*No, I am not lying… those really are two different girls, and Noa is on the left, Martha on the right. 
*Also, I promise I don’t re-use pacis It just happens that when babies are less than a year and a half apart, Nuk is still using the same colors for their girlie pacifiers.
*I would love to put up photos of the parents too at that age… will work on that.
Well, I know you all have been checking several times a day to see if you guessed right about our baby girls haha. It was fun seeing how many people guessed. 40 people said Martha is on the left, 28 said she’s on the right, 2 people thought both were of her, and 2 people thought neither photo was her. Most of our contestants were wrong. Poor Martha, growing up away from her family and friends so that they don’t even know what she looks like… Heee hee! Just kidding, I couldn’t really tell, unless I look closely and see the carpet from our old house in the picture of Noa So, Martha is on the right, and Noa is on the left. My friend Sarah made me smile when she said they look so much alike, at least I know Martha will stay cute like Noa. I do think my girls are pretty cute, but what mother doesn’t? Thanks for playing!
This is for Joel, who calls Martha “Noa 2.0″. It was just too easy to recreate this little Noa moment with Martha so I did Can you tell who is who?
Take a guess on the poll to your right!
Less than three years ago, I was privileged to change my name and become Sara-Beth Noll. There are so many incredible and wonderful blessings that that name change signifies, the biggest one being that I had become the wife of Eric Noll, and covenanted to be that until death. How precious to me my new name was and still is. Sometimes when I write my signature, the realization sweeps over me afresh and I am amazed and thankful for God’s goodness so simply summarized in those four new letters at the end of my name. That being said, to so many people I have remained “Sara” or “Sara-Beth” and have rarely been called “Mrs. Noll”. I think of my marriage to Eric as not so much a name change but an incredible addition to my name… as Eric is an incredible addition to my life, being my “better half” to use the cliché ?
Two years ago, my sweet husband woke me one Sunday morning with breakfast in bed and a “Happy First Mother’s Day” card. Though we didn’t know who she was, we knew we were parents to a precious child in my womb whom we were anxiously waiting to meet.
Nineteen months ago, I started being called “Mom” or “Mommy” or “Mama”, usually in the third person by myself or Eric or others as they spoke about my position in Noa’s life, as her mother. What an incredible experience it was (and still is!) to be a mother and to be known as a mother! I loved it. A few weeks after Noa was born my big brother asked me how I liked being a mom. After a few seconds of thinking on it, I told him it was a dream come true for me. It really was, and is, as I can’t remember a time in my life that I didn’t imagine or hope to one day be a mother. And I prayed then as I do now that the Lord would keep me from taking that for granted, as I know it’s a gift given from Him, not just a decision we made to have children.
One year ago I celebrated my second mother’s day, my first with a child in my arms and a face and name engraved on my heart forever as “the crown of my own motherhood.” It was a special day for me to celebrate my own mother and the mothers in my life as I had a new and greater appreciation for them. I also realized that day that Mother’s Day had become to me a day not to celebrate myself, but for me to celebrate my child(ren) and the fact that God had chosen to bless me with the role of motherhood.
About nine months ago Noa started saying “Mama” and somewhere in there realized that was me! Oh the incredible joy of another new name! And, as with my name change in marriage, the life change that this new name implies brings a slideshow of pictures to my mind – all of which are images of two precious girls – and tears to my eyes for the blessing of being THEIR Mama. Even when it is whined or shouted or cried, may it always have the sweet ring to it of the wonderful implications of being a bearer of that name.
A few days ago we were at an event where we had to wear nametags. I wrote nametags for Noa, Eric, and I, and while I was putting them on, I was trying to show Noa that the writing was her name and that’s what it looked like. While trying to drive the point home, I was going to point out my name to her as I stuck it on my shirt but had a sweet moment of realization: that wouldn’t make any sense to her. While to everyone else in the world, I am Sara-Beth, there are only two people who call me (or will call me in Martha’s case) by something else and only that: Mama. It’s amazing to think that billions of other women have that same name, but for some reason I feel incredibly special and unique. I guess that’s because my girls are so special and unique to me and I am their only mother. WOW. Even as a mother of two now, this title is still so new and precious and wonderful to me.
