European Tact and the Lady Who Saved Me

It's official. I can now say that in all 3 pregnancies I have been asked by complete strangers if I'm having twins. The situation that made it offical was actually rather amusing. I was on the elevator at IKEA with my two boys and a European man (always a good start). He was being nice and showing interest in my kids, and said, "So, zis new baby is coming out soon?"

I sigh-smiled and said, "Well, kind of soon, we've got about two months to go."

"Two months?" His face showed clear surprise. "Are you having ze twins?"

"Nope, there's just one baby boy in there." I said it as cheerfully as I could, given that I was answering the twins question.

"Oh, well, having boys is better than nothing." He might have been trying to console me . . .

Hahahaha. I told Gary this story, and he thinks I should get that phrase in vinyl and hang it in our children's bedroom. (Having boys is better than nothing.) (For the record, MUCH better than nothing. Fantastic, in fact, I think mine are quite great.)

Then on to exploring the dark and light side of humanity. So after a while of IKEA, it was time to go. We'd been there a while (Josh isn't exactly focused at such places), and it was lunch and nap time for Noah. He was starting to cry and try to get me to pick him up, but problem was, I hadn't been able to get an actual shopping cart. I had one of those enviromentally friendly/mom-hater carts that hang a yellow bag and allow you to put two things in it, one of which cannot be an easel. However, since I was purchasing an easel, I was awkwardly balancing the easel in one hand, the cart in the other, and my looks-like-twins belly inbetween. And also trying not to lose Josh permanently as he ran in and out of large pallets of furniture. Then, we encountered a problem - very, very long lines at the check-out.

As Noah's screams grew louder, the easel slipped lower, and Josh got farther away, I wondered if we'd make it. Then a nice woman behind me said, "Why don't you go to that line over there? It looks like it's just opening up." Saved! As I awkwardly made my way over, two people (who were sans children and any obvious physical disabilities), started running to get ahead of me in the new line. Actually racing a pregnant woman with a screaming baby! I was more than a little annoyed that such people even exist, but then the nice woman saved the day. She had a flat-bed cart, and offered for me to put my things on it while we waited so I could pick up Noah. Noah was very happy, and the woman chatted with me during our wait about my cute boys and how she remembers when her kids were that age. She made a rapidly-turning-extremely-unpleasant experience turn into a fine one. I felt happy and relaxed and forgot about all the rest.

So, two things from that. First of all, don't know who you are, but I'm sending a big thank-you into cyber space. Maybe someone who actually reads this deserves a thank-you for something else. Second, isn't it cool how a kind deed/person can counteract so much other junk? I think so . . . makes me want to try and be that person.

While the Cat's Away

Gary went on a man-trip at the end of July, leaving me alone with two little kids . . . and lots of company. (By the way, I'd love for Gary to blog about said trip. It was back-packing in the Uintahs . . . beg him to, and he just might finally accept my invitation to contribute.)

My sister Cindy came to visit the first day. She brought along her 3 kids, and since playing with them is one of Josh's favorite things and talking to her is one of mine, everyone was very happy. The first night we took the kids to feed the ducks and play at the park, and then they were exhausted . . . and I got to have girls' night. (This never happens to me, people.) Cindy had rented Twilight, so we popped popcorn, and chatted while we watched. Fun times. (My review of Twilight - fun and interesting, although not earth-shattering. Sorry ladies, I have to remark Robert Pattison =not hot enough. Good looking, but come on, every third sentence in the book is devoted to descriptions of Edward's stop-you-in-your-tracks good looks and finely chiseled muscular chest. Just saying. I'll take Emmett.) Anyway, ignore the parenthetical digression, I highly enjoyed my sister slumber party.

Here are Tate, Josh, and Braden eating yogurt on the trampoline the next morning. Hey, if it makes 'em happy . . . We managed to get the kids all spruced up and to the open house of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. There, we met my sister Kristen, and got a chance to show our children what the temple is like before it's dedicated and they can't go in anymore. I love how when we talk about the temple now, Josh gets excited and feels like he knows what he's talking about. The kids were a little tired, but I had a great experience feeling the peace that is there and the importance of temples. (What Josh told his dad about the experience: "We saw water and Braden said it was a hot tub, but Cindy said no it's not Braden, but he said yes it is, but it wasn't, it was really baptizing water.")

After the temple we all went to eat at the Mayan restaurant. It's decorated like the rain forest, and every 30 minutes there are diving shows. The kids LOVED it (Braden mentioned we should probably go there every day), and while we didn't get any pictures inside, we got plenty of the after-dinner-playing-outside session. Here's Josh and Kristen on some type of Mayan statue.

Can you see why Aunt Kristen is a favorite?

Noah couldn't resist climbing into the mouth of the beast as well. This scenario was all his doing.

Braden, Josh, Tate, and Sophie . . . what a day!

That night Cindy went back home, but Kristen came with me to my house. Another sister slumber party! She is such a good sport, and played with my kids all the next day. (Except when I had a meeting and swimming lessons. "Pack it all in" was the summer theme, I think.) She probably did entirely too much baby-sitting (I had to teach dance and pick up Gary), and the kids loved it. Kristen played every sport with Josh and took him to Coldstone, so she's pretty much his idol. She rented "Confessions of a Shopaholic" and besides getting to chat with her (she's a cool girl, that Kristen), I also got in yet another chick-flick. I actually fell asleep during that one due to the exhaustion of the day, but it's the principle of the thing that I enjoy. I was going to watch the rest of the movie the next day, but Kristen told me the main character got cured of being a shopaholic and I need not view the process, so I took her word for it.

So, wow. A blur of events and rare girl time. I really did love it, thanks girls! You'd think I wouldn't have time to do so, but I did miss Gary . . . I really like that guy, you know. Wouldn't it be great if we could hear the man version of these days . . .

A Few Days into July . . .

Our nephew Ethan got baptized on the 4th of July this year, so not only did we get the treat of seeing that, we got a day-long party with Gary's family. It all started out with us almost missing the baptism because we didn't pay attention to the church address, but we did make it, and it was so neat. Ethan's is the first baptism Josh has gotten to see, and he was very excited. I thought later I should have gotten a picture of Ethan with Josh, but alas, I did not . . . never the less, it was a great experience for us. Thanks for being a great example, Ethan!

When we got to Gary's brother's house, there was a paradise for kids set up. Along with the always-there trampoline and awesome swing set, there was this huge water slide paradise set up. Here is the one picture I did get of Ethan that day, playing water cannon with Noah.
Here's Noah grinning away . . . the kids played forever, moving from thing to thing, unsure of what was the most awesome. Actually, that's Josh in the background climbing in.Yeah, it included a basketball hoop. Like I said, paradise, especially for a kid like Josh (cousins on the slide - Sydney and Bethany.)

But it wasn't just paradise for kids, it was for adults, too. I mean, first of all the kids were entertained, but also, there was SO MUCH food. Good food all day. Burgers, ribs, salads, fruit, drinks, chips, desserts . . . take me back. Oh, yes, and plenty of great people to talk to while consuming everything. Here's Gary and Noah with cousin Sydney.

Noah really loved having a table his size to eat at. He sat there forever.

We all got some rest in the afternoon, and I went with a bunch of the women to the outlet stores. I didn't have any summer maternity clothes, so I spent the entire time in the maternity outlet, looking through and trying on everything. Actually getting a chance to shop by myself . . . heaven! And finding good deals on much needed items helped, too.

Then, it was back to the food, and when it got dark, fireworks. Josh had fun with the sparklers, and Noah liked them too, but helping him play with them was hazard enough without trying to take a picture. (Oh, yes, Josh is still wearing his swim trunks because he was playing too hard to remember to go to the bathroom. When Gary caught him wet he said, "Josh, why did you pee your pants?" Josh said, "That's not pee, it's peanut popper." Yep, he's still making up words daily.)

Josh is actually not asleep here. He's hiding because he's scared of the fireworks, but Aunt Shannon is doing a good job of protecting him. He's also got Holly and Grandpa to watch out for him.

Noah's too young to realize fire and loud noises could be dangerous, so he had a great time sitting on my lap and watching the show.

At the end of the day while we cleaned up (okay, let's face it, we were also trying to optimize our chatting time), the cousins watched a movie together. Can you tell they were all absolutely beat? (Bethany, Abby, Jill, Josh, Sydney, Jessica on floor.)

Once again, Sydney is a good sport with Josh. He fell asleep on her.

So, it was a great day. My favorite part was getting a chance to talk to all of the family who had gathered for the occasion. Thank you so much Sara and Taylor for hosting it! My only regret was that I hadn't prepared myself to wax patriotic, but that can be a goal for next year . . .

We were able to get together with family several more times that week. Gary and the kids hung out with some family in Salt Lake one day, and I met everyone at a park the next. Then, the biggest treat . . . Christian and Candacy and their cute girls came and visited for a night, an event much anticipated by Josh. We loved visiting with them, and the kids had a good time. We thought Josh and Jill were asleep at one point because they'd been in their room quietly for well over an hour. Then Jill came out and said, "Josh just wants to keep reading all these books, but I want to go to bed now." Jill had been "reading" to Josh the whole time.

Josh really wanted to see the ducks with his cousins, (there is a lake nearby), but they had all swum for cover due to the heat by the time we got there. So, as our farewell token, we took them to a historical site. It's actually a cool place, but in the heat when you're not taking a tour it's really more like a bunch of dusty locked buildings . . . sorry. They were good sports, though, and at least they got to see the ox-skull with salt crystals all over it and get a sucker from the general store. Here you can see that the kids enjoyed this part.

We loved having them over, and if Christian can handle the possibility that Josh might climb in bed with him (which he did in his late-night confusion), they're welcome anytime. (That goes for all family and friends, actually . . . we love having excuses to buy treats, and Josh really is a cuddly little guy.)

Happy Anniversary, Baby, Got You On My Mind . . .

At my bridal shower someone asked me, "So, how do you go about getting married?" She was one of my friends at the apartment complex I lived in and was dealing with the routine we all do at that stage - dating, boys, dating more boys, and never does it click. She was probably partially joking, but also wondering if I, at the threshold of my own wedding, had figured out some secret that could change everything. My quick answer at the time was, "I have no idea, it just happened." Now I've had time to think up a long answer, but my answer is still the same. Of course, there are things you can do to significantly up your odds - be in places where you can meet lots of guys, give everyone a chance, pray a lot, wear deodorant, etc., but after all of that there are still amazing people who remain single and rude people who marry quickly. When Gary and I started getting serious, then decided to get married, and then got married, for real, I felt like I was living in this cloud, witnessing this unbelievable miracle.

I always take pictures when I'm worried the flowers are about to die, but I had to take a picture because I LOVED these flowers Gary got me for our anniversary that year. Beautiful.

 . . . so I wrote that paragraph nearly 4 years ago, on our 4th anniversary. I think I stopped because I wanted to be able to truly express how I feel about Gary, and give some deep answer about marriage. Four years later, I don't know how to finish. God has to be the center, from the very beginning, that much I know. He lets us choose, that's for sure. I just feel soooo blessed to be in the path of such an amazing choice. I don't remember anything else about that anniversary, but I'm really glad I captured a few thoughts.
 

Gary brought me grapefruit because the 4th anniversary is the fruit anniversary. Cute.

Also, Gary brought me Cafe Rio at a time when there was no Cafe Rio anywhere around. When I started crazily taking pictures to remember this anniversary, it meant a lot to me.

Swirling in My Brain This Afternoon . . .

*My life is so much improved now that both children can say the word "mine." I guess I've got about 17 months before I'm in utter bliss with 3 saying it . . .

*I'm the one who thought of eating dried cherries and ice cream with Noah at 4:00, shouldn't it be someone else's turn to think of dinner?

*How many pregnant women quit eating feta cheese because they're told it could cause diseases that bring pregnancy complications, yet eat the batter when making brownies, cake, cookies, and other such raw-egg-spiked delights? At least one (me).

*Thank you visiting teaching for always giving me an excuse to make treats . . . many apologies if I am your visiting teacher and nothing ever makes it to your house. I've been thinking of you.

*Tomorrow is my anniversary - four years ago today I was not calmly nosing about my pantry as I was today. I'm sure this thought will grow deeper as the day gets cooler, but that's how far it got, today in the calm pantry.

*Every time I mention to someone that I have a hard time fitting certain things into my schedule, I swear the answer is always, "You can do it at night when your husband is home." I shall not list all 3 millions things I should be fitting into this time period, for I am a happy gal at the moment, but I'll just say that blogging is on the list. And so I fit in two minutes of it. Go me.

A Night at the Ballpark

 . . . and Josh was in heaven. It's been sooo long since this happened, it is just ridiculous to me how cute my little Joshy was. He still is, but toddlers are ridiculous. Some friends of ours had ticket to the Salt Lake Bees game they were nice enough to share with us, and so we went. Noah was a climby toddler, but it was a great night to be out with friends. At the end of the game the kids got to go down on the field and run around the bases and Josh talked about it for years. He probably still remembers.

Josh and friend Kelty

Didn't get any pictures of our other friends, but here we are.

Change Your Story and Save the Day

Disclaimer: If you have never watched Super Why, this will make less sense to you, but it could change your life anyway, who knows.

The other day Josh was laying on the floor, using his feet to move around a bar stool, when the stool fell down. Not so that it hurt him, just so that it crashed to the floor. I said, "I told you if you kept messing with that stool it would fall down." He replied, "The stool has to fall down, it's in it's story. See, (points his finger into the air as if following text) the stool falls down."

I asked him if we could change the story and save the day, but he said I'm not Super Why so I don't have the power to read. He apparently did, however, because then he pointed to some more "words" and said, "The stool just went back up." Solved.

I just think Josh is a funny boy, but you could get all deep on this and wax philosophical about changing your story . . . I often think about it when I watch Super Why. I'll let that be your homework assignment to ponder. I'll just be chuckling. Or maybe saving the day . . . (I have to get mad when you pour Chloraseptic all over the bathroom, it's in my story, see, The mom got mad. Wait, I have the power the change my story . . . )

Family vs. Sawtooth Mountains

In continuing with my playing catch-up game (oh, I'm just getting started), Gary ran a 64-mile relay with my family last month. 6 people, 64 miles, steep mountain . . . this is the reason I finally told my family I am pregnant. I was asked if I wanted to run, and I did. But then I looked at the details of the course, and had to confess I would need a proxy. Gary did such a great job, I'm not invited on the team next year unless someone else drops out.

Anyway, the whole thing got me a trip to Sun Valley-area (Idaho), which is a gorgeous resort area in the Teton mountains. We stayed in a cabinish condo, which Josh still calls, "Our place." Here are Tate and Josh attacking grandpa . . . I think they are actually pretending to be his babies, but the line between those is hard to distinguish. Aunt Kristen is a favorite one to jump on. Here she is with her "Four babies."

Although I slept through a whole lot of it, I am impressed with the tale of the relayers. Poor Team Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch (my dad is Mark) got a start time of 12:30 a.m. . . . two and a half hours before they said the earliest start time possible would be. So, they didn't sleep at all beforehand (tried, but it didn't work for anyone), gathered their headlamps and reflective vests, and drove to the starting line somewhere around 11:00. (No, I wasn't asleep when they left, there were two small cousins that were waaaay pumped to be together . . .) Here's a team photo shortly before the start.

Everyone ran two legs of the relay, approximately 5 miles each. Hannah started them off with blisteringly fast first leg. Here she is right before the start, getting her shoulders loosened up by Cindy.

I like this view of the starting line.

Here's Gary in his gear, preparing for his first run.

Kristen is demonstrating here how everyone felt their ipods saved the race. Couldn't have done it without them, everyone said . . . but Gary. Gary doesn't own an ipod, but the team repeatedly offered to loan him one of theirs. He turned down every offer, claiming he prefers to think as he runs. The rest of the team could not fathom this. His ipod-less run went down as one of the big feats of the race. Hannah ran lightening fast, Kristen ran while sick, Cindy ran up a literal mountain, Sarah got drenched on her run . . . and Gary ran without an ipod. What a man.

Here's my dad toweling off after his second leg. It was pouring when I woke up, so I was sure they were miserable out there running. However, I was told it wasn't that bad, and that their state of the art running outfits dried them off quickly.

Once they were running in the light, they were treated to some gorgeous scenery.

Here's what earned Cindy iron-woman-of-the-race. Her first leg gained 1,331 feet in elevation in only 5.3 miles total. Wow!

They may be hard to see here, but here's the entire team racing to the finish line together. They really did an awesome job, finishing an hour and a half before the race people were ready for finishers . . . kind of a sore spot as they tried to say something beforehand and were ignored, but they really had fun (for real, I'm not just bloggin' here), so it's all good. My sore spot is I was not able to get the kids and myself breakfasted and dressed before the big return in glory, but I was a non-essential part of the finishing process, and I got to eat trout, sausage, and strawberry shortcake with the finishers anyway, so I can't complain. Woo-hoo, they did it!! (Dad, Cindy, Hannah, Kristen, Sarah, Gary)

Later that day Gary drove me and the kids up to show us the route. So gorgeous, and so nice to be zipping along in a car.

Here I am with my runner-man outside the condo. We really wished we'd planned to stay and play . . .

Here you can see that the placed we stayed is a ski resort . . . some of the runs are behind us.

So there you go, they did it, and we all benefited by getting a trip to a pretty locale and a Mark-sponsored carbo-load at an Italian restaurant beforehand. Thanks!

P.S. (For the record-books.) The drive home was actually great, it went pretty quick and we enjoyed talking with each other and surviving on the snacks we'd packed. However, Josh had the tantrum of his entire life at a gas station where he had claimed he needed to go to the bathroom. It was so terrible, I was planning how I would prove he is my child when I was formally accused of kidnapping. I was accused by looks anyway.

Walking CF Into the Ground

No, the cystic fibrosis walk wasn't a hoax that put your money into my bank account - we really did do the walk. THANK YOU to all who donated. Our tiny little team was able to raise almost $800 in 3 days, and I was in awe at the caring and generosity of many. We are all really grateful for what modern medicine is already doing for Madeline, and feel very hopeful that advances will continue to be made. Thanks again for helping to provide some funds to keep those improvements coming! Here's how things went at the big walk.

Team Maddie before the big walk. Me, Josh, Noah (only forehead showing), Gary, Hannah, Sarah, Dave, and Madeline. I took the walking notion very seriously. I dressed to really just walk the disease right away, but learned it wasn't a totally necessary dress code. That's okay, I was serious about really licking CF. This fox is the mascot for the local minor league basketball team, and Josh was absolutely fascinated as it walked around pumping everyone up to cure cystic fibrosis. The team is the Flash, thus making this the Flash Fox, and every few moments Josh would ecstatically squeal, "The Flash Fox, mom, the Flash Fox!" When it was his time to shine and get his picture with the fox, Josh was too full of awe to smile. Hard to beat a basketball playing fox.

But when it was time, we slapped his favorite hat on him and he was ready to stroll for the cause.

Noah was also pumped to be proactively strolling in behalf of his cousin.

And we were off. This is what it looks like to walk for cystic fibrosis, folks.

Had to stop for hydration, of course. (It looks extreme to see me downing Vitamin Water for the cause.)

Dave and Madeline half-way through. Don't want to intrude upon their moment by further commentary.

This is Madeline's reaction to everyone rallying around her.

Josh likes her.

I need to stop posting pictures of myself looking awful, but I really love this after-walk moment. Turns out there was a barbeque afterwards, which was a great bonus. My favorite part of this picture is Noah's reaction towards the apple.

After all of that, we went swimming, and had a great time. It was my last chance to ride the waterslides while my pregnancy was still discreet enough that the teenage lifeguards didn't dare say anything about it. THEN we had cheesesteaks, which I mention because Gary and I loved it and I need to remember them. What a day . . . cystic fibrosis doesn't stand a chance after that.

Enchiladas With Plaff

I am indescribably exhausted. I was hoping for a second trimester boost, but recently I've just felt like a zombie walking around. I try to exercise to get some energy (so glad I can return to the gym now), I eat reasonably well, I get a reasonable amount of sleep . . . but wow, I feel tired just typing. What have I added to my schedule? Well, the gym, as mentioned, and I now teach dance lessons to little girls twice a week. Just twice a week, shouldn't be making an impact.

So exactly how tired am I? Last night I climbed in bed (not too late, either), and Josh made some crazy sound in his sleep. The thought that came to my mind was, "That child sounds like an enchilada." What?! Yet that was my first thought, one that didn't seem strange until this morning.

This thought of mine reminds me of my dear son Joshua, who is constantly making up words whenever he doesn't have one. Here are a few he's come up with recently:

-Josh was playing in his room and Gary asked him what he was doing. "Playing with the duckgums," was Josh's reply. (They were Triominoes.)
-He is constantly drawing something he calls "penshuns." No, he's never heard us talking about "pensions," as far as he knows he made that up. He draws penshuns for everyone. "Mom, I found Noah's penshun on the floor!" he'll say.
-We were getting shelves built in our house (hooray for that, more later), and there were little scraps of wood all over. Josh picked some up and proclaimed he was playing with fees.
- At dinner Gary asked me what recipe I used. Josh said, "I have a recipe. It has sugar and plaff."

I know there's more that I'm forgetting, like I said, he does this often. The crazy thing is, he remembers the words he made up. A couple of days later, he cleaned up the duckgums, and called them the same thing. Similar story with the other words. Funny boy. As for Noah, he's getting a lot of attention by sweetly saying, "Hi, hi," to everyone he sees. Aaaah. Writing happy things just gave me an energy boost. Maybe I have the strength to go buy more plaff . . .

One Year of Noah

Dear Noah,

I worry that you might struggle a little with being a big brother so young. I know that you won't remember being the baby, and hopefully you and your new brother will grow up being great friends, like I was with my sister, but still . . . I want you to know that you're not just one of a crowd of kids or a bunch of babies, you are my one and only Noah. Maybe someday if you struggle I'll be able to pull out this blog entry, and you'll know my sincere feelings around the time you turned one.

Although your first year has passed by very quickly, I feel like you've been a part of our family for a long time. I remember the first time the doctor laid you on my chest, I looked at you and gasped because you were so beautiful. You were nearly clean (thanks to being overdue), and you had wavy dark hair and big brown eyes . . . I just stroked your head and cheeks in wonder. That night I was trying to sleep, I mean, I should have been tired, getting you here wasn't exactly easy, but I couldn't really sleep. All I could think was, "I have a really cute baby, and I can't wait to see him."

I tried to get the perfect photo of you those first few weeks, but my camera wasn't fancy enough to snap one before you made a funny face. I love the funny face photos, but trust me, your preciousness in person was over the top. Now, I still love your big eyes and your brown hair . . . which is usually all over the place because you style it with food at every meal. I love your giggle, your snuggly hugs (especially when you pat me on the back), and your cheeks. Oh, man, I love those cheeks, I just kiss and kiss them. It's actually bringing tears to my eyes thinking about you growing up and not having those cheeks and that snuggle.

When I thought about having a new baby, one of the reasons why it sounded good is because you have been such a great baby. When I watch you and Josh playing together or with your dad, how can I help but think babies are great?

Oh, Noah, I really love you. I might have other babies, but I'll never have another baby Noah.

Love,
Mom

So, yes . . . my baby had a birthday a couple of weeks ago! I hope you can excuse that I chose to write that here instead of my journal, but this is where it ended up. Hope it doesn't sound like my baby is superior, but he is my baby. My prayer would be that every baby could have a mommy that feels this way about him or her, if not in all of those exact words. Anyway, we did have birthday festivities, and I have no brilliant segues, so here is some of Noah's recent life.

Noah got his first haircut at the beginning of May. Doesn't he look excited to get a new look? (Yes, Gary's the barber around here, and I think we did this pretty early in the morning.)

Noah loves playing with hats all of the sudden.

For his birthday, we celebrated hard at Chuck E. Cheese. Normally we wouldn't have a one-year-old's party there, but my niece was having a birthday at the same time, and my family had another event in the area anyway, so . . . lucky everyone! Noah is cheap there, because he loves the cars, etc. whether or not there's a token making it go. Here he is with his cousin Braden, just delighted to be sitting on the ride.

Noah and I took a little safari together and Gary captured this face . . . "Why is all of the attention suddenly on me?" He wondered. But once the song is over, it didn't take Noah long to find the "business end" of the candle. (Quote by my dad.)

There was no question how he felt about eating the cake . . .

(Two side notes: Why don't I have an adorable photo of both children with their cakes, which were actually on the same table as the song was sung? I don't know, crazy night, wish I did. Sophie looked cute and 2, though. Also, I thought I would save time by buying canned frosting instead of making colored frosting and putting it in the bag to pipe words on the cakes. Big mistake . . . the frosting comes out of those cans at 120 miles per hour, and is impossible to control. So it looks ghetto, but the toys on top were all Noah and Sophie cared about, so whatever.)

Present time . . . he loves this car from grandma. I'm pretty sure his initial reaction of sucking on this shirt meant he loved it, too.

Our visit to the doctor revealed that he's still tall, but not as chubby as you think. He's 31 inches tall, 90th percentile, and 23 lbs. 6 oz., 50th percentile. Another scale said he's 24 lbs, 6 oz., but when I weigh myself I always go with the lowest number, so I guess I can do that for my son.

He also has become quite talkative lately. He loves talking on the phone, whether it's a real phone and a real person, or a calculator, a remote, a spoon, some goggles . . . usually it's a bunch of, "Be, ba, ba, be? Ba da bee de!" However, lately he's been trying to say other things. Adding to his "mom,mom", "dad,dad," and "uh, oh" are "dog," "ball," "night,night," "thank you," and "Jo" (Josh). No, none of them are perfect, but it's fun to see him try new things out. Also, once he said, "bath" as clear as day, but Gary and I think he must have gotten lucky.

He's really got a little personality, loving to dance, clap, listen to music, play games like peek-a-boo and tickle, torment Josh by running around with his binky, color with sidewalk chalk in between bites . . . all the good kid stuff. This is a really long post, but turning one deserves it. How often does one go from totally helpless to full of fun in one year? Love you, Noah!