| Past Website Updates (Since April 2002) |
| April 6, 2001 Noah Russell McCraw (a.k.a. The Most Perfect Little Boy Ever) came into this world on April 2, 2001. He was very kind to his Mommy who only labored for 14 hours. That sounds like a lot, but only about 2 of those hours were challenging. Monday, April 2nd, I went to school with what I suspected were contractions, but they weren't regular. By 9:45, I started timing them and they were 20 minutes apart, so I decided to go home. I already had an appt. to see my dr. at 4:45, so I just timed the contractions and rested. Daddy came straight home from school to nap because he knew it would be a long night! By the time we got to the dr., I was dialated to a 3 and my contractions were about 7 minutes apart. She sent us over to the hospital just to monitor Noah's heart rate. During the short walk over there, I progressed even more because by the time I got settled in, I was dialated to a 5 and they said, "You're staying here!" At that point, we knew we would meet Noah soon. Labor progressed rather quickly from there. I had already decided I wanted to have Noah naturally with no drugs or epidural. The nurses acted like they had never heard of this idea. Many of them tried to talk me into an epidural, but I was breathing through each contraction and it wasn't that bad. By 9:30, I was dialated to a 7 and after that, time flew by. My dr. got there about 11:30 and I was having to wait to push until she got there. At 11:40, Noah came into this world and we have been in constant awe and amazement since. He is so precious and we are so happy. Words cannot describe the joy of being new parents! |
| April 27, 2001 Parenthood is getting better every day! We are having so much fun being Noah's Mommy and Daddy. He is such a good baby. Right now, he mostly sleeps, eats, and makes dirty diapers. : ) He is even sleeping for 6 hour stretches at night, which is awesome for a 4 week old. He survived his first Easter with 15 relatives descending on him with cameras. Our house looked like the Academy Awards, but there was only 1 star! Noah got his first haircut at 2 weeks old. The sideburns had to go! I tried to tell him the Elvis look went out years ago. At his 2 week dr.'s appt., he weighed 8 lbs., 9 oz., up from 7 lbs. 1 oz. when we left the hospital. We like to call him "Mommy's Little Piggy" because that's all he does---eat, eat, eat. He will be one month old on Monday and that is so hard to believe. He is growing and changing every day. His hair is getting lighter, too. Robby's had white blond hair when he was a kid, so we think Noah's may be, too. More updates to come later. Naptime is over! : ) |
| June 7, 2001 Well, as you can tell by the pictures above, time is going WAY too fast! Noah is 2 months old now and his little personality is really starting to develop. He smiles a lot and is a very happy baby. He is also sleeping through the night now, which means Mommy and Daddy are very happy, too. : ) We are having a great summer with all of our family home together. There is just so much fun to be had every day. Noah loves to lay on a blanket and play with his black and white toys now. He loves to "read" and will look at his black and white book for a long time. He also loves baths (and showers) and cries when we take him out, which is the opposite of what he did when he was a newborn. More updates to come soon! |
| July 18, 2001 Noah is 3 1/2 months old now. Every day is a new discovery for him. Yesterday, he discovered his right hand and can really grab things with it now. It's like he was thinking, "Hey! You're connected to me and I can control you." It's so amazing. Last week, he learned to spit (or "razz" as the books call it) and likes to have contests with his Daddy. We are having such a great time. : ) |
| August 14, 2001 Noah is 4 months old now. He is wearing 6-9 month clothes (very snugly). We are just amazed at how fast he is growing. He can roll over with the help of a pinkie finger to hold on to. He really likes to lay on his tummy and push up like in the pictures above. We started feeding him cereal about a week ago. He loves it and gobbles it up! He has discovered his "piggies" and loves to hear Daddy do the "This Little Piggie" rhyme. Every day it gets better and better. : ) |
| September 24, 2001 We can't believe Noah will be 1/2 a year old next week. Where has the time gone? He is really becoming a "person" now. He loves to give sugar (i.e. slobbery, wet kisses) and hugs, too. He's at a very cuddly age. He eats well in his high chair and drinks from a cup, too. His favorite foods are carrots, sweet potatoes, and green beans. He's got the legs' part of crawling figured out and as soon as he gets the arms...look out world! |
| October 31, 2001 Noah will be 7 months old Friday. He has changed so much in just the last month. He is now sitting up very well, crawling (scooting), and saying, "Da-da". He has 2 teeth, too. We are just having so much fun and he's at such a fun age right now. Our favorite times are just laying in the floor and playing with him and his toys. You can't eat in front of him anymore without him begging for whatever is on your plate. He's such a mooch! I know I've said this before, but it just keeps getting better! God has blessed us with such a precious gift and we are humbled to be his parents. |
| January 10, 2001 We had a wonderful first Christmas with Noah. He was really into the paper and bows. We had to remind him about the toys that were inside! In the past week, Noah has started kissing (open-mouth slobber kisses) and hugging everyone and everything. When we read books, he kisses and hugs the animals in the story. He's just such an affectionate little guy. : ) He's also totally into eating on his own. It's a battle to get him to eat from a spoon. If he can't pick it up himself, he has no interest in eating it. The lasagne above was an exception, though. He liked it (maybe it was the fact that it doubled as body paint!). We have taught Noah the signs for "more" and "drink" and he has started doing them during mealtimes. It's a great way to communicate since he can't say the actual words yet. Every day is a new adventure with a 9 month old and we're lovin' every minute! |
| April 9, 2002 Noah is 1 now! He had a TERRIFIC first birthday. We had his party Easter Sunday at Nana and Poppa Brittain's (Robby's parents) house. ALL of the family was there. He got lots of cute summer clothes, a swimming pool, a trike, and lots of other fun toys. He is a walking, babbling (I wouldn't call it talking) boy now. His favorite game is "Hide and Seek". He will go in his room and shut the door while we hide and then come out and look for us. He gets so excited when he finds one of us. It's adorable. |
| May 28, 2002 Noah is almost 14 months old! It is so amazing to see him learning and growing every day. He can communicate so well now, even without an extensive vocabulary. He has started saying, "Mama" and it warms my heart every time I hear it! Noah LOVES being outside and if it were up to him, we'd live outside. He will come and get me, lead me to his shoes in his bedroom, and then take me to the door. Needless to say, he gets VERY upset if it's raining or we're not ready to go out! Noah's favorite time of day is when Daddy comes home. He yells, "Da-da" and runs to give him a hug. He is so loving! He will give "sugar" and hugs on demand and we get a lot! |
| October 2, 2002 Noah is 18 months old today. He says three words now--"Dada", "Mama", and "Bible". It's so precious! We read stories from his Children's Bible every night and he just started saying it one night. He LOVES to hear Bible stories. We have started "school" this year. I am teaching 2 days/week in our church's Kids' Day Out program. Noah is in my class with 9 other kids and we have lots of fun. It's good for both of us! Other than that, Noah is just on the move--all of the time. He is the most active, high-energy kid that I've ever been around and I've had quite a bit of experience with kids! We just have to take lots of naps to keep up with him, but we're loving every moment of every day!(Since everyone has been asking, I'll just give a mass answer right here---NO, there is no sibling for Noah planned in the near future. It is all we can do to keep up with him right now!!!) We'll keep you posted! |