Merry Christmas (& Happy New Year)!

This has been such a wonderful holiday season!  We have been so blessed to be able to spend lots of time with our family, and Noah loves every minute of the craziness!

It has become a family tradition to celebrate "Schmithmas" every year on the Sunday before Christmas.  So we all pitched in on the food and fun and headed to the Phares household for our annual tradition!  We aren't your typical family...Our fun day included everything from a visit with Santa Clause and decorating sunglasses (you'll see in a moment), to a beer tasting contest for the men!  It is always a great day, and this year was no different (except maybe that we have such an amazingly active child to share the excitement with)!

Noah wasn't a fan of Santa...We appreciated his visit, though!

Our annual family picture...It just wouldn't be us if we didn't do something goofy!

Because of my new position, the next week consisted of a 3 and half day work week, and I got to be with my family the entire holiday weekend!  There are definitely trade-offs to working 5 days a week and being on call pretty much 24/7!  So I was very grateful to get to spend this time with my family - even Ben had a vacation from his clerkship rotation!  We had another visit from Santa that was filled with lots of songs and a few more presents!

This was as close as Noah was willing to get to Santa.  He loved the songs, though!

Bryce and Ty were so excited to have Santa visit :)

Reese is hanging out with the fake singing Santa, which was really the preference for most of the little ones!

On Christmas Eve, we went with Nana & Papaw Schmith and the Phares family to Christmas Eve Mass at OLMC.  We actually went to the service being held in the gym, which was quite perfect with 5 little monkeys!  After Mass, Noah went with Nana and Papaw over to the Uncle Tim and Aunt Renee's house for some play time and to celebrate Uncle Tim's birthday!  Ben and I got to go to dinner at Kazaan with the Havens side of the family, which is a tradition that we love and have only missed one year!  We knew it would be too much for Noah to handle, so we were very appreciative that Nana and Papaw wanted to watch him.  I'm betting that next year he might really enjoy the fire on the table and the time with his cousins!

Christmas day was busy, but we all loved it!  The entire season takes on a whole new meaning when there are children involved.  The holiday is completely about them and how much they enjoy it, and seeing them happy is what makes is such a wonderful time for the rest of us!  We spent a quiet morning at home together, and I guess Noah wasn't aware how important the day was, because we had to wake him up at 8! After presents and a failed attempt at a morning nap, we headed to Ben's grandparents house for their annual Christmas brunch with the whole Kirkhoff family. Around 12:30 we headed to my parents' house where Noah slept for a few hours and we spent the rest of the afternoon.  

Noah is checking out his new table with Daddy.  We think Santa must be planning to bring him the train set next Christmas, when he's 2!

Kiss face on Christmas!

He loved opening his presents - mostly because he got to rip up the paper.

He knew what this was before opening, and without wasting any time started playing with it...

We did finally get him to open it though :)

"Sorry ladies, this seat is taken."

He LOVES his dump truck :)

Merry Christmas, everyone!!

He's Not Fat, He's Proportional!!

Our little dude weighed in at a whopping 26 POUNDS!  That puts him in the 70th percentile for weight, and at 32.5 inches long he is in the 90th percentile for height!  Not exactly long and lean, but definitely long :)  He definitely doesn't get his height from his momma!  Aside from his weight, we got the good news that his hemoglobin is up - WAY up...At 13.4 it is well within normal limits (normal is 11-14).  Gone are the days of disgusting iron supplements!

We have quite the daredevil on our hands these days.  He knows no fear, and will climb on or jump off of just about anything.  He always manages to get a new bump or bruise right after another one has healed.  He keeps me on my toes, but I wouldn't trade his fun-loving and crazy personality for anything.  He has a gift for making a stranger smile, and I'm so proud to have such a little entertainer!

Life is good as we get ready for Christmas! Ben is currently in his pediatric rotation for school, and he is really enjoying working with the little ones (duh - anyone who knows him would tell you that he is meant to work with children)!  So at least when he is away from his family he is enjoying the work he is doing.  I have recently taken on more responsibilities at work as the "interim" manager of my unit and am there Monday through Friday (I know, I know, welcome to the normal working world).  While it is nice to see him every night when I get home from work, I'm really missing my 4 full days at home with him that I am accustomed to having.  So far, he is not adjusting too well to the change.  He loves his babysitter and his friends there, but by the time he gets home he is completely exhausted and becomes a nightmare to handle.  He just requires a lot more sleep than some kids and when he is on a daycare-type schedule he misses out a little on nap time.  I know he will get used to it, so it becomes a question of whether or not his mommy can adjust to the changes?!

