Great Granny and Great Grampy

We live less than two miles away from your great grandparents.  They love it, and so do we.  We sit next to them every Sunday at church, and they cannot get over how cute you are or how cute your outfits are.  They frequently call me and ask, "When do we get to see that baby?" or "When are you going to let us babysit Noah?"  They are 83 years old, and they love to babysit you.  They even get down on the floor and play with you.  It is so precious.  We are so lucky to live near them, and we are so grateful that they are in such good health.  We look forward to spending many more years with them.

It was so much fun to spend time with them this Christmas season!

This is the ginormous dog that the great grandparents gave to you. :)

Baby's First Christmas

Though you slept through a lot of the festivities, you had a wonderful first Christmas.  You were surrounded by family, showered with snuggles and kisses, spoiled with gifts, and provided with tons of wrapping paper to tear up and play with.  What more could a baby want??

Uncle Sam helped you open your first gift of the season:
A board book (Where is Spot?) from your Great Aunt Muriel

Aunt Sarah made you this cute shirt, and you wore it for Christmas Eve dinner.

Christmas smooch! 

The whole clan on Christmas Eve

The whole clan on Christmas Day!

You wore a little Mr. Rodgers sweater to church.

You got "baby's first Christmas" ornaments from both of your grandparents.  Darling!

Probably my favorite gift that you received is a killer cute owl hat from Bapa.  To die for.

When the week was over, we all spent the day taking down Christmas decorations.  Your dad helped by entertaining you, so you wouldn't cry.  He got the best job of all!

After all of your hard work that day, you were exhausted and decided to snuggle with Bapa and watch football for the evening. :)

I am already looking forward to next Christmas with you!!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

You love sitting by the Christmas tree...and kicking it too!

Noah's November

November is a special month: It's the month of Thanksgiving, and, perhaps not coincidentally, it's also National Adoption Month!  We are so grateful for adoption, and we are so grateful for you, Noah.  To celebrate National Adoption month, I did a lot of posts about adoption on my blog, and Katie also wrote up her full story.  I know you will love reading her perspective someday.

To celebrate Thanksgiving, we went to Idaho to spend the holiday with Grandma and Grandpa Nielson.  Your Uncle Cole also got married the week before Thanksgiving, so we ended up spending 10 days with the family, and you loved every minute of it.  You were happier and smilier than I've ever seen you.  And why wouldn't you be, when you got to spend so much time with so many of your favorite people??

Your Uncles and Aunts:

Your Grandpa and Grandma:

Your Birthparents (we saw Katie several times, and we saw Drew for an afternoon when he was home for his college break):

I think you were sad that you couldn't join us in eating the ginormous FH'zookie.
P.S. I love this little frowny face you make.  It is precious. 

Your Mom:

Your Dad:

Matching cowlicks!

You had a very eventful November...and your December will be just as fun with your Westover relatives.  You are one lucky baby!!

Dear Sweet Little Lobster,

Daddy is putting you to bed right now.  I am too tired to do anything but lay on the bed and blog.  It's been a long day of fun...your first Halloween!  It was so exciting for me to actually have a baby to dress up and play with this year.

Our fun started last week when we went to Bapa's ward Halloween party. That was your lobster debut, and even I was shocked by how much people loved the costume.  I mean, I knew it was cute...but literally everyone in the party, even perfect strangers, stopped to ooh and goo over you.  You were such a hit. The best part was when you fell asleep in the stockpot.  A-dorable.

After that experience, I knew that we needed more opportunities to show you off.  Neither our ward nor our friends was having a Halloween party, and since Cousin Callum is in California with his parents visiting Aunt Laura, we didn't have anyone to go Trick-or-Treating with.  I was afraid it was going to be a pretty dull Halloween--so I planned some fun for us.  First, we met my dear friend Sandy for breakfast at The Pancake House.  You wore your costume to the restaurant, and Sandy (and everyone else) just loved it.  Then, we met Daddy at his work for lunch.  This was the highlight of the day.  Dad was so proud to show you off to his co-workers at the dental clinic, and then we walked across the street to the hospital cafeteria to grab some food.  You were sitting in your stockpot, and oh my goodness, Noah, you were like a celebrity!  The cafeteria was full of people, many of them in costume, and I don't think a single person in the room didn't comment on your costume, stop to talk to you, ask to take your picture, and smile and laugh at the little lobster.  As we walked through the masses, we heard so many people chuckling and saying "Look, he's in a pot!" or "That is the cutest costume I've ever seen!" or "Awwwww!"  It was unreal!  I have never had that much attention directed toward me while I was in a public place--and, of course, you were completely oblivious to it. :)  Then we went home, and while I made a Halloween dessert and cleaned our apartment, you got a little break from the sweaty costume (you actually took a 3 hour nap--I guess the morning's excitement was too much for you).  At 7:00, you got back in your costume because a few of our favorite couples from the ward came over for dessert.  Everyone agreed that you couldn't possibly be any cuter.

It turned out to be a really great day, but now I am completely worn out.  You are heavy in that stockpot!!  As soon as I finish this letter, I'm going to bed!!!

I love holidays.  They bring the world together.  I can't wait to celebrate so many Halloweens with you--I promise that I will always try to make it a special day for you and for our family.

Happy First Halloween, Little "Lobby!"  (That's what I called you all day.)

Love,
Mom

 

  

Cutest Little Pumpkin in the World

The outfit you wore to church today. :)

Happy Halloween Eve!