Weekend with Watkins

While Matt and I took a small vacation to Santa Fe, New Mexico last weekend, Noah stayed with the Watkins. Here is what he did Friday through Sunday morning. As you can see, he had a blast and was quite spoiled. We are so blessed by this couple and can't wait to live close by. She sent me these pictures all weekend to keep me updated. I am also happy to report- they still want kids after watching Noah! That's a small victory in my book. The dood is very active and I think that John and Leeann were exhausted by the end. Noah did not want to leave them as we were driving home to Austin. To say Noah was well cared for is an understatement- he was treated like royalty! Parks, food, and Shaun the Sheep- this boy was in heaven!

18 months

I try to remember life before you, but I can’t. Your daddy and I both decided we would be really boring without you. You have introduced us to so many people because you have very little stranger anxiety. Your favorite thing as of lately is to say “hi” or “hey” to anybody and everybody.  The “hi” is real short, soft, and sweet, but the “hey” is loud. It’s almost like the Italian “heeeeeeee-eeeeey”.  It cracks me up every time.

Sweaty Curls

You have added a lot of new words this month. They include pizza, eat, more, please, thank you, ops for both grandpas, dog, bite, stuck, wa which is phone- not sure how you came to that one, buh-bye, pee-pee, banana, tree, all gone which is “all go go” and book. Aunt Judi and Uncle Jimmy gave you a book for Christmas called baby’s first 100 words. You can identity at least 80% of the pictures if we ask you where something is. It has made your daddy and I realize that you understand way more than we give you credit for.

As for big milestones, two word sentences/associations started this month. It’s my favorite. My sweet friend Amber gave me a mug that has a bunch of our family pictures on it. You saw a picture of baby Noah sleeping on it. You said to me “bay beee nigh nigh”. At first I had no idea what you were talking about, but I then realized you were pointing to the mug. You say “daddy buh-bye” when he leaves in the mornings. You will say “eat please.” This past Sunday we all slept until 9 (which never happens). You woke up and I gave you your milk. You then started crying and I was so confused- I knew you were rested. You then pointed to your mouth and said “EAT PLEASE”. Duh- you had slept for 14 hours. You were starving!

You are running, jumping, sliding, riding your trike, climbing, and snuggling. We have started a new nightly ritual. You will sit in between your daddy and I while we watch some silly TV show and just snuggle with me. You like to be as close to mommy as possible. You love to lay your head on your daddy or my chest. We saw awwww and you know you are being sweet. You soak up attention. You eventually get bored of the show and we go through the body parts. Your favorite is to open my mouth and touch my teeth. You then say “TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETH” really loud. Afterwards, we head to “nigh nigh”. You now repeat it back to me after I say it to you when I tuck you in. It’s so sweet.

Serious at play!

Food- blah-don’t get me started. You have become beyond picky. You will take three bites of something- tell me it’s yummy- then take the next bite, spit it out in your hand, and hand it back to me. I don’t enjoy it one bit. We go through some many different things trying to figure out what you want. Lately, it’s been a lot of starch. Maybe it’s just a phase- I pray it is. Your daddy and I get very frustrated because you will refuse something one second and then eat the whole thing the next. As of right now, you will usually eat corn, meat, apples, and oranges (oh and ice cream- you will always position yourself in my lap to make sure you don’t miss out- even if it means climbing up the couch via daddy’s legs and over mounds of pillows).

Inspector Walk

You love playing with cars, bouncing balls, throwing rocks, watching big kids, and being outside. We walk to get the mail every day, and you love to hold the keys and try to put them in the slot. We still see temper tantrums and spend time in timeout. We also see lots of kisses and hugs, so I can’t complain. You are just figuring out the boundaries. I know more teeth are coming- lots of drool.

Why hello green eyes and two bottom teeth!

You have brought so much joy to us this past month. After you go to sleep, your daddy and I talk about the funny things you do. Noah, we love you to the moon and back! 

Raisins and Rocks

Matt and I have a lot of change going on right now. It's good change- it's great change. It's going to be amazing and God's perfect plan always gets me excited, BUT today I decided to live in the present. I decided to not think about the change. I wanted to enjoy all my time with the dood, his raisins, and his rocks. SO- that's what I did. I finished up my work with an early morning and a long afternoon nap, and after he woke up, I set all technology aside (besides my camera) and just enjoyed HIM. It was beautiful. His facial expressions these days just make me that ooey gooey mom. I see the joy of the Lord in him and feel so undeserving of all God's blessings. I wanted to share some of the sweet moments I captured. 

