Noah is 9 months old!

My baby boy is 9 months old. He had his well baby checkup today and here are his stats:

Weight: 20lbs 2.2oz, 42 %

Height: 29in, 73%

Head Cir: 18in, 61%

I love Noah's expression here.

He was a happy boy and showed off some tricks, like crawling. There were no vaccines today – yea! He only had a toe prick which he didn’t cry about and we found out he’s not anemic. Joshua started to melt down towards the end but he gets a pass from me because the wait was really long (1 ½ hrs) even though we were the first appt after lunch.  The office is going paperless and everyone seemed slowed down by the new computer system. So here are nine fun facts about my happy, little Noah:

I have bounced til I can bounce no more.

• You are pulling up on everything and have even started a little cruising on furniture
• You say “Mama” all the time.  Joshua tries to coach you into saying “Dada” which you sometimes say, but not as often as “Mama.”
• You have changed crawling styles.  Instead of an army crawl, you have a traditional crawl on all fours.  And boy are you fast!
• When it is time for bed, Daddy and I like to say “It’s time for Noah to power down.” We put you in a crib, in a dark room and (usually) you’ll fuss for less than 2 minutes and are asleep.  It’s amazing.
• I am told that you refuse to hold your bottle at daycare.  Miss Maria tells me that you may be hungry but still refuse to hold it and they end up feeding you while you cross your arms behind your head. Easy living!
• You and Joshua are playing together more and more.  You get so excited when Joshua plays with you, especially when he crawls with you.
• You aren’t a very good eater when it comes to anything with texture. You literally gag when the Gerber puffs or wagon wheels, or crunchies are put in your mouth.  Also you are a casual eater when it comes it baby food and consume about ½ a Stage 1 container at a sitting.  Your favorites are bananas and squash.  Also you now have 6 teeth.
• You are wearing 12 month clothes and size 3 diapers. I’m at a point where I’m having to buy you new clothes because even though you are both August babies, your different builds have made the clothes seasonally off.
• You really enjoy playing with toys (even Joshua’s).  It’s so cute to watch you play, chew on, and carry toys around the room. When Joshua catches you playing with one of his toys he’ll take it away and say “No, you too little.” I think we’ll be hearing more and more of that.

You are a wonderful little boy and we enjoy watching you grow and learn. We love you Noah!

Brothers

I can't believe it...

Joshua and the "Big Car"

We are the proud new owners of a mini-van, or as Joshua likes to call it, our “big car.” It was just a few years ago that I swore I would never own a mini-van, but time changes everything and I’m actually excited about it.  It’s a celestial blue Honda Odyssey EX-L w/ Navigation. It’s got lots of room – leg room, storage, trunk space, etc. It has automatic everything.  As a bonus, this was probably our best, headache free (with regard to salesmen) car buying experience.  We are selling the Hyundai Santa Fe.  This was supposed to be our family car.  And it was a great car, but the biggest drawback was that when there was a rear facing carseat installed, the front passenger seat had to be moved so far up that the passenger’s knees were hitting the dash.  I hated riding in it because I felt like even in a small crash I ran a risk of breaking both my knees/legs.  And now we are excited out a new van.  This is a perfect example of why you should never say never.

I have crazy hair in the morning!

Weak parenting moment – The other night I was trying to get Joshua to go to sleep and he kept sitting up to play.  About the tenth time I came into the room and said (again) “Head on pillow Joshua.” Instead of complying he defiantly shook his head then stuck his tongue out at me.  Without thinking I stuck my tongue out back at him. He thought it was funny and smiled.  At that moment I realized my credibility was lost and wouldn’t be able to explain how “It’s not nice to stick your tongue out at people…” so I called in Daddy to take over. Eventually he did go to sleep but still likes talking about how “Mommy stuck her tongue out at me.”

Mid May Update

So life has been sailing along so quickly these days. My mom came for a visit recently which was great. The boys love their grandma! Noah is pulling up on everything. He's altering his crawl.  His normal crawl is an army crawl, but sometimes he'll do a traditional crawl on all fours and other times he'll do a crab crawl, reminiscent of Joshua.  He loves chewing on my knuckle as he's teething like crazy. He loves it when Joshua plays with him.  He gets so excited.  Here are a few short stories about Joshua.

I'm standing!

Joshua is always talking.  He's got quite a personality and sense of humor.  Also adorable is the way he sorts through situations to figure them out for himself.  For example, recently Matt brought Joshua to work at the end of the day.  He pointed to the scrubber stack which was billowing a white plume and said "Did you know that Mommy helped build that?" Joshua looked for a second and replied "Just like Bob the Builder?"  An interesting way to put it but yes, it was like Bob the Builder.

Joshua, Grandma, & Noah

Something else Joshua likes to do when he's stalling to go to sleep and he's had one last sip of water, one last Bible story, one last hug, and one last kiss, is he'll say "I love you. You my best friend." It melts your heart and always warrants one more snuggle and kiss good-night.

From time to time I mention the drive across the bridge.  It's not really that far, but it always seems far.  I think living in a small town and having children have changed my viewpoint.  Anyway the other night we were crossing the bridge on our way to dinner and Joshua exclaimed "Wow! We went far!"  This just further goes to show how he is always paying attention and mimicking his mommy and daddy.

One last Joshua story.  We have been working on potty training with limited success. Here's a conversation:
Me: Let's go sit on the potty!
Joshua: No! It's dangerous!
Fortunately his courage can be bought with a couple m&m's.

Noah is standing!

Here is photographic evidence from late that week (May 6th) that Noah is now pulling up. Here he is playing at day care. (Thanks for the photo Ms. Kathy!) He's been close to doing this for a little while and now that he does, we can't keep him down.  He's pulling up (and pulling down) on everything.  Yea Noah! We are so proud of you!

Mother's Day

Joshua, Mommy, & Noah - Mother's Day 2011

Brothers - May 2011

I had a wonderful Mother's Day thanks to my sweet, thoughtful husband and my two little men.  It started a few days before Mother's Day when I got to get a manicure and pedicure.  Then Matt cleaned out and vacuumed my car which was really nice because if I had had one word to describe it, it would have been crusty. Over time there was quite a collection of partially eaten Ritz crackers, Nilla wafers, etc. in the backseat of the car.  We went out to eat Friday night at Outback. Joshua asked for 'my very own steak' but got to enjoy eating mommy and daddy's steak instead.  Then mommy had to work all day Saturday (big outage going on at the plant).  While I was gone my baby boys made me a card with their hand prints. On Sunday we went to church where they gave all the moms a rose. Joshua told me I was "pretty like Tinkerbell." Then I wanted to go out to lunch somewhere without a long wait so we went to Buffalo Wild Wings which worked out perfectly.  Then we decided to go to Sam's on a diaper run and discovered that moms do not (typically) shop at Sam's on Mother's Day as it wasn't crowded at all.  We were in and out. At home Matt took some great pics of the boys. Here are a few of them. Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms I know