Noah's New Love

That's right.  It is a pair of hand-me-down blue fish sandals.  He thinks they are pretty much the coolest thing in the world.  Every morning when he wakes up, the first thing he does is find the sandals and bring them to me to put on him.  

He tends to bring them one at a time.

He wears them all day long except for during naps when I take them off of him.  But after he wakes up, they go back on.  

Finally last night we had to wash them because they were starting to smell.  I don't know what it is about them that he loves so much.  I think it is a combination of wearing shoes that he can still see his toes in and the fact that they have fish on them.  

I guess his cousin Solomon likes them too.

Whatever it is, I think they are here for the rest of the summer.  

Animals, Sticks, and Eggs

A couple weeks ago, we went to the zoo with several of my friends and their kids.  I wasn't sure how Noah would do.  He loves playing with animals at home, but I didn't know if that would translate over to those at the zoo.  He loved it!  There were times that he was fussy due to fatigue and not understanding why he couldn't always be out of his stroller running amongst the people and animals, but for the most part he did great and loved all the animals.  

Watching one of the elephants bowl.

The trainers brought them over to the fence and let us pet them.  It was so cool.  They are much rougher than I expected.

Pretty proud of himself after petting the elephant.

The crew, minus one adult and two children.

Exchanging pacifiers.  They are about five weeks apart.  It was so funny to see them interacting together.
Trying to pet the furry little donkey things through the fence.  This was one of his favorites.
Watching the ducks and turtles.  

Sadly, I did not get a picture of him looking at the giraffes.  They have always been his favorite animal at home and they did not disappoint in real life.  He was very excited.

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Last weekend was a great weekend.  It was our first Easter together as a family- Brian was gone last year- and we enjoyed every moment of it.  Saturday morning we went to the park for a little bit, came home, Noah napped, and then went to our church's Easter egg hunt.  I am not sure what I expected of Noah, but I figured maybe he would get at least a couple of eggs... Yeah right.  He started off well, walked a few feet, and then found a stick.  

There was no chance for egg hunting after the stick was found.  Notice the asphalt- that is where he started.  He made it FAR!

He finally ditched the stick and we felt sure he go for the brightly colored eggs full of candy on the ground.  He made it a few more steps and found a cup.  

By the time he finished playing with the cup, all the eggs were gone.  Oh well.  Brian took pity on him and gave him an egg, which he loved.  If only he had discovered how cool they were just a little bit earlier. 

Noah, still holding the egg, and his cousin Solomon.

Overall, the egg hunt was a huge success.  It was such a pretty day and all the kids had fun and got a lot of candy.

Sadly I didn't get very many pictures of Eater day.  I got a few of him looking at his Easter basket, but had a hard time getting him to stand still long enough to get a good picture of him in his clothes.  I think overall the basket was a hit.  

The only time I could get him still long enough to take a picture before church was when he was trying to play with Rudy.  The two of them are so funny together.  

I didn't even think to get a family picture on Sunday.  Maybe on his third Easter we will all be together and actually think to take a picture of it.

Busy, busy, busy

That's what Noah is these days.  He keeps me on my toes.  

Wrestling his Elmo chair.

This is the view of him that we see the most as he is slamming the door in our faces.  He LOVES to close doors.

Thankfully he doesn't know how to open them yet.  You probably can't see it in the picture, but he has a key in his hand.  He found the key to the front door and is trying to open it so that he can go outside.  His favorite thing in life right now is being outside.  Yeah for approaching Spring and Summer!

I took my eyes off him for literally 10-15 seconds while I got something out of the freezer (which is right next to the trash can).  I looked down and he had dug the coffee filter out of the trash can and was making works of art with the grounds.  That was fun to try and fight he and Rudy off in order to clean it up.  

This one was a few weeks ago.  We keep all the bathroom doors closed now.

Just when I thought our house was childproof, Noah proves me wrong yet again.

One Year Visit

I took Noah to the doctor today for his one year visit.  Here are the numbers:

Height: 2ft, 6.24in (50%)

Weight: 24lb 7.54oz (75%)

HC: 46.4cm (50%)

At the visit, his doctor asked me if he could walk.  I had to say, "No."   He has taken a few steps, but not really walking.  And then here he is tonight...

  

If only he had done it one night earlier, I could have said "Yes!"  Maybe next time.

Finally!

