Christmas Eve

23m 3w
Noah had christmas last night with nana and bopba, em-mama and weeoo, unk and auteetee. That is how he says everyone's names. He had such a great time, singing christmas carols, playing with emma, and eating Nana's polish dinner.

Noah has had a great winter so far, playing outside in the snow for the first time, or "sNoow" as he calls it. He did not want to go in and cried! He is very patient when getting dressed to go out, too.

He has been doing daily crafts or activites such as coloring, painting, using markers, or placing stickers all over pieces of paper. He likes playdough and mr potato head, too.

We made christmas cookies a few weeks ago. He did such a great job rolling out the dough, cutting shapes, sprinkling with shots, colored sugar, candy pieces and then icing. and he loved eating them, too!

We made jello jigglers, too. He did a great job cutting out the shapes with the cookies cutters. It is so fun now with noah doing all of these activties.

We are getting ready to celebrate noah's 2nd birthday in one more week. I can honestly say that this year flew by so quickly, it is amazing. I feel like we JUST DID his one year old pictures but that was 12/31/06! The summer was so fun, playing outside each day and swimming.

Noah still goes to his playgroup once a week with the same kids from last year. and now he is back in gymboree. He is having a great time. He also goes to the nursery once a week for church and every other monday for mops. He used to cry, but now he walks in, throws me a quick hand and yells "bye" and shuts the door. I am so glad he adjusts so well!

Merry Christmas!

Today we celebrated noah's 2nd Christmas. He knows it is Jesus's birthday. We ask him who's birthday it is and he'll say "Je Je". and we'll ask him where Jesus is, and he'll say "heart" and point to his heart and then my heart and Joe's heart. Then run into the dining room and point to the Last Supper picture. I love that he knows Jesus!

He still does so well with praying and if I forget to pray at lunch time when it is just him and I, he'll remind me by clasping his hands and saying "amen".

We went to Scott and Lori's today. When we were leaving their house, noah turned to my brother and Lori and said "bye mr, bye miss" .. isn't that the cutest thing? I did not teach him that, I have no idea how he learned that. He does not see them often enough to call them aunt and uncle yet. He did turn to my mom and say "bye bye Nana".. I think she started to cry! It was the first time he said that to her. He also said bye bye ya ya to chris and cheyenne's grandmother, as that is the name she goes by for them.

He had a lot of fun opening gifts and eating brownies and fudge... oh boy! Can't wait for him to brush his teeth tonight. Forgot to mention how well he is doing now brushing his teeth. It got bad for a while, he'll do a great job sucking on the brush and making head bobbing motions like he is brushing, but get nothing accomplished. so when we go to do it for him, he gets very mad! So we started using stamps as an incentive. Each night he'll tell us which one he wants: a soccer ball, a star (his favorite), a mega phone or a #1. He is doing so well now!

North Carolina Vacation

22m 3w
We went on a real vacation with Noah Nov 8-11. We flew to Charolotte, North Carolina and went to a christian retreat in the blue ridge mountains in western North Carolina. We stayed with 4 other families who also brought their young children. It was cold, but all of our cabins had heat, hot water and beds! Kind of luxorious camping. We had a lot of fun hiking and playing outside. Mamma went horse back riding and daddy went on a really long hike. Noah did very well on the air plane, only having trouble with his ears on the way back.

Noah is starting to pray very well. He will fold his hands neatly and bow his head, occasionally looking up to smile and mimic whom ever is speaking--he'll shake his head or really close his eyes tightly. He'll add a few words and then end by saying "AMEN!!!" I am so proud of him, when ever I ask if he wants to pray -even if not before meals, but just random throughout the day, he'll respond by saying, "ALL RIGHT!"

Noah had a nice thanks giving over Nana's and grandpa's house-- or as Noah calls him, "bap ba". It is the cutest thing to hear him say that. He played with Emmma and just looked at cousin baby Leo a few times. He was very jealous if mommy held baby Leo.

Noah is starting to talk in sentences now and putting more words together. As I was leaving nana's after dropping him off, I said I was going home. Noah then said, "mamma has to go home." It was so cute!!

He has another cold, just recovering from the NC cold he got on the trip. But it is the season, and I know he'll just keep getting them.

Halloween time!

