Noah's birthday...

Noah turned two! We had the best time. We decided to have a bonfire every year, just the three of us. Noah was so happy at the beach, flying a kite with daddy, riding his scooter all around, roasting hot dogs and smores. He was smiling and full of joy. It was contagious. We got just the spot we wanted...the pit right by the rocks that we'd been eyeing for months. Grandma and Grandpa stopped by on their way to Mammoth, and so did Uncle John. Noah was so happy to see them. After the bonfire, Uncle came back to our house and we lit the birthday ring (which Noah blew out over and over again; he was so proud that he could blow out the candles all on his own!). We also had the fabulously yummy cake I made for Noah (yummy chocolate vegan, sugar-less cake, to die for! recipe to come...) with some vanilla ice cream. Noah's kind of over the cake, but he keeps asking for that ice cream! I even let him have some for breakfast the other day (shhh don't tell). So all in all it was such an awesome, low stress, relaxing, fun birthday and we can't wait for the next one! Happy birthday my little man. You are my love and inspiration. For you I am so grateful and blessed. You deserve the best and the most love I can give in my heart. xoxo

"Reach it!"

Noah does the cutest new thing. It all started with wanting to reach the moon. He has always loved gazing at the moon and the other night he reached out his little arm with a grasping motion toward the moon and said, "Reach it. Touch it." I didn't want to disappoint him, but I had to unfortunately be the bearer of bad news. I said, "We can't reach it honey. It's too far away. But if I could, I would take it out of the sky and give it to you." So now we have the same conversation every time he sees the moon. It goes something like this. Noah says, "Moon (reaching while grasping). Too far. Far away."

Now there's a new twist. Noah enjoys looking at the pipes on the roof of our condo complex. He said, "Reach it. (when he realizes he can't reach it, he says, "Too far. Far away." Daddy said one time that we need a ladder to get to the pipes. So the other day, we were gazing at the moon and he said, "Reach it. Far away. LADDER!!!"

Co-sleeping

I must say, there's nothing better than waking up to a warm cuddly time baby (well, toddler now). Yes there are nights when my back is aching, I don't think I can nurse him one more time, and I want to sprawl out or go to the bathroom without risking waking him up, but 99.9999999% of the time, I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm so glad I have a cuddler on my hands. The calm and peace that comes over him when he rolls over and realizes I'm still there in bed with him and latches on brings me the most joy I have ever felt. I'm so lucky.

Noah's new scooter...

We bought Noah a Micro Mini scooter for his birthday (had to give it to him early, of course!) Noah fell in love with it while we were at the park and another little boy let him try it out. When he woke up from his nap the other day, daddy had it waiting for him in the living room. Noah let out the cutest gasp and then hopped right on. He picked up the kicking right away without any help (he never has wanted any help figuring something out; wants to learn all on his own. Maybe the stubborn Taurus in him?). He has proceeded to ride it back and forth in the condo and has figured out how to glide his kicking foot. Still needs to figure out how to turn the handlebar to steer and put his kicking foot back on the board, but pretty good so far considering it's for ages three and up! It was so cute...the night of the day we gave him the scooter, when it was time for bed, I said, "Time to go night-night" and he took the scooter into the bedroom with him, like he was going to sleep with it! Then when he woke up in the morning, the scooter was still in the bedroom, and he jumped up, saw it, said, "Scooter!" and hurried out of the bedroom to ride it. Wow - something actually distracted him from his morning nummies!

Uncle John

Last night grandma was busy so I called on Uncle John to watch Noah. Noah just loves his uncle, so this was quite a treat. I must say it is so nice to be able to leave the house and not have to worry about Noah. John is always down for doing whatever Noah wants and has a gentle, calm, patient, silly way with him. They pushed the cart all around the neighborhood and then rode Noah's new scooter. John said Noah came up to him and sat on his lap, then gave John a tight squeeze around his neck. If that doesn't give you warm fuzzies, I don't know what will.

A day in the life of Noah...

Here's a little rundown of what our little life together is like:

wake at around 7am, nurse
read a book
have breakfast
play while mommy has her morning tea
clean the kitchen together, Noah stands on his kitchen helper and plays in the sink
songs/dances together
get ready
do a load of laundry
take Baba for a walk
snack
outing (park, gym, etc.)
lunch
nap
read a book
snack
play with mama
cook dinner
eat dinner
take Baba for a walk or play with daddy
bath
read, nurse to sleep
nurse through the night nuzzled up to mama

He's almost two (sniff sniff)...

Noah will be two this Friday and I can't believe it. We decided that every year on his birthday, we will have a bonfire, just the three of us. I'm going to bake him a chocolate vegan sugar-less cake and I hope he loves it! We bought him a scooter and he picked it up real quick. he loves taking it back and forth across the condo. He still needs to figure out the steering, but he has the whole kick thing down! I also just bought him a Waldorf-inspired birthday ring. It has a nautical theme (what with the beach/bonfire tradition we are creating). It is so beautiful and I can't wait to light the candles for him and watch his reaction. I really want to focus on being there for Noah, in the present moment, because seeing how fast these two years have gone by, I don't want to take one more moment for granted. He's been such an inspiration. He's my little angel, my babydoll, my stinkybutt, my stinkito, my sugarpie. I just love that little guy. He's the best thing that ever happened to me.

I'm only 23 months old, but I have lots of ideas...

So here's a little rundown of what Noah's currently into/working on:

-Nursing
-Pouring his own drinks
-Buckling buckles
-Nursing
-Dancing, especially in the buff ("Take it off" as he points to his shirt/pants/diaper)
-Going the "other way" (while driving, walking around the neighborhood, or really just the opposite of whatever we're doing. Who said toddler's are contrary?)
-Singing
-Nursing
-Sitting on the kitchen counter and naming everything he sees and then strategically figuring out a way to dump everything on the floor
-Making a mess
-Doing everything on his own (wants to put on his own seatbelt, walk on his own without holding hands, etc.)
-Kissing mama on the mouth (I LOVE this. I'll take as many as I can get while I can get it)
-Puzzles
-Sorting and arranging things
-Screwing lids on and off (especially mommy's makeup and lotions, then trying them out)
-DADDY and whatever he's doing
-Still naming everything
-Making up silly sounds and words and saying them back and forth with you (Ha baby, Ha bobo, Ha byebye)
-Telling you what number song he wants on the car CD player then asking for whatever one he likes over and over and over
-Nursing
-Going to the refrigerator and bringing what he wants to eat/drink to you


That's all I can think of for now but stay tuned!

Making Up For Lost Time

My goodness. Where do I start. I wish I would have started this sooner, but then, when did I have the time? Things are getting easier and at the same time harder, but in any case, I have some extra time and motivation now, and I want to imprint all of my precious memories of sweet Noah on this blog.

I'll start here...Noah has a new haircut. I am apparently attached to hair, not only my own (I had a bowl cut in sixth grade and vowed never to cut my hair again) but also Noah's. I always dreamed of having a child with curly blond hair, and boy did I get what I asked for. Noah had the cutest little surfer boy hairdo that was turning into dred locks because he would no longer let me detangle it. I was chasing him around the house daily with the detangler and hairbrush, much to his chagrin. I finally realized that I was making my child do something he despised because of my own issues and preferences. So we made the big decision to cut his goldie locks.