Seabrook Island

The day after Mother's Day, we loaded up and headed out again for our annual anniversary trip to Seabrook Island, SC. Noah did really great for the most part both coming and going to Seabrook. We stopped a few times along the way for him to eat/play/fuss, then we were back on our way. It took us about 1 hour longer than it normally would, but not too shabby.
Tyra and I love Seabrook Island and always look forward to visiting every year. We were especially excited for Noah to be going with us this year for his first trip to the beach, his first time swimming (briefly) in a pool, and just to see how he'd do on his first vacation.
Seabrook is aboout 20 miles south of Charleston, and some of the best food in the world can be eaten here. Needless to say, we ate it all! (Diets can wait for this week, right?!)
Noah had a fun time at the beach, and it was so neat to see him looking at the water and feeling the ocean breeze. While we were there, he was a constant talker, and his high-pitched jibber-jabbers, sounded a lot like the seagulls that were outside. His outgoing personality was on full display as he hammed it up while we'd converse with him and laugh. It was a lot of fun.
Gabi had a fun time on the Seabrook sands again, and she always wanted to join us on our stroller rides or excursions around the island. I'm posting a few pictures below of our trip, but most of the pictures (along with some others we've taken this month) can be seen here: Noah's May 2008 Pictures

Just hanging out while Mom shops


Mommy and Noah at the beach


Noah fell asleep on me like this as we were walking back from the beach to the condo


Noah and Gabi enjoying the sand


Dad and Noah in the pool


Loving the Seabrook Life


Mom and Noah cuddling in the pool


One Cool Dude


Nap time by the pool


Family picture from our back porch

Noah's First Trip to Hendersonville

We're back from our trip to the beach, so I can finally update the blog. Noah experienced a lot of "firsts" over the past 10 days. He did great on his first car ride (about 3 hours) to Hendersonville and slept the entire way.

After settling in and unpacking our car-load of (mostly baby) things, we went to visit Eric's grandmother for her to meet Noah for the first time.

Noah and Grandmommie


We then stopped by to see Tyra's mom (visiting from Florida) and grandmother too. So, Noah got a lot of great-grandmother love that day!

Noah and Nanny


On that Saturday (May 10), Noah went with Mommy and Daddy to get our new car!! We got a 2008 "white diamond pearl" Honda Accord from our great friends at Trickett Honda. Cousin Thomas will be inheriting our old '92 Accord when he returns to UT for his sophomore year in August, so at least my baby (the old Accord) will still be in the family! Yay for new cars!!


We had a few minutes to stop by to see Eric's Uncle Greg and Aunt Susan at their house. Noah greeted Susan with a big smile and a lot of spit up, which was funny to everyone, even Susan!
Noah met his Uncle Lakon and Aunt Holly, along with cousins Aidan and Dylan too on Saturday. They had a little accident and their house was full of smoke that day, so we met them at Sonic in Hendersonville...at least we were able to take advantage of the Sonic slushie "happy hour!"

Holly, Lakon, and Noah


After our Sonic excursion, Noah went to his first wedding. Here is a picture of Noah being held by the groom (Ryan McDuffie), with Dad and best buddies Adam and Lewis. Congrats to the newlyweds Ryan and Lindsay McDuffie!!


The next day was Mother's Day and it was extra special, as Noah got to spend it with Mommy and both grandmothers Gigi and JenMommy in Hendersonville. These past three months have given me an EXTRA appreciation for Tyra, my mom, and ALL mothers for the indescribable love they have for their sons and daughters. They aren't thanked enough! Hip, Hip, Hooray for Moms!

After church in Hendersonville...First Presbyterian Church, where we got married


JenMommy, Mommy, and Noah celebrating Mother's Day


Looking handsome in his Mother's Day outfit

Road Trips

Noah will be a traveling boy for the next week. Today, we'll be going to Hendersonville for the first time since he was born. We'll celebrate Mother's Day with Tyra, Gigi, and JenMommy in Hendersonville too. Then, next week, we're headed to Seabrook Island, SC for our (4 year) anniversary trip and Noah's first trip to the beach! Packing for road trips is drastically different now, as we'll be packing everything and the kitchen sink when it comes to Noah's "necessities."

