August catch-up

Here are clips from videos we took in August.  I'm a little late because we had a birthday to celebrate a few days ago.  I'll comment about that in a future post, since this is my catch-up post.  Joy and Noah continue to keep us busy and happy.  We are so blessed with such great kids!  In the video, you will see that Joy continues to adore her brother.  She did have a change of heart one morning when she told us we could give him to another little girl.  But soon after that, she was upset because we didn't have time for her to sit and hold him.  You'll also see that Joy is our little performer and she is getting more and more coordinated.  Noah is growing SO FAST!  Someone please slow it down for us.  He likes to lay on his back and play with his toes.  He started sitting at exactly 5 months old.  He also started perfecting the skill of spitting in August.  As you will see, he can really get some distance now, which causes a problems when he eats.  Yes, eats, Noah has started baby food.  He has had sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, and green beans.  And, Noah has started to laugh and giggle a lot more.  He finds his sister especially hilarious and giggles at about anything she does.  He has also discovered his voice has volume, all of which you'll see in the video below.  Thanks for checking in!

Highlights of July

Hi.  July came and went without warning.  Our family is doing well.  Noah and Joy are both growing fast.  They are amazing gifts.  I thank God for them often.  Joy has enjoyed visiting my parents at the farm, twice so far this summer.  We hope to make our first visit, as a full family, to the farm towards the end of August.  I haven't been home for almost 6 months.  It will be a nice get-away!  Joy also spends about one day a week at Grandma Rainbow's childcare.  The kids there have all become good friends and are at an age where they play really nice together.  It's so fun to see her interact with them - or be a mom to them.  In the video below you will see clips of Noah, at 3 months old, babbling with us (while on his back) and then scolding us (when we put him on his tummy).  Then you will see footage of him sucking his thumb, also so cute!  He has also started to giggle a little, especially when those around him are laughing.  Lastly, the video ends with Joy trying to walk the day after she fell and skinned her knee pretty bad, twice on the same walk.  Enjoy!

Our Daily Life

So Noah is growing like a weed.  He is in 6-9 month clothes already.  He rolled over again, after quitting on us two months ago.  He loves to smile and coo at us, watch his sister, and lay on his back while he kicks about.  His sleep is up and down.  He slept 11 hrs without getting up for 3 nights, then started getting up once a night again, but not necessarily to eat.  So it is hard to know what a night holds when I go to bed.  I might get anywhere from 3 hours to 6 hours of sleep these days.  But, I have to say, Noah is an awesome baby!  We are having so much fun!
Joy is really maturing.  Her language is clear and she has a large vocabulary.  With that has come more talking back and attitude.  She definitely has a mind of her own now and likes to do things her way.  Danny and I are really learning how to pick our battles.  But, if you were to hang out with her, she would be very pleasant, sweet, and cooperative, which is proof she is learning what we struggle to teach her.  She will be 3 in just over 2 months.  She continues to love on her brother a lot.  Her biggest accomplishment of late is she no longer wears diapers!  She quickly took to wearing underwear and is very proud of herself.

Here are a few pics and videos of the kids.  The one of Joy and Danny racing around the house has become more common due to the HOT weather this summer.  Enjoy and God Bless!

              Joy was 'watching' Noah for me.  When I returned, I found this (above).

                       Above: playtime with dada          Below: bedtime with mama

Noah's Baptism

Noah was baptized on May 27.  We were honored to have it be the first baptizm at this church location and the first for our good friend and vicor, Matt, to perform.  God has been so present in Noah's life so far.  We praise Him for choosing Noah to be in His family and ours.

                               Godparents:  Aaron and Jenni Hughes, Ben and Amy Lassanske

                                                 Grandpa Allan Krafve with Noah Allan

Joy and Noah

Hi.  I apologize for how long it's been sine I last made a post.  Life has become significantly busier, in a good way.  :)  Noah is now two months old.  He is smiling a lot and cooing at us.  He gets up one or two times a night.  He is on a stretch of twice a night this week, so I am feeling a little bit more tired lately.  Joy loves being a big sister and is really good about entertaining herself when I am feeding Noah.  I thought she'd be watching more videos at this point, but we've been able to maintain her 1 hr per day limit.  We are eating!  We were very blessed with meals delivered to us from our church family and friends that lasted about 6 weeks.  Now we are using up frozen meals I prepared before Noah was born and making simple meals.  Danny is getting to cook more these days since Noah likes to eat whenever it is time for the rest of us to eat.  Joy bounces between being a trying 2 yr old and being really sweet and helpful.  I do my best to get us out of the house for her sake and she goes to Grandma Rainbow's childcare at least once a week too.  Here are some pictures of the two kiddos.  We are so in love with our little family!
                                                                                               April 24

                                                                                          April 24

                                                                                       May 24

Noah baby pics

Introducing Noah Allan Rainbow

Noah Allan is finally here! He was born on March 28 at 12:02 pm via c-section. We were planning a natural delivery until my 40 wk appt when he measured 3 cm bigger than the week before. An ultrasound was scheduled for the following day which guessed he was appx 10 lbs 10 oz, give or take 1 or 2 lbs. Plus they found a lot of fluid which might mean the baby was under stress. Given the possibility of such a big baby and the added risk of extra fluid, my doctor and a consulting OB recommended a c-section. We were scheduled to have our baby the following day. The OB doing the surgery was actually Joy's prenatal dr, who was not working the weekend Joy was delivered. So, she remembered me and made room in her schedule to do my surgery. That was a huge relief, especially given the hospital was bursting at the seams with moms and babies. Our surgery was schedule for 10:00 but got bumped because of another emergency. What an experience this birth was compared to Joy! We are jumping with praises to God for the technology of ultrasounds and c-sections because Noah was born at 11 lbs 5 oz and 22 inches long. We are also praising God that I didn't go into labor before finding out this information. Noah was able to stay with us, minus the initial 5 minutes, from the time he was born. That time will always be treasured by Danny and I. Our little boy is perfect and we love him so much. We named him Noah, to go with Rainbow and gave him the middle name of Allan, after my awesome dad, who has waited 31 years for a boy in the family.
We were discharged from the hospital 3 days after having him. I am healing well. It is hard to take it easy, especially now that my family has all left and we're on our own now. But they didn't leave me much to do. My house is very clean at the moment. :) It is also very hard to not pick up Joy. My wt restrictions should be lifted after four weeks, so only two to go!
So far, Joy has adjusted great. She loves her little brother and gushes over him all the time. Danny worked his regular schedule last week since we had family support and is coming home early this week to help out. Since we didn't end up needing our doula, she is giving us some postpartum help in addition to some postpartum hours that were given to us as a gift. Our doula comes on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for the rest of the month to help out. And our little Noah is pretty amazing. He wakes up twice a night to eat and goes right back to sleep. I'm not feeling too sleep deprived and can usually get a nap in during Joy's afternoon nap. Noah surprised us last week (when he was 1 wk old) by showing us his super baby skills of rolling over, if propped up on his arm. He did it 3 times in a row, the video below is the 3rd time and he has done it several times since. I will attach the video below with a few pics. It is pretty hard to pick only a few so if you are on Facebook, check out my album of him there.
Thanks for checking in on us and please pray for continued fast healing for me and for continued health for Noah.