Day 1

My name's Noelle, and I'm a paci addict.

Hi, Noelle!


You see, I didn't have a choice. When I was born, I was whisked away to the NICU because I had a life threatening condition. It was all very intense. OK, I lied. I was taken to the NICU because in reality, I swallowed a little of the poop water I was living in...OK, there I said it.

Anyway-- in the NICU, a sweet nurse popped the very first paci into my mouth. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was green and rubbery and had this cool place where I could put in finger in it. Those were the days. Siiiigh.

So, like I said, I didn't have a choice. What was I supposed to say? Whoa, whoa, wait a minute! Do you know that those things cause life altering addictions? Do you know that you are setting me up for disappointment in a couple years when my parents grow a pair and decide to take the thing away from me? Huh? Do you?

So my addiction began. Mama and Papa started bringing home all kinds of cute pacis for me to try. Pink ones. Blue ones. Green ones. Even a purple one! Rubbery, plasticy, decorated, plain, big, small, but all of them awesome. I loved alllll of my pacis equally. I never showed discrimination. That's got to stand for something, right?

I pretty much blame my parents. Whenever I would cry, or be unnecessarily loud (like in church or at a restaurant), in would go the paci. I didn't care because I liked it, and they liked it, too. Who doesn't like a little peace and quiet every now and then, right?

So imagine my horror when about a week ago, my parents started saying things like, "Noelle, guess what? The Easter Bunny is coming to take all of your pacis away and give them to 'needy' children!" They would act all excited and like this wasn't going to ruin my life. I played along. I gave them cute responses. I acted OK with it, but I never was. Needy children want my pacis? Yeah, right. If they knew I only suck the toothpaste off my toothbrush and don't really brush my teeth, they wouldn't want these bad boys.

Well, the day finally came. Easter. Worst. Day. Ever. The night before, they made me put all of my pacis into a bucket and set them out on the mantle for the bunny. What is this? Christmas? Since when do we offer things to the Easter Bunny? They kept promising me some kind of awesome surprise in return, so I went along with the charade.

That night, my first night without the paci, I made sure my parents knew I was NOT happy. I couldn't just go to sleep and act like everything was fine! That's called lying. Lying is bad. So I fought them hard on the bedtime. I would scream and cry, and then I would quiet down, just long enough for them to get in some of their TV show, and then I would just let it rip again. I did this for a couple hours until I actually needed to get some rest for my big finale. 4 a.m., Baby!

I jumped up and down, screamed and cried, threatened to take my diaper off (that always gets Mama), and basically made myself look like a 9 month old until my mama came and got me. She took me to her bed. Score!

A couple hours of shut-eye later, and then it was time to request Barney at 6 a.m. I mean, seriously, I should be up for an award. I thought for sure that they would cave and give me the paci after those shenanigans, but no such luck. We went about our day, did the Easter thing, and I gave it one last effort. At both of my naps today, I cried and screamed, but those ruthless parents of mine just let me stay in there until I fell asleep. The withdrawal symptoms must be waning because I was actually tired and I actually napped pretty well without the paci.

So, here I am...24 hours without the paci, and I can say that I have completed my first day off the nip. We will see how long this lasts. If things go south, I've always got the one I hid down in the couch cushions. They never clean down there.

heart of the mama

To love you more than I ever thought possible...

To do anything I can to protect you from pain...

To love you enough to tell you "no" when you need to hear it...

To help you with even the simplest of tasks...

To play with you until fatigue closes my eyes...

To laugh with you just to make you laugh harder...

To sit with you until you fall back asleep...

To ask myself over and over again how God knew I wanted exactly you...

To dream of the day I see you in a wedding dress...

To cry when you cry, no matter the reason...

To recognize that this is the most important work I'll ever do...

To experience joy through your eyes...

To feel brand new and special first thing in the morning...

Noelle, you are the best part of me.

Sweet joy

As I sit here and enjoy the last hour or so of my weekend, I find myself smiling. I'm alone. Noelle's alseep. Luke was home but was called to the hospital because someone else needs him. I've never been good at sharing, but I'm learning.

I made the comment today that we need to take more pictures of Noelle. When she was younger, I was snapping photos all the time, but as she has gotten older, I've found that my camera battery is dead more often than not and I am lacking the motivation to charge it.

I know I should be documenting every second of our days together, but I think the reason why I'm not reaching for my camera as much is I am enjoying truly experiencing each memory with her, and not from behind a camera. I'm enjoying every interaction...every laugh...every word...every everything. I'm making pictures in my mind more vivid than I could ever take.

