Noah’s 1/2 Birthday & Family Photos

carcache-32Our sweet Boy has reached the 6 month mark you guys! That means 1/2 birthday! This means that after this he will almost be a teenage baby! This boy has kept us on our toes. He is the most sweetest baby and always has a smile on his face… literally melts our hearts. He’s at a point where so many changes are taking place and his little personality is starting to make an appearance. I anticipate a strong-willed little guy  but with the kindest heart in our future. He loves his momma and daddy and has started to reach out his little arms for us to pick him up. He loves his skip and hop play table and loves putting all toys and mostly everything in his mouth! lol Maybe teething? But at the moment no teeth in site! He rolls over like a pro but can’t take the heat lol aka, he gets frustrated and lazy when it comes to “trying” to go on all fours to explore the crawling position. We’ll let him lead the way on that one and see when this big little fella wants to start making us chase him around.  Oh and Food… well not his favorite just yet! Lets just say there’s been a whole lot of gagging in the works haha! But he does seem to like avocados like his mama. He’s at 95%tile for both weight and height so no concern there just yet. And although he’s an amazing baby and can pretty much adjust anywhere (beside his car seat, lol) he’s also not a great sleeper. Lets just say this is the area that has ‘kept us on our toes’ or what I should  really say,   ‘barely’ on our toes from how sleep deprived we are. All I know is, he’s lucky he is cute… we will take all the advice we can get on that one! Any tips to get him to sleep better?? help a mama and dad out. He also loves Mickey mouse and his eyes open wide when that little mouse is in sight! Bath time is his favorite followed by a game of papa chases mom and Noah around the house. I know someday these will be my favorite memories, maybe minus the sleep deprivation..

But in all seriousness, we have learned so much from him and although real life has been an adjustment. He really has challenged us.. he has made us aware of how little sleep an individual can run on, while at the same time, teaching us how much someone can also love. Because people, THIS IS REAL LOVE. It’s not always hearts and rainbows because I don’t care how perfect a picture can seem, real life can be hard with a baby. And although we know this is our first, and this is all new to us, were trying our hardest. Challenges have presented themselves, but we have learned to lean on patience and show each other grace. We’re not a perfect family but were trying to live it out to the best of our ability. Even though, there are days we may fail, this is OUR family and to us its OUR perfect little family. Noah these past 6 months has brought and taught us the real meaning of unconditional love, and I have never felt more blessed or grateful to God for trusting us to be his parents. In the midst of all the struggles we may face, while adjusting to this little guy, I hope to always focus on enjoying the process of HIM, because he’s only little once and these will be memories that last a lifetime for us as parents. It’s easy to be overwhelmed when you feel like so much is going on. But, all those feelings placed to the side don’t compare or surpass the feeling I have in my heart, body and soul for this precious boy. He’s taught us more about life and its meaning these past 6 months then we ever thought or thought we knew before. He’s our greatest adventure, the most rewarding and the biggest blessing.

And even though, I may talk about struggles and adjustment, I just want to keep these emotions and feelings as raw as possible for our memories and for my readers and fellow parents out there. Because although, our lives may seem perfect in all these tiny IG stories and pictures or Facebook  that everyone posts’ or even on my blog and my pages, LIFE IS REAL. Life isn’t perfect for anyone and sharing with you all that we’ve encountered struggles in adjusting and our sleep deprivation, it’s all real and we know were not alone. And in the midst of it all, no matter how big or small are struggles are, our life has been fulfilled with a greater purpose and were so incredibly blessed to be where we are as parents, as husband and wife and as a family of three in our journey right now.   We will always remember these days….

Our friend and photographer Beca @ Becacphotography  who pretty much  has documented all our big milestones with her camera, captured these amazing photographs for us as a family and our little Noah at 6 months! Life may not be perfect always, but these Photographs are PERFECT!  We may not have it together all the time, but together is my favorite place to be with these boys, and with all these good feelings! I hope that our love can be seen through these photos in our smiles and faces! Because there’s sooo much of it surrounding us and were so incredibly blessed. Looking back at these one day will be so amazing.

