Happy Birthday Mommy and 9 Month Check-up

I turned 30 this year and Dan planned a great day for our family to celebrate. It all started off by Dan getting up with Noah so that I could sleep in - this was a big present in and of itself! After Noah woke up from his first nap, we headed to North Lake Mall. We had lunch at Red Robin (YUMMM) and then we headed to the mall.

The boys ran errands while I had a manicure and pedicure. It was awesome to relax and have a pedicure. I haven't had one since before Noah was born! Definitely a good birthday treat! After the mall we headed to the doctor for Noah's 9 month check-up. We had to wait a little bit, but Noah enjoyed his time in the waiting room pulling all the magazines down over and over again, and playing with the bead mazes they have mounted on the wall.

Our little guy is 19 pounds (35%ile) and 29 inches long (65%ile). The doctor was very pleased with his development thus far. He even said he was an over-achiever! He seems to be off the charts developmentally in just about everything but communication. (Go figure...He's a boy right?!?) The doctor said it's nothing to worry about, that language is one of the most variable developmental skills. Praise The Lord for a healthy and happy boy! God has blessed us abundantly with such a sweet boy who is growing and learning new things all the time! 

After the doctor, my parents came over to watch Noah and Dan took me out to each in Charlotte at 131 Main. It was DELICIOUS! So nice to get out for a nice dinner uptown. I ate way more than I should have, but we had a great time. Day 1 in my thirties was awesome, can't wait to see what the rest of my 30's hold!

Noah's First Christmas - Take 3

With extended family all over, we celebrated Christmas a total of 3 times! Hopefully Noah doesn't think that this opening presents thing is a regular occurrence! My sister, her husband and my nieces came down after Christmas and we had another small Christmas with them with presents from my parents and a few aunts and uncles. Here is Noah with his cousins Julia (5) and Katie (7)

Can't wait until next year when Noah has 3 cousins!!

My cousin Tommy lives on a ranch in Oklahoma and he cut down a tree on his property to make Noah this toolbox.

It was such a thoughtful gift and something that we will surely cherish forever.

It was a beautiful day outside. My dad, brother-in-law and sister were hard at work raking up the leaves from my parents yard, so the kids were riding scooters in the driveway. Noah enjoyed being outside with his walker and taking in the sunshine and all the action!

Noah's First Christmas - Take 2

For Noah's First (Official) Christmas, my parents came over in the morning and we started our Christmas traditions with Noah. We always read the Christmas store from the bible and then sing a few caroles before opening gifts. Noah opened the few gifts he had and he loved ripping open the paper! I think he was more impressed with that than anything we bought him!

We got him a little football, some pajamas, a tunnel and a few other miscellaneos things. The tunnel was a hit right away, but he still isn't sure what the football is all about. Daddy will teach him soon enough!

 My parents also got him this little giraffe tricycle. He also had a hard time figuring that out. He kept wanting to push it from behind like his walker, instead of sitting on it! We will have to work on that one too! 

The rest of the day, we just relaxed, watched tv and ate A LOT! It was really nice to just spend the day with my parents and not have to worry about getting ready or running all around. It was very low key, but very nice after all the stuff we've had going on lately. I hope that you and your family had a great Christmas too!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we headed to the Christmas Eve Service at church with my parents. That same day, Noah had gotten a package from Dan's Aunt Peggy with some shoes for Christmas. These adorable Sperrys came just in time to finish off the perfect Christmas Eve outfit for Noah. Here is our dapper little guy before church:

And here is our little family after the service.

After church we came home and had a wonderful meal with my parents. Prime rib, mashed potatoes, and asparagus! Yum! We even let Noah try the Prime Rib and he LOVED it! I couldn't cut it up fast enough to keep up with the rate at which he was eating it and he let me know that I wasn't fast enough!!

9 Months Old

I'm not sure how it's possible that my little baby is 9 months old, but it's true!

Within the past week, Noah's top 2 teeth have poked through, giving him a total of 5 teeth! He is pulling up on everything and even starting to walk from one thing to another while holding on. He loves to climb the stairs and has really enjoyed feeding himself as we have started to give him some more solid foods. Noah is very easy going. He loves peak-a-boo and has even started to dance (which I love!!). What a blessing this sweet little boy is! I thank God for him everyday! 

Noah's 1st Christmas - Take 1

Every year we take turns spending Christmas with my family and Dan's family. This Christmas just happens to be a year we spend Christmas with my family. Being Noah's first Christmas, we still wanted to see Dan's family so that they could enjoy watching him open presents for the first time too! 

 Noah had a great time getting re-acquainted with grandma and grandpa, Aunt Charlene and Uncle Kyle, and their dogs too!

He also did a great job opening up presents!

He got lots of new clothes, books, and toys! Thanks everybody!

 Saturday night, we headed to Christmas at Parkwood, a performance at our church. It was excellent! Here we all are after the show:

As always, we had a great time with everyone. I think Noah made grandpa go up the stairs about a hundred times! Grandpa was timing Noah and helping him improve his time with each run up the stairs!

Thanks to everyone for making the trip and for all of the thoughtful gifts! It was a great start to Noah's first Christmas!

Trouble...

That pretty much sums up life around here lately! Noah is crawling, pulling up and getting into EVERYTHING! He loves to climb up the stairs - I think he would do that all day long if I let him!

And when he isn't doing that, he enjoyed climbing on the dishwasher, pulling out all of his diapers, and climbing on everything!

He also loves the toilet! Needless to say, I've learned my lesson the hard way a few times about closing doors and turning my back for even a second! 

He is a sneaky one, but keeps me laughing all day long!

Shower for Baby Siskos in New York

The first week in December, Dan, Noah, my mom and I all got on a plane and headed to upstate New York for Sarah's baby shower. Noah did great on the plane, although when we landed at JFK for our connection at 10 pm he was WIDE awake

 After walking around JFK for quite some time and all of us taking turns, Dan finally got Noah to sleep!

Needless to say, we were all pretty tired!

We stayed with my cousin Matt and his wife Kristyn, who have 2 boys. It was awesome - the pack n play was already set up and Noah was in heaven with all the new toys to play with!

 Noah also loved meeting his cousins. Here is Nolan singing to Noah before bedtime!

And here is Noah pushing Tyler around

Poor Tyler was sick most of the weekend and not very happy, but we did catch a few sweet smiles!!

 Saturday was the shower. It was very simple - burlap and lace with some lamb accents. 

 Here I am with my 2 sisters, Sarah the beautiful mommy to be, and Suzi too!

We got the food from Wegman's and it was delicious!

 We also did a hot chocolate bar with lots of different things to put in your hot chocolate - caramel, marshmallows, candy canes, etc. made the hot chocolate a little bit more exciting and a fun touch to the shower!

 As always, it was great to see family! I wish they all lived closer! We had a great time catching up and celebrating Baby Siskos, who is expected to arrive in early February. Below is my cousin Kelly, me and Kristyn with our babies. There are only 12 weeks between all three of them! It sure will be fun watching them grow up together!