play with. I also liked it because on its edges it has loops that you can attach your own toys to. This will later help babies to encourage them to crawl to their toys.

6 Ways to Play with Baby During Month 2

Leave a comment November 6, 2014 discoveringnaturalmotherhood

1. Making different noises- By talking to, singing to or just by making silly noises your baby should be listening to all the sounds around him. You can shake a rattle and see if he starts to look towards the noise. During month two Noah would be moving around on the ground but if he heard any noises from the norm he would become very still and listen. The noises should not be loud or scary but a little silly sound from mom or dad or the crinkling of paper will stimulate your baby!

2. Feeling different textures- Run different textures along your babies forehead, arms and legs, you can even run them on the bottom of their feet and the palm of their hands. This will stimulate baby. There are so many different textures to feel! I wouldn’t suggest using anything rough or hard but any soft texture will do. I used soft toys, rags, velvet, anything you can find!

3. Propped up sitting and talk to baby- During month 2 Noah started to really enjoy being propped up and looking around. I used the boppy to allow him to sit up and enjoy the world from a different perspective. While he was propped up I would talk to him, sing to him. Also, let him have some quiet time and just let him look around and observe. Just make sure to supervise because if they are moving a lot they can start to slide down.

4. The swing- The swing is great way to play with baby! You can lightly push the baby in the swing or if you can an automatic one let the swing do the work. You can talk to your baby while their in the swing, play peek-a-boo or let them swing and observe.

5. Tummy time- Tummy time is very important for babies to help develop gross motor skills. It does not have to be time spent on their stomachs on the floor, you can hold the baby up right in your arms, lay them across your lap or if you have an exercise ball they you can hold them in place on top of the ball. During the second month I tried to give Noah 30 to 60 minutes of tummy time each day. He was not a fan of laying on the floor for tummy time so I held him up right in my arms and we walked around the house, we went outside and we looked at each other in the mirrors. By the way seeing Noah smile at himself in the mirror is the cutest thing ever!

6. Reading- I mentioned reading in month 1 too, but this month I started to show Noah the pictures in the books. At this age it’s best to use books that have real pictures and that do not have too many pictures on one page. This is where the board books come in handy. Use board books that have only a few pictures per page. By the end of the month Noah was reaching towards the pictures.