Quite the character

Noah is getting back to normal after his surgery. He had a follow-up appointment Friday afternoon, which lasted two minutes, and Dr. G. said he's doing great, and he'll see him again in six months!


We went to Lexington again this weekend to get some work done in anticipation of the party Saturday! Noah had a good time playing - he was finally allowed to play in the house there! Until this weekend, we've had stuff (including dearly - or not so dearly - departed bugs) all over the floor. Dave used a fair amount of poison around the perimeter of the house to kill so many things, and I scrubbed those floors pretty well. So Noah got to play and crawl all over the place!

Grandma Norita got him his very own toy phone, so now he won't try to get ours, right?! It makes all kinds of noise, but I found the "off" button, so we don't accidentally set it off when it's in the diaper bag or the bottom of the toy basket. Like we do with the See 'n Say! We randomly hear, "Yahoo!" then it plays "Home on the Range."

Noah got to visit Grandma Pat and Grandpa Rusty this afternoon. Again, he had a wonderful time crawling all over the living room floor! He wore himself out and slept the whole way home!

But he was back at it when we got here this evening. Lately Noah's been "bulldozing" around the floor. I've been trying to get a picture of him for about two weeks, but I keep missing. This is the best shot I've been able to get before he realizes the camera's out or heads for something else to do!


He's also been steering some of his bigger toys, namely his piano, into the wedget between the wall and a chair. He's learned he can climb onto the piano to reach the window sill or the chair. This one's a little dark, but if I tilt my computer screen, I can see it better!


We try not to laugh (or at least turn our heads) before he is removed from such situations!


He randomly claps and gets excited when you clap back with him!


Other than these new acrobatics, we think Noah's cutting more teeth. The drool has been increasing again, and he pretty much always has a teething ring or fingers in his mouth!

Cannot believe Noah is going to be one on Saturday! We're excited for the party and can't wait to celebrate with our little guy!

Brave little boy

Noah was such a trooper yesterday! He had his eye surgery yesterday morning. It went really well - we can already see how much straighter his eyes are! They're still pretty red in the corners, and we have to put ointment on them twice a day (imagine how fun that is) and try to keep him from rubbing them. That's where the glasses come in!

We got there at 6 yesterday morning. He had surgery at 7, and the surgeon came out to talk to us by 7:40. We got to see him about half an hour after that. Poor baby was coming out of the anesthesia. He was so calm with all the nurses and doctors. He just sat and watched while the nurse took off the heart monitors. They had a tiny little splint strapped to his arm, so he couldn't get to the IV. They had to cut that off!

They told us some babies sleep all day after the surgery. Some babies are ready to go. Guess which kind of baby we have! Dave and I were so tired, but Noah just wanted to play! We all slept about an hour and a half yesterday afternoon - not enough!

He'll still wear the glasses. Far-sighted babies tend to cross their eyes when they hold things up close, so the glasses will help him avoid doing that.

Then we noticed he'd been tugging on his ear, so we went to Dr. McQuie's yesterday. Yes, he has an ear infection! Poor little guy! He's still pretty cranky, but he's sleeping easier and is in the middle of a nap right now.

Now we're hoping for no more surgeries this year!

We had a great time celebrating Dave's first Father's Day! He ran in a Father's Day 5K in Jeff City last Saturday. I think he said he came in just under 30 minutes. Noah was so happy to see him after the race!

Sweating it out

Noah's been on the go again lately! We went back to Lexington this past weekend. Dave and I moved furniture back into the house, while Noah spent the day with Grandma Pat and Grandpa Rusty. The house is really coming together. We're planning to convert it from gas to electric, and we've started in on the breezeway. Then we just need to finish the laundry room. Yeah, right. We still need to finish cleaning the garage and start in on the shed. Then the attic. Someday we'd like to do some work to the kitchen, but that's going to be a while! And retile and re-install a window in the bathroom. And many other things that won't be happening anytime soon. We'll try to remember to take pictures when we're there next!