Happy Friday! 

Six

6 random thoughts, blurbs, whatever.

Noah, Matt, and I did some co-sleeping last night and it was unsuccessful to say the least. Although we wore Noah out yesterday and had him outside for at least 4 hours, sleep was not going to happen. Matt literally had him running laps at our friend's house, but when we got home and put him down- within an hour, he was just crying. I blame the teeth. I'd hold and rock him, put him back down, and he'd cry some more. Eventually, I brought him into bed and it's best to say none of us slept. Matt claims he was kicked in the back at least every 5 minutes. Noah is a wild sleeper. I secretly cherished the moments where he'd nuzzle up and find the coziest nook and just snuggle, BUT I could not do it every night.

I mentioned teeth above, Noah has 10. He has the top front four, bottom front two, and four molars. He is the world's worst teether. It makes him irritable, feverish, and downright crazy. I'm over this teething phase but realize we will be here for a while. He also is the worlds slowest teether-hence why we will be in this phase forever. You still cannot see his top two when he smiles. You just see the eye teeth- and they have been popping through for at least 6 months. (He may or may not be part vampire).

We found out yesterday that Noah is getting another BOY cousin! Matt's sister is having another boy in August. Owen (Judi's first boy) and the new Blankenship baby will be 14 months apart. I love it. Family reunions are going to be crazy.

Noah will eat something one day and refuse it the next. The boy likes feta cheese but won't eat bread? What? He likes pasta salad, but he won't eat peanut butter? He is a mystery. Favorite foods as of yesterday- deli meat, apples, oranges, cherry/apple Lara bars, broccoli, lasagna, peas, carrots, corn, green beans, avocado, black beans, chicken, avocado/guacamole, raisins, applesauce, mac n cheese, pot stickers and yogurt. Dislikes- bananas, bread, peanut butter, eggs (which he ate every day for 2 months solid), blackberries, and peanut butter cookie Lara bars. He still loves juice and milk. Water is hit or miss. Every day he will refuse something new or beg to eat something I would have thought he'd hate. It's a wild fun guessing game.

Noah now opens his hands when I ask him a question. I will say "Where is your blanket?" He will open his hands like I don't know. (I'll get a picture). I thought he picked it up from the nanny, but I have caught myself at least 5 times a day doing it. It's crazy how they pick up mannerisms. It also is a reminder to be a good example.

New words as of this week- stuck and bite. He will say stuck when he can't open something or he is stuck in his pile of toys. He will say bite when he wants to try something I'm eating. At the grocery store Sunday, Matt and I both grabbed samples of this sandwich and Noah looked at me with his arms open and said "BITE." I can't forget my little dood.

That's all for now.

Happy 4/15!!!!!!

Easter Sunday

On Easter Sunday, the Clem family celebrated the resurrection of Jesus with the Austin Stone at the Frank Erwin Center.  It was epic and incredible. The worship was amazing and Matt Carter delivered a powerful message. It was awesome to have all 4 campuses in one big service. They haven't released the final count of attendees, but my guess is somewhere around 15,000 people.  The spirit was MOVING to say the least.

Afterwards, my grandparents, my parents, and the Clem trio came over to our place and had a Noah Easter egg hunt. It was so much fun. At first Noah was a little timid because he'd just woken up from a quick nap, but he quickly was showing off all his skills to each family member- loving the attention.  This weekend was one of my favorites with the dood. His personality continues to just shine through his sweet disposition. (I'm biased, so sorry).

Here are some of the pictures from the afternoon. 

The Triple Threat

My handsome men

Our neighbor and Noah's first cascarones. You can see the remnants above his lip on the right picture.

What a blast!

Favorite picture of the day. Pure joy on Noah's face along with the a missed button and belly popping out of the shirt.

The final egg!

Noah has the best cheerleaders.

Easter Saturday

Easter in the midst of busy season is tough. My poor child will never have a mommy to hang out with on spring break or Easter as long as she is in the tax work field. Death before taxes is a very true statement… I'm probably just ranting because I have two weeks left until 4/15 and want my life back. OK. I digress.

