Visiting Aunt Marsha and Uncle Mike

This afternoon, Noah and I loaded up in Mom's car and headed out to Marsha and Mike's new home - it was simply beautiful. I wish I had thought to take a couple of pictures of it too! Marsha and I had a good time getting caught up and of course she enjoyed getting to meet and spend some time with Noah... so much so, that Mike didn't even get to hold him! I promise Mike, you'll be the first to get him next time we're over! :)

Fox in Socks Meets Noah

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday (March 2) and the new "Horton Hears a Who" movie that is coming out today (I really want to see it!), Kohl's is offering four different stuffed Dr. Seuss characters and their respective books for $5 each (WHAT A DEAL!!). Being the teacher and book lover that I am, I ran out to Kohl's as soon as I knew about them... and came home with "Fox in Socks" to match the book that we received from Eric and Amanda and a few others for Noah's Easter basket (you'll see those later!).

The Fox is nearly as big as he is!

We've also started a new bedtime routine of a bath every night... and it's helped SO very much. For almost the past week, Noah has been sleeping 12 hours of "night-time" sleep! Of course, he is still waking up to eat once or twice, but once or twice is better than three or four! And, the night that he slept from 8:30PM to 5:00AM, I could barely sleep - I kept checking to make sure that he was breathing because he had never slept that long before!

He loves to be a "naked boy" in just his diaper.

He is loving baths now! Tonight, I just let him play for a few minutes and he wouldn't stop laughing and smiling.

Four Years.

Four years ago today, I married my best friend... and four years later, he still is.

Happy Anniversary, my Dear Benjamin - I love you more than you'll ever know.

My beautiful anniversary flowers from my wonderful husband....

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Today, Noah and I visited Grami while she was babysitting Andy and Amanda... and since they were playing on their own, she had a little Noah and Sami time. I loved the look of concern on his face in this picture!

Can you guess why he's so happy?

Hmmm.... Noah woke up from a nap (yes, in the swing) and was in an exceptionally good mood. He was all smiles and laughs and coos.

At first, I could hardly believe it! A happy Noah right after he awoke? Normally that only happens if he eats right after he wakes up.... then I saw why he was so happy...

He was sitting in a squishy diaper and couldn't wait until Mommy found out that it was on the (borrowed!!) swing too.

Nice work Noah. :)

Grr.

I had the CUTEST picture to post today. Noah and I tagged along with Jessie while she took Pinny for a walk. Noah was facing out in the sling, with his "boonie" hat on and both of us had donned our sunglasses. We were the definition of adorable! We were enjoying the nice Oklahoma day (okay, so it was really pretty windy and for part of the walk I stayed at my Aunt KK's house) and it was picture perfect! Except.... I forgot to put the compact flash back in my camera yesterday when I updated the blog. Darn-it!

As Jessie says, we'll just have to recreate it.

In other news, Daddy-Man had an appointment today with his surgeon and he told Daddy-Man that he never wanted to see him again! And of course, he meant it in the nicest way... he's released from the surgeon and might even get to go back to work (part-time and light duties, of course) as soon as the beginning of April! God is GOOD!

Three Months Old

Noah is three months old today! (And exactly 13 weeks!) Happy Three Months Noah!!

Noah and I took a little trip to Target today and came home with a Bumbo! I've been wanting to get him one of these for quite a while now and since he is starting to get some really good head control, I decided it was time! The first time I put him in it he cried, but I know it was because he was hungry. The second time, he loved it - the proof is in the pictures.

My little guy is just getting so big!!

Daddy had to go Home

Ben had to go back home to California today - we miss him already! He'll be back again later next week to enjoy Noah's first Easter and spend a little bit more time with us before he leaves for England for two weeks.

Ben, Bridget and Jessie were enjoying a quick game of Wii Bowling before we took him to the airport.

Extra snuggle time with Noah was a must!

Hurry back soon Dear One!

Lots of Pictures

Since the whole family was in town this weekend, we decided to have a family picture taken. And not just one of the "Akers" clan (though we did get one of those), but of the entire Snow clan: the Snow's, Stanley's, Graham's, Akers' and Smith's! I don't have copies of them yet, but as soon as I get my hands on the CD, I'll post them. We did take our camera to take a few pictures in between and so here's a few shots from behind the photo shoot:

Noah did pretty good during the photo shoot and considering how many people we had (22, I think) it didn't take nearly as long as you would have expected with two babies and three young kids. Oh, and all the families wore a certain color... thus the reason we're all in black (Akers were in black).

Afterwards we went out to eat (Daddy-Man's first time out since the surgery!) and came back home so a tired Noah and Daddy-Man could rest. But the picture taking wasn't over yet! ;)

Meeting Addy

Remember the pink and green blanket with the letter "a"? Meet Addy!!

Lesa, one of my best friends throughout school, had her little girl in January. Today, she and her mom, Marlene, brought over Addison for us to finally get to meet. Lesa and I have known each other since we were in kindergarten and now our kids will have known each other since practically birth. Addy is SO cute and I can't wait to get to see her again - she was so light compared to Noah! :)

Our moms still work together at the elementary school where we met - go Fillmore Falcons!

