Noah is crawling!

Hi.  Noah is crawling, finally!  He started right around his 10 month birthday.  His pattern, so far, is to hit milestones about a month after Joy did.  If that holds true, we can expect him to walk on his own around 14 months.  And, yes, he has started walking, with the support of our hands.  Noah is very excited to be able to get around on his own.  He has developed a love for toy balls, evident by him throwing and rolling them all over the house, creating obstacle courses for the rest of us.  Noah has been sick for the past week with a cough and REALLY runny nose.  We had him checked for an ear infection and other things last week and he got the all clear.  So, we are anxiously waiting for him to get better because he is pretty uncomfortable.  He also remains our little snuggle bug.  Danny and I really enjoy all of this baby bear's affection.  The video will show how busy this little big guy is lately.



And, our sweet 3.5 yr old, Joy, has become a kid and officially has left her toddler self behind.  She has lots of opinions and ideas (good and bad), loves her little brother so much he is nearly smothered everyday, and is crazy about books.  She has piles of books around the house that she bounces between throughout the day but doesn't use 25% of them.  Of course, when I try to put some away, she has an opinion about that.  And, the first thing Danny has to do when he gets home from work is play freeze tag with her.  If she really begs, the whole family might even join in sometimes.

We did an impromptu photo shoot of Noah and Joy in their Packer gear.  Here are a few of our favorites.

Noah picks on Joy

Joy whistles at Noah

Here's a glimpse at a moment during one of our days last week.  I'm so thankful to be able to capture moments like this on video.  These two are so much fun, most of the time.  :)

Noah Shakes It!

Noah is really close to crawling!  And, he's perfecting his dance moves.  Check him out below...

Thanksgiving 2012

We spent Thanksgiving with the Krafve family this year.  We drove up to the farm and arrived in time for Thanksgiving dinner (or lunch) and returned home on Friday evening right at bedtime.  It was a nice visit with mom and dad, Christi and Bart, Nancy and Ralph.  Jenni and Aaron were with Aaron's family and we are all anxiously awaiting the arrival of their little girl, who is due December 6!!  We ended up getting about 1 in of snow on Thanksgiving Eve too.  And, of course, we have a video to share of Joy and Noah...

Halloween

Halloween was so much fun for us this year!  Joy came up with a family costume idea we couldn't say NO to.  She wanted us to be the 3 little pigs and dad to be the big bad wolf.  I have to say, I think we were a hit.  It will be a challenge to top this idea in years to come.  We were blessed with 3 occasions to dress up for: Grandma Rainbow's Childcare party, trick-or-treating, and a belated birthday/Halloween party for little friend of ours.  We made some great memories together!

October Fun

Well, October came and went in the blink of an eye, like this whole year so far.  Joy continues to talk constantly and her sense of humor is developing more.  She says and does some pretty funny things these days.  Like, she will insert an animal noise at any random point in the day, timing it perfect, and making everyone in the room crack up laughing.  She has been working hard on learning to hopscotch, as you'll see in the video below.  She was a little unsteady the day I took this video, but it gives you the idea anyway.  Noah started giving us high 5s at the beginning of October.  He also loves to knock over towers that we build for him.  Lastly, he really likes music evident by him bouncing when music is on, whether it's Danny's guitar, music from a toy, or on the radio.  He continues to be a happy and snugly guy.
Business has slowed at Danny's golf courses.  The course in Watertown is now closed for the season but the course in Waunakee is still open.  It will remain open until the weather stays cold for a period of time or the snow flies.  Though we are thankful for a successful golf season, we are ready for Danny to be home both days of the weekend, for a few months anyway.  Since he really didn't take any paternity time off at the time of Noah's birth, he might take Fridays off this winter, which will give us 3 day weekends!!
Enjoy the video that captures some of the joy our kids bring us.