Photo Dump

Noah helping Gracie get all clean after eating her smash cake at her birthday party. 

Playing at the park with Grammy.

Learning how to play the drums on RockBand with our friend, Holly. 

Look at this awesome stand Daniel built for Noah! I found the design on Pinterest and Grandpa Sampson helped Daniel cut the wood when we were in Pennsylvania. Noah helped "wash dishes" for over 45 minutes and cried when we made him get down the first time! I'd definitely say it's a hit. :) Also take note of this boy's out-of-control hair. We later put Noah in this stand and let him play in the water more while Daniel and I cut it....all in all, the haircut isn't awful. It isn't great, but it isn't awful. I'll have to post 'after' pictures later. 

Isn't it the neatest??

In other news, we are pacifier-free! I've wanted to break Noah of it for quite a while, but he seems to have done it himself. Friday and Saturday nights he just didn't ask for it at bedtime. Sunday night was a different story, but I wasn't going back after not using it for 2 days! He cried a little, but I just sat by his crib and he soon fell asleep. The next two nights have been great. Now granted, he takes a few things to bed in it's place...Elmo, a blanket, a book, a choo-choo train, a sippy cup, a teether...sometimes one or two things, sometimes all of them! :) But yay for being paci-free!!

Yay, Daniel!!

Daniel finished his doctorate! We finally got his diploma in the mail this week. So proud of and all your hard work, Hubby!

PA trip

Well, we have just returned from Pennsylvania. Sweet Gracie turned one last week, so we wanted to celebrate with her and spend time with the Sampsons. Mandie did such a great job with the party details (Minnie Mouse themed). Of course we never seem to take enough pictures, but hopefully these will help sear the memories in our minds.

Noah was a pretty good traveler again...he had moments of reaching toward us from the carseat and crying out, "Hold me! Hold me!" (which he does almost the entire way to daycare and back on a daily basis...) but was otherwise pleasant.

Noah has been singing songs lately (he sings "row row row" for the entirety of Row, Row, Row Your Boat, and sings "g, g, g," over and over through the ABCs.) On the drive home, he was trying to sing along with Daniel and I as we belted out Matt Redman's 10,000 Reasons, which was adorable and such a proud mama moment! Love that precious boy.

Enjoy the pictures!

Catching some zzzz's on the way to PA.

Sitting in the Gator with Uncle John--a sneak peak of an adventure to be had! 

Mandie and Gracie pre-party. 

Pre-party hugs.

Noah wasn't a super big fan of the party hats...

We got to Pennsylvania around 7:30 am. We all tried to catch naps before Gracie's party, but Noah never did fall asleep. When we finally headed back to Grandma's house at 6pm that night, Noah kept falling asleep while eating goldfish in his carseat. I had to wake him up repeatedly to get him to empty his mouth! We took him out of his carseat, changed his diaper and put him in pajamas, then to bed, without him ever waking up! He then slept a straight 13 1/2 hours. Maybe I was a little tempted to skip naps every day with that kind of sleep! :) (Though I must say, he's been a very good sleeper since the cry-it-out session at 9 months old--no complaining here!) 

On Noah's first Gator ride with Daddy, Mandie, Gracie, and Uncle John...

...where they went to see and feed the cows! 

We met up with a sweet friend from church for a play date with her twins and nephew.  Noah loved the slides--he wouldn't even get on anything else! 

Snack break.

CHEESE!!!

Like Father, Like Son. Playing video games with Daddy. They even have the same facial expression!

To you, this looks like a cup and a bowl upside down in a sink.  To me, it's another sign of a little boy growing up. This is documenting the first time Noah put his dishes in the sink after he was done eating without being told! What a big boy! 

Yet another sign of growing up...Noah is getting very good at climbing up on couches, but this is the first time I've caught him on a dining room chair!

Thanks for the memories, Sampson family! :) 

Ready for our trip to PA!

February Wrap-Up

This boy is a crazy sleeper. A paci, a sippy cup, a stuffed animal, a blanket, and usually a book goes to bed with him, too! At least he sleeps all night (most of the time!)

Driving a race car video game with Daddy.

Helping Daddy build a shelving unit for Mommy. Noah would watch Daniel so closely before jumping in with his own "Bang, bang bang!" 

Helping Mommy make pizza dough.

Noah got a "new" train table. It is now one of his favorite toys! 

We've had several snow days in the past few weeks. This day was the worst...it took Noah and I just shy of two hours to get home from work! The snow has been pretty, though!

Noah's best friend, Cole, turned 1 last week. This was the start of his golf  course cake (see the green and the sand traps?) I didn't get a picture of the completed thing, but Emily did such a great job with the "par-tee" details and we loved celebrating with the Rileys. 

Cole had been borrowing our jumper and brought it back to our house this week. When Noah saw it, he decided he wanted to try it out one more time before it went to storage. 

Noah came to help Mommy at work. 

Thanks for helping me catch up with paperwork, Bubby! 

We've had another round of sickness recently. Noah woke up last weekend with a 103.3 degree temperature. After a quick trip to the pediatrician, we got a script for antibiotics for his ear infection. Later that evening, Daniel started complaining of a jaw-ache. The swelling got worse over the next two days (you can see the pathetic-ness in the above picture!) After a trip to the doctor for him, we found out his salivary gland had a "stone" in it (have you ever heard of such a thing??) and he got a round of antibiotics, too. Happy to report, the antibiotics worked beautifully and both boys are back to healthy!

If you know Daniel, you know that he did not start swallowing pills until after we were married. He's very proud of the fact that he's now swallowing this huge pill! 

Noah is fascinated with puppies these days. He's a little nervous when they get close, but he loves to look at them out the window, or points to pictures in books repeatedly. We found little toy dogs in a box of toys some friends gave us (with the train table) and he loves pretending to make them eat out of the miniature bowls or brushing them with the tiny brushes. 

Our sweet friends, Mark and Emily and Cole, come over almost every Saturday night. We have dinner together and start playing games (until way past my bedtime) after we put Noah and Cole to bed. The boys have started playing together, and Noah is great at making sure Cole has a toy to play with. We are excited to see them become great buddies!