Popsicle : Fail

Whoever heard of a kid that didn't like Popsicles?!? Especially made from his favorite juice?!

When we went to IKEA this last time, I bought a fun little make-your-own Popsicle set. I've been wanting to make some with it, so last night, when Ben was offering Noah ice {and he liked it... though it could have been because they were playing with it}, I decided that it was time to make some {diluted} apple juice Popsicles. I just knew that Noah would love them. Nope. He took one bite {a bite: which might have been the problem} and didn't want anymore.

Even when Ben tried to "play" with him with it.

Popsicle:Fail.

My Favorite Time of Day

My favorite time of day is during those few sweet minutes of family time before Noah goes to bed. I love listening to him laugh hysterically as Daddy chases and tickles him. I love watching both of them play. And I love laughing hysterically myself as Ben brings Noah back to his room after he's run away {yet again} knowing that it's time to go to bed.

Shoes

When I saw this photo on Ashley's blog, I fell in love. {And I absolutely love the fact that she had the photo itself printed on a gallery canvas to hang in her house. I swear to you, one of these days, I will be this creative!} Since we don't know yet the sex of this little one, I decided I'd just do this one first... as practice and so that I maybe, just maybe, I might get it printed and hung up in our entryway as a gentle reminder to please take off your shoes. :)

Not to mention, I just adore how similar Ben and Noah's shoes are.

A Little Bump

After last night's big fall, we've been watching Noah {and his little bump} pretty carefully today.

And really, it doesn't look at all as bad as all the blood last night made it out to be. Of course, I'm not taking a picture of the inside of his lip {which is still a little gnarly looking}, but I'd say he's going to be just fine. It's a little swollen, but the outside looks great - the skin is just barely broken still in two spots {how he managed to break the skin in two spots, I'll never know.}. I just keep reminding myself that: A. he's a boy and boys ALWAYS cause problems which can {and do} lead to blood {and the eventual ER trip} and B. he's my son and therefore likely to become a klutz too.

It is kinda humorous, though, to watch him feel it every so often with his tongue.

A "Poo-Poo" Party!

I can already imagine some of your faces as you read the title of this post! Some of you will be laughing hysterically, some of you will wrinkle up your nose, and most of you will be nodding your head in a very knowledgeable way. Tonight, we went to our first "poo-poo" party! One of the little girls in our small group, Jadyn, has been a VERY big girl lately and earned the privilege of a small {poo-poo} party at Chuck E. Cheese with her friends. Way to go Jadyn!! It was also Ben {at least that he remembers} and Noah's first time to Chuck E. Cheese, so it goes without saying that we all had a blast... and are already looking forward to having Noah's very own poo-poo party! :) {Oh, and sorry the lighting is funny on some of these... I'm way too tired right now to go in and make adjustments!}

Noah was not impressed with the animatronic Chuck E. Cheese.

He did however, like riding on the train with Barney. He's trying to decide which buttons to push.

The party girl herself, Jadyn! Way to go Big Girl!!

"Woo!"

This ride he wasn't so sure about the first time around, but by the second time it went up in the air, he was smiling pretty big.

Ben and Jadyn playing a shooting game!

Big Noah and Little Noah riding the roller coaster ride!

For those of you {like me} who haven't been to a Chuck E. Cheese in a while, all rides and games are one token each now! Including this fun one that "draws" your picture! Noah and I sat in this one while Ben was playing Skee-Ball - he didn't really get it though when Mommy said "Look right here!".

Ben winning big at Skee-Ball!

We're so proud of you Miss Jadyn!!

Even though he had already eaten dinner, Noah loved the pizza!

Chloe was pretty worn out!

Way to go Ben - 213 tickets! :)

We left a little earlier than we had expected though.... just before Ben was about to cash in his tickets, Noah took a tumble onto one of the booths and bit through his lower lip. He cried and I cried {though I was crying much longer than he was}... but he's okay. We took him home, got him {and ourselves} cleaned up, and realized that it wasn't bad enough to warrant stitches or a trip to the ER. Needless to say, the boys' first trip to Chuck E. Cheese will always be a memorable one!

13 Weeks

Since we won't be getting as many ultrasounds with this little one as we did with Noah, I've decided I'd better be more diligent about "belly shots". So, here's the first one!

You definitely show sooner with the second one!

All Boy

I think I can say, with 100% certainty, that Noah is all boy. Just like his cousin.

He also likes to {try to} do this to Mommy and Daddy.

More on Baby #2 and Bulbs!

We had another ultrasound today of Baby Smith #2. Everything looks good and the best part: the baby is measuring exactly 12 weeks 5 days!! {Just for reference, at this point with Noah, he was already measuring five days ahead.} That is very, very good news! It has me hopeful that this little one just might be 10 pounds or under. The only bad news is that we likely won't have another ultrasound until about 20 weeks... which means that we have to wait a whole seven more weeks before we find out the sex of this baby! {I was definitely spoiled with Dr. Bickman... quality ultrasounds at every visit!} Needless to say, Ben and I both are a little bummed about that news {we found out at 13 weeks that Noah was a boy and then it was confirmed again a week later} - especially since we weren't planning on starting to think of names until after we found out pink or blue! Here's one of the photos from today {though it's certainly not the best quality so I added the labels to help everyone out}:

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In other news, the bulbs I planted in our front flower bed are starting to pop up - Spring is officially here! {Of course, that also means that there are weeds in the yard that need to be pulled.}

I came back into the house to find this little guy running away from Daddy after bath time.... still holding his toothbrush!

