Mommy's Little Helper

I am so lucky to have such a good little helper around here. I mean what would I do without him? As you know, Noah's favorite area in the house is the kitchen. So when it comes time to clean the kitchen, Noah gets busy helping momma clean it.

As you can see, Mr. Noah got into the paper towels while I was vacuuming the living room. I turned off the vacuum thinking I better check on him, and I walked into the kitchen to find Noah rolling around in rolls of paper towels. And he was having the time of his life! Ha!

Of course how could he get in trouble when it is so darn cute!

So another lesson learned: paper towels don't go on the floor of the pantry anymore.

Amarillo by Morning

Literally.

We pulled out of the parking lot of our apartment at 1:3o am. I honestly think we were crazy for driving that late early. Noah used to love being in his car seat and travel in the car, but ever since he became mobile we are lucky if he is happy in his carseat for over an hour. So we no longer travel during the day, or at least we won't until Noah gets a little older and can entertain himself.

Josh got off work at midnight, he drove home, and we put everything in the car. The drive to Amarillo was not too bad; in fact, it actually went by really quick. At least the first four hours went by quick. The last two we were both really tired, but we kept each other awake.

We pulled in Papa and Grammy's driveway around 7:15 am, and we were so glad to be there. Thankfully, Papa and Grammy offered to watch Noah for us so we could sleep for while. Later that evening we all went to Kabuki (one of our favorite restaurants in Amarillo) to celebrate Noah's big day. It was so so so so so good. Before we went home we had to stop by Albertson's to get a few things for Noah's cake, and while we were there Papa bought Noah a football balloon. Noah loved it--he had a death grip on that thing, and it was hilarious.

You may cringe when you hear what kind of cake Noah ate for his birthday, but I'm not lying when I tell you it is the best cake ever. Grammy made Noah a mayonnaise cake, and he LOVED it! The mayonnaise cake is a Bonjour family tradition. Darrell's mother made it for him growing up, and then Gay Lynn made it for Josh, Joseph, and Quentin, so there would be no other cake worthy enough to put in front of Noah for his first birthday. And Josh informed me, I WILL be making it for our children too. Well of course!

And that night Noah drank whole milk for the very first time! The transition from Similac to whole milk has been easy. Noah loves his milk just like his daddy!



We all had such a wonderful time celebrating Noah's birthday! Later that evening Uncle Quentin and Uncle Joseph arrived after we had all gone to bed. We didn't think Quentin would be able to come for the weekend because he lives in Stamford, but Joseph went to pick him up and brought him to Amarillo. One of the last things Quentin said to me before we left was, "Don't forget to put me on the blog!" Haha. Here is a sweet picture of Noah and Quentin playing together.

The next morning we had an appointment to see Dr. Fletcher for Noah's one-year check up. At that visit Noah would be getting four shots, so I decided to call to see if we could change the visit to Thursday instead of Friday since Noah's birthday party was on Saturday. It wasn't possible to change it, so we went in crossing our fingers the shots wouldn't affect Noah's mood the rest of the weekend.

It was great seeing Dr. Fletcher again, and we were sad knowing it would be the last time Noah came to see him. He has been a great pediatrician, and we are so thankful for all the care he gave to Noah throughout his first year. Dr. Fletcher said he looked wonderful and was a good lookin' guy (I couldn't agree more)! Noah weighed 24 lbs and measured 29 inches long! What a big boy!

Before we left the office Noah had to get four shots, and I think these were the worst yet. After we got back to the house, Noah was ok for a few minutes, but then started bawling wanting Mama to hold him. It went on like that all day. Poor baby. We gave him Tylenol and Motrin throughout the day to help with the pain, and later in the evening he seemed like he was feeling better.

Granddad, Mimi, Megan, Nana, and Roger arrived in Amarillo around dinner time, so we met them at Abuelo's. It was so much fun being together, and it was so sweet of them to come all the way from Oklahoma City for Noah's birthday party. We ate some good ol' Mexican food, and then decided to go over to Nana and Roger's hotel room to hang out some more and open a few of Noah's birthday presents. The time we had together that evening was so special. It was like our own little party for Noah. It was so funny because Noah was so uninterested in opening any of his presents. He just wanted to crawl around the hotel room and occasionally would come over to see what he got. He really loved his sports toy Nana and Roger got for him, but I won't go into detail about that because Josh "reserved" it to blog about. Ha.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of our evening together. Again, thank you all for coming to Amarillo to see us and for Noah. We were so thankful for the time we got to spend with you!



