Noelle's First Birthday

Even though Noelle was sick, we still were able to have a family party for her last Sunday. (Sorry that I'm just now posting this...I'm totally being a blog slacker!) We had a great time, and Noelle enjoyed her cake and gifts very much. I made Noelle her own cake and then made a second one for the adults that I could decorate to go with the puppy theme of her party. (Noelle's was hard to decorate because of the weird frosting I had to make.) Anyway, at first she wasn't too sure about the cake and was pretty hesitant to eat it, but once she got a bite or two in her mouth, she dug right in. As you can see from some of the pictures, she sure could cram the cake in her mouth!

Birthday Bummer

Well...Noelle's first birthday didn't really go as expected. Late in the afternoon on Wednesday she started running a fever. Poor thing. She still had it the next morning, and so we made a doctor's appointment. He thought she probably had a virus and recommended that we postpone her birthday party (which was supposed to be this morning at playgroup). He jokingly said, "You could just dope her up on Motrin and not tell anyone she's sick." I'm sure the other moms would not have appreciated that advice. :-)

She has seemed to feel better today, so Chris and I thought about taking her to the pool. (Which was really more for me because I was bummed about the party.) Well...now it's raining. I mean, seriously! Can I get any more disappointed? I really need a chocolate bar.

Good news--I did find a cake recipe that works. It's a spice cake and is super yummy. It doesn't rise very tall, but at least it didn't sink in or anything. So I'm very glad that she will actually have a real cake at her family party on Sunday.

I hear Noelle waking up from her nap. I guess that's all for now!

Happy Birthday to Noelle!

It's official! I am now the mom to a one year old! That is really hard to believe. In some ways the time has passed so fast, but in other ways it seems like Noelle has been a part of our family forever. We have been so blessed by this little girl. From day one, she has had such a calm and laid-back personality. It has been really fun to watch her grow and change. It's funny to think that when she was born she couldn't really do anything except eat, sleep, and make dirty diapers. Although she's still a pro at those things, she can also sit up, stand up, walk (with help), play with toys, sleep through the night, feed herself, copy us, say a few words, and many more things. She's more than doubled her weight and has added about 9 inches to her height. (We'll know her exact stats on Friday.) It's just amazing to me! We've had a blast.
Last week, I got together with friends who have babies born within 6 weeks of Noelle. We celebrated their birthdays together with a cake and lots of play time. They were all so busy and it was hard to get a picture of all three of them.

Speaking of cake, I'm searching for a cake to make for Noelle's birthday that has no milk products, soy, eggs, or chocolate. Sounds delicious, eh? (We're trying to stay away from the major allergy foods until she gets her allergy testing done.) Anyway, my first two attempts have been less than swell. The first cake I tried sunk in pretty bad in the middle and tasted more like a shortcake. I didn't even waste icing for the second one...it was like a brick, and smelled a little bit like fish food. Today will be my last attempt, and I'll either choose it or the first cake I made. It's been pretty demoralizing for a cake decorator. :-)


We're having Noelle's birthday parties later in the week, so today will probably be pretty low-key. But if you think about her today, make sure and have a piece of cake on her behalf!

Another Memory Making Day

Today we had a lot of fun with a little less public humiliation (but there wasn't any free food.) :-) Noelle went swimming for the first time. We went to the pool at the state park. They have a great kiddie pool, although it was pretty crowded today. (And there were kids that were definitely too old to be in a kiddie pool.) Anyway, we still had a really fun time. We thought she would love swimming because she loves bath time. Noelle was pretty fussy at first. I think that it was mainly because of all of the kids that were there. There was lots of excitement and she got splashed a few times. After she got used to it, she had a fun time and was splashing around. Chris and I enjoyed being in the pool, too, although Chris had a boy come up to him and spit water in his face. (Which is gross already, but then you think about the fact that it was kiddie pool water. Yuck!!) Here are some pictures from the day.

And now--a "Moment of Ewwww." I found these teething biscuits that Noelle could actually have. (We suspect she may have more allergies, and these are completely dairy-free & soy-free.) Instead of biting on it, she sucked on it for about 30 minutes. The thing was so soggy and gross. It's hard to tell from this picture, but she had the stuff all over her and was sticky all the way up her arms. She really liked it, though, because when we took it away she cried big time. I guess if you only have 1 and a half teeth it's kind of hard to manage those things. Just when I was thinking that we wasted money buying them, I realized a perfect use for them...they'll keep her busy when we go out to eat! Maybe I did find something to control her volume. :-)

Cow Appreciation Day

Today is Cow Appreciation Day at all Chick-fil-A restaurants. Anyone who dresses from head to toe in cow attire receives a free combo meal of their choice, and Sarah and I will do pretty much anything for a free meal. It didn't make any sense for us to spend money on a cow costume just to get the free food. So, we got creative with what we had - trash bags and construction paper.




When we drove up to the restaurant the parking lot was full. We expected to wait in line a good 20-30 minutes due to the opportunity for free food. As soon as we walked in they rang a bell and the Chick-fil-A cow mascot greeted us. It was at that point that we realized that, though the restaurant was packed, we were the only ones in cow attire. We didn't let that get us down though. There was free food to be had.

We figured that if we were going to go to all this trouble, we had to at least eat our lunch in the restaurant. Why miss an opportunity to serve as free entertainment? (As you can see, the guy in the background is taking a picture of us on his camera phone.)

Noelle got in on the act too. We think she enjoyed being a cow for the day. She even got her own free kids meal - which Sarah and I gladly split between us.

Plus, this gave Noelle the perfect chance to wear her cute cow shoes.

So when it was all said and done, we were glad we did it. We actually contemplated getting a free dinner at the other Chick-fil-A restaurant in town. Here are a few of our favorite moments from our experience:

• It was raining and so our cow costumes doubled as ponchos.
• Not only did we get free food, we got a free calendar, pens, and stuffed animal.
• Noelle drank her (free) apple juice out of a straw for the first time ever.
• We were given lots of attention by the marketing director. She came by our table 2 or 3 times to see how we were doing and gave us more free stuff.
• Sarah saw a lady she used to teach science with at Abilene High. She wondered what in the world we were doing, but once we explained she wished she was dressed like a cow, too.
• There happened to be lots of teenagers there, and so we pretty much felt like we were constantly being laughed at.
• We overheard a family say that they came specifically to look at people who dressed up like cows. They made a point to sit at the table next to us.
• Chris enjoyed mooing intermittently throughout lunch.
• Our favorite part of the entire experience was overhearing employees referring to us as the "cow couple."

Volume Control

When you first bring your newborn baby home from the hospital, you wish they came with an instruction manual. :-) Now that Noelle is a little older, an instruction manual would still be nice, but what I'd really like is a volume control. This little girl is LOUD!!! When she gets in a mood, she just babbles and chirps at maximum volume! We went out to eat at Abuelo's the other day, and Noelle was really enjoying hearing herself screech. We would try to keep her mouth full of Cheerios to delay the noise making, but we weren't always successful. Thankfully most people who looked our way had a "look how cute" expression on their face. I'm going to be very thankful once Noelle understands what whispering means!

Well, we're about 1 week away from her birthday. I just cannot believe that!! It's fun to think about last year when I was GREAT with child. I really didn't feel horrible until that last week, and then I started throwing up again and had the worst heartburn of my life!!! Chris took me to a cute-girly restaurant for lunch (Hickory Street Cafe) and I remember crying because I didn't feel like eating my super yummy lunch. I just didn't have any room in my stomach. That was a depressing day. :-)

Anyway, enough about me...here are some updates on Noelle:

• She's eating finger foods a little better. She still spits out vegetables, but we're trying new things. Yesterday she actually ate a couple bites of chicken...I couldn't believe it!
• She's cruising everywhere and using her walker-toy quite a bit. I think she's probably still a few weeks away from walking, but we hope she does it before Chris goes to work, so we have a better chance of us both getting to see her do it!
• She babbles a lot, and I wish we had a translator! There are times when she's very expressive and I know she's trying to tell us something. We're pretty sure she knows the words dada, mama, and puppy (which sounds more like "baba"), but she doesn't always use them.
• We've taught her some cute tricks (shake her head, rub her tummy, clap), but I think we overloaded her brain because she won't do them as often anymore. We've also been trying the Baby Sign Language thing for a while, and she's caught on to what some of the signs mean, but won't use them, yet.
• She's finally gotten tooth #2. Her teeth have taken forever to come in! She started cutting this tooth about 3 weeks ago, and it is just now barely visible! She'll still be working on her teeth coming in when all of her friends are loosing theirs or getting braces!

Well, I guess that's all for now! Sorry there are no new pictures for the grandparents. :-) I hope you all are doing well!

Happy July 4th...on the 7th!

Noelle wants to thank Lillian for these awesome shoes! They were just right for celebrating Independence Day.