Rachel Noggle's Blog

The saga continues about our home again off again cat. I figured since he’d lasted the summer at the house with no one taking care of him, that when we were there to offer him food and water regularly he’d stick around. That was true to a point. When we are home, Thomas the cat is content to lie around very lazily and be fed, watered (if he’s thirsty he’ll go sit in front of the sink and meow pitifully) and petted, of course. However it seems that if we leave for even just a day or two, when we get home he is no where to be seen. Keep in mind that I always leave plenty of extra food and lots of water out for him. The last time we left him outside when we were gone he didn’t come back for several days, and I figured maybe he was gone for good. However, I underestimate the beast because home he came dragging a back leg with him. He couldn’t walk on it for a couple weeks at least. So, I knew we had another upcoming trip and decided to leave him INSIDE with a littler box and plenty of food and water. That worked keeping him there for the time we were gone, but when my mother-in-law arrived a little ahead of us he was off like a shot. Apparently his leg felt better and he needed an adventure. He came back the next day with new war wounds and a front leg very swollen. Ah, I’m afraid he will one day be coyote fodder, but till then I’m glad he’s back…. again. 🙂

I love the fact that Qade has so many grandparents to love and spoil him. 🙂 He not only has both of Stuart and my parents, but he also has 4 great grand parents. Besides all of that he has several people in our church who have claimed him as son or grandson. On top of all of that he has several very doting Aunties and Uncles. I guess the older I get the more “into” family I am- ha ha! I’m just so happy that there are so many people who will love our little boy and watch him grow up and add to his happy memories.

I’ve been thinking about marriage lately. Not just because I’m married to the most wonderful man created, but because there have been several things that have prompted my thinking that way. First we just had a “romantic retreat” at camp. It was a lot of work, and we didn’t have a HUGE gathering, but we did have fun! That’s always the key ingredient in any camp setting. 🙂 The speaker spoke, of course, on marriage, and parenting, and things like that just make you think about marriage. Then when we got back from camp we discovered that our power was out due to a fallen tree, so we camped out at Stu’s grandparent’s house. She was 15 when they got married. So they’ve been married for oh… well probably 60 years or more! That’s a long time. She probably doesn’t even remember what it was like to NOT be married. As for me, I guess I’m on the slow side of things as I didn’t tie the knot till I was 26. But I don’t regret my single years, and I most definitely don’t regret waiting for the perfect one for me. My life is charmed. I get to be married to my very best friend, and still do things I love to like camp.

I just wanted to take a moment and publicly brag about the most wonderful man in creation, my Stuart. I so often think that I got the better end of the deal when we got married! Stuart is so sensitive to my needs. Having a baby is a life changing event, and he has taken it in stride even when my moods were all whacky. Sometimes I feel like I’m too “needy” and I just need to suck it up and get over it, but he NEVER makes me feel that way. Instead he hugs me tightly and tells me how much he loves me. Ha, he even tells me how wonderful I am. (I know that I’m a mess for real, but it’s nice to hear) Stu has such patience with me, and encourages me to become a better person. Not so much that he tells me to be better, but he just inspires me by being better himself. He has a heap of responsibilities on his plate right now. He’s a husband, a father, an assistant pastor, a camp program director as well as a member of the board, he runs the youth group, is taking over the Sunday School program, cleans the church, and on top of all of that he’s working as a substitute teacher at the high school. That’s a LOT of stuff, but even though I know he feels the pressure sometimes, he is always so upbeat and positive about things. I love him more than anyone in the world and I’m so glad that he picked me! I live a charmed life, and it’s mostly because of my amazing man!

