A Busy Birthday Weekend

Last Wednesday night, Grammy came to stay with us and help me run errands, get ready for Noah's birthday party and just organize my life in general! I think we totally ran her ragged and she's suffering from a cold now! :-( Sorry Mom!

Anyway, leaving out the not so fun details of all the errand running, here is a recap of our weekend.

Thursday morning, we went to the gym for Noah's second swim lesson. It was fun - I'm not sure how much he's really getting from the teacher or the group setting but at least it's getting me there once a week to work with him. He (obviously) loves the water and catches on pretty quickly to 'technique' (as much as you can have at 2 years old)! :-)



After the swim lesson, we played at the pool for a while. My mom got Noah this cute little cover up and he didn't want to take it off when it was time to shower.

While Noah was napping, my mom ran to the grocery store for us while I tried to go through some of Noah's outgrown clothes and get the house a little organized. Thursday afternoon, we ran some errands and had a quick dinner out while Daddy enjoyed some male bonding (happy hour) time with Cory after work! He got home right in time for bedtime and Noah was excited that Daddy could put him to bed.

Friday was (again) lots of errands and cake baking/decorating and also a doctor's appt for Noah (a follow up from a minor ear infection that he had a few weeks ago - he's fine).

Here is Noah helping Grammy make the cupcakes for his party. My mom gave me a puzzle cake set (cupcakes that go together to form a cake) a while ago and we used it for Noah's birthday cake. He chose to have a turtle (one of the three templates we had) and we had just enough cupcake holders left over to form a smaller Mickey Mouse cake. My mom decorated the turtle cake but I actually did the Mickey Mouse - I was so proud of my craftiness (most of you know I'm not the crafty type)! Stay tuned for pictures of the cake.

Helping Grammy make the batter

Here are Daddy and Noah playing after Waylon got home from work on Friday night...

After all the busy stuff I put her through on Thursday and Friday, Grammy was kind enough offer to babysit on Friday night so Waylon and I could go out to dinner to celebrate his birthday (which was Monday, the 29th). We had a great dinner out at Sushi Blues and then went to Napper Tandys where I had some of our friends waiting to surprise Waylon. Actually I had to blow the surprise to get him to go but that's okay. He was happy anyway. We had a good time and got some silly pictures of people making their own coozies (some Coors Light promotion going on at the bar).

Megan and Dave working hard

Waylon and Cory showing off their finished products.

And Jennie won!! - that fabulous tee shirt! :-)

Saturday was party time!! The morning was spent getting ready for the party - Waylon took Noah on one last trip to BJs and gave my mom and I a small break (from Noah anyway!). :-) They also picked up the balloons that were a huge hit. Noah must have carried them around for at least an hour.

I just think Noah looks like such a BOY in this picture. Where did my baby go!?

Daddy and Noah talking to his little sister.

This year, as opposed to last year!, we opted to have a small birthday gathering. Just grandparents, aunts and uncles and a few of Noah's friends. Before the friends arrived, we gave Waylon his present... a Wii!! He has been dying to have one and now does. It is pretty fun, I must say!


Stella Dot, Maddie, and Savannah showed up soon after and it was time for.... what else??... water play!

Then it was dinner time (notice the new picnic table from Grammy and Papa)...


Then time for presents!! Noah got all sorts of great stuff... books, a tee ball set, a puzzle, clothes, a fire truck. Wow! Thanks everyone! And the big one is coming soon... the grandparents are chipping in towards a playset. We're hoping to have it set up next weekend, so stay tuned for that. And Waylon and I got Noah a tricycle but we are giving that to him tomorrow on his 'real' birthDAY.

Stella Dot got him this cute framed picture of the two of them holding hands at the Carnivore Preservation Trust a few weeks ago. Everyone must have said 'AWWWW' cause now whenever he looks at the picture, he says, 'Noah, Stella Dot, holding hands.... AWWWW'. It's funny.

Showing the girls his loot.

Then CAKE time!! Check them out!

This was his expression while everyone was singing to him. :-)

And he blew out the candles all by himself - all the bubble blowing must have given him practice!

