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!