Noah is 11 Months Old!

Another month has flown by and this is the last time I can say that Noah is older without saying he is a year and so many months! It is amazing how fast time flies and how fast he grows!

Now for some Noah highlights:

*  Noah is 28 pounds and about 33 inches tall.

*  He is wearing 18-24 month clothes and size 5-6 shoes and size 5 diapers.

*  He has to get his hair cut monthly to keep it out of his eyes and from growing over his ears and down his neck! I always say his hair is a blessing and a curse - a blessing because it is so pretty, but a curse because cutting his hair is quite the ordeal! He does ok, but he is very squirmy and doesn't like being constricted - which is necessary when sharp tools are out!

*  Noah now sleeps 10-11 hours a night, straight through. He goes to sleep between 9-9:30 and doesn't get up until 7-8:00! It is awesome!

* He is eating 3 breastmilk bottles a day - two 6 oz bottles at daycare and one 9 oz cereal bottle before bed. He eats yogurt for breakfast and a vegetable or fruit for lunch. Then for dinner he eats a meat, vegetable, and I mix him some fruit, cereal, and juice together for dessert. He loves it! He is a very good eater!

* Noah is crawling everywhere and pulling up on everything! He stands alone alot so I figure walking is coming soon. We moved a bookshelf and coffee table out of the living room to protect him - he isn't the most graceful yet.

* Noah isn't much on Momma leaving the room at home now. This started about 2 weeks ago. If I go to the kitchen or bathroom - he screams and cries until I come back. He doesn't want me to hold him or anything, I just need to be in the room. I am working hard on breaking this habit - but it is just a phase.

*  Noah has 8 teeth and I'm pretty sure he is giving me signs of more breaking through! I love his cute little teeth!

*  My favorite thing Noah does now is crawl to me and want me to pick him up and when I do he lays his head down on my shoulder. It melts me. He also gives me kisses too - open mouth kisses  - such a sweet boy!

* Noah laughs at peek-a-boo and when either me or him cough or sneeze. He is also big enough for him and Daddy to wrestle now! They crawl all over eachother and try to "pin" eachother down for 3 seconds. I love to watch them play.

Now the countdown begins for the big first birthday! I have most of the planning done already!

Happy 11 Month Birthday Sweet Boy - Momma Loves you!

I Love Today

Nathan has a men's softball team and they play about 2 times a month in tournaments in the area. This last weekend they played in Russellville. There was a 2 hour break in between games and it was Noah's nap time so I decided to load him up in the car for an air conditioned nap while I went through a drive-thru for some lunch and went on a drive. I drove around for awhile, then went to Long John Silvers (one of my favorite places to eat - really wish Clarksville had one) and decided to drive through my old college, Arkansas Tech University, to park and eat.

There was a Tech baseball game going on so I pulled into a lot beside the field and ate and watched the game while Noah napped in the backseat. It felt really weird being back on campus after 8 years. I remember walking to all my classes and how pretty that campus always was. I remember sitting in those same parking lots eating in between class, or studying, or listening to the radio. This was before internet on cell phones was common and before social network sites and since I only lived on campus or in Russellville for half of my first semester - I didn't really have much to do when I wasn't in class.

That all seems like it was ages ago - a different life altogether. I don't feel like that same person at all. I don't look much different, but I feel very different. I remember being SO unsure of my life back then. What was I going to do? Where was I going to work? Who was I going to end up with? Things seemed so unstable back then and everything I wanted in life seemed so far away.

Little did I know that I would end up marrying the same guy I was dating then, get offered a great position at the place I was already working, and be so happy and settled. I looked back in the mirror at Noah sleeping and I do not remember ever being able to envision that something that amazing was in my future. I just was overwhelmed by all the uncertainties back then that I didn't see all the possibilities of what could be.

I drove around the rest of the campus to see what all was new and it had made a lot of changes too. I hardly recognized some areas because they had changed so much. I drove by my old dorm room and that building looked exactly the same. It was one of the nicer dorms when I was there, so it doesn't surprise me that it will be one of the later ones to be updated. That got me thinking how Tech and I had alot more in common than I realized. We both had some major changes take place for the better over the last 8 years, but there were certain areas that were the same and that is good too. There are some things that there is no need to change. It is amazing to me how bright my future looks to me now that I am 28, and how unsure it looked at age 20. I am so happy that everything has turned out how it has and wish that I could have seen the potential back then.

Life can be so unpredictable. I cannot believe how unsure I thought my future was back then. It is crazy how just a little drive helped me be so much more appreciative for what I have and where I have been. There are several parts of my life that seem so totally foreign that I can't believe that was even me - but they got me to today, and I love today.