Florida Trip

Here are some pictures from our trip to Florida weekend before last. He had such a good time, and it was go great to see everyone! Thank you so much, Gram, for opening your home to all of us. We hope to see you again soon.

Noah is showing off his RedSox cap.
It was so warm in Florida that day that we all were wearing shorts and T-Shirts.

I'm not quite sure what was going on, but here is Noah sitting in a tiny rocking chair hugging the bear that originally occupied the chair.
We thought it was so sweet.


Here is Noah splashing in the puddles with Chris.
It rained really hard on Saturday morning, but never fear, Chris and Noah both knew exactly what to do after a big rain storm. They both had a great time! Who needs the ocean?!


Noah and his Great Gram.
I think they are having a good discussion...probably about either the Patriots or the RedSox...just a hunch...


Noah with his Uncle Jim and Aunt Julie


Noah and his Grammie watching Cars together.


4 generations together!

18 months old

After enjoying Shea's reports on what her little man is doing, I thought that it would be good for me to journal what was going on in Noah's life yesterday, more so that I can look back and see that we have made progress.

***Warning!!! Get ready for a painfully detailed story of Noah's day.***

Written Feb. 26th...A day in the life of Noah:
Well, today Noah turned 18 months old. He had a big day today! It all started with a bang, literally. Noah woke up to a huge thunderstorm. Then he ate his usual oatmeal with fruit and 1/2 of a waffle and gulped down about 3/4 a glass of milk. We then watched Sesame Street off and on and went down for a little nap to get rested up for the big day. When Noah woke up (a little cranky) we got ready and went to his Gymboree class. Since we were a little early, we decided to get a haircut before class. He was beginning to look a little shaggy. He had a great time at the haircut place because they have a train track (see list of Noah's favorite things). He didn't want to leave until he realized that we were headed next door to Gymboree. He did really well in class and has decided that he LOVES the slides (both climbing up and sliding down), the bubbles, the balls, and the parachute time. When we got home I gave him his lunch which would have been a big hit last week, but today he refused almost everything on his plate. Yesterday he loved rice, today he loves to throw rice. Last week he loved green beans, today he loves to feed the dog his green beans. Last week he loved chicken sticks, today he loves to use chicken sticks as hair gel. Etc. ...and this is the life of my toddler. By the time I figure out what food he likes he will change his mind again. Due to the "hair gel" that he discovered at lunch, Noah got an afternoon bath followed by a good nap. Upon waking from his nap, he played trains for about 30 minutes. He loves to build train tracks and see how long he can make his train. When he was finished playing trains we headed downstairs for a snack. Of course he had to navigate the stairs by himself. Following a yummy snack of yogurt and animal crackers, we played race cars until I got tired of playing. You see, although he loves the race track, he will not shake the cars by himself, so I get to play race cars with Noah. :-) Noah is very good at cheering the cars on though. It's actually really fun for the 1st 20 minutes. While I worked on dinner and straightened up a bit, Noah worked some puzzles and watched Cars (the movie). He kept running into the kitchen yelling, "Hi." I guess he wanted to make sure that I remembered he was there...pretty cute stuff. When Chris got home, Noah yelled "Hi" with a big grin on his face. I know it made Chris' day; they are best buds. We all ate dinner together and Noah ate pretty much the same things that we did. He is feeding himself with a fork now. He really seems to enjoy that. He still has some trouble with the spoon. It always seems to be upside down. We're working on that! I think that Abby wishes Noah would try the spoon more often because that means more food for her. After dinner, Chris and Noah had some father/son bonding time playing trains, and then it was time for bed. What a long fun day Noah had.

Noah's favorite things: Cars, trains, balls, bubbles, puzzles, Abby, any book or stackable thing. Did I mention cars, trains and balls? He has a slight obsession:-) He also likes to put objects inside of things. (i.e. crayons in the box, band aids in the box, etc.)

Noah's favorite Shows: Cars, Finding Nemo, Veggie Tales, Curious George, and Sesame Street

Noah's Expanding Vocabulary (these are the ones that anyone could understand. There are lots that only I and maybe the trained ear of another toddler mom can understand): car, ball, bubble, pop, Abby, Momma, Daddy, Bye, Go, Hey there, Hi, All Done, Uh Oh, any animal sound. I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones that came to mind.

