Chew, Chew, Chew

There is absolutely NOTHING these days that Noah doesn't wrap his lips around and chew the heck out of. In fact, we've started calling him "beaver boy." =)

We couldn't seem to get crib rail protectors fast enough. He beat us to it. Here are the chew marks before.....

View of the back....

View of the front....

Here are the protectors after..... (Thanks, Gammy!)

He chews on the couch, the coffee table, the side tables, the glider rocker, any hand that holds him and etc. Guess it's time to go to Home Depot and get a furniture crayon to cover up some of the marks. =)

Here is the latest pic of his teeth. Yes, TEETH! He now has TWO! And boy they are razor sharp sometimes. =)

Body Worlds

We FINALLY got to go to Body Worlds (click here to go to their website)!!! It's been at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science for quite awhile now, and Greg had promised to take Jen sometime while it was still on exhibit there, so we thought today would be the day! But it was MORE fun because we had some company! Brian saw that we had it planned on our calendar and him and Becca wanted to go, and apparently Mom was interested in seeing it too, so we all just planned on going together. We even tried a fun little coffee shop up in Denver for breakfast along the way. We couldn't take pictures inside the exhibit (Jen took one really quick at the beginning though - note the slight blurriness in an attempt to try to be sneaky and not get caught), but it was fascinating and definitely something we'll remember nonetheless. Well, Jen was absolutely fascinated. Greg thought it was cool, but was mostly there since it was something he knew was right up Jen's alley. =)

Noah's first trip to the Museum!

He looks thrilled, huh? ;)

Our little family at Body Worlds!

This is how much blood your body gets pumped through it in one day. WOW! - This was the "sneaky" picture. =)

Noah enjoyed seeing all the exhibits, but eventually preferred seeing the inside of his eyelids.

Lunch at Chili's on the way home. He LOVES being in a high-chair!


HAD to get a picture of him in his adorable little basketball shirt and shorts!

Well the Tooth of the Matter Is…..

Noah has cut his first tooth!

So today, while Jen went to an appointment, her Mom stayed home with Noah. The appointment didn't take too terribly long, so she stopped by Einstein Bagels, picked up bagels and coffee, and headed on home. They ate, talked, let Noah have a taste of flavored cream cheese, and let him climb all over them. Then.... Noah decided to do the usual and chomp down on the hand that was holding him - that happened to be Mom this time. Mom yelled with excitement, "Ouch! Ohhhh, I completely forgot to tell you yesterday while he was at my house, but I think somebody has cut his first tooth!" So with enormous excitement, they grabbed his chubby little face and yanked his lip down to get a good look inside. After about 3 tries (keeping him still these days is like trying to tame a wild animal!) they finally got to peer inside and see the little white gem poking through. Bottom left tooth. So of course, Jen had to get on the phone and let practically everyone in her phone book know of the good news! ;) And of course, they spent the rest of the early afternoon excitedly trying to get another look in there. =) We're considering ourselves lucky since he hadn't been overly crabby or waking up in the middle of the night in pain. Easy first tooth - a breeze, really. Hopefully the rest of them will be just as easy!

We messed with the coloring on the picture so you could see the tooth better, and even tried to sharpen up some of the blur (from all the crying and flailing around), but this was the best we could get it without totally making the picture look awful. Hopefully you can see it and be as excited as we are!! =)

First and Last

This morning was Noah's FIRST time in the nursery at church! Granted Jen went in with him the whole time, but he absolutely loved playing with all the new toys and all the other little kids. We think we'll take turns taking him in there every Sunday until we eventually feel comfortable leaving him alone in there.

(No pictures..... the camera was left in the diaper bag in the worship center, and Jen didn't want to walk back in and be a distraction for a second time.)

Tonight was Brian's LAST night working at Saltgrass Steakhouse - so of course we all had to go there for dinner and celebrate that momentous occasion! He got a job working for Boeing, so that means now we'll get to see him and hang out with him and Becca more often!

At dinner tonight, it was also Noah's FIRST time sitting in a high-chair! He absolutely LOVED it, and as you can tell by the pictures below, he felt so proud and like such a big boy. =)

Six Months Old!

Our little man is 6 months old today! How did we get to this point so quickly? It seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital and introducing him to every part of our life. Now, it’s hard to imagine life without him.

