How is it May already???

Everyone who reads my blog knows by now that I update in bursts...and I always have an excuse for my 'hiatus.' Fear not: this time is no different!

• Excuse #1: I was updating frequently until I lost my camera for a month.  One might think that I would update again once I got it back; therefore, I give to you...
• Excuse #2: My job. Period. End of story. I'm busy now - management is a 24/7 job.  Top that with my mom hat and my husband working an ungodly number of hours each week, and this momma is in bed by 9:00 every night (at the latest)!
• Excuse #3: I regret to say that ever since I got my camera back (in February), I neglected to take pictures...I sincerely hope that Noah never notices that I did not document a good 4 months of his life.  

So there is my little slap on the wrist.  My blog about life as I know it has taken a backseat - because I wouldn't dream of trading the free moments I have with my family for an hour on the computer! But I owe it to my little ones to do my best to make the time it takes to document their lives - because time is racing by so quickly!

Did you catch that?! I said little ones - plural! We are expecting another little boy in August, so at almost 24 weeks pregnant I am making it 'blog' official that Noah is going to be a big brother!  Granted, it has been Facebook official for at least 10 weeks now...Need I remind you of excuses 1 through 3?!

As I said, I didn't use my camera, so all I've got are my iPhone pics! Starting with January and working our way through April...

He discovered a love for BBQ sauce.

And prefers to sit at the big table whenever we allow him too.

Not the greatest picture, but we had a great time checking out the Superbowl festivities while Nana & Papaw babysat!

I love those blue eyes :)

And he loves lots of big blankets!

He went through a few month obsession with building Legos.

A sneak peak at about 12 weeks from one of the docs at work!

Did I mention he loves lots of blankets?! He insists on having all of his blankets each night!

LOVES yogurt, but only when he feeds himself.  We use a lot of paper towel in our household.

Ben joined us one Saturday morning for a trip to the Children's Museum!

Some great daddy-son bonding time in the sand box!

We had a great time, but I definitely miss being able to go on my weekdays off to avoid the crowds!

The greatest February ever - we loved being able to play outside and sit on the porch! Even post -nap :)

16+2 weeks.  It's definitely another boy!!  Gotta love working with OB docs :)

Enjoying the beautiful March weather!!

Snack time outside is WAY more fun.

Daddy was so proud to find him like this (with the autographed Peyton Manning football - not the greatest toddler toy I suppose)!

Lawn mower shopping!! We got a self-propelled push mower - but he like sitting in the big one :)

Easter Sunday at Uncle John and Aunt Sue's house

Just watching TV.  He's the happiest naked.  I swear we have clothes that fit him.

Loving Daddy's "Bitchin Bald Eagle" shirt.  Excuse my language.

Post-nap bedhead :)

No pants. Again. 

"I just stole a snack out of the pantry" face.

We sent this picture to Aunt Mary asking her for a haircut so he didn't look like a girl anymore!

Exhausted from previously mentioned haircut.  Please note the snack trap still on his hand.

Enjoying cousin Lydia's 2nd birthday party!

NOT enjoying cousin Lydia's 2nd birthday party!

 That's it for now.  Hopefully I will take more pictures and post again before he turns 2 and baby brother is born! Let's face it, probably not!

Bring on 2012!

2011 was an amazing year for our family.  We really got to watch our child grow and change and learn new things each and every day!  It is hard to believe that Noah is a little over 16 months old now, and until this weekend I would have told you his morning naps aren't going anywhere anytime soon...however, both days this weekend he has refused the nap and stayed up until it was time for afternoon nap.  I'm a little bit sad to lose my personal time in the morning that I spend cleaning and showering without a wild toddler under foot, but it's an adjustment I can handle! :)  So goodbye to the morning nap! You will be missed, my friend!

We hit another milestone last week: The Dreaded First Ear Infection!  He woke up with pink eye, so I took him in to the pediatrician and sure enough, the pink eye was secondary to a double ear infection!  The kid is a complete trooper, though! He never let us know he wasn't feeling well, and aside from a little bit of a daily struggle taking his antibiotic, the whole thing has been pretty easy.  For a child that has been in day care since he was 4 months old, I would say we did pretty well to keep him healthy enough that he didn't receive his first antibiotic until he was over 16 months old!  Another hip-hip-HOORAY for breast milk :) :) :)

I thought I would just share some pictures from December and January that didn't qualify for the category of a "Christmas post!"

He loves climbing on anything - even his basketball goal!

The boy loves to dance! He will stop whatever he is doing to get his groove on.

He loves his bus/slide from Grandma and Grandpa Havens!  He did NOT love that he couldn't play with it for several hours while mommy and daddy had to put it together! Let me tell you - those things are not easy to put together quickly!

Who doesn't love a little post bath vacuuming before putting on PJs?!

I wish I could show him how pathetic he looks when he is having a temper tantrum!  Do you see how hard it is to resist that face and keep myself from giving in to whatever he wants?!?!

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!!