I will start with a few exciting things that happened last month. Tyler and I decided that we wanted to go to a BYU basketball game last month, and the only problem was that it was at 9:00 at night. Of course Noah wouldn't be able to make it through the game, and so we decided that it was finally time to try to have Noah sleep over at Tyler's parents house for the first time ever!! Tyler had a city league basketball game before the BYU game, and so Tyler's Mom came to get Noah during Tyler's game. That is when my heart started to ache, and my stomach started to get really nervous, and so of course I had to call my mom and have her calm my nerves. I don't ever think I have felt anything like I felt in that moment ever. My first thought while sitting at Tyler's game was, "What am I supposed to do while I sit here and watch this game? Usually I am chasing around a 1 year old." My mom told me that she had that very same thought the first time that my brother and I went to stay with our dad during the summer for the first time after their divorce. She said she just stood in the living room after she got home and said, "Well now what do I do?" And Noah was only going over night. We went to stay with my dad for 6 weeks!! My poor mother! I eventually calmed down and I didn't even cry...very much. Haha. Oh what I wouldn't give to just have my little baby boy stay this little forever. I love him so much and I miss him like crazy when I am not with him.
That overnighter prepared me very well however for the last weekend in February, however, because we finally got to use my Christmas present that Tyler got me this Christmas! He got us a weekend getaway in Midway at his parents condo! We left on Friday after work after dropping Mr. Noah off with Grandma and drove the whole 30 minute rainy drive to Midway. What a beautiful place! One of Tyler's mission companions and his wife came over to play games that night and they brought strawberry shortcake for dessert! On Saturday morning, we went to Kneaders for breakfast in Heber, and then went to Walmart to grab some food for the condo, and afterwards thought, wow, we get away for a weekend and we go to Kneaders and Walmart (2 places that we often go in Orem). So funny. Then we went back to the condo and swam in the indoor pool and sat in the hot tub! It was so nice and relaxing, even though the whole time I was thinking, "Noah would be having so much fun if he were here swimming with us." We had a really good time though. It was nice just to be able to spend the whole weekend with my love. We haven't had an opportunity to do something like that just the two of us for a long time, and I am very thankful for Marilyn and Richard for watching Noah over the weekend. What was really funny when we got back though was a story that Marilyn had for us. I guess Noah slept really good both nights, but when he woke up in the morning, he wanted to get in bed with Marilyn and nurse. HAHA. That made me laugh really hard.
Which brings me to my next very emotional point....yes, my almost 19 month old is still nursing. A little background...ever since I knew I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to breastfeed my babies. It was a challenge at first, especially with Noah being tongue tied, but after that it was pretty smooth sailing. There were people who told me when I went back to work that I wouldn't be able to continue nursing when I went back to work full time, it would just be too hard, but I took that as a challenge. It really was challenging at first. Pumping is probably one of the most time consuming things I have ever done. It really takes a lot of patience. Also, there really were times that I felt like giving up because of how much more convenient it would have been just to give Noah formula, but I knew that nursing my child was what my plan was, and that it was what was best for him and for me. I pumped for 9 months, and then continued to nurse after school was over. My pediatrician said at Noah's 12 month appointment that if I continued to nurse beyond 18 months I would probably be nursing him until he was 3, just because past that point it just gets really difficult to get them to stop. I didn't think that it would be a problem at all, and honestly, I didn't feel like Noah was ready to stop or that I was ready to stop. So I just kept going. I was thinking, "I have worked so hard to be able to nurse this long, it feels like it would be a waste to give up now." But recently I have been thinking that it might be time. So as of this past Friday, March 14, 2014, Noah hasn't nursed since then. He has tried, but I really think that he might be ready to stop, and I am ready too. He eats food really good, and he still won't drink milk, but he eats yogurt and cheese, and he actually will drink milk with cereal, so I know that he can get those nutrients from other sources. This has been a really hard transition, but I feel like it will probably be for the best in the long run. I am really proud of myself that I have stuck it out this long, and I will most likely nurse my other babies. It has been a really good experience, even if it has been probably one of the most difficult things I have ever done. We will see how this week goes though. I think it will definitely be easier stopping nursing while I am still working though rather than this summer because he will be distracted during the day and not thinking about it as much, whereas if I were with him all day during the summer, he would probably think about it more. Sigh.
