Eli's latest ultrasound pictures.

28 weeks

I can't believe another 4 weeks has flown by. 28 weeks already!

Adventures in Toddlerhood

I have had bouts of insomnia since getting pregnant again so today I am running on 3 hours of sleep which means Noah is getting away with more than usual. This morning I was getting ready while Noah was playing in the living room. I hear some banging in the kitchen and then Noah walks by the bathroom carrying the dog dishes banging them together. So as tired as I was I just decided there were worse things he could be into and that I would let him make his "music" until I finished getting dressed and ready. Noah continued to bang through the house and after about 2 minutes it dawns on me...if Noah has the dog bowls...where is all the food and water that was in them? Needless to say...I had giant mess to clean up...all through the house.

Teeth

Noah is getting his top 2 front teeth. They are just starting to break through so it looks like I will have a crab apple for a few days. At least I know why he has been waking up at night now. He woke up once a night when he was cutting the bottom two as well. I hope they cut through quick...but until they do I have one clingy crabby boy on my hands.

Noah's party

Noah had a great first birthday party. I think about 30-35 guests showed up to help celebrate Noah's big day!

Random thoughts and updates

It seems like so much has been going on lately so I thought I would just make a general post for it all!

First of all, I am exhausted. Noah has been waking up the past week at night and it has been taking awhile to get him back down. I am not willing to let him try and cry it out, and he has been sleeping through the night for awhile so I am assuming it is just something that will work itself out. I don't mind getting up with him and cuddling, but it is starting to wear on me...mostly because after being up for an hour it is too hard to fall back asleep. I have tried bringing him to bed with us, but that is just not going to work. He perks right up when he is in our room and thinks its time to wake Daddy up to play, and it just makes it even harder for him to get back to sleep (not to mention I then have a grumpy husband also awake...which I will admit I secretly and selfishly enjoy when Brandon also has to wake up also). He does seem to be going through a growth spurt (he has been eating like crazy) so I am hoping that as the spurt starts to level off he will start sleeping well again. In the meantime, I am in zombie mode, and thankfully Brandon is being very understanding of my exhaustion and not griping at me about slacking off around the house this week.

In other news we are trying to find some land for us to build a house on. We want to move out of this condo, which is quickly filling up, in 2 years. Since we are going to do most of the work ourselves (well by "we" I mean Brandon and his family) it will probably take longer than most housing projects take. We have looked at a few plots of land but Brandon is so darn picky about what he wants (at least 5-10 acres, neighbors that are not too close but not too far, partially wooded, within 20 minutes of his shop) we haven't found anything. We looked at 10 acres that I loved, and he liked okay, but after going to see it a few times he decided it was too far to drive everyday. We still have some time to find what we want...but I have a feeling that once Eli comes we may decide that 2 years is too long to wait!

Lastly...I splurged and bought a video baby monitor. I love it! I can see everything going on in that little crib. I never realized what a busy body Noah was. Last night after we laid him down we watched him try to fall asleep. As soon as I left his room he stood up and started running back and forth in his crib, then he held onto the railing and started jumping. After a few minutes he turned on his sound machine and laid down, and after rolling around for a few minutes he fell asleep. All this time I though he just fell right to sleep at night. :)

Noah's 12 month check up

I cannot believe that he is already a year old! He had a great birthday. His Grandma Cindy came over for a few hours during the day and brought Noah a birthday present and his favorite food...french fries, so Mommy sucked it up and let him have some. Daddy came home from work early and we opened gifts and played, then had dinner and got to dig into a birthday cupcake. Then we had a nice long bath, and went to see Grandma and Grandpa Jorgensen. He went to bed a happy, tired boy.

Today we had his 12 month check up. He was 29 inches and weighed 21.5lbs which means he lost a little weight, but that is normal for babies after going off formula/or breast milk as they transition to all table foods. That put him in the 20th percentile for weight and 50th for height. They rechecked his lead levels which were elevated at his 9 month appt. Today they were in the normal range so we are very happy about that! He also got his second doses for both the seasonal flu and H1N1 strain. I didn't get him the regular scheduled vaccines today because they usually make him feverish and cranky for 3 or 4 days following and we have a party planned for Saturday and 6 shots just seemed like a lot for one little boy! So we will be going back next Wednesday for all the rest of his shots. He did great today. It was naptime and he was tired so the shots put him over the edge a little but with a sippy cup of juice and his stuffed animal "Crusty" he fell asleep as soon as we got into the car.

Cousins

Family pictures

Life is better with a dog

Noah loves his pal Louie! Where one is...the other isn't too far behind.