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.

Happy 1st Birthday, Noel!!! <3

Noel's birthday party went on without a hitch - for lunch, we had burgers-a-la-Tim, some green deviled eggs (Green Eggs and Ham), cheese cubes (which were stuck in a styrofoam cone to look like a cheese tree from Fox in Socks), chips with a homemade black bean/pineapple salsa, and red and blue sugar cookies shaped like fish (One fish Two fish Red fish Blue fish).

Birthday balloons!

Dana & Noel checking out the decorations

My cheese tree creation!

Wockets stuck in our green deviled eggs

Red and Blue fish galore!

Noel's cakes!

Our buffet was loaded with pictures of Noel
for everyone to take home

Crazy pipe cleaners!

All Hail the Birthday Girl!!!

Hannah and Noel playing together

Noel wearing her new Teva sandals - from Dana & Jeff

"Are all these for me??"

Present time! She did pretty well opening her gifts, but she liked playing with
the paper more than anything.

Cake time!

Noel made sure the whole cake was demolished. Then it was time for a BATH!

Thanks to everyone for coming to her party!! We had a GREAT time!!!