Well I better stop for now. My new goal is to make it in bed by 11 pm every night. It has been so hard lately getting up early with Noah in the mornings, so I have decided I have to get myself in bed at a decent hour. Tomorrow I will post about Noah's Birthday Party! We had so much fun, and I am so anxious to tell you about it and to show you more pictures.

Have a wonderful night!

Our Little Monkey's 1st Birthday!

The lion may be the king of the jungle, but we all know the monkeys are the ones who have all the fun!

And that's the truth. We had so much fun at Noah's monkey themed party! We had so many of our family and friends there to help us celebrate his big day, and we are so thankful for your presence there. Our friend Chriselda came to the party and, thankfully, since she knew I would be busy running around she graciously offered to bring her camera along to snap a few shots of Noah.

Of course you know by now she got some amazing pictures, and we are so so thankful for the memories she captured for us. If you weren't there to celebrate with us, we missed you and hope you enjoy the pictures from the party!

Thank you Chriselda for the slideshow you created for us. We love it! Even Noah wanted to see what we were watching and crawled up in my lap to see it.



I plan to go into more detail about the party and the fun we had in Amarillo over the next couple of days, but as for today I just wanted to post this sweet little slideshow. Hope you are having a great day!

Diet Dr. Pepper

Noah loves the refrigerator. It doesn't matter what he is doing, if he hears it open, he'll drop what he is doing and crawl over to the fridge. He doesn't really care what is inside the fridge; he just loves swinging the door. Noah gets pretty darn mad when I make him close the door, so most of the time I try to grab what I need really quickly and close it before he can get over to it.

Tonight I was getting something out of the fridge, and of course Noah came crawling over as soon as he heard it open. But this time, he wasn't as interested in the door as he usually is. No, Noah had his eye on something else tonight.

Noah found himself a Diet Dr. Pepper! Apparently he is quite fond of mommy's favorite drink.

Isn't he so cute trying to drink from the can?! Look a little bit closer at the picture.



He has it upside down!

"How do you get this thing open!?"



He can play with the can all he wants, but let's just hope he doesn't get addicted to Diet Dr. Pepper like his mommy!

My Mischievous Little Boy

Noah has several things he loves to get into around here.

1. Once he started crawling, Noah found out how to open the kitchen cabinets in no time. And guess what his favorite cabinet to open is? The cabinet with all the cleaning stuff. I don't care if he gets into the pots and pans, but the cabinet with the cleaning supplies is a no-no. And Noah knows that cabinet is off limits, but does he care? Oh no. Because he knows he isn't supposed to get into it, he does. Our bar stools now have a permanent residence in front of the cabinets until I get something to lock those things up!

2. Take a look at this picture. Remember seeing the decorative item in the very left corner from "Our New Home" blog?

Well, Noah loves to bang it against the wall, so most of the time you will find it up on top of the glass table. I knew when I was decorating that he would probably get into it, but didn't realize it would become one of his favorite things to play with.

3. Noah loves the lamps in our living room. They are kind of wobbly anyway, but when Noah gets his hands on them, you'd better not get too close because that lamp is coming down on you. I always look at him as his little hand is tightly clinched around the pole and say, "no-no Noah," but that lamp is swinging back and forth before I can even finish saying his name.

4. Here's another thing Noah loves to get into:

As you can see from this picture, he managed to squeeze his little body past my barricade so that he could play with the tree's fake grass or moss or whatever it is. I have to say this is probably his favorite thing to get into. He loves to play with that stuff, and you can imagine how messy it gets.

And here is the face he gave me when I caught him playing in the tree!

Noah, Noah, Noah what am I going to do with you?

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Last week, Grammy (Gay Lynn) and Josh's grandparents Pa and Nanny were headed to a family reunion in Paris, Texas. Thankfully, Fort Worth is on the way, so they stopped by to visit us! We were so happy to see them, and all had so much fun together. Other than spending time with family, which is always the best, the big event of the weekend (well at least for us) was going to the Rangers game. Pa and Nanny were so sweet and bought all of us tickets to go to the game. And as you can see from the picture below, we had GOOD seats!!

Daddy and Noah excited to see the Rangers!

