Thank you Elisa!

Check out Elisa's latest post...its "all about Noah!" And yes, that is some purple marker on his lip (still cute thought right?). He actually bit the tip off a marker that day. A couple of days later he did some serious damage to a purple crayon too. I'll take it as him telling me he wants to destroy all things purple...so no Barney EVER! *fingers crossed*

Summer's Final Curtain Call, Part II?

Can I post a "Part II" of something that I didn't post Part I of? I guess we'll see if my handful of readers get outraged at the idea. Elisa posted some pictures on a particularly beautiful day last week. Happened to be a day that Noah was over playing with Judah and Sofi...check it out. Noah cracks me up. He is clearly thinking, "Why are you wasting time taking pictures when you can be playing with a football or running around being crazy?" He's definitely a daddy's boy when it comes time to take pictures.
One of his new favorite things to do outside is to throw the football into the bush and then wait for mommy or daddy to get it back out. For added glee, the red leaves on this bush are starting to fall off...so every throw provides a little flurry of leaves falling.

Farewell Friends...

A couple of weeks ago I had to say goodbye to my all-time favorite pair of flip-flops. They're Reefs, but as far as I can tell they don't make this exact variety anymore. I must confess...the hole has actually been in the left shoe for about half the summer...but I love these so much I wanted to keep wearing them. So I did. Not if I was going to be going somewhere I thought I may have to use a public restroom of course, but I definitely wore them more days than not. When a hole finally emerged in righty I knew it was time to dispose of these babies. Thank you Anna for giving me such a wonderful birthday gift a couple of years ago. And thank you Reef, for making shoes that my feet love. Sigh.

So Funny!

I'm at work right now, but I had to take a minute to write this down. Noah is with Tabitha today...so Josh walked over to let me know that Noah had escaped out of his PeaPod during naptime, locked himself in their bedroom and proceeded to go through their drawers and make a big mess. Awesome! Tabitha was able to unlock the door using her McGyver-mama skills, and Noah hadn't done anything to hurt himself, so all I can do at this point is laugh. Okay, yes. I feel really bad that Tabitha now has a big mess to clean up, but it's still really funny. (When did Noah's unzipping skills get so good?) So now Matt and I are going to have to figure out how to get him to stay in his PeaPod for naptime...

30 lbs, 34 Inches!

Noah had his 18 month check up today and is now 30 lbs and 34 inches. I know, I keep telling him to stop growing but he refuses...

Goodbye Curls (sniff, sniff)

I could have resisted a little longer...but really friends, it was time. Noah's sweet curls were so adorable (I'm almost crying as I write this). The reason Matt has been asking me to cut them for over a month...is that they only look like this...

right after his bath. They smooth themselves out and then it starts to look like he has a mullet. I'm sorry, I loved the curls too, but no child of mine will walk around with a mullet. So Noah had his first (okay, 4th - but first time I cut the back due to the curls) haircut. He was SO good. I snipped away with him in my lap while he ate some Kix and watched Mickey. And yes, this was very hard for me to do. But I did it and I can't undo it and if you give me a hard time about it I may fly into an emotional fit of hysteria (which I will blame on the pregnancy). So do not tell me that I shouldn't have cut his curls.
I go back and forth thinking that the haircut made him look younger and older. Above I think he looks younger. (And thanks for the shirt Aunt Rachel - Noah is definitely too cute to lock up).
Yes, I look crazy in this picture, but Noah looks super adorable and happy, so let's just focus on that.
And here' s another picture from this morning (oops, yes, that's 3 posts in 1 day folks, sorry - one day I will be better about this blogging thing). Noah was telling me about the birds...and he was pretty excited about them.
My sweet boy also likes to help me do the laundry. If throwing clean unfolded laundry on the floor and climbing on top of any remaining garments in the basket can be called helping that is.
Okay, this is a good example of him looking older with his new haircut. He's now 18 months old people! That's insanity! Look at him...oh I just want to go pick him up out of bed and hold him...he's growing up way too fast.

Virginia Beach Trip...only a month later

We had an amazing time on our latest trip to Virginia Beach over Labor Day. We drove up Friday evening which is the normal routine. Noah decided to only sleep for 1 hour of the trip, so it was a rough night for us all (but we were SO thankful for the portable DVD player we invested in after the Rehobeth trip). Despite the rough night of sleep, Noah was AMAZINGLY good the entire trip (oh, of course he didn't sleep at all on the way home either).

The weekend as a whole was really a reunion...with a double birthday party and a baby shower thrown into the mix. Beth is expecting her first (GIRL!!) at the end of January. And yes, there was a LOT of baby talk that weekend. This was a husbands included trip, so Matt enjoyed filling Ted in on all the fun fatherly things (like poop and spit up) that he likes to talk about. Beth and Ted are going to be such great parents...okay, enough. You want pictures, so here they are...
For some reason we did not take a full group picture. I know, I can't believe it, but between these two pictures here we all are...Krista (award for longest distance traveled for the weekend), Southern, Beth (above), and Kate, me, Beth again, Anna, and Liz. It was so great to see everyone and of course we missed everyone that couldn't come.

Noah and Hakon had fun playing together. Although it looks like Noah is about to beam Hakon in the head, he was actually aiming elsewhere. I definitely think this picture does a good job of capturing boyhood though...

The hotel had a pool...and a water slide too.

On Sunday afternoon we headed over to Hunt Club Farm, a petting zoo close to Kate and Mark. Noah and Hakon still had fun together...

Tackle!! Hakon just wanted to give Noah a hug but Noah was too busy running around. This was hysterical. Major props to Liz for the great pictures! Oh, and for all you who thought Noah was a big boy...Hakon is 3 months younger than Noah.

Still loving the slide. Again, major props to Liz for the great pictures that day. I'm really, really wanting a NICE camera now.

Noah still likes to look rather than touch animals. He just wasnt' sure what to think about this zoo (and there were some scary looking chickens and roosters there, so I don't blame him).

Just love this picture of Beth.

Wow! A family picture...so rare! Enjoy...

A Wide Receiver in the making...

It was a gorgeous morning out today. Matt and I were actually supposed to take Noah down to stay with Beth and Silas for the night (which would have been his first night away from me). Beth woke up sick, so we ended up having a fun family day instead. I must admit that I'm really not ready to have Noah spend the night away from me...but it's for the best. It would not be good if his first night away was actually 2-3 nights followed directly by a new baby in the house. So next weekend will be his first night. A test-run if you will. Maybe I'll be more ready in a week...

Anyway we did enjoy the beautiful morning. Noah has gotten really good at catching (he's been good at throwing for a while now). He also knows a football from a regular ball. "Bu-bah" instead of just "bah".