Spears Wedding

Last weekend was AMAZING. Ian was set to officiate his first wedding so we went up Friday for the rehearsal. The grooms parents offered to put us up in a hotel for two nights and there was no way we were going to turn them down! So we had a weekend away just the two of us! The rehearsal was very nice and the wedding was so Christ centered and encouraging. The reception was a great time to catch up with some friends we hadn't seen in a while. And of course we got to go back to a hotel which wasn't home, but also didn't contain children who wanted to wake up at 7 AM.
Here is Ian all ready to go to the church. A little nervous...but he did great!




Happy couple:

It was such a great weekend to reconnect with my awesome husband. We missed the kiddos, but it was some much needed time just the two of us. Josh and Megan are such a beautiful couple. It was an honor to witness their marriage!

More Noah

As if you could get enough Noah! Our attempts to capture a video of him walking are failing. It's like as soon as he sees the camera he just sits down and stares at it. I'll have to sneak up on him. I love the beginnings of the walking stage because they look so hilarious as the stumble around. The past few days that's all he wants to do: keep practicing his walking skills! Whereas last week he had only taken 3-4 steps at a time and fallen over, now he can walk across a small room. It's crazy how fast things happen.

Instead of feeling frustrated at not being able to video him walking, I decided to take a few pictures the other day when he was being extra cute. Have I mentioned that he likes to squeeze himself into small spaces????


Yes, he found the balls. And yes, he likes to dump them all out and chew on them individually.



He is growing so fast! I think he just keeps hitting one growth spurt after another. And he's also getting his first set of molars. I wasn't even looking there because he still hasn't gotten one of his bottom right teeth. But he's been drooling and chewing on his fingers. I knew molars were next after that tooth so I just checked and sure enough...one molar is through and the other three are bulging. He seems to handle it well. He still gives us lots of smiles:)

Noah's party

Noah's birthday party was such a sweet event. Lots of friends and family came to celebrate and Noah enjoyed his first taste of cake immensely. He had his second taste the next day as we had "family cupcake time" and polished off the leftovers.
Mary giving kisses:


Yay for Noah!


Getting cleaned off in the pool

Speaking of looking back

In the post below I talked about how I created this blog as a way to remember where our family has been. Ups and downs. Knowledge gained, etc. I often look back at the posts from when my kids were born. Today is one of those days because it is my little man's birthday! I remember the day he was born so vividly. Mostly because I was very "lucid" during his birth. With Mary I was very out of it. Like I was on drugs or something. But Noah's birth was not like that and I am so grateful. I remember going out to Don Pablos with friends. I remember Amber laying next to me and timing contractions while we watched some episodes of Friends. Ian made the decision to go to the hospital. We dealt with the nurse there and all the obnoxious hospital policies, although that time was much better than birth with Mary. Our doula arrived! And I hopped in the shower that stayed hot for like 2 hours. I love a hot shower! So that was bliss. I remember sitting on the birth ball and thinking I couldn't go on. I climbed up on the bed and knelt down to push. Out he came with his little hand up by his mouth! I cried. I couldn't believe I had a son. It was a surreal moment for me. Dr. Bowen said I had a weird tear, probably because Noah's hand was up by his head when we was born. I told Dr. Bowen that I just wanted to give him a bit of a challenge:)

Fast forward to a year later and I have a cute little warrior on my hands. He loves his mommy. A doula friend of mine calls it her "mommy magnet". I think I have one too:) He loves to say "e-i-e-i-o," which sounds a lot like yodeling. He is a pretty compliant baby which is nice. Mom's notes says that babies on a routine (or babywise babies!) are generally complaint until they reach the toddler stage. Then they start to exhibit behaviors of a typical two year old. I remember that with Mary, so I'm waiting for it with Noah. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing for him: bad because I know it's coming and I'm prepared to deal with it, or good because it's not going to completely throw me for a loop this time around!

Anyway, he is a happy "wrecking ball" most of the time. That is his newest nickname by the way. He loves to seek and destroy. He also loves to put objects into bowls and drawers so we're trying to turn that into a clean up game:) We thank God for him daily. What a blessing. Happy birthday my buddy!

Vacation

Well, it's been a few weeks since vacation and I'm just getting around to putting up pictures. Mostly because I put them all on facebook and kodak so I figure that the people who wanted access to them already got it! But then I remembered why I originally started this blog: as a way to remember where we've been as a family.

We stayed at this AMAZING condo complex in Virginia Beach. Actually it was right outside VA beach, so we got to beat the crowds. Ian and I had a date night one night. If you know our usual date nights you can guess what we did...dinner then reading at Panera! It was just a great time with family over all! My family is huge. About 1/4 of my mom's side came down and here we are:


We had lots of fun on the beach. Mary got to play tricks on daddy by pouring water on his feet, and both kids got to spend lots of time with their cousins!









My mom took Mary and I to the aquarium one day. It was really neat and Mary enjoyed it! She even got to touch a horse shoe crab. I can't believe she did it. Maybe she thought it wasn't alive? I think it was moving though. Maybe she wants to take a few more risks in life:)