With Love, From Germany

When Noah was born, my Uncle Terry and Tante (Aunt, in German) Bettina sent us a package for him with a cute growth chart and an adorable little outfit (and lots of candies for us!) all the way from Germany. The outfit is just now starting to fit so I dressed him in it today! I love the fact that the feet look like they have airplane wings! Thank you Uncle T and Tante B!!

Airplane feet!

Uncle Eric and Aunt Amanda

Tonight we had dinner with Ben's brother Eric and his fiancee Amanda. They were so excited to finally get to meet Noah. Eric and Amanda live here in Oklahoma City - they moved here right before we left for Los Angeles. We were so glad to see them and can't wait until Easter weekend when we'll get to see Little Marian too!

Noah was looking at Eric's food like he wanted a big bite!

Daddy is here!

After a morning full of visitors, eating lunch with the ladies from Houchin (I forgot to take pictures... I will later when I go up to the school), and lots of time with PaPa and Aunt Jessie, we picked up Daddy (Ben) from the airport.....

... we were all so very happy to have him here with us.

Especially Noah.

Babysat

For the first time in his life, Noah was babysat today! I had (a much needed!) hair appointment today with Stacy, so Noah was left in the very capable hands of my Mom and Daddy-Man. And I have to admit, it was very weird to leave the house without Noah and knowing that Ben was half the country away in Georgia. However, everything went very well (including my hair appointment!) and when I got back to my parent's house, my mom gladly took a nap!

Noah sitting on PaPa's lap - hopefully soon he'll be able to hold him without the Boppy! :)
Listening to Aunt Jessie sing her "Monkey-Butt" song... I'm trying to get it on video... Noah LOVES listening to her sing!
Taking a nap with NaNa - no wonder she needed a nap too!

Cousins!

Noah was a sleepy-head this morning and did not want to wake up (even though he was fussing and wanted to be fed). I love his bed-head.

So today we finally got to get Noah and Mae-mae (Megan) together for their first visit! My aunt Connie has three kiddos, Andy, Amanda, and Megan. And Megan is exactly four months older than Noah (August 10)! Mom and I went to visit Connie, Mickey and the kids after she got home from work (we didn't want Daddy-Man to be left alone and the Stanley's have been sick recently) and they were all so very excited to get to meet Noah. Here's a few pictures of the cousins....

Megan was so excited!

I think she was trying to give him a kiss. :)

They are, quite literally, the same size! I can't wait until we get them dressed up in their matching outfits (the shirts are nearly too small now!).

He's also learning how to blow spit bubbles.... though I haven't yet caught it with the camera.

Everyone else is doing great too! ;) Daddy-man is making good strides every day and the whole family is just enjoying every moment with Noah.

Another Meet the Baby Marathon

Everyone has been waiting so patiently for Noah and I (okay, they really just want to see Noah) to arrive. So this afternoon, after getting back from church and having lunch, Grami and PaPa Snow came over to finally get to meet their first great-grandbaby! They are just as much in love with him as the rest of us are and could not wait to get to hold him. It was kind of funny when they arrived at the house because I was feeding Noah and they still couldn't see much of him. It was like the "big reveal" on Extreme Home Makeover when he came out from beneath the blanket and I thought that they both might start crying!

It seems that Noah likes his Grami and PaPa Snow just as much as they like him.

We also had a visit from our old neighbors (and long time friends) Brenda and 'Riss. I can't quite remember when Marissa was that small, but I've known her since she was that old too and Brenda has known me since I was that young too!

In between visitors, Daddy-Man and Noah took a nap and had some more snuggle-time. :)

The day ended with a visit from my Aunt KK and cousins, Michael and Morgan. Without a doubt, everyone is so in love with this little guy.

Where the Wind Comes Sweeping Down the Plains

Noah and I started out the day in California and ended it in Oklahoma. It was kinda hard to leave Ben at home (I'm so much better at having HIM go TDY than me leaving him at home) even though I'm really glad to be here... I can't wait for him to get here already and neither can everyone else.

My boys this morning while I was getting ready:

Noah did surprisingly well on the flight. A nice young man helped me get the carseat into the carseat bag and take it down to the gate (I was praying hard that it would be easy and God provided help!). The people on my row seemed a little nervous when I sat down with an infant (truth be told, I was too), but after he ate (and had a little Tylenol, thanks to the advice of Mom and Amanda), he was out for the entire flight! The only time he even squealed was while we were waiting for the people in front of us to get off the plane... needless to say, I was happy and so were the people on my flight!

Since we've been here, Noah has barely been put down!

Snuggle time with PaPa (he's feeling pretty good and I think he looks great too!)

I love the look of concern while he was sitting with Nana. :)

Aunt Jessie couldn't stop holding him - she was the first to hold him when we arrived! She held him while Mom and I were putting the carseat in the car.

Aunt BB proved that Noah really is "Everyone's Favorite"!

Aunt Sally, Uncle Bud, and Philip even stopped by for a visit too:

He's been all smiles and coos since we arrived - let's hope it continues!