He seems to have grown up and advanced so much as the months go by. But literally, this past month, he has changed SO much and has grown up faster than any other month before. It was seriously within a 2-day period that he grew into this active little chatty boy (talks almost non-stop ALL the time now) that is happier than ever and ready to explore every inch of the world! Here are his latest advancements: He rolls ALL over the floor and spins circles to get to certain toys on the floor. He knows where he wants to go and gets there now. Guess it’s time to start putting those little plugs in the light sockets since he tends to gravitate towards those on the wall. :/ He gets up and rocks back and forth on his knees, and lately has even started this “army crawl” thing where, like we said before, he gets where he wants to go! (It’s pretty much like crawling to us since he’s unstoppable now.) He sits up by himself for longer periods of time and doesn’t always like to be held for his bottle anymore. =( He did this little thing for awhile where he’d sigh real loud when he was done eating as if to say, “oh my, that was THE best bottle I’ve ever had!” He’s starting to get the hang of his door jumperoo and just jumps like crazy and squeals with excitement. He coughs when he doesn’t think he’s getting enough attention from one of us, and lately has even started grunting loud to show his indignation until one of us stops what we’re doing to acknowledge him. On occasion, he’ll throw a little fit and then stop and look around to see if anyone is paying attention. If someone IS paying attention, he’ll just smile real big and sometimes laugh. Yeah, it’s cute NOW……. =) Guess he’s starting to know what he wants, huh? ;) He eats his rice cereal like a little pig – of course we taint it with apple juice, and to him, we can’t shovel it in fast enough! He’s even been enjoying the new dissolvable baby puff snacks and various other little tastes of our food and drink (His binky dipped in McDonald’s sweet tea, and orange slices to suck on seem to be his favorite). When we walk into the room after not being there for awhile (as in nap time), he just gets beside himself with excitement. He’ll flash us a big ‘ol toothless grin, flap his arms up and down, kick his legs, and squeal. His little nails seem to grow faster than the grass in our yard too. Probably every 5 days or so we’re having to do a mani and pedi on him. We are having to buy more and more toys for him since his old ones seem to bore him. So for that reason, we gave him his new exersaucer yesterday and it was quite a hit!

Tonight we get to celebrate his half birthday with fireworks, friends, and family, and tomorrow is his 6 month check up with the pediatrician! Unfortunately, that means more shots, but on the up side, it means getting to discuss beginning his first foods! Jen is going to attempt to make all of his baby food and is looking SO forward to it! She bought a couple of different books to get the doctor’s approval on first (don’t want Noah getting rickets!), and then it will be off to the Sunflower Farmer’s Market to get a bunch of fresh, organic veggies and fruits!

Slightly over a week ago, Jen and Noah got back from Arkansas. This was Noah’s first plane ride. Jen dreaded the trip like the plague, but Noah ended up doing fantastically and got a few compliments from some of the passengers on what a good baby he was! He made a few friends with some of the men, charmed the ladies, and even got his first pair of wings. So cute. =) The ONLY bad part about the plane trip was that the airline kinda beat up our stroller. So now it looks like we don’t know how to take care of our stuff very well – when indeed, if you know us AT ALL, we take exceptional care of our stuff. Greg was NOT happy about that. Strollers are too expensive to tear up – especially this one!

Yesterday, Jen went to her 10-year high school class reunion. (Crazy!) She had fun showing off Greg and Noah and reuniting with a lot of old friends. Of course they all thought Noah was just the cutest! After that, we headed up to Denver to run a few errands, and one of the ladies in the James Avery store told us "Noah was just the cutest baby she had ever seen - he should come back all the time so she can look at him and maybe even consider being the store mascot!" =)

Wonder what else we can cram into one blog post? How about just a TON of new pictures? =)

SO incredibly happy!

His new way to eat..... he's got to do something with his hands.... =)

Playing outside on the deck.

LOVES to play in the sink.

Loves Kobe.

Such good posture!

Big Greg and little Greg. =)

Peek-a-boo!

How he travelled to Arkansas. Whew!

Noah in his "hillbilly swimming pool"

Loves his Great-Gran.

Harold Alexander and Noah Alexander.

Gnawing on a corn cob.

His new binky. We're so mean.....

Diaper Dude.

Going back home to Colorado!

First pair of wings!

This is what a 2 hr and 45 minute nap looks like. =)

Jen's new favorite picture.

10 Things.....

(By Jen)

It was requested on a friend's blog that I do this "10 things about me" thing, so here it goes....

1. I am NOT a morning person. There is absolutely nothing to be happy about or to talk about first thing in the morning. I need an hour to wake up, and a cup of coffee. Not necessarily in that order. ;)

2. I think it's the most ridiculous thing when people put fake animals in their yards. Birds, deer, etc. I don't understand the point. I also hate it when people put fake plants inside their house. I just don't get it.

3. I LOVE my heated towel warmer. Nothing feels better than stepping out of the shower and having a nice, warm, fluffy towel to wrap up in. Now.... in our next house, we will be installing heated flooring and a heated toilet seat. Can you tell I love to be warm? =)

4. I hate my eyes being messed with. I hate hearing about other people's eyes being messed with. That being said, I can't even imagine having contacts of any kind or eye surgery of any kind. That's just crazy talk in my mind.

5. If I can't see my feet, I don't swim in it. End of story. Blegh!

6. When (and if) I decide to grow my hair out, I plan on getting hair extensions so I don't have to go through that awkward transition phase.

