Noah's first trip to Shadow Lake and 1 month old

Packed to the gills

I was questioning my own sanity as we packed up and headed on vacation with a 1-month-old baby, but I am so glad we went.  We had a wonderful week at Shadow Lake, and we are refreshed after having some extra helping hands with our kids for the week.  Evie slept in my parents' room at camp, so we were able to only get up with Noah (usually once a night) and sleep until 8:30 most mornings.  Heaven!  Matt and I even got to go out for a beer together one night and kayaked around the lake alone.  No wonder we were depressed to come home!  Here are a few favorite moments from the week:

I had been waiting for this Fat Tire since I was 7 months pregnant!

First dip in Shadow Lake

Paddle boat riding

"Beth the baby whisperer" was one of our sets of helping hands!

Fishing success!

Fresh spring water

Matt's running buddies

Cousins

Grandma did LOTS of baby holding

Beach baby in his little nest

Kayaking like a big girl

Mommy got to relax, too!

Ahhh, this is the life!

First camp bath!

Sparklers

The Currier's Moose in Glover

Amazing 4th of July dessert!

The annual family photo

Matching Shadow Lake shirts

Grandma and Grandpa with 5 out 7 grandkids

Before we left for camp, I got a little panicked that Noah would wake up the entire camp with his nighttime scream-fest, so I made a last-minute trip to CVS and got some gripe water and a new variety of pacifiers.  FINALLY, we found a pacifier that he will take, which has made our lives much easier!  The jury is out whether the gripe water made a difference or not.

In honor of Noah turning 1 month old, here are a few highlights about him:

• Weighs 12 lbs. (unofficially weighed on our scale)
• Wakes up 1-2x per night, but goes right back to sleep most nights
• He has slept for 7 hours straight a few nights (we're hoping for more of these nights!)
• Smiles are becoming more frequent, and he has cute little dimples
• He's having more alert/awake/content time during the day and will "talk" to us with coos and gurgles
• Took his first bottle from Grandma when we were at camp
• Our favorite nick-names for him are: Noey (Evie's creation) and Mr. Pukers (he earned that one)

And, since I haven't done a list like this for Evie lately, here are some things that she is up to:

• She loves Bitty Baby and will imitate everything I'm doing with Noah
• She's an awesome big sister
• Her sleep situation is improving, and she will fall asleep on her own about 50% of the time
• She loves to make salad and is having lots of fun with our garden
• She sings all the time and makes up little songs about our day-to-day happenings
• She will entertain herself for hours with Little People and Sesame Street characters, lining them up and pretending that they are having a party.  Pretend birthday parties are her favorite!

The peas are taller than she is!

Giving her little bro a checkup