She's more than what I asked God for. There's a palpable sweetness to her that even strangers can feel. An angel on Earth...and I can't believe she's mine...ours...mine. She's growing so quickly and changing so rapidly. Tonight, she counted to 7.

When she says "Mama," it's like it comes from the bottom of her soul...like it's the only word she needs to know for the rest of her life. She hugs with her whole body and kisses with her whole face. Even when she cries, I find her insanely cute.

She walks on her tippy toes. She laughs when we laugh. She dives to the floor on the last verse of "Ring Around the Rosie," and it might as well be Christmas morning when we turn on Yo Gabba Gabba.

She's pure, simple, sweet joy.

And she's mine.

Ours.

Mine.

Our girl!

Noelle has been a non-stop, busy little girl as of late. She is on the go, into everything, and loving every minute. Her favorite things to do are to get in the cabinet under our bathroom sink and get into a mug of makeup brushes that I don't use. She loves to put them on her face and pretend like she is putting on makeup. I also find these not-so-cheap Bare Escentuals makeup brushes all over the house. I need to just get her a set of her own, but something tells me she will always like mama's better!

She LOVES books! LOVES them! She is almost always holding a book. One of her favorites to pick up and carry around is the Merck Manual, which is about a 5 inch think medical reference guide. She can barely hold it, and she brings it to us saying "book," wanting us to read it. Yeah, right honey! She loves everything about reading and being read to. If we sit Indian style (not politically correct, I know), she will start about 3 feet away from us, turn around so her back is to us, and "back it up," by walking backwards until she reaches our legs. She will then sit and listen as we read her a book. We usually don't get past the first few pages before she is up and wanting another book. In fact, a few nights ago, I read her about 10 different books before bedtime.

Noelle also loves to sit in her cute little rocking chair in her room. She will just go in there by herself and sit with her snacks or grab a book to read. It is so cute.

She also loves to play with the doctor kit I got her in celebration of Luke's graduation from med school. She always brings the big box to us and says, "out!" Her favorite instrument is the syringe. She likes to take out the plunger part and blow into the tube. We are not sure how she got that idea, but it sure is one of her favorite things!

We have started brushing her teeth every night now. We used to just do it when we gave her a bath (or when we remembered, which was seldom), but now we try to do it each night. She loves brushing her teeth! I think she just likes the fruity toothpaste, but it is fun watching her try!

She is just talking up a storm. We think she has about 15 words that we can plainly hear and understand. It's amazing how quickly she is picking things up. Her new thing is when we carry her into a store, she will say "walk." She wants to walk in the stores, not ride in the cart, which can be a problem when she wants to grab everything off the shelves. In Kiawah, she grabbed a jar of salsa and dropped it on the floor of a grocery store. It shattered and made a big mess. Thankfully she wasn't hurt, but I was embarrassed as I found the manager and told her. Oops!

Noelle is just the joy of our lives. Her laugh is infectious. Her smile is adorable. Her personality is sweet and a little sassy. I love her so much.

Mama Bear

On Sunday morning, we were at church. We don't go as much as we used to because my photography sessions sometimes get in the way. However, I had a free Sunday due to rain, and we got to go to St. Simon.

We went ahead and went in the cry room, not because we were worried Noelle would cry, but mainly because we were late and Noelle likes to get up and walk around. She doesn't like to be held much if we aren't going anywhere. So...cry room it was.

Noelle was a perfect angel, per the usual, just looking at her book and making all the old ladies fall in love. There were just a few other children in the room, one looked to be her age, and the others were a couple of years older.

Noelle started taking interest in the toy box, situated in the middle of the room. The other kids were playing there, so I think she wanted in on the action. She would take about 10 steps toward the box, and then she would turn around and come back to us. I try not to hover, so I just let her do her thing. She would then get the courage to go about 20 steps, then come back. Finally, she made it to the box, and she was proud of herself. She was so interested in the used, junky old toys that she dropped her precious stuffed cat Bella on the ground and didn't think twice about it. I saw a little drooling gap-toothed tot with pig tails eyeing Bella, so went and snatched her up before it was too late.

