Granny's 93rd Birthday

My Granny turned 93 yesterday. It's just amazing to me to think of all the changes she's seen in her lifetime. Thinking of her house alone, there's still the old septic reciprocal in the back from when she didn't have indoor plumbing, there the old coal room off of her "new" furnace room (this furnace is the hugest furnace I've every seen, I think it must be the first and only furnace that she's ever had) from when she and Gramps used coal to heat the house- granted that Gramps made the basement where this is so I don't know what they did before that. There's Gramps' baby in the garage- his old Corvair. These are the presidents that have been in office since she was born: Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton, George W, Bush- that's amazing! And hopefully one more. Many of you know that she's not doing well. She has advanced stomach cancer and it is progressing very quickly. She rarely eats so she's dwindled away to skin and bones and has no strength. She's sleeping all the time now. It hurts to see her like this- Aaron and I have always been so close to her. For years our immediate family was Granny, Mom, Dad, Aaron & I. She's always been one of my favorite people, someone I've always looked up to and admired. If it wasn't for her I wouldn't be where I am today. I love her very much. Please keep her in your prayers!

Typical Male

In many ways Noah is such a typical male: he loves to bang things, he loves to be loud, he grunts and yes, he loves football. I have probably mentioned this before, but he has always seemed to love football. Maybe it's because he was born during Monday Night Football or that he was born into a Bronco fan-family or maybe it's just simply genetic. Last fall he was contently laying on the floor at my parents' house until my brother got in his line of vision of the football game. It was quite funny that a 2 month old baby would get upset about not being able to see the game! Needless to say not much has changed. Noah still loves to watch football. He doesn't seem to watch much else on t.v. other than the part of Price is Right when the contestants are told to "come on down" and when they spin the wheel. As you will see in this video, he's talking and playing in front of the t.v., he briefly looks up when there is an ad for football, but once the game comes back on he's back to watching the game.

What a Big Boy

Well, Noah had his first Happy Meal today. I've been fixing him chicken nuggets, fries (which he loves, just ask his Aunt Janis) and apples so we figured he was ready for the Happy Meal. Granted, he'll maybe eat half a nugget but it was fun none the less. He ate as much apples and he did fries and actually seemed to enjoy his prunes and green beans better than the fried McDonald's food (which is just fine with me).

We all have been so busy with school and life. Noah has physical therapy once a week, I had a staff meeting after school this week and of course we're trying to make it over to see Granny once a week. Through it all, Noah and Justin have established a steady morning ritual: Noah wakes and nurses then Daddy changes his diaper and the two boys come down stairs and sit on the coach for a bit. Noah's always so smiley and happy in the morning, especially during his morning cuddle time with his daddy.

Noah's talking up a storm. When you ask him what sheep say he says "baa" (he's done this for a long time now), you ask what cows say and he says "mmmm" but the new one is you ask him what snakes say and he says "hisss". It took him a while, at first he had just the "sss" sound but now he's got it. He's trying to imitate more and more. And I think he's trying to say bath. EVERY time we go into the bathroom, be it to wash his face or take a bath, it sounds like he tries to say it. He also says "this" a lot. A lot of things are "this," it gets very confusing!

And of course he's on the go ALL the time. He wants to walk everywhere but can't do it by himself so he gets frustrated when we don't keep up with him on where he wants to be going. He's moving from laying to sitting like a pro now and trying to pull up a lot more. Of course his favorite place to do this is the bath tub!

Woo Hoo!!! He Did It!!!

Noah pulled himself up to standing- in the bath tub, none the less! He did it so fast the first time I didn't even realize what he was doing. He's been trying to pull up in the bathtub for a while now but gets stuck when he gets on his knees. Well, not today! He pulled up 4 times!
Noah got to spend the day with Auntie Janis and some of the day with his cousins (they were in assessments for part of the afternoon). Well, leave it to Aunt Janis to get him drinking his milk from a sippy cup! We tried with little success, but Aunt Janis did it! Now, the trick is to see if he'll continue drinking it out of a sippy at the Shoes. Aunt Janis will be over here with him tomorrow as well. I have a ROCKE workshop all day in Littleton (ugh, the presenter is fabulous it's just I miss the guys too much) and Justin has the LINKS car wash. Lucky Noah spending time with his aunt and cousins! How he loves them!
Well, it's official. Football season has started and of course the boys have started watching it. Here they are catching the first "real" game of the season on Thursday night. I think Noah likes watching football almost as much as his daddy. Well, it's like they say, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

The Abbott Look-Alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Descendents - Free family tree maker

Happy Birthday Uncle Adam!!!

Today is Uncle Adam's 23rd birthday. I love this picture of Noah & Uncle Adam that Grandma Kathy took this afternoon, it's too sweet!

All of us except for Aunt Julie were able to celebrate by having dinner and cake at the Shoemakers. It's crazy to think that a year from now Adam will be employed as an engineer and finally done with school!

Happy Birthday Uncle Adam, we love you!!!
Noah certainly enjoys spending time with all of his uncles. For a little while he was going through stranger anxiety. Maybe it's because he's seen them more often or he's out growing that phase but he warms up to all of them right away. Here are a couple pics of the four boys watching something on the computer:



This picture is from last week when Noah's great-aunts, Connie and Judy, were in town. They went with the Shoes up the Braynard (spelling?) Lake for a picnic lunch. I thought this picture of the three of them was just darling.

Noah's First Parade and More!

Noah attended his first parade today: the Louisville Labor Day Parade. Last year he was only one week old so he, Justin and I stayed at home with Granny. Here are pics of Noah with Grandma Debbie and Daddy.

It was only Justin, my mom, Noah and I that were sitting watching the parade this year. My brother, Aaron, is the director of the Centaurus High School Band so he was marching next to them, as was the rest of his family. Mary was helping carry that banner & Janis was a "band parent" (see pic above) Ellie was also "with the band," passing out gum. I was in such a frenzy to get a picture of Aaron for my mom that I spaced snapping one of Ellie: BAD AUNT!!! I wouldn't have been in such a hurry if Justin didn't need to leave the parade early. You see, my dad has been one of the Labor Day pie judges for the past few years and this year he arranged for Justin to also judge. Poor Justin, though. It was a dream job for him and he was so sick that he could barely taste the pies! He said he hoped he did a good enough job that they will ask him to judge again next year. He even got an apron and a ribbon! It told him he should hang his ribbon above his desk at at school, the kids would get a kick out of it. Speaking of school, I actually got Justin talked into taking the day off tomorrow. He NEVER misses school, but he has been so sick and really needs the rest that I think he finally realized just how much he needs a day to sleep and take it easy. So, I will take Noah to the Shoes as usual so he can get some much needed R & R (I'm sure he'll also have to watch the Price is Right)

The other big news of the day is that Noah has cut his 7th tooth! I had no idea how far it was in already. I thought he was working on his molars and that the bottom left one would cut anytime now. Imagine my surprise when I'm holding him in my lap, he leans back and opens wide and there is a molar halfway through the TOP left side!!!! How could I miss that! I wonder how long it's been there, the outside half has cut through and one of the inside prongs has popped through. He's growing up too fast!

Here's my little "fireman." We got Noah some big boy bath towels for his birthday, I thought they were too cute. The other one is a little lion towel. His Grandpa Dean, Fran, Uncle Jackson and Aunt Holly sent birthday gifts for Noah that included fireman jammies! Of course he had to wear the matching p.j.'s tonight!

One of Noah's favorite things to do at Granny's is "crash" the memory game when Mary and Ellie are playing it. Here he is today having a great time playing with the memory cards.