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Love you NOAH ❤

 

Parenthood Feelings

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Our little guy turned 5 months a couple of days ago and my heart is conflicted. Part feels like time needs to slow down, another part feels proud when he reaches another milestone, and another feels just plain out blessed. You never really understand when others used to tell you, “you’ll understand when you’re a mom or dad” until you actually become a parent. My hubby and I have been all about the feelings lately with our little guy. He’s growing up and growing fast, he’s been changing right before our eyes and it makes us feel all sorts of way. We keep wanting him to stay little forever, so that forever he can look into our eyes the way he does with that twinkle of all the love for us. A look that just completely consumes us with a good overwhelming kind of love.  We felt it was necessary to write these feelings so that forever we could remember them even though I doubt we will ever forget… as a mother and as a father we’ll remember this….

As a mother I will always remember all the hard sleepless nights, but I will also remember that during those nights, Noah looks up at me, his mom to be consoled, to be given love and affection. I will remember how sometimes, sleep just wasn’t on his mind but rather a smile to lighten up our dark nights. I will remember all the sleepless nights where I fought not only to close my eyes to sleep but also to keep them open to just be able to stare at him a little longer before we both fell asleep. I will remember always every little inch of him. Everyday that passes all I pray for is for guidance. Guidance to be the best mom I could be for our little boy. To have patience, to be a good example, to keep him safe, to be his friend but also his Mother above all. I pray to always be able and capable of always being there for him. As a mother I hope that when I fail and make mistakes, I hope to learn from those mistakes to be a better me and a better mom to Noah. But through it all I hope to always lean on my faith and his grace during this whole journey of motherhood and parenthood along with my husband.

As for my husband… this is what he’d like to share…

“Our baby boy Noah turned 5 months old. It reminded me about a month back Jen brought home a onesie that seemed rather big. I told her “no way he fits in that in 6 months”, she said “he almost fits in it now”. I held it up next to my torso and I couldn’t believe it. I remember getting emotional just thinking about how big Noah is quickly becoming. I kept asking myself, “is he really that big”. Our baby boy is growing up so quickly. I think that night it hit the both of us, that Noah is growing up and time is way past us. I wish time would slow down and he wouldn’t grow so fast! Might be selfish, but I want to keep him this way a little longer.

You really don’t know what it is to be a parent until you are one. I am quickly starting to find out the meaning of that saying. The love that grows in you for your child is something beyond this world. I never thought I can love something or someone so much. I never thought I would care so much about someone growing up and changing. These feelings extend much deeper, not even words can describe it. The one thing I can say is not to take these moments for granted. This is a unique experience and as a new parent, try to soak as much of it in because it’ll flash right before your eyes.” – Xavier

As for our little Noah, know that you are sooo very loved. You have changed our lives in ways we never knew. Your dad and I thought we knew what deep unconditional love was, but the truth is, we didn’t until you came into our lives. We promise to always be there for you and love you with all our might our sweet babe. We’re so grateful and feel so blessed God chose us to be your parents, there is no greater privilege. We hope to be the best of us with the guidance of the one up above for you baby boy.

With all our love,

Your mom and dad.
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Maternity shoot flashback & feelings

As I sit here holding our sweet baby boy in my arms today, I can only think of those days I was just feeling him move around in my belly. I would sit and stare at my growing belly just watching him move around, kicking stretching and hiccup-ing all inside of me. I was so full of excitement thinking he’d soon be in arms. But as I sat and stared and waited I’d just wonder how he would look, whose nose, eyes and how much hair he’d have. It was such a conflicting feeling to think I wouldn’t feel his little movements inside of me anymore but yet how much I would love just holding him in my arms staring him down for hours. Well he is here…. and I’m staring down at him thinking time is going fast. Our little man is almost 3 months old, even though he looks like he’s almost 5 months old! (He was a big boy since birth! Lol) now I sit and look through these photographs and just smile. I smile because pregnancy for me was oh so hard in the beginning and not till a little over half way did i start feeling better.. but pregnancy is beautiful. Even though sometimes I was so uncomfortable and my body was going through so many changes it scared me, pregnancy is beautiful. It’s a beautiful miracle of life that God has granted us with. A privilege to hold life and care for it with all of Gods grace and an everlasting love. Pregnancy is such a wonderful gift. I also smile at these photographs because they’re also a reminder of when it was just my sweet husband and I. When all of our love turned into waiting for our little boy. I also smile because it sends me back to the times it was just Xavier and I and all our dreams and the stories owe share together before our little guy came to this world. They’re the sweetest memories and just makes me feel all sorts of butterflies because I love this man so much. Our story is beautiful… it has never been perfect but our story is beautiful and full of love. These photographs are just a small vision into that love my husband and I share.. and all the love we’re going to be giving our baby boy.  Now we’ll look at these and have flashbacks of all those feelings leading up to his arrival… a sweet memory in deed.

