Noah is already 6 months old!

It's hard to believe it has been 6 months since that scary day that turned into a miracle in March but it has! You could never tell by looking at Noah that he was a preemie unless you check out the growth charts. Even on the preemie charts he's pretty small, about 5%, but the doctor is very pleased to see he is progressing right along his "own" growth chart and is happy and healthy. Here are some pictures from the last month.

Brian is trying to catch a nap but with Noah wide awake, the cat sleeping on his head, and me taking pictures, it's a losing battle.

A good friend gave Noah a new hat for Halloween. Here he is showing it off.


This is Noah with his friend Hunter. The due date for these two was only 1 day apart but Hunter is proving to have a football player physique weighing in at 19 lbs and solid muscle while Noah is 13 lbs and aiming to be a baseball pitcher. It's so fun watching these two grow up together!

Noah's good friend and babysitter Melinda took this picture on her cell phone and it came out so good we had to share it. Noah is lounging on a blanket and enjoying nakedness for a while.

"I'm not sure why mommy insists on dressing me up but I refuse to smile!"

"I mean it; I'm going to keep it in."

"Okay, this is harder than I thought..."

"Oh fine, I just can't help myself!!"

Fixing Cars, Camping & Practicing Sitting Up, August 2009

Noah has been a busy little boy this summer. He's been to the beach, went camping and helped Grandpa fix the car. He's also starting to control his head/neck much better and can sit up in a Bumbo chair for a couple minutes before his neck gets too tired. Here are some fun pictures from last month.

Grandpa needed to take a look under the car so Noah decided to check it out too.

"Wrench please.." Grandpa couldn't figure out the problem but Noah was determined to fix it.

Noah in his first set of big boy clothes. Those are actual jeans and sneakers he's wearing! Of course sucking his thumb and having his teddy bear next to him doesn't help to pull off the mature look.....

This is Noah with his good buddy Karon. He loves Karon because she can really get him talking and smiling. This was taken during his first camping trip with our Bible study group. Noah really seemed to enjoy it but that could be because he was rarely put down and was always the center of attention.

"Look at me nice and calm sitting up all by myself in my Bumbo chair!"

"Uh oh, mom, I think I may need a diaper change in about 10 seconds..."

"Oh yeah, going to need a diaper change but my stomach feels so much better"

Noah's Dedication, July 19, 2009

We dedicated Noah to the Lord on Sunday, July 19th and it was a great morning. His grandparents were there along with Aunt Jenn, Uncle Rob and cousins Lauren and Jonathan. We stood before the church congregation and shared a little bit of our story. They put up the picture of Noah at a week old with his bear next to him in the hospital so the people could see just how much he's grown since then.

The projection screen at church w/a picture of Noah at 1 week old with his teddy bear

Holding Noah up w/his bear (Noah didn't particulary enjoy this part!)

Brian explaining why we wanted to dedicate Noah

Pastor Fred blessing Noah

Grandma Barbara, Daddy, Mommy, Grandma Laurie and Grandpa Dan praying for Noah

It's been a long morning and Noah has earned a nap

Noah's 1st beach trip, July 2009

Noah and his mommy and daddy went to the beach in July and got to spend a long weekend with his cousins the O'Hara's, Aunt Jenn, Uncle Rob, cousins Lauren and Jonathan, and grandparents. He had a great time and loved being held the entire time!

Getting ready for a walk on the beach. It was a little chilly but with temperatures at home as high as 107 we were loving it!

Noah was asleep by the time we reached the sand.

Grandpa Dan, Daddy w/cousin Lauren, Uncle Rob w/cousin Jonathan and cousin Jack holding Noah

Noah with cousin Lauren. She was a great "mommy" to Noah.

Cousins Jonathan & Lauren with Noah

Group picture on our last day at the beach. Time to head home.

Back home in Estacada the house was 90 degrees inside. Noah already misses the beach!

Talking & Rolling Over

Noah surprises us constantly with all the new things he is doing! About 2 weeks ago he started rolling over. He rolls most often from his tummy to his back but has also rolled from back to tummy a couple times. He is 3 1/2 months old now (gestationally a month and a half) and weighs a little over 9 lbs. Teresa started work last week and is having a hard time not being with her little man all day but Noah seems to be doing well with his babysitters.

Noah and Mommy

Taking a quick break

Rolling Over

Noah the Talker from Brian Merrell on Vimeo.

Noah is 3 months old today!

Noah turned 3 months today and wow has he changed from when he was born. See the pictures below to get an idea of just how much he has grown!

Noah at 3 weeks old with passy. (To really see the difference keep your eye on the pacifier as you look between the 2 pictures. It appears to shrink in size!)

Three months old with same passy.

This just gives you an idea of the size of the teddy bear in the pictures below.


Bear and Noah at 1 week old.

Noah and bear at 3 months old.

The amazing growing baby!

Noah has been home for about 6 weeks now and he is growing by leaps and bounds. Even though our pictures below don't show it, he smiles quite often (see the video) and is proving to be a very happy and laid back baby. We are hoping he stays that way! Also, Noah is almost 9 pounds, WOW!



Contemplating life


Noah being very serious

Noah smiles for mommy and daddy now!

Noah meets Grandma & Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa Merrell drove up from Utah to spend a week with us (ok, ok they came to spend it with Noah).

We all had a great time. Here are some pics.

Noah - Birth to due date

Today is Noah's official due date! It also marks the 8th week we have been blessed with this beautiful boy.

We have created a slideshow highlighting his first two months.

Enjoy!

Noah Glen Merrell from Brian Merrell on Vimeo.

Noah's First Week Home

It has been so wonderful finally having Noah home. I (Brian) took the week off of work. Although, having him home has taken some getting used to. Most days he has been feeding about every four hours :) However, he still is not able to breast feed (this will be a very, very long haul). He feeds from a special bottle that allows us to regulate the amount of milk he gets to enable him to properly pace himself so he doesn't choke or stop breathing. That being the case it means when Noah wakes up in the middle of the night the whole family gets up. I will feed Noah, while Teresa pumps milk for future feedings. Noah can take up to an hour to get the proper amount of milk. So at 3am this gets a little lengthy. Fortunately, I am off of work so I go back to sleep again after his 7ish feeding. Starting tomorrow I'm back at work so then the sleep deprivation will really start kicking in.

Noah's first home bath

The week has been primarialy just the 3 of us spending quality time with each other and learning how to be parents of a child who actually lives with us. However, we have made a few little trips. Monday we took him to his first pediatric appointment. He weighed in at 6lbs. 5oz. (although we have found scales can vary quite a bit). The Dr. said he is doing great and progressing nicely.

We also took Noah over to introduce him to our neighbors and good friends Scott and Becky Rotrock's new baby boy, Hunter. Noah and Hunter are the same gestational age. Noah was due on May 1st and Hunter on April 28th. Hunter was born 3 weeks early on April 9th at a healthy 7lbs. 3oz. These little guys will have many, many play dates in the future I'm sure.

We also took him to our community life group (small church group) on Monday so the people who have been feeding us and giving Teresa rides into the hospital for 6 weeks could meet the chubbed up, tubeless version of Noah. Teresa and I can't thank our church family at Sandy Bapist (imparticular our community life group) enough for taking such great care of us during this difficult time. They have been a true blessing and a great example of Christ's love.

The weather has been unseasonally beautiful here in Portland this week (Sunny and High 70's and low 80's) so we wrapped Noah up in went on a walk.