A Very Happy First Year!

For the past few days I have been working on a photo/ video montage of Noah's fist year. I can't believe he will be a year old on the 23rd! I sorted through tons and tons of pictures and videos (our iphoto album has doubled in the past year) and narrowed it down to my favorites that ended up being a 20-minute video. I then narrowed it down even further to about 12 minutes for the blog. So if you have some time, you can check out a video of our first year with Noah below:

On a side note. . .  Noah is more of a hulu (hooligan) than ever. He gets into EVERYTHING. Just this morning he has gotten into our night stand like 5 times. Once he got some really old lifesavers out of the package and was walking away with one in each hand and one in his mouth. Another time, I caught him putting a battery in his mouth. Never a dull moment around here!

Noah Walks!

Check out this footage from this morning:

He started pushing himself up to a stand first thing this morning, and suddenly became a lot more comfortable with walking. He has been taking steps for about a month, but was super afraid to really walk on his own. He loves dancing to his singing Christmas stuffed animals. He learned to blow kisses a couple days ago, and loves to high five. He is becoming a toddler so fast!

Excited for Christmas!

My mom came into town last week, and we loved having her. We went into the city on Friday, and she showed us some of her old stomping grounds from when she lived in San Francisco 25 years ago. We had lunch at San Wong's in J-Town then hit up Union Square. We rode the escalators to the 7th floor in Macy's so Noah could see Santa. He loved the Christmas wonderland and Santa! I don't know if I should be happy or nervous, because Santa was kind of mean, huge, and creepy. Noah didn't mind, the guy had a killer suit and chair. It was a fun day! Most the pictures are on my mom's camera, but here are a few from my phone:

Noah tried on some hats in H&M

Noah sat still the whole time!

Can't wait until Christmas and of course Noah's first birthday!

Thanksgiving 2011

For the first time in our lives, we weren't with our parents or extended family for Thanksgiving. With Sam's new job, he just couldn't take the time off to travel. So our little family hit up Ruth's Chris in Walnut Creek. It took us over an hour and a half to get there (traffic on Thanksgiving?!), but once we did we had a great time.

I'm most thankful for my boys!

Noah got tired, but was such a good boy!

My sweet cousin, Erica, felt bad we would be without family on the holiday, so she planned a pre-Thanksgiving dinner before she and her family left town. She made amazing turkey, potatoes, and green beans. I made the easy sides, salad, and dessert. We had a blast! Sadly, the only picture I got was of the beautiful tablescape Erica set.

Halloween 2011

To all five readers. . . Sorry I've been so bad at blogging lately, it's not that I am not on the computer everyday; I'm just horrible at uploading photos. So, today I am playing some catch-up. Noah was a chubby lion for his first Halloween. I really wanted him to be lion, but could not find any cute pre-made lion costumes. So, I found the knit hoodie and pants at Gap, and my mom sewed on all of the trim, tail, mane, and ears. My mom found him the cute paw booties. We took some creative liberties, but as a family we were the wicked witch, cowardly lion, and scarecrow. Halloween took place right in the middle of the move, so things were crazy to say the least. Somehow we managed to keep our costumes out of boxes and attend a couple parties on Saturday and take Noah trick or treating with the Terry family on Monday. Finn's costume was so adorable. He was Christopher Robin. The moving truck was packed up Monday morning, so Noah's costume lacked his bear paws for trick or treating. Sam headed towards California before dawn in the 26' truck Tuesday morning.

He loved the fur and kept his hood on all night!

Noah with his buddy Finn

Maui Photo Shoot

We got some family pictures done while we were in Maui in August. I chose some for our Christmas card and one for the blog header, but here are some more of my favs:

Noah waved for the first time during the shoot!

P.S. I'm no longer sending out birth announcements (seeing as Noah is turning one at the end of the month). I just threw some of his newborn shots on the Christmas card. Let me know your address if you would like me to send you one!