Time to eat the good stuff... FINALLY!


Then it was time to go. Big hugs from Maddie....


...AND KISSES! Check this one out!! :-)

Such a fun day to celebrate 2 years with Noah!

On Sunday, Waylon and I got a few more things done around the house before it was time for Grammy and Papa to leave. Then in the afternoon we just relaxed and tried to recover for the week - oh and also put up curtains in Noah's new room.

Monday was Waylon's birthday and Noah was really excited to say 'Happy Birthday Daddy' as soon as Waylon got home from work. We had a nice dinner in and surprised him with an ice cream cake and a few more small gifts. Weeknight dinners are always so hectic, I didn't even get a chance to take pictures! :-( But it was really nice and we had fun singing again - this time to Daddy! Happy Birthday, Waylon!

So this week, we've been trying to get Noah's big boy room ready so he can move in this weekend. We got the bed yesterday and put it together while he was sleeping last night. When he woke up this morning, he was so excited about it, climbed right in and didn't want to get out. He even told me on the way to school that he wanted to go back home and 'get in bed!' He says he wants to sleep in there tonight, so we'll see how it goes. Grammy is coming back through town tonight to bring us a dresser and side table from my Gramma's house - that will go in Noah's room and I'm hoping tomorrow to get some of his wall decorations up. This weekend's major plans are to get Noah used to his new room and bed. We'll see how it goes!

These pictures are from this morning - he didn't want to get out! :-)

I can't believe that tomorrow, it will have been 2 years since he was born. Time sure flies. I find myself getting increasingly more nostalgic about it all - maybe it's hormones! :-)

A busy and VERY fun (and wet) weekend!!

Noah and my weekend started on Thursday as usual and this past weekend, we started swim lessons! So Thursday morning, Noah and I went to the pool at 10:30 for his first one. There are only 4 kids in the class and he loved it! We had a great time. Thursday afternoon was groceries and errands.

Thursday night was exciting! Right before bed, I was feeling our little girl kicking and I had Waylon try to feel her. After several small kicks, I felt a big one and saw Waylon's eyes get big. He felt her!! So fun.

Friday, we were surprised by having Daddy home!! Waylon is 'supposed' to have every other Friday off but since his new position has started, it doesn't always happen and we didn't think it was going to happen this past Friday until the last minute. So we had a fabulous family day instead! We started the day out in the back yard in the pool playing. After a few hours, we ran some errands together and had a nice lunch out. After Noah's nap, we went to our gym pool and had so much fun playing. Noah loves it there. We stayed until close to 6 and then had a nice dinner out. It was just a really pleasant day - Noah was in a good mood and great at dinner. Here is a shot of Noah in the shower after swimming on Friday.


On Saturday morning, Waylon had some yard work he wanted to take care of, so Noah and I went to visit the (older) triplets - Maddie, Rory and Brendan. More outdoor fun! We played in the pool and sandbox and inside with all the fun toys they have. I didn't get many pictures there but here are a few...

In the wagon-train with Maddie

Playing in the sandbox

Around 3:30 on Saturday, I talked to Amy and Janet about getting the kids together. We all decided to play in the pools at our house and grill dinner. It was such a last minute thing and was really fun! Amy, Grant, Janet and Frank brought almost all of the food over and Frank grilled for us all!! The kids sat together and ate dinner pretty quietly so it was fun to have an 'almost-adult' dinner. :-)

Playing with Maddie in the pool

Dancing after dinner with his girls

And this is how the night ended....
But not before a big hug from Maddie - how cute is this!?

Sunday was FATHER'S DAY! When we woke up, we had orange rolls (Waylon's favorite), cinnamon rolls, and bacon for breakfast (my plan was to bring them to Waylon in bed but he didn't want to sleep in!). :-) After breakfast, it was back to the pool yet again. We spent a long time there and Noah and Daddy had lots of quality time together.




After nap on Saturday, Nana and Grandad came over to celebrate Father's Day. We played outside for a long time and then had a yummy dinner.

Giving Grandad his card, present and a big kiss!