A few funny things Noah does:

1. When asked what Old MacDonald says...Noah responds "EIEIO" with this funny hand motion that looks very similar to the sign language for "all done" or he says "Baaaa" and starts laughing. He is starting to understand that it is sometimes funny if you say something unexpected. :-)
   
2. He chases Abby around the house wagging his finger in her face and saying, "peak, peak, peak." The reason for this is that "speak" is one of Abby's tricks, and Noah thinks it is hilarious. :-)
3. Anytime he likes the food he is eating, Noah says with great emotion and shaking his head..."Mmm, mmm, Mmm, mmm, mmm." (emphasis on the 1st and 3rd Mmm)
4. Jumping. Enough said...if you haven't seen a toddler try to jump, I highly recommend it. It is really funny. Especially if they are doing it to the beat of a song. :-)

Noah stomping in the puddles at his

Great Gram's house this past weekend.

The helping hand strikes again...

Well, Noah has really started to have a slight obsession with trains and cars. At Christmas, Noah got part of his Uncle Stephen's BRIO train set. (on loan of course) We (meaning Chris or I) usually put together a simple track so that he can push the train cars around the track and up and down the hill. He has been getting very frustrated when he tries to put the track together by himself, so of course, being the sucker that I am, I have been coming to the rescue. Well, today I was busy folding clothes while Noah was playing in his room. I heard him get a little frustrated, but instead of coming to the rescue, I told him to keep working on it and be patient. (like a 1.5 year old understands what it means to be patient...) Well, the fussing stopped, and I went into his bedroom about 10 minutes later. This is what I found. Let me just tell you...my tracks don't come even close to being as good as this one! I was so impressed. Let me just say, I will not be suckered into building a track because it is "too hard" again.

Such a funny little guy

So the past couple of weeks Noah has been pretty funny. He has developed some new skills, some good some not so good. I thought that everyone might appreciate a good laugh. Normally, I would spread these out over multiple posts, but all of this has been happening in the last 2 weeks.

I'm sure there are child labor laws, but I promise he likes cleaning...really...
This is my favorite new skill of Noah's.

So, we try so hard to toddler-proof our house with gates,
but somehow he always finds a way around our best efforts.

Noah likes to spend time in his toy cabinet.
Sometimes he even closes the doors so that I can't see him.
I think he is going to be fantastic at hide-and-seek!


Noah is "marching" around the house with his new tupperware hat.
He kept it on for quite a while.
I think he was showing off for Emma. She was over to play that day.


Yes, that is my child dancing on top of the coffee table.
That's about all I can say about that...

Noah's future room

Yep, Noah is changing rooms. It's pretty sad that I haven't decorated his room since we moved. We decided it is time. So...mom and I have been painting. Here are a few pictures to show what it looks like so far; I think it's turning out pretty good.

Noah's play time with Emma

Noah's week just kept getting more and more fun. We got back from South Carolina on Sunday late afternoon. On Tuesday, Emma came over to play. They had a great time as usual.

Emma liked Noah's new tunnel.


Noah is cheering Emma on.
What an encouraging friend!

Noah's busy week Part 1

Noah's busy week started last Friday when my mom (Nana) came to visit. Then Nana, Noah and I got in the car and headed to South Carolina to surprise my grandmother on her birthday. I think we really surprised her. We met her at the door with party hats, balloons, and a cake. It was so much fun!

Here is Ninen blowing out her candles.
(with Noah's and my help of course)


We went to the Old Oyster Factory for Ninen's Birthday dinner.
(4 generations at 1 table...wow!)


Noah developed some new eating skills. I think he has been watching Abby a little too much. Boy did he love that rice! I guess it was just a little to frustrating to only get 1 grain at a time with his fingers.

Snuggle Time with Great Grandmother...

After spending Christmas Eve and Christmas morning in Greeneville, we went to Cookeville, TN to visit with my father's (Grandpa's) side of the family. It is alway so good to see everyone. I always leave saying, "we should come more often."

Noah was such a sweetheart with his "Great Grandmother". She loves children, and Noah was no exception. Grandmother seemed so happy to have him around.

Noah having some quality snuggle time
with his Great Grandmother.

Christmas Morning Pictures...

Christmas 1 month late...

So, I know I've been the worst blogger ever. I'm going to try to get all the pictures from Christmas posted by the end of the day.

This year for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning we headed up to Greeneville, TN to spend some time with my mom's (Nana's) side of the family. Last year they began a new tradition of going to the General Morgan Inn, which is a beautiful historic hotel on Main Street. It was really nice. We all had rooms in the hotel, and my Grandparents got a suite, which was the main gathering place. Noah had a great time. As you can see in the pictures he was definitely not neglected.

...more pictures to come...

Snuggle Time

Noah really loves his Abby. Even though she acts a little aloof, I think deep down Abby loves him too. The other day Chris heard the dog cage door banging (usually not a strange thing to hear in our house because Noah is fascinated with all doors), so he went to see what Noah was up to. This is what he found...