 As far as talking goes, I wouldn't put him ahead of the curve, but he is right where his pediatrician says he should be.  In addition to his standard words (momma, dog, etc), his current favorite words are bite, all done, uh oh, and of course BOOM!  He also has been trying to whistle.  I don't know where he learned it, but he thinks it's pretty fantastic.

I never get tired of that goofy grin :)

Did I mention we bought a real Christmas tree this year? Well, we did! This one is OURS!

Ben had to unload the tree.

He appreciated me taking pictures instead of helping him.

So pretty! Maybe a little bigger than we anticipated...It looked much smaller next to its brothers and sisters...

Noah likes the tree so much that we had to move all of the ornaments up high (at least, the ones that were left after his attack against all shiny things).

His new game: Does Noah fit in small places?

Yay! He fits!

He loves to sit on Daddy's lap and help him study.  He is studying pediatrics, soooo...

We had Lauren Weghorst take some photos for his 15 month and maybe a Christmas card!

Check out the red scrape on his forehead.  He managed that one 90 minutes before the photo shoot.  He never cried, so I'm not sure how he did it, but I'm guessing it had something to do with jumping off of our one step...

Our best shot of Noah with Mamaw Great...we had our photo shoot at the Stratford in West Clay, where Mamaw lives.  Noah was much more excited to run around the entire building than sitting still for pictures. In this one, he is trying to snap his fingers (mimicking his mom and dad who were trying to make him smile)!

15 Months!

Today is officially 15 months, but we don't have our pediatrician appointment until next week.  I'll update stats and pictures then, so for now I hope you enjoy this video of our crazy kid's new favorite game!  Oh, and please disregard his momma's irritating voice :)

FALL!!

The kid loves the fall weather.  I'm not sure he's truly my son - most people know I'm a summer person.  I could skip all of the other seasons and live in 80 degree weather all year long.  Not Noah.  This is his personal paradise!

We loved the fall leaves!

We live on a dead end street, so Noah loves to run here :)

Super helpful!

This was filmed after Ben made Noah come inside.  He was super happy about it...Oh, and the broom was a replacement for the rake in an unsuccessful attempt to make him happy.

He loved his first bubble bath! (As if I needed to do anything to make him like the bath more....)

Surprise, surprise - we had a fun time at the Children's Museum with friends!

I'm either brave or crazy, but I did let him play in the sand for a little bit and he loved it! I told Ben this means we really need a beach vacation :)

Fun times at Nana & Papaw Schmith's house! Elle and Noah are climbing in the tub of blocks.

Our attempt at a group shot of the Schmith grandkids.  Gotta love that Kate's belly made it in the shot!

We celebrated Papaw Schmith's 57th birthday with some delicious homemade cupcakes!  Noah thought Aunt Renee was a pretty good cook!

Ty made this very special card for Papaw :)

Halloween!! And other October happenings...

Our little monster was a neighborhood hit! At least at the 3 houses where we took him trick-or-treating!

He thought we should have dressed him as "Bam Bam"

Not a big fan of the head piece!

Off we go! "But Mom, I can't see!!"

"I'll just leave my hat here, OK?"

Mom and Dad had to guide him to the door.  His preference is to play in the street.

"Trick or Treat?!!"  Pretzels were his first treat - YUM!

Nana and Papaw Schmith came over to watch him trick or treat for the first time and take some pictures!

He definitely enjoyed Halloween! He loves anything outside, so it was a treat to walk around to the neighbor's homes.  He also really enjoyed watching all the kids come to the door in their costumes.  All in all, definitely a success!

We had some other fun times these last few weeks, too! Ben had a few weeks off school and I took a little time off work so we could spend some quality time together as a family.  We mostly relaxed at home and enjoyed as much of the fall weather as we could!

Papaw Schmith came over for some snuggles :)

There's that favorite outfit again! This is the start of a temper tantrum...And those don't get old at all...

Stealing his cousin's drink! He's quite the little bully and thief!  But he does it so innocently.

Reese, Ben, and Elle are playing after a fun dinner! Renee and Ty went to Boston for the weekend, so we fed Tim and the girls one night!

Silly Mamaw closed her eyes!

Reese! 

"Naked" became everyone's favorite outfit! They clearly had a blast together :)

Aunt Jamie got to give some lovin' to the twins! (Reese - left, Elle- right)