Mr. Personality

Noah. Such a little man, such a big personality. He is definitely my most wild and crazy child, he is just so much fun! I'm absolutely loving this age right now.

Always full of smiles

He keeps me laughing all.day.long.

He's still a little stinker when it comes to car rides and trips to the grocery store. I generally do my shopping in the evenings so he can stay home with Jon, but it doesn't always work out that way and I occasionally have to take him with. I've gotten very good at getting in and out of the grocery store in 10-15 minutes, which is approximately the amount of time it takes him to finish a lollipop and a handful of goldfish crackers. And if he finishes all those snacks before I am able to check out, he yells "OUT" and "WALK" over and over again, which I would never let him do.

The boys came up with this game last week called the "good night game." It was my favorite game ever. Too bad they haven't played it again since.

Noah is very attached to 2 things, his blanket and this doll:

He's also quite well versed in the use of an ipad. He can find his way to youtube and start his favorite "wheels on the bus" video.

He is now able to open doors, which is just great. He loves to climb up on the counter over and over and over again, which is just great. He loves to jump off the couch, which is just great. And he refuses to sit in his highchair anymore, which is just great.

But he's simply irresistible and I must kiss these sweet, dimpled cheeks at least 100 times a day!

Sleep

We've had some sleeping issues with Noah lately. It all started a little bit before Christmas when he jumped out of his crib for the first time. I was so scared he would do it again and hurt himself so anytime he woke up in the middle of the night I would rush up to get him (actually, truth be told, I'd rush to nudge Jon up so he could go get him). Then he got a really bad cold and I would have felt like a neglectful mother if I just left him all sick and upset in his crib, so once again Jon would take care of him and get him back to sleep. BUT now he is nice and healthy again and has not attempted getting out of his crib since the first incident. So we decided that when he wakes up in the middle of the night that we will just leave him to fall back asleep on his own. Sounds easy enough, right? HA! If there is one thing that Noah is, it's that he is a fighter. And so last night when he woke up we left him and he wasn't too happy about that. But he finally did fall asleep. When I went to go check on him, this is what I found:


Yup, he had fallen asleep standing up!! It just looked so pitiful and sad so I attempted to lay him down, which in turn woke him up again. But this time he just cried for a couple of seconds and I figured he just remained where I put him....wrong!! My second time to check him, he was back to his former sleeping position:


At least he was smart enough to use his blanket as a pillow.

18 months

Today Noah is 18 months old.

He certainly keeps me busy, there is just no relaxing when Noah is awake because he seems to always be into something.

But he can also be oh-so-sweet and melt my heart. He's as tough as nails and rarely cries when he gets hurt.

His favorite "toys" are electrical cords (like recharger's from our cell phones, laptops, etc., my hair dryer, alarm clock, stereo...you get the point). He is always unplugging things and trying to plug them back in which obviously isn't a good or safe thing. Like I said, I can't keep my eyes off of this boy!

If I ever forget to close the pantry door all the way, he's in there right away. I found him in the living room a couple of days ago like this:

He loves bath time and throws the biggest fit every time we take him out. He loves to be outside.

He is such a cuddly little guy (when he wants to be). I love how when I pick him up he wraps his pudgy little arms around my neck and rests his head on my shoulders.

Some words he says frequently are: ball, shoe, hi, juice, all done, dirty, cheese, uh-oh, tractor, mom, dada, up and airplane. He's not a huge talker yet, but he communicates his needs quite well.

Noah dislikes any sort of confinement. Always has. He spends a good deal of his time in the car screaming, which makes for some really long trips. He never wants to be in a stroller or the shopping cart at the grocery store.

But he's a dream to take to the doctor's or dentist office. He never cries or screams there...just sits perfectly still while the dentist or doctor check him out (which is quite a change from my older 2!!)

It's been a fun 18 months with this little guy!!

My little helper

Noah's 1st Birthday!

We celebrated Noah's First Birthday this past Saturday by inviting our family over for a party!

The weather was absolutely perfect, I could not have asked for a better day.

His actual birthday is April 24th, which fell on Easter Sunday this year. I decided to have an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Caitlin and I decorated these pails for each of the kids that were there (Caitlin was in charge of putting them outside...and she decided to arrange them like this)

And they're off:

Caitlin and Cousin M:

My adorable nephew proudly showing off his loot:

My sweet niece happy with her bucket full of eggs:

Opening presents:

(Noah wearing the jersey Uncle Brent gave him)

Noah had lots of help to get his presents out of the gift bags

Noah received lots of fun toys and clothes, he's going to be one well dressed boy!

The birthday cake and Noah's smash cake:He was a little hesitant at first (what with all the people staring at him!)

But after one taste he forgot all about his audience and went to town eating his cake

Yup, he enjoyed his cake

All done!

Owen enjoyed the cake too

Here are just a few pictures from Noah's one year photo shoot

Noah in Numbers

9 months 6 Teeth

1 Belly button

18 lbs, 5 oz (20th %)

29 inches tall (75th %)

3 seconds: (how long he can stand up unassisted before falling down)

35 feet in 23 seconds (how long it takes him to crawl the length of our hallway)

2: naps/a day

0: times he's said "ma ma" (but countless times he's said "da da")

387 (approx.): times he smiles at me each day

100%: Pure Joy

(All photos courtesy of TC Photography!)