Thank you BecaCompanioni at BecaCphotography for capturing all of this love in these beautiful photographs. ❤

I’d do any adventure with you my love… this is just the beginning… Noah is another chapter in our story.. love you both with all my heart.

❤ Jen

Our 1st Trimester’s Recap

1samuel1-27We haven’t done much blogging lately, mostly due to our busy schedules, holidays and this mama dealing with “all day sickness” or plain out being tired! But I figured its time to catch you all up a little and re-cap the beginning of our pregnancy journey with our 1st trimester photos.  The truth is… 1st trimester was a little rough around the edges… and maybe that’s me putting it in light terms in comparison to how I actually felt. Truth being, I felt too incredibly blessed and too incredibly guilty to complain for such a huge blessing we were given! The blessing of a child, the opportunity to experience pregnancy and the honor of being called parents. While I tried to remind myself of all this, I will be honest…I was incredibly frustrated many days. I wasn’t keeping any food down, the nausea was ALL day and I was loosing weight. All I know is that as a first time mom-to-be, you worry… you worry when you feel you are not doing everything you can possibly do to keep your growing baby healthy and strong and frustration I must admit won over often. Thats when Im grateful for a wonderful supporting husband, family and friends who kept me grounded and focused on the big picture, and reminded me of the greatest gift God had placed in our lives. I just had to fight through it, focus on the Joy this little babe was bringing us and how full my heart truly was. I will admit the back rubs I got from hubby during the rushes to the bathroom, were and still are cherished and appreciated! He’s like the cheerleader rooting me on! haha. But all nausea and sickness aside, 1st trimester was also full of joy and happiness. Memories like announcing our pregnancy to our close family and friends are memories we will forever remember and cherish. They’re all so full of love and happiness that they’d be hard to forget. We would be lying if worry and anxiety never popped into our heads for the changes to come, but the truth is… this babe was soooo wanted and we prayed so hard for this little babe that the joy and reality of it really happening overcomes any of those anxieties. Plus, we know we always have the big man above us to lean on with our worries, and trusting in the Lord during this time is and will continue to be the best thing we can do.

For now, we will continue to look forward to having better days! Nausea free hopefully and fewer trip to the bathroom, haha! So here is our week by week pregnancy photo updates! Excuse the look, messy hair, pale faces and anything in between! haha.. I do promise this, baby boy is healthy and growing strong!

{7 weeks}- First ultrasound confirmation

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{Just a couple of our first trimester memories of our sweet babe}

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Our Sweet Baby

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Our sweet baby….

We have finally announced you to the world… But way before that, your daddy and I were secretly keeping you all to ourselves. We had been surprised by the reality of you and all the love that filled our hearts that very moment we found out about you. We were excited and nervous all at the same time! But the truth is, we had been praying for you for quite a little while before that. We were eager for you, praying and wishing for you. God’s timing was perfect, he knew when to bring you into our lives and fill our hearts with the greatest joy and love. We are already so honored and humbled to be your mami and daddy and already soo soo in love. We can’t wait to see you and hold you in our arms and see that little face that has already stold our hearts away. We are patiently waiting for your arrival! This mama has had a tough time with morning sickness and daddy keeps talking you to help mama out, but at the end we know it will all be worth it for you sweet baby. We are so humbled by the fact that we get to be your parents and share life with you and love you with all our hearts.. so you keep growing healthy and strong in mamas belly ok? Because you have a whole team behind you of friends and family who love you already so very much!! We know God is watching over us and you and we trust in him wholeheartedly! He is our strength in the middle of our fears, anxieties and even our joys and excitement through this whole journey leading up to meet you! Even our little lady dog Bella senses you bc she lays right next to this mamas belly all the time.

We can’t wait to meet you sweet baby!

Love, your mami and daddy! ❤

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