Happy FIRST Birthday, Miss Naomi Grace!

(WARNING: LOTS of photos follow this letter to Naomi...I could NOT narrow it down for the life of me...so ENJOY!)

Sweet, sweet Naomi...

One year ago, today, you made your entrance into this world! You were a tiny little 7lb, 3oz ball of cuteness. We were amazed at your dark hair and exotic look! :) Everyone at the hospital commented on how unbelievably beautiful you were! And you are still just the most beautiful little thing...with your big, blue eyes, and smile that lights up your entire face! :)

You have endured quite a bit this first year of life, including spending 1/4 of the year in a cast!! But you have endured all things with grace and just amazed us at how adaptable you have been! :) You remain very flexible after getting your cast removed. And it's taking a little while for you to get the hang of this whole walking thing. But I'm sure before we know it, you're going to be running around, chasing your big brother!

And speaking of Isaac, you adore him. You spend most of your days watching him, and you LOVE it when he chases you! You two love making each other laugh...it's pretty awesome to see! :) That said, you both have your not-so-lovely moments as well. He would like to think that everything in our home belongs to him and doesn't want you to touch a single thing...even if it was initially yours! :) You have probably gotten so used to hearing him shout, "NO, May-o-meee!" all day long!

You're a tough little cookie, though. If he (or anyone else, for that matter) tries to take something out of your hands, you give them HECK! You screech at the top of your lungs to vocalize your dissatisfaction with what's going on. You have got an AMAZING set of lungs, little lady...and you enjoy using them often. :) We are looking forward to having you "use your words" like a big girl.

And speaking of words, you don't say many very often. But you can and have said: daddy, mama, baby, hi, Isaac (pronounced i-yahk), nana, no, yeah, and ni-nigh. You will imitate lots of sounds (smacking noises with your lips and tongue, animal sounds, etc). But you just aren't really into talking yet. We are working REALLY hard with you right now to teach you to sign (and say) "more" so you won't SCREAM at us when you're ready for more to eat. :)

I can hardly believe it's already been a year since you were born! This year has just FLOWN by! And even though you are one, you still seem like such a little baby to me! Maybe it's because you're a tiny little thing...or because you are still MY baby...but no matter what it is, you're still so precious!

You are eating much better these days, but still struggle when we introduce new foods. It seems that you always have negative reactions (rashes, gas, vomiting, etc) to everything we try with you! It has made it quite challenging to branch out and try new and different things with you. So you're probably only eating a diet typical for a baby who is maybe 9 months old, rather than 12 months! But that's okay...you'll get there!

And we've made it to our goal of nursing until your first birthday! Woo hoo!! :) You typically nurse three times each day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). And have also recently started sleeping through the night MUCH more frequently (PRAISE GOD!). :) It has been SO nice to get more sleep lately. I'm not sure how or when we'll begin the weaning process, but I admit that I'm a little nervous about that since you seem to be so intolerant of so many types of foods. I'll have a better idea after your doctor's appointment this week. :)

We will be having family over for a little birthday party this weekend. I'm looking forward to celebrating your first year of life! And I look forward to watching your sweet little personality grow and develop! We love you more than words can say, sweet baby girl. Happy Birthday, Naomi Grace. You bring so much joy to our lives, and we look forward to many more years of YOU! :)

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

And here are the photos from her one-year birthday photo session...

And the promised pics...

Just some photos of the kids being...kids! :) They LOVE being "naked babies!"

Quick update...

I have several new photos to share on here...as well as some funnies from our little comic (aka Isaac). :) But first I wanted to share a post that I had written several weeks ago...

"On another note, we are currently waiting to schedule an appointment with a pediatric neurologist for Isaac. His pediatrician suspects that he may be having seizures. I have been passing them off as toddler tantrums that have continued getting more and more frequent. (Going from once a month to as many has five each week!) His episodes usually happen right as he wakes up from his nap and they last anywhere from 2-30 minutes. During these episodes, Isaac is sweating profusely, crying hysterically, and his entire body is completely stiff. So much so that I cannot even hold him to comfort him. He doesn't want to be held during them. And when I try to talk to him, he "looks through" me. It's quite scary...as if no one is home inside his head. Once he is finished, he has no memory of it and won't talk about it. He's just very tired and worn out and wants to be cuddled. For awhile, I was thinking that he was having nightmares (only during the day, though). But this is different. And he HAS had a bad dream or two...because with those, he'll let me hold him and stops crying almost immediately when I come to him...and then he'll tell me about it afterward. These "episodes" that could possibly be seizures are SO different than anything I've ever seen a child do. So I'll have to keep you all posted on that when we find anything out."