Nana and Grandad brought Noah a little plastic golf set and after dinner, they played with it HARD for at least 20 minutes. It was so funny. Noah would get really quiet and get this funny look on his face and then throw the balls up in the air and then Dick would go running after the balls pretending to get them before Noah. Noah would scream 'I GOT IT! I GOT IT! I GOT IT!' Then he'd get so tickled, he'd just stamp his feet and giggle, it was so cute. I have some videos I'm hoping to post cause it was just so funny.


All in all, a great weekend with lots of time in the pool and the sun!

For this week, we are looking forward to Grammy coming back tomorrow night to spend some time with us and help prepare for a small gathering we are having on Saturday for Noah's second birthday (and Waylon's birthday, too). We can't believe he's going to be 2 years old next Thursday! 2 years ago today was my due date and I was totally miserable! He was worth the wait and all the birth trouble though!! :-) And now we have another one on the way. So crazy.

Our weekend and Noah's, too!

We had a great long weekend away at Bald Head Island with our friend Josh and Anise while Noah stayed home with Grammy and Papa. I think all parties involved had a GREAT time!

First, our weekend.....

My parents got into town very late Wednesday night/Thursday morning because my dad was being promoted to Principal Professional Staff at the Applied Physics Lab at John's Hopkins University - this is equivalent to being a Tenured Professor at the University - go Dad! Anyway, they didn't get in until after 2am but were still up bright and early when Noah woke up to say hello. We'd been preparing Noah that we were leaving and he was totally fine with it. We left Thursday afternoon after Noah's nap and gave us hugs and kisses and happily waved goodbye as we drove away.

We arrived at Bald Head that evening and had a nice dinner at a restaurant on the island. That night, we played games and stayed up late (for us) since we knew we could sleep in the next morning! :-)

On Friday, we had a nice slow start with breakfast and relaxing. At 11:45, Anise and I took off to the spa for an hour long massage followed by a pedicure. Sooooo nice. The guys were going to go play golf but it ended up being more complicated than it was worth, so they got a head start out on the beach while we were at the spa. Afterwards, we picked up lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach. Friday night, Josh made yummy fajitas and 'we' watched a movie. I'm still wondering how the pregnant lady was the only one who could stay awake through the whole movie..... hmm... maybe it has something to do with not being able to drink/pass out!? :-)

On Saturday, we had another slow morning and spent most of the day at the beach. So relaxing. That evening we went off the island and had dinner in Wilmington. We sat outside at Elijah's right on the water and ate and ate and ate! I think we were at dinner for almost 3 hours. It was so nice. We didn't make it back to the ferry until 11:10 so we missed the 11 ferry and had to wait until midnight. Josh had cards though, so we enjoyed playing spades (well, Josh and I did anyway - Anise and Waylon lost bad!) :-) until the ferry came.

Sunday morning, we packed up, cleaned up, and poked around the island for a while before heading home. We got home around 5:30 and were happily greeted by Noah, Grammy and Papa! A few pictures (I don't take as many when kids aren't around!).....

Anise and Finley

A belly pic for you all.... :-)
(21 weeks)

Dinner at Elijah's - the water was right behind us but you can't really see it.

Heading back to the mainland on the ferry - looking back at the Old Baldy lighthouse

Now Noah's weekend - Grammy and Papa brought all sorts of new toys to keep Noah entertained over the weekend, so they played with those a lot - a new pool and all sorts of fun bubble activities. They also went to Marbles, visited some friends from MD (who live in Cary now) and went out to dinner. It was action packed and they all seemed to have a lot of fun. We talked to them a couple times each day and Noah will actually talk on the phone some now which is fun. He didn't really seem to miss us until we got home and then it was MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY! I could hardly go to the bathroom! :-)

The new pool has a giraffe on it that sprays water - he loved this feature!! :-)

Love this expression

Playing at Marbles and talking to Mommy on the phone

On the pirate ship with Papa at Marbles

Marbles again - jumping on a trampoline

Blowing bubbles

In the pool again
this time - 'Grammy, get in pool!'

Where's Noah!? :-)

A great weekend for everyone - maybe we should do this more than once a year!! :-)