A Friend's Birthday

A little update - Noah has 9 teeth!!! NINE - can you believe it? One of them is a molar tooth. His other 3 molars are bulging and will probably all be through before he's one - ekkk.

He is such a beautiful, sweet natured, very content little bubba. He's not afraid to tell you what he wants and he has learnt to shake his head for 'no' now. We have been making the most of our time on the weekend and we always try to have 2 outings for him. He loves childcare still and when we arrive each morning he runs in, the director of the centre crouches down and Noah runs over and gives her a big hug. We have settled into a routine and my mind is playing less and less tricks with my emotions. Ultimately, we're happy and healthy (and a little sleep deprived).

We'll be sending out his first birthday invitations this week - how exciting.

We just arrived home from a 1st Birthday party that Noah was invited to. He absolutely loved the 'balloon pit' they created.

I'll leave you with a few highlights from the week...

'swimming' with Mum last weekend

I'm sitting on my box

I'm sitting in a box

Family shot before we went to the party today

'balloon pit'

Balloons are good on the gums

Running free - just exploring

First time with a pinata

Yum

Painting

Today we needed to get Noah out of the house again so we took him over to school and did a family mural with him. It was go go go but he was happy to be doing something.

Shoes on for the walk

After we cleaned up with had  a little play with the tarp

Happy Valentine's Day

Noah is doing really great. We don't have any big updates. His teeth are causing problems again this week so we're feeling the pinch a little.
He had a cooking experience at childcare yesterday. He made us a jam drop cookie to share - so we are sharing it with you all... Happy (belated) Valentine's Day.

On another note, we ordered Noah's first birthday presents last night. That was a really nice experience to share together. As his parents, it was really lovely to know that we can celebrate such a significant time in our lives.
Also, we have managed to find a time in the week that I can leave work by 3:30 so that we can carry on playground with Noah's little gang of mates. That is on tomorrow afternoon, it's a lovely way to ease into the weekend.

A Little Family Outing

On Friday mornings I take Noah to Childcare. He looks so big in his car seat with his shoes on. He knows the routine and you can tell he's excited about going somewhere. When we get out of the car he puts his back pack on a walks (very slowly) into childcare. Where did my little baby go?

Our little family outing: Noah goes a little stir crazy at home all day with us on the weekend. Unfortunately there's not a lot of choice as to where we can take him and most of the choices we have are limited by the heat and the mosquitoes. So yesterday we took him over to the school playground. It didn't matter to him that it was our workplace. He had a blast. He didn't throw one tantrum. He wore himself out and nearly fell asleep walking home. When we got inside, he had a feed and went to sleep for an hour. He was happy to be home for the rest of the night.

I found a stick Mum

Concentrating on the trampoline

Breakfast fun: We give Noah real cups to drink from but he likes to put his spoon into things to 'get more food'. I guess he's seen us do this and he's ready for the next step of independence. Unfortunately, the learning stage is coupled with many spilt cups of milk or water and many upside down bowls of yogurt, stew and faxex.

Milk moustache 

A little update: Noah learnt to clap yesterday. He is definitely good at throwing tantrums. All four of his molar teeth are still causing havoc but not fully committing to cutting through. He is well and truly weaning himself, so much so that sometimes he gets angry when I offer a breast feed. He loves childcare so much that when he arrives he runs over to one of the carers and gives her a huge hug. He has 4 friends his age up here - Jack, Hudson, Matthew and Elliott. And a few older friends that he sees regularly - Harrison, Kayla and Isabella. As well as many kids at childcare that just love to follow him around and play his little games or be little Mummys and Daddys to him. And me? Well I'm slowly getting into a routine and the guilt factor has definitely lessened. I miss him but I can see the flip side is that he would be SO bored at home with me. The truth is that working is only hard on Andy and I, we are the exhausted ones. But we're getting by and Noah is happy and healthy so we'll just keep at it.

Just A Quick Update

1. Molar teeth = screaming, tantrum throwing alien child.
2. "No, no, no" is Noah's new favourite thing to say.
3. Number 2 is probably caused by the fact that we have to say 'no' to him so often because he is so inquisitive.
4. Walking, talking toddlers need constant interaction and throw tantrums if they don't get it.
5. Thank god for childcare because our house is too small to entertain the rapidly growing mind of a toddler.
AND...
6. We still find something more amazing about our little man everyday. Who would have thought such a little person could learn so many things in less than a year of life.

Cuddles with Mum after work

Playing in the pantry

We re-arranged his room because he kept grabbing the books each morning and tearing the pages

First time on his rocking motorbike (thanks GG)

Falling asleep in his high chair

Standing in his walker (wondering why it's not going)

Maybe sitting will work?

Just couldn't resist snapping a shot of those little cheeks

Helping Daddy pack up my duplo

Moseying Along

Things are so hectic up here and Andrew and I are constantly repeating the reasons why we are both working full time and missing our son. Our list of reasons goes through both our heads as we lay in bed exhausted each night, praying for the weekend so we can actually see him outside of his breakfast / dinner and bath routines. The list has become our daily mantra.

If you were to look at Noah though, you would not even know his parents worked full time. He is none the wiser! He walks with complete confidence now and his next goal = climbing. Tonight he got into the pantry.
He says "no", "hello", "mum", "dad", "bubba", "ta". Tonight he was ready for bed but I was busy finishing up in the kitchen so Andy was playing with him but he was really whingy. Andy kept persisting, eventually Noah broke free of him and started to walk towards me so Andy tried to call him back and he kept walking and said "no dad".
He waves at everything, including the meals he drops on the floor.
He pats Raphy, he goes over to him sits down in front of him, giggles (especially when Raph licks him) then pats him repeatedly on his head or back. He gets this smile on his face like he's so proud of himself for patting him.
He walks with shoes on, although he really doesn't like it. He takes our hand and walks with us now - so long as you're walking the direction he wants to go.
He climbs in and out of his wading pool with confidence and he loves showering by himself.
He is very settled at childcare and has a predictable routine for them and therefore each night for us.
He happily switches between expressed bottles and breastfeeding which makes me very excited to know that I didn't have to put an end to this just because I returned to work.
He drinks out of a cup by himself. Which means... he spills his water A LOT.
And last but not least, (we don't know how he does this one) every morning we walk into his bedroom he has pulled out books from his book shelf to play with while he patiently waits for us to open to door and get him up for the day.

cubby houses

let Raph in Mum 

cereal boxes are great toys

big boy drinking

big boy spilling

being Rambo

washing machine is mesmerizing 

playing with the hose

being a sailor