Of Noah. Are you surprised? It has been a busy day. Cleaning, sewing, diaper changing...you know. So now it's time to wind down for the night...and no better way than to share pictures of the cutest (of course I am biased) little fella around.
The other night...while finishing dinner, I went to take Noah's shirt off and he got caught like this. I thought it was hilarious and, of course, grabbed my camera. He is so patient with me!
He cracks me up.
These ones were taken with Noah and his play buddy Eth. I watch E twice a week and Noah and him get in some quality play time. Mostly they get into things they shouldn't and keep me exhausted! If I could use one word to describe Noah right now it would be CURIOUS! In all its forms! I can barely keep up with him anymore. How does he have so much energy! I barely have enough to write thi zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Until this little fella is officially ONE year old!
Yes, he is sporting Andy's West Point hat. Don't worry though - we aren't being premature!
In honor of firsts....here are a few of Noah's 'firsts' from this week (and some seconds):
* First time eating spaghetti. If he could give it a thumbs up I am positive he would, he ate every last bite.
* First (and second) time pooping in the bath tub. Yes friends, twice this week Noah pooped in the tub. Disgusting. I will spare you the photos (just note that there are photos...for Andy of course).
* First time calling Daddy without Mom's assistance.
Noah loves to play with my cell phone. He will open it up, type, hold it up to his ear and call out 'dadadadada' - it's actually quite adorable. Wednesday afternoon I was getting my coat while Noah sat on his bedroom floor. I had left my cell phone on the chair in his room and he thought it would be fun to play with it. Needless to say, he ended up calling Andy twice...managing to hang up both times. Mind you, Andy is 11 1/2 hours a head of us and at the time it was about 1:30am for him. Andy starts getting a little worried - calls my cell phone twice...calls his dad...calls my parents house and finally gets a hold of me. " I think Noah has figured out how to use your phone, " he says "because he just called me." Whoops!
In the words of his Daddy..."What a sweet Boy!"
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PS. When you have a few minutes, take a look at my friend Christine's blog. Her and her family are taking the journey into Adoption and have a wonderful story to share. If you can help, or even just spread the word about their wonderful family, I would be personally grateful.
Poor little man had a run in with the chair this morning. He was pulling himself up on the chair and lost his grip. OUCH! Needless to say I was almost as upset as he was. Hopefully it doesn't get any worse than this. Poor guy.
This year I spent a lot of time on Christmas gifts. Mainly sewing my in-laws quilt and painting this lovely original for my parents. My very talented sister-in-law Larissa made one similar to this for Andy's parents a few years ago, and I thought it would be a perfect gift for my parents. Unfortunately I am NOT a talented artist. Not at all. So I enlisted the help of Larissa, who did the drawing for me. She scanned it and sent it to me over PDF (so easy). I took it to Staples and had them enlarge it, then I did a little old school tracing onto a watercolor canvas that I got for $3.50 at Michaels. Anyhow...after about 15 hours of painting and tracing here is what the finished product looked like.
I was SO pleased with how it turned out! To me it was the perfect gift and I hope my parents can enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it. (You should be able to click on the pictures to enlarge them and have a closer look)!
Interested in making a family tree of your own? You can contact Larissa and ask about having her draw one for your family! Prices vary depending on the size of family. Email her at rissa80@gmail.com or send me a message and I'd be happy to forward it along to her!
I am sure you can tell from the title of this post that it's sort of an 'all-in-one'. Noah and I are back home and glad to be here. I will say however, that I don't love the snow on the ground. The weather in Portland (although rainy on most days) was wonderful and I am missing it there. We really had such a great trip and I want to say THANK YOU to Andy's parents for putting up with us for so long. It will be one of our greatest Christmas memories. Also, a special shout out to Kenzie for doing her happy dance for me. She stayed up past her bed time and kept me smiling. We all watched Troop Beverly Hills (I love that movie) and they were sure to take care of Noah and I after Andy left.
Before Andy left, one afternoon he, Noah and I took a trip up to Camas, WA to tour around Andy's old stomping grounds. The Stockhoff clan lived in WA for 6-7 years when Andy was in elementary/jr high school. He really enjoyed going back and seeing how the place had changed and I was happy to go along for the ride. When we saw this place Andy got so excited...the Top Burger. We just had to stop and get a milk shake and some fries. We even stopped at the market next to Top Burger and got a couple of blow pop suckers at Greg's (Andy's brother) request. It was a special moment...