Noah's daycare was closed this week, so he stayed with Grandmas for a few days. Norita brought him back to Columbia Wednesday afternoon and stayed with us til Friday, so we could see him after work. Judging from his unhappiness after Grandma Norita left, we think he had a good time being spoiled rotten! He's getting back to normal now, though! Just in time to go back to Carol's on Monday.

We found out Wednesday our AC is broken! So we're trying to stay cool as best we can, but it will be nice when they get it fixed. Better early June than August, right?!

Noah's moving pretty quickly as he walks along the sides of furniture. We had to take down the baby gates because he figured out how to move them on his own! At least now I don't have to try to hike a leg over the gates, though it was a good work-out! Now we're just saying, "No!" a lot more often! Like when he tries to climb through the end table in the living room. This photo is from a month or so ago, but he's still trying it!


Noah has enjoyed taking all the toys out of his basket in our living room and tossing them aside. Sometimes he sits and plays with different things; other times, he takes off for some new adventure after he throws all his things to the ground!


For a couple days there, he was clamping down on the spoon when he'd eat. We had to wrestle it out of his mouth! Brandi - you might want to skip the rest of this!


Oh, we also found out Noah's eye surgery will be June 19. We don't know yet what time, but we know it will be in the morning. He'll be in surgery about an hour and a half, and he should be able to see just fine when he wakes up (well, he'll still have glasses, but he'll be able to see straight!). He won't have patches or anything. They said his eyes may itch for a few days because of the stitches, but those will dissolve soon. He should be able to return to daycare that Monday, according to the doctor. We'll just be glad to have this behind us.

May Days

It's starting to get nice and warm here! It's about 85 and sunny . . . a nice change from the rainy morning we had yesterday!

We had Noah's surgical consult Friday morning. Dr. Giangiacomo was less abrupt than we had been told, and it was actually a pretty pleasant appointment! Noah's surgery will be to correct his eyes crossing. He didn't want to do anything with the way his eyes shake back and forth yet, as he thinks Noah may grow out of that. He isn't convinced Noah has albinism, but, as Dr. Gorski also said, he's too little to tell still. Their office is going to call sometime this week to schedule the surgery, but we know it will be a Thursday morning, and it's an outpatient surgery. The doctor said he'll be groggy that day, but he'll be able to be up and running that day.

In other news, Noah has learned to clap! Naturally, he won't do so on command, but he will do it randomly. Sometimes he'll do it to get our attention, and other times he'll do it to try to get himself out of trouble! He's a quick learner.

He's slowly starting to shuffle around when he's holding onto something, like the couch. Only a matter of time!

Noah has learned how to climb into the clothes basket! Sort of a welcome relief from him pulling all the clean clothes out of the basket.


We also had to take Noah's bath seat out of the tub. He has been splashing the water, and it seemed easier to just let him sit in the tub. Dave has to hold him as best he can, and I wash as quickly as I can! I don't know that it's as thorough as baths used to be, but it's efficient!


Dave is spending the weekend with Brandi and Jason, jackhammering their basement. They're working on keeping the water out of their basement. Hope it all works quickly and well for them! I know they all have to be exhausted. Today they're hauling all the broken up concrete upstairs and out.

First Night

We have been rocking and rolling the past few weeks!

Noah is just getting more fun every day! He is such a busy bee, getting all over the place. He really enjoys playing by himself and pretending his dad is an obstacle course! When he gets toward something in our house, such as a door or window, he likes to slap or try to eat it!



Noah enjoys pulling the arm rest covers off one of our living room chairs (and eating them, of course)!


You can't quite see it in this picture, but Noah enjoys standing by an open window and feeling the wind blow in his face and hair.


Dave graduated from Columbia College Saturday afternoon! So proud of him! Grandma Norita, Grandma Pat, Noah and I attened the ceremony, and we had a bbq after with Mickey, Regina, Brandi and Jason. Noah was such a trooper through the ceremony. For a while, he stretched out across the grandmas' laps to read.


