New Word

This afternoon after we had gotten home from church, Matthew took Noah's shoes off and was playing with him.  He decided to point at Noah's shoes and say shoes over and over again.  It wasn't too long and out came the word shoes from his sweet little baby mouth.  At first it was just some sssshhh, then it turned into a baby version of shoes, it was so cute.  Matthew was so funny, because he was extremely excited that he had just taught him a new word.  After we were done with them he was playing with a ball and I asked him where his shoes were, he went and grabbed them.  Can't believe how big he is getting!

Food Issues

Noah has just really loved books these days, I love reading to him since he's not a lovey little boy (however he is turning into more and more of one) and then  I can kind of sit all close next to him and sneak kisses every now and then.  Wednesday while we were home with dad, I had him on the couch and he just sat back, relaxed and listened to books, it was great!  We went through quite a few and even the started the stack over.

Anyways the real reason for this post is my son is strong willed and I mean very strong willed, there have been many things we know he can do he just chooses not to, why I'm not sure.  Well feeding himself is one.  He has had a texture issue ever since we started baby food.  I started him on baby food and then tried to make some of my own, I got rejected because the texture wasn't the same as what he was used too.  I also started the regular baby cereal and then had got some already in little packs for when he went to Nana Jill's well I guess he got used to those and wouldn't take the other anymore.  I mean it's been one thing after another.  Now he might love something one day but decide the hates it or the texture the next day.  He can make himself gag until he throws up.  It's quite frustrating because you never know what he will want/like each day.  I had talked to the doctor at his 9 month appointment and she said well he probably has a texture thing he will just have to be the one to explore it and feed himself.  Well that is where our next problem comes in, he refuses to feed himself.  I have tried putting every sort of food on his tray, he either pushes it off, picks it up and drops it off, or tries to hand it to me.  This last week I have really been trying to get him to do feed himself his snacks.  The one thing that does crack me up is that if I hold one of his snacks on my hand and set it out, he will bring his mouth down to it and try to eat if off my hand, he just will not grab it. This last week I have taken his yogurt melts and put it in his hand and forced his hand to go to his mouth, it kind of works because he then pushes it in but  I still have to make him do it each time.  I know he can do it, just not sure why he won't.  Well Wednesday we had been trying all day and had him in his room, he was playing with a shape puzzle and he kept putting all the pieces in his mouth so Matthew said why don't we get a graham cracker and put it in the square spot and see if he will eat it then, so I tried that, and 

As soon as he picked it up, he felt the difference and threw it down.  Didn't even make it to his mouth.  Our plan had been foiled by him, he outsmarted us again.  It's amazing how often this happens!

Cheesy little grin while he was enjoying his puzzle pieces 

Later on in the day, having some fun walking with his shorter but still crazy hair

If anyone has any suggestions to get Mr. Noah to feed himself we are open to try anything!  

We love him so much but boy he sure is quite a character and has always been a puzzle to figure out since he was born!  

Visit from Santa Claus

Last night a little after 7:30 our doorbell rings, I went to answer the door and to my surprise it was Santa Claus.  Now I wasn't expecting Santa Claus and really had to think for a minute and listen to the voice to figure out who was really there but it didn't take too long.  He immediately asked for Noah and we had put him to bed not too long before.  I figured though since he came to see Noah, I had better get him up, plus I didn't think he would be fast asleep since he wasn't in there long.  I went in got him out of bed and brought him into the living room, it took him a few minutes to wake up and then he saw Santa.  We got a video so you can see how it went.  Now I'm not sure how he would do it he would have been wide awake so we will have to try it again when he's not half asleep and see if it goes any better.  After the video we have I took him back from Santa and he just stared at him up and down from his hat to his boots.  He sure was studying him but definetly didn't try to go back to him.  We sure were thankful for Santa though, it was very nice that he came by to see our little man!

11 Months Old

Today our little boy is 11 months old.  I can't believe we will be celebrating his 1st birthday in one month, that is so crazy to me!  I didn't weigh him again this month on the actual month birthday ( I haven't been doing good on the scale pictures) but I did Thursday night and he was 23.4lbs.  He is still just hovering at the same weight.  He has gained 1 lb I think in the last 3 months.  He has really slowed down.  He doesn't look chunky at all to us anymore.  Matthew usually is calling him skinny nowadays but we expected  him to slow down since he has been walking around and crawling all the time.

