Sunday, August 31, 2008

Noah's First Birthday Party!!!


Noah's 1st Birthday party was yesterday!!! It was actually his 3rd birthday "party", we had one in Illinois in July, then one on Tuesday when Aunt Judy & Aunt Connie were in town. But this was his "official" party: planned by mommy.
Here's pics of all his presents and the food table.

Everyone eating (they didn't eat enough, we have A LOT of leftovers!)
The birthday boy eating a chip.

Presents!!! And he actually wore the hat!!!

My Granny.

Grandma Debbie, Mary, Uncle Aaron & Aunt Janis.
Grandpa Tom, Aunt Leahna, Uncle Adam, Grandma Kathy.
More presents. It's nice having two older cousins that can help open them!!


Mary, Granny, Ellie, Justin & Noah.
The cakes: the big one and his "smash" cake. He wasn't into eating last night. He tried maybe a bite of frosting and that was it. We'll try again today. It wasn't like all those pictures you see of babies with cake all over their faces. Noah was far too neat.
Singing "Happy Birthday" to him. He clapped for us when we were all done singing (that's something he does a lot: claps at the end of a song, good concert ettiquette, you know!)
Blowing out his candles, well, me blowing out his candles!

Eating his cake, with a spoon and knife no less!! He seemd to have a great time. He got so many presents but more importantly he has so many relatives that love him. Between the three parties we were able to see and spend time with a lot of family. Thank you everyone for making his first birthday very special!!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

My Baby Boy is One Year Old!!!!

I can't believe that Noah is one. It's been an amazing, joy-filled year. I can't imagine our lives without Noah. He fills our hearts with pure joy and love. Being his mommy is the most amazing, rewarding experience I could ever ask for.

His birthday was actually really anti-climatic. Both Justin and I had school and then Noah had physical therapy after school. He seems to be still working on those molars, which if that is the case he's been doing it for a couple months now. Or he's getting/has the cold that is circulating the Abbott household right now. I got it last week, thought I was on the mend earlier this week and was hit with it again. Justin really got hit with it yesterday and today. Both the boys were in bed early. I should have been so wise as to follow suit!
Tomorrow Noah has an appointment at the urologist so I have a half day sub. The lady that subbed for my maternity leave is my sub, which made writing sub plans REALLY easy: she wants to do her own thing. That works for me!
Noah's Aunt Janis and Aunt Connie both got tickets (from different sources) to go to Mile High tomorrow evening to hear Barack Obama speak. While Noah isn't going, he'll be with them in spirit sporting his Obama t-shirt.




Here's a short (very short) clip of Noah smiling tonight. He's such a little cutie, if I do say so myself!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Noah's Birthday-Eve Party


I can't believe that Noah's birthday is tomorrow! Some of Justin's family can't make it to his party on Saturday so we celebrated early tonight at the Shoemaker's house.
Kathy's sisters, Judy from CA and Connie from WY, are in town. Also, Uncle Seth and Aunt Julie won't be able to make it Saturday. Uncle Seth is VERY busy right now student teaching and working Boulder Community Hospital.

It was great to see everyone. It seems that Noah is getting over his stranger anxiety. He warmed up and was very receptive to all the family that he hadn't seen in a while.

Of course the early birthday party included presents. He got lots of books, which he LOVES! He got some stuffed animals, one of which was a miniature Umbaa that Grandma Kathy found at Borders.
He also got a crazy "car" toy from Grandpa Tom. I bet Grandpa and Noah will have a lot of fun playing with it at the Shoemaker's house.


I still can't believe that my baby will be a year old tomorrow. I think that I am in denial! I know that it will be a bigger day for Justin and I than it will be for him. The day that he understands what his birthday is and the excitement that comes with it will be here all too soon!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

12 Month Pictures and a Near Tragedy

We had Noah's 12 month pictures taken today. By wording it at "12 months" it doesn't make me feel like he's as old as a year. I can't believe that he will be a year old on Wednesday. This time has gone too fast!