(22 months)
Noah had a great time on halloween night with Emma! or "Em-mama" as he calls her. so hard to believe on the same night, just last year, noah learned to crawl while chasing after a fire truck with Emma. so much has changed in only a year.

Noah was Thomas the train-- well really the conductor. He had so much fun playing with emma and running outside as it was in the 50's, and uncle dan lit a nice camp fire for them. They ended up swapping costumes, Emma had on Noah's train conductor hat and noah was sporting emma's pink cow girl hat! It was so cute!

Last month proved to be a huge transition for Noah in the language department. Mid October, Noah started with so many new words, and he has not stopped. It is so amazing, to listen to him every day saying and repeating new words.

He is also down to one nap a day, starting around 21 months. Occasionally he might take 2, if he is playing hard. The one nap is flexible, either in the morning or afternoon depending on what we have going on. That seems to work out well. Today he fell asleep on the way home from Nana's with a book across his face!!

He seems to be behaving much better, not as grumpy or fiesty. He is giving lots of hugs and kisses and is very sweet!

grocery store hugs

(21m 2 weeks)
Noah has been so sweet lately, I can hardly contain myself. we were in the grocery store last week and he kept reaching up to hug me and kept doing it over and over again! so in the middle of the aisle, I would stop and get this great big hug! I felt bad holding up traffic, but I was not about to pass on these hugs! and then recently at the library, when I was waiting for the lady to check out the books, I bent down to chat with noah in his stroller. he kept hugging me and was just being so cute! it totally makes up for the "bad" days.

He is starting to make connections between objects.. like for example, he will point to his shirt and say a word that sounds kind of like shirt and then point to my shirt and say the same thing. and today he did the same with teeth, he'll point to his teeth, say teeth, then point to mine. It's like he realizes now that he is not the center of the universe, and I don't mean that to sound mean, but it's reality, all babies think like that. he is discovering that other people and things exist outside of himself. He has been talking a lot more, too. Joe and I made up a list of words that noah knows, there are so many!

He is still fascinated by "choo choo" and we are taking him to see Thomas down in essex steam train next month. I can't wait! He is being Thomas for halloween, too.

Noah will meet his new baby cousin, Leo, this weekend. He keeps saying "baby!"

I brought noah in for a check up due to his lack of weight gain. In three months, he has only gained 10 oz. He grew about a 1/2 of an inch, so that might account for something. He certainly loves nana's cooking though, which makes me so happy to see him eating! nana made noah choc chip cookies yesterday, he was sooo excited boucing off the walls, litterly, from the sugar high. so I was in the kitchen talking to her and I see him go into the dining room and he was sneaking another cookie! I wish I had a camera, it was priceless!!! so I "caught" him and asked him if he asked nana if he could have it. he ran over to me, held it up to me with pleading eyes and did not eat it. then I said yes, and he proceeded to tease me with it, offering me a bite but pulling it away really quickly as I opened my mouth! he is too funny!

well, noah's latest thing is undressing himself. I got home from kick boxing just as joe put him to bed last night so I ran upstairs to kiss him good night. joe was out of noah's room for maybe 2 minutes. I walked in, noah goes, "oh noooo...." in that sing-song voice... he has already taken off his shirt! I bet he thinks I came in his room b/c of that, mommy is psychic!! lol... I got lots of hugs and snuggles and I rocked him for a while, loving these days!!

Fall time

21 months)
We have been having a fun fall so far.. going to the Big E, seeing all the animals and the parade and trying fair food, yummy! We went on a hay ride yesterday at the Picken Patch in Avon and Noah got to pick out his own pumpkins! He had so much fun! We went to a bbq at a coworkers of Joe's and Noah got to sit on a tractor (Bob-- all trucks are bobs, as in bob the builder, a show he has only seen twice). He also got to pet a kitten, a horse and a goat!

He loves pumpkins and when we go for our walks around the neighborhood, he likes to help count them.

He loves playing outside on his new "bike" that he received from Nana and Grandpa. It really is a tricycle that is still on a rocker until you take it off, then it has wheels. He plays with sidewalk chalk, balls and bubbles. He likes to help rake the leaves, too. He likes to help with tasks, it keeps him busy and helps him feel useful.