Poor Qade. He hasn’t quite learned the art of going to sleep at bed time. At least not consistently. Of course the tyke is only 6 months old and I can’t expect him to master every skill suddenly. I was encouraged because when Sarah Jane came to visit she told me that her little lad had only recently been an eager beaver when it came to bedtime and he is 18 months. Still, I can’t complain because Qade has been a terrific sleeper since very early! He slept his first 8 hr night on our move out to AZ and that was at 5 weeks for him! He has consistently been sleeping about 12 hrs a night for so long now that I can’t remember when he started. So a few struggles at bedtime can be overlooked. We still work with him. Sometimes he’s so sleepy by bedtime that he konks out without a fuss, but other times he thinks he’d rather play or at least NOT be in his bed. Those are the hard times. We let him know that we are there and love him, but we let him work it out. It’s difficult for moms to listen to their babies cry especially when they know they could “make it better” by just picking him up and snuggling. However, that won’t help him learn to go to sleep, and in the long run just makes the bedtime more of a nightmare. So we’re working on it. He fusses for awhile, and then we go in and comfort him, and he’ll usually fuss some more, but if we keep it up he finally nods off to la la land. Fortunately if WE are consistent it helps him to be more so as well. Hopefully soon we will experience bedtimes with no more tears.

I’m not sure what it is about the “second” cup of coffee that I find so relaxing. Maybe it’s because the first cup is just to jump start the day. Perhaps it’s the fact that my bubby is down for his morning nap by then and the house is peaceful. Usually I’ve already started some laundry or the dishwasher or some other chore, and am ready for a little rest. Who knows the reason exactly. I do know though, that the second cup of coffee is a great thing for me. That’s my “quiet time” where I can read my bible and know that the words will actually sink in rather than roll off like they would if I tried to read it as soon as my eyes opened. I can watch the sunshine through the window as I sit and sip, and just breathe and think. Yep, I like the second cup of coffee the best!

Yesterday morning around 4:30 I woke up because Qade was coughing and gagging. Turns out he was pretty sick. He kept spitting up this mucusy stuff and I thought maybe it was just nasal drainage bothering him. However when I gave him his morning bottle, he was happy to have it, but none of it stayed in his lil tummy. Poor baby! He wasn’t acting sick. He was smily and happy and played with his toys, but he was pretty tired and took a 2 and a half hour nap in the morning. I called the Dr. and of course they said to bring him in, but as usual, all they really said was to keep trying to get fluids in him and watch for dehydration. So we’ve been giving him pedialite which he doesn’t care for, but will take if mommy feeds him. He was able to keep some of it down last night. He slept well, and then I gave him a bit of watered down formula this morning as well as more pedialite. He has spit up some of it, but I think he kept some down too. I may try to give him a little cereal later. The pediatrician said to go easy on the milk for a couple days, so I’m trying to get creative about getting other stuff into him. I just hate it when he’s ill and I can’t “fix” it, ya know? I think that the extra snuggles are just as much for me as they are for him when he doesn’t feel good.

Yep, my 5 month old has his first two teeth! It’s soooo cute to see the tiny white spots. They aren’t very big yet, but let me tell you, they work. He was playing with my fingers the other day and CHOMP I got a first hand experience of what teeny tiny teeth feel like on unsuspecting flesh. Ouch! When they first started emerging Qade got quite a kick out of rubbing the tip of his tongue back and forth on the new texture. That was hilarious to watch! He is so much fun because each new thing is an exciting adventure. He has begun to sit up all by himself, and that too was cause for squeals of delight. Unfortunately he’s not completely stable yet and sometimes his “excitement” led to flopping over backwards. Poor boy. Mommy laughs at him. 🙂 I just can’t help it though, Qade is so much fun and has so much personality. I almost can’t wait till he starts talking. Almost….

I love being a SAHM. 🙂 It took me awhile to figure that one out the first time I saw it. “Stay At Home Mom.” Yep, it’s one of the best jobs in the universe. Unfortunately it doesn’t make much money. I know that I’m investing in more than dollars though, and that the interest earned on my “investment” will far outweigh any bank account. Still there is that part of me that would like to contribute to the family budget. Recently a friend of the Noggle family had a baby boy (fun fun, boys are awesome!) and will be soon going back to work. At a baby shower for Stuart’s sis last weekend, this same lady asked if I’d be interested in watching her wee one. I was shocked and delighted! Seems it’s all going to work out for me to start watching little Cadeon the last week in Oct. Yay! I really need to exercise my faith more. I had thought about how cool it would be if I could find a babysitting job so that Qade and I could still stay home and yet earn some moolah, but I didn’t really think it was “possible” so I didn’t even bother to pray about it. Awful! I know my God does the impossible all the time. Thankfully He gives us gentle reminders in the form of blessings sometimes!