Today Noah and I went shopping with Grandma Shelley, Taylor and Hannah.  Usually when I got shopping I plan out to leave when it will be about time for a nap so he will sleep on the drive, well today it was a last minute thing and I had to wake him up at 8:30 so I knew he wasn't going to be napping since we were leaving at 9.   I decided that just for today I would put his carseat forward facing so that way we would all enjoy the drive a little more if he was a happy boy.  At first he just stared at mom since she was in the drivers seat with the wheel and all things on the dash.  I never really thought about that he had never seen that stuff.  He stayed awake for the whole way up and did great shopping. The way back he was a very tired boy but just couldn't get himself to sleep.  I tried everything.  I even got out the DVD player and put in a kid movie.  That worked for say maybe 30 seconds, then we were back to throwing our fit.  

  

Once we got home I put him down for a nap and he slept maybe 25 minutes, not long but enough to hold him until bedtime.  Once I heard him up I went in and found the little man playing with his crib machine and standing, what he loves to do in his crib now. 

After catching some pictures in his crib I thought I better show off how cute he is playing on his workbench. I bought this at a garage sale back in May and have had it in the basement all this time waiting to get it out. The other day I was bored with his toys and remembered it and brought it up.  He is probably a little short yet for it and really doesn't play with it like he should since it's meant for an older kid but it's okay he still loves it.  

 And then he also uses it to help him get places by using it to help him move in between the furniture

I've always heard people talk about wanting to freeze their kids and have had many people say to me "don't you just want to freeze him?"  Honestly so far I have always looked forward to the next stage but now I am enjoying him at this age so much and wouldn't definetly freeze him if I could.  He is just such a happy boy now, he understands so much and he is just so fun to play with.  Love him more than I could ever explain!

Woohoo!

Noah will be 11 months in 2 days and finally we have been doing much better at night.  We have had a few stretches over the last 11 months where we would have a few good nights in a row but go right back to getting up multiple times a night. Well this last week has been wonderful. I haven't known what to do with uninterrupted sleep.  I hope I'm not jinxing myself for writing this, but this is really nice.  Also little mr. Noah has been a little cuddler this week, not sure what is up with  that.  He usually only takes his pacifier when he is going to bed and when he wakes up if he hasn't spit it out by the time I go in to get him he will take it out and give it to me.  Well the last few days he has been taking long naps and has been keeping his pacifier in longer and at night he has been wanting it more.  I have enjoyed just having him sit on my lap and cuddle while sucking on his pacifier, I never get to do that unless he is sleeping.  I don't think he has really been feeling too good because I'm not sure why else has my sweet little boy has turned into a cuddler, although I'm definetly not complaining.   Last night after I fed him, he actually just layed on my lap with his eyes open, looking at me, while I rocked him.  He never lets me do that!  It was wonderful after awhile like that I tried putting him on my shoulder and he didn't mind that either.  I'm hoping our next baby is a cuddler because it is so wonderful to be able to do that! 

My Two Boys

Noah loves music and Matthew had gotten his guitar out the other day.  Of course Noah was drawn to it and Matthew let him play around with it with supervision of course.  It's amazing that after just watching Matthew for just a minute he knew what to do with the guitar.  He was taking his cute little fingers and putting them right where he was supposed to on the strings, so cute! 

You probably didn't notice but the ladder in the background has nothing on the bottom two shelves, our little man loves this thing.  He is always putting toys and balls on it, and crawling in it to get them out.  Not sure why, but it provides such a good time.  We have had to do a little more baby proofing lately, now that he is moving all over the place!  I had to say goodbye to all my Wallflowers and replace them with outlet covers.  My candles have now had to resurface, I haven't really used them in a long time.  

Every day we are just amazed, Noah is turning into a little boy, he doesn't seem like our little baby boy anymore.  

First Haircut

About a week and a half ago, Noah got his first haircut.  He got his first one on Friday night by his Aunt Randi with regular scissors.  That was our first mistake.  We should have waited until we had real clippers.  So we did what we could and then Saturday we took him to Matthew's parents and Noah's Aunt Amanda finished the hair cut with some real clippers. 

Aunt Randi starting the hair cut

 Not really wanting to look straight ahead

 We played videos of him on my phone to try and keep him occupied.  He just loves watching himself on there.

The next day with the real clippers.  He didn't like those at all.  It was a struggle and his poor fine hair wouldn't hardly cut with them.  Amanda added some oil to his hair and that helped a little but after awhile we got the job done.  

Our big boy after his first haircut!  The front got a little shorter than I wanted, but that's okay it will grow back!  And we still have the spikey hair, it just doesn't stick up as high.