His biggest fascination now is trains. Choo choo.. from Thomas and Friends on tv. When Play with me sesame went off the air on Noggin, we had to find Noah a new show to watch in the morning, his designated tv time-- which we try to stick to, no other tv during the day if we can avoid it. so now he loves choo choos!! "choo choo, turn it on?" as he hands me the remote and points to the tv. He likes the tv a little too much...

terrible two's...

(20 months)
I have to say that noah has entered the terrible two's. he has been so difficult lately. hitting, kicking, spitting out his food and milk, soaking his shirt with the drinks by letting it run out of his mouth down his face. did I mention spitting? just letting the long spit hang out of his mouth til it hits something. if i pay attention to it, he'll get rewarded. if I don't stop it he'll think it is ok. he got his first time out the other day at play group for throwing sand. I know this is just the start of it. I also know I am blessed to have a healthy child, who acts like a normal toddler, so I thank God for that.

summer's winding down...

(19m 3w)
The fall has tried too arrive early and I had to put noah into some pants only to find out that 18 month pants are too big on him. He has slimmed down a lot, getting taller and his waist smaller. I dug his 12m pants out of the bin awaiting the transfer to the attic and found that they fit him just fine! even loose on his waist. His weight has gone up, he is 25 pounds now, but it all shifted. No more puddgy belly or rolly thighs. Not this boy, he is way too active!

He is onto 3 word sentences now... the first is "It's turned on?" referring to the light or the ceiling fan, which is his newest obsession. He does this thing now, imitating a ceiling fan. He makes big lips and tries to make the sound of the fan by doing "sh sh sh" and wirls his pointer finger around in a big circle in the air and then of course says, "see?! see?!"

We are sad to see the summer winding down, but looking forward to bringing him to all the fairs to see the animals!

(19m 5d)
When did it start that Noah could totally understand us? He no longer looks at us with a blank stare when speaking to him. He understands when we ask him to do something, like put his toys away or bring us his shoes to put on for bye-bye. He is a fun toddler full of interactions and understanding. He is saying a lot more words now and tries to repeat us. Today was "library and cereal". He knows that airplanes are up in the sky. He knows where the birds are outside when we go for our walks. It is so amazing watching the world through a toddler's eyes. He has a great time with the dogs. He was cracking himself up chasing them around the other day trying to put a bowl on their heads. poor dogs...

Noah likes to pretend to feed his stuffed animals. He has a bowl and one of his spoons from the kitchen and he'll go around making sure everyone is fed. He loves his stuffed animals, or babies or lovies as I call them. He has three that he snuggles with at nap and bed time.. the bear from Chrissy that was given to him when he was born, the lovey which is a bear/blanket that used to play "Jesus loves me" and the recent addition to his collection, a dog that sings when you pull the cord by it's tail. That was supposed to be a gift for Erin's newest baby, but Noah was very intent on having it, so we had to buy another gift for the baby. He has an assortment of stuffed dogs or bears downstairs and he will always hug them, the biggest saved for grover, which he has to hold while watching Sesame Street.

He has all 8 teeth in front and all 4 molars are in some degree of growing in. He is about 32 inches tall and weighs about 24-25 pounds. His appetite varies day to day. He loves to drink his milk at meals and snacks and sip on his cup and straw of water with a little bit of juice through out the day.

He had his first big fall last week, which resulted in a big goose-egg on the right side of his forehead. He fell from the top step at Nana's and hit his head on the concrete walk way at the bottom. Poor little guy, but I think Nana had a harder time getting over it.

He is having fun playing outside this summer, with sidewalk chalk, bubbles, balls and the push and ride along toys. Winter should be interesting with snowsuits and boots... I will miss the summer and how easy it is to just throw on a pair of sandles and run outside!

1-2-3..

(18m 5d)
Today is auntie Becky's birthday! 7-7-7...

Noah is such a happy kid... when he gets his way I should say. He is behaving as a typical 18 month old should... with obstanance and pseudo independance.. with a zest for life and the love for his dogs. Last night Joe overheard noah giggling... he found him sitting on the couch with paris, just beeping the poor dog's nose. over and over again.

Noah had coxsackie virus last week, otherwise known as hand, foot and mouth disease. It is a common summer time, very contagious virus kids get. He was lucky enough to get it from the park and another playmate of his got it the same day. Noah faired well, complete with a rash and fever and sore throat. He is fine now and I know he could have had it worse.

