DC

On Wednesday we decided to take a weekend trip up to DC to meet our friends Lance and Cassie (and baby Charlie!) from New Haven. We are so proud of ourselves for being spontaneous and fun! It was probably the first time since Noah was born. Charlie is only 5 weeks old so Lance and Cassie are obviously way more adventurous than we are - and their drive was much longer than ours.

We had a whirlwind weekend of metros, strollers, crowded elevators, very crowded museums, the National Zoo, and delicious food.

Noah was quite pleased with the whole adventure. He got to wear his harness for the first time. This was a gift from Aunt Tracie who just couldn't pass it by when she saw it at a store last year. Bless you, Aunt Tracie....I never could have brought myself to purchase a harness for my boy but it did indeed come in handy in such a crowded place.


This weekend Noah had his first crush and extended period of flirting. We tried to explain that Cassie is already married but he didn't seem to care. At dinner he kept bouncing up and down to some crazy music and checking to make sure she was watching. Then he would smile at her and when she turned to look he would bashfully turn his head away and act embarrassed. Then he would place his hand on her arm and wait for her to smile at him again. Repeat. The best part is that he had a few grains of rice stuck to his forehead.

On Sunday we ventured to the Zoo where Noah was more interested in leaves than in the zebra. We finished off the weekend with a great dinner with Mike and Hilary who we had been meaning to visit for a while.

The weekend concluded with some impressive freeway traffic that could almost rival the 405 on a Friday afternoon. 3 miles in one hour. It's times like these that we are glad we live in Durham.

Eh!

Eh! This is Noah's favorite thing to say. It is his way of saying "hi" or "hey"! He's discovered that when he says this to people, they respond. I was putting him in the baby seat of a shopping cart the other day and another shopper approached. Noah looked right at her and said "Eh!" and she smiled and said "Hey!" back at him. He was delighted by the interaction and continues to greet us with "Eh!" as much as possible.

Where do I even start?

It's been way too long. Noah is walking (kind of) and talking (kind of) and he has his first tooth!

But first, a review of our holiday adventures (in Noah's words):

Well first of all, we went on this thing called a plane. We were on there for a really long time. I actually slept for a couple hours and everyone around us kept saying I was so good. What was the big deal?

Then, I got to see Grandpa Steve at the Burbank airport. I was so happy to see him that I started kicking my legs while I sat in the stroller and I started laughing too. People tend to respond favorably when I do this.

When we got to my grandparents' house I was so glad to see Grandma Sue again. I missed her! She set up a special room for me and got a special chair for me to eat in at her house. I don't know why everything that pertains to me must be so special but I won't complain!



They have this weird creature they call "Ollie." They said he's a dog but he does not look like any of the dogs in my books. Oh well.
I loved being there but where was my special wedge/tucker sling that I sleep in at home? How did my parents expect me to sleep without it AND in a different house no less? I wasn't having any of that.

I got to meet my Great Grandma Dorothy and Great Grandpa Chuck the next day. As soon as I saw my great grandpa I just had to sit on his lap. I was quite happy there for a long time but then I also wanted to sit on my great grandma's lap. I was literally drawn to them. They were so nice and happy to meet me.



I played with so many little people in California. Do they just have more people my size there or what? The parents of this cute girl had us over for dinner and my parents are STILL talking about the food they were served that night.



I loved seeing my aunts and uncles again. I remember them from when they came to my house AND I have a picture book with their faces in it that I study each night before bed. They kept wanting to play with me and they thought everything I did was amazing and cute. I was just being myself though.





It was so great to finally play with my Grandpa Steve. He's so fun! Last time I saw him I was too tiny to really play. Those days I mostly just cried and ate. Now I do so much more than that and I hardly ever cry! I'm so big and happy!



We had a lot of celebrations in California. Lots of food and lots of presents! People kept giving me toys wrapped in colorful paper! It was so exciting! I also got books and clothes and this cup with my name on it. I wanted to eat it all; it was just so fun.





My mama's aunt and uncle got me this Christmas outfit and everyone kept looking at my bottom and taking pictures of it. Something about a trap door or some nonsense.

On Christmas Day I got to meet my Great Grandma Jeannie and she read me this book about farm animals. That was so nice of her and helpful too since I still don't know how to read.
It was a sunny day so we went to this place called a park and played. They have so many big toys at the park! What is all this stuff?!







The night before we left we went to Uncle Danny and Aunt Lindsays' house. They say they have a baby too but I couldn't see it. It's hiding in Aunt Lindsay's belly for now. Oh - and they have dogs...the kind of dogs that are in my dog books -- normal dogs. I really wanted to touch them but I was kind of scared so I would slowly stick my hand out and then pull it back when they licked it. It tickled! Yeah, it's official: I'm a dog person. My parents are so relieved.


