Dear Noah,
Oh my! I am so so soooo sorry that I haven't written you a letter in so long. I feel so bad about it. Let me just say that it's not because I don't love you or worship you. At first, I was lazy and thought "I'll get to it tomorrow" and then a lot of time went by. Then, your next month came along and I figured I'd just do it then. But I realized that nothing new had been going on and I realized your letter was going to be quite boring. Some more time went by and we ended up buying a house and selling our house on the spur of the moment. It was a crazy few months!!!! The camera was packed away for quite a while and now we're finally unpacking, getting settled and getting back into the swing of things.
You and your buddy Maren the Wonderdog.
You've had a nice summer! You've been running around outside constantly...enjoying puddles, mud, dirt and fresh air. Your kind of heaven! You've gotten, just recently, so much better on your feet. You've mastered being careful on the stairs. You are starting to get good at climbing up the playground rock wall. You love to open drawers, cabinets, and anything else you shouldn't. Such a little dickens! You are endlessly curious about everything you find. I love that about you...even though it also frustrates me so much when you GET INTO EVERYTHING. But I'm grateful for your curiosity and interest in things; I know how good and healthy it is.
You are also starting to speak (your doctor was a little concerned that you are behind). Each week you are building your vocabulary little by little. You are speaking more than Paige did at this time and she's a little chatterbox now; so I'm not too worried. Let's see; what are some of your words? "Mama" "Dadda" "doggie" "outside" "cheese" "shoes" "hello" "hi" "bye" "uh-oh" "no no no" "bubbles" "booboo" .
You love to try and blow bubbles (and end up just chewing the wand). You love to dance, sing to yourself, giggle to yourself and swing. You love going for walks in the stroller so you can point at everything you see. You love car rides. You have started loving to read books with me. You love your new backpack and carrying it wherever you go.
You had sleep troubles for a good chunk of time...let me tell you, it sucked. You were waking up 4 or more times per night screaming, needing to be held, needing milk, needing needing needing. We went without solid sleep for weeks and weeks. It was so horrible. It even got to the point where we would go almost full nights with no sleep. Something had to change. Once we moved into our new house, we worked on the "cry it out" method with you. It's tricky on you because you like to barf when you cry. But, you finally sort of suddenly outgrew the barfs and POOF! the cry it out method started to work! We started giving you your evening milk well before bedtime instead of letting you fall asleep drinking your bottle rocking in our arms. Then, we switched to reading books at bedtime and singing a few songs while you got sleepy. Then, we just let you sort of yell after we lay you in the crib. We'd leave the room and you'd yell for a while until you finally fell asleep. Each night was less and less crying until you didn't even bother crying anymore. We also didn't go in your room at night when you cried at various times. (in the past, I'd go in and you'd just smile and be fine...trying to play me!!!) You are finally sleeping through the night with very little crying. We made sure to leave a bright nightlight on in your room in case you felt fearful of the dark and we know you are fine. Each morning you greet me with bright happy smiles and hugs. It was a torturous process and I hated doing it, but things are so much better now. You are in a great mood all the time now that you're sleeping properly and I finally am regaining a sense of sanity.
Another great part of the summer was the week we spent with your Dad's side of the family at a lake house in Maine. You got to bond with all your cousins who all took such good care of playing with you nicely or watching over you like mother hens. You seemed to have a great time there (despite being in the worst part of your sleep troubles at the time). I just loved seeing you have fun with your family. What great memories.
Noah, you are such a special little boy. You are turning into such a sweet, caring, and funny little guy. Your happy energy keeps me going through the day when all I want is a nap. I love getting to know you. Every hug, every kiss, every smile from you is a treasure in my heart. Thank you for being you and know that I love you more than the world to the moon and back to infinity. Happy 20 months little fella.
Love you always,
Mama
We are settling in to our new home...slowly but surely! We're taking our time and making sure to find true homes for all our belongings. No more just throwing stuff into cabinets to "deal with later." It's even kind of fun! I'm enjoying our new town too. Everyone is so friendly wherever we go. It's just such a breath of fresh air! The kids are enjoying our new back yard space and all the adventure it has to offer. There's lots of big trees, hidden little alcoves, bushes and plants, gardens, swings, a tree house, and a big slide. I'll have to take some pictures of their fun to share here so I can always remember this magical time! Tomorrow is Paige's first day of school for the year...her last year of preschool. She's expressed that she's nervous to start a new school with new kids and a new teacher but says she'll be ok as long as she has her lovey "Buggy-Boo" by her side.
Time goes by in the blink of an eye. Truth be told, I'm exhausted and worn. But it's all for a worthy cause--we moved! As the most spontaneous thing either of us has ever done, we put an offer on a really cool house after seeing it at an open house when we weren't even really in the market. They accepted our offer contingent on our current home getting a paid offer within 30 days. Drama unfolded as we prepared our house to sell (staged it and had photos taken all within 48 hours). We put it on the market on the 4th of July and it sold within 3 days. Zoom!
It was bittersweet to say goodbye to our first home together. We bought it and got married; and we brought our 2 beautiful children home there from the hospital. We had so many happy times and so many heartbreaks. But we are moving in to a wonderful new space that feels like home. It's much bigger, has great personality, and has so many nooks that make me happy. We are only 20 minutes away from our old house but it feels like we are far out in the country. We are surrounded by wonderful old farms, mature woods, and all manner of nature. I have a renewed esteem for my New England homeland! It's a new chapter and I'm excited to share it here.