Noah had his 18 month appt a few days ago. The dr is so impressed with how far he has advanced since his 15 month appt. When asked if noah knows any of his body parts, I gladly smiled. "Noah..where is your hiney?" and noah quietly turns, plasters a huge grin on his face and pats his back-end. Got to love my kid.

noah is such a smarty-pants. today I just showed him one time where his chin is and his knees are. and he remembered hrs later in the day! he loves that game now, identifing body parts. he knows all the others, so now we have to start doing the smaller parts. And he can count to 3! he shows me his fingers, 1, he points his pointer finger really straight and high, 2, he crosses his pointer and middle together and 3, he shows me his whole hand! and he mimicks me... he is not saying one two three, but he makes the same sound I do. "onnne, twooooo, THREE!" "unnnn, ooooo (low pitch) EEEEE (high pitch) ... can you hear it?

Mr. Independent

(17m,3w)
When did Noah become such an independent little boy that prefers to play than cuddle with his mom?

This past week.

He is so active and indepenedent, or tries to be, and is so over the cuddling and babying. I know I am raising a self-sufficient, secure-with-his-emotions little boy.. but it is making mommy sad! No more cuddling with his sippy cup of milk at night, no more holding him and singing to him in the rocking chair in his room before bed... it's g'night mom as he grabs his blanket, pulls it over his head and gets onto his tummy and goes to sleep.

He loves to play outside and run around the yard. He has a lot of outdoor toys including cars, swings and slides. He can kick and throw a ball. He has scraped knees and bruised shins. He definitely is a little boy.

Oh wow!!

(17m 4d)
Noah's latest thing, not so new, but just so funny, is he makes this noise, I can't even spell how it sounds but it is when he is excited about something-- he goes, "huhh, oh wow!" but a long drawn in breath and getting high pitched towards the end. It is so funny!! and he does itsy bitsy spider when we sing it to him or his laugh and learn puppy sings it. He knows to tweek the puppy's nose three times and it will sing itsy bitsy and then he does the spider and the rain with his hands! I know all kids do this at this age, but when it is your kid, there is nothing funnier or better to watch in the world!

He is doing really well walking and climbing. He is independent with picking things up in the middle of the room, but he still cannot get up from a sitting position unless holding on to something. He is getting close though. He likes to walk down the stairs now and holds onto the railing.

We found the strawberries have really increased his eczema so he is not eating them now. But he loves raspberries, black berries and blue berries.

He is back to taking two naps a day. We tried one a day, after lunch, but he was miserable and could not stay awake through lunch, no matter how early we made it. He is still young yet, and two a day is fine.

Noah is walking!!!

(16m 2w)
Noah has been taking more steps lately on his own. On Mother's day he took a few at Nana's and then today in our living room, he walked from the couch to the rocking chair, a few steps. And then he was holding onto my legs and I let go and backed up and he walked to me, about 5 steps. We practiced this all evening and after his bath, he finally did it! He walked across his room, naked! So after he was all dressed, we took more videos of him and brought him downstairs and he was walking every where and into every thing! I think that is what provoked him, to be more independant and be able to see more things around the house that interest him. and guess who is coming out for the first PT tomorrow... B-3, go figure, right? I knew those steps to me today were going to lead to something good. The day before he was climbing all over everything! From the couch to the chair, up into the rocking chair and down and across to the other couch and down. Up to the coffee table and across to the couch... I think all the climbing helped kick something into high gear! I am so happy for him!

bye-bye bottles...

(16m, 9d)
good news, Noah is done with his bottles! last night was his first night with no bottle before bed. He had 8 oz of milk in his sippy cup with the straw, leaned back into me and ate his cookie. he did really well! I am glad I got him off them now before it was too late. as I was putting them away in his closet, he saw them and freaked out and whined and wanted them! I had to distract him. so I know any longer and he would have given me a hard time about not having them anymore. I am happy with 16 months, the pedi suggested 15 and I was down to one bottle at 15 months. I have to give noah credit, he did really well weaning off the bottle, and formual and going to milk. and same with his paci, at 12 months, I just took them away (he was only using it for sleep time at night) and one day I just took it away and he was totally fine! same with bf, at 9 months, we stopped and it was harder on me! I miss it, but know if I was still nursing him now, he would be clawing at me all the time. I have to remember these time lines for #2 baby, although it probably won't be as easy or the same.