Dave started back to school in August 2006. Because he was getting bored at work.


Two weeks later, he assumed more responsibilities at work when a co-worker left for a new job. We found out Noah was on the way a couple months later, then Dave coordinated the big move for his company.

Although he graduated Saturday, he still has class this week! He hopes to be done by Thursday, though.


The grandmas spent Saturday night with us, and we all had a lazy Sunday morning. It was nice to spend my first Mother's Day with our moms! Noah and Dave gave me a pretty purple compact mirror, complete with butterflies and an engraving to commemorate my first Mother's Day!

He is on his way home from a work trip to Chicago. So it was just me and Noah last night. We had quite the night!

Noah discovered the kitchen cabinets last night. He hasn't figured out yet that he can get into them or get things out of them, but he knows he can open them!

We enjoy playing "Where's Noah? There's Noah!" in the bathroom mirror. We'll stand in the hall, and I'll ask, "Where's Noah?" Then we find him in the bathroom - endless fun really! Last night, he started pushing off and pulling on the door frame to get us in and out of the bathroom to play!

He also had his first serious accident. He fell against the entertainment center and knocked his mouth on the cabinet. BRANDI - may want to skip this part! Had to use a few washcloths to stop the bleeding. After the tears stopped, I only got a finger in his mouth one time, but it seems all six teeth (and the one or two trying to come in) are still intact!

So we survived our time without Dad, but we can't wait for him to get home! Although I try, I'm not as rambunctious as Dave!

Big man

Noah had his 9-month check-up last week. He weighs 17 pounds 6 ounces and is now almost 29 inches long! He's about 10 inches longer than when he was born! He's doing great, and he didn't have to have shots, which made the day much less stressful.

Noah's getting all over the place now. He crawls on all fours pretty much all the time, and he's pulling himself up to stand near just about everything, from the couch to the entertainment center to the fridge to our legs!


He has a few new toys, including a lawnmower from Grandma Norita, a piano from one of Dave's co-workers and some squishy blocks. Think it was time for some fresh things!


See the small marks on Noah's lenses? Those are bite marks. We think it must be like looking through a prism when Noah looks through his glasses!

Lazy weekend (for some of us)

It's been a great weekend so far! We haven't had much to do, which is a nice change of pace. Noah and I went to the library and Hobby Lobby yesterday morning while Dave worked on homework. Then we went to a friend's birthday party last night and haven't done a whole lot yet today.

When I say, "We haven't done a whole lot," I don't mean Noah! He's getting all over the place and teaching us how to baby-proof the house! He can now pull himself up to standing, crawl on all fours (if he wants to), stand up in his crib (yikes!) and start to scoot along a few steps while holding on to things.

Yesterday morning I caught him licking the glass on the entertainment center. Ick!


We have a couple more appointments this week - one with the ophthalmologist and his 9-month check-up! Can't believe he's 9 months old already! Time flies when you're trying to keep Noah from doing things he's not supposed to do (like eating books or pulling his glasses off)!

Is he, or isn't he?

We met with the genetic pediatrician yesterday afternoon. Dave and I both liked Jennifer, the genetic counselor, and Dr. Gorski, the pediatrician. They came to the conclusion they really can't say whether or not Noah has any degree of albinism!

Noah's family doctor and ophthalmologist made the appointment with Dr. Gorski because they thought he may have some form of albinism based on his coloring and eyes. Dr. Walters said Noah has a lack of pigmentation in the backs of his eyes and wanted to see what we should expect as far as Noah's visual development. Dr. McQuie said Noah has white hair and is very light. Neither Dave nor I ever thought Noah was any lighter than Dave as an infant or most of my entire family! We didn't know about the eyes, though. I read (on NOAH - the National Organization on Albinism and Hypopigmentation, coincidentally) that eyes shaking back and forth can be a sign of albinism, so we went along, if only for that reason.

