What Noah Has Been Up To...

In addition to getting his hair cut off :( :( :(, Noah has been keeping busy this month:

1.  Trying rice cereal.

At first, the excitement of eating something solid tricked him into thinking he liked rice cereal (hence the look of glee), but then he realized that it is incredibly bland and boring (hence the look of disgust).  He's never willing to eat more than a bite or two.  We are going to try some other foods soon.  Any suggestions?

2.  Sitting up on his own.

This is his newest trick.  I think it is so cute to see him sitting on his own, wobbling a little and bending forward to maintain balance.  He especially loves sitting in front of a mirror and admiring himself. :)

3. Preparing for his first Christmas

Noah loved staring at the little Christmas tree in our apartment in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

4.  Going for runs with his mom.

For some insane reason, I signed up to run a half marathon in March.  I am in the worst shape of my life, but I am doing my best to get ready for the race, and I figure I can walk a lot of it if I need to.  Every day, I bundle Noah up (see the socks on his hands?), and we go for a jog.  During the first training run that we took together, I couldn't figure out why Noah was smiling and laughing so much. I eventually realized that he thought it was funny that I was panting and gasping for air.  He thought I was playing with him.  I kept saying to him, "Mommy's gonna die, Noah.  Mommy's gonna die."  He just laughed.

I must admit, seeing his cute little smiling face does make the runs much more enjoyable.  It's fun to get some fresh air together every day.


5.  Hanging out with his favorite cousin, Callum

We've been staying at my dad's house this week (all of the family is in town, and we don't want to miss out on the action!), and Noah has loved hanging out with Callum.  They are so cute together.

6.  Smiling and laughing and being an angel for his mother

I haven't admitted on this blog just how difficult Noah was for the first 4.5 months of his life.  I have mentioned his fussiness a few times, but I tried not to dwell on it because I didn't want anyone to think I wasn't grateful for him.  But he was HARD.  So hard.  He had colic and cried and fussed all day long.  I was exhausted and discouraged, and there were several times that I held my bawling baby and just bawled myself.  I wondered how people possibly have more than one child.  My friends kept telling me that the colic would end any day, but it was hard to believe in the midst of it.  Thank goodness my family was nearby to help me and to give me breaks, and many thanks to the friends who called and checked on me and offered so much good advice about how to soothe him.

I am grateful to report that about two weeks ago, my baby woke up happy...and he hasn't looked back.  For the most part, he has become a very content baby, and it is heaven.  HEAVEN.  He was worth every second of the crying.  I want to squeeze his happy little face every day.

Life is good.  Ryan and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary last night, and as we talked about the year that has passed, we couldn't believe how much has changed in our little family.  I think 2012 is going to seem like a very dull year compared to 2011!  We are grateful and happy.

I didn't want to do it, but it had to be done.

Remember this full head of hair?

Well over the past several months, the hair gradually thinned...

and thinned...

and basically disappeared:

A truly frightening aerial view

SAD.

All that remained was a long patch of hair in the very front.  In the back and on the sides, Noah was completely bald.  My sisters and a few others told me that we needed to shave his head.  I didn't want to do it.  I told them no no no.  But when people started saying that his hair looked like "Phantom of the Opera when he takes off his mask" (remember the frightening random tufts?), and "a 55 year old man with a combover" (wonderful), and "Rihanna" (with hair only on one side), I relented.  It was time.

Monday night, with tears in my eyes, I watched as my sisters cut off the remaining patch of Noah's cute hair:

Mother is sad.

Noah is concerned.

 Lieutenant Uncle Sam (who is about to deploy to Afghanistan for seven months) approved of Noah's new crew cut:

I will admit, it took me a while to get used to it.  But now, I think he is as cute as can be:

And he sure looks darling in a hat!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

FROM, BALDY

Cole and Sara's Wedding (also known as Noah's second wedding)

I am insanely behind on blogging.  It's a little overwhelming.  I have a long list of posts that I want to write, and I don't really know where to begin, but I decided I definitely need to blog about Thanksgiving before Christmas arrives!

In November, Noah and I spent another ten days in Utah and Idaho with Ryan's family.  What are the chances that two of Ryan's brothers would get married in the first four months of Noah's life? It has been a year of family celebrations, that's for sure!  Ryan's younger brother Cole got married the weekend before Thanksgiving, so we just stuck around for the following week and the holiday weekend.  So fun.