noah's new word....Milk. very cute! and he took a few more steps yesterday. and today, he climbed into his little rocking chair, I never showed him how. he was playing in his room while I was getting ready this morning and I went in to check on him and he pulled all his stuffed animals off the little boy rocker (joe's when he was little) and noah was sitting there, all proud of himself! and he also climbed up onto our apholstered rocker over his little chair and onto the couch! Low tone... I shake my head at that... and oh, he is walking... on his knees. hey, it's locomotion, right?

not so philly....

noah was 16 months yesterday! He now has 7 teeth and plus a new big molar popped through on his upper left.
I need to start challenging Noah more. I gave him the opportunity to get off the couch on his own without my help, and he totally did perfectly well. which also meant he tried that with the stairs and can totally get down by himself, all the way down. I went to visit my friend Laura in Baltimore this week. Her nephew is a month older than noah and can answer you when you ask him what a cow says. so I told joe we need to start doing that. so tonight after dinner we started that. and before bed, he was already answering us! I'd ask, "Noah, what does a cow say?" and he answered, "moo moo" !! so cute! I was like, no way!!! so, we really need to start seeing what he can do!

We had a very bad trip to philadelphia this week. Noah did not travel well. He totally freaked out at the hotel room, crying and was soo wound up like on speed, so we packed up and left for home at 12am. yes, it was extreme for us to leave, but he was that upset. I could not see spending another 5 nights like that plus naps. he would not stay in the pack n play they provided and the first one was broken and collapsed on him so that freaked him out. the only thing that worked was sitting in his stroller watching baby faith. and after 3 hours of that he got bored. I wish he were still nursing or even slept with us at home, so he could do that at the hotel. when we tried to put him to bed with us, he would bite or pull my hair (not maliciously but out of "what the heck is going on"????) and he would sit on joe's head or step on mine and jump up and down and bite the head board, climb all over the bed, trying to fall off. we never would have gotten any sleep. as it was he did not nap on the way down and I did not sleep after working the night before. it was just so awful. thankfully the hotel took pitty on us and did not charge us for the time we were there. as soon as he saw his car seat he fell asleep, I barely had him buckled in yet! snored the whole 5 hrs on the way home. and to make matters worse we almost ran out of gas... bad trip. So we will try it again in a few months, hoping he does better!

birth to three

(15m 25d)
Birth to three came out today and noah does qualify for services according to the evaluation. They were super nice, the speech/language pathologist and PT. The good news is that they said he scored above average for cognitive, social and language abilities!!! I was so happy for him! But he scored below for gross motor. they said his fine motor is perfect, but b/c they some what group it with gross, he also scored low on fine. but let me repeat, I am glad they said he was totally fine with his fine motor skills, which I agree with. As far as the gross motor, they said he has low muscle tone, which is called hypotonia. it is not severe, but the W sitting gave it away ( I have to correct his sitting position). they said using a walker (which we bought him for xmas but does not use much) encourages the toe walking, so they discouraged use of that. the johnny jumper increased tight heel cords (achiles tendon) b/c they jump on their toes, not allowing their foot to go flat and stretching the cords. but since he was late to sit up on his own, late to crawl and now not walking unassited yet, they said it is low tone. he is not and never was floppy and the pedi did not ever notice it, so it is by no means severe. he does not drool and always sucked well (besides at birth when he was premature and jandiced and sleepy). so I did some research on line, and most of what they talk about is more than what noah has. Joe was the same way, so I am thinking he was an undiagnosed low tone baby. I am happy they found something (not that I ever want anything wrong with him) and now we can move forward with PT. She will call me on vacation so we can plan for a time when we get back. they said they are happy that we are doing this early, but I wish I pushed more when he was late to sit up and late to crawl. first time mommy, now I know better!!

first steps

15m 3w)
Noah has taken a few steps! He took a few for us the night before and yesterday afternoon and then a few for nana! Birth to three is scheduled to come out on Friday, so we will see if he will be walking on his own soon, like dr Lamoureux predicted. He said at his 15 month appt that in 3 weeks he would be walking on his own.