We didn't have the best time at the photographers today. With Kiddie Kandids you get the photographer they give you otherwise I would have requested the gal that took his pictures last time. Today the gal was really impatient. She claimed Noah "needed to calm down" after 15 minutes of trying to get his picture. The problem was she was making loud sounds and acting all crazy, which they need to do with some babies to get their attention, but it didn't work with Noah. She had his attention she just needed him to smile and he doesn't tend to do that when people are acting all crazy like she was. So, we took a break and came back to the studio after walking the mall for a bit and got a couple more photos.
The pictures ended up turning out alright but boy was it an ordeal! Then, when we were walking the mall, getting Noah to "calm down," we had a near tragedy! When we were in Chicago we bought Noah a stuffed "Very Hungry Caterpillar" who got the name "Umbaa" after Noah pointed to it and called it that. Well, Umbaa has become his lovey. He takes it with him everywhere. Umbaa has made many transitions such as going back to Grandma's during the day go smoothly. Well, as we're walking I suddenly realize Umbaa is missing!!! Oh no! My heart starts racing. Justin took off in one direction and Noah & I in the other retracing our steps in an attempt to rescue Umbaa who we're sure that we will never see again. Noah and I frantically go looking in Old Navy, no Umbaa. People are passing by pushing children in the mall's strollers that are the same color as Umbaa. They keep catching my eye, thinking it's Umbaa. Well, outside the Old Navy is a sunglasses stand. As we come out and walk around it we find Noah's lovey, wrapped around the corner of the stand. Whew!!! I have never been so excited about a stuffed animal. I honestly don't know what we would have done had we not found him. I guess we could have ordered one from FAO Schwarz, of course having to have it overnighted. What a relief we found him!
I had to include this: the picture that the photographer liked the best. Really? I felt like saying to her: "I'm spending money to have my baby's picture, you only give me 6 different poses and you want me to choose this one with the hat covering his face as one of them?" Well, she "over-rode" the system so that this picture could be included as she's going to use it in her portfolio.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things


The three of us are trying to get back into the swing of school. The top picture is from last Thursday, Noah's first day back with Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Tom (my first day back to school). In addition to the first day back at the Shoes' he also had physical therapy. He was SO tired from everything that he started to fall asleep in his high chair at dinner! He basically went to bed at 6 that night! Well, he had physical therapy again tonight and was ready for bed at 7. Poor tired baby!
Justin and I both started with kids this week. My classes seem to be okay. Noah and I have both come down with a cold: Noah's is in his nose and mine has gone into my throat. I had almost no voice today, made it really hard to teach music today! I could talk, with a scratchy voice but I couldn't sing at all, nothing would come out. So the classes did a lot of dances and I resorted to showing my first graders part of a video for the last 10 minutes because I needed a break from talking. I was almost glad Noah went to bed a little earlier tonight, it gave my voice a little rest. Needless to say the three of us are really looking forward to the weekend!!!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

My Last Day of Summer Break, Ugh!

I am so sad that this was my last day of summer break. I have thoroughly enjoyed spending the summer with my two boys. It was so great taking Noah swimming, to the library, to play groups, to Chicago to visit family, to visit Granny, to play with his cousins, on walks, I just didn't want it to end. I think that going back tomorrow will be even harder than when I had to go back to work last October. I'm quite attached to my little man!

I haven't "blogged" in a little while, so here are some updates:
* Uncle Adam and Aunt Leahna got home safely from their stay in Tacoma. We are glad that they are back in CO but wish we could see them more often.
* My brother's 30th birthday party was on Saturday. That was fun. We played kickball and had BBQ at their house. I got him a really cool remote control General Lee car (from The Dukes of Hazard, I'm sure he would have enjoyed it more 20 years ago, but oh well!)
* Justin went back to school on Monday. The freshmen start school on Friday, so he and his LINKS partner are busy planning for that. The rest of the kids start on Monday, which is when my kids also start.
* Granny is having her stint put in tomorrow. I hope it helps her. She's not eating much, sometimes the tumor sits just so that it blocks her stomach from her esophagus so the food can't get down, the stint should help that opening. (we hope!). Tomorrow is Back-to-School night at my school and I explained to my principal what's going on so I am excused from that. I know my mom is going to need the support. I worry about her just as much as I worry about Granny. Hopefully I will have good news to report.
Noah on the other hand is doing an okay job of eating. We tried Fig Newton's today. He liked them, here his is trying to share with his daddy.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Justin's "Last Day of Summer Break"

Today was Justin's last official day of summer break. To "celebrate" we went to breakfast at The Original Pancake House. Noah enjoyed the pancakes and also tried some waffle. (I think he liked them better than his daddy's pancakes and waffles! Shh- don't tell J!)

Here he is with his pancake:

Here he is eating part of a waffle:
He's been trying more table foods and is growing less interested in baby food- he's growing up too fast! (Have I said that before?)

On Monday he tried lasagna and liked it. Wednesday we tried shredded cheese and he LOVED it! He had it at lunch AND dinner. And last night he tried yogurt- real yogurt not the baby stuff. He seems to know when food comes from a package with the word "Gerber" on it- he just won't eat it!
I had to share this clip of Noah and Grandma Kathy, Noah had some good "belly laughs."
Noah started physical therapy last night. The therapist seems very knowledgeable and worked very well with Noah. She gave us a great technique to get him to try to sit up on his own. It should be interesting to see how things progress with her help.