2 Months Old!

One month old on Thanksgiving Day, two months old on Christmas Day...love it!

Noelle had her 2 month check up a couple days early because of the holidays and she's a wonderful, healthy, looooong baby.
Weight: 11 lbs, 3 oz (67%)
Head: 15.5 inches (73%)
Height: 24 " (97 %!!!)

--She has started smiling on a regular basis...great big open-mouthed grins. Of course I can't catch one on camera b/c every time she sees the camera she gets very serious and curious about this giant black box in front of mommy's face.
--She is extremely chatty...tons of oohs and ahhs and ohs. Sweetest sounds in the world. She's also the only baby I've personally heard say 'goo' as clear as day. I know it's a stereotypical baby sound, but I've never actually heard a baby make it until they're much older...it's really cute!
--She sleeps and eats really well. When she's eating, she holds on to my bra for dear life as thought someone might come along and rip her away. Eats about every three hours during the day, then goes from about 9pm-4am without waking up. Love it! She does sometimes get a little restless around 2am and I bring her into bed for snuggles; she nestles right into me and I lay there smelling her yummy baby smell.
--Her nickname is 'Le Babe'. It makes no sense b/c it's not in any language, and 'le' is masculine, but somehow it got started and has stuck with me & Chris.
--She has already rolled over. Just one time, from her back to her tummy, but she seems ready to do it again at any moment. Slow down, sweet baby!
--She is very alert. I feel like every baby has their 'one thing' that everyone comments on (Delilah's was her hair, of course, and another friend's baby had a great giggle that everyone always noticed, etc.)...well, for Noelle, her 'one thing' is her alertness. Every person she meets comments on it...how she just looks like she's already taking this whole world in and trying to figure it all out.
--Jury is still out on hair color. I guess we should go with strawberry blonde at this point. At the 2 month checkup, our pediatrician walked in and said, "How is our little red head?" I was confused b/c Delilah wasn't with us, nor has she ever been to this office, so I just said, "she's good...at school right now", and the pediatrician looked at me like I was crazy. Then I realized she meant Noelle...
--Delilah is in love with her. Still not one ounce of jealousy. If I take too long to get to Noelle when she's crying, Red will try to soothe her and then start yelling, "Mommy, come here! The baby is BERRY, BERRY sad!!!!!!!" Which, as you might imagine, is not soothing at all. :) The other day I almost had a heart attack b/c I was washing dishes when Noelle started crying in the nursery and I couldn't get to her right away. Suddenly I noticed the crying was getting closer and I walked out of the kitchen to find Delilah pushing Noelle ACROSS THE FLOOR. I still have no idea how she got Noelle out of her Moses basket and I don't want to know. I never heard a thud, and Noelle wasn't hurt, so I guess we'll just say a little prayer of thanks and let it go.

First bottle

She doesn't always need to be held, but she gets lonely very quickly if you leave the room. Fights the swaddle more than Delilah ever did, but LOVES it once she's in it.

Runyon lovin'

"Are you looking at my belly? Isn't it glorious?"

Merry Christmas!

We spent a fantastic Christmas Eve at my parents' house. About half of the siblings and cousins were there, and there were presents and wrapping paper flying everywhere! :)

As you can see, my parents' house is so warm and festive!


Delilah was fascinated by the snow globes.

Mimi and her girls.

Team Huntley before the Christmas Eve service.

It was the 'children's' service and instead of passing out candles, they passed out glow sticks. Delilah LOVED the glow sticks and we worked hard to try and explain just how glow sticks celebrated the birth of Jesus. :)

Then we drove home so Delilah could wake up in her own house on Christmas morning. We all woke up and she ran straight to the tree. "Look at all my prizes!!!" were the first words out of her mouth.

But you can tell she was still sleepy. :)

Cute feet!

Finding her mailbox on the tree and opening it for her present (a Huntley Family tradition that I believe started when Chris & Kim were toddlers themselves)

And a couple general Christmas pics to round out the post.

We spent all weekend playing with Delilah and her new toys. It was all about family and it truly felt so magical to have baby Noelle there this year. Happy Holidays to everyone!!!

Noelle's Newborn Photos

Here are our favorite images from the photo session we did when Noelle was 2 weeks old. Oh, I love them so very much!!!

Locked Out! (...or proof that my daughter has a heart of gold)

About a week and a half ago I packed up the girls and took a quick road trip to Austin to see our dear friends, The Bighams. The whole ride there, Red could not stop talking about seeing 'kinley, and Makinley must have been just as excited b/c when we pulled into the driveway, she & Laura were already waiting on the steps outside. I didn't bring my camera, but Laura sent the few pics she snapped.

Enjoying a snack

My girl

Scott holding Noelle. They are expecting their second in June...I think he looks pretty excited about holding another baby!

The day was going well (aside from a brief stop at our old house where I shed a few tears of nostalgia), with the girls squealing and playing while Laura & I tried to catch up as quickly as possible b/c we knew that 24 hours just wasn't going to be enough time. But then...

We all went outside in the backyard to play and were having a great time when Red decided she wanted to go back in. Which was fine until I heard the 'click'. The 'click' that meant my 2 year old had locked herself inside leaving, Laura, 'kinley, myself, and Noelle outside with no key and no way to get inside.
I convinced her to unlock the door, but since there were two locks on the door, she unlocked one just as she locked the other. And b/c the blinds were drawn, she couldn't see us and she started to panic. And once she started to panic, it was all over and she wouldn't listen to my instructions anymore. I could hear her crying and calling for 'Mommy' and there was nothing I could do...I felt so unbelievably helpless.
This went on for awhile until Laura made the good suggestion that if we could get Red to the front door, she would sort of be able to see us through the wavy glass and perhaps that would calm her down enough to unlock the front door.
So we managed to yell and ring the doorbell enough to get Red to go through the house to the front door, where she did indeed calm down enough to want to open the door. But, alas, she was too short to reach the lock!!!
So we started to try and guide her to get a stool to stand on. We told her it was in the bathroom...sadly, the stool was in the downstairs bathroom & she thought we meant one of the bathrooms upstairs, so I watched her trudge up the stairs, wander between the bathrooms before coming back downstairs empty-handed. She came to the door, I kneeled down, and we pressed our faces and hands to the glass like we were visiting in prison. Funny now, but heartbreaking at the time. And then I learned how Delilah handles a crisis: she pretends it isn't happening. She had been crying on & off this whole time, but after the stool thing didn't pan out, she decided she was done. So I watched her go back into the playroom & start playing like nothing was wrong. She walked out of my view towards the kitchen & came back in view with a sleeve of crackers. She walked out of my view towards the dress-up trunk & came back in plastic heels. And just continued on as though she always plays alone at Makinley's house.
I managed to get her to come back to the door one more time and yelled for her to get one of the small play chairs and drag it over so she could stand on that & reach the lock. But she was past the point of no return. I promised her candy, cookies, suckers, play-doh, anything her heart desired if she would just drag a chair over. Nothing worked. And the tears started again. And I was about 60 seconds from breaking Laura's window. And then I had an idea. I told Delilah that Makinley was cold and needed to come inside.
Red stopped her tears long enough to repeat, " 'kinley is cold, Mommy?" I said yes and then watched my brave little girl straighten her shoulders, take a deep breath as if to say "I can do this", and she promptly dragged a chair to the door, stood on it, and unlocked the door in about 30 seconds.
So helping her friend was more motivating to Delilah than candy or toys or anything else...how sweet is that?

If only I would have thought of it an hour earlier...

Wordless Wednesdays: School Pics...aka: Where do the leaves end and her hair begin?