Anyway, my point to all of this is that each time Noelle took her steps toward the box and the other kids, I felt a tightening in my chest. I didn't know why I was having anxiety until I thought about it for a few. I was nervous for Noelle because I wanted the other kids to like her and want to play with her. I couldn't believe I was worrying about this as Noelle is only 14 months old, but the thought of her experiencing rejection at any age or time just made my stomach hurt. I wanted to protect her and tell all the little kids that Noelle had really cool toys and was a nice little girl and she would be a great friend to any of them, but I wanted to see what she would do on her own.

Like a normal 14 month old, she didn't really interact much with the other kids...that is until the little boy who looked to be about her age bumped into her and sent her straight to the ground. No babies were hurt in that collision.

Fast forward a couple of days, and we were at the Castleton Mall play area. It wasn't busy, so we let Noelle get in there. We were close by because that place can get a little crazy. Anyway, she was attempting to climb the two steps up to the slide, and she wasn't quite getting it fast enough for these two kids impatiently waiting behind her. You know the gestures you make when you are walking behind a slow old lady at the mall, and you just want to say, "Move along grandma!"? Well, these kids were doing that to Noelle, and I immediately took on my Mama Bear disguise. I wanted to knock the kids to the ground or tie their shoe laces together, but I gently helped Noelle up the steps and guided her down the slide before Hurry-Up Henry and Impatient Isabelle could hurt Noelle's self-esteem.

If I worry this much about Noelle and how others are treating her now, I can only imagine how my heart will break the first time someone doesn't want to be her friend or says she can't sit at their lunch table or if she gets cut from a team or if a boy breaks up with her. I see kids mistreating other kids all the time in my class and school, and before I had Noelle, I didn't think much about it. Now I find myself counseling my kids, trying to get them to see that their words and actions can be hurtful.

Kids will be kids...until it's your kid, and then it's a different story.

Baby steps

I realize I have been really down on my entries lately, and really the only explanation I have for that is I have been really down in my real life, too. The stress of all that's been going on has really taken a toll, and each day seems to be a struggle to keep it all in perspective and put one foot in front of the other. Nonetheless, I do it...not only because I have to but because I want to, for Noelle, and Luke, and myself. I know, because life experience tells me it's true, that everything is going to be fine...but it is just so hard to remind myself of that constantly-- 24 hours a day.

Anyway, there have been plenty of good things going on, all of which are helping the cause. First and foremost, Noelle is WALKING! She walks everywhere now, and only resorts to crawling in situations where she wants to get somewhere fast. She is so good at the walking and looks like such a big kid when she does it. 

She also is talking a lot more. She is beginning to say recognizable words, and I can tell she is learning their meanings. Luke taught her "light," and when you ask her where the light is, she looks up every time. I haven't had the heart to tell her that not all ceilings, skies, or vehicles have lights directly overhead, and sometimes lights can be on tables or walls, but we will save that for another day! 

She also says "book," well, all but the K part. When you ask her to get a book, she will walk to her room and start pulling all of her books off the shelves. She also understands dog and cat, and last night we could have sworn she said "Bella" (more like Bewwa) as we were reading her a book with a cat named Bella in it. 

She hugs her stuffed animals with intention now, and she is the sweetest little girl on the planet (but we already knew that)!

Another step in the positive direction is that I did not get a RIF notice on Friday when our superintendent handed out letters. No one at our school did, thankfully. There were 3 elementary teachers who received the letters, however, and I am sad for them. However, it is every man for himself right now, and I have to count my blessings that for next year, I still have a job.

Now, if only ONE person would want to see our house...

Life as we know it.

Hello Stranger Blog. It's been over a week since I sat down to let you in on the happenings-o-life. Not much to say, except for that I feel that change is all around me, and I am trying to embrace it all.

Basically, we live in a museum. Yep, yes we do. Our house is officially on the market, and if you want to buy it, you can click here.

Anywho, we live as if we are in a movie where they get locked in a department store overnight so they go around and do whatever they want while the store is closed and then by the time the store opens in the morning, everything better be put back where it was. That's exactly what we are doing, except it really isn't as fun as it seems on the movies. Having to have a picture perfect home (when it wasn't to begin with) by the time we leave the house at 6:30 a.m. just on the chance that someone will call and want to see the house while we are gone during the day is really difficult. I mean, I can count how many times I have made my bed since I was physically able to do so on one hand, so making my bed every day, even on weekends, really blows. I just hope it is worth it.

