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Sunday was a very special day in Noah’s life.  He was baptised!  Phil and I were able to bring him before our church and dedicate him before the Lord.

Right after Phil and I became members of our church, Pastor Kelly took Noah and asked us these questions.

1. Do you acknowledge you child’s need of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, and the renewing grace of the Holy Spirit?
2. Do you claim God’s covenant promises in his behalf, and do you look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ for his salvation, as you do for your own?
3. Do you now unreservedly dedicate your child to God, and promise, in humble reliance upon divine grace, that you will endeavor to set before him a godly example, that you will pray with and for him, that you will teach him the doctrines of our holy religion, and that you will strive, by all the means of God’s appointment, to bring him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?

After we affirmed these statements, Noah was baptised.

This was a very different experience for Phil and I as we were not brought up in churches that practiced infant baptism, but after a lot of prayer and conversations with other believers, we decided that this would be the best thing for our son.  Infant baptism in the Presbyterian church is not one of regeneration (as it is in the Roman Catholic Church), but rather one where we look forward to the time that Noah will put his trust in Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord.  He will still have to make that decision for himself, but it is our job as parents to pray for him that he may come to that saving knowledge.

We were blessed to have Phil’s mom, aunt, uncle, and grandma to be there, as well as my brother, Loren.  It was a very special time for all of us.

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Since our lease on our Shoreline apartment ends in October, we’ve been looking at the real estate market for a while now. Mostly it was just research, keeping an eye on what kind of things were available at what prices, but last week we started actually visiting them in person. We were thinking for a while that we’d try to do the move in October right around when our current lease finished. But things don’t always work out like you think.

First we were taken around to a few places around North Seattle. Right before we left, we saw one listing in south Shoreline that looked interesting that had just been put on the market, but we were in a hurry and didn’t make note of it. The first few places we saw were all right, but nothing caught our eye. Then we scheduled a visit to the house that we’d just seen show up, and it was the nicest thing we’d seen at that price. A lot of work had just been put into it, and the sellers needed to get out in a hurry, so the price was great. We put in an offer on the very next day.

The next day we found out that ours was one of three offers. The market is currently pretty slow in this area, so having that level of activity within one week of putting a house up is virtually unheard of. We were given an opportunity to raise our offer, but it originally included an escalation clause that brought the offer to above the asking price, which was already cutting it pretty close financially for us. So we left our offer as it was and hoped for the best. The next day we found out our offer was accepted!

We’ll have photos on Flickr before too long. It has three bedrooms and a spacious yard with a great deck and patio, so there’ll be room for entertaining and for Noah to grow.

This will be an interesting few months for us since we do still have our lease. It will end up overlapping with our mortgage payments, so it’ll be a bit tight on money for a few months. But this is really an amazing opportunity for us, and having the overlap will make the moving process less hectic. The way the offer situation went made it very clear that we had done the right thing. Our offer was obviously neither too high nor too low. We’re really thankful for the way it worked out.

As a rule I don’t plan for anything further than a few years in the future, but this is shaping to be the first time since fifth grade that I would live in one place for longer than two years.

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So, Noah has the most fun personality.  He finds the most interesting things funny.  For example, today Phil went to the freezer to get an otter pop.  When he reached to grab one, they all fell on the floor.  Noah was watching, and he started cracking up.  So, Phil purposely let them drop again.  He laughed even harder.  So, now they are in the other room with Phil dropping things again and again with Noah getting more and more excited about it.

Other things that make him laugh:
- Having people jump up and down (thanks Joe!)
- Making a “plop” sound with our mouth
- Rubbing our noses into his cheek or tummy or kissing him on the neck
- His own sneezes or coughs.  He thinks that it is so funny when he does it the first time that he tries to repeat it afterwards.
- Any sort of quick movement we make directed toward him (as we saw with Loren).

Fun Times.

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Teething is a pain.  It hurts.  Badly.  And it’s not just baby that’s affected.  Everyone feels it with the lack of sleep and aching backs since he doesn’t hardly want to be put down.  Extra cuddles is a necessity.  But, he has something to show for it.  His second tooth came in this morning.  Hopefully, the worst is behind us.

Here’s a picture from yesterday. You can see the one tooth, and the second one just about to come in.

Since he now has teeth, I’m trying to make sure that I give him some solid food every day.  Sometimes, he loves it and will eat the entire amount in about ten minutes.  Other days, we have a conversation that goes something like this:

Alisha: Noah say “AAHHH”
Noah (smiling): “Mmmmmm”
A: No, no, you need to open your mouth.  Like this, “AHHHH”
N: “Mmmmmmm”

At this point I usually try to make him laugh so his mouth opens up so I can stick some food into it in hopes that he’ll like it and want more.  This doesn’t usually happen so we forego the food to another time.

In closing, here’s a picture of one of our most recent endeavors:

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Growing up, I was decent at sports.  I loved to run, and I could pass all of my fitness tests…. except when it came to flexibility.  There was always this one test I couldn’t pass.  We were supposed to sit on the ground with our legs holding a box in front of us.  Then, we were supposed to lean over to see how far we could reach.  We were supposed to go at least one or two inches past our feet.  Most girls could do at least four.  Me?  Well, I couldn’t even get close to where my feet were.  I couldn’t even touch my toes when I was standing up.  This has continued to be a problem throughout my life… until now.

Somehow, something magical happened when I had Noah.  I’m flexible now.  Once, when I was playing with him, I kept taking his feet and having them touch his head.  As a joke, I thought I would try that myself.  To my astonishment, I could touch my own toe to my forehead!  When did this happen?  Is it because I’m playing with him on the floor a lot?  My theory is that when I had my cesarean, they cut through a tight tendon that wouldn’t let me move.  No matter how it happened, I’m definitely enjoying my new skills!  Sorry, no picture to go along with this blog post.  =)

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Two more months, and two more inches!  Noah’s still growing like a weed.  He now is 28 3/4 inches long and weighs a whopping 18 lbs. 3 oz.  He’s well over the 95% for height and just under 75% for weight.  The doctor was surprised that he’s moving already saying that most 6-month olds aren’t ready for mobility yet.  Exciting!

He also had his DTaP today.  He takes these shots so well.  Although he cried as he was getting the shot, he was happy and talking less than a minute later.   So, all is well with our half year old.  It will be fun to watch all the new developments that will arise before his next appointment.

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