Noah's 3 Month Highlight Video

Here are some video highlights of Noah's 3rd month. He will turn 3 months old tomorrow. Over the past month, his personality has really come out even more. He loves to laugh, smile, eat his fists, jibber-jabber, be swayed (standing up) to sleep while being hummed to, and loves meal time! He doesn't go back to the doctor until next month for his 4-month appointment, but we estimate he weighs around 16.5 - 17 pounds. He had a fun month full of new "firsts," so we hope you enjoy the video. (technical note---the video sound is a little low, so you may need to turn the speakers up on your computer)

Noah's 3-Month Video

Noah's Baptism Day

Noah was baptized this morning at church. It was a great service and Noah did wonderful getting baptized. He was wide awake and in a great mood. Such a great mood, in fact, that he peed on me while I was holding him after he was baptized (while some other children were getting baptized), and it leaked through his diaper and on his onesie, baptism outfit, my hands, my shirt and my suit. Always a show stealer, our son! We were joined by lots of family and friends and we thank ALL of you for loving our son and showing him God's love! After church, we all went to eat a yummy brunch at Mulligan's. Thanks to everyone who travled from out of town and in town to share Noah's special day. Our prayer on this (and every) day is that through all of life's ups and downs, Noah will always know and feel God's love, comfort, and embrace in his heart. Here are a few snapshots from the day:

How cool is this?

This is a new product they have at Williams-Sonoma called the Beaba (pronounced Bee-ah-buh)Babycook. It originated in Europe and is new the U.S., but wow, what a great idea. It won't be much longer until Noah starts eating real foods, so we better start convincing him now that pureed baby peas are DELICIOUS! Mmmmmmmmm!

My New Trick

Noah has figured out how to use his legs to scoot around. He routinely scoots backwards off of his aquarium playmat. We'll move him back to the mat and he'll scoot right back to where he was within a few minutes.

Also, the past 2 mornings we've gone to get him in his crib and he's been all over the place. Thursday morning, his head was at the complete opposite end of the bed from where we put him the night before. He is enjoying his newfound freedom of travel.

He's also transitioned from the normal coos and caas of baby lingo to high pitched yelling. It's so funny! He will yell, then wait about 30 seconds and then do it again. It's amazing to see how quickly babies pick up on things, figure them out, then want to keep doing them over and over.

Guys Night With Uncle Drew

Noah and Andrew had a fun guys night in Gibbs Hall on Tuesday. And Andrew even changed Noah's diaper. Way to go Andrew!

Orange & White Game

Last Saturday, Noah made his very first trip to Neyland Stadium for the 2008 Orange and White game. Our office was hosting a group of students in the skyboxes, so we all got to sit in the skyboxes for his first game, which was a treat. Noah did really well at the game and was even able to take a few quick cat-naps between all the meeting and greeting.

Ready for his first trip to Neyland Stadium


Haag Team Picture


What we (will) do best!


Today (Monday), we finally took Noah into the football office to meet Coach Fulmer and the office staff, which was a lot of fun. They all commented on his brick-solid frame and Coach Fulmer told us the scholarship papers are in the mail. They all enjoyed holding him, but we forgot to snap a picture. DOH! Coach was so nice to spend several minutes with us and Noah and I could tell he really enjoyed seeing him.

Special thanks to JenMommy (Eric's Mom) for coming to stay with us for a few days last week. I was working late for a few nights organizing the kickoff event for The Campaign for Tennessee, and Tyra and I were able to go to the event on Thursday. It was the first time both of us had been away from Noah at the same time, and he (and WE!) did well.

Tomorrow night, Noah gets to have a "guys night" with Uncle Drew and Cousin Thomas in Andrew's Gibbs Hall dorm room. Tyra has a Junior League Officers meeting and I have a scholarship dinner our office is hosting on the same night/time. The thought that both of us had commitments struck me at about 4 a.m. this morning and I worried about us scrambling to find a babysitter at the last minute, but thankfully Drew and Tom to the rescue! My event is right across the street from Andrew's dorm, so at least I'll be close by if I get any "come change his diaper NOW" phone calls!

Little Golfer

These are some pictures of Noah and Daddy after our trip to Augusta, GA to watch The Master's golf tournament. We had a great time watching the best golfers in the world play on the most beautiful golf course in the world!.....OK, so we didn't really go to Augusta, but we watched it on TV and had fun dressing Noah up in his Master's outfit.