7. I am OCD about cleanliness and being sanitary. Anyone can tell you I am quite the meticulous housekeeper. "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" is what I always say!

8. I have addictions: lattes, corn nuts, those little chocolate waxy donuts, chicken caesar salad (and wraps), fruit, being in the sun, time with Noah, vacationing, and my BlackBerry.

9. I have been getting into this "do it yourself" thing lately. I have been making my own jewelry, things for Noah's room, and an odd assortment of other things. I feel like quite the little housewife.

10. I am picky about my syrup. I can only eat one kind of syrup. I politely decline anything with syrup at anyone else's house since chances are they don't use the same kind we use. =) I don't even order anything at restaurants that might need syrup!

OK, that's it. Hopefully that wasn't TOO boring. And now I have to pick some blogging friends to do the same....... Brian Kelly, you need to do it since I saw you finally updated your blog and have your own website. =) Erynn O'Brien, you are my FAVORITE blogger and have THE BEST blog out there, so you most definitely need to do this. Ali Farmer, it's fun to read about your life, and I am sure it has gotten more interesting these past 3 weeks. Kristen Crowe, I KNOW you read our blog, and it's about time you updated YOUR blog. =)

Whew! What a Week!

And we thought life would slow down once we had a baby..... huh!

Monday
We woke up tired..... it had been a loooooooong night the night before. Noah got up quite a few times during the night, probably because it was so hot in the house. After everyone was up, had breakfast and showers, Jen, her Mom, and Noah immediately hit the road and ran a TON of errands. They got back just in time for Jen and her Dad to go on a date. Dinner and a movie! They went and saw Shrek3 in 3D. It was awesome! Had they remembered to take a picture, here is what they would have looked like with their 3D glasses on:

Haha.... ;)

Greg and Noah had "guys night" at home, spending quite a bit of time outside. MUCH later that night, after putting Noah to bed and cleaning up from the whirlwind of a day, Greg ran out and got us Blizzards from Dairy Queen. One of our summer favorites. We definitely needed a nice cool treat to cool off that night. Plus we had a sweet tooth. ;)


Tuesday
It was birthday night! We celebrated Becca's birthday with a fun dinner, presents, and yummy birthday cake! The weather was even SO nice that we took a nice looooooong walk after dinner. The neighbors down the street from Mom and Dad Kelly got goats, so of course we had to go over and see them. Jen wants a goat..... maybe someday. ;) We also went to the next door neighbors to Mom and Dad Kelly to show off Noah. They've been waiting like crazy to see him and we finally got to go over and introduce him! They just got their pool all ready for summer, so maybe we can take him over one of these sweltering hot days - or maybe next year instead when he's bigger. ;)

Noah visiting the goats. =)

Wednesday
Such a FUN day! Jen went and played Ultimate Frisbee with Becca and her work mates. Brian plays too, so it was fun for her to be able to hang out with the both of them. A good friend of Jen's from high school works with Becca and plays on the team, so it was fun for her to catch up with him and reconnect. (It's crazy how small this world REALLY is.) Mom Kelly, Auntie Cheryl and Noah watched from the sidelines and cheered them on. Afterwards, they were supposed to go on a picnic, but the wind was blowing 8 million miles an hour, AND it was cloudy - what do you know though, that as they were coming out of the restaurant after lunch, the sun was shining. ;) That night, we went and bought Noah an exersaucer. He won't get it until we get back from Arkansas though since we just got him a door jumperoo. Don't want to spoil him TOO much within a short period of time. ;) He's getting more and more mobile, and less content with his same ol' toys. So what were we to do but get him the next step up in toys! =)

Playing Ultimate Frisbee!
How Noah watched half of the time. =)

Thursday
Another busy day spent cleaning, preparing for the trip, and appointments and etc. That night was kinda supposed to be a date night alone for us since Jen's heading out of town for 2 weeks next week, but we decided to have dinner and dessert back at the house with our good friends Matt and Trisha. =) They live about 3 minutes from us and will be moving at the end of the month to Monument. After dinner they took us to see their new house that's almost done being built - we hope to be their "neighbors" again by next year at this time and show them OUR newly built house.

Noah in Papa and Mimi's bed. He slept. We "partied." =)

Friday
Jen worked half a day (she's really getting into this "working only when it's convenient for her" deal). The other half of the day she spent doing laundry, cleaning, and getting ready for the trip. Needless to say, since neither of us wanted to make dinner after working that evening, we picked up pizza and garlic knots from our favorite pizza place here in town (Boriello Brothers) and enjoyed dinner while watching the lightning show and listening to the thunder. We had quite the rain and hail too and were under a tornado watch for quite some time!


Saturday
We did nothing but pack and spend time together alone as a family. It was a gross, dreary day, so we didn't mind staying in and hanging out in our jammies all day.

All packed and ready to go! Bye, Daddy!

Whew!