That was a few weeks ago, and he has since seen a neurologist, who was optimistic, but has scheduled for him to have an EEG to see what's going on in his brain. That will tell us if there is anything abnormal going on. Ironically, ever since even before he saw the pediatrician, he hasn't had a single episode! He did, however, grow about TWO inches!! So perhaps it was all just a growth spurt?

SO strange. We are not too worried about it (especially since he hasn't had one in such a long time). They could have been seizures, and some kids to get them and they just go away. Very random.

And speaking of random...here are some random sayings of Isaac these days:

Me: What are you doing, Isaac?
Isaac: (messing around with something on the bookshelf) I'm making an "oser-bation."
Me: A WHAT?
Isaac: An OSER-BATION, mommy!

Earlier today, when I was changing his diaper, I told him that I was putting cream on his bottom because of his eczema, to which he responded, "What? I have eggs down there?" HAHA! :)

One day after nap a couple weeks ago, he said, "I have grumpies on my head." I questioned him, "What, sweetie? Grumpies on your HEAD?" He answered, "Yeah...I have grumpies on my head...and look at them on my arms too!" It took me a minute, but I finally realized he was meaning to say...so I said, "OH...you mean goosebumps?" He replied, "Oh...yeah...those!"

The other day, he pointed out of the window in the van, and yelled, "Look at the chire-fucks! Look at the chire-fucks, mommy!" :)

When I put him down for a nap today, he said, "See you later!" I replied, "See you later!" Then he followed with, "You behave, Mommy!" WHAT?!? Where did he get THAT? I don't think I ever tell him to behave! That just cracked me up! :) I told him, "I will, sweetie!" LOL.

Okay...now I've run out of time for photos...next post! I promise! :) Both babies are up from naps! Gotta run!

She's cast-FREE!!!

On Tuesday morning, we went to the hospital for another procedure. We weren't sure if Naomi would come home with another cast, or if she would be done. We prayed for complete healing for her tiny little hip...and it WAS! The doctor was amazed at how well her hip looked! :) Praise God!! And here are some photos from earlier today...she is already pulling up and standing on her own! Simply amazing! :)

(And I PROMISE that I didn't do ANYTHING to her eyes!)

and a couple months worth of videos...

Sorry...I know this is A LOT. But as I mentioned in my previous post...I have just gotten WAY too behind!

Just another day in our home...back at the beginning of March...

Naomi dancing...

Isaac dancing...

Somebody is ticklish...

And someone else is too!

Isaac loves to "praise the Lord!" He just spontaneously broke out shouting this one morning, and I just happened to have the camera on! SO sweet! :)

Naomi's new discovery...and cute laugh...

And here's just a typical conversation with Isaac...though this is from well over a month ago.

And last one...Naomi being silly...Isaac trying to hold her...

a month of photos...

Beware...this is a post with TONS of photos!! I knew I was getting behind, but I didn't realize how far I had gotten! Many of them are of Naomi...she's a little bit more willing to have her photo taken these days! :) These first couple are photos of Naomi with her little friend, Luke (my best friend's little guy, who was born just one week after Naomi).

One day, I decided to grab the camera when I went in to get Naomi after her nap. She generally wakes up super happy (a refreshing change from her older brother). I think these really capture her sweet spirit...

And some from a little impromptu photo session...the ones in the hat are her Easter outfit. I just couldn't decide which ones to show...so you get to see them all! :)

And these next few are just from the other day. Daddy was holding Naomi, and she was being SO silly. I just love these photos!! :)

And finally...a couple of Isaac. In the first one, he was riding on my legs, as I was laying on the ground! And the others are from when he was having a BLAST in his high-chair last week. We were laughing so hard!

Conversations I don't want to forget...

This post is just a collection of conversations and other things that Isaac has been doing/saying lately. This age is SO much fun as they are just learning SO much. I try to write them down as we hear them...so here goes!

Funny ways he says some words:
bicycle: bi-kissel
anything starting with sp, uses an f instead: like foon (spoon), fin (spin), fanking (spanking), fider (spider)
for awhile he said "may-o-mee" instead of "nay-o-mee" for Naomi's name.

Eating out, he dropped some food on the floor. He quickly said, "Uh oh!" Then paused for a moment before saying, "That's okay, we'll just leave it for the dogs." :)

Daddy: Isaac, can you tell Mommy where we were trying to throw the balls?
Isaac: We were trying to throw the balls to the MOON!

Isaac: I was crying so hard in my bed.
Mommy: I know you were. Why were you so upset? Did you have a bad dream?
Isaac: Yes. I did have a bad dream.
Mommy: What did you dream about?
Isaac: I was dreaming about two bees. They were flying away in the grass. And they were going to get me. And they would hurt me.

