April Recap

April was a busy month for us! The first weekend we celebrated my birthday, the second weekend was Easter, the third weekend I went away for the weekend for Kristi's bachelorette party and the last weekend we celebrated Mike's birthday. Whew! Lots of good times.

Noah is still cracking us up these days. He seems to be picking up new words everyday. I've lost count now of how many he has. I'm really surprised at his verbal skills so far. Words are far from being pronounced perfectly but he tries to copy what we say more and more everyday. He's really figured out how to be silly with us and try to make us laugh and also try to get us to do things that make him laugh. Of course as he is more aware of himself and his world, he's also gotten much more opinionated which can be both a good and bad thing. We've had some episodes of him throwing himself on the floor and really getting upset when he doesn't get what he wants, but thankfully right now he's also pretty distractable so the fit doesn't last long. Overall, it seems like we have more and more fun with him these days. Here's the silly boy posing for the camera with chocolate all over his face.

So yes, Mike and I both celebrated our 30th birthdays this year. I was first (on the 1st) and he followed three weeks later (on the 24th). I'd like to say that starting a new decade gave me some new monumental perspective on life, but honestly it just seemed like celebrating another year. The celebration part was definitely fun. Mike surprised me by gathering a large group of close friends and family at the park at Central Market. The weather was great and it was so awesome to see everyone. Thanks to all of you that came out! My only disappointment was not being able to spend as much time visiting with everyone as I would have liked. Here's Mike and Noah playing on the playground:

Mike's birthday celebration was a little more low key. Noah and I surprised him by taking him to golfsmith to pick out a new driver (his birthday gift from us and my parents). He also got to spend part of the weekend with the men's group from our church on their annual retreat. And since no celebration for Mike would be complete without steaks, we finished off the weekend by going to Saltgrass Steakhouse on Sunday.

We reached another milestone this month as I went away and left the boys home alone for a whole weekend! This was my first overnight away from Noah. I went to New Orleans with my sister for her bachelorette party. After we all FINALLY got there, we had a blast! The Friday we all tried to leave the whole state of Texas experienced massive thunder storms so everyone's flight was cancelled or delayed. I was supposed to fly out of Austin to Houston and then on to New Orleans. I found out just in time that my flight from Austin was cancelled so I made a split second decision to drive to Houston to catch my connecting flight to New Orleans. It would've been Saturday at 11 before I'd have left Austin otherwise. It was a horrible drive in mostly pouring rain, but I made it and got my flight. One girl had to drive all the way from College Station to New Orleans because her flight was cancelled too. Everyone else was just late. We had a blast though--Kristi had an amazing time and I enjoyed some time away from my day to day responsibilities. I had so much fun getting to know my sister's friends better-such sweet girls! It's awesome to know my sister is loved by such good friends! Here's our group out on Bourbon St.

The boys did great--Noah had fun with Daddy and Daddy survived the weekend too. Noah was so cute when I walked in the door...he did this high pitched squealing and laughing that I've never heard him do before. Made me feel good...I missed him too, but honestly I think the weekend went by so fast it wasn't hard to be away. Next weekend we're off to Angleton for Kristi's bridal shower!

Busted Lip

Noah got his first busted lip today. We were playing with some friends at Jungle Java. It's a big indoor play place for kids that also has food and coffee. He was running around and tripped over his own feet and busted his face on the end of the slide. Poor boy wasn't even trying to climb on anything at the time but he had some speed and man did he hit it hard! It was one of those things I sort of saw happening in slow motion and I knew it was going to be bad before he even got up screaming and dripping blood--I just couldn't get there fast enough to stop him. Oh well, unfortunately he does seem to be all boy and doesn't seem to have much fear so I seriously doubt this will be the last busted lip or last blood shed. He was pretty upset for a while but after he calmed down (and had a few bites of a chocolate chip cookie!) he bounced back pretty well. Here he is all smiles with his fat lip getting ready to go home. The swelling had gone down quite a bit by the time he got up from his nap later this afternoon and I bet will hardly be noticable tomorrow. Poor Noah!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

This was not Noah's first Easter, but since he was just barely 2 weeks old when we celebrated Easter last year, it sort of felt like it was his first Easter-at least in terms of him being able to have fun and enjoy it. Just a short reflection...here's Noah with his Easter basket last year:And now, Noah with his Easter basket this year: What a huge difference a year makes!!!

So, we had had a great Easter. My parents came in town on Saturday to spend a short weekend with us. Noah got his Easter basket from Grandma and Granddad before bed on Saturday night and got a wind up bunny rabbit that hopped. He loved it! He also got some new little balls to play with which were also a hit.

Uncle Thomas came up and stayed the night too since we were all planning to get up to go the the 7 a.m. "Sunrise" service at Point of Grace Easter morning. Unfortunately we got some much needed rain, so it was pouring and thus no sunrise at 7 a.m. But the service was still wonderful.

Noah and Granddad Easter morning before church

Mom, Dad, and Thomas (yes that is a mustache on my brother's face)

Our family at church. I love how Noah is looking up at Mike
What a handsome little man in his Easter outfit!