For Christmas this year Andy and I decided to give his parents a quilt. This was my first quilt mind you, and my mom was a big help. I did all the sewing, but she was right there helping me get it all right. I think it turned out perfect and I am glad Andy's parents like it as well. I am not sure I will be making another quilt anytime soon...I prefer more 'instant gratification' sewing projects. You know, the kind that only takes a few hours and then you can enjoy the fruits of your labor?! Anyway, here it is in all its glory.
Lastly, and update on our main man...Andy. He left on Saturday the 9th. I hate good byes, but I can say that THANKFULLY this goodbye wasn't as difficult as the first. Mostly because I know I will see Andy in a little under 4 months...I am excited for that day. He had a direct flight from Portland to Amsterdam. I won't go into details, but apparently it was a LONG flight (and not just because it's 10 hours long). So I know he was happy when it landed. He had a 6 hour layover in Amsterdam and decided that he would explore the city. He took the train to the city center, walked around and grabbed a bite to eat, then headed back to the airport. Next stop- Dubai. The original plan was for him to next catch a flight from Dubai into Afghanistan...but because his flight was cancelled...he had to wait in Dubai for a few days. Lovely. Anyway, he is still there and will be for another day. I know he is ready to get back to Afghanistan to finish up his deployment. For those of you who haven't heard, we will be heading back to Missouri...or Misery. I can't quite decide.
Today our little Noah celebrates 11 months! That means one more month and he will be one. That baffles me! He has changed and grown so much over the last couple of months and I love watching him explore. I remember when I could set him on the floor and not worry about him going any where (sometimes I miss those days!)...but he is so cute and curious and his personality is one of a kind.
Here are some of his favorite things...
Food (in all it's forms)
Cheese, Yogurt, Peas, Bread, Fruit, Graham Crackers, Marshmellows, Bananas,
Cereal, Potatos, Avacado, and anything else you could imagine.
Pulling himself up to stand
Playing witht he remote control
Drinking out of his sippy cup
Talking on my cell phone (aka Hanging up on people)
Chatting
Giving Kisses
Clapping
Crawling everywhere and getting into EVERYTHING
Laughing
Eating
Taking Baths
Noah and Andy have been spending a lot of time together over Christmas and they are now best buddies. Every morning Andy takes Noah upstairs so I can get an extra hour or so of sleep! It has been wonderful and I know that Noah is going to miss his daddy.
One thing I especially love about Noah is how he get's excited about the simplest things. Like cheese, when I pull out the cheese he starts getting so excited, clenching his fists and rubbing his feet together. It's so cute.
The other day Andy, Noah and I made a trip to one of my favorite restaurants...The Cheesecake Factory. Since I had left Noah's sippy cup at home by accident, we started giving him water out of the straw- his reaction is so adoreable. I love it.
We are so lucky to have this little fella as a part of our family. We couldn't love him more.
Thanks to Aunt Kenzie and Nana we were able to take some family pictures today. We haven't taken a picture as a family since Noah was born, so this was extra special. Noah has really bonded with Andy over the last couple of weeks, and I know he will miss his daddy when Andy heads back to Afghanistan. We are so grateful that we have been able to spend this special time with him. It has been a great blessing.
As a side note..Noah will be 11 months old tomorrow! WHAT? Yeah, I know. Anyway...I will be sure to do a special post just for the little guy.
My apologies to all our blogging friends out there who have been waiting for an update (or even those who only periodically check the blog). We have been busy (to say the least) and I thought I would write a QUICK update on our little family. We were officially reunited on Christmas Eve and have been enjoying our time together. It has been wonderful. I thought I would share a couple of pictures from the last week. I have too many to share at this point...so we will call this a little preview of what's to come!
Sweet Reunion. That's the only way I can describe it...sweet.
Christmas Morning. We had a wonderful Christmas...especially because Andy was here. Noah loved tearing the wrapping paper, but he got bored quickly and I ended up opening most of his gifts for him. He looked super handsome in his Christmas PJs though.
Just a couple random pictures...Andy brought Noah home this little outfit from Afghanistan. Everything was too big except for the hat. What does that mean? He must be a smart little boy with all those brains!
Andy and I had a little date night at the Portland Trail Blazers game...even though the Blazers ended up losing we still had a great time. Don't we look like official fans?
Lastly, we went to visit Andy's grandma in Roseburg and she willed this little gem to Noah. I think it was made for him. Go Dodgers!