Noelle is loving her life, learning new things, having fun, and being super cute. We have been so busy around the house that we decided to put her to work. She has to mow the lawn:

She needs to feed herself. We don't have time for "here comes the airplane, open up the hangar!" games anymore:

And her new favorite thing to do this cute little face:

She is officially sproutin' an 8th tooth, but she is truly taking it like a champ, as always. In fact, baby girl slept from around 7:30 last night until after 8 today, which is late for her, so I almost went in to make sure she was OK, but I weighed that option against accidentally waking her up and me not getting time to clean up around the house or eat my waffle in peace (MOTHER OF THE YEAR!). Lo and behold, she was fine. I knew she was. But still...12+ hours of sleep is kind of freakish.

You may be wondering about my McFatty-ness. Well, I took cleaning the bathroom as an opportunity to put away the scale (because what potential buyer wants to see that I have to weigh myself every day?). So, I hadn't weighed myself in a week, but it turns out that the scale was still my friend. Not up, not down. I have a goal to shed 10 big ones before we head to South Carolina on June 3. I think I can do it. No, really, I do. Stop laughing. Gosh.

Still no fast food for this girl, though. Eat my shorts, Ronald McDonald.

We did it!

There is a sense of accomplishment that comes with celebrating your child's first birthday. Kind of like..."Look at us! She is one year old and not messed up yet!" Maybe the better way to say that is, "Look at us! She is happy, healthy, and has a full life ahead of her." Either way, we feel like it is a big deal.

Friday was the day, so I took a half day because I wanted to spend the afternoon with Noelle and Luke. Noelle celebrated her birthday at daycare with her "friends" as they are all called. The ladies even gave her some cake. I took Noelle out to Wes-Del to surprise my mom. Judging by the way she squealed when we walked in, I would say the mission was completed! I had fun taking Noelle around our old school. I also had this pit in my stomach as I saw all the middle and high school kids, thinking to myself that these kids used to be Noelle's size, and somewhere their parents are sad that they aren't little anymore. It made me cling tighter to my seven-toothed wonder.

Luke, Noelle, and I met for lunch at O'Charley's and then took her home before her 1 year doctor's appointment! Noelle had a great check-up with Dr. Woodworth, who we absolutely love as our pediatrician. She is so laid back and always reassures us that Noelle is as perfect as we think she is! Noelle is absolutely healthy, weighing in at just under 23 lbs (around 75th percentile). We do question the measurement of her height, because we measured her last week and got 27 inches, which according to a growth chart we found online, it put her around the 10th percentile (which had us concerned). The nurse measured Noelle at 30", so that had her in the 90th percentile. The way they measure is by putting Noelle on the paper on the table and then marking a line at her head and her feet, then measuring the distance on the paper. When we laid Noelle back down on the paper when it was time for her shots, she was definitely shorter than the distance between the two lines, so we are going to say she is somewhere between 27-30" in length, which is somewhere between the 10th-90th percentiles! Either way, she is great. She even showed off her ability to stand alone and take a few steps by herself, which was great! We will see Dr. Woodworth again in June for Noelle's 15 month check-up.

Later that evening, Elizabeth and Liz came over to help with the assembly of the bird pops for the "bird-day" party. We had a lot of fun putting those things together. 

The next day was spent cleaning and preparing all of the food for the party. At 4:00, we were ready for guests, and we had plenty of them! Our house was FULL of people, ready to celebrate Miss Noelle's first year of life. We had yummy food, and Noelle enjoyed a cupcake from The Flying Cupcake. She REALLY enjoyed it! She almost ate the whole thing! The candle on Noelle's cupcake was the same candle my parents used for my first birthday. Noelle needed a little help blowing it out, though.

Noelle received a lot of great gifts, and surprisingly, she was REALLY into the gifts. She wasn't your typical child, wanting to play with the boxes or just throw the gifts behind her. She was into looking at each one, touching them, holding them, and playing with them. This made it nice for the people who gave her the gift-- I feel like her sincere love of the gift was a great thank you for their generosity.

We had a really good time with family and friends at the party. Noelle wore herself out and was in bed by 7:00. She has been falling asleep well before 8 for about a week now. She is sleeping very well at night. She woke up the next morning with a little first birthday hangover. ;-)

I am working on a video montage of her first year in pictures, but as soon as I start on it, I get emotional and quit. This has been my M.O. lately. If something makes me sad or scared, I shove it to the back of my mind and forget about it for a while. Now that the party is over and we have an official ONE year old, I have to address other issues in my life...first and foremost, Match Day on Thursday and all that comes with it. I am trying so hard to be positive and enjoy this incredible time in our lives, but I have never been one for change. All I can hope is that I am in fact a lot stronger than I think I am, and that I will tackle any challenge ahead of me.

