Breckenridge Baby!

Matt said, "If it came down to either going water skiing or going snow skiing...it would be a difficult choice." And that's when I knew Matt had found a new love. Heck, I think I found a new love. Snow skiing was a blast. We were trained by the spunky 70 year old, Janice, for one whole day, and then we were on our own day 2. We only fell a few times, but we both got the hang of it pretty easily. I had expected to spend most of the time on my rear end, but luckily I didn't! Matt and I stayed pretty close most of the time, but by the end of it, Matt was ready to head to some loftier peaks, while I was quite happy to stay on the greens. We were sore and exhausted, but we'd do it over in a heartbeat. We hope to ski on an annual basis, but we'll see if finances will allow for that. We missed Noah like crazy (thanks to nana and papa for keeping him!), but we had a fantastic get-away. Colorado was just as beautiful as I imagined it would be, and I can't wait to go back!

Snow, Snow, Snow

Noah had his first experience in the snow last Thursday morning. We woke up, and the earth, along with our house and everything else, was completely covered in 4 inches of snow! I, having not shopped in advance, had to jimmy rig up some snow gear for the little guy. He had two layers of socks on his hands for gloves, two pairs of pants, and three core layers. This may explain the picture below...

Poor kid couldn't move. He went face down.
We think he just didn't know what to do. It was like he was stumped. "What is this stuff guys?" he seemed to be saying. He just kind of stood there for the most part. No smiles, no yelps of glee, no snow angels. Oh well, may be next year. May be he was cold because his mother hadn't gotten him the right gear. I don't know, but regardless, he was still really cute in the snow.

(almost) Naked Stair Climbing

Yesterday I let Noah drink out of a cup with a lid and a straw, and the fatal mistake I made, was walking away. He still doesn't understand that when a cup has a straw, he doesn't have to tip it up. Needless to say, the whole cup of water ended up all over him. So I stripped off his shirt and pants downstairs, and we headed up for some dry clothes. I thought he looked kind of hilarious in his diaper and socks, so I ran for the camera.
On a side note, Noah is 16 months now, and he's doing an excellent job climbing the stairs. After his major tumble down them a few weeks ago (which I didn't blog about because it was too traumatizing to re-live), we've been working on walking down the stairs. He is getting pretty good; however, we're still quite a ways away from letting him walk down alone.

I am in love with his little thigh rolls.

He loves it when we let him climb up on his own. He is SO independent, and the people closest to me say he gets it honestly. I can't imagine what they mean.

Vent Rat

I don't know why I keep wanting to refer to Noah as a rat. Anyway...
Up until a few days ago, our vents were not nailed down and at some point shortly after we moved in, Noah figured this out. He would take off the vent cover and stand inside of the air duct. We found this really funny at first; however, we began to fear that a year or two down the road we'd be digging out lost cell phones from a broken air conditioning unit. So Matt fixed the problem. He tacked them down, and Noah hasn't missed a thing.

Mall Rats

I fear we are turning into mall rats. We go to the mall multiple times a week to play on the indoor playgrounds. What else am I to do when temps dip below 20 degrees?

Driving (in the mall).

Aidan and Noah playing with the Thomas the Train Table in Barnes and Noble (in the mall).

Relaxing train table-side (in the mall).

A Look Back: 2009

2009 was a very eventful year for us.
Here are some of the memories that we'll have forever:

• our October photo shoot with Marisa (see picture above!)
• our first full year with Noah
• Noah learned to eat solid foods, he learned how to crawl, to walk, and to say his first words...he grew from a baby into a toddler.
  
• we moved from our loft into our house
• All of our outings with close friends Shanna, Aidan and Reese
• I turned 30.
  
• I threw Sarah a baby shower and a month later Lula was born.
• This weekend with Matt's extended family...it was something to remember!
• the way Noah curls up in a fetal position and lays his head on my shoulder when I rock him to sleep.
  
• starting Lula in London and Dear London
• taking Noah to the Emergency Room for the first time
• attending Matt's Ski School Reunion, and getting to hang out with Brian and Janet and Brent and Ashley
• TWILIGHT...need I say more? the books and the movies.
• Learning to sew...at a very beginning level!
• the celebration of our 10 year wedding anniversary.
• Our fun trip to Nashville to hang with good friends Marcus and Katie (Noah's first bath with another kid.)
• Matt's acquisition of another book of business. (Need insurance? Call my hubby!)
• Parker giving up his NEW seat at his NEW table to Noah...so selfless.
  
• Noah's first experience playing in the ocean.
• Noah's First Birthday, that I failed to blog about! This truly qualifies me for most horrible mom of the year.
• my dad teaching Noah to say "a,e,i,o,u" when he sees any sort of print
  
• ALL visits to Grams and Pops house and all of their visits here!
• teaching/nurturing Noah to love music, books and water.
• We had Thanksgiving at our house this year!
• We also had Christmas at our house!
• We dedicated Noah to Christ.
• receiving letters from Grams to Noah
  

What I'm looking forward to in 2010:

• taking actual sewing lessons
• traveling to Colorado to ski for the first time
• road tripping to South Carolina
• throwing Sarah G. a baby shower
• taking Noah to the ocean
• reading through the Scriptures
• loving my family more
• getting pregnant
  

(I will probably be adding more to this post as I continue to think of things that deserve to be on this list!)