more to come

I also have zoo trip pictures to upload (b-more zoo with mommy and daddy, and DC zoo with Deacon and Trinity).
and random backyard pictures, and Playwise Kid pictures, and lots of other things- but now, off to my parents for shish ke-bob dinner!

First Birthday

We had a small party for Noah at home. I made his cake(and I'm very proud of how it turned out!)and we had a lunch platter from our favorite local grocer.


Noah and Olivia enjoyed the balloons! Noah called them 'boons'

Opening presents with Mommy

Grandma and Grandpa Hamilton gave Noah his first car!

Monkey cake. Noah likes Curious George, and he's a very difficult character to find- so I made a monkey instead.

Noah enjoyed the cake, but was very tired by this point in the day. He had been too excited to nap in the morning.

Easter

again, I'm super late and suck at blogging. but here are some pics of our first Easter! The Easter bunny left Noah a basket at home, and then he also left some treats over at Grandmas house :-)

First Baseball Game

playing catch up where I can...Noah went to his first Orioles baseball game on April 8th, 2009. It was against the NY Yankees. Noah had a great time, we didn't stay for the whole game but made it through several innings!

small talk six

6/6 – 6 things about your children that you are proud of

if i'm playing catch-up, i'll try to catch up on my small talk 6s too. i'll save simple pleasures catch up for later since it's been awhile and i'll have to think of a bunch :-)

1. I'm so proud of Noah when he shares and plays with other kids. It's awesome watching him learn all about sharing and to know he's good at it.

2. He's so intelligent. Obviously all parents think their children are brilliant, but when other people confirm it it just makes me so proud.

3. He keeps smiling. even when he's had a bad day or something's just not working the way he wants it to, he still smiles (albeit through tears sometimes). He's a happy baby and it makes me proud to see him endure through things.

4. the way he eats. if you know me at all, you know i'm a picky eater. granted, i'll eat a lot of things and any restaurant we go to i can find SOMETHING on the menu...but i won't eat anything with beans in it or around it, same goes with Mayo. actually, just typing the 'm' word makes me shudder. ugh! so, watching Noah try so many new foods and learning that he loves them makes me proud.

5. how much he likes books. I'm a bookworm. I go everywhere with a book, b/c you just don't know when you might have 5 minutes to sit down and visit with your 'friends'. I've read to Noah everyday since the week my development e-mails told me that he could hear me from inside the womb. and now, we have boxes of books in his playroom, the living room, and his bedroom. He'll crawl over to the boxes and pull out books and flip through and 'read' them. he even reads Moo Baa LaLaLa to me at night (he'll say the animal sounds as I flip to the pages). I'm just so proud and impressed by him.

6. Everything. Maybe it's a cop-out answer, but it's true. everything he does makes me proud. just watching him grow and take in everything this world has to offer makes me proud and makes my heart want to burst.

catch-up (and ketchup)

seems like I haven't been blogging at all lately. I know, I know. I promised. I even put it on my 101! but, life gets in the way of best intentions. So here's a small glimpse of what's been happening in The Hamilton House since my last(real) update.

-Noah turned 1 year old! I made his cake and we had a few friends over along with his g-parents and 2 uncles. I have pictures, they're on my computer at home. I will will will upload them all to my NEW computer and put together some real photo posts. Geesh, i still have pics from Easter and our first baseball game too :-/

-We have a fence in our backyard! I love it. It just makes the house feel complete to me. my lovely cape cod on my quiet little family street with my picket fence. I love to sit out in the backyard with Noah and play now. and I don't feel like I have to hover over him all the time b/c he can't get too far away :-)

-I have a mom van. Yup, and I love it. I got a 2009 Dodge Grand Caravan. Sure, I miss my jeep...but the van is pretty cool(you know, for a mini-van). It has tail-gate bench seats in the back, which we learned are AWESOME for on-the-go diaper changes! sadly, someone did not think I should have nice things, which brings me to the next bullet.

-someone on my quiet little family street decided to squirt my brand new van with ketchup. and some people say, so what, it's just ketchup. but the disrespect and entitlement behind the act make me so angry that I start shaking. This is my private property- first, it's parked in my driveway at my house, that i worked my ass off to get. secondly, it's a brand new vehicle, which again- i worked my ass off to get. thirdly, this is a NICE neighborhood, whoever did this has now made me and all my neighbors question who we're living with. so not only have you vandalized my property, you've made me question my safety. it's not JUST ketchup to me- it's all in the thoughtlessness behind the act. and I'm sure so many people will say i'm over reacting, but you know what? if it didn't happen to you, don't tell me how to act.

-okay, back to good fun things. vacation at the end of July! we're going to see my grandparent's in Myrtle Beach and swinging down to visit my friend Erin and her family in Charleston for a weekend. I love Charleston and the south. If I wasn't so tied to my family up here, I'd try to move down there in a heartbeat.

in Noah news: he now has 9 teeth- one of his molars came in and the other's are working on it. he's finally sleeping through the night. he still loves Curious George. Snakes says 'psssshhhh'. he loves to point at our neighbor's doggy and bark at him. he can point out my nose, hair, glasses, and tongue. he knows a lot of animal sounds...although lately when I ask him what any animal says, he tells me "Noah" or "laa laa laa" (thanks a lot Sandra Boynton). I could go on and on. I'm so proud of my little man. I'm so excited to watch him grow and I love seeing all the new things he discovers everyday.

Small Talk 6

this weeks' topic 6 things other people do that make you personally uncomfortable.

I'm not sure if these count as uncomfortable or just annoyed, but here goes:

-clearing your throat or 'sucking snot'. it makes me physically ill to hear those sounds.

-people getting way too close. i have very clear personal boundaries, and if your boobs are touching me when you lean over then you're way too close.

-people that don't know how to end a conversation, or the 'socially slow'. you know who they are. the people that continue to hover around you for minutes after a conversation should have been over.

-i don't even have a term for this, but the people that just hang around. they don't add to the conversation, they just listen and lurk around you.

-adjusters. yes, i know all guys do it, but do you really have to do it in front of me? i don't adjust my boobs in front of you so i'm relatively certain you can refrain from touching your package while talking to me.

-tappers. the people that tap/thump on things and make noises. I have a hard time concentrating when there's more then 1 noise going on (ie tv and talking), it gives me a headache and the noise thing is right up there with that.