Fred Update

Yes, Fred's mom did find out about the tattoo. When she came to pick him up I simply said, "Now Fred, don't tell your mom our secret!" And Fred, being a good little boy, followed my directions. So it was discovered via blog, awesome! And his mom is still speaking to me, so that's good. Of course now she's threatening piercings when she has the boys next. Oh dear! Here are some more pictures of toddlerdom times 2! Mealtime was a bit chaotic, but we worked it all out. Then it was a lovely walk in the afternoon, neither of them enjoyed the hats, but such is life!

Fred and Noah get inked

So, today we have Fred as his grandpa has back surgery (get well soon Harry!). I, being the responsible parent that I am, decided to give the boys fake tattoos. Yes we actually have tattoos that are baby sized and themed. I went with the anchor for Mr. Noah the sailor man. I decided on the classic "mom" tat for Fred, as it is his first time. Fred was hilarious, he just kept looking at it and smiling, very proud. Now the decision, tell Fred's mom or just sit back and wait for the phone call after bath time this evening. Humm.....

Chili weekend at the Lake

We went up to my parents lakehouse for the first time this season. Noah is quickly learning that going to the lake is fantastic! He woke up promptly at 6am both mornings so he could play with his grandparents. He got to try powdered donuts for the first time and devoured them with gusto! And he got to take a bath with his cousin CJ! Boy the lake sure is a great place for a baby, and for the grownups too! Our family has been doing a variety of cooking challenges lately, this weekend it was chili. And who won? Well despite Josh's protesting about voting inconsistencies, I won! I made a white chicken/cheese chili that turned out pretty nicely, thanks to some helpful hints from my husband the chemist/foodie! It was a wonderful weekend!

Happy Easter!

This was actually Noah's first Easter, which is weird since he's already over a year. But because Easter fell early last year and late this year, he got to experience his first Easter this year, strange! Anyway, it was a fabulous weekend; we went to the Rodriguez crew on Saturday and the Hewes crew on Sunday. Noah enjoyed playing with Francesca on Saturday and eating ice cream cake on Sunday. And poor Ellie got no attention at all (as you can see from the last picture). Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

Rolling with my homegirl...

Noah and I have been dying for nice weather to spend some more time outside, and thankfully yesterday we got some. My friend from work, Ryane, stopped by with her daughter Meryn. We took Noah's new wagon out for a spin to the park. The wagon works great and the kids seemed to enjoy dropping cereal pieces through the holes on the bottom, awesome! Meryn is 2 and was tearing around the park and jabbering away (she calls me "Dabby" how cute!). Noah isn't quite able to tear around yet, but he did his fair share of crawling on all the playground equipment and testing mommy's reflexes as he tried to dive head first down some slides. Ugh, it ain't gonna be pretty when he starts walking! He did take one step/lunge on Tuesday night that Mike and I are officially counting as his first steps. Whoopie! All in all it was a great day!

One more stats update...

So Noah went in for his big 12 month check up. He's doing great, pretty much right on track for everything. He's weighing in 22 lbs 11 oz and 31 inches long. That means in his first year of life he has tripled in weight and grown 10 inches, incredible! He's been enjoying all his wonderful birthday gifts, thanks to everyone. Not walking yet, but he's busy enough just crawling and cruising on furniture. We're not exactly sure if we'll be able to keep up once he figures out he can walk, so we'll enjoy this stage now! He's eating like a beast, enjoying pretty much anything that's put in front of him. Yesterday it was a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast and a hot dog for lunch! And, finally (in the most important news for his mommy the speech pathologist) he has started saying a few words. They aren't consistent yet, but we're pretty sure we've heard "ma" and "da" for mom and dad (he's a good chicago kid with no mama or dada, just straight up ma and da with the short vowels). We also have gotten "up" and "yes" at points this week. Very exciting stuff! Looking forward to his first Easter as a toddler!