Anyway-- Happy Birthday to our sweet, lovable, wonderful Noelle...our reason for breathing. It's impossible to look at her sweet face and NOT want to be a better person. She will do great things for this world. 

One year ago!

Let's try to forget about how it is March 9th and I haven't written something yet this month. I have been really busy and overwhelmed, and every time I sit down to blog, I end up shutting my laptop and taking a break. I have so much I want to write, but I am finding it hard to grab all of the words.

However, I owe it to my daughter to write about how one year ago to this day, I had my last OB appointment before she was born. At this appointment, I learned that I was dilated 7 centimeters and my doctor was worried that I would go into labor at any moment. I was told to stay home from school the next day and that we would induce at 7 a.m. on the 11th!

I will never, ever forget the way I felt when I left the office that day. I was totally in shock and couldn't believe that we would be meeting our child about two weeks earlier than expected. We were so excited and  yet so scared. It was really happening! The baby we dreamed about for so long would finally be here, and even though we were prepared as could be, we still felt totally lost!

I can't believe that one year later, I have a sleeping baby girl in the next room with her booty up in the air and her doll under her arm. This has been such an incredible year for us as a family. The meaning that Noelle brings to each day is the greatest gift to us.

We are definitely preparing for her first birthday party. We have a lot to do, but it will get done, and we will have a great day with our sweet baby girl.

I suck.

I am totally aware that it has been 1 week since I last updated, and that sorry little update was just to tell you I was out of space on my blog. Pathetic, I know. Also pathetic are the people on My Strange Addiction right now...eating detergent and couch cushions. At least I am not doing that...yet.

I owe you a post on our newest nephew's birth, and our 2nd youngest nephew's baptism, and my McFatty DISASTER last week, and the planning for Noelle's 1st birthday party (in 3 weeks, AHHHH), and about how much I am loving my little photography business, and also about this BIG, FAT, NASTY ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM called RESIDENCY DECISION DAY that is HAUNTING OUR EVERY WAKING MINUTE AND EVEN OUR DREAMS...which happens to be on Wednesday.

Yes, all CAPS in my writing indicates a problem. I am stressed out, losing my mind, anxious, a smidge excited, and just a tad emotional, so I am gonna spare you and just update when I get a chance.

Also? Noelle crawled. AND took 6 steps BY HERSELF in the same 48 hours. Is she trying to send me to the "home" prematurely? I have a strict "One Milestone at a Time" policy to avoid giving the mama even more gray hair (yes, I have plucked my fair share of gray hair -- rhyme!).

So, I will leave you on the edge of your seats and provide you with many blissful updates very soon. Til then...enjoy the Nugget.

Not so long ago

Not so long ago, she couldn't hold her head steady on her shoulders, use her fingers to grasp her pacifier or mozzarella string cheese, or stand on her pretty little feet. She couldn't say "ba ba ba" or drink from a sippy cup. Not so long ago, she didn't have seven whole teeth or a head of light brown curls.

Now-- here she is...11 months old today. She's minutes away from walking on her own (without the shopping cart), she wears white tennis shoes with silver glitter velcro straps, and she's just barely in 12 month clothes. Her legs are short like her mama's.

Oh...and she ate spaghetti at day care this week. SPAGHETTI.

I can't believe that in a few short weeks, we will have a little birthday party for this tyke. I know that this is now my life....watching the years go by and wondering where they all went.

Happy 11 Month Birthday, Baby! We love you!

This needs to happen.

How cute would Noelle look riding this thing? I think she should have needs it.

Wait...another post!?

This is what a lazy Sunday will do for you. Ample time to think. Ample time to write. Ample time to eat. Sigh. Ample time to play with the best baby on Earth. Ample time to blog! Yippee!!!!

Just thought little miss Noelle deserved to be on this blog a little more...and what better way to do it than to post this picture? We have been trying to get her to take to a sippy cup for a couple of months now. Really, she will do it every now and then, but she is not showing much love toward the thing. BUT...I bought her this adorable little cup only because it had a bulldog on it...and it turns out that she loves sipping through a straw!

No worries. Orange substance in sippy was Pedialyte...not orange pop.

83%

83% could mean a lot of things.

1) It could mean the percentage in which my brain has been functioning this week.

2) It could mean the amount of Luke's waking hours that he has spent at the St. Vincent ICU this week on the night shift.