Some video snippets

I took these on my cell phone last night, so the quality isn't great. He was jibber-jabbering away last night and I had to capture it. On a side note, last night (4/9) was the first time Noah slept 8 hours straight through the night. He woke up once or twice and made a few peeps, but was able to soothe himself back to sleep pretty quickly without us going to pick him up. He's been a really good sleept so far, but last night was great with him sleeping 8 hours straight! It was the first time Tyra was able to stay in bed all night since he was born, so that was a treat too. Anyway, here are the videos:

Jibber-Jabbering




This one is funny....he's been working hard the past few days to lift himself up on his legs while we're holding him on the couch. He'll be up against our stomachs while we're sitting down, then take his hands, grab our shirts, and pull himself up. His legs are really strong for a 9-week old, I think, so I put him down on the floor to see what he did...and sure enough....I know we're a long ways off from walking, but this was funny! He was looking up at me with the biggest smile while he was doing it too! Just awesome!

E-I-E-I-O!

Here's Noah in his Moo Moo outfit. Thanks Uncle Charles and Aunt Amy!



Noah's starting to figure out how to grab and hold his toys.


Dozing off while watching the Lady Vols win another national championship!

Happy 2 Month Birthday!!

Hope you enjoy these highlights from Noah's 2nd month:

Two Month Old Stats

Noah turned 2 months old today. He did great at his doctor's visit while getting 3 shots and 1 liquid vaccination. He's sporting two stylish bandaids on his thighs, one "Barney" bandaid and one "Backyardigans" bandaid. Here are his 2 month old stats: Weight: 14 lbs, 13 oz (97th percentile for his age) Height: 23.6 inches (77th percentile for his age) He's been doing better sleeping through the night...about 6 1/2 hours at a time, but seems to enjoy waking up at 4:45 am to grunt, squirm, and try to wake us up...but he eventually goes back to sleep. We have his 2 month old video ready to go, and I hope to post it soon!

Snapshots of Last Week

Playing with my aquarium friends, who I've now started gibber-gabbering with.


My very first golf club! Thanks Gigi!


Playing on my belly after my bath. I love bath time!


Meeting cousins Crystal and Rachel


Just hanging out with Mommy

Noah's First Easter and Reaching Another Milestone

Noah had a great first Easter. Because he's now more than 6 weeks old and cold/flu season is behind us (the doctor advised us to keep him at home for at least 6 weeks), we were able to take Noah to church for the first time. He did great during the service and slept about 99% of the time. He woke up after all of the songs, so I think he really enjoyed the music. After church we went home, took some pictures, made sausage & biscuits, did Noah's first Easter basket, then relaxed on the couch for some college basketball. It was a great day. And Noah set a new personal record for number of outfits worn in a day at 4...as he was on top of his "pee and/or spit-up on Mommy/Daddy/myself" game.

Noah is really starting to show his personality more and more and is smiling a lot. He's starting to really watch us closely and will always turn his head when we're walking around the room or talking to him. His new favorite lullabye is (and I'm not kidding), a slowed down version of the UT Alma Mater. It's like magic and puts him to sleep or calms him almost instantly when I'm holding him.

In another piece of breaking news... Noah rolled over by himself for the first time on Saturday night (Mar. 22). He was lying next to me in our bed sucking on his paci and it kept falling out and he was getting frustrated. He uses a paci very rarely, so when it falls out, I usually put it right back in to appease him. But after a few times, I wanted to see what he'd do if I didn't retrieve it right away when it fell out. He kept moving his mouth toward the paci trying to reach it and was wiggling his arms and legs frantically. After a few seconds, he made it to his left side and then, plop..rolled over on his belly. Tyra and I were both watching him and it was awesome. We tried the same paci trick two more times and sure enough, he rolled over both times. Of course, we gave him a standing ovation.

Noah also had fun watching the Tennessee/Butler game with Uncle Andrew and me yesterday afternoon as the VOLS scored a 76-71 overtime victory and advance to the Sweet 16!

Watching March Madness...what we did all weekend!


Mommy and Noah before church...it was in the 30s on Easter morning, so Noah's Easter outfit had to be "winter-ized"


Sleep Boy during church







Noah's First Easter Basket




Ready for a nap after a busy day.....


2 Minutes Later

Meeting More Family and New Pictures

Noah got to meet great-grandmother Momette, Aunt Amy, and cousins Leah and Benjamin this week. Leah made him and Gabi homemade blankets, which we love. We're glad they got to stop by on their way to Gatlinburg for spring break. Here are a few more pictures from this week. As you can tell, he's becoming a camera-HAM!

Noah Loves March Madness

See how happy he is that March Madness is here? Go VOLS!

No Pinches For Noah Today!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Noah's First Month - in video, picture, and song

I made this video using I-Movie. It was a lot of fun to make. Hope you enjoy...