Friday, March 22, 2013

3 weeks old!!!

I can't believe that it has been three weeks already!  The little guy is growing a little bit and is changing by the day.  His face has gotten a little chubbier and he has learned to be a bit more fussy from time to time!! 

At periods this week was a bit rough, he had some screaming fits during the night and really just wants to be held during the day.  Mom and I love the snuggles, but it can be hard to get some sleep or something to eat with the kid on your arm all day.  I hear that this will probably last until he is 13 or 14!!!

Grandma and her new rocking chair

Great-grandpa taking a turn in the new chair

We have to get sleep when we can!
This is his favorite sleeping position right now

We went to the fire station to get his little car seat checked.  Fortunately, it went pretty quick because we got installed mostly right by ourselves!  We forgot to get better pictures, so here is one of me asking for a sticker to put Noah's name on his seat.  

The fire station!

Great-Grandma Reed getting a good look via the iPad!

His three week teddy bear picture, getting big now

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

TWD: Baking with Julia - Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies

I kind of can't believe that I actually got this recipe put together and baked cookies with a two week old screaming boy in the house!  Well, I guess that's probably because he is not always screaming and Mikey is still home helping with everything imaginable.  The Tuesday with Dorie recipe for this week is Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies and you can check out the recipe if you want at the hosts blog Galettista.  The cookies were really easy to whip up and if you like coffee and chocolate than these are probably cookies you would love.  

The recipe was a lot like a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe, but it called for instant coffee, a pound of chocolate and then half a pound of dried apricots.  I used instant espresso  for the coffee and cherries instead of the apricots and I think they turned out pretty good.  They are pretty flat, but they still taste like chocolate!  I read that some people had thought they turned out a bit flat, so I froze the dough in spoonfuls to see if maybe they could keep some volume.  They looked alright when I took them out of the oven, but two minutes later they were as flat as could be, which is how most cookies turn out in Colorado!  

The dry ingredients  

Sugar and butter

Frozen spoonfuls


Right out of the oven 

Flat cookies after cooling

Friday, March 15, 2013

2 weeks old already!!

It seems that he will be walking, talking and driving before we know it!  This week showed us two different phases of Noah, one where he would scream and fuss from about 10 PM until 2 or 3 AM.  The other has seen him sleep through the night twice in a row!!  Seriously, from about midnight until 6 or 7 AM he has been sleeping!  We'll take it.  My guess is he is going through a growth spurt, so he eats pretty much all day then sleeps all night.  Not too shabby! 

Anyway, we have made a point to try to get out with the little guy, so we have some experience before we both have to return to work.  He has been to Costco and Target a few times, he went to get lunch with us at Great Harvest today and even got to Grandma Lamb's house for dinner.  We have plans to visit Grandma Klecker tomorrow too, so he'll get to know the town quite well at this rate.  He has been quite calm for visits around town, just sleeping in his car seat.  He has a knack for being quiet and cute for strangers! 

Here are some more pictures of the little guy, we've kind of grown attached to the little fella. 

His first doctor's appointment (we forgot this picture last week)
Getting changed at Grandma's house
His first walk!  We went to Walgreens and Starbucks

His first bath in the Whale tub!  He wasn't too happy...
Week 2 with the teddy.  Fight the power man

Friday, March 8, 2013

The First Week!

I can't believe that it has been a week already!  Noah is already getting a bit bigger and he is fitting into our family quite well. 

We took him to the store for the first time on Thursday, we went to Target to get some supplies then over to Costco to get some snacks for Mom and Dad.  He did wonderful through them all, and really just slept the entire time.  This might have thrown off his schedule a bit, as he was a bit fussy and ate a lot later in the day, but it is good to get him out of the house while Julie and I are both home from work. 

We have had a lot of family and friends stop by to welcome Noah home and to give us some much needed tips and much appreciated food supplies!  We mostly wanted to pass along pictures, so I'll get to those now, but keep watching for more of our new family!  

Go Steelers!

Grandma taking a turn

Grandpa holding the little guy

His first time in the bouncer seat

Dad feeding him

This is his favorite pose!

Right after his first bath at home!  We got water everywhere

Auntie Amanda came over to take his picture!

Mom snuggling the little guy in the sunshine

His 1-week teddy bear measurement picture!


Sunday, March 3, 2013

He's home!

That's right, Noah Michael Foster is home from the hospital and doing quite well.  It is so exciting to have him home, while at the same time it makes us both quite nervous that we won't have a staff of nurses at our disposal anymore.  This last weekend was quite an adventure for the three of us, so I'll give you a quick recap of what took place.

First we were scheduled to go into the hospital to be induced on the morning of the 28th, at 630 am.  They said to call in case they were real busy, and as it turned out, they were real busy.  We didn't get into the hospital until about 11p that night, so it made for a long day of waiting for a phone call from the hospital.  I got to know one of the nurses fairly well over the phone from talking to her 4 or 5 times that day!  Once we got in, the nurses started the process to induce labor, and it took right away.  I'll spare the gory details, but in short Julie was a champ and only needed the initial medicine to get labor going.  She also was magnificent when pushing out the not-so-little guy, both the doctor and I were really impressed with how she held up and her determination.  Good job honey!! 

The two of us happy he is here!

After Julie got a bit settled, the real excitement began as both set of Grandparents, a few Uncles and an Aunt showed up to hang out with the kid.  Most exciting for me was that my Grandfather was there too, so Noah got to meet his Great-Grandfather right away.  They seemed to hit it off right away! Everyone left after a little bit, and the nurses came and did their work on Mom (Julie!) and Noah.  He was a trooper and slept a good majority of the night, only one quick feeding to speak of. 

Noah with Grandma and Great-Grandpa

Reagan holding her new cousin
The second day his cousins came to visit and they both were excited but guarded for the new addition to the family.  Breckin seemed a bit overwhelmed by the amount of people in the room, and Reagan looked a bit unsure when holding him.  All in all, it was really cool to have them there and I'm sure they'll have many years of hanging out to come.  The hospital has a special dinner that they give to new parents called the Celebration Dinner, which is a fairly fancy dinner for both of us to celebrate the new kid.  It was wonderful!


4 generations of Foster
After that my family came over we found out that he had a bit of jaundice, which is fairly common for babies in Colorado.  He spent the night in a baby version of a tanning bed, and wasn't very happy about it.  The nurse took him for about an hour so Julie and I could get some rest, but after that (around 3a) he slept like a champ and we didn't wake up until after 7a! 

We finished up his tests, got some more sleep, and loaded up with supplies and left the hospital today.  So far he has been fairly good, but he is getting a bit fussy now, I think the change in surroundings might be getting to him a bit.  We'll see. 

There'll be more to come as we figure out what to do with the little fella.  


Noah and his little teddy
Ready to come home!