And, during playtime before bed, Noah was doing one of his favorite things.... hiding his toys in all his "secret" hiding places.

A Wanna-be Photog

Ben will be the first to tell you {and agree with what I'm about to say}, I have way too many hobbies and interests. And if time {and money!} allowed, I'm sure I'd have many more. But my main three will always remain: photography, scrapbooking, and sewing {in no particular order}. And because the two {scrapbooking and photography} go hand in hand, I'm always looking for ways to improve one... because by improving one, you improve the other by default. Lately, the focus has been on photography... I'm desperate to learn how to shoot in RAW and not use my "auto" setting! {Confession: I'm a Photog-Wanna-be!} Anyone familiar enough with it to teach me the basics? You would think, after the photography class that Ben and I took while we lived in LA, that I would have a better handle on f-stops, shutter speeds, ISO, etc., but I don't. I can figure it out if I have plenty of time {like in the pics below}, but not on the "active" shots. So, anyone out there in blog-land with any tips for me??

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Since I'll get in trouble with countless people for another post with no pictures of Noah.... here he is... enjoying his Mac n' Cheese and chicken nuggets {and pretending to use his fork}:

Now if only I could get the kiddo to actually eat some veggies!

EVERYTHING

The kid was into EVERYTHING today.

I think he probably heard "No-no, Noah." more times today that he has in his entire life. Makes me wonder what the so-called "Terrible Twos" are going to look like if 15 months looks like this!

Yet Again!

Again, like last Sunday, we were just so busy that I forgot to take any pictures. I even took my camera with me to small group in hopes of taking a couple there, but I still forgot!

So, I thought I'd give you all a quick update on Baby Smith #2. Really, we don't know anything new, except that {depending on which site or book you read}, I'm finally nearing the end of the first trimester! Which hopefully is going to translate into less morning sickness, more energy, and more things accomplished and finished around here! We have another appointment with the OB on Wednesday and can't wait for another look at our newest little one!

Heading Back Home

Due to the fact that there were no seats available on the Heartland Flyer for the return trip to Oklahoma City today, we {Ben, Mom, Daddy-Man, Noah and I} all loaded up and headed to Wichita Falls, TX to meet BB and Jessie so we could "exchange" the parents. :) It made it nice because not only did we get to see the girls for a little while, but this way, neither side had to drive the entire way to OKC or Abilene. We had such a great time visiting with Mom and Daddy-Man - thank you for coming out!

Noah had a good time looking through Aunt Jessie and Aunt BB's pictures from their trip to New York City last week.



Last minute snuggles with Aunt BB.

See you soon!!

Welcome to the Zoo

I've been wanting to take Noah to the Abilene Zoo for a while now, but up until today, a good opportunity had not presented itself. So, we packed lunches, loaded up the Sequoia, and headed out for the zoo. Being Noah's first trip to the zoo {we have taken him to Sea World in San Diego, but he slept through a good portion of it}, we were most excited to see if and how he'd react to the animals. It was so funny to watch his reactions and facial expressions!

He loved the flamingos {though I think the fact that they are pink helped quite a bit}.

The monkeys got quite a few "whoos" from him too!

And we all thought the giraffes were pretty amazing... especially when this one went to town on the crackers we fed him!

Noah was too involved in what the other kids were doing to look at Mommy for a picture.

We can't wait to use our pass and go back again!

Bubbles and an Armadillo

This afternoon, we broke out the bubbles for the first time. Noah wasn't so sure about them at first, but eventually became intrigued by the bubbles that landed on the garage floor. By the time we finished playing with the bubbles, it was time for a bath!

***

On mine and Ben's anniversary, we had really wanted to try out Perini Ranch, a local steak restaurant. However, reservations are a must. So instead, we went tonight and took Mom and Daddy-Man {and Noah too} with us! It was really good {I loved the Cowboy Potatoes!} and the atmosphere was fun.

Noah and Papa as we were walking up to Perini's.

{I think he was looking back for Nana... he tends to make sure she is always in sight.}

After we ate dinner, we had to stop by the huge armadillo statue outside the restaurant.

I'm honestly not sure what they were laughing at, but this ended up being my favorite picture of the night!

And this is what Ben was doing while we were taking photos with the armadillo.

Choo-choo!

For Mom's 50th birthday, my sisters and I all chipped in to get her and Daddy-Man train tickets down to Ft. Worth from Oklahoma City. She's been wanting to ride the train for a while and we finally found a good weekend for them to cash in her tickets! Noah and I drove into Ft. Worth to pick them up at the train station so that Mom and Daddy-Man could spend some time with the three of us in Abilene. We got to the train station just before their train arrived and Noah loved watching the train pull into the station.

The Heartland Flyer

Mom and Daddy-Man as they were getting off the train.

Once Noah got into Mom's arms, he wasn't about to let go - he loves his Nana!

We spent a little more time in Ft. Worth/Dallas - we ate lunch at PF Chang's and stopped at IKEA {two things that I've really missed!!}. Needless to say, the four of us didn't get back to Abilene until nearly eight... but we're thrilled to have Mom and Daddy-Man here for a visit!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

From the little spiky-haired leprechaun!

Oh.... and look who is learning how to climb. Definitely time to get those book boxes out of the playroom!