november update

wow! november has been flying by and we've been keeping busy.  in addition to making time to celebrate four birthdays this month, including matt's, we were also blessed with a visit from matt's parents at the beginning of the month, and thanksgiving celebrations just recently.  and now, of course, we're ramping up for christmas!
noah has been his same, wonderful self, enjoying every day as an opportunity to add new words to his vocabulary and learn new things about the world around him.  he continues to be an excellent big brother to his sister, often wanting to give her kisses or help us tuck her in.  we are continuing to work on letters, numbers, and colors but they still don't seem to be sticking.... guess we'll have to keep working on it :)

noah has gotten much better at identifying family members, though, and it's cute to hear him talk about people by name.  he's gotten very good at identifying my mom, "shah-nen" (for grandma sharon), and he does a fair job of recognizing alex, alia and bed ("ayex, ay-ah, ben"!).  and, even though we haven't been able to go to my parents' house as often as we used to, he actually recognizes their neighborhood and starts a repeating chorus of "papa, papa, shah-nen, shah-nen" any time we are close.  i'm amazed he can so easily recognize his surroundings!
and speaking of grandparents, noah got to show off all his knowledge when matt's mom and step-father came to visit at the beginning of the month.  they were here for halloween and the beginning of the month, so noah got a chance to play with his grandma and grandpa richards.  this typically involved playing in the sandbox, playing with cars, watching the movie Cars, or an occasional outing with the family to half-price books.  matt was not able to take time off work, but i was able to enjoy their company during my last week of maternity leave.  we were actually able to host them in our new house, so we probably got to see them more than other visits in the past, since there was no need to coordinate drive time and hotels and such.  it was also nice to have extra hands around the house, after having been solo for so many nights the last 3 months! and i know noah enjoyed the extra attention, after having to learn to share my time with his new little sister.

we were also lucky enough to be able to host thanksgiving this year in our new house.  while it was a lot of prep work and cleaning on the front end, i absolutely loved having everyone here and making use of all this space we now have.  my dad helped us set up the media room with a projector and some other A/V equipment he had and we made use of both upstairs and downstairs to spend time with family.  overall, i'd say it was a success and i really enjoyed hosting, too!
on the 25th, we celebrated november birthdays including alia, ben, matt, and my father's with a big celebration at my parents's house. we enjoyed the usual spoils: chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, etc.  and then enjoyed three different kinds of dessert.  it was fun, and very filling, especially after having celebrated thanksgiving only a few days before!

so that's most of november, i'm sure i'm leaving something out and i'm sure i always will, but at least one day i'll be able to look back and remember why i always felt so busy! i hope you are enjoying this holiday season as much as we are!

november 2012