The happy couple at their rehearsal dinner, the night before the wedding.  Love these two.

Congrats, Sara and Cole!

Noah was the youngest (and cutest) guest at the fancy occasion.  He made quite a splash in his sweater vest.   I think he looks like a little old man in these pics...either that or Radcliff, the villain from Pocahontas (tiny head, huge body).  Oh I just want to squeeze him.

And check out his shoes.  Seriously??  Thanks to Drew's mom who gave Noah the entire outfit.

Noah with his girlfriend, Aunt Ashley

Ryan had to work on the day of the rehearsal dinner, so we didn't think he was going to make it to Salt Lake in time.  He got done with work a little early and went straight to the airport to see if they had any seats available on an earlier flight.  He got the last standby seat and made it to the dinner just in time to hear the toasts and to share in the memories of Cole and Sara.  Though underdressed, he was so happy to be there.

The Brothers + Noah

The next day, we attended Cole and Sara's beautiful wedding ceremony in the Salt Lake City temple.  Here they are coming out, a married couple, to greet their waiting guests. :)

These next photos were taken a few weeks previously when the weather was better (which was a really smart idea because it was freezing on the day of their wedding!).  Are they a good looking couple, or what?

They had a lovely reception that evening.  I'm sorry I don't have more photos from the entire day...I find that my photos center around one person lately.  I'll let you guess whom.

The Groom

The Grandma

The Flowers

"Those smell good!"

The Siblings

The Mother of the Groom dance

Guess who came to the reception?  We got to see Katie several times while we were in Utah, and we also got to see Drew for an afternoon when he was home for his college break.

The day after the reception, Gordon (Ryan's dad) treated the family to a decadent brunch at The Grand America hotel.  Even the newlyweds couldn't resist this opportunity to pig out, so they showed up for a few minutes to eat and chat with the fam before heading off for their honeymoon.

Noah's sweater vest made an encore appearance..

I can't take the cuteness.

I love the matching cowlicks in this photo.

Noah loves Grandma.

...but then he had a blowout, so his vest became a "wife beater" tank. :)

So happy with Uncle T!

I just have to include this next photo because it's so classic.  Gordon loves "slap stick" humor and laughs to the point of tears at The Three Stooges and other such ridiculousness.  This is what happened when Ashley showed Gordon a YouTube clip during breakfast:

He was laughing so hard that the rest of us gathered around to see what was so funny.  The clip wasn't that funny--but Gordon's laugh sure was!

After the festivities in Utah, we headed to Idaho for a week of family fun.  I can't believe I don't have any photos of the Thanksgiving feast, but let me assure you that it was delicious.  Sally is an amazing cook, and she goes all out on holidays.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Sally hosted an open house in Idaho for Sara and Cole, and I finally got a photo of Noah with the bride and groom!

Ashley made all of Noah's little ties.  This is one of my favorites:

It was a great couple of weeks!!  We are so happy for Sara and Cole, and we were so grateful to spend Thanksgiving week with our wonderful family.

Family Pics!

As I've already mentioned, when Noah was a week old, my good friend Molly Hunter took some awesome photos of me and him together.  I love them.  They are perfect.  My only regret is that Ryan couldn't be there for the photo shoot because he was already back in Colorado working.  (Being a grown-up stinks.)  I would've loved some sweet photos of father and son, as well as some family shots.

Well, as luck would have it, I recently won a free session with Courtney O'Dell, a local photographer, when I entered the give-away on her blog.  I couldn't believe it!

I told her that my #1 priority was getting an awesome father and son photo, and guess what...she did it!  I know I've already posted this pic once, but I am going to post it again because it is just that adorable:

Courtney also managed to get some great family shots, which is not an easy task with a three-month old and a husband who often blinks at just the wrong moment. (I of course always look perfect, right?) Which is your fave?  I really would love input.

Too bad Noah's not looking at the camera in this one. :(

And just a few more of my cuties--I can't resist:

Ryan has always been a nuzzler.

Courtney was so easy to work with, and we love how the pictures turned out.  If you are in the Denver area and need a good photographer, I definitely recommend her!