climbing up the walls...

the title of one of my favorite Radiohead songs...but also how I've been feeling this winter! "anywhere you turn...I'll be there..." also applies, this is Noah's line, because toddlers just are always there, especially when they are sick :(.
it's been a rough week, Noah has had a virus, so we have experienced our first illness with him, including throwing up all over daddy, but today the weather is amazing, high of 70! and Noah's finally better, so all of this adds up to a zoo day! 
I'm probably so behind on this one...but Rachael Ray is awesome! i just discovered her website and found some amazing simple recipes and I'm trying really hard to get into cooking...that usually last about a week. I'm just not a cook, but if i plan the menu and make the list, Josh usually enjoys taking over the actual cooking part. but what i was really excited about, were these adorable food totes on her site that i thought would be so cute for Noah!

i can just imagine Noah toting this around! 

here's a sick little boy toting his blankie around, poor baby! i literally held him

for two straight days. I'm so glad he's feeling better now

a few months ago Josh sent me out of town for the day to secretly paint my bedroom and pull up the hideous carpet. i really wish i had before pictures, because it was the ugliest house in the room, but here are a few of it now. i love the color!

the walls are still so bare, and i need something to fill in that headboard are....a headboard maybe??

the top of my dresser is the only compete area in my whole house! i feel like i have a cute little setup now, if only i can could get an

other area done

Baby #2

lastly, this is a picture of me at the midpoint with Noah, and now.

both of these are around 20-21 weeks

Noah

one year old and counting down until spring!

Noah is already a year old, i can hardly believe how fast it's gone by. i keep thinking i need to slow down, or pay more attention...but the truth is i do that most days, and so far it has not slowed time down one bit. we are going crazy this winter, little boys just need to run so we are counting down the days until warmer weather. between the pregnancy and chasing a toddler, i am generally exhausted these days, but i manage! we still haven't agreed on a name yet...but i think Willow is still the front runner, I'm hoping to get Josh to make a decision soon! it did snow last week, but not enough to be really pretty or have fun in...and just enough to make everything soggy and damp and muddy. in conclusion...bring on the sun! we both could use it!

Noah-12 months

 this picture is not very good, but i just wanted to compare it to his newborn picture taken in the same chair. he's like a little boy now!

Noah-2 weeks

this is just a snapshot from my phone, he loves music and was completely fascinated by these headphones

it's a girl...still!

 we had another ultrasound yesterday with our wonderful Dr Sterling (20 weeks) and it's still a girl! i guess Josh has a tiny bit of doubt, but now there can be no mistake. it's hard to believe i am half way through already, and she is due June 14th. we are excited to have a summer baby, we were so paranoid about the flu and other sickness when Noah was born in December. now it's time to start the huge project that will soon be their shared, gender neutral bedroom! that will be in the next post...so here is the final highlight of the last year, just a few of my favorite pictures of Noah's first year, then i will start on everything that is happening right now!

 we stopped by Aja's house one day and Willy Wonka happened to be on, he was completely entranced by all the colors. he laid like this for maybe 20 minutes, it was so cute!

Noah's first pedicure! and according to daddy...his last.
he was six weeks in this picture, and we were leaving the next morning to go visit relatives in Arkansas. it was his first time meeting them, and he needed to make a good impression...

 one of our snowed in days! you can barely tell, but Noah is wearing his batman onesie, which was a gift from Amara. he wore it as much as he could until he grew out of it, it was so cool!

 i love this picture because you can see poor Noah being neglected in the background and sliding off his pillow! of course, he's so easy going he never made a peep!

always happy and smiling!
during these months when i had two little babies during the day,
we had really good days and really bad days! of course the pictures all look happy...so I'm thankful to have those!

we had gone shopping all day long, it was one of my first big outings with both of them! i bought a double stroller and just made it happen, i just couldn't stay home all day! getting them to be still enough at the same time to fall asleep was a challenge, but worth it for the pictures!

 this is at a 'cute baby contest'. Noah is maybe 12 weeks old here, he was the only boy and didn't win...a girl in a fluffy dress won of course. they just didn't appreciate Noah's style and swag...

 look how bald he is! he's already fighting kisses :(

 he just started using his bumbo seat here, i think the flash caught him by surprise

 enjoying one of the first warm days we had! he looks like Josh to me in this picture. he's funny how they change back and forth

 my cousin Kristin was holding him here and he fell asleep while we were talking, it was so funny!

so this year was...

the past year has absolutely flown by. which used to be cool, when it involved a school year...or maybe a bad haircut.
but when it involves a tiny newborn turning into a toddler complete with a personality and his own ideas, its a little more painful to fly by all that. I'd like to briefly cover my favorite pictures up until now with a few stories and then the next post will be all real time! which will include all the updates on Noah, of course, and his baby sister that we haven't met yet!
but first, the pictures!

this is our new house as of December 2009, we brought Noah home and were immediately snowed in for a few weeks!

in this picture, i can see my gold acura. i loved that old car! but it was not kid friendly...we kept it another few months and made the practical switch to the honda odyssey. a little bit of our former life went with it...yay...mini van!

i had another baby full time when Noah was just a few weeks old, it was quite the challenge, but we made it work!

 enter : River Schlupe! (he's the one attacking poor Noah!)

this was my favorite part of those times! naptime!! when i managed to get them asleep at the same time
it was a huge accomplishment!

catching up...

   i'm going to try to catch up this blog on the last year...and then move forward! Let's start with just a few maternity pictures to remember what I looked like just over a year ago! A good friend and great photographer Aja took these for us. I find having my picture taken at any time extremely uncomfortable, but I'm so glad to have this memory! Even though I was huge and swollen, It's good to have a record of how we looked before little Noah was born...

    Noah was born in December of '09, and a lot has happened since then! Here are just a few of his newborn pictures, it was quite an adventure to get the pictures. He actually managed to pee in one of the shots! That was the first time I laughed really hard, and realized how much fun I would have with the this new tiny person...
        this is just a family snapshot, it's hard to believe he was ever so tiny!

     
           there's really nothing sweeter than a sleeping, peaceful newborn! that first six weeks was so hard, just adjusting and the sleepless nights...but now I see how incredibly fast that time flew by and miss every bit of it!

last but not least, the magic moment! this captured the moment in time when i finally realized how fun it was going to be, and finally felt like 'yes, i can do this!'

so i've covered the newborn period briefly, the next post will skim over the next year up until now,
lots of pictures to come!