Birthday Party Fun part 2

We celebrated Noah's first birthday party (and Jimmy's surprise 30th since their birthdays are only 2 days apart) at the park! Caden's birthday is in November and it's usually cold so I wanted to have it outside at the park and it was a PERFECT park day! (weather wise) The hour and a half before the party started, getting all those last minute things together on the other hand, was quite the opposite!! Started out sending Jimmy and his mom to the party store to get balloons and then over to the park to reserve the pavilion but they were not going to be able to blow up the balloons for another 45 minutes! So, just sent him on to the park and told him I would go pick them up. (I was going to go there anyways to get him a balloon!) Made it there and had to wait for them to do my order then went to DQ to pick up Jimmy's blizzard cake that I had ordered and they took a LONG time looking in the freezer for it! Thankfully, they finally found it! Last stop, Dominoes to pick up the pizza. I had ordered it the evening before because I wanted to pick it up  shortly after they opened. When I got there, none of the pizzas were made! My order had been CANCELED!! The girl had no idea why. (I was freaking out! I was already running later than I wanted and now had no pizza!) She said she would make them right away so I asked if she would deliver for free and she said yes she would do that and that everything would be free! Thankful everything worked out (maybe not the perfect way I wanted it to go) and Noah was a little late to his party but we made it there and had so much fun with wonderful friends and family! The bigger kids played on the playground, we ate lunch and had cake, opened presents and gave away hot air balloon brownie pops as favors! Even though the day started out very stressful and I didn't think anything was going to go right, the day was beautiful and we were able to celebrate 2 out of 3 of my favorite boys for their special days!

Birthday Party Fun part 1

We had so much fun planning  Noah's Up Up & Away hot air balloon themed party! We started with a photo shoot a month before to make the invitations. (Thanks to my incredibly talented husband...unfortunately the picture quality of the invite is not very good)

 Noah loves balloons and had so much fun and gave us the best smiles! :) All of the pictures turned out so cute, I could not have asked for it to go any better! Well...could have done without Noah tipping over backwards in the basket and popping half of the balloons at once, but thankfully we had already taken quite a few pictures and Noah was not hurt. :)  Here are some of my other favorite pictures we took. The last one is when he fell over and popped all the balloons! It was also when Caden was wanting to be in some of the pictures. I love how he is just sitting playing with the grass not noticing anything was happening! :)

Zoo Day

Caden LOVES animals! Probably just as much as he loves cars! So we finally made it to the zoo!! We met Nana and Papa at the Knoxville Zoo for a fun filled day! We did not tell Caden where we were going but as we pulled in we told him we were at his surprise. He saw the sign that said Z-O-O and shouted out ZOO! He was SO excited! When we got out of the car, he was jumping up and down, talking about all the animals he was going to see! We saw lions, tigers (white and orange ones) and a bear (oh my!). As well as otters (who loved Caden's orange shirt, they kept swimming right by him and popping their heads up! It was so funny!), kookaburra, komodo dragon, rhinos, red pandas, elephants, zebras, giraffes, goats, toucan, prairie dogs, penguins and a lot more! Caden loved it! Noah did very well during the day. He was not as excited or really seem to even notice many of the animals but he was not cranky and even took a nap in the stroller! :) At the end of our day of walking around seeing all the animals, we went to the little kids cove last and they had some slides and a place to play in the water with squirting frogs! (both kids got soaking wet! Originally Jimmy started off just putting Noah's feet in but he loves the water too much and ended up all the way in!)  Caden's favorite parts of the trip (according to him) was when he got to ride the camel, brush the goats and play in the water! I won't put all the pics up but here are a few! We had a blast!!

11 months

* Starting to crawl on your hands and knees but still always ends up on your belly
* Can stand by yourself for a few seconds when you are not thinking about it
* Persistent (or is it stubborn?)
* Hates getting your diaper changed
* Eats as much as Caden
* Starting to wean...only nursing in the morning and before bed now
* Finally found a sippy cup you like
* Will try to crawl over everything!
 * Loves to be right there with Caden and Daddy when they play tackle
* Started pointing at things
* Loves to look in the mirror...laughs and points at the baby in the mirror :)
* Hard to get you to sit still long enough to take a few pictures

Ok! This photo shoot is over! Or at least time to move to the floor!! :)  Crazy kid!

An outside kind of day

Sunday was a beautiful day! So glad we were able to go outside and spend an afternoon playing with our boys at the park and at home!

Riding his bike at the park

What is this stuff?!   :)

Running barefoot at the park

Playing soccer in the backyard

He loves swinging in his swing

10 months old

I think I missed the 9 month post so this is kind of a combination but mostly of you right now at 10 months.

* 22lbs 3oz.  (thats after losing a little bit from being sick)
* Still doing an army crawl on your belly
* Pretty good at cruising along the furniture
* Says Dada and Mama
* Recognizes the name Caden and will look for your brother when you hear his name
* Loves to watch the dog
* Will sometimes fuss a little bit when I leave you in the nursery
* Pulls up on everything (toys, furniture, crib)
* Moved your crib down to the lowest setting
* Hair is starting to get very long 
* You love to play in the water in the bath but you also love to pull up and try to stand in the   bath tub and you get mad when we tell you no!
* Loves to hold your hands and walk
* Sometimes only wants table food, sometimes only wants baby food
* Starts smacking the food on your tray when you are done eating, thinks its fun to watch the food go flying!
* Will hit our hand if we stick it out and say give me five!
* Likes to chew on your shoes, you usually take them off when we are driving in the car
* Gives a blank stare at people until you warm up to them after a few minutes
* All smiles for mommy and daddy though :)

RSV hospital stay

Noah turned 10 months old while he was in the hospital with RSV and pneumonia. He started off with a fever on Saturday afternoon and he was diagnosed with RSV on Monday and sent home with breathing treatments but was rechecked on Wednesday and sent to the hospital. We were there for 5 days. (Thankful for Nana and Papa who took care of Caden while we were there. Also thankful for a wonderful husband who balanced going to work, going home to take care of the dog, doing schoolwork and spending time at the hospital with us and bringing Mama better food than hospital food) Being sick took a lot out of him. All he wanted was for Mommy to hold him. Did not realize how much of a workout you get from holding a 22lb baby all day, even while sitting! My biceps were sore!! Or I am just REALLY out of shape! :p  He had an IV, was on oxygen, connected to pulse, oxygen, heart rate and respiratory rate monitors while we were there. He also had to have breathing treatments every 3 hours including at night. He was not eating or drinking very well and did not even want to nurse very much. Between Monday and Wednesday, he had lost 1/2 pound. Yes, he probably has some extra weight to spare but you don't expect your  baby to be losing weight!  By Sunday evening he was feeling and eating much  better and was able to get the IV taken out. The nurses let me disconnect him from all the monitors so he could take a bath. They hooked him back up to monitor is oxygen level and did great all night. Then Monday morning the doctor said since he didn't need his oxygen and was sounding better (not as much wheezing) we could go home and continue with breathing treatments at home. Yay! Of course I still had to get up at night and give him breathing treatments but we could be at home in our own beds! On Wednesday took him back to the doctor and was given a clean bill of health! No more wheezing and no more breathing treatments!

When I went to go pick up Caden, he asked if Noah was all better and if he didn't have to go back to the hospital. I told him no he didn't have to go back, that the Dr had made him better. He looked at me and said "No! The Dr didn't make him better, God did".  Melts my heart to hear him say this! Love my little boy!

Yes, God did make him better! He hears and answers our prayers! So thankful we serve a Savior that still does miracles and heals sick babies. Also thankful for great friends and family who prayed along with us!