Visiting Santa

Noah loved Santa when we went to the mall last week. Everyone kept telling me that he would probably cry, but it would make for a funny picture and a good story later...not Noah... We had to wait in line for quite a while, but once we got close enough for Noah to realize what was going on, he kept making a beeline for Santa. I had to make him wait his turn. It was very similar to his reaction to the ocean for the first time. What a funny kid?!

"Now I'm Big,"

at least that's what Noah has been acting like for the past 2 days. Last night Noah decided that he is officially a walker. Chris and I were so proud!

Then today Noah had his 1st haircut. We went to "Pigtails and Crewcuts." It's a very cute place. They have a train set for Noah to play with, and Noah got to sit in a yellow taxi with a steering wheel while getting his haircut. He was such a good boy.

To finish up his "big boy" day, Noah, Grammie and I went to O'Charlie's for lunch. Noah was such a good boy. He actually colored the kid's menu. I'm still not sure how he knew what to do with the crayons, but I think it is because of the overnight change from baby to big boy. He also ate half a roll and enjoyed some of my chicken tenders. He even was dancing to the music at the bar. :-) (to clarify, they sat us in the bar area) It was pretty funny.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

As the family "coordinator of fun," I decided that we should go to the Marietta Square tree lighting. I also talked some friends of ours to join us.
Santa made a grand entrance as we were walking up to the square. That was probably the most impressive part. He and his Mrs. were on an old fire truck. Sorry that there are no pictures of Santa. The line to see him was crazy! I'm not sure if this outing will become a holiday tradition or not. hmmmm....

Noah and Emma were completely in the Christmas Spirit. So cute!!!


Here are the 3 of us in front of the lit tree.
(Sorry the lighting is a little off.)

Caution...Noah's behind the wheel

The previous owners of our house left us this cute car. Their 2 girls have outgrown it, and they thought that Noah would enjoy it. They were definitely right! I thought it would take him a few minutes to warm up to the new wheels, but no, he knew exactly what to do. He was using the steering wheel and the horn. By the way he used the horn, you would think I'm a very aggressive driver...I don't think I've ever used my horn. Where does he learn this stuff? He does have a little trouble going forward, but he solved that problem. Noah would push the car backwards up the driveway, and then he would just lift up his feet and ride down the hill. I panicked the first few times he did it, but he seemed to have it under control.

Dedication Sunday

Noah got dedicated on November 11th, 2007 at North Metro Church. It was a really nice service. They showed each child's picture and a Bible verse on the big screen. Chris and I were joking around when we first came up with Noah's verse, but the more we thought about it we really couldn't ask for more from our child. His verse was Genesis 6:22, "Noah did everything just as God commanded him." I don't think that everyone appreciated our humor. Noah's Nana and Grandpa were able to be here for the dedication.

Noah doesn't look very happy because
he wasn't feeling too good that day.

On the open road...

or sidewalk I guess. We finally graduated from pushing the wagon around the house to the great outdoors. Noah loved it! He would just chuckle every time we hit a bump. Also, he figured out the drink holder very quickly and continuously would take a sip then put the cup back in the holder. If you notice in the pictures, the monkey had to go on the trip with us. (seatbelt and all - safety first)

Sport Utility Wagon...getting ready for the 1st ride

I know it has been a while since my last posting...sorry

Noah received a wagon from his Nana and Grandpa last Christmas, but with all the moving it never made it out of the box. Well, we finally put it together when they were here 2 weeks ago. If I had known how happy it would make Noah, we would have been pulling (and pushing in Noah's case) that wagon around everywhere. (maybe not in the old neighborhood because I think those hill would have killed me)

Noah and Nana demonstrating that the wagon has plenty of foot room.
Noah also loves the drink holder feature. :-)

He was so proud to push the wagon (with Grandpa's help)
around the house with his monkey in it!
I don't know how many laps they did.

Warning to our backyard chipmunks and squirrels from Abby...

"Beware of the large predatory bird hanging out around the house." Yep that's right, we have a hawk who lives very near by. It perches on the deck all the time. I tried to tell it to get out of my way because I have to go do my business, and it actually had the nerve to stare me down. I was so scared that I ran back inside and yelled at it from the safety of my house. I've never seen what those birds can do, but I can imagine...I'm more of a lover (actually a yeller) not a fighter.

Sincerely,
Abby

Just monkeyin' around

Okay, I know I'm a bit partial, but... I think Noah was the cutest monkey I've ever seen. Emma came over so that we could take pictures and see the costumes. She was Scooby Doo.

Emma was very good about sharing leaves with Noah.


"Ta-da"