noah benjamin thompson: first beach trip and daddy's birthday

Life got busy once again - I've been meaning to update for weeks but haven't (obviously). We've been staying very busy and the summer is flying by. Noah has unfortunately been sick (again) but nothing serious. He got his first ear infection, and thanks to some Amoxicillin last week, he is almost back to normal. He also had his first bout of diaper rash along with his first tooth. He just has one on the bottom so far, and aside from the diaper rash, which his doctor told us isn't necessarily related (moms universally disagree), the process went relatively smoothly. He was drooling more and gnawing on everything in sight, but he didn't seem too fussy. I hope the rest come in as smoothly.

Sadly his one lone tooth hasn't helped him expand his pallet too much, but he has started eating mum mums and puffs. He absolutely loves mum mums (crackers that dissolve in your mouth) because he likes to feed himself. The independence thing is adorable, but it makes it hard to keep him clean during meals when he is forever grabbing the spoon from me. He can do a mum mum, but hasn't quite grasped how to pick up a puff, put it in his mouth and eating it. He can get them to his mouth but then forgets to let go with his hand so they end up on his lap. The good news is that Bubby has gotten a few extra treats recently due to many dropped puffs. In addition to wanting to feed himself, Noah wants everything I have (my coffee, water bottle, phone, food, etc). It is rather difficult now to eat in front of him, so I basically am stuck eating what I can share (yogurt and oatmeal) when he is around.

In July, Noah got to celebrate his first July 4th and his daddy's birthday. It has been so rainy this last month, which put a damper on our 4th of July plans, but we did still have a cookout with our neighbors, so Noah got to play with Mads and Henry. Noah also had his first play date with his two friends from Play 2 Grow, Alex and Audra. One of the reasons we started P2G is because I wanted him to meet other kids his age, so I am glad we've started to get together outside of class too. On his daddy's birthday (also the day his daddy had oral surgery), Noah made it special by creating a combo happy birthday/get well soon card with his own two hands (literally!).

Noah also got to experience the beach for the first time. I met Heather and Jenni in Hilton Head last weekend (Jenni's been in Hong Kong for two years, so it was great to introduce her to Noah and catch up in person). Heather's son, Ford, came as well, and it was so fun to see what I have to look forward to. Noah loved the beach for the brief hour and a half we managed to be there (thank you nap schedules). I will say that my beach going days are vastly different now. They involve a lot more stuff (umbrella, stroller, blanket, full sized towel, baby towel, bottles, baby food, baby sunscreen, hats, etc) and are a lot less relaxing. The good news is that not too much sand was consumed (although a lot got in his diaper) and he wasn't afraid of the water. The trip also involved Noah's longest car ride yet and I did it solo. Thankfully it was rather uneventfull, but he definitely was ready to get out about 30 minutes before we got to our destination. Hopefully our trip to Florida in a few weeks goes as smoothly.

The beach was so exhausting

Over the last month, Noah also got to see my parents and Ben's dad, and my parents had the pleasure of a full day of Noah watching while I went to Mary Grace's Bachelorette in Chapel Hill. I only typed up two pages of notes and checked in less than 5 times (or maybe 5 total). I also snuck away to see him once for 30 min. I am happy to report that it was a success, so if nothing else my parents have proved that they did in fact at one point raise two children and probably retained some of that knowledge.