 When I found out about the neighborhood Easter egg hunt, I couldn't miss it- I just decided to take a small work break on Saturday and head out to hunt. This year was so different from last. I knew Noah would love finding the eggs. He is really big into putting things in the trash can, laundry basket, or dirty hamper- I figured the Easter basket was a similar concept. This Easter egg hunt was the perfect set up. They had a 0-3 year old spot, games, an Easter character, and hills to run up and down.

Noah had the time of his life. The dood loved finding the eggs but wanted to open each one after he found it to see what was inside. If it was too difficult to open, he would throw it. There was stickers and individually wrapped candy in the eggs- I appreciated that a lot. Homeboy goes crazy on sugar, and I knew I'd have to limit the intake. We have literally seen him bouncing of walls on lemonade.

It was such a successful outing and so much fun. He loved every minute of it besides the bunny character. We did another hunt on Sunday that I will post more on later. Enjoy! ( Matt was there- he just took all the pictures. I made sure the next time around I had the camera).

Save me grammy!

That was a close one- recovering from the trauma.

\

He's got it down!

Checking inside

Can't open- I'll just throw it. Dumb egg!

Victory hill dance. Love this view.

Grandpops- your my favorite.

I'll share my sticker.

The face of success. I have already posted this picture, but it's my favorite.

17 months

Somebody stole my baby and gave me a little boy. I know, I know. I say this all the time. I am a broken record, but I really do mean it. I've watched my little bald baby turn into this independent, wild, sweet, boy and I don't know where the time went.

CHEEEEEESY SMILE- He loves it Grandpops

17 months- Noah you are almost half a year. You are quite the chatter box. I call your dad on my way home from work, but lately I've been talking to you. Well, I should say listening to you. You will talk into that phone for a good 10 to 15 minutes. I can make out some of the words, but for the most part, it's a lot of gibberish. It's so cute. This month,  you have added to your vocabulary words like cookie, apple, Mimi, Grammy, Nana, mommy, daddy, baby, more please, go, meow,  hungry, night-night, hot, yummy, poo-poo, and this list goes on. There is a new one every day.

You love to do the itsy bitsy spider, this little piggy, and count. You want us to count if you are going down the slide. You raise your little "1" finger to start the countdown.  We do the countdown for anything to go down the slide- bunny, your cars, whatever it is- you love the countdown. You will spontaneously spin in circles and walk with your hands behind your back- Matt calls it the inspector.

This month, you have told us around 8-10 times when you are ready to go "nigh-night". You grab your pacifier, blanket, and start heading back to your room saying "nigh-night". You are a little boy who knows what he wants. You also tell us when you have a dirty diaper. You will point to your diaper and tell me if you went "poo-poo". I even had one time where I thought you were lying to me- I couldn't smell it, but you weren't. I opened the diaper and lo and behold- you didn't want that crust sticking to your booty anymore.

Matt taught you "more please" by saying it and patting your tummy. You do it all the time. You said "cookie" and then "more please" this past week.  I obliged, it was too cute to ignore. You also say "hot" when you see food that is steaming. You had been eating eggs every morning this month (now refusing of course) and every time you'd tell me hot and blow on it.

The best part about this month is watching you and your daddy's relationship develop. You give him these spontaneous pats on the backs all day long. That's how daddy shows you he loves you- hard pats. You do the same. It is so sweet. (Mommy gets the hugs and snuggles).  You two are wild together. Some nights I can barely watch-y'all throw balls at each other, tackle each other, and wrestle each other. Noah- you are quite the acrobat these days. You are cautious, but you are really into climbing all over the couch and jumping on it like it's a trampoline.

You understand way more than you can say. I told you I was going bye-bye and you immediately grabbed me and didn't want to let go. I'll ask if you are hungry and you will squeal and run to the refrigerator. We have already seen some time out from you because of deliberate disobedience. You do not like to be told no and will throw a fit. When you are angry, you will stomp your feet and throw things. (I kind of know where you get it from and it's not me).

BUT…most people who meet you comment on your sweet disposition and constant smile. You save the fits for home, and I am thankful for that. Noah Walker, you are my wild child and my blessing from Jesus. I can't wait to see what this next month holds. We love you!

(These are pictures from our baby/bike wash, Easter, and play day outside- I'll do more Easter pictures this week and a post on what Noah likes to eat).