Noah is Nine Months!

Noah turned nine months old today!  At his pediatrician's appointment today, he was 27.5 inches, and 18 pounds, five ounces.  He has dropped from 50%ile, but the doctor says that is normal since he is now more mobile.  Today he also tried Cheerios for the first time.  And he finally cut his first tooth!  Here are a few pics from our day :)



"So big!"  And a mess :)  Happy to try Cheerios.

Carter opening his Advent chocolate.

"Hey Carter, why don't ya share some with me?"  Hank thinks so, too :)

Noah's favorite spot right now :)

Uh Oh!

See the video for why we are in serious trouble.  :-)




Home run!


"Hank is either giving me a kiss or thinks I taste good."


"Come on up, Noah.  Stairs are fun."

"Not long before I am running!"
 

Santa Claus is Coming!

It's really Carter's first year of realizing who Santa is and being excited.  We'll enjoy the wonder and belief as long as it lasts (hopefully, long enough so he doesn't spoil the wonder and belief before Noah is old enough to participate).



Santa Claus at the dentist's office.  He gave out toothbrushes instead of candy canes.


Hank posed without so much the promise of a treat.  It took a bit of a bribe for Noah.


A long nap.


Check out Carter's air!

Carter and Noah "Talking" and Playing!
 

Thankful...

That I remembered to blog everyday (minus the first two) of the Thankful November month :)  It was a good reminder that there is so much to be grateful for and find joy in (even on those crabby, bad mood kind of days :)!
Thanks to all who have been following along, and to all who have been following along since our first blog posts shortly after Carter was born!  You've joined us on many of our day to day journeys, as Carter and Noah have been growing up.  I am thankful for all of YOU! 
John and I will, of course, continue to blog, but probably not everyday :)  Although, now that I have figured out that blogging isn't too hard, maybe I will try a little more :)
And, of course, what is a blog post without a few pictures!




Fun at the Children's Museum!

Working on the switches.

Carter's favorite thing at the museum!

Thank you for following along!

Thankful for...

My boys not tag-teaming me this week :)  Carter is having a "terrible threes" kind of week, but thankfully Noah has been a sweet, affable guy (sometimes the roles are reversed, and sometimes they both have tough weeks :)  Anyhow...hopefully the "terrible threes" week will end soon.  In the meantime, I will enjoy the sweet moments Carter will give me-ha :)  And here are some pics from the morning...


Playing under the table is so much fun!

On a windy walk.










"My big brother has worn me out!"

The holiday season!

We're excited and thankful for Noah's first Christmas!  We love Christmas at our house!  We are having so much fun with decorating the tree and our house, looking at Christmas lights outside, listening to Christmas music, and even starting to address Christmas cards.  A disclaimer about our Christmas cards, for all of those we send them to:  I am terrible, not only am I not going to write a Christmas letter, I don't even think I am going to write personalized notes :(  I am just going to send the picture.  My time is very limited, and I feel I need to cut corners where I can (although, those who we talk to on a regular basis, and who peruse our blog, already know what's going on, mostly, so a letter may just be redundant, anyway :)  I know my parents did Christmas letters every year (maybe they still do?), and they were all personalized at one time and not done in form-letter, and I don't know HOW they did it with raising three kids!  I am very impressed by them, but I think I am just lazy-ha :) 
Anyways...we love most everything about Christmas, and it is especially fun this year because Carter is really getting into it, and Noah is at a fun age to enjoy everything, too.
Here are some "holidayish" pics :)


A pic of our tree, again.

One of our trees outside.

One of our favorite ornaments.

Can you guess whose favorite ornament this is? :)

Carter decorated this branch--there are about 10 ornaments hanging on one branch :)

I tried to pose Carter and Noah by the tree--nobody really looked at the camera-oh well :)


"Why yes, I am very excited about my first Christmas coming up!" :)

Brotherly Love

I am grateful that Carter and Noah are such good buddies.  I know there will eventually be fighting (and already, Carter will swipe toys from Noah, but Noah still just looks a little stunned, and then moves on to another toy--I know this will not always be the case :)  But, for now, in general, Carter loves Noah, and Noah just ADORES Carter, and they constantly laugh at eachother :) 



Noah coming over to see if Carter will share his alphabet apple.

Noah "waiting his turn" while blowing raspberries, and hoping Carter will let him push buttons, too :)

Having fun with the Little People Nativity set.

Wherever Carter is, there is Noah.

Playing with the Nativity Set together.

Thankful for...

A fun-filled Thanksgiving weekend!  We had a busy and fun weekend filled with family and fun activities, and now are somewhat looking forward to a "quieter" week at home to catch up on laundry, errands, and all of that "fun" stuff :)



Hanging out with Aunt Jen

Carter "helping" great grandma decorate her house for Christmas.

Hanging out with Uncle Bill

A happy morning walk.

Thankful...

That we made it through another church service with Carter and Noah.  Before having kids, church was a peaceful, reverent time.  Reverent and peaceful, are certainly not words to describe our church-going experience any longer :)   You definitely have to have some pep-in-your-step to make it through a service with those two.  Regardless, we are glad to go and worship, pray, and give thanks, and hopefully God is giving us a few extra graces for trying :)
Here are a few pics (how could I do a blog without pics!) of our morning.


A nap in the stroller this morning.

An early morning trip to the park.  Carter has mastered this curvy ladder--yay, Carter :)

Whee!

Hanging up the last of the ornaments.  The tree is all decorated!  Man, we were productive this morning!  Guess that's what happens when you're up before 6:30 on a Sunday morning :)

Thankful for...

Our Christmas tree!  I love decorating Christmas trees!  It is only partially decorated, though, because Carter had no nap today :(  Time-out was a frequented location today :)  The only good thing about no nap, is he crashes as soon as soon as his head hits the pillow at 6:30ish p.m.  I am thankful he is in bed right now--its been quite a day :)  I digress...  Although he had no nap, he was still able to hang some ornaments, and had a blast.  Noah had fun, too.  This will be an interesting Christmas season with Noah getting so mobile.  Oh well :)  Something funny:  Lately Carter thinks Louis Armstrong's voice is Santa Claus's voice (if we hear his songs playing in a store, on a commerical, the radio, whatever).  We had Christmas music playing on our computer upstairs, and all of a sudden Carter was insistent that he needed to go upstairs to see Santa, and John and I were like, "Whaaat?"  Then we realized a Louis Armstrong song was playing :)  Anyways...enough of me rambling.  Here are some pics from our (partial) tree-decorating session.


Our 12 foot tree! 

The view from upstairs.  John actually hung the first set of lights from upstairs :)  We may not have enough ornaments for all of the branches this year :)

Uh-oh.

What fun!  Check out all of this stuff!

Carter hanging his first ornament, that he received three years ago :)

Confining Noah briefly from getting into the tree and ornaments.

Getting the hang of it.  Carter had a blast discovering and hanging the various ornaments!

Noah getting in on the action.

Help with a higher branch.