one year pics

despite having a very busy weekend, we were able to schedule noah's 1 year pics on the saturday following his birthday.  he was a pretty good trooper through most of it, but it was late in the day and he was getting tired so we didn't get a very good representation of our usually smiley little boy.  he also dislikes having cake on his hands, so my plans for a cake smash session did not turn out quite as planned.  leah luquette did a great job capturing the frustration that followed the initial excitement of having a personal cake, though. :)

more pics at the link below:

noah's 1 year pics

celebrating 1 year

"i'm how old?!"

despite my efforts to keep noah's birthday celebrations fairly low-key, somehow we ended up with a ton of plans and a very busy weekend. fortunately, i think everyone had a good time and we were able to enjoy the company of family and friends.

by some miracle, i was able to get off work from both jobs for the weekend, so the celebrations started on friday with matt's family, who came into town but were unable to attend the actual party on sunday. to accommodate their travel plans, we threw a mini-celebration at panera, where we enjoyed a yummy lunch before watching noah's first attempt to smash/eat a cupcake. he was *not* a fan. he wouldn't smash any of it until he had a fork in his hand, and even with that he wouldn't eat any of it. of course, it was still highly entertaining to watch -- which is really the point, right? we had gone to the watter's creek location, so we walked around a bit before heading home to relax some after an already busy day.

on saturday we spent time with matt's family and took noah for some 1 year pictures with our friend and photographer, leah luquette. by the end of the photo shoot noah was tired, so our efforts to capture yet another cake-smash moment were not so successful. i had purchased a small cake for the occasion, and after removing the candle and attempting to eat the frosting off of that, noah decided he was pretty much done. when i tried to show him there was more cake to play with and eat, he just got upset that there was now cake and frosting on his hands. this resulted in a full-blown meltdown. way to go, mom. :P we promptly put him in the bathtub and washed the blue frosting off of him (and out of his ear!) and after a speedy dinner he went to bed while daddy and the rest of the family went to dinner.

sunday we celebrated with the big party, complete with balloons, cupcakes and cousins. we had lasagna as a main course and bakery-made cupcakes for dessert. we enjoyed spending time with my family and matt's dad and his fiance and tried, yet again, to get noah to enjoy some birthday cupcake. again, he would only attack it with a fork, and again, he wanted no part of it for consumption. good boy :)

all in all, the weekend was a success and i think noah enjoyed the extra attention. and i'm sure that by next year he will be a little more excited about things like birthday parties and cupcakes :)

for lots more pics, click the image below:

noah's 1st birthday

happy 1st birthday, sweet boy! we love you!!!

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:

noah at 1 year

check out noah's birthday post for more info about his big birthday and for *lots* of pictures!

noah talks

noah's first word is....cup! cup of coffee? what kind of starbucks world are we raising our child in, anyway? it's still really cute :)

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may the fork be with you...

...noah tried using a fork today for the first time. he was pretty thrilled about it and actually did much better than i thought he would!

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11 months....already?!

11 months ago, noah marched into our lives, after only 7 short hours of labor and a relatively short gestation. he arrived "early" by the calendar's standards but right on time for him and has continued to march to the beat of his own drum, deciding to start solids early, crawl in his very own fashion and now, he has even decided he is done with nursing (*sniff*). while i was starting to grow weary of pumping and continuing to be a constant food source, i don't think i was quite ready for the abruptness of this transition. the pediatrician had recommended we begin supplementing with formula, since our guy is always on the move and didn't seem to be gaining as much weight as desired. he wasn't a fan at first, but slowly transitioned to more bottle feeds and less breastmilk. shortly after christmas he was down to nursing only once a day, and then he had pretty much given it up all together. my supply had been decreasing with his waning demand, so once he stopped that was pretty much it :( of course, this also brought the advent of his first runny nose (thanks to some playtime with the extended family at christmas...oops! guess we didn't wash his hands enough) which meant *lots* of nasal suctioning between feedings and before sleeping. since i already have to do this at work and don't really enjoy it when i get paid to do it, i really wasn't to terribly happy to have to do it at home to my own child. fortunately, noah forgave me quickly and it did seem to make a huge difference in his ability to tolerate eating and sleeping.

in happier news, our big boy has made big strides in the weight gain and in terms of physical development. in the last 2 months since his check-up at the pediatrician's office he has gained about 6 lbs! these are "rough" numbers of course, since i am comparing his more accurate weight at the appointment to our own scale numbers at home, but he is obviously gaining weight so we are happy about that! he doesn't go back to the pediatrician until just after his first birthday, so we will have more accurate stats then.

as far as motor skills and development, noah has acquired a lot of new skills this month. he learned to clap anytime we say "yay!" or when he feels it's necessary (read: playing with blocks or other toys he really enjoys) or when we sing pat-a-cake. he also figured out (after months of daily practice) how to wave "bye-bye" and readily does this anytime someone opens the back door. other cues to wave: if he doesn't like what's going on (i.e. i'm ready to leave!), or if he is being held by either parent in the kitchen and the other is standing near the back door (this usually means one of us is leaving for work). it is incredibly adorable to see him be able to communicate in this fashion, and he seems to enjoy it as well. he's also slowly begun to incorporate other signs into his day, including the sign for "more" which, like everything else, he has modified into his own version, and "please" -- although this one is harder to elicit and is still a work-in-progress. it's obvious he's understanding more and more now, too, even though he can't say what he wants to say. if we ask him where something is he is happy to look for it, and he has even begun pointing at things. he also knows what to do if we tell him we need to "put your pants on, noah" which is his cue to stop moving his legs (finally! he's such a wiggle-worm!). and, perhaps, my favorite of all is that noah loves to read and turn pages in books. this is especially fun at night just before bedtime, when he sits on your lap, holds his bottle in his left hand and turns the pages to his bedtime stories with his right. so. stinkin'. sweet. :)

also, while our almost-one-year-old isn't quite walking just yet, he is closer every day. shortly after christmas he figured out how to stand on his own and will gladly stand for several seconds before choosing to squat down or sit on the floor (usually to play with whatever toy is nearby). we have yet to see any shaky first steps, but i can see his confidence growing and you can tell he is contemplating it. i think it will be very soon that we have another biped among us. poor lexi!

speaking of lexi, while she doesn't seem too thrilled about all the attention our littlest drooling quadriped gets, it has become obvious lately that noah is *absolutely* in love with our dog. his very favorite game continues to be the "is lexi gonna get you?" game or the "get lexi!" game, both of which consist of lexi walking around the living room and noah shrieking his head off, clearly having all the fun for both of them. i finally caught this on video and it makes me giggle every time to see how happy such a lazy, drooling, shedding fur-ball makes him. it practically makes vacuuming up dog hair every other day worth it.

the video:

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all the pics are here -- there aren't very many, we got more video than still pics this month:

11 months

clapping

noah learned to clap! yay!

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