5 Months

Noah is 5 months old today. This time 5 whole months ago I was sitting in a breastfeeding class staring at Noah in the hospital bassinet, thinking to myself - 'less than 12 hrs ago you were inside me, how amazing' and 'Oh my God, I never want to give birth again'.
There are so many cute things that Noah is doing. He's officially sleeping in his cot that is IN THE OTHER ROOM which is at least 12 METRES away from us - it's a big deal.
He is use to being in his highchair for each meal at dinner time now. We will be starting solids very soon.
He has an insatiable appetite for exploring. He grabs at everything and makes this very cute concentration face while his hand opens and shuts trying to grasp onto anything in his reach. Andy and I are quite often the victims of curiosity as he grabs at our faces, backs, chests, hair... and scratches us.
He is getting a third tooth so he's still a drool machine and is munching on everything. He does this cute little determined pant as he's trying to get something to his mouth and once he gets it there he bites down and gets this very cute wrinkle at the top of his nose. As well as this, he can't get enough of feeling his teeth with his tongue. His tongue is spending more time outside of his mouth than inside recently. He reminds us of a lizard.
He's figured out a really smooth motion for rolling around that involves him swinging his arms (like doing a really hard sit up), grabbing his feet and using the momentum to roll from his back to his front. He's doing a lot of pivoting on his head, he pushes with his right foot up onto his toes, then around a little and falls back down. I think he'll probably be up on his knees pretty soon (ekkk).
He absolutely loves labels - they are the best part of the toy, go figure.
He loves going to childcare and doesn't even flinch when I say goodbye and doesn't smile when I come to pick him up.
He wears size 0 now.
And finally he loves to squeal now and when he's bored he does a fantastic combination of coughing, squealing and raspberries to keep himself entertained.
Noah has accomplished all of this in 5 months - it excites me to think what each day will bring :)

Exploring beans 

First night in cot

Next day in cot

Being fascinated by Mum playing 'just dance'

Just woke up - found something to explore

Feel asleep with his foot up like that

Exploring Daddy

Check out my teeth

First size 0 outfit

A few developments

Recently Noah has grown so much it blows my mind. He has this intense curiosity about absolutely EVERYTHING. He recognises locations and knows exactly what he wants to get his hands on the first chance he gets. Andrew handed him to me in the shower the other night and his eyes went straight to the suction animals we have on the walls in there and he did not stop focussing on them for the entire shower. He managed to get his hands onto them, one by one and stuff each in his mouth and then drop it to the floor in pursuit of the next. Everything goes into his mouth for extra exploration. He gets so fixated on new things, he spots it, focusses on it and you can almost feel the synapses in his brain exploding like fireworks as he tries with every cell of his body to reach out and grab it and pull it to his mouth. The other day he spent 30minutes exploring the zip on my jacket.

As well as this, he recognises his bottles at night time and manages to hold them for himself for most of the time. He's pushing forward on the floor by pushing up on his toes and reaching out with his arms. He still absolutely loves Jolly Jumper time but shows so much more enthusiasm when he knows I'm watching - what a little show pony :)

Noah thoroughly enjoys lying on the picnic rug outside, he's a little nature explorer. The other day he explored the taste of dirt. I found this quite funny as earlier in the day I had given him a suck on a piece of pear I was eating and he made the funniest face of absolute disgust but yet when he had a whole mouthful of dirt, not one complaint was heard, hmmmm...

Exploring and enjoying the sense of freedom

My best bub Raph and I just like chillin out together

Wait... where are you going?

Awww, I can't crawl yet Raphie

Come back!

For Noah:

We spotted some brolgas right next to our fence and we watched them fly away

This is 1 of 3 trees full of corellas

Pure Bliss

I have two favourite times of the day. The morning, just after Noah has woken up and the night, just as he's having his last feed and he has dozed off in my arms. He is so cuddly and content and it really gets my hormones flowing. I love the smell of his breastmilk morning breath and the skin just behind his ears. These smells make me feel bubbles flutter through me. These times of the day, when the hussle and bussle hasn't begun or is slowing, holding him is so grounding, so humbling and so natural. These moments are pure bliss to me. I can stop and love. I can stop and appreciate. I can stop and gather perspective. I can stop and know that what truly is important is right here with me. I can stop and be thankful knowing that everyone I love is healthy and safe. Who would have thought such a little soul could have such an impact.

