Mike's Installation at Point of Grace

Mike has been in the official role of youth director and business manager at Point of Grace since September of last year (actually since May, but May-Aug was technically an internship). In order to be recognized by the LCMS Texas District (the governing body of our church denomination) he had to go through a special installation service at the church. After months of sending paperwork back and forth this finally happened on Sunday, March 8th.

There was a special portion in the service where Mike pledged to uphold the doctrine of our church body in his ministry and our family was prayed for by the congregation and the youth in the church. It was very cool. Noah was even a part of it despite his best efforts to get down and run away. Now that he is installed, any LCMS congregation through out the country that is looking for a youth minister could potentially see Mike's name as a potential candidate for the job. While we have no plans to move somewhere other than Point of Grace, this is one of the nice things about being a rostered youth worker.

Happy Birthday Noah!

Noah is one!!

We celebrated his first birthday on Saturday March 7th. Sometimes I can't believe it's already been a year--it seems like it went by so fast! But to look back and see how much he's changed in just this one year, it's amazing that babies grow and develop so much in just the span of a year! We've had so much fun getting to know Noah this past year and watching him grow from a helpless little infant into a funny, strong, opinionated, active little boy! What a blessing he's been already in our lives! I can't wait to see what the next year will bring.

We celebrated with a small gathering of family at our condo in Austin. We had cake and presents for Noah. He was actually sort of interested in his presents this time (as opposed to Christmas when he just wanted to climb on the boxes) although he definitely had more fun with them once they were open...he still doesn't get the ripping paper off bit. After we played and celebrated with him in the afternoon, the grown ups celebrated the fact that we also survived our first year of parenthood with beer and fajitas! All in all it was a fun day!

Hanging out before the party having fun with the balloons

He loved the balloons!

Party time!

All dressed in his birthday outfit and cute little birthday hat getting ready to open presents

Practicing his new skill of walking

Opening (and crawling on ) presents

Noah loves doggies and he got two new stuffed doggies from Kristi and Casey-they're so cute...replicas of their dogs Nobs and Sam. I think he has a total of 5 stuffed dogs now!

Nobs is the border collie (in Noah's hand) and Sam is the pug (on th e floor)

Getting to know his new ride on toy from Grandma and Granddad.

It has a phone on it, whenever I would say "Hello" Noah would hold it up to his ear and try to say "hello" except it just sounded like "ha-oo". It was still really cute! How do I make this thing go?
Cake time!! Hmmm...not so sure if he likes it

He tried the cake but didn't seem to be too interested in it. I was suprised because the few times we've given him something sweet before this, he devoured it (he inherited the White sweet tooth I think). But he seemed like he could live without the cake. He did, however, manage to smear icing all over his face like any one year old should!!

Energy!

"Ball of constant activity" that's my best description of Noah these days. It seems like he has so much energy. We're not sure if this is just a result of a new phase of activity for him or if it's somehow tied to his ear tubes that were placed a few weeks ago. We've heard from lots of friends whose kids got tubes that after the tubes their kids seemed like completely different little beings. Maybe that's what happened with Noah too...who knows.

Just recently it's like he's become attuned to the world around him and is curious about EVERYTHING! He's started pointing and saying "that, that" at just about everything. He wants to see it, touch it, feel it. Whatever "it" happens to be at the moment. Sometimes thats the light switch, sometimes its the front window, or something on the counter. The list goes on and on. What's especially fun is trying to guess what he wants-because right now he just points and it could mean anything in a 5 foot span of the direction that he's pointing in. This is all the more challenging due to the fact that now he can walk and wants to move too but still thinks he's better at it than he really is. It's exhausting trying to keep up with him these days--but also really fun!

He also has a new found love of books. He only has a about a 30 or 60 second attention span when it comes to reading them before he wants another one, but many days it seems like he'd rather look at books than play with his toys. And he has certain books that he likes more than others which I love (I like seeing his little personality and preferences come out). Current favorits are The Very Hungry Catepillar, Where's Baby's Bellybutton, Lift and Find books-one with animals and an Elmo one, Baby Bugs, and lots of other touch and feel and lift and find books--of course he seems to like the ones that are interactive the most. Catepillar is far and above the most favorite though.

We've been playing outside a lot too. Trying to get him used to the grass. He was really only outside in the stroller last summer so the grass is new to him. I think it feels funny and he's really hesitant to touch it or move when we sit him on it. It's pretty funny.

He also seems to know what the camera is now and makes really funny faces when I try to take his picture (as you'll see below). He's trying to smile but looks funny because he just crinkles up his nose.

Oh, and he still loves his doggies which he has in this picture just below. This is his first "black eye". It's really just a bruise below his left eye that he got from bumping it on the coffee table. I'm sure this is just the first of many.

Walking!

Noah is finally walking!! I mean real walking...as in he lets go and takes 4-5 steps at a time. Sometimes more! We've been going through this progession over the last month where he was getting more and more daring. He'd pull up and cruise around hanging on to things then he'd gauge his distance between things (like the couch and coffee table) and reach and take 1/2 step or maybe even 1 step between them without holding on. He'd stand alone for a few secs and we'd think he was about to take a few steps, then he'd drop back down and crawl. But finally, last night he did it! Mike was upstairs with him in his bedroom getting him ready for his bath. It was Friday so we'd been off together all day and had been trying to lure him with things like our cell phones, the remote control, etc to walk to us with no success. I'd been convinced he was going to walk before his first birthday, but we only had a week left and I was starting to think he wasn't going to make it. But I guess he finally just made up his mind! They weren't doing anything in particular, but Noah just all of a sudden let go of the foot rest for our glider and took 4-5 steps toward Mike and his bookshelf. And he's been doing it ever since! Little stinker-like everything else, he's just going to do things in his own time on his own terms. I'm already starting to worry about the teenage years!

