noelle's first christmas

Noelle was very excited about her first Christmas (at least her mom and I were).

Noelle putting on her sweet face to ask for all sorts of Christmas gifts.

What do you mean I can't open them before Christmas?

Christmas morning with mom and dad, just before tearing into the gifts

Woohoo! I finally get to open all my gifts!

Christmas at Grandma Ann and Grandpa Cliff's with Uncle Eric and Aunt Susan.

giggles

after a couple weeks of trying we finally managed to get noelle's laughing recorded.

recently noelle has been laughing more, many times at random things that only she finds funny.

reading time with dad

hanging out with mom

3 months and laughing

Ok, so we can't believe Noelle is already 3 months old. Where did the time go? She has been a bundle of joy with tons of smiles. A few days ago we heard her laugh for the first time. It was the sweetest sound! We thought we may not hear it for a while again, but 2 days later she laughed a couple more times!

Happy Thanksgiving

Noelle spent her first Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa Johnston's house. She was lucky to finally meet both her great grandmas along with some of her aunts and uncles.

all smiles

Noelle loves it when we sing to her and she gets very happy and is all smiles...

growing like a weed

The past couple of weeks have been exciting for us and Noelle. She continues to grow and is now over 13 pounds. Every day we are seeing new things with her. She now is pretty good at holding her head up and is making all sorts of goofy sounds. Noelle has turned out be a morning person (not sure where she got that from) and she wakes happy and alert. She is very smiley and lets our goofy squeaks and gurgles. Smiley Girl

Noelle has found her hands and thumbs and enjoys sucking on her fist, thumb or fingers, whichever one makes it into her mouth. This of course is accompanied by loud sucking and smacking sounds.Mmm, tasty.

Happy Halloween!

Noelle was a tiger for Halloween! Halloween was a big day for her since she had her 2 month doctors visit where she got 5 shots. She was a trooper and I think it hurt Mom and Dad more than it hurt Noelle. She is now 12 pounds, 2 ounches and is 22 1/4" long. What a big girl! She is in the 75th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for height.
We dressed the babies up in costumes for the last week of our Mom's group. There were 3 other tigers with the same costume. We start up a new group next week.

Noelle got a cute pumpkin hat from Kayla, Becca and Elizabeth.

2 months old

Noelle turned 2 months old on Saturday. Grandma Flo left back for Hawaii and we are back on our own now. She was a lot of help and we miss her. Poor Noelle got pink eye some how. We had to take her to the doctor on Sunday night and now we have to put drops in her eyes.

Noelle has been smiling a lot more these days and we can't wait to hear her laugh.

Cousin Allison visits

Uncle Darren, Auntie Kelli and cousin Allison are visiting from Hawaii. Allison is 2 years old and is such a cutie.

Noelle update

Noelle is now 7 weeks old and the time is flying by. She is approximately 11 1/2 pounds now which is almost double her birth weight. She still eats every 3 hours and hasn't yet learned the difference between day and night. Mom and Dad have learned to live on less sleep. :)

Noelle and Mom have joined a playgroup and enjoy lunches, walks and discussion sessions with other Moms and babies.Typical sleeping pose

Noelle has been getting better at lifting her head

Noelle loves her Grandparents

Noelle was lucky to spend time with both sets of Grandparents this weekend. Grandma and Grandpa Iida are visiting from Hawaii to help us out and get to know Noelle. Grandma Iida has been a great help with cooking yummy meals and being a baby soother. We don't know what we'll do when she leaves!

Visit from Kathie, Kayla and Becca

Kathie, Kayla and Becca drove up from LA to meet Noelle. As Becca put it, she was going to see "her baby." We spent most of the weekend with them and the other Bay Area cousins. The girl cousins were all over Noelle and all wanted to touch and hold her. Noelle was very content with all the attention.

Auntie Kathie and Noelle

We took Noelle to her first pumpkin patch.

Brianna, Kayla, Noelle, Becca and Reece

Ann's Birthday

Friends and family got together to celebrate a milestone birthday for Ann. Noelle enjoyed her trip to Grandma and Grandpa's and got spoiled while she was there!

One Month Old

Noelle turned one month old yesterday. Time is flying by fast (although the nights seem to be long). She is now a whopping 9 pounds. Noelle and I have enjoyed going on walks and going to the Women's Health Center to attend Mom's groups.

Noelle sings

As we have mentioned before, Noelle likes to make lots of groaning noises. Here is just a little sampling of some of the more subdued noises she makes.

Click on the play button below for the Noelle noise experience....

four week chunky monkey

This week marks Noelle's fourth week and she has officially surpassed her original due date. With an eating schedule of every 2 to 3 hours she is growing like a weed and filling out in her chunkyness. On Wednesday she weighed in at a solid 8 pounds, which is a 1 pound 3 ounce weight gain in 8 days and means she has added 30% to her original birth weight.

showing her feisty side

exercising the neck muscles

blissful after eating trance

ahhh,dreamland...

Noelle also had lots of visitors again this week. Grandma Flo was able to grab a standby seat on Aloha airlines (much thanks to Michele) and came over on Monday night to spend the week helping out. Regan was also in town from St. Louis for work and was able to swing by the house and meet Noelle. Then on Saturday the Tahiras came by and brought us all dinner and Brianna was finally able to meet Noelle. She was sooo excited!

Almost 3 weeks

Noelle is almost 3 weeks old now and we have started to settle into a routine. Everyday she is a bit different and we are enjoying watching her grow and change. At her 2 week doctor's visit she surpassed her birth weight by a lot - she was 6 pounds and 13 ounces!
Noelle has started to grunt and groan in her sleep. As a result, we don't get much sleep. We've learned to live on little sleep and get sleep while we can.
We took Noelle on her first stroller walk on the trail in our neighborhood. She slept the whole time, but we enjoyed the fresh air.
We've enjoyed having visitors meet Noelle. Auntie Michele from Hawaii had a couple layovers in Oakland so she got to visit a couple of days.