3) It could mean the grade I got in World History in High School.

4) It could mean the percent of a chance that I will just forego my fast food boycott and make my way to Dairy Queen to get a Chocolate Extreme Blizzard right. this very. second.

Actually...it means none of those.

It means that 83% of Noelle's first year of life is behind her. Yes, she's 10 months old. And yes, even though I teach 4th grade and fractions to percentages and all that good stuff, I definitely plugged it into the calculator on my Mac's dashboard just to make sure that 10/12 is 83%.

This has been a crazy ass week, but I am going to give this post the respect it deserves by telling you that our little sweetie is well on her way to her 1st birthday, and I am excited and sad all the same. I am trying to think of a way to type all of this out without sounding like the most cliched mommy you have ever heard...which means I will avoid phrases like time is "just passing before my eyes," and "she is growing like a weed," and "she is changing before my eyes"...even though all of which are true.

What I will say is that Noelle has approximately 4 and 2/3's teeth. Three full teeth on the bottom, one full fang on the top, and 1/3 of two other teeth are poking through on the top, too. She is starting to look less like a baby and more like a little girl. She still crinkles her nose when she smiles, makes the most adorable sound when she laughs (think of what an overweight chipmunk might sound like if it were to laugh out loud...), and she freaking loves it when Luke tosses her up in the air.

She says a lot of sounds, such as dada, mama, gaga, and she will say "geehceyatt," which is baby language for cat! She loves the cats and will look around the room if you say, "Noelle, where's the kitty cat?" She also calls Ernie "dada," so she is either really confused or...really confused.

Noelle walks behind her shopping cart on her own. She pulls up to stand, cruises down the couch, waves, and claps occasionally. Unfortunately, I caught her clapping during Mitch Daniels's State of the State address a couple nights ago. She didn't quite understand that we don't clap for that man in our house.

We believe Noelle to be a bit on the short side for her age. Her 9 month pants hang off of her at the bottom, and we have to roll them up so she can practice walking. She is still in size 3 diapers, she is mostly on baby food and some table food, though she still loves her 2 1/2 bottles a day.

Last night, I really thought she was going to crawl. She was starting to do a bear crawl type of thing, and she would get on all 4s and rock back and forth. As soon as I got the video camera out, she stopped.

Luke has worked nights all week, meaning that he goes in to the hospital around 5 and gets home around 7-7:30 in the morning. This all adds up to not a lot of time with us together. Approximately 20-30 minutes each day. However, due to the amount of snow we received this week, my school has been on a delay for 2 days and released early one day. This has allowed us to see Luke a little more than we would have normally.

I got my first "your baby is sick and you need to come get her" call today. I think I have done pretty well to make it 10 months without one of those. Noelle has had an upset tummy for the past couple of days, and today it was REALLY upset because she had a blowout so epic that it exploded out of her clothes and spewed "water" onto the floor at daycare. Icky. I had to take her to the doctor today to get a note saying Noelle could go back. As much as I didn't want to leave school in the middle of the day, I really enjoyed being able to spend some extra time with the baby girl.

So, in a nutshell, Noelle is the epitome of awesomeness and I love her more each day. Her personality is really starting to show, and I find myself looking forward to each new day, anxiously awaiting her next development or change.

And....here's her 10 month teddy bear picture!

9 Months Old!

This post is over-due, but better late than never, right? Our sweet baby girl turned 9 months old on the 11th. She had her 9 month appointment last week, and we were surprised to learn that Noelle is in the 50th percentile for weight and 40th percentile for height. We couldn't believe that she was actually on the smaller side for her age! We of course think she is perfect and know that she is just the size she needs to be, but the last time we went she was in the 80th-85th percentile in each. She has never really shown a trend in her growth...being on the high end on one appointment and the low end or middle on another, so we don't really know what "size" she will be when she is an adult. I suppose she has a 50/50 chance of being short and squatty or tall and skinny...and unfortunately for her later on in life, she already has my legs. :-)

Noelle can stand holding on to the ottoman, couch, chairs, her crib, drawers, etc. She is very sturdy! She is not showing much initiative to crawl. Yes, this bothers me. I figured she would be crawling by now. I know everyone says it's normal and some people don't crawl and I "don't want her to crawl because then I will have to childproof my house," but I think it is human nature to want your kid to do all those milestones WAY early. Like...she should have started crawling at 3 months, duh. No, no...I am kidding...I know I can't compare children to children, and that the milestones have quite a bit of range to them, but I am hoping that she will figure the crawling thing out here shortly! Luke and I comment that she might be a big of a "quitter" because she tends to try once and get frustrated and then just yell about it. I wonder who she got that from...?