He has truly changed our lives. He's opened up new parts of our souls. He's challenged us to grow and learn. He's opened new doors to a whole other world of people to meet and be friends with. He's helped us to make a new life for ourselves, which for us, living up here and often feeling isolated, has made the world of difference. He is a little angle in disguise - or maybe not so disguised?

Life is good.

Childcare

It was an absolute success. Noah had a perfect morning at home. He slept and had a big feed before we were due to arrive at childcare and so he was very happy to go to Stacy (the director). I didn't cry and I didn't struggle to walk out. I'm lucky to know that Stacy is a very trustworthy person and I feel completely comfortable leaving Noah in her care. I know all of the children at childcare are happy and many of the parents around town rave about how much their children love to go to 'school'. For this, I am very lucky - one of the perks of a small town I guess. When I walked in to pick him up, all of the children were sitting on the floor listening to a story and I was looking on the floor to find Noah rolling around somewhere but I couldn't see him. Then I realised he was bouncing away on Joy's lap (the other assistant) while she read the story. He loves reaching out for books so he was totally enthralled by her and the book that he didn't even realise I was standing there. This was such a lovely feeling, to know that he wasn't stressed gives me relief that I don't need to feel guilty about 'dumping him'. He even took his bottle there without a fuss so the hard work of having a bottle each night at home has paid off.

All ready to go

Saying bye bye

Very Small Teeth

Check out my teething necklace

Can you see my teeth?

It's a cold, it's hayfever, no it's a tooth!

Noah has been really out of sorts the past couple of days but we just put it down to the horrible weather and really cold night at camping last weekend. However, yesterday he was drooling up a storm and pulling at his ears and he wouldn't take his fingers out of his mouth (except for the occasional swallowing of the excess saliva). So I decided I'd just stick my finger in there for him to give his hands a little break, and see if there's any progress since the last teething session. To my surprise I felt a little rough edge poking out through his gum. I was so excited, I called Andy in tears and told him to come home and see it at lunch. We felt like we'd accomplished a parenthood milestone and we were both so smiley for the rest of the day. Andy kept telling me how excited he was and that we'd have to start brushing his tooth at night :)
I decided it was a great opportunity for Noah and I to do some baking and so we made a 'Noah's first tooth' cake and had a lovely little family party last night. Can't wait for his tooth to grow a little higher and get a few one-tooth smiles. Here's how we spent the whole day:

Munching toys on the mat

Munching tags on the chair

Watching some wiggles

Munching straps on the guitar hero guitar

Celebratory gallops with Dad Dad

Having a bottle/ thumb sucking

Having cake

Blowing out the candle

Cutting the cake

Eating the cake...

Maybe not just yet

More High Chair Antics

The usual toys to play with

He was cracking up so we gave him the tiniest bit of mashed potato on the spoon - the faces we got were hilarious 

One step closer

Noah is one step closer to being a big boy. He now sits in his high chair next to us when we eat dinner at night time. He loves being part of the action. We love that our food stays safely on its plate rather than pulled onto our laps by sneaky little hands that grab it when we're not looking.

He sat for a good 3 or 4 minutes today without falling over. That's a lot of progress in 4 days! He is 20 weeks old today so technically 5 months I guess - the time is just going way too quickly. Each day is such a blessing. I cherish every second I have with him, watching a child grow and being blessed with a healthy child is such a humbling experience. I often look at his hands and wonder, who will he influence in his life? How will he contribute to this world? How do I find the balance between protecting him and setting him free to learn and grow?

Speaking of setting him free, we are starting weekly visits to childcare next week to prepare him (me) for next year so that hopefully he doesn't (I don't) cry too much and he (I) just knows he (I) will be ok. Stacy, who runs the childcare centre, caught me and insisted I start doing this soon for Noah's (it's really for me) sake. She said to pick a particular day and we can stretch out the time that he stays for while I leave. So Tuesday it is. She said I should leave him for a while, so 30mins is a long time right? I think I better prepare a movie to watch so that I stay away for long enough, ekk.

Playing with the huggies wipes bag