The Whites: Smiles

Well, it's been a while since I've been able to get on and post some updates. Much has been happening. Noah is now 6 weeks old. After too much stressing over forcing him into a routine, I gave up...mostly just because I didn't have the energy to continue but now it seems we're sort of falling into somewhat of a predictable pattern with him. No day is ever really the same, but we're getting there.

He's growing and changing so much. We haven't had him weighed or measured since he was 2 weeks old, but we know he's grown as he's outgrown many clothes already. Noah and I will be heading out to the clinic where I work on Tuesday where I'll be able to check his weight...my guess is he's close to 12lbs now...we'll see how close I am. While he still sleeps a lot, he's much more alert these days...looking around just trying to take in the world...it's really fun to watch him. Last week we were very excited to see his first real smiles for us. A cute smile after a long night of not much sleep makes it all seem so much better! We have yet to really be able to capture it on camera...we've come close as you'll see below.

When he's awake, Noah likes hanging out on his activity mat (a colorful mat that has different toys hanging on it), he turns to noises and really seems to like things that play music. He also really seems to love bathtime now...last week sometime there was one night he was extremely fussy...we put him in the bath and he immediately calmed down (until we took him out!). He also really seems to like riding in the car and in his stroller, and by "like" with these things, I mean he almost always falls asleep with any amount of riding around!

We've enjoyed a lot more outings over the last few weeks. There have been shopping trips, lunch and dinner outings, and we even went up and had a picnic on Mt. Bonnell. We've also been to church the last two Sundays (we hadn't been as a family since Easter). Noah slept through most of the service...even through all the loud music. And I just enjoyed being back since it had been almost 2 months since I'd been to church because of my bedrest the last few weeks before Noah was born and then wanting to keep him away from crowds for the first month or so. It's definitely been nice for me these last few weeks to get out and about a bit more.

Mom and Dad have had some interesting things going on too (in addition to life with Noah!). I celebrated my birthday on April 1st...we went out to Chuy's for dinner...yum! Mike has been super busy juggling work, school, youth, and family. But things are finally getting ready to slow down a bit. He had his last official class at Concordia last week and just has one final this week then school is done for the spring semester. His last day at Active Power is April 28th and then he is scheduled to start full-time at Point of Grace May 15th. Needless to say he is very excited about this transition finally happening. He will still have one on-line class to finish up in June for his DCE certification and will complete his internship during his first 3 months of employment at the church and then will be completely done with everything for school. We both look forward to him being able to focus more time on youth and with fewer things to split up his time, hopefully we can enjoy more family time together too!

We've got some family travels planned these next couple weeks...this next weekend we're taking Noah for his first trip to Angleton (my hometown) to see Granddad and Grandma Tilton and also for a family reunion. Then during Mike's time off between jobs (I'm still on maternity leave) we're going to head up to Chicago to introduce Noah to his grandparents and aunt and uncle. We're also hoping to visit friends in Milwaukee while we're up there.

Here are some recent pictures from the last few weeks...

Aunt Kristi came to visit and took some fun pictures...