Noah's First Christmas

Noah's First Christmas turned out a little differently than expected.  We planned to travel to Arkansas and have Christmas with lots of family, but Noah started getting sick the Sunday before Christmas.  By Monday, he developed a nasty cough, so we made a doctor's appointment for him on Tuesday (the day we were supposed to leave), just to have piece of mind before traveling.  Noah tested positive for RSV, and our pediatrician recommended we stick around for an extra day or two to get him well.

Unfortunately, Noah ran a fever for 6 days in a row and was pitiful...so pitiful that he happily snuggled with each of us in the chair and sat still!  (The only positive about him being sick).  We were still going to travel Christmas Day, but Noah wasn't better, so we sadly decided to stay at home. We had a sweet, quiet Christmas for three.  We got up Christmas morning and opened a few gifts then bundled ourselves up and went to the Boulder Fields to hike and to let Noah inhale fresh, cold air.  Because of all the rain lately, the hike was beautiful.  Not a soul was in sight, and the waterfalls were gorgeous.  What a gem to have such a beautiful place just 15 minutes away in the middle of Birmingham!

Christmas night, we ordered Chinese from our favorite restaurant and watched Christmas Vacation.  We went to bed pretty early, and Noah slept well for the first time in days.  His fever finally broke the day after Christmas, and he has been better ever since.  Unfortunately, he still has a yucky cough.  We were really sad that so many people who wanted to see Noah at Christmas didn't get the opportunity, but we made the right decision by having him stay at home.

Yesterday, we met my dad half way in Memphis to exchange gifts.  We ate lunch then went to a park and let Noah try out his new Radio Flyer tricycle.  It was freezing outside, but he had fun for the few minutes he rode.  His Gimmie is coming for his birthday, and he will have an extra special time opening all of his Christmas and birthday gifts.  I pray that he is well for his birthday!

I hope you and your families had a Merry Christmas!

Snuggling with Daddy

Ready to open presents!

Christmas Morning...I will treasure this precious picture always.

His favorite present?  A box of boxes of course!

Christmas morning hike with the kiddos

Opening presents

Merry Christmas from the McGreeveys!

Noah is 11 (almost 12) Months Old!

Time flies when you are parenting!  I'm lucky if I have time to get out of the door in two hours for work, and on my days off, I'm lucky to even shower.  That's life with a little monkey like Noah.  He's everywhere, and he's not even walking yet.  Help!!!  Ha!  It's all good, he's a precious little monkey, and we are so blessed to have him.

Noah is a joy to be around these days.  He is an explorer who can get from one room to the next in less than a second.  I turn around and he is gone. His favorite room is the bathroom, and it drives me crazy!  He loves the toilet and the bathtub...the bathtub I can deal with, but the toilet drives me nuts.  The bathroom door stays shut these days.  He also loves getting into his toy baskets and dumping everything out and putting it back in.  He loves to open and close books, and he likes big puzzles and playing with his mini basketball goal.  His favorite thing to do is push objects.  He will push his highchair from one side of the room to the other and instead of wanting to always walk in his walker, he would rather push it.

He is an adventurous eater as well, which is great!  He loves everything I give him for the most part, but his favorites are meat and potatoes, especially sweet potatoes. He is great at drinking from a sippy  cup, but he still takes bottles and nurses.  He is still waking up at night, but we are hopeful that will end soon.

Noah can wave "hi" and "bye bye."  He points and shares and dances.  He can give a high five.  He likes to bang his hands on everything.  He laughs when we laugh, and he understands "no" although he doesn't necessarily like to listen!  He can say "bye bye," and mumbles a lot while he plays.  He likes to pick up things and show us.  He loves to pull up on everything and play underneath the table. He is fascinated by running water and loves to take baths.  He loves to take off his socks.  He is still a little guy, weighing in at just under 20 pounds.

My favorite picture of Noah from our fall photo session

This mess was made in seconds, notice he's pushing his caterpillar

Fun times with daddy!

Eating meatloaf and peas...he wants to share the peas for some reason :)

He looks like a little boy!

Love his chunky legs!

He opened a box of crackers while I was attempting to use the bathroom...Scarlett thought it was awesome!

Basketball!!!

Driving Scarlett crazy!

He's the sweetest!

Noah's First Thanksgiving

Our first Thanksgiving as a family of three is in the books, and it was a great first for all of us.  Noah especially loved Thanksgiving I think...considering he has eaten a "Pilgrim Platter" every day since.  He loved getting to try turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and green beans, and he's had plenty of leftovers over the weekend.

Uncle Sean and Aunt Caroline came from Pittsburgh and stayed with us for a week.  They spent a few days with Noah while Michael and I worked, and they played all day and took him to the park.  We could tell that Noah really loved having them around.  He especially loved their sweet dog Dolly. We caught him sharing his food with her a few times as well!

Michael's mom "Nana" came to Birmingham on Wednesday, and my mom "Gimme" and Steve "Papa Shaw" came on Thursday.  We fried turkeys and ate Thursday afternoon then my mom and I went to a few stores on Thanksgiving.  I swore I wouldn't get out on Thanksgiving, but my mom was in town, and she was ready to shop from the moment she arrived.  I had plenty of help back at home with Noah, so I thought...what the heck?  We shopped for some new Christmas decorations, and we got some great deals on fall and Christmas.  I already had silver ornaments, but I wanted to add some gold.  I thought our tree turned out beautiful!

We had a wonderful time sharing our first holiday with Noah, and I am looking forward to our first Christmas together!

Noah is Ten Months Old!

Noah, today you are 10 months old.  