As we celebrated mother’s day yesterday, I thought of and was so thankful for the mothers in my life: my mom, Kathy, Grandma Chase, Nana, Grandma Kuehn, and Grandma Iverson who is with the Lord. I also celebrated myself. Not because I am someone to celebrate, but because GOD HAS BEEN SO GOOD TO ME. I look at my children and I really do think, “amazing… I GET to be THEIR mother!” What a happy thought! I praise God for Mother’s day and even more that I get to be a mom everyday for the rest of my life!
Continue reading about My New Names – some mother’s day reflections.
I can’t believe Martha is already two months old! At the same time, I can’t believe she’s only two months old because its hard to remember life before this beauty entered our family and won our hearts. What a precious girl she is, and it is a joy to watch her grow!
Martha is a little wiggle worm, always kicking her covers off, squirming til she’s turned completely 180 degrees in bed, and moving her hands in front of her face and into her mouth. I am also guessing she will be rolling over onto her belly soon, as she is always turning completely on her side when trying to look at something. We’ll see.
You may have been able to tell from recent pictures the severe case of baby acne that she has had. Two weeks ago I finally took her to the doctor to make sure it wasn’t anything else. She assured me that it’s normal and will go away. The last few days I have finally seen consistent improvement so I’m hoping we’re at the end of it.
She continues to do well with her eating. She’s eating 5 or 6 times a day, about every 3 to 4 hours. After her last meal at night, anywhere from 7:30 to 9:30, depending on what the day was like, she usually goes down for the night and we don’t hear from her again until 5:30-6:30. I don’t know if that is technically sleeping through the night but I’ll take it I am thankful for that. Her napping is going better and I can usually count on one long daytime nap (2.5-3.5 hours) and then little hour-ish ones in between her other meals. According to my very rough calculations (meaning my own weight subtracted from my weight while holding her), she is a little over 6kg which is almost 13.5 lbs (around the 90th percentile). So she’s gaining her ounce a day that she’s supposed to. And she’s still a tall little girl at 24 inches (87th percentile). We’re very thankful for her health and growth.
Martha continues to charm us with her smiles and become more and more interactive. She is responding to Noa more which is fun to watch. Noa can make her laugh (and cry!) quite well depending on what she does. Martha is a talker like her sister already. I often wake up in the morning to her babbling, and she’s just sitting there kicking and cooing away. I love to hear her happy sounds, and she loves to talk back to anyone who will stop for a chat.
Oh yea, and Martha is quite the drooler. I hope it has nothing to do with teething (not ready for that yet!) but she can certainly blow some bubbles from her mouth. Not very ladylike but still cute (at least to us!).
Well, as I write, I just heard some big rumbles accompanied by a silly grin… I guess its time for yet another diaper change This is life with an infant after all…
Thanks for checking in with us!
just a few photos of life with these girlies:
this is what we call a double-whammy in our house right now. When I thought of all the fun that having kids so close in age would be, I didn’t think of the number of diapers we would buy, change, and throw away each day. WOW! I always said I was happy to wait for potty training, but now I’m thinking as soon as Noa starts showing interest, I may just jump on that wagon. Anyway, don’t you think getting your diaper changed would be more fun with a sister having it done at the same time? My girls certainly think so!
Noa’s loving the babies these days, as usual. She now lets her baby “eat” (aka nurse), she burps her, she changes her diaper, and puts her to “night night” (please note the disaster of our home these days… I am humbled and learning more and more that its ok to have a messy house these days… kids do live here after all… another post on this soon.)
I love watching my kids sleep. I don’t do it enough (these days I usually get one down to sleep and run off to see to the other, or to get housework done while I don’t have the distractions of two) but when I do, I am thankful for the thoughts and emotions that surge through me and call me to prayers over these precious ones. Every once in a while, when my little baby falls asleep in my arms, I just can’t resist keeping her there and enjoying her little body cuddled up to mine.
I have been using a big ball for excercise recently and Noa has caught on. Here she is with her feet up on her ball like she sees me doing, but she’s laying back and relaxing with her catechism book. This morning after I took this photo, she simulated an entire family devotions, complete with a song, her “reading” from that book, and a prayer.
see above about sleeping babies… mmmmm… just love it!