Seriously? Isn't he too young to be having nightmares? UGH!! He's also been waking up from naps in absolute hysteria lately. It's like a night terror...only during the day. SO weird. I have NO idea how these started!

Last week, Isaac watched another child doing something silly in front of his Nana, and saw that she was laughing with him. So Isaac went to do the same thing, saying, "Do you remember when he did this? Are you gonna laugh with me, Nana?"

Mommy: Isaac, what's the opposite of Yes?
Isaac: The opposite of yes is NO! :)

Isaac: I have a boogie in my nose. I'm gonna get it!
Mommy: Would you like a tissue?
Isaac: No thank you. I'm gonna put it in my mouth!

Answers negative questions correctly. For example:
Isaac: I don't want to read that book.
Mommy: You don't want to read this one?
Isaac: Yes.
Mommy: You do want to read it?
Isaac: No, I don't want that one. I want to read THIS one.

So if our statement is accurate (You don't want to ___?), he always answers "Yes" if it is accurate and "No" if it is not. Pretty cute...confusing at times...but cute. :)

Today, while eating goldfish crackers..."I'm eating my crackers why I look at it (the box). Yum, yum, yum...I'm feeding him some crackers. I'm feeding the big fish the little ones. I think he likes them!"

He's also been using please and thank you A LOT lately. This morning, as I put his bib on, he said, "Thank you, mommy. Thank you for putting my bib on me!" Comments like these seriously melt my heart!

He is just SO matter-of-fact. If you ask him anything, he'll usually answer in a complete sentence. For instance, I'll ask, "Isaac, would you like to go outside to play?" He'll answer, "Yes, mommy. I WOULD like to go outside to play." And then often he'll add something afterward like, "But first we should get my shoes on!" :)

He has started praying before we eat (occasionally). It usually goes something like this: "Thank you for this food. And thank you for God! Amen!" :)

He's also been identifying lots of feelings lately. Like saying, "I was sad at church." or "I was being grumpy." He is very aware of how he's feeling and has been exploring many of the more negative emotions lately. He has been SUPER whiny and grumpy lately. And we're hoping that this ugly phase will pass SOON!

UGH. Where does the time go??

I've had this blog typed up since the beginning of April, but wanted to include pics with it. I haven't had a chance to do anything with the photos, so I'm just going to get this out here...and do one HUGE photo post when I get a chance. :)

So here's a letter I wrote to Miss Naomi when she turned 10 months old...

Sweet Naomi Grace...you are 10-months-old today! Where is the time going?? I feel like you were just born yesterday and yet at the very same time, I can hardly remember life before you were here! :)

You are SUCH a happy baby. True to your name's meaning - "beautiful, pleasant, delightful." Like most babies, you do have your moments of crankiness...especially when you're cutting teeth. Speaking of teeth, you have five of them now - two on top and three on the bottom. :) You love to put EVERYthing in your mouth. I am constantly running after you to pull out yucky things!

This weekend grandma was feeding you baby food and you just kept choking on it. After a few bites and some drinks of water, we were all so confused so daddy did a finger swipe in your mouth to find a big piece of plastic in there! YIKES!! We had NO idea where you got it and how long it had been in there! Crazy.

You LOVE talking like your big brother. You don't say many actual words yet, but LOTS of babbling...and boy can you be LOUD! You're also really good at copying sounds. You enjoy making a clicking noise with your tongue and making funny noises with your fingers on your lips. You have also said da-da-da and when you're whiny, you'll say, "ma-ma-ma." :) You try to imitate anything Isaac says. It's pretty cute. And it's a lot of fun in the car when you two are sitting side-by-side. You get each other going and laughing hysterically. It's awesome!! :)

You are clapping your hands on command and will "give fives." You have also started giving kisses, which just means that you lean in with your mouth wide open. Hehe. We keep viewing you as a tiny little baby who's just here. But then you surprise us with things and remind us that you're a little person...and getting bigger and smarter every day! If you start fussing, I'll tell you to come on over to mommy, and without hesitation, you crawl on over...very quickly. :)

You are getting around SO good...especially for being in a cast. One minute, you're there...and the next we can't find you! :) If you weren't in your cast, we are certain that you'd be cruising and just about walking already. You want to pull up and walk around SO badly. It really breaks my heart. I hope that when your cast comes off in 3 weeks, that you'll enjoy a new sense of freedom and get to do the things you've wanted to for so long now. I think you're also going to love swinging at the park...another thing you watch and want to do...but can't. Hopefully this time will fly and it will soon be a distant memory! :)

All in all, you are just AWESOME! We love you and can't believe how well you're developing! We think you are going to give your big brother a run for his money! You are already showing signs of being VERY bright...much like he did.