Celebrations!

I don't think we've mentioned our holidays...

Happy Father's Day to the best daddy ever!!! (I think almost everyone says their hubby is the best daddy ever...I'm happy to join the crowd and fight for the title.) Daniel certainly earned his day this year, if he hadn't already. Noah got sick a couple of days before Father's Day, and since I just started the job, I didn't have time to call out yet. Daniel ended up staying home with Noah for FOUR days! He did such a great job with him. Noah was running a pretty high fever, among some tummy issues, and Daniel was great at knowing when to check on him, when to give meds, when to plop him in the bathtub. I was impressed. (He did panic a small bit when Noah broke out in hives, but I can't blame him for that one!) I felt bad not being there for Noah, but I knew he was in the best hands he could be. Thankfully, we had celebrated Father's Day with dinner out to Red Lobster a few days before (we like to celebrate on days when the restaurants won't be quite so busy!), and I let Daniel take an extra nap that day. :)

We were all healthy for about a week...and then Noah came down with a nasty cold. Sweet loving boy that he is, he decided to share it with me. We are now at the end of week two of this bug, and Noah is finally sounding a lot better, while I have a double ear infection. Daniel has just started coming down with it, but we're praying he gets a mild case! During that time, we celebrated my birthday. Daniel treated me to dinner at Chili's (one of my favorites!) where Noah stole most of my mashed potatoes.

Now we are starting to gear up for a certain little boy's 1 year birthday! Can you believe it?? In less than two weeks, my baby will not be so much of a baby anymore. A little sad, but so exciting, too. Stay tuned for pics from our big day! He is such a sweet-natured baby...apparently all the ladies at daycare fight over him. He is babbling almost constantly, and following some routine directions (it's adorable to see him "put it on your head", and brush his teeth.) He's very good at communicating what he wants with his gestures, and his commando crawling and butt-scooting is faster than ever. He'll walk with one of us holding his hands, and he'll cruise along the furniture with close monitoring is we put him there. We're getting there--my baby's growing up!

Yum!

Sweet sleeping face.

Stealing mashed potatoes.

Someone figured out how to open the Tupperware drawer...we might be in trouble now! 

 My to-do list for Noah's birthday party!

This is why we don't use bumper pads!

He continues to wiggle into tight spaces!

Working alongside Daddy. 

I love water!

Swimming with his buddy, Cole.

Happy Father's Day! 

Videos and catch-up

Well, the first month at work has gone well. I'm honestly loving it. It's hard to be away from Noah so much, and I'm still trying to figure out how to stay caught up on laundry and keep the house halfway presentable without taking even more time away from my boys, but we're managing. (Well, I thought we were--but I just caught my son eating a dust bunny...guess it's time to vacuum again.) Anyway, work is going great. Noah is adjusting really well to daycare (he now waves bye to me when I drop him off and is drinking a little more throughout the day). Naps are still a struggle, but he isn't as fussy at night so I guess it doesn't matter. This past weekend, he slept in a little longer than usual, so maybe it's worth it! :)

His "crawling" has gotten so much faster, and he doesn't have to be motivated by food anymore! He has figured out how to get into things he shouldn't (like Daniel's computer cables...and dust bunnies...), but we're glad he's finally moving! He clenches up and makes tight fists and squeezes his eyes shut when he gets excited, which always makes us laugh. He is saying "mama" and "dada"--occasionally specifically to us. He LOVES to walk. If we hold his hands to let him take steps, he cries when we put him down. He would walk miles if we would let him. He's probably doing so many more fun things, but I can't think of anything else to mention. We just love him!

I told him most babies his age can put themselves in a sitting position, so he decided to practice. :) This went on for quite a while before he stopped. I'm sure he'll have sore abs tomorrow!

Faster crawling--trying to get balls.

It might be hard to see, but he is "raspberrying" out the water. Making a mess! Pure boy. :) 

Not quite as entertaining as some of the other videos (though you may be thinking the other videos were boring!), but he was really enjoying sucking on a piece of ice. He kept closing his eyes (probably from the cold!) and coming back for more! 

11 Months!

I know, I know...late again. :)
Less than one month until a special little guy turns one year old. Crazy. It's just crazy.

 

 

 

My friend Shondra says he looks like he is saying hi to all the ladies in this one. :) 

You sleep like this too, right?

Um, Noah...you do know you can have the whole bed, right?
This view was our first clue that the night was going to be crazy...

Then he took up this position...It took us about 5 minutes to figure out where his head was in this picture...and then we laughed for about 10 minutes more! (His head is on the left, in between his extended arms...he's on his side with his right arm over his head.) 

When I headed to bed, Daniel wanted me to go move Noah to the middle of his bed...I told him I would check on Noah...if his legs were sticking out the side of the crib, I would move him. (I didn't want him waking me up in the middle of a good sleep because he was stuck!)

This is what I found...

Oh, Son...how did you even fall asleep like this?? 

His Last Name Might Be Sampson

But he's still part Shoemaker!

Motivated by food! :)

While most of our friends and family are posting videos of their babies crawling, we're finally posting a video of our baby scooting. The day we didn't think would come may come after all. He might crawl!

We put up a swing under our deck. Noah loves it! In fact, he fell asleep the next morning in the swing! (He woke up about 10 minutes later and lost his breakfast, but it was fun while it lasted!) 

Noah playing with his new buddy Carson (& Jill--Emily's sister and her son).

Noah is good at sharing!

Spaghetti is yummy!

The spaghetti is all gone. :( 

As Promised!

He kept his promise. That Daniel is a stellar fella. Here are the videos!

Swimming!

Butt scooting and fake coughing

Butt scooting, clapping, dancing, and singing

We've discovered Noah "sings". When his toys play music, he makes a little "huh" sound along with them. Especially this toy...if you listen carefully over the music, you can hear his little voice. He does this fairly consistently. He's Mama's little singer! 

First time playing with bubbles

Laughing

First time in the sprinkler pool--he kept leaning forward to try to get drinks.

Swimming!

Today was another day of "firsts". We put Noah in the swimming pool for the first time. Our sweet neighbors, whom we lovingly call Grandma and Grandpa, have generously offered their pool for our use anytime we want. It's been seriously hot, so we thought we'd give it a try. Noah loves his bath, so we thought he would love swimming, but we couldn't have guessed how much he would love it! We had a blast.

First we tested the waters just in Daddy's arms:

Then we added the float: 

 The pictures don't do it justice. He was smiling and kicking his legs like crazy. He was in water up to his shoulders, and didn't seem to mind one bit. It's a good thing, because we've been invited to his first pool party next weekend (if the weather cooperates), so it's nice to know we'll all have a good time! :)

Noah wiggled himself into another tough spot...

When Daniel points at Noah...

Noah points back. It's pretty cute.

 We attempted another photo shoot of Noah and Cole:

Emily says her last batch turned out much better than mine...maybe these did too?

Stay tuned for videos! Daniel says he'll help me post them later tonight, and we have quite a bit! (Maybe you'll only think they're cute if you are parents or grandparents, but we're excited to post them anyway.)