The Kings: 1 year

i don't know how or when it happened, but my baby boy has grown up into a big kid! on february 24th we celebrated the past year and looked back on sleepless nights of reflux, hundreds of milestones, tears and giggles, and the growth of our tiny 36-weeker into a healthy, strong, and silly one-year-old.

speaking of milestones, our big boy finally took some first steps unassisted while we were visiting his cousins and aunt sarah on thursday, february 16th. it was only a few, and it was followed by the inevitable dive to the floor, but it was very exciting to see. he's still timid about taking more steps since then, but with a little more courage and practice i'm sure it will be no time at all before he's running and riding a tricycle (because that's how quickly kids grow!). in other milestone news, we now have two little teeth that like to make appearances when noah flashes his sweet smile. he got his bottom left tooth on february 3rd, and the bottom right tooth on february 20th. no signs of any more just yet, but i know they are on the way.

enjoying lexi's bed

noah has also gotten exceptionally good at feeding himself with a fork, although he doesn't like to use a spoon -- not sure why this is(?). in fact, he likes feeding himself with a fork so much that on the three different days when we attempted to get him to "smash" a cake for his various birthday celebrations and pictures he wouldn't do it until we handed him a fork. he also cried and got *really* upset when his hands got too messy if we tried to assist him in making a mess with the cake. oops...i guess all our cleanliness is rubbing off on him. i'm sure this will be a good thing in the future :)

things that noah enjoys doing? stacking blocks, reading books, helping to put his toys away (yes!!!), playing with cars or anything that rolls, taking baths and being outside. that last one has been especially apparent these last few weeks, since the weather has been nice and sunny, with temps in the 70's and 80's. now that we've had the chance to be outside more, noah frequently points to the door(s) and waves "bye-bye" or says "out" indicating his desire to go play outside. we try to do this as much as possible, but no matter how long we are out there, he cries when we bring him in. sorry, noah!

he still loves to watch and play with lexi, and our good-natured dog seems to take it all in stride. noah isn't always gentle when he's petting her or trying to figure out why her ears are floppy or in his attempts to find her gums (yes, really!), but lexi just lays there like a bump on a log. if she really gets tired of it, she just gets up and walks away. she's so good, in fact, that two weeks ago noah was trying to crawl up onto the couch where i was sitting and he used lexi as a step-stool! lexi was sleeping in front of the couch and noah put both of his feet on top of her hind leg before i could even stop him. lexi's response? continue sleeping... all THREE times he did this! while i hate cleaning up dog drool and vacuuming all the time, i have to admit that she has been a great family dog :) noah enjoys trying to play fetch with her now, too, and will even tell her to "sit" before he tosses her bone about a foot away from him. lexi does retrieve it, but with little enthusiasm ;)

our little football fan on superbowl sunday.

game face: on!!!

noah also got his first haircut this month! after watching his little bald head sprout peach fuzz (adorable) that evolved into a mullet (not okay), i finally broke out the trimmers and gave noah a good old-fashioned home haircut. it turned out better than i expected, but i was also a bit more emotional than i thought it would be. something about watching that first little lock of baby hair fall onto the counter made me stop and say to noah, "WHAT have i done!?" of course at that point it was much too late to turn back so we finished the cut and all was fine in the end. noah was a trooper and, despite not really wanting to/being able to sit still for the whole thing, he had no problem with me chasing him back and forth on the counter with an electric shaving device near his head.

all the pics are in the link below: