1 Year Old!

Happy Birthday Noah! yesterday I spent time thinking about when Noah was born. At lunch I was remembering contractions getting worse and the first trip to the hospital, at dinner I was thinking about the incredibly strong contractions I was having just moments after being sent home, in the evening I was thinking about telling Gavin we had to go back to the hospital NOW!. I thought I'd be awake in the middle of the night to reflect on Noah's actual birth but the little guy slept through the night! It must have been his birthday present to us :). We've had a fun 1st year with Noah and are looking forward to fun things to come!

I need to work on getting a better picture of Noah standing. He will stand alone & has even taken a few steps on his own! The most steps he has taken so far has been six. As soon as he gains a bit of confidence he'll be off! I expect he'll be walking by 13 months for sure. Go Noah Go!

He is always missing one sock, usually the right one. The way he steps and cruises around furniture somehow causes his sock to fall off :)

He loves his bath! it is his favourite time of the day I think. You should hear him yell and fuss when we take him out of the bath! the little guy has a good set of lungs and will really tell you off.



My guess is Noah is about 22lbs, I will know how much he weighs next week when we go for his twelve month check-up. He's been eating tons of food at meals, and isn't a picky eater. His least favourite food is potatoes, it doesn't matter how they are cooked. He will still eat them, but makes a funny face while doing it.

updated: I was way off on my guess for Noah's weight. He is still only 19.2 lbs.(about 10th percentile) I think he has gotten so much taller I thought he'd gotten heavier too! he is 76cm tall ( a little above the 50th percentile) and his head is growing a little too, thank goodness :) 45cm (about the 25th percentile).

Our boy is a boy of few words (mama, dada, baba), few teeth (he has 4), an explorer, curious about everything. He finds trouble everywhere, he's a climber, a risk taker, a yeller & screamer, a fighter and yet a total mamas boy! We love him so much, happy 1st birthday Noah!

We are having a family birthday party on sunday & will have pictures and video to share then of his birthday party.

A look back at Noah's first year
January- 11 months old

December - 10 months old

November- 9 months old

October- 8 months old

September - 7 months old

August- 6 months

July - 5 months

June- 4 months

May- 3 months

April - 2 months

March - 1 month

February - 1 week

Chuc Mung Nam Moi & Happy Valentine's Day

crayon stained glass.


In the future if the Lunar New Year falls on the same day as Valentine's day I think we will celebrate them on two different days :)
It seemed a bit strange to make crafts for Valentine's day, exchange valentine's cards & treats & then turn around and wish the kids a happy lunar new year with Vietnamese food. Owen looked a bit confused to say the least, he gobbled down his red rice & ginger chicken, but was all about the valentine's candy afterwards. We are attending a Tet celebration with friends on the 27th, but wanted to make an attempt to celebrate it on the day. Gavin and I were able to enjoy a romantic dinner saturday after the kids went to bed. Having both kids in bed by 8pm is pure bliss, and we have been enjoying having some time in the evenings to ourselves. We have even been discussing plans to have a weekend away without the kids! it will be the first night away from them since Owen's been home, besides the night that Noah was born. I don't think that counts as a mini vacation does it?

Swim Lessons

Owen has been enjoying his swim lessons. He is in the sea turtle parented class, and the focus of the group is to gain confidence in the water & learn to trust the instructor. He does well with kicking & floating but doesn't really like to go under the water. He especially doesn't like jumping into the water with the instructor because she dunks the kids right under, where daddy or mommy let him keep his head above water if he wants. He is gaining confidence and is doing better with each class. I think we will hold off on the sea turtle non- parented until he is a bit older though, he needs to be able to trust the instructor, wait his turn & listen before he can move on in lessons. I don't think any of the kids in his class are at that point yet, all of the kids are quite young in his class, under 3 years for sure. We are considering doing another parented class with him, and then trying the non-parented class maybe next winter. We were able to take some photos this week during class.

Practicing his back float. They practice floating with the life jackets on.



floating train. transitioning from being with a parent to doing things with the instructor.


Blowing bubbles in the water to get use to getting his face wet.

Sweet Sleep

Just when I'd given up all hope of Noah going to sleep on his own before he turned one, the little guy surprised us! Since saturday he has gone to bed & naps without a fuss & is sleeping in his crib! He has been sleeping from 8pm until 4:30, wakes for a quick feed & back to sleep until 7:30am. He has been napping at 10am for half an hour & again at 1:30 for about 1.5 hours. Owen's nap overlaps for about half an hour so there is even a little break. Hopefully we can cut out the middle of the night feed, I know he shouldn't be hungry at that time anymore, he eats enough food. We have our fingers crossed that this new sleep routine is permanent!

and Noah seems much happier during the day with a better night's sleep.

This morning I brought out the finger paints & let Owen & his friend have a little fun. Neither one of them enjoy getting their hands really messy, they both prefer to use paint brushes. Owen decided his picture was of the moon & stars. He always chooses to use the blue & yellow paint for some reason, he never chooses red or green.

Whatever Works

Since we transitioned Noah to one nap, he has slept through the night two of the past three nights! he woke up once the second night, but we are really hoping things are turning around. He wakes up sometimes around 6am, but we are making progress!. You will also notice he has taken a soother. When he was younger he wouldn't take it at all, then recently he started stealing Owen's. We've caved in and let him use one strictly for sleeping. The soother/one nap combo seems to be working. Another reason I'm likely not going to win mommy of the year is because I let him nap on the floor! The daycare kids & Owen all nap at the same time & I don't want to risk Noah waking any of them up early.

My baby finally started saying "mama"! he says it all the time now. Usually in a slightly whiny way, but it is still cute.

update: Noah's been waking up between 3 & 4 times a night!

2nd Forever Family Day

Orphanage


1st moment seeing Owen with his wonderful Nanny.


View of Hanoi from the top of the Sofitel


Owen in the hotel




We miss Vietnam so much & look forward to the day we return as a family. Just looking at some of these pictures have brought back so many memories of our time spent there. We were blessed with three wonderful weeks in Vietnam, but long for more. I am forever grateful to Owen's nanny for taking such great care of him the first few months he was in the orphanage. Even though we think of Owen's birth family often, we think of them more on days like today. We are truly blessed to have been given the opportunity to parent such a fabulous son, & couldn't ask for more.

Our day started out with Owen having his second swim class. He is really doing well & he loves it. There are photo restrictions at the pool, so unfortunately we don't have any pictures to share. Later in the afternoon we went to the zoo. Had a great time getting outside, even though lots of the animals are not on display in the winter.



After the zoo, we stopped at a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. Owen ate a huge amount of pho soup & some of a vermicelli bowl. He loves vietnamese food & we need to make an effort to eat more of it.


Happy 2nd forever family day Owen!
1st forever family day & adoption video

11 Months Old

Noah seems to be getting taller, but when I weigh him on our scale he is still about 19lbs. I'm guessing that's because he is constantly on the move, crawling & cruising furniture to get where he wants. He is certainly keeping us busy, he gets into everything. We definitely have to keep an eye on this boy at all times!

Unfortunately he still doesn't sleep through the night. It's been almost a year since we've had a decent night's sleep.From what I've read, the first step is to eliminate night feedings. It doesn't seem to matter how much I feed him during the day, he still seems to wake between 2am & 3am for a bottle. Even if he settles back to sleep he wakes soon afterwards to eat. His naps during the day need work as well. He hates to nap in his crib, but will sleep there at night? his naps are only about 20 minutes in the morning & a longer afternoon nap. I may try & transition him to 1 early afternoon nap & see if that helps. He seems too young for one nap, but maybe he's ready.

I've been searching the internet for a first birthday theme. I think I've settled on a cake, now it's time to find a gift!

Happy 11 months Noah!

Interesting choice of dress up clothes.

Someone like his spaghetti


OK so it's really cut up penne, but we still call it spaghetti. Much easier for my little ones to eat on their own & they love it!

Enjoying the Winter


It doesn't seem to matter what the temperature is, Owen loves the outdoors. I need a little more convincing to get out in the winter, & tend to go into hibernation. However, the weather has been nicer the last couple of days so we played outside in the afternoon. Who could resist this cute face?

Finally!

The basement reno is complete! minus some trim painting. I love the space, it is completely kid friendly, cheerful & fun. The kids are having a blast playing downstairs & there is lots of room to still run around. Plus the added space clears up the toys from my main floor living area, it's a total win! I especially love how much storage there is, no toys are left on the floor etc. It makes clean up really easy & fast too!

Here are a few pics




I officially started back to work today. The daycare is open & the little girl I have full time is so sweet & gentle. She didn't even want to go home when her mom came to pick her up!. Last week she started with a couple of play dates to ease her transition & things couldn't be going better. Now I just have to let my employer know I won't be returning. I'm hoping they keep me on for some casual work, but that seemed to be coming to an end when I was leaving last January.

Christmas

Christmas Eve we had an early dinner (homemade pizza), & took the kids to Church at 6pm. They did so well & were relatively quiet :). We were about half an hour early, but still about half an hour later than everyone else. We ended up having to sit in a room off to the side where extra chairs were set up. It worked out well & there was less pressure to keep the kids perfectly behaved. After church we picked up some hot chocolate & took a drive to see Christmas lights. A neighborhood close by has some of the most amazing lights.



Owen woke up earlier than usual Christmas morning, I guess he could sense the excitement. We wanted him to wait while Gavin ran downstairs & got the video camera, he wasn't very happy about having to wait. He didn't understand why he couldn't go downstairs with daddy. It was only a minute he had to wait, but I guess it felt like an eternity! He was really excited to see the gifts that Santa brought, & he was a pro opening his gifts this year! Noah really didn't care about opening gifts besides trying to eat the paper, but he did like some of his new toys.





My mom won this display at work. Imagine my surprise when they showed up in the afternoon with the hugest gift ever! The cardboard sleigh is in the recycle & the bigger than life dog is now downstairs. This after we told my mom to "cut back on gifts" so funny.


Christmas video

Charcoal Portraits

While in Hanoi, friends of ours were gracious enough to get some charcoal portraits made of the boys. We love how they turned out! photos don't do them justice but you get the idea.

Noah


Owen