And because I did not post last month, I wanted to post your 9 Month picture. It captures your personality perfectly :).

You and I spent the entire day together by ourselves because your daddy had to work, and I can say that you are more fun to spend time with than ever before.  You are my little explorer who keeps me on my toes, and your personality is blooming more and more each day.   I cannot take my eyes off of you for a second or you will be tipping over Scarlett's water bowl (you are fascinated by that thing), or you will be pulling up on the toilet.  You talk all the time, and your favorite sound to make is "ba-ba-ba."  You have discovered all of the books on your shelves, and you love reading these days.

You finally started eating solids!  We started with puffs and let you eat at your own pace, and now you love eating boiled egg yolks, guacamole, roasted chicken, apple sauce and beans.   You aren't a big eater and still love to nurse, but its progress.  A few weeks ago, you went through a huge growth spurt and gained more than 1/2 pound in a week. You now weigh close to 19 pounds.

I suspect you crawl faster than most babies can walk.  You have the crawl down perfectly, and I think you may take your time to learn to walk.  You pull up on everything, but you haven't tried to stand on your own just yet.  You used to let us take your hands and walk with you, but now that you are a crawling machine you prefer that over walking.

We knew you were a strong-willed boy from the beginning, but it's very apparent we have our hands full!  We love to let you explore and discover the world around you, but we have a few things we do not want you to touch...and of course those are the ones you go for a million times a day.  Your daddy and I have gone as far as swatting your hand to keep you from hurting yourself, and you look at us with those doe eyes as your mischievous smile stretches across your face.  You look at us as if you are asking, "now what did you do that for?"  You giggle and try to touch it again.  You are something else!

The best thing you have done lately is give your daddy and me a hug.  I picked you up from your crib one morning, and you wrapped your sweet arms around my neck and squeezed.  I was so happy, I cried.  Your daddy didn't believe me, but you hugged him on Wednesday.  That was a hard day for your daddy, but giving him a hug was the best surprise.  I know your grandpa Kevin made sure you gave him that hug!

We celebrated your first Halloween.  You were the cutest Teddy Bear!  It was freezing outside, and you weren't feeling well, so we had your costume on long enough to take a few pictures.  I can't get over how cute you were!

We also went to the zoo for the first time.

We love you so much sweet Noah!

We could just eat you up!

Noah is Eight Months Old!

Well....Noah is actually 8 months and a week old.  Momma's been busy lately chasing around our little active 8 month old, so blogging is hard to do these days.  Noah seems to learn something new every day, and we are having so much fun being his parents. He's our sweet little monkey!

Noah, we love you so much.  You laugh and we melt.  You have become so smiley and happy, and you are our sweet social butterfly.  You started MDO again in a new class, and you love it.  I drop you off, and you are on the go crawling around with your new friends.  This month you traveled to Atlanta to see your great aunt Eileen, and you had visitors come to AL to see you.  You got to see your Nana, Gimmie, and Pawpaw!  You have so much fun with all of them, and you love being spoiled. You got a new plane (walker) this month, and you love it.  You love it so much, that every time you take off in that plane, you poop in your pants!!  It's hilarious to see how excited you get.  You love running errands with mommy and daddy because you are like your mommy and love to people watch.  You get bored easily, so anything new you can do, you have the best time.  Your army crawl has finally turned into a big boy crawl, and you are now on your hands and knees and can't be stopped.  You are making many new sounds, some are good and some not so good. You say "yayayayaya" and you growl.  I don't mind the "yaya," but I got to tell you, I'm not digging the growling.  You still aren't interested in food and prefer to nurse.  You have been cheering on the Vols with your daddy, and you helped us host our first fish fry.  You loved having lots of people over to give you lots of attention!

Noah loves pulling paper out of notebooks and shredding it all over the rug!

Buying the plane!

Noah and Daddy playing

Love these two!

The plane!

On the way to Atlanta

 Visiting Aunt Eileen in Atlanta

Sitting at the table like a big boy.  Having fun eating out.

Climbing on Mommy

Riding the buggy with his friends at MDO

Fish Fry and Football

Go Vols!  So excited about the game, he can't keep his hands out of his mouth :)

Noah is 7 Months Old!

Happy 7 Months Noah!

You weigh 17.1 pounds, and you are 26 1/2 inches. You are still hanging on to the 25th percentile.

Noah, you have turned into a little monkey!  You are crawling all over the place, and you are pulling up and climbing all over me and your daddy.  You would rather use us as a jungle gym than play with any toys.  You are sitting up and learning to transition from sitting to crawling.  You get so excited when we hold your hands and let you walk around the house.  Your favorite time is when we let you streak naked from your bedroom to the bath.  You giggle the whole way!

You still love your baths and sitting outside.  You now love to take walks in your stroller facing forward, and you kick up your feet and relax with your Sophie.  We have tried many times to get you to eat food, but you are not interested.  We have tried avocado, sweet potatoes, peas, and watermelon.  You still prefer to nurse.  

You are noticing all the new sounds around you, and you get easily distracted.  You also make your own loud and unique sounds these days.  We love it when you laugh, but you never laugh at the same thing twice.  You get bored very easily, and you like for us to entertain you.  You smile at everyone you see and love being in the middle of the action.  Unfortunately, you have caught your first cold, and we are all very tired since you have been waking up a lot in the night.  You are still your sweet smiley self though!  We love you so much!

Bath Time!

Time to baby proof the house…

Always smiling. You look like your daddy in this picture.

You love playing with your twin in the mirror!

Best Friends :)

Our little monkey climbing on us!

You were told you were juicy by a total stranger…looking at your thighs, I would agree!

Still so sweet although you are sick today