portraits schmortraits

So, it has recently been the case that when we get Noah up from a nap, he awakes only to give us a big smile. When we pick him up and talk to him, we get another series of smiles, from smirks to half smiles to full smiles to open-mouthed grins. During diaper changes? More smiles.

So you're saying to yourself, "I've seen people smile before - big deal!" But this kid has a real *winning smile* I tells ya - it makes the smiles of the kids in our baby magazines look like mere slack-jawed gawking. You'd really just have to see it. The trouble is, you can't. Why, you ask? Because the shutter-speed of our camera moves at the speed of a tectonic plate, that's why. We just can't capture it. Every time we try to snap a picture of him smiling at us with our digital camera, we end up with sleepy lids and a grimace, or an utterly dead-pan stare, as if we were trying to prove to the world that a baby can indeed give a convincing impersonation of a stroke victim or a catatonic schizophrenic.

Naturally, our solution was to take him to a department store and get some portraits done to document the magnificence of his beaming visage. (We had a coupon!) So today we went to JC Penny and took every precaution to make sure Noah was in a good mood before we actually sat for the photos. He had a nap, a nice "meal" (only one course, obviously, but still), and we walked him around the mall a bit.

As soon as we crossed the threshold into the sitting room where the pictures were to be taken, he went from a serene and even inquisitive countenance to shrieking hysterically like a banshee, or what I imagine it sounded like when a pterodactyl stubbed its toe. If you're not really into Irish lore or popular depictions of dinosaur sounds, maybe it will put things into perspective to realize that he didn't scream *nearly* as much when he got his vaccines. For some reason, he thought sitting on a pillow with some nice lady taking pictures of him was much worse than being pinned to a table by a strange man sticking three one-inch needles into his soft quaking flesh. Whenever either of us held him in our arms to get a picture, he reacted as if just prior to picking him up we had dipped our arms in boiling glue and plunged them into a bucket of broken glass.

But guess what? We ended up with some pretty good pictures. He wasn't smiling in any of them, but neither did he have the unbridled anguish on his face that he seemed to exhibit the entire time we were sitting for the pictures. How is that possible given what you've just said above, you ask? (You're really not asking any of these things, I realize). Well, apparently the benefit of having pictures taken with a professional grade camera is that the shutter speed is faster than a proton in a large haldron collider. So in between one red-faced howl and the few nano-seconds when he was winding up for the next one, his face would look normal, and our photographer managed to catch a few of those fleeting frames. It's a good thing that for him "normal" = super-cute, so we wound up with some fairly good pictures! Here's to hoping we can get him to smile next time around ...

happy baby

cooing



and smiling

2 Months!

Today our little Noah had his 2 month check-up. He is now exactly 2 feet tall, weighing in at 11 pounds, 14 ounces. His weight gain has slowed down recently but he's still delightfully chunky with impressively large cheeks. His height is in the 87th percentile for his age, which is hard to notice most of the time because of how he tucks his legs up to his butt, even when you pick him up.

He also had his 2 month vaccinations today - three shots, one on the inside of one thigh and two on the other. We were prepared for some sad and serious wailing, but he actually didn't cry very much and took a pacifier, handling the whole thing like a champ. Since we've gotten him home, he's been a little more sleepy and fussy than usual -- poor little guy doesn't even know why he feels sick and can't connect the dots to realize that that recurrent pain in his legs is caused by his involuntary kicking. He doesn't even know he HAS legs. Still, he's had some good times today, batting at a toy and taking a nice bubble bath.

If he's sadly ignorant of his legs, he is even more so of his esophagus. Noah's got "Silent Reflux" - the stealthy and more painful cousin of Regular Reflux. Instead of spitting up the acid, it goes back down. So he gets to have his esophagus burned on the way up AND the way down. This explains the excessive salivation, hoarse voice, congestion and constant snorting and choking while trying to sleep (so it's NOT rabies after all!). The doctor thinks that wheat in Whitney's diet isn't likely to worsen reflux - that might just be giving him more gas (which he wasn't short on to begin with). Other than continuing to stay off dairy and other reflux culprits, our other course of action will be to eventually increase his dose of Zantac and maybe try Prevacid soon. If we can keep the acid reflux under control he won't get so congested and he'll have a lot less discomfort.

All the while he is just as sweet as can be. He delights us with his smiles, coos and (occasional) laughs. On Easter Sunday he started to get a little noisy in church so Whitney took him out to the foyer and as soon as they left the sanctuary he gave her a big smile and actually chuckled at her. Our little pagan is already finding ways to get out of church! Do Presbyterians get to have their babies re-baptized if the first one didn't take?

Speaking of people who aren't fans of immersion, Noah has become something of a Baptist. He suddenly LOVES bath time now. He wears a tentative but pleasant expression that occasionally gives way to full blown grins. Getting his diaper changed has also grown on him - we've discovered that he likes it when you fan his bum with a clean diaper before putting it on -- we try not to make him feel weird about it by reassuring him that "everyone loves a bum-fan." In general, we just love seeing him take in new things. Whenever we leave the house he is so wide eyed and curious about all the new things to see. What wonder must accompany his taking in of a world that he is unable to classify and mark off into "things." Pure awareness.

He's just a gift to behold - marveling at him makes me marvel at ourselves for the kind of love we are capable of and at the God revealed in that love!

A couple of firsts

First bath without screaming the whole time:


First time wearing "big boy pants": (I always forget that he has clothes other than sleepers and onesies - he's growing so quickly we had to try these on!)


First time we caught the new pout face on camera: