Baby to Toddler

Noah has turned ONE! I can't believe that it was only a year ago that we welcomed this new little creature into the world, and every day has been wonderful. We celebrated at Grandma Porter's house with food and cake (of course cake) and Noah had lots of help unwrapping his gifts from the Huff girls.

To be honest, he couldn't have unwrapped them without Charis' help. Noah is such a joy in our lives, hopefully the videos and pictures will tell the story...
Birthday CAKE!



See, he needed Charis' help....sorry Charis, but you were his only hope and you kept him interested.
Daddy and Noah playing with "Piglet" The big brown bear (ask Jordan...the name will eventually mess with Noah's future recognition of animals, and I fully understand that I will receive phone calls from future teachers as to why my son refers to frogs as snakes.)



Noah chasing Daddy around the apartment. Hunting Daddy is good game... especially when he shrieks!

Halloween...and a BIG surprise!

We had a great Halloween this year with our little man! He was so cute in his little puppy costume, and Jordan looked amazing as my wife, Mage. I was her husband Wilbur. We made an amazing couple, except that I had a roaming eye and wanted to hit on anything that moved, sorry kids! I might have played that part a little too well.....

Anyway, we went to the Gallagher's party and had a lot of fun. We really enjoy seeing all the kids and we love how much the kids like Noah, he thinks they are all his older siblings and tags along after them....so cute.

But, something else has happened. Noah began walking!!!!!!!!!! My BABY! SO BIG! We cannot be any prouder than we are of him. Below are some pics of our fn times and a clip of our little man doing his thang!

Walking...Almost

Mom Ferrell bought Noah a puppy toy that allows toddlers to learn to walk, and I did not realize that he had started to actually use it! I yelled across the room, "Jordan LOOK!" And Jordan looked over, nonchalantly said, "Oh, yeah, he does that for me all the time."

RRRGGGGG! I never get to see the new things first! But at least we caught it on tape. It's only a matter of a few more weeks before he is doing this all on his own!

So big. I prayed to God that the next child won't come until Noah is potty trained, and after walking that's the next step........Am I ready for all this yet? YOU BET I AM! Maybe even twins! Man I'm crazy, but what can I say? Noah is so fun and such a blessing to me that I can't wait until we are ready for number two. This is how God's shows his grace in my life, through my family.

Babysitting and Burfday

This weekend T and Isaac came home which also meana lot going on in ne weekend. We watched Charis and Selah for Moriah and Josh so they could have a fun night not going to the corn maze (it was sadlt rained out but they played Killer instead...spooky). The girls were great and I even had time to bake brownies, which were amazing. Charis' favorite phrase after that was, "Moo. Moore Pees. Eat. Moo Pees!" See picture below.

Noah was a little turned off by the incasion of his home and his toys, he sahres well outside of the house, but apparently his home is his turf, and we had a fight over that. We played a little in the bathtub and Noah freaked out every time Charis dumped water on her head, he thought she was hurting herself. Such a cute video of that too.

Then there was my trip to the Shedd Aquarium for my birthday. I was so excited to go and see the dolphins and the whales. Unfortunately that whole exhibit was under renovations until June 2009.....bummer.

But the day was beautiful, and my hubby treated me like a queen for the day. We went to flattop grill for lunch and then headed home for a much needed nap.

The pictures say it all. My Husband is great!

And Lastly for Moriah and For Jordan, the videos for your enjoyment

this is noah calling his Dada. He positively loves calling his dad throughout his day!

Sweet Hubby

My husband came in the house yesterday with an arm full of flowers.....for me!!!!!!!! He is so sweet. I had to brag cause they are so pretty and I wanted to show them off!

I love Jordan, they are beautiful. Thanks for being a great husband ; )

HELP!

As you may notice, we have added a song to the right side of the screen, but I can't get it to play as a background song, how do I get it to play automatically and loop????????!!!!!!!!!! Rosie, any thoughts?

Halloween

So, Jordan and I haven't yet decided if it is good (good in the biblical term) to take our children trick or treating. Since this "holiday" is a satanic/paganistic ritual we aren't sure if this is a good thing to do, but on the other hand, for us it's a day to dress up for candy, nothing more.

We went ahead and purchased a costume for Noah in the case we can figure things out and wish him to go. Either way, on the 31st he will be donning this costume and looking every bit as cute as the day he was born! Any advice on this matter will be helpful as we are on the fence. We don't want to rob our children of simple pleasures in life, but we also don't want to compromise our integrity of faith.

On a lighter note, here or some cute videos and pics of Noah in his costume!

For Talitha

This weekend was the yearly family trip to Edwards Orchard, and it was Noah's first time there post womb. This post is more for Talitha who missed this years outing with the fam (she's going again later with the rents).

First we have to say the new barn is amazingly big and much more spacious than before. The apple cider doughnuts were as great as ever, and Jordan felt the deep need to take up doughnuts for you which made his grand total of doughnut consumption to EIGHT. That's right, seven for him and one in honor of you T. Noah tried and loved apple cider, and the video will give you an glimpse of his first taste of cider doughnuts. All in all it was a great day, great weather, and a wonderful family outing (minus the spectacularness that is Talitha). You were missed... = (

Picture Story

Hello Ladies.... This is a day in the life of Noah Riley. Welcome to my crib, wipe your feet, and stay a while...

First I play with my box

Then I get frustrated...

Then I cry until my mommy gets me and gives me kisses. I feel better.

We eat a little breakfast and after it's time for a nap

First I sleep, then I rip apart my bed if mommy doesn't get to me in time after I wake up...it's funny watching her face when she sees what I've done!

Next is bath time. Arguably the best time of the day because I get to be naked AND splash my mommy in the face.

I love my toys for bath time. I like to chuck 'em at mommy's face too, she's a quick target!

We eat lunch, and play some more...Mommy says I have pretty big brown eyes... I think she's bias

The parents all think I'm gonna be walking soon. I say I already do when they're not looking....shhh don't tell them, it's a secret.I love the camera, this was my good side. Yeah, full on frontal, that's right, I don't have a bad side.

Usually then Daddy comes home and we do some work together.

Seriously, these people are lucky they have me, I really don't know what they'd do without my help around here.Lastly mommy tells me it's time for bed, I don't like putting my toys away, but it's alright, i get her back at 3:00 in the morning when i wake her up to come and comfort me. It's a new thing I have been working on.....and she thinks I have nightmares....! Silly mommy, I have her trained. ; )

We went to the ZOO!

Saturday we went to the Brookfield Zoo with Moriah, Josh, Charis, and Little Selah. I really really really had a great time. The children were great all day and the animals were all out and close enough to see. Noah was a little apprehensive at first but I think he started to understand what was going on when we went to the dolphin show. His eyes went wide and then there was screaming...from Charis saying, "YEAH!!! YEAH DOLPHIN!". Which in turn made Noah more excited to what was going on in the water. He enjoyed all the animals, and passed out in his stroller for a half hour then we went and saw more animals.

I forget how wonderfl it was to be a kid. I love the zoo!

A little apprehensive.....
Getting curious...

We got to touch the sting rays! They are so slimey and yet so friendly. They all swam in a large circle looking for fingers to touch them! Gross and yet so much fun too!

Now he's happy!

This is the sleeping goat that made Noah really happy, he got to touch it! Charis was a little more concerned for this animal (it was really tired and trying to sleep amidst the group of touching children). Charis got right into this goats face and asked so sweetly, "You okay? Goat....you okay goat?" So precious!

This Giraffe was only a few weeks old, it was born August 18....and it was taller than me.

New things

Noah started to crawl yesterday!!! He was so awesome and showed it off at Oasis last night and wowed the onlookers. He went from a little movement to full on crawling in a matter of hours once he learned what was happening.

So here is what I have found out:

1. Crawling babies are fast. Not speedy fast, but fast like a magician. Poof he's gone.........into something he isn't supposed to touch. I turn around, still speaking to him, and I find I am talking to myself and He is off eating every last cheerio I missed on the carpet.

2. I say "NO" a lot.

3. He stops when I say "no" so at least he is obedient....or the smack on the hand works for anything I say "no" to. It's amazing that he understands me when I say, "Noah, no touch or I am gonna have to smack your hand." When I say that he smiles and simply turns and does something else as if to say, "Okay mommy." Such a blessing.

4. Everything is now "dadadadadadadadada"

5. When he does test boundaries it's a long test. He'll touch the blinds, "noah no touch". Then he'll look at me and sllloooowwwlllyy place his hand on the window sill and wait for me to do something. He's gonnna be our tester.

6. He has found just about every power outlet in our home and likes freak me out. I have them covered but still... no mother likes to see her child infatuated with electrical outlets.

7. He loves his father more than me cause his name really is "Ddadadadadada" and "Dada" is the fun and rough parent. Or it's cause he's a guy. But I swear when Jordan comes home Noah always has the biggest grin to give him!

8. He stands up on his own.......and then falls on his own too. Then blames it on me and tells on me to "Dadada"

9. I am now his favorite jungle gym. I have the bruises to prove it.

10. God could not be any better to us. Even though these things are happening I love every second of it. I know that it's only a matter of time before "dada" turns into, "Yo, can I borrow the car?" so I am trying as hard as I can to enjoy every second of this time I have with my baby while he's still a baby.

The more he grows the more I sit back and wonder in amazement that God made him from little peices of me and Jordan. We created life togheter and he is a funtioning work of art. It's so hard to explain this weird feeling but the words, "Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh" now mean so much more to me than ever before. Adam's wonderment at Eve must have been catastrophic.

On another note, I am going to start a discipleship group with some young girls at our youth, so please pray for wisdom as I begin this journey. I just hope I do a good job of leading thier minds and hearts to Christ. And it's time away from my family but I hope it works out.

Here's our little man doing his crawl....

Florida, new home and a funny video

So we made it!!!!! We made it through the great/stressful two weeks of going to Florida with the family and then moving into our house the moment we returned. Thankfully we had Isaac with us on the way down and back to help with the driving of 15+ hours. Noah was amazing and he slept all night on the drive and only complained maybe five whole minutes round trip.

We had a great time playing in the ocean and eating sea food! I ate the sea food, Noah watched with mild enthusiasm. I have to say though vacations with small babies are much more difficult than I thought it'd be.

We are finally all unpacked and all set to have visitors at our new place as well. We live in the same apartment that Matt and Emily Knudsen just moved out of. We were lucky to get this apartment! It's been amazing! God certainly blew away my expectations.

Noah started to crawl this week and he has two whole teeth. Unfortunately he hates when I try and see his teeth and won't perform well for the camera to prove this is true, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Without much more to add to this post I'll leave you with pictures and one heck of a funny video.

Fun with Dada and the waves...

Noah and Auntie T

And Noah getting ticked off from the stupid hat I made him wear and his father mocking him mercilessly.

And the bext video ever taped of Charis and Noah....seriously ever...