Noah at his very first pro baseball game! You can tell he is excited about it!

Layin' back and relaxing...



As much as he wanted to watch the whole game, he just couldn't help it.



Josh with Nanny and Pa



Noah with Daddy and Grammy after the game.



Noah worn out from all the fun, but still manages
a half smile for Mommy!



Our family at Noah's 1st Ranger's game!

The next day before Grammy, Pa, and Nanny left for the reunion we all went to eat at Mimi's Cafe where Noah had a taste of lemon. The funny thing is Noah loves anything that is sour.

Apparently this one was pretty sour!

Still a happy boy!

After we finished eating, we went to an outlet mall in Allen. Boy was it hot! We all looked like we had just been swimming. We forgot to bring a hat for Noah, so that is what we ended up looking for the whole time we were there. In fact, that is the only thing we bought. Noah has his daddy's fair skin, so even if we are out in the sun for even just a short time he starts to get red.

Here is the hat we found for Noah. Isn't he the cutest little cowboy you've ever seen?

Thank you so much Grammy, Pa, and Nanny for coming to visit us! What a fun time we had! Hope it's not too long before we can be together again. We love you!

A Furry Brother

"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself."

That explains Einstein perfectly. Einstein is the most loving dog I have ever known. As you all know he was our first "baby." Life was good for our little pug. He was the center of attention and he knew it. Walks, treats, clothes, you name it, Einstein had it. Well, at least until August 27, 2008. On that day, Einstein became a big brother and he didn't even know it yet!

On the rainy Saturday of August 30th, we brought Noah home for the first time and Einstein met his little brother. I will never forget this precious moment:



Einstein was no longer the only child; everything had changed for him. Despite the changes and adjustments he had to make, Einstein's love for us remained strong and faithful, and I can honestly say he has loved and watched out for Noah since the day we brought him home.

Let me show you what I'm talking about.

Where ever Noah is, you will find Einstein. They are always together. How sweet is that?

Einstein takes on the role of Noah's Protector very seriously. Anytime Einstein hears anything or even if there is absolutely no noise at all, Einstein stops what he is doing and will bark until what he hears or doesn't hear is gone.

Even though the Baby Einstein DVD's are for babies, Einstein doesn't care. He still watches them with his little brother.

And Einstein is always willing to share his toys with Noah. Isn't that sweet of him?

Einstein even helps bathe Noah sometimes.

Out of all the ways Einstein shows his love for Noah, I think his gentleness towards Noah is his greatest act of love.

It doesn't matter if Noah is pulling at his tail or ears, Einstein takes it.

Noah could be crawling all over him, but Einstein doesn't care.

The fact that Einstein is always so gentle, shows how much he loves Noah.

What a wonderful companion Noah has in Einstein. Thank you Einstein for your wonderful example of selfless, unconditional love. We love you!

The Lost Pictures

Thank goodness our computer has a lot of memory on it. I think it's called RAM?? Well whatever it's called, it's a good thing we have it because I think I have taken about a million pictures. Seriously. I'm not joking. I LOVE to take pictures. And I especially love to take pictures of Noah. In fact, I have toyed with the idea of getting myself one of these or something like it:



Well... definitely not now. But maybe eventually after I save some money I can get one. Josh told me that if I do get one I have to take classes to learn how to use it. I agree. But as for now, my little pink camera is wonderful and I'm so thankful to have it to be able to capture memories of our sweet little Noah.

Anyway, as I was scrolling through pictures tonight I came across some I realized I had not posted. They're of Noah playing with Jacob and Denae, some of his church buddies. We had a baby boom at our church, so they are all close in age.

Noah, Jacob, and Denae all posing for the picture. You have no idea how difficult it is trying to get three babies to look at me all at the same time.



Noah and Jacob. Aren't they just the cutest little boys you've ever seen?!



Playing together so well.



The next picture is of Noah and Angie, one of his Sunday School teachers and a very close friend of mine. Both Noah and I miss Angie!



We really miss our church family in Amarillo. I have to be honest, it was difficult going to another church this past weekend. The people were wonderful and very warm and welcoming, but it's just not the same. However, change is good, and we are very excited to join New Life Deaf Fellowship, and we know God has a plan for our family there. Please pray for us as we become a part of the family at NLDF.

Hope you are keeping up with me! I told you I was going to be posting a lot this week. Have a great night!