All those people were so fun that I just wanted to stay forever but we finally had to leave.
(It was way past my bedtime...can you manage to smile late at night?!)

At least Grandma Sue and Grandpa Steve said they would visit me soon! Mama and Daddy said we were going to Idaho next where I would meet my cousins! What's a cousin?!?

To be continued...

cute Noah pictures from last month

Nine months and no teeth :)

These are a few of my favorite things

I have a whole set of fabric blocks but mostly I just like to drag this one around. It has a flap I can use to hold it so I can easily take it with me wherever I go.



Have you guys seen these door stopper things? Endless fun!



This stepstool is the best. It also functions as a drum.



Then there is my high chair tray. I love to push it around on the floor. I can't believe my mama lets me do this. Neither can she.



This lever on the chair is so cool. I'm always trying to figure out how to eat it. (Also: notice the block in my hand!)



Oh, and my parents have this cool maze set up in the dining room. They call it a "table and chairs".

Fall...it goes by quickly.

Pumpkin patch with Grandma Sue:





FIVE year anniversary: We had dinner at Rue Cler and then went to see Built to Spill the next night.



Fun visit from Kasey:


Noah: "I finally got to meet this nice girl who sent me my favorite shoes!"

Halloween:


Don't laugh - it was free!

Another visit from Grandma Sue:




Cows:



that about wraps it up.

7 months and lots of changes for Noah:

-He started sleeping in his own bedroom at night. I didn't want him to ever leave the pack n play by my bedside but one early morning at 4 am, Sameer picked him up and moved him to his own room where he promptly fell asleep. So did we. He had been babbling (LOUDLY!) in our room since 2 am that night. I thought his first night in his own room would have been a little more ceremonious.

-He graduated from the infant carrier to a convertible car seat. This means he gets to sit up in the front of the shopping cart too - very fun for both of us and I humbly suspect it's a treat for everyone in the grocery store too.


-His vocabulary has expanded and he can be quite a chatterbox. (ba-ba-ba, da-da-da, ma-ma-ma, a-woah-woah, nah-nah-nah, ga-ga, typical baby talk)

-He's eating solids with lots of enthusiasm! His favorite is butternut squash :)

-And as of today, he crawls! Up until then he used the frog hop to get from one toy to another.

He's REALLY on the go during the day and is always trying to jump, scoot, crawl, eat, babble, laugh and grab...and then bedtime rolls around and here we are for his evening feeding. Sometimes he'll stop in the middle of that feeding and just stare at me like he's seeing straight into my soul. The expression on his face during those moments is unlike any other. I won't ever be able to capture it on camera but that's okay - it's almost sacred. I'll just have to burn it into my memory. In the morning I literally take a second to close my eyes to make sure I still remember it. He studies my face and I talk to him softly, telling him all the things I love about him..."Your hair that is sticking up all over the place, your chubby hands, your perfect ears, your round cheeks, your button nose, your Yadav mouth, your chunky thighs..." and I trace my fingers along his face and he smiles a quiet smile - not the huge gummy smile we get during the day but a closed-mouth peaceful smile. He listens intently to everything I say and we just stare at each other some more until we're both satisfied. When we've had our special mama & baby time, he goes back to nursing and eventually falls asleep. I lift him up to carry him to bed and his little feet still reach up to his bottom. He's still my tiny baby.

Fun fact:

In early March of 2009, I watched all 9 SEASONS of Coach in 2 weeks. Impressive, right?!?

I don't have much of an attention span for TV or movies unless I'm really sick and tired but unable to sleep. That is exactly how the first several weeks of Noah's life were. He was so colicky and had to be held upright constantly; I was so afraid of falling asleep while holding him.

So, I resorted to netflix "watch instantly" to get me through the long nights. Noah and I spent most of our time in bed with the laptop. (Sameer slept in the guestroom so one of us could be rested!) Noah probably thinks the theme song of Coach is a sweet lullaby. At first, I watched all the episodes of 30 Rock and then Chuck. I couldn't watch anything scary or sad; I knew I couldn't handle too much drama in my sleep deprived state. After I finished Chuck, I had no clue what to watch and then I stumbled upon Coach. This was definitely not a show I would ever watch but it met the qualifications of "not scary" and "not sad". So I watched 9 seasons of Coach in about two weeks. Nights blurred into days and back into nights again. I usually had no idea what day it even was. My only measure of time was what season/episode of Coach I was on.

(Sometimes I wonder: if I had only given zantac to Noah when it was first prescribed, I may not have given over 60 hours of my life to a bad nineties sitcom)

Anyway, all that to say, I'm glad those days are over. When I finished Coach I was quite sad. Those characters were like family - they were with me through some hard days and I was with them through the changing styles and hairdos of the nineties. That's when I started Charles in Charge. Fortunately I gave up the netflix addiction a few episodes later.