I love going to Point of Grace and especially love our Easter service because every year it is a big celebration. This year was no different. I let Noah hang out with us during the opening worship songs (we usually take him to the nursery right away because he's just so active and we all enjoy Sundays more if I'm not trying to fight him to sit still and be quiet which is basically impossible--this is something we'll need to work on before Kristi's wedding in June though!). He loved the music and even tried clapping his hands when other people were and was dancing and running around-so cute!

Then he went into the nursery for a while, but I got him back out for the closing songs. We do a balloon drop during the last song and he loves balloons so I knew he would love this. We still have a balloon at home leftover from his birthday party that he likes and even knows how to say balloon now "ba-oon" is how he says it. Anyway, he saw the balloons when we first got to church and kept saying "ba-oon" and pointing and wanting to go get them. Of course we had to wait, but once they came in with them at the end of service his face lit up! We chased balloons all over the place and we of course let him take one home. I love watching him get so much joy out of such simple things. What a blessing it is as a parent to see your child so happy!

Noah loving the balloons

Later that afternoon after Mike was finally home after all the worship services, Noah got to get into his Easter basket. He got baby friendly crayons, a little Nerf football, and some sunglasses along with some of his favorite snacks-yogurt puffs, dried fruits, and even Easter eggs filled with O's. Don't worry, we've share a little bit of the good stuff with him too--he does like Peeps and of course chocolate too!

Easter Egg Hunt

Point of Grace had a spring festival after church last Sunday (Palm Sunday) complete with an Easter Egg hunt. It was great-they let the little kids (those under three) go into the hunting area first for 2 minutes before letting the big kids in. I'm pretty sure Noah was the youngest kid there. He wasn't all that good at picking up eggs and actually putting them in his basket, but he definitely had fun. It was a beautiful day except for all the wind. Sunny and cool-but VERY windy. In fact, the wind actually blew Noah over a couple of times!

Here we are getting ready to be let into the hunting area

The hunt begins!

What a cute boy with his Easter basket!

Noah's friend Makenna was there too Comparing the haul in their baskets
Makenna going in for the kiss again!
Now all the big kids are hunting too

Noah saw the Easter bunny for the first time too. He wasn't scared of him at all and was pretty interested. It may have helped that we didn't try to make him sit on his lap or anything like we did with Santa (if you don't remember, look back at our December posts-Noah cried pretty hard with Santa)

Aunt Nessa came and hung out with us for a while too-we all had a great time!

Playing with more eggs in his box at home

(We're trying to clean out a bunch of stuff to get the condo ready to sell so there are alot of boxes at home. This is Noah's newest favorite toy)

Noah and Makenna

I think Noah has a new girlfriend. Our friends David and Michelle have a little girl, Makenna, who we've gotten to play with a lot recently. We're in David and Michelle's small group so they've gotten to hang out together on some Sunday nights and also some in the nursery at church. Noah and I went over to play on Wednesday and Makenna was giving him lots of kisses! It was so cute, she kept going back and forth between Noah, Michelle, and myself giving each of us a kiss. Noah is quite the little flirt and didn't seem to mind at all. I should mention that Makenna is another older woman...she'll be two in June (while Noah just celebrated his first birthday in March). In fact, so far I think all the little girls he's spent any time with have been older. I think it makes his Daddy proud!

Thanks, Michelle, for sharing these awesome pictures!!

Practicing for Easter

Noah has his first Easter Egg hunt coming up at church this Sunday. So, we've been outside with his Easter basket and some eggs trying to let him practice so he's ready to snatch up all the eggs on Sunday. If the real deal is anything like our practice sessions have been, he'll be lucky to end up with any eggs. Oh well, I guess that's what you can expect from a one year old! Either way, at least he's having fun!

Boo

Noah is really starting to imitate words and sounds a lot these days. It seems like he's picked up something new almost every day. Tuesday night we were giving him dinner and Mike was playing with him--kind of hiding behind the high chair and poking his head around and saying "Boo" to Noah. Noah thought it was really funny and was cracking up. After a few times, Mike stuck his head up and Noah looked right at him and said "Boo" before Mike could say it. I thought it was just about the cutest thing ever. They kept saying "boo" to each other and cracking each other up for a while after that. I love how much fun we all have together these days!

So, that got me thinking about how many words Noah actually says or at least tries to say at this point (some are just sounds that he makes because the word is too hard). Here's what we have so far:
Mama
Dada
Dog (Da)
That
Uh-oh (this is probably his favorite)
Down (also Da)
Out (ow)--this means out of the carseat or outside
Ball (ba)
Book (buh)
Up (uh)
Bye-Bye
Hi
Hello (ha-o)
Boo
All done (ah-da)--for when he wants to get out of the high chair

I feel like he tries to say a lot more than that but we're just not getting it yet. Of course some of these he's said a few times but we don't hear them very often, but he's getting better. Some are definitely just sounds that he makes repeatedly for something so we've begun to recognize them but he's definitely trying to imitate sounds and is understanding a lot and trying to communicate a lot more. I love it!