But...all of that withstanding...Noelle is doing so wonderfully, and I can't wait until I am on Christmas break (tomorrow!) and I can truly enjoy this holiday time with her. I feel bad because I wanted to start all these mega cool traditions this year, and life has gotten in the way...so a lot of the things I have wanted to do and things I have wanted to integrate into our family's holiday celebrations will have to start next year.

Please enjoy her latest monthly picture installment and some of my favorite pictures as of late.

P.S. I am starting to plan her 1st birthday, and this terrifies me. How has it been almost a year already?

2/3

In your first year of life, there's much less to go than the amount of days that have passed. At 2/3 of a year old, you are a babbling, bouncing, beautiful baby girl who lights up our lives, which is the lamest way to say that your birth is the most amazing "thing" that has ever happened to us.

Holding you close and kissing your sweet cheeks makes me realize that, though I want to expand our family someday, you are all I will ever need to feel complete.

This time of year is full of magic, excitement, surprises, love, family, friends, music, great food, sparkling ornaments, twinkling lights, the fantasy of Santa, and the reality of Jesus's love...and your sweet name represents all of those beautiful things. We chose your name for you because we want you to have the spirit of Christmas in you always, all year, all of your life.

With each new milestone you reach, I praise you openly but think to myself, "Slow down, Baby Girl." The older you get, the farther apart the milestones will be, but they will become greater and more momentous...such as learning to drive, taking the SAT, graduating college, getting married, having a child of your own. My biggest wish is that I am with you all the way, still praising you and still wishing that you would slow down.

You are not yet able to speak what you feel, but I truly believe you have the sweetest heart. Just by the way you look at us, look at others, and others look at you...I feel how sincere, genuine, and beautiful you are on the inside.

At 8 months of age, I already know that you will have no problem fulfilling the beauty of your name.

I'm so proud of you. (but slow down, Baby Girl)

Vacation: Accomplished

After toying around with the idea for what seemed like years (really, a couple months), I decided we needed a Fall Break getaway, and I literally threw a dart at a map and it landed on Nashville, Tennessee. OK...not really a dart...but we had never been, and we decided it sounded like a doable trip with our 7 month old nugget.

So, off we went on Saturday. Noelle did amazingly well the whole way there (5 hours!). She didn't cry. She slept most of the time or played with her toys. She ate in a high chair at Wendy's (because you aren't American if you haven't been in a high chair at a fast food joint before 1 year of age).

We arrived safely to our hotel...Aloft in Cool Springs, TN. It was a really cool, modern little hotel that had an elevator that was nearly all charcoal gray and had curtains hanging in it. The floor of the elevator had this blue gel stuff that turned white when you stood on it. Cool, huh? (or creepy when you are standing in it with strangers)

Our room was neat. It had a cow print painting above the bed. The bathroom was subway tiled (like the way my future kitchen back splash will be), and the free shampoo and soap? From Bliss spa. Don't tell Luke, but I paid $36 for body scrub from that brand once. Here they are, giving the crap away for free? Don't think I didn't throw the baby sized shampoos and soaps in my bag. I ride dirty like that.

Saturday night, we headed to Vanderbilt's campus and hung out at Centennial Park. They have a replica of the Parthenon there. I am still trying to figure out why a park in Tennessee has a replica of a structure that was built to honor the goddess Athena, but it was pretty cool to see and made for some cute pictures.

We ate at a great pizza place, thanks to Amanda Eichenberger's recommendation, and we headed back to the hotel to swim. Noelle was adorable in her little swimsuit and was splashing and playing like a little maniacal nugget. She squealed and laughed and hissed (the thing she does now when she smiles and blows air out of her crinkly nose...it sounds like she is hissing). Her diaper swelled up like some fast-rising bread dough, and I totally didn't care that the sign said "no diapers in the pool unless wearing rubber pants." My daughter does not wear rubber pants. Nor will she ever. Period.

Anyway, Sunday, we got up and went to breakfast at a place called J. Christopher's. It was yummy. I had pumpkin pancakes. Our waitress was from Noblesville! Crazy, right? We had a great chat with her and headed out to the zoo. The Nashville Zoo is soooo pretty. The habitats for the animals are just so well designed and really, really cool. The Indy Zoo probably has more animals, but the Nashville Zoo was prettier to look at. The only thing I missed was the aquarium/dolphin show. I wish it would have had one of those. Other than that, it was a totally great place, and Noelle had a great time!

