Over the river and through the woods...

to grandmother's house we go. Or Nanette and Papaw's...however you want to sing it. The point is, Noah took a little trip this week to go stay for a few days with them since Mrs. Tracy was out of town. I was so nervous about him being gone because even though I've been away from him overnight several times, it's always been when I went somewhere. I've never been at the house while he was somewhere else, so that was kind of weird. Plus Jeff was out of town too so I was all by myself. But I actually really enjoyed my time alone and got some things done around the house (like, you know, watching Big Brother, So You Think You Can Dance...important, productive things like that). And Noah, well let's just say I think he was way too busy having fun to be missing us. Nanette is a nanny to a little boy that's Noah's age, so he went with her to his house to play each day. I think he really enjoyed having someone his own age to play with, and most importantly, a BOY!!! Don't get me wrong, he loves hanging out with his girls every day at Mrs. Tracy's, but I think he was relieved to not have somebody putting bows and hair extensions and glittery hats on him for a change! : ) So I think they became friends very quickly and I'm sure they're going to miss each other now. It's too bad they don't live closer so they can play more often. But my little man came back home tonight and I was so happy to see him!!! I got a big ole kiss when I walked in the door and it made my day! I missed him so much....but seeing the cute little pictures of them playing made me so glad that he got the chance to go.

Check out this teamwork!

Bring on the food!

Bathtime is fun no matter where you are!

One year!

The big day finally arrived! Noah's 1st birthday was Saturday and we had a blast celebrating his special day. It was so fun to watch him get so excited about the balloons and presents and visitors at the house.....I think he had a great day. I swear when I went in to get him out of his bed that morning, he looked more grown-up to me. I just can't believe he's already a year old! Here are a few of our favorite pictures from his big day.

The cake!

...with the cute little monkeys on it!

Here's the too-cute birthday boy with his little party hat that we had to distract him with balloons so he'd even put it on....

"Hey, why do I get the feeling that this thing on my head may look more than a little silly and all of you are laughing at me?"

"Ok, that's it! Get this thing off of me!"

Giving his very best buddy Shae a big hug. Almost every morning when I drop Noah off, the first thing he does is go and find Shae and give her the biggest hug...it's one of the cutest things I've ever seen!

"Ah, now it's time for my cake!"

Silly me, when I got this little smash cake for him, it looked like chocolate swirls all over it. But turns out, after closer inspection, they were red! And after he decided to rub it all over his face and body, it looked like he was covered in blood! Needless to say, he got a quick bath as soon as the cake eating was over.

Hey, I'm really starting to get the hang of this 'opening presents' thing.

And on to other one-year-old related news...he had his one year check up at the doctor this morning and it went great, except for the part with the shots. There's just something about having to hold your child down while 2 nurses come in from both sides and stab his sweet little legs with needles that I am just not fond of....and neither is he...but he didn't cry for too long. He weighed 23.4 lbs (60th percentile) and was a little over 31 inches tall (75th percentile). My little boy is getting bigger every day! He even said the word "diaper" this morning. I know, I know, kinda weird for one of his first words, but he totally repeated it after me 3 times this morning while holding a diaper. The boy still won't say mama, but diaper? That's no problem. Oh well, maybe he's curious about this whole diaper business and is ready to start potty training....a mom can only dream right?

Happy 1st Birthday Noah! We love you so much and can't wait to see what the next year holds! Just don't let it go by quite as fast as the first one, ok?

Pictures

This weekend we got Noah's one year portraits made and even though it was sooooo early in the morning, we had lots of fun. Jessica Ritchie, who took his newborn pictures also, did them this time down on Dickson Street and I can't wait to see all of them! She did however post a sneak peek on her blog and they turned out great! I just can't believe how grown up my baby looks :( His 1st birthday is in less than a week and I guess I'm still in denial about that. There's no way he can be turning one! But the calendar disagrees with me....so I suppose I'll just have to accept it. Anyways, go on over to her blog and check out a few pictures of my little redhead. I know I'm a little biased, but I think he's pretty darn cute....

Family Vacation

Over the 4th of July weekend, we took a little family vacation with my parents and my brother and his girlfriend. Turns out, this is first family vacation we've had in like 7 or 8 years where everyone came. So it was long overdue...and we had lots of fun. We went to Table Rock Lake and stayed in a condo there. As soon as we got there, it was like Noah knew we were on vacation. He was running all over the place exploring every little corner of the condo and was very excited. You really don't need much to entertain an almost 1-year-old. He was happy just running in the closets and climbing on the furniture!