Dr. Gorski said it's obvious to him Noah has yellow blond hair, not white hair, though it is quite light. He also said Noah's eyes are clearly blue, not gray or lavendar as most people with albinism have. That said, he does have a pretty obvious sensitivity to bright lights, as do I. He said it's way too early to say anything definitive, as Noah is too young to tell us what makes it easier for him to see. His vision seems to be fine - he tracks things, doesn't run into anything (unless he's not paying attention) and recognizes us from a distance with his glasses on.

So nothing too new learned! We did learn Noah should avoid aspirin for his entire life, as it can cause bleeding in some people of Asian ancestry, and you never know exactly what your ancestry may be! They also told us he will never get "worse" with this and that any subsequent children we have will have a one in four chance of having the same degree of albinism Noah may or may not have!

Other than that, we'll keep on with the things we already knew . . . sunscreen, avoiding being in the sun from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and continuing to have his eyes examined.

That said, Noah has been incredibly active lately! He just started actually crawling (not just Army crawling) a couple nights ago. He will only go a few steps before he realizes it's easier for him on his tummy, but even then he's using his legs more. He's started pulling himself up and is teaching us how to baby-proof the house! Dave has a great shot of one of Noah's new tricks, but it's saved to his phone; I'll have to get it from him later to post.

For now, this is where all that exercise brings Noah at the end of the day!

Long time, no see

Yea! Our computer works again! It died on us a couple weeks ago, but Dave was able to save all the digital pictures, documents and music we had on it. So glad he knows what he's doing! He should win Employee of the Year . . . oh, wait!


We've been on the go again the last couple weeks. We went home Easter weekend. We had dinner with the McGinnis clan Saturday night. Noah and Braxton had a great time rolling plastic Easter eggs around the kitchen table! We spent the night with Grandma Pat and Granpa Rusty. When we got out of church that morning, it was snowing! It's not supposed to snow on Easter! Back at Grandma Pat's, Noah got his first Easter basket! We thought about getting him a wooden one, but he found one at the house and started eating it. So we found a soft Tonka truck basket and filled it with a stuffed duck and some more plastic eggs to play with.


Then we went to have lunch with Grandma Pat and Grandma Norita and open more Easter baskets! Noah made out pretty well . . . lots of new books, camo (courtesy of Grandpa Rusty) and toys.

Carol (Noah's daycare provider) gave us a gift card to Chili's as a thank you for referring some friends whose baby she also keeps. Since we had no food in the house and the grocery store closed early, we used it for dinner that night. We had some happy boys!


We had a pretty short week! Thursday, Tracy and Noah went back to Lexington early to visit the grandmas again. Dave came back after work, so we could take his car to KC for some work. Noah spent Friday with Aunt Kelly, while Tracy and Dave painted and painted and painted and painted! The house is really starting to come along - we moved all the furniture out of the living room and Noah's room. Dave started sanding the floors after we got those rooms painted, and Tracy started in on painting the kitchen. Then it was time to go home . . . shoot!

One night we were watching TV when one of the Geico commercials came on. This one had Peter Frampton as the celebrity telling this woman's story. Noah whipped his head around when Peter Frampton started singing with his Heil talk box!


We're having a pretty nice week so far. We've been walking the past two evenings. Noah is doing much better riding in the stroller (he hated it when he was a newborn!), so that's a relief.


He's enjoying playing with us in the evening. He's starting to pull himself up over our legs. He tries to climb higher if we're sitting on a chair or have our knees bent while sitting on the floor, but he just can't do it yet!


One evening a couple weeks ago, Tracy was in the living room putting one of Noah's toys together. Noah had wandered into the guest room, where Tracy didn't think he could get into anything. In fact, Noah found Dave's school books. Tracy walked in to this.





Dave said Noah has an appetite for history. The poor book didn't stand a chance!

