Leafy laughs

Today I spent a discernible amount of time raking the leaves in our front yard. Thankfully our backyard is wooded! That's all I have to say about that. I figured if I could get the raking done in one day, I would do the bagging on the next.

So Noel and I played in the leaves this evening.

Well Hello, Padme.

Cheesin for the camera!

Leaf me alone! I'm busy.


Oh, smile? That's easy!

And another shameless picture of our pumpkin. He's so pretty! Maybe next year we'll have a few to grace our front steps. :)

Tomorrow's goals are to 1)bag the leaves of course 2)Bake an apple pie a la Paula Dean. and 3)Go on the hunt for some fuzzy baby slippers.

Here's to hoping I get all that done tomorrow!

Silly Pumpkin Face!

I ended up cheating and buying a pumpkin at the grocery store this week. It's okay though, Noel still got the pumpkin patch outing!

So we started out with a pumpkin (obviously) and a template I found online.

I couldn't decide whether or not I wanted to do a scary pumpkin face or a silly one, but my facebook friends helped me make that (extremely difficult) decision. ;-) There was one scary one that I thought would look really cool:

And this one was cute too! I wish I had gotten a couple more pumpkins, because this one only took me a little over an hour.

Noel was excited, although she didn't really know what to expect. I mean, last year we didn't participate in Halloween at ALL due to being extremely tired! Plus, she was only a month old ;-)

Cut it open, Mama!

Hmm, this isn't quite what I expected.

But this washcloth sure tastes good!

I'll just chew on this until you're not looking, and then I'll
stuff lots of pumpkin seeds in my mouth. :)

Here is where I traced the template onto the pumpkin

And...Voila!

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday Noel and I met up with Allison, her husband Barrett, and their son Ronan to go pumpkin-picking.

We went to Chesterfield Berry Farm, which had LOADS of stuff to do, including paintball, a corn maze, a traditional hay ride, a train ride, duck races, pig races, lots of farm animals to feed, a gem mining center, a "bounce house", a big tub-o-corn and a couple of "spooky" houses that were very kid-friendly.

We couldn't participate in some of those because she's not quite old enough, but we did most of them. Noel sure gave me the run around, though. She likes to walk on her own most of the time, but she doesn't like being guided or "steered" in any direction. She just wants to wander around aimlessly, picking up rocks, dirt, and any trash she can find. Yuck!

Anyway, when I take her hand and try to guide her in a different direction, she will fall to the ground like a rag doll. I will lift her up and try to put her back on her feet, but she just will NOT stand. Oye!! Needless to say, it was quite difficult taking pictures because I was juggling two heavy bags, plus chasing her around!

Then afterward we went into Midlothian and stopped at Mickey D's for a quick dinner. Noel had her first Happy Meal, which consisted of 4 chicken nuggets, apple slices and milk. She wasn't super hungry, but she did eat most of it.

We got home a little past her bedtime, and she didn't go to sleep until 9:30 or so, so she slept in this morning until 9. Yesterday exhausted me, that's for sure!

Noel and Ronan in the "Pirates Cove"

Hmm, what is this stuff?
How tall is Noel?

Noel in the huge Tub-O-Corn.

Noel in the pumpkin patch. I couldn't get her to look at me whatsoever!

"It's too sunny out here, mom!"

Unfortunately, they didn't have any small pumpkins, and I couldn't carry a large one out of there, plus the bags, plus Noel. SO, we went all that way, and didn't get one. BUT we (Me, Tim, and Noel) might make a trip to a local pumpkin patch to get some keepers! We only have a week, so we better get on it, huh??

Monster Mash

Starring Tim, Noel, Dana, Sarah and I :) Haha!

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Hello?

Nappy Naps

Or at least, that's what I call them :) Noel loves her nap times. When I say "Are you ready for naps?" she'll say "Na na na na"

Here are a couple of pictures of her after she woke up from her morning nap last week. LOL

Cheese!

Yesterday evening after dinner, I broke out the camera and was taking a few pictures of Noel playing. She carries around her little bucket and fills it with little toys, takes them out, then puts them back in, etc.

What I find funny is that she seems oddly attached to the "B" Block from her Alphabet Train. Hmmmm....

I said "Noel, smile! Say cheese!" and she then gave us the cheesiest grin EVER and did her pretend laugh. Then everytime I pulled the camera up, she made the same face. Oh geez! Here are some of the BEAUTIFUL pictures Noel graced me with yesterday.




What a ham! Hopefully she'll soon start smiling nicely! LOL

Prancing through the Playground

This time's trip to the playground was more fun for Noel than last time's. She had lots of fun just exploring the ground and picking up acorns, and leaves of all different colors.

Here are some pictures from this afternoon!









OH! And I also found time this week to wash, wax, and detail my car. I even cleaned and conditioned my seats and interior!

It's been a long time since my car has been this clean and I'm proud of myself for making time for it!

No more bottles!

Last week we ran out of bottle liners. Coincidentally, we ran out of formula too! So since she was officially 12 months, I decided to stop the bottles cold turkey.

I had a couple of Enfamil Next Step Sample cans, so that's what I started giving her, in a sippy cup instead of a bottle. She was drinking much less formula from the sippy cup, because she really doesn't need the formula anymore. She was just drinking it because she loved her bottles!

At her appointment yesterday, we were given the go-ahead for whole milk. So today when I went to the store, that's just what we got! I was curious what her reaction to the whole milk would be.

Well, she loved it! She drank a good 4 ounces with her afternoon snack just now.

Take a look!

12-month Stats!!

So this afternoon was the dreaded pediatrician's appointment. I used to look forward to her appointments, to see her growth, but anymore I just dread the whole needle-in-leg thing.

At her 6 month appointment, she BAWLED, huffed and puffed, and started crying over and over again for at least 5-10 minutes.

So for this appointment, I was mentally prepared for the worst, but I kept a happy face for her, since I knew that me being upset would only make matters worse.

BUT anyway, on with the statistics. She is..... *drum roll*

Weight: 18 lbs 9 oz
Length: 28.8 in
Head Circumference: 44.6 cm

So she's between 10-25% on all of her measurements, still following the same "curve" as she has for the past few appointments. Dr. Shauer said that she looks "perfect". Noel appreciated the comment so much, that she gave her not one, not two, but THREE big smooches. Haha!

They pricked her big toe to check her hemoglobin (iron levels) and also to see if she's been exposed to any lead in the past 12 months. She didn't feel it I don't think, because she didn't have any sort of reaction to it. Both came back fine!

She received all of the recommended vaccines, with the exception of the flu and swine flu vaccines. So she had a total of 4...Prevnar (Pneumococcal disease), Varivax (Chicken Pox), MMR (Measles, Mumps & Rubella) and Hepatitis A. Phew!

After the first two shots, she had stopped crying by the time they got to her second leg (which was only a few seconds). And after the last two, she cried for maybe 1 or 2 minutes, and recovered by eating some goldfish and drinking some juice. Then she was dancing again and acting like a big goofball.

I was SO proud of her! I think maybe ME not freaking out helped her too. ;-)

Her next appointment will be at 15 months - and is scheduled for January 5th.