But eventually we did venture outside and go swimming for a little bit.

He loved it but the sun had already started to set and the pool was in the shade so his little lip started shivering and we had to take him out. And silly me had forgotten to bring a swim diaper, so he had just been swimming in a regular diaper and when he got out that thing must have weighed 30 lbs. He sat down and it exploded....what looked like little ice crystals went everywhere! That's some strange stuff that's inside a diaper...

We also went parasailing while we were there. I had done it once before in the Bahamas but it was everyone else's first time and to be honest I was kind of surprised Jeff wanted to go. He's usually not a big fan of heights. But we all had fun and it was a beautiful day to be flying over the lake.

To top off our 4th, we watched the fireworks show at the lake from our the balcony of our condo which was nice so Noah could go ahead and go to bed. I'm kind of sad that he didn't get to see fireworks for his first 4th of July, but I think I would have been even more sad at how bad of a mood he would've been in if he'd stayed up that far past his bedtime. So it worked out for the best. We had a great time and are thankful that we got to spend a great weekend with our family....can't wait for the next one!

Going to the chapel

This past weekend, one of my best friends from waaay back in the day got married. She was the final one from our little group to tie the knot and I was so excited for her to finally take the plunge and join the rest of us old married women. ; ) We had such a good time and everything went perfectly....and she looked absolutely beautiful!! Noah came to the wedding too so I guess this was his first wedding to attend (if you don't count the ones he went to while he was still in my tummy). Jeff had to take him out of the sanctuary right after Heather walked down the aisle because he was getting fidgety and when he saw mommy walking down the aisle without stopping to get him, he got pretty upset. So he went to the Cry Room, and luckily some of my other friends from high school that have babies around his age were in there to play. Poor little Dylan, Noah stole his pacifier right out of his mouth and put it in his! One day he's going to grow a little bigger and be able to steal it back. It was a great weekend and I enjoyed getting to see everyone....and the wonderful wedding! Congrats Heather and Adam!

Here are all the bridesmaids at the rehearsal dinner. It was a Razorback themed rehearsal...we love our Hogs!
This is me and the bride....we've been friends since around the first grade. Yikes, that's too long ago to even think about!

Here we are again, and you can see the red shoes this time. All the bridesmaids had bright red shoes, in different styles. The photographer got a cute picture of all of our feet in a circle....unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me then and by the end of the reception, everyone's feet were hurting so bad I didn't want to ask them to put their shoes back on.

This is Noah and Dylan, the poor little guy he stole the pacifier from. But the one he has in his mouth in this picture is actually his. He gave Dylan's back to him....at least I hope he did!

Weddings are always great opportunities for family pics!

And here are the bride and groom jetting away for their fabulous honeymoon in Italy and Greece....I'm so jealous! I hope they're having a great time.

11 months

Yesterday Noah turned 11 months old! I say this every month, but I can't believe how fast this year is going. My little baby is turning into such a big boy and doing all kinds of new tricks. It's so amazing to watch them grow at this age because every day he never ceases to surprise me with something new he's figured out. He's always loved to play with our cell phones and press the buttons to make it light up. But just the other day, he got my phone and held it up to his ear and walked all around the house talking on it. It's so cute...but I'm just sitting there realizing how much he really is paying attention to everything we do.

He's walking so good now and isn't falling nearly as much as he did in the beginning. We had some pretty nasty falls in the first few weeks of walking and I wasn't sure how much more of that I was going to be able to take. I felt so sorry for him when he fell 2 days in a row and had a black eye and a huge bump on his forehead...but they're almost completely gone now and we haven't had any serious accidents since then. I know, I know, having a rambunctious little boy means there's going to be lots and lots of bumps and bruises in the future, but I don't like it!

I've really been slacking on blogging lately, so I'm just going to post a bunch of random pictures from the last few weeks and we'll consider me "caught up". And one thing you'll notice from the pics...he's looking more and more like his daddy every day...except for that red hair! So cute! We love him so much!!

Tiny Dancer

Noah's latest thing is dancing anytime there's music nearby...and let me just tell you it's one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. I'm not sure where he picked up these moves, but the boy can shake it! Actually, I have a sneaking suspicion that sweet little Miss Gabby from next door might be where he's learned how to 'drop it like it's hot' because she's a dancing machine too! And I like how he claps for himself at the end. What can I say? He knows a good performance when he sees one.