Smartie

We spoke too soon.

Noah learned last week he could take his glasses off. They now have teeth marks on the lenses. Guess that's what we get for bragging about how well he was doing with leaving them on!

He's getting smarter every day! He's trying a little harder to stand and hang onto things, and he can sit, he just doesn't want to! He's doing really well eating fruits and vegetables. He has about two containers each day.

He also learned over the weekend that he can get out of the living room! So far, he's just realized he can go into the guest bedroom.






Any day now he'll figure out he can turn right toward the kitchen or left toward the other bedrooms. We're going to be in big trouble then!

We all had a pretty quiet weekend. Dave went out to the mailbox Saturday, and that was the extent of our leaving the house that day! Went to church and Baby Bible school yesterday, and Desi and Ben stopped by the house on their way home from Jeff City. Noah hasn't been his usual happy self the past few days. We think he's getting another tooth. He has been pretty grumpy, has woken up in the middle of the night and hasn't been eating too well.

Hopefully, it will come through any minute now! He's not horrible, just tiring!

Whew!

What a wild weekend we all had! We took off work early Friday afternoon and headed back to Lexington for the weekend. We had dinner at Reilly's with Norita, then Noah spent the night with Grandma. Dave and Tracy watched "Back to the Future II" and were sleeping by 10!

Noah spent Saturday with Grandma Norita while Dave and Tracy worked on the house. We took down shelves, spackled, sanded walls and put up our curtains made by Grandma Pat. So nice to have one room completely done. The rest of the house is a little bit of a disaster, as there are shelves and pictures all over the floors!

Bob had one shelf up in the hallway over the bathroom door. Dave went to take it down Saturday and couldn't get it off the wall! He could slide it down over the bathroom door or along the hall ceiling to the hall closets, but it fit snugly!


He removed about 40 screws, and still it stuck! Eventually, he "punched" it and found out Bob had also glued it.


We have no idea how he got it there in the first place, but it was definitely a reminder of his craftsmanship!

We fixed taco soup for dinner Saturday night and watched "Back to the Future III" with Norita. Noah Bob was all over the place all weekend! He's learned how to Army-crawl and can get himself anywhere he wants to be. He enjoyed playing with whatever he could get his hands on, from cups to toys to books to tables leaves. He's also getting chattier the past few days. All of a sudden yesterday, he started either chirping or making sounds that remind me of a small dog barking!



We went to visit Grandma Pat Sunday afternoon and ended up staying for dinner! Had a nice time catching up. We thought Noah, who didn't get much in the way of a nap all weekend, would fall asleep and stay that way on the way home. So we gave him a bath in Grandma Pat's kitchen sink and put pajamas on before we left. He slept all the way to the grocery store in Columbia, then he was up for another hour! Way too much excitement happening to sleep!

At any rate, he is having a ball! Tonight Dave left him in the living room alone three times. Each time, Noah had gotten somewhere he really didn't need to be - spilling water over Tracy's library book, kicking leaves on Ruttiger (the plant in our living room) or heading toward the screen door at the front of the house. So Dave put the outlet covers on tonight, and we are planning to get our Super Gates pretty soon!

He also is cutting his sixth tooth! We can tell when a tooth is coming - he is much less happy than usual.

Got a few shots of Noah within less than an hour. Just seemed funny to watch him go from 100 to nothing in about 45 minutes!

He started out playing on his little Ocean Wonders gym. He loves playing with the ball - usually he kicks it or hits it like a Tether Ball.


Then he realized Tracy had the camera out, and he decided he needed to see it.


He looks very intent as he makes his way to the camera.


Then we had a diaper change and decided it was almost pj-time!


We found Dave in the other room, and it was time to play with Dad!


Love the look on Dave's face, as Noah takes off for the edge of the bed. Also a great shot of how long Noah really is!


About 10 minutes later, Noah was calming down. He was completely asleep about a minute after this!