Happy 2nd Birthday, Noah!

My baby boy turned 2 today! I couldn't help but go through pictures from the day he was born and just be amazed at how he turned from this tiny helpless human being into such a big kid with lots of personality. 

We had been talking about his upcoming birthday for a few weeks now, so when his special day was finally here and we woke him up by singing Happy Birthday, he knew exactly what was happening.

An Update on Sleep (at 23 months)

Last time I talked about sleep, I shared our success story of how we got Noah to sleep in his own bed and often through the night at 13 months. It all sounds fantastic after reading it again, but the truth is, that wasn’t the end of the story.

What's Growing in our Backyard this Year

“Want to pick strawberries?” has lately been one of the first thing Noah says when we get home in the afternoon. We planted a raised bed last year and while we had a pretty good crop even then, this year, we’ve been able to pick a bowl of strawberries almost every day for a few weeks now. Most days they last until dinner or even breakfast the next morning, but some days we (or mostly Noah) just eat them right off the plant. So delicious! I love that we grow food that tastes so much better than what you can find at the grocery store and Noah gets to learn so much from it: where our food comes from, that it has to ripen before we can pick it, that plants are thirsty and need lots of water, that the color (usually) determines when it’s ready to be picked, that we have to be extra gentle with the blooms, etc. He loves his strawberries and I can’t wait for him to see and taste some of the other things we grow.

Happy Father's Day

In honor of Father's Day today I thought I'd give a big shout out to Tony who has been the most amazing dad to Noah. I had always known he was a family person and great with kids but you never know what every day life as a family will be like until it happens. Here are some of the reasons why Tony is such a great dad to Noah. 

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My Favorite Baby Products

We already have pretty much all the baby gear we’ll need for baby #2 but I thought it would be fun to list my favorites and what I would buy this time if I didn’t have anything but the experience of living with a newborn. There are so many guides out there that list newborn must-haves and baby essentials, but my general recommendation for any new parent would be: you really don’t need all of that. Start with the true essentials such as diapers, clothes, and blankets, and go from there. What you don’t have but end up wanting you can always buy later. And if you’re worried about getting to the store with a newborn, Amazon.com now even offers same day delivery in some areas! It really doesn’t get any more convenient than that. So – these are not necessarily my must-haves, but items that I loved having when Noah was born or learned about later and added to my wish list for baby #2.

My Pregnancy Centering Group

In my last post I shared why I decided to ditch my previous doctor in favor of a midwife. My first appointment was awesome – in one session she was able to make me so much more comfortable with the idea of having to go to regular pregnancy checkups again which was a big part for me in not being super excited about being pregnant again. At the end of the appointment she told me I had two options on how to receive care through the midwife program: I could either meet with one of the midwives for each of my appointments where I would get all the care I needed and could discuss any questions I would have. The other option was signing up for a midwife centering group, where I would be grouped together with other pregnant woman who all have a due date around the same time. We would meet every four weeks for a two hour long session with a midwife and discuss whatever topics were relevant during our stage of our pregnancy. I was immediately on board when she mentioned it.