Hooray for ear tubes!

Noah now has his ear tubes which we are praying will help keep him from continuing to get so many ear infections. His surgery was Feb 13th. All went well and he did great!

It was all quite minor (although you wouldn't think so from the medical bills that resulted). I think we were at the surgical center for all of about 3 hours. We had to wait about 2 hours during which we got checked in and paid, got checked out by the nurses, vitited with the doctor and anesthesiologist, had about a dozen people ask us the same questions over and over, were shown to a room to wait, and Noah put on a cute little baby size hospital gown. We hung out in our surgery waiting room for probably 45 min or an hour before they came to get him for his surgery. He tolerated this amazingly well considering he'd hadn't been able to eat that morning (can't have food in the tummy for general anesthesia) and we wouldn't let him crawl around on the floor (hospital floors are just plain gross and there's no way I was going to let him down on that floor!).

Waiting for surgery in his cute orange baby size hospital gown

Finally it was his turn. The nurse came to get him and of course he cried initially when she took him from us. Later, she said he stopped crying as soon as we were out of sight and was happy and calm until they put the mask on his face to give him the gas for anesthesia. I knew he would freak at this but luckily after a few quick breaths it puts you to sleep so he didn't have to be upset for long. The procedure litterally took less than 10 minutes and he was away from us for no more than 20 minutes.

He was so funny when they brought him back--all groggy and drunk acting. He seemed so disoriented and out of it. Poor boy. Luckily I was able nurse him right away while he slowly woke back up which helped keep him calm. Before we knew it we were all done and headed back home! Noah was still a little groggy and grumpy the rest of the morning, but by the time he got up from his nap later that afternoon he was back to himself again!

His ears have healed up fine and we can now get them wet again (we were having to put cotton balls in every night for bath time). And during the summer he can swim with no problems as long as he's in clean/chlorinated water (otherwise he just need ear plugs).

Actually, this last week he's had a bit of a cold which would have turned into a full blown ear infection before. He apparently already had some fluid start to build up but this time instead of sitting behind his ear drum and causing him lots of pain it just drained out of his ears. It looks gross, but it's not bothering him at all. We just use ear drops and go on about life. No visit to the doctor. No strong oral antibiotics that cause diarrhea and diaper rash. While we hope that the tubes keep him from getting infections at all, at least they can get the fluid out if it does start so that's better than nothing. So all in all, hooray for ear tubes!

Celebrating Grandmother

My Grandmother turned 95 this Sunday. The whole Tilton clan was in Angleton to celebrate with her this weekend. We had a surprise come and go party for her at my parent's house where other extended family members and various friends and neighbors could stop by and visit with her. It was really cool to see all the people that came out to see her and to know all the lives she's touched in her 95 years of life. We're just so blessed to have had her with us for this long and it brings me so much joy to know that she's been able to know her great grandson.

A few updates on Noah: The little stinker is so close to being able to walk but he just won't do it yet. He cruises around hanging on to anything and everything like crazy. He'll let go and stand independently for several seconds but then when he wants to move he drops down to crawl. We were hoping he'd perform for the family and start walking in honor of Grandmother's birthday this weekend, but no such luck. He did have fun chasing Kristi and Casey's dogs around again though.

He had a great time in Angelton and even did well in the car both there and back. When we got back to Austin late Saturday night we got him out of the car seat and he felt warm. Sure enough he had a 101 fever. Must be the ears again. Grrr. Then the poor baby woke up with a 103.5 fever Sunday morning. He was just miserable!! Thankfully we had a "just in case" prescription for more antibiotics from the ENT last week which we were able to fill. Now, if there was any doubt in our minds that it's time to do something to help his ears, that doubt is gone. Hey doc, can you put his tubes in tomorrow??

Grandmother and her birthday cake

With her two sisters, Mattie and Georgie. Grandmother is the oldest of the three of them. The whole family (minus Noah who was napping. Thomas had to leave early so we couldn't wait for Noah to get up)The Grandkids Now Great Grandmother gets time with her Great Grandson! Mike's Dad came down from The Woodlands for the party The guys. Yes, the one making the face is my wonderful husband! Trying to get Noah to walk. He got close, but still wouldn't quite do it without holding on.

Noah's poor little ears

Noah has had some rough times with ear infections over the last few months. To be specific, he's had 6 rounds of antibiotics for ear infections (either separate occasions or infections that wouldn't clear up and came back as soon as we stopped the original antibiotics) in the last 4 months. His little ears just won't drain the fluid and each time we get him cleared up, the infection just returns. This last time he even needed to get 2 rounds of Rocephin injections which was so not fun.

So, we got to visit the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor yesterday and next week Noah will be getting ear tubes! Even after the Rocephin injections his ears weren't much better. And they tested his hearing and it's just slightly decreased due to the presence of all the fluid. We know it's the right thing to do. Because he has to be completely still for the procedure they'll use some gas for general anesthesia and he'll be asleep for the entire 5 minute procedure. I'm not excited about it, but again we know it's what he needs right now.

This is just another one of those examples with your children that no matter how hard you try, there are just some things you can't control. I've looked at lots of things about preventing ear infections or doing things to decrease your risk for ear infections, and really he doesn't have any risk factors. Breastfeed-yep, still doing it. Don't smoke around him-nope don't do that. Don't put him to bed with a bottle-never have. Large day care centers-well, he's in a home day care with only 2-3 other children so that shouldn't be a big risk factor. Like everything else in his body, he's just got stubborn ears that won't let the fluid drain. Anatomically, this should change as he gets older. Till then, hopefully the tubes will help.