A few exciting things we have coming up though...we are getting ready to level and re-sod our backyard so that we have a nice place for Noah to play. We are planning on doing the leveling next weekend, and re-sodding one day during my spring break so that it will be nice and ready by the time summer gets here. The weather has been so nice lately, so we have had many outings to the park, Noah loves bubbles now, so we go play with bubbles outside all the time.
Noah's stats now: Height - 33" Weight - 24 lbs 11.5 oz
Some of his favorite things are bubbles, basketballs, books, his 2 really soft green and brown blankies, and his binky. I guess he has a thing with things that start with "B"
He loves food and will eat whatever we eat. He loves dipping things in peanut butter or ketchup. He has even tried salsa and doesn't mind it. He still loves chocolate but we have tried to make that a more sparingly offered item. He also loves peach yogurt.
His new recent words are bubbles and buckle. Words he also still says a lot are: more, sit, coat, shoes, and his newest favorite word is Yeah. He is a very positive thinker and says Yeah for everything. It is so cute. He also loves to watch the "I am a child of God" song on the Mormon Messages app, and so when he wants to watch that he will say what sounds like "gaga", but it really means, child of god. He also loves his new cousin Bridger, and so when we point at Bridger and ask Noah who that is, he says, "Br Br". Such a little sweetie.
Another awesome thing, basketball is over!! I finally have my husband back. I don't even know what we are going to do with all the extra time we are going to have together on week nights. We might even be able to have dinner together! I am so excited. I actually might even do some things that I want to do too now! It's going to be a miracle!
Just a few random side notes, we finally saw Catching Fire. We still haven't seen Frozen yet. We went on a really fun date with Tyler's siblings and their spouses to Olive Garden while Tyler's parents watched the kids. It was really nice to be able to visit with everyone and catch up with them. We made amazing sour dough pancakes for breakfast this morning. We got new iPhones that are fun. We went to look at 4 week old Australian Shepherd puppies on Friday night and really considered getting one. I think that might be everything. I just wanted to do a quick update and it ended up being a little longer than I thought. Oh well. :) Now for some fun pictures.
Noah loves going down slides. On his bum, belly, or upside down...it doesn't really matter.
He loves loves shoes, or what he calls them "phews".
Tyler brought me a Kneaders cinnamon roll on Valentine's Day at work because he knows that I don't care about flowers because they die, and chocolate isn't my favorite either. What a sweetie!
We made heart shaped pizza for Valentine's dinner...it looks more like a human heart.
We had a random purple flower still in our tree bed after the snow melted. Sweet purple flower.
I got a pedicure and manicure, actually a day spa but I loved how my nails looked.
Noah got his second hair cut! Such a handsome boy!
He loves playing at the park and thinks he is getting bigger and can climb things.
We went for a walk with some friends and it was windy so he looked like this.
Noah with his arm around "Br Br" (Bridger).
Grandma Ella came for a quick visit!
Noah played the piano with a complete stranger, but they were so cute, I wanted to get a picture.
He loves music.
He fell asleep when we went to IHOP one time so we laid him on the bench and he slept like this the entire time.
We went to look at some huge houses and this was the master closet. It's the size of our bedroom right now.
Happy family.
He LOVES this red wagon and would pull it around everywhere if we would let him.
He loves dipping things in ketchup especially...he calls it "dip dip".
A quick impromptu family picture. That's why I look like I just woke up.
But luckily we also got this cute picture of Noah that I absolutely love!! My handsome 18 month old.
The first picture I took with my new phone. I love my boy.
The Midway melting ice castles when we went for our weekend getaway. They still looked cool.
We played Yahtzee and I won...maybe
It was nice to spend time with this handsome man for two whole days just the two of us.
We went to see sweet Bridger in the hospital when we got home because he had a really high fever and had to be hospitalized. They thought it might have been meningitis?
This is what Noah would do when we told him to smile big. It makes me laugh every time I look at it.
He looks so big in this picture.
He still loves to climb everything and this is where I found him the other day.
He loves his Grandpa Keil.
This is how he sat and played the iPad while I vacuumed and cleaned a little this weekend.
My handsome boy after church today wanting to take the wagon for a walk.