First, we finally had the birthday party.  Second, it is finally snowing in Little Rock and not just ice.  It is coming down pretty hard and it is beautiful.  Noah did great at the party.  He was a little tired and overwhelmed, but over all, he was quite the trooper.  He went crazy over the dots of icing on his cake, but wasn't too interested in the cake itself.  It was so much fun to share with friends and family and we are so thankful for all of you.  Here are some pictures...

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Noah is one year old.  I can't believe it.  Today came and went like any other day, but yet it was different... My baby is one.  No longer an infant.  He just seems so big now.  We were supposed to have his birthday party today, but because of all the ice, we had to postpone it until next weekend.  Brian's mom and brother were here and our friends Layne and Casey braved the elements to come over for some sledding and the warm-up party.  Brian made Noah a sled out of a cardboard box, a jumprope, and some duct tape and we pulled him up and down the street.  He loved it.  I was a little disappointed at the beginning of the day because of canceling the party and my family not being here because of the weather, but it ended up being a really fun day.  

Here's what Noah is up to these days:

- Walks everywhere with his little walker.  He can't quite do it on his own, or he is just scared to try, but he pushes that walker all over the house.  He LOVES it!  

-  He has incredible rhythm.  For Christmas we gave him one of those fridge farm things where you match up the animals.  He isn't really interested in that part, but he loves the music that it plays.  He will pull it off the fridge and sit down on the floor with it.  He will then push the button and tap his foot to the beat.  When the song is over, he does it again.  The other day, he sat for over five minutes (which is an incredible amount of time for a 12 month old to sit still, or at least mine) just playing music and tapping his foot.  

-  He loves to wave!  Parking lots are his favorite.  He waves at all the cars and always uses two hands turned sideways (like he is milking a cow).

-  He loves being outside.  If ever I open the door to our back yard just to let Rudy, our dog, out, he gets so upset because he wants to go out too.  He will cry also when people leave the house because he wants to go out with them.  

-  He sleeps on his stomach with his hands tucked under his stomach and his bottom in the air.

-  He sleeps about 12 hours at night and takes two naps during the day.  What a good little sleeper he has turned out to be.  Who would have thought after his rocky start.

-  He has two teeth on the bottom and two that are coming in on top.  He loves brushing them.  He shrugs his shoulders, leans in, and says 'Ah' while we brush them.

-  Eating can still be a little frustrating at times, but it is getting better.  He doesn't throw his food down to Rudy quite as much, but you have to watch him pretty closely.  He does, however, love to throw his cup down.  Rudy, who is normally under his chair waiting for crumbs, has learned to be on alert for the falling cup.  We are always on alert with our hands to the side of his face when he is drinking and even then he somehow gets it past us.

- I think he may have inherited a few obsessive compulsive traits from his mother (and father).  He does not like to have too many things on his tray.  If there is too much food/stuff on his tray he starts clearing it off, aka he wiping his hands back and forth like a windshield wiper pushing everything to the floor.  He does not usually like his cup on the tray, but it is okay to have it in the cupholder section of the tray.

- He takes a big drink of milk, swallows some and then lets the rest dribble out of his mouth.  This is why he ALWAYS wears a bib.  Otherwise he will be soaked by the end of the meal and smell very sour after a few hours.

-  I am pretty sure he can say dog, daddy, sort of mommy (more like mamamamama when he is upset), and banana (he says something like na-with a long a -nu)

-  He is very independent and does not seem to notice when we are not around.  He loves people!

-  Perhaps more than his love of people is his love of Rudy and dogs in general.  He loves to grab Rudy's toys from him and play tug-of-war.  Thankfully Rudy goes easy on him.

-  He loves Brian.  As soon as he hears the garage door opening, he says something that I think is "Daddy" and crawls as fast as he can for the door.  He usually prefers to be held by Brian if he is around.  Unless he is upset and then he definitely wants Mommy.

God has blessed us so much in the last year, but by far the greatest blessing has been giving us the opportunity to be parents to such a sweet baby boy.  Noah, thank you for making this year one of the most exhausting yet most fun years we have ever had.  I don't know what we ever did without you. We love you so much!!!

Glad We Did It

In my last post, I wrote about how we lowered his crib on Saturday.  We didn't have any reason for doing it  at the time- he had made no attempts to pull up.  We really just did it because we had time and didn't know if we would when he actually started pulling up.  It's a good thing we did because here he is yesterday.

He managed to pull up onto the ottoman as I turned away and pulled that green tray off which had a full glass of water on it.  I obviously didn't learn my lesson because the green tray is still there in the picture.  There is not, however, any water on it.  The tray has since been removed.  Being able to stand up adds a whole new meaning to child-proofing.  I can't wait until he starts walking!