Oodles of Noodles

One of Matt's newest nicknames for Chloe is "Noodle," AKA: "The Great Noodle."  Chloe continues to be an incredible joy every day.  She is so sweet and just lights up the room when she smiles. She's gotten really efficient at getting where she wants to go, so we have to be really careful with closing doors etc.  If the bathroom door gets left open, she's there in no time and has her hand on the toilet bowl.  We keep telling her how gross that is but she just thinks its funny.  Noah is usually the culprit with the open door...now that he likes to wash his hands by himself, "No, ME DO IT!" 

Chloe is still a great sleeper (most nights).  There was a time recently that she started waking up again, but we realized it was because she was still hungry, so we've been filling her up with more table food during the day and that seems to have done the trick.  She currently has an ear infection, so she had a couple of rough nights due to that...but last night was silent bliss from 8pm to 7am...so I think we're past that as well (huge sigh of relief). 
Unlike Noah, Chloe usually fusses or talks abit before going to sleep.  When it's naptime, if I don't time it just right, she'll sit up (I put her down on her back and she usually rolls over to her belly).  She gets sort of stuck sitting up and ends up just leaning over on her blanket to sleep.  She does it all the time.  Amazing how flexible her little body is. 

Most of the time Chloe's favorite person is her big brother.  She absolutely adores him.  Here she is giving him some kisses.  Unfortunately, Chloe has a hard time controlling her strength...so she scratches him and even bites him (in an effort to kiss) semi-frequently.  Noah takes it like a champ since he adores her right back. 

This is so sweet.  I was brushing Chloe's hair one night and had just handed her the brush (she loves to brush her own hair).  Matt said that he's never even gotten to brush her hair yet (okay, so I hog that job), so he took her, and took the hairbrush out of her hand.  You can see how much she likes it when you take something (especially her brush) out of her hand.  I just think it's so sweet that Matt wanted to brush her hair...she's got him wrapped around her little finger. 

Chloe is very inquisitive.  This is her response to me telling her not to play with the albums on that shelf.  "Please Mommy, I'll be gentle.  Don't you trust this face??"  She is actually very good at obeying already.  When we tell her no she almost always stops, looks at us and tries again.  The second time we say no, she almost always moves away to play with something else.  She definitely has a stubborn streak in her though...cause if her heart is really set on something she will not budge.

Poor Chloe.  Noah wanted a picture with her but she just wanted to nurse.  Also of note in this picture is that little yellow ball in her hand.  It's big enough that it doesn't fit in her mouth, but small enough for her to hold in one hand.  It's her favorite toy.  She'll hold it (or some other similar sized toy that will fit in one hand) all day if you let her.  She'll crawl on it like it's a little pegleg...it's hysterical.  She plays with it sometimes, but mostly, she just loves to hold it. 

Chloe loves Atticus!  We really do have to watch her when she's around other little ones cause she will pinch, scratch or bite hard! 

I admit it. One of the things I love about having Chloe is dressing her up in cute outfits.  I've been excited to put her in this jumper since I saw it (thank you Beth for the hand-me-downs!)  She is so cute!
Chloe also loves to laugh, but mostly loves to play with her brother.  She just started pulling herself up to standing this past weekend, so I'm sure that cruising and then walking is not far behind.  Do you believe she is 11 months today?!  In only 1 month she'll be getting her first bite of cake!

 

"Oh Mayn! What de heck iz dat?!"

Noah is such a trip these days.  He keeps us laughing a lot...and he's still just as sweet as ever too!  Don't get me wrong, he does plenty of whining (retribution I'm sure) but we have just been loving watching our little Noah become a little boy.

As is evidenced by the title of this post, he will pick up on everything we say...and repeat it in a super cute voice.  he says all kinds of crazy things and we've been trying to write them in FB or somewhere so we remember them.  He still loves being outside, especially now that we have some more neighbors with kids close to his age. Sufa (below) is 4 and just moved here with her family from Iraq.  Noah has actually tried to speak some Arabic on occasion (which is hysterical).

Noah has also gotten into looking for animals.  Especially when he has a flashlight!  He frequently finds tigers in corners and bunnies or frogs in his hand.  Oh, and speaking of the flashlight, he understands his shadow and thinks it's pretty funny too.  He tries to make shadow puppets sometimes (like his daddy does) - it's so sweet!