Noah had a major melt down yesterday. He, after have 3 prior hair cuts, has now decided he HATES getting his hair cut. he screamed, SCREAMED, and cried during it! huge tears and all. It is so funny from him to go from such a laid back, happy-go-lucky kid, to everything bothering him! and yesterday he got so mad at the dr for touching me at my drs appt. and when the tech did my bp and pulse, he all out lost it! clenched fists, kicking and screaming, face all crunched up! don't touch my mommy!!!!! I thought we were past that stage and I was lucky he did not get like that. he even cried when joe dropped him off at nana's this morning and was hanging on to him for dear life! and at the nursery, forget it! I wonder why now, he is getting like this. all kids are different I guess. He never had seperation anxiety before.

He is doing really well with only one bottle at night and to be honest, I am sure if I stopped giving it to him, he would be fine. I just love that time with him. He cuddles with me and I cherish it!

He loves his meals and has a great time eating. And he does very well drinking his water with a splash of added apple juice out of a big boy cup with a straw.

noah gave me the best hug yesterday morning! Usually he will wrap both arms around my shoulders and pat my arms but today he wrapped both arms around my neck and pulled me into him and hugged me! and stayed too! He is so sweet, I just love him so much!

15 months

Noah is going for his check up this week. Two new words he said today are "All Done" and "bye bye". He waves bye bye with his hand, by opening and closing it and says bye in the sweetest, softest voice. And with "all done" he has been saying that for a while, but we just figured out what he was saying. "AAA DAA". He repeats me all the time when I ask him if he is all done, (with snack, meals, playing with a toy and he hands it to me). Joe mentioned that I say that a lot to him, so it makes sense he is repeating me. He says it all day long, repeating me, AAA DAA, it sounds like all done, and it is very cute!
He is walking with his push toys, and with our assistance, and cruising furniture, but not walking on his own yet. He got a new pair of stride rite's yesterday, so hopefully that will help him along.

He is down to only one bottle a day now, at night before bed. Today we changed the morning bottle of milk to a cup of cold milk with breakfast. He seemed to be fine with it. He is eating all table foods now with an occasional jar of veggies, if he is not getting enough vegetables in. He loves to eat and enjoys meal time. I turn the radio on and he nods his head along and moves back and forth to the music! He also does this in the car, it cracks us up!

He loves playing with Jack (jacks) and paris (sis). He also loves going for walks with them. I attach the dogs leashes to the stroller and they walk along with us.

Noah goes to a play group once a week, and has fun with the other kids, and the moms enjoy visiting, too.

Noah loves "talking" on the play phone. He will pretend anything is a phone now, and hold it up to his ear and then to ours.

He has 4 teeth still, but finally #5 and 6 are coming in, and having broken skin! The other 2 looked like they were coming down, but have stopped.

We are looking forward to Easter dinner with the family and play time with Emma.

a love of music

(14m 13d)
Noah cracks me up! He loves to dance to music! any kind of music, we will be driving in the car and I will have the radio on and look in the mirror and see noah head-bobbing! He has such good rythym, too! and some songs he will put his arms up in the air and head bob!

He still in not walking and showing no interest. He walks well with his push toys and cruises very readily along the furniture but when we attempt to take his hand and encourage him to walk, he resists.

He loves to talk on the phone, or pretend anyway. He will use his toy phones and hold them on his shoulder and talk to dada! then give us the phone so we can talk, too. He will use anything to pretend, a stuffed toy, his cup, a tooth brush. He also loves to brush his hair. He will take his brush (and tooth brush) and brush his hair! He can point to his belly, eyes, nose, and head when asked and beep your nose, if you ask, too. He loves the dogs, especially Jack. He comes down in the morning asking for "Jacks and Sis". It is so cute! He hugs Jack as paris will not tolerate it. He also puts toys in his mouth and "shakes it up" as Svet does. He eats cheerios off of his tray like the dogs eat food out of their bowl. He is doing well with the sippy cup, and only drinks from the bottle for his milk. That is the next step, to elimiate those 3 bottles of warm milk. I love the cuddle time, so I am partly to blame. I am working on making the milk cold, we have to by our trip in May.

He is going to nana's house twice a week from 7am-130pm and doing very well. He loves his nana and grandpa!