After the zoo, we went downtown. We had no idea the Titans had a home game, so it was pretty busy. We were on a mission to find this place called the Cupcake Collection. It was a bakery I had heard about. I love cupcakes and decided that we had to find it. Finally, we found it, and Luke enjoyed a sweet potato cupcake while I had a wedding cake cupcake. Soooo good. I wish we could have bought some to take home, but it was pretty warm outside that day. Melted cupcakes don't taste as good.

We ate at a place down by the water and listened to the football game. I guess a difference I noticed was if we were in Indy on a Colts home game Sunday, the restaurants/streets would be crawling with people in Colts jerseys, just trying to be close to the game. There was really no one walking around in a Titans jersey (for obvious reasons... haha), and we got right in to a restaurant that was literally a stone's throw away from the stadium.

After lunch, we walked down the streets and marveled at all the cowboy boot stores. We also loved walking by each bar...which seemed to have a spot in the front with an aspiring music artist singing away. It was fun to walk past each doorway and hear something different each time. It definitely was everything we thought Nashville would be.

We did make the trek to the Opryland area, just wanting to see the Grand Ole Opry and the hotel from the outside. They were still working on repairing the flood damage, so we couldn't get in at all. After that, we went back to the hotel to swim once more and then get ready for dinner.

We found a restaurant called Saffire in Franklin, TN. We enjoyed a really great dinner there. I loved that none of the tables/chairs/center pieces matched in this restaurant. It was really funky and dark and cool in there. Noelle slept most of the time, so we were able to enjoy a nice, long dinner. It was a great ending to a fun trip.

The next day, we were up before the sun and ready to head out. Our trip home was uneventful, though about 30 minutes before we were home, Noelle decided she was done with the trip and wanted to be out of the car. She cried the rest of the way home, but I suppose it was a small price to pay for how well she did the rest of the time.

Now it is back to the daily grind. {enter long-winded sigh here}

sweet girl

you are my sunshine.

my only sunshine.

you make me happy

when skies are gray.

you'll never know, dear,

how much i love you.

please don't take

my sunshine

away.

She's 7 months old already!

This little nugget of love is 7 months old!

She clearly is much bigger than the bear, and she is sitting back to back with the bear because she quite an issue with attacking the bear as we tried to take her picture. She could not sit beside the bear without grabbing it or pushing it down. 

See?

But of course we loved every minute of it.

Noelle is just shy of 20 lbs. Why I don't have amazing gun-show arms from carrying her around is beyond me. She is so adorable and squeezable and cuddly that I would carry her around if she was 50 lbs. OK...that might be a stretch. You get my point.

She is sitting completely on her own. She rolls across the room. She can no longer be trusted on beds or couches while we run to the next room to answer our phones. She loves bath time but is pretty much too big for her whale tub. I think the ducky tub will be inflated for the next bath. 

She eats baby food 3 times per day, usually a serving to a serving and a half. She loves EVERYTHING...I have yet to see a food that she didn't like or had a reaction to. 

She is starting to get curious about feeding herself. We give her puffs on her tray and she picks them up and "puts them in her mouth." I applauded her for doing such a good job, and then when I picked her up out of her chair, there were about 10 puffs under her butt. So...she misses her mouth every time, but she feels like big stuff so that's all that matters! She also loves the rice Mum Mum things (that turn to goo when she gums them down...or as Luke says..."boogers").

She is working on standing while holding onto something, and she really isn't figuring out crawling yet. While on her belly, she will see something she wants and realize that she needs to move to get it, but she starts pushing backwards instead of pulling forward. I am not worried...but of course Luke wants Noelle to be #1 in the class so we have to get working on this!

She makes all kinds of funny sounds and she giggles much more frequently. Her sense of humor is hilarious because you really never know when she is going to think something is funny.

She is just a doll who brings such joy to those around her-- and as her mother, I think that is when I am proudest of her. When she makes my parents smile from ear to ear...when she captivates my colleagues at school...when my students stare at her pictures and say "she's SO cute! I want to babysit!"...when a perfect stranger in a store makes a comment about how beautiful or happy or adorable she is...that is when my soul shines.

Happy 7 months, Baby Girl. Only 5 short months until you are 1 year old. Heaven help me...