And he's into picking out his own clothes.  He will throw a fit if we try to put clothes on him that he didnt' pick out (shirts anyway).  He picked out that hat himself too.  And that's his new smile-for-the-camera face by the way.

I think that Noah was dancing in this picture.  He still loves to listen to music all the time and dances around like a maniac with it. 

We had gotten him a tricycle this summer and finally got a helmet and knee pads for him to use.  He didnt' want to take them off when we first got them...so we had to hid them.  And now that I think about it I have absolutely no idea where they are.  Sigh.

Any time it's nice out and Chloe is napping I try to let Noah have some Chloe-free outside time. It's just easier to play with him when I don't have to keep her from eating grass every 30 seconds...

Did I mention yet that his favorite color is orange?  No idea why, but if there's an orange item of clothing clean, that's what Noah wants to wear. 

He loves Chloe so much and has really taken to the role of big brother.  I came home from work the other day and Matt told me that Noah and Chloe had been wrestling.  Wrestling that's gentle (mostly) and that the kids love.  Below, Noah is about to gently lay Chloe on her back and then bub his head on her belly while she laughs hysterically and swats at his head with her little hands.  It's so cute...I'll work on getting a good video soon...

Noah has done amazingly well with the switch to his big boy bed.  He did have one day that he refused to stay in bed for nap.  He kept saying, "I'm awake Mommy," (so I made a mental note to next time save the cupcake for after naptime).  Anyway, after some disciplining I ended up putting him in his (now Chloe's) crib so he would stay put and sleep.  Of course every item on his bed had to come with him.  And that cup is water in case you were worried.

He's got big shoes to fill;)

I couldn't do a post about Noah without mentioning that he is still pretty car-obsessed. Even when we play with play-doh he ends up making a road with the play doh to drive trucks and cars on. 

 

This boy brings me so much joy every day.  I just wish he would stop growing up so fast!

Virginia Beach!

Columbus Day weekend I took the kids (without Matt) to Virginia Beach to stay with Kate.  Beth came with Sarah (without Ted) and we all had a blast.  Okay, there's actually kind of a crazy story about this weekend, but I have to first say that no matter what happens, I always love (love, love, love) our mini Girls House reunions.  I am so blessed to get to regularly see so many of my former roomies  (if only I could convince Donna, Krista and Kristin to move back east...).

I also love that Kate, Beth and I have kids the same ages.  This was the second time since Chloe was born that we've gotten all the kids together and it is just so special to see our kids playing together. I love that they'll get to grow up together...and who knows, maybe we'll end up being in-laws together (at this point it would have to be Noah marrying Sarah - cause I just can't think about Chloe being that grown up yet.  She won't be allowed to date - EVER.) 

The girls!  Sarah and Chloe (future roommates)

We went back to Hunt Club again to see the pumpkins and the petting zoo.

Kai and Chloe were sort of trying to hold hands.  Such cuties!

Yes, I'm inside with the llamas and goats.  Noah wanted to go in but he also wanted me to hold him the entire time.  Hence, no pictures of him with any animals.

Sarah is such a good little stander - she's such a sweetie!

Kai!  This was later that same day at a playground in Sandbridge.  We got to let the kids run loose a little...

...okay, not all of them ran.

This was as close as we got to playing with sand.  Noah was disappointed, but his big excitement for the weekend was playing with Hakon, so he got over it.

Hakon and Noah holding hands - isn't this just the best picture ever??

Beth sure looks good with two babies in her lap.  Haha! 

"Let us in, let us in!"

Noah was quite smitten with "Baby Sarah" - he asked to hold her several times and enjoyed holding her for a while each time.  He's so good with babies (I think he wants another one - don't tell Matt).

The babies!  Kai, Chloe and Sarah.  Remember this picture from the last beach trip?  They change so fast at this age...it's CRAZY! 

The plan was to try to get a picture of all five kids, but Hakon was busy playing and then Noah decided to tackle Kai...

...so this ended up being the best picture of all 5 kids. 

 

  

Such a fun (and crazy) weekend:)