Jacks and Sis

(14m 5d)
Noah healed pretty well from surgery, he is such a trooper!

He is walking with his push toys very well, and stands on his own momentarily, but is not taking steps yet. He is drinking out of his sippy cup well but still loves his 3 bottles of warm milk each day, which I don't think I am ready to give up yet either. He loves that cuddle time, and so do I!

when noah gets up in the morning and comes downstairs, he askes for "Jacks and Sis".... He loves Jack and Paris! He plays on the floor with them and tries to kiss them! (Noah kisses by opening his mouth and sticking out his tongue).

He is eating well with the table foods now, and helping to feed himself with the spoon. He is growing up so fast!

I can't wait for spring to take him outside and go for walks. We have been going to MOPS and a play group once a week when I am not working, but we need to get out of the house more.

He loves playing with emma, and she loves to hug and kiss him! He is such a boy and totally blocks her. They do get along quite well.

He has 4 teeth now, two on top and two on the bottom. He currently has 4 more coming in,... one on either side of the present teeth. That explains his crankiness two weeks ago and inability to sleep. I wish I realized that earlier and gave him some tylenol, poor kid!

He is climbing on everything! He uses his home depot tractor to climb on the coffee table and couch! He uses his dora couch to climb onto the toy box and reach for pictures on the wall, and uses the music activity table to climb onto the rocking chair. He is so active! But I am glad he is healthy and normal, that is all I ask.

Surgery Day

(13m 4d)
Noah had his urology surgery today. They originally thought at birth that he had a hypospadius and a chordee so they did not circumsize him. They wanted to wait until he was over a year old to correct it. The surgery went very smoothly. He did not have a hypospadius but a torsion of the penis and chordee, which they repaired and did his circumcision as well. He had a cold the two weeks prior, so we were worried that they would not take him, but praise the Lord, his symptoms disappeard the morning of surgery! exaclty what I was praying for! (they did, however, return after surgery!) He did very well with not eating or drinking the morning of surgery. I felt so bad, we fed him so much the night before that ended up throwing up after having a coughing jag. He did very well in the morning, sleeping late as planned and leaving on time. Noah played and was in a pretty good mood in the preop area. They did not take him in until 11am, so that was a long morning with no breakfast or anything to drink. He did very well in surgery and it was quick and smooth. We got to see him at noon in pacu and he drank 14 oz over the next hour. The dr discharged him and we went home. He is in pretty good spirits! The night after surgery was a little tough to get him to go to sleep, but once he was sleeping, he was fine. I was very happy with how CCMC handled everything!

and elmo came, too!

Noah had his first birthday party today at Spartans II restaurant in Southington. He had so much fun with all of his friends and family there! Elmo came and sang songs and played games and a rag doll lady came (same lady, changed costumes) and did face painting and animal balloons! Everyone had so much fun, it was a great day!

one year physical

(12m 5d)
Noah had his 12m appt today, 21.8 pounds, 29.5 inches. all is well! and 4 teeth! the top two came in these past few days! When he chews on my finger it feels like little kitten teeth! Sharp and Pointy!!!

He is so active, crawls right up the stairs with ease. He has been working on this for a while, taking his time and playing... but on his bday he crawled right up there like it was nothing! Now we have to work on coming down...

He loves to play peek a boo and clap. He loves making us laugh and loves being the center of attention.

The other day he climbed up on the big blue love seat and got back down with such ease, he is amazing! He is changing so much these past few weeks!

He gave up his pacifier without any issues, I am so proud of him. I am trying to get him to take the sippy cup more often, but he just plays with it and only takes a few sips. He loves his bottle!

His big 1st birthday party is this saturday, it should be lots of fun!

Happy 1st Birthday!

Noah is 1 today!!! Such an exciting day!!!
Tonight the grandparents are coming over for dinner, cake and presents and then his big party is on 1/13. We rented out the back room of a restaurant and going to have lots of friends, family and lots of kids... (all our friend's kids). so I was scratching my head trying to figure out how to keep them entertained... I hired "elmo" and then after she does her elmo bit, she changes into a rag doll (I hate clowns) and she'll do animal balloons and face painting while we do cake and presents. I know, kind of